Our Trip to China

WCIC night at Chiefs Game

2011-07-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

June 24th was WCIC night at the Chiefs game and we bought a Box at the PCS auction in April. It was so much fun! The weather was beautiful and there was a Lincoln Brewster concert after and of course the firworks are so good! Just another fun way to enjoy summer. Especially with Chatwells and Robertsons!

2011-07-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

Shelby, Luke, Mack and I drove to Charlotte in June to take some of the Hatfields home after they visited Morton. We were there only a short time, but while we were there Jenny took us to Blowing Rock and the Tweetsie Railroad. Luke is obsessed with Trains and this trip couldn't have been more fun for him! An old train and little boys-so much joy!

2011-07-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Cole's High School Graduation on May 15th, 2011. The Graduation ceremony was at Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria. After the ceremony we went to KOBE Steakhouse for dinner. It was a really special day except that Dave had to leave church early to visit the prompt care because his tongue had swelled up 3 times bigger than it's normal size! No kidding it was a little scary. They gave him a shot and off we went to graduation. We also had an open house the following weekend! So much fun celebrating our first born son! We are so proud of him and the way he's maturing. Especially this year. He's great with Mack too! Congratualaitons Cole. We know you will do great at Bradley and we are glad you will be around:)

Dave was able to hand Cole his diploma as a member of the School Board.

Regan's Cake pops were a big hit! We apreciate all the work that went into them and the cake that my Aunt Emily made. It is our families favorite and whenever we have a reason to get together and enjoy her cakes we love to do it!

The Nicholson 7. One is on his way to college and one is 2, but we feel complete and our enjoying every minute!

Surgery

2011-04-02T20:36:00.000-07:00

This spring we had tubes put in the boys ears...Luke's second set! The OSF Center for Health was an awesome experience. They were given these cars to play with and they were watching Cars the movie while they waited to go into surgery. Dr. Hertenstien is awesome and eveyone takes really great care of them!

The Beach Club

2011-03-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

We visited Gulf Shores for Spring Break at the end of March and even though we have made this trip 8-9 times we haven't done it since Luke has been with us. We were all really excited to take the little boys to the beach! We traveled with the Zobrists and had the best weather we've ever had at the end of March.

Most of the days we spent playing in the sand, swimming, laying around and resting! It was beautiful! Luke and Mack are doing pretty well. It has been a really long winter of adjusting to life with 2 boys! They compete for everything and are pretty wild! They are precious in our eyes and we love them very much.

Lots to Celebrate!

2011-03-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been filled with busy fun crazy days! We spent a few weeks driving all over while the 7th and 8th grade bball teams at Peoria Christian Middle School both went to state! We went to the games because Piper was cheering and they were a lot of fun!

On February 9th Mack turned 2! That night we went to a bball game for Piper and ate Chinese, then on the 13th we had all the family over for cake and ice cream. He is doing so well, talking and so happy all the time. I can't believe 6 months has passed. It has made a huge difference in his confidence and security.

Also Cole and Piper had their birthday this week. Cole's 18 and Piper's 14! Time flies. They are all doing great. We are getting ready to celebrate our first high school graduate. He is amazing and I am so proud of him. He is so smart and responsible. I Can't wait to see what his next step will be!

2011-01-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

Four Months Home!

2011-01-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

It seems ridiculous, even to me, that I have not posted anything in 4 months! Honestly where has the time gone - and yet it feels like an eternity since we've been home. I will just give a short recap. The first few weeks were a blur. When we came home my 89 yr old Grandmother was very ill and ended up passing on Sept. 28th. It was a very hard week. My parents were by her bedside in Iowa and we were at home, sleep deprived and jet lagged and wondering when and if we should visit. We did finally visit a few days before she died. I was able to let her know I got home safely and she met Mack. So did my dad who hadn't seen him yet. A week later I was with all my dad's family celebrating my Grandmother and enjoying each others company. The next few weeks consisted of earning Mack's trust and helping him and Luke get along. Mack is like a little tornado at age 22 months, it doesn't take much for him to destroy something. Helping him learn the boundaries at home took alot of time too. But, as the weeks went by everyday got better and better. Thank you so much to my friends who stepped up while my mom was gone and sent meals, gifts and took Luke! I really appreciated it!

Now it seems we've gotten over the hump! The boys are getting along so much better and the trust factor between Mack and each one of us has improved alot. He had surgery on Jan. 3 (circumcision and hydrolectmy) and unfortunately for him every time he goes through something hard it is a great bonding moment for us! We love him so much and have enjoyed his little personality emerging out from behind a very cautious little boy! He is loving and thinks Luke is so great. He mimicks everything he does. But, I must say the busyness has been difficult for me. I have had to really buck up and realize this is a temporary time in my life and God has blessed me with the chance to spend time with, and create a loving home for these little guys. I don't do it in my own strength though... the Lord has motivated me to put my own personal desires aside and spend time with them right now! Seriously they are fighting right now and I wonder why I haven't done this before now :) Ugh!

We had Mack dedicated on Christmas by my Uncle Tom. It was special to have my sister's family and cousins from out of town. His 2nd birthday is Feb. 9 so that will be the next milestone! We are so happy he his part of our family! Yea God!

2010-09-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

Home Sweet Home!

2010-09-17T20:17:00.000-07:00

It's Missy.. we have been home for 24 hours now and it's starting to feel "normal". I mean physically speaking. I was up at 3 and Mack was up at 4:30. We both took long naps. Hopefully tonight will go better. But, to back up a little this is how our trip home went.

Wednesday evening at 7 we boarded a mini-van and headed to Guangzhou airport. When we got there we checked in normally, but starting through security we got hung up in a large crowd of people at a total standstill. No one was moving through the "wellness check", yes they could check you for fever and one of our travel mates did get checked, but that wasn't the hold up. Apparently there was some kind of problem and they weren't letting anyone through. We stood there for 2 hours with military police and all sorts of other authority types going through the crowd. We could tell they were taking pictures because there were flashes of light on the othe side of the wall. You know me...I had all sorts of things going on in my head. Ultimately we got in, through customs/immigration, sweating and running to our gate literally the last people on the plane. We arrived in Hong Kong at 12 midnight checked into a hotel attached to the airport at 1 and slept til 8am. When we woke up everyone was texting us pictures from Pumpkin Fesstival and we were wishing our way home! We left Hong Kong at 12:35pm and arrived at 2:15 pm the same day Thursday, Sept. 16th. 15 hours in the air and only two passed in time from getting on the plane and getting off the plane. The trip was fine, we couldn't sleep and Mack climbed all over Dave, but his demenor was good. He didn't scream alot and he did sleep 5 hours. When we got to Chicago we had to go through immigration and for us this is special because it is the moment Mack becomes a US citizen. Dave said he will write about this later. He hasn't been feeling well since we left China. We once again barely made our connection but once in the air it felt so good to almost be home! We were greeted by our dearest family willing to miss the PF and greet our little guy!:) Luke came running with a balloon for Mack and the biggest hug that brought tears to my eyes saying, "I'm so happy mama."

Today has been more getting to know each other. Mack is very fond of the older kids. He was only with them a couple hours last night but when they left for school he cried at the slidding glass doors waving goodbye. He and Luke have done well...Mack knows no boundaries so this is something we will work on. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and encouraging words to us while we were gone. It was so hard for this mom to leave 4 kids behind. Because my extended family is going through a hard time a lot of people stepped up to help my kids and I can't say words that would express my gratitude. More importantly I want to thank Cole, Shelby and Piper for being strong when things felt very insecure and for persevering when things got tough. You are all very responsible young adults and I'm very proud of you. God called our whole family to bring in these two little Chinese boys and you have embraced this calling sometimes better than me. When I feel insecure you all encourage me in different ways! Thank you!
We will keep posting as we learn new things about this new addition to our family.
Missy

Yes, I Cried!

2010-09-14T09:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, I will immediately admit that I cried today. Of course, everyone in our group laughed about "my allergies" but even our Chinese guide new better and said, in perfect Chinglish, "No, no, Misser Nitch-uhl-sun, you kwy-ing". Today was the day we took the "oath" on behalf of Mack that allows him to be a legal immigrant and become a U.S. citizen. Actually, the "oath" sounds impressive but it is really just us raising our right hand, along with maybe 50 other families, to affirm that everything we have written about ourselves and Mack is true. So, it was what happened in advance, over the last 18 months (in our case) that really mattered. So, basically I begin crying when the gal said raise your right hand. I barely repeated a coherent word of the "repeat after me"--thankfully Melissa was the rock or else they might not let Mack in the U.S.

Backing up, we arrived at the U.S. Consulate after a 35 minute bus ride. You might have a picture in your mind of a stately mansion or government building surrounded by a tall fence protected by armed guards. Instead, imagine pulling up to a business office in the downtown of a moderately sized US city. Take a few escalator rides up about three levels, show your passport, walk through a metal detector, and you are in the immigration office of the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, Peoples Republic odf China. We then waited for about 30 minutes for an agent to say "CCAI (our agency), parents of Guo Yuhui, please go to window 23". The agent compared copies of our passports submitted with the immigration application to our actual passports just to make sure we were the real parents per China's records. I then signed one last document and we returned to our seat. After another 30 minutes, the adoption director of the consulate came out to speak to all the families. She, I believe, is an American of Asian decent, and along with her staff of about five people, they will process about 3,000 adoptions this year. About 65 per cent of the adoptions are for children with special needs. Other U.S. Consulate offices around rthe world process another 7,000 adoptions a year. A few years ago, the Consulate in China processed maybe 7,000 adoptions and only 30 per cent (or so) were special needs. So, the trend is fewer babies being placed and more placed (as a per centage) with special needs. She proceeded to walk us through "Frequently Asked Questions". The one thing that really struck me was when she said "When you are in a foreign country, and you have lost your passport, or you are in a hospital, or you otherwise stuck, WE WILL HELP YOU (emphasis mine)". It may not seem like much, but when you are far from home, it is nice to know that the arm of Uncle Sam works mightily through a 5 foot 4 inch Amer-Asian woman. I almost started to belt out "God Bless America" but she got us started on the "oath" which is probably why I was softened enough to cry. Hey, when you are a long way from the place you want to be, and the people you want to be with, even a rock like me is gonna crack.
We fly to Hong Kong late Wednesday night and fly home Thursday evening. This is likely the last entry until we hit Pumpkin Festival. Warm- up the Neil Diamond baby, "We're Coming to America!"
Dave and Missy and Mack (sometimes Yu Hui and sometimes Luke when I forget which Asian I am shouting for).

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Visa Approved!

2010-09-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

Well, the big news of the day for us is that Mack's visa application was approved this morning. I do not know all the technical and legal words, but basically this allows us to bring him to the United States. Tomorrow, we go take the oath of citizenship on his behalf, which not knowing all the technical/legal words, means he is a U.S. citizen when we land in the in U.S. So, we are feeling quite good about being essentially done and essentially heading home (in our minds, we are probably already home).

We had to wait in our room until mid-morning in case there were visa problems. When we got word that we were all clear, we went for a stroll around the local markets on the island, stopped by Starbucks for lunch, and picked up laundry. A pretty typical day regardless of where we seem to be. Mack took a brief nap and then around 2:00p.m. we headed with our group via bus to the local pearl market. Melissa did pick up a few knick-knacks and then we walked back to the hotel. As for Mack and I, our only purchase was a Slurpee from 7-Eleven. He loved it but I think he will like a cherry Arctic Rush Freeze from DQ even better. After our shopping excursion, Melissa and Mack played in our room while I went to play squash with the boys from another adopting family. We have the recreation staff a little perplexed now because they never know if we are coming in to exercise, play squash, or play table tennis. At 6:00p.m. we loaded another bus with most of our group to head to a dinner cruise along the Pearl River. I was not very excited because I heard the food was "unusual". I have already had my share of "unusual" so I would have preferred something like an all you can eat Pizza Hut buffet. In the end, the food was fine because it was no more "unusual" than anything else we have tried while here. The cruise was about one and a half hours and was visually spectacular because of the city's architecture, numerous bridges, and well-lit skyline. As well, there was a brief magic show, which was pretty entertaining. The best trick was a gal swallowing six razor blades individually, showing an empty mouth to the crowd, then swallowing/working a string down her throat, and then retrieving six razor blades tied to the string. I could hardly watch. The best was one of the dads cautioning the kids to "not try this at home". Given that he spoke English and most of the kids speak Mandarin, I am not sure the joke was nearly as funny to them as it was to me. After the dinner cruise, we returned to the hotel for more time in the hotel playroom, as well as another competitive round of squash and table tennis. We are now settled in for bed, having had a bottle (Mack) and baths (Mack and Dave--separate). Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be nice, so we plan to be by the poolside for the better part of the day. Then, it is off to the US Consulate in the afternoon to take the oath--I hope there are no history/geography questions.

