12/29/2008 Gotcha Day

Finally! we received Joseph Today!! We have showm the most emotion today. Joseph is adjusting to us slowly. He lets us change him and feed him, but he is very quiet so far and sits or lies down wherever we place him. I think that he is coping with this drastic change by shutting down :( He will play with his toys and eat whatever we offer him. He also tells us when he doesn't want something like a glass of water or a particular toy by pushing it awat from him. I try to turn the TV on for him some so he can at least hear chinese people and it seems to distract him well. We did not know if he has started talking yet, but when we were in the bathroom and he was in his crib I heard him speak something in chinese. He has a cute voice. I returned and he said nothing so I went to the bathroom again and he said another word. I returned to him and more silence. so far he has been a saint. helps to dress himself, holds his legs high when you change him. ( I am used to wrestling matches with toddlers!) Luggage arrived this evening!! so we have our necessities and medications for Joseph. His overall condition is good. He does have pretty bad diarrhea, our guide went to the store and brought us some smecta powder that we are supposed to give him to allieviate that. I figure i'll google it and find out what it does exactly. Other than that he has a little exczema and a rattly cough but our antibiodics we brought should do the trick. we examined his foot and it looks like he has been walking on it enough to make it swollen and discolored. he doesn't complain of pain though and you can touch it without reaction from him. Isaac is enjoying the trip and Joseph seems to like his company. I think he will be a big help with entertaining his little brother. Megan and myself are well, even with the stresses of time change, tight schedule and hanging out in cities of mulitple millions of people. Billions in Beijing i think. We have gotten along better and laughed through our grouchiness better than when we have been under much less stress. we miss you all. Keep praying for us! Evelyn believes that it is very likely we will be able to arrange a visit to the orphanage in the next few days so we will keep you all updated on the specifics. We hope to get pictures for those of you who are waiting and I know that Heather is planning on doing the same. The Thompsons arrived late yesterday afternoon after many flight cancellations, delays and lost luggage to find out that their son Drew was already here waiting for them. We are praying God will reenergize and refresh them. The other families are wonderful. We hope to be able to upload video of when we all met our chjildren yesterday but are having a few technical difficulties. We will try again later.