Monday December 21: Day 4

I guess bragging about sleep being a "non-issue" got me into a little bit of trouble! So our little friend went to bed at 5:30 pm yesterday, and even passed on dinner. I took advantage of the early bedtime and was in bed at 9:30. My husband came in at 11:30 and said Long was awake, but he told him to go back to bed. Then he added "but now I think he's in the living room... alrighty then, good night!" 

I could not stand the thought of that boy being awake alone while we all snoozed, so I got up to talk to him. Through the app, I told him he had to try and stay in bed and close his eyes. Of course he said "ok" because he is the sweetest, most easy going child ever. Then I asked if he was hungry and I got a "YES!!!" shouted in my face. So, I guess sleep can wait. Time to feed the skinny Chinese boy. 

Before we went down to eat, his interest was peaked by a Minecraft book. He was looking at the pictures and he kept asking me, "what is this?" What I wanted to tell him was that it was a pointless game that I really don't understand, but every American child is obsessed with it. He didn't like my sarcastic English response (OK, maybe he just didn't understand what I was saying) so he took my phone, went to the google translate app, hovered over the words, and translated it into Mandarin. Ever read a book that way? Let me tell ya, it takes a long time. I finally distracted him enough to get him downstairs to feed him.

This boy totally gets the UK/UL joke in our house. He is really taking to Rick, and Rick totally brainwashed him within hours of landing in the US. He likes to tease me about blue, and he recognizes the UK symbol now. While I was cooking his noodles he said (in very broken English...) "Mommy, Mommy... look at blue.. BAD... look at red...GOOD! And that little turkey had taken the blue game pieces from the trouble game and put them on the floor, and set the red game pieces up on top of the board. HA! Then he found a UK wristband and said "AHHHH... blue" and threw it across the room. Don't worry friends, there is still time. In all seriousness, we do tell him it is OK to like both and he does give a thumbs up for red and blue. I think he just likes to pick on me because he likes my reaction! 

So there we sat eating noodles at 1:00 in the morning. I might have popped a little melatonin into his hot tea as well. We talked for a bit, and then I said he could play the iPad in bed. I gave him 30 minutes to play and then said lights out. I laid with him to make sure he didn't get out of bed, and finally left his room at 2:30 am. He slept until 7:30, and then stayed awake all day.

This picture has nothing to do with my post, but he likes the vacuum cleaner. He can have as much fun as he wants vacuuming my house!

Let me tell you about the gift we had today!! A couple from our church came over to talk with Long. They are fluent in Mandarin and English. It was a BLESSING! They explained to him why we celebrate Christmas, but to our surprise... he said that Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and Jesus is the son of God. WOW! He told them he doesn't remember where he learned that, and that he doesn't know any Christians and he has never been to church in China. They explained some things that our family will be doing over the next few days, and then clarified any questions he had about being with us. It was so great to have the communication piece eliminated for a bit. He told them that life is different, but he is happy. He said the first day was really hard in the airport. He didn't know what was going on and neither did his teacher. That broke my heart! I can't even imagine how scary and upsetting that must have been. And he handled it with so much grace. That speaks volumes to the type of kid he is. I thought maybe he was getting homesick, but he said he didn't miss China. I asked if he wanted Chinese food, and he said "NO! I want KFC." I started laughing when the translator told me that, and Long started shouting "Chicken, Chicken, Chicken" in English. Haha! He said he doesn't get it often in China, it is only a treat on rare occasions.  We spent an hour with this lovely couple, and they offered to help with communication issues over the next few weeks. They also watched him play games on his favorite Chinese website and verified the games were for kids and that there wasn't anything inappropriate. That made me feel better!

I love that God provides the perfect people, at the perfect time, to fill a need. Thank you to this lovely couple for helping us today!