Take care.

Red Couch Pictures

2010-09-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

Today was a relaxed day for us. We pray your Sunday goes well. I will keep the entry short today. We had our usual breakfast and then stepped out to the street to drop our laundry at one of the local shops for cleaning. We ventured into two sourvenir shops and Melissa promised both staffs that she would be back later to make purchases. We then intended to walk to another local hotel to connect with friends but ended up not doing so because of pouring rain. We instead returned to the playroom at our hotel and let Mack spend some energy. Mack then took a long nap, Melissa did some reading, and I went to ride in the gym. I do not know why, but the recreation center attendant offered to get me proper clothing--I guess she had not seen a man exercise in aged sweat pants and a button down shirt. I thought I looked sophisticated--she did not seem amused. Around 4:30 all of the adoptive families in our group gathered for the customary "Red Couch Pictures", which take place, you guessed it, on a red couch. First they do individual families, snapped by everyone else in the group, then they do all the families at once, snapped with every family's camera, and then they do just the adopted children, snapped by everyone in the group. You can imagine the shear chaos, the sense of impending doom, and the tears of agony (this was just from the parents--the kids were fine). Quite a scene--with curious Asian onlookers also stopping to take photos of all the madness. From there, we headed to a Thai restaurant called The Cow and Bridge--excellent. My only disappointment here is that my oldest brother tells me Thai food is most wonderful when followed with coconut ice cream. Sadly, that was one flavor they did not offer. We headed back to the hotel, with Melissa and Mack visiting with half of the Wong family in the playroom while I played squash with the other half of their family. We are now settled into bed. Have a great day.

Dave

The Worst "Must" Be Behind Us!

2010-09-11T02:42:00.000-07:00

You might notice that this post is really during the middle of our day and not at the end of the day as is typical. We are doing so now because we are pretty sure we may pass out before too long. You might ask, why so tired/fatigued/defeated? Well, today was the day we took Mack to get his physical exam and immunizations. Long story short, it was a miserable experience for Mack, all the other adopted children, and all of their families. I suppose someone may have had fun but I did not see them. To set the stage, you must recall that we are in Guangzhou, which is where all U.S. families from all adoption agencies converge in order clear immigration through the U.S. Consulate. As well, there are people from other countries also adopting and clearing through Guangzhou. There are two hotels that house all these folks (The White Swan (our temporary home) and The Victory). I do not know the real number, but it has to be in the hundreds spread between the two hotels. They all have to go to the one clinic on the island for physicals and immunizations and we all chose to do so today and no one is able to schedule an appointment. You just show up and watch the fireworks and the fire drill ensue. The clinic is only slightly bigger than a double-wide trailer and has maybe one air conditioner to feed the entire facility. There are three stations that everyone must clear and a fourth (immunizations) that only some must visit. The process is changed from when we were here for Luke (no immunizations required upon exit) and we fell under the new requirement for Mack to have immunizations upon exit. First, we arrive and 9 families converge on one room and sit. The kids descend upon the one box of toys that probably thousands of other kids had drooled upon and we just waited and waited and waited while others filtered through the stations. When it was finally our turn, sweet Melissa basically handed me Mack and the paperwork and said good luck—she tends to not do nearly as well as I do in handling hot, sticky, crowded, situations where your new child is about to get poked and prodded. I, was of course, cool as a cucumber. Station 1 was weight (27.9 lbs), height (33 inches), and temperature (presumably 98.6). From there we waited for Station 2, which is where Mack decides it is time to throw him self about and basically resist any form of control. Thankfully, when we actually see the doctor in Station 2, we get the all is good on head size (I do not know the scale, he just said Rugaard) and his heart and lungs are sound fine. Station 3 was ears (they are there and they hear) and throat (he has one but does not like sticks jammed in while his arms and legs are forcibly restrained by his father). We are feeling good until we realize it is going to be “10 minutes” before we get to go through immunizations. In China, I think everything in “10 minutes”—every bus ride, every walk, every flight, every line—it is just a question of “10 minutes”—and for me it is usually the last “10 minutes” my nerves can take. So, one hour later, we get to for immunizations. The immunizations they get in Guangzhou can be different (and usually are) from one child to another based on what orphanage they came from and how often they needed to see a physician. You do not know until you get in the chair, holding your screaming bundle of expensive joy, how many shots that your child, and you, and everyone within hearing distance are about to enjoy. For Mack, the magic number was SIX shots. To add insult to injury, he had fallen asleep about five minutes before we got into the chair, and yet they made me wake him up for the event—which really amounted to 5 minutes of wailing before the shots even began. Then, I just restrained him while he got loaded up with various concoctions. So, four hours and $450 later, we headed home—Mack with bandages, me drenched in sweat, and Melissa looking faint. By the time we walked “10 minutes” back to our hotel, he was totally fine. Melissa and I, on the other hand, are still wiped.

We miss you all.

P.S. We did hit the Guangzhou Starbucks for cool drinks, a hot sandwich, and a blueberry muffin. Mack likes mocha frappuchino. Our day did have upside.

Pics for Planes, Trains, Automobiles

2010-09-11T02:35:00.000-07:00

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

2010-09-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

I am pretty certain that I used the heading "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" before when we adopted Luke. If so, consider it something like the movie "Groundhog Day", whereby the main character lives the same day over-and-over again until he decides to interject his own tweaks to what he thinks/knows will happen. Well, I am not trying to change what I think will happen, but there are some aspects of the travel side of this trip that start to feel repetitive. The sole objective of this day was to make it safely to Guangzhou. We started travelling at 3:00pm, by bus, to the airport. The straight shot flight was slightly delayed but lifted off safely and touched down without incident. Did you know that I pray before every flight and ask God to spare my life? If I ever go in a plane crash you can assume I forgot to pray because up till now I am batting a 1.000 in this narrow aspect of my prayer life. Or, maybe, as the joke goes, it was the pilot's time to go and I just picked the wrong flight. Okay, you did not ask for all that, so back to happy words. Ou flight arrived in Guangzhou and we pushed our luggage for 20 minutes to a bus. We then took a 45 minute bus ride to our hotel. We were in our room by 11:00pm or so. Long btravel day for such a seemingly short distance.

Mack did really well travelling. Basically, I have learned, after three bus trips with him, that he happily handles the first two-thirds of the trip and peacefully sleeps the last third of the trip. The alarming signal relative to his flight behavior is that he did not sleep on the plane. Basically, he was a bundle of energy--not loud--not crying--just constant motion--constantly bouncing between us--constantly kicking tray table--constantly reaching into other passenger's space beside us, in front of us, and behind us. And, did I mention, that this kid drools constantly. I really should have "knocked on wood" when I told Melissa, I can handle anything as long as he does not drool. I love hot, sweaty, cramped quarters, being drooled on by a small child. Good Times! Why did I say this was alarming flight behavior? Well, me being Mr. Negative--i am just "concerned" about the 14 hour flight home.

Two funny stories, and then I am going to bed because it is 1:30am here. Plus, I am pounding this out on a Blackberry, a la Robin Williams in RV and I have a tingling senation in both hands. These are really "you have to be there stories" that are only funny because I am such a goof.

First, when I checked out of my room, the desk guy asked if I had used the mini-bar. I indicated that I had two Cokes and he said "No charges, only liquor". Seemed strange, so when he gave me my room bill I asked again and he said "just liquor". So, I went upstairs and told another guy, who had been searching all week for real Diet Coke that I had some in my room and that apparently it was free. So, he takes the DC. Now, spool forward, to a bus full of adoptive families about to exit the parking lot for a 45 minute trip to the airport. Imagine a littlw Chinese lady running out to the bus and asking "Who was in room 316?". Always afraid of the worst, I sheepishly said that I was in room 316. She explained that first two Cokes were free and that third one "You must pay". So, back to the front desk to pay the tab while the bus sat.

Second, imagine what happens in most airports when someone sends a coffee can full of baby formula through in checked luggage. Nothing happens--absolutely nothing. Now, imagine what happens when an American named Dave Nicholson sends that same coffee can of baby formula through in checked luggage in a Chinese airport. You gussed right. Horns sound and red lights flash and ol Dave Nicholson gets asked to step through the secure zone for a bag inspection. I am just glad I had visited the Shaolin Temple and could find a way, in peace and harmony, to not go kung fu all over everyone.

Cannot keep my eyes open.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Slow Day

2010-09-09T06:48:00.001-07:00

Not much to write about today. It has been quite slow, which has been quite nice. We had such a long day today that we opted to just stay at the hotel. We had intended to sleep-in, but we started the day a little earlier than planned. Mack woke up crying at around 5:30, which then triggered Melissa to wake-up, which then triggered me to wake-up. We had a slow morning, regardless, and went to breakfast around 8:30. We then decided to make a trek to the "Zhengzhou Starbucks" with another family. We were convinced that we had seen a Starbucks within a few blocks of our hotel. Suffice it to say that at mile 3, we had not seen the alleged Starbucks, and by mile 6, when we returned to the hotel, that most of us were muttering (again), "That the Care Bears were here" and "it seemed like a good idea at the time". Did I mention that I had Mack on my chest and/or shoulders for all but one mile of the trip. Seriously, I am thinking of heading to Mt. Everest and becoming a sherpa. Or, better yet, becoming a rickshaw driver--they have great calves. Or, better still, a monk (hey, I like the hairstyle and the pjs they get to wear).

We did stop by a Wal-Mart towards the end of our walk. Yes, I am becoming a Wally World regular. We decided to buy a stroller. Of course, I pick up the one that has no price tag. Imagine two mutually unintelligible people trying decide where the stroller came from, what it might have cost, whether or not I wanted to just forget the purchase, and who was going to go find the price in the event I did want the stroller. After waiting probably 10 minutes for a clerk to return, Melissa decided I should go back to third floor of the store to see if the clerk was waiting. I did, and the clerk was waiting patiently for my return. She probably told me to come upstairs, but you know, it must have been lost in translation. On a related topic, this is the same Wal-Mart that I tried to buy groceries as two days earler. Imagine Melissa and me standing in line with about 10 Chinese nationals behind us. I only have a credit card. I tell Melissa, if they do not take a credit card that I am walking straight out and leaving her and the stuff behind. This sends Melissa into full tilt panic mode. She waves my Master Card at the clerk and the clerk nods to affirm that they do take MC. Perfect, all is right in Wally World. She rings us up and runs the card. She hands me a pin pad. Here the fun begins. I do not even know if I have a PIN code for the MC. Me, Mr. Non Verbal, shakes my head sideways and to help better explain my situation, I loudly state "No PIN". Imagine, if you will, Melissa, Mrs. Verbal, launching into a full conversation with the gal to explain to her why we do not have a PIN and that we have used the card elsewhere in China without a problem and questioning could there be another way to use the card than with a PIN code. At this point, the crowd behind is glaring and I am starting to sweat. I then hand her a VISA Debit card--emphasis on the debit--to which she initially says yes but then indicates no upon the advice of the manager she has now brought into the picture. They take MC (with a PIN) but not VISA (with a PIN or without a PIN). In the end, another adoptive family paid for my groceries. There are good reasons not to shop at Wal Mart and yet I find myself doing it. It must be the heat.

