I have big exciting news!!!  But, before we get to that, I have tell you about a serious problem in China…

China has a huge air pollution problem in many cities. Chengdu, where Jay lived, is one of the worst cities for pollution. To give you some context, the World Health Organization has set an upper safety limit of 35 micrograms of PM 2.5 per cubic meter. This is a measure of the number of large particles suspended in each cubic meter of air. The goal would be 0, but WHO says 0-35 is a safe level of pollution. I just looked up the air quality index in Chengdu today and it is 151-200! A health advisory is issued today that “People with heart of lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion; everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.” Additionally, people are advised to “stay indoors in a room or building with filtered air.” This is the norm in Chengdu where studies have found that 40% of days in Chengdu have an air quality index of >75 (unhealthy) and many times Chengdu experiences prolonged days of heavy pollution (>150).

So, now let’s think of these little souls living in a Chengdu orphanage. Children are at a higher risk of negative health effects from this high level of pollution because children breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults and because their airways are still developing. Additionally, many of the children at Jay’s orphanage have heart or lung disease which puts them in an even more vulnerable position to the health effects of air pollution. As if they are not up against enough in their precious little lives - they don’t have a family, often are malnourished, often have medical conditions and may not be receiving any/the best treatment - and now they are not breathing healthy clean air. Healthy clean air, such a simple thing we all take for granted.

So, why is this exciting?? Remember when you all purchased t-shirts and supported our fundraiser last year… Well, Jay’s orphanage took a little time (a year!) to believe us that we really wanted to give them a chunk of money without any strings attached. Hope Station (an AMAZING organization in Chengdu) has been working diligently for a year to reassure the orphanage that we truly just want to help and want nothing in return. The orphanage directors finally believe this is true and have just accepted our donation. The money was used to purchase air filters for every single playroom and bedroom in the orphanage! Hope Station’s director, Rebekah Wilder, delivered the air filters to the orphanage this week!

All of Jay’s friends will be breathing fresh, clean air because of you all! You have improved the lives of a building full of children and nannies. You have just helped someone else’s Jay breathe. From the bottom of my heart, Thank You!! This has been an amazing example to my kids about how to rally support from friends and how a small donation from lots of people can amount to a big impact - so thank you for helping me teach that lesson!

Thanks so much!! Rachel, Audrey, Sam & Jay

2 months home!

Jay has been home for 2 months today. And, he's adjusting quicker than I ever imagined. He's a happy, loving, and active little guy! His favorite things are riding bikes...

... playing with Audrey and Sam...

... playing with friends...

... and he LOVES preschool!

When I picked him up after his first day at preschool, his teacher said that he just cried a little bit one time and was easily distracted with toys and had a great day. Jay got in the car and immediately told on himself. He said "Ma, I cried BIG!" and then he imitated a major meltdown and started to laugh and said "I was a baby!!!" and laughed and laughed at himself. I'm not sure if the teacher was trying to downplay the meltdown or if Jay was exaggerating his reaction at school. But, I was nervous about taking him the next day. The morning of the 2nd day of preschool, he ran into the room, hugged his teacher, started playing and yelled "Bye, Ma!" and waved goodbye to me. Both his teacher and Jay agree there was no crying the second day :)

Jay is learning language so quickly. It seems that he understands everything that people say to him in English. He has tons of English words and has stopped all Chinese words. He does lots of babbling, which is really interesting. Our pediatrician told us this is normal when young kids are changing primary languages - he's gone from speaking Mandarin, to babbling and saying some English words, adn then should start speaking entirely in English.

It's been a great 2 months off with Audrey, Sam, and Jay. I go back to work next week, Jay's started preschool this week, and Audrey and Sam start school in a few weeks. Sam's football practices and soccer practices and Audrey's soccer practices have started. Real life is starting. Jay has done a great job adjusting to waking up for school and hanging out at his siblings' practices. But he says he wants to play too - so he's signed up to start soccer in a few weeks. More cute pictures to come, I'm sure!

