Meet the Hintons

House Party

2012-01-26T21:08:00.005-06:00

I was chosen to host a Glade House Party this past weekend. It was a neat experience. Houseparty.com runs various parties you can sign up for & if chosen you get a free party pack with lots of freebies, coupons & fun stuff for both the host & the guests. The main idea is to expose consumers to new products & provide high value coupons to entice you to try it.

Here are a few photos:

In Loving Memory

2012-01-10T10:09:00.003-06:00

This past Wednesday we lost Matt's Aunt Jane. She was a very sweet lady & will be missed by all of us. I've been blessed to call her my aunt for the past 16+ years. She was a spunky lady that loved her family & loved spending time together with everyone. Some of my fond memories of her were sitting around the table at holidays talking with her & spending time at Yellow Lake with her over the week of July 4th.

She leaves behind a large family of a loving husband, 6 kids & many grandkids. Here she is in 2010 at Yellow Lake enjoying food from our cookout. The other picture is this past Easter with Zeke.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T23:02:00.010-06:00

We had a whirlwind of activity over the Christmas weekend which started with an overnight at Grandma & Grandpa's house on Thursday. We enjoyed breakfast on Christmas Eve there & spent time with the family opening gifts, eating, talking & watch the kids run around excited by their new toys. One of the best scenes to watch was a couple of the boys (which usually included Zeke) playing light saber fights.

We headed out for Christmas Eve Service at church then home for a quiet immediate family night. Christmas Day brought a few surprises for the kids along with a nasty cold for poor Zeke. The kids really enjoyed getting the various items in their stockings. We took a fairly minimalist approach to gifts this year to really focus on the reason for the season- Jesus. All during the month of December we did a nightly Advent calendar door opening along with telling some element of the Christmas Story. I think this will continue to be our tradition as the kids really look forward to seeing what was in their door (sometimes small items like stickers or a piece of candy & others a clue for something bigger they had to find).

On Christmas Day we hosted my family & it was great to have all of my brothers come along with my mom. We had a day in our jammies for most of Monday to let everyone recoup. All in all it was a great holiday & Zeke is starting to feel a little better. Here is a flashback to last year on Christmas Day (yes, Maddy still fits the same jammies). The rest of the photos are from this year.

Christmas 2010, one day off the long trip home from China

Zeke & his cousin Creed

The older cousins attempted to let the littles sleep in Grandma's living room (failure- they both ended up in the guest bedroom w/mom & dad)

Maddy & cousin Tori in dresses from Grandma

Zeke's new bathrobe- as he opened it he said 'Mom, take a picture of me'

Opening the final Advent calendar door

Photo opp with Grandma Mommy

A less than thrilled cousin River with the kids

Nativity Story 2011- this has been the same book we have used since Maddy's first Christmas

Christmas Eve 2010 - journey home & airport welcome

2011-12-24T22:52:00.005-06:00

What a difference a year makes! Last for Christmas Eve we started 12/24 in Hong Kong & ended our day at our house, exhausted from the travel. None the less we were so happy to finally be at the end of one chapter with our son & the beginning of a new one.

We were warmly welcomed at the airport by 2 families that are adoption friends and know what a huge milestone it is to finally be coming home with your new child. In looking back, I noticed that I didn't post any pictures of that joyful event.

Our Christmas last year was low key since we were very tired & jet lagged. This year we are trying to really make up for our 'lost Christmas' and give our kids the full experience as possible.

Eating fries at Tokyo airport during the layover

On the plane

Our sleeping Hubei Prince in the car on our way home

Guangzhou Dec 18-23 2010

2011-12-22T23:20:00.009-06:00

We loved our time in Guangzhou! After being couped up in the Wuhan hotel, it was great to be able to walk around in the balmy weather. It was fun to see all of the parents with their newly adopted babies & kids. While there we hired Ann from Red Thread to help us navigate the shopping scene & scored some great deals.

It was especially fun being in Guangzhou right after the Asia Games as there were many decorations left from that time. The citizenship ceremony was wonderful. We also discovered a few great restaurants during our time there.

One of the large pedestrian walk ways in Guangzhou- we walked here from our hotel

Visiting the Zoo

Christmas program & church service on the island

Medical appointment on Saturday 12/18- yeah no shots thanks to legislation passed just days before!

Can I scribble on your paper?

Shopping for jewelry

US citizenship ceremony on 12/21

Sitting with Nai Nai on the ride to the consulate

Celebration dinner after the citizenship swearing in (at the French Restaurant on the Island )

Last minute shopping before leaving to Hong Kong & our flight home

Train Ride Wuhan to GZ

2011-12-19T16:20:00.005-06:00

As we reflect back on our train ride from Wuhan to Guangzhou last year we still agree that this was one of the best parts of our trip. For our first trip to China we took the intra country airlines which are mainly made up of aging Russian airplanes that rattle at take off & landing to the point of making you feel you need to 'duck & cover.'

Wuhan Look back

2011-12-18T22:44:00.007-06:00

Last year we spent Saturday- Friday the week prior to Christmas in Wuhan before taking the train into Guangzhou. I remember spending a lot of time in the hotel because it was cold in Wuhan & very few places had heat. We visited a museum that showed the history of the region but I swear I could se my breath almost the whole time we were in the place.

Thankfully our hotel had a good swimming pool & a little area that was deisgned for kids (w/a few ride on toys & floor mats). I remember Zeke wanting to go for endless rides in the stroller since this was obviously a new experience for him. I think one of the memories that still makes me chuckle is coming back to the Civil Affairs Office the day after we met Zeke & as I had predicted (& almost on queue), the orphanage staff started to inspect Zeke's clothes to ensure we had the permissible # of layers on him.

Happy Forever Family Day- 1 year later

2011-12-12T21:03:00.014-06:00

2010 the day we met

2011 one year later

It has been an unbelievable year with our son. We have a hard time understanding how the time has already passed and we are at the one year anniversary of meeting our son. I have a much better memory of Zeke's first meeting than Maddy's mainly because it was so low key compared to the 5 crying babies we met in Nanchang.

I can still picture the room in Wuhan where we were when he came in and seeing that sweet face for the first time. I remember his nanny telling him in Chinese - 'this is your mama' & hearing his soft little voice repeat 'mama.' He was shy & scared but with great trust & blind faith took our hands never to look back.

From the time we first took him to the hotel that day until now, he has been Mr. Personality. I remember him playing with my fingers thru the crib slats on that first day and giving him our 'first' bottle.

Our son has grown by leaps and bounds (not just physically but emotionally & developmentally) these past 12 months. Today he loves everyone in his family and quite articulately states what he wants (& when he wants it). His vocabulary seems to grow weekly & I am amazed at how well he is forming thoughts & sentences. Some things that haven't changed- he still loves meat & sweets, will let you know in a minute when he's not happy with something & loves to run away from when you are trying to get him dressed.

We are truly blessed to be allowed to parent such a sweet, wonderful little boy.

Here are a few photos from that day:

We interupt this trip down memory lane with Christmas Cuteness

2011-12-11T22:40:00.006-06:00

On Saturday the kids had their preschool Christmas program. They had rehearsed their lines for the whole week before & knew them well. Zeke got a little stage fright & Daddy had to come help him out a little. Later that day they had a Christmas party w/some of their adoption friends. It was a fun & full day!

A year of Zeke

2011-12-10T00:22:00.008-06:00

We recently had a letter & photos sent to Da Ye orphanage of Zeke's first year. We thought they might like to see how much he's grown and progressed in this past year. I know they were sad to see him leave so hopefully seeing his life here & how well he's doing will bring comfort to them. Here is a look at our first year with him.

Hong Kong Flashback continued (Days 3 & 4)

2011-12-09T23:25:00.005-06:00

In looking back at our last two days in Hong Kong, I remember spending a lot of time riding around on the open air tour bus. This was a great way to explore the city & find places that we wanted to visit. I think one of the absolute favorite memories of the trip was going out to Stanley Market. It was such a nice break from the hustle & bustle of Hong Kong to go out to the coast and have open space to walk around.

Sharing ice cream w/Daddy

This one is for Adam

The beautifu poinsettas in front of our hotel

Hong Kong look back from this week last year (Days 1 & 2)

2011-12-08T21:46:00.009-06:00

Today we were talking about our time in Hong Kong last during this time. There is just so much so see & love in Hong Kong that it's hard to know what to post. From the Ferry Ride across to Kowloon to the bus tour out to Stanley Market to visiting Victoria's Peak and riding the famous escalator Hong Kong just has so much to offer. I am going to try & post a few photos we didn't last year so you can get a little different flavor of what we did.

On our way- we landed in Hong Kong on 12/7/10 late at night

The clocktower in Kowloon

Festive Hong Kong- ready for Christmas

Riding the Ferry across the harbor

This one is for my friend Joyce

The clocktower @ night is even more beautiful

Looking across the harbor from the Kowloon side- they do a night light show across the harobor

One Year ago today

2011-12-04T21:00:00.006-06:00

...we were on a jet plane China Bound to get our son. We are hoping to do a little look back over the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, yes I am desparately behind on blogging. Here are a few photos from this past month or so:

An elevator ride that changed our life......

