A Visit to the Hefei Zoo

We started this morning with a very unwelcomed phone call to the kids' room...at 5:50AM!! By the time Kevin ran to the phone, they had hung up. Darn it all...and I was actually sleeping well!!! Not anymore. We were ALL awakened, so we all got up!

Carson is such a ham...whenever I take a candid photo of him, he squints his eyes shut and says, "Cheeeeeeeeeese!" until I take another picture. So, the pics of him looking at the camera almost always show his silly, cheeseball face. Meggie and Carson started this morning by checking out the blog...I post after they go to bed and he likes to see himself on the computer. Take a peek...
It was so nice to see Carson in clothes that actually fit him! Here he is, cheesing it up in his new outfit...
While Meggie and I were trying to get ready for breakfast, Carson was bored. The ONLY thing that would keep him from aggravating Meggie was when she gave him this to play with...
...and Daddy was SO proud, let me tell ya! =)

As we headed to breakfast, he had a little fit. He wanted to take the beach ball to breakfast...NOT!...and then started whining because we made him walk. Dude, you're a little bundle of energy, you NEED to walk occasionally!! He stood in the hallway screaming his head off. We ignored it and kept walking...and he reluctantly followed, stomping and whining all the way. Score one for the parents!

At breakfast, he started the whining thing again...we refused to look at him and simply ate our breakfast and had casual conversation (peeking at him out of the corner of our eyes to be sure he wasn't juggling knives or anything, of course). He stopped whining and ate his breakfast. Score two for the parents!

Hey, this consistency stuff is starting to work!

Lisa arranged for us to go to the Hefei Zoo today. In the van on the way (about a 25 minute drive), he sat quietly next to Meggie for most of it. About 5 minutes before we arrived, he started getting a little itchy...Meggie held him on her lap and we survived the ride.

I personally HATE going to zoos. Too many hills to walk and I just feel so guilty gawking at those poor animals. This zoo was awful! There was very little natural habitat, mostly concrete cages lined up. The elephant was in a cage with literally three feet of space all around...the poor thing kept swaying back and forth like it was having a nervous breakdown! Kevin and Carson had a decent time, Meggie and I survived. A few pics...

Carson watching Daddy feed the deer

Carson, Meggie, and Lisa watching the monkeys A quick family snapshot

Some of the translated signs are so funny! This one, in front of the lion cage, made us laugh...At this point, Meggie and I had had enough of the zoo. We started goofing around with the camera...

Was that a LION??

Meggie dancing down the path......and Carson's reaction to his very silly big sister!

I don't typically photograph the animals at the zoo, but there were some very odd ones here in Hefei...

A red panda...yep, that's a bear!

Check out the hair on that squirrel...my mohawked nephew, Chad, would surely be impressed!This woman kept trying to get this monkey to take her water bottle for some reason...

...and Carson was showing Daddy what the monkey was doing.This zoo also (as you saw in an earlier photo) had deer behind enclosures and one cage had a German Shepherd dog in it! Since when are domesticated dogs considered zoo animals??

The BEST part of the zoo trip...better than seeing the Giant Panda, better than the monkeys...was this.

Carson, are you ready?

Oh, my goodness! ULTRAMAN!!!!!

Yes, Meggie happened to glance over at one of the stands in the zoo and saw Ultraman figures on the bottom shelf. Made Carson's trip, let me tell ya!! In the van on the way to McDonald's for lunch (yep, went there again today), we accidentally discovered Ultraman talks and lights up when you hit the button on his side. Ugghhh! Carson pushes that button over and over...it says, in Chinese, the equivalent of "I'm Superman" and then plays annoying music and sound effects. He LOVES it!! Ultraman is now Carson's constant companion!

On the way to McDonald's, Carson sat quietly between Kevin and I and didn't budge the entire ride. In fact, he leaned over to snuggle with Kevin and fell asleep. What a sweetie!
The food at McDonald's is basically the same as in the States, except the portions are TINY. An adult Value Meal is the equivalent of an American Happy Meal, small drink and all. One difference, though, was this...
That's right, folks...they sell green bean pies at the Hefei McDonald's. Blecccchhhhhh!

We nearly forgot about it being Halloween today. Much like an extended stay in the hospital, every day in this hotel feels like every other day, so we're losing track! Here's our little guy, all dressed up with nowhere to go...
Ha ha! Fooled you all, didn't I? You thought he was gonna be Buzz Lightyear!! Anyway, since we're the only Americans in the hotel and Halloween is not celebrated in China, no trick-or-treating for us. (Special thanks to Kim for lending us the costume, though!!)

