The Kramer Family

Home sweet home!!

2011-10-22T04:09:00.003-04:00

So it's official - we are HOME!! Above is our first family photo, taken at the airport after Gabe and I had been traveling for 30+ hours. We were greeted by Tyler and Brooke holding a sweet sign that said "Welcome home mommy and Gabe" and Matt and my parents were there too. It was so great to have everyone together after two LONG weeks of being apart!

Gabe was great - he had seen everyone so many times on Skype and in his photo book that he was off hugging people within a few minutes. He would look back to make sure I was close, and even came to hold my hand a few times, but overall he was really enjoying his time with his new family. We went home and he started exploring the house, LOVED the dog, and wasn't too upset with his new bed. Although it was 10 am in China, Gabe and I had barely slept well during the trip, so he was more than willing to head off to bed within 20 minutes of being home, and I was thrilled to be in bed too - exhausted!!

Yesterday, our first full day at home, we played in the house for a while, exploring with the big kids (who he hangs with really well), we started to learn to ride a tricycle, took a walk to the pond to feed the fish, and later in the evening went to the neighborhood park while the big kids played a soccer game on the adjoining fields. I am amazed at how much Gabe can do on his own and knows how to do already! He loves to swing, to climb up the stairs to use the slide, etc. He can really get around outside, and is going to be riding that trike independently in no time!

I know you probably can't tell from the photo above, but Gabe is shorter than Aiden (even though he is estimated to be 6 months older). I was already asked twice at the park last night if they were twins - that is going to be a life long question, I am sure!!

We were blessed by a visit from Aiden's school teachers, Mrs. Sarafin and Mrs. Conger, who will also be Gabe's teachers soon. Mrs. Sarafin had made a beautiful photo book for Gabe - it had a number of photos of each of the kids, along with new photos off our blog from this trip. The book is not only filled with amazing photos, but she went to great lengths to add wonderful quotes that really represent family and love so well. Some of my favorites brought me to tears, such as "A mother's arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them" ~ Victor Hugo (with a photo of me & Gabe from our first day together), "The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart" ~ Helen Keller and "Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see" ~ Mark Twain (with a photo of Aiden from school over the past two weeks). Not only were there family photos in the book, but also photos of hands signing "love", and "Kramer family" - it was beautiful and so thoughtful! There is nothing greater than for my children to be blessed with such amazing teachers!! They also brought bubbles that were a huge HIT! Gabe and Aiden were running around, knocking into each other, laughing and just having a blast. Gabe took to both teachers very quickly and before long was hugging them both. He is just beyond precious, and fits in with the rest of the kids so well!!

There haven't been any real jealousy issues from anyone yet. Aiden has been a happy little hugging machine, and when I pick him up Gabe is very good, walking by my side; and vice versa - when I pick up Gabe, Aiden has been very good as well. Brooke and Tyler are being a wonderful big brother and sister - both played with Gabe a lot today, are trying to remember to sign to him when they want to speak, and are being very loving. Gabe is already bossing people around, he signs "potty" at Aiden when it's time for him to go, and when Gabe thought Aiden needed to be changed today he came over and tapped me on the leg, when he had my attention he signed "potty" and "stinky" and pointing to Aiden's bum. I was cracking up...he's picking up sign so quickly, it is just amazing to me!

I'll say it again, God is SO GOOD and we are SO BLESSED!

Now if I could just sleep longer than four hours at a time...darn jetlag! ;-)

Consulate appointment and HEADING HOME!!

2011-10-18T06:04:00.001-04:00

Oh praise God, we have made it to the finish line!! Today was the final step in the adoption - passing our "interview" with the US Consulate and taking the oath to swear our children in as citizens. Gabe will not become a US citizen until we land in Atlanta (our port of entry), but I swore in on his behalf today, so just another step in the LONG process to adopt these precious babies. It use to be that the agency guides would go to the Consulate on your behalf and do the "interviews", however this time we had to do this ourselves. There was very little to it - we just stood at a bank teller type window while they sorted through all of our paperwork - some we had brought from home, but most we had received in country, then I signed a few documents, showed my passport and was finished!

Later in the day we came back to the hotel for the family and group photos, and then it was off to a beautiful city park. Sadly by the time we went to the park I was so tired of lugging my camera that I didn't take it with me - oh well, you all know what gardens look like in the US - yeah, well, they aren't that different here! :-)

So, best news of the day, WE ARE HEADING HOME TOMORROW!!! I am so excited to be going home, I can barely stand it. While this has been an amazing experience, one that I would do over in a heartbeat if ever given the opportunity (I know Kramer, I'm reading your mind...), I am so excited to be heading home to really start life as a family of six! I miss my beautiful family so much, and I can't wait to show Gabe all his siblings, and his daddy, grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc. Oh, how he is going to love being a Kramer! I just get all teary eyed thinking about it...

We leave Guangzhou around 9 pm tomorrow and head to Hong Kong. We'll arrive in HK around midnight, and then early in the morning we head from HK to Tokyo, Tokyo to Atlanta and then Atlanta to HOME!! The longest flight is of course Tokyo to Atlanta which will be approximately 13 hours. Not too bad, considering it was 15 hours here in the most confined space of my life - so flying home on Delta is going to feel like heaven in comparison!

So...that's all from China...next time you hear from me it will be from the good ole USA! :-)

I love to model for the camera

The four kids in our travel group

Fun family photos!

Our group!

Gabe & Guangzhou

2011-10-16T04:05:00.005-04:00

Gabe is so smart, loving and kind. He is absolutely amazing, and going to fit into our family so perfectly! He is already learning to sign two words together in sentences such as "water please", "more please", etc. He is signing a lot on command, but also signs things on his own too - more, water, eat, etc. He probably knows about 40 signs now - he will put his shoes on when asked to, gets dressed on his own each morning, and is about half way to potty trained already (the orphanage hadn't potty trained him because they didn't know how to train a deaf child). He is eating everything I give him, and I mean EVERYTHING! This kid is going to eat us out of house and home - I'd better get right back to couponing when I get home!! :-) He is so darn precious, I can barely stand it. SO CUTE and the BEST personality!!

Today was lovely - a free day with group touring in the morning/early afternoon. We started out at the Six Banyan Pagoda and Buddhist Temple. A Banyan is a specific type of tree that grows native to China, specifically Guangzhou. They are beautiful, and very unique, as the roots of the tree grow up and wrap around the tree trunk. The Six Banyan Pagoda had many beautiful banyan trees, and was also a major Buddhist temple – statues of Buddha were at least two to three stories high and were inside a special prayer room (I didn't go in, just took photos from the outside). Inside people would take their shoes off, walk over to prayer mats and burn incense at the altar while lying with their knees, elbows and forehead to the ground in prayer position.

The altars were beautiful with all kinds of flowers and fruits set before Buddha – I suppose as a gift offering to him? I’m not really sure. The trees and outdoors were more interesting to me – very beautiful and the weather today was gorgeous – sun shining and warm, just like home!

Anyway, afterward we were off to the Guangdong Folk Arts Museum , which was the former Chen House. At one point the Chen family was very rich and powerful in Gaungzhou, so they had this amazingly beautiful home (photos below)….and then the government decided it would be a great place for the Folks Arts Museum, so they took it. Interesting…

This afternoon included a trip to McDonalds and more importantly McDonalds got me my first “I love you” and kiss – all that for a hamburger and a happy meal toys – and unsolicited too! He saw that we entered McDonalds and started touching my cheeks so I’d look at him and grinning ear to ear, then he held up his hand and signed “I love you” and then kissed me on the lips. Seriously – I may take him back tomorrow – ha ha!! ;-)

Anyway, enjoy the photos…today is Sunday and it’s almost over – and we leave on Wednesday…only 3 more days! Can’t wait to get my sweet boy HOME and see the rest of the family! YAHOO!!!

Really cool backdrop in our bedroom

Don't know if you can tell but the shower and tub are
behind one glass door - together - the shower has
a normal nozzle and then one in the ceiling that comes straight down!

After pointing to the tree he signed "tree" :-)

A cool statue near the pagoda

The Six Banyan Pagoda - 9 stories tall from the
outside, but 17 stories tall on the inside

A woman praying in the Buddhist temple

Love this photo!

Buddha

One of the many altars

Gabe told me what to do to pose for our photo!

The Chen home - now a government museum - these "animals" were
all stained porcelain from hundreds of years ago, never retouched

Amazing architecture on the top of the Chen home

We're in Guangzhou

2011-10-15T18:46:00.000-04:00

So thankful to be writing from Guangzhou where we are staying in a PALACE! This is by far the nicest hotel I have ever seen in my life - nicer than the Waldorf Astoria in NYC even! We are now in a group of four families, although CCAI also has another group here of 16 other families, so we see them a lot too. I have met up with two families whom I was anticipating seeing here - Jamie I met on the deaf china adopt yahoo group and the other, Robin, had my sweet friend Yvonne (a Chinese native who works with me for Love Without Boundaries) as her guide in Hunan! It's been so wonderful to now be able to share this experience with other families, have someone to eat dinner with, and just hang out!

Yesterday morning we had the medical checks for the children and the TB tests. Thankfully this adoption trip we do not have to do immunizations in China, as the US government changed the laws on that for all children under the age of 10. So, one small prick for the TB test was the only thing that made Gabe cry, and he was over it in about 15 seconds with a piece of candy for bribery! ;-)

Since we were on the island (where we use to stay in Guangzhou, where everyone speaks English and there is a ton of shopping!) we stayed there for the remainder of the morning/afternoon walking around doing some shopping, eating lunch, etc. We were able to borrow strollers from a store (didn't even have to leave our names or money - they knew we'd be back) and Robin and I (the lady from Hunan) just strolled around the island all day. The kids were great, and it was SO NICE to talk to an adult! Robin was alone in her province as well, and is here without her husband, so we have had an instant connection :-)

Last night we met up with all the CCAI families to walk to a very nice restaurant for dinner. Everything was very tasty, and Gabe ate up a storm. He was signing away for everything he wanted - it's really so easy to communicate with him - he's very expressive and using his signs well. He spent a lot of time watching people eat, and by half way through the dinner he had picked up his chopsticks and learned how to use them! I think he now uses chopsticks better than me!! :-)

Anyway, today we are off to the Buddhist temple and some other city sights, and then we do some more paperwork in the afternoon. Today is Sunday, and we leave on Wednesday night to start our journey home so - YEAH, YEAH, YEAH - only four days left including today!!!!

A picture's worth a thousand words...

2011-10-14T01:04:00.000-04:00

With the thought that a picture is worth a thousand words, I end my week in Nanjing City, Jiangsu, China with these photos of the shopping mall, the area around the mall and the walking streets behind my hotel. Next time I write it will be from Guangzhou, Guangdong, China - one step closer to HOME!!

While walking around taking these photos this morning I thought many times how I wish I could share the smells of China with you...an odd combination for sure, and something that this blog could never explain, but oh how I wish I could! Oh, and one final thought - hooray, hooray, the sun came out today (sorry, didn't mean to make that rhyme)...couldn't see blue skies or the sun itself through the smog, but there was definitely some sunlight! ;-)

Gabe signing "open" at the elevator door :-)

Apparently they decorate malls for Halloween, but don't celebrate.

This cart got hit by a crazy moped and the man is scurrying around trying to pick up
his lost garlic and fruit :-(

This man was SLOWLY pulling this large cart, just a half block
from the mall

Gabe has taken a real liking to American food! ;-) And no,
this wasn't the same McDonalds!!!

Again outside the mall - just an hour previous there had been 15 men
and women eating lunch out of this storage locker - see the wok on
the right? It was like a temporary restaurant....

A small crowded store one block off the main shopping district

Scaffolding made out of bamboo sticks, and see the rope?
That's how they haul their stuff - bags full of cinder blocks, etc on a pulley lever system
with the rope

A local statue

More off the beaten path stores

The main street - stores selling Nike, etc.

A high end store for ladies

A woman preparing food on the side of the street, outside her small restaurant/store

The luck tree outside the Confucius temple

A rickshaw driver waiting...he will pull the people by hand while walking, no bike

The Confucius temple

Confucius temple from afar

A beautiful entrance to a waterfront restaurant

A city welfare registration building

Beautiful detail on the edge of the river

City street along the river

McDonalds & Starbucks!

2011-10-13T07:33:00.002-04:00

McDonalds and Starbucks - ha ha - talk about needing some Western influences to brighten my spirits - I've been seeking just that the past 24 hours. First, last night, we walked down to the McDonalds for dinner. What an experience that turned out to be!

I was purchasing our meals, when Gabe started to shift his weight as if he were going to walk away. Since I had my hands in my wallet fishing for money, I slightly shifted/lifted my leg to corral him and ensure he knew not to go anywhere. And then it happened, this man in a uniform saw me and came up to tell the cashier what I had done, thinking it was humorous that I was using my leg to ensure Gabe didn't get away. Anyway, not only does he decided to share my "funny" story, but he swoops down and picks Gabe up! In my head I was thinking "oh, seriously, no, let's not have this" and I'm wondering who he is, if he works there, hoping he won't walk away, etc. I say "thank you" in Chinese and immediately put my hands out to receive Gabe back. The man obliges, then grabs my food and walks me to a table. Come to find out he was the table clearer/cleaner for McDonalds and he had nothing better to do for the next hour than to come by every 2 - 3 minutes to try to talk to Gabe (I ended up pointing to my ear to explain that he's deaf), pretending to eat his food, drink his drink, etc. OH MY! People all around us were watching - I think they felt badly for me, as this man, who had somehow lost many of his teeth since his younger days, was seemingly obsessed with our family. He was very kind, I will give him that, but when he would pick up fries and try to feed them to Gabe, or when he would pick up his drink and hold the straw to allow Gabe to drink, I just kept thinking "oh please let this stop!" It was funny too (ok, not really funny, but...), because Gabe clearly didn't care too much for this man - it was very appropriate how Gabe would look to me for guidance (should I eat the fry he's trying to feed me - and I'd get my eyes big and round and shake my head no really short and quick!) and he would push the man away when he got too close. All in all I just keep praying that Gabe would eat faster, that the man would become very busy in his work, and that dinner would be OVER! :-) We survived, but it was quite an experience to say the least...

Early this morning I had a dream that today was Thursday, but it was next Thursday and I was getting ready to head home to my family. You can imagine my extreme disappointment to wake and realize I still had a week in China before I get to head home. This dream made me so home sick! So, this morning to combat my home sickness, as any decent American woman would (ha ha!!), I decided to head to the shopping mall, where I'd heard there was a Starbucks. Sure enough, two plus hours of retail therapy and a tall mocha later not only had I worn Gabe down enough that he wanted a nap (hallelujah) but I also felt a bit better about the day and more connected with the Western world (which seems so unbelievable far away right now). There were so many Western stores in this mall - Zara, Express, Sophora, etc., and everything was SO expensive! I walked into a kids toy store (so fun for Gabe!!) and couldn't believe the prices - $25 for a shape sorter, really!? A pair of crocs in another store were over $50 - for KIDS CROCS! I just couldn't get over it...and no, I didn't purchase any of it. I bought packages of Chinese cartoon character stickers for $1 each! :-)

The dichotomy between the "riches" in this mall and the unbelievable poor just outside the walls was almost more than I could wrap my head around. To know that I was literally a football field distance away from a woman sitting outside a small, dirty store making food to sell in an outdoor wok a few inches off the ground, held up by a few bent pieces of plywood, in a side alley while I was looking at $45 crocs - it's mind blowing, really. I suppose this is where the people driving the BMW's and Mercedes are shopping, not those carrying 12 bags of rice on the back of a bicycle that looks 40 years old. So very sad...

Anyway, later in the day we met up with Min, our guide, who took us to the Brocade Museum. Now, nothing "tops" history in my books except perhaps museums! I know, I know, I am really a brat of a tourist, I remember whizzing through the Louve in about 15 minutes when I was in my 20's, so I really only went today because it was a reason to leave the hotel. However, I am so glad we did go, because it was amazing! This was no museum, it was a guided tour of a factory where they make amazingly gorgeous silks - hand made, and we got to stand right next to the people creating the silk and watch from the start when they pull the silk from the cocoon all the way to the final stage of weaving it into amazing fabrics. The really neat part is that a Brocade silk print was our gift from the orphanage when we adopted Gabe, so we are blessed to be going home with a framed silk piece to display in our home and to remind us of this trip.

So weird that words keep leaving my post each time I save it...I just re-read it and it skips a whole paragraph now! What I wrote was that Gabe is doing amazing! He is using signs correctly, loves to sign "store" every time we walk by a store, he's responding to more and more sign from me each day, and is behaving very well overall.

Don't get me wrong, he's been a bit spoiled over the past few years, and is having to learn what "no" means and that throwing yourself down on the floor in a fit of rage will do very little for you in the Kramer family, but he's doing great and really learning fast that "this ain't my first rodeo" as Dr. Phil would say!!

The apartments where Min, our guide, lives which
was very close to the museum.

The person on top of the silk machine, feeding the silk down

The person on the bottom weaving the silk and the design.

The silk before it enters the weaving process

A famous emperor's silk attire (it's extra large
because it would be worn over 7 or 8 other layers of
clothing for warmth.

Beautiful silk outfits in the store - you too can have one hand made to size

Gabe and me at the museum entrance

A day of rain & city gates...