2011-10-22T23:41:00.011-05:00

Four years ago today we took an elevator ride that changed our life forever. When we arrived at the 26th floor in that crowded elevator, we walked through the doors of a room that contained 5 babies all dressed in the same red outfit. There was one particular 8 months baby that we were already smitten with even though we had only ever seen pictures.

Le Ping Yi was placed into our arms on that day to forever join our family on that fateful day in October of 2007. So much has happened since that day & our baby girl is growing a little each day into quite a young lady. She has taken her added role of big sister this past year very seriously & quite well. Although I know some days she still wishes she had her parents all to herself, she has grown to love her little brother.

She looks forward next fall to being a kindergartner & we wonder what happen to that little 15 pound bundle we held for the first time 4 years ago. We love you Maddy & are so glad that you came to join our family. It's hard to imagine life without her.

Fall fun leaves & pumpkins

2011-10-22T23:14:00.004-05:00

Zeke had a few firsts this month with the onset of fall. He & Maddy had a chance to play in the leaf pile we (ok, Matt) raked up in the front yard. Maddy has done this for a few years now so she had prepped Zeke on what to expect. He liked playing in the leaves, but in more so loved being able to throw them at his sister.

We also made our annual trek to the Country Sun Farm with some of the other local adoptive families. In years past we are usually late & have missed the hayride. This year we were the first to arrive and came ready with ziplock bag to put the corn for feeding the animals in so it didn't spill all over in addition to taking part in the ride. Maddy has caught onto the fact that many kids spill & extends her feeding fun by getting the excess off the ground. Looks like she's off to a frugal start in life like her Mama!

Leaves:

Pumpkins:

Thankful Thursday

2011-10-13T23:09:00.002-05:00

Today marks our 10 month anniversary with Zeke. This time last year our paperwork was making it's way through the US Embassy in China & we were anxiousy awaiting the next step before we could book our tickets. It has been so much fun to watch our sweet boy blossom in this past year. He is really starting to take to his daddy more & loves his whole family. We love to hear him at night talking through the baby monitor practicing phrases & singing songs. It seems like overnight sometimes when he says new phrases & understand new concepts. We are so blessed that we were chosen to be his parents.

We also think back 4 years ago to our pending trip to get Maddy. It's hard to believe how much life has changed in that time but we wouldn't trade it for the world.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-28T22:58:00.005-05:00

Congrats to my nephew Eric & his new wife Meghan!! They were married last month in a beautiful ceremony.

Thankful Thursday

2011-09-22T22:46:00.002-05:00

Today I am thankful for life. I went to the visitation of a high school classmate tonight & was sad to see a person so full of life now gone. It reminds me of how precious life is and how we never know when our time on this earth is done. Tomorrow is not promised to us, so we need to make the most of each day and make sure our priorities are in order.

I am so blessed to have family & friends all around me and have been trying to focus more of my time on the things that matter. I am also glad to know where I am going at the end of my days here on earth & that there is an Eternal Home that awaits me.

In search of mooncakes

2011-09-14T21:47:00.005-05:00

This week marks the Chinese Moon Festival. We made it our mission this year to obtain & eat mooncakes in celebration. Matt was able to succeed in finding some at a local Asian food store.

In their frequent trips to the library with dad, the kids picked out a story about a boy celebrating the Moon Festival with his family. There were instructions in the back to make our own paper lanterns so we decided to give it a try. They turned out pretty well, but the kids were a little disappointed that they didn't light up. Maybe next year we will try to locate the portable lanterns on a stick to make it a little more exciting.

The big news out of the evening was that the mooncakes actually tasted pretty good. We had been warned by a few people that they may not be tasty. The bad news- I did discovered that the 4 mooncakes in the box contained 10 servings (i.e. lots of calories per mooncake). Good thing the festival only comes once a year.

Pre-school

2011-09-14T21:35:00.004-05:00

Both Maddy & Zeke started pre-school last week. They were pretty excited & loved getting to school to see their names on their cubbies. Zeke goes 2 days a week & Maddy goes 3 days. One of the days is more focused on pre-K work so Zeke gets to hang out with daddy on those days while his jie-jie goes to school.

Here are a few photos from the big day.

Labor Day weekend flashback

2011-09-05T15:55:00.007-05:00

This year we have 2 reasons to love Labor Day weekend (beside the day extra days off I have from work: ).

1. Last year on 8/31/10 we received the Letter of Approval to move forward w/Zeke's adoption which we had waited all summer to get. This is a picture of us at the adoption agency signing the LOA: http://meetthehintons.blogspot.com/2010/10/moving-right-along-in-our-process.html

2. Four years ago on 9/4/07 we got our referral for Madison. This was the first time we saw her face! Here was the post from then: http://meetthehintons.blogspot.com/2007/09/introducing-madison.html

Other than taking a few moments to remember these important days for our family, we had a fun weekend of State Fair going & Drive In Movie watching with a little relaxing & cleaning in between.

Here are a few State Fair pictures, they include Zeke tasting his first deep fried cheese curd, the kids on rides & our visit to the Butterfly House which they really enjoyed:

Our 3 year old

2011-08-24T21:30:00.005-05:00

2011- Our big boy is Three! We are thankful to have him home:

2010 - Yang Yang got his care package around this time last year:

We now officially have a 3 year old boy in our house. This past weekend we had a birthday party for him which included lots of sugar & many kids running around. It was a nice party for Zeke & made us think back to a year ago when he was still in China & we were anxiously waiting to hear about our final approval. We had arranged for a care package & a cake to be sent to him along with a camera. It wasn't until 4 months after that we got to actually know that he got it & see the pictures of his orphanage party:

Zeke has grown so much & in so many ways in the past 8 months that it's hard to believe he's the same kid we first saw in Wuhan at the Civil Affairs Office. He has grown 2 inches, is using many sentences now, asks a lot of questions, loves to give his sister a hard time (like every little brother should) & has discovered many foods that he likes. We are blessed by how sweet he is & how he shares so much with his sister. He also very grateful & says thank you for almost anything you give him.

For his party we did a Toy Story Theme complete with a pinata. A few of the kids weren't sure about what to expect and when the 'magic string' was pulled (& only a few pieces of candy fell out) they followed the lead of the older kids to dive for the few pieces on the ground. Once we gave the pinata a shake a shower of candy ensued & little kids were getting hit on the head with suckers, laffy taffy & other tasty treats. I don't think anyone was seriously injured but it was quite a sight to behold.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-03T22:49:00.002-05:00

General update

2011-07-22T22:34:00.004-05:00

I haven't taken many pictures lately, so here are a couple of cute, recent ones of the kids.

We had a little drama in our house this week with flooding of our basement. Thankfully the damage was minimal & after a few days of needing to vacate the lower level, we are back in business.

This week I was thinking back to a year ago when we were in the middle of our wait for the Letter of Approval issued by China to move forward with Zeke's adoption. That letter was always in the back of our minds during last summer since it would have such a profound impact on the course our life would take.

The best laid plans

2011-07-06T21:28:00.006-05:00

Our plans for the 4th of July got turned on their ear this past weekend with the storms. It started Friday night with the loss of electricity at our house overnight which delayed our packing up until the next day. We finally got packed up & headed north early Saturday afternoon when we got a call that the resort where we go every year was hit pretty hard with the storms. They lost electricity & water plus the cabin we stay in had a tree sitting in one of the bedrooms. So alas 2 hours of getting the car loaded & keeping the kids from climbing the walls while doing it turned out to be for nothing. Every once in a while we need a little reminder that we are not in control.

After a few more calls & tears from the kids at the loss of our lake weekend, we quickly came up with plans to morph our vacation into a 'staycation.' We spent a lot of time outside & hit a local beach, water park & spent a night camped out at grandma & grandpa's house with some of the cousins.

All in all it was a fun weekend. I am a little sad since this was to be our 4th year of going to Yellow Lake (a tradition we started when Maddy was just a year old). It has always been fun to relax, eat lots of food, swim, & of course provided many photo opps for creating the following year's calendar.

Here are this year's 4th of July weekend photos:

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-29T22:00:00.002-05:00

Graduation & Wedding Season

2011-06-26T22:27:00.011-05:00

We had a very busy June this year with a total of 6 graduations & a wedding that we were invited to attend. This month has been pretty none stop each weekend, so we are glad to have a little time to relax coming up in July.

