Playdough Jesus?

Ok, really??? this has been sitting in my blog "darft" for a year??? For some reason it's not showing up that it ever was published, sooooo, here ya go- about one year later! (I'm publishing it on 3/13/15!)

As I begin this blog entry, David and I are sitting in a small room while Chan is having a MRI. I'll probably not finish this entry in one sitting either. Honestly, it's the first time I've been without my new shadow since March 16. I looooove my shadow, but if you know me well at all I need me some space at times. 45 minutes to breathe by myself is nice although I didn't expect to cry when I saw my son's eyes close 5 seconds after the sedation went into his vein. He's SO brave! Praise the Lord We are able to communicate through translation apps on our phones to prepare him somewhat of all these doctor appointments, xrays, MRI, etc.

Can you even imagine all the changes he's gone through in the last six weeks? Unbelievable. Truly. He's simply amazing.  New family, friends, language, food, smells, car seatbelts, culture, address, clothes, doctors, dentist, immunizations, blood draws,, xrays, MRI, church, home, routine, toys (well, he never had toys that I saw when we visited his foster family), and "school" (although he's home just trying to adjust he does love him some iPad school!)...EVERYTHING IS NEW!  Did I mention how brave he is?!?

Family fun...after doctor appointment for me (another normal CPK- about 7 months in a row! Woohoo!!)

Chan's first egg hunt

Some dear friends hosted an Easter Celebration/Welcome Home party for Chan and two other sweet kiddoes who've just been adopted in our church.  It was a great time and so fun to see him begin to mix it up with new friends. He even played his first baseball game...hit the ball the first time!

This is our fourth year for our CHUBBY BUNNY tradition with Rachel- how many can we stuff into our mouth (without throwing up?!).  David won this year.

Resurrection Sunday morning

Chan with his best buds...Parker and Aubrey. I'm really thankful these guys have stepped up and made Chan feel so at home.  They have been great friends to him!  They've downloaded translation apps, blown up stuff with him (and David!), played hours of wii & nerf blasters, sat with him at church, and the list goes on!

And our neighbor and friend, TJ, has done much of the same.  He blessed him with a bike and spent his Saturday with him!

Audrey An and Anna...and when Chan is with them we affectionally call them the Chinese delegation. Love them!

My Abigail is growing up!

So this is the exciting part of this post! Chan came RUNNING upstairs shouting, "Look, Mama! Jesus!" Ok, wow!  I wish I had a better picture, but it was so detailed (from the "King of the Jews" sign, fingers, feet- and I wonder if he purposely mixed the playdough to make it look like blood?). He initiated this piece of art after he found and watched the Jesus Film (the long version) on the iPad earlier the same morning! Folks, this is a GREAT reminder to me that you never know what our kids are absorbing (the good stuff and the bad stuff). Thank you, Lord, that Chan is soaking the great stuff in like a super sponge right now and protect him from yuck of the world! This what it's all about, people!

This is one of my most favorite gifts- love it! My aunt sent Audrey An a bilingual bible when she came home from China. AA has enjoyed it, but she never read it in Chinese. Chan has been taking hers to church. She just sent Chan a similar bible (which he DOES read in chinese!) along with a worship cd in Chinese and 100 bible verses (in Chinese and English).  The bible came with a follow-along audio cd, and he's already listened to the first 8 stories!

It's been a very busy few weeks since we've been home.  Not only have we all even trying to adjust to being a family of five, overcoming jet lag, assessing what he can/can't do "school wise" and find our new normal... I have had doctor appointments as well as Chan as I mentioned.  We received the  results late Friday afternoon for his MRI.  I have to admit, I was relieved and somewhat encouraged by some of the things we learned. We are learning that his issues are not congenital and somewhat correctable but have were caused from his environment (we suspected but weren't sure).  Again, simply unbelievable.  Unbelievable since we already see a change since he's had good nutrition and clean water.  We will be seeing yet another specialist on Monday and hopefully that will yield us some more answers to a pretty much unknown medical history. This is one of the risks one takes when saying yes to a call from The Lord to international adoption.  He's held our hands each step of this journey, and He will continue.  Is it scary at times? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes. 

