Family of five

We are all settling into life as a family of five. Miles seems to be making himself at home and since our last post....he has taken to the car seat a little better! As you can see in the picture, his first experience in the car seat wasn't pretty!

Both Ethan and Grace are proud to show off their baby brother to anyone who will listen. Ethan is very sweet with him and is always trying to make him laugh. Gracie is kind too, she always wants to feed him or help him....although, she will not hesitate to let him know who is boss.....and I'm not talking about Mommy and Daddy!!

Everyday we see a little more of Miles' personality. He is very sweet, likes to cuddle and will give hugs and kisses. He is also a very serious little guy. He seems to be taking everything in and is always trying to figure out how things work. He has a cute little voice and his giggle warms our heart. He has only let a couple of people hold him besides TJ and myself, and this reminds me of our answered prayer. He warmed up to us so quickly during the process in Thailand....he even let us both hold him (and carry him around) the first day. I see now that is not his general nature and that God really prepared his heart for us and answered our prayers in that he would bond quickly with us.

There's No Place Like Home

We are Home! I'll post some more later, but wanted to do something real quick like before taking Ethan to school this morning. Gonna have a day of unpacking. Miles did well on the plane. He slept most of our first 5 hour flight. Slept allot of the 12 hour flight. All flight transfers were an adventure as in we did not have much time to get to our connecting flights. Run Run Run we did through the airports. Always just making it by the hair of our chinny chin chins.

The kids were great with Miles. Ethan came right up and was very excited. Grace needed a little more warm up time. She has come around. We went to bed last night at 7 p.m. We only slept about 3 hours during our 24 hour journey. O how I missed my bed. Sarah slept with Miles up in Mile's room and Ethan and Grace slept with me..... O I missed the kids. We snuggled and fell right to sleep. Well maybe I did, not sure about those two. We were up at 6 this morning making breakfast. Being away really reminds you of how special home is.

Thanks to everyone who helped while we were gone.

Pics of our pad

Just one more night

The doctor just came in to see Miles. She said he is still vomiting because of all of the mucus in his system. He had to get it suctioned out yesterday and early this morning. They will not allow us to be in the room when they do this.....and he cries when they take him...so I can't imagine that it is a very pleasant procedure. Poor little guy.....he now also cries every time a nurse walks in the room....he doesn't even have to see anyone in their scrubs...he just hears them speaking Thai and he starts to cry. The doctor also said that since his fever has subsided and his lungs sound better that it should be no problem for us to leave tomorrow. He is very tired today and has been sleeping all morning. Please continue to pray that his fever doesn't return, that the vomiting subsides and that his appetite (and strength) return by tomorrow. We can not wait for all of you to meet him!

Only one more night in Bangkok!

"I'm ready to go home"

Miles climbed into his luggage this afternoon. He's sooooo small. Today has been a really good day for Miles. He did not have a fever for most of the day. Miles seemed to be in good spirits. He rested plenty as well. Thanks for all your prayers! At the time of writing this we would have been home in 6 hrs... UGH! We are sooooo ready, but Miles has improved so much today staying was no doubt the best choice. See you all soon.

more play

Were just play'n around the hospital. Not too much different. Sarah is about to go shopping. I should have bought her a stun gun I saw. But since I didn't purchase that I asked her if you wanted to take one of the swords we purchased but she refused to go shopping with a sword strapped to her side. No, it's quite safe.

Taken a cruise

just cruise'n around the hospital. Vrmm Vrmm!
Miles likes cars.

squating in the sink

Sarah started giving Miles a sponge bath last night. First his feet were in the sink and then he scooted into the sink taking the "squating position". He is a squater.

Breathing treatment

Miles looks really pitifull in this photo. It's not as bad as it looks. Miles actually perked up quite a bit after this. Actually too perky. He was going everywhere after this. We told the doctor that he was quite hyper after his treatment so she reduced the dosage.

all hooked up

Miles pushing his IV. He's being a good sport

x ray

Miles is getting a chest x ray. Sarah is behind the X-ray tech holding Miles' legs. To say the least Miles did not appreciate this procedure.

checked out & checked in

I'll get some pictures posted tomorrow. But real quick. We are checked out of the hotel and checked into the hospital. We are here until Late Monday night. Miles is receiving breathing treatments and antibiotics intravenously. He seems to be doing well. Sarah and I are fine. We will have a few days to dedicate to giving Miles more attention and love. Miles really bonded with Sarah today. He would not let her out of his sight. Our social worker came in the evening to see how Miles was doing and Miles kind of acted scared to see her. As if she came to take him away maybe. Mo, the social worker is a very very nice caring lady (she came in the evening after work just because she cares about him and us). I can't say enough about her.

