Language Barrier ....

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Last night we ate at Lucy’s and Guang Guang ate lamb. He also had a fit - see the picture of him squatting. We are now leaving him when he starts fussing. We just walk away a little bit, and then give him a hug afterwards. He is an adorable mess!

This morning when he woke up he put on his swim trunks. I tried to get him to change but did not push although I knew that I should because he would think he was going swimming. I was right. As soon as we entered the restaurant, he began screaming and hitting and kicking. Everyone watched us and it was the worst fit yet. Even other adoptive parents were asking us if this was normal. He truly thought he was getting to swim. He eventually calmed and ate a good breakfast. Then Beth and I took him to his first church service. It was in mandarin. We were told it would be in English also, but were given the wrong time. But we enjoyed it. Hallelujah and Amen are spoken the same, so we got a little bit out of it. The hymns were pretty. The church was full and we were put in an over flow room with video. Guang Guang did great. He sat when the pastor asked everyone to sit down- in mandarin of course. I was able to buy him a bible in mandarin and English and a praise CD in mandarin for 60 yuan or $10.00 total.

We then came back to feed him lunch and I tried to get bulkhead seats on our flights home. I have to try again later. That would be a prayer request. The last flight was a disaster, so I am very nervous about our 24 hours of traveling home. The bulkhead would be great because he kicks the seat in front of him. He seems to like to have pressure in the bottom of his foot when he is tired. He pushes them into me at night-very comfortable!! Ha!

Later, Beth and I took him on a walk while Dad and Laurie went to the Canton Trade Fair. Beth and I saw the poorer side of the island. The people who live here appear to be wealthy. However, on our walk along the river we saw men bathing in the river. They took off the clothing they were wearing, washed the clothing, and then washed themselves. They stood on steps that went into the Pearl River which is very brown and dirty. Needless to say we weren’t planning on seeing naked men as we went for a little exercise! Beth says we got a Chinese Chip and Dales show for free. We also saw a young boy smoking a cigarette. They must start early here.

On a serious note, tomorrow is my appointment with the embassy. I leave at 8:00 and the appointment is at 9:00. Remember, Thomas likes to be early. Beth and Laurie will keep Hamilton for me since he does not have to go. This will be the first morning that I will not be with him when he wakes up but he will have a fun morning though. Please pray the appointment goes smoothly. This is the final step of the adoption. We have a swearing in ceremony on Tuesday- but that is just a formality I believe.

I need to go, Hamilton just threw the camera and we need to try to fix it. Frustrating!!! (:-))

(When I just spoke with the girls and Hamilton, he had also just burned his hand on a hot light bulb! He was definitely hurting and beginning to get very unhappy. I am sure the language barrier is one of the things leading to his "disruptive behavior" and he will be very obedient once this is no longer an issue. Dear :-))