Thursday's Adventures

Thursday’s Adventures

To start out….Since we can’t access our blog in China, I’ve been emailing my posts to my cousin, Sarah, and she’s been posting them for us. She also has emailed the comments back to us….so we want to thank you for the encouragement, prayers and support. We’ve enjoyed being able to read your comments!

Our morning started slow, with Abram waking up at 6:30. He quietly snuggled with both of us for the next 30 minutes. We took our time getting ready and walked down for breakfast.

After breakfast we walked to the pedestrian street...Yup, the pedestrian street. If you’re like me, I’ve been wondering what it was, but didn’t figure it out until a couple days before we came to China. It’s basically an outdoor mall with a street only for pedestrians, no vehicles…..ahhh (relax), I can handle this kind of walking in Nanchang.

I had made a list of items to look for, but suddenly, I realized that getting something for Abram wasn’t on this list. We’ve already bought so much for him back at home, that I hadn’t thought about purchasing anything for him here. After looking around for a bit, we found a few items, but nothing for Abram. Abram was getting antsy (imagine that, a two year old not liking a shopping trip!!) and we needed to head back before he would be a complete mess….which he was by the end!

We bundled Abram up even more today, to prevent being scolded by people as we were out & about...

We thought we were doing good, but as Jeff held him, his pant leg would get hiked up, exposing his leg. A few people scolded us for that. But when we were in a store, our guide pulled his pant leg down to help us and then said to Jeff, “Oh! He only has on one pair of pants! You need to put on another pair!” I thought about saying later, “well how many pairs of pants do you have on?!?” We were in a shop and they tried selling us “under-pants” (pants to go under his other pants) – we politely declined and said we have some back at the hotel (which we do, although we probably won’t put them on him :)). We just CAN’T win!

After we got back, we were able to skype Jeff’s brother and sister-in-law, Todd and Wendy. It was fun to talk and for them to see Abram. While talking, Abram did what any other two year old would do…discover the unraveling of T.P.

It’s cute the first time, but not when he got caught later that day, again.

As the afternoon wore on, the mother heart in me was saddened that we would be leaving this city tomorrow…His City, were he’s spent the first 2.5 years of his life. When would he be back to visit? I don’t know..10 years? 15 years? All he has to remember from this city are the clothes that he was wearing when we met him and the pictures we’ve taken while we’ve been here…with determination, I decided to go back to the pedestrian street by myself (too stressful to take Abram and I’d rather shop than let Jeff do it)….but this meant I had to cross the “suicide street” by myself (without holding Jeff’s hand :)-scary!!). With Jeff’s encouragement, off I went, on a mission.

Thankfully I only had to cross 3 streets before I got to the pedestrian street. On my way, I wasn’t very flattered when one man (the age of my Dad) looked directly at me and whistled.(yick). From that point on I didn’t look at any men and continued to keep a tight grip on my purse. I stood out like a sore thumb. The first shop I went into, the worker wanted to help, but there was an obvious language barrier, but that didn’t stop her from trying (even though all I wanted was to look!). Thinking back on it, I laugh, as I stood there in the store with the worker a foot away. If I moved backwards for more space, she’d just move closer (once again, personal space isn’t regarded like it is back in the states! :)….but then again it’s a much more crowded country).

I found what I wanted…silk/satin (I can’t read the tag, it’s in Chinese) pajamas, to make a security blanket out of it...

Something he can hold onto for the next few years and know that it’s from his city. It might not mean much now, but someday it will. Excited with my find, I looked around a bit more and then headed back to the hotel….feeling successful that I found what I was looking for and feeling accomplishment that I made it across the streets by myself (I sound like a child…but you’d understand if you were here!)

For dinner, we went back to the same restaurant and had ourselves another $7 meal. Abram was really acting up and throwing a fit for the first part….oh, how I hate eating out with a 2 year old….no wonder we rarely take our kids out to eat. What’s harder is when you don’t know the child very well and don’t know what’s going on in his brain, to know how to react to them…let alone a communication barrier. I think we both felt some insecurity as the workers looked at us foreigners (who are adopting one of their children). At one point, I was walking with Abram in the restaurant…he was acting up and a waitress came over to offer a helpful hand and reached out for him. Subsequently, Abram turned from her and reached up for me! So through his misbehavior, I realized he is starting to identify himself with me (yes!!!).

Our meal was good, but pretty spicy (that’s typical for this area of China). Last night was spicy, but tonight had our mouths on fire!! (Abram just ate rice) Thankfully they serve watermelon with the meal, to cool off our mouths!

Tomorrow (Friday) we get Abram’s visa and we then fly to Guanzghau, to complete the adoption on the US side. Please pray for our flight, first flight for Abram (thankfully only a 1.5 hour flight), that we can be calm and flexible with this active 2 year old. Yes, I’m prepared with snacks, and toys, but that can only go so far. There are many times that we wonder what he is thinking, is he scared, is he reacting out of fear?

(Here we are with, Tina, our Tour Guide)

Love,

Jeff, Chelby & Abram