I'm about to run out of Internet minutes so real quickly.
Thanks to all who have helped up with the kids and other things. It's good to have friends and family to help make this possible.

TJ Sarah

new flight

We are now scheduled to be home Tuesday Sept. 18 12:35 noon.
American Airlines flight AA880
We will be leaving Bangkok Tuesday Sept 18 at 1:00 a.m.

Miles is checked into the hospital with pneumonia. The doctor advised treating him prior to the long flights and running the risk of greater illness and possibly needing to stay in korea for care (don't want to do that).

We'll keep everyone up to date.

Back to the Hospital

It's 5:36 a.m. here. Looks like were gonna make a trip back to the hospital. Miles had a fever all night (didn't really know what, I had to run down here and do a C to F conversion) @ 102 F at the peek. Miles has actually had a fever since Wed. morning. We retrieved what is called gripewater which is sodium and dill seed oil for his stomach. It seems to have helped he held down what he ate for dinner. A little rice at dinner was all he ate yesterday. Please pray for a healing in his body. We really want to leave tonight.

Yes dad I did get the visa yesterday afternoon. Foreign Taxi drivers are something else always negotiating. It's quite an experience.

Trip to US Embassy

We'll were not in Kansas anymore.........

Took a trip this morning to the US embassy to get paper work for Miles' Visa. 15' by taxi 1/2 hr. of waiting and that was it. I can go back 3:00 today to get visa. We took the Sky train back to the hotel. This train runs on tracks elevated over the city.

We were trying to decide what to do today when Miles puked again all over himself. I guess were just gonna hang around here. Probably shouldn't jostle him around everywhere.

Now it's Time for:

Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy........

There once was a man sitting easily and quite comfortably in a hotel lobby. Sucking on Coke Zero and typing Internet blogs..........

There once was a woman in a hotel room cleaning up puke and fishing out turds from the tub......

I must admit I am having fun typing these blogs. I really thought Sarah would do this but as it turns out.......... (see deep thoughts).

What's up doc?

This morning Miles woke up very congested and with a slight fever and before breakfast puked up his bottle. Poor little guy. He's very tough though and doesn't seem to wine much. Another trait he and Grace share....Sorry Ethan your tough too. We met Mo and the other couple at 8:15 a.m. and headed to a hearing. Here we sat in front of the 3 people pictured above. They asked us questions about our family and why a Thai boy. They wanted to ensure Miles is going to a fine home. Many people were outside waiting their turn as this committee only comes together 2 times per month. The people were nice. This is mainly a formality. They don't really have any power to deny an adoption. After the meeting (Sarah and I were lucky enough to be first) we headed to the hospital to get Miles looked at. This hospital was great. Quick and easy. They took our names, then processed Miles weight and height. Gave us a number of which room we were to go to. The whole thing was painted like a leave it to Beaver town. With a Blue sky & clouds even. The doctor was very good. Inside this big waiting area was also a theatre area with a Play land for kids. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic since we are leaving in 3 days along with some other medicines. Just a little viral infection was determined. After the doctors office we went and paid and waited for our drugs. We were in and out within an hour. We picked up the drugs in the same area. The Doctor visit and drugs came to 1,200 bahts. or $32.00. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT. US hospitals & pharmacies are ripping us off!!!!!! We then went to a nice coffee shop & cafe and had lunch. You know most of our meals have not been over $10.00 including tip (everything has a 7% - 10% gratuity automatic) and we have eaten VERY well. In fact Sarah is gonna need to hit the gym hard.... OOps I'm gonna be in trouble for that one (anyone who knows Sarah knows I'm only joking (she isn't here to censor my humor)). Now that Miles is with us all the different Thai woman are coming up and touching him and talking to him. I think their really using Miles as a reason to get a closer look at this hunk of American man beef (oops just kidding again)! (and no Ali I'm not walking around with my shirt off, You can let Bob know that!)

A little Bed Time Play

After Swimming we headed for bed. Miles took a bath. Not sure if I mentioned earlier but he prefers to squat in the tub than sit. He also likes to stand in the tub. Man if him and Grace aren't two little peas in a pod. They're gonna get along very good I think. Ethan do these look like you Jammies?? Miles likes to play hid and seek behind anything he can find. When he sleeps he snuggles/wrestles with this build a bear we had sent him earlier this year. He burries his face into the bear, gets on his knees and squirm on the bear. Very cute.
We all slept very well last night. Miles did very well. He seems very comfortable with us.

