Live from Guangzhou....

Poor Silas fell of the bed tonight.  It will take him awhile I suppose to learn how to sleep in a bed after 2.5 years in a crib.

His injury + a wide-awake Momma = a new blog post

We've been enjoying/enduring our time in Guangzhou. 

Enjoying the family time, a visit to a most amazing "Safari Park," swimming in the pool, and traipsing around some old familiar adoption haunts....

Enduring multiple vaccinations for the traumatized boys (Graham 5 and Silas 6!) (this is a terrible new policy on the part of the US), sleeping on plywood beds, and feeding thousands of mosquitoes and biting insects with our blood.  It's been a very robust week for the local mosquito population with the arrival of these 10 pairs of legs!

Some photos & tales of our days here:

Left:  The old red couch at the White Swan...who needs a tour group to fill this couch when you have 8 of 9 of your own seedlings to perch upon it?

Right:  This was a precious realization...regarding Graham's compassion...The Bug, upon arrival in GZ was really feeling poorly, she had ear and throat pain and was crying from the train station to the apartment where we're staying.  Graham asked her a few times why she was crying and she explained to him.  Upon arriving in the room, she promptly found the nearest bed and laid down, falling fast asleep.  After some time I realized that Graham was periodically disappearing.  He had brought The Bug a tissue, before she went to bed, to dry her tears.  This photo shows the moment we discovered that he continued to sneak away tissues and leave them at her side in the bed...in case she woke up and needed them...it was a precious realization about his personality!

Left:  This was another break-through on "twin" relating...This is Graham (L) actually, on his own accord, sharing his ice cream with his brother Silas...we do pray that these two will form a strong bond.

Right:  We spent the day sweating and smiling at a most-fantastic safari park here in GZ.  We'd been there before (3 years ago) and had forgotten how magnificent it was...the number of animals...is staggering!  White Tigers, Koala Bears, Pandas, Rhinos and Giraffe!  The kids loved every single moment of our day!

Left:  Some park visitors took the easy-rider way through the park...

Right:  Others had to use ALL THEIR MIGHT to push little brothers around the park (little brothers who outweigh big sisters by quite a bit!)

Left:  Daddy and the Butterfly did hours of duty pushing strollers!

Right:  And boosting Giraffe feeders...

Left:  Lots of kisses were given and received.

Right:  Generally, all patrons were satisfied with their first trip to a zoo!

Left:  Graham shows a bit more of his sunny-side.

It has been a very interesting few days.  Naomi was injured (only slightly) at the park when her Momma, in an attempt to flee a splash (and apparent targeting) from the rear end of a massive Bengal tiger who sprayed the glass RIGHT IN MOMMA'S FACE, backed up suddenly.  This brought to mind a story of a less-fortunate (or perhaps, less-protected by glass) Pendy who at one time had an unsavory experience with a Lion at a zoo in Texas... Lion pee + Pendy's socks and shoes = ONE BAD FIELD TRIP!

(Those with weak stomachs or a higher sense of propriety than my own should not read this next paragraph.)

The tiger assault was entirely overshadowed however by an explosion at an adoptive family favorite location (Lucy's Restaurant on Shamian)...Silas was seated on Daddy's lap at the end of the meal...when, in an apparent display of a bad side-effect of all the vaccinations and without any forewarning, leaned back and blasted the contents of his colon out the leg of his shorts and (though it is statistically impossible) all over the table cloth, Daddy's pants and sandals, Momma's skirt and sandals, Grahams legs and sandals...there must have been tremendous pressure involved...as my leg felt as though it had been hit with a stick!  (Daddy guessed it must have been 40-50 PSI!)  It was an atrocious mess!  In the rearing of all the previous young in this household...never has their been such a disaster...never!  I was speechless as the people dining with us began to back away in horror!  Finally, I became hysterical...there was nothing else to do but to laugh, as I'm doing now as I re-type this!  Daddy and Silas headed out the back door and found an irrigation line in which to begin the bathing.  Similarly, Graham and I, sandals off, limped out the back door trying to find something to wash away the evidence.  It simply defies any ability I have to accurately describe it!  The poor girl who had the duty to clean up the floor I'm told was visibly gagging while she mopped up the legendary mess...I do so hope they realized that the table cloth was involved before some other diners came to enjoy some "American-fare" at the restaurant...

On cleaner note,  adjustment is improving for both boys.  Lots more laughter and personality from Graham though he still is a permanent fixture on my lap or at my side.  Silas is delighting us with his fast learning of new games, skills and his ability to recover from the dozens of tumbles he endures each day.  The big kids continue to amaze us with their patience and compassion.  To see the heart of God expressed through these children toward their new siblings, causes praise to rise up from the depths of my soul.

Three more days here in Guangzhou, then back for a final 5 days of work at the school, then boarding our first of several airplanes back to visit the US on June 30th!  Please keep lifting us up during this time of gargantuan travel hurdles!  The boys' should have their shiny new Immigrant visas in just three days! 

Thanks for checking in on us!