Ignore Bert's bald spot and enjoy the show!

What have we been up to?

Sorry for the lack of posting. Life has been busy. Hard to believe that I cannot get anything done! Jax is still adjusting well. He has only had one major fit since we have been home and that was Saturday so we decided it was best to keep him home from church Sunday and let him get more adjusted. We went to the doctor last week for this rash he has on his hands. They said it was some kind of sweat gland thing, and it makes little blisters on his hands but they don't seem to bother him. He was 45 inches tall and 40 pounds at the doctor. He wears between a 5t and a 6, but we HAVE to have adjustable waist. Ok what else. He loves our pool, and we swim at least once a day. He loves squirt guns. He got a new bike and now has scabby knees. He really likes batteries. I mean a WHOLE lot. He thinks they can fix anything and he is always taking things apart and putting new batteries in them. He can add, subtract and write in chinese and then translate it into the English letter's. He loves to be held. He gives me kisses on his own. He sleeps in the bedroom off of the study instead of the boy's room. We feel it is best to keep him closer to us right now. He likes the book Brown Bear Brown Bear and says most of it right along with us. He likes Archie's(go figure). We have picked blackberries together, he has been to Wal-Mart twice and Mcdonald's once. He loves them both! He loves our little dog Banjo..almost too much, Banjo has been so patient! He loves to go swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's. We use google translate several times a day and that has been a life saver! I just wish there was something he could type in to to tell us things. I have found a chinese school here in Birmingham that he will go to once or twice a week. And we will still homeschool him when school starts back. We just don't want him to lose his chinese over the summer.

So how is Sophie adjusting to her new brother? She is doing as well as can be expected. She tattles on him constantly (and vice versa). She is sad that we hold him so much and everything he touches she decides she wants to play with too! So, we are seeing a new side to her but all in all she is doing great we just make sure we reassure her that just b/c Jax is here we don't love her any less he just needs a lot from us right now. They mimick each other constantly and Sophie keeps making up her own language (she thinks is chinese) so we have to tell her to stop b/c he will never learn English!

Tyler, Micah and EG are really doing great with him. I was worried b/c in China the boys didn't interact with him as much as I had hoped but now that we are home it is good. Tyler and Jax play ball together. Jax LOVES to watch Micah play video games and tell Micah how to play(all in chinese of course). He and EG have played cards together(he really knows how to play, but the kids say he cheats!), legos and a lot of other fun stuff. The older kids get so tickled at him! They ALL enjoy swimming together.

I would say Jax favorite English words so far are Mama, Baba, eat and "NO Sophia!" (for some reason when he says Sophie it sounds like Sophia).

Jet lag be gone!

Still hanging in there. I am hoping the jet lag will soon be gone. I actually slept all the way till 4:45 this morning so that is a good sign. Sophie didn't get up until 6 am and Jax is still sleeping. EG fell asleep at 6:30 pm last night and was up at 3:30am but did fall back asleep. Bert is back to work at nights( I don't even know how he is functioning) and the boys left for church camp yesterday. So life goes on and stays busy wether we are sleepy or not.

Sunday morning when we were up early, Bert and I got some puzzles out for S and J. Well, I don't think Jax has done puzzles before b/c his spacial reasoning seemed off to me. He would just try to make the pictures fit where ever wether they were edge pieces, middle pieces etc. Well, yesterday morning he and I were up at 5 and he pointed to the puzzle and he wanted to do it himself. AND it didn't take long and he HAD done it himself! He was so proud! Unfortunately, he has been watching his older sister make faces at the camera so now he thinks it is funny to do the same...thus these pictures.

Video of Jax

Sorry this is so dark it was just about dark outside.

Happy Birthday Sophinator!

Yes, the day after we get home from China we have a birthday! Sophie is so happy to be 5. She keeps asking me is she really 5. She so thinks she is taller and stronger now too!

