Up and Down

Nathan had another MRI on his head late yesterday. This morning they told us that the abscess has not gotten smaller and the radiologist thinks that it may have actually gotten larger. It's about 4.6cm. The infectious disease (ID) doctor recommended that Nathan have another procedure to drain the abscess. However, after the ID doctor spoke with the neurosurgeon they decided to wait and monitor it since Nathan is acting fine and did not have a fever overnight (his fevers typically come at night and are higher). We think this was mostly on the part of the neurosurgeon and we are thankful that he is conservative with performing surgery. The ID doctor will probably want to drain the abscess again if Nathan's fevers are frequent and high. Incidentally, they are now assuming that his fevers have been a result of the abscess. Not too long before we went home last week, they took him off of a medication to reduce swelling in his brain and they believe it's possible that the medication could have masked the persistent infection that resulted in a fever when we went home.

After hearing the news from the ID doctor, we were certain that Nathan would probably have surgery this week but when she came back after speaking with the neurosurgeon, we had hope that maybe it wouldn't be necessary. And actually after the pediatrician came in this evening we were told if Nathan doesn't have a fever tonight that they will discharge us tomorrow! This is something to be hopeful for!

Nathan is doing well in spite of all of this. Today we gave him a bath (well, he didn't like that) and since he wasn't hooked up to any monitors we were able to carry him around the room and play. We also had him walk and he was actually able to walk a couple feet on his own. He was somewhat unsteady but not too bad. He is also using his right hand more. If you recall, his right side has been weaker ever since his surgery as a result of the abscess being on the left side of his brain. He definitely prefers to use his left hand but is engaging his right hand more and more.

Right now we are praying that the antibiotics will be able to penetrate the abscess and work to eventually eliminate it. We don't want Nathan to need another surgical procedure. It's a risk we don't want him to have to go through again if at all possible. Also, we are praying that the abscess will be eliminated quickly because the ID doctor thinks we're looking at antibiotic therapy for about 6 months (an estimate so it could be shorter or longer). That would put Nathan's heart surgery at least 8 months out. We just want our little guy to be all better.

Thank you for your prayers! We are experiencing a peace that seems so foreign in a situation like this, well, at least for me. Richard doesn't struggle with worry the way I do. :) We know that your prayers are sustaining us and we are so thankful!

Maybe next time I post, we'll be home again for good!

Slow Day

Not much happened today except that Nathan is now off of his oxygen. They now believe that the reason for his low oxygen levels was due to them taking so much blood from him. His levels have gone higher now that he received some blood.

He had a fever last night and one this afternoon so they are not totally sure what is causing it. He is on one antibiotic now but it's not the one that he went home on. It's different and covers a broader range of infection. It could be possible that the abscess isn't getting the antibiotics like it should and that is the reason for the fever. We might have more answers after his MRI tomorrow.

Besides that, we had a good day. The four of us hung out here at the hospital. It's really nice to be together. Of course I'd prefer to be home but one week before Nathan's surgery, there was a ban lifted on child visitors under the age of 18. They instituted due to the H1N1 outbreak but that is no longer in effect and we are so thankful. This would be infinitely harder if we couldn't all be together.

Hopefully, we get good news about the size of the abscess tomorrow. I will let everyone know how it goes. I'm praying they don't need to drain it again and that they also find the cause of his fever.

Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Chinese New Year.

Inching Forward

Sorry I didn't post an update yesterday. After I left the hospital I took Isabel to her ice skating class, came home and ate dinner, gave Isabel a bath and put her to bed, did 3 loads of laundry and sorted through our large stack of mail (a lot of things pile up when you have a child in the hospital). After that, I just didn't have the energy to post.

Thursday night I was pretty discouraged with some of the information we received regarding the MRI of Nathan's head. We learned that there is evidence on his brain that he has had mini-strokes. They can't be totally sure if this is new or was there before the MRI they took right before he had surgery. With the first MRI, they were more concerned with the abscess. During this MRI, they took different pictures. However, they are leaning toward this being something new. This was hard news for me to take but thankfully, on Friday, one of our cardiologists spoke with the neuroradiologist and they think that any damage would be reversible. Praise God!

Regarding the abscess, the MRI also showed that it has shrunk but they are not sure if it got even smaller than it is now and has grown larger or if it has continued to just get smaller. They will be doing another MRI on Monday to see what's going on. The neurosurgeon said that sometimes they need to drain the abscess more than once. Hopefully, it just continues to get smaller!

The echocardiogram didn't show there being anything additionally wrong with his heart so that's great news! His heart continues to be stable.

They have still been perplexed by his oxygen levels although they might have hit on something today. They have found that his hemoglobin has continued to go down since he's been in the hospital. This is because they keep taking blood from him for lab tests. They think that if they give him blood, that his hemoglobin will go up and therefore, maybe his oxygen levels will rise as well. They gave him some blood today and will monitor how things go. We are hoping that this is the answer! If this doesn't work, they will be taking a CT scan of his lungs to see if there is anything going on there. They did take an x-ray of his lungs and that looked good but a CT scan would give them better information.

I will let everyone know how things progress. Hopefully, no more update slacking in my future. :)

Eventful Night

I posted late last night and if you can believe it, it still turned out to be quite an eventful evening. A little after midnight, as I was just falling asleep, the resident physician came in and told me that they wanted to transfer Nathan to the Pediatric ICU. The things they tried to bring up his oxygen levels (to what is normal for him) didn't work and they wanted him to be better monitored in case something was evolving. It felt like that dreadful night 10 days ago. We even had the exact same nurse and NCT as we did the night we came over here and they found his abscess.

I do want to explain what I mean by his oxygen levels being low. For a person without a heart defect, oxygenated blood feeds the organs and tissues at levels close to or at 100%. Nathan usually runs in the mid 70 to low 80% range. When we were admitted into the pediatric ward, he was in the low 60's.

Sometime overnight, I woke up because Nathan was crying. The nurse was in and had drawn blood from his picc line. I looked at him and noticed that his color looked bad. I mentioned it to the nurse and that's when she showed me that his oxygen level had dipped into the 30's! I was so scared. I started praying and by God's grace it started rising. We just stood there watching the machine wondering what was going to happen. Soon after it was up and the nurse even commented that it was better than it had been all night!

Not too long after that, I went to sleep. I woke up some time later and the nurse was putting blankets on him. He had 2 regular and 2 heated blankets on him and he was shivering! I felt his forehead and he would go from burning hot to cold. Then he started making strange sounds while he was breathing and I thought maybe he might be having a seizure. I checked his legs to see if I could move them and I could (when he was seizing last week he was so stiff). I mentioned to his nurse about checking for seizure but she looked into his pupils and everything was fine! Thankfully!

His oxygen levels fluctuated a good portion of the night. Around 5:00AM he had a fever of 104 and they treated him for that. By the time he woke up this morning he was stable and I don't think the fever has returned.

Today he has had an echocardiogram again along with an MRI of his head. He is on oxygen to keep his oxygen levels at a level that is normal for him. He has increased markers for imflammation as of last night which he didn't have a few days ago. His lungs look good. The blood cultures haven't shown any bacteria yet. He is on three antibiotics now. They are treating him like they did initially for a wide range of possibilities.

Right now we're just waiting to see what the echo and MRI show. His cardiologists should be by later.

Will keep you posted.

Back Again

Well, our time at home was short-lived. Twenty hours after getting home we were on our way back to the hospital. Nathan's fever went down slightly over night but this morning it was up again and so we called our doctor. He ended up calling the infectious disease doctor's who are treating him for his infection and they wanted Nathan back in the hospital. Our home care nurse said that since he is on antibiotics, his fever should be going down.

