Red Couch Potatos

Luke is fascinated by his baby signing video.
Our little emperor

Go ahead, laugh!
The Brave and Mighty Travel Group 1314!


What you would think would have been a fairly easy day got pretty complicated quickly. Firstly, we had Luke's physical and visa pictures. The Visa picture was cool because we got to a huge difference in him in just a week. Next to his adorable picture taken yesterdaythe visa application had the picture taken of him the first day we had him. He is no longer the bobble-headed vague looking baby we were handed in the JIn Feng Hotel. Our man holds his head up strong and steady and looks right at the camera. It was very encouraging.

Then came the physical. After zipping through the ear, nose and throat expert and the height and weight (no change this week to the weight folks, but Jocelyn says that probably because they weigh him in all their clothes. We had him in one layer, his foster mother probably had him in about eight. Then came the physical part,and the Doctor (who wore no gloves and did not wash his hands in between babies- yikes) spent a long time feeling his hernia area. We asked Jocelyn what the problem was and she just said "he's still looking." Terror. What is that hernia? Then finally another Doctor comes in feels around and says "Testes no fine." He has no testicals, what?? Finally, we figured out (because Jocelyn didn't know how to translate this)he has an undescended testicle. No big deal right?

Yes and No. The physical problem is quite common and easily correctible, we knew this however, Jocelyn then told us that Undescended Testicle is a "special need" and we had to have our home study updated, by our American social worker, by tomorrow so as not to interfere with immigration.

At that point, it was midnight in America, so we emailed Sue, waited until 9:00pm here (that's 8:00am to you guys) and left messages on her phones and crossed our fingers that she could FAX internationally from home. I woke up in the middle of the night with my phone flashing, hoping this meant the FAX was there, and as I crawled around the room looking for my jeans, I found an envelope slid under the door. God Bless Susan. She updated the homestudy, attempted to get it FAXed, couldn't, then contacted CCAI, sent it to Colorado where they were able to Fax it here like little paperwork fairies. Thanks so much to Susan and the people of CCAI for coming through in a pinch. If we order a Diet Coke with ice could they get it here in 4 hours too?

So guess what Luke can do now! He eats Cheerios! He ate about six of them at one sitting. Took a break then ate another bunch at dinner. This is huge, because he's actually using his teeth. Then he was watching Anne drink her bottled water and he started making the Num Num face, so she gave him some water out of a bottle cap. He gulped it down. That's our boy.

Then came the Red Couch photo session. For non-China-adoptees, the Red Couch photo is a tradition. All the families in your travel group have pictures taken together and seperately on this Red Couch in the Hotel. The kids are dressesd up in their fanciest Chinese duds. Finding a size that fit Luke took some doing there is no suit that fits him. We ended up getting the smallest size and rolling up his sleeves and legs. Then we met at the couch.

To describe it as chaos does not do it justice. All the babies were less than thrilled to be there, some more than others! They all looked so beautiful and handsome. I, Anne, felt really moved seeing them together, I feel a special bond with each of them and their parents, who we have shared this amazing experience with. They all have such big hearts. Now to say that the babies felt moved and touched would not be true. They mostly hated it. The group picture of just the babies made us laugh to the point of no return when we downloaded it! We were still giggling about it an hour later! Enjoy the pictures, we will enjoy our second to last day here with a trip to the pearl market (don't worry Carol K I won't break the bank!).



Love to Everybody!!