2011-10-12T02:28:00.001-04:00

Today we took a tour of the city gates. Sadly it was not a real kid friendly location, as is true in most of China, and thus I ended up carrying Gabe up and down about 100 steps (maybe more), and across the top of the city wall, as I was afraid he's slip and fall after it started raining on us (yes, we had this "fun" in the rain!). Seriously, it was amazing to be on top of the City gates, as tall as some of the tallest buildings to be seen for quite some distance, and looking down on a man-made river and the city itself. The architecture was unbelievable - each brick to make the entire city wall was hand made and marked with the creator's name and the date it was finished. The reason for this was that each brick was to be made in a perfect shape, and made to withstand time...if it broke or was misshapen the person who created it would be killed. Can you imagine - I'm talking about thousands if not millions of bricks to form a barrier around an entire city - a TALL barrier - and each brick had a name inscribed. The wall took 10 years to create and was finished in the year 1366. I am always in awe of the amazing and LONG history of this country (yes, dad, you read that right, I just acknowledged a "liking" for something historical) - when presented in historical dramatic writings (Shanghai Girls, Snow Flower and the Hidden Fan, etc) then I find history really interesting, also when I can walk around and see it for myself - but reading a history book or taking a history class, B-O-R-I-N-G!! ;-)

Anyway, as I said, it started to rain while we were touring the city wall and it hasn't stopped yet! So we have since been trying to entertain ourselves in our hotel room since around 11:30 am. I am thankful first that our hotel room is large in China standards, so I really shouldn't complain, HOWEVER, I am going stir crazy!! We've been drawing, coloring with the aqua doodle, playing with cars, tossing a beach ball, making a mess with tissues, and playing with our wooden toy lizard, and posing for more photos! However, it's only been 3 hours "trapped" and we've already done all of that - what will we do for the rest of the day!? Ha ha, do you remember your time with small children with a super small attention span...welcome to my world! ;-)

One great thing is China has an entire TV station for all day, every day "China has talent", and while we don't understand the explanation that goes along with each talent, nor the critiques afterward, we have found some of these talents quite entertaining. As a matter of fact, Gabe has just decided to sit down and watch some dancers for a while. So, perhaps this will hold his attention for more than 2 minutes, and at least it's giving me entertainment. Many of the talents are circ de soleil quality so they really are pretty amazing.

So, that's all from here for today. Praying it stops raining so we can go walk down to McDonald's for dinner. :-)

Statues of some emperor and an advisor (see I told you history's not my thing!)

The area where you come to pray for luck -
people were burning incense and hanging banners asking for luck

The spot to pray for money - by adding money to the
shrine. I found this quite ironic, but no more than spending money on the lotto I guess!

The man-made river below the main city gate

My boy with his new shades!

This cracked me up - I didn't ask him to do this, he ran and posed on his own!

Just a cool picture at a model of the city gate

And on the second day...

2011-10-11T06:44:00.000-04:00

What a wonderful morning and afternoon sweet Gabe and I experienced. We went to the Provincial office to finalize the adoption and then took a stroll through a local grocery store (more like a grocery and Sears combined) this morning and everyone was smiles and giggles. Gabe is signing up a storm - he wanted pancakes off my plate this morning at breakfast so I taught him to sign "I want", not two minutes later when he wanted more, he signed "I want" and then pointed to the pancakes. I taught him the sign for pancakes and later in the meal he was signing "I want pancakes". :-) There have been a lot of experiences like this already - it's so fun to watch him learn so quickly!

I can already tell that Matt and Gabe are going to get along famously - Gabe is a food hound - he wanted to eat everything on his plate(s) and then nearly everything on mine! I was afraid that he'd get sick, but oh no! He seems to love every food he tries, as he's always asking for more.

The rest of the morning was pretty uneventful, with a short walk home after the grocery store, which I enjoyed IMMENSELY compared to the taxi ride that nearly turned me green. My guide just laughed at me, saying she had ridden in much worse - oh good golly!

Gabe and I played in the hotel room for a few hours today - race cars, beach balls and our new favorite - paper and pen! Brooke will be so excited to find out that Gabe LOVES stickers, pens and paper - just like her!! He played nearly all afternoon with paper and pen, drawing, scribbling, folding paper, etc. He was just fascinated by his ability to make permanent markings on the paper. It was really cute to see him so excited, and sweet to know that this is an area where Brooke and he will really enjoy their time together, as she is an avid craft/coloring girl!

I think both of us were getting a bit stir crazy, so it was wonderful to get out for a walk later in the day to break up the monotony. Now, have I mentioned that there are very few Westerners here - and by "very few" I mean most days I see none!? So, with that in mind, imagine the looks on people's faces to see a Western woman, blonde at that, strolling hand in hand with a handsome young Chinese boy! Many surrounded us and walked close seemingly so they could be near enough to check us out better; some stopped and grabbed friends hands jerking them to ensure they saw us before we passed, and then some tried to stop us and chat, in Chinese of course. I just keep a small smile on my face and walked with my sweet boy....the sweet boy who kept pointing to everything he saw and would then look at me with this inquisitive frown. Most things it was easy to sign - clothing store, makeup store, tree, statue, boat, water, fish, etc, but I was at a complete loss as to what to sign for "tall Chinese sign that I can't read" and "rickshaw" :-) I would just look at him and smile and we'd move on to the next item. Anyway the area was beautiful and fascinating and sadly I did not have my camera. I think tomorrow or Thursday we will go back and get some photos now that I feel more comfortable with the surroundings.

Anyway, fun was had by all...and we have two more "free" days to go before Friday when we leave for Guangzhou. Tomorrow we'll see the city gates and do some touring, and then in the afternoon we're going to check out the mall down the street!

For now, I'm exhausted (not sleeping well) and can't think of much more to say, so we'll end with today's photos...enjoy!

Finalizing the adoption!

Gabe, me and the Orphanage Director

I love to be a model for mommy!!

And I realize I love ART!

And cookies, of course!

And bath is totally fun too!

Video of Gabe

2011-10-10T16:48:00.000-04:00

It's 4:40 am here, and I'm wide awake after a few nap like sleeps. Gabe has been sleeping since 8 pm and is still asleep (with one small interruption at midnight) and I am in awe of a child who sleeps through the night! ;-) Anyway, I'm trying to keep it dark in the room, so I'm sitting in a corner looking at all my video from yesterday; thought I'd share one with you now. This is just a short clip of sweet Gabe letting everyone know that he wants some candy (which his nanny then immediately obliged). :-)

Gabe is HERE!!

2011-10-10T07:54:00.000-04:00

Thank you Lord, sweet Gabe is now in my bed and forever with my family!! Today was exciting, and rather calm - much calmer than I ever anticipated. At 3 pm my guide and I went to the Provincial Adoption office to meet Gabe, he came in a few minutes later and saw me as soon as he came in the door. He immediately smiled and his nanny brought him to me. She handed him a bag and he pulled out the photo album I had sent him, opened it to the first page, pointed to my photo, pointed to me and smiled. Oh my heart just melted right there!!

He played some in the area while they completed paperwork. He had his mickey mouse backpack stuffed with food and candy so he was quite content - walking around hugging his nanny and then coming back to check me out every few minutes. We went on like this for about a half hour before he caught interest in my camera. Within two minutes he had learned how to flip through all the photos and turn the screen back on when it timed off. Another electronics whiz on our hands here I think!!! :-)

We spent about 45 minutes in the office and then it was time to leave. There were no tears, however Gabe did have to be carried out as he refused to walk. He was angry I was taking him (carrying him) so he pinched and kicked me for about a minute, but then it was over. I really anticipated much more drama, but I got nothing.

Off we went to the hotel where we played some more, changed our clothes and got ready for dinner. Within one hour of Gabe being in the hotel with me, he had already begun signing! The nannies told us they did not use any sign with him at all, they just pointed to things and talked to him. I asked about his deafness (did they think he heard some?) and they said they were sure he hears nothing, so I'm not really sure why they thought it'd help to talk to him (like come up behind him and speak into his ear!), but I digress.

So, within that first hour Gabe already knew to sign "thirsty" when he wanted a drink, "eat" when he wanted food, and "all done" when he was finished with something. He was, by the end of our dinner, signing all three signs independently! He is also mimicking every hand motion I make - he has signed "water" because I signed it, "sit down", "play", "ball", and a ton of other stuff. He's waving hi and bye to people - and really just blows my mind in all he can do, and all he has already learned.

When we were at dinner he knew to take his napkin (a wet wash cloth) and clean his hands and face, and then - get this - he folded the napkin back into a small square and placed it on it's holder. I seriously nearly fell out of my chair! Oh what a difference it makes between a good and not-so-good orphanage.

Tonight Gabe has started crying off and on, he was nearly sobbing when I left him in the bed and went to the potty. I can see that he's okay with being here as long as he can see me, but when I am missing he flips out. I can't blame him - you can tell he is a very brave boy - he seems like he is scared, but just doesn't want to show it. It makes me wonder how many times he has been moved, how many times he's had to be brave, it really makes my heart sad...

All in all, I really am in awe and excited. I pray that he sleeps well tonight and realizes that I am here forever and that we all love him so much. I can't wait to see what new signs he'll learn tomorrow! And I really can't wait for him to get home and meet the rest of his family! Skype is fun, but we want the real thing!

Tomorrow we will go back to the Provincial offices and Gabe will be officially adopted...and then on Friday (yes, I'm looking ahead!) we are headed to Guangzhou to finalize the adoption there through a medical, TB test, Consulate appointment and receipt of Gabe's passport.

Gabe with one of his nanny's

Food always makes things better

Our official family photo (terrible, I know!)

I'm a funny man if you let me see the camera afterward

He might like me a bit already! :-)

My guide & Jiangsu officials doing paperwork for us

My first moment in my new clothes before dinner

Ni Hao from Nanjing City, China

2011-10-09T01:50:00.001-04:00

Ni Hao from Nanjing! I survived the 15 hour flight from NYC to Shanghai and all the other (3 to be exact) flights, and finally arrived at my hotel around midnight Saturday night (noon Saturday to you). To say I was exhausted is an understatement - I took a hot shower, two tylenol pm and then slept 12 hours. YES! That is exactly what I needed after my crazy 28 hour travels with no sleep!

The China Eastern flight to Shanghai was PACKED - we were in there like sardines, and hot sardines at that. We were so close together that I constantly had someone touching me - I was in the back row in a middle seat. The man who sat to my right was from Shanghai and knew about 30 words of English. Poor guy, he tried so hard to hold a conversation, but we really couldn't make it work. The people on the other side of me didn't seem to speak English at all. Actually there were only 3 - 4 non-Asians on the entire flight - it was so different from the Delta flights I am use to taking to China.

Thank goodness for a Nook, a computer and an IPOD (all of which had run out of battery life by the end of the 15 hours!), because without them I would have lost my mind!! When I first got on the flight and realized that we were slam packed and there were no TV's on the flight I nearly lost it. Tears welled in my eyes and I really wondered how I was going to make it through 15 hours of this without a panic attack or two. Whenever I felt panic'd by the claustrophobic conditions I would just put my Ipod on and my sleep mask (stick your head in the sand theory in practice) and then I'd listen to Christian music as loud as I could without bothering those around me.

In case you haven't noticed from other posts and past adoption trips, I get a lot out of music - a calmness and a feeling of peace and safety came from the music on the plane. The first two songs that I heard on my Ipod (during my first panic) were "Be Still and Know" and "Follow You". Here are a few of the lyrics, and you can see why it really did calm me - almost like He was there talking to me directly.

Be Still and Know

Let the noise and clamor cease
Be still and know that He is God
Be still and know that He is faithful
Consider all that He has done
Stand in awe and be amazed

Follow Me

All my needs you have supplied.
When I was dead you gave me life.
How could I not give it away so freely?

And I'll follow you into the homes that are broken.
Follow you into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy God.
Follow you into the World.

After the longest flight EVER, one fun thing is that I had two different young girls stop me in the Shanghai airport - they each seemed interested/curious, and definitely seemed excited to practice their English. The first one to stop me was so sweet - I really felt a bit sad when she had to go a different direction; she spoke really well and was the first person I had held a conversation with in nearly a full day! Later I met two American men who were on a business trip to Nanjing, so again, I relished speaking to someone!

Finally I was to my hotel, and zonked until what was noon on Sunday (midnight Saturday for you). Below are a few photos from my hotel window. My guide told me that this area is very safe, so I think later today I will go take a little walk and look around. It appears that there are some open markets near, so I may go see what those are like, I also heard there is a mall a few blocks away with a Starbucks in it. Oh thank you God!! :-) There is an American ice cream shop below us (can't remember which one she told me) and also a few good restaurants (good restaurants - not the KFC shown below).

Most important news of the day - there are four children being adopted from the Nanjing City orphanage tomorrow, and my sweet Gabe Zi Qian is of course one of them. We will receive the children tomorrow afternoon - all four families at once. I am so excited!! My guide met Gabe a few weeks ago and said that he is very sweet and smart. I just can't wait - only 24 hours from now I will be a momma again!!

26 hours

2011-10-07T05:15:00.000-04:00

I cannot believe the day is FINALLY here that I am traveling to China. It's funny because I have been so nervous and full of anxiety (off and on) for the last week or two, but today, now that it's finally happening, I feel really good!

We had our first hiccup last night - I went into Delta's website to "check in" for my flight and found that it had (already) been delayed so much that I was certain to miss my flight from Shanghai to Nanjing City. This flight was separate - I had to gather my bags in Shanghai, go through Customs and then re-check in. The 4 hour delay from Detroit to Shanghai had "eaten up" my 4 hours to do all the switching, aack! Nice to find out at 10:30 the night before you leave.

So, sweet Matt got on the phone with Delta and thankfully they were able to do some serious searching and found me a new way to China. I now leave a few hours earlier this morning, and travel from Jax to Atlanta; Atlanta to Kennedy (NYC); Kennedy to Shanghai; Shanghai to Nanjing City. A few more stops than I would have chosen, but the good news is that I can now check my bags all the way through to Nanjing City because the majority of these flights are with that same airline (a Delta partner).

After sleeping on this information and looking at it fresh this morning, I'm already thinking this is better, and have no doubt it will change the plans in a way that is glorifying to Him. Maybe I'll meet someone amazing? Maybe I'll meet someone who wants to adopt and wants to hear our story. Perhaps it was just going to be easier on the kids if I wasn't able to drop them off at school this morning...start the new routine fresh. We'll probably never know, but I'm getting my "go with the flow" attitude going and thinking positive: this is going to be an amazing/great trip!

I'll lose 12 hours between now and landing in Nanjing City, so I'll always be 1/2 day ahead of my family in Florida. Next time you hear from me, it'll be Sunday morning in China (Saturday night in the States).

Oh, sweet Gabe, I pray that you are ready for a FAMILY! I pray you are ready for LANGUAGE! I pray that you are at peace...

Let the 26 hours of travel begin!

All of Me

2011-10-03T11:08:00.000-04:00

So, here I am just a few days away from my next trip to China. Who would have thought, in a MILLION years, that I would be on my third trip to China, adopting our fourth child, all of which has been done in the last five years. Yes, we like to keep busy in the Kramer house! :-)

I can still remember the first night I started this blog - sitting in what was soon to be Tyler's bedroom - feeling the pain of a horribly long wait between referral and travel. The pain of knowing your child and not being able to touch him, hold him, care for him, etc. is nearly unbearable at times. We had prayed to travel before Thanksgiving, but it didn't happen; then we hoped and prayed for Christmas, but again we did not go; finally we were able to pick sweet Tyler up in Feb, 2007. It felt like a lifetime then, but now seems like it happened in a flash. So funny how perspectives change over time.

So, now I prepare to leave my family as I travel to Nanjing City, Jiangsu, China to adopt our 4th - Gabe Zi Qian Kramer. This precious boy is nearly four years old and has no idea what his future holds! Three siblings, one of whom is deaf as well, all of whom are young like him. I pray he adjusts well, and enjoys the comradeship of our tight knit family.

Gabe's photo from August, 2011

I will be on my first flight Friday morning, and will arrive in Nanjing City on Saturday evening. I'll have Sunday to recover from jet lag and then Monday morning I'll receive Gabe and we'll be together FOREVER! It is so exciting, and honestly I sometimes am still in awe of the process - even having done this three times before - it is one of those moments, similar to a birth, where you just can't believe it happens as it does, where you remember every detail of the moment for each individual child, and mostly where you realize that God has given us an AMAZING capacity to love. I never knew my heart could swell so big, could be filled with so much love - a love that multiples each time we adopt another child, never divides!

Have you ever heard Matt Hammitt's song "All of Me"? WOW, powerful! I heard this for the first time a few days ago and I had tears just streaming down my face...okay, so granted I am WAY emotional right now, but still, it is a really powerful song!

The lyrics that hit me the hardest are below - but you should check out the YouTube video as well, because it's a song written about a father who loves his child so much he'll do anything to help him overcome life's obstacles. Oh how I can relate!

Afraid to love, something that could break,
Could I move on, if you were torn away?
I'm so close to what I can't control
I can't give you half my heart, and pray it makes you whole

You're gunna have all of me, you're gunna have all of me,
Cuz you're worth every fallen tear, you're worth facing every fear
You're gunna know all my love, even if it's not enough

So let me recklessly love you, even if I bleed
You're worth all of me, you're worth all of me
I look forward to sharing this journey with you! More to come on Sunday! Can't wait!!!!
Melissa

A month, really?! Where has it gone!

2010-08-31T20:42:00.000-04:00

The kids are all in bed. Two are asleep. It's 7:57, and I should be making lunches for school tomorrow and doing LWB work. However, I have this feeling drawing me to the blog - so I know that I must post, finally! Yes, it has been one month since we arrived back in the US, and WOW, so much has happened/changed in the past month, and yet in some ways it feels like we just got home.

Tonight: I was putting the kids to bed; the big kids were brushing their teeth and I was taking a rest on the floor (yes, I'm exhausted). Aiden was playing with the noise machine and saw me get on the floor. He immediately stopped what he was doing, crawled over to me, onto my stomach and chest and gave me a hug and snuggled in for me to kiss him. OH. MY. GOODNESS! How this warmed my heart...I started to tear up, am actually tearing up writing this and remembering. Seriously, this is what it's all about, this is why I stay up hours upon hours every night with him, this is why I'll spend my days driving from one side of town to the other to ensure everyone goes to a school that is appropriate for them. Those sweet moments showing unconditional love are just AMAZING! I can't tell you enough how this made my day - probably my week!

This week: We've been to orientation for Tyler and Brooke to start school. Brooke will be in a M,W, F 3 year old class (9 - 12:45). She is so excited, and was one of the only children who did not cry when I left her during orientation. She has one of Tyler's teachers from last year, which is great as she already knows who this teacher is, already knows the classroom, etc. I am so excited for her! Tyler is starting VPK, which for us is M, W, F (9-3). I am really excited for him, as some of his sweet friends from last year are in his class again, he's in the same building as last year, knows many of the teachers, etc. He's in his element at school, and I know he will do wonderfully! I am sad, however, tonight, thinking of him being in school from 9 - 3. What a long time for mommy to be away from her big boy three days a week. You'd think I'd be dancing for joy, and I'm sure a part of me is, but I'm sad too...I know, I know, I'll get over it! :-)

This month: Wow, I mean seriously, where do I start? The day after we got home Matt went back to his normal work routine - usually that means he's gone 2 - 4 nights per week. Every once in a while we get lucky and it's less, and sometimes he's away for the entire week. It was an adjustment getting use to having three kids to take care of all day/night by myself, but I'm doing well and the big kids are really helpful. Aiden has been doing wonderfully, except for sleep. Isn't that the Kramer way!? But seriously, the poor kids appears to have sleep apnea, and wakes up gasping for breath sometimes. It's frightening! Most times he wakes up (we think because of the apnea) and just stays awake for hours and hours. Slowly over time I'm starting to get him to go back to sleep, but in the beginning there were nights where he woke at midnight and NEVER went back to bed! UGH!