Here is a look at some of the June festivities we attended:

Hanging with one of his cousins's at the wedding

Outside Miller Park in Milwaukee w/the Klements characters

Zeke kissing the ladies' hands - starting his chivalry early

Timeout for monkey

2011-06-23T07:19:00.003-05:00

Recently there has been a lot of fighting over this little monkey. Maddy was gracious enough to give Zeke most of what she considered her 'boy' stuffed animals (the brown ones like bears & monkeys), but she had a change of heart with this little guy. They had been fighting over 'Little George' (yes there is another bigger version of this guy w/o the hat) for quite a few days. One would wait until the other wasn't paying attention & would play capture the monkey out of the other's room. On this particular day, there was a tug o war going on over poor little George. I told the kids since he was causing them to fight so much that he had to go into to timeout. Problem solved!

Six months ago today.....

2011-06-13T07:08:00.005-05:00

in Hubei, China our lives were forever changed by a certain little boy. Today we celebreate half a year with our son. It's so hard to believe that it's already been that long. We are amazed & blessed by him on a daily basis. Amazed that he blended into the family so quickly and blessed that we were chosen to be his forever family.

The other part that blows our minds is how well he & his sister have formed a bond. There are times when we see a side of Maddy that would have never been possible without a sybling. Zeke has come a long way since that first meeting at the Civil Affairs Office in Wuhan. His English is wonderful & his pronouciation since his surgery is remarkable.

Things we have learned about our son:

Lately he prefers to be called Yang Yang so we are trying to respect that
He loves meatballs
He can spot a motorcycle from very far away
He makes the funniest sound effects with his mouth (motorcycles, cars, sirens, etc.)
He is learning to hold his own with his bossy big sister
He does not like having dirty hands or a dirty face
He is very friendly & loves to say 'hi' & 'bye' to everyone
One of his favorite games is playing pillow pet chase with his sister before bedtime

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-08T22:38:00.002-05:00

Long overdue update

2011-06-06T22:28:00.004-05:00

Ok, ok I know it's been a couple of weeks since I updated. Our camera went MIA for a while so I put off the picture upload & update. I know you all love my writing, but I also know that you really come for the pictures. I'm guilty of looking at pictures first on the other blogs I read before I read anything.

Zeke has recovered beautifully from his surgery & is now back to normal food with minimal pain. We had about 10-12 restless nights with several times a night getting up, but we are thankful that things are getting back to normal. Another victory that he has experienced is being able to drink out of a straw which is something he couldn't do before without pinching his nose shut.

Here are a few photos from the hospital-

Surgery for Zeke

2011-05-20T23:26:00.003-05:00

This past Wednesday Zeke had cleft palate repair surgery. Things have gone relatively well & we are continually amazed at what a trooper our son can be.

The team at Children's Hospital did an amazing job and we were so blessed by all of the staff. We had wonderful nurses that really did so great with Zeke & word got out that he was a pretty amazing patient. He is very good at taking medicine and was very compliant everytime they came in his room to take vitals during his 30 hour stay.

His mouth is very sore and he is not enjoying any food or drink right now. For the next two weeks he will have to eat only mashed or pureed food so we will need to be creative.

Thanks for all of the thoughts & prayers, they have helped sustain us during this time.

Pictures to follow.

Adoption Agency's Journey of Hope Kids- Open house this Saturday

2011-05-11T06:12:00.002-05:00

Our adoption agency has been given the special honor of participating in the Journey of Hope Program. This program allows agencies to have specific children from China assigned to them for 5 months in hopes that they will find homes for the kids. Our agency is having an open house this week to allow potential families to see photos, videos & get information about approx 40 kids ages 3-13. Some of the kids have medical conditions, some are healthy & a bit older. Please pass the word along to any families you know that may be interested in adoption.

The open house will be this Saturday May 14th, 9:30-Noon at Crossroads Adoption Services 7600 Parklawn Ave, Suite 352, Minneapolis, MN. Their phone # is: 952.831.5707

We have worked with Crossroads for both adoptions & can vouch for their excellence & personal touch.

Special ladies in my life

2011-05-10T21:02:00.004-05:00

I didn't get to post on Mother's Day but I wanted to post about a few special ladies in my life. I have at least 4 special women that have meant a lot to me & my kids & so many more but I wanted to write about these 4 in particular. My kids are so blessed to have many grandmothers & aunts that love them dearly.

First there is my mom- I am so grateful for her giving me life & now that I am a mother myself I appreciate more & more the sacrifices in her life that gave up for her kids. I am sure she had dreams that she put on hold to raise her family, and for that I am grateful. The kids like to visit 'Grandma Mommy' as they call her.

Next there is my mother-in-law- Grandma Linda. The obvious fact that she gave life to Matt is one thing, but her continual sacrifice for her kids & grand kids is amazing. On any given weekend she has at least one of her grand kids with her. She will always have a special spot in Zeke's life since she was there the day his history with our family began.

Another lady that has a special spot in my life is my step-mom. Although she & my dad were only married 6 short years before he passed away, she is still someone special to our family. The kids know her as Grandma 'Nore

Lastly, Matt's Aunt Janita has become another special person that I am blessed to have in my life. She has the patience of a saint with the kids and they love their 'Aunite Nia' - Maddy in particular because she is allowed to eat honey with a spoon at auntie's house.

I know these 4 will eventually read this post, so I just want to send you all a special hug & a big thank you for being part of my life.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-03T22:44:00.001-05:00

Easter weekend

2011-04-25T21:41:00.004-05:00

We had a great weekend celebrating Easter. On Saturday, we did the annual egg hunt at our church. This is always special and being Zeke's first Easter it was extra special. I had double duty with the kids since Matt was enlisted to help out so I gave Maddy her egg hunt marching orders & helped Zeke with his hunt. Part of me felt bad needing to leave Maddy on her own, but when I saw the result my guilty feelings quickly left. The final count was Maddy 28, Zeke 3.

On Saturday evening we dyed eggs- this was out first year as a family doing this since previous years we felt that Maddy was too young. The kids had a lot of fun but dad was a bit of an Easter Grinch. For some reason he doesn't have the same fond egg dying memories from his youth as I do. When I was growing up my parents would hid the eggs we dyed but I decided it seemed a little risky to carry on this tradition for fear of losing track of some eggs.

Our church did a wonderful Lord's Living Supper that Matt participated in Sunday morning. He was Matthew the Taxpayer of course. It was great seeing the Last Supper come to life.

In the afternoon we headed out to Matt's cousin's house for more fun, good food & another egg hunt. Zeke remembered the drill from the previous day and really racked up this time. One cute moment of the day was Zeke helping his same age cousin, Luke, add candy to his bag.

This year it was special not only being Zeke's first year, but also hearing Maddy tell me about the real meaning of Easter. We read the stories of the Passion Week each day and she was able to tell me parts when she heard & saw things. I am truly blessed to have a family to share these great memories with and to be able to create traditions of our own.

Easter Pictures!

2011-04-24T22:13:00.003-05:00

I will write more tomorrow about our very full weekend, but for now here is a little picture teaser....

Good Friday

2011-04-22T21:11:00.004-05:00

We went to see my Mom for Good Friday. We had a nice brunch at a new place in my hometown called Ida Mae's Cafe. It was fun reminiscing about all of the different businesses that used to be on that particular block through the years.

We went to church for service in the afternoon at the church I grew up in and again there I thought about how much things have changed through the years. Good Friday is one of my favorite days as I stop to reflect on the crucifixion and what that moment in history has come to mean to me through the years. One of favorite songs of all time is Thief by Third Day - it talks about the thief on one of the other crosses and his last minute redemption. This story always brings a tear to my eye when I think about the awesome forgiveness available to even the worst of the worst.

Four months later

2011-04-18T20:59:00.001-05:00

Our first view of Zeke 12/13/10

Zeke has officially been part of our family over 4 months now. It's so amazing to see the incredible growth in our son during that time. The little boy who didn't know a bit of English has really blossomed in his language, I was away this past weekend for a few days and even in just that time he seemed to have picked up more words & expressions. His motor skills have essentially caught up to what would seem normal for his age and his continual use of the word 'why' keeps us reminded that he is, after all, a two year old.

Maddy has also bloomed as an older sister. There are tender moments in between the fights and a sense of responsibility when she is left 'in charge' for an occasional brief moment if one of leaves the room. Although there have been some hard days, we can truly say we are blessed to have these 2 little people in our lives.

Bye, bye crib...Hello big boy bed

2011-04-04T20:22:00.004-05:00

This past weekend Zeke made the transition out of his crib into a toddler bed. He's been testing his sister's bed out almost daily crawling in & pulling the covers over his head so we thought it was time. He's been potty trained for almost a month now so it seemed like the next step (although this mama isn't happy to give up the baby stage, I know it's part of life: ).

He just smiled from ear to ear & giggled when it came to bed time the first night. I'm sure the thrill will eventually wear off, but for now he is excited every night after story time to race into his new bed. He loves being able to get in by himself & even insists on pulling his own covers up.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-29T22:01:00.004-05:00

Our big boy is now 31 months old & growing everyday. He has officially gotten out of 18 months clothes & is more than solidly in 2T. He has the gut to show all the good food he's been eating over the past few months. Maddy likes having a brother, but still has hard days with sharing Mom & Dad. She is learning what it is to share toys and has created a 'secret drawer' for her more coveted possessions (although Zeke does know about it & generally waits until she is in the bath tub to peruse through:).