Right now the plan is to check his blood and see if there is any bacteria. They might need to change his antibiotic or potentially add one depending on what they find. One unexpected thing that happened since we've been here is his oxygen levels have been a lot lower than what is normal for him. It is perplexing the pediatrician and nurses on call tonight so they are contacting cardiology. They are also doing some diagnostic testing to try and figure it out. Right now he is on oxygen and we will see how it goes. We are expected to be here at least two days.

I will say that our 20 hours at home were great. Nathan got a great night's sleep (so did Richard and I for that matter). No interruptions! Richard and I got to sleep in the same bed together for the first time in 8 days! Oh, around 2:30 this morning I heard Nathan sneeze and then say, "bless you." Very cute. He was also joking today and laughing. Outside of his fever, you wouldn't really know that he was sick at all. We also got to eat real food for three meals as a family together. No hospital food or take out! Oh, and as a side note, the hospital food options for children is surprisingly unhealthy. There are a few options for fruits and veggies but most of the options are not good for you. So, we definitely enjoyed our time at home and are looking forward to being back there with our little guy. I will say it is comforting though to be in a place where people know what to do and Richard and I don't always have to make all the decisions. It's hard being at home wondering if something Nathan is going through is normal, if we should take him to the hospital or at least call the doctor. It takes the guess work out of it all.

Thanks again for your encouraging words and your prayers. We really do appreciate all of you, even those of you we don't know! I hope to post tomorrow that the doctor's are finding answers.

We're Home

Today we finally made the trip home! Yay! However, it was not without it's challenges. As soon as they discharged us and we signed the papers, Nathan threw up. We literally had his shoes and clothes on and were about to put his coat on. He was crying the whole time we were getting him ready to go but we weren't sure why. Maybe he felt sick or maybe he was tired and his crying led to his throwing up. At any rate, we were told to wait an hour and see how he did. After the hour was up and he seemed fine, we made our way home in the snow.

Before we got home, we had a couple perscriptions to fill. Then we went home and after dinner, the home care nurse came and showed us how to administer his IV medicine. At that point, we realized that Nathan also now has a fever! We need to monitor him but if it doesn't go away, we need to call his doctor. Richard says it feels like deja vu all over again. I said that we couldn't make this stuff up. Please pray that his fever subsides and that he starts to feel better. I don't want to believe that as soon as we're released from the hospital that we need to take him back. Of course, if that is what needs to be done, we will do it but we were so excited to get him home we hope he gets better and we can stay!

Thanks for all the prayers and encouraging words! Will keep you posted.

CT Scan Results

Nathan had his CT scan this morning and we received the results. The swelling in the brain has subsided and he will no longer need to take the medicine that was treating that. I also apparently misunderstood what happened during his surgery. I thought they cleaned out and removed the abscess but they actually just drained it. The abscess therefore, is still there but it is smaller. He will have to be on antibiotic therapy indefinitely to treat it and have routine scans to check progress. He is down to one antibiotic and they changed his anti-seizure medicine to one that he can take orally.

He also had an echocardiogram (an ultrasound of his heart) but we do not have the results of that yet.

Nathan is doing well though. Today he was tired all day but that was a result of not sleeping well last night. He is actually starting to say new words which I was pleasantly surprised to hear. One is, "hello" and "I want some." Nathan's vocabulary is very limited and I suspect he might need speech therapy at some point. But it was so nice to hear him say new things. I wonder if the abscess has anything to do with his speech. I will have to ask. He also asked for Isabel a few times today (he calls her Bel). Very cute.

The doctor's are thinking that Nathan will probably be able to go home on Wednesday. I am so happy that we are so close to bringing him home. I look forward to him getting uninterrupted sleep and hopefully resting will speed his recovery. It will be great for him too because he's always anxious when people come into the room, especially when he's sleeping. So many reasons to get him home!

I will hopefully update the results of his echo tomorrow. I think they are looking to see if there is still any bacteria on his aortic valve. The cardiologist did say that his heart is the least of his problems right now. I guess that's good and bad. At any rate, we are praying for complete healing for our little guy and believe God is hearing us and all of those who are lifting him up!

Busy Little Guy

Nathan was a busy little guy today. Richard stayed last night and when Isabel and I got here around noon, Nathan was ready to eat lunch. After lunch we gave him a sponge bath and put his own pj's on him and left the room!! He was so excited to see his own clothes and get to wear them. He kept saying, "mine" and "go." Richard carried him out of the room to see the little electronic train set they have on display. Isabel was really excited to show Nathan the trains.

We also had Nathan walk around the room with Richard holding onto him. He did such a great job! He cannot walk on his own but his legs know what to do, he's just unsteady. Afterward, he sat on the little sofa they have here and we played with bubbles. He also "helped" the nurse administer his IV medicine. He interacted well today! He colored some and had fun putting on the exam gloves we all have to wear. Both yesterday and today he was joking with us and laughing even. We haven't heard many laughs lately so it is so great to hear him having some fun. Even before coming here he was sick for some time and wasn't interested in having any fun.

The pediatrician that was here today said that she will arrange to have his CT scan and echocardiogram tomorrow and depending on how things go, we might be able to go home on Tuesday or Wednesday!! Everyone thinks Nathan is looking good and doing well. This is definitely an answer to prayer. We are praying that his CT scan especially shows no new growth of the abscess and that the antibiotics are working.

I want to thank everyone for their prayers and comments on our blog. I am so thankful for everyone who took the time to pray for us. I am especially humbled by comments of people we don't even know who have taken the time to let us know that they are praying! Thank you so much!

I am hoping to post tomorrow that we have a plan to go home! Will keep you posted.

Small Improvements

Yesterday they removed Nathan's central IV. Now he just has the picc line in his arm which will be there indefinitely. He is also down to one antibiotic. Along with the antibiotic he takes an anti-seizure medicine and something for swelling.

He will probably have his CT scan on Monday so the plan over the weekend is just to continue on with his medicine and see how he does.

I don't think Nathan rests well at night. Well, I know I don't rest well so I can't see how he does. At home he typically sleeps about 11 hours at night with a nap during the day. This is a typical night in the hospital. He gets his antibiotics at 9:00PM. That takes 30 minutes and then the machine beeps and the nurse comes in and removes the tube to his picc line. Then they flush it. Then he gets another med. At midnight, he gets another medicine and then they take his vitals (blood pressure and temperature). Then at 4:00AM they take his vitals again. At 6:00AM he gets another medicine. Then around 7 or 8, doctors come in and check him out. At 8:00, more vitals and then our new nurse comes in and checks him. He does nap some during the day but it's just more of the same with people coming in. I wish he could rest. He cries nearly every time someone comes in and is suspicious about what they are going to do to him (understandably so). It takes a little bit for him to fall back asleep. I know this is just part of the territory. We are thankful that he is well cared for but I also know how good it feels to get good rest at night and can't wait for him to get that.

We are not sure when we will be going home. Like I mentioned, he has a CT scan on Monday and that will be important. We are praying the antibiotics are working on his infection and that it hasn't started to grow again. I think after that, we will have a better idea as to how long we will be here.

Thanks again for all your prayers!

Another Night - More improvements

It was my turn to spend the night with Nathan. He slept most of the night after dinner.

He did get up around 4:30 in the morning and we had a mini breakfast with some cereal and juice. Then around 8:30 we had a real breakfast, he cannot wait until lunch for some more food.

The doctors will be discussing the short term plan for Nathan today, we will see when he can get home. He is already asking to GO. We are all ready to be home.