We're having Aiden's adenoids/tonsils tested (swallow test tomorrow - a barium drink, yuk) and perhaps removed, which very likely is the cause of the sleep apnea, so while we know that is a very painful and rough road, we know that it's the best thing for Aiden if it is choking him in his sleep. This testing will determine how we move forward for all the tests that we need to care for Aiden's ears - tests to find out if we can do cochlear implants, fittings for hearing aids, etc. So, all of that is on hold until we get this resolved. I'll keep you posted. (Note: you must wear hearing aids for 3 months before you can get cochlear implants, even if they do no good, it's an FDA regulation).

So, other than the sleep, Aiden is doing great! While he came home not being able to crawl, having no clue what to do with toys, etc. he is now crawling all around, choosing toys to play with, laughing, smiling, rolling a ball, interacting with his brother/sister, pooping on the potty (!!!!), responding to some basic signs (sit down, come eat) and just loving life. It's almost like a different child from the one we first met who slept 20 hours per day - it's absolutely miraculous to see first hand the difference that love and attention can make in a child's life. Seriously, it's a miracle that Aiden has come so far in such a short period of time! God is so good!!

Below are some photos from this past month. They include some of the other highlights that I have not mentioned, such as Tyler starting soccer (tiny tots in the front of our neighborhood), etc. I hope you enjoy and promise to try to blog again soon (sooner than a month at least).

Having a blast playing soccer.

Watching brother play....and eating some sand and grass, of course!

Getting ready to ride my "big girl" bike. Yes, mommy does make me wear a helmet (don't worry).

<><><><>

Hanging out at home.

Finally, some PHOTOS!!

2010-08-04T14:45:00.001-04:00

A smile - yeah, finally!

Momma and all her babies - a dream come true

The kids in their Grove City College shirts

A family photo in Zhengzhou

"I love my reflection"

Brooke & daddy - so sweet

Wow, that giraffe is CLOSE

At Starbucks

Mindy, Brooke & Tyler - so cute how they love her!

Sweet boy

Momma and her two littlest darlings

Red couch photo

I loved this statue - and the kids fell in line perfectly! So cute!!

We're home!!

2010-08-02T03:49:00.002-04:00

After 39 hours of planes, trains and automobiles (literally) we are HOME! It felt SO good to sleep in my own bed last night and I am just thrilled beyond words to be home doing laundry in a washer/dryer (instead of the bathtub and hanging it to dry all around my hotel room), to be able to drink the water and rinse my toothbrush in the faucet, to have A/C that I have control over, and to have seen some great friends already and my wonderful parents.

We started out on Saturday morning (Friday night for you) with a bus ride to the Guangzhou train station, where we took a non-stop train ride from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. Really it was a great trip - so fun to see the landscape outside and Hong Kong was beautiful - some where I'd really like to go back and visit again. We were stopped twice getting into Hong Kong for body temperature checks, and I was SO glad I'd given all the kids tylenol on the train ride. YIKES, what would we have done if Hong Kong hadn't let us in!? So, anyway, we then took a bus ride through Hong Kong and out to the airport...Hong Kong looks much like I think Hawaii should look - beautiful water, clean blue air (we hadn't seen that in 3 weeks), huge mountains as far as you could see and high rise buildings all through the downtown area. It was gorgeous!!

From Hong Kong we took our first flight to Taipei, Taiwan. We had a layover there for a few hours and then took the red eye from Taipei to LA. This was supposed to be a 12 1/2 hour flight, but it ended up taking an extra hour...and then we only had a little over 1 hour to get through customs, get Aiden certified at immigration as a U.S. citizen, and get to our next flight. Poor Tyler threw up as soon as the plane landed, only he forgot to tell us he wasn't feeling well, so he threw up all over two plane seats - yikes! I felt badly for the stewardess, but was so glad he hadn't thrown up on himself or one of us - that would have guaranteed we wouldn't make it to our next flight!

Off we went from the airplane literally running through the hallways with me holding Aiden and Brooke, Matt holding Tyler and luggage and Mindy pulling two pieces of luggage. We were hauling around people, and when we got to customs we begged our way past everyone in line to get through quickly. I took our immigration paperwork on a sprint run to get processed while Matt and Mindy took the big kids to get our luggage....it was looking really good that we'd make our flight. Yeah, that was until we had to wait almost a full hour for our luggage to get off the darn plane! REALLY!?! UGH!!!

So, we missed our flight. We then spent over an hour trying to get onto another flight and get all of our luggage checked in through the new flights we might be able to take. We finally got to the gate of the LA - ATL flight only to find out we probably wouldn't get on that flight because it looked full. We were on standby, and at this point had been traveling for 30 hours - Mindy, Brooke, Aiden and I were working off about 4 - 6 hours of sleep total; we were all exhausted and it was 3 am EST on Saturday night. The entire plane boarded and they told us that 5 of the 6 of us could board as well...we tried to explain to them that Aiden was going to sit on my lap the entire way, so really we could get 6 on for 5 seats, but they said no. So, we split up - Mindy and I took the kids and left Matt behind to wait another 7 hours for the next flight out.

Once we were on the plane they were rushing us around since we were the last to board and they wanted to leave. I was stressed trying to find my carry on bags the stewardess had *so kindly* moved half way up the plane to get into an overhead bin, the kids wanted games to play since they were wide awake, and Aiden was fussing. The lady in the seat next to Tyler and Brooke (across the aisle from me and Aiden) wouldn't move so Mindy could sit with us and I could have some help, etc. Then, just as we were about to leave I realized there was one empty seat on the plane - I was so ticked! I mentioned it to the stewardess who said "sorry, the doors are closed, your husband will have to stay behind". :-( It sure would be nice if Delta employees knew how many people were on their planes and how many seats they had available...there were no lap kids any where near there, so it was a fully open seat that got wasted. ARGH!!

I kinda hoped if the kids were ever going to be bad that it would be sitting next to this brat of a woman who wasn't willing to change seats and who wanted to sleep on this red eye...but they were great. They did stay awake and talk the entire time, so I did get a little bit of joy/justice out of that, but they were phenomenally behaved and Aiden slept the entire trip! I was a busy, busy momma keeping the two big kids busy and happy on the flight since there were no Nintendo (batteries were dead by this time) and you had to pay for the in-flight movies and games (I'm too cheap for that).

Some time along the flight I realized that I had no idea what time our ATL to JAX flight was! No one had ever printed us any boarding passes, nor told me what flight number or time to get onto next. So, when we got off the plane in ATL we walked to the next boarding area and asked the man to check for us. He looked us up and said "oh my, your flight leaves from Terminal B in 10 minutes - you'd better run." YIKES! So, off we went sprinting through the Atlanta airport trying to get from Terminal T to terminal B (two terminals away) with two kids, a ton of carry on's and major exhaustion. We got to the gate just as they were doing the final call to close the doors, and were able to get boarding passes and jump on with about a minute to spare. PHEW! After minor complications with maintenance where we taxi'd off and then had to return to the gate for someone to look at a button that wasn't working properly, we were on our final leg to Jacksonville!

When we finally arrived in Jacksonville my parents were there to meet us, as were about a half dozen families from the FCC - Families with Children from China. It was so great to see familiar faces!! Many thanks to each of the sweet, wonderful people who came out to meet us - it was a great welcoming home, and much appreciated!! Plus, when we got home we had neighbors waiting on their front porch for us and signs all over our house and in the front yard welcoming us home. Thank you Arin, Justin & Paige - you all are too sweet! My parents had filled our fridge, and stayed to help us unload luggage, get the kids baths (MUCH NEEDED) and give me some time to shower as well.

So, after getting settled in some we were all asleep by 4pm. Then Matt got home at 5 pm, and he helped me get all the kids into bed (we'd fallen asleep on the floor in the family room), and it was lights out at 5 pm. Aiden, Brooke and I are up, and have been since 2 am, but Matt and Tyler continue to sleep. I was pretty happy with 10 hours sleep with just a few minor interruptions, knowing the first night home could have been MUCH worse! I am thankful (in a weird way) that Aiden and Brooke are both congested and coughing, as that made me feel quite okay with giving each of them benadryl when they woke up in the middle of the night...okay, so maybe that is how I got 10 hours sleep! ;-)

Our Last Day

2010-07-30T09:54:00.002-04:00

So, it’s just a few hours now until we leave China. While we are all SO ready to go home and get back to normal life, I am feeling a bit sad today as well. I don’t even know that I could put the reasons into words; but I suppose there is so much work needed to get to this point, and it’s such a huge relief to get to travel to China, then to get your child into your arms, and now…I don’t know, it’s so exciting that it’s sad when it’s over. Don’t get me wrong – I’m counting the minutes until we leave, but still I’m a little sad.

Yesterday we went to the US Consulate to have our final swearing oath appointment. We were called up to show our passports and sign one document and then waited for the entire large group (50 people or so) to do the same, then a lady came out to do our oath. We all stood together and swore that all the documentation we’ve provided is truthful, and then we were done – we’ll receive Aiden’s passport and US visa this afternoon. Then as soon as we step onto US soil in Los Angeles, Aiden will immediately be a US citizen. Oh the hoops we had to jump through to get sweet Aiden home, and now, finally it is done!!

I’ve had one vision go through my head numerous times today, and that is of Matt sitting on the couch doing his first research of cochlear implants and deafness. I had mentioned “Wu, Bing” to Matt numerous times in the months before, showing Matt how cute he was, how he had the same birthdate as Brooke, etc. and each time Matt would get this look on his face and say “don’t even think about it, Melissa”. Then, a few months later, shortly before Wu Bing’s file would be returned to China as “unadoptable”, Matt surprised the heck out of me when he started his first google research and later that night asked me to get the medical file from CCAI for Wu Bing. It’s amazing how God can change a person’s heart, and it has been remarkable to see how God has worked in all of our family getting us ready to adopt Wu Bing, now Aiden Bing Kramer.

I remember when doing our home study (before finding Aiden) how frightening the though of adopting a child who was 2 years old was to me. Tyler had been such a clingy baby at 16 months old that I remember saying I’d never want to adopt a child over 16 months. God probably laughed. Of course not knowing any sign language was scary as well, but at the very same time that we were choosing to adopt Aiden, a very good friend of mine received a job offer to do parent training for FSDB (Florida School for the Deaf and Blind) and she has been my personal tutor ever since then – and she’s a great teacher!! God has worked in our lives – our entire family’s lives – so much during this time that all I can do is stand in awe.

A child left behind in China with deafness, club foot (like Tyler), etc. has no opportunities, no family, no acceptance and no God; what an honor to be able to give all of our children all of these things and so much more!! And truthfully, selfishly, I will admit that my children give me SO MUCH MORE than I could ever give them – they are a gift like no other, one for which I am eternally grateful!

I cannot wait for each of you to meet sweet Aiden. I can’t wait to get him starting to sign (I sign to him, but he doesn’t respond or sign back yet), I can’t wait for him to walk, to go to school, to enjoy his new friends, to play with his big brother and sister, and to learn to love the Lord. God is so good, and we are so blessed…

5:30 Thursday morning

2010-07-28T17:39:00.002-04:00

Yes, it's 5:30 Thursday morning, and I am thankful that I only have one child awake...and hey, he slept through the night, so whoo hoo!! Tuesday night/Wednesday morning I was not so lucky - first Aiden woke up at 11:50 pm and was wide awake with a full diaper, not 10 minutes after I had him back in his crib I heard Tyler crying - he'd wet his pants (which hasn't happened in about 6 months) - so off Matt went to help him as at the same time Aiden saw us stir and got back up in his crib. Aiden was then up for 2 more hours, and finally started to go down when I heard Brooke crying from the other room. She came walking into our room, walked over to a corner and hugged a chair and said "mommy I need a hug and a kiss". I didn't think it was a good sign that she was thinking I was a chair, so over I went to check her out and found that she was burning up - a 102.7 fever. YUK! So, back to her room we went with Aiden's antibiotic (glad we brought a lot) and Tylenol. I stayed up with her for about 1 or 2 hours while she tried to fall back asleep, and then finally was off to bed again. Yeah, right! I swear by the time I came back into my room Aiden was just waking up AGAIN! It was 4:30 in the morning by now and I had been up for nearly 5 hours straight. Matt had only been up about 30 minutes with Tyler (gosh, that guy can sleep through anything) and so I woke him up to stay up with Aiden. ;-) Lucky for him Aiden was exhausted after being up most of the night and was asleep within an hour or so.

The rest of the day was quite uneventful. Aiden, Brooke and now Tyler are all on Tylenol for fevers, and Aiden and Brooke are on antibiotics. Tyler is just running a low grade fever, so we'll just watch him for now. We can go to a Chinese doctor if we need more antibiotic (here in the hotel), but I'm praying we can get home with what we brought and get more in the States if necessary.

Yesterday our guides took all of our paperwork to the US Consulate to finalize our adoptions. The adoptions were finalized as far as the Chinese government was concerned the day after we received Aiden, last Tuesday. However, since then we've been jumping through US hoops, such as the immunizations, doctor's visit, and doing more paperwork. Thankfully, the guides are allowed to bring all of our final papers to the Consulate for us, and we just wait in our rooms in case they need to call us with any questions. Well, we were blessed with a call at 10:30 yesterday morning - it was a great call - we are a go, no problems! Praise God!!

Today we will take our oath at the Consulate around 2:30 in the afternoon - you know, right when all the kids should be sleeping, but all the newly adopted children will instead have to be with us for the oath. GREAT! ;-) Thankfully we can leave the big kids at the hotel with Mindy, and pray for them to take naps!

Also this morning at 10:30 we have our "red couch" photo. This is an adoption tradition, where all the newly adopted children (tradition started when it was always baby girls) are placed on this one particular red couch at our hotel (The White Swan) and a photo is taken. When we adopted Tyler we were in such a small travel group that we ended up taking a photo with our new friends we'd made at their hotel, on a black couch. So, this will be our first red couch photo...and how different this group is from a "traditional" group of all under one year old baby girls. We have at least 3 or 4 boys, many 2 and 3 year old girls, two 9 year old girls, and no babies. My how the face of Chinese adoptions is changing.

Since I'm up so early and Aiden is playing quietly with a toy and flashlight, I was hoping to post some photos here from the last few days, but blogger is giving me a hard time again (darn Chinese internet). Maybe I'll get it to work, or maybe I'll try again later today.

Oh, and I just saw this start to happen and realized that I hadn't mentioned it - Aiden has started to crawl. Not a lot, mind you, but he does have the ability to crawl a few paces to get to a toy that he desires. Which actually reminds me that he's now choosing which toy he wants to play with. Yesterday in the playroom he was walking around holding my finger and walked me right over to one of those baby tables where you can hit all the different buttons and balls move, or lights flash, etc. He sat down next to it and started to play! Yeah for small improvements - and in just 9 days...can you imagine where he'll be in 6 months?! ;-)

Please keep the prayers coming for the children's health....and thanks for tuning in for my crazy ramblings from China.

Zoo's, shopping and other fun

2010-07-27T07:32:00.003-04:00

So, first, I forgot to tell you all about Matt and Mindy's adventures while I hung out with the three kids yesterday. They went to the pearl market and a huge shopping area. I'm glad I chose to stay back with the kids, as first they wouldn't have had any fun there and second they came back with such great stuff that I know I would have spent money that I do not need to spend! Matt bought two sets of pearls - we had purchased one set when we adopted Tyler with the intention that we would give them to his wife one day. I even made a note in the box back in 2007 that they can read when the time comes. So, I wanted to do the same for Aiden, and get a set for Brooke for when she gets married. So, now I have all three sets to put aside for the future. I wonder if we'll ever need a fourth set!? ;-) Okay, don't tell Matt I said that.

Matt created some drama while he was buying pearls. First they took everyone to a "special" area where allegedly the guides had gotten us a great discount. So Matt bought one set of pearls there, and then he decided to go back to a store we'd been to in 2007 to purchase the second set. Well, the second store told him the pearls were the same quality as the first store, and Matt could tell they were the same size, etc. Yeah, and they were about 1/3 of the price. So, Mr. "I want a deal" went back to the first store and told the man that he wanted to return the pearls as he'd received a much better discount at the second store. The guy was furious and started screaming at him about quality, his integrity, how dare he question him, etc. HA! Needless-to-say, we kept both sets of pearls...it'll be interesting to see what a jeweler in the US says about them. Hopefully there was some reason that one was $100 and one was $30. Either way, I have a set for each child, and truly that was all that I cared about. :-)

Anyway, Mindy had a great time at the mall - she had some great finds, and it got her into the shopping mode which she is still in today. Speaking of today, when we woke this morning Aiden had a fever from his immunizations. He's on antibiotics for a sinus infection/bronchitis type thing, and has had a fever off and on since he came "home", and today was no exception. Matt felt that the heat and humidity at the zoo would be bad for Aiden, so I stayed back with him as the big kids, Mindy and Matt went to the zoo. They said it was great - over 5,000 animals and most excitingly they got to feed the giraffes. This is always their favorite part of the Jacksonville zoo, and they went on and on about how it was even better here - as the giraffes were SO close to them, and they got to feed them a ton of leaves. They were talking about it a ton when they got home. I have photos, but of course blogger is not letting me upload them again right now, so...maybe later.

While the big kids were at the zoo, I did rest in the playroom with Aiden for a while. However, after an hour or so his fever had diminished and I started to get the craving for Starbucks. Seriously, a girl has to have her vices even in a foreign country. So, off to Starbucks Aiden and I went with a carmel macchiato (SP?) on my mind. YUMMM!! (I will be having another one tomorrow) We had a lovely time hanging out, people watching and sipping our drinks (Aiden - water). Then since we were already out, I decided we could do some shopping. What fun! First Aiden and I bought some squeaky shoes for him, then found this amazing artist who can write bible verses on pearls. He also has a non-profit that helps orphans in China - he was a wonderful man to talk to and he truly had a heart for God. What a refreshing moment - well, actually I spent about 30 minutes talking to him!!

