5 days left!!!

Wahoo!

I just realized that we have 5 days left until we fly home!

We are enjoying our time here, and our travel group is really nice, but we are ready to come home.

It is awesome to travel over here, and be in the culture, but my brain is dying to hear and see what it is used to. At least we are getting a good idea of what life will be like for Logan when we get home.

And speaking of little man.....what a water bug! We spent two hours swimming this afternoon, and I don't think he got out of the pool once. Both little ones are exhausted, so we gave them and early dinner tonight. It isn't even 7 yet, and Mia is out cold.

We did some more sightseeing today. Went to the Chan family heritage house, pretty interesting, then to a tea house. That was a different experience. We sat at tiny tables and drank tiny cups of Chinese tea. Not to be rude, but we were thankful that they were tiny cups!!! Tasted pretty much like grass,really!

After lunch we hit the pool. Things are going well with the rest of the family, but that Logan and I aren't bonding well. He wants very little to do with me as the days go on. Yesterday did not go well, and I took it personally. It looks like I have some work ahead of me. For now, I am hanging back and letting Bart handle him unless he specifically asks for me. It happens a few times a day, so I'll just go with that. There is another family here who adopted a 6 year old boy also, and they are having an even tougher time with him. All of the girls seem to be doing really well, who knows?

But, he is a keeper. He is very sweet, not aggressive or physical. He is starting to take on his role of big brother too. He was hovering over Mia in the pool, trying to pull her back to the steps. And I'm sure you can guess how that went over! Looks I''ll be working on attachment stuff when we get home. Plus, there is always good old duct tape. I've heard it is the rage in the RAD therapy circles. (:

Am off to get ready for bed, I have an appointment at the American Consulate tomorrow morning to fix a misspelling in Logan's Visa paperwork. Guess whiteout isn't an option, I get to redo a bunch of papers.

Hope all is going great at home. Here are some pictures of our orphanage visit, zoo and other crazy things.

Love,
Claire

Running a muck

Hey everyone,

Sorry about not posting for a few days. It has just been really busy.

Plus, we received an amazing gift from a friend at church who works for Marriott. He was able to get us an upgrade on our room this evening, and it is SOOOOOOOOOOOO awesome. We now have 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a living room!!!! This extra space is such a blessing.

Am off to finish unpacking. I have lots of pictures and will post them tomorrow. All is good here. Logan is such a little man, he does everything that Bart and Mike do. And Mia imitates him, it is pretty funny.

He is picking up a few English words, and answers to Logan right away. He doesn't like PDA, but is more open to it in the room. I think he is pretty in tune how men are in this culture, he is very business like when we are out and about. Sometimes we poke at him just to get a reaction.

Hope all is going great at home. We miss ya'll !

Love,
Claire

SUNSHINE!!!!!!!

Hey, June 20-21sth

The sun came out yesterday!!! Very cool because it came out just as we were leaving the orphanage.

Yesterday was our visit to where Logan has been living. It was bitter sweet. We were greeted by his nanny of 3 years. We toured about two hallways, and an outside play area. We were not allowed to take pictures of any specific children, but did get a few group shots of his classmates.

His teacher was very sweet. Logan's class is sponsored by a foundation called Half the Sky, so we were blessed with a big book full of pictures of Logan over the past years, and each page has documentation on it. We will have to get it translated soon. It is truly a treasure. After visiting his class, we went to his room. He shared it with about 6-8 other kids, We also got to look in on some of the little ones, and I got to hold the most precious babies. Of course I asked if I could have a few, and they laughed. Our guide looked at me like I had 3 heads. She is young, no kids...doesn't quiet get the whole mommies always loving babies thing.

After our tour, it was really hard to read Logan. He was quiet on the way to the hotel, but he seemed ready to go. He was extra glued to Bart for the rest of the day, and wanted to sleep with Michael last night. But he seemed good this morning.

Mia did not like the orphanage at all, she asked to leave a few times, and was gluey most of the day also. When we went shoe shopping, she would not let the lady help her, she said that the lady was going to take her. I said absolutely not! I would chase the lady down.

After lunch, we hit the pool. It was really a nice break. Logan seems to love the water and told our guide this morning that he went swimming and " even the baby can swim!"

We went to the Guangzhou Zoo this morning and then got totally lost while we wandered around this afternoon. You should see the looks we got!! People would actually count and hold up 4 fingers and point to the kids. A few older ladies would just laugh out loud. Again, not sure it was a good laugh!

Even after 2 trips to China, it still amazing to walk around and see such a different way of life. I so appreciate all that we have back home. Of course the good, and even the bad. Our bad looks pretty good after 6 days!

I can't even imagine what must be going on in Logan's mind. His little eyes search everywhere. He is sooo curious about how everything works. I wish we could communicate much better with him.

OH!! We just got a message from the front desk! We are moving rooms! A friend of Bart's from church works for Marriott, and he has been able to get us an upgrade to a suite. It will be soooo nice to have some more elbow room. So....I am off to pack.......

June 21st

Good afternoon!

Hope all is well. We are back from Logan's medical check and a quick trip with the travel group to the grocery store.

We have a few more hours of paper work to do this afternoon, then we are all done with that! Bart is going to take the kiddos to the pool. He is off at the gym, and Logan doesn't like it one bit. He just finished a temper tantrum, and is now playing with the phone...trying to call Baba ( daddy in Chinese)

He is pretty frustrated with not being able to communicate with us. But the rest of the travel group is here now, and there are some older kids for him to play with. So hopefully he will like that.

There are a few older boys in the group, and it seems that their little men are pretty attached to the dads too. Thankfully we don't have any of the physical issues that a few have, at least not yet. Logan isn't a hitter or pincher. He does yell out loud when he gets frustrated, sometimes buries his head but all in all he is doing well.