Farewell old friend

2011-03-05T14:46:00.005-06:00

We said goodbye to a dear friend today- our dog Samson. It was a hard moment for Matt & I as he's been like one of our kids for over 10 years. He's been sick for quite a while with a tumor in his lungs and we just felt it was time as his health was starting to decline and we didn't want to see him suffer.

In May of 2000, we attended my nephew's graduation party and saw the adorable lab puppies his dog had birthed 2 months earlier. There were 2 left, one that was spoken for and the other that seemed to be the runt of the litter. Although we didn't leave the house that day wanting to be dog owners, it just kind of happened. We took the sweet scared little 9 week old puppy home with us and the rest is history.

There have been so many good memories with Samson- going for walks in the spring, swimming at the lake in the summer, playing in the leaves each fall & rolling around in the freshly fallen snow every winter. He was our watchdog, our vacuum when the kids dropped food on the floor, and our constant companion in the evenings. It was thanks to him that we did a kitchen face lift and purchased new appliances, as he would nose open the old fridge door (that had a bad seal) during the day when we were gone & help himself to loaves of bread.

When we brought Maddy home, he never acted jealous and immediately accepted her as part of the pack. He also did this when we brought Zeke home. We know our kids will miss him, but not as much as we will.

Thank you dear friend for all of the years, we don't know if pets will be in heaven but if they are we look forward to the day we will see you again.

Going for a walk at the park

Hanging out with Dad & Zeke

Mama's sweet boy

Playing with his neighbor friend Calvin

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-02T07:51:00.002-06:00

First Haircut

2011-02-26T20:46:00.004-06:00

Zeke got his first haircut with us last weekend. He did really well. We go to a friend's house once a month for a 'haircut party' where we get a great deal on cuts & a chance to hang out and chat for a while. We have discovered that Zeke does really well for appointments & all things medical. We had an all day appointment a couple of weeks ago with the Children's Hospital Cleft Team and they (& we) were amazed at how well he sat and took directions for the various assessments. Though we have only been home 2 months this week, he acts & blends with our family like he's been with us much longer. Here are a few photos from the cut-

He's not quite sure what to think

Handsome Boy!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-16T07:51:00.001-06:00

Look who's 4!!

2011-02-07T16:03:00.006-06:00

This past Saturday Maddy turned 4. It's so hard to believe how fast the time has flown by - watching our baby girl turn into quite a little pre-schooler. Last week I was going through our 2010 photos to do a back-up of them & thought it might be fun to share a few. I wish I could do one for each month, but I have to confess that we lost our camera somewhere along the way and didn't buy a new one until the few weeks before we left for China (thus I have a few 'missing months' of photos).

Thankful Thursday

2011-02-03T07:19:00.003-06:00

Today, as I get ready to return to work on Monday, I am thankful to have been able to spend the past 2 months with my family. These last 6 weeks at home have been absolutely priceless to spend as a family of four. We have been able to have quite a few play dates, go see family & just spend lots of quality time at home. Although my ever mounting 'to do' list still has many things left undone, I know that some things can wait. Besides, those things aren't going anywhere, right?

I am also so blessed by the outpouring of support, gifts, & love from so many people that have welcomed Zeke home in a big way. It's not always easy to know goes on in the mind of a 2 year old, but I hope in some small way he knows that he is loved. We are amazed at how God has woven him into the fabric of our immediate & larger family in such a short time. It would be hard to imagine what life would be like without him.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-02T09:36:00.002-06:00

Toddler Tuesday - Chinese New Year

2011-01-31T13:18:00.007-06:00

During January & February we usually have several Chinese New Year events that we participate in, one of which is the Toddler Tuesday @ Mall of America. We figure we only have a few short years of our kids being this age so we like to take the opportunities such as this while we can. This year it happened to work out that I was off of work for my 'maternity leave' so we decided to make a day of it.

We started the day doing the craft which was a dragon puppet & a rabbit coloring sheet. We are coming up on the Year of the Rabbit for the next lunar year, thus the reason for the rabbit. Next, Maddy got to have a photo opp w/Kai Lan, one of her favorite cartoon characters. Zeke kept pointing & saying 'Kai Lan' but didn't want much to do with getting too close.

After the scheduled part of Toddler Tuesday was done we took advantage of their ride specials. Maddy is still pretty little for her age so she was not happy that she couldn't go on all of the rides. Lately she is really aware of the fact that she is younger than many of her friends & she sings songs about wishing she was older. She is especially unhappy with the fact that some of her friends are going to kindergarten in the fall & that she has another year.

We ended our MOA day having lunch with friends of ours. Many of the restaurants on Tuesdays at the Mall let kids eat for free, so it was a nice treat to eat a decent lunch on a frugal budget. As you can imagine, both kids were fast asleep before we were even 5 minutes into our journey home.

Thankful Thursday- New Scrapbook area

2011-01-20T14:22:00.004-06:00

I am so excited & thankful today for my new scrapbooking armoire (aka the Scrapbox). Before our basement remodel I had a little plastic table w/boxes, bins & a set of drawers all around to do my scrapbooking. I had no idea how much stuff I had & what I owned.

When we remodeled I decided it was time to get better organized, so I searched for something that would allow me to open when I needed it & close back up to put everything away neatly. I figured there had to be something on the market like this since I know I am not the only person not fortunate enough to have a spare room just for crafting (someday maybe when we finish our attic I can claim our current bedroomn for this purpose, but until then this will work).

I was excited to stumble across the Scrapbox site: http://theoriginalscrapbox.com/catalog/thecraftbox so I ordered (with the agreement that this will be my Christmas, birthday & anniversary gift this year : ). I still have more things than space so it's going to take time to pare down to only what I really need, but all in good time.

BEFORE

DURING THE BUILD

AFTER

1 Month as a family of 4

2011-01-14T09:14:00.003-06:00

Yesterday marked 1 month since we welcomed our son into our family. It's amazing what a blessing he has been to us. He has really been woven into the fabric of our family so well. Every day we get to know him a little better and see his personality come out.

Here are a few things about Zeke (Yang Yang):

He has one dimple that just melts your heart.
He loves to play 'Mao, Mao' (Peek-a-Boo) when ever he gets in trouble.
He loves meat & anything sweet (this doesn't surprise us since the orphanage put sugar in his bottle).
He wants to take a bath every time he goes into the bathroom.
He follows his big sister around & plays along w/what she wants to do.
He is very vocal & expressive when he doesn't like something (although we don't understand what he's saying, we are sure we must be getting a cussing out in Chinese).
He is now one of our dog Samson's biggest fans (even though he was scared of the dog for about a week).
He loves getting his hands on Mama's cell phone every chance he gets & then walks around saying 'Way' (hello in Chinese when answering the phone).

Here's a little video of him:

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-12T08:52:00.003-06:00

First Train Set

2011-01-12T08:44:00.009-06:00

We've been doing a lot of shopping at Ikea as we have worked at getting our basement set-up post remodel. The other day when we went there, we found a little train set that we just couldn't pass up. Although Zeke really isn't old enough yet to appreciate it, Mom & Dad have been having fun setting this up. Maddy has started to really take a liking to trains too, so it was worth it for that too.

Thankful Thursday

2011-01-06T21:20:00.004-06:00

I am thankful today for heat! It has been a cold winter so far and can't imagine what it would be like to not be able to stay warm. We have been fairly house bound since we returned home from China so having a warm house has made it a little more bearable (not to say we don't still get a bit of cabin fever). Here are recent picture from life at home:

Hanging out , playing with toys

Maddy testing out our new basket drawer from Ikea

Using the new Playdoh ice cream maker w/cousin River

Home 10 days now

2011-01-04T15:02:00.004-06:00

This post goes out by special request to one of my co-workers (you know who you are: ).

I've been meaning to do an update, really but time's just kind of slipped away. We managed to get everyone back on the same timezone about a week after our return. Zeke has really been settling into our family well and is starting to get the hang of our daily routine. I have about 5 weeks left before I return to work so I am attempting to savor every moment.

We have been trying to limit our daily routine to one diversion (family visit, outing, medical appointment,etc.) a day as Zeke tends to get overwhelmed w/sensory input if we do anything more. We can tell when he has been over stimulated by people or places on a given day as he has a hard time at night (thing was something we went thru w/Maddy). His life prior to our family was very routine w/limited play time, toys etc. so we need to be careful about slowly building him up. He is usually ready for a nap by 10 am purely due to the exhaustion of keeping up w/a new language & a new place w/so much to do.

We went for a little outdoor walk last week so Zeke could experience his first snow. He wasn't quite sure what to think.

