February Followup

I haven't been super-diligent with my updates, so I thought I should let everyone know what went down in the month of February.

February 13th

Some friends that we met through church got home from China, with their new boy , Max, on Friday the 13th around 10:30PM.  I was almost at the airport when I got a text from some other friends of ours, stating that the plane had just landed.  I parked as soon as I could and ran harder than I have in far too long.  I have such a joy when I see other people taking part in the blessing that is adoption.  For me, it's especially sweet when I see someone follow the same path that we followed with Jack and hope to follow again.  Max impressed me, as he was all smiles when Jason and Haley came out with him.  As good as Jack has done with everything, even he was a little shy and reserved when he first met the welcoming committee.  I can't wait for Jack and Max to meet on March 5th.  We are on a list to take them a meal on that day.


February 15th

The family got to go to church together for the first time.  Brandy and Jack went to one of the 4 year-old's rooms, while I went to big church.  Brandy said Jack did awesome.  He was a little reserved at first, and sat back and watched the other kids, but he quickly started joining in with the singing and dancing.  Brandy said it was so wonderful to see him sing and dance for Jesus!  It won't be long before we feel comfortable to leave him in the room by himself.  Later that day, Jack got to FaceTime with his friend William again.  William is Jack's friend from China who got adopted a year ago.  One of the main things William, a 6 year-old wanted to know since the last time we talked was, "Does Jack know God?"  I can't tell you how much that excites me every time I think about it.  It also challenges me.  One of the first things on my mind with any of my friends is do they know God, and do they have a relationship with Him?  Brandy is doing such a great job with Jack in teaching him about all kinds of things, including Jesus.  I hope I will do half as good a job in teaching my son about Christ as Brandy and William's parents are doing.

February 16th

Jack had to be admitted into Blair E. Batson on Monday at 9:00AM for a procedure.  The nurses ran a tube up his nose, down his throat, and into his belly.  He was not happy at all while they were doing it.  My mom had never seen Jack so upset, so it was a hard thing for her to see.  Brandy asked both of Jack's grandmothers to leave the room and he was fine after that.  They were even able to come back in the room a little later.  I guess Jack was like me.  Sometimes, when I get in an uncomfortable situation, I want there to be as few people there to see it as possible, preferably I like to be alone.  Now, if you've met Jack, you know he is a very happy very energetic, very busy kid.  The next hardest thing had to be seeing all of that put on a leash, as the tubes that ran down his throat were connected to a machine that put medicine into his stomach.  

We want to thank all who prayed or came by to visit during this time.  Hospitals are not a very fun place to be.  Misery loves company, but in this case, it's not that we wanted you to be miserable with us, we just don't want to be miserable and alone.  At least that's not how I wanted Brandy and Jack to be.  I worked during the day, while my super-powered wife dealt with the evil Robot Medicine Machine, Captain Boredom, Dr. Awkward, and Mr. Insomnia.  In all, Jack and Brandy spent a day and a half at the hospital.  The staff at Batson is so special, and so good at what they do.  They really seemed to like Jack.  They were impressed at how well he did with everything.  They even said that he was their favorite patient while he was there.

It didn't take long for Jack to get back to his old self once they unhooked the tubes.  In the elevator, some adults were looking at Jack and kind of mentioning how cute he was.  Jack took notice of this and started showing off and acting all cute, and they ate it up.  It didn't stop there.  Brandy, Jack, and my mom went to the China Buffet in front of Wal-Mart in Pearl.  There were three waitresses there who seemed really excited to see a little Asian boy come in.  They started talking to him in Mandarin, and even made him some Origami birds.  My mom said the three ladies basically stared at Jack and watched him the whole time they were there.  When I got home from work, Jack was home and going 90 to nothing like he'd never been to the doctor.

February 22nd

This is a FB post from Brandy

Convo with Jack while eating dinner:

Jack - Ma, you happy?
Me - Yes, baby very much! Are you happy?
Jack (looking down, frowning with his hand on his forehead) No, Ma, I not happy.
Me - Why? (trying not to laugh at him for being SO dramatic)
Jack - Budders ate mine food. (pointing to his empty plate that he ate)

Wondering if this is his new way of asking for more food! Blaming sweet Butters while she is sleeping on the couch!

Unnaturally Natural

We were not prepared for this.  We took the required twelve hours of adoption training from our agency.  We talked to a lot of adoption experts.  We were ready for Jack to be cold and unloving toward us.  We were sure he would have problems adjusting to the new culture.  What we were not prepared for, was a sweet, loving little boy who acts like he's been here the whole time.


We have been so busy since our last blog update.  Jack has been to quite a few doctors appointments.  He even made a friend at Batson's where we met his specialist.  Apparently, she likes to be organized as much as Jack, so they lined up all these chairs right in the path of where everyone needed to walk.

We have gotten great reports from all of the doctors, except for his dentist.  Jack will have to go in for surgery at the end of February.  His teeth are in bad shape, but is something we kind of expected.  Dental care was not one of Jack's top priorities before we got him.  Depending on how he feels after surgery, he may miss the Chinese New Year parade in downtown Jackson the next day.

We have had a few pretty days mixed in with all the cold ones we have been having.  We've enjoyed a few trips to the park.  Jack thinks it's so awesome to swing with, "No hands!"

It makes me so happy at how much Jack loves us already.  He especially loves Brandy, but who could blame him.  He's got the best mom any kid could ask for, adopted or not.

Jack hadn't seen his Meemaw for about two weeks, because she had been sick.  You should have seen how excited he was when he saw her and went running to her.

Brandy's mom and dad got Jack a swing set for Christmas.  I finally got the back yard cleaned up enough, and we had a pretty day, so everyone came over and put it up.  He's already fallen asleep in this thing twice.

Mimi brought a pillow back with her from her trip to Atlanta to see family.  My Aunt Betty made this pillow for Jack, but he had to fight Butters for it.  Aunt Betty said she should have made two, but she forgot we had two children.

We were told that Jack liked to sing songs.  Our guide, Yisha, one of our guides in China, even tested him on a few Chinese songs, and he knew a bunch of them.  He's continued his love for songs with us.  We've been hearing Happy Birthday, Emma (his cousin) for three weeks now.  Here is his rendition of "Itsy Bitsy Spider."  If you listen at the end, you might get a laugh, because a bubbling noise comes up in the water, he looks dead at me, and says, "Lababa!", which means poop in Chinese. 

As I said, Jack has been doing awesome.  Brandy and I are sure that our next adoption is bound to be a nightmare, because we don't deserve to be having such a smooth transition.  God has shown me so many things through this adoption that I have a hard time trying to describe.  Thank you for all of your prayers.  I just know they have played a part in how well things have gone.  We have been truly blessed.  We simply answered a call from God to adopt this child.  We knew we couldn't do it unless we put all our trust in Him, and He has shown that He is big enough.