Finding My Forever: December 30: day 13

Rick had to work again today so it was another day hanging around the house. It is a bit challenging to take 5 little kids, and a curious 11 year who doesn't speak English, out in public. He was very content to play minecraft with the boys, so I took advantage of the down time and got some much needed work completed. I can't believe our crazy life starts again on Monday when the kids go back to school and I am back to work. I did promise him KFC for lunch, and that's about all it takes to make him happy.

So, a funny story about his obsession with KFC. Remember, we put an iPad in Chinese for him so he could read and navigate it. He got on google and searched KFC. (He loves to search and read about different things) He found an article about KFC in China, and how the chickens were recalled for reasons that I will leave off this post. He kept making sounds while he read it, and looking at me like "you have to read this!" He took my phone, captured the image and changed it into English for me. Let's just say his little Chinese heart was broken about his beloved KFC. We talked about how things are a little different here and that would never happen in the US, and that it was probably all fixed in China. He agreed, and he happily ate his KFC for lunch. But I could tell his fire was gone... or perhaps it could also be because he has eaten fried chicken for every meal for the last week. I don't know, just a thought. Through the app and a little bit of charades, he told me that tomorrow he would switch to Taco Bell. Lol!!

This is when he was letting me read the article he found.

Even though we didn't have any fun adventures today, he was perfectly happy hanging around the house. We played some games, the wii, and just hung out. We got a call from his chaperone that is staying in Nashville. She doesn't speak any English, but she has a translator there if I have any questions. They talked for several minutes, and in that time, John's face went a little sour. He looked upset. He was biting his lip, and his eyes looked a little glazed over. I have never seen him look upset! After a few minutes, he handed me the phone and I talked to the translator to see if everything was ok. I told her he was upset, and I wanted to make sure the conversation was ok. He told the chaperone that he is having a great time and that he is very happy. Then the chaperone talked to him about leaving. She told him that in a few weeks, she would meet him at the airport and fly back to China with him. That either reminded him of the scary day in the airport when he didn't know what was going on, or he just doesn't want to think about leaving. Either way, it broke my heart. He speaks so fondly about his time in China, but I think the truth is, he has really enjoyed this taste of family life and he will miss it.

Still happy about his KFC. He is really proud of his new sauce creation- ketchup mixed with barbecue sauce. He puts it on everything!

Some friendly wrestling. He loves to mess with Rick!

So I had an epic host-parent fail tonight. I decided to rent a movie because that is something our family enjoys doing. I grabbed the movie "Pan" because I thought it would be just like Peter Pan. Well, it wasn't! It starts out with a boy being abandoned by his mother and living in an orphanage. It has several scenes of boys living in a special home. Ugh!!! I felt awful! Thankfully, he couldn't understand it and he was mostly paying attention to the iPad. I kept watching John to see if he was paying attention. There were several scenes that had some fighting, and I could tell it was getting to him. He finally got up and put his headphones on to listen to music. I kept encouraging him to go downstairs and watch football with Rick, but he wanted to stay with us. So much for a PG movie in the family section! When I put him to bed, I told him that movie was scary. He said that's why he put his headphones on to listen to music. I felt horrible, and definitely learned my lesson. I'm thankful he's the type of kid that is so laid back, he can let it go. I told him if he gets scared tonight to come and get me. He assured me (with a smile) that he was not scared and everything was fine.

Hopefully tomorrow we will be off on more adventures. Devastating news about your favorite restaurant and a scary movie was enough for today!