First Night

Our first night we went out for dinner. And what was for dinner you ask..... Indian of course. We have had about everything here. German, Italian, Thai...Lots of Thai. Tonight was Indian. Very good. At the end of the meal they bring you a bowl of warm water to wash you fingers. Miles was the only one using fingers. Here you can see him standing on the table. You are correct I did say standing on the table. We all stood on the table, well ok I'm just kidding about that. After dinner we went back to the hotel and tried an evening swim. Miles, not to fond of that. He just wanted to drink the water. All the pools here are infinity style pools... very cool. Joe and Ali you should put a pool in like that.

"Go ahead..... I dare you to take my fries!"

more from day 3

Day 3 part 1

The social workers brought Miles to the hotel at 11:00 this morning right on time. We were given a bag of his clothes and toys which came from his foster mothers. We took Miles up to our room and played. After he was fully warmed back up again we gave Miles a bath. Miles had alot of fun. Sarah had alot of fun picking out his clothes for the day. (Ali I'de go into details but I can't really recall all the specifics, but he did wear Max's black Nike sandals). We thought we would Americanize Miles for lunch. We went to McDonalds. Much cleaner and better service than US McDonalds. Miles had a chicken nugget happy meal. Miles loves the fries. O ya, I don't think we've talked about this yet. When ever Miles does not like a certain food, or has food in his mouth but sees something better, or just doesn't want to finish what is in his mouth he simply opens his mouth and pushes the food or drink right out. Yes.....He did it today. With food and drink. I wore the drink on my shorts and Sarah got food on her. We are going to go swimming this afternoon, but wanted to get some photos posted.

funny story

Ok I (TJ) have to tell this story. Sarah and I kept cracking up over this all last night and this morning. She's sitting next to me to censor what I might say so it possibly wont be as funny. But here goes. Yesterday we decided to take our clothes to a small laundry company outside of our hotel (the hotel charges more). Before we left the room she had all our dirty clothes sprawled all over the floor taking inventory. I ask "what are you doing, lets just throw it in a bag and go". She says she is "making a list" (her and her lists) because she wants them to read her inventory list and give us a price (price bargaining here is on everything) on the laundry. She also says "I don't want them going through my dirty clothes in front of me on the front counter".

She's so modest. Well guess what........ We walk into the store a (barely one toe inside the door) and our bag is grabbed and it must of been if not 12 possibly a 100 little Thai women shred our bag apart and DUMP everything out on the counter. You would have thought it was a poker game and the clothes were chips on the table. Hands coming from every direction grabbing - sorting - counting. And guess what our clothes were dumped on the front counter. Now as we are given a price (1,000 Bahts) or $30.00 we say no. Now these people are holding our skivies. One lady had a pair of my boxes clenched tightly in each hand. Our clothes were now hostages. When we said no that's too much, their grip on my skivies became tighter. I actually saw the little Thai ladies knuckles began to glow with white. Fear began to overcome me and my knees were weakening. But this challenge of commerce was quickly becoming a dual of Bahts and laundry. We would prevail. We began negotiating. With a room full of woman holding our dirty stinky clothes (did I say it's hot and humid here. We are sweating a lot) We negotiated to 700 Bahts. We left the store and laughed. Just what we didn't want, our clothes being dumped all over the counter..... is exactly what happened.

now for the rest of the story...............................................

We go back late that night. The store looks closed however a light was on. The glass window is now covered with newspapers. We step up to the door and see 2 women. They opened the door. One lady being the fierce negotiator (did I mentioned she breathes fire and has eyes of a dragon???) recognizes us and goes to retrieve our laundry. Trying to get all the way into the store front and out of the rain, Sarah steps onto a mat to dry the bottoms of her flip flops when the second lady quickly notifies us that Sarah is standing on her bed. "Your bed?" we respond. So what does Sarah do. She takes off her shoes and still remains standing on her bed?....... Her bed was in front of the counter. Isn't that where we should stand??....???... We got our clothes and left. We laughed about the whole incident. So everyone be careful. If Sarah comes to your house and stands on your bed with her shoes, just let her know, she will gladly take off her shoes and continue to stand on your bed. :)

A few photos from today

Day two with our little guy

Our time with Miles for the day has already come and gone. We met him in the lobby with his social worker at about 11:00. He came right to me (Sarah) and we then went out for an hour of shopping. He immediately went straight to the little toy trucks that you can sit on and started scooting around. His favorite "word" is "vroom vroom" (car engine noise) which is perfect for us since we can understand what that means in Thai or English! We then ate lunch and he sat very content on my lap. I still think he prefers TJ to hold him and a couple of times during our time with him he reached out to him to hold him. We then came back to the hotel and brought him to our hotel room to play for about half and hour. We played with bubbles...I think he thought they were pretty neat...although, he kept trying to take the bottle away...to take a try himself. At 2:30 we had to return him to Mo so he could go back to his foster Mother's home for the last time. She said she would meet us back here tomorrow at 11:00 instead of 10:30....she said she wanted to give his foster mother a little more time with him in the morning to say good-bye. My heart aches for her because I know this will be hard for her. You could see in her eyes and mannerisms how much she cares for him.

