"I happy! I hungry! I from China!"

It's been a while since I've blogged, so this will be chock full of info and pictures!  :-)

Let's see...I guess I'll start with Saturday...

We had plans to drive up to Northern Virginia for my father in law's 80th surprise birthday party/ family reunion.  Originally, Han was supposed to be back in China by then, but with the drastic change in hosting dates, we ended up bringing him along.  I must say, he was a trooper!
I took this selfie of the two of us right before we left.  His ability to take a decent picture has greatly improved!!! 

 

 

It was a two hour drive and it was HOT.  The A/C in the van was working at about 10%, so we were cooking.  Here he is, enjoying his travels, despite the heat!



When we arrived in NOVA, we made a quick stop at Costco to pick up some things for the dinner.  Here he is, dutifully holding the cart:

 

We arrived at the surprise party around 5:45, and stayed pretty late.  He did amazingly well, and my sister and brother in law were so chill about him roaming their home and inspecting almost every part of it.  *Side note: host kids are often very inquisitive, and don't get the idea of "personal space".  If they want to know what's in that drawer, closet, medicine cabinet, room, etc., then by George, they'll find out!

We ate a Mexican feast, followed by several different desserts, and he was loving it!

Every family member introduction was met with "I from China!"  (as if they didn't know.  wink.)

 

We stayed in a hotel in NOVA both Saturday and Sunday night.  That was...interesting.  Chris drew the short straw and had to share a bed with Han.  Han had Mexican.  Let your mind wander.

Chris gets the gold medal!

 

Han (and our 3) LOVED the hotel breakfast buffet.  Each morning we were greeted with "I hungry!" Here's a picture of Han's plate.  I think it's safe to say that he likes bacon.  Watching him try to eat it with a fork was entertaining.

 

 

Sunday morning we all attended church together (16 of us in all), and he was a rock star.  For not understanding a word, and church in general being totally new to him, he loves it!  He sits quietly for the sermon, and tries to sing the songs.  He just kind of makes random humming noises, but A+ for effort!! 
After church we went to my inlaws' house with the rest of the Scoggins gang.  I took this picture of the kiddos before they changed into play clothes:

We had lunch, listened to my insanely talented niece and nephew play the piano and cello, and just hung out.  He played with some toys they had, and did a lot of wandering around the house. 
It was hot as blazes, so we decided to hit he pool.  The water was pretty warm, but he really enjoyed it, nonetheless!

 

We headed home Monday afternoon, and took several family photos, since we aren't all together very often.  Of course, we added Han to a few of them!  Here he is with all of the cousins.  So cute!

 

 

 

That night his little buddy from China came over for dinner, along with my host mama friend.  They talked a mile a minute and LOVED seeing each other!

 

this picture cracks me up!

 

Last night we took Han for his first trip to Sweet Frog, thanks to a generous friend who blessed us with a gift card.  He's pretty cute, don't you think??

 

 

Fast forward to today.  Chris took the day off so we could take Han to Virginia Beach. My guess is that he had never seen the ocean, so we were pretty stoked to scratch that one off the list for him. 

 

He did really well on yet another 2 hour car ride (and thanks to some Freon, the van was much cooler!)  We arrived a bit before noon, and were happy to see that the waves weren't too high.  Since Han can't swim, I was a little worried about his intro to the big, bad ocean.  The four kids rode boogie boards into shore and were having a great time.  Not a cloud in the sky, and all was right with the world...or so we thought...

 

catch a wave and you're sittin' on top of the world!

Han is getting very tan!



 

A coworker told me about an obstacle course on the beach, and Reid and Loren were dying to check it out.  It was a little farther down the beach than I thought, but we found it about 7 blocks down, while Chris stayed back with Cole and Han.

 

 

I was watching the kids climb, helping them reach rings, and taking pictures.  Loren was climbing something and when she landed, she said, very casually, I cut my toe on a piece of metal.  I didn't think much of it, until I saw blood in the sand.  NOOOOOOOOOO.

 

I carried her to the boardwalk where we found a rinsing off shower.  She put her foot under the water and I realized we had left a trail of blood.  She hadn't shed a tear, so I was remaining fairly calm.  I found someone to give her some medical attention.  She cleaned it the best she could, put a bandage on it, and then I carried her the 7 blocks back to our chairs.  It was about 100 degrees, so that was fun.  So, after a two hour ride, and a whopping hour at the beach, Loren couldn't put her foot in the sand or the water.  UGHHHHH.  Here she is, watching the boys boogie board.  She wasn't a happy camper.  The bleeding had stopped and she didn't appear to be in much pain, so we decided to just hang out a while longer.

 

 

About 30 minutes later, we started feeling rain drops.  Then came the thunder and the lightening.  What happened to our clear blue skies!?!  We had to leave the beach.  Since we had to carry Loren, and we hoped the storm would pass quickly, we just took our valuables and towels and waited at the boardwalk, leaving our chairs, umbrellas, boogie boards, cooler, etc, on the beach.

Waiting for the ok to get back on the beach.  Sadly, it never came.  Blah!!!

the wounded warrior.

 

 

We waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  Finally, we decided to cut our losses and just head home.  We stopped for dinner at IHOP in Williamsburg, where Han enjoyed a burger and fries, and I had an awesome omelet!

 

Upon arriving home, I bathed Loren, keeping her toe dry, and then Chris took her to Patient First.

 

  



No stitches required, but I can assure you, having it cleaned was no fun for poor Loren.   Well, our beach day was a bust! 

Everyone showered,  got pajamas on, and started watching the Olympics. I was down in the office getting ready to blog, and I could hear Han and Chris using the translator.  A lot.  I went up to make sure everything was ok (this was about an hour ago), and Chris showed me the thread.  "I happy."  "Hotel, Family, Happy."  "China, 3 days, I'm Happy at American camp." "Family, happy happy."

So, Han is happy here, and will be happy to go back to China, as well.  He's excited to go back on an airplane, and he is anxious to go shopping for some gifts to take back (very sweet.)  Hasn't he come a LONG way in 3 weeks???  Remember that sullen, sad, frowning little boy from week one?  I haven't seen him since.  The love of a family, the time to build some trust, and a few days to get over one's jet lag, can make all the difference!

As of right now, Han still doesn't have a family pursuing him for adoption.  I am disappointed, but his Facebook post (the "please share" post) has been shared 220 times.  THANK YOU SO MUCH.
I have advocated for him on other pages.  I can say with confidence that I've done everything that I know to do.  I've told other host families in the past not to worry or beat themselves up if their host child went back  without a forever family in place.  Our job as host parents is to advocate to the best of our ability, love the child as our own, and that's it.  Now, I need to hear those words for myself.  Maybe God's plan IS for him to remain in China.  Maybe other host families will come forward because they've seen us host (and survive!) 4 times in a row, and it gives them the confidence to take a leap.  Maybe a family will come forward later (like in JQ's case.)  I just don't know.

At a minimum, Han has had fun.  Han is happy.  Han has learned a TON and I'm so very proud of him.   We are going to enjoy our last 2 days with him, and he will get on that plane Saturday morning knowing that somebody in America loves him.