Got a hug!

That's huge in attachment parenting! I think we are really making progress...thank God!

Play Ball!

I wasn't able to be there for Jacob's t-ball game yesterday, so daddy brought the video camera. Enjoy these clips of our little star :)

Slowly, but surely

Christian is really having a difficult time. He is grieving pretty intensly, but it seems like he is crying less and less every day. Last night he went to bed without having a tantrum.

I am really getting to know him and it's getting easier for me to determine when he's getting overstimulated. We are trying to stay home, but there are things that we have to go out for. Yesterday we brought Jacob to school. He said he was ready and he missed his friends. I had to go into school with Jacob to pay his tuition and explain to his teacher that he may be overly tired or act out a little. While I was talking I noticed Christian was "zoning out". I left as soon as I could, but when we got home he had a tantrum that lasted 40 minutes. He fell asleep and slept for 3 hours. I had to wake him up because we had an appointment with the peditrician.

He woke up happy and I fed him lunch and whisked him off to the doctor's office. He was terrified at the doctor's office, so the exam wasn't as thourough as it should have been. He has gained 10 ounces since last week which is really good considering the calories he's been using for tantrums. The great news is that Dr Jude has confirmed that his heart sounds great and he does not have a heart murmur as was listed on his medical. Also, he doen't think that his dry skin condition is serious. He told me to continue treating him with Eucarin and it will probably go away. In China he was diagnosed with a skin condition called Ichydosis.

Even though the doctor's visit was stressful for him when we got home he was happy and we were even able to enjoy the beautiful weather on our front porch swing. Last night he really didn't cry very much at all at bedtime. He was up at 3am this morning though. He has a little belly ache. I really think we are making a some progress everyday.

The pictures are of Christian and his Godparents and Christian and I with our friend Mindy and her daughter, Paige. We met up with them on Sunday to return their truck.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

We're Home

After a very difficult 27 hour journey....we are home!

The train ride on Wednesday to Hong Kong was lots of fun! Our hotel was very nice and the view of Hong Kong was breathtaking. On Thursday morning we began our journey from Hong Kong to Newark, NJ. Christian wasn't very happy on the plane and cried for a few hours off and on. He was pretty much inconsolable, which was hard on mamma.

Immigration and Customs took a long time in Newark and we missed our flight to Houston. They re-scheduled us for the next flight which was about an hour and a half later. That flight was late getting off the ground in Newark and caused us to miss our flight from Houston to home. The next (and last for the day) flight to Lafayette was booked. I just about cried when I heard that news.

Thankfully, Christian's Godparents live in Houston and they came to pick us up at the airport. They even gave us their brand new truck so that we could drive home. We got home at 1:30 am on Friday. The trip home was long and difficult, but so worth the journey.

We are all still dead tired and the boys and I still have our days and nights mixed up. Daddy is doing much better than we are. That's probably good considering he'll be back at work Monday.

On our last day in Guangzhou we did the traditional red couch picture. We already miss the awesome families that shared this experience with us. Enjoy the pictures :)

Starting our journey home

This afternoon we leave on a train to Hong Kong. We will spend the night there and our flight leaves at 10:30 tomorrow morning for Newark. We have had such a wonderful time here in China, we are a little sad about leaving. We have met some great families and shared many laughs. We will always treasure this experience and we are so grateful that we all were able to be together for these past two weeks. I think Jacob has learned so much.

For the past two days we've been walking all around the island. We went to a jade and pearl market (which was very crowded and not much fun). We found a store full of squeeky shoes! We are bringing some home for a friend that has a baby girl. They also make them for boys, but we weren't going to get some for Christian. When we got back to the room I put the pink ones on him and he LOVES them. They squeek every time he takes a step. He was jumping and giggling. So....we're off this morning to get him a pair.

The food here is absolutely delicious. We had a traditional Chinese meal on Monday night and it was awesome. Jacob's meal came with Sprite, so now everytime we sit down to eat he tells me, "I'm a big boy now, I drink Sprite". Ummmm.....don't think so :). Jacob has 4 new "girlfriends", I've attached a picture of him with a couple of them :).

I've attached a few pictures of the last few days. The waterfall is in the lobby of our beautfiul hotel.

Please keep us in your prayers as we begin our long journey home. I'll send another post from Hong Kong if I can. If not, we'll see ya'll soon. Thank you for your prayers.

We're in Guangzhou

We're in Guangzhou.

The fast train was really nice. We enjoyed our ride very much. The only problem was that we only had 2 minutes to get onto the train with all of our luggage. A kind gentlemen helped us with one of our biggest bags and we made it onto the train in the nick of time.

Today Christian had his medical exam in preparation for receiving his visa to travel to the United States. Part of the process is insuring that he is fully vaccinated. Well, he had to get 5 shots and a TB test (which is another needle poke) this morning. He did much better then I expected. Actually, I've heard him cry much louder and with more force when we take something out of his hand. After his shots he was the happy boy that we've come to know.

There are so many adoptive families here. So far we've met families from Detroit, Colorado & California. We met a nice family who is adopting their 4th daughter through our agency. They have a set of twins from Korea. They are so cute. Jacob's preference was for blonds, but i think he is starting to have an eye for girls with black hair :)

This afternoon we are going to do some walking around and maybe a little shopping. I would like to get the boys some traditional Chinese outfits.