After a wonderful nap for all...Carson slept nearly three hours!...we eventually headed to dinner in the hotel restaurant. The food there is pretty predictable and the place is always empty, so no fears of Carson making a scene. As we approached the entry, one of the waitresses saw us coming...we're the only family here, so we're pretty well known...and reached out to hold Carson's hand. He whined at her and ran around to the other side of Kevin to hide. Yeah! That is new...he's starting to prefer us!

After we sat down...I'm guessing as a means to get Carson to like her...this waitress gave him a packet of brown sugar. At first I thought it was just for him to play with...nope, she leaned over and started to open it for him! She was gonna give this energetic four year old a sugar shot before dinner!!! (Katie, guess she was getting him ready for lunch with YOU!) Kevin stopped her and she seemed quite surprised we wouldn't allow it!

During the meal, the waitresses smother Carson with attention. While on the one hand it's cute, on the other hand it drives me bonkers! While he was eating, one of them actually stood behind him with her hands on the back of his high chair...then went so far as to lean over his shoulder and spoon feed him his rice! We are really trying to encourage him to independently feed himself when possible and here she is, treating him like the King of Hefei, feeding him! I eventually maneuvered the spoon from her and kept repeating...to Carson, but for her benefit..."Mama will help you." She got the message eventually.

When Carson finished his yogurt, one of the waitresses scrambled and got him more. When he finished that one, the waitresses were...shocking!...across the room. He yelled to them in Chinese that he wanted more! Across the stinkin' room!!! Thankfully, they just laughed at him. He really thinks he's in charge when we eat at that place. Maybe we need to figure out a different option for dinner from here out...

We had very little trouble today as far as behavior. He napped without a problem and is following simple directions very well. We're using simple sign language for words like "drink," "food," "book," "more"...and he is starting to understand us. He says, "Please-eeee" when he wants something (like for Meggie to share a snack with him). He is answering to "Carson" 98% of the time...we haven't spoken Chinese to him at all today and he has done fine. He still babbles CONSTANTLY in Chinese, but occasionally he says English words without prompting...like he'll be babbling in Chinese, then suddenly say "OK, Mama."

After we got back from the zoo, we all had muddy shoes. Kevin cleaned them for everybody and laid them out to dry. As we were heading to dinner, Kevin told Carson to get his Ultraman shoes. Then he asked him to get Momma's shoes...he brought mine to me. He also gave Meggie her shoes...he calls her "Muggie"...and brought Kevin's to him. What a smart little guy!!

I have to commend Lisa, the guide we've been provided here in Hefei. Up until yesterday, she was actually at a different hotel...there was a large conference here and there were no open rooms. Monday evening, I called her cell phone because we were having trouble negotiating dinner and I needed advice. We REALLY wanted to order a pizza from Pizza Hut, but the desk staff didn't seem to understand what I was asking. She said it was too late to get delivery (it was 5PM!) and I told her nevermind, we'd figure something out. We ended up at the hotel restaurant, which worked out OK. In the middle of dinner, I looked up and there was Lisa walking towards us. She said she was worried we wouldn't get something to eat, so she got a taxi and came to check on us. Seeing that we were OK, she wished us a good evening and left to go back to her hotel.

Yesterday, she brought extra yuan and insisted on lending us some during our shopping trip when we were short on cash. She also somehow negotiated to get the kids free lunch on Gotcha Day and got a discount at the mall when she bought Carson's Ultraman shoes. (That girl has CONNECTIONS!) Last night, I had to send a VERY important fax to the States and it was quite time-intensive. She helped me send the fax at the hotel's business center. I then had to wait for a return fax, then send another VERY important fax to the States. When my return fax arrived, it was around 10:30PM. I called Lisa's room...she was asleep but insisted on meeting me and making sure the fax was sent successfully. Wow!! She's very sweet and thorough and has really made this trip a lot less stressful for me.

