January 12 and 13: Day 26 and 27

Goodness, I can't believe that we are this close to the end. I guess I should start with yesterday. We had an unexpected snow day from school and I was so thankful! John had an eye doctor appointment at 10:00 in the morning that Rick was supposed to take him to. Rick had an important meeting to attend at work, and I really needed to be at work, too. Thankfully, it all worked out with the snow day and I was able to take him. His eyes were pretty good! He had a small prescription, but it can definitely wait until he has more permanent care. I would like to give a big THANK YOU to Dr. Shelton and the staff at 20/20 eye care. They were so sweet to us and donated the entire exam. What an amazing gift! 

Thank you for helping us!

He spent the rest of the day building Lego sets. So, I spent my whole day digging for missing pieces to these Lego sets.

A small sample of what we were digging through all day!

John also spent some time playing outside with the boys. He loved to sled (even though we hardly have any snow!) He spent several hours outside. My kids love to paint, and I have been promising them we would get the paint out. John got to participate, and he painted a picture of a horse. He wasn't really into it, but I am happy he did it. It will be a nice keepsake. 

Rick spent the day with John today. Rick had a dentist appointment, so John tagged along. The kids got out of school early today, so Grandma and Aunt Carol came to spend the afternoon with everyone. Most of John's day was spent with Legos again!

Aunt Julie sent us money to take him to Chuck-e-Cheese's, so we did that tonight. (Thank you, Julie!!)He had a great time! He had a lot of fun playing the games and earning tickets. I think he was a little overwhelmed purchasing the prizes, but we finally found some things he liked. It was really a great time! As we were walking into the restaurant, a man came up to us and asked if we were talking all the kids in to play. We said yes, and he handed us a giant bag of quarters! It had over $50 in it!!!! He just gave it to us and then walked away. What a cool, random act of kindness!

Thank you to the person who gave this to us!

He was amazed at all of the tickets coming out

All smiles! He earned 400 tickets (with the help of Rick!)

I have been stressing about packing him for his return trip. He has so much more stuff than when he came. I made a few shirts disappear. He hasn't worn them much, and there really wasn't room. Also, it is very mild weather where he lives. He won't need really heavy things. I tried to take a fleece sweatshirt out and he got upset. He wants to take it ALL. He even put in some of Andrew's Lego sets... I told him that there is not room for that much stuff and he can only take one. He got so upset. He was packing wrappers from candy, and any little trinket he could find. It was really hard to watch. Rick and I took the suitcase out of his room so he wouldn't be tempted to put more junk in there. We told him he didn't need his blue coat in China. He got SO upset. He said "yes blue coat" and ran downstairs to get it. He came with a heavy jacket and a vest and he has to wear those back because they don't fit in the bag. We told him he could take it if he would wear all 3 coats. He said he would. We have a few more things to squeeze in, but it is SO tight in there now. If his bag gets searched at the airport, all his stuff might not get back in there. We really have it shoved in tight. 

He will not talk to us about leaving. He will change the subject or walk away when we bring it up. I am sure this is a learned response when things get hard. We told him he has to say good-bye to Rick tomorrow morning and he said "OK." He will say good-bye to the kids tomorrow afternoon, and then we head out to Nashville, just the two of us. I hope he doesn't cry because then I will cry. I will do one more post of departure day. Please pray for John as this experience comes to an end.