He is saying some words that I am not sure what he is trying to say and this frustrates him so much. I can side step it a bit by always ending up asking him if he wants some more apple juice and then he says yes. Will definitely need a plan for sign language.

He is doing great and thanks for all the support.

Making Progress

Nathan made progress today. He is now out of the Pediatric ICU and is in a regular room!!

He also got another IV put in. It's called a picc line and it goes through the arm with a tube that winds through his vein all the way to the heart. This is something that he could go home with so that he can receive his antibiotics straight into the blood without having to go through the stomach with an oral medication. Apparently, it's somewhat difficult for antibiotics to break through the blood/brain barrier so this removes an extra step in the process making it more ideal. Once we are able to go home, there will be someone who comes to the house and teaches us how to administer his medicine. They will also change his dressing once a week and are able to draw blood through this line.

It appears that there was only one type of bacteria in his brain so the doctor's are going to eliminiate two of the four antibiotics that they were giving him. They are hoping to go down to one soon but we're thankful that he won't need as much as he's been getting.

Nathan still favors the left side of his body. His right side, especially his arm, can move but he keeps it bent and close to his chest most of the time. He answers our questions with head shakes and says a few words. He wasn't very verbal before this though so doctor's can't gather much from his speech. We are praying that he regains all control of his body and that this abscess hasn't done any damage to his brain.

The neurologist plans on having another CT scan done in a week but apparently everything is going the way he expected. In this regard we are praying that the abscess is responding to the antibiotics and that it will not return. We were told that this is a possibility.

We hope that Nathan continues to improve and that it will not take too long to eliminate this infection. The doctor's say that every case is different but at the very minimum he would be on antibiotic therapy for 6 weeks (and that is if his abscess were about half the size that it was). If we add that to the fact that he has to be infection free for 6-8 weeks before heart surgery, we are looking pretty far down the road in planning that repair. So far, Nathan's heart is stable which is great. But we just want to get this little guy on the mend!

Thanks again for all your prayers and support. I hope to have more good news tomorrow!

History Part 2

I realized that I never went into some of the details from Monday so I will do that now in case anyone is interested. Some people got this information and some did not.

To recap, we got to the ER on Sunday around 5:00PM. Went up to the pediatric ward around 8:30 or so. First seizure around 10:30. CT scan around 1:00AM. Transfer to PICU around 2:00. Was in the lounge until 5:30 while they put in the breathing tube and such. MRI around 7:00 followed by emergency surgery. Out of surgery and back in room around 11:30AM Monday.

Some may be wondering how an infection that started in the heart reached the brain. Apparently, everyone has bacteria in their blood. In a heart with no defect, the lungs, liver and spleen filter out the bacteria and it doesn't reach the brain or other parts of the body. In people whose heart works differently, the blood from the heart can reach the whole body therefore spreading bacteria anywhere. Our cardiologist said that an infection could have shown up anywhere, in the eyes, leg etc. In Nathan's case, it was in his brain. They have no idea when it started and the only way to know this was happening in his head was for him to have a seizure. All of his illness last week was due to the infection in his brain.

I just want to praise God for the fact that Nathan did not have any seizures at home. We were told that it was a miracle because this usually happens at home. He was in a position to get immediate help! Also, it is scary enough to watch something like that and I imagine infinitely more if we were at home and not in the hospital where nurses and doctors could immediately take the necessary steps to figure out what was wrong. I am so very thankful for that.

Also, given Nathan's heart defect, they were pretty sure that he had an infection in his brain and not a tumor. Like I mentioned in the History section from my update last night, they weren't sure if it was an abscess or a mass. They treated him for infection before they were sure. It is of course another blessing that he did not have a tumor. They said if he had a healthy heart and started having seizures, it most likely would have been a tumor. Again, a heart with no defect does not send blood with bacteria throughout the body.

I think all the information we have is now blogged and we can just go forward with our updates.

Thanks again to everyone who's praying! We are so grateful!

Nathan just had a huge lunch

Nathan just had a huge lunch. He usually eats more than me.

They took him out from all the cables and I was able to hold him for bit. I placed him back in bed after a short while since he did not seem comfortable but wanted to stay with me. His sores are still hurting I am sure where they took the tubes out. There was an IV in each hand, both legs and his groin area today, now they only have 1 on him.

Nathan and I are looking forward to seeing Isabel and Kelly a little later. They lifted the sibling restrictions, and they are already preparing for Isabel's visit. I think they have volunteers with a whole bunch of activities ready for her.

Only got a few hours of sleep last night hanging out with Nathan, but I enjoyed it. Kelly is the one who usually stays, but last night I was able to stay especially since I have internet access in Nathan's room so I am able to work while he sleeps. I had Matt Maher's latest CD on during the night and I really just wanted to burst out in some dancing I was so pumped with how well Nathan is doing.

Another fist pump ... Nathan allowed me to fix his diaper, the nurse changed it but it was not comfortable for him and he pointed to it to let me know it was bothering him and now he is sleeping.

Got to get some work done while he sleeps ... will keep the updates coming.

First Night without all the tubes

Nathan was awesome the first night. They gradually reduced his pain killers, I think he is only on Tylenol. He only got up a few times and went right back to sleep.

This morning he loved his chicken broth, apple juice, cherry drink and some of his jello, he did not care too much for the iced tea a good sign he is taking after his dad.

Just finished the standup with his med staff, if things go well they will move him out of ICU sometime tomorrow.

I am just a bit concerned about the right side of his body not moving too much, they said this is normal since the infection was on the left side of his brain.

Update

I am going to try and post updates here just so that everyone can get all the information we have. Sending texts and emailing is becoming a little complicated at times so although we will try to give individual attention, we won't always be able to.

Nathan had a CT scan this morning and it showed that his brain is moving to reclaim the area that once held the abscess. Good news! It was too early to tell the nature of the infection but they will have that information tomorrow. At that point they will know which antibiotics he needs to treat the infection. Right now he is being treated for anything he could possibly have.

The doctors also did an ultrasound of his heart and found something on his aortic valve which they suspected to be bacteria. To get better pictures, they did another type of ultrasound that puts a tube down the esophagus and they were able to determine that his aortic valve has a leak and is thicker than it used to be. They expect that was the initial site of infection. Fortunately, they had ultrasound pictures of his heart from November when we were in the ER with Nathan the first time (two days after we got home - yes this poor boy has been through a lot medically in just over 2 months). They compared the photos and found that his valve did not have a leak back in November. Either way, the antibiotics that they are giving him to treat the infection in his brain will also treat any other infection in his body, including his heart.

Nathan also made good progress today by coming off of his breathing machine! We were very happy about this as you can imagine. After completing the ultrasound that went through the esophagus (sorry, no medical terms here), they wanted to get him off the breathing machine. They actually wanted to get him off of it this morning but it's much easier to do the type of ultrasound they wanted with the tube already down his throat so they kept it in. Soon after the sedation wore off, the nurse asked him if he wanted the tube out of his throat and he actually shook his head yes!! We were so surprised. We don't know if he actually understood her but we were overjoyed that he understood that he was being asked a question and responded. We were still wondering about possible neural damage caused by the infection and this was just another step in the right direction.

So, they took the tube out and he started breathing on his own!! He cries and is uncomfortable but at this point he can have limited pain medicine because one of the risks is respiratory issues and they need to make sure he will continue to breath. He also really wants food but again, in case the tube needs to be reinserted, he cannot have a full tummy. Sometime tomorrow if everything goes well, they will start him on clear liquids. His throat is understandably sore and his vocal cords as well. His cries are very soft.