Tomorrow we're going to shop at the Lotus Center (a WalMart type store) for gifts for the orphanage. Lisa said Carson's orphanage has an unusually large number of older boys and clothing is desperately needed for them (most people donate girls' clothing). So, we're going to buy an assortment to donate when we visit on Friday. She has also been chatting with Carson (in Chinese) and she said he keeps telling her he is very happy. Tomorrow, she is going to use the shopping trip to prepare Carson for the visit to the Hefei orphanage. She said she will be sure to tell him we are visiting his friends to say goodbye, but that he will be coming home with Momma and Baba. I fear he will really struggle on Friday, but I understand he needs the closure and a chance to say goodbye to the only other family he has ever known.

Time for bed...but, as usual, I'll give you the daily "adorable kids" picture to close us out...
'Til tomorrow...

Day Two...and Everything's New

We had an appointment this morning back at the registration office. When I went to get Carson out of bed, he was all smiles and silliness. As I picked him up, out from under the covers flopped the photo album we had sent him back in July (he takes it everywhere with him). Meggie said she placed it at the foot of his bed last night...he must have crawled down there and snuck it under the covers!

At breakfast, he was acting up a little more than yesterday. It occurred to me it is probably because we all stare at him constantly...he feels he's expected to put on a show. It's hard, though, not to stare at that face! We're working on it...

He is a total neat freak when it comes to eating! We gave him a croissant with breakfast and he was driven to total distraction by the crumbs that resulted on his placemat. He couldn't continue eating his rice and yogurt until we shook off the crumbs! How funny!!

When we arrived at the registration office, Lisa suggested I take a picture of this...
..and I'm glad she did! I have to admit, this building sorta wigged me out today. Nothing to be nervous about today, but the memories of the anxiety of Gotcha Day still loomed pretty large for some reason. We were back in the same room as yesterday. Carson got a little wigged out...he was bouncing off the stinking walls! The little girl who was hitting her mom in the head yesterday was there...very calm and content. She kept looking at Carson like he was annoying her!! (Has she forgotten her actions of 24 hours ago???!!)

Today was document day. We had to place our thumbprint on an official document and Carson's handprint was also part of the process...nothing like placing a wigged-out four year old's hand in red ink! Lisa handled the messy part for us...
After that was over, we went into another room to have our family picture taken (without Meggie, though...she doesn't count as "family" in China!) and to be interviewed by the registration officer. She asked questions like were we happy with the child we received, why did we choose to adopt from China, would we promise to never hurt or abandon him. It was so bizarre to be asked such weird questions point blank like that...we did fine and answered everything as Lisa had prepped us to do.

We went back into the main room and Carson was still fit to be tied! The notary officer came into the main room to meet with us and have us sign some documents. Meggie tried her best to rein in our Little Wild Man using her iPod...he liked it for about 30 seconds!
We had to pay tons of fees today...glad to have that cash out of our hotel room! Afterward, we received an official looking document in a bound book and we were finished! It took a total of about 30 minutes to complete the documents. Everyone kept congratulating us, but it felt a little anticlimactic to me.

After we finished at the registration office, we headed to have a little fun. Poor Meggie is crawling out of her skin to get back home, so we asked Lisa to take us to the one place any 14 year old girl would cheer up...(insert angelic chorus here)...the mall!! Our driver dropped us downtown and we walked through thick crowds and ridiculously crazy drivers as we crossed the street. A few pics...
As we got near the entrance to the mall, there was a large crowd of well-dressed men and women in front of it. We asked Lisa what was going on...she said there was a big launch of a new makeup product and that it was a very big deal.
The air is so dusty and dirty that they have long strips of thick plastic (similar to in a car wash) blocking the main doors to the mall...presumably to trap the filth outside. The mall itself was huge and quite impressive. Meggie was in total heaven!! A few pics...
Carson does extremely well in the stroller we borrowed from the hotel, so we figured we ought to buy one for the tours we'll go on and for the airports on the way home. We bought a basic umbrella stroller (with Mickey Mouse on it) for 158 yuan -- about $21. We then headed to the boys' department to see if we could find some clothes to fit him. We were so sure he was going to be small for his age...we were wrong! I had guessed 3T would be on the big side...he's actually probably in 4T already! (I say "probably" because the sizes here are completely different -- he wears a size 100 here! But the 3T stuff we brought just barely fits him in length.) Kevin forgot to exchange enough U.S. dollars into yuan, so we were limited to 280 yuan for the rest of the shopping trip. We ended up getting him a long-sleeved polo shirt and coordinating running pants for 275 yuan -- a little over $37. Carson REALLY needed shoes, but we were out of money. Lisa -- in her well-trained, infinite wisdom -- had brought extra yuan and lent us enough to buy Carson a new pair of gym shoes. As we were heading to the shoe department, he got very excited by a statue in the kids' department.
Carson kept excitedly repeating, "Ulta-man, Ulta-man!" Lisa laughed...she said Ultraman is a Japanese cartoon and she was surprised Carson knew about it. The salesgirls in the shoe department kept swarming us and shoving all kinds of shoes on his poor little feet...one pair of especially hideous Winnie the Pooh gym shoes were WAY too big, but the salesgirl kept insisting they were his size. I found that hysterical since no one bothered to get him out of the stroller and measure his feet! He would have none of it...he had to have "Ulta-man" shoes and that was that!! So we headed back to the Ultraman display and got him a really cute pair of light-up gym shoes...he's actually wearing them in the picture above when he had to pose with "Ulta-man." (When he wants me to take a picture of him, he keeps repeating "Cheeeeeeese!!" so it was easy to figure out he wanted me to snap that shot.)