In the afternoon once the big kids got home from the zoo, the girls (Mindy, Brooke and I) went shopping again. Totally Mindy's "fault" since she has the shopping bug I referred to above! ;-) We had a great time; I got Brooke some squeaky shoes which she LOVES and also got some other souvenir items for family/friends. Later it was off to dinner at Lucy's which is the only American-ish food here. I think we've eaten at Lucy's at least once per day every day since we got here - sometimes twice. They're going to know us by name before this week is over!

Our shopping queen went back out to do more shopping this evening...she's on a roll I tell ya! ;-) Tomorrow our guides take our paperwork to the US Consulate to have it all approved. We don't have to go to do this ourselves, which is nice - we just have to be in our rooms to answer the phone in case there is a question. I think Matt and Mindy are going to go on a dinner cruise tomorrow night...and other than that maybe some more shopping and, of course, more Lucy's! ;-)

I'll be praying tonight that Aiden wakes up fever free. Also, Brooke has been complaining of her ear hurting and has had a low grade fever, so we're thinking she might have an ear infection. A doctor friend here told us to wait until the morning and if she's still complaining to go ahead and start her on antibiotics as well. Thank God we brought a ton of stuff from home - poor thing has never had an ear infection before, and she's taking it like a champ, but still - we have to nip that in the butt before we take 30 hours of plane rides on Saturday.

A case of the Monday's

2010-07-26T08:14:00.001-04:00

I won't lie - this afternoon was rough! At 2:45 I had to bring Aiden to the doctor's office again to have his TB test read (he was TB free) and to have his five immunizations. This is the part of the trip that I've most dreaded, as I was 100% completely opposed to having Aiden's immunizations completed in this manner. I do not believe in giving any child 5 immunizations in one setting, and especially a child whom we just brought into our family a week prior. On the walk to the office I decided that I didn't want to be the one holding Aiden while he received his shots, as I didn't want him to feel that I was doing this to him. Aiden will go to anyone if they pick him up (we're working on this - we need him to learn to not be complacent in going to anyone), so I had my friend Todd come into the doctor's office with me. Todd held Aiden while he received his shots, and I waited right outside the room with his favorite toy and bottle ready to give him to "save the day". Aiden did well for the first two shots, crying, but not terrible. Then the third shot must have hurt like hell, because he let out the loudest most heartbreaking scream I have ever heard. What was a few tears rolling down my face became me crying a stream of tears, and the tears kept flowing for each of us as he screamed and cried for shots four and five. It was heartbreaking to say the least. The only saving grace was that he immediately stopped crying when he saw me and I gave him his bottle. He never cried after that either, thank goodness, and life went on as normal.

Earlier today I had the kids on my own for a few hours, and we did great. We played in the hotel playroom for a number of hours and then I took all three kids to a local restaurant by myself. Impressive, right!? :-) Aiden is so easy going and the other two are so great at holding hands and being "big kids" that it went really smoothly. Of course it helped that it was a sitdown restaurant and not some where like McDonalds where I had to carry all the food to the table, etc., but still it went great!

So, tomorrow we're off to the Guangzhou zoo. Something to do, since we're here with nearly nothing to do for another 4 days. WOW, I can't believe this trip is finally winding down - thank you Lord that we'll be home within the week!

Speaking of being home, some people have been asking - we come home at 9:15 on Sunday morning. A flight out of Atlanta, on Delta. That will be our fourth flight after leaving Guangzhou on Saturday morning. We take a train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, then 5 hours later take a flight from Hong Kong to Taiwan, take the red eye from Taiwan to LA on Saturday night, then when we get to LA it is Saturday night again, so we take the red eye again from LA to Atlanta, and we get into Atlanta on Sunday morning to take a flight into Jacksonville. That is going to be a crazy mess, so please go ahead and start praying for that now!! ;-)

Enjoy your Monday...I hope it is better than mine was. I'm off to bed!

Guangzhou, finally

2010-07-24T18:30:00.006-04:00

Ni Hao from Guangzhou! We are excited to be starting our second day here in the tropical city of Guangzhou. The air is MUCH cleaner, the roads are less busy, there are palm trees and flowers all around us, and life is feeling much better! Lucy's down the street sells American-ish food, and there is a STARBUCKS. Yes, folks, I will survive the last 8 days of this trip...a mere two days ago many of us were struggling to make it through, homesick, etc. Now, I feel revived (it was definitely the Starbucks that did it!!)

Yesterday we survived the first round of our medical testing, which sadly did not include our immunizations. I wish we'd been able to just get those over with, but no such luck. Aiden did well with the doctors visits and only cried a bit with the TB testing. We'll get the results of that test tomorrow, along with five vaccinations. I guess it could have been worse - there was a young boy getting vaccinations yesterday who needed 12, how terrible!!

The first doctor we visited with was the ENT. She started by hitting some keys on a keyboard and then squeezing a squeaky toy - both of which got absolutely no reaction out of Aiden. She turned to us, a bit concerned, and said "exactly what is your son's special need", to which we replied "oh, he's deaf". The look on her face was priceless...I think she was very concerned that she was going to have to tell us he was deaf and that it was the first time we were going to hear that. I suppose we could have told her from the start that he was deaf, but heck, she's the doctor and what fun would that have been!?

Aiden is really coming out of his shell now. He is no longer sleeping 18 hours per day. No more going to bed for the night at 3 in the afternoon. For the past two days he napped for about 1 hour in the afternoon and then was up until 8 pm. He gets up a few times in the night still, and since he has a sinus infection or something he and I have been up since 3 am this morning (it's 6:30 am here now). So, really, he went from sleeping the most in the entire family to sleeping the least...an amazing turn around in just a few short days. Praise God!!

Today Matt (and maybe Mindy) are going on a tour of some Buddhist temples, a provincial folk art museum, and some arts and crafts shopping. I am going to hang back with the kids and take them to the playroom on the first floor and perhaps to the baby swimming pool. Then tonight we go to a group dinner with everyone who is in Guangzhou from CCAI (our adoption agency - Chinese Children Adoption International or wwww.chinesechildren.org) - it'll be fun to reconnect with people who are not staying at our hotel, and whom were not in Zhengzhou with us. Some people we haven't seen since Beijing, and we haven't met their sweet babies yet. I can't wait!

Here are a few more photos - these are from Beijing, finally. Sorry they took half the trip to get up, we had a lot of technical difficulties in Beijing with blogger! ;-)

A part of the Forbidden City.

Rickshaw rides

The kids and me at the Great Wall

Random thoughts

2010-07-22T20:15:00.004-04:00

I was just skyping with my parents and forgot to tell them a really cute, sweet story. I decided I'd just share it on the blog and then I can share it with everyone. For anyone who knows our family well, you know that Tyler is OBSESSED with Super Mario. He plays it on my parents wii, on the computer, on his DS, etc. If I let him, he'd play it from sun up to sun down every day - seriously obsessed. So, when we received Aiden he had a sweatshirt on and then a cute little green and white outfit underneath (cute is relative). After a while we looked closely at his shirt, and can you believe that he came home to us in a Mario shirt?!!? From him having the same birthday as Brooke to now coming home in a shirt representing Tyler's absolute favorite thing in life, we were cracking up at how connected he was to our family from the get-go. Check out this photo:

Also, I can't believe I haven't shown you a photo of the "squatty potty" that we have had to use in public restrooms. We used these a lot in Beijing - at the Forbidden City, Great Wall, in restaurants, etc. We've also used them in the public parks here in Zhengzhou, at the offices where we did our paperwork and received Aiden, etc. Pretty much the only location we use western toilets is in the hotel.

Yes, ladies, this is where WE have to go. You hover down as low to the ground as you can without touching anything and you squat and go pee. Can you believe this!? It's crazy!! I don't even want to know how a person goes "#2"!! And there is usually no public soap or toilet paper, or if there is soap it is a bar of soap and a wash cloth; so we bring our own toilet paper, hand wipes and hand sanitizer (which a young girl here nicknamed "hanitizer" - we all call it that now).

I guess that is all for now. Yesterday we did not do a single thing the entire day...we played in the playroom here in the hotel, watched a movie and went out to dinner - that was it. Aiden played some in the morning and then fell asleep at 3 pm - for the night! He didn't wake back up until 11 pm and was up until 1 am, and then he went back to sleep until 5-something this morning. He is quite the sleeper...I assume this is his way of coping with his crazy life and this huge change in his life.

I hope he will come out of it soon; it makes me so sad thinking that this is how his life was for two years. It REALLY makes me sad thinking of all the children we have to leave behind who are still living like this. A number of families went to their child's orphanage two days ago. When they came home, they were telling us stories about their day. Two things stuck out to me the most: first, there were 600 children in the orphanage they went to visit. That is one orphanage, in one city, in one province in China. Many cities (such as Zhengzhou) have more than one orphanage, and think of how many cities there are in each province and how many provinces there are in China. A statistic I heard recently is that there are over 100,000 orphans in China at any given time. Can you imagine!? It's a thought that just overwhelms my heart and nearly takes my breath away. So terribly sad.

Second thing I keep thinking about is a story about a little 9 year old girl who is in our adoption group. This is not the same girl who ran screaming the first day, but is a beautiful girl who is in a wheel chair and has scoliosis and spinabifida. She is just the sweetest, most gentile girl - but knows very little English so we can not do much more than say "Ni Hao" and smile at her. Anyway, she wanted to travel back with her parents to her orphanage to visit her friends, so the night before they went, they wheeled her about a 20 minute walk to Walmart to purchase snacks, which she then brought back to all of her friends whom she was leaving behind (many of whom were special needs girls about her age). They said she had a wonderful time laughing and talking with her girlfriends, and when it was time to go she cried and cried having to leave them all for the last time. I get weepy just thinking about it...so very sad.

Anyway, enough sadness for this morning. Today we fly out to Guangzhou - our final stop in China (for 8 nights). We are all SO ready to come home, and yet we just calculated that we are only one day past 1/2 way through this trip! YIKES! Anyway, tomorrow we go to the dreaded medical, where Aiden will receive all immunizations necessary to enter the US. I pray that he doesn't need too many!!!

Have a great night, as we start our day.

Chillin in Zhengzhou

2010-07-21T02:40:00.000-04:00

Today we have been relaxing - our first day with nothing to do. We walked to a local park this morning, before it got too hot and humid. The park was not at all like American parks. First, no walking on the grass, which had Tyler quite bummed. Second, it had a small amusement park inside it, oh and a lake with the dirtiest water I've ever seen! The dirty water created beautiful lily pads though, so maybe they know something I don't! ;-)

The "amusement park" was great for the kids to get a chance to run around some (everyone except Aiden - he slept through the entire trip). You paid 10 rmb (about $1.30) to ride bumper cars, and then paid the same to run around in an outdoor play area that was similar to what you'd find in a chick fil a. Well, minus the fact that it was OLD, dusty and definitely had cracked lead paint. Anyway, it was something to do. We stopped after bumper cars to get a snack and instantly there was a crowd around us. One man stopped to speak to Tyler, I guess assuming that he might speak Mandarin. Matt asked the man if he spoke English (Matt said it in Mandarin, go Matt!), but he did not....so he stayed and stared at us for a while and then walked off. Most people just stare, it was actually nice that he tried to talk.

Aiden is doing well, although darn it if he doesn't wake up at 4:00 am every morning - probably why he naps from 8 - 11! He's so quiet that we don't wake the rest of the family, so that is great. He's definitely too quiet though, because sometimes with the fact that he doesn't walk or crawl and hasn't figured out how to play with toys it's almost easy to forget he's even with us. I intentionally get down on the floor and just hang out with him, smiling and making silly faces, clapping his hands and then clapping mine, etc. You know...what you do with a 6 month old. He seems to enjoy it, and he loves to be fed - congee and fried rice are his meals of choice. A friend mentioned trying bananas, and they were a hit today too. So, now all I need is to stock up on bananas and bribe my friend Will to teach me to make congee and fried rice and we'll be set when we get home.

Have I told you about the food here!? Besides the fish that come out with their heads still on, and the ducks that you can buy off the rotisserie with their heads and feet still on (at Walmart), the weirdest thing about the food is that you can get what we would consider Chinese dinner at breakfast. Matt eats spicy noodle soup, fried rice, dumplings, etc. for BREAKFAST, and I have to say that it just ain't right. :-) Breakfast is pancakes, waffles, eggs, and bacon...not egg rolls and fried rice, right!? Ha, not here...and in case you're wondering, Mindy and I eat bread just about every meal. Yes, just bread...it's the new bread diet...and it's working quite well, my clothes are looser already! ;-)

Okay, enough of my babbling for today. Tomorrow is another free day, so maybe we'll go to the zoo...although I've heard there is a dog on the exhibit, oh my.

Aiden & Brooke's first photo together. Tyler was "being Tyler" and wouldn't join in. :-)

Momma and Aiden after the adoption was finalized - he loves my hair.

Daddy and Aiden after the adoption was finalized.

Playing at the amusement park today with our new friend Olivia (3)

Bumper cars with daddy, Tyler and Mindy (in the car they were bumping)

Aiden video

2010-07-20T04:08:00.000-04:00

Today it became official, Aiden became a Kramer. Technically, yesterday we took Aiden for a 24 hour "trial" period, and we went back today to formally adopt him. Already he is doing better - laughing more, smiling at us, making eye contact with me a lot more, and even starting to try to walk holding my hand. We have had a very quiet, low key day today - including family naps this afternoon which were wonderful! This trip has been exhausting to say the least, so we were all in dire need of some time to relax. Aiden slept well last night, and I was shocked since he had taken a 4 hour nap yesterday afternoon from 3 - 7 and then went back to bed at 8:30. I heard him moving around at 4:30 am, and when I rolled over to check on him he was just standing in his crib rocking back and forth, quiet as a mouse. I immediately got him out of the crib and up with me, as I really want to start to reinforce the idea that we are no longer just "hanging out" in the crib - life is to be lived with family and OUTSIDE the crib, darn it!! ;-) Aiden is a huge drinker, water and juice are his liquids of choice. It's funny because Brooke is a huge drinker as well, so the littlest ones have that in common. He woke me up twice in the middle of the night because his water bottle was empty - and of course I was doing a lot of diaper changes in the night too. I guess that is his "lovey" of choice for now....we'll roll with it. Attached is a video Mindy took of him this afternoon....he was rolling around on the bed and just belly laughing at Tyler and at himself. It was so stinkin sweet! Tonight we're off to dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant near Walmart. We'll also make a stop at the 3 story Walmart, and that will be our big outting for the day. More to share tomorrow....blessing to all.

Photos

2010-07-19T18:02:00.000-04:00

Tyler and mommy in the Forbidden City

A look around the Forbidden City - through the crowds.

With Aiden right after we received him

Another photo of us together after we received him.

We have him!!

2010-07-19T05:15:00.000-04:00

I am in awe of this gorgeous sweet child...and so in love! Aiden is beautiful!! Aiden is so cute and SMALL (12 month clothes are big on him and he is not chubby at all except a bit in his face) and sweet and he laughs and smiles some, but over all poor Aiden is emotionless and doesn't seem like he knows what to do with people who want to pay him attention. He is great at entertaining himself, but has no idea of playing with his siblings, playing with toys, walking or crawling. He loves to eat and drink from his bottle, and he never cried when we received him. The one thing we have found that he loves is to look at photos of himself - it is so stinking cute when he opens his life book (received from the orphanage) and stares at the photos - he puts his face REALLY close to the book and then starts nodding his head left to right and smiling at himself. Oh my goodness, did I tell you how cute he is!?!?! :-)

I have to wonder if anyone really ever paid Aiden any attention in his foster care home, because he was not at all upset to get moved to a new family today (in comparison Brooke screamed for 2 days straight), and like I said he can't crawl (or hasn't for us) and can't walk on his own. He can walk with assistance, but geez, he's over 2!! I thank God that He brought Aiden to us, so that we can start to better his life and turn around these areas of weakness...before you know it he's going to be playing, signing & walking!!

This morning was amazing - it was so awesome to see all the other families joined with their children, and of course was phenomenal when Aiden was brought to us. The morning started out slow, as there was a large storm last night and the roads were flooded so all the kids were late. It ended up that the two children from Zhengzhou (Aiden and one other) were the last children to arrive. This allowed us to see all the other families united and to help people by taking video and photographs. There were four of us standing in the background when the first kids came in and we all had tears streaming down our faces after watching these families united - I suppose it is much like watching a birth - you just know God is there.

While there were amazing joys this morning, we can never forget that this can be a really stressful time in a child's life. One family stood out to me the most - they were adopting two children, ages 8 and 3. The 8 year old came in and almost immediately started screaming and crying, trying to claw and tear herself away from the parents, and running for the door. This happened over and over for at least an hour, with her screaming at a high pitch, and just scared to death. It made me think that she thought she was being kidnapped or something worse - it was absolutely heartbreaking to watch, and I was crying time and time again as she would cry out in fear (and oh how glad I was that my kids were not there to witness this). Her poor parents were beside themselves and so sad for her as well, and I would have to imagine they were wondering if they had made the right decision. Many of us walked by them and gave them prayers and words of encouragement not to allow the devil to take away the joy that would come...it must be so hard to know you were called to adopt a child, but have that child hate you at the same time. Amazingly, less than 2 hours later she had been told over and over that this was a great move for her, that this family loved her and would take care of her and finally she came around and started to play with her new siblings and her parents. A few minutes ago I walked by this family and they were all laughing and playing together - truly amazing! It warmed my heart so much knowing that she was already starting to make a turn toward embracing her new life. I know God will do amazing things in her life, and some day she will look back on this and know why she had to leave her friends and the only life she knew. I know those parents are so relieved too!

Videos and photos to come if I can ever get the China internet to cooperate!! I'm trying, I promise!!

The hours before our Gotcha Day

2010-07-18T17:49:00.001-04:00

We are just hours away from our "Gotcha" moment, and it is still so surreal. We received some paperwork about Aiden's habits yesterday and were shocked to see that he still drinks formula and eats rice cereal - and he's TWO years old! There were quite a few of us not anticipating that, and thus not having brought feeding spoons (no, he doesn't feed himself yet), bottles, etc. I was also surprised to see that he cannot walk yet, however they claim that he is potty trained. Odd combinations of babying a child and not, although I'm hesitant to actually think he's potty trained in the manner that an American would potty train. We shall see!