Additionally, he is shaking his head 'yes' or 'no' in response to questions which is so great!

We are so very thankful for all the people around the world that are praying for us and especially for Nathan. We are so humbled and in awe of the outpouring of love and the willingness of so many to petition God on our behalf. Yesterday morning I was all alone in the hospital trying to absorb all that was happening to our little guy. Doctors were telling me things I didn't want to hear but by the time Nathan was out of his emergency surgery, His peace came. Last night I told Richard that for most of the day I felt at peace and in a situation like that, we know that type of peace can only come from our Father in heaven and we thank all of you for praying. We are being sustained by your prayers and we hope you know that we are so grateful!!


History:
For those interested in learning the background information on how we came to be in the hospital, I will recap the last week.

On January 22, Nathan woke up in the morning agitated. Shortly after, we found out that he was sick with vomiting and diarrhea (sorry if that's tmi!). Anyway, he just had that one episode in the morning but he seemed fine throughout the day. Saturday morning we woke up to the same situation but this day went differently. He vomited multiple times and had a fever. I will mention that this just so happened to be the little guys third birthday!! Poor guy was sick on his birthday and it was his first birthday with his family. This made us very sad. He still got to open presents but he wasn't that interested in playing with his new toys. Moving on... he was understandably lethargic that day but was eating crackers and drinking fluids. By 6:00PM I took his temperature and it was very high so we decided that I would take him to the ER.

Once we got to the hospital they did a battery of tests and gave him an IV. All his tests were fine and actually within a couple of hours he seemed to be doing very well. He had energy and was playing and eating. The staff however, decided to keep him overnight for observation. The next morning we woke up again to the same situation as the past two days. Again though, he was eating well and his fever had gone down so by the afternoon we were discharged and went home. They determined that he had the stomach flu and that is just needed to run it's course.

Throughout the week his fever went up and down. By Wednesday there was no more vomiting. He still had a fever but by Friday that was also gone. He was however by Friday, very lethargic and sleeping way too much. On Saturday, he was so tired that we could barely keep him awake. Since all other symptoms were gone, we started to question whether or not his sleeping was some type of coping mechanism. We thought maybe he was "checking out" or grieving. When you add all of this with the fact that he was just recently adopted, we weren't sure what to think. By Sunday though, he vomited again and then we realized that he was still sick. Sunday (1/31) he was sleeping and we tried to get him to eat and drink but he could not keep his eyes open to even chew! Since he wasn't getting much fluid our pediatrician told us to take him to the hospital.

Once there, they did more tests and found nothing. They gave him an IV and because he was so listless, they admitted him. Not too long after being in the pediatric ward, Nathan had a seizure-like episode. I was freaking out it was so scary. He had several of these and they decided to do a CT scan. Once they got the results, they saw that he either had an abscess or a mass in his brain. They moved him to the pediatric ICU to be better monitored. As soon as we got there, everything went down hill. They checked his pupils and something was wrong. He needed to be incubated. People started flooding into the room and I was escorted out. I sat in a lounge area with people periodically brining me updates or release forms to sign.

About 3 hours later I was able to see him and I was not prepared for what I saw. His little body had tubes everywhere, too many to count and nearly all labeled so that they could keep track of what each tube was for. First the cardiologist and then later the neurosurgeon talking to me about what needed to be done and painting a grim picture. It was so emotionally draining.

Soon after, they took Nathan to get an MRI, which would tell the neurosurgeon what he needed to know before he did the surgery. He went straight to the OR after that and they drained fluid from his brain and cleaned out the abscess which we were told was the size of an orange! His head is so little, I cannot fathom that.

At any rate, the story has unfolded much better than I thought it might when I first learned of his condition - yesterday! God is SO good!

Like I mentioned, I will try to post updates here as I'm able.

Thank you again for all your support and prayers!

Amusement Park

On Thursday, we went again as a group to the amusement park we had
been to earlier in the week. This time it was open and not nearly as
cold. The sun was shining too. Nathan woke up crabby so he wasn't that
interested in the rides although we did put him on a few. Isabel got
to ride the carousel which she was thrilled about! The kids rode a
train and Nathan went with Richard on the bumper cars. After we were
done with the rides, the kids played in a park for a while. Well,
Isabel played with the other two boys in our group and Nathan just
hung out with Richard. He didn't want to go on anything.

At lunch-time we went to a pedestrian street not too far from our
hotel. We took a taxi from the park and met our group. Isabel loves
taking taxi's. I think it's because they come in so many different
colors. Some are yellow, blue, green, etc. Isabel likes riding the
yellow ones. The pedestrian street is quite large and you could easily
get lost, especially since there are more than one of the same
restaurants all within sight. After lunch we walked back to our hotel
and put Nathan down for a nap. When he woke up, we noticed that he was
hot and after taking his temperature, realized he had a slight fever.
He would just lie around and a couple times just fell asleep right
where he was. He was also very clingy to his lollipop. I don't think I
mentioned how much of a hit the bag of lollipops we brought have been.
Nathan's fallen asleep several times with one in his hand (unopened).
He likes having one to carry around even if he can't eat it (we don't
allow the kids to have too many, maybe one or two a day and they are
very small). The ones I brought are a brand called, Yummy E@rth, which
I bought at Whole Foods. They are so good. Richard and I have also
enjoyed them. I totally recommend bringing something like that if you
have yet to travel. They worked to calm the kids when we had to wait
in lines. It was a nice distraction for them and even a comfort for
Nathan even if it was closed. The times that he's slept with them, he
will sometimes wake up, look for the lollipop if it had fell out of
his hand and once he found it, go back to sleep. Very cute.

On Friday morning, Nathan still had a slight fever but after having
emailed our doctor in the states and got the go ahead to give him
Tylenol, he's doing much better. His personality is back for the most
part (still a little crabby) and he's more interactive than he had
been the day before. Hopefully, he will be all better for our flight
which is on Saturday morning.

It's Friday afternoon now and we haven't done much today except for
some shopping and eating. :) Richard and Isabel are currently at the
park while Nathan is napping. This evening we are having dinner with a
dad who is here alone adopting his son.

Well, this is my last post from China. We are leaving in the morning.
Thank you to all of you who've followed along, prayed for us and left
encouraging comments and emails. We appreciate you all!! I hope to
post when we get home. Nathan has an evaluation with a cardiologist
the day before Thanksgiving so we will see how that goes.

The Subway To A Tomb

On Wednesday morning we met Elsie and the other family in our group
and headed for The King's Tomb Museum. Elsie took us on the subway to
get to the museum which we really enjoyed. The subway is relatively
new, about 10 years old, and is very nice and clean. Not quite like
the subway back home but ours is definitely a lot older. There are
televisions everywhere, even on the train. An older lady gave up her
seat so Isabel and Nathan could sit down. I initially declined because
I felt like she should be sitting but she was persistent. After taking
two trains, we had to walk about a block to the museum. The museum was
quite crowded and we later found out that we went on a day that it was
free.

The museum shows ancient funeral objects and other things and you can
actually enter the tomb which was built underground in the side of a
small mountain. It was an interesting museum but one that the kids
couldn't really appreciate. I did get a picture of a replica of the
stone musical instruments that we saw being played at the Pavilion in
Nanchang.

