November 5, 2008

Oh my!! I need to update this blog! It feels like forever since I have been able to sit at the computer to type. Even now, things could get interesting :o) !!

Just in case you thought we dropped off the face of the earth, WE ARE HOME! We arived home about 2am Saturday, Oct. 18. We were very tired, but SOOOOO glad to be home. Our children greeted us at the door when we arrived! I had been able to hold it together emotionally the entire trip to China, but while we were driving home, all I could do was cry! God is amazing! I am very thankful for this humbling opportunity to be Samuel Ty's mom. And equally as emotional to get my arms around our other three wonderful children!

Samuel Ty (Bin Bin) is doing very well. He is learning English quickly. He is a very smart little boy!! He knows several colors, shapes, numbers, and the names of most things he sees every day. He loves music and can take things apart and put them back together! He is very curious and likes to see how things work. He eats very well and has had no trouble adapting to new foods. He likes just about anything! He is sleeping all night now. He is very active during the day---actually NON-STOP :o) !! He has bonded well with all of us. It's amazing to me that he has only been "in" the family for one month (tomorrow). We even see a little sibling rivalry when he wants his way and he is quick to tell you when he doesn't get it!

I don't have a lot of pictures loaded into the computer yet. However, my sister-in-law, Jana, snapped a few when she visited a few days ago, so I'll share those. He smiles ALL DAY! I am so very thankful!

Hopefully I can update more often!

Toni

Ty with Jana!

I think we have settled on the name we will call him. His name is Samuel Ty and his Chinese nickname, Bin Bin, will always be a part of him (we still call him Bin Bin sometimes), but the name we are going to call him is.....Ty. It just fits his personality. We hope you like the pictures of Ty!! Thanks Aunt Jana!!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 9:00pm China time 9:00am NC time

Hello Everyone!

We are one day closer to home! Yipee!!! The paperwork went well. We just need to pick up Bin Bin's visa tomorrow. We had free time for most of the day today. We went to Shaiman Island again. We walked around the entire area. It was really nice! We found some more goodies of course. We found a little panda backpack for Samuel Ty. He loves it!

Tonight we ate dinner with some new friends. They also adopted a little boy. We had the pleasure of listening to live music. Three chinese men (2 guitar and 1 upright bass) played American songs from the '70s and '80s. They also sang. We couldn't help but get tickled when we heard "Country Roads" by John Denver! Bin Bin loved it!!! He danced, clapped, and tried to sing! This was the moment I wish I had a video camera. I told Steve no one would believe us without a video!

Last night we ate supper with new friends and visited the pool. It was very nice!

Enjoy all of the pictures!!

We love you all!!!

Steve, Toni, and Samuel Ty

10-14-08 Tues. 12:15pm China time Tues. 12:15am NC time

Hello Everyone!

Today we went to a Tea House. China is famous for tea. We learned about tea pots and the proper way to prepare tea. We tasted five different types of tea. The tastes were very different. Some were naturally sweet. Others were bitter and some had almost no taste at all. The Chinese people have hot tea at meals and during the day. Actually, the Chinese people do not drink cold drinks at meal time. They drink hot tea, hot water, coffee, hot milk, or room temperature drinks. Bin Bin has had hot water several times during his meals. He seems to like it. He is really starting to like juice!

I thought you might like to read about Bin Bin. So here's a little update on the things he is doing since we got him on Oct. 6.

• Bin Bin takes a short nap each day and sleeps all night. Getting him to sleep is still his toughest time. Once he is asleep, he does great.


• He is learning English well. He asks "What is this?" in mandarin all the time. I give him the English word and he repeats it over and over. He really is a sponge! Sometimes he will use the English word first. He always smiles when he says the correct word. He is so proud of himself (and full of himself, too :o)


• He is happier each day. His smile will make you melt!!


• We had to carry him everywhere the first week. Now he will walk and hold our hands or ride in the stroller.


• We have discovered he likes to sing! He will hold Steve's hand on the way to breakfast and sing the entire way!


• Steve is also teaching him how to dance! (see the pictures!)


• He loves fruit. Especially watermelon!!


• He is giving up rice congee in the mornings. He has now discovered crescent rolls and sweet rolls. He also likes strawberry yogurt.


• Crowds do not bother him as much now. He will only break down now if the space is too small for "lots of people". "Lots of people" was one of the first English phrases he learned!


• We say "I love you" in English and mandarin all the time. I think he finally understood "I love Bin Bin" for the first time last night. Steve said it to him and without prompting, Bin Bin said, "I love Baba(daddy)".


