Wednesday, March 8, 2006

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT AND JOEY!!!

This is Jeff again with another update. Please realize that our days are one day off because of the International Date Line. When we return and fly back we will leave and arrive on the same afternoon of the same date.

Hannah and the rest of the adoptive babies in our group are doing better with each passing day. They are going through separation anxiety. You'll notice I included a picture of another dad, Mike Zook, today. Adopted babies go through "attachment" issues. They usually attach emotionally to the dad first and then later to the mom. The theory is that they have never had a dad and it is such a strong need that they have for a male in their life. We are here with four couples and 3 of the 4 have attached themselves to the dads. We wander in and out of each others' rooms and Mike was feeling exhausted. Some of the babies have cried all night and often through the day. This is the hardest part of the adoption process. Two of the families are on their second Chinese adoption and they have been a great resource for the rest of us. I am sure these families will become life long friends. Today, while comparing notes with the other dads, we found that the babies love to play with the chest hair sticking out of our shirts. The first day, Hannah got a big handful of mine and pulled. I yelled, she got scared and screamed and Pam had to get her calmed down. Another crisis survived.

It's after 3 am and Hannah just woke with a night terror. Sometimes she just wakes up screaming. I keep falling asleep early in the evening, so updating the web page gives me something useful to do while everyone else is sleeping. Now she's in bed between Kristin and Pam.

We went to a big children's store in the morning and got stocked up on some things. I was carrying Hannah and showing her all the toys. She saw a toy telephone and lunged at the toy and got a death grip on the box. She couldn't wait to get out of the store to play with it and would have nothing else. Pam stocked up on Chinese shoes which fit these kids' feet better according to other adoptive parents.

Next we went to WalMart....there are 2 here in Changsha. We forgot to exchange money, and a young man named "Carl" walked me a block to the Bank of China to get some yuan. Everyone is so polite here. I would like to send some Americans here for lessons in politeness. I haven't heard the word "communist" since I've been here, only "socialist" which is more descriptive of China and its present course.

Everything is either privatized or in the process of being privatized. Everywhere we have been in China there is extensive construction projects going on. There are many skyscrapers. I can't think of anywhere I've traveled where I've seen this much construction. There are many entrepreneurs. Anyway, the trip to "Walmark" as our guide says it, was too short. They even have the greeters just like in the US.

We've been giving our guide, Peter Pen, some feedback that we are burnt out on Chinese food....so Peter announces today we will have "pizza" for lunch....which was pizza dough with Chinese food on it with a layer of cheese. For supper, we defected from the group and went to the hotel buffet which ended up having all you can eat shark fin and spicy broiled snake. You should have seen Pam and Donna's face. We ended up ordering off the menu and had cheeseburgers. Hannah started clinging to the waitress and screaming. She is still grieving the loss of her foster mother and she gets a certain cry when she thinks about it. We know that in time, this will get better. The Chinese women are very friendly and they love to say hello to the adoptive babies. We had to ask them to stop because it was confusing Hannah. Kristin is very defensive of her new baby sister. 'Nuff said.

I included a photo of Donna Reed checking out the new website update. She has been a great help and support for this whole thing but more importantly she is a special woman of prayer who has lifted us up every step of the way. Hannah is still warming up to Donna, sometimes smiling at her and sometimes screaming.