A lazy Friday in China (:

Today was a down day, much needed after yesterdays early and busy day.

Yesterday we went to the clinic for Asher's required medical exam.  His fever was very low so we were able to get the things done we needed to.Thank you for the prayers, and thank God for Motrin!

He is a whopping 28 pounds!  That is fully dressed, after breakfast and without going poop for 3 days! After his check up, we headed out to the Guangzhou Animal Safari for the day.  We rode the train through the wild life area, fed some giraffes, saw some pandas and a bunch of other wild life.

Asher seemed to enjoy it, he is still pretty shut down and not showing much emotion or talking yet, but it will come. He is so sweet and trusting.

After the park, we came home and showered and went out to find some dinner.  Thankfully there is always Lucy's, or I think we would be really hungry.

 We talked to two exchange students from South Eastern University in Tampa, singing gospel music-- pretty cool!

We hit the hay @ 10pm and no one got up before 9am. Pretty sweet.

We had a late breakfast and went to a electronics market downtown.  Given the heat, and the fact that we are all on sensory overload, we decided to head back to the hotel and lay low.   After a few days of the city life here, my brain can't process much. The constant noise, people,traffic and not being able to understand anything catches up with me. But it is always a great reminder of how the kids will feel once in the states.

Asher took a good, long nap. And as he woke up, we snuggled for a long time afterward.  I loved it, he seemed good with it..a win win!

In a bit we will headed out and hunt for some dinner.  Yes, it seems like our day revolves around finding food.  It sometimes does, not gonna lie.

Tomorrow we will go back to the medical clinic to check his arm where the TB screen/shot was given. So far it looks great, no reaction.

Looking forward to being able to go back to the pool after given the all clear.  Seems the chlorine can effect the fever and the skin at the shot?  Not sure, but stayed out of the pool just to be safe about the TB site.

Do have to laugh at the differences between the cultures when it comes to medical issues. The advice our guide gave to bring Asher's fever down was pretty funny.  Pretty much opposite of what we do at home.  Given the medical exam was at stake, I chose my way.

We are hoping to go to a bi-lingual church service on Sunday, really looking forward to that.  Seems the laws about religious freedoms are loosening up a bit, at least here.   Have seen some changes in other things this trip too. Seems to be a growing divide between the ways of the older generations and the younger adults going on.  It will be interesting to see how things are in the next 20 years or so here.

Always great to visit, but looking forward to heading home next week.  We are so blessed in the states in sooooo many ways. We are not a perfect place, but no place else like it.

Ok, off to change little man's pants and go and forage for food!

Love you all!

Claire

Another great day in Guangzhou

Well, today was another really good one.

Little man is so sweet.  Still no words, but a smile and a giggle!  Seems he likes to fly down the hall with Michael as his plane.

He is slowly coming out of his shell.  Robin swears he understands English and is just holding out on us.  Sometimes that look in his eyes makes me wonder too.

We had a late day of appointments, so we spent a little bit of time at the hotel pool in the morning.  Asher let us take him in and hold him, but really had no use for the swimming thing.  He did enjoy sitting under the umbrella having some water and M&M's though  (:

He also worked on his self feeding skills today, thankfully the restaurant had children's forks. He could have done some damage to his beautiful face with a real one.  He spent a LONG time stabbing his food and moving it from plate to plate. But he did manage to get a few things into his mouth.

He isn't eating as well as yesterday because he is running a fever.  So prayers would be appreciated.  If his fever is too high, we will have to reschedule his medical exam, and that could back things up down the line. So please pray that he is better tomorrow so we can get the exam done and not hit any delays.

The rest of the day was spent on the Island picking up our laundry, doing some souvenir shopping and having some dinner.  Robin, Asher and I took a cab back to our hotel with all of our stuff, and Michael and Cassidy walked.  Yep, they beat us back.  Our cab driver must have seen sucker written on mine and Robin's forehead, and took us back via the long way. Then dropped he us off a few blocks from the hotel to boot!

Now, before you get all judgmental, try taking a cab in a foreign city of 12 million people... yep, you'd get taken too!

So, that is the news from here.  Tomorrow is an early day so I am off to bed.

Love you!

Claire

 

 

It's official - Asher Andrew Taylor

Well, today little man became Asher Andrew Taylor!

We headed out this morning, back to the Civil Affairs office and had a few interviews and signed some papers that I can't read...and then he was declared ours forever!

Unfortunately, pictures were highly discouraged..at least by the officer we had today. She did seem a bit grumpy, but managed a curious smile like expression when I answered her question about my other children.  Do not think she quite believed me at first, but oh well...thought about showing her the kids pictures on my phone, but I really don't think she would have gone for that (: 

So being all official, we took our kid and paper work and headed to lunch.  Little man ate pretty good today. Getting some weight on him is my new hobby.

We also did some shopping for little man shorts, a new pair of sandals and some bottles. He has a lot of trouble drinking from a cup since his palate has not been surgically closed yet.  The bottles work great!  He downed at least 4 bottles of water this afternoon.

After lunch we strolled around and played at a near by park.  Well, we watched the other kids play.  Asher is still pretty shy and likes to hang back and watch the action.  We had a good time watching him take it all in, he is a serious watcher of all things.

Those eyes just catch everything.  Still no words.  He did burst out in tears this am, realized that he had wet his pants and was pretty upset. I think he was afraid of being in trouble.

But once he realized all was ok..he changed into some dry pants and had a lollipop.  We were told that he is potty trained during the day, but I don't think so.  He has not asked to go, or shown any interest when in the bathroom.

So to make things easier for now, I bought some pull ups. Not going to try to get into that now.

He is sooooo gentle and just so easy to please. We had another quick bath tonight, and he seemed to like it more. We brushed teeth and put lotion on his arms and legs.  My friend Robin had brought some aloe with her, and we have been putting that on his burn areas. It doesn't seem to hurt him, but it does look dry and tight.  Right now he is very busy coloring and taking his crayons in and out of a coffee mug.

We are off for a late dinner, jet lag got the best of us this afternoon. Some napped, some just watched tv in a stupor.  All are ready for bed tonight.

Hope all is well at home, I miss Bart and the kids sooooo much.  But we will be busy the next few days with immigration paper work and a medical exam.  We will do some more sight seeing in the next days too.

Enjoy the pictures!  The first four pictures are from "gotcha day"

Claire

 "Hi Asher, I'm your mommy"

 

the soldiers on Shamian Island

 

 Asher watching the soldiers on Shamian Island

 Cassidy and Asher

Bath time