So, off to Walmart we all walked last night to gather formula, rice cereal, bottles, bowls, etc. I was in awe at the size of the Walmart (3 huge floors with more food and stuff than I have ever seen in one store) and also at how cheap everything was. I bought at least $60 worth of stuff for about $30. Crazy! As I was in awe of my surroundings, the local people here in Zhengzhou were quite in awe of my blonde hair (again). People would practically run themselves off the road on their motorbikes in order to get a glimpse of our group. It was hysterical...who knew we were so interesting!? :-)

Obviously not much of anything to report today. Of course the most important and exciting news will come today and I hope to blog about it tonight or tomorrow morning.

Thank you for the prayers. Please pray for Aiden today, as he will be taken from his foster family this morning and brought directly to us...I am sure this will be a very scary and sad time for him. I pray that God will bring him peace and comfort and that we can quickly begin to work through the major communication issues we will begin to endure.

AIDEN....HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I climbed the Great Wall!

2010-07-17T17:13:00.000-04:00

Okay, so maybe not the Great Wall itself, but I had to climb the mountain to get to the Great Wall - that counts for something, right!?! Picture this - a very busy Saturday at the wall, with hundreds of tour buses trying to get in and out of a very small "country" road on the side of a mountain with no directional signs/lights. Apparently these crazy days cause major traffic jams - that last hours and hours. Ironically, this happens 30% of the time, and yet they just live with the situation and leave it to whomever created the traffic jam to fix it.

So, we are driving up the wall and hit the traffic jam. We were stopped for quite a while, and finally our tour guide, Sarah, told us that we'd be better of walking up the side of the mountain to get to the Wall. So off we go on seriously one of the craziest adventures I've ever experienced. The side of the road was all loose concrete pieces and grated concrete that was not well placed and thus very shaky. It was also so narrow that you almost had to turn sideways to walk past the buses sometimes. It was too dangerous for the kids to walk on their own, so we took turns holding the kids. When we got up to the point of the traffic jam there were three huge coach buses trying to move around in order to get out of each other's way. Problem was, in order for us to keep moving we had to walk around all these buses, none of whom cared in the least that there were people near them. At one point we had to very quickly jump down about 3 feet into a concrete retention area on the side of the road because a bus was backing right into where we were standing! It was insanity, and all we could do is laugh and stare at the situation in amazement - it was like nothing any of us had experienced before. Absolute mayhem is the only word to really describe it.

The Great Wall was absolutely breathtaking. The kids, Mindy and I hung out with some other ladies and kids and ate ice cream and played Nintendo. Matt and the other men, and a significant number of ladies, climbed up the wall. Most did not make it the entire way, but three did, which Sarah said made them a "hero". It was quite impressive, for sure! Especially in those crowds!!

After the Wall, we went to lunch and then did some shopping. At the end of the day we took the bus to the Water Cube and Bird's Nest, which you should remember from the 2008 Olympics. This part of Beijing was SO different from the rest of what we had seen...so much cleaner and newer that it almost made you feel like you were in a different place....almost like you were in the US at a nice stadium area.

Our touring started at 8:30 am (although we were awake at 4 am) and we didn't get back to the hotel until after 8pm. The kids were passed out and we put them straight to bed. The kids and I missed dinner again...and we were all so exhausted none of us cared! Amazingly the kids have been total troupers in all of this - no meltdowns, no crying...God is so good, and His provision for us has been so great. There is NO WAY they'd be this good without His help!! All the kids on the trip have been great - we have all talked about how we're in awe.

This morning we will fly out to Zhungzhou. We will get settled in for tomorrow - the biggest day of this trip - GOTCHA DAY! I just got chills even writing that, having waited for this day, prayed about this day and cried over this day many times. Now, it is 24 hours away!!

Counting the minutes until breakfast... :-)

Beijing

2010-07-16T16:27:00.000-04:00

Wow, where to start. It's 4:30 am here, and we are well rested (but starving) having all skipped dinner due to exhaustion after a really long and busy day! We headed out to the Tienanmen Square after 2 - 4 hours of sleep last night. It was hot, humid and very crowded. Within minutes of getting through security (a basic bag check) a few of us were surrounded by Asian women staring at us, walking up and standing next to us to take a photo with us (with or without our consent) and others peddling trinkets they wanted us to purchase. By far the most surprising was the people's immense interest in having their photos taken with us - it went on for so long finally our guide had to ask them to leave us alone. Even then they would just take photos of us from afar - like Chinese paparazzi I suppose (ha!)

From Tienanmen Square (where our guide never discussed the march of 1990 - amazing since that is the only thing I really knew about the Square) we walked to the Forbidden City. The size of the Forbidden City was just massive - it seemed like we walked for miles and miles, and we were there hearing about the outer court, inner court, homes for the concubines, etc. for over 5 hours! To say we were exhausted at the end of the time was an understatement.

In some parts of the tour the crowds were massive - all I can compare it to was perhaps pictures I've seen of Mardi Gras where the people are literally walking shoulder to shoulder with no space between them. Much more crowded than the days they close Disney for being at full capacity; and much more crowded than anything I have ever experienced. The guide called it the Chinese elbow massage! It was nearly impossible to know where you were going or to stay together as a group (14 families in our group) so we were so glad our guide held a very high flag for us to follow. One family did get lost, but were later found and caught up with the group. I felt so badly for them, as they are an older couple (and we had a few other older people) and I know they really, really struggled to keep up (and in such dreadful heat!)

The kids were amazingly good, having walked or ridden in the stroller (I was the only person in all of China whom I saw with a stroller today) for 5 hours in the intense heat with very few shady places to rest....but by the time we were heading back to the bus they were both begging to take a nap (literally) and both passed out within seconds!! Thank goodness I packed snacks, because I ended up hanging on the bus through lunch while they slept.

Later we visited the silk market, which we found out was a government run business. We didn't do any shopping since we knew prices were fixed and non-negotiable and most everyone who'd been to China before agreed that we remembered prices being better in Guangzhou. So we just hung out in the A/C and chatted with some of our new friends (many of whom have children, which is such a huge blessing).

Finally, late in the day we headed for our rickshaw rides through a Hutong. A Hutong is a neighborhood of shared homes, that all rest against each other like condos - there was no grass, no trees, no spare land, small roads shared by rickshaws, cars, bikes, and walkers - and it was like nothing I had ever seen before. We went into one home and found out that multiple families would share four rooms each of which opened into a shared courtyard, they had no A/C, and if you were "rich" you had your own bathroom (shared among the families whom shared your courtyard), or if you were common (as most are) you shared one bathroom at the front of your hutong neighborhood. I can't adequately describe to you the intense feelings of sadness that I felt riding around this neighborhood and looking into this home. We could see into some courtyards we passed and saw children playing, laundry being aired out, and could just feel how poor and without these people are.

At the end of the day we were exhausted and literally covered in dirt from head to toe, feeling the effect of breathing in thick smog all day, and hungry! I think we were all emotionally worn out as well. We literally came back to the room, took showers and went to bed - at 7 pm!

Now we wait, counting the minutes, until 6 am when the breakfast buffet opens!! I tried to add photos to this post, but they won't upload right now. I'll try again later...right now, breakfast is calling!

We're in Beijing!!

2010-07-15T17:12:00.000-04:00

Well, I am excited to say that we are now in Beijing! We actually got here around midnight local time (noon EST) and were settled in by around 2 am. Matt, Mindy and I were exhausted to say the least, while the children seemed quite rested and had even had a catnap on the ride from the airport. YIKES! ;-) So, babysitter DVD helped us to get some rest – the kids watched Dora for an hour or so to unwind and we napped. Then we told them they had to go to bed and take a long nap after Dora, and sure enough there was not a peep to be heard out of either of them after Dora turned off.

It is now 4:30 am China time (wonder what this time zone is actually called?), and I am wide awake after a 2 hour nap and actually feeling rather good. I am certain that amount of sleep is not going to be sufficient for today’s whirlwind tour of Beijing. Bring on the coffee at the breakfast buffet? Oh, and where is the sweet tea for my mid-day pick me up? Ha, keep dreaming, Melissa!

Anyway, total travel time from door to door was 29 hours, and the kids did remarkably well. Absolutely no meltdowns (amazing) and they really did quite well keeping themselves entertained. Now, don’t get me wrong, Tyler did want to change games he was playing every 10 minutes sometimes and Brooke did have one crying/pouting fit when I got onto her about something, but hey, it wouldn’t be a day with kids if there weren’t little tiffs, right? 

God bless poor Mindy, our babysitter though! She is 20 and has never flown over water or out of the country, and was apparently much more nervous about this trip that I ever imagined. She did great, until we got on the flight to Beijing and they closed the doors to the airplane. All of a sudden she wasn’t feeling well, starting going very pale, etc. and long story short she was quite a sick girl for a few hours. Let’s just say I was glad I knew where the pretty white bags were in the seatback in front of us. I don’t think it helped that I had given her an Ambien so she could sleep, which ended up causing her to have delusions (dreams while awake), and didn’t allow her to think straight while trying to deal with her anxiety and stomach issues. I took good care of her, and she slept it off, waking up 6 hours later not even really remembering much of it – so hey, maybe that Ambien wasn’t so bad after all?! Ei yei yei!!

So, I will post again tonight after our tour of Beijing. Today we go to the Tiananmen Square, ride a rickshaw, and go to the silk market. Tomorrow (Saturday) is the Great Wall and an acrobatic program.

Many thanks for all the Facebook comments and all the prayers over the last few days. Feel free to comment now and then just to let us know that you’re with us in spirit, if you so choose.

When Love Takes You In - Steven Curtis Chapman

2010-07-06T19:51:00.000-04:00

A sweet friend from high school shared this video with me today via FB. It brought me to tears, as the lyrics could not describe where we are in life any better. We are just days away from holding our newest son, a child whom we were praying for before we even knew who he was and whose picture we've held since early December 2009, when he was just 14 months old. Now, one day past two years old, he has no idea how very much his life is going to change in fewer than two weeks. I feel so blessed to be able to provide a loving family for all of our amazing children, and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for Aiden's life!

Now I'll go back to counting the days until July 14th, when we can depart the States for Beijing, China. Then a few days later, July 19th we will we will meet our sweet Wu, Bing - soon-to-be Aiden Bing Kramer, in Zhengzhou, China.

Our lives will never be the same, and for that I am so thankful!

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

Retirement!!

2010-06-12T10:49:00.001-04:00

Yesterday my parents both retired after 30 plus years in education. My mom had been a phys ed teacher in elementary schools, and later went back to school to become a middle school and high school guidance counselor. This is where she spent the majority of her career, counseling students. My dad taught math and science in high schools, later became a dean and then an assistant principal, and in his later years went back to teaching AP math and science classes.

Both of my parents inspired and guided thousands of young minds in the span of their careers. In the last two years each of my parents had won teacher of the year awards (dad in 2008/2009 and mom in 2009/2010). My father also had a fan page started on Facebook, called "Master Burke" where the kids would show how they adored him by quoting his humor, talking of where they saw him outside of the classroom, and discussing his classroom behavior, humor, etc. What amazing careers they had!!!

I am sure it was bitter sweet when they said their final goodbyes and emptied their desks of personal effects. I, personally, am extremely excited that they are now retired, as they live about 12 miles from our house and the kids are so ready to start doing more sleepovers and more trips to the river house with Lao Lao (Mandarin for maternal grandmother) and Grandpa and I am excited to have more time to spend with them as well.

Yesterday, on their last day of school, the kids and I surprised them with a visit. We just happened to walk in at the exact time that the administration was having a breakfast for them - so what great timing for my parents to introduce the kids to many of their friends. Below are some photos of our visit. Moments to be treasured forever!!

Any day now...

2010-06-01T13:34:00.000-04:00

Well it's been a while since I blogged, and really it's sheer laziness or choosing to use my time doing other things, because there has been plenty going on. Sweet Brooke got her first haircut - and it was so cute! We've received lots of paperwork updates on Aiden (no photos, just paperwork getting completed on time) and Matt has started a new job.

Now we're on day 8 of our wait for our travel approval. We should receive it in the next few weeks. I've been hardly sleeping, nesting like crazy. Poor Matt had a LONG honey-do list this weekend, as we are counting down the free weekends until Aiden comes home. We decided that all three kids will probably enjoy sleeping in the same room (Brooke & Tyler already sleep in the same room now), so I've finally given up the "baby room" - and now it's Matt's office again (he's thrilled to have that back after 3 plus years).

We've been studying our sign language a lot over the last few months too. Matt (when he's not traveling) and I have been taking classes at a local church on Wednesday nights, and I also take a class through the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind (FSDB) on Monday's. Both classes have given me so many words - I could actually hold a conversation with a child now, and probably a pretty basic conversation with an adult. At least we're a few steps ahead of Aiden, knowing lots of words that we can teach him. I know if I don't stay on top of it though, it won't be long (a few years, maybe) before he knows more sign language than I do. I can already envision him chatting about me with Brooke & Tyler while I look on frustrated because I have no idea what they're saying! ;-) Then again, who knows - maybe the cochlear implants will work for him and we'll be saying bye bye to sign language in a year or two. We have our first ENT appointment scheduled for late July, so I'll keep you posted.

Anyway, so we wait for the call that we have travel approval. Once we get the call, literally any day now, we'll be traveling about 8 days later, so it will be a mad rush to book flights, get packed & head to China! I can't wait!! We will blog the entire time we are there, as we did for Tyler, so stay tuned.

New Photos of AIDEN!!

2010-03-29T19:58:00.000-04:00

I am excited to report that we received new information about Aiden today. He is 26.4 lbs and has 8 teeth. He is living in a foster home, with his foster mom, foster dad and a 17 yr old foster sister and 20 yr old foster brother. The foster family said he babbles, so that is a good sign even if he can't hear his own babbling. They also said they feel that he might be 3 - 4 months younger than his estimated birthdate, which is interesting. To think that he will be 2 in July, but really might not be biologically 2 until some time between September and November makes me feel like we're missing out on less of his life - which is awesome! I don't know that we'd ever be able to change is official date of birth, but still it makes me feel good knowing that he's perhaps younger than I thought. Anyway, enjoy the photos!

What was she thinking!?

2010-03-26T13:40:00.000-04:00

Brooke LOVES to dress herself, and normally does a really great job. However, this morning she was quite confused between cold and warm weather....and this is what she ended up wearing. Thank goodness I had no plans of going anywhere or having anyone over. :-)

A petiton I need you to sign

2010-03-13T18:26:00.000-05:00

I need your help. There are new rules in place between most foreign countries and the US that are supposed to help in the adoption process. The treaty/convention that these rules fall under is called the Hague Convention and while it probably is helpful, it has a lot of bureaucratic mess in it as well, not all that surprising, I know.

While some "Hague" rules create a longer wait for families between approval and travel, the most offensive part of the Hague Convention is that families MUST have their children completely vaccinated prior to coming home. This means that many children are receiving multiple vaccinations when they get to the medical exam in Guangzhou. Some are receiving up to SEVEN at once!!!!!

Our children are being vaccinated in sometimes unclean, unhealthy environments, before ever being seen by a US pediatrician (whether special needs adoptions or not), and there is no control over use of expired vaccinations, unsanitary use of needles, etc.

Parents must be allowed to have their children vaccinated on their home soil where access to proper medical care is available. This is not healthy, nor is it good for the bonding/attachment. Consider the first few days after meeting a child you bring him/her to a doctor and allow the child to receive up to seven painful shots all at once. If you were that child, would you trust your new mom and dad?

PLEASE consider signing this petition to help make our Congressmen and Senators aware of the adoption community's voice!!!

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/internationally-adopted-child-immunization-waiver.html

This is what the adoption petition says:

In 1997, Congressman Delahunt cosponsored H.R. 2464, A Bill to Exempt Internationally-Adopted Children 10 Years of Age or Younger from the Immunization Requirement of Section 341 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. It corrected the new immunization requirement of the Illegal Immigration Reform act requiring ALL immigrants to be vaccinated before leaving their homeland.

This bill was necessary to protect the lives of the most vulnerable, children who's health may be compromised by their living conditions, children being adopted by their United States citizen parents.

Now we need help again. Children are once again being required to receive up to 8 vaccines upon leaving their country of adoption. These vaccines are given at one time. This is unhealthy and could be dangerous to many of our children.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-MN has sponsored a bill to fix this situation ONCE AGAIN. Senate bill 1376, A bill to restore immunization and sibling age exemptions for children adopted by United States Citzens has not yet been scheduled for a vote.

Are you my mommy?

2010-03-11T15:03:00.000-05:00

I have started taking Brooke to Wednesday morning toddler story time at the public library. This week the librarian read a book that really made me cringe named "Are You My Mother". Here is the premise of this book: Are You My Mother follows a confused baby bird who's been denied the experience of imprinting as he asks cows, planes, and steam shovels the Big Question. In the end he is happily reunited with his maternal parent in a glorious moment of recognition.

To most people, including this unassuming librarian, this is a wonderful, happy book that helps children to understand that baby birds have birds for mommies, not tractors, pigs or elephants. And until I was a part of the adoption world, I would have loved this book too!

So, I'm sitting with Brooke, cringing inside but also thankful that Brooke pays little attention to the librarian at story time unless it's a book we've ready before and Tyler was not with me. Tyler pays MUCH more attention to what is going on around him, and one of his favorite books is "A Mother for Choco". Here is the premise of this book: A chubby-faced yellow bird with blue-striped feet, Choco believes that physical similarity is a prerequisite for family relationships. He asks a series of animals who bear even the slightest resemblance to him if they might be his mother, but all turn him away. Discouraged by their rejection, Choco is pleasantly surprised when Mrs. Bear takes an interest in him, plays with and cuddles him, and ultimately offers him a home. The presence of other ``adoptees'' is made obvious as a young alligator, hippopotamus, and pig welcome Choco into his new family.

Ironically, Tyler had a field trip to the same library today, and low and behold what book do they read...you've got it.."Are You My Mother". I know, to most people this wouldn't matter at all, and had I never read "A Mother for Choco" I might not care about this as much for my pre-schoolers either, but I had this image in my head of Tyler standing up and saying "the owl could be the bird's mom - Choco is an alligator's mom" or some such thing. Come to find out, I don't even think Tyler was listening to the story for when I asked him about it when we got home he said "it was okay, but I really liked the Dr. Seuss book better" and when I asked him if the book reminded him of a book we read he said "no mom (disgusted voice) I don't even remember what the story was about". HA!

