She had a lot of mixed emotions leading up to this trip and the whole first week we were here, but she's really enjoying it now that we are in her province!
We really had no idea what to expect with Kai. We asked so many questions on all his updates and got pretty vague answers, so we came with no expectations other than to meet him where he was in his place of need and love him with Jesus' love as best we could. We were told he really didn't eat and that he only said two words (Mama and Baba). I was already planning on connecting with Kaylee Grace's feeding therapist when we got home to begin to get him eating. We left for the civil affairs office Monday, feeling unsure of what was ahead. All we knew was that we had seen Jesus move mountains before and we were about to see Him do it again!
We got up to the civil affairs room and walked in and he was already there - just hanging out on the couch all by himself! We got down on his level, brought out some toys to grab his attention and fell in love immediately! What a sweet spirit this kid has! We could tell right away he was sick. He had a rash and cold-like symptoms. None-the-less he came right into my lap, let us feed him and didn't even look back when we left.
We went back to the hotel and he continued to feel worse. We'd see little bits of his personality here and there but poor guy! He just felt awful!!
We ended taking him to the hospital at his orphanage (he was in foster care up until the last 3 days before we got him....they took him back to the orphanage to help him transition away from the foster family- so hard!) He had to have IV antibiotics for 3 days - he had scarlet fever :( Bless his heart, he was SUCH a trooper! We are so thankful that his orphanage treated him rather than us having to spend the week in the local hospital. They treated us so well.....they fed us great meals, kept our room nice and warm and took great care of our little man!
We left his province with 3 rounds of IV antibiotics in his little body and some oral meds for us while we are in Guangzhou. He feels SO much better and it has been so fun to see his adorable little personality come out more and more. He is the cuddliest, sweetest, most gentle little love-bug ever! Super chill all day long! We are having so much fun with him.
He eats absolutely everything.....so feeding therapy is now off our list ~ yay! He sleeps like a champ! He rolls with everything.....SO full of JOY all day long. Everything is a game to him ;)
We were trying to teach him the sign for "more" - we kept signing it and saying "more" over and over. Finally he just looked at us and said "MORE!" out-loud and so enthusiastically! We were all laughing so hard - he didn't even use the sign he just went straight to the word, lol. Now he does both the sign and says "more". He says mama, dada, love you and more. He tries to copy anything we tell him to say and seems to understand most of what we want him to do :)
He for sure tries to be stubborn here and there but for the most part we just tell Kaylee to do what we are asking and he will copy her......he loves her!!! He loves us all but we can tell he has a special affection for his China sister ;)
We cannot wait to get him home to meet Kolson, Kaleb and Khloe (wow, Khloe and Kai are going to have some crazy-fun times with their similar fun-loving personalities). We have 4 more days here so we are soaking up this time with him and loving every minute of it!
All I can say is that we came here feeling so unsure of what the Lord had ahead of us. In many ways it felt like we had no margin at all......and the thought of adding a 7th child (with down syndrome, which we admit we really didn't know much about) was sometimes overwhelming. Now that we have him it just feels like Jesus gave us the most lavish gift! I can't explain how blessed we feel to be entrusted with this child......I'm telling you, if anyone is considering adoption pray about down syndrome adoption! You have no idea what a crazy, lavish blessing it will be for your whole family!!!
Thank you all for praying and loving our family in so many different ways!
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