Thanks to an amazing orphanage that provided love and food to Jay for the first 4 years of his life and prepared him well for the transition, to Hope Station for providing love, are, and helping in his transition into our family, to Audrey and Sam who have been amazingly patient and loving siblings, to our village who has provided unbelievable support and encouragement, and to Jay's strong little spirit that was willing to be courageous and vulnerable, this has been a very easy transition and it feels like Jay has always been in our family.

2 Weeks Home

I can't believe we've only been home 2 weeks. It feels like Jay has been a part of our family forever. The first week home was really hard for Jay - lots of meltdowns (I'm talking 3 hour long meltdowns with biting, hitting, kicking and screaming). But the past week has been amazing. We've been communicating really well - Jay seems to understand most things I say and if he doesn't, he'll hand me my phone and repeat the word he doesn't know. That's his way of asking me to type it into Google Translate! He has just started speaking English and each day he has tons more words. So far he says:

More
Milk
Water
Potty
Please
Thank you
I love you
Night night
Swim
Chicken
Eat
No
Dog
Let's go
Peanuts
Pepperoni
Watermelon
Apple
Popsicle
One, Two, Three
Circle
Red
Green
Phone
That one
OK
Uh-oh
All done
I'm gonna get you
Tickle
Hold me

That is WAY more than the 0 Chinese words I learned in my two weeks in his country! When he wants something not on the list, he says it in Chinese and acts it out. He's really trying to help us out! I think the most amazing thing with his language happened last night when he yelled out in the middle of the night (first time ever, he usually sleeps 10 hours straight) - so I ran into his room and he was fast asleep with a huge smile and yelling "Let's go, mommy!" I'll take dreaming in English as a really good sign!

Jay is such a happy little guy. He is up for anything and jumps right in... Whether it's exercising...

... doing chores...

... climbing rocks...

... or jumping on trampolines (one of his favorites!)...

... he's up for it!

We've been working on colors, shapes, and numbers. Trying to get ready for preschool... Jay is signed up to start preschool ... Half days for the week of August 1 and then starting full time August 8 when I go back to work!

The best thing is watching Audrey, Sam and Jay play. They've had a few sibling moments (especially Sam and Jay ... Jay is attached to Sam's hip and wants "Gu Gu" to do everything with him and Sam loses patience sometimes... just like me!) but overall they have been getting along really well and it's so sweet to see them all together.

All things considered, he has transitioned really easily and attached quickly to us all. Such a sweet boy!

Home Sweet Home...Kind of...

The last day in China went well. We swam and hung around the hotel, and ate one last meal at our favorite noodle shop. Then got all packed up and headed to the airport. Jay is so tiny, I forget that he's old enough to understand what's going on. As we waited for our ride to the airport, he became really thoughtful and sad. It made me realize what a HUGE change in coming to his life. While we all were counting down the days to get home, flying home means leaving everything he knows - his friends, his food, his language,... I don't know how much of this he understood, but he was definitely a somber little guy on the way to the airport. 

The flights went way better than I expected. Our flight from Guangzhou to LA was delayed an hour so we were waiting in the airport until about 10pm and then boarded and Jay went right to sleep (well, he insisted on stripping down to his undies and sleeping like that, luckily he let me snuggle him up in a blanket!). He slept for 10 hours straight on that first flight! He woke up, got dressed, ate some breakfast, and watched movies for the last 3 hours. Since our first flight was delayed, we had to run (literally run) to get our bags, go through customs (and complete the last steps to make Jay an AMERICAN CITIZEN!!), recheck our bags, and then the last step was that I had to go to a Special Services desk to get Jay's boarding pass printed -- We all had ours ahead of time, but they couldn't print his until we were through customs with him. When I got to the desk, the man told me it was too close to departure time and we couldn't check him in - we'd missed the flight! As I teared up (seriously, we'd be traveling 18 hours by now!) he said, "Wait! It just printed!" He said he'd never seen the system allow him to print a boarding pass with just a few minutes to take off before but he said, "I'm not gonna question it, just RUN!" So we all ran up to security, met a really nice China Southern flight attendant who pushed us up to the front of security, they pushed us right through. Then they said we could only cut in front of people if they said it was OK, so we begged each person to let us cut. We got up to about 3rd in line before the NOs started. We made it through security and literally ran full speed to the gate. As we run up, they were calling last call for "Bakers! Beekmans!" We made it!! Jumped on the plane, sweaty and adrenaline filled and Jay went right back to sleep for 3 of the 4 hour flight. We were so happy to land in Cincinnati!