We spent the rest of the day engaged in a family ping pong tournament, doing office work, and reading. Melissa spent most of the day chasing Mack. He is starting to warm to us and is laughing and smiling more and more. Trauma, of course, draws people close together. So, we are feeling close because so far today he has pulled a full suitcase over on himself, pinched his fingers in a drawer, fallen face first in the hallway, and gotten reprimanded for sticking his hands in the toilet. He is ACTIVE! Although, I can say that he does sleep quite well. He took a 1.5 hour lap as we finished our failed Starbuck search and had lunch. And, as I write, Melissa has laid him down for the night and he crashed in about 5 minutes even with the television on and me rattling about. We have got to figure out how to keep him so well conditioned for sleep.

We received all of our Chinese paperwork today. His Chinese passport will arrive tomorrow. We then fly to Guangzhou on Friday afternoon to begin the process of completing U.S. paperwork. This all seems incredibly slow and we wish we were headed home.

Dave

It Really Was A Good Idea!

2010-09-08T08:37:00.000-07:00

I commented in yesterday's blog that someone should remind me today that our 2 hour bus trip to the Shaolin Temple "seemed like a good idea at the time". Well, in reality, it was a great idea at the time as it turned out to be a great experience. Step way beyond the obvious and significant differences between the Christian faith and the Buddhist faith and you can really marvel in neat historical and cultural experience. Here are some quick facts. The temple is about 1,500 years old. In its prime, there were 2,000 monks. Now, there are about 300 monks. Currently, there are more than 20,000 kung fu students on the grounds. It is more accurate to say that such students are there for a private education that includes an emphasis on kung fu. The architecture was phenomenal and the waft of incense added ambience--at least enough to cover the smell of cigarettes--remember not everyone there was a monk. We attended a very entertaining show focused on the art of kung fu. The students were all male and probably ranged in age from 8 to 18. These guys were flexible, strong, and could probably do real damage to a human body. They had some amazing skills (maybe tricks??), like throwing a nail through plate glass and bursting a balloon. The highlight of the day was watching a few members from our group climb on stage before the show to have action poses taken with some of the students. I thought about going up, but my knees and hips could not possibly make the required contortions. I had a thorougly enjoyable experience and could bore you with pictures if you like.

The best part of the day was really seeing a little more of Mack's personality starting to peek through. As you know, I hate hot, sweaty, uncomfortable environments like a 2 hour bus ride. But, this did afford us the opportunity to hug/squeeze/tickle/comfort this guy into giggling and laughing a little. He fell asleep in my lap for the last 45 minutes of the ride to the temple, and I then lugged him around while he slept another 15 minutes. As I think about it, I pretty much lugged him around for most of the day--the kid ways a ton and my arms are aching tonight. It was (and is) interesting walking around with some many other adoptive families. We stick out like sore thumbs and get more attention than I seem to recall when we adopted Luke. The bus ride home was uneventful--Mack was draped across our laps and pretty much slept the entire way home. It was just nice to get to spend time with Mack and learn about him. It is impossible to know, but I get the sense that he was the "protector" in his room of 10 at the orphanage. Yesterday, as he interacted with some of the other adopted kids (and their siblings), he would share toys with the smaller/younger kids and linger near them. He whacked the one 8 year old that encroached upon the little kid territory. We have also noticed that when we walk our hallway at the hotel, that he will stop at the doors where children are crying. I tend to think he is "worried" about them. All of this is supposition, but there is clearly more personality within him than we have seen. My theories will likely fly out the window when he pounds Luke or otherwise crushes someone in Sunday School.

Best scene of the day occurred at lunch. One little guy that travelled with his family from the U.S. tried to indicate quietly to his parents (but loud enough for us to hear) that he had to go poop. Now, in the Shaolin part of the woods, there are no Western toilets, only holes in the floor and slippery holes at that. So, the quiet debate ensued between him mom and dad "Me or you, men's or women's, which one will be best?" While that debate quietly continued, the little boy finally indicated, "Nope, I'm okay---I think it was just gas". It was a classic moment enjoyed by everyone at the table--except maybe his mom and dad.

For those of you who wish we could see Maria's House of Hope, it just will not happen. I can at least show you one photo of the fork in the road we could have taken (for another 1.5 hours) to get us in the vicinity.

We still cannot see your blog comments--although Shelby sometimes reads them to us on Skype. Thanks for your support.

Dave

Legally Ours!

2010-09-07T08:14:00.001-07:00

Legally speaking, today was a big day for us in China. We completed the adoption registration process, as well as obtaining the necessary notarizations. So, long story short, Guo Yu Hui is now completely, fully, legally our son and will now run under the name of Mack Andrew Nicholson. So, we are very excited but also wondering "Why do we have to stay?". The answer to that question is pretty simple. We now have someone we have to legally get into the United States and that is basically what we take care of over the next week and a half. If he was not so physically big, I would consider a small dose of benadryl and a large carry-on, but that sounds probably falls under the category of "it seemed like a good idea at the time". So, we follow the process and wait a few more days.

It continues to rain here in Zhengzhou and we have not seen the sun in several days. As a result, we have not seen much of the city, except for a few sweaty, humid bus trips to government offices. Imagine a bus, windows fogged by the sweat of about twenty emotionally drained adults and about a dozen emotionally drained children. Most of the time most of the people handle things fine, although there are moments when the way your spouse even breathes that causes tempers to flare. There are not enough wet wipes in the world to make me feel clean and decent in such an environment. I would rather have just left Bandana's and climbed into the rafters at a Cardinals game in 100 degree heat.

Seriously, we left the hotel at 9:00a.m. to go complete the adoption registration. This was the same office where most of us received our child. They had a nice little ceremony with local officials giving each family the adoption registration and certificate. For the record, I did not cry, although one little boy asked "So, how the allergies holding up?" From there, we went to the notary official's office, which took an extra 30 minutes longer to get to because of road closures. Did I mention the bus was hot, sweaty, and that the windows were fogged over with the condensation of human breath? We scaled six floors to the notary office, almost as high as the Great Wall, and croweded around a table for the last signings of several legal documents. A final picture of each family with the local notary, and all was completed. From there, it was back to the hotel. Missy laid Mack down for a nice long nap, while I went to grab two pizzas to go. The pizzas were excellent. Missy then laid down for a nap, while I went to ride a bike in the hotel fitness room. After naptime, the entire adoption group then loaded another sweat-filled, human breath laboratory and went to the Lotus Centers. It is nearly equivalent to a three story Wal-Mart. Some of you have seen the "open" pants children wear here when they are potty training. Suffice it to say that there is apparently no shame in potty training in public on the floors of the Lotus Centers. Not one child, but many. Again, there are not enough wet wipes to get me comfortable with this particular cultural difference. After we returned to the hotel, we joined another family (from California) and went to eat noodles. They are a great family and we have enjoyed spending time with them. We concluded the evening with a ping pong tournament, with the loser (that would be me), buying ice cream for the bunch. Back to our room to give Mack a bath and the evening is now over.

Tomorrow we are heading 2 hours (by bus) to Shaolin Temple--home of kung fu training. I plan to come home with dragons scarred into my wrists from having picked up flaming hot vats of oil. It should be sweet. Except, it could be 2 hours of sweat filled bus ecstasy. Remind me tomorrow, "It seemed like a good idea at the time".

Dave

Gotcha Day!

2010-09-06T04:01:00.001-07:00

Well, here we are 7 hours from our Gotcha moment and it still feels very surreal. This little person is sitting here in our hotel room. He doesn't know us and we don't know him and honestly it is weird! Here is how the day went…

We met in the lobby at 9:30am. There were 6 families that got their children with us and 3 that waited until the afternoon and were brought the babies here at the hotel. We were #3 in drop off. All the families were waiting in an office building and when we saw a mini-van pull up everyone would get ready and then wait and see who it was and then as soon as we knew who was coming that family would get to the front and everyone would start photographing. It was nuts. This is different for us, because with Luke we were all by ourselves (kids and parents included) and it was very quiet.

When Mack arrived his two nannies carried him in. It was our turn to go to the front of the line. They were talking Chinese to him telling him "mama" and "baba". When I reached out for him he turned back to his nanny and wouldn't come, but Dave was able to take him without any problems. We held him while we finished our paperwork and he mostly watched all the activity around us. He warmed up to us and really never cried. The special moment for me was when the nannies were getting ready to leave and they came to visit with us. Our guide stood with us for about 20 min while we talked. They gave us a gift. It was a photo album of pictures of him at the Kaifeng Social Welfare Institute where he has been for his life of 19 months. We flipped through the pictures and they told us who the other children were and who the different workers were. We all cried. I told them thank you and they told me thank you and how much we appreciated each other. They told me that he was a stinker. That he would get into everything and that he was funny. I'm anxious to see his little personality peak through the doors of insecurity, they are starting to even this evening. He had a best friend…there are several pictures of her in the book. She was adopted to the states also. I love knowing all this and having had this conversation especially since it is unlikely that we will be going to visit his orphanage. Our group is too big and it is to far away for everyone to visit their orphanages. After we visited it was time for them to say goodbye. They were bawling (not Mack) the nannies and they were precious. Two beautiful women (notice pictures) that cared for this little baby boy with a messed up little mouth since he was there at 2 days old. I loved them and hugged them and we stood and waved while they waved back wiping tears all the way out the door. I will never forget that.

Now we have been back to the hotel this afternoon and we played and got on Skype with kids. It was midnight for them and they were very tired! Mack fell asleep for 3 hours. Dave worked out and I finished "Choosing to SEE" Mary Beth Chapman's book. We got him in the bath and put one of our outfits on him and continued to asses the situation. He has bug bites all over him. This is common. His lip looks good. It is a bigger repair than Luke. So I feel like it's more noticeable, but Mack has the inside repaired and it looks great so that is different and a blessing. The one thing we weren't aware of is how bow-legged he is. Dave has already been on Web MD. Of course not a major concern but something else to think about. It doesn't slow him down, he is running all over the place.

We are looking forward to coming home. Even more now! Love you all, Missy

Off to Zhengzhou!

2010-09-05T06:57:00.001-07:00

Hey everybody…it's Missy! Just wanted to say Hi and give Dave a little break with the post. Today we flew from Bejing to Zhengzhou, the province where Mack is. 9 families traveled with us. There were 19 total families with us in Bejing so it feels smaller and yet when we traveled to Luke's province it was us alone so this is very different! Wednesday morning when we were leaving Peoria at 5am and I was talking Dave's ear off already he turned to me and said, "You need a friend!" I thought that was so funny, but I have plenty of people to talk to now having spent 4 full days with them and they are all wonderful! I can't wait to meet all their little people after hearing the stories of why, how and who they are adopting!

We will be leaving the Hotel at 9:30am to drive to meet Mack. I have to admit, I don't have the same fears as I had experienced when I met Luke. I do have some, but I think I'm just trying so hard to remain aware of everything going on around me and take it all in that I've allowed myself to relax a bit. I'm really tired and don't feel "ready" to go for it, but I will!

After we arrived here in Zhengzhou Dave went to the bank with the guide to change money. After that we walked many blocks in pouring down rain to the Wal-Mart. We bought snacks, wipes, a few toys and a ping pong paddle. There are ping pong tables in the recreation area and Dave and another family bought paddles and are going to play some. We also ate dinner with the two families that we went to Wal-Mart with. We found a Sichaun Chinese Restaurant and had to point to pictures to order. These people were very adventurous (CaliforniansJ) and ordered jelly fish and squid! Most everything was very good and of course family style so we got to try everything.

