Another amazing trip that brought another amazing child into our family

Well the trip is over but the adventure has just begun. Paul could not have done any better. Yes, he cried and screamed for the first 2 hours but some little ones will cry for days on end. This is a very stressfull time for these children. No one asked them if it was okay to take them away from the only people they know and force them into the arms of strangers. Yes, it was sad for me when just over night Paul totally rejected me. He was actually pretty hateful towards me for 2 days. I knew it was best to give him space and not force myself on him. I was so glad that he did bond to Ted because that gave Paul the security he needed to eat, drink, sleep and fill his diaper consistenly. He slept through the night every single night. Paul is terrific little boy. He loves to blow kisses and wave "bye-bye." He is a normal little boy who likes to be loud and rough but still has time to give his mom the sweetest, sloppiest kisses you can imagine. Now that he is letting me hold him and snuggle with him I know that in my heart that he is my son because he fits so perfectly into my arms. Paul is so independent that I have already forgotten that he is considered a special needs child. We had to laugh because our guide in Changsha kept referring to him as "disabled." Let me tell you, there is nothing disabling about this child. Ted's theory is that God gave him only one hand to slow him down just enough so that we can almost keep up with him. While being confined to the hotel room he was constantly opening and closing all of the doors and drawers. Throwing away good stuff in the trash while taking bad stuff out of the trash. The panda phone almost made it into the toilet more than once. This little guy is going to keep us busy!!!
Natalie was quite the travel companion. She only had a few moments of "the world should revolve around me." Over all she was a big help not only to us but to some of the other families too by helping to entertain their children as needed. Natalie totally perfected the use of the chop sticks while after 2 weeks Ted and I were still doing the "two handed" chop stick move if there was no silverware around. Natalie only caused one minor incident when she put the wrong code in the room safe and we had to have the hotel staff come in and unlock it. After that we insisted that only Ted could run the safe........she still insists that it was Ted who put the wrong code in.....hhmm???
Believe it or not I did not get as homesick as I did the last time around. I truly believe that God gave us such peace about this adoption that our worries were minimal. I did have a meltdown the very last full day in Guangzhou. I called home to Audrey and the first thing she did was cough and say "coughing Mom" as if to say "I'm sick and I need you but you're on the other side of the world." Right before we called Audrey we had also learned that Andrew's bad behavior had reared it's ugly head. So I went from being fine to " I need to go home now!! I need to have all of my kids back in my arms!!" I was pretty much useless and on the verge of crying the rest of the day. I'm so glad that I only felt like that for one day becasue it was not good!!
The trip home was bearable. In my opinon Paul did pretty darn good for a sleep-deprived toddler whose world has been turned upside down. He slept about 6-7 hours total on the long 13.5 hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago. The rest o the time we stuffed him with snacks while trying to keep him entertained. There was only about a 20 minute period when I wanted to jump out of the nearest exit..
Paul is already crazy about his big brother. I wasn't too suprised since he still prefers males. At Chicago's airport he walked right up to a great big black guy and tried to hold his hand. I quickly apologize to the man but he just laughed and gave Paul a big smile. Audrey came back to the house about 2 hours after we had been home. That gave Paul to check things out before "Princess" came in marking her territory. They actually have got along great so far. Audrey keeps pointing to Paul's short arm and saying "boo-boo" and "where did his hand go?" We tried to explain to her about his missing hand before he left but at her age I just don't think she fully understood until she actually saw him. She will learned soon enough that his little arm does not slow him down and that he hits just as well with that arm as well as he does with his hand (we think Paul and the naughty step are going to become well aquainted).None of the kids have held still long enough for a group picture. I will post more pictures in the next day or two.
Will we adopt again?? Only God knows the answer to that question. If we do it will most definitly a few years done the road. Hey, you can adopt from China until you are 55 years old so we have plenty of time to decide. All I know is that God hand picked both Audrey and Paul for us so if He has another child in mind for us we will trust in Him complety. I do know that if we ever adopt again he or she will be another special needs child. Thanks again for all of your comments and emails. Alison