After the museum we went to a Chinese restaurant nearby. It was nice
to have Elsie with us because she did all the ordering and it made the
experience pretty stress-free. The restaurant had two rooms and right
before you enter the second one, which is where our table was located,
there were all types of fish tanks filled with all sorts of things.
All you have to do is chose what you want and it will be on your plate
shortly. Most of the tanks had eels in them, hundreds and hundreds of
eels. In case you were wondering, I had noodles and vegetables.
However, Elsie did order shrimp-on-a-stick which Isabel really
enjoyed. Poor Richard had to peel it for her, in other words, remove
the head and legs and shell. On the way out, you could see the tank
where they came from and the lucky critters that hadn't yet met their
fate. :)

When we were done eating, we took a cab back to the hotel and it was
time for Nathan to nap. Dinner was low-key and in our room. Later in
the evening, Elsie gave us Nathan's US visa so we are officially just
waiting for our flight home! Yay!

Here Comes The Sun

Tuesday we saw the sun for the first time in ages! Let's just say that
I love the sun. It was still quite cold but the sun made all the
difference. In the morning, Elsie took our paperwork to the US
Consulate and we had to stay in our room so she could call us and tell
us if everything went well or if there was a problem. Thankfully,
there were no issues with our paperwork! She also told us that our
Oath Ceremony had been moved up. It was supposed to be on Wednesday
but it would be Tuesday afternoon.

After our phone call we went to the park since the sun was out (I
might mention the sun a lot, just warning you). :) There weren't many
families there but we did meet one family from North Dakota. They are
adopting their second boy which will make three boys for them ages 2,
4 and 6. They had all their boys with them too which was neat to see.
We played at the park awhile and then had lunch with this family.
After lunch it was up to the room for a short nap for Nathan before
our appointment at the US Consulate. Oh, at the park there was this
elderly woman running laps around the park (there's a small running
track) and I thought it was so cool that I snagged a couple pictures
of her. Then there was this guy who was doing gymnastics on a high bar
and I got a couple pictures of him too. :) The older generation here
is so active. I hope I am as active when I am their age!

Around 2:30PM we met Elsie and the other family in our group and
headed to the US Consulate which is about 30 minutes or so away. Oh,
and it was sunny! :) When we got there, we went into a large room with
about 20 adopting families. One-by-one we were called up to a window
and we had to sign some papers. Afterward, a lady came out and talked
to us as a group and then we all had to stand up, raise our hand and
take the Immigrant Oath on behalf of our children since their first
port of entry into the United States will immediately make them a US
citizen. This was quite an emotional time actually. I got teary-eyed
and one family in front of us was warned by the lady to not start
crying because then she would start! And, just like that our whole
adoption is complete! We just need to get Nathan's US visa so he can
enter the US. Wow, what a long road our journey has been.

After the US Consulate, Elsie took us to a very large park and one
section had some rides for kids. There was no one there but Elsie
found a lady who had someone activate a few rides for us. First, there
was the bumper cars and then there was a roller coaster and finally a
"hunting" ride. Nathan was two small for these rides but Isabel and
Richard went on the bumper cars along with the two boys and the dad of
the other family we're with. She didn't ride the roller coaster but
she and Richard went on the hunting ride where you move around a
little park and shoot at some fake animals. It was cold so we didn't
want to stay long but it was also quite strange to be the only ones at
the park and the only ones on the rides. Afterward we went back to our
hotel. It was kind of late so we ordered pizza and then ate in our
room. Just a few more days and we'll be on our way home as a family of
4!

Oh, I think Nathan is starting to call me mommy. It's interesting
because he follows what Isabel does quite often and I think that is
why he's picking it up. He pronounces it like, "Ah Mee." He won't say
it if you ask him to and oftentimes if you ask him to say mommy or
daddy, he will shake his head no. We actually get a kick out of it
because he looks funny doing it. Richard wants to video-tape him doing
that. Maybe one day he will get a kick out of it too.

More Rain and Bonding

On Monday morning we met Elsie and the other family in our group and
went to the medical office to have the children's TB tests checked.
Thankfully, all was well with both boys. If there was an issue, the
medical staff would take an x-ray of the chest to determine whether or
not they had TB. We were so thankful that we were in and out of the
medical office. We are done with the medical exams, yay!

It rained most of the day on Monday and it was very windy and cold.
After the medical office we decided to pick up our laundry and then
grab lunch. The place that did our laundry also has a store so we
wandered around and grabbed a few things. We got a puzzle for the kids
which is a map of China. It is made of wood and they have all the
province names in both Chinese and English. We also got a light-weight
ball which was great for being in a hotel room and out of the rain
most of the day.

After Nathan's nap, the rain had stopped so we decided to go to the
park. It was too wet though so we made our way to a nearby bakery and
got a couple things (Richard loves baked goods!). Then it was back to
the hotel for the evening. I forgot to mention that a couple days ago,
while Richard and Isabel were out, Nathan did really well by himself
with me. He didn't cry when Richard left which is progress and we
spent the time playing a game of peek-a-boo. I would put Nathan's hood
over his face and ask where he was and then he would pull it off and
I'd pretend I couldn't see him until finally I "found" him. He loved
it! I remember in one of our training sessions for our adoption that
oftentimes you need to play with adopted kids like they were babies
all over again to promote the bonding that they lacked with a parent
in their infancy. Hopefully, our game will help. Even since our game
he will take his hood and try to pull it over his face so that we can
play some more. Very cute. :)

Richard was kind enough to get us food for dinner so we ate in our
room and then it was time to get the kids to bed. We decided to start
rocking Nathan to sleep some days ago since we believe that it will
help with bonding and also to give him a chance to experience what it
means to have parents. He's had to soothe himself to sleep for so long
and possibly never had anyone rock him to sleep. Sometimes it seems
like he doesn't really know what to do while we're rocking him. This
is mostly at night though because it takes him minutes to fall asleep
for his naps. I find it quite astonishing actually. Hopefully, the
rocking will help him identify us as his parents. At his foster home,
there were a lot of foreigners that would come in and volunteer and he
loved the foreigners. When we're out now and if he is walking, he will
go up to people and want to be picked up. We are trying to prevent
this as we know he is "parent shopping" and he doesn't understand that
we are the people who will be taking care of him from now on and that
we are his parents. I know that this is normal given his past but this
is not healthy. He would walk off with anyone and never look back and
that would not be the case for a child who was attached to their
parents or caregivers.

Tomorrow I will post about our US Consulate appointment. Sorry for
not posting pictures, more to come tomorrow.

Splash

I think the rain and cold is following us. Sometime Saturday night it
rained and we awoke to a wet and chillier day on Sunday. After
breakfast we decided to take a walk. We saw many people out by the
Pearl River jumping rope, exercising and playing a game similar to
hacky sack. We decided to see if the park was still wet so we made our
way over there. Most of the kids equipment was too wet to play on but
the park also has some equipment for adults to use for exercising so
the kids had fun playing on them. Nathan soon found a very large
puddle to play in but we tried to steer him away from it so that he
wouldn't get too wet. I started blocking his route to the puddle and
it became a game for him to try and get around me to play in the
water. We were having fun until he did get around me, tripped and fell
right into the water! My reflexes weren't fast enough to keep him up.
So, we headed back to our hotel and got him into some dry clothes.
Richard and Isabel went to grab lunch and then dropped off some of
Isabel and Nathan's clothes to get washed. I've never missed my
washing machine so much. :)

After Nathan's nap we stayed in the hotel until dinner where we went
to a place called Lucy's. They serve American-style food and we found
out that Nathan likes pizza and pesto. He's definitely fitting into
the family! Lucy's has pictures of American celebrities up all over
the place and gingham table cloths so it definitely reminds you of
something you would see back home. At this point, we are ready to be
home and not living out of a hotel. I think Isabel is feeling it too.
I am very happy though that she is with us and she has done a great
job with all the changes. I am very proud of her.