Love you all and miss everyone so much! More later,

Missy

Olympic Fever

2010-09-04T05:37:00.001-07:00

Today was a full day. We slept well, although we were up early, at around 5:00a.m., because we are still adjusting to the new time zone. We went down to breakfast (if you want to know what I ate today then just read yesterday's blog entry) and joined our group at 8:00a.m. to start our tours. We drove about one hour to our first stop. It was a government certified/operated jade factory. It was interesting to see items actually being made, although not interesting enough to cause us to buy anything. Sorry, girls and ladies, no trinkets this time around. From there, we drove about 30 more minutes to the base of an entrance to The Great Wall. Our guide took us to a "real" section---"real" in the sense that it did not have any elevators or escalators--only your "physical factors" to propel you up. If you want to know how that went, check the blog from earlier this morning, which was actually sent from the top of The Great Wall. Suffice it to say I thought I was going to die and had to buy a t-shirt to replace two sweat-stained shirts I had been wearing. Getting passed by two 3-year olds only made the experience worse. After that experience, we headed to another traditional Chinese lunch and shopping at an enamel vase factory--sorry everyone, no gifts here either. From there, we head to the primary sites of the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing. The facilities were built in a newer "ring" on the outskirts of Beijing and are as impressive in person as they were on television. Things are actually quite close together--the athlete's housing is within a few blocks of the Water Cube, which is within a few blocks of the Bird's Nest. There were lots of people just milling about, which is all we really did, even though I think tours are possible. From there we progressed to a local theatre for an acrobatics show. Think Tommy Bartlett's meets Ringling Bros Barnum Bailey Circus meets Cats meets Robin Hood Men in Tights in a sticky, smoke-filled movie theater and the show will come into perspective for you. After this experience, we headed back to our hotel and had for quick meal before returning to our room. The dinner experience was marked by a crazy lady, who we are told, had just eaten three plates of shrimp before spewing/throwing food in anger. We only saw her wolf down four bananas--I tried not to make eye contact because I did not think I could outrun her if she chose to attack. We are back in our room, about to go to sleep, because we leave at 8:00a.m. Sunday morning to fly to Mack's province. We hope all o fyou are doing well. Love, Dave and Missy

Sir Edmund Nicholson

2010-09-03T21:26:00.000-07:00

This is me at the highest point we could reach of The Great Wall. I was told there was a Starbucks up here. I got news for you--capitalism has not reached this far. I am a 41 year old, balding, slightly pooched, guy who is sweating like a pig. I cannot breathe and my chest is pounding. If I had to make choice, I would rather get hit by a truck, have a kidney stone, and a cystoscopy, and a knee surgey, all at the same time, than climb these steps again. I am heading back down--time me. If I do not blog again in 45 minutes, please call Great Wall 911 and tell them a stinking (literally) American has dropped to his knees somewhere on the Great Wall. Kids, I love you.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Sir Edmund Nicholson

2010-09-03T21:09:00.000-07:00

Tour Day

2010-09-03T05:10:00.000-07:00

Today was a big day of tours. But before I get to that, let me tell you that my prediction came true. My prediction being that Melissa would be awake before me because she went to sleep so very early. At about 4:00a.m. she QUIETLY WHISPERS, "Do you mind if I turn a light on and make some coffee because I want to get up at 5:00?" Or, it was something basically like that. So, by 6:00a.m. I was in the hotel excercise room watching traditional Chinese opera and desperately searching for something I could understand. Which lead me to CNN China, which lead to the sports segment, which lead to the "World Play of the Day". Imagine my shock when the announcer indicated the "World Play of the Day" involved Ben Zobrist of the Tampa Bay Rays! The twist, however, was that Ben hit a foul ball down first base and cracked a lady in the noggin. To add to the drama, they showed Ben then hitting another foul ball down first base and the same lady fielded it like a professional! To cap it all off, she then stopped another line drive from Carl Crawford shortly thereafter. So, in reality, they announced that she was the "World Play of the Day". See what I have to write about when Cole, Shelby, Piper, Bill and Linda are not with us?

First, let me say that the buffet breakfast was as fabulous as ever. Even though we are in a totally different city, the meal really did not change. Or, perhaps I cannot change. I chased a bowl of cereal (oats, bran, sunflower seeds, raisins, no milk) with white toast, 4 pieces of bacon (limp), a side of fried rice, steamd carrots and celery, and a bulbous green vegetable of unknown name and origin. Massive amounts of pineapple juice and cofee as thick as maple syrup--which was good because my head was pounding from lack of caffeine and lack of sleep.

We then spent the day on tours. Just imagine Melissa (or little Bill as I think of her) networking with every family in from our agency and every family from an entirely different agency. By the end of the day, everyone knew who the super-friendly gal was and I actually heard one lady refer to me as the "quiet one--off to the side there". I am not totally positive, but I think she already has us travelling to California to visit new acquaintances. We spent the whole day touring with our group, starting in the Hutong Village. The village is really some of oldest existing living quarters in Beijing, basically 8 dwellings surrounding a common area with a well (think of a pound sign). The fun part was riding a rickshaw to get in-and-around the village. Our guide was number 0231 and I am pretty sure he could have dropped Lance Armstrong like hot potato. We then made a brief stop at a silk shop where silk worms at work, thread being produced, quilts being made, and lots of bedding, carpets, and clothing on sale. From there, we had a traditional lunch and dance show for one of the ethnic minorities (Dai, I think). Food was good, dance was okay, and highly confident the lead girl dancer was not a girl--no girl has abs that solid. From there we headed to Tiannamen Square (political capital) and the Forbidden City (think Mulan). Someone pegged our day at 8 miles of walking. It was good, but we are very tired.

Right now, we cannot read any of your posts. So, please do not think we are ignoring you.

Safe and Simple Travels!

2010-09-02T06:01:00.001-07:00

Just a quick update to let you know we have arrived safely in China. We arrived at our hotel-Holiday Inn Downtown Beijing around 2:00pm China time (about 1:00am Illinois time). So, we pretty much been awake for almost 24 hours straight. As I write, it is now 9:00pm in China (8:00am in llinois). I am feeling good and Melissa has been asleep for a couple hours. This, is not a good thing, as she will likely wake me up in a few hours wanting "to talk"--as if the three words I already gave her on the 14 hour flight are somehow insufficient for her emotional tank. We have met a few families that are part of our agency's group--some from St. Lous, some from Mt. Prospect, some from Conneticut. Tomorrow, most all of us will tour Beijing-Forbidden City, Tiannamen Square, Hutong Village, Olympic Birds Nest, which should be fun.

Be patient with the blog. It will be "boring" compared to prior trip because Cole, Shelby, Piper, Bill, and Linda provided most of the writing entertainment and sadly they are not here this time. Also, apparently China has blocked Blogspot, so the updates will be brief and potentially without photos. I do not think even NiteCruzer can solve this one.

Love to all.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Our Trip to China 2!

2010-08-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

Well, we are counting down the days. Wednesday Sept. 1 we leave for 2 weeks to China to bring Mack home! I, Missy, have so many mixed emotions! I'm so excited to visit China again. I'm so excited to spend this time with Dave. I'm so excited to add another member to our family! But, I don't want to leave everybody behind, I'm nervous about going so far away for so long and WHAT our we thinking adding another person to our family!!!!! With all that said, God has blessed our family so much that we feel compelled to share our lives with another that He has brought to us supernaturally. (through the miracle of adoption!) Truly we feel Luke will benefit growing up with another brother who shares his ethnicity, and our family has embraced adoption and cleft as part of our lives so here we go again!

Wednesday morning Dave and I leave Peoria and will return the 16th of September. Our 4 kids will be staying with Grandma! We will miss them all so much on this trip. Cole is just starting his Sr. year, Shelby Soph. year, Piper 7th grade and Luke is 3 with many speech appts. while we are gone! Grandma Linda and I will be sitting down tonight to go over the calendar! I know they will do fine, but wow, it could get interesting!
Dave will be documenting everything for us and we will keep the pictures coming. Please pray for us as we journey.
Aug. 23rd the first day of school this year, this was what my devotional JESUS CALLING read,
"Entrust your loved ones to ME; release them into my protective care. They are much safer with me than in your clinging hands. If you let a loved one become an idol in your heart, you endanger that one-as well as yourself. Remember Abraham and Issac. I took Isaac to the very point of death to free Abraham from son-worship. I detest idolatry, even in the form of parental love. When you release loved ones to Me, you are free to cling to My hand. As you entrust others into My care, I am free to shower blessings on them. My Presence will go with them wherever they go, and I will give them rest. This same Presence stays with you, as you relax and place your trust in Me. Watch to see what I will do."
This was so appropriate for the first day of school, or sending one off to college, or worrying about a new driver and specifically in my case leaving kids behind for 2 weeks.
When we talk about the dynamics of our family changing I say to the kids, "God is faithful". I'm reminding myself when the human insecurities creep in that My God is Faithful!
"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we can ask or imagine" Eph. 3:20

Missy

Mack - 13 months!

2010-04-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

Introducing Mack-March 2010

2010-03-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

Since I wrote in November a lot has happened. Duh! And really I wouldn't even know how to give a lot of details, so the short list is Christmas, my brother's wedding, gymnastics meets, volleyball games, swim meets, Dave and Cole and Piper's birthdays and our spring break! But, most importantly we were "matched" with our 5th blessing. A little boy, from China!!!!! I wrote that we began our second adoption last spring and Dec. 16th we received our referral. It was the day before my brother's wedding!

His name is Guo Yu Hui. He was born Feb. 9, 2009. He was born with bilateral cleft lip and palate. It was corrected on Oct. 9, 2009. On Dec. 16th we accepted him into our family and we are waiting to find out more information on him. We named him Mack Andrew Nicholson. He will be 2 1/2 years younger that Luke!

We are waiting to see when we will be able to go and get him! Hoping that it will be June. We have Luke potty trained and out of the crib waiting the arrival of "baby maaa" this is Luke's interpretation. Need to work on the hard consonants!

We have asked for post surgery pictures, but have not seen anything. As soon as we have more information we will post it! Please pray for the details as you think about us. Dave and I will most likely make this trip ourselves. It is exciting and overwhelming thinking about working out all the details.

2009-11-08T18:17:00.001-08:00

2009-11-08T17:52:00.000-08:00

3 Years Old!

Oct. 20 we celebrated Luke's 3rd Birthday. This day was actually uneventful. The day before my Grandma had surgery and she was in the ICU so postponed the party a few days so there would be more time to enjoy it. We had brunch and enjoyed a couple hours together on Sat. morning. I can't believe he is 3 already. This year has gone so fast. His birthday was Thomas the Train. Everything he does is about trains. He loves them. Sometimes he wants to sit at the computer and watch Thomas the train videos on Youtube. I don't mean show I mean kids taping their real thomas the train tracks with the trains sitting on them. Really....The other kids are so great. Cole is almost half way through his Junior year. We went to our first College Fair the other week. That was weird and exciting. Shelby just finished her Freshman Volleyball season. She is doing great in high school and Piper is really busy with school and gymnastics. She also has a lead part in the church Christmas play. We will be looking forward to that. Dave is well and we are all enjoying the fall time in Illinois!

Our Homestudy is done. We sort of sat on it a few weeks for personal reasons, but finally finished all the forms. Now it will be translated by our agency and shortly sent to China. After that we wait for a Log In Date which is the beginning of the real waiting time. God is totally in control of the timing and we are just following through with our responsibilities.

There is lots to look forward to in the next couple months. I will be more diligent with postings. Thanksgiving, Christmas play, my brothers wedding, Christmas. Hope everyone enjoys these fun family times!

2009-09-10T06:58:00.001-07:00

So Big!

2009-09-10T06:52:00.000-07:00

Just a little update on Luke. He is having a great summer of "growing up" and learning lots of new things. He swims like a fish-almost by himeself. It's so great! We joke about taking him to the pool last summer in China thinking he was going to be scared and he just threw his head under without even flinching! He's jumping on the trampoline, hitting his baseball and going to speech every other week.

Just wanted to say Thanks to Orlando for the bike to practice on! The leg strength is almost there!!!!

2009-09-10T06:48:00.001-07:00

Where did August GO!!!!!!!!

2009-09-10T06:25:00.000-07:00

Ok seriously I haven't even sat down to look at my blog let alone post something new! There are a few reasons why. I've been introduced to facebook, our computer took a "break", and school! Needless to say time is flying by. I'm so excited for the next few weeks. It is the midwests redeeming season. Autumn harvest time. We love it! Tanners, Pumpkin Festival, the crisp air- yet is still warm, Chilli, football, etc. God is very visual in the leaves changing colors and the fields coming down and I just love it.

We had a great August though. I was able to visit my sister for her 40th birthday. My mom, Sheila, Susan and I flew down and spent 3 very fun and relaxing days in honor of Jenny! She is such a wonderful Godly woman and I'm so grateful for her as a sister and a friend!

