For I know the plans I have for you...: Home Sweet Home?

Like I said before, arriving home was amazing. However, in our absence our bed didn't improve any, it was a brutal reminder when I crashed into it that night. I always wonder if I would be better off just sleeping on the concrete floors. The night we got back I got the flu, Kyle followed two nights later, and then the kids started getting it one after another. It was a rough first week back. Add that to a new toddler with a few sleep issues and it was kind of brutal. Luckily I think we survived the worst of it and for the most part, besides respiratory issues due to terrible air, we are better.

The day after we got back a bunch of friends from Sany wanted to have dinner with us, meet Jaxon and celebrate the new arrival to our family. It was so nice of them and we had so much fun!

Kenz and Sean

Don, John and Jim

Shirley, (translator) Mr. Shin, (driver) and Mr Zhong (driver)

The girls love playing games on their phones

Madi is always a favorite. They want hugs and pictures from her.

The other day we went to eat with my friend Angela and her family.

Korean BBQ

Madi and XiaoTangGuo

I may or may not have taught him to eat by himself on the wrong day...

They also wanted to meet Jaxon and had many questions about him and how this adoption thing worked. It is such a foreign idea to people here. Angela was very concerned that he would want to look for his bio mom and dad when he grew up. She was shocked that I was ok with that. I tried to explain to her that it is different in America, we are not dependent upon our kids (son) to take care of us when we are old. If he wants to find his parents that is ok. In China they fear adopting a child because they think that child will go look for his bio parents and not take care of them when they get old.

She also can't figure out why I want so many children. At the time I was questioning my sanity also so I didn't have any great answers for her! :) But both Angela and her husband are single children so legally they can now have 2 kids. I asked her if they were going to have another child. She was like ummmmmm.... the month after you have a baby is terrible. I had to ask why. She said they are not allowed to get out of bed. I heard about this when we were in Zhengzhou, but I wasn't sure how much it was practiced. I asked her what she meant. She said in China, after you have a baby you have to stay in bed for a month. You cannot read a book. You cannot watch TV. You cannot touch water. I said, wait, you can't read a book???? Then it struck me. What do you mean you can't 'touch' water? She said you cannot take a shower, you cannot take a bath, you cannot touch water. She said her hair gets very dirty. I looked at her. I said your hair??? I mean after you have a baby... I will pause here for dramatic reflection on what exactly it means to not let water 'touch' you after childbirth.

Don't reflect. It is too terrible.

This custom would be enough to enforce the one child policy for me. Don't worry about it communist government. My mother and mother-in-law will take care of it for you.

Angela said it was much worse for her friend. I was scared to ask. She said that her friends mother-in-law (the son's mother normally moves in to care for the baby) told her not to talk for the entire month. So she laid there and stared at the ceiling. Then the mother-in-law said, no, don't look at the ceiling, it is too white. You must close your eyes.

You would have to admit me to a mental ward after a month of that.

Brutal.

I then proceeded to tell her about my concerns about Jaxon's head. His head is super flat in the back on one side. So there is a bulge on the other side. Basically he laid in his crib in one position for a long long long time. She laughed. No problem! Very Chinese. I was like well, I know they tend to have flat heads in the back, but this is different, it is on one side. Angela said no problem! It is good. The Chinese often make their babies lay on rice bags to make their heads flat in the back because it is good for their health.

What?

Where am I?

In other news we come back to the sane world in 20 days...

I love China.

I took tons of pictures from the train. They are poor, it is hard to get a good picture going 300+ km/ph with a phone camera but I gave it my best shot :) The countryside was amazing. We went through mountain ranges and flat farmland, cities and more mountain ranges. It was incredible. I wish I had better pictures, but even then, it is impossible to capture on camera.