Isabel and Nathan are getting along as if they've been siblings
forever. They copy each other and antagonize each other. They can't
verbally communicate but one wouldn't know it! It is cute to see them
hug! It's also cute (although we don't like it) to see them get into
things together. They whine when the other one is touching them or
they push each other because one was "there first." It's interesting
to me to see Isabel like this because I never have. She's been an only
child and it's hard to know how things will be. Well, apparently
they're like every other sibling in the world! :)

Sorry I'm a little late posting lately. I've been pretty exhausted and
am usually falling asleep with the kids.

Medical Appointments and a Treat

The kids woke up early on Saturday given how late they went to bed the
night before. We really needed them to though because after breakfast
we were meeting Elsie so that we could take Nathan to have his medical
exam. There is also another family from our agency here in Guangzhou
and so we will be going to all of our appointments with them. They are
a really nice family and are adopting their second son from China.
Their first son is also traveling with them and it's been great
getting to know them.

At the medical office Nathan's vaccination record was reviewed and
then the doctors determine whether or not he will need any additional
shots. All children are tested for TB and unfortunately our little guy
also needed to have two shots. Let's just say it wasn't pretty. I felt
so bad for him and all the kids really. The other family in our group
mentioned that their state won't even accept vaccinations from here
and their son will need to have them all over again. Oh, I hope that
isn't the case for Nathan. We will see when we get home. After the
shots the kids are examined and that is basically it. We will need to
go back on Monday for the doctor to check the TB test. So far I think
it looks fine which is good.

Afterward we walked back to our hotel and then made our lunch stop at
Subway. Then it was up to our hotel room for Nathan's nap. He took a
long nap and then when he woke up, after playing a game of "everyone
jump on daddy," we went out for my much anticipated treat. While going
out for Nathan's medical exam, we (I) noticed a Starbucks just around
the corner and so we went and got a snack. Then we took the kids to a
park we noticed while out earlier as well. There were lots of kids
there including the other family in our group so it was nice. It is
just nice to be around others who are going through the same
experience. It's really encouraging for me. We spent a while there and
talked to other adopting families and the kids ran around and had a
great time playing.

We had dinner at a Thai restaurant and then went back to our hotel.
Both kids were tired but Isabel especially so after baths, we put some
music on and had the kids go to sleep. Tomorrow is a free day for us
so I hope the kids sleep well and wake up rested.

The picture of Richard and I with Nathan in front of Starbucks was
taken by Isabel. I let her use our SLR to take it and she had never
used it before so she was so excited. Then later at the park, Nathan
wanted to take pictures too because he saw that Isabel got to. He does
a great job communicating without speaking English, especially for
being 2 years old. He is a great little brother because he already
wants to do everything his big sister is doing. Isabel is a great big
sister because she doesn't mind showing him what to do. :)

Well, it's time for bed for me. Good night.

Moving On

Most of Friday was spent hanging out at the hotel packing and getting
ready to go to Guangzhou. We were originally supposed to be on a
flight around 5:00PM but that flight was delayed until 9:00PM.
Thankfully, Mary was able to get us on a flight at 7:00PM. The weather
was very cold but the rain had finally stopped. I am not sure the
cause of the delays but there were a lot of them. There was mention
that Beijing was having bad weather and that caused flights into
Nanchang to be delayed. At any rate, we were able to get out at a
decent time. Many of the families staying at our hotel were on our
original flight and once we arrived in Guangzhou, found out they would
not be getting in until midnight. I can't imagine how hard that must
have been with all those kids.

Our flight here was barely over an hour. The kids did so well
especially being as tired as they were. We also had to leave the hotel
at a time that would prevent us from eating a normal dinner. We
figured we could grab something at the airport but there was only one
restaurant and it was very expensive. I hate to admit it but we
sustained ourselves on snacks!

We met our new guide at the airport and her name is Elsie. She is
fully of energy and very nice. It's funny though because Isabel asked
Richard if this was our, "new person." When we were in Nanchang she
kept asking for Cindy, who was our guide in Beijing, and now we're on
our third guide. I don't think she understands why we keep having
different people showing us around. :)

When we pulled up to our hotel I can't tell you how excited I was to
see a Subway right next door. We are staying at the Victory. We opted
to stay here because I had read the rooms were rather large and when
we got here, they were a welcome sight compared to the rooms we had
been staying at. The kids ended up falling asleep in the car on the
way to the hotel so you can imagine how much energy they had when we
got here. Once they woke up they were full of life. Getting them back
to sleep at 11:00PM was um, challenging. :)

The weather is warmer here but I can't say it's warm. Apparently, last
week it was hot but we are still wearing sweaters. It's nothing
compared to Nanchang and even the weather I expect to get when we get
home so I'm not complaining. I just wish I had packed more warmer
clothes and none of the summer clothes - I doubt we'll need them.

Last Day In Nanchang

Thursday was our last complete day in Nanchang. In the morning Mary
took us to the Tengwang Pavilion which was within walking distance of
our hotel. It was very cold and raining again which was a pity because
the gardens of the Pavilion were so pretty and on a nice day it would
have been nice to walk around. Instead, we went into the pavilion
which is 6 stories high. On the top floor there is a small theater and
we watched a performance of singing, dancing and music playing. It was
quite nice. One of the instruments consisted of many hanging stones
which when hit would produce notes. It was quite extraordinary
actually. Mary said that it was about 3000 years old and that even now
to reproduce the instrument, it would take several years to get the
thickness of the stones just right to produce the correct note. The
pavilion was built sometime in the 600's and has been destroyed 28
times through wars and natural disasters. The last rebuilding was
completed in 1989.

After the performance we toured the rest of the pavilion. On this
particular day, we gave Isabel one of our camera's so she was ready
when her fans came calling. She turned the tables on them and not
everyone was excited to have their picture taken. Most though were
good sports about it. :)

We would have loved to have gotten some pictures of the outside of the
pavilion but the weather just didn't cooperate. It was hard to even
keep an umbrella open let alone stand outside and take pictures.

We left around lunchtime so Mary took us to a new place which was
quite good. Although our usual restaurant is good, going to the same
place to eat so often gets a little tiring. Also, eating in
restaurants so often has lent itself to overeating. I usually like
something simple and small for lunch and meals here have been such a
production for us that I think I need to do some extra workouts once I
get back home! Guangzhou might have been the perfect place to bring
those running shoes. :)

Our afternoon was pretty low-key. Unfortunately, the weather strapped
us to our hotel room more often than we would have liked.

Morning at the Museum

We woke up to rain again on Wednesday. I was a bit disappointed
because we were supposed to meet Mary and go to a park but it was too
cold and rainy so she took us to a local museum instead. It was,
however, nice to learn more about Nathan's province. For instance,
Jiangxi has the largest fresh water lake in China. They also cultivate
rice here and harvest it in July and October. They are also known for
their porcelain. Mary says that there is a saying that if you do not
have porcelain in your home than it is not a home and that everyone
has porcelain. Some of it for everyday use and some for decorations
and special occasions.

For lunch we went to our usual stop and then back up to the hotel. The
weather has really turned here and the kids are now bundled up in
winter coats, sweaters and mittens. It is very, very windy here and on
our way home from lunch, the wind broke one of our umbrellas! I am
definitely looking forward to our flight to Guangzhou on Friday which
will lead us to warmer temps. :)

Richard ended up going out and getting us food for dinner. I had the
kids and we put on the Discovery channel which had some documentary on
music. In the meantime, I was trying to organize our suitcases. At one
point I was sitting on the floor folding clothes and Nathan (who isn't
that interested in television) decided to try and put one of Isabel's
hair clips in my hair. He played with my hair for quite a while. While
he was doing this I asked him to say, "mommy" which he did and then
asked him to say "mama" and he said that as well. Up until that point,
he would never say it even though we know he can. And, even now he
won't say it again so I think it was a nice moment for him.

