Taco Dinner Fundraiser for Ned!!

Saturday evening we went to a Taco Dinner that was a fundraiser to help bring Ned (Zane) home.  I talked about it all week to Seth and explained that he would meet Zane's family and that I thought it would be great to take a picture with them to which he agreed.  Now...Seth has tried taco salad twice and does NOT like it at all.  I told him we would take him to McDonald's and get him a chicken sandwich to which he seemed very happy about.  I did ask him to try one of the desserts as they had many different kinds to choose from.  He chose a small piece of cherry cheesecake.  I asked him if he liked it and he shook his head earnestly no.  I think his do not like list is growing much faster than his like list :( 

I was joking with him about trying one of the desserts.  I had told him there was NO chocolate.

Lucky's soon to be mom, dad and older sister

Right to left Lucky's parents and older brother, then Ned's Dad and Mom

Seth did go out and play keep away with Zane's soon to be older brother Oscar and our other two sons Riley and Brian.  He seemed to really have a good time with that.

Then we asked him to take a break so we could get pictures with Zane's family and also Lucky's family made the long hour and a half drive to meet Seth so we got pictures with them as well. 

Lucky's Family and Seth

Ned's Family and Seth 

Jayden's blessing

Sunday Jayden was blessed at church along with our very good friend's little boy Jesiah.  Both of the boys did wonderful.  After church we had potluck.  Seth tried some of the food and said it was "okay".  He likes his noodles and rice!  Our church sits next to a railroad track and Seth and Riley went out to do a little exploring.  You should have seen all of the junk, oops sorry, "treasures" they collected.  Luckily I had thrown a big, plastic tote in the back of the van the night before so they were able to put all of it in there.  Riley is having a great time showing him the "boy" things around our neck of the woods and Seth seems to genuinely enjoy it. 

Jayden with his mama being blessed by his grandpa and great-grandpa.

Jesiah with his mom being blessed by his two grandpas.

Week Four

First I will just share a couple of cute shots of Jayden.  He found one my shirts and was putting it on.  He was having a good time :)

Jayden just continues to do amazingly well.  He is sleeping good, eating good and just enjoying life.  There was one good/bad thing that happened this week.  I helped with a garage sale fundraiser for Ned's family (Zane) on Friday and Saturday.  Jayden was riding bikes with several other kids and I needed to go with Richard down the street to help him load a desk we bought.  He did not want to leave so I asked him if he wanted to stay with the kids or go with dad and me.  He said stay.  Now if there is one word this kid knows it is "go".  It was the first word he learned in China.  I said okay he could stay with the other kids.  Just as soon as we started to walk away he burst into tears and was all out crying.  Jayden has only cried like that maybe three times since we have been home from China.  Two of them he was hurt and the third he was so mad.  Most of the time he does this silent pouting thing with tears and a runny nose.  Of course I immediately scooped him up and he snuggled right up tight.  I was sad, but excited because he has bonded so well.  In China we saw his Ayi's from the orphanage twice after we had "Gotcha Day" and he didn't once act like he wanted to go with them. 

On to Seth...

He went to school Monday, Wednesday and Thursday of last week.  Monday I went to pick him up at 1:00 so he could go to English tutoring.  He got in the van, slumped down in the seat and said "i-yiyi-yiyi".  He said everyone talked too fast, but he did understand some of what heard.  He was invited by one of the boys to play basketball on a summer league at the school.  Seth said he would think about it. 

Wednesday he stayed all day so he was able to observe a math class which he said was "easy".  I reminded him that he was there just to watch and listen.  To see how much English he does know and how much he needs to work on.  By Thursday he seemed to have connected some with one of his classmates who is also adopted from Mexico and he said he was willing to play basketball on the school summer league which starts on June 7th.

Seth has played basketball outside several times and even shown Riley how to do several card magic tricks.  The two of them are starting to bond ever so slowly.   

Happy Mother's Day

My mother's day present was an updated photo of our family.