My fingerprints finally cleared after being printed 4 times. They ended up doing a name-based clearance so on we go with this second adoption. We will see. Cole started his Junior year, Shelby is a Freshman and Piper is in 6th grade. They are all doing well and I praise the Lord for them and what they mean to our family.

Hope everyone is great! Happy Fall!

2009-07-29T17:16:00.001-07:00

July 21, 1994

2009-07-29T16:54:00.000-07:00

15 years ago Shelby Renee Nicholson came into this world and has been lighting up the room ever since! We celebrated her birthday over the last week with a few friends over and then the family gathering. She also finished drivers ed and got her permit this week. She has been busy this summer and soooooo helpful with Luke! She's such a joy! Happy Birthday Shelby!

2009-07-27T19:44:00.001-07:00

All Star Fun!

2009-07-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

When one of our friends found a few tickets for sale (Thanks Trisha), we couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend the evening in St. Louis for the All Star Game. It was such a beautiful night. Weather was gorgeous and my dad found a parking spot right up front. For those of you who know me and my "door to door" mentality! The president threw the first pitch and the MLB organization did a tremendous job of celebrating the "All Stars Among Us". After the opening ceremonies Dave said ,"I could leave now". It was so neat. But, of course we could not! It was fun to watch Ben get in at the end. We had fun and really enjoyed the time!

2009-06-30T07:07:00.001-07:00

Fun Tradition!

2009-06-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

I don't usually write about myself and what I'm doing, but this weekend I spent two days at a Women of Faith conference and I wanted everyone to know how fun these are and encourage you, if you can go, to do it! These conferences aren't new to me. I started going in 1997 and have been every year but two since. This year I was especially motivated to go since Steven Curtis Chapman was the concert on Friday night. The loss of the Chapmans daughter last May was something that Katie (my cousin) and I felt saddened and bonded about. Katie lives with a daughter in heaven and Maria, the Chapmans daughter, was adopted from China. The Godly example they are to the world about caring for the less fortunate and how to deal with grief is just mind boggling. It was so encouraging. For all those adoptive moms out their, Steven introduced his family and said they had 3 natural children and 3 "super" natural! I thought that was awesome and True! Their is something supernatural that happens when you are bonded, by God, through adoption. We couldn't do it without his supernatural power!

The theme was a "Grand New Day" and who doesn't need that! Alot of you have been to one and know the different speakers. Some are the same and some are different through the years, but everytime I go God meets me exactly where I am! New this year was Mandisa (American Idol) and Lisa Whelchel (Facts of Life and Author). they were both Amazing. Plus Steven and all the Old school ladies. Get some friends, family, co-workers, church ladies and GOOOO! Or I will take ya! Who's in?
Love, Missy

2009-06-25T08:33:00.001-07:00

Summer Fun!

2009-06-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

The Hatfields have been here for three weeks and it has been a blast! We are enjoying all the things summer brings. Our kids have so much fun when they are here. Especially at Oak Run. We've been up there a few different times. We celebrated Father's Day with everyone there. Here is a little glimpse...

2009-06-16T10:06:00.001-07:00

He's been with us a Year!

2009-06-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

One year ago today our family boarded a bus to drive across the city of Kunming, China to meet the little boy that God placed in our arms. It was the scariest, strangest way to "have" a baby...but I say, " my stomach grew with 3 biological children and my faith grew with 1 adopted child." God changed us forever with Luke. We are so grateful for his life and how it has enriched ours. He is funny, loving, fiesty, sweet and busy! Everything a two year old brings to a house! We know that he was created to be a part of our life and family and we pray for the woman that experienced his creation, birth and the sacrifice of giving him up. Whatever her circumstances were, I pray that she will be blessed and come to know the saving grace of Christ. I know that God used her in my life. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 "May the Lord of peace himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance." It is with this promise that we move forward with a second adoption! We have started the process and continue to go down the check list of things to do. There are a few things outstanding with the homestudy, my fingerprints have been rejected by the FBI 3 times. I just went for the fourth time! I guess the print isn't readable. We are moving a little slower probably because life is a little busier. We will go back to China, for a special need, and we marked either gender on our application. That was the big question when we started. Should we mark boy or girl. Needless to say we couldn't agree which is why we marked either. Cole and I think it should be a boy, for Luke, since they will be close in age and both Chinese. The girls think it should be a girl because we have already done the boy thing! Dave was neutral.
Anyway, we will keep you posted! Hope everyone's summer is going well.

2009-06-01T07:30:00.001-07:00

2009-06-01T07:06:00.001-07:00

Shelby's 8th Grade Recognition

2009-06-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night May 26th we celebrated Shelby's 8th grade recognition. They have a lunch at school after the practices and give the class a gift. She got a t-shirt with all the kids signatures. Then they go to Grace Pres. for the recognition night. It's fun, the kids dress up and have a class picture taken and then get a certificate. We invite Grandma and Grandpa and then eat out somewhere after. Since I didn't have a blog when Cole had his 8th grade recognition I thought it would be fun to show some pictures from his night too! We will have two in high school next year. I can't believe it. Time really flys by. I just want to enjoy the summer with everyone home. Sleeping in, reading, boating, tubing, visiting cousins, the pool, VBS, all still to come. We love summer!

2009-05-27T09:05:00.001-07:00

Weekend away!

2009-05-27T08:36:00.000-07:00

It has been so busy the last few weeks, but in the midst of it all Dave and I set aside a few days to go to Florida. Matt (cousin in law) graduated from Eureka College and decided to treat his wife to a weekend of fun in the sun. When they invited us it was hard to refuse. We are very proud of Matt's accomplishment while dealing with daily life responsibilities and it was a priviledge to be a part of his celebration weekend. We had a blast and the kids did great! We flew down on Friday morning spent two days on the beach, 1 day at the International Plaza (mall) and attended 4 baseball games. Saturday night we celebrated with Shouses and Zobrists at a Brazilian Steakhouse. It was a much needed break for Dave and I!

2009-04-13T07:18:00.001-07:00

Easter 2009

2009-04-13T07:09:00.000-07:00

We celebrated a wonderful Easter holiday. Of course we are still celebrating the "first" of everything for Luke. So it was his first Easter. Piper decorated eggs with him earlier in the week and then she hid them for him Sunday morning before church. We went to Sunday school and church and then had a wonderful lunch with my mom and dad! We have to go to school Monday because we had so many snow days this winter! Ugh! Oh well, spring is in the air!

Pictures speak louder than words!

2009-03-31T14:39:00.001-07:00

Spring Break 2009

2009-03-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

Well, it came and went...Spring Break. I can't believe it's over. Fortunately we were able to get away for a few days to the sunny 85 degree temperatures of Florida. We enjoyed the hospitality (pool) of our friends and were able to watch a game and visit Busch Gardens. It was great. Shelby is on a 10 day missions trip with school now so I'm glad we had the time together as a family before she left.

Luke is doing great! He traveled well and loved the pool. He has a speech evaluation this evening and will start some therapy. He actually mimicks alot but the clarity could be improved!

As we prepare for Easter we remember that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, rose again three days later and will return again for all who believe. We trust at Easter this year you all will know this truth and celebrate it as well.

Lots of Love from all the Nicholsons!

Birthday Times two!

2009-03-09T07:51:00.001-07:00

He's 16! She's 12!

2009-03-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

Sharing a birthday is all they know and when Piper was born on Cole's 4th birthday I thought they would hate it, but because they embrace it we always have alot of fun. Sometimes we make a bigger deal out of one, and this year because Cole was 16 he got the big celebration. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate at the Morton Roller Rink. It was his idea and I think it was great. Love that people got into it and for those of you who played "wipe out" hope you aren't too sore! We relish all who contribute to our kids lives! Thank you so much

Giving Thanks 2009

2009-02-23T07:04:00.001-08:00

Giving Thanks 2009

2009-02-23T06:45:00.000-08:00

Today we give thanks that Dave is back to work. With a very humble and glad heart he is starting a new job with Morton Machining. He drives 5 min. to his office and enjoys the people he is getting to know as he starts. We know there are alot of people who are looking for work at this time so we don't go into this without giving thanks for the Lord's provision. He will provide for your "needs" as you wait on him too. Dave says that now comes the real "trusting" that he will do a good job and learn quickly as he starts a new career. Thanks for all who have prayed, asked and even contributed in him finding work.

Over the weekend we spent most of our time cleaning, painting and organizing his new office. Piper was our source of energy and Luke was into everything. Needless to say Dave and Piper did most of the work. Shelby was at Winter Retreat with Church, and Cole was taking Lifegaurd and First Aid training.

Hope your doing well! Have a great week.

Happy 40th!

2009-02-06T06:09:00.001-08:00

Dave is 40!

2009-02-06T05:50:00.000-08:00

January 23, 1969 David Andrew Nicholson was brought into the world by Henry and Jeannette Nicholson! What a wonderful blessing he has been to his family. As a husband and dad we are forever grateful for his generous and compassionate heart. He loves the Lord first and then "does what he wants" (Jon!) And his faith shines through.

We just want to say thanks for everything you do for us! Happy Birthday Dave!

Christmas 2008 Fun!

2009-01-30T06:09:00.001-08:00

2009-01-30T06:07:00.001-08:00

2009-01-30T06:06:00.001-08:00

2009-01-30T06:05:00.001-08:00

2009-01-30T06:04:00.001-08:00

2009-01-29T21:29:00.001-08:00

Christmas Fun!!!

2009-01-29T21:20:00.000-08:00

I can't even begin to write about Christmas and all the fun we had with Luke! He is such fun. Our time over the Holidays was relaxing and crazy all at the same time. Here is just a glimpse!

2008-12-23T20:30:00.001-08:00

Court Date for Re-Adoption

2008-12-23T20:17:00.000-08:00

Friday Dec. 19th was our court date to have Luke re-adopted here in the states. It is a formality to ensure that he has a birth certificate on file in Peoria with our names on it. You don't have to do it, but we wanted to make sure that all our bases were covered and Luke would have confidence in the future if he ever needed documentation. It was a good day. I didn't think I would be emotional seeing that he has already been legally adopted, but when the Judge and lawyers make a "recomendation" that this baby be adopted and then tell you he is bound to you legally as an heir just like your other children it is hard not to feel excited. Dave's allergies were acting up!

We are excited for Christmas! Love to all.
Missy

Go Peoria Christian Chrargers!

2008-12-16T17:29:00.001-08:00

8th Grade! Elite Eight! 2008!

2008-12-16T16:33:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been really busy! Shelby's 8th grade basketball team went to State. They won their region and their sectional and we headed off to Clinton for the first round of the State tournament Saturday. Sadly they lost in the first game, but the experience was fun. Their was a t-shirt, plaque and lunch at Busy Corner on the way home so we were all happy! Jess (my cousin and Shelby's 7th grade bball coach) went with us.

We are all well. Dave is still looking for a job. He is very active in his search and finds himself busy. Cole is studying for finals and spent last weekend celebrating Homecoming at PCS. Shelby just finished bball and hopes to play volleyball next. Piper is competing in gymnastics, which makes weekends a little complicated, but it all works out! We are all enjoying Luke so much. He is really starting to talk which is a huge praise considering the surgery. It is slow but we can tell he is trying really hard. He is such a blessing and constant reminder of God's mighty hand everyday. I never thought when we started this process that I would have a little boy running around screaming and laughing, but this is the best. He is perfect for our family. Random people will even say they think he looks like Dave! Ha Ha!

We hope everyone has a restful, Merry Christmas. The fact that we celebrate Jesus' birthday is so cool...it amazes me that so many people celebrate it without knowing the true meaning and do it anyway- That is so God! We pray you know the true meaning of knowing God! He loves you very much!

2008-11-01T16:01:00.001-07:00

Luke is 2!

2008-11-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

Well, another few weeks have flown by. I just don't know how it can possibly be Nov. 1. We had a few milestones this month. Luke's 2nd Birthday was Oct. 20th. We celebrated by having family and friends gather in his honor. My uncle Tom dedicated him to the Lord for us with a wonderful message of parenting and adoption by Christ. We are so thankful to all our family and friends that have supported us spiritually and will continue to nurture Luke. We pray that he will also choose to have a relationship with Christ and recognize that we are responsible in helping him learn how to do that. He already folds his hands when we say "let's pray"!