After the shoes, we left the mall and headed to another locale sure to please any tried-and-true kid from America...(re-insert angelic chorus here)...
That's right, folks. We got ourselves some greasy fried American food for lunch! I hate to admit it, but it was AWESOME! Thankfully, Carson loved his Happy Meal of Chicken McNuggets...
...and it felt, just for a few minutes, like we were back home! Lisa fronted us for lunch, too...I felt like an absolute loser for not having enough yuan on us!

On the ride back to the hotel in the van, Carson was really acting weird. He was out of control, shrieking, misbehaving like madness. I had to put down the rules when he decided to stand in the seat while the van was moving. He sat down, but he was so upset and wouldn't look at me the rest of the trip. Lisa kept talking to him in Chinese...that a little bit bugs me 'cause we have no idea what she's saying or what his responses are. I know she's trying to help, but it puts her in the driver's seat, so to speak, when it really needs to be us. Does that make sense??

When we got back to the hotel, it was nap time. Yesterday, he went down without a bit of fuss. Today? Today, he had a complete and utter MELTDOWN! It actually scared me a little, he was so out of control...screaming, throwing his body all around his bed. I grabbed him and placed his head down on the pillow so he wouldn't hurt himself. He screamed like he was in physical pain. I asked him if he wanted Mama to hold him. He nodded that he did and reached his arms out to me. (This was a BIG step...he's been mostly distant with me from the beginning.) I cradled him in my arms like a baby and rocked him for about 20 minutes, all the while whispering, "Don't cry, Qiu Feng" in Chinese. We've been using English with him -- calling him Carson QiuFeng today -- but I just felt like he really needed to hear reassurance in his own language. It worked like a charm. He continued to whimper and cry, but he let me hold him close and the screaming stopped instantly. (Thanks, Gina, for that Chinese language book -- it was an utter lifesaver today!) After 20 minutes, he let me lay him in bed while I laid next to him. He was asleep after a couple of minutes and I was able to leave the room.

When he woke up (after only one hour, when his naps are reportedly typically two hours) he was in a good mood again. Unfortunately, I had a headache verging on a migraine. So, Kevin put Carson in his Ultraman shoes and they went for a walk and outside to play bubbles...gave me an hour to nap.

The rest of tonight, he's been fine...in fact, downright silly. The box his Ultraman shoes came in has become a treasured possession and he said "Ulta-man" repeatedly most of the night. He took his toys out of the backpack and transferred them into the box...
He also insisted I draw "Ulta-man" for him on the Magna-Doodle we gave him on Gotcha Day. I personally think I make Ultraman look like an alien, but Carson is QUITE impressed and kept erasing the picture and making me re-draw it over and over and over and over and over...
We ordered pizza for dinner from room service. Meggie wasn't a fan...she really has not found much she likes this week so she ate peanut butter crackers instead. Carson was a fan of the crust and cheese, but everything else got spit out into his napkin...
...so it was a good thing I had saved his leftover chicken nuggets and fries from lunch. He happily ate that while he sat with ME on the bed! (I think we've turned a corner, Carson and I!)
Bath and brushing of teeth was fine, but bedtime was a challenge tonight. Nothing like nap time (thank goodness), but he cried pretty hard when we took him to bed. We all kissed him goodnight, put on his lullaby CD, and Kevin sat in the chair waiting for Carson to fall asleep. (Unfortunately, Kevin fell asleep first...I had to get him out of the room, his snoring was rattling the windows!!) The lullaby CD lasts about 40 minutes and last night he was asleep after the third song. Tonight, it ended and he yelled out. I went in, not speaking to him, and reset the CD. It just went off for a second time and he's asleep.

