About Me

My name is Tracy and I am married to an amazing man, his name is Thomas! We are a busy family that is always on the go between church, school, work and sports.... we are not a sitting around kind of family. We have 4 amazing children and are working on bringing home Elias to make 5. My hubby is Deaf and I am a sign language interpreter,we are very involved in the Deaf community and are excited to be adding another Deaf member to our family. Our kids, Aaron-19, Luke-11, Tommy-10 and Paige-5 are anxious for their new brother to be home. This is our second adoption and we are learning more everyday to lean on God, this journey is already strengthening our faith! We are working on learning how to turn everything over to God and know that He has a perfect plan and all will happen in His time! Good things come to those who wait.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Our first day in Guangzhou

Our first day in Guangzhou was a little rough, not gonna lie to you all.  Luke was doing really well even after his first flight, hitting a new town and we only slept about 5 hours.  We went as a group to the medical exam and he was in good spirits and being his usual happy self. We went in the the crowded building and he did really well. We went back to the medical exam which I personally thought was a joke but we gotta do what we gotta do, China calls all the shots here not me!  So Luke first got weighed (with all of his clothes and jacket on.. hmm accurate huh?) then we went and the checked his eyes (not very scientific but it worked) looks like his vision is good. Next we went to the ENT section and Tom and I could not stop giggling. The hearing test is they squeek a rubber duck besides the childs head to see if they turn.. REALLLLLLYYYY?? SOoo ofcourse our ENT kept talking away to Luke and asking him 25 questions and we kept saying he is Deaf, he cant hear and gesturing that he cant hear ( our guide was busy with another family)  and she just kept asking away ( I am pretty sure she thought he was stupid as he just didnt answer her)... So we finally yelled to our guide and I had her yell to the ENT in Chinese that he was Deaf (after Tom and I gestured to her about 25 times he was Deaf and couldnt hear) and she finally got it after our guide yelled in Chinese that he is deaf... whew.... so the squeeking of the duck test he failed hahah. Hmm maybe he has hearing loss or maybe he just didnt like the duck who knows...? ha   After that it was time to get a strip down and the docs checked him from head to toe. be honest with you he wasnt to happy with this and it took quite some convincing to get him to realize he was ok.. Happy when that part was over.

Next our Madison agency families went to a room and filled out our paperwork that our guide will bring to the Consulate to make everything official, we are getting closer now!

After that we went shopping in Guangzhou with another family (Lisa, Wayne and Madison and we just adore them and are so happy for their love and support and friendship!)  and Guangzhou is a really neat place what a cool island we are staying on called Shamian Island, we really like it here.  Many adoptive families are here and there are alot more of the comforts of home here and alot of support from other families all going through the same thing.

Luke was doing amazing until we went into this one store and wanted a necklace, I left to go back to the room to hit the tiolet and when I came back Luke came running out of the store with a necklace of Buddha on him and he was soo excited.  I tought Tom bought it for him so made a big deal of telling him how cool it was. Only to return to the store to see Tom and the owner saying.. you didnt pay for that. Tom said he didnt want to buy it for Luke as it was very expensive and wasnt worth what the lady was asking. So far if we didnt buy Luke something he was great with putting things back, but I think since the lady put it on his neck and then I made a big deal out of how great it was, he thought it was his for sure.  Being a child that has never had anything the " this is mine" 'factor is huge for him. We tried to negotiate the necklace off of him and he wouldnt budge so finally I held him and Tom took it off of him, this started what would become a full fledged melt down and mind you when I tell you that Luke has been angelic and a delight since the day we have gotten him, but this did shake Tom and I up pretty bad. Thank God for the family with us that said this is sort of the norm and to just let it go and deal with it and not to get embarassed or upset and they patiently waited with us while Luke got himself together (it sure did take some time for that to happen) it felt like it was 3 hours of a melt down but in reality it was probably 30 or 40 minutes... Luke did come around and we went to lunch( he moped the whole way there but did go) by the time lunch started and we fed him a good burger and fries and some lamb kabobs he was back to his normal self and all was right in the world.  All in all it was a good day but it sure did make Tom and I realize that even though this little guy has been so resilant through this whole week, we have to remember he has had 10 really rough years of life and not one person has bothered to communicate anything to him in 10 years (they didnt even teach him how to tie his shoes... I mean geesh you dont need to hear to teach someone that)...  