Off to rescue Livy from her new little bro. Seems he doesn't want her to watch a dvd right now.

Hope all is well.

Love,
Claire

Still raining.......

Good morning!

It is still raining here, but all is good.

Yesterday was a quiet day, just one appointment that took longer to get to then actually have. But, now Logan is not just officially ours, he is legally ours. what's the difference? Not sure! But we are keeping him either way.

Just wish that he would come out of his shell and interact with us a little more. NOT!!!!!!!! This kid doesn't have a shy bone in his body. I was washing some clothes in the tub yesterday, and he screamed," MAMA!!" stripped of all of his clothes and started to help me. It was quite the bonding moment.

After we were finished, he went a straighten his shoes, and refolded his clothes and Livy's. I did tell the other kids to take notes.

After our laundry day, we headed out to find something to do while raining. We found a store with some bikes, and let the kids ride around for awhile. Yes, another day of breaking Chinese social norms! We also bought a soccer ball and some other toys and headed to our hotel's gym to play.

We were playing in the hall, and that didn't go over well with the cleaning ladies. Michael was pretty done with this whole trip yesterday. Not sure who said they were ready to go home more, him or Mia? My favorite comment of the day from him was, " I feel so poor playing in the hall."

Today we are headed to Logan's orphanage. Not sure how this will go, but our guide talked with him, and he seems to understand, and want to go back to say some goodbyes. A few people have asked us to check on their children to be adopted, so I will try my best to do so.

Hope all is well at home. We miss ya'll!

Love,
Claire

Good Morning! Quick update

Ok, day 4 of rain......and we just realized that there is major flooding along the Yellow River.

News doesn't travel fast when you can't speak the language! Just wanted to let ya'll know that we are fine in the city. And our guide said that the orphanage is fine too. (We will be going there on Thursday or Friday.)

We have a slow day today, no appointments until 3pm. We will head out and explore as soon as Logan is done folding his clothes. Seriously, he took everything out of his drawer, and is refolding it all. I'll post pictures later.

Well, looks like we will be here for awhile, he just opened Livy's drawer. If he gets to Michael's....will never get out of here.(:

He is doing really well this am. We spent some time coloring and smelling each other's feet. He is taken by Livy's hair and braces.

Hope all is well!

Love,
Claire

He's offically ours!

Hey everyone!

We are doing great! Logan is a total riot! ALL boy. He is helping us to shatter most Chinese social norms. Going up the down escalator, swinging on those fancy red velvet ropes at the front desk and racing the kids everywhere. Look out Mali, Jake and Josiah! You guys are going to love his total lack of fear.

We went to the pool this afternoon, and little man just jumps right off the edge into the pool. Ok, I hear you....so? What's so great about that, he's six. Oh great, she's bragging already.(;

BUT... the kid has never been in a pool before! Thankfully he had on a swim vest, so he came back up and the look on his face was priceless. I had to turn around so he didn't see me laughing at him. Bart was right there, and just wanted Logan to see what happens when you just jump in.

Well, this morning started off early. We went to the Civil Affairs office at 8:30 to sign the official adoption paperwork, then we went to a dept. store to buy some smaller shorts and some smaller tennis shoes. No luck finding underpants....I don't think the kids wear them here. He didn't come with any, and I got funny looks when I asked for them. Actually, we are getting funny looks all over.

We were out for a walk this afternoon, and a woman with a baby came up to us. She spoke English very well, and said that she just had to ask if all of the kids were ours? We said yes, and she just laughed. Not sure it was a good laugh either.

But, Logan seems to be doing well. He is really into Michael and Bart. Ok with Livy and Mia, and not really into me at all. So, I am just taking things slow. I think I'm going to have a different attachment process this go. Mia is doing so well with this whole thing so far.
She has been such a trooper, very proud of her. I am sure she was made to be the littlest one, she even let Logan push her in the stroller today.

Well, I have a room full of hungry people. So, we are going to grab a cab and grab a bite.

Hope you enjoy the pictures, and hope all is well.

Love,
Claire and crew

We've got him!!!!

Wow. Where do I start?

Do ya'll remember when I said that Logan had the look of just bring me home old lady?

Well, he is a total keeper. Just amazing.

We first saw him when we were going into the civil affairs office. We were early, and saw him getting out of his van with his nanny. We rode the elevator together, just staring at each other. We smiled, he looked a little scared.

When the door opened, his nanny took him into another room for a few minutes, then brought him back out. He was so brave for a few minutes, but as he realized what was going on, he got really upset. We spent some time playing cars and coloring, but when it was time for the nanny to leave, he broke down. Bart had to hold him to keep him from running after her.

I was no help. My heart split in two. Our guide suggested that I stop crying, it might be making him nervous. Something silly about Logan reading our facial expressions for reassurance. Blah,blah,blah. We were taking him away from all that he knows and the fact that he was upset about it was fine with us.

So off we went, loaded into our van, and headed for the hotel. He was quiet, but very interested in what was going on. We showed him the room, and his clothes. He looked through some toys and just like his little sister.....he went right for his SHOES!!! Ripped off his pretty pink sandals and put on his Speed racer light ups. Then when the hat and the sun glasses. We got a thumbs up and a hint of a smile.

We headed off to bribe him with some McDonald's. He dove into his food and we got more smiles. We played with our food and straws and pretty much broke a few social norms. But Logan was having fun and that's all that mattered.

We came back to the room and guess what!!!! He started to straighten up!!! OHOHOHOH YEAH!! I finally got one like me!!! He also really started to warm up, laughing and playing.