08 November 2009

Low-Key Day

Saturday was a free day for us. We initially thought we might try to
do some more sightseeing but decided against it to relax and regain
our energy because on Sunday we were catching an early flight to the
province that Nathan was born in. So, after breakfast we hung out in
our room for a while. We played, colored and then Isabel watched a
movie on Richard's laptop. Nathan started watching it but apparently
isn't that interested in TV (he was destined to be in this family). :)
We also used Skype and introduced Nathan to some family members. He
got to see two of his aunts, his uncle, a cousin and one of his
grandmas. It was great to be able to do that. We were also able to use
Richard's phone to call my mom for free (another reason Richard is
loving his phone). I am a little weary that we'll get a bill for it
but Richard's pretty confident that we won't (yay). Anyway, I got to
update her and my niece and one of my nephews on what's been going on
the past couple days. My niece and two of my nephews are learning
Chinese in school so they were trying to teach me some words. Very
cute.

For lunch we ventured out to KFC and then to the local market for some
water. After lunch Nathan took a nap and Richard and Isabel took a
walk while I posted an update to our blog. Nathan takes two hour naps
which is so foreign to me. Isabel was never a good napper so this
interesting. When Nathan woke up we played with some sticker books and
then the kids put on their hats and we had a photo shoot. It was hard
getting any good ones of the both of them at the same time but it was
fun. Nathan doesn't like having his picture taken and will sometimes
say no and walk away. :) I thought that Aunt Tonia would LOVE seeing
the kids in their hats so I'm including them. The last one is the
reaction anyone would get if the Cubs won the World Series ever!

After our photo shoot we put on some music and then we danced around
the room. Isabel likes to dance but I think Nathan needs to get used
to it some. Then the kids watched Richard's computer as he has some
software that has the pictures that move to music. I think they
enjoyed it. Then we started going through some of the pictures we took
while we were here and Nathan became fixated on the picture of us with
his two nannies (I posted that on the day we met him). He kept
pointing and saying, "mama" and some other words in Chinese and both
Richard and I thought it was so sad. He loves those women and even
though he now has a forever family, he misses them and you could see
it on his face. Hopefully, we can bring him back here one day so he
can visit with the women who loved on him so much!

I forgot to mention that Nathan is attached to his water bottle. We
brought one for each of the kids with us so that we could bring water
with us wherever we went with them. He loves it and likes smacking the
top closed when he's done. He also really likes his baseball cap. Oh,
and whenever he sees any of his clothes that were brought here from
the foster home, he wants to wear them. He also doesn't want to wear
the very cute shoes I brought him. He wants to wear his old ones. I
think this is normal but I love the shoes I brought for him and wish
he liked them too. :)

In the evening after I was done packing most of our stuff, we went for
a walk to find dinner. We saw a place on a map from our hotel that
looked like pizza we might get in the states. It was a buffet and oh
how I wish I could have seen it before we settled in to eat. The pizza
wasn't anything like what we get back home and the pizza was also not
the main focus of the buffet even though it's called a pizza buffet. I
don't even know what most of the food was as there were no English
words to describe it. Lets just say that I went a little hungry after
that meal. :)

Well, I am all caught up with my posting. We are in Nathan's province
right now and I will hopefully post about our journey here tomorrow.

Hope all is well with our family and friends and thanks so much for
following along.

4 comments:

TanyaLea said...

Praying for your time in Nathan's province. How long will you be there before heading to Guangzhou?

Every time I read a new post about how Nathan is doing, I try to reflect and put myself in your shoes, knowing that very soon I will be. My heart grieves knowing how they will long to hold onto their past, especially in the beginning. But at the same time, we know this is healthy, as they were SO loved and will be able to give love in return because of it. Time is a healer...of hearts, too! He is the perfect fit for your family and I just love seeing all of you together. You are blessed!! <><

love and hugs,
~Tanya

Cardinalsfan said...

Awesome to hear about how things are going. Love the pictures too (except one of course!) Blah! :-) Anyway, it was great to chat with you the other day and amazing to see Nathan "live". I almost cried just seeing him after all this time of praying for him. Love you guys!

MJ said...

I'm so thrilled that your family is bonding really well. I just love seeing the kids....they are like two peas in a pod. They remind me of ours...so very bonded, one in the same, yet very different!

I just love the last pic of Isabel and Daddy!

FlacaS29 said...

Ooh! I love the pictures! I was so excited to see them. They both look so cool with their hats! They look like they are having such a great time. I am glad. I cannot wait to see all of you! Seeing all these posts is making me impatient now. Are you sure you want to rest right after you come home???? JK...I will try my best to wait a little while...