Each day he picks up a little English each day and is rapidly expanding his vocabulary. Today he told me 'Jie, Jie (big sister) all done' and handed me her empty water cup. He still attempts to speak to us in Mandarin often but I am guessing after so many blank stares from us at some point he will stop. He really is just personality plus & quite a little charmer.

Reading the Christmas Story on Christmas Eve

Giving Daddy medical attention

Rolling through the mall in the new double swagger wagon

Giving us his best Fonz impression

Back home, settling in

2010-12-27T07:54:00.003-06:00

Red Couch Photo of our Hubei Honey

Photo w/Nai Nai (wearing their Di Di, Jie Jie & Nai Nai shirts)

Brother & Sister on the infamous Red Couch @ the White Swan

We made it back safely on Christmas Eve. Sleep was a precious commodity doled out sparingly on the flights home. There was a medical emergency on the flight from Tokyo to MSP, this was something we had only seen on TV or the movies so it was quite an experience. After a couple of pleas in several languages by the flight attendants for a doctor, one was found. He was sitting next to Linda & sprung into action immediately once he realized the request. The passenger made it to Minneapolis & was ushered off by paramedics once we landed.

It was such a wonderful feeling to go through immigration as MSP knowing our son is finally a US Citizen. We were greeted by friends of ours that have kids from China- what a blessing to get such a warm welcome. We were additionally blessed by all the people (friends, family & neighbors) that pitched in to ensure our walk was cleared of snow, repair an issue w/our house, to stock or fridge w/some groceries, & send a box of wrapped Christmas gifts for the us and the kids. What a huge relief to come home to such a warm welcome.

We had a very low key Christmas at home & spent most of the day sleeping on & off. The road to resuming a normal schedule will be long, but overall our hearts are overflowing with happiness at becoming a family of four. As I write this post I am listening to the kids fight (one in English the other in Chinese), ah the sounds of normalcy.

Final Step - US Consulate Appointment & Swearing In Ceremony

2010-12-21T07:24:00.006-06:00

We completed the final step of our paperwork here in China today. Our Consulate Appointment was in the morning & this afternoon we took the oath of citizenship on behalf of our son, once we land in the US he will be an official citizen. It is such an honor to be part of this important day in our son's life (in addition to the 40 or 50 kids there today w/their parents). We hope that some day Zeke will understand the full meaning of being a US Citizen in addition to relishing his Chinese hertitage. It's such a relief to be done with this part of the trip, now we can concentrate on completing our shopping & packing up.

Ready to go to the consulate!

We had a celebratory dinner tonight at the Orient Express (French Restaurant here on the Island). The food was excellent, but the mosquitoes were dead set on having their dinner too so we had to move inside to finish our meal.

I will try to post one more time, we will take a van to Hong Kong on Thursday to stay the night in an airport hotel before leaving out bright & early Friday morning. We will leave @ 8 am on Christmas Eve here & arrive @ 11 am Christmas Eve at home. Not a bad deal if I had to pick a day to do over: )

After the ceremony, same spot we stood w/Maddy & our travel group 3 years ago

Pictures of night time on Shamian Island

2010-12-20T22:33:00.003-06:00

No question about which one is the men's room here

Zeke sat on a stool & pulled one up for Maddy then patted it for her to sit

Boats on the Pearl River

Dinner at Lucy's w/another RQ family

Christmas Tree @Lucy's Place

Life in Guangzhou

2010-12-20T01:34:00.003-06:00

We are on our 3rd full day on Shamian Island and love it here. It's so nice to be able to get out and walk around. There have been a lot of improvements since we were here 3 years ago in prep for the Asia Games that are just finishing up (the main games were in Nov & now it's the para games). There are beautiful gardens & a new little jogging track/exercise area. We are also staying in a different hotel than last time & really love it as it is much lower key (& cheaper) than the White Swan.

We went to church yesterday, it was sweet because the kids were doing there Christmas performance. Additionally, we went to the Zoo & our guide took us out for a yummy Cantonese dinner. Today we have been doing a little shopping.

Zeke loves to go out in the stroller & quite often will go sit in the stroller in our room until someone pushes him around. We are discovering lots of things about Zeke, especially what a little charmer (read manipulator) sometimes. He has learned the art of getting his way so we are working with him on this. He really is a good little boy, he just gets a bit naughty when he is overtired & hungry.

Maddy is starting to take her job as a big sister very seriously, in fact she is quick to tell us when her Di Di is doing something wrong or scold him herself. She did have one incident where I saw her stick up for her brother when another child was getting in Zeke's face so I commend her on quickly learning this.

Zeke got an all clear today for his TB test so we are good to go for the Consulate Appt tomorrow. They have changed things slightly so we have the CA & Swearing In Ceremony on the same day. We still have to wait until Thursday afternoon for our visa so we ask for your prayers that we will be able to get this earlier so we can head out to Hong Kong sooner to settle into the last night of our hotel stays before flying out Friday morning.

Daddy's trip to DaYe and other thoughts...

2010-12-18T07:38:00.006-06:00

Thursday, I had the good fortune to be granted an opportunity to visit my son's orphanage in DaYe City, Hubei (my mom and Maddy accompanied me for the trip). During the two hour journey, our guide was kind enough to translate the finding ad we were given on metcha day, so we knew where he was found. DaYe is a growing city, much of which has been recently constructed, in some ways it seems nicer than Wuhan.

Upon our arrival we were greeted in the carpark by the Assistant Director, the Secretary and several caregivers. They were all disappointed that we did not bring Yang Yang (Zeke) with us. We climbed the stairs to the 4th floor where they housed the children (the welfare office in DaYe also cares for retired soldiers, the elderly without children and the disabled). They wouldn't allow us to take any photographs inside the orphanage or of the children there. It wasn't a bad as I might have imagined, but it was certainly not 4 Star accommodations, the temperature outside was freezing and it didn't feel any warmer inside (guess that explains why they bundle the child in what seems to be ridiculous amounts of clothing), southern China gets no subsidies for heating in the winter, so most places don't have heat.

The orphanage was basically one large room for children to play in with a half dozen smaller rooms adjoining. One for infants, which we could not see because "the children were sleeping," and one called quarantine, which was where I was told our son slept? One other room contained four cribs and held two disabled children and a six month old healthy infant. The rest of the rooms were possibly storage, offices or just not part of the tour and one bathroom for the children which held the laundry facilities as well. I was able to ask a few questions, expressed my gratitude for the excellent care he was given, provided the circumstances of course (we could tell that the staff loved him and probably gave him extra attention as it appears that he is the only boy that was there). They wished us well, we gave them our gifts. We returned to the carpark and adjoining garden where we were given contact information and took photographs of the staff. We shook hands, said goodbye and went for lunch accompanied by the Secretary who took us to Yang Yang's finding spot which was nearby so I could see the place and take some photo's.

View out our son's window at DaYe SWI

Photo opp w/staff

Following that we had a nice lunch, I expressed my thanks once again to the orphanage Secretary and we left the restaurant. We made one stop before leaving DaYe to purchase a couple of souvenirs from Yang Yang's home town and made our way back to Wuhan.

I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to travel to my son's orphanage, to meet those who cared for him, to see where he spent the first years of his life, to take in the sights, smells and sounds, to be able to share these with him as he grows. I am also grateful to have seen the place where his parents had thoughtfully and lovingly placed this wonderful child to be found quickly and brought to a place where he might receive what they thought they could not give him, the place where he eventually came to us. To some my words may trite, but I am grateful for the events in both my daughter and son's lives that brought them into the family that we now share and will continue to share and cherish. Without them, I may never have know the joy that is so dear to me now as I proclaim that I have been blessed beyond measure.

Beautiful DaYe scene

Some other things...

Should you ever find yourself in Wuhan or Changsha, and need passage to Guangzhou, might I suggest foregoing air travel and take the bullet train. Seriously, about the same or maybe even less elapsed time as having to arrive at the airport early for check-in and screening, not to mention the luggage weight restrictions. On top of that, if you are travelling during daylight hours you will see beautiful parts of China you certainly won't see from the air. Did I mention that the seats are much more comfortable and there's generous amounts of legroom!

Wuhan to Guangzhou

2010-12-18T00:21:00.008-06:00

We wrapped up our official buiness in Wuhan by Noon on Friday with the finale being the receipt of Zeke's Chinese passport. He had his first official taste of McDonalds before we headed out.

One funny little fact we learned about Chinese culture- instead of playing Peek-a-Boo (which Boo / Bu means 'no' in Chinese), they play ' mao-mao' with the kids. We had to laugh when our guide old us this because we thought when Zeke was sliding from under the chair saying this to us that they had cats at the orphanage: ).

We opted to take the bullet train instead of fly from Wuhan to Guangzhou. This train is China's fastest & finest with the ability to get up to 400 kilometers per hour (248 miles per hour). The train we were on only topped out at about 346 (215 miles/hour) which as still a pretty healthy clip. Our trip had one stop in Changsha (a shout out to my friends w/kids from Hunan: ). The train is definately the way to travel, it was very nice inside & the train depots in each city seemed nicer than the airports. We got to see some very unique sites traveling this way that we likely would have never seen on the beaten path.

