half dozen cuties

One Year Anniversary!One year ago today a sweet two year old boy got on a bus in Shantou, China and drove five hours to Guangzhou, China. What was he thinking as he made that drive? He had probably never been in a bus before and most likely had not spent any significant time away from his room on the third floor of the Shantou Social Welfare Institute. In his hands he held a small photo album with some funny looking people that his loving nannies had told him about. There was a picture of mama, baba, jie, jie, . But how much can a two year old mind comprehend? In his reports he was described as a boy who like to push a chair over to the window and watch what was going on outside. I suspect he enjoyed the drive and the new world that was quickly opening up for him. Jason and I were waiting for him at the end of his journey and we’d been waiting for him a long time. Earlier that year, in April, we had received word from our adoption agency that they had just received a list of children available for adoption and three were from Lily’s orphanage. We had had such a great experience with Lily and knew we wanted to adopt another child from her orphanage. There were two girls and a boy on the list. Both girls were older than Lily and we didn’t want to disrupt our birth order.

I had never considered a boy but when Jason heard there was a boy on the list he said he would be very interested in hearing more. When we heard that Jack had the same medical condition as Lily we knew it was meant to be. Within hours we had made the decision to adopt Jin JiaXing who we would name Jack Xing. Xing means Star in Chinese and he was given that name with the hope he would shine like a star.

So finally, after months of waiting and longing Jack was about to become our son. There aren’t words to describe the emotion of adopting. When Jack walked into the room he took our breath away. There was something so familiar about him to us, that faint recognition, that very brief glimpse into eternity where understanding is increased. Jack was tentative at first and wanted nothing to do with us. He began to cry and cling to his nannies, not wanting to be separated from them. Luckily, I had brought some M & M’s and persuaded him to come to me to get some. He settled in and the transition went pretty smoothly. Jason and I were overjoyed to hold him in our arms after seven lonely months of waiting to look into those deep brown eyes.

Here are some highlights of the past year with our Star Boy:

Homecoming: Jack had a rough time with us in China, but when he walked into our home for the first time he was a changed child. He ran right downstairs and played with his brothers and sisters and seemed to realize that he was home. Lily was also so happy to have a little brother to nurture.

Christmas: I think Christmas will always be bittersweet for me knowing that there are children in this world who will never what it means to have a mother and father. We were so happy to have all our children with us for Christmas, but couldn’t help but think of those left behind. Jack didn’t seem to understand what all the gifts meant and was very uninterested in the whole day.

Surgery: In January Jack had surgery in Cincinnati. He and Lily wowed (and terrified) the doctors and nurses with their activity level. We found out that Jack’s medical condition was worse than we initially believed, but had faith that his life would not be impacted in a negative way. He has thrived since January and will be able to live a completely normal life.

Sealed in the temple: In March our family was sealed in the temple. Jack is ours forever. So grateful for the knowledge of forever families.

Nature Boy: Jack loves the great outdoors and loved the snow, camping, boating, swimming and running around. He learned how to swim this summer and is a little fish.

Twin Terrors: we have nicknamed Jack and Lily the two headed monster because they are unstoppable together. Their minds are quick and so are their little bodies. We never had to babyproof until Jack and Lily arrived on the scene.

Shantou Reunion: In July we went to Denver for an orphanage reunion. Jack got to see some of the kids who were in the orphanage with him. Since he had just turned three Jason and I enjoyed this more than he and Lily did.

We are so grateful for Jack and love him so much. What a difference a year makes!