We're home!

Some days, I still can't believe that we're actually home.  But, we did it!  The two of us traveled halfway across the world, spent 2.5 weeks away from Asher and Mac, and then traveled 24 hours back across the world with an 18 month old we were just beginning to know.  We've had a pretty crazy month. 

It has been quite an adjustment to get back into the daily grind of things with a new person to now think about.  When we first got back, Asher and Mac seemed a little sad/mad/disenchanted with their new brother.  But, as this week has progressed, I think the older boys are realizing that while their lives have changed, Strider and I are still here to love and care for them.  We're starting to get into the groove of our "new normal" and it's going well today.  That's not to say that every day has been good.  We've been home for 9 days now and it has definitely been a HUGE transition for Strider and I too.  The first 5 days back were probably the roughest.  On top of being totally sleep-deprived, I felt completely emotionally overwhelmed with trying to care for three boys' needs (who were all so completely different and seemed to compete with one another the majority of the time).  Also, I have never rubbed Asher or Mac's back to get them to go to sleep, but I am now doing that for nap time and night time for Kenan (and was doing it throughout the night for awhile too- although he has put himself back to sleep the last 2 nights with no pats!!).  It sounds like a small thing to have to do, but I only have a precious hour to myself for afternoon naptime, so laying with Kenan and rubbing his back for 15 minutes of that is the last thing I want to do when my to-do list is out the window.  But, even with all this, I am glad that he is now a part of our family.  We're still getting used to each other and feeling one another out, but he is so cuddly and lovable and completely full-of-life.  I am praying for God to continue to bond us to one another.

I'll end it tonight with a funny encounter with our neighbor today.  We live across the street from a family with 6 year old twins.  This was the first time we had seen them since we got back from China and they wandered over into our yard today to say hi.  As soon as they got to our yard, the little boy started screaming, "He lost his hand! That baby lost his hand!"  I had to reassure him that he didn't lose it- God made him that way.  He kept mentioning it the whole time we were playing, but he was just curious and processing the fact that someone looked differently than most people do.  I'm sure that this will just be the first encounter of many...

So, now I'll move on to everyone's favorite part of the blog- pictures!! These are pictures I took yesterday and today as we played around our house.  I'm starting to see some brotherly love develop and that is so encouraging to me!

 

Our last full day in China!

We had our appointment at the U.S. Consulate today.  This was the appointment that our entire trip to China had been arranged around.  It went fairly quickly and we had no problems.  Our agency representative will pick up all of our important documents from the Consulate tomorrow and then we'll have everything we need to get Kenan into the U.S. when we land in L.A.  Even though we'll have his Visa by tomorrow afternoon, he's not an official U.S. citizen until our plane touches down in L.A.  We fly out of Guangzhou tomorrow night at 9:30pm (9:30am your time) and land in L.A. at 7:00pm.  I think I might cry for joy when we finally walk on U.S. soil again- even though we have a 5 hour layover in L.A. and then a 4 hour flight to Atlanta and then a 1 hour flight to Jacksonville.  So, we will land in Jacksonville at 9:22am Wednesday morning. 

 

This afternoon, we took pictures in our hotel of our travel group.  Kenan was relaxed during them, but I can't say that was true of sweet little Jeremy! :)

The two big girls on the ends are the sisters of Jeremy and Annie.  Annie's family has been with us the whole time, but Jeremy's family just joined us in Guangzhou because they adopted Jeremy from a different province than Annie and Kenan. 

 

  Even though I'm a little late saying it, I'll say it anyway.  Happy Easter everyone!

"He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay."  Matthew 28:6 

Yesterday morning, we went to a small church on Shamian Island, a small sandbank island about a 15 minute drive from our hotel in Guangzhou.  It was such a little oasis!  There were no big intersections, fast cars, or hordes of people.  It was quite relaxing to walk around.  We were so surprised at the signs at this little church.  One sign clearly said, "Jesus is the only answer."  I didn't expect a state-approved church to be allowed to be that forward.  The service was in Mandarin and English.  The mandarin-speaking pastor would say something and then a lady would translate it into English.  We read 1 Corinthians 15:13-17 and sang 2 songs in English ("Because He Lives" and one more) and then a couple of Mandarin songs as well.  It was so neat to worship openly in a room full of Chinese men, women, and children, and some other Caucasian people too. 
                                                                                                             

Then, we went to eat lunch at a restaurant named Lucy's Bar and Grill.  We had hamburgers, fries, onion rings, and peppermint milkshakes.  Kenan almost downed the entire milkshake before we realized how much he had drank.  He's a Stokes boy alright!!

I just can't wait until we can get him home to play with Asher and Mac.  I think it will take me awhile to get over seeing all three of my boys all together!  Kenan is so fun to play with and he is so quick to pick up on sign language.  He is already shaking his hands when we say something is "all gone."  And we haven't had any more mommy confusion in the last few days.  He hasn't wanted any random Chinese ladies, which always makes me happy!  He is also beginning to see that Strider is pretty fun to be with.  Kenan has been taking Strider's hand and leading him around to go exploring.  He played tackle-time with Strider yesterday and even let Strider get him dressed this morning.  I not only love him, but we both really like being with him too.  I truly see how God picked him out just for our family.  He is so full of life and curious about places and people.  He is the perfect mix of both Asher and Mac.  Pretty soon, my littlest boy will be home and I will finally be able to put my arms around my two biggest boys!

Now, if only we could skip the crazy jet lag and all that sleep-deprivation...