All that to say that while I stress and worry over the kids feelings being hurt, and thinking that they are going to be devastated when they realize that this book is telling them that it's not okay to not look exactly like your mom, and in the end they're barely even paying attention! All that stress over nothing.

Now if I could only get the librarian to teach the kids proper sign language...an issue for another day.

Chinese New Year - Year of the Tiger

2010-03-07T14:45:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago we went to a wonderful celebration of the Chinese New Year - year of the Tiger. There were 400 people in attendance that night, with wonderful food, beautiful dancing, a martial arts show and a very authentic dragon dance. The kids had a great time doing arts and crafts, running around and playing with Lao Lao and grandpa (my parents). Below are some photos of the kids gorgeous outfits. I hope to post our family photo here soon, but we haven't received it in the mail yet. This is the one time each year that we get professional photographs done and they are always so great - I can't wait to see them!

Happy New Year everyone!!

The Gift of Life

2010-03-01T14:44:00.001-05:00

I didn't give you the gift of life, but in my heart I know.
The love I feel is deep and real, as if it had been so.
For us to have each other is like a dream come true!
No, I didn't give you the gift of life, life gave me the gift of you.

Author unknown

A million acronyms

2010-02-26T13:29:00.000-05:00

The world of adoption is full of acronyms - everyone on the yahoo groups talks in code, we celebrate each coded milestone, and we all pray for the next milestone code to appear in our inbox....DTC, LID, LOI, PA, TA, etc. To a lay person, or the first time you adopt, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out what people are talking about, as NO ONE ever spells any of these things out. It's a special world of acronyms and celebrations, and you have to be in the know or else you get left behind in the excitement.

Two days before Christmas we received our PA - 12/23/09, and what a sweet Christmas present this was!! PA is "pre-approval" which means the Chinese government read over our file and approved us to be Aiden's parents. Last Friday we were DTC - 2/19/10. DTC is "dossier to China" this means that all of our paper chasing is completed and our paperwork has been sent to China - we're off the hook - no more major work on our part. I celebrated this! PHEW!! Today we received our LID - 2/26/10 - our "log in date" which means China has received our paperwork and logged us into their computer system. This is another wonderful milestone to getting Aiden home, and Matt and I were so excited!

Now, we wait for our next milestone acronym - a LOA "letter of approval" which is a formality since we already have a pre-approval, and then the biggest milestone of all - the TA - "travel approval". This is the ultimate milestone, as after we get our travel approval we'll start packing and booking flights and get ready to go to China! I am now counting the days until we get our LOA (at best in two - three weeks - God willing) and then another few weeks until TA and then two or so weeks until we travel...all going well it's the end of April or beginning of May and we'll head China.

I'll keep you posted... ;-)

But, I kinda liked it, mommy!

2010-02-11T20:37:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the kids and I drove two hours to the Pediatric Orthopedic doctor in Orlando so we could get Tyler's cast off and find out a prognosis. The kids slept nearly the entire way down there, so when we got into the waiting room they were well rested and ready to go. The waiting room was so crowded there was standing room only, so we waited almost 30 minutes to get a room - luckily there was a TV on Disney channel, so we were entertained by that and the interesting group of people surrounding us. Tyler was fascinated by all the different casts - the different sizes, shapes and colors on arms and legs. Brooke was entertaining herself with a new bracelet that she'd created with beads and pipe cleaners before we left home - her prize possession for the day.

So, thirty minutes later we're taken back to have the cast removed and then promptly placed in a room that felt about 5 x 7, with a doctor's bed, desk, hazardous waste can and two chairs - all of which made the room feel smaller. I can usually do well with the kids in a doctor's office for about twenty minutes. We play I-spy, we do simon says, read a few books, count to 100 forward and backward, etc. and we did all of this yesterday.

Then the twenty minutes was over, and I could feel it, the kids could feel it - we'd hit our doctor's office maximum waiting time. The kids started getting loud - laughing loud, singing loud, and honestly the longer we sat in that room the less I cared that they were being loud. It was, after all, a pediatric office - I kept telling myself they expected us to be loud, and I shouldn't worry about it. I started getting creative - because at this point (30 minutes into the wait) I'm starting to consider a revolt...so I start tearing the table paper and making items out of it - I make flowers, we make paper airplanes and fly them around the room, and then at about 40 minutes into the wait we start throwing balls of paper at each other and laughing like crazy (and loud). Finally after 50 minutes of waiting in a room probably smaller than a prison cell, the doctor comes in to find the room trashed, the kids coloring with pens sprawled out on the floor, and me feeling exhausted and disheveled...but we survived!

We received a great prognosis for Tyler's feet - the doctor said the surgery was a success - that Tyler's heel would now touch the floor when he walked and his foot would flex to 10 degrees which is "normal". He wants us to come back in two months for a check-up and then again when Tyler turns 5 (in October) and if all is well in October we will be finished with the "night time shoes" that Tyler wears now - a pair of shoes turned out to stretch his feet with a bar in-between the two shoes. YEAH!

We came home around 8 pm last night and Tyler was scared to walk and even scared to get his leg wet, but by the end of the day today he was walking quite well (with a limp) and we had already given him three baths (have to make up for 4 1/2 weeks with NO bath!).

We are so grateful for Dr. Albright, and really thankful that this surgery is behind us. Ironically, today, Tyler told me that he enjoyed having a cast, and he wanted a new one - God willing NEVER AGAIN, sorry Tyler! ;-)

Happy Anniversary, Tyler!!

2010-02-04T11:46:00.000-05:00

Three years ago I was blogging from China (see "We GOTCHA" from 2007) celebrating the first day we had met our amazing son, Tyler Yi Hao. I can remember that day as if it was yesterday - the dingy little office we entered (having gotten out of our dingy caravan), Tyler coming in with his physical therapist who cried when she gave him to us, him crying until we gave him cheerios, the ridiculous number of layers of clothes he had on - more than one of them so torn and old we wouldn't use it a rag in the States, and most importantly getting to hold him for the first time. IT WAS AMAZING!!

I can picture the clothes he was wearing - every layer - and there were a ton, all of which are in a drawer in our spare bedroom, set aside to show him when he gets older. I can remember all of our new friends who were also adopting that day standing around, crying with us, laughing with us - it gives me chills just writing it! I remember taking Tyler back to the hotel with us and being in awe of how cute he was, how he didn't cry and we thought he liked us (although looking back he didn't smile for weeks, so...), how fun he thought it was to have two people giving him their full attention (something he still loves to this day "tyler time"). We played on the floor in the hotel room forever, watched a Big Bird Goes To China video and ate noodles.

It is so hard to believe that three years have gone by - with memories that are SO vivid, how could it have been three years already!? That means that it was three Thanksgivings and Christmas's ago that I cried like a baby when we said the dinner blessing because I was dying inside waiting for Tyler to come home - feeling a huge void there at the "family dinner" while missing a huge part of the family!

Somehow, in a weird way, it also feels like it was a lifetime ago that Tyler came home, a lifetime ago that I was so heartbroken, a lifetime ago that we were DINK's...a lifetime I would never in a million years go back to!

I thank God every day for Tyler. He is an amazing young boy, so resilient, smart courageous and loving, but also so strong-willed and loud! I know God made him hard-headed and loud so that he could endure his first 16 months of life - loud probably got him what he needed for care and food (I can only imagine how loud he must have screamed when no one came to feed him when he was hungry) and hard-headed and independent helped him to survive. I will always be so grateful for those parts of his personality, even when they drive me NUTS, for without it, as happens to way too many children in China, he might have died that first winter after he was born.

Happy anniversary my sweet baby boy!! Your daddy and I will love you until the day we die - and are so grateful that you are forever in our family!!!

One of Tyler's first referral photos, which we received before he came home.

Tyler a few days after we got home from China. Obviously, not looking all too thrilled to have major jetlag and a lot of cameras flashing in his face! ;-)

Our final foot surgery....I hope and pray

2010-01-29T11:40:00.000-05:00

So, about two and a half weeks ago Tyler had to go in for his third tenotomy - a procedure where they cut through his Achilles tendon, flex his foot as far as it will go and cast it that way, so that when the Achilles tendon regrows it grows longer. The reason they needed to do this was because when Tyler walks his heel does not touch the ground (right foot) - while he gets around fine that way now, in the long term this can be really bad for his knee and hip joints on that side, possibly later causing a lot of pain and perhaps him walking with a limp.

So, Sunday afternoon we headed down to Orlando to check into the local Ronald McDonald House (RMD). Tyler actually loves going to the RMD, we use to stay at one in Iowa City pretty often, so to see a new one was a lot of fun for him. Plus, Matt and I took Tyler and left Brooke at home with my mom (Lao Lao), so it was great for Tyler to have a lot of "Tyler time" which is what he calls the time that Brooke is away or sleeping, when he gets undivided attention. ;-)

Monday morning we headed to the hospital to check in at 6:30 am. All was pretty uneventful - Tyler got some "happy juice" that made him not care when they carried him away to the operating room. I was so glad that Tyler took leaving us so well that I was in too much shock to even cry - I was so fearful he was going to freak, but it's really amazing what drugs can do for a person! ;-) So, about 20 minutes later the doctor came into the room to say everything had gone well, and that Tyler would be brought to us once he woke up. Thirty minutes later a screaming, crying, beside himself Tyler was wheeled into the room. We tried to hold him to console his fears/anxiety, tried to rock him, tried to play games with him on Matt's phone, all to no avail - he was absolutely beside himself screaming, kicking, crying and trying to pull his IV out. Nurses came in and out for about 30 minutes while this continued - all while we waited for some drugs, as one of the things that Tyler was screaming was that his ankle hurt. Poor thing! Finally the anesthesiologist came in (she had been getting another patient ready) and gave Tyler valium and morphine...within minutes he was settled.

A few hours later we were allowed to leave, and by the time we got home there was a wheelchair at our house. All in all the next few weeks have been uneventful. We had some pain issues in the first few days, also some sleep issues, but both of those have been addressed and gone away. Wednesday of this week Tyler and I drove back down to Orlando so he could get a new cast, and get his Achilles tendon re-stretched. I was really nervous about this, thinking that stretching a newly healing wound would be very painful, and Tyler did cry some, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Okay, maybe because I made sure they gave Tyler a sedative beforehand...there's no crime in some good drugs every once in a while, right?! ;-)

"Melissa, our blog is lame"

2010-01-27T19:47:00.000-05:00

This was the core of a conversation I had with Matt last night when he mentioned he was going to give a friend a link to our blog. I said "oh, man, I haven't updated that in forever" to which he responded "Yes, Melissa, I just looked at our blog and it's lame". HA! Thanks for the encouraging words there, hubby! ;-)

Anyway, his criticism did get the ball rolling and I decided it was time to do a year-end 2009 blog post to catch everyone up with our holiday fun. So, in one blog post I will tell you all about Thanksgiving, Christmas & our New Years Eve. I'll try to keep this a little better than lame, but don't expect too much! ;-)

So, Thanksgiving was great - we headed to Sea World on Thanksgiving Day with my parents. We chose to do a non-traditional Thanksgiving since I have been challenged by a "lovely" stomach disease this year and would not have been able to eat a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We had a wonderful time, and believe it or not - Sea World was really rather crowded. We even ran into a family whom we were friends with when I was in high school - the mom & my dad use to work together, so that was neat. Matt, the kids and I actually spent a few nights in Orlando to make a longer vacation out of the trip - we walked the Millenium Mall to see all the Christmas trees/lights, went to IKEA, and to the Gaylord Palms to walk around and view a Christmas show. It was a wonderful family trip.

Christmas was wonderful, with the Kramer side of the family. We drove up to Richmond, Virginia and stayed with Matt's brother and his wonderful family, and Matt's parents came and stayed there too. We arrived in Richmond just a few days after the large blizzard that came through from Richmond to DC. Alex (Matt's brother) was awesome, and he kept his kids off the pristine snow in their front yard until we arrived. It was so fun - we actually went out and made snow angels, threw snow balls at each other, a few people were tackled to the snowy ground, and we built a snow penguin! I had never participated in a snowball fight or really played in a large quantity of snow, so it was as fun for me as it was for the kids! Tyler loved making snow angels and then admiring his work, and Brooke, well she loved eating the clean snow. All week she kept asking "eat more snow?"

We arrived home on the Monday after Christmas and a few hours later some friends of Matt's from Grove City College came to visit us. They had driven from Pennsylvania (with a stop over in North Carolina) and spent five or six days with us. They have three children, Hannah (6), Delaney (2 1/2) and Emma (15 months) - so it was crazy busy in our house but so much fun!! The weather was beautiful most of the time they were here, so we were even able to take everyone to the Magic Kingdom one day! On New Year's Day Matt & Bryan (the hubby) went to see Bobby Bowden's last football game, which was awesome. Did you see the game!? We actually won one!!

Our last note of great news is that on December 23rd we received an outstanding Christmas gift - our pre-approval from China to adopt Aiden Bing Kramer! We were so excited to have this part of the adoption process behind us, as this means that China has accepted us as the parents for Aiden - there is no doubt that we'll be allowed to adopt him - he's ours!! Since then we've received our fingerprints back from USCIS (homeland security) and have sent our final papers off to the appropriate authorities to have them approved. So, in a week or two I should be able to say that our dossier (paperwork) has gone to China and we're on the countdown to traveling!! We absolutely cannot wait to bring Aiden home, and are so blessed to be called his parents.

It's a BOY! Aiden Bing Kramer

2010-01-04T12:52:00.000-05:00

We are excited to announce that we have officially been approved to adopt a sweet, handsome little boy in ZhengZhou, China named Wu Bing. We have changed his name to Aiden Bing Kramer. He was abandoned at six months old, and his birthdate was estimated to be July 5, 2008. Does anyone know who else has a July 5th birthday!? Yes, our sweet girl, Brooke! So, Aiden and Brooke will share a birthday - not always a great thing, but hey they both get into Disney for free on the same day so we're excited!! ;-)

We are currently finished with our dossier (paperwork to go to China) except for our fingerprints. Once we get those taken (appt set for Jan 15th) and get clearance from Homeland Security then we'll be done and our paperwork can go to China. From there we are at the mercy of the Chinese government to be fast or slow about their processing and to see when Aiden will come home. We are hopeful that we'll travel to China in May, but it might be as late as June.

In the meantime we are getting the baby's room ready (it's been a storage closet for quite a while now) and are learning sign langugage, as Aiden is bilaterally, profoundly deaf. We hope he will be able to receive Cochlear implants when he gets home, but only time will tell as the Chinese have not done some of the medical testing that is required to find out if a child is eligible for implants. Either way, we are excited and know that God has great and grand plans for this sweet boy!!

Please keep Aiden in your prayers. He does live in a foster home now, which is wonderful news, so please pray for that family as well. I will keep the blog updated as new information and photos come in. Enjoy the photos below!

one = 零 two = 零 three = 零

2009-11-09T12:36:00.000-05:00

Tyler started Chinese lessons on Saturday. Above is a photo of his class & teacher. He had a wonderful time, and was actually singing one through five in Chinese on Saturday night. Before long he'll be speaking in Chinese and I'll have no clue what he's saying. I'm in trouble when he turns 15 or so and starts cussing me in Chinese! ;-)

For now I will enjoy him sponging in all this great education...and he loves it, so that makes me love it even more!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T20:45:00.001-05:00

Tyler's doctor's appointment

2009-10-26T21:09:00.001-04:00

Well, I wanted to share with my "blog family" that I took Tyler to see his club foot doctor this past Thursday, and he will need to have surgery. In China when the doctors were trying to correct Tyler's club foot they performed a tenotomy, which is where they cut the Achilles tendon to stretch the back of the calf to make the heel touch the floor (these babies would look like they'd walk on their toes - if they were old enough to walk, that is). Well, the surgery in China did not work, so when Tyler came home from China he had a significant scar on the back of his calf, about an inch above his heel, but his heel still did not touch the ground.

Fast forward to the 32 days that Tyler and I spent in the Ronald McDonald House being seen by Dr. Ponseti. That God-sent Mother Teresa-like doctor (rest in peace!) had to do another tenotomy to try and stretch the tendon again. It was a terrible experience for me, as Tyler was given a loopy drug with which they promised he could not remember the experience, however he was awake enough to react to the pain. I probably never blogged about this at the time, because to be quite honest it was an almost unbearable heartbreaking and painful experience. Tyler screamed and cried so much when they cut his Achilles tendon that I was nearly hysterically crying holding him and trying to calm him (even though he was sedated and seemingly not quite there). Anyway, they swore he would never remember it, and I had to believe them, but it was an experience that still today can haunt me and bring tears to my eyes. Hearing your child scream and cry in excruciating pain is heart-wrenching beyond words.

So, of course, my first reaction is to freak out in my head when the doctor told me that we needed to do a third tenotomy. However, on an extremely positive note, Tyler is now at an age where it is not considered safe to do such a surgery under that same loopy drug. The doctor in Orlando told me that his reflexive strength would be too great, so they will do full general anesthesia. This will also be helpful because they feel that Dr. Ponseti's tenotomy did not work because of the scar tissue built up from the China tenotomy. So, with Tyler fully under they will be able to go in and do the tenotomy and then while he's still asleep they can see if it is good enough, and if not they can make a slightly larger incission and remove the scar tissue from the China surgery, thus cleaning out the heel area and hopefully allowing Tyler to walk with two heels on the ground.

Either way, Tyler will have a cast on his leg for three weeks, and we'll probably need to get him a wheelchair for that time. Ugh, honestly thinking about it makes me want to cry for him (and for me)! I know it will be okay. I know that three weeks time will fly by. Best yet, I know that God will be with us!

We are allowed to postpone this "fun" until after the new year, so that is wonderful news. We'll also be able to get this completed before baby #3 comes home, and that is wonderful as well! I will keep you posted...

Interesting conversations....

2009-10-19T19:10:00.000-04:00

In the nearly three years since Tyler came home (and Brooke 15 months later) I have certainly had my share of people staring at me (pretty much everywhere I go) and a ton of adoption related conversations. I fully acknowledge that most of the staring and the conversations are well intentioned, and I do not mind them at all - as a matter of fact, I love talking about my children and the adoption process. I hope to help other families to make the wonderful decision to adopt their children as well!

