A Son and a Brother

Before we ever went to China, we discussed what it might be like to raise a teenager that had never lived in our home (or in any home).  We had many hopes and dreams, many fears and uncertainties.  We hoped for him to assimilate well into our family.  We hoped he would learn quickly.  We hoped he would be happy in America.  We hoped he would like having us as his family.  We hoped he would be happy to be adopted.  We hoped for many, many things.  But, we often said, the one and only thing we could really hope for and that would be the most important, above all else, is that we hoped he would come to know his Maker as his personal Lord and Savior.

Well, friends, our greatest dream has come true.  Who would have ever thought it would happen so soon, less than 5 months after being adopted.  While still learning a new language, learning to adjust to a new home, new family, new food, new country, our God has become His God.  Our Father has become his Father.  We not only have a new son, we also have a new brother in Christ.

Jian has told us that on his own, a while back, after reading "the blue book" (a Chinese Bible given to us by a friend), he asked Jesus into his heart while in bed one night.  Because he's used to being independent and not having people care about him, he didn't realize this was a big deal and something we would want to know!  We're so thrilled that God has answered our prayers.  In a much bigger way, and much sooner than we could have ever imagined.

At least weekly (and often more), Jian tells us, "I didn't know about God before, when I was in China, no one taught me about God, but, now I know He is real."  And, today, he took communion for the first time, and was able to explain what it meant and what it symbolizes.  What a special day.  What a mighty God we serve.

Our weeks in review

So, as I was sitting in the hospital Saturday, I was thinking about our past couple of weeks and all that has transpired. 

It began on Monday, January 31st.  Jon left for Hawaii to go to a conference and visit his sister and brother-in-law in Honolulu.  

Before his plane ever left I heard from school that Jian was having a rough day.  Before Jon arrived, Jian had to be picked up from school early and Tanner’s school called to let me know he had a probable ear infection.  (Nope, this wasn’t the reason we were at the hospital :)).  Jian had a rough afternoon as well and settled down after seeing Dad on Skype, safely in Hawaii.  It was rough for him not experiencing someone leave and come back, , so it was a hard time for him.  Thankfully, the rest of the week was better!

Tuesday morning I awoke at 4:30am to what sounded like the house falling down.  There was a terrible thunderstorm with winds up to 70mph!  Our neighbors had a tree uprooted in their backyard!  We had lots of branches in the yard and trash all over, but, no real damage.  My mom was supposed to come from Michigan Tuesday night, and the kids were so excited, but, there was a blizzard in Michigan and high winds in Houston, so, her flight was cancelled.

Wednesday morning, I awoke to no water.  The weather had become frigid (just in time for mom to come from up north), and despite making sure the pipes were wrapped and the water dripping, the pipes froze!  I decided to deal with it later as the boys had eye doctor appointments in Temple that morning.  They dealt with the lack of water without any problems and tolerated the four hours in the car back and forth to Temple very well!  Before leaving, I contacted our neighbor to see if they had water, they did (confirming it was our pipes).  She kindly offered to help thaw them while I was gone, so I left her my hairdryer and a small space heater that she connected to a couple of extension cords to get to the pipe in the front yard.  This was so incredibly generous of her since it was about 18 degrees outside!  We had good reports in Temple and enjoyed a nice Chinese lunch with our friend Lisa to celebrate Chinese New Year.  Upon arriving home, I heard the details that our neighbor had to endure to get our water running again!  My hairdryer overheated starting a fire in our very dry front yard covered with leaves from last fall and…..no running water.  With the help of another neighbor walking by, they put out the fire and got the water running again!  (Still, not the reason we were at the hospital).  After calling the plumber and determining what was the best option for keeping the pipes from freezing, I re-wrapped the outside pipes and kept the water running (not just dripping!) all night long.

My mom’s flight had been rescheduled for Wednesday evening & she finally arrived in College Station about 12:30am Thursday – yippee!!

Thursday was a great day!  Mom and I rested at home, enjoyed running water and heat and the boys loved having Grandma in town.  The weather was predicted to be bad on Friday, so school was scheduled for a 2 hour delay on Thursday evening, the boys were excited about this, except….Jon was supposed to be flying into Houston Friday morning. 

Friday….we woke up to beautiful snow!  There was a layer of ice underneath it so school was cancelled for the day!  This seemed like a great idea in the morning, but, by afternoon, I was wishing school was back on!  We did lots of crafts and games, but, the boys didn’t love the “sitting in front of the fire all day” idea. 

So, Jon arrived safely into Houston, but, was stuck there.  The shuttle he was to ride home was cancelled for the morning.  The roads were too bad to try to venture to Houston to pick him up.  The temperature was not supposed to get above freezing, so, we were trying to come up other solutions.  The afternoon shuttle was cancelled, and the roads had not improved, so, he decided to take a flight from Houston to College Station.  Around 12 hours after he flew into Houston, Jon finally arrived home.  The boys were thrilled to see their dad again!

