"Brought" Nathan home (from the hospital, that is)

Yesterday at around noon we arrived home from the hospital with Nathan and we're glad to report that he is continuing to recover well.  What a week it has been.

Keith and I would take turns on Tuesday (the day after the surgery) walking through the quiet halls and even had him play in the little play area they have for children.  When I mentioned that I didn't see other children, the nurse commented that most of the children are too sick to get up and play or walk in the halls.  It was a poignant reminder to me that amidst our challenges and the concerns we are feeling with Nathan, there are many parents dealing with much harder things.  May the Lord's grace and mercy be on the many children in our world who are hurting for so many reasons.

Another riveting thought I had in those two hospital nights was how grateful I was to be there to hold him and comfort him and love him (even if I didn't get much sleep).  How overwhelming to think of him NOT having a Mommy when he was in the hospital for Pneumonia at four months of age (on Christmas Day 2009) and also during his cleft lip surgery in March of 2010.  Babies SHOULD have mommies, especially when they are in hospitals or hurting.  I am so glad that I could be there and just have him sleeping in my arms.

I have to laugh when I think of the bag of "to do" things that I brought along to the hospital.  I guess I thought that Nathan would be sleeping a lot and that I'd just have oodles of time to do some overdue projects.  Oh well, I did the more important thing, yes?

As far as our life at home, Nathan is taking a little pain medicine still but the major changes for him are little pliable "braces" on his arms that are called "no-no's".  They are meant to keep him from bending his arms, which keeps him from placing his hands or anything in his hands in his mouth.  He's actually been pretty good about them, although I caught him pulling at the velcro at dinner and I'm guessing he's going to figure out how to get them off.

The other big change for him is a pureed diet only.  Basically he is relegated back to baby food.  He will only eat pureed food for about 3 weeks until the stitches in his mouth come out.  They will fall out on their own and so that is good.

THANKS to all of you who love us and Nathan and have been praying!  And before I sign off, I want send along an official Happy Chinese New Year.  Because of Nathan's food limitations, we've decided to celebrate it in a few weeks and we'll be sure to blog about it when we do!!!  But, Happy New Year!!

Hard times and good times

So, it's a new day and we have a "new" boy.  Actually, it is more like our "old" boy, if you know what I mean.  Yesterday was hard on Mommy and Nathan for sure (and Daddy too), but here we are to talk about it and to lift thanksgiving to the Lord for how he heals and restores.

I mentioned that this surgery is an important step for the life God has for him.  I had never known how integral a palate is to speech.  The roof of my mouth is utilized all the time in the formation of sounds.   With the closing of his palate and some speech therapy, Nathan will soon begin to talk like his brain wants him too.  Pointing and grunting and saying "mama" about everything will be replaced with words.

And the reason for his hearing loss was fluid piled up in his ear since birth that could not be cleared out of the middle ear because of that open palate.  With tubes in them now AND the palate closed, he should start hearing normally, rather than in muted tones for the first time in his life.

The hardness of yesterday stemmed from numerous things.  A couple of unexpected waiting rooms.  One, an hour delay before his surgery.  He was hungry and not happy about no food in his tummy and that extra hour took some extra energy from us to "distract" him from his hunger.  Then, we ended up being in the recovery room for 4 hours with him, rather than the usual 15-30 minutes.  There was no room for us to move into until 6:30 and so I held and rocked him for about 4 hours.  He was, of course, confused and irritable and clingy.  And I found that by 6 p.m. my heart and body were frail and worn down.  I cried a couple of times at the smallest of things.  Let's just say that I was more ready for bed last night than I think he was. 

But, it is a new day and the morning has already been so good.  He is hungry, hungry, hungry and Keith and I are taking turns feeding him the pureed food that he will have for a diet for a few weeks.  He's played with toys and we've read to him and cuddled with him.  He even brought me his blanket and lifted up his arms to sleep in my arms for an hour this morning.

Here's my little song I made up for Nathan last night as we were up together.  I'll share it with you too...
"I will always be your Mommy, You will always be my son,
You're forever in our family, Our Nate Johnson"

May each of you rest in the beautiful truth that you belong in God's forever family, just like Nathan does in ours!

Surgery day, 2 months later

 Keith and I are not sitting at the beach, but this picture was from our time in Daytona at New Staff training where we were there.  Nathan enjoyed eating some sand and covering himself in it too.  What a dear little guy he is.  

 

Instead, we are sitting in the waiting room at Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital waiting to see Nathan after his 2 hour surgery.

 This morning around 10:45 he was wheeled away from us to undergo 4 procedures and we're gratefully reporting that he is sitting in the recovery area and doing well.  He had, of course, his palate surgery but another Doctor first checked his trachea to see for sure if it was wide enough for incubation.  It was.  [For those of you who don't know, the Doctor in China who fixed his cleft lip had difficulties incubating him and so this was an important thing to check].  He also had ear tubes put in his ears and had some blood work done.