The "odd" ones though, well, they haven't really been conversations - the most odd statements I do not acknowledge with conversation. The most interesting one - a man came up to me in the grocery store and said "wow, she's (Brooke) beautiful, I would have bought her too". Seriously!? If looks could kill, this man would be dead 100 times over! :-)

Anyway, fast forward through lots of questions and stares that were not so interesting to a conversation I had last week with a fellow pre-school mom (at the Pumpkin patch field trip). Tyler was on the other side of the pumpkin patch listening to a story and I was with Brooke at the playground area. This mom hung around talking to me about the Autumn Moon festival and her religion's traditions (she's from India, so probably Hindu, right?), which made for an interesting conversation. Then, she told me how amazing she thought it was that I adopted, and that her "own" children frustrated her so much sometimes that she couldn't imagine dealing with "someone else's" kids every day. At that moment I was taken aback by her comment, so I really didn't have any response. Later, however, it saddened me that this seemingly sweet woman was so uneducated about adoption.

Why would anyone think that Tyler and Brooke are not my "own" children? They could not be loved more than they are, they could not be wanted more than they are, and, in my opinion, they could not have a better life than they do! I have never, for even one second, thought of them as "someone else's kids." I am not a life-long nanny - I am a mom, just like every other mom in the world.

Adoption is a gift from God. God speaks of adoption over and over in His word (lots of bible verses below). My favorite adoption verse speaks of God's love for us and how He adopts us as His children: For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he ^[b]predestined us for adoption to sonship ^[c] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:4-6).

I cannot imagine a better way to create a family than the exact way that God created His!!

I guess when it comes to this specific woman I can blame this conversation on her lack of knowledge of the love of God. Maybe that is what I am supposed to learn from these conversations, that these specific individuals do not know God and His amazing love? Could it be that I am supposed to tell them about God? Honestly, until I just wrote that bible verse, I had never thought that before - huh, never.

Some great bible verses on adoption:

In you the orphan finds mercy.

Hosea 14:3

Never take advantage of any widow or orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, you can be sure that I will hear their cry.

Exodus 22:22-23

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Galatians 4:4-6

You are the helper of the fatherless. LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more.

Psalms 10:14,17-18

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

James 1:27

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families.

Psalms 68:5-6

And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.

Matthew 18:5

Fall....finally!

2009-10-18T20:13:00.001-04:00

I love Florida. I even love the hot weather of summer - I mean, really, how else would we get to spend day after day at the pool and playing in the sprinklers. With that said, however, by Tyler's birthday I am ready for some fall weather, and sadly this year it was scorching hot on his birthday. It's just not "right" going to a pumpkin patch when it's 95 degrees out! Well, Saturday morning I finally got my wish - it got cold!! Okay, not Pennsylvania cold, and certainly not Minnesota cold, but it's *Florida cold* here and I'm LOVING IT!!

Friday (before it got cold) a few mom friends and I took our kids to a farm up in Georgia, Connor's Corn Maze. It was a great time, and to all of my local friends you should go! They had a corn maze with riddles to solve to try to find your way out of (we were quite challenged by this), a hay ride where we stopped and fed corn on the cob to the cows, fun cow train rides for the kids, a petting zoo, water play with old time water pumps, a barrel full of corn that the kids could stomp around in, a HUGE sand/tractor play area, large slides, bumper bikes (for bigger kids), and a pumpkin patch. It was an hour drive up to Georgia, so it wasn't something that I would do very often, but the kids had a blast and we all got to experience a bit of farm life.

Tyler's first field trip!

2009-10-15T21:47:00.000-04:00

I love the fact that Tyler's pre-school has all kinds of fun activities for the kids. Today was one of those great days - we went on our first field trip to a local pumpkin patch. A pumpkin patch full of thirty-plus three and four year olds is a crazy/fun house. The kids were running around thought the pumpkins, playing on the church playground, and actually listening to their teachers. I almost couldn't believe that the mayhem could be controlled by a teacher telling the children to line up, look both ways, etc. Wonders never cease!! ;-)

Tyler's group started the morning inside the church watching a video on the life of a pumpkin. It was so cute to see each child find a pumpkin placemat to sit on, criss cross apple sauce style and intently watch this movie. I was in awe of the obedience. Even Brooke sat on my lap quietly watching the pumpkin movie. It was beautiful!

Then we went outside to the pumpkin patch. Each child picked out one small pumpkin, and then got to decorate it with stickers and crayons. Tyler and most of the other boys had theirs picked out in about two seconds. They couldn't have cared less what it looked like - they did what they were told and moved on. The girls, on the other hand, were meticulously searching the pumpkin patch for the perfect small pumpkin. Even Brooke took forever to pick out her pumpkin!

After pumpkin decorating the kids played on the playground some and sat quietly (well, most of them did) while their teacher read them a story. After one and a half hours the pumpkin patch time was over, and we went to lunch as a class. This was the best part of the day if you ask Tyler, as it was his first trip to Burger King. Yes, you read that right, I have never taken him to BK...don't know why, not opposed to the place, just have never been since he came home. So, off to BK we went and the kids played and played and had just the best time. They all get along so well, and are so sweet to each other (overall) and it just warmed my heart - what a wonderful day, wonderful teachers, wonderful friends - we are SO blessed through Tyler's school!!

Totally off subject, but seriously, why does Brooke have to passionately kiss the scarecrow every day. She gives him hugs too! LOL!!

Tyler & his new best buddy, Will.

Loving how Brooke put her arm up on the pumpkin, so cute!

What can I say....so adorable, my sweet Tyler!!

Birthday photos -

2009-10-13T19:37:00.000-04:00

Tyler, learning how to play chess. Thank God for grandpa's great memory!

The dinosaur cake accidentally had trick candles....oops! ;-)

Tyler, basking in the joy of many presents to open! Thanks to Lao Lao & Grandpa ;-)

How is it that Nai Nai & Grandpa almost always find a bag to fill that is as big as our child!? :-)

Happy Birthday, Tyler

2009-10-11T20:56:00.000-04:00

Birthday weekends can be absolutely exhausting, but they're so awesome too, aren't they!?! Friday started the birthday weekend with a fun birthday bash with a bunch of Tyler's play group friends (and a few extras). We had a bounce house, dinosaur egg races, dinosaur tic tac toe & hop scotch, a paleontology dig for dinosaur bones in our sandbox, dinosaur bone sandwiches and a dinosaur cake. Can you see a theme here!? Most everything I created by hand, and since I am not crafty it was a challenge. All in all though, Tyler was thrilled, the other kids had a great time, the moms were well fed (thank you Costco!) and it was a success!

Saturday we went out to the river house for the day to celebrate Tyler's birthday with my parents. We saw some turtles out in the river, and Lao Lao (my mom) saw a manatee right before we got there. We also saw a bunch of jumping fish & a beautiful rainbow. We played out in the backyard for a while, but most of the day was spent with Tyler playing video games - which he absolutely thinks is the best thing in the world. This boy is going to be such a gamer!! A wonderful dinner & delicious ice cream cake topped off the day. Another success!

Then today, Tyler's actual birthday, was great too! We went to church in the morning and then came home for lunch & naps. At 3:30 we drove downtown (Jacksonville) to see Elmo Live. This was Tyler's big gift from us, and was so much fun. I think the parents at Elmo Live were having as much fun (or more) than the kids. There was a lot of clapping, dancing in your seat and singing along with Elmo & Big Bird. Then all the characters would come around to visit with the kids in the aisles, and since we were in the front row (thanks to my sister for giving me an early purchase code!!) Tyler got a hug from Telly and had Abbie Kadabby (sp?) come by and put her wand on Tyler's head and mess around with him for about 30 seconds. He loved it!! On the other hand, after Abbie came by Brooke turned to me and said "all done". Ha! It was only about 10 minutes into the 90 minute show, so I was glad when she got over that fear really quickly!

So, now we're all exhausted from a very long, but wonderful weekend. Tomorrow will definitely be a day of rest in the Kramer house. Tyler received three new videos for his birthday, all from different people, and I think those will get pulled out tomorrow to give everyone a chance to sit and relax and unwind from a fun, fun weekend. I still am in awe of how blessed our family is to have both Tyler and Brooke in our lives, and it's weekends like this (celebrating his birth) that leave my heart overflowing with gratitude to God for all that He has given us!

Autumn Moon Festival

2009-10-05T15:15:00.000-04:00

Saturday night I took the kids to the 2009 Autumn Moon Festival, at Hanna Park in Jacksonville. It was put on by our local FCC (families with children from china) chapter, and was such a great event! We had egg races, moon pie eating races, sack jumping races, saw the most beautiful moon & enjoyed time with our friends. Daddy was at a charity event (aka - casino night) and couldn't be with us, so he was missed, but other than that it was a perfect night!

The Moon Festival is the 2nd most important Asian holiday (behind Chinese New Year) and is celebrated by Chinese & Korean families. The festivities are on the evening of the fullest moon of the 8th lunar calendar (Chinese calendar). The premise behind the celebration is to gather family and friends for a wonderful celebration of family, and to spend time reflecting on life through looking at the moon. Everyone is to look at the moon around dusk, so you know that family you are not able to be with are looking at the same time as you, and then you also reflect on family that has passed before you. For many adopted children, it is a time to remember your birth mother/birth father, as legend would say that they too are looking at the moon at the same time you are - so you are connected in that moment. We have not gotten into all of that in the Kramer house, but none-the-less, we had a great time!

My favorite thing to do is throw sand...here I go again.

Brooke doing the egg race.

Tyler did a great job in the sack race.

Brooke is sad in this photo, as she just got soaked when she got too excited and fell face first into the water! ;-)

What a gorgeous night, and such a beautiful and full moon!

Tyler doing the egg race.

Weekend away in Orlando

2009-09-30T13:39:00.000-04:00

Two weeks ago was our first family vacation of 2009, and we really needed it! We had a wonderful time visiting Orlando, which is one of our favorite places to go. We have a beautiful timeshare that we stay at in Orlando, the Hilton Tuscany Grand Vacation - it feels like you're a million miles away from home in a glorious resort. We played in both of their wonderful pools, visited Downtown Disney and spent an entire day at Sea World. Matt's parents were down for the week, so they went to Orlando with us. We also were blessed to be able to meet up with the kid's God mother and her family, who spent all day Saturday at Sea World with us, and then hung out with us on Sunday as well. Such a great time - here are some photos from the weekend.

Tyler rode his first rollercoaster, and LOVED it!

Where's Waldo, mommy?

2009-09-23T14:36:00.000-04:00

It is with a heavy heart that I write about Waldo, whom I had to have put down yesterday afternoon. The kids and I took him to the vet first thing in the morning, and when we left the vet without him they were concerned. I told them that he had to stay for the day to get his teeth cleaned, and that we'd get him at the end of the day. Well, a few hours later when they went to clean his teeth the doctor called me to say that Waldo had a large, fast growing cancerous tumor in his mouth. It would soon block his throat, was painful and that he would not likely live another week. So crazy...I had known something was wrong because he had been leaving small pools of blood on the tile floor each morning when he'd wake, but I thought his gums were bleeding and he needed his teeth cleaned.

Anyway, after hours of crying and feeling horrible about the situation I went back to the vet to make an appointment for that afternoon to have Waldo put to sleep. The vet was pretty adamant that it was the best decision I could make, as the tumor was very large and was not in a location that would be easy (or possibly even possible) to remove, as it had covered numerous teeth and worked it's way into (and around) the jaw bone.

At 5 pm last night I had a nice chat with Waldo, and told him how much I love him and would miss him...and then we said goodbye and the doctor did her thing. I must say, it was very peaceful, so I am thankful for that!

The kids have asked me numerous times where Waldo went and why we didn't pick him back up from the vet (like I said we would), and it breaks my heart. I told them that Waldo went to heaven to be with God and Jesus, and that we'd see him again when we got up there. Tyler asked me when he was going to heaven, and why didn't I know that the vet was going to take Waldo to heaven when I dropped him off. It's a hard thing to explain to a child...I did my best and the kids seem to be taking it much better than I.

I miss my sweet Waldo. Here are some of my favorite photos.

Waldo's favorite place to rest

Waldo, dressed up one Halloween - ha!

We have news....

2009-09-09T14:23:00.000-04:00

So, after months of talking about it, we've done it....we've turned in our application to adopt again! We have put in an appliction with CCAI (Chinese Children Adoption International) to adopt a special needs baby up to 18 months old. We have a long road ahead, with another home study and creating an entire new dossier with fingerprints, etc., but we've started - and that means we're moving forward, toward our sweet baby boy/girl....whomever God has in store for our family! Will keep you updated as we move through the process. For now we anticipate a year to a year and a half wait before we get a baby home, but only God knows for sure, He could have very different plans for us. To be continued... ;-)

It's raining, it's pouring...

2009-09-07T15:50:00.000-04:00

Tyler & Brooke are always asking me to splash in puddles and play in the rain. So the other day we decided to go do it - it was pouring rain out most of the day and we were antsy to get outside. There was no thunder, and it's still really warm down here, so I figured what would it hurt!? As you'll see from the photos, Tyler had a great time splashing in the puddles and running around in the rain. Brooke, well, she clung to me scared of the dark clouds. Never got her off my leg - therefore, no photos. ;-)

Golden Dragon Acrobats perform "Cirque D'Or"

2009-09-05T15:02:00.000-04:00

Last night we went to "Cirque D'Or" at the St. Augustine amphitheatre. From their website: "The Golden Dragon Acrobats represent the best of a time honored tradition that began more than twenty seven centuries ago. Direct from Hebei, China, our company has traveled around the world to all 50 states and to over 65 countries on five continents."

Can you imagine....27 centuries ago? Amazing to think of...and amazing it was! The acrobatics and contortion is unlike anything I've ever seen. I wish I had gotten some good photos, but we weren't allowed to use our flash & all my non-flash pictures came out blurry. Below are the few photos I did take, they aren't great. Sorry!

We had a few church friend families with us, and it was such a great time! The kids were mesmerized by the performers, the weather was warm, but comfortable, and the place was packed!

"That's STINKIN' cute!!"

2009-09-04T14:23:00.000-04:00

The greatest way to realize how you sound to others when you speak is to have your child mimic you! I have heard things I say in a whole new light when I hear them come out of Tyler's mouth - usually in the negative, although never things that are outwardly cursing. Tyler has tried to tell me on many occassions "when I say yes, the answer is YES", or "mommy, if you don't get over here now you will get a spanking"....you get my point. It really does make me stop and consider what I am saying and whether there is a nicer way to say it - you know, because it might get repeated in public, not because I want to sound kinder when disciplinging! ;-) So, a few days ago Tyler was looking through a magazine of Halloween costumes when he yelled "oh, mommy, that is stinkin' cute!" Again, doesn't sound as cute when he says it...but it made me laugh, for sure!

So, the point of this story is that I must use that "stinkin' cute" phrase quite a lot for him to have caught on to it. I proved this to myself today, as Brooke was being very brave this afternoon and pooping on the potty (for the first intentional time), so I decided this was a great time to paint her finger and toe nails. She LOVED it, and watched with awe the entire time....and when I was finished I sat back and said "ah, so stinkin' cute, Brooke!" I laughed after saying it, knowing it will be repeated again soon (I hope not at the most inappropriate time). I think this time I was right - see below!

Orientation day at school...

2009-09-01T13:01:00.000-04:00

Today was "meet the teacher day" at Tyler's new school, Living Water's in Switzerland/Fruit Cove. We had a great morning, filled with fun (and meetings for mommy and Brooke). Tyler loves his teachers, and his classmates. He was talking about them all the way home - and about how excited he is to go back to school on Thursday. I was really excited to meet a few new mommies from our neighborhood (carpooling, here we come!) and that Brooke was a sweet, quiet girl during the meeting (since a lot of mom's got sitters for their tiny ones). All in all, a great morning! Here's to a great school year & making lots of new friends!

Below are a few photos I took before we left for school this morning. I told Tyler he had to wear a collared shirt to school on his first day - he always refuses to wear them, but looks so sweet in them - it was my only way to get one on him and get a good photo. Too bad they told us to send them in play clothes from now on! :-)

Weekend's are made for FUN!

2009-08-31T13:44:00.001-04:00

Saturday we spent the day at the river house with my parents. It's a wonderful place, directly on the St. John's River, down near Palatka - a short 45 minute jaunt. We always can find all sorts of birds & critters to observe, and I actually remembered to bring my camera this time! My parents purchased a kayak a few weeks ago, so Matt took each of the kids out for a trip - they had such fun! Then, they went fishing! No one caught anything, but we did see some fish jumping in the water and eating our fish food. Maybe next time!

Then Sunday we went to the beach in the afternoon for a beach baptism, where numerous dear friends were baptised - so wonderful. Plus, the kids had a blast playing on the beach - Tyler was jumping in the waves with his friends and Brooke was found either hanging with daddy or chasing birds!

Shaving cream art!

2009-08-25T19:20:00.000-04:00

While at the doctor the other day, I read an article in a Highlights magazine about using shaving cream and food coloring to make art. How fun, I thought! So, a few days later we gathered all the supplies, and sat down to make some art. Funny how the article forgot to mention that the shaving cream would make a huge mess, that the kids would hate having it on their hands and that it wouldn't spread nearly as easily as they made it seem! Oh, and that the art would take over a week to dry....which is challenging in a home with two toddlers who want to see their art every day (if not multiple times per day). I wonder if I should have realized this wouldn't be mommy friendly when I read it in Highlights (a magazine for 10 year olds) and not Parenting magazine or some such thing.

In the end, it was a success though, and I'm going to Michael's this week to find a few frames so we can keep and show off our art. (Maybe that way the kids won't want to try it again for a while - smile)

Week in review....

2009-08-23T21:12:00.000-04:00

Early this week the kids and I visited the new Walmart in Jacksonville. We really had no reason to be there, but I wanted to go and check it out, so I decided that we "needed" a helmet for Brooke. A helmet for the child that wouldn't even sit on a bike. Um, yeah, she needed a helmet. More on that in a minute...

We also had some quality time playing around the house this week. I took this shot one afternoon after wonderfully long naps. They look so sweet and happy together in this shot (I'm sure they were fighting minutes after :-) ).

While at Walmart, I did find one bargain that I just had to have...a 64 crayon box (with the crayon sharpener on the back...you know the kind) that was only $1.74 - sweet!! Brooke has enjoyed the colors very much.

Back to the helmet....well as soon as Brooke owned it she was all excited about wearing it. I told her she could only wear it if she tried to ride her bike, and look at that, she did...so we took a family ride/walk to the pond to feed the fish.