So that was our first day in Guangzhou, it was a long day and not much sleep we had a few bumps in our road but the Lord has paved the way with his protection and we know that this journey is being prayed over and that our son is under the watchful eye of our maker and that we are one blessed family........ To be continued with our second day in Guangzhou soon!!!


 Our new hotel room at the Victory hotel on Shamian Island, Guangzhou, China
 My new pal Madison and Luke helping me fill out the paperwork
 Writing down Lukes weight
 Checking those ears that didnt respond to the squeeking duck.........
 Filling out our paperwork with our guide Connie, this paperwork is for the Consulate (important stuff)
                                               Luke and his new pal, Mr. Wayne playing tic tac toe!!!
                         Daddy and son in their Pittsburgh stuff!
 He wanted to wear dads jacket and loves pittsburgh already heheh
 you see many many bride and groom here, getting their "pre-wedding" pictures
 Lisa and Madison joined a group to play some Chinese hackey sack
                          Dont know what was up with this but took this picture for Aaron!

6 comments:

Terry said...

wow tracy! everyone looks so good! Meltdown and all ;) I call it "the honeymoon is ending" period. And that medical exam is a total joke! No rocket science going on there! I can't imagine them striping down my "not so little" 13 year old daughter! Did they allow Luke some privacy? I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

China Dreams said...

The matching Pittsburgh outfit pics are just priceless. Everyone who thinks little girls are easier than older boys should look at your website and see what they're missing!

Ruby

Anonymous said...

Yelp those pseky meltdowns will pop up now and again. Tough reality but when ours ended it was over until next time. Happened off and on for a year then ended. Each time less severe and shorter rebound. It will be ok. Hang on and PRAY through it. He is a handsome young man and looks so sweet. Enjoy the rest of your trip.

Chris said...

Yeah, we at least waited to have a meltdown till we were home...but they are part of the package, and I guess signing to a little guy that has his eyes shut crying is not the easiest thing

Unknown said...

I'm sorry about the meltdown. The store owners don't help with that. One of them took a purse out of a package and put it on Shalings shoulder. I truly didn't want to buy it, but her face lit up. I did negotiate a lower price at least.

I hope the rest of your stay in Guangzhou is MUCH smoother!

Oh, and congrats...the Steelers won today!

Aus said...

Morning Tracy - welcome to GZ and the home stretch of you adoption trip!! We LOVED the Victory Hotel - and Shamain IS in general too! If you haven't found Lucy's yet - it's as close to 'american' food as you'll find on the island (we were 'jonesing' for american by this stage of the trip) and the have the coldest TsingDao we found in China!

The little shop keepers on the island can be pretty assertive - and many adoptive parents at this stage of their trip will spend pretty freely or lavishly on their kids - I think they kind of take that for granted - I don't doubt the shopkeeper put the neclace on him w/o your permission or consent figuring it would 'make the sale' for them. You are 'allowed' to get assertive back to them - ok? Most of the locals on the Island have pretty good english too!

So happy for you guys - and frankly - we think ya'll are pretty amazing!

hugs - aus and co.

Our little boy!

Our little boy!
Opening up my care package from my family!

Curious what he is thinking!

Curious what he is thinking!
Checking out my Family for the 1st time ever! (this pic is of my new Brothers and Sister!)

His first reaction after seeing us

His first reaction after seeing us
This is my Forever Family!

Some goodies from the care package

Some goodies from the care package
Some of my new books

This picture makes me cry every time I see it!

This picture makes me cry every time I see it!
My 1st picture of my mommy and daddy! They say I love to look at my pictures again and again!

Studying our faces....

Studying our faces....
Checking out my new family again!

Look at that face!

Look at that face!
Checking out my new books

Aaron's Graduation

Aaron's Graduation
We are so Proud!

Xin Hai's name in Chinese!

福新

Fu XinHai

Xin Hai

Xin Hai
Isnt he the cutest ever?

Aaron's Senior Prom

Aaron's Senior Prom
My handsome Son, Aaron

Aarons prom

Aarons prom
Paige, Aaron and Tommy

My Family

My Family
The Worrell Family

Our Precious one

Our Precious one
Xin Hai in 2008 - so precious! Love that smile!

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