Journey to Luke: 01/23/11

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!

Fly baby Fly

Well this picture should tell you everything you need to know about our boys very first flight!!!

Look at me and Daddy on my first plane ride, I am wayyy to cool!

Watching the instructions being signed in Chinese Sign Language on the tv screen

Holding on to daddy during take off for a little bit of assurance that all is just fine

Luke working on my search a word and Tom doing Sudoko

Well The moment was finally here, we got to head towards the airport for Luke's first ever plane ride. We met a few other families all from our providence and traveled together on the plane with Lisa and Wayne and their cutie pie, Madison and we also flew with John and Cheryl and their two precious children. We also met a few other adoptive families on our flight. Luke was so excited yet nervous at the same time to be heading to the airport that he didnt know what to do with himself. I must say I was so nervous with how he would handle it that it was making me crazy. He was amazing!!!! We had to take a shuttle bus (very very crowded) over to our airplane and then walk up the ramp to get in the plane. Luke held my hand as we made our way up the ramp. He had our boarding passes and found our seats 9d e and f.. the boy found them and took the window seat, Tom showed him to buckle up and then just watching his face became Tom and my past time for the next 15 minutes as the excitement built for him. He just couldnt wait!!!! When the engines came on his face lit up and he was sooo excited! When we started to taxi out he just held onto Daddys arm but was filled with excitement. I love watching him when he gets so excited. The joy in his face when we took off was one of those American express commercial moments as they say.. PRICELESS!!!! We had a 2 hour and 15 minute flight and it was night time so nothing really to see out the windows. I was beyond exhausted and had taken a dramamine then also a Benadryl as I had an asthma attack when we got on the plane due to all the smoke in the airport. So I pretty much drooled on myself for the next 2hours while Tom and Luke talked an talked and then played search a words (the boy can actually find words in there) and then Tom taught Luke how to play Sudoko and he loved it. He finished a few puzzles too. When it came time to land he was again filled with excitement and couldnt wait to land and see what new adventure would be brought to him.........

Sorry it has been so long

Wow where to start, I have decided since so much happened I will post several shorter posts then one cray long, as we never know how long I can be on here before we need to go do something (Like feed our bottomless pit of a son heeheh).

Our last day in Jinan was a frigged yet lovely day there. Our guide is one in a million and all of us would have loved to have brought her home. Tom and I were very very sad to leave Missy as she is truly an amazing woman with a heart of Gold.

Our last day we went to a place that is pretty famous in Jinan called Diamond Lake. It is truly beautiful and peaceful there and we enjoyed it as our last day in Jinan using the day of peace and quality time with our son to just hang out and chill out in a gorgeous park. Luke is truly a techy guy. He has become my photographer and takes most of the pictures we have so far, he has a great eye and catches some pretty cool things on camera.

Our day ended with the drive out of Jinan, it is truly a heart wreching drive through some really poverty stricken areas. Luke was nervous when we hit the poor areas as we kept telling him we were going to the airport and it is hard to beleive there is an airport through the area we drove to. I will post on my next post about his famous first flight as I need to go get our laundry. We are truly blessed with an amazing boy and he has already captured the hearts of all he has met here in China with us. We get stopped by just about everyone that is Chinese to tell us how Handsome our son is. He is truly a very handsome boy. Our guide says he is almost so handsome that he is pretty like a girl hahah. We had a great final day in Jinan. I would like to say I was sad leaving Jinan but to be honest it is hard for me to say I will miss the place where our son was not treated well and basically ignored for 10 years of his life. We are so sad when we think of what his life would have been like for him here, our guide told us she is pretty sure when Luke turned 14 here in China and was no longer able to be adopted his future would be very very grim, she actually said " I shudder to think about what would have become of him if we did not bring him home" Everyone keeps telling us how blessed Luke is to have us, but trust me we are the blessed ones. To see the world through his eyes is such an amazing exepriance. When just about everthing you do is for the first time it is amazing to see his eyes and face and reactions to some of the most simple things. (IE when I licked the envelope to seal it he was in awe that it had glue in it to make it stay shut and talked about that for over an hour...)