Tuesday, March 16, 2010

AIT Day

Today was our appointment to apply for the kids visa. We did our normal morning routine, up and out of the room, down to breakfast. Thankfully both of the kids so far are happy little sunshine's in morning. We leisurely ate our breakfast thinking we had plenty of time. Well when we got back to the room it was later than we thought we had only 15 minutes until our appointment so we rushed grabbing our things and down to a taxi. We made it with not a minute to spare. At AIT it took 2 1/2 hours. I signed a few papers and answered a few questions, to a person through a glass window. It was nothing like I expected. I had a whole stack of papers I had filled out and the only one they wanted was the I-600. There was one other adoptive family there, with a 5 year old little girl. So we got an opportunity to practice our sharing. Our social worker from Cathwel could not believe how well our kids had adjusted to us. She said they thought Kai would be crying everyday. Thanks for those prayers out there they are working. Naveia told her that I did not give her, her medicine this morning. In our rush out the door I did forget, but for her to remember and tell on me. Too funny. We needed to get back to the hotel to give it to her. We had a quick lunch and grabbed a taxi back to the hotel. We play and napped a few hours. Then we headed out to do some touristy stuff. I wanted to see the C.K. Shek memorial and the Longshan temple. The weather today was on the chilly side today, so we put on the warm coats that the foster families had sent with them. This night we decided to try out the MRT subway system. We bought some easy card passes for $15 each. Which we will be able to refund on what we don't use when we are through. It was fun there were so many people and Kai loved see the trains. We made it to the C.K. Shek memorial. This was the beginning of the end of the night. They were so excited at the open area and seeing the temples. Naveia put her hands together and was bowing down. They did not want to hold our hands and would not stop running off. We made it up all the stairs to the memorial but now Kai was screaming crying because he did not want to hold my hand or be held. We decided that we had enough for the night and we would just have to skip the Longshan temple. The MRT connect directly to a basement level with our hotel. We sat down to eat there but Kai was throwing a fit because he wanted to see the trains, so we left for our room. I stayed in with Kai comforting him as he cried for an hour. I he was tried and has been so good, he just needed this moment to let it out. John and Naveia went out together. She came back with some hair pretties and had somehow got her daddy to take her to McDonald's again. Naveia was cracking us up tonight. After there baths and p.j.s she had control of the remote. She picked the soap drama that it said she watch with her foster ma in the reports. Then she was flipping through and a music video was on. Guess what, my daughter can DANCE! You should see those hips move. It was adorable, I was literally on the floor laughing. She new every move and continued to do it over and over even after the video was done. That was the happy times then the switch to sad times happened when she slapped her brother in the face and John got disciplined her. She was mad, than turned to sad for over an hour. She will not let you comfort her when she is in this mood. It is so hard for both of us to see them like that. We just let her know we are here for her and stay calm. Finally she gave up and let John hold her. So after this evening we decided to cancel our zoo trip tomorrow. I just know they would go crazy there. And with the language barrier it is to hard to get them to stop out in public. We can take all of our kids to the Brookfield zoo near Chicago this summer. What do you think about that Zane and Zarra? I miss you and love you.

7 comments:

Tami and Bobby Sisemore Family said...

tank you sooo muc for sarin so muc of your journey! :) Prayin for you and te kids! tat is one of my worries is bein out and a cild running from me. I am appy overall tey are doing well and bonding wit you :)

blessings,
Tami

Mom said...

Mandy & John,
Thank you for bring two more beautiful grandchildren into our family. I check your blog constantly to see if you sent anymore pictures or have anymore stories about the kids. Can't wait until you get home to give hugs and kisses to them. See you real soon.

Amanda E said...

Thanks for the updates. The kids sound very busy! I love the pictures except the one with the squid(ewwww)! I was wondering how the communication is going?

Anonymous said...

I bet Naveia will like dance lessons Raeann's! I understand your plane lands in St. Louis at 5:00 pm this Friday, so if it was a 32 hr. trip there you're probably leaving Taiwan early Thursday morning our time? Which would be Thursday evening there, I think.

Nancy

Anonymous said...

We continue to pray for the transition taking place there and your children here. Thanks again for sharing this part of your story with us!

Anonymous said...

Your blog makes us feel like we are there with you. We'll do the prayin', you do the playin'...it's so important to have fun! Can't wait till you're home with us and we can see all 6 of your family together!! "6!!!!" Wow! You are parents of 4 children.

Shelli Craig said...

Your kids are GORGEOUS and soooo sweet. I'm so happy for you! We are adopting from Cathwel - his name is Pin-Ching. He's 8. I love looking at your photos. 2 and 4 are such precious ages, aren't they? ENJOY your trip. It will be over too quickly. :)