Three weeks home

We have now been home for three weeks and again I will say what a difference a little bit of time makes.  We have chosen to give Seth time to adjust and only insist on a couple of things first off.  He eats dinner with us every night and goes to church to which he has been doing faithfully.  He continues to see his English tutor three times a week for a couple hours each day and is making huge strides thanks to his great teacher :)  One of things his tutor has required of him as part of his homework is interacting with his siblings.  This past Friday evening, with alot of coaxing Seth went outside and played basketball with Samantha and Riley.  Since then he has been out playing with them three times.  He also played his guitar for his tutor and me.  All I can say is WOW!!  He is so talented and now is starting to learn piano.  He told me the piano is his favorite instrument so I guess we will be keeping our eyes open for one. 

We can see him starting to relax and make an effort to be a part of the family even if it is only for a little bit each day, but it is more and more each day.   

On Monday, Seth will be going to school.  He is going to observe for the next four days and hopefully make a few friends.  In his class alone there are two other adopted boys...one from China and one from Mexico.   

I must also say this Seth is an awesome basketball player as are Samantha and Riley.

Maylin is not a basketball player, but she loves to draw and paint :)

We also went to see grandma and grandpa last night and Jayden got his first tractor.  After we came home when it was dinnertime, he made sure that tractor was right next to him while he ate his spaghetti.  

Help bring home the Second Amigo!

Hang On: Announcing Our Next Fundraiser: ***UPDATE: We now have enough donations to buy the iPod - all donations from here on go straight toward adoption expenses***  We...

One Week Home with Seth (Dusty)

I believe I shared that the first few days home with Seth were a little tough.  He was grieving hard and overwhelmed by how different everything is at home compared to Chengdu.  We got home Saturday evening and on Tuesday he still was not coming down out of his room when everyone else was awake.  He was on his computer talking to his friends, watching his Chinese movies and reading his Chinese books.  Tuesday evening we had a chat.  He had his computer translating through Baidu and we had our computer translating through Google.  We explained to him that he was not going to learn English staying in his room all of the time or how to be a part of his family.  He told us he was learning to adapt in his own way...slowly.  We talked about school to which he said no, he wanted to wait until August.  I then decided to call Maylin's Ayi who lives close to us and have her explain why we thought he should try going to school the last few weeks.  He wants to wait so he can have several months to learn English which I understand.  We asked him to start with eating dinner with us every night which he has been doing faithfully since.  One small step :)

Friday night, almost a week after being home, Seth left the house for the first time.  Richard plays soccer and one of his teammates speaks Mandarin and had agreed to be one of his tutors.  She wanted to meet him.  He watched the game, but I did figure out that soccer is not his favorite sport.  He said he likes basketball. 

Friday was also Seth's birthday, but we decided to celebrate it on Saturday.  We all went to eat at Legends of Asia which in our humble opinion is one of the best Chinese buffets in our area.  The boy ate two heaping plates full...lots of rice, noodles and vegetables.  Food has been a whole other issue.  At least he is good about trying something and now he will tell me if he likes it or does not like it.   

His birthday present.

He "said" he liked the present.

We have set him up with two tutors and his first session was this past Sunday night with my friend Michelle who has her masters degree in teaching English as a second language.  After an hour and a half, she asked him if he was tired and he said very quickly no.  Michelle and I both were shocked at how much English this kid knows.  




He is just not confident enough to use it very much.  He can read and write English.  Michelle dictated a very short sentence and he was able to write what she said.  He really is so smart and very eager to learn.  We all believe that with a hard work, he will really excel just like he did in Chengdu.

Yesterday, he met with his other tutor, Monica who taught English in Taiwan and can also speak Mandarin.  He had another two-hour session and came home with a list of food he likes and does not like.  No chocolate, peanut butter, pizza or cheese...all my favorites!  He will continue tutoring four times a week for now.  


We are all still hoping he will be willing to go to school for a week or so before the end of this school year, but for now this is our plan. 

The last several days he has been practicing his guitar with his door open and it is so beautiful.  He shared with Michelle that he has only been playing for a year and I know he has only had a few lessons.  He has taught himself which is remarkable.  We are so blessed to be his parents!  So, for now he will keep working on his English and I will try to find food the boy likes.  I think we will have Chinese food three times a week and other types of food the four days a week.