We spent the morning playing around the house and then the big moment... he got KFC for lunch. When I told him it was time to go to KFC, he jumped up and started shouting "KFC! KFC! KFC!" as he ran to get his shoes on. That boy was beaming with excitement. He couldn't decide what he wanted, I think he wanted it all! Every bite he took, he would close his eyes and say "good, good" with a smile. I have never seen anyone enjoy a meal the way this boy enjoyed his lunch today. He ate a ton! This might be the ticket to fattening him up while he is here. Looks like KFC might be getting a lot of our money over the next 3.5 weeks! 

Normally I am the one who is remembering to take pictures, and bugging him to smile. When he sat down to eat, he pointed to my phone, got on the app, and said "photo." He wanted this moment captured! Something so simple was such a big deal to him!

We made a quick trip to Walmart to get Long some medicine. He told the translator that his nose is stuffy, so I wanted to give him something to make him more comfortable. Walmart with 6 kids= herding cats. Wowza. I won't be doing that again. They were all very good, it was just crowded and we take up a lot of room in the aisle. I got even more stares than I do with 5 kids. Go figure. 

The rest of the day was spent at home, playing games and tinkering around the house. He didn't like the potato dinner I made, so he didn't eat much for dinner. Funny story- we are a loud family. Well, certain members of our family are loud. Tonight at dinner, Long took the app and told Timmy to speak in a low voice. Preach on, brother! We got such a kick out of that. 

Hello, my name is Long. I am from Southern China, and I am freezing to death. And this dinner smelled bad, so I am only eating fruit and yogurt. Can someone please take me to KFC? How about a heated KFC? 

We gave him some melatonin a few hours before bed so he would be sleepy, and it seemed to work. He went to bed around 8:30 and his eyes were closed before I made it out of the room. It was another great day with a very precious boy.

I think it is really important to note that everything is not perfect and wonderful at all times. Rick and I are tired... you would think we are the ones with jet lag. I mean, completely and totally exhausted, how am I going to make it through the day, kinda tired. There is no "down" time. He is curious and interested in all kinds of things, so we have to watch him constantly. I don't mean this in a bad way, because we feel blessed to show him SO much. It is just tiring, you know? Also, he is fascinated with devices. He clearly has experience with them. (Oh, on a side note...he told the translator he doesn't like how slow our connection is, LOL!) He changes all of our iPads into Chinese, downloads apps, and goes on sites that we don't recognize and can't read. We have to watch him with the devices, but because this is not something he has in China, he always wants it. I completely understand his desire to have this stuff. It is not something he gets in China (he told us he learned from a family he used to live with, but he does not have anything where he lives now), there is comfort in seeing his language and games he understands, and it is entertaining for him. We have tried to set boundaries, but it seems as though the language barrier has not worked in upholding those boundaries. Rick and I made a decision that ALL devices will disappear tonight. We will give all of the kids 1 hour to play the iPads tomorrow, when we can all sit together and do it. If this doesn't work, then the devices might disappear for the remainder of his trip. When we do this in the future, I think devices will never even appear. It takes away from the purpose and experiences of the trip. 

Our kids have been great, and have even shown a lot of interest in his language. Timmy tries to use it the most, which is hilarious. He talks into the Google translate app constantly. He also follows Long around and says "do you want to play with me?" It is adorable. But there has also been a bit of unspoken stress between our kids. They are getting upset a lot easier than normal. It is just a big change for them. These are minor things in the big picture of what we are doing. It doesn't take away from how precious and wonderful this young man is, just that the process is hard and tiring. But isn't that the point? I mean, if orphan care and adoption was easy... would there even be an orphan crisis? The hard is what scares people, but the hard is what makes it so rewarding. I can't wait for the day this young man finds out that he has a family. Forever. No more orphanages, no more foster families. A forever. I'm pretty tired, but I would live this exhausted for the rest of my life if it meant that this child, and others just like him all around the world, could go to bed with the security and love of a family. It reminds me of a quote by Hunter Thompson that I love... 

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

And if I could add something... Knowing that every bit of it was worth it.