• He can be a stinker! He can look at you, smile, and do exactly what he knows he should not do. We are working on that :o) !
  
• He has learned sign language for more, all done, no, sit, and eat.
  
• He is learning the names of family members. From the first day, he has recognized and remembered Chandler! He also recognizes his cousin Carson everytime. He reocognizes Ashley and Alex everytime, too. He just has a harder time pronouncing their names--something about the "a" sound. There are other cute stories about how he recognizes other family members, too. We will tell each of you about it when we see you.


• We brought pictures of our house and his room. He recognizes those and will say, "Bin Bin's house" and "Bin Bin's bed".


• We also brought pictures of Bin Bin and a few of his friends from the orphanage. He told me who they were right away! When he looks at those pictures, he always speaks in mandarin but somewhere in all of that he says, "mama" and starts singing a song. It makes me wonder if the nannies taught the children a song to help them prepare for leaving the orphanage and having a mama. He smiles when he sees them. He seems to have good memories of them.
  

The past two weeks have certainly been a roller coaster of emotions! We are truly amazed by God's grace and love for us, our precious son who is no longer an orphan, and the three amazing children we have back home! We can't wait to be a family and start our lives together in North Carolina, the place we call HOME!

Monday, Oct. 13, 2008 3:35pm China time 3:35am NC time

Hello Everyone!

Well, it's been a few days since our last blog. We apologize! Our last blog (on Friday) was also our last day in Chongqing. We flew from Chongqing to Guangzhou early Saturday morning. We were unsure about the flight because Bin Bin has never been on an airplane and we were in a small space with "lots of people". He did not like the airport. However, he did OK on the plane once we took off. This was our shortest flight. We have two more flights to go!! Please continue to pray that Bin Bin does well. Thursday evening we have a three hour flight to Beijing. Then we leave early Friday for our long journey home (about 17 hours total). Enough about flying!

The past two days have been nice, but very busy. We have been reunited with all of our travel buddies and families. There are fifteen families total. The children are precious!! Most of them are girls. There is one other family who also adopted a little boy. Our two little guys have already had a playdate! The other families are very nice! It is an amazing sight to see God's hand in the lives of these families now united with their children!

Samuel Ty has done much better here in Guangzhou. I think he likes being around the other families. Maybe he doesn't feel quite so different. In any case, he is doing better each day.

Yesterday (Sunday) we toured the Guangdong Folk Arts Museum. It was beautiful! The wood carvings, ivory carvings, ceramics, and embroidery were beautiful. Bin Bin enjoyed this museum because we spent time inside and outside. Enjoy the pictures!

Later we went to the Friendship Store. This store had everything! It is seven stories tall. It's kind of like a mall and grocery store all in one! We bought a few groceries for the week. Still no Mtn. Dew, but we did buy a box of Cheerios and a can of Pringles chips!

My afternoon was spent doing paperwork. I wish I had taken my camera! Twenty adults in one room for over two hours trying to finish adoption paperwork for our meetings this week! We are in the home stretch and oh so tired of paperwork :o)

Supper was a special treat. All of the families went to a very nice Japanese restaurant here in the hotel. It was delicious! You would think this was the first time we offered Bin Bin food. He ate and ate and ate and ate!!! He really enjoyed it. We were glad to see him eat! Breakfast has been his biggest meal until now! Steve was finally able to fill his stomach, too. He had steak and really enjoyed it! I decided to stick to my veggies and fried rice. It was great!

Our Monday began with the medical exam. We are so glad that is over! It is really just a formality at this point. Something that is necessary for the final paperwork. However, on this day, our group and another adoption group were there at the same time. The area is very small. It was really hard on the children to be there for so long in such a small, loud place. It was overwhelming, even for the parents.

After the exam, we went shopping! We were on the Shaiman Island (sp?). All of the shop owners speak English. We met some nice people and bought some neat things. We enjoyed our afternoon walking around the island. We enjoyed a nice lunch. We even had onion rings! Bin Bin tried them. He liked the onion rings, but liked french fries better! Of course, rice is the staple he wants at every meal. So he ate rice, too.

Samuel Ty just finished his nap and little fingers are finding the keyboard! We love you all and miss you very much!! Enjoy the pictures!

Steve, Toni, and Samuel Ty (Bin Bin)

The Guangdong Folk Arts Museum

10-10-08 China time 7:15pm NC time 7:15am

Hello Everyone!

