A lot going on!

I know I haven't posted at all since we've been home, we've just been SO BUSY! Do you have any idea how much energy a 7 year old little boy has. I thought I could imagine, but I really had no idea. But we've been having a lot of fun. Tyler has been meeting all the family and has taken very well to everyone. We also attended our first K-State football game....the spring game that his Uncle Brent played in. He has also had some doctors appointments, and other than that we are just trying to establish a routine.

We're Home!

Just wanted to let everyone know we are home safe and sound! We are still working on adjusting and catching up on sleep, so I will post more later......

The Zoo was a Zoo!

We had a blast today! Tyler had never been to the zoo before and was so excited! It was actually a pretty good zoo and the kids and the parents all had fun. They kept it to an hour and a half visit which was more than enough with the heat and humidity today. Then they ordered Papa John's pizza for us to be delivered to our hotel when we returned. We used a little bribe with Tyler today....we had our guide Elsie tell him that if he would be good and take a nap after lunch, that Baba would take him swimming this afternoon. Worked like a charm! Baba and Tyler are snoring away right now, giving Mama a much needed break. So, this afternoon will be swimming, tomorrow we have to hang around the room in the morning while CHI takes care of our ACS appointment (in case there are any questions, they can call us) and then tomorrow evening is the Pearl River dinner cruise. We haven't decided for sure whether to go....but Tyler loves boats so much that we might try it. Then Wednesday is a trip to the pearl market followed by our oath at the ACS and we will get his Visa. We will have a big group dinner and then, finally, Thursday morning we will head home!

Guangzhou!

We are finally in Guangzhou! It's like a tropical paradise! Okay, so it's not the Caribbean......but it is warm and steamy and very touristy. We arrived yesterday afternoon and walked around all the little shops and went to dinner at this great Thai food place with all of the Children's Hope families. Today we had the medical exam and then went to the playground for some needed exercise. Tomorrow we go to the zoo. I will try to get some more pictures posted soon.

Tours of Luoyang!

It's really a beautiful city, well, other than the smog. Shawn had a REALLY bad time yesterday with his asthma. But, we were able to visit the Longman Grottos and White Horse Temple which were amazing. I'm pretty sure Tyler could have cared less about the Longman Grottos (carvings on the mountainside) but he did love the boat ride we took at the end and even told us he knows how to swim. He really seems to love the water and he was especially crazy about the goldfish ponds. When we went to White Horse Temple, he did oh and aw over all of the beautiful statues.

Today we took a bus ride back from Luoyang to Zhengzhou so that we can fly out to Guangzhou tomorrow. Tyler did much better today. Without the nerves and the heat, he didn't get sick at all. But, today has been our most challenging yet. He is starting to act out a bit, and especially towards Shawn. I think the major issue is that he is a little boy FULL of energy and we are cooped up in hotel rooms or buses all day. Once we get to Guangzhou, hopefully it will be better, as there will be places we can walk from the hotel and a playground inside the hotel. It will be interesting to see how his personality and behavior changes as he has more time with us and as we settle into life at home. It will just take a lot of patience and a lot of love, but he is such a sweet and loving little boy I know things will only get better!

Louyang Here We Come!

Today started off with some shopping at the local corner market. It's not your everyday Dillon's, but the essentials (water & oreo's) are available. I'm (shawn) not their everyday shopper, but everyone has been friendly. Not sure if that's because of my charming personality or because I'm the tallest person in the store :)



We took a 3 hour bus ride on the "Super Highway" to Louyang to process Tyler's passport and see the orphanage. This was quite an event. The bus had no air conditioning. So, it was about 90 degrees and with no shocks Tyler got sick. We think it was motion sickness and the stress because he was afraid that we were going to return him to the orphanage. Jesse, the guide talked to him and explained everything and after he got sick, everything was fine again. Well, except for the bus :)

Along the way we saw some great scenery. Below are some pictures of cave dwellings that are common in farming communities. We were amazed at what we saw.

Once in Louyang, we arrived at our new hotel. Tyler was relieved to get off the bus and so were we. We went to our rooms and cleaned up and while doing so, the room was still moving (motion sickness). WOW!!! We quickly loaded up again and headed out to get the children's passports. During our wait, the kids had a little sticker war and I think Tyler lost! Below is a picture of Jennifer and Tyler with his finalized paperwork.



After we completed the paperwork, we headed for the orphanage. We were able to spend time with Tyler's nanny and his teacher. Everyone was excited when they saw him. So, we could tell that he had a lot of friends.

Additionally, while we were at the orphanage, we were able to meet the man who works with the kids and teaches English. He has posted many videos of the children on utube.com. It was very interesting to meet him and hear about his experiences in China.

After a full day's activities we settled in at the hotel. It was dine in, call the parents and good night!

McDonalds and light up shoes!

Today was a free day so our guide took us and the another family we are with shopping today. The shoes we brought with us for Tyler were too small and we also wanted to get a sweatshirt for him as it can get kind of cool in the mornings here. We decided to get him another pair of pants because he is so skinny that many of the pairs I brought were way to big. There was a large department for kids shoes at the store we went to, so we let him look around. It didn't take long.....he wanted the shoes that light up when you walk! His friend that was also being adopted had some when we saw her at the adoption center. How could we saw no to that smile? He was SO happy! We just got back from dinner and put him in his PJ's, and he had to put the shoes back on. I hope we can get them off of him before bed.

We also decided it would be good to take the kids to McDonalds for lunch. Jessie, our coordinator, asked if it would be alright to tell him that we would be going later. When she did he started jumping up and down screaming "Mac Donalds" in his cute little Chinese accent! We ordered him chicken nuggets and fries and he ate so much he ended up with a belly ache. I asked Jessie to ask him if he had ever been to McDonalds before, and he said he had.

We also made progress today with him responding to his American name. He likes to look at all of the pictures and point out Mama and Baba and now instead of Zi Yuan he sometimes now says Tyler.

Tomorrow we head out in the morning for Luoyang, the city where his orphanage is to spend a couple days, one doing paperwork and the other visiting at the orphanage. Hopefully we will also have time to do some sightseeing.