By the way, kisses are constant for him now. When I slipped him back into his stroller after we were done eating at McDonald's, I leaned close and whispered, "Love you" in his ear. He turned and kissed me. Since we always say "Love you" after kisses, I said it again...he kissed me again. I ended up getting four kisses before he started giggling himself silly! After his nap, he crawled in bed with me and started making smoochy noises. When I went to kiss him, he turned his head and cracked himself up since my kiss landed on his cheek. Meggie caught it on film...
Meggie and I spent a lot of time tonight wrestling and hugging him. He loves the camera and wants his picture taken constantly...the sillier, the better...
I'm not sure what happened today with his meltdown. Maybe he thought the trip to the registration office meant he was going back with Director Yin. Maybe spending the day surrounded by Chinese people downtown made him miss the days of being in the orphanage with other Chinese kids. Maybe he thought we were a temporary distraction and is beginning to sense this set-up is permanent. Whatever the reason, I feel we handled it as well as could be expected and I personally feel I've created a stronger bond with Carson today.

I had a feeling, as I posted last night, that we enjoyed a "honeymoon period" on Gotcha Day. I didn't really expect the honeymoon to end in one day, but maybe the over-stimulation of a morning spent downtown put the little guy over the edge. Whatever caused it, I sure hope he got the message that Mama and Baba are here to help him through. And I REALLY hope I can handle whatever curve balls he throws us tomorrow.

One more picture of my silly kids...
...and I'll post more tomorrow! Goodnight from Hefei...

Why, Oh Why, Can't I Stay Asleep??

It is 1:40AM and I am WIDE AWAKE! I went to bed unassisted (no wonder pill tonight) and fell asleep immediately. Three hours later, I awakened feeling like it should be time to get up! The rest of the family is sound asleep, so I figured I'd get up and be productive.

Never really blogged the details of Gotcha Day, did I? Well, let me remedy that!

We were supposed to meet Lisa, our guide, in the lobby at 8:30 this morning. We were there at 8:25...Lisa was about 10 minutes late. That was such an awful 15 minutes for me...anxious, trying not to vomit...you get the picture! When Lisa arrived, she was very calm and supportive. We took a couple of pictures in the lobby before getting in the van...
By the way,that's Lisa on the left in the second picture. Before we left the room, I asked Meggie (you remember her, the one with the future as a "big movie star in China"?!) to portray the true feelings of the moment, caught on film. We agreed it was a combination of mind-numbing fear that Carson would hate us...
...and hair-pulling excitement that the big day was finally here!
Thank you, Meggie. We'll call if you get nominated for any Oscars for this lovely performance!

The 30 minute ride to the registration office was just bizarre...Lisa trying to make small talk, we all trying to simultaneously listen to her small talk and not yarf breakfast on our own shoes. Hefei is a very economically depressed area with incredibly bad air quality. Most of the street workers wear dust masks and so do many of the motorcyclists. (By the way, motorcyclists are EVERYWHERE! Even people one wouldn't expect -- business men in suits, cute little elderly women -- ride a bicycle or motorcycle everywhere!) Most of the store fronts we passed were small holes in the sides of buildings with garage doors as entryways. There are many, many multi-unit apartment buildings and the living conditions are very sad...lots of clutter, lots of dirt. Hefei has recently started a renovation, according to Lisa, and the new streets are actually very nice...but just six feet past the sidewalk we saw farmers in tattered clothes tending to vegetables and unattended children playing on piles of rubble and bricks.

We arrived at the registration office...
...and were escorted upstairs...I think to the 7th floor, I really can't remember. We walked down a very plain white hallway to a room that reminded me of City Council Chambers. We were told to sit anywhere. Lisa started going over documents with me when Carson was brought in. So, instead of meeting my new son, I was digging through paperwork. I finally told her I had to meet him first...it was making me physically shake to know he was three feet away and they were asking me to dot my I's and cross my T's!!