As we pulled up to our house, we were amazed.... Our friends had decorated our yard with balloons, Welcome Home posters, our house was painted, landscaped, and our pantry and refrigerator were stocked! We have such amazing friends!! What a perfect homecoming!

So, the Home Sweet Home feeling was definitely how Audrey, Sam and I felt. Jay, on the other hand, is having a tough time the past two days. While in China he was happy all the time, temper tantrums and meltdowns have started at home. I just think of how we felt in China and think he must feel that 100 times worse. He has NO ONE that understands him now, all the food is different, all the sounds and smells are different, he doesn't know the routine... He has some really good moments but then completely meltdowns down for hours. His meltdowns are so sad - he cries, screams, yells in Chinese, hits himself, scratches himself, bangs his forehead in the wall,... And, he accepts no comfort from me or the kids. We've just been sitting with him and letting him get it all out until he's worn out. The first day was the hardest, yesterday each meltdown was about 1/2 the time as the day before. Hopefully we're on track, and they'll be even less today. As he learns the language and learns the routine, I know the happy little guy from China will be back. I just wish I could help him. Here are some good moments from the past few days... He loves building things with Sam.

We went on a neighborhood walk with a bunch of friends. He let Audrey carry him for awhile and then we borrowed a stroller for the rest of the walk!

He LOVES Gisele! He's been following her around everywhere. Rocco hasn't come home yet, but I know if he's good with Gisele, he'll love little Rocco. He's a natural dog lover - fits right in!

Wednesday: Free Day

Today was our last full day in China! Just a relaxing day swimming and hanging out at the hotel. The pool is beautiful and luckily clean due to serious signage...

We had a little scare when our guide called this afternoon to tell us that the computer system at the US Consulate was down and visas would not be issued today for families who had appointments yesterday (like us!). Luckily our flight doesn't leave until tomorrow night, so there's a chance the system would be fixed tomorrow and we could still keep our flight. Otherwise, Jay can't come in the country without his visa so we'd have to change our flights and stay here until the Consulate can issue his visa. There was a slight amount of panic from the kids (and me!) who are very ready to come home. At 4:45 this afternoon, we got a call from our guide that the computer system was working and they were going to issue all visas for families with appointments yesterday. Our guide was running back to the Consulate to pick up our visa and will hopefully be back at the hotel in about 30 minutes. I'll feel relieved once we have Jay's visa in my hands and I know we can fly home tomorrow!

Monday & Tuesday: US Consulate

June Bug's blood work came back negative so he's all good for his appointment at the US Consulate to get his visa and head home!

The other really good news is that the backpack I got from another family here works great! Jay agrees to ride in it and I can travel around with him on my back instead of him running wild everywhere. My parents flew in last night - I never could've done this without them here - It's been hard on everyone so it's been really nice for Audrey and Sam to get to go with Grandma and Grandpa and have a little break. We all walked around the super humid city and then spent some time in the pool. He absolutely loves swimming. He stands on the side and counts "Ee, Er, Sun, one, two, three!" and then jumps in! I'll try to upload a video...

There are three other families in Guangzhou right now from our agency, and we took a group picture today with our guide, Elvin (sitting next to Sam). Everyone is so put together and seems to have this thing under control. Then, I show up late, pulling multiple kids, obviously not having showered recently, Ha! I'm just proud that I've gotten this far in China. Really can't do much more than survive at this point!

Yesterday evening, we went on a cruise down the Pearl River. Jay loved the boat. I just wonder what he's thinking - everything we do is a whole new experience. One of his favorite parts of the cruise was arm wrestling with our guide, Elvin!