A couple of things - whenever Nathan sees me combing mine or Isabel's
hair, he will want his combed as well. It's funny though because he
definitely doesn't need it. Then he apparently notices that I put hair
clips in Isabel's hair and he wants to do the same for him. At first I
didn't want to put them in because they are for girls but as long as
we don't go out, then it's probably fine.

Soon Richard came back with food so we ate and did the normal
nighttime routine. Nathan went to bed early since he didn't take a
proper nap. Oh, before bed we tried to get some pictures of the kids
in their pajamas because they looked so cute. :) I will include a
couple for you to see.

Tomorrow I will post about our last day in Nanchang before heading to
Guangzhou. We will be there for a week and then it is back home. Yay!

Night Time and only Richard is awake !!

So it is 8:00 pm here and everyone is sleeping except me. Kelly cannot
screen this post, so she will definitely be surprised tomorrow and I
will be in a lot of trouble. Turn a blind eye to all the grammar
errors, Kelly is not around to fix them.

I decided to take the time to try to get some video organized, I am
surprised to see we had so much footage of meeting Nathan. I have some
footage of us hanging out with him and some of his classmates. When we
get back I will be creating some DVDs. I am only going to send some
video footage to a select few :), I think we should keep some of this
experience private since it is also Nathan's story to tell. But I am
really excited to have captured some of the other kids. I was sitting
right next to Evan while holding Nathan, I think Evan's family will
really enjoy the video footage. We began praying for Evan when we
found out that Nathan and Evan were rooming together. I remember the
night we were praying before bedtime and Isabel prayed a prayer that I
will never forget. She simply said "God help me find Forest a Mom and
Dad" and I realized then that God also hears the prayers of Children.
A few weeks later we found out that Forest now called Evan was matched
with a family.

We thank God for answering our prayers that Nathan would know that we
are his family. Nathan has so many people praying for him and we
really appreciate all of your prayers. I want to mention some of the
kids who consistently prayed for us Amber, Alex, Xavier, Dominic,
Elizabeth and Phillip. I want you to know that prayer works.

Our family has been transformed by this experience, I have tasted what
it means to live your life for Christ and I do not want to go back.
Giving up control over your life is sometimes scary and out of our
comfort zone, but it is so worth it. It took me a long time to really
give up control over my life. I have been praying for the past few
months that God will use my life and that I would not continue to try
to live this life my way. I wanted him to know that I am finally ready
to give him the controls and I will follow. Now I am sitting in a
hotel room in China reflecting on my past and what lies ahead. This
life is too short to continue to do it my way, I have made enough
mistakes to know that my way is really boring. I want to catch a wave,
a wave that God is putting in motion and ride it as long as he will
allow me to, then my life will be filled with his adventures. Looking
at Kelly, Isabel and Nathan who are sleeping right now, I know for
sure that I am having the biggest adventure of my life.

I am also excited to see what God is doing in other people's lives and
the adventures that they are embarking on. Just to mention a few :
Daniel my brother in law just got back home after spending almost 2.5
months in a hospital after a motorcycle accident. Daniel and Stacey
are definitely in their own God centered adventure. Also my wife's
good friend Debbie will be getting married on Friday to an awesome guy
who loves the Lord, you just cannot beat the combination of 2 great
people who love each other and share a passion for Jesus. I know Kelly
would really want to be at the wedding, I will try to convince Debbie
and Tom to have a post wedding party (convinced ?).

So I just want to encourage anyone who is reading this to ask Jesus to
orchestrate your next adventure. You will know that your on an
adventure when you have huge God moments in your life.

Well I am off to catch some ZZZZZs before the 2 pirates of the
Caribbean awake from their slumber to do battle. Yikes it is 10 pm the
latest I have gone to bed, this shipmate will be in trouble.

Another Free Day

Tuesday was another free day. We woke up to rain and the temperature
had dropped considerably. When we first arrived in Nanchang it was
warm enough for shorts but now we needed long pants and jackets. I was
surprised by how much the temperature changed although I don't think I
should have been because it is similar to what we experience back
home, warm one day, cold the next. After breakfast we went to our room
to wait for our laundry to be picked up. Our guide was nice enough to
arrange for someone to pick up our laundry. Nathan is quite the messy
eater so he is always needing clean clothes. I will be doing laundry a
lot when we get home. But for now, someone else was doing it and I
can't say I minded. :)

After the laundry was picked up we decided to take a walk to W@l-mart.
Richard figured it was about a mile or so away and we felt that would
be doable. By now the rain had stopped so we figured it would be
something to occupy our morning. Soon after venturing out though,
Isabel wasn't that interested in walking and carrying her a mile one
way and a mile back would be more than I could handle so we just went
to the local market and picked up more fruit. The picture of Richard
and the kids with three bags of three different kinds of oranges only
cost us about $1. We were excited that we had some good food for snack
time. As you can imagine, Nathan has been on a very predictable
routine. It's definitely necessary when running a home full of kids,
not to mention the fact that kids do well with routine. So, he has two
snacks a day at specific times and we are trying to stick to it as
best we can while living a not-so-routine existence right now. He does
really well with naps too, just falls asleep within minutes of putting
him down. Bedtime has been a bit more of a challenge but not too bad.
He is also sleeping through the night.

Nathan ended up taking a pretty long nap. We let Isabel watch a movie
with headphones on and then Richard and I ended up falling asleep as
well (accidentally for me). When we woke up, Nathan had slept 2.5
hours and we felt he needed to get up if he was going to go to bed at
a decent time so we woke him. Afterward, we just hung out at the
hotel. I didn't have the desire to go out again and really, Nathan
needs to be bundled up pretty well because his body doesn't regulate
his temperature like ours would and so I felt we should just stay in.
We played some but because Nathan's nap was so long, it was soon time
to figure out dinner. Richard decided (or maybe I suggested) that he
go and grab some take-out. He decided to take Isabel with him since he
can carry her on his shoulders. We also think it's good for Isabel to
have some "daddy time" because Nathan prefers Richard and gets a lot
of time with him being carried and such. Isabel is not used to this
and although she has been doing great, we want her to feel like she
gets Richard's attention too. So they have been having their together
time most every day.

Once Richard and Isabel were going to leave, we learned that Nathan
was not happy with the situation. He cried when Richard left and
wanted nothing to do with me. I tried playing with his train but he
wasn't interested. Then I took out a mini container of Pl@y-doh that I
had brought with us. He didn't seem interested in that either. He
found an Aqu@-Doodle that our friends the Nelson's gave him and that
seemed to divert his attention (thanks Nelson family!). I had put the
Pl@y-doh in his backpack and he ended up taking it out and we played
with that for quite a while. Just as we were putting it away, Richard
and Isabel returned with food. We sat on the floor and Nathan scooted
over to sit next to Richard (of course). :)

After dinner, it was time to take a bath. We washed Nathan up and he
had lots of fun trying to get Richard wet. Then Isabel got in the tub
so she could play (she WANTED to take a bath too which is not common).
The two of them nearly soaked poor Richard. After baths Nathan seems
to want us to put music on so we did and we had lots of fun dancing
around the room. Isabel would tell Nathan, "this is how you dance" and
she would have at it! I think he really enjoyed it. He even tried to
dance a little. Mostly we carry him and dance with him but he started
trying to move to the music which was fun to see. He didn't do it much
though so we will have to work on that!