And Matt walked the bike home....too much work to get there and back, I guess. We sure were proud of her though! Tyler's a champ at the bike, leaving us in the dust and soon Brooke will be too.

Kids visit the DENTIST!

2009-08-11T20:22:00.000-04:00

Today we took a "fun" trip to the dentist. I was very skeptical, since I personally hate going to the dentist, but I tried my best to keep those thoughts/fears from the kids. I'd hate for them to freak over nothing simply because I hate the dentist. I guess I did okay (or God was doing overtime to work around me) because the kids did AMAZING! The hygenist was amazed by how great Brooke did - she had a full cleaning like you or I would get and never fussed or cried at all. I was amazed at how well Tyler did, as they did a full cleaning on him AND took x-rays. Here are some photos...enjoy!

Also, yesterday I had a friend come visit and she brought her TRIPLETS! They're 15 months old and were so fun! I'm not sure that Tyler and Brooke liked being outnumbered, or having babies around who didn't know what it meant to share, but it was so fun - can't wait for them to come visit again!

And finally, is this not the CUTEST!? Brooke let me put this headband in for about 2 minutes...I think that was what the smirk was about...she was glad I was getting a photo because no one would ever see this cuteness otherwise. Thank goodness I always have the camera handy!

Birthday party time!

2009-08-09T13:31:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we went to Tunnelz n Tumbles for one of Brooke's friend's second birthday. Lucky for me, daddy came with us, as playing at this indoor climbing/swinging/sliding apparatus is quite a workout! Here are some photos...

Daddy's birthday

2009-08-07T13:19:00.001-04:00

Two weeks ago we celebrated my DH's birthday. He was out of town when it occurred, so the kids and I made videos for him and posted them on Facebook for him to see. Here they are....enjoy!

FCC playdate

2009-08-07T12:52:00.000-04:00

This morning we had a wonderful time hosting a playdate for our friends in the FCC (Families with Children from China). We hosted a preschool playdate, so it was pretty much all 2 - 5 year olds. There were two older sisters there playing too - great little helpers! I was so glad to see Tyler get to play with some other chinese children, and one was another boy - yeah! Both Tyler & Brooke were great at sharing their toys...I was very proud of them. :-)

Here are some photos...enjoy!

Kids cousins came to visit

2009-07-03T14:43:00.000-04:00

Easter photos

2009-06-09T19:05:00.000-04:00

New Pix!

2009-03-26T18:50:00.001-04:00

An amazing organization

2009-03-26T18:47:00.001-04:00

My favorite non-profit, Love Without Boundaries, has created a new blog. Please check out lifeofgiving.blogspot.com. You can find them under my "friends/family blogs" as well!

Love Without Boundaries helps orphaned children in China in many ways, such as: foster care, nutrition, medical, education and so much more! The entire company is run by volunteers, and it is simply an amazing group of men and women.

I feel blessed to be able to donate to, and be a part of, such a great organization. I would be honored if each of you would check out their blog, put a link to it from your blog, and check out their website. www.lovewithoutboundaries.com

Blessings!

My Christmas Day shiner

2008-12-29T15:34:00.000-05:00

No Christmas is complete without someone getting a black eye...right!? UGH! Yes, Brooke's first Christmas included her falling a few days earlier and hitting her head on the corner of a small wooden stool. She immediately had a lump the size of a quarter, and by the next day had a 'beautiful' shiner. Needless to say there were no portraits taken this year...but there are plenty of great memories...she's a trooper and never let this get her down!

Tyler's school pix

2008-11-02T14:26:00.000-05:00

The wonderful women at Christ's Church Mother's Morning Out program sent home a CD of pix from the first two months of school - 556 pix - wow! Praise God for them, for SO MANY reason (mainly, my sanity!).

Enjoy!

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T13:20:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween from Leo (from Little Einsteins) and the Fairy!

Precocious children....

2008-09-18T12:16:00.004-04:00

Enough is said by looking at this photo... :-)

Beach pictures

2008-09-18T12:16:00.003-04:00

"School" and Awana

2008-09-18T12:16:00.002-04:00

Last week was T's first week of mother's morning out. I think I already posted something about that. He continues to do great - praise God, because I am loving the time with just B to take care of and play with!

Yesterday T started in an Awana program at a local church. He loved it! It's on Wednesday mornings from 9:30 - 11:15 and they do church related crafts, memorize and discuss scripture, watch puppet shows, and play of course. It's very much like the boyscouts or girl scouts, except it's combined and is all about God. He has a vest (will get a picture - so cute!!) and will earn patches (anyone know how to sew?) by memorizing his scriptures and doing his homework - so cute!!

Anyway, it's tons of fun Tuesday thru Thursday morning for T now, and I'm so enjoying it too! Pictures to come...

The Beach

2008-09-17T06:28:00.001-04:00

Monday afternoon, the kitchen sink is FULL of dishes and the laundry room feels like it's overflowing with clothes desperately needing washing. I looked around and thought of all the things I should be doing...and then I thought - forget it, we're going to the beach! We need to get out, have more fun - life is short, right?! So, I took the time I had to do the dishes and used it to cut up some kids food and salad for M and me, and packed the car.

When M got home it was off to an undisclosed location - T was sitting in the back asking where we were going on our "adventure" and M was in the front asking if he should have worn sandals (oops, should have told him that much, huh!?)

Long story short - we had a blast! Why don't we have more fun in life? Why don't we forget about the chores and rules and stress for a while and just go do something with our family that will not only nourish their bodies but their souls as well? Isn't that what really matters? I think it is. And you know what - those dishes and that laundry, well, they were both still there the next day...just waiting patiently to be completed (okay, so the laundry is still waiting, but I digress).

I will post pictures of the beach trip...T had a blast and can't even remember a time when he hated the sand and would freak out when he had to touch it...B on the other hand hated the sand and refused to get out of the lawn chair. I think she'll come around though...

Kramer update -

2008-09-07T18:55:00.000-04:00

WOW, it seems like it's been forever since I had the chance to sit down and blog...we've been on a trip to Iowa (flew there/drove home - 22 hrs), had the chickenpox, been through tropical storm Fay, driven to West Virginia for Labor Day weekend, and finally life is getting back to normal. Believe it or not, all of that happened in five weeks...wow!

So, now that life is "normal" again (note, life is never normal with a 2 & a 1 year old), I am excited that I got Tyler potty trained and able to dress/undress himself during all of that craziness & now he's going to start back to Mother's Morning Out this Tuesday. We have the orientation tomorrow, Tyler has his super cool new Little Einstein's backpack (thank you Nai Nai Kramer), and we are set to go!

Brooke is doing great as well. She is sleeping in a crib (in our room), and is quite attached to our family. She melds so well with everyone, it's no doubt that God brought her to the right family! She is starting to say "ma ma" and "da da" and know how to use them properly (not just babbling). She also says "uh oh" every time she drops something (about 500 times per day - on purpose!). She laughs a lot, and man does she LOVE her brother!

Let's see...what else is new with us...oh, we have a fabulous new babysitter. She is a former student of my dad's, although that is not how we found her. Small world! Tyler loves having her come over, as he pretty much gets to play whatever he wants and sometimes even gets to stay up a bit later than normal. Brooke likes her, as long as I'm within an arms reach, but she doesn't care to be left alone with anyone but me or Matt. We're working on that...however, I was able (while matt was out of town) to put Brooke to bed & have the babysitter put Tyler to bed & stay for a while so I could go out. Yes, can you believe it - I finally left the kids - WHOOO HOOO!!

Okay, more to come once Tyler starts school this week.

Help me reach my goal!Sponsor Me at March for Babies!

2008-09-03T12:59:00.001-04:00

Funny words -

2008-08-14T10:08:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I'm sick of being stuck at home with children who have the chickenpox. I am tired, it rains too much these days & I'm going stir crazy. While in my own personal funk I did find some humor in the following - I hope you do too.

crappuccino - a poorly made coffee beverage that costs upward of $4.

yellular - the loudness adopted in response to a bad cell-phone connection in the misguided hope that talking louder will improve it.

mouse trap - an Internet purchase that looks a lot different upon arrival than it did in the picture.

Enjoy!

Pictures -

2008-08-12T14:30:00.000-04:00

A YouTube link to see....

2008-08-01T18:12:00.000-04:00

Please check out the link below. It's from YouTube and was created by a young lady who was adopted from China. It made me cry...

http://youtube.com/user/girleffect

God bless!

Brooke walks & Tyler sings - videos

2008-07-20T16:18:00.000-04:00

Zoo pictures -

2008-07-20T15:11:00.000-04:00

Not much new going on...here are the pictures from the zoo.

Tyler feeds the giraffe & Brooke walks

2008-07-16T09:07:00.000-04:00

Last week had a lot of excitement in the Kramer house. On Thursday we went to the zoo with my parents and had a great time. Tyler was so excited to show his little sister all his favorite animals. He's been talking about doing this since before Brooke even came home! Tyler also got to feed the giraffe for the first time, something else he's been talking about doing forever. Plus he experienced touching a stingray. Luckily he didn't see the stingray that tried to bite my mom's hand thinking she had food! Made her jump!

On another note, more exciting that the zoo was that Brooke is walking!! She's been cruising since she came home, and started taking a few steps on her own about a week before her birthday. A few days after her birthday, however, she started to really walk on her own. She's nearly walking everywhere she goes now (when not being carried, of course) and is doing a great job stopping, turning and continuing to walk. Her "landing" isn't too great when she gets to her final destination, but she's getting lots of practice!

Another exciting thing that happened in our house is that Brooke started sleeping through the night - praise God!! She is still in our bed, that will probably last a while, but she goes to bed at 7pm and wakes up at 6am. Not bad!! I'd love for her to sleep until closer to 7am, but I'm not going to press my luck right now. Maybe later...

Happy Birthday Brooke!!

2008-07-05T13:10:00.001-04:00

Today is Brooke's first birthday. We're having a great day celebrating. We went to the pool this morning, which is always so fun for both of the kids. Then this afternoon we had my parents (lao lao & grandpa) over for a birthday celebration. Since the kids are so young, we didn't get a "real" cake for Brooke (nor did we for Tyler for his birthday)...instead we used an angel food cake & whip cream. It's fun to watch the kids get into the cake and really enjoy themselves, while knowing that they won't be TOO hyped up on sugar for the remainder of the day. Below is a picture of Brooke with her cake. Also I've included a picture from last October of Tyler with is "first" cake ("first" because he was two on his first birthday at home).

Brooke is almost walking on her own - well, she does walk about five or six steps on her own already, but she just can't make it any further than that. I know, any day now she'll be off and running and then I'm in BIG trouble with a 2 year old and a 1 year old running around the house! I should thank God that she can only walk a few steps.

More information from our house - we have started to convert the office into a playroom. Neither of us really use the office, so why have it? We've changed the spare bedroom around so it can fit Matt's desk, and we'll get rid of some extra furniture and use the bookcases for the kids toys & books. I can't wait for it to be finished - we're going to do a half wall of chalkboard and some other fun stuff. I hope the kids LOVE it! I will LOVE having a room to close the door on all the toys and feel like my house is clean!

Happy 4th of July weekend & God bless!

We're still here....

2008-06-17T14:21:00.000-04:00

Wow, time flies. We have a friend who had triplets and she was going to be able to bring one of the babies home from the NICU yesterday. I was driving this morning and wondering if the baby came home, and I was wishing that she had a blog so I could read and see what was going on. It's funny because I then thought about how she'd be too busy to write, and then I thought that maybe someone out there is waiting for me to update my blog and tell the world (or the two of you who read this!) what is going on with our darling babies.

So, all that to say that we're here and we're hanging in there! The kids do not nap at the same time, so my days are super busy. We have been going to playgroup and hanging out with the MOM's club. This morning we were at a local park by 9 am, and had a great time. Well, Tyler had a great time...I had a good time hanging out with the other moms, and poor Brooke was stuck in the hip hammock "hanging out". Oh well, soon enough she'll be walking around and getting into things - but for now I'll take only having to worry about one at the park.

This past week we had some friends head to Orlando from Iowa. We'd met them at the Ronald McDonald house last Feb/March while Tyler and I lived there. The daughter had a brain tumor removed and then had extensive radiation and chemo. They were in Orlando for her Make A Wish trip (www.wish.org). We met up with them on Friday at Universal Studios and had a great day. We were supposed to be leaving for Iowa for our six month checkup on Saturday, but with all the flooding up there our hospital was being evacuated and our trip was canceled. So, we made lemonade out of lemons and stayed in Orlando and spent a second day with our dear friends at Sea World. It was great! God blessed our family with patience (for me!) and with great manners, personality & restraint (for Tyler!) and as always, Brooke just hung out. We just had a great time - and you know, I really didn't expect it to go well at all, but I really wanted to see our friends.

Gotta run, babies are calling!

A trip to the pool...

2008-06-05T13:31:00.001-04:00

Yes, yes, I did it - I took both Tyler & Brooke to the pool this morning. I am so excited to have accomplished this without any outbursts, back talk, or negativity of any kind. We actually had a great time, with the hardest part being getting all our stuff to the pool and back out to the car! We even coordinated with our neighbor who just moved in - so she took her two children as well. The new neighbors have children who are the perfect age - a three year old girl and a thirteen month old boy. The mom stays at home with the kids - and we got along great - praise God!

This week has gone really well...since the incident on Monday that is. Tuesday wasn't too pretty, but it was better than Monday. Wednesday & Thursday (so far) have been great - it's really making me enjoy being at home with two. So far I've noticed that I stress less when I have a schedule, consistency & don't expect anything to happen quickly. Breakfast - at least an hour, trip to the pool - half hour to get ready, plus another half hour to get there - and it's at the front of our neighborhood, so that's not much driving time! You get the point...I'm just WAY slower than I use to be!! But that's okay - because we're having fun and getting a lot accomplished in a day just can't be important any more....not now.

On a side note - Brooke hates shoes, but is almost ready to walk. Tyler use to hate his crib, but he's been napping in there the past few days, loving it now that it's Brooke's crib, and his napping is getting better. Brooke on the other hand napped for thirty minutes today - and that's after crawling around in the baby pool all morning. What's up with Kramer kids and napping issues?!! ;-)

Tomorrow we're taking a tour of the Peterbrooke Chocolate factory with the MOM's club and I think that'll be so cool...and free samples...yummy!!

Two under three...

2008-06-02T15:39:00.000-04:00

As with any adventure, there are ups and downs. Luckily, each day either ends with an up or the day just ends and at least you can be glad that there is a fresh day ahead. So far, this is a "tomorrow will be a better day" day.

Tyler woke up at 5am, and got out of bed at 6. We should have known then that it wasn't going to be a good day...by 9am he'd been in time out probably five times and around 9:30 he fell asleep. I had told the MOM's club that I'd be attending the playgroup today, so I felt that we should go (plus I get stir crazy in the house all day and knew it was going to rain this afternoon). So, I woke Tyler and we all got dressed and went to the playgroup.

We weren't there ten minutes before Tyler started crying about something. I think a friend had taken a toy from him. Then a few minutes later a mom had to move her baby because Tyler was swinging a toy around and almost hit the baby in the head. Sadly enough he was using the toy the way it was meant, but he couldn't grasp the concept that he should be careful and not that the baby should move. So, a few minutes later he screams (and anyone who's heard THE scream knows it's shrill) because he sees the dog outside and it scared him (pit bull looking thing). I calm him and he sits on my lap with Brooke and keeps taking her food, crying that I won't give it to him, he wants cheerios, no he wants goldfish, there go the goldfish on the floor, and on and on. Finally I had to get up because Brooke crawled away and he started wailing. I was done...so I got our stuff together and picked up Brooke. Well, it's not easy to grab our stuff, Brooke & him - he must realize this because he went limp and refused to walk. I tried to pick him up and he ran away screaming. Mortified at my son's behavior I waiting a minute and picked him up, the mom who was the hostess walked me to the door picking up Tyler's shoes and putting them in my bag, and we walked out the door in horror and shame!

Once outside the wailing and screaming went up a few decibels - enough that I'm sure those at the front of the house heard him, and he started flailing himself backward so I was slowly losing my grip on him as I walked to the car. Needless-to-say I had some choice words for him which included the fact that he was being a very bad boy, I was very disappointed and he was going to be spending a lot of time in timeout today.

He cried the entire way home and cried and screamed his way into time out. He was to stay in there an allotted amount of time plus one minute for every time he screamed. He ended up in there almost thirty minutes screaming and finally he fell asleep. Oh my! When he awoke this afternoon we weren't even up an hour before he was back in the room sleeping again...again, started in time out with screaming and fell asleep. He is sleeping in his room now...hopefully until dinner or later with this attitude!

What in the world has gotten into him today!? UGH!!

On a positive note though, Brooke slept from 7:30 pm - 5 am, then was up till about 6 and slept again till 7am. Praise God for one good thing to say today!!

Playing in the backyard....

2008-05-29T08:40:00.000-04:00

I'm SO tired...

2008-05-28T15:21:00.000-04:00

Okay, it's time for me to buy stock in Starbucks. Laugh all you want, but I am so exhausted I can barely see straight. Why does no one like to sleep around here but me, and ironically why am I the one who's up with everyone who doesn't like to sleep? For instance, I thought it was going to be a great nap day today...started off that way with Tyler wanting to be in one crib & Brooke going down with a bottle in the other. So, I get a little work done and start to rest on the couch. My eyes couldn't have been closed for five minutes before Tyler starts fussing - loud - and I'm afraid he's going to wake Brooke in the next room. UGH, so I have to go see what he wants - it's a pillow, no, he wants music, no, he wants no music, how about a drink...hello, not THAT drink mommy!? And it goes on and on...and finally he stops, so I think I'm okay again...and ten minutes later Brooke realizes she's not in a bed, she's in a crib, and it's one more fuss to deal with - oh, and wait, Tyler hears Brooke and so he wants to get up because he thinks she's up having fun without him...and there you have it...naps are over...I still can't see straight...it's only noon...and today is not looking like a good day. What time is daddy coming home and why doesn't Starbucks deliver!??!

Playing in a crib?!

2008-05-27T12:40:00.000-04:00

For anyone who knows us well, you know that our children and cribs usually don't go to together. Sure, we bought the babies a crib for their room and a portable one for ours - but do they sleep in them, no way! Well, we're finally taking a step in the right direction...both kids wanted to play in the crib and we caught it on tape. Enjoy!