Cole, Shelby and Piper are busy with their own responsibilities. Shelby is in basketball season and Piper's gymnastics meets have started. Dave is still in the job search, but having a great time looking!

Halloween was fun. The costumes are from the Harvest of Family Fun at church. On Halloween night we went to Shelby's basketball game and then her team had dinner out. Hannah and Natalie Zob were with us and it was fun. Not the typical, but a good night!

Fall Fun

2008-09-17T12:52:00.001-07:00

2008-09-17T12:35:00.000-07:00

This will be short and sweet! We are doing well. Luke is healing after his surgery and we have one more check on the palate stitches next week before all regular foods are back in the diet. The hole is NOT getting bigger and really the last time I looked I couldn't see much of one. The surgeon said that there was no way they would put him out again to fix it. It was just way to small so Thank the Lord!

We just came off of a really busy week. Cole was in High School Musical 2 at Eastlight. I know he really enjoyed it. He was in the chorus and had friends in it. The high light was the back flips he did across the stage a few different times. Very impressive. We also had The Hatfields here visiting for the pumpkin festival. I'm not kidding when I say it rained for four days straight. But there we were with the umbrellas out walking around with mud on our feet. Now that's LOVE!

Dave is home now. His last day at Morton Metalcraft was Sept. 10. It was very sad. We both went out and took Luke to visit. It was his first and last time to see what was 20 years of our family life. I have to admit it hasn't been the same for Dave, but he will GREATLY miss his friends there. We both had tears swelling as we visited with his co-workers. Please keep him in your prayers as he continues to seek out what the Lord has for him. In the mean time I have a few little things around here he can do!

Hope everyone is having a great Sept. I would love to hear from you! Love, Missy

2008-09-02T08:39:00.001-07:00

Prayer Request

2008-09-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

Monday Labor Day we were getting ready to go up to the Lake and I noticed a small hole in the back of Luke's palate. This is not suppose to be there and could have happened for various reasons. We have tried to keep him down and as far as I know he has not put anything in his mouth, but regardless we have this little spot that hasn't totally closed. When we called the Doctor he said that there was a small chance that it could close on its own. So that is what we will hope for. Next week they will look at it and let us know how to move forward. Otherwise he is doing great. Eating OK hates the fact that he doesn't have alot of freedom, but he will get by. Hope everyone is doing great and enjoying the rest of the summer!

Surgery Update for Luke

2008-08-24T08:22:00.001-07:00

2008-08-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

OK well it's Sunday morning and we have not done what I thought we would do!! Surprise! The image of us sitting around in the hospital room with nothing to do was not realistic. We did sit around for a couple hours without anything to do, but it was before the surgery and there wasn't anything to write about. After that I'm not sure how the time flew by so fast.

We arrived at the hospital at 7. Surgery scheduled for 9:20. They actually took him back at 11:15. He was in good spirits and we were holding up. It helped that my mom, dad and Jeremy arrived and hung out with us. Finally, he went back crying wrapped up in his own blanket. Dave's allergies were acting up and I just wiped the tears. We knew he was in good hands and everyone worked really hard at coordinating their times so he could have all three of the procedures done at this time. We are so thankful for that. Dr. Hertenstien came over and within 10 min. they paged us to say the tubes were done! Unbelievable. Next, Dr. Rhee came over from their office and within another 20 min. they paged us saying the circumcision was done. And finally Dr. Elwood worked on the palate. This took an hour and 45 mins. By this time my parents and Jeremy were gone, we had eaten lunch and were just visiting with people in the waiting room. Dave went up to recovery, I met my mom who had picked up the kids, fed them and we all were going to meet in his room. We did and what we found was a pathetic little guy. After that it was just hours of comforting him, couldn't have done that without all the great nurses, and my mom running the other kids around to all their stuff. We came home at 7:30 on Thursday night and have had a good weekend of recovery. He has to wear these arm splints so that he can't put anything in his mouth and I have to feed him a blenderized diet. That is the worst part because he wants to do everything himself. We are starting to feel like we are getting over the hump. We still have to watch him like a hawk, but are very encouraged that we have had such a great experience. Thanks for everyone's prayers, sweet messages and visits. We love you all. The Lord provided peace, Dr.s schedules to come together and alot of help. Thanks!

Back to School

2008-08-17T14:20:00.001-07:00

2008-08-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we start school tomorrow. We have had a great summer, but it has flown by! The start of the school year is always exciting. This will be a little different having a sophmore, 8th grader, 5th grader and one and a half year old. We had a great time visiting NC and the Nicholsons! While we were there we spent some time with the Hatfields. A few highlights were visiting the Billy Graham Library and the Olympic White Water Rafting teams training grounds. If you only knew how HOT it was that day! Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their summer.

2008-08-17T13:56:00.001-07:00

First haircut

2008-08-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

Thankfully Christy had her camera! This was a moment. The first haircut! We also got a chance to meet and play with Wren! Friends of ours from PCS. Thanks to all the little friends that have been so nice to Luke. Daisy, Titus, Quinton and Wren. (of course all the cousins too!) We are having surgery on Wed. Aug 20th and would appreciate everyone's prayers for Luke. Dave said that he would Blog throughout to keep you updated.

Wisconsin in July

2008-07-23T15:11:00.001-07:00

Surgery Scheduled

2008-07-23T06:12:00.001-07:00

This past Monday July 21st Luke had an appointment with Dr. Elwood, the pediatric plastic surgeon that is going to fix his palatte. Everything went great and the surgery has been scheduled for August 20th. He will be exactly 22 months that day and we are grateful that they are moving along with everything. We were told that it will be about two hours, one or two night stay and three weeks of soft blended diet. So far that is about all we know. We are going to see Dr. Hertenstein before to make sure he doesn't need tubes in his ears, and the pediatric urologist about his circumcision. Hopefully they will just do it all that day! He is doing great. We are finally starting to see real bonding. When other people want to hold him he is resisting and wanting to stay with one of us. Of course I don't want him to totally freak out, but it is nice to see him put the pieces together in his mind that we are his people and he belongs to us! Everyone keeps asking us how it is going. I have nothing to compare it too but I feel like we are doing great. The schedule is a little hectic but summer always is.

We need to recognize Shelby turned 14 on July 21st. That's hard to believe. She went to Boston for the weekend with Grandma, Grandpa and Jake. She and Jake flew too Charlotte and that is where she is now spending the week with the Hatfields. We will be meeting her down there this weekend. I really miss her and her extra pair of hands. She is so helpful with Luke. Cole and Piper have stepped up for sure. What will I do when they go back to school. Just Kidding!

Luke's first 4th!

2008-07-08T12:28:00.001-07:00

First visits

2008-07-08T06:39:00.001-07:00

One Week Home

2008-07-08T06:20:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Well it has been a week and a few days since we arrived home and Dave is so busy jumping back into life at work that blogging isn't a priority! Sorry! So here I go giving it my best effort.

Luke has done well adjusting. He is sleeping great and eating well. He plays well and enjoys the pool and lake so much. We went to the doctor on Monday when we got home. We were there for three hours. They checked everything! They took 10 viles of blood. When you don't have any medical history they have to have something to start with. So far everything is fine! The best was the questions about his age develpment. Because he was 20 months they started asking me the 24 month questions. He doesn't do any of the stuff they were asking, so we moved to the 18 month questions. I think I answered yes to one of the questions. The best one was "If you say a body part will he point to it?" I was like, "We don't even speak the same language-so no he can't do that." We were all laughing. So needless to say that didn't really prove much and we will be re-evaluating at 2.
They referred us to a pediatric plastic surgeon and pediatric urologist. Our appointment with the plastic surgeon is July 21st. So we will have more information about how the palatte will be treated after that.
We just spent 4 days at Oak Run with all the family for the 4th of July. I'm going to add pictures tomorrow when I can get Cole to help me. Thanks again to everyone for all your support we will keep you posted as we work through Luke's surgery.

Missy

Lucky Family

2008-06-27T23:27:00.000-07:00

Well, today is a day that is quite confused in my mind for many reasons. Confused first because we are now safely home after more than 24 hours of continuous travel and I am not certain what day it really is for us. I am not certain if this is our normal blog schedule or if, as some have indicated, we have actually missed a day of blogging. While maybe not confusing, it is worth realizing that most of us--Bill, Linda, Melissa, David, Cole, Shelby, and Piper—are returning home. More interesting is that Luke has left a homeland of caring people to now come to a new home and become part of a family. Having started this process two and one-half years ago, it is a strange mixture of thoughts as the transition to Nicholson 7 (the way we count--six of us plus one dog Ginger dog) begins in Illinois. Enough deep-thinking, although I am not sure I can avoid it going forward either.