All in all, it was quite a morning for him and for us.  

The two months we've had to be a part of Nathan's story have now moved onto a new depth.  Our little boy has been through so much already and now he is moving forward.  Now by God's grace Nathan will begin to hear sounds he has never heard and speak words he's never been able to form.  With his palate restored and his ear tube's in a whole new world will open up for him.  Praise the Lord!!!

So, for those of you who knew about this and prayed, THANK YOU and for those of you who are just getting the info now, we cherish your prayers for his recovery.  I'll be writing more in here the next few days while I'm in the hospital with him.  Until then.

Bringing Nathan Home

So - the journey is complete.  And Nathan is now home.  Actually, now we really begin the journey of living life with Nathan.   I love to whisper to him all the time - "You belong to us and we belong to you and we will NEVER LEAVE YOU". 

 

Guangzhou to Shanghai:   We started the trip home by packing all day Wednesday (that would be Tuesday night USA time) and then got up bright and early Thursday morning to catch our first flight into Shanghai.  I wish that we could have gone into that city and located the Shanghai Children's Home where Nathan lived almost all of his 15 months.  We didn't even know it existed until after we had received Nathan and the discovery of this clean, warm and loving environment that not only housed our little boy but also cared for his medical needs is indeed overwhelming to comprehend.  But our layover was too brief to venture into the city and so we just hung out at the airport for 6 hours before getting on our Chicago flight.  The picture above is a little outing that Keith took Nathan on while in the airport.  He would be our most precious piece of luggage!

 

Shanghai to Chicago:  The looong airplane ride was surprisingly uneventful.  Nathan did wonderfully and was able to sleep on the floor on the bassinet cushion.  He slept 7 hours that "night", which was a major answer to prayer.  Above is Nathan discovering the earphones.  When I let him listen to music on them his eyes just got really wide and he started swaying to the music.  So sweet.    It was exciting to feel the wheels touch down in Chicago and to have a little celebration of Nathan becoming an American officially. 

Chicago to Orlando:  Then, we had a small layover and enjoyed our first American meal of pizza (as well as a cup of Starbuck's hot chocolate) before boarding the plane for the last part of the trip.  Nathan napped for about an hour and then played with us.  As we drew nearer to Orlando, my stomach was filled with knots of anticipation.  I was aching to hold our kids and to have us all together.

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All together at last:  So, at 11:35 p.m. on Thursday night after more than 30 hours of traveling, we exited the terminal .  Then we saw them.  We all ran towards each other.  Then there was much hugging and kissing and oohing and aahing over Nathan.  He was overwhelmed and you know what, I was too.  Even writing about it now makes my eyes tear up.  What a precious reunion and introduction it was.  Drew, Lauren and Emily are such amazing siblings for Nathan and they have quickly warmed up to each other.  There's just lots of love in the Johnson home these days, as well as some jet lag and tiredness (I feel like a new parent with my droopy eyes and tired body).  Please keep praying for us as we transition to one another.

Saying our good-byes

How can it be that the long time away from our kids and "home" is drawing to a close? On the one hand it feels like we've been away forever and on the other it is like we blinked and two weeks went by. Our whole world has taken a turn upside down for the better and very soon we'll be boarding a plane to head home with our precious son!!! While Nathan napped, Keith did his magic and got our bags packed up beautifully this afternoon while I went out and did some last minute gift buying.


This morning was the famous "red couch" picture time for our travel group of 16 families. All of our adopted children showed up in the hotel lobby around 11 a.m. decked out in their traditional Chinese outfits and it was quite the show. My favorite part was when we had all 16 of those little ones on the sofa. Imagine trying to get all of them to look at the camera at the same time.


It was quite an adventure for sure! Doesn't Nathan look like a cutie in his outfit? I love it!!

A highlight for me this afternoon was stopping in some of the little shops that I've been in over the last few days. And I especially loved meeting a dear Chinese woman who owned a shop here and told us she was a Christian. She had a copy of a English Standard Version Bible, an NIV Bible and a hymnal for sale in Chinese/English. They were so cool to look through. It gave me goosebumps! I asked her how she came to know Jesus and she said it was through her church. She told me that she prayed that Nathan would come to love Jesus some day (of course, we're praying for that too).


And I love it that I was able to find something really special in her shop. I've been toying with getting our family traditional Chinese silk clothes to coordinate with Nathan's outfit but could never decide whether to buy them or not. What I found were 3 beautiful red, silk scarves for the Johnson women and two red silk ties for Drew and Keith. That way our whole family can coordinate with Nathan's traditional outfit and dress up for Chinese New Year celebrations, etc. It is really special to me that I found these in her shop.

