We spent today touring Jinan. What an interesting city, soo crowded and old and to be honest sorta dirty but it is full of history..We started our day with a great tour of Baotu Springs, this is a place that Jinan is famous for. We had a great time looking through the springs and just enjoying some amazing Chinese culture and history (even though it is aobut 20 degrees outside) we had an amazing day, it is truly fun and a joy to see things through Luke's eyes.
Today was a day of many firsts for Luke, he saw TV for the first time, had his 1st ice cream cone and saw Baotu Springs for the 1st time, he learned for the first time his zodiac sign and that he was born in the year of the Dragon, our guide was upset that Luke did not know anything about this and what that meant, she said "all Chinese people know this" well apparently Luke wasnt worth teaching in the orphanages eyes...
We were told in the orphange that Lukes paperwork says he is mentally retarded, well Tom and I couldnt help but laugh in the Directors face (not very appropriate I am sure) but hello this boy is SOOOOOO smart it is darn near scary. He plays memory games like nobodies business, can have pretty in depth conversations in ASL (interesting since he knew about 2 year old level sign language in Chinese when we met and can only read and write in Chinese on a pre-school level too) but he is writing a ton for us in English, he was never exposed to English before, he is just THAT bright! Our days and nights are filled with awe and laughter, no it has not all been a bed of roses, as Luke has a ton to learn that our guide that he should know as the other children she has worked with for adoption seemed to know these things, even the children she helped that were deaf knew things he doesnt know, But it seems that since no one at the orphange could communicate with Luke they just didnt bother to teach him things. It is scary to think of what he would be doing now if someone taught him something for the last 10 years..but I must say it has pretty much been as close to a bed of roses as one could get!!!
Today Luke wanted to know what he could do when he gets older (this started because we were talking about Aaron being away at college,) I am not sure he gets what college is exactly but he knows it is school and Aaron is older and there learning. Tom told him he could do whatever he wants and become whatever he wants, he said " I cant I am not allowed" When Tom told him yes you can do anything he still didnt beleive him. Tom told him a 3 rd time and started squeeling with delite that he could become something. He is such a deliteful boy so full of joy and quick to laugh and be goofy. We love watching his delite in things we so take for granted on a daily basis.
I could go on and on but I am getting exhausted and tomorrow we go to get Lukes Passport and then will tour Diamond Lake and then head to the airport, we are seriously going to miss our guide, Missy as she is a delight and a joy to be with, I cant imagine our guide down south being this dynamo. Wish we could take her with us heheh!!! Luke is going to miss her too, he is no dummy this girl is so nice it is hard to beleive she is real!
We are excited to say that Thanks to a friend we are going to meet a woman in southern China that is Deaf and a native to China but also knows ALS and CSL.. We cannot wait to see someone Deaf as that hasnt happened since we have been here. I am curious what Luke will think of her!!!
Ok I am off to sleep and ready to see what joy tomorrow will bring as we get Luke on the plane for his first ever plane ride of his life!! I can tell you that it made my heart break and elate when we packed his suitcase. Break because he looked at me packing his clothes and our clothes and pointed to his things and said " you are packing my clothes too?" (it makes me so sad to imagine how he must feel so worried we are going to leave him and not want him, I cant imagine how this must feel to a child but to think about it makes me feel so sad I feel like my heart is broken to just imagine even a little what that must feel like)I said of course you are coming on the plane with us.. the boy darn near jumped out of his skin with excitement, he squeeled and did the cutest happy dance ever. I got a huge hug (he normally will not hug) and he just kept giggling and laughing. I told him "Luke you are my son and you will always be with me and daddy) he just giggled and smiled even bigger.. hard to beleive one could smile that large, sooo big that both his eyes vanished hhehehe....
Ok off to sleep with promises to blog more soon, off to our next leg of this amazing journey!!!
Getting all decorated for Chinese New year!!!!!
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