Wuhan Train Station

Guangzhou South Station

We arrived safely in Guangzhou about 6:30 last night & have settled in for a 6 day visit to Shamian Island. Matt, Maddy & Linda went to visit Zeke's Orphanage on Thursday, Matt will post about that along w/some pictures later.

Around Wuhan

2010-12-15T23:14:00.004-06:00

A vision of cuteness

Outside the museum

Out for lunch

Lunch w/our guide

Brushing teeth w/Mama

We visited the Hubei Provincial museum yesterday. The exhibit we saw was very interesting- it was a fairly recent excavation of a tomb found in Hubei of a Marquis. There were many similarities between the way the dead were buried in Ancient China compared to Egypt. Many artifacts for use in the 'after life' according to the customs of the day.

It's been very cold here & in fact yesterday it snowed which is not very common for Hubei Province. That has put a little hindrance in what we have been able to do (outside sights). The other thing that is interesting is that in areas south of the Yangtze River, homes & buildings are not provided government provided heat. It was a cold visit to the museum as parts were not heated. Part of the crew also went to the Stone & Wood museum as there is a rare stone (Chrysanthemum Stone) found here in Hubei & we wanted to buy a memento for our son that is unique to Hubei.

Yang Yang is adapting pretty well & we see more or his personality come out a little each day. He is quite a little jokester- last night he was hiding under one of the chairs in our room & peaking his head out saying 'meow, meow.' He gets a little smirk on his face when he is being mischievous. Maddy is slowly warming up to her brother but it will take time to get used to sharing our attention. We are so thankful for Linda (Matt's mom) being w/us as she has been a huge blessing w/her help.

Officially part of the family

2010-12-14T07:26:00.008-06:00

We completed the official paperwork to make our son legally part of our family. We headed back to the Civil Affairs Office to complete this part of the journey in the morning. The orphanage staff came again today to be part of the formalities, they were excited to see their little Yang Yang again (and quickly gave his clothes an inspection to make sure he had enough layers on: ).

There was a bit of sad news today- one of the families decided not to go through with their adoption. The little 5-6 year old girl was returned to the orphanage director and was at the civil affairs office when we arrived. We do not know the full details only that she was more than the family felt able to handle. Please pray that this little one is able to find a suitable family.

After naptime today we went to Carrefour to pick up a few supplies. We decided to have dinner at KFC since it was impossible to get a taxi back during rush hour. KFC has a little slide that Zeke noticed right away. He & Maddy tried it out after dinner and had fun playing there for a while. Zeke is doing really well, our biggest challenge is communicating with him. We had our guide write a little cheat sheet with a few key phrases to help us remember certain words.

Zeke's Daddy:

Yang Yang (Zeke) is such a sweet little boy. He is so curious and it is such a treat to watch him discover new things in his ever expanding little world. He is quite affectionate and has really taken to his mama already, but still has plenty of love to share with his baba. We had fun just before naptime time wrestling and tickling I love hearing him laugh and seeing him smile or seeing his expression when he tries something new to eat like this mornings toast with jam or an M&M (he gets wide eyed and his eyebrows go up) he is really something!!!

I just can't get over how sweet his disposition is, although when he gets tired he gets a bit mischievous and a little naughty. We have definitely been blessed once again. He's asleep right now, but I am excited thinking about the things we will do and share with him tomorrow!

Maddy seems to like her little brother as well, but is showing signs that she may not be entirely ready to share mom and daddy. I'm hoping that over the next few days she will warm up to the concept that mommy and daddy are just as enamoured with her as before we just need to share our time with her new brother.

Introducing our son

2010-12-13T00:50:00.005-06:00

We will put pictures first today since we know that's what you really want to see:

Family of three

Yang Yang with a couple of the nannies

Playing with Jie Jie

Family of Four

Today, at a few minutes after 10 we met our son at the Hubei Civil Affairs Office in Wuhan. He is so much more precious in person, his pictures just didn't do him justice. The whole affair was very low key compared to Maddy's metcha day that is was almost surreal. We got there before he did & our guide had us filling out paperwork while the orphanage crew quietly came in with our little Yang Yang. He was dressed in a cute little brown bomber jacket and navy pants. He was accompanied by 2 nannies and the director, you can tell that he has been very loved by the staff.

He was sent off with some wonderful gifts which was quite a surprise. Daye Orphanage gave us a bag with some of his favorite snacks, the bear & photo book of us that we sent to him for his birthday and the best of all- a scrapbook with pictures of him from Day 1 at the orphanage & every couple of months through the time he left.

We are so blessed to see his personality already starting to come out. He is definitely going to give his sister a run for her money. Tomorrow we will head back to the Civil Affairs Office to make everything final.

From Zeke's (YangYang) BaBa:

What a day...

We arrived at the civil affairs office ahead of the Da Ye contingent, as we waited we began filling out the required paperwork for the province. With our attention on the paperwork our son arrived. In an instant, all the anxiousness and feelings of being totally unprepared completely faded away as were were faced to face with our little boy. Everything happened so quickly that there was no flood of emotions erupting in tears save for the Orphanage Director who I caught wiping the moisture from his eyes.

We spent the next 20-30 minutes watching Maddy and Yang Yang play together in the little play area in the civil affairs office. Yang Yang seemed mesmerized by all the new sights during our trip back to the Hotel.

During what was supposed to be naptime Yang Yang and his new mommy enjoyed some bonding time as they played little games through the bars on the crib. As Tanya stated earlier in this post, the pictures and description din not do our little boy justice. He is such a charming and warm little boy. His personality has begun to blossom the more time we spend with him, and we are truly blessed!

Settling in @Wuhan

2010-12-11T02:45:00.006-06:00

This morning we took the shuttle from our hotel to the Central Airport Express train station. We loved being able to walk a few steps from the shuttle drop off to an airline check-in station where we could drop off our checked bags & get our boarding passes. After a super fast train ride to the HK airport via the express train, we arrived in plenty of time for our flight to Wuhan. It was nice to see the impressive HK airport since we were too tired to really appreciate it when we arrived. They have charging stations & reclining chairs for weary travelers.

We arrived a few hours ago in Wuhan. There was a little bit of a scare when Linda was asked to step aside at immigration & have a seat while they took her passport for a look in a back room. After a few minutes they came back and let her go through. We have been getting settled into our rooms. It was quite a heart stopper to walk into our room & see the crib set-up all ready for Zeke. The hotel also put a little potty & baby bath tub in our bathroom. We are going to have a low key night & will go out to explore a little tomorrow. Our guide seems very nice & she gave us a little tour from the airport on the various local sites.

Our appointment to meet Zeke is 10 am Monday so we are down to just hours now. Our guide did inform us that his orphanage nannies have gone on & on about what a handsome & smart boy our son is and how much they will miss him. Also, it sounds like the custom in Hubei is to send the kids with a few things (snacks, formula & a photo album of his early months!) We can hardly wait for the big moment!

Final Day: up & down Hong Kong

2010-12-10T06:37:00.004-06:00

For our final day in HK, we did a lot of walking & venturing into the Central area. We started our day with an adventure to the zoo- we started out on the shuttle from our hotel bound for Central Station so we could take the metro to the zoo. Our overly helpful friends on the bus insisted that we get off a stop earlier from the shuttle as it was closer to the zoo. We attempted a bus from that local station only to find out we took it the wrong direction (basically paying about .50 per block). We eventually took a taxi to get us to the zoo.

We next hit the central HK escalator that is quite a site to behold. This runs approx 2600 feet from top to bottom and serves as a means for some to commute to work daily. From 6-10 am it runs downhill into the Central District and for the remainder of the day it switches direction. There is quite a little community of shops & restaurants that have built up around it.

Our final stop of the daytime was Central Plaza, one of the tall buildings in HK. We went up to the observation deck & saw some amazing 360 views of the city. This building is unique in that there is a church located on the 76th floor. We attempted a visit there only to find out that it's only open on Sundays.

We headed back to the escalator for dinner at Fat Angelo's which had amazingly good Italian food. As I write this we are in the processing of getting our luggage jostled around so we can meet the weight standards for tomorrow's flight to Wuhan. We are close & are hoping for a pound or so mercy on our bags w/the airline. We are signing off from Hong Kong after an amazing 4 day adventure, we will attempt to use our VPN to get thru the Great Firewall for posts once in Wuhan.

Hong Kong Day 3 - Stanley

2010-12-09T16:04:00.005-06:00

Our third day on Hong Kong took us outside of the city to the Repulse Bay / Stanley area. We extended our Big Bus ticket for another day & had a great ride out along the cost with some spectacular views of the South China Sea. We got off at Stanley that has a market & lots of places to eat along the beach.