We took a couple of pictures today. Jacob really enjoys the yogurt here as you can see from the picture. The other picture is from Christians medical exam.

Fun Day and We're Moving On

Sorry I wasn't able to send an update yesterday. It was a very tiring and difficult day. We visited Christian's orphanage and finding place in HengYang. We left early in the morning and traveled for almost 4 hours on bad roads to get there. We are very grateful that we were able to see what his life was like before he came to us. His nannies were very happy to meet his family, but it was hard for them to let him go. He was obviously very loved there.

Today we went to a local park which was more like a little amusement park. The grounds were beautiful with many trees and shrubs we have at home. We saw Magnolia trees, azaleas, camillia bushes. The climate here is very similar to ours, so apparently we share the same type of trees and flowers. The school children here get a recreation day once a month and they visit this park. I've attached a picture of some beautiful Chinese children enjoying their day as well as our beautiful boys having fun.

This afternoon we board a train for the next half of our China adventure. We are going to a city called Guangzhou and we will be staying at a hotel called the White Swan.

Enjoy the pictures, I will update from Guangzhou tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers, we are having a very good start to our bonding as a family.

earthquake in China

Hey All,

We havent received a new post from Alicia and Charles yet this morning, but she did update on her facebook!

she said:
We are in Southeastern China and all the earthquakes were in Western China.. Very far away. We are doing fine and having a wonderful time with our two sons :)

Just wanted to post that so everyone knows they ARE OK!!!!!!!!
Praise God!!!!


danielle

Day 3

Today we went to Wal-Mart, yep in China...it's everywhere! Christian is getting more and more comfortable with us. He didn't cry at all today and is putting his arms out for us to pick him up. He also began walking again today. I think his little body was so stressed out, he couldn't walk. I tried to upload a video, but it took too long.

Today's pictures are all of the pictures every good parent that adopts from China has on their blog. The Wal-Mart pictures and the squatty potty (yep, that's a public toilet) pic. Despite the appearance the bathroom was very clean and there was no odor. Jacob was scared at first, but when he figured out he could aim for the middle, he thought it was cool!

Tomorrow we visit Christian's orphanage and meet the ladies that have cared for him so lovingly for the past two years. Good night for now and thank you for your prayers.

It's Official...1st Family Picture

It's Official

Today we went back to the Civil Affairs Office to finalize the adoption of Christian Andrew McDuffie. Here in China there is a "happiness period" which is 24 hours. Well, we've been very happy for the last 24 hours :).

After we signed all of the documents promising to never abandon or mistreat our boy, we were granted the "first family photo". I think we're a fine looking familly :).

In the next few days we will be shopping (Christian came with a pair of PINK high tops!) and enjoying the sites of Changsha. On Thursday we will travel for a couple of hours to visit his orphanage. Although, I'm sure it will be difficult, we feel it's important for us to see how our baby boy has spent the first two years of his life.

Jacob is doing well, although this is very difficult for him. Today he asked me, "when are you going to start being my mommy again?". Talk about break your heart. It gave us a good opportunity to reassure him though. He seems much better since that conversation.

We are receiving so many graces from your prayers. We are truly blessed to have you all in our lives. Enjoy the pictures of our first full day together.

Alicia

We have Baby Christian!!!

He is beautiful and looks just like his pictures. He came to us without crying, but was sad once we got to the hotel room. We did get a couple of smiles and some giggles, but then he got sad. Jacob is heartbroken when he cries and tries to hug him and pat his back. It's so sweet.

They were a little late bringing him to the Civil Affairs Office, so we were looking out the window. We caught a glimpse of a man coming into the building holding him. We knew it was him becuse he is dressed in the same blue coat he had on in his birthday pictures.

Enjoy the pictures of our first meeting and we will write again soon. Thank you for your prayers for our family,

Hotel View

This is the night view from our hotel in Changsha. We had a delicious meal last night...on our own. 5 hours to baby Christian!! Jacob is very excited to meet his baby brother.

We're in Changsha!!!

After a short flight this afternoon, we have arrived in Changsha. Our guide met us at the airport and brought us to our hotel. The weather here is much cooler than it was in Hong Kong. It's about 58 degrees and rainy. Helen, our guide, brought us to the grocery store to get us some supplies. We got many stares! Most people stared at us, but smiled at Jacob. I took a few pictures there.

The best part of today was finding out that we will meet our baby boy at 10:00 tomorrow morning! That's 10:00 Sunday night for ya'll. Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures of all of us together tomorrow.

Thanks for all of your prayers!

We're in Hong Kong!

All bright eyed and bushy tailed at the airport in Lafayette at 4:30 AM

24 Hours later we are in Hong Kong. The trip was long and at some times difficult, but we are so happy to be here. Two more sleeps to Baby Christian..and it's already 8:00 tonight :).

God Bless and thank you for your prayers.

One more sleep!

It's been the craziest week of our lives, but it's almost over!

We leave tomorrow morning

Thank you for your precious prayers and good wishes. We are so truly grateful.

Stay tuned, we will do our best (along with some friends here) to post from China.

TA!!!!

We should be leaving on Friday....YEP....IN 4 DAYS!

We should have our baby boy in one short week!!!

Ask and you shall receive

I asked for TA today..didn't get it

Instead I got BIRTHDAY PICTURES!

Wow, they do birthday cakes right in China!

New Pictures

Of our beautiful son on his 2nd birthday!

Can't wait to hug him!