Tim's random musings. :)

Tim here with an update and a list of quotes from this trip.

Things have continued to go incredibly well, with the exception of the middle of the night airport adventures for Mitch's flight (which ended up well and will be one of those stories that is funny to look back on) :-)

Mitch's flight from Shanghai was supposed to arrive at 7:20 last night, but it kept getting delayed more and more ... It eventually took off five hours late, which meant it was going to arrive here in Guangzhou after the subway was closed. Before we left home we had given him enough Chinese money for the subway plus a little bit more, but it was not going to be enough for a cab from the airport to the hotel. We had been following his flight status on the internet so knew that he was getting in too late for the subway. Tracy came up with a great solution of one of us taking a cab from the hotel to the airport and meeting him there.  

So at 11 PM I left for the 30 minute ride to the airport. I found out what baggage claim area his flight was going to use ( the same one as the other twenty or so flights that arrived while I was there) and camped out at the exit from baggage claim to wait for his flight. It landed at 12:20 and I waited for him to come along ... and waited ... and waited ... And no sign of Mitch!??!!?? I waited for quite a while, but still no Mitch. :-0. 

Because of AT&T locking their phones so that you cannot use a non-AT&T carrier, we were not able to use our phones, and unfortunately the Chinese airports require you to give a working mobile phone number to get onto airport Wifi. Finally I headed back to the hotel so we could figure out what to do next. Tracy called American Airlines who the flight was booked through and was told that he had been ticketed but that the flight was still in the air (what???? ... I still don't know what they were smoking). Anyway, as Tracy was trying to get through to China Air (the carrier who actually flew that leg of the flight), we heard someone in the hallway and there was Mr. Mitch!  

He had been on the flight, and he had somehow gotten a taxi driver (who apparently was driving off the books anyway) to take US dollars for payment.

Somehow Mitch had walked by me and I had not seen him ... in my (weak) defense, I had been falling asleep ever since 8:00 PM due to being so tired and it was almost 1 AM by the time he got his luggage ... but still, how did that happen? I knew that I had zoned out a few times while waiting. He had to have walked within 10-15 feet of me ... Oh well. Like I said, it will be funny to look back on in the future. For now, though, I can only assume that I fell asleep on my feet and missed him.

Regardless, it is great to have us all together. Mitch is recovering from jet lag, but doing great with that.

We were all excited to see Mitch, but Ian was especially happy to meet another member of his family! Ian had asked about Mitch several times, starting while we were still at the government office on gotcha day. (We had sent him a letter telling him about our family, and each person had included a message to him. Mitch had told Ian that he might not be able to be there when we first got him, and Ian obviously remembered that because he was asking where his Gege (big brother) was.) 

Because of the five hour flight delay, Mitch got to the hotel at about 2 AM this morning. Ian woke up and walked out and looked at him but he never really fully woke up, and I had wondered if he would remember it, but the first thing he did this AM was to ask about his Gege.

Today was a "free day" with no forms or appointments, so we were on our own for the day. We are introducing Ian to board games and card games and he seems to enjoy them, and he picks up on them quickly. 

For lunch we walked to a dumpling restaurant and Tracy again navigated the frightening menu options ... "Thief smashed lamb portion" ... "Braised brain sections" ... "Dried silkworm chrysalis" ... "Fresh ground donkey" ... and something about preserved skin ... you get the idea. Anyway, she picked several dishes and they turned out to be quite tasty.  

After that we walked to a lakeside park, and it was there that we got our first picture as a family of seven ... While the lady took our picture using our camera, her husband had his phone out and was taking pictures of us, too. By the way, I am certain that Laura has ended up on QQ (the Chinese version of Facebook) several times over the past week ... There are not a lot of blondes over here, and she has had multiple double takes, people taking pics, people pretending to take selfies but really taking pics of her, etc.

It got pretty hot during our walk! Fortunately there is a McDonald's next to our hotel, so we were able to get some ice cream to pick everybody's energy level up.

Later in the day it was pool time and then back to the room to relax.

All of the kids are adjusting well to our new dynamic. Ian is showing a helpful personality. He often has helped with carrying bags, etc, and tonight when I was getting ready to change Katie's diaper and was getting everything together, he went over and was going to change it for her.  

Tomorrow is mostly hanging around the hotel again, so hopefully we will get back to the pool.  

Below are some of the quotes from the trip that will stick with us. Unfortunately there are lots that we cannot remember, things that we said "that needs to be on the list" ... tired brains here.

JADEN

"Thanks, bro" ... to Ian anytime Ian helps him with a game in the iPad or holds the door open or helps in any other way.

"Ian, follow my lead"

"Alrighty, and listen up"

"Alright, let's do this thing!"

"brother!" ... when he calls for Ian because he needs help on a math game on the iPad 

"Hey dzud rhe udd " ... or something similar ... when someone talks to Jaden in Mandarin Chinese because they think he must be able to speak the language, Jaden launches into 'Jaden Chinese' which is nonsense but sounds like he is really speaking a language. :-)

"Ian, that means ... " followed by a full explanation in English ... not really helpful, but entertaining for us.

IAN

"Whoa!!!" ... he says this anytime he encounters something that is new or interesting, be it our hotel room, a bird on the riverbank, and esp when we took off in the airplane from Chengdu

"Silly goose" ... repeating Jaden

"Say good morning" ... He always includes the word "say"

"Hello" ... to multiple people as he would pass them ... said with a great big smile as he shows off his new language skills. :-)

KATIE

"That's Ian" ... Over and over again, with different inflections ... sometimes happy, sometimes amazed, sometimes incredulous, sometime excited, sometimes in awe!

"We have to be quiet" ... she said this every time we went down the hallway to our hotel room in Chengdu ... she would say it all the way down the hallway even though no one else was talking.

MITCH

"I have no idea what you're saying, buddy." ... The funny thing is that Mitch was talking to Jaden, not Ian 

NELLIE (the kiddos grandma) ... at the end of a Skype call tonight, after telling all of us goodnight ... 

"It's starting to sound like the Walton's around here". :-)

Ok, it is past time to head to bed to recharge for another day!

Blessing, y'all

Tim