Matt helped the locals clean up while we waited for the bus, they got a real kick out of this

The Big Bus

We did a little more shopping than we had intended to do but found some great bargains. The market at Stanley maybe isn't the best prices compared to the inner city market but the atmosphere is low key & a great place to look without harassment.

We have one full day left before we head to Wuhan. Only 3 more days until we meet Zeke!

Hong Kong Day 2

2010-12-08T14:56:00.004-06:00

We has quite a marathon day for our 2nd full day in Hong Kong. We purchased a 'Big Bus' ticket which is passage via a double decker open top bus. It stops at various destinations throughout HK & allows you to jump on & off as you wish. It turned out to a gorgeous clear day so our first stop was Victoria Peak. This is the highest point in the city that gives you amazing views of HK & beyond.

Our ticket alo included another ferry ride so weventured back over to the Kowloon side to ride the route over there. We decided to stay for dinner so we could see the buildings light up & catch some of the nightly laser light show. Chritmas is an amazing time of year to be here as the high rises are especially decked out for the season.

Maddy has been absolutely wonderful. Beside some normal 3 3/4 year old behavior, she has really a great little traveler. We have gotten lots of use out of the stroller & are so glad we brought it.

Our sleepy little trooper

We made it- Hong Kong Day 1

2010-12-07T01:30:00.007-06:00

We had a fairly uneventful flight & made it in safely to Hong Kong last night. We decided to try the 'No Jet Lag Pills' and are amazed that they actually seemed to work! We were joking about them being just sugar pills, but I guess there must be a little more to it them than that.

Today we took the ferry over to Kowloon so we could see the Clock Tower (this is the location where trains used to end coming from Mainland including the Orient Express). We walked to the Walk of the Stars so Matt could see the Bruce Lee statue.

We also visited Kowloon Park which was beautiful. It had a hedge maze, pretty foilage & an elderly exercise area. We tried out the equipment in exercise area & got a little chuckle out of what kind of suggestions were made on the sign.

We have 3 1/2 more days until we head to Wuhan & about 5 1/2 until we meet Zeke.

Only 4 more sleeps

2010-12-01T23:47:00.002-06:00

We have been madly preparing for our departure to get Zeke. Part of the prep has been giving Maddy a sense of how long it will be until we leave. In 3 year old speak, the # of sleeps seems to help her understand. Daddy also made a little count down calendar so they can check off the days.

Yesterday we went to our agency & got our final paperwork & schedule. We will meet Zeke on Monday 12/13. We were also given updated info about him:

He weighs 25 pounds
He is 33 inches tall
He has 14 teeth
He loves sweets (the boy takes after Mama), doesn't like sour
He likes to play with stacking cups, dolls (hope he & Maddy don't fight:) & loves wood blocks
His favorite snack is crackers
His care givers know that he is joining his forever family soon & are sad (sounds like he is loved)

Please pray for our safety, good health, transition for Zeke, attachment to his family, favor w/the airlines, guides, hotels officials, etc.

Thankful Thursday

2010-11-25T11:03:00.003-06:00

Thanksgiving is the ultimate Thankful Thursday for bloggers. We have so much to be thankful for this year. As we sit at the T-10 days mark from our flight to get our son, we reflect back on the fact that a mere 5 years ago (on 11/23/05) we were officially logged into the CCAA to officially start our wait for Maddy. Never could we imagine that 5 years later we would be waiting for a 2nd child. We are so glad to follow the plans God has for us. Although we plan our own ways, He directs our steps. Proverb 16:9 says A man's heart plans his way but the Lord directs his steps. His plans are so often much better than anything we could've put together on our own.

I am thankful for health, family, friends, a home to live in, having employment, food on my table & clothes on my back. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

We're headed to China - Travel Dates!

2010-11-21T07:00:00.002-06:00

It's been a wild week of prep & planning, but I am happy to say that we have travel dates.

We leave Sunday 12/5 and will spend a few days sightseeing in Hong Kong. We lose a day to the time change so in essence we will be there 12/7-12/11
12/11 we will fly to Wuhan and meet Zeke on either 12/12 or 12/13 (still awaiting confirmation).
We will be there almost a week before heading to Guangzhou via the 'bullet train' 0n 12/17.
In Guangzhou we have medical appointment 12/18, Consulate appointment 12/21, Swearing In Ceremony (taking the oath of citizenship) 12/22 & received Zeke's visa 12/23.
We will fly out of Hong Kong 12/24 & gain a day back arriving on US soil the morning of 12/24.

We have a crew of 4 total in our 'travel group' (Matt, Maddy, Linda (Matt's mom) & I). It's a little sad this time not having other families w/us for the journey. We will hopefully meet up w/other families in Guangzhou.

We have our Travel Approval!

2010-11-15T21:18:00.003-06:00

Our agency phoned us this afternoon to let us know our Travel Approval had arrived from China. I feel sorry for their DHL guy as the whole place stops & meets him at the door when he comes.

We should be able to book our tickets in the next couple of days once our consulate appointment (CA) is confirmed. The CA is the last appointment of our trip so we have to secure that first & then move back from there to plan the trip.

Additionally, our agency will now make a request for an update of our son so prayerfully we will get new measurements and maybe a new photo. All the info we have is almost 8 months old.

Stay tuned for more info.......

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-03T21:25:00.002-05:00

Flashback - 3 years ago today

2010-10-28T00:01:00.002-05:00

In a sweltering hot room in Nanchang, China we held our daughter for the first time 3 years ago today. We are amazed at how fast the time has flown by and can't believe our baby girl will be 4 in just a few short months! We are blessed at how she has blossomed so much and how excited she is at the prospect of becoming a big sister. Her brother is now part of daily conversation and nightly prayers. Here is a photo of her from this past weekend:

Major Remodel

2010-10-16T10:20:00.005-05:00

As we didn't have enough to do adopting a son, we are also in the process of remodeling our basement (mainly to add another bath & bedroom to our 2 bedroom house). Last weekend was spent removing the contents & gutting the whole works back to the cement walls. It was quite an undertaking but we pulled it off thanks to a little help from our friends.

This is the result after the gutting:

After a few days of various contractors on the job, we now have an egress window, plumbing, and framing started. It's just amazing how fast the space is being transformed.

Moving right along in our process

2010-10-12T23:07:00.003-05:00

As of 10/1/10 we have moved to the 4th of 5 steps before we can book our tickets to travel for our son. The next 2 steps are obtaining the Article 5 from the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China and getting our Travel Approval from the CCAA in Beijing. We are hoping by late October/early November to have our travel approval & to be able to start planning our trip. We are projecting travel after Thanksgiving.

This is from 8/31/10, this is us at our adoption agency signing the paperwok on the day we got our Letter Of Approval:

3 Years ago today

2010-09-04T09:46:00.002-05:00

We saw this cute little face for the first time:

Here she is 3 years later:

It's a Boy-Introducing our Son

2010-08-31T21:03:00.003-05:00

We would like to take this opportunity to introduce our son:

Ezekiel Meng Yang Hinton

He is two years old (DOB- 08/25/08) , waiting for us in Hubei Province, China. We received our letter of approval today & are very excited (especially since this is Matt's 40th Birthday!) We are hoping to travel by the end of the year to get him.

Thankful Thursday

2010-08-19T17:41:00.003-05:00

Thankful today to be counted among the living & to be employed. Glad to have a roof over my head, clothes on my back & food on the table!

Thankful also for family, here is Maddy with Grandma Linda-

First Visit to the Dentist

2010-08-03T22:18:00.004-05:00

Maddy had her first dental visit last week. She did really well & had no cavities. It really helped to have the Usborne Book on first trip to the dentist to prep her & walk her thru walk was going to happen.

Ready for my exam

AWWWW

Scored a bag of goodies

Week at the Lake 2010

2010-07-13T21:21:00.004-05:00

We spent our 3rd year at Yellow Lake with family for the 4th of July week. I was nice weather & we had a good time. I am attaching a few photos:

Maddy & I hanging out by the fire

Cousin Haylee & Maddy

Cousin cuteness!

Our Godson, George on the tube

On the boat w/Hannah & Tori

Fireworks extravaganza

Grandma & Creed (the newest member of the family)

Chris

Caleb & Maddy

Princess Stage

2010-06-20T21:28:00.004-05:00

The princess stage did not last very long around our house. Maybe it will make a return again, but until now the dress of her royal highness is making a nice door decoration. The big thing Maddy is into these days is animals (& really always has been for some time). She likes to pretend each week that she is a different animal. One week it was a squirrel & the only way she would let me put a ponytail in her hair was if I called a 'squirrel tail.' The next week she was a mouse. This week she is a 'bunny bear' in honor of the bear she bought from our neighbor's garage sale. (Our neighbor's happen to have 2 domestic bunnies living in their backyard.) It will be interesting to see what kind of wildlife next week will bring to our house!

