Ok, ok.... I know, I know...

Ok, I know, I know I should've posted by now, but I'm just too enthralled... and by the end of the day, just too exhausted.   :o)

 

Sam is a delight!! We met him at the hotel the minute we arrived from the airport and have been enjoying [almost] every minute ever since. He was quite the dapper young man in his quilted blue and yellow coat and matching quilted blue pants, along with his bright yellow shoes... right down to the no less than 4 layers of clothes underneath. Did I mention when we landed in Nanchang, the first thing we said was, "Thank You God, it's warm here."  He's taking an antibiotic from earlier this week when he'd started to get a bit of a cold... not all clear on the whole story, but with his heart, the minute they think he might be getting sick (or perhaps because Monday was his adoption day?), they take him for an IV and antibiotics... so we've stuck with the Chinese way of layering his clothes... but shhhh... only 2 layers and a jacket.

 

Once we got all those layers off on Monday night, he's quite a tiny guy (and he's got his Uncle Tom's butt - or lack thereof), weighing in at a whopping 20.2 lbs, and that was after dinner, but he's cute, cute, cute. He doesn't still have the spiky hair (sorry Rachel), tho it's got potential, and not much of his little rosebud mouth anymore either. In fact, when he smiles big, or cries, the mouth gets very wide... and toothy, but oh, so sweet!  

 

Anyway, at Gotcha!, he was fairly laid back and we tried our best not to swoop him up and smother him in kisses. Of course, his big sisters, and brudder too, were all over him and the nannies were saying, Jei Jei (big sister) and Ge Ge (guh guh - big brother) to him to see how he'd respond. He didn't seem quite as afraid as Alex had been, so I didn't wait too long to scoop him up and he didn't cry at all. There we were, right in the middle of a huge marble hotel lobby, becoming a family... in a way only God could've planned. We did get a few minutes in our hotel room, and a few minutes to grab some lunch, then off to the Civil Affairs office for the first round of paperwork. This too was pretty laid back, probably the shortest ever for us... or maybe because we thought we were done about 6 times before we actually were done. We found out that Sam was actually in foster care from around May until adoption day and we're very thrilled for that (that he had a home and someone to call Momma, but also that they didn't pull him from it a week before adoption to take him back to the orphanage, for whatever reason that they usually do that). We got pictures of the foster mom, along with pictures of a family in Taiwan who sponsored his heart surgery last November. We're forever grateful to them both.

 

Sam slept pretty well the first night. It was a big day for the little guy, so he fell asleep around 7:30... but of course, was awake around 1 or 2am. I'd put his crib right up next to my bed, so thankfully, it just took squeezing my arm in between the slats and rubbing his back, or holding his hand to quiet him down. Can't remember if it was that first night or the 2nd, but he sat up and said, "Momma", which of course made it all worth while.  :o) 

 

On Tuesday, our guide, Mary took us to a pretty cool park in the morning, after the 5 minute Notary appointment, and then let us off at McD's for lunch, while she ran to the food store (the RT Mart) to get some water and batteries for us. Mary has been wonderful to us, spoiling us, making us feel like rich folk. On Tuesday afternoon, the 3 boys took naps while us girls braved the city streets looking for whatever we might find (Faith wants to buy Chinese jeans, Theresa and Abby want to buy whatever they can get). Really we were looking to find the RT Mart again, but kinda got side tracked... slight left turn instead of a left. We did eventually happen upon it, but you'd be amazed at what we saw along the way, and you'd be amazed at us trying to cross the street... whatever you've got in mind, it's worse. Nanchang traffic is a constant horn blowing and a rush of cars/scooters/bikes/people from every direction. In fact, our 12th floor hotel room window is open and all I've heard outside all evening is constant horn blowing, and it's 10:45 pm.  Tuesday night, we put Alex in the tub and let Sam watch for a few minutes. He was thrilled when I put him in and he and Alex had a blast. Alex couldn't wait to have a brother to take a bath with!

 

On Wednesday morning, I got my first Sam-initiated kiss and it was a whopper!! It just doesn't get any better than that!! Later, we went to a ... well, not a park really, and thankfully, not a temple either. The first thing Mary said when we arrived was that this was not a temple, that it had a scholarly, not religious connection (really didn't want to go to a buddhist temple like in TaiYuan, so this was great). This was a pagoda, or temple looking structure, it's story being that some young emperor came here to rule this city, but found it very boring, so he had this place built with water and bridges and the building and gardens and scenery and such. Then some poet came and loved it's beauty so much that he wrote a poem about it. The poem became so famous, and when people read it, they wanted to see the place it told about, so the place became famous too. Once inside the building/pagoda, you ride the elevator to the 6th floor, watch a short performance - a singer, then dancers, then some musicians and a dancer... a really cool 5 minute show. After that, you walk down the stairs to each floor... every other one being open to the outside, so you can look around outside too. Saw lots of cool paintings, sculptures, etc, then once out, we walked around the grounds and it was beautiful. From there, we walked to a really nice restaurant... where we enjoyed every dish, were very full/satisfied... and paid a whopping $15 US. While eating, we saw the cook walk past with a plastic grocery bag in his hand... and heard the bag rattle... pretty sure it was a snake. Then he walked past again and we are sure that bag had a fish, so at least we do know he'd "been to market." Our dishes had already been served and each had very little meat, so we think we're safe, but ya just never know.  ;o)

 

While driving around earlier in the day, Mary said she'd love for her daughter to meet our girls, as she's the same age as Theresa Lin. We thought that would be a grand idea. Later on, our girls mentioned [again] about going swimming, so I put 2 and 2 together and asked Mary if she thought her daughter could come today and go swimming with us. Mary went too and we had a great time... except that Sam's been fussy today and after a while, wasn't too thrilled that everyone else got to go swimming and he didn't (water was too cold and with his sniffles, etc - it wasn't a good idea), so it didn't last too long. Mary's daughter is a really neat kid and I would've loved for it to have lasted longer.  

 

Ok, brain is fried. I'm sure there's more I've forgotten, but you'll love me anyway... esp. because I'm going now to find some pictures to include... and then I'm hitting the hay before the masses awake. I love you all and I'm so very thankful for your prayers - it's been a really smooth trip so far and I know it's because we're covered in your prayer.

 

Let's Roll!!