Chan is sharp as a tack. He taught himself to ride a bike this week, and I bought him a golf club, baseball mit/ball/glove/bat yesterday to go along with every other kind of ball that have now found a place at our house. He's Observant. Creative. Detailed. Athletic. Artistic. Determined. We've seen some of the grieving process, but it has not been over the top to date.  The toughest relationship in the family us between Chan and Audrey An.  Interesting. That's another post! I've seen him skip over all pictures and videos of his foster family to just a few days ago flipping through looking at them.  I even got brave enough to ask him if he missed China. He said yes, but he also said he liked being in America with his new family (and even said it with the grin!).

Loving having a boy.  So different but different kind of fun. Chan's learning, I'm learning...we are all learning! So extremely thankful to God for being patient with me in this process. And a process it is!

as you can see...I started this on Thursday, and I'm obviously not still waiting on a MRI to finish on Saturday night!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Ok, I admit...I just broke about every adoption rule of attachment and bonding and took my child to church after being home 9 days (but hey... it was only 2 days with Audrey An, and she's doing ok five years later- lol!).  On Friday, I drove him to our church building to let him look around prior to us going on Sunday. Well, that didn't go as planned. I was going to take him into the worship center, into his classroom and into our classroom where his daddy teaches (in case he went to our class instead).  He didn't even want to get out of the car so I didn't push it, of course, but I told him that it was a special place for our family, and that we will be coming here every week.  Once I said that, he looked at me with that sweet smile of his and nodded "yes."  I explained we come to worship God and fellowship with our friends. Well, he wasn't quite sure about that! I told him Aubrey, Parker, TJ, Hannah, Luke, Lindsey and Hannah would be there (all friends he'd met last week)- he got SO excited!

So... Saturday we prepped him again. Sunday morning we prepped him again. He saw all of us getting dressed a bit nicer than he's seen so far. He's heard us pray (even though he didn't understand our words) that God would give him a peace on Sunday. That he would not be scared. That God would begin to use this yet another "first" in his life with his forever family to draw Chan to Himself. 

He was a little resistant to go in the building, but I asked our friends Aubrey and Parker to meet him outside and that helped. My apologies to everyone I passed in the hallways and said while smiling, "Don't be offended that I'm still walking. He is a little overwhelmed right now, and we're going to just keep walking!  He will meet you later! "

Sitting next to his little sister. I translated a few things but mainly just sat back and let him get used to being in the class with the other kids.

He thought it was kind of funny that his mei mei was helping with the singing. I thought it was PERFECT that he was already seeing his sister serve in our church. 

Listening to Pastor Jason ...sitting between Audrey An and her best friend. Sorry, Grace, he scooted you over!

We strategically sat towards the back in case we had to make a quick exit. He walked in with Parker, but Chan saved a seat for Aubrey (too sweet!). 

My Aunt Linda gave this bilingual bible to Audrey An almost five years, and it's been sitting on his dresser since we have been home. He he hasn't touched it until Sunday. He was completely engaged with it for about 20-25 minutes in the service (yes, he can read chinese...sweet!). His eyes got as big as saucers, and he gasped several times while reading. So I know he was trying to comprehend all the miracles that he was reading! I leaned over to my friend Michelle and told her what was happening. She told me she had been praying that God would speak to him today in his language. Isn't God so great? I just love that!!

There was a fascination for Chan. There was anxiousness at times (as he kept showing me the sign "drive"...aka "let's go!"). I do know God was working though. He was stirring in my son's heart- and has been for awhile. It's completing incredible to see God's miracles unfolding before my eyes!

This is the first time I've jealousy on Chan's part! Audrey An climbed up into my lap, and he did not like that! I had room for two though!  Michelle took this shot, and I didn't even know it.

Priceless!! I adore how he's looking up at Parker. We slipped out of the service early- he was finished! Pretty good though for a first Sunday in the States!

Our sweet friend, Shanna, made these these shirts and gave them to us at church yesterday. They are precious!

It was a great "first" at FIRSTbcj!  Our choir sang one of my favorite songs- "The Majesty and Glory of Your a Name" followed by "Surely the Presence of The Lord is in This Place."... Gulp. Tears. Grateful. 

Some of the notes I wrote down during Pastor Mel's sermon were the following: God will take you to places you don't necessarily want to go. God will tell me things I may not want to hear. God may make you see life in ways that I may not want to see" (Christa's paraphrase). Isn't that the truth. God opened my eyes, and God opened David's eyes at the same time a little over a year ago (after many years of praying and not being on the same page at the same time) to pursue "ADB".  We were told finding ADB would be like finding a needle in a haystack (by one agency), but God knew where that needle was! I'm thankful we pursued that needle/God's plan even when it didn't make sense to others.  To God be the Glory!

