Archives for May 2018

Saturday morning we had to head out to Leo’s medical appointment for his visa.  Since only one parent needed to go Josh Kelley and the kids stayed back while Leo and I headed out.  I got a bit teary driving to the appointment with the other families who we’re there with our agency.  My mind raced back to this day with Everett and how Josh, Harper, Hudson, Solomon and me all went together.  Everett was so brave and just did his thing only getting a little teary when they drew blood.

I sat in the little seats filling out medical and prescription information holding sweet Leo and I just longed for Everett.  He would have loved being Leo’s big brother.  I know he would have been so helpful in loving and taking care of him.  I can get really angry if I let myself because I know this was not how it was suppose to go down.  He should be here with us.  Period.

I was completely unsure of how Leo would do.  He is so little and just did not fully understand what was going on, but he ended up being just as brave as his big brother.  He stood on the scale and let the doctors and nurses do everything they needed to do.  He only got teary when they took blood and was not a fan of me having to put pressure on his bandaid for a bit, but nothing a sucker couldn’t fix. 🙂

We finished up his medical and headed back to the hotel.  The rest of the day was pretty chill.  The kids all went swimming with Josh while Leo took a nap.  I spent some time writing about our trip and had the sweetest moment with Leo when he saw Everett’s picture on the desktop of my computer.  He kept pointing to him and I instantly cried and then told him all about his big brother.  Leo would likely never remember Shuai on his own…he was 1 when we came to get Shuai, but he will remember him because we do.  He’ll remember him because it’s so important to us for him to remember him.  It reminds me so much of Harper, Hudson and Solomon with my Mom.  They knew my mom so well, but they we’re so little when she died.  It was up to Josh and me to keep her memory alive and what an honor that is.  Same goes for Everett.  We have photos of him out and we talk about him every single day.  Leo will remember because it’s important to us for him to remember.  Keeping Everett’s memory alive is our greatest honor.

After dinner that night we all walked down to a 7/11 down the street.  This was our first normalish, fun moment as a family of 9.  We just walked around talking and laughing.  We all picked out treats to munch on and Leo got a bag of M&Ms all to himself.  We sat outside in the amazing weather taking each other in and the busy city of Guangzhou moving all around us.

Amon ate approximately 42 Kinders while in China.  Chocolate is easily Amon’s most favorite favorite food.  Chocolate anything is his kind of anything.  It didn’t matter how small compared to everyone else’s his little Kinder egg compared, he was in it for the deliciousness…and the toy.

One of my first memories from my childhood involved my Mom and M&Ms so it was extra sweet feeling watching Leo eat his little bag of chocolate treats.  It was a much needed, sweet day.

Added bonus:  I got my first Leo kiss that day.  Harper was the only one who had gotten one so far and we all had been anxiously awaiting our turn.  And it was finally my turn.  It was the sweetest little smooch and this guy has my heart forever.  I’ve been soaking up his kisses ever since.

So we are back home here in Tennessee, but I wanted to still document the rest of our trip for our family since this blog acts as kind of a scrapbook and memory keeper.

Friday at 2pm we we’re suppose to be flying out to Guangzhou where would finish up Leo’s adoption with his visa and consulate appointment.  Our flight ended up being cancelled and the next available one with 8 seats was at 10pm that night.  Ahhhhhh!!!  We could only stay in our hotel until 1pm so we we’re left with a lot of time outside in the heat with several little kiddos who had not gotten their much needed afternoon nap.  We we’re already a little anxious to see how Leo’s O2 would be on the flight so throw in pure exhaustion and nerves we’re running high.

We walked down to a park close to our hotel and proceeded to drag our tired bodies around the park.  It was actually quite hilarious because we we’re all so tired and had come accustomed to those afternoon naps for our daily pick-me-up.  In China naps in the afternoon are crazy common and when we walked upon a shady area in the park with people napping on benches Josh Kelley and I wanted to join them…especially the older gentlemen who was in a full on snorefest. 🙂

We spent several hours wandering around and found our sweaty, overly tired selves back at one of our favorite little places to eat an early dinner only to find out their chef was on break and was not coming back until we needed to leave for the airport.  Josh and Wendy ended up getting dinner somewhere different and bringing it back to the restaurant because everyone was just zapped at this point.  So we sat right there in that restaurant and ate food from another restaurant and the kind employees didn’t mind one bit.  They even brought the kids balloons to play with while we waited.  It was the nicest.  I imagine they could read the distress and exhaustion across our faces.

After eating we headed to the airport.  We then spent an insane amount of time there.  Amon proceeded to fall asleep in any spit he stopped in.  Like ANY SPOT!!!  He was beyond tired and the kid loves his sleep.  He goes hard all day, but when it’s bedtime he’s ready to sleep.  A 10pm flight was crazy hard.

We finally boarded and then sat on the runway for an additional hour.  We didn’t leave Zhengzhou until 11pm and we didn’t get to our hotel until around 2:30am.  We we’re completely wiped out.  I had so many feelings swirling around in my head and heart while leaving Zhengzhou.  Leaving the place where we’d first met both Everett and Leo and spent the most special time with Everett.  This leg of our trip was beyond difficult.  The emotions alone, but throw in everyone else’s feelings and jet lag and exhaustion and home sickness and it was just really hard…really beautiful, but really hard too.

Finally getting to Guangzhou felt like a breath of fresh air.  It felt lighter and easier in a sense.  It felt like just the place we needed if we couldn’t be in our own home all together.  Guangzhou is where Everett had set into his little routine and had opened up and started to trust us and it held such fond, bright memories.  It felt hopeful and so we laid down in all our beds crazy late at night knowing we we’re that much closer to home and tomorrow would indeed be better.