After our little dancing party Richard and Nathan sat and played and I
read to Isabel. Then we had another story that we read as a family
before bedtime. We have noticed that although Nathan loves to be
picked up, he didn't really give hugs (at least with us) so we've been
trying to teach him what hugs are. So last night we all gave each
other hugs and for the first time, he gave Isabel a hug. In the past
she would ask him and he wouldn't want to or she would try and "force"
him but this time it was mutual. It was fun to see. I think that
Isabel has adjusted so well with this transition, almost better than
Richard and I have and certainly better than I could have hoped for. I
am so thankful that God prepared her heart for this!

Putting Nathan to bed last night was a bit challenging because he kept
wanting to play. Finally though he went to sleep. I have to say it was
a good day, our first complete day as a family of four!

Oh, I wanted to offer a congratulations to my dear friend Debbie who
will be getting married this Friday and whose wedding I will sadly
miss! Debbie, we wish you and Tom a lifetime of happiness together. We
are so happy that you found each other!!

Take care.

Adoption Day

At breakfast on Monday we realized that we were not the only adopting
family in the hotel. There was a group of families who had just
received their babies the night before so it was nice to see others
who are going through the same experience. After breakfast we met Mary
who would take us to do the paperwork for the adoption. First, we went
to the Jiangxi Center for Adoption Services. Once we arrived Richard
and I had our picture taken with Nathan and then we went into a large
room and filled out some forms. Not long afterward, the other families
from the hotel arrived and there were kids all over the place! A few
of the families also brought older siblings so the older kids enjoyed
playing together while the babies took it all in and the parents did
their paperwork. Next, we went into a room for an interview. I was so
nervous about this but it was really simple. It almost felt too simple
but I guess the large amount of paperwork we needed to do beforehand
is the hard part. After the interview we signed some papers and put
our red thumbprints over our signatures and Nathan needed to put his
footprint on one of them. We then received a nice little red book that
meant that we've officially adopted Nathan! Shortly after that we left
to go to the notary place where we signed a couple more documents and
then it was back to the hotel. Just like that our family grew by one!
We were back at the hotel within two hours of leaving which I thought
was quite remarkable.

For lunch, Mary showed us a restaurant in back of our hotel where we
could eat. She even showed us what on the menu was good (yay, there
are pictures on the menu) and even wrote down a couple things so that
we could show the waiters when we were ordering. It was great. We ate
lunch and seriously, I think we spent about $5 for all of us! We've
eaten there a couple more times and no meal has cost us more than $10
and that's on the high end! For comparison, the first meal we ate here
was at the hotel and it cost us over $30 and it wasn't nearly as good
as this place! The hotel restaurant is now reserved for our breakfast
which is included with the room. :)

After lunch we came back to our room so Nathan could nap. In the
meantime Richard took Isabel to the local market to get some snacks.
They came back with some mandarin oranges and drinks. Richard always
prepares the fruit for our family which is very nice because I don't
particularly care to do it. Actually, it would never occur to me to
buy fruit while traveling but it's tasted so good and makes me feel
better that we're eating somewhat healthy. Oh, the restaurant I
mentioned always gives us watermelon after our meals and since it too
has been really good, Richard wants to figure out how to buy a knife
or borrow one from the hotel so that he can cut up watermelon in our
room!

Nathan ended up taking a short nap so he was somewhat crabby when he
woke up. After playing in the room a while, we decided to get out and
do something to calm him down. He seems to really enjoy taking in the
sights. We wandered around and then ended up stopping for dinner
before heading back up to our room. I had grand visions of putting the
kids to bed and Richard and I watching a movie on his laptop before
going to sleep but I fell asleep with the kids. I haven't watched
television since we've been in China. The one in our room is unplugged
because the kids were having way too much fun turning it on and off.
:)

I'll leave you some of the pictures we took.

The Tale Of Two Crackers

Richard here ..

Keeping this short .. you will know my entries by the length of them.
I will keep them short and to the point (hopefully there is one).

So Nathan loved these crackers that we got, I gave him a few and then
told him no more. Isabel was taking a nap during the cracker scenario.
When Isabel got up she wanted to have some, she then shared 2 more
crackers with him. I pretended not to notice, but he was excited and I
think he has a new found joy for his bigger sister.

It has been fun playing with both kids in the hotel room, tossing them
on the bed and throwing them up in the air. It is interesting to see
Nathan start to get that both he and Isabel take turns playing.

He is really smart, learning new words already. I am also learning
what makes him tick a bit.

To Nanchang

On Sunday, we woke up really early and met Cindy at 6:00AM to head to
the airport for our flight to Nathan's province, Jiangxi. Nanchang is
the capital and this is where we will complete the adoption. Isabel
woke up well but Nathan was a little crabby since this is way earlier
than he is used to getting up. The flight was uneventful except that
Nathan fell asleep right before we landed. He didn't seem phased by
the airplane or all that interested in looking out the window. He did
like playing with his seatbelt and figured out how to unlatch it! He
was none too pleased that we held the latch closed so that it would
remain on. :)

After retrieving our luggage we met Mary who would be our guide while
in the province. She is very sweet and has been assisting adopting
families for 15 years. We are in good hands! We arrived at the hotel
around noon and after getting settled needed to find lunch. The
restaurant in the hotel was our best bet because Nathan was pretty
exhausted and needed to go down for a nap. On our way to the
restaurant, we saw a lovely bride getting ready for either her wedding
ceremony or reception. She had on the prettiest gown and I wished that
I had taken her picture.

While Nathan was napping our little superstar was reading a book and
also fell asleep. I was amazed since I can't remember the last time
Isabel took a nap. She slept less than an hour because Nathan decided
to wake her up. :)

After nap-time the kids played in the room and I think for the first
time really played together. They chased each other in and out of the
curtains and squealed with delight the whole time. It was so cute and
wonderful to see. Isabel loves Nathan and mothers him a bit. She looks
out for him if he wanders too far away or might grab something he
shouldn't. She also mentioned that she loved having a little brother!
I think he will need some time to get used to having a sister though.
Of course as one might expect, they do fight like siblings already. :)

Nathan also likes to get into everything so we will have our hands
full when we get home. Isabel never got into much so this is something
different for us.

When it was time to eat dinner, we decided to try and find something
outside the hotel as the hotel restaurant is a bit pricey. We wandered
around and found a pedestrian street with lots of activity. There were
so many stores but not too many restaurants. It was quite the site
really. We passed a couple dental offices where the exam room is
completely visible to pedestrians. Literally behind a glass window you
can see people getting their dental work done. Also, we passed a
wedding photography place where a couple women dressed as brides sat
outside for advertising purposes. It was all quite interesting. After
we ate, it had become dark so on our way back down the pedestrian
street back to our hotel the signs were lit in flashing neon. I have
never been to Times Square but I told Richard I imagine it's something
similar.

Once we got back to the hotel it was baths and getting ready for bed.
Not a very eventful day but a sweet day none-the-less. We kept telling
Nathan that this is where he was born. Of course he doesn't understand
us but it's something to ponder, at least for me. It's been a long
time since he was here and longer still since he'll be back.

Thanks again for all the comments. It's hard to get to them since we
are in Nanchang but my computer programmer husband is always figuring
something out. Yay! Also, more importantly, thanks for the prayers!!
The transition has gone so smoothly and we are so blessed! Isabel is
also doing great and we are so amazed to see this side of her. We will
be here until Friday and then it is on to Guangzhou. Tomorrow I will
post about the completion of the adoption.