The day started very early for Melissa and me at 4:15a.m. because we had to have our bags outside our door for pick-up by 5:00a.m. That task handled, we organized our carry-on items, grabbed lots of papers and legal documents, and rousted the kids at about 5:30. Bill and Linda joined us early also and we all moved downstairs for our 5:50a.m. departure for the airport with the other families from our agency. It was a mostly quiet group of people who were all anxious to get to the States. Given that that were 11 or 12 new babies in the mix, it was still a peaceful ride. We arrived at the airport in Guangzhou and moved all the families and luggage through to the check-in for our flights to Hong Kong. I will say we never really had a major logistical snag during this trip because the agency reps are so thorough. There are just lots of things along the way “to make sure of”. Like, make sure your baggage gets checked all the through to your destination city—for us Peoria. The gate agent was more concerned about getting us to and through our customs port-of-entry—for us Chicago—so we had to “discuss” baggage and he ultimately gave me the look that said “hey guy who cannot speak Chinese, I know my job” so I relented and the bags were tagged correctly. We then said good-bye to our reps and those families not flying through Chicago and we pushed through Chinese immigration. Remember, at this point in our travels, we are all on visas as guest travelers and Luke is really Yi Duanlu traveling as a passported Chinese citizen. So, he is the easy process norm and we are more the exception. At all points, I am clutching an 8.5 x 11 “brown envelope” and Luke’s passport because they are our link to him. The “brown envelope” is sealed in red and can only be opened by a US Immigration officer. Everytime I show it or relinquish it I am explaining to people “do not open it” even though they already know to just read the cover sheet and not open the envelope. Hey, you do not get through 2.5 years of paper-chasing without being a stickler for the rules. Our flight from Guangzhou to Hong Kong was uneventful and quick—about like flying from Chicago to Peoria. We arrived safely and began a long walk to the transfer station to get boarding passes for United Airlines because they could not be issued early. So, we think we are going to have about 3 hours to do nothing and ultimately stand in that line for what seemed like 2 hours and 59 minutes. Basically, the flights were all heavily booked, maybe over-booked, because bad weather had come through Hong Kong days earlier and really jammed the flight schedules. At first, I am patient. After all, I am getting ready to travel a distance in 15 hours that probably 100 years ago took six months by boat. Patience begins to wear thin and I start thinking about being “so far back in line” that every person ahead of me is “taking the last good seat” and I am getting ticked. At that point, one of the adopted girls, facing outward in snuggly, spews her breakfast about three feet from me and I immediately relax, thinking “at least that’s not me”. Aaah, the sin of comparison. Ultimately, a guy I like to refer to as “Fast Freddy Wong” gets us checked-in to our seats. I am in the “do not talk to me and do not ask me question mode”, which does not work well for me in pressure situations, especially when Bill and Melissa and Piper – all of whom want details and control—are in the mix. Why am I stressed? Well, while in Hong Kong on day two of the trip, Bill and I went by taxi to a United agent in a Hong Kong office complex and began altering ticket assignments for the return trip. So, what a talented travel agent put together before our trip, Dave and Bill were trying to put asunder. I do not remember all the logic and details, but we used Bill’s accumulated miles to upgrade my economy ticket to a first class ticket. We did this so that we could then have Melissa fly in business class with Linda and with Yi Duanlu (not yet Luke). Recognize that Yi Duanlu was supposed to fly in economy and had to be upgraded to a lap ticket to fly with Linda in business class. If you are confused, you should be. We were basically locking up seats but not changing names and I was just absolutely panicked that what we had done would somehow be undone by “Fast Freddy”. Hence, I did not tolerate very well the innocent “How’s it going?” questions posed every 30 seconds by my travel group. Ultimately, it all worked and we moved through security and boarded the plane. The real travel arrangements—Bill in 1st class, Melissa, Linda, and Yi Duanlu in business class, and Cole, Shelby, and Piper and I in economy “plus”. “Plus” meaning four more inches of leg room. I was so rattled that when the kids claimed seats in rows 41 and 42 that I did not notice we claimed A and B seats rather than J and K seats. So, a very nice man came to take his seat, at which point we hurriedly grabbed almost all of our possessions and disrupted the crew in the galley so that we could cut through to the other side and take our seats. I say almost all of our belongings because Shelby inadvertently left a bar of Toblerone in the old seatback. We then had to have our flight attendant retrieve the treat for the sake of harmony between father and daughter. The flight went well. Bill was gracious enough to stop by a few times from 1st class to let us see Luke. Melissa says she came to see us once—a fact that cannot be verified because she says “you were all asleep”. I may have been a fatigue-induced coma but I was never asleep. Once the plane landed, my anxiety level shot back up because this was “go time”. Think of stepping off the plane, with a child you call Luke who is known paper-wise as Yi Duanlu, while you are holding a “brown envelope” that can only be opened by a US Immigration officer, and all the while you have Neil Diamond’s “You’re coming to America, You’re coming to America, today!” drumming in your head. So, again, when Melissa is gently questioning “Which line do we go through?” I am thinking, “Woman, we go through the line I tell you to go through, which is the line that very large woman with a very shiny badge and a very loaded 9mm handgun tells me to go through.” There is no question—only a process to be followed. So, we meet the US Immigration officer. Melissa tells all the kids, “Pay attention, this is a big deal”. The officer is named Hawk. He is very tall, very big, has a shiny badge, and a loaded 9mm handgun. I am Hawk’s whipping boy. He wants passports—he gets passports. He wants the “brown envelope”—he gets the “brown envelop” and I DO NOT tell him not to open it. He is Hawk and he carries a 9mm handgun. He places the words ADIT on our customs form and places all of our documents in distinctive pink envelope. His instructions are precise and short, “Get your luggage, take this folder to Customs agent, and he will tell you what to do next”. Do you think I asked Hawk what the next agent was going to tell me? No, that would be a process violation—Hawk told me the next guy would tell me what to do—if Hawk wanted me to know what the next guy was going to tell me to do then Hawk would have told me himself. See how this works? So, we get our bags and move through the next agent, again with a shiny badge and a 9mm handgun. He tells me, “Take your family to station number 2, turn right, give your pink folder to the next agent”. So, I know the drill now, and I just do what the man says. I give the papers to the next agent and he says, “Take a seat, I call you when I need you”. I am good with that, although Melissa suggests, “Shouldn’t we tell him we have to make a connecting flight?” Of course, I am thinking, this guy now has all my son’s vital legal documents, and a shiny badge, and a 9mm handgun, and a Russian accent and I am going to tell him I have a connecting flight concern? I do not think so. First borns (Melissa) and babies (David) just do not think the same. He calls us back up, I am pumped thinking here comes the Pledge of Allegiance, Star Spangled Banner, God Bless America—something, anything—and he says, “Here is your daughter’s, I mean son’s Chinese passport back. I stamped it here and I stamped it here. I wrote this code by this number, he is now legal resident. Take your bags and exit to the left”. Neil Diamond’s “You’re coming to America, you’re coming to America, today!” is just ringing in my ears. He is now Luke, although I love the rising tone inflected by the Chinese when they say Yi Duanlu because it reminds me of his playfulness.

We then re-checked our bags for the last flight to Peoria. We experienced a few delays with that flight and ultimately boarded it a little before 6:00p.m. We arrived in Peoria around 7:00p.m and as we were pulling into the gate, we see a massive gathering of family and friends on the airport’s outside viewing platform holding signs welcoming Luke. It was just a sight to behold. On the plane we laughed and told fellow passengers to “Be careful getting mixed in with that crowd”. Now I just cry thinking about it. That throng of people then moved inside to meet us as we exited the gate area and the cheers erupted and the hugging began. It was just the finest moment of the trip. To have so many friends and family members take time from their life to visit at the airport return, to “blog” throughout the trip, and to pray continually for Luke and our family is phenomenal blessing from God! As part of the adoption process, we were asked questions like “Do you have a support network?” and “How will friends and family respond?” This airport greeting and the last few weeks on-line with you all were our answers to those questions. Thank you.

Everyone is now asleep at 65 Blackberry Lane. I am not because I am writing and crying. Melissa has “caught me” crying a few times lately and said as only a first born can say, “What is your deal?” I can muster a one word response—“Lucky”. Now, some in China think that Luke and other adoptive babies are “Lucky baby”. But, I know that we are “Lucky family” and it is blessing from God.

We “eye knee” all.
The Nicholsons

2008-06-26T07:33:00.001-07:00

Oath Day

2008-06-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

Well, today is our last day in Guangzhou. It is pretty much like Groundhog Day. For the record, I start breakfast with a bowl of cereal—one scoop of granola, one scoop of muesli, one scoop of raisins, one scoop of pumpkin seeds, and no milk—just dry. I chase that with one glass of apple juice and one cup of coffee. If fresh pineapple is available, I then get three slices of fresh pineapple and place that on the same plate as one piece of wheat toast (twice through the oven) and four slices of bacon. Chase all that with another cup of coffee and another glass of apple juice. If I feel especially frisky, then I may have a waffle fresh from the griddle. But, then I think about how I look in my jeans and I pretty much do only half the waffle. Other than that, same breakfast, different Asian city, for the past fourteen days.

After breakfast, we all packed a little more. Cole and I then joined Bill for a bit of exercise. Actually, Bill organized an impromptu squash tournament with another adoptive family. They live in Chapel Hill, NC—the wife from Michigan originally and the father from England. I think they have three kids and had adopted a girl who was like 5 or 6. Neat to get to meet them. They were believers—I think my PCS Athletics t-shirt was the lead-in—so go Crusaders—whoops, I mean Chargers. In the end, it is important to note that the father and sons trounced Bill and me, although Cole did manage to pull off one victory for the family. While we exercised, Linda, Shelby, and Piper went to get their nails done. Unfortunately, it was only the hands, as they were told by the staff “we don’t make the pretty toes”. Fortunately, it was accompanied by a pounding hand massage to go with the typical cuticles and painting. Should a man know how to spell cuticles? Melissa and Luke stayed in the room so he could nap, although it ended up being a short nap for whatever reason. I think Luke knows he has entered into party central and has figured out that sleep is for the weak.

At 2:50pm Melissa, Luke, and I went downstairs to meet the other adoptive families to “go take the oath”. So, we loaded up on a bus that took us on about a 30 minute ride to the U.S. Consulate. In my mind, I envisioned an embassy with guards and flags and the like. In reality, it was the fifth floor of a uptown office building. There was security and x-ray but it was not as magnificent as I had dreamt it to be. Basically, Melissa and showed our passports to get into the Consulate. They then handed us copies of our passports (Dave and Missy from US and Yi Duanlu from China) that we then showed to nice man behind platen glass. He validated we matched our paperwork and sent us back to the large waiting area. A super fun guy named Rich, a US citizen who works for the consulate, then came out, introduced himself, read off the list of states represented by all the 50 or so families in the room, and said “Here is the moment you have been waiting for”. He then proceeded to read a one line statement to the entire room that basically said “Do you affirm that all the information you have presented . . . is true? . . . if so, say “I do”. We all said “I do” and the room filled with applause and one of my eyes, the left one I think, filled with tears. So, Luke becomes a US citizen when he lands in Chicago and we hand a sealed brown envelope to a US immigrations officer. We loaded back on the bus and were to the hotel by 5:30.

So, I have no idea what Bill, Linda, Cole, Shelby, and Piper did while we were gone. I know they had a late snack and then went out for a little shopping. I know that because I saw the bags when they returned. I think they also did a mini-photo shoot around the hotel and the island. I think they were inspired by the many instances we saw during the week where camera crews were out doing spreads for magazines using the hotel and island as the backdrop. Hopefully, the photos posted tonight help fill in the blanks.

Some of you have asked for return trip details. First, we leave the hotel and travel to the Guangzhou airport. We fly from there to Hong Kong. We then climb on United UA 896 that leaves at 12:45 pm (HK time) and arrives in Chicago at 2:20 pm (CST). In Chicago, we climb on United UA 5961 that leaves 4:53 pm (CST) and arrives Peoria at 5:48 pm (CST). Pray for safe travels, a restful flight, and that intestinal issues—which are kicking in—remain manageable for all parties.

Some have asked, “Will the blog continue?” Well, I for sure will post one more time just to express thanks, let you know that we are home safely, and share with you any good travel stories. Beyond that, I promise little because it is time to return to the real world. Thanks for making the past two weeks extraordinary for our family.

Dave

2008-06-25T07:11:00.001-07:00

Red Couch Day

2008-06-25T06:51:00.001-07:00

Well, it seems the days are getting lazier and lazier. The only push this morning was that I needed to be back in our room by 10:00a.m. to wait for any potential issues that might arise with Luke’s visa application. So, I ate a quick breakfast and came up. Melissa and the kids joined later. Cole, Piper, Melissa and I played hearts while Luke walked circles around the coffee/card table. Shelby finished reading another book—her fourth of the trip I think. We received a call at about 11:30 from Kathy, one of the agency reps here in Guangzhou. To her credit, she did her best to tell me that there was a “huge problem” with the visa application and that we would not be able travel home. Of course, she is laughing as she tells me this and says repeatedly under her breath “I just cannot do this joke well”. So, Luke is ours to take home and we go tomorrow to take an oath of citizenship. Cole has asked me “What is the oath and why do you take it?” Well, I do not know what it is and we take it because they say to. As I said before, this process is like buying a house—you sign where they tell you to sign and pay what they tell you to pay. After we got our good news, I went to ride the Lifecycle for about one hour. Something was wrong with the way I set the saddle height and my Achilles are both hurting—but that is enough of my whining. Shelby and I went out together for lunch while Cole napped Luke. Melissa and Piper went to exercise at the same time. It was a nice father-daughter time for Shelby and me. We of course had a thirty minute devotion, discussed her future career plans, the significance in finding meaningful relationships, the efficacy of a McCain/Rice ticket, and the impact of Bao Steel taking a 96% increase in iron ore costs from Rio Tonto. Actually, we mainly enjoyed stir-fried broccoli, onion rings, fettucine with ham and mushrooms, and Watson’s ginger ale. We are not deep.

We all got dressed-and-pressed for our 4:00 p.m. “red couch” pictures. This was done on the second floor of the hotel, on, you guessed it—a red couch. The first pictures taken were each adoptive family with their new child and current children. Each family was then photographed pretty much simultaneously, in blinding sequential flashes, by all the other adoptive families. You actually felt like rock stars. We did one series with just Melissa, me, and the kids. Then, there was a rising protests from all the other adoptive families that basically said “Bill and Linda came all this way—you better include them in some photos”. And so, we got round number two of flashes. After that picture, all of the babies were then placed on the couch for one large adoptive baby picture. This was nothing short of sheer chaos. There were moms and dads trying to get the attention of the children—as if they were all going to smile simultaneously. There were moms and dads sitting in front of the couch trying to keep them from falling off and/or from walking away. There were moms and dads literally sitting behind the couch, arms wrapped over the top of the couch, trying to prop babies up for the picture. It was awesome. We then did one picture of the entire group, with Kathy, Jason, Bill, and Linda busily shuffling from camera to camera to camera to make sure everybody got a photo.

