Forever Family Day For Tyler

Monday was our Forever Family/Gotcha Day.

As we were not meeting Tyler until 3 p.m., we had several hours to fill before we headed to the Civil Affairs office, so we walked to a local park in the morning, which was very pretty – filled with plants, a small lake with tiny fish and some exercise equipment. There is also a bridge that you can walk over there, and this bridge will now be infamously known to us but more about that later.

The kids ran to the first set of exercise equipment that they saw, but that area appeared to be more for the elderly exercising crowd, so we continued on our way around the lake. At one point, when we looked into the water, we saw dozens of thin black fish and then this random very large, very orange goldfish (?) swimming among them. Not sure if it had been someone’s pet or a mutant fish!

We then hit the next exercising area that was more “kid friendly.” Based on all of their gymnastics, trampoline and gym training, our kids hit the bars for chin-ups, climbed on/over everything and then Kyle and Ashley started doing several cartwheels. Several kids would watch them shyly and then try and hit the pull-ups bars themselves. It was very cute. Then a set of twins, who had a basketball, showed up with their father. So Kyle watched them and then proceeded to teach one of them how to dribble the ball between their legs. That was very exciting to them.

Then several men gathered around Charlie to try and “talk” thru the translator apps. Again the bulk of the conversation being, “we are from America.” To which they all say “New York?” They don’t have any concept of Pennsylvania. Also, “we only speak English” and “yes, we have four kids.” Slowly, an actual conversation started to happen. The men would speak, Charlie would type furiously, then show them the iPhone sharing the translation. There was a grandfather who served as sort of a leader. He would read the translation first, then as the others read also, he would translate the translation more clearly into Mandarin for the others. Then all would nod their heads, smile and say what sounded like the same phrases in response. We could only guess at what they replied, and type some more, hoping we’d catch the gist of their comments. There were lots of thumbs-ups, and genuine gratitude for what we were doing. Then a few more photos later of all of us, we were on our way again. Funny how everyone in China has a smartphone. They may have nothing else, but they have a smartphone.

After our park escape, we walked to the hotel to rest a bit. At 2:00, we did some paperwork with our guide and then we and the other family were off to the Civil Affairs office. Unfortunately, we couldn’t park in front of it, so we had to park and walk 2-3 blocks through a very active construction zone. When we say “active” we actually mean “not really the safest place for families with young children to be traversing.” Don’t worry about that front end loader backing up into our path – he probably sees us…try not to trip as you step over the piles of 12′ rebar…mind the wet concrete…children, please don’t look directly at the men tig welding near the side walk…and, for Goodness sake, please don’t tumble into that 18′ deep open ditch. Apparently, “OSHA” does not translate well in Mandarin. If we were in the US, we’d be up in charges for trespassing, and the GC would be facing fines and probably jail time for negligence! I’ve got to hand it to Maggie, our guide, though. She guided us through that mess, and we all came out the other side. The funny thing is that we were not nearly the only ones crossing through! It was like the site was just another obstacle to be overcome on the way home from work or the way to the market. There was a constant stream of pedestrians, bicycles, and scooters, and the construction project went on as if was all in a day’s work.

When we arrived at the Office, the other couple’s daughter was right in the lobby waiting for them. She was from the Bethel China home, so one of the American workers came with her from Beijing. We were told Tyler was waiting for us upstairs, so we headed up where the elevator opened into a darkened hallway on the fifth floor. We waited for a moment before we moved ahead from where the elevator dropped us off. The kids took turns peeking around the corner, looking 30 feet down the darkened hallway, asking “Is that Tyler”; “I think I see him!”

We rounded the corner, took a few steps into the darkness, and all we heard were shouts of “Mama” as Tyler ran at full speed to me wanting to be picked and carried. As he is probably a good 45 lbs, he was not a tiny baby size!

We all walked into the room and he proceeded to run around and whine to be picked up and carried. All of the other little girls in the room, including the little girl from Bethel, were all very small and quiet vs. our whirling dervish. It was clear that we had the only, very active boy! He also chatted non-stop with anyone who was listening. Unfortunately, he speaks a very specific Chinese dialect that not many understand and which is not in the translator app! After our office appointment, we headed to the photo “place” on a random street for our adoption decree photo. That is when Tyler thought he might try a few Usain Bolt moves to dash away, so we then tightened our grips. It was probably all very stimulating for him with sights and sounds of the city, as he is from such a small rural village.

Since we had had such a long day, our guide ordered Papa John’s pizza for us (and they actually had plain and pepperoni this time) and we settled in for an in-room pizza party. He thought that was quite great, and that soda is extra delicious especially when you drink it out of a coffee cup!! Then it was time for showers (which he didn’t like – he tried to sit down in it) and bed. All of the kids were fast asleep by 9 p.m.

We can’t really tell what his vision is or isn’t yet. He definitely has nystagmus and vision tracking issues. He definitely has some sight to navigate the room, stairs, beds, chairs, anything that he can climb!! He also has X-ray vision for anything that you can eat. He loves to climb up on a chair to look out the window at the streets filled with cars, scooters and bicycles. Just like Dylan, one of his first English words is “beep beep!”

It was a good day for our Family.