We are still having some serious jet lag issues. My sweet friend Brooke left Starbucks and a coffee mug in my mailbox for me today! AWESOME! Then Sunday Amber sent us lunch! Tonight I cheated and went and picked up......CHINESE! lol. I love American chinese food so much better than the real thing.

Jax is adjusting well. We have had a lot of company and he has done good so far. He met a lot more of his cousins and extended family yesterday. We have been using google translate very often. He is curious about everything! He is becoming much more affectionate and even gave Baba a kiss goodbye tonight as he headed out to work.

Be it ever so humble...

We are home! We made it home at 1:00am after MANY delays on the way . Thankfully no flight attendants or pilots were killed during the delays. We landed in Chicago on time, went through the pain of customs and then we were suppose to be on our way back to Bham at 7:35. Well, the first delay said we would leave at 8:05, then 8:30, then 9, then 9:30...well we did leave at 9:30pm BUT the plane didn't take us to Bham it took us to.... NASHVILLE! There was something wrong with the battery on the plane so we had to stop and change batteries then get more gas...so finally we landed in Bham around 12:45am. We are all so happy to be home! Needless to say we did not get up until 3pm Saturday afternoon. Then we went to bed at 11pm...and here it is 4:20 am(been up since 3am) and Bert, EG and Sophie and I are in the school room playing with play-doh. I love America and I love Alabama and I love my bed and I love potable water! AND let me just tell you how GREAT my friends are. Not only did we still have a good crowd at the airport at 1:00am BUT we came home to a clean house, home cooked meals, re-stocked fridge beautiful flowers and sweet notes. Thank you so much to everyone who helped clean the house...Cynthia, Laura, Girls and Jessica ( I know what a BIG job that is). Thank you Melody for the soup (eating the watermelon right now)! Thank you Sutton family for dinner last night! Thank you Laura for those yummy cupcakes, in fact think I will go eat one right now!

There's no place like home.

Having fun...

Hi, sorry I have not been blogging as much. Everything is going good. Jax is still adjusting well which means he has good days and bad days. He is definitely testing limits which is very normal. We are so happy he has joined our family.

Our time in Guangzhou has been very easy with just shopping and hanging out. No touring. (thank heavens). Our guide has taken us to some great chinese restaurants. All the kids and parents are definitely ready to come home. Our first flight tomorrow morning has already been cancelled and that is actually a good thing b/c our layover in Bejing will go from 6 hours to 4! Whoo hoo. We would love for anyone who wants to come to the airport to feel free to come. We get in at about 9:15pm Friday night. I can't promise you that we will look or smell good, but we will be VERY happy to be back in Alabama.

Thank you everyone so much for all your prayers and all your help while we were away. My dad and Butch and Cynthia took care of our dogs and home and I know that was not an easy task and I really appreciate it. We know so many of you have been praying for our family and we have seen our God faithful once again to answer all those prayers! When I look at Jax and how he is adjusting I am just truly amazed. In my mind and heart I had prepared for the worse and he is (so far) way better than I expected him to be. He comes and gives me hugs and kisses every now and then!! His eating has slowed way down I think he feels pretty confident at this point that we will not let him starve! He loves EVERYTHING mechanical. If it can be taken apart believe me the boy will take it apart...watches, flashlights, handheld, fans and remote control cars are on the list so far! He is very aware of things that are his..meaning not Sophie's. He has no problem letting us know if she is touching his stuff. But he is getting better at taking turns and sharing. I feel so bad that he can't understand us, he sees all of us talking yet no one understands him. I imagine that can get pretty frustrating.

Anyhow, we come home tomorrow, I am going to miss my friend Kim and her family so much, we have had some fun adventures together. See you all soon!!

Shopping Day

We started today with our usual wonderful breakfast buffet. Then we all loaded up and headed back to the island for Jax and Cai to get their TB test read. Thankfully they both passed. Then we went and did some shopping. We went to the market where the locals shop for medicine..that was pretty interesting. We are about to go eat thai food tonight at the Banana Leaf. Yum!