After the picture session, we had about an hour and a half before dinner. Melissa and I did a little shopping while the kids watched Luke. We then proceeded to the 3rd floor to a very nice Japanese restaurant. Bill had worked us into a private room for just our family. It was a “leave your shoes at the door” Japanese experience where you basically sat on the floor surrounding a table that was actually submerged in a pit—almost to floor level. The food was very good. There was something called a steamed egg that seemed especially repugnant to most of us—except Luke and Bill. For Melissa, it was her “best meal of the trip”, as she enjoyed potato/beef croquets and grilled salmon. Cole, Linda, and Shelby all enjoyed tenderloin and fried rice. I had grilled beef in ginger with fried rice. Bill had something called sukiyaki—which was a meal prepared in a hot oil liquid right a the table. It consisted of Kobe beef , vegetables, and tofu. As an added treat, our delightful chef insisted that the right way to enjoy the meal was to dip everything she cooked into a fresh raw egg. Bill was quite the trooper and heartily dipped away. He suggested he was only partaking to give us all a show but secretly I think he was loving the experience. The miso soup was left untouched by almost everyone. Luke, who is a fabulous eater, ate about 3 plates of food from everyone else and loved being eye-to-eye with the rest of us (because of the submerged floor table). We conluded the meal with ice cream. Imagine me interpreting the flavors as stated by our very Chinese server. Well, burbary was clearly blueberry. Banirra was clearly vanilla. And I thought redba was clearly raspberry. So, Piper and I ordered banirra and loved the vanilla experience. Melissa ordered the burbary and thought it was the best blueberry she ever had. Shelby ordered the redba and was half-way through scoop one when she said “this is not raspberry”. We said, “Sure it is”, to which she said “Then taste it”. Well, as I finished the first scoop, I realized that what Shelby described as “a bean” was in point-of-fact a bean. It was a “red bean” like you would expect to find in “red bean ice cream”. I finished the “red bean” and gave Shelby the rest of my “banirra”.

After dinner, Piper and Shelby and I went to the hotel arcade for car racing, motor cycle racing, and air hockey. We must have knocked the air hock puck off the table a half dozen times—I am sure they were excited to see us leave. When we returned to the room there was yet another rousing game of hearts being played by Bill, Linda, Melissa and Cole. Bill seems to wax-and-wane between thinking the Japanese meal was a great experience and wondering if the raw egg is somehow creating a digestive problem. My bet says he is up all night.

Luke is in his late night routine. He walks around the room, kinda chanting, kinda laughing, and hiding in other parts of the room. When you “find” him, he squints his eyes, tilts his chin down, and lets out this deep belly laugh/grunt. He is having a big time.

Tomorrow is packing day. At the end of the day, around 3:00 p.m., Melissa, Luke, and I go to the U.S. Consulate (no bags, no cameras) to take “the oath” and receive Luke’s visa. If I can tell you more about it, then I will. If it is a matter of security, well, then I will not. Unless, of course, you mention “nitecruzr”.

Give us a minute to get pictures loaded.

Dave

2008-06-24T07:36:00.001-07:00

Cow and Bridge

2008-06-24T07:35:00.001-07:00

Well, today was a totally unplanned and unstructured day. We did our usual lazy and extravagant breakfast. I am trying to encourage Melissa to start cooking a big breakfast for all the family but she seems somewhat totally resistant. After breakfast, Bill, Shelby, Piper, and I went back out for more shopping. We went to Jordon’s in order to meet our need for more stuff. We bought so much more stuff that we had to purchase another suitcase just to put bring the additional stuff home. I heard George Carlin passed away, so I thought I would use a bit of his “stuff” routine. I would not encourage any of you to listen to his tapes. After shopping, we convened at the pool, without Luke, as he was already down for his mid-day nap. For the record, he usually huffs-and-puffs for about 3 minutes before falling fast asleep. The weather here has been very hot, although today was much more pleasant than yesterday, which was quite humid. Some of us exercised later in the afternoon, but we mainly sat by the poolside. We finally figured out that you can order food by the poolside, so we had a very late afternoon round of Caesar salad, tuna sandwiches, and burgers—we need sustenance to get us through till dinner. Somewhere during the day I ran back out to pick up our laundry—two bags washed, dried, and folded for about $25—we need this type of service in Morton. Around 6:00p.m. we met almost all of the adoptive families in the hotel lobby for dinner. We strolled about 11 babies about 10 minutes to a Thai place called “The Cow and Bridge”. I am not certain what the name means—sorry, I should have asked. We ate quite well. Mainly rice and noodle dishes and some unique greens (not collard). For those who have never eaten Thai food, it is basically like eating wings, you pick either hot, nose running, or forehead sweating. I chose nose running fried lettuce and forehead sweating fried noodles with beef. The food, for me, would have been perfect if I had been able to chase it all down with coconut ice cream, which my brother Henry says is the only way to end a Thai meal. We returned to the hotel and spend a few hours, and a few RMB, in the game room of the hotel. It is like a small, tiny, version of a Dave and Buster’s. Some of the photos you see are from the game room. We checked the blog—love the comments and keep ‘em coming—and then played a few rounds of hearts. Piper is still counting cards and Cole keeps spoiling my ability to “run” the table. Everyone is in bed and I am just keeping this entry short because I am tired. We are beginning to think about packing—which is a good sign we are excited to come home. Tomorrow we should get final adoption papers completed so we can take Luke’s citizenship oath on Thursday. Tomorrow is also the traditional “red couch” picture day—that should be chaos with as many babies and families as will be involved. Those pictures will be fun for you all to see tomorrow.
Take care.

2008-06-23T08:12:00.001-07:00

Papers/Visa/Clinic

2008-06-23T08:11:00.001-07:00

Today has been both busy and relaxing. It was relaxing in that we all enjoyed another fine breakfast—this time with a window view of the Pearl River and all of its morning boating activities. Most of us had a chance to exercise in an attempt to burn-off our high calorie breakfast. Bill and Cole were back on the squash court again and were joined later by Piper. I got into the mix at some point and played a few games with Bill. At about 10:00 a.m., I joined the members from the rest of our group because we needed to complete about 10 more pages of paperwork that allowed us to get our child’s visa for the United States and initiate the citizenship process. It is a lot like buying a house. Very smart people tell you what you are signing and where to put your name and you proceed in blind trust. So, Luke will either be a U.S. citizen by the end of the week or I authorized the government to double my taxes. At this point, I am still not sure how it will end up. I joined our family back at the pool for a few lazy hours in the sun—it is very, very hot here. Melissa and Shelby and I then left the hotel at 3:00 p.m. with the other adoptive families to go get visa photos made and to complete mandatory medical exams for Luke. The entire process, for photos and medical exams, for 12 children took 45 minutes. So, do the math, and you can surmise that the medical exams were not terribly in depth. Pretty much ear, nose, throat checks (all clear for Luke), a check of heart and lungs (all clear for Luke), and a check of height (77 cm or about 30 inches), weight (9.4 kilos or 20.5 lbs) and temperature (a cool 97.4 deg F). So, we think he is fine. We then caught up with Bill and Linda and the girls and headed down to Lucy’s, a “Western” style café, for an early supper. Most of the meal’s were okay. The fried onion rings were excellent, as were the fries. There were tons of adoptive families there as well, most of whom we did not know. I may have mentioned that the hotel we are staying at is somewhat of a “clearing house” for adoptions. My guess is that there are probably 50 families here per day that are adopting. So, it is just amazing to see the babies and children and to hear their stories from very excited parents. After dinner, we took another stroll for some “shopping”. We stopped in Jordon’s, the store that had offered really good prices as compared to what Bill and Cole had paid for a few items yesterday. We were able to meet Jordon himself. Once he back-pedaled from “your daughter is beautiful” to “my, he is a handsome boy” I knew we would have fun with him. When Linda told him Luke’s name, he said “Oh, like in the Bible!”. Linda said “Yes!”, to which Jordon said “I am a Christian” to which Linda replied “Praise Jesus”. Jordon had become a believer when he was 10 years old (probably 50 now) through one of his teachers. So, we spent a lot of time and a lot of RMBs in his store. He even printed the calligraphy for the Chinese sounds for Luke’s name. He indicated that the sound for “Lu” is “blessed” and that the sound for “ke” is “healthy”. I may have those reversed in my memory, but close enough for those of us who cannot speak or read any form of the Chinese language. Somewhere in the shopping experience we hit Starbucks for the second time in as many days in Guangzhou. Some members of the family just cannot live without their caffeine fix (Missy and Cole). We then returned to the hotel for another rousing game of hearts and a rather lengthy, very heart-warming and hopefully not expensive call from cousin/niece Libby in NC. Everyone is in bed now and I need to find badminton on television. So, tomorrow it is off to the pearl markets—just send your credit card numbers and then an adoptive group dinner at a Thai place. Twelve babies in a Thai restaurant—can you say, “It seemed like a good idea at the time”. We will let you know how it goes.
Dave

2008-06-22T07:24:00.001-07:00

Squeaky Shoes

2008-06-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

Well, it is the end our Sunday here in Guangzhou. Melissa is on the couch giving Luke his bottle, Shelby is reading, and Cole and Piper are playing “Hearts” with Bill and Linda. I hope that you are all doing well and that you are heading to church soon. We awoke early, me especially so, as I spent most of the night hacking up my last good lung. Luke and I have both had little colds but they seem to be clearing up today. Somehow the morning slipped by quickly enough that we ended up scrambling to get downstairs for breakfast. It was another ho-hum meal of eggs however you like them, light as air French toast, and dragon fruit, which is apparently supposed to be a natural laxative. Cole and Bill hurried off to play their squash tournament and the rest of us strolled the shopping on the main level of the hotel. Cole and Bill played four games and finished even. I came and played Bill in another four games and we also finished even. So, Bill held his own against the Nicholson boys. The reality is that Cole feels fine, I can barely walk, and Bill cannot make a fist or otherwise tighten his forearm. However, the tournament resumes tomorrow and Piper is in the mix. We spent most of the afternoon by the pool. Luke just loves the water and is constantly plunging his face in and beating the water with his hands. He and I came upstairs—he to take a nap and me to work a bit. Shelby also came up to read and to make sure that I gave Luke a proper bottle and nap experience. Around 4:00 we all loaded up to stroll the “shopping” around the island. If you have been to Wisconsin Dells or to Myrtle Beach then you understand what I mean by “shopping”. It is pretty much knick-knack items that are all but worthless. We were thinking of Jenny Hatfield the whole time because she is pretty much the queen of souvenir shopping. The best was that at one store Cole paid about 210 RMB (about $30) for some items and Bill paid about 280 RMB (about $40). Of course, they were told it was “best price”. Well, about two blocks later we found Cole’s item for about 75 RMB (about $10) and an entire set of Bill’s item for 140 RMB (about $20) with a display case. Cole felt somehow wronged. I told him that with his curly blond hair and Ray-Bans that they probably thought he was rock star who could afford the premium. The big purchases of the day were several pairs of “squeaky shoes”, so-called because they make an annoying squeak every step that a small child makes. They are just part of the China experience. You can also see from the photos that we were stopped by a group of school children (7 and 8 year old boys) who were practicing their English by asking for names, home states, and credit card numbers. They were super nice and Cole pumped my ego by telling me “Dad, they think you look like Lance Armstrong”. So, I signed lots of fake autographs. By the way, the credit card reference was a joke. We strolled and shopped until about 6:30 and then had another great meal at a barbecue/grill/Brazilian buffet along the river. Cole says it is as close to Ruth's Chris as I am going to get on this trip. It was insanely hot but the food was good and Luke and the kids did very well. Melissa also did okay. Bill and Linda and I were perfect as always. You can see the neon signage of a ship in the background of one of the dinner photos. On that ship was an Arab leader being hosted by the mayor of Guangzhou. The Arab was representing the Asian Games and was here to help celebrate the fact that Guangzhou will host Asian Games in 2010. Very large entourage with red carpet rolling through the hotel and out to the boat, which happened to be 20 feet from our seat. So, a fun night for us. Things have wound down now. Luke is in bed, as is Melissa. Cole and Piper have returned from cards and they, along with Shelby, are slowly getting settled for bed. Luke is doing really well. He is walking more and more, although quite recklessly. He walked right off the bed just a little while ago. He eats superbly, enjoys long strolls, fine dining, and just seems to fit right into the mix.

Wherever you are, enjoy the day the Lord has made.

2008-06-21T07:17:00.001-07:00