Winding up things in Lanzhou

Hi everyone,

Karla has been doing the updating so far but I sent an email to some family and she recommended I repost it here too. - Dave

We are about to leave Lanzhou. Tomorrow we take a plane to Guangzhou to do the paperwork for the US visa. We have enjoyed our stay here but as always on these trips we are very eager to move on to the next step and ultimately get home as quickly as we can. 

Yesterday was a great opportunity to see Will's orphanage. We got a tour of the facility and got to meet all his caregivers. It is a small place and they make do with very little. They were very pleased to show us the reverse osmosis water filter that had been donated a few years ago, and they have some very minimal exercise equipment, but for the most part it is just the bare essentials. What was most heartening though was how much he perked up around his old friends and caregivers. Like most of our kids he has been very reserved and quiet during these early days, taking things in. We call this "travel mode" going back to how Spencer would get very shy and reserved when we were in big busy places like airports (understandably overwhelmed). But Will seemed to have a very active personality and really had a lot of energy at the orphanage so now we know what to look forward to (or what to brace ourselves for... another active boy!)  But it's all for the best!

One thing we are trying to adjust to during this trip is Will's strong preference to be held and taken care of by me rather than Karla. We have seen this before, and our guide confirms it is very common because there are so few men involved with the orphanage kiddos that they are fascinated by the adoptive fathers. We certainly saw this with Ella. It was "dad" this and "dad" that the whole time we were in the province with her. Then I left, and Karla had to endure all the tears and recriminations for the rest of the trip. But Will's response is very strong and it makes it logistically challenging. That, and I honestly don't think I was built for 24/7 clinging. Karla has more stamina for that kind of thing than I do (or at least, she bears the burden with less complaining). It was one thing to be in Japan, just Zoe and me; Zoe was a newborn and slept a lot. Will is pretty much on me from sunup to.... well, last night I finally threw in the towel at 11:00 or so and Karla managed to soothe him while I chickened out and went in the other bedroom. 

But that is a minor blip in an otherwise very smooth process so far. Will is eating well, he has slept well two of the three nights we've had him, and he is definitely warming up to his brothers. They play together really well. Even though we forgot the boys' tablets at home, they still have Minecraft and an ancient computer game (Star Control 2) on our laptop. We have been trying to manage their screen time and you would think we were in a heroin ward doling out methadone. Screen time, always screen time. I understand the feeling, though. They get to stand around in government buildings or sit in the van for three hours a day on the ride to the orphanage and for the most part they have been pretty good about it, so a couple of hours of computer games is just fine. They also brought some art books and colored pencils and they have been enjoying writing in their journals. (Spencer was particularly keen on documenting all the features and stats of the Airbus A380 we took over the ocean.)

Overall we are very pleased and feel blessed to be at this point. We did hear from Linda today that Luke has been throwing up. He hasn't kept anything down all day but they did get him to bed tonight comfortably so we hope he sleeps through the night and is feeling better tomorrow. Please keep him (and Carl and Linda) in your prayers.