Our morning began early as Bin Bin got up at 5:30am! He slept all night :o) and was ready to go!! He really wanted to stay in the room, but we had a full day of touring in Chongqing. We started our tour with a famous taxi ride--most of which he cried. I thought briefly, "Poor taxi driver" until I remembered just how much we are risking our lives riding in these things. If I could scream, I would! I'm sort of kidding---it has been an adventure riding, but in some strange way, these drivers know what they are doing. I feel safer riding than I would "playing Frogger" trying to cross the street.

We stopped first at the Chongqing Town Hall. We only walked around outside. It was a very pretty building. It reminded me of the buildings we saw at the Forbidden City. Our guide also told us that many people gather on this plaza to exercise every morning and evening. There are several places around the city where people gather to exercise. Retirees also gather during the day to dance. I took pictures of this yesterday.

Across the street from Town Hall is the Three Gorges Dam Museum. Samuel Ty did fine until we were inside the museum. He screamed the entire time! The museum was very interesting. However, Samuel Ty did not want to be inside. We obviously left early. He did fine as soon as we walked out of the door. We decided indoor activities were out of the question! Our guide chose to take us to an old part of the city. We walked outside the entire time. Bin Bin did just fine there.

The older part of town was like stepping back in time. Narrow streets, lots of people, small store venders, food venders, steep alley-ways, and even a residential section. I think one thing we have noticed the most here in Chongqing is vast contrast between old and new---side by side.

10-10-08 China time: Fri. 6:30am NC time Thurs. 6:30pm



Hello Everyone!!


We had Thursday to ourselves and it was nice. Samuel Ty is doing well. We started our day with breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Each day has been a little better. Today----no tears! We are staying in a five star hotel (which by the way is very nice! :o). It can be a little overwhelming, even for us. Samuel Ty seems to be doing better with his surroundings.



We played in the room for a little while. Then we ventured out to the local grocery store. OK. THIS was a bit overwhelming!! Now that we are in a store, even more people stare at us. Partly because we are caucasian, partly because we have a chinese baby and mostly because Bin Bin is screaming! He has never been in a place like that and all of the people were too close for him! We made it through the grocery store! Now back to our room for a little familiarity.



Next, we decided to venture out to Pizza Hut. It was a decent walk from our Hotel. Bin-Bin did remarkabley well. He wasn't really phased by any of it. Toni used pictures to let him know where we were going. He kept repeating "lots of people." We came back to the room and spent the afternoon.

• Bin-Bin began to get a little bored. So, Toni decided to introduce him to play-doh. As you will see in the pictures below, he loved it.

• I woke up this morning around 2:00 a.m. in desperate need of a Mtn. Dew. I am almost ready to publish a reward for the first person to put a Mtn. Dew in my hand. Any takers?
• Please continue to pray for us. Bin-Bin is doing better. However, we still have several plane rides to go.

10-08-08 China time 4:20pm NC time 4:20am

Hello Everyone!

We have been touring Chongqing today. The weather has been more like home. Although, it is more humid here. It has been cloudy. Fortunately, the heavy rains just started. We are in the room and developing a little cabin fever. Just need a little more familiarity. Bin Bin is doing fine. He is testing the waters more today. Pray for a little patience :o) . He likes to be outside. He seems to do OK even in the larger crowds, as long as no one approaches him. We found this out today during our tour of the Three Gorges Dam Exhibit. Many people approached him. They were trying to be so good to him, talk to him, play with him, and help him not to cry. However, he seems to be very sensitive around strangers. Bin Bin basically cried through the entire exhibit. This was one time I was thanking God for the taxi!

Samuel Ty finally calmed down at our next stop. We were at an outside park to see where the two rivers merged into one. There were many people there, but no one approached him. We were stared at...alot...but none tried to hold him or talk to him. He was very calm. We even conquered the "squatty potty"!

He is attaching more to Steve, too. Actually, Steve's the one who came to the rescue today. He's the one who figured out it wasn't the new place, but all the strangers that were bothering Bin Bin. He asked our guide to ask everyone gathered around us to please leave him alone. Bin Bin's nanny told us he was sensitive to strangers. I thought she was telling us that because he cried so much on Monday. Turns out-- she meant any stranger!! Well, now we know!!

Our guide has been great!! He is very patient and understanding. He helped us bridge the gap today so we wouldn't offend the Chinese people, but help them understand our son. He said whatever is good for Samuel Ty is what we need to do. The pictures I am posting are of the two parks we visited today.

Tomorrow we have a free day. I hope to take more pictures of the three of us so we can post them .

We love you and miss you all!!!! :o)

P.S. We will be here in Chongqing through Friday. We fly to Guangzhou early Saturday morning.

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