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways    and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

What a week!

The girls went back to school Monday, and I was not quite sure how Chan would deal with that after being with them 24/7 the past two weeks (almost three now).  Abigail explained via google translate (!) they were going to school, and he seemed to be content with it all. It helped it was a GORGEOUS day here and were outside all day. He and David built a platform step to put in front of the trampoline to help the kids climb up into it.  Chan, of course, looooved getting to help and use baba's tools. He then helped me "shower" the jungle gym that was so absolutely, disgustingly dirty. Yes, I squirted him with the hose a couple of times, too!  He was amazed at how clean we were able to get it and told me, "Oh! Good job, mama!" several times. Ha!

He's quite the little helper!

He noticed our patio furniture was filthy and proceeded to "tell" me so- and do something about it! Love a man with a mission!

Later that night we were able to get translation help from two teens who came home to America about a year ago- huge blessing! One of the girls showed him how to speak into the translation app I've been using to translate English to Chinese, but he'd not ever understood how to speak into it so we'd hear Chinese to English translation! 

Well... The next morning he had some motivation to use it!

I found out he doesn't like brown rice.

I redeemed myself quickly after running to the store for WHITE rice! AA doesn't like brown rice either (and did you know there's about a zillion types if rice? I didn't until we lived in Vietnam!).

Then... Later in the day I asked him if he wanted to go to Walgreens with me. This is what he told me!

He has quite a fun personality!

I love this...

As soon as we walked in to Walgreens he GRABBED my hand and took me down every aisle with, again, amazement on his face. He'd never seen anything quite like this before- only small Asian markets. His mind will be blown again at Super Target!

He thinks his mom is kinda goofy, too!

Some more of his "firsts" this week:

Jumped on a Trampoline, played Legos, soccer and badminton, rode a scooter, learned to swing (out and in), ate McDonald's hamburger, saw fire truck...

Chan said, "I love you, mama!" (Out of the blue when in the car with just me)!

Received his first piece of mail (and it happens to be his GREAT grandmother!).  He asked me to translate it using the app. Chan even wanted me to read the address. I explained that an address was where we live. He immediately said, "I'm not moving."  That made me smile on so many levels!!! He knows. Praise God he knows!

Watched the Jesus Film in mandarin, and he was completely engaged. You should have seen his face when the filmed showed some of Jesus' miracles. Precious. 

Thought this was interesting- grabbed my hand and proceeded to explain this entire set up- he was matching photos from China and his new home to each vignette. 

Both girls had school projects they were working on Tuesday nite. He didn't want to be left out so he made his own (yes, complete with pictures we'd picked up from Walgreens). I didn't notice until the next morning he'd taped his above his bed. Awwww. 

Met several friends of ours this week (and has already put then to work!).

I discovered he can read in Chinese bc when he uses the translation app he starts over many times before it says it aloud (aka he knows it's not understanding his voice/dialect completely).  Tonight, he wanted me to read him books using the app- smart boy!

Well, please don't think this week has been a walk in the park. This morning was the must gut wrenching since we've been home. 

Even though we have been preparing him (and his bridge foster family had told him as well) for several days "baba" had to go to work today, Chan cried crocodile tears. It broke my heart, BUT it shows me he's bonding. He misses his sisters when they're at school, too. On top of his daddy leaving for work, I had to take him to his first doctor's appointment today. Not the best of timing to hit him all at once. Ugh. Loooong story short, but I had to pry him out of the car then lock the doctor's office door so he wouldn't run away. After I checked in, the doctor's office proceeded to tell me he wasn't listed on our insurance- ugh. Seriously? It was a mistake, and he's listed now but still... Ugh. Went through all that torture this morning and had to reschedule the appointment for next week. I had to make sure he knew that we were leaving because I didn't have a paper not because he didn't want to be there. Double ugh. Bless his heart. Truly. 

Ok, so this is been a super long post. Sorry- just a lot has happened this week! There's really so much more I want to write, but I'll save for later. He's amazing. Chan is amazingly resilient and brave. God is even more amazingly big- probably not the best way to describe either. I'll have to think of a more magnificent way next time. 

God, may n's> victory and honor come from You alone. May You be his refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach him. 

Psalm 62:7