As we got ready to leave I asked her if I could pray for her family. She has a little boy too...one that is just a few months older than Nathan and if was my deep honor to pray for God's blessings on her family and her business. We took a picture of her with Nathan and I and then she pulled out her camera and took a picture of our family too. It was a very sweet conclusion to our time here in China. I'm renewed in my passion to pray for the Chinese people to come to faith in Jesus. There are many Chinese who know him already and many more that I pray will hear soon about who Jesus is.

P.S. I just remembered that I didn't tell you about our boat ride on the Pearl River last night. It was gorgeous to see Guangzhou at night from the river. There was a meal served and then we went out on the deck and just watched the city go by us. There are 6 bridges in the city and they were all lit up in a rainbow assortment of colors, as were many of the skyscrapers. It truly was a wonderful evening and we're really glad we did it!

Nathan's First Happy Meal

Nathan, Keith and I headed out with our tour group this morning to see some of Guangzhou. We visited the pearl market and it was in a 5-story mall filled with shops and shops full of pearls and other kinds of jewelry. I've never seen that many pearls before OR seen a mall just for jewelry. Let alone a huge mall like that one. When we were finished it was right around lunch time and the Johnsons were hungry.


But where should we go for lunch? Then we saw them - those golden arches that our three older children revere so much. Since Nathan was officially recognized yesterday by the U.S. government and since we'd been joking about him having his first "Happy Meal" before we left China, we figured the time had come to introduce him to the American icon, McDonalds.

In the end it was a good thing I ordered a Filet-o-Fish because those nuggets were a little too much for Nathan to chew. He had some of my fish sandwich and I had some of his nuggets. Overall, it was a good introduction . . . complete with a Happy Meal toy to boot.


Oh, and the other highlight was having his "Happy Meal" with a friend. Ron and Laurie's little boy John was there too. All in all, it was quite the experience.

Tonight, we are taking a dinner boat ride with our group along the Pearl River here. We're trusting that the ride will be relaxing and that the food will be good. I'm sure that it will be beautiful to see all the lights of Guangzhou at night. Maybe it will be a bit more elegant setting for a meal than our McDonalds lunch, don't you think?!!!

And then tomorrow is really a packing day for us. We leave for home on Thursday.

I am really aching for our kids these days. I know they are having a blast, but this mom is more than ready to hug each of them so tight that they are breathless. And it will just be so sweet to be together as a complete family!!!!! Thank you Jesus for that reunion to come!!!!

Made in China

How many things in your home have the tag "Made in China"? Long before God had put Chinese adoption on our hearts, we would talk about all of the things made in China and how hard it was to fathom all that came from there to our country. The most "American" looking things would still have that little tag.



Last night when we were out walking after dinner, I saw the little t-shirt that is on Nathan reading those words, "Made in China". Who could have every guessed that we would cherish those words like we do and that we would have in our hands a little someone that we would forever have and hold. So, now being made in China is a whole different reality for us, hmmm.

Along those lines, we are getting closer than ever to bringing Nathan home. Today we went with him to the American Consulate here and took the oath for him so that he could become a U.S. citizen. The woman in the room who walked us through the process told us that this year there will be about 24,000 immigrant visas from China and that adoptions represent 3,000 of those 24,000. Of the 3,000 adoptions about 2/3 of them are special needs adoptions. So, approximately 2,000 special needs Chinese children will find homes in the U.S. this year. Isn't that amazing?

There were 33 families (8 of which were from our agency) who stood together and raised our right hands repeating the words of promise and oath on behalf of our children. When we finished there was a round of applause from all of us and a huge lump in my throat. A few minutes later our names were called and Keith, Nathan and I went up to sign the last official piece of documentation before going home. And when that plane touches down in Chicago in a few short days, Nathan will officially be a U.S. citizen.



It's all such a whirlwind for me at times. How can this be real? At the consulate they mentioned that they knew that some of us in that room had been waiting a long time for this day and that they were excited with us that it had arrived. Amen and Amen is all I can say. We have waited and the Lord is good.

Now, back in our hotel room before dinner Keith and I have each taken our turns tumbling and giggling and playing with Nathan. He was pushing me over and then I'd sit up and then he'd push me over again. And when he really giggles, it is just enough to melt this mother's heart. I love holding him close and just telling him that he belongs to us and that we will never leave him. He has a home in America with us and we are so excited. Keith has even taken to singing the "Star Spangled Banner" a few times!!

Although Nathan Jiang Johnson was truly made by God, he was formed in his birth mother's womb here in China. He WAS "Made in China". And now, like all those things from China, he will make his way to America. But, he is, of course, not for sale!!!! He's totally ours and worth more than all the best jade China has to offer!