Better day, bits of his past, and giggles.

Thursday 5/17

I am astonished at the number of folks reading this and praying for us.  Astonished I tell you.  Little Abe is blessed to  have SO MANY people care about him.  Today was a good day- The Lord answered prayers and Melissa and I have had renewed energy and patience.  Abe has hollered himself hoarse, which is pitiful, but has a silver lining of making his tantrum volume a lot less!  Also he went to sleep easier last night.

Today we went to the orphanage where he spent most of his life so far.  They wouldn't let us visit (said they were renovating) so we just drove up to the gate and took a few pictures.  Even though we couldn't go in, the orphanage was great about giving us some pictures of Abe taken over the last few years.  We also went to the hospital where his birth-mother abandoned him.  With a few details and documents given to us, Melissa has pieced together what may have happened during his first few days that put him in the orphanage.  We'll tell you that story in person if you are interested.  Just as we pray and do what we can to help the orphans in the world, we should pray for the many mothers and fathers who are unable to keep their children, or who are able and live in such darkness that they don't want to.

Abe had a bath this morning and giggled the whole time.  I mentioned that he is undernourished.  We brought clothes sized for a 2 year old and the shirts mostly fit but the pants are falling off.  He looks like a tiny person with the non-existent rear-end of an old man.  He has no chubby little thighs, no junk in his trunk.  We will amend that soon! Melissa is great at feeding kids healthy stuff.  Though sadly thin, he is still cute as a bug.

Scenes from the day:  On the long drives this morning he fell asleep in Melissa's arms.  This afternoon he slept in mine.  When he sees food he gets insanely happy.  In the afternoons we play in the hotel room and eat together.  At the orphanage he got most of his vitamins by drinking four bottles of formula a day, and we will continue that until we get him on a stable diet back home.  When we get his bottle ready he does a super cute happy dance, with giggles and clapping.  He loves to try and be helpful and throw away trash and pick up things and carry things.  He smiles really big when he gets in an elevator.
It is late now and he is asleep.  Both of our other kids had a hard time learning to go to sleep without crying, and even though Abe has different kinds of fear issues, we can figure out how to parent him through this.  Tonight he only cried for 20 minutes!  He is now sound asleep.

Tomorrow we will fly to Guangzhou where the American consulate will approve him for immigration to the US and issue him a visa.  A friend recently returned from adopting here said that being there is like being at "adoption camp."  We look forward to being there and frankly, to leaving Shanghai.  The people we have met and worked with here have been really great, especially our guides and driver, but the city itself is very gray and gloomy, with too few parks and public spaces.  There are no playgrounds here!  Just busy streets, busy sidewalks, and buildings. 

happy bath time:

sleepy boy:

Please pray for safe and not too hectic travel tomorrow, and for continuing peace, trust for Abe, and patience for us.
Thank you