When we arrived, one family was finishing up their Gotcha...their little girl was screaming her head off. That family left as Carson arrived with another little girl. Carson knew us and called Kevin "Baba" on very first sight! While Carson eyed us suspiciously, the other little girl brought with him screamed and thrashed and hit her poor adoptive mother in the head with a blanket (or maybe it was a jacket, hard to tell). The mom was trying so hard to calm the child...I felt awful for her because she was alone and trying to handle this frightened child without any help. They left pretty quickly. I was a little worried that Carson might start crying after hearing her, but he kept interacting with us...no tears!

There was another little girl seated at the table behind us with her nanny. By the time her adoptive family arrived, I was way too involved with our stuff...I never saw them, but that little girl also cried inconsolably. Carson offered her a Smarties candy to calm her down. (He is wonderful at sharing and, once he got used to us, insists on sharing whatever he's eating. I think that is incredibly surprising from a child who has lived his whole life in an institution with limited food available.)

It was a little annoying to be forced to do the paperwork stuff right there. However, I was given the opportunity to ask Director Yin any questions I wanted. Thanks to Kelly (a "cyberfriend" from Dayton FCC), I had a wonderful list of questions for her...my brain was way too frazzled to think of anything specific off the cuff at that point. So, I sat and did this...
Lisa translated our conversation (she's standing, in red) and Director Yin was very soft spoken and relaxed through it all (she's seated to the right of Lisa). (The little girl sitting at the left front of the picture was the one Carson shared his candy with.) Some of my questions must not have translated well, because the answers confused me. When asking for clarification, the same answer was just repeated. Director Yin did tell me we would get a copy of Carson's birth letter and also that we will be receiving a photo album of Carson's entire life when we visit the orphanage on Friday morning.

While I was trying to concentrate and write down what Lisa was telling me, Carson was warming up to Kevin and Meggie...
...and running around the room! He L-O-V-E-S the airplane backpack Grandma sent for him (takes it everywhere!) and is insistent that he always carry a pair of sunglasses in his hand. (We sent the sunglasses in his birthday care package back in September...good to know he received everything we sent!) The plastic talking phone was his favorite toy...until he found the digital camera! This is the picture Carson and I took of Baba...
Not bad for a first attempt, but maybe we can get Uncle Brandon to teach him some of the finer details of portrait photography. Uncle Brandon, are you available??

Without warning, it was time to leave. Director Yin slipped out first and Carson tried to follow her. When he was redirected back to us, the tears started. When I offered him a lollipop, he calmed immediately...glad I thought to stick a few of those in my bag! As we headed down the hall toward the elevator, Lisa stopped us...Director Yin was still waiting on the elevator and they didn't want Carson to see her and get upset again. So we hung in the hallway for a few minutes. Unfortunately, when we finally got down to the first floor on the elevator, we saw Director Yin standing in front of the building. We swung around quickly and she made a swift getaway...don't think Carson noticed her that time.

It is incredibly daunting to try to parent a child for the first time who doesn't speak your language but has definite stubborn ideas about what he wants. Thankfully, while Carson is a bit of a mischief maker, he is at his core an obedient child. He understands when our tone of voice gets stern and will immediately comply. We need to remember to use that stern tone sparingly so that it keeps having a strong effect on him. The only time my stern tone did not work was when he was chasing bubbles with Meggie and decided to follow a bubble out into the street. For a child with supposedly limited mobility, he is one fast little dude! Meggie and I went chasing behind him, screaming his Chinese name, but he was oblivious. I don't think he was being disobedient, he's just so determined and he wanted that bubble! I think his determination has served him well in his difficult life and it is one of his character traits that I personally most admire!

I will admit here that I was deathly afraid I wouldn't feel the same strong feelings toward Carson in person that I was feeling back at home. After the initial uneasiness wore off in the registration office, I am pleased to report that the feelings I have for Carson are actually stronger than I could have imagined. He is not a stranger to me...he is my strong, determined, obedient, stubborn, silly son!

Guess I ought to TRY to get a little sleep. It's 2:30AM and the alarm is set for 6:00. I'll probably blog a little less from here out...I would rather live this experience than spend my time blogging about it!! Rest assured, after Carson is in bed every night, I will post my favorite pictures from the day and keep you all updated.

While Gotcha Day went smoothly, there are surely some more bumps in the road ahead...most adopted older kids have a very well-behaved "honeymoon period" before showing their true colors. Please continue to pray that God gives us the strength to handle whatever comes our way!

Signing off for now...after one more picture of my adorable, silly children...