Hi, faithful frie
nds... several people have asked me when I am going to update our blog. Well, since I know that you are interested in how Hallie is doing and adjusting, I want to comply! I am about to send out some adoption announcements, and I put the address of our OTHER blog on them, since that is where all the China trip is blogged (as blogspot was blocked in China, except for Hong Kong). If you want to get a recap of the journey to China, go to:http://www.youbelong.net/everett
I will attempt to copy the updates to both for a while, but just want to give everyone the heads up on blog addresses, just in case you were unsuccessful in finding the "You Belong" site.
Hallie is doing incredibly well... we cannot believe how well she is adjusting. I mean, seriously, she is just such a happy child and really seems to like the service around here! I think she is pretty close to her chronological age
for most developmental milestones, with the exception of speech. (We meet with the surgeon tomorrow for a consult and to schedule the first surgery, in which they will close most of her palate.) She loves her Daddy, is entertained by her siblings (Emily is something in between sibling and parent, and Hallie will go to her for either role) and truly seems to be attaching/bonding to us. She gazes into our eyes, doesn't go to other people indiscriminately, and gives us kisses. She is even enjoying her baths now.... the younger kids fight over who gets to "take a bath with Hallie tonight..." She is really just a little love! We may battle things down the road, but, for now, she is really a dream baby. She has a quiet, observant personality, and she is definitely getting "babied".
Well, I really can't blog anymore about the "present" until I finish some "past" blog info... I have to write a few final words about our trip and the eternal journey back home.
One of the best parts of our trip (besides getting Hallie, of course, which was far and away the BEST part) was observing Hal and the fun he had trying the strange and interesting food all over China. You've never seen glee in someone's eyes until you've seen him looking over the offerings of a Chinese breakfast buffet (which is unlike any other breakfast buffet you'll encounter). In Hong Kong, he came back to the table excitedly telling us about the "peat moss" that he was about to try (all the foods are labeled, and good thing). He said it was salty and tasty, and wouldn't we like some? Well, no, but you go ahead. We found out in the next city that it was actually called "meat floss" and I'm not sure how they make it, but Hal continued eating it, despite the name change. It must be pretty popular because at a donut shop, they had a donut with meat floss on top (barf) and later at a bakery, we saw a meat floss sandwich (picture included). Other things that Hal enjoyed were: pigeon kidneys ("Ella, eat one and then tell David it's good..."), smoked eel for breakfast (after seeing them writhing around in the tank in front of the restaurant, I said no thanks) , and cabbage for breakfast ("My dream: cabbage for breakfast!" That is a quote, btw). He did pass on the cow's intestine he accidentally ordered at the Panda Safari Zoo!
Our trek home began at 3:30 am Christmas Eve in China (which is the 23rd in USA). We had to get up that early to get to the airport for a 1 hour flight to Hong Kong, where we hung out in the airport for about 3 hours until our flight to San Francisco. We boarded the 13 or 15 (I forget) hour flight to San Fran, and encouraged the kids to have fun, watch movies for a while, but try to go to sleep as much as possible. No one slept that well, but David didn't sleep AT ALL, until about 15 minutes before we landed, when he fell dead asleep with his face up and his mouth open... we could NOT wake him up and he looked hilarious, so we all started cracking up, including a few flight attendants and passengers. We had to take a picture, and so did some other Chinese man we didn't even know! (It was pretty funny, as you can see...).
At some point in a trip like this, you just lose all concern with normal public behavior and do things you would NEVER consider on a full night of sleep-- laying down on airport floors, airport benches, etc. Don't expect us to be flying anywhere soon. All flights into Dallas were being rescheduled and pushed back because of the freezing weather, and we heard more than one irate conversation (and a few expletives) between desperate travelers trying to get to their holiday destinations and airport employees. When we finally made it to DFW, the roads were frozen and the shuttle to our car was cancelled. It took 3 hours to get a cab and another hour for Hal to get back to the airport in our car to get us. At that point, I told him that I didn't care if we had to drive 20 mph back to Tyler, I COULD NOT stay in another hotel room! Once we made it to about Mesquite, the roads were fine. We then realized that none of us had eaten anything in about 8 hours, but at 3am on Christmas morning, even McDonald's is closed! The one place that was open was the "Waffle House" in Mesquite.... we pulled right in and were surprised to see that there were quite a few people eating at the waffle house at 3am on Christmas morning! It was not the cleanest place in the world, but at that point, no one cared, and we all had a big Christmas breakfast and arrived safely home (38 hours later) in Tyler at 6am.
What a trip!! Our children, all 5 of them, rose so beautifully to every occasion-- we were very proud of them! There are many other memories that we laugh about and enjoy, but I will leave it at that for now. Thank you all so much for your support and gracious encouragement-- it is all a part of why Hallie is now home!