Good Bye Kitty

2010-06-09T13:43:00.002-05:00

Today we said goodbye to our kitty, Priscilla, who has been part of our family for almost 15 years. She has filled our lives with so much love & will be missed by us.

This was Maddy w/Prissy last year

A more recent picture

Grandmas & Hats

2010-05-22T21:54:00.004-05:00

I have occasionally written about how blessed Maddy is to have so many living grandmothers. Over Mother's Day weekend, we had the opportunity to spend a little time with all 3. Our church held a 'Hats off to Women' brunch on the Saturday before Mother's Day that my mom & mother-in-law attended. We had a really nice time & enjoyed listening to women at different places in their life speak about the 'hats' they were wearing in this season of their life. Here are a few photos of the event:

Maddy with Grandma Mommy & Grandma Linda

My mom was the grand prize winner for the best hat- she is a Red Hat Lady so she is semi-professional in her hat wearing & collection

On Sunday, we headed to a nursery after church to pick out some flowers & veggies for our gardens. My stepmom came with us & was also wearing a hat that day. I thought this was pretty cool to be able to have each grandma in a hat for the weekend. Here are a few photos from that:

Hanging out with Grandma Lenore at the nursery

Easter Part 2

2010-04-25T21:09:00.005-05:00

I know it's been a little gap between posts. It was a stressful week, which started with my e-mail account getting hacked into & auto-sending e-mails to my friends about a new i-phone. And as if that wasn't bad enough, all of inbox & sent mail got deleted along with all of my contacts. Grrrr... Anyhow on to part two of the Easter Post.

On the Saturday before Easter our church had their annual Easter Egg Hunt

Then came Easter Sunday.....

Easter Part 1

2010-04-11T21:39:00.006-05:00

I see that's been almost a month since I've posted, so I thought at a minimum I would post some Easter photos. We celebrated a whole weekend of events (starting all the way back to Wed of that week w/a very monumental birthday for me). Matt put a sign in our yard so all the neighbor's would know:

Matt had mandatory training for work on my actual birthday so Maddy & I headed to Benihana's for my free birthday dinner & she walked away with a little gift from the manager who was smitten with her:

On Good Friday, we headed out to Amery for church with Mom & dinner with the family. It was a little chilly, but we headed to the park next to Mom's apartment so the kids could run off a little energy. Here we are at the park:

Wordless Wednesday

2010-03-17T22:35:00.002-05:00

Silliness

2010-03-07T15:11:00.003-06:00

Maddy's been sick this past week, but seems to have finally turned the corner. We are hoping she can go back to daycare tomorrow.

Here are a couple of silly photos from the past couple of weeks.

Hanging out with Clifford sent home from her preschool (reading box):

Powder!!!!

Using my laptop:

I'm 3 now!

2010-02-13T00:06:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Maddy's 3rd birthday last weekend! She has proudly learned how to use 3 fingers to show everyone how old she is, by the end of the weekend she had gone from a 'gang sign' looking 3 to a normal 3 with her fingers.

She had a full couple of days, with mom taking Friday off to celebrate with a free all you can ride wristband at Mall of America's Nickelodeon Land (quite a bargain for birthday kids as it's normally $30) and a part on Saturday.

We had a fun mommy / daughter day at MOA, but she was still too small to ride many of the things by herself. Of course, she really wanted to go on the big roller coasters but is too little even w/mom. We still has fun & went on a lot of rides. We had a nice lunch and topped it off w/a new dress. I am in big trouble when she gets to be a teen! I went to Children's Place to buy her socks but she took the liberty of picking out a dress & kept bringing me shoes that could go with it.

On Saturday we celebrated with a party with some family & friends at a local indoor playground. The kids had a blast & I was thrilled to be able to do it somewhere other than my house for easy prep & clean up! She got some Kai Lan things & princess things. She is all about dress up now and is really getting into pink, frilly & princessy everything.

A month of firsts

2010-01-23T19:44:00.004-06:00

Maddy had a very eventful month. She started attending Rainbows at church- this is the preschool class for 3 & 4 years on Wednesday nights which is the prep for
M-Pact (a girl scout like group where the kids ages 5-12 earn badges). Although she won't be 3 until next month, they allowed her to start as they began the new session after the holidays. She is so excited each Wednesday to go!

Maddy also started in preschool/day care last week. It's at a small church not too far from us & they have a wonderful program. She has really liked going and is so proud to come home each day with what she did & tell us what she learned.

Lastly, Maddy started a Chinese dance class for 2-4 year olds. She likes going but once she is there isn't all that interested in actually listening to the teacher. They have a recital in the spring but the jury will be out for a while as to whether or not she will be in the performance. It's fun because many of the kids in the class are our Red Thread friends, but it's a new teacher this year who doesn't seem to have worked with this age group much.

First Day of Pre-school:

A Rainbow at last!
Dance Class :

Call to prayer for our friends who have kids in Haiti they are adopting

2010-01-16T19:12:00.005-06:00

We have friends that are in the process of adopting from Haiti. Their kid's orphanage has sent word that things have deteriored rapidly (no clean water, food supplies being stolen, etc.) Please visit here for more info: http://thesheltonfamily.blogspot.com/2010/01/desperate-plea-from-our-orphanage-in.html

Thankful Thursday- 2009 in Pictures

2009-12-31T14:49:00.014-06:00

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

2009-12-30T16:51:00.002-06:00

Yes, Maddy was responsible

Christmas 2009

2009-12-27T23:53:00.004-06:00

Matt's side of the family welcomed a new addition on the night before Christmas Eve so much of the time for his family celebration was spent sending shifts to the hospital to see our new nephew. Unfortunately I forgot my camera when I went so sadly, I have no pictures to upload of the almost 10 pound cutie.

The snowstorm we had for Christmas this year made things very memorable. We postponed our Christmas Day plans w/my family due to weather but I have to say it was a rather enjoyable day. We had a leisurely family breakfast after opening gifts and then went outside for sledding, snowman building & a snow fort 'competition' between Matt & I (with Maddy's help of course).

We tried to do fairly minimal gifts & placed a greater focus on the meaning of Christmas. One thing that we did in the weeks leading up to Christmas Day was an advent calendar. In addition to the nightly door opening, we chose one character from the Christmas Nativity & told Maddy the story about who they were & what part they played. She really looked forward to both the treasure she found in the door (candy, stickers or money) and the evening story time. I would be remiss if I didn't say that Mom & Dad enjoyed it too :).

Loot from her stocking

Coloring w/Mom in her new Kai Lan book

' That is the biggest candy stick I have ever seen in my life' says Dad

Dad made an igloo for his fort (show off : )

Helping Mom w/the the 'Princess Castle' Fort

Photo opp w/Grandma & Cousin River

Cookies!

2009-12-22T00:30:00.005-06:00

Maddy & I made gingerbread cookies again this year. I cheated this year & bought a kit that came with everything you needed (except water, honey & butter). We made gingerbread men last year but it was a lot of work so I was grateful to find a cheater kit.

We've been reading the Gingerbread Man story a lot lately & it's amazing to see what details she notices in the book now that she didn't before. I thought it would be fun to see this years & last year's photos of her making the cookies:

And last year:

34 months old today

2009-12-05T22:47:00.003-06:00

Well, we only have 2 more months of a 2 year old on our hands. Maddy is officially 34 months (going on 17 some days :).

Here she is ready to put the star on the top of the Christmas tree. She even said: 'Mommy, take my picture.'

Thankful Thursday

2009-11-26T08:04:00.002-06:00

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.--1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I am so thankful today for so many things. For health, as so many struggle with sickness & worry about what might be next. For family, as disfunctional as mine can be at times I am glad to have one living parent and many others in my life that mean so much to me. For shelter, as so many are losing homes due to various circumstances I am thankful to have a roof over my head today. For a job, with unemployment high I am blessed to be working at the same company for over 10 years.

Take time this week to consider all of the things you are thankful for, list them out if you have to and pause to ponder this- if you have at least $20 to your name you are doing better than at least 80% of the world's population.

Bye, Bye Crib...Hello Big Girl Bed

2009-11-20T22:37:00.002-06:00

Maddy officially moved from her crib to a 'big girl bed' last weekend. She has loved it! There are still times when she isn't sure if she should get out on her own, but she's slowly learning that it's ok. It's a little sad seeing our girl grow up, but we know part of the process. She has been potty trained for a couple of months now & this was her big incentive while we were potty training.

Fall Leaf Fun

2009-11-09T20:34:00.003-06:00

It's was a cold & rainy October here so we we're able to get the leaves up until this past weekend which means everything was dried out & not much of the beautiful colors were left. Fall is usually my favorite time of year in our neighborhood because of the mature trees & the gorgeous colors we tend to get. I have fond memories of raking leaves at my mom's house & jumping in the big pile so that's something I love to let Maddy do too. Here are a few fun photos from this weekend.

Trying her hand raking

Enjoying the fruits of her labor

Even Samson loves helping with the leaves