Saturday we had a nice, warm, day.  We were able to drive to Dallas to surprise our friends’ Mike and Cathy at their 40th anniversary party!  While there Jon’s back became worse (it’s been bothering him for a while and was not great in Hawaii either), and he had a hard time riding home.  From then on, he was in bed unable to walk, sit, or stand for the next 5 days.  On Thursday, he started developing weakness and increased numbness, so, Friday afternoon he saw a neurosurgeon and Saturday morning he had surgery on a herniated disc to relieve the pressure on the nerves.  THAT was why we were in the hospital.  He was home by 1pm and was so relieved that the pain was gone.  He still has weakness and numbness (could remain for several months), so we’re praying that it will dissipate, and that it will happen soon. 

SO, hopefully we’ll be back to our regular programming soon, regular, more boring updates that do not include freezing weather, no water, fires or hospitals!

Some Days are Hard!

Well, as you can see by the sparse updates, I'm not on the computer much anymore these days!  Our lives continue to be full, mostly with family time! 

We enjoyed our Christmas break, but, we also enjoyed being back home and getting into a routine again! 

We've had some hard days over the last few weeks.  Thankfully they're spread out and are not one after the other.  We knew these days would come (and why wouldn't they?).  Jian has had so much to adjust to, a new country, new home, new food, new routines, new rules, new holidays, and on and on.  Some days we wonder why he seems to only focus on himself and can't see other things going on around him, then, we laugh and wonder, why would he?  He's grown up in an orphanage for 14 years and had to learn how to survive on his own!  Our friend Charity made me laugh when I was telling her about some our rough days, she joked, "well, it's his own fault, if he hadn't been so good the first 3 months....."

So, our bad days are not horrible, but, just hard.  They have involved tears, tension, anger, frustration and more.  Thankfully, Jian has always been pretty good at being able to communicate his feelings after things have settled down and is able to learn and apologize!  He really is an amazing boy!  Some days we're exhausted and tired thinking of all of the things to teach him, so many things that need to be re-learned, or taught, after growing up without a family, but, at the end of the day, I'm reminded of the great privilege it is that God has chosen us to be the family to teach him! 

These days often remind me of my behavior towards God!  I am just as much (or more) rebellious, defiant and unkind as Jian is to my Heavenly Father - and I'm so very grateful to continually be forgiven and loved!  Truthfully, Jian's hard days are much more few and far between than mine are!  There is a lot of laughter and joy that permeates our home as well.  We love to watch the boys enjoy each other and communicate so well together, it gives us special, fun memories.

Tanner has had a couple of hard weeks as well, but his have been physically.  He's had a couple of migraines, one requiring an ER visit for medication to stop the vomiting.  He used to really perk up after these visits, but, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.  He's not felt well for quite a while, but, continues to live life with a smile on his face and joy in his heart.  He really loves his brother, and he continues to be a wonderful example to us of how to live with suffering!

So, thankfully, the last several days have been good ones, and we know there will be more hard ones to come, but, we're grateful for a gracious heavenly Father who helps us get through them, and gives us a brand new start each and every day, to try all over again!

Merry Christmas and our 3-month-old

We've had a wonderful Christmas (that started last weekend with Jon's family, continued this weekend with my (Shelly's) family and will end next week after we're back home with our immediate family Christmas.  It's been fun for Jian to experience all of this family time - it's been a little rough at time, learning how to be a part of a family, but, he's been adjusting so well and enjoying gifts, games, food and fun. 

We have many reasons to celebrate today, three months ago today we added a new son to our family.   We talked about it with Jian and how he was nervous and he was surprised to hear that we were nervous too! We also celebrate the birth of another son, Jesus, who was born so that he could die to save us and allow us all to be adopted into His family.  What a special and memorable day.

Merry Christmas!  

A Delightful December

Well, my goal was to get these pictures on before Christmas, and it looks like I will succeed in doing that!  We’ve had a good and busy December.  Here are some fun pictures of Jian’s first December in America.

Jian has continued to do amazingly well.  Some days though, are rough.  He is not used to boundaries or rules, of course, 14 years in an orphanage, why would we think he would?  He wants to learn and wants to please.  He’s a true joy.  Some days, it’s really frustrating and feels like it’s all about reminders, corrections, apologies and re-teaching. Thankfully, he’s not purposefully mean or deceitful most of the time, it’s just lack of knowledge!  We’re also so happy with how honest he can be about what he’s feeling and why he’s upset.  What a true blessing that is, and helps to try to resolve some problems.  He still requires a lot of supervision as he’s learning what he can and can’t do, and how to behave appropriately. Most days, I’m so tired at the end of the day, but, it’s a good feeling going to bed knowing our two sons are right where they’re supposed to be.  Most days, it’s hard to remember that he hasn’t always been a part of our family.  The great thing about that is that,he always has, it was always in God’s plan, he just didn’t join our family until this year!

We are all looking forward to some time in Michigan this Christmas and are excited to experience Jian’s first Christmas in America.  It’s been a real joy showing him the real reason we celebrate Christmas and having evening Advent readings together and seeing him learn more and more every day, what an honor to be chosen to teach him these things. 

Still working on writing about Jian’s adoption…..someday it will be finished!  So, here are our December pictures!

Tanner’s tree preference,        Here’s the tree we chose                Our 2010 Christmas tree 

 

Both boys enjoyed participating in the annual Christmas program for the Brazos Valley Regional Day School for the Deaf

 

       Our annual skating with Santa!  Jian LOVED his first time ice skating, and was quite a natural!

We wish you a blessed and wonderful Christmas!