Then today, Tuesday, we woke up early for our appointment at the US Consulate. This is the appointment where I swear that everything in the process was accurate and take a oath and then we apply for the visa to bring Jay to the US. We get the actual visa tomorrow and that is the last thing we need and we fly home! As soon as Jay lands in the US, he becomes a citizen! Here we are in front of the Consulate making Jay a soon-to-be American citizen!

The Consulate appointment was much easier than I remember in past years, but there is a wine vending machine in the building right next store... Just in case...

We tried an authentic noodle shop for lunch which was delicious! It was family style food and we ordered three huge plates of different noodles, two big baskets of onion breads, lots of drinks (it's 95 degrees and with humidity feels like 118!!). It was so so good! And cost a whopping $8.00.

We got a message from Rebekah from Hope Station. She was visiting Jay's orphanage today and one of his nannies was asking how he was doing and really missing him. Rebekah showed her pictures and videos of him with his family. Rebekah said that she watched the videos and pictures and sobbed. She misses him so much. She video taped a message to Jay and in it she asked that he call her and said he knows her number. I showed him the video and he listened to her intently and then said - Ah! And went to the phone and dialed a number about 5 times. It was the same number each time, but the number said it was disconnected. Seeing a video of a nanny sobbing who had taken care of Jay for years and obviously really loved him was heart wrenching. This whole experience is so wonderful and so horrible at the exact same time. But for now, I'll focus on the wonderful as these two brothers snuggle up before bed...

Sunday: Free Day in Guangzhou

Today was a free day as we wait to get Jay's blood work results and wait for our Consulate appointment. At breakfast, we talked with a family who I'd met briefly at breakfast yesterday. It's a mom traveling with three of her children and a new 4 year old son. Her husband stayed at home with their other children. I immediately was drawn to her a few days ago because she seemed to be having similar struggles as me -- communicating with an older boy who knows what he wants. We chatted at breakfast and she talked about having a backpack to carry her son in, but that he refused to get in it. She offered me to try it out and see if it would help contain Jay when we're out. It was really nice to talk with someone who was travelling as an only adult and who had other kids with her. It made me see that my difficulties in this trip are totally normal!

Jay's been very into mixing together foods. For breakfast, he wanted hot milk and then he soaked about 6 pieces of bacon in it. Then pulled out the bacon and drank the milk (bacon-infused milk). I'm thinking he may be onto something.

After breakfast, we went with the three other families from our agency to do some sightseeing and shopping. I spent this time in the most humid place imaginable, drenched in sweat, and chasing June Bug trying to prevent him from breaking glass tea sets. I really should've tried that backpack before our day out today! Audrey who has not complained yet agreed that she was the most miserable she's ever been in her life. Sam actually did the best out of everyone on this hot day. He kept a good hold on Jay and talked to him as we walked the streets.

We got back to the hotel and everyone was ready to jump in the pool - and it thundered - and the pool closed. So we decided to totally veg out this afternoon. We watched movies in our room and read. June Bug is such a character. We were walking around the hotel and he started acting like a robot and even strangers stopped to videotape him. He's so funny!

Then this afternoon, the hotel delivered a beautiful cake to me for MY BIRTHDAY! The best birthday present I could ever ask for happened as soon as the cake arrived - Haijun started singing to the tune of Happy Birthday but in Chinese and then as soon as he finished, all three kids started singing Happy Birthday in English. It was so sweet. I tried to get them to reenact it. Here's the best I got...

We decided to go down to the Executive Lounge again for "evening snacks" (AKA dinner) again tonight. We met the same family from breakfast at the lounge. We hung out with them all evening just sharing stories about our families and adoptions. Our sons have really similar stories, similar special needs, same age, etc. It was really great to connect with them. Then they brought out birthday treats that they had picked up for me - so sweet! We ran back to our room and grabbed our cake and had a birthday celebration in the lounge. Haijun fell asleep in the lounge, and I got much needed adult interaction. All in all a great birthday.