Tomorrow he will be ours for keeps! We will post more then. Take care everyone and we will "see" you tomorrow!

(for Ethan and Gracie)

Hi Ethan and Gracie. We miss you so much and will be home in 5 more days. We can not wait for you to meet baby Miles. He will love you! He loves to play and you will need to show him your toy room and his new bedroom when we bring him home. We will call you tonight before you go to bed. We love and miss you.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Pics of the Day!

Today we met

What a most busy day for us. Here's the play by play. Sarah and I met another couple (Mitch and Margaret) in the Lobby last night and again this morning. Everyone, I think was feeling a little nervous and anxious. The other couple are Christians and we all prayed together in the lobby before the big moment. We believe the Lord answered our prayers because today went very well. We went to a room and got some instructions by the head social worker. Her name is Mo. Then we watched a video about Holt (I don't think any of us really were paying attention, the only thing we could think of was the moment to come). The children were to arrive around 10:30, but as the video was finishing they called and said eleven. As you can imagine we were disappointed and even more anxious. Then eleven was drawing near and we found out it would be more like 11:20. Oooohhh the wait. We were all setting up video cameras and getting still cameras ready. It was getting intense. Then..... the door open and Mitch saw one of the kids, but the door was quickly closed. .......... "What are we waiting for" we were saying!!!! "Come on!" We couldn't wait any longer! Just as the door open I hit the record button, but my vidoe camera had been sitting for so long it went hay-wire and shut off.. "O-no! I'm missing it" Dog gone it!!!! O to get it back on. Finally, only a few moments were missed. There he was (by the way Miles nickname is Deo (Day-O). It's Thai for one. It's not so different from the name Sarah and I call each other.. do (pronounced due)(something we started in highschool). Everything seemed fairly natural. Miles or AKA Deo, was very warm to us. We played. He loves cars and balls. We threw balls and rolled hot wheel cars for about and hour. At one point he just walked up and sat on my lap. Miles did that 3 times actually and to only one other person his foster mother later in the day. I'm so special. Miles had quite a connection with Sarah as well. Sarah played chase and he laughed and played along. Around noon we went to lunch in the hotel. Miles sat on Sarah's lap the entire time. He ate rice and shrimp (expensive taste). He stayed seated the entire time. When Sarah's plate of fries came he ate them up as well. We think he's gonna be a good eater. After lunch we went to the pool in the hotel. Mo said he loves the water and to play in it. We saw that for sure. He's a good fit for our family. I'm sure Ethan and Grace will show Miles the ropes when it comes to the water. After the pool we went to our room. Miles bounced on the bed. Miles kept following me around. I think he needed a male influence. What a cute little guy he is. Around 2:00 we headed out to were his foster mother's home. I must say in the living area, the floors were very clean. We took our shoes off before walking up the steps that resembled decking steps. There was a sad moment when the foster mother began to tear up. I felt sad for her. I can tell you with all honesty that she has done an excellent job of preparing Miles. After the visit we headed back to the van (steering wheel's on the wrong side). By the way just as a footnote. All the painted stripes on the road here appear only to be helpful suggestions. The drivers squeeze and go anywhere that they feel. It's a bit unnerving when a car is in your lane and only 3-5 seconds away from heading head on and neither vehicle yours or theirs speed up or slow down. They just figure they'll make the pass in time. They typically do.

Anyway where was I.... O ya a little friend came out to play with Miles.. It was cute. Most of the people that live in this 6-7 community area are related somehow. Now we're back. Tired and Hungry. You all know how Sarah gets when she's hungry so I'm gonna wrap this up.

We will meet up with Miles again tomorrow around 10:30 a.m. for 4 hours. Then Tuesday he's all ours. See you on the next blog

Something for Ethan & Grace

Reflecting on the beach for Ethan

We are just back tracking for a moment since we couldn't post much from the Hua Hin....we told Ethan we would show him a few pictures of what we saw.

Less than 12 hours!

We are now in Bangkok at the Armari. We will be meeting Miles at 9:45 in the morning. We get to spend some time with him to get aquainted and then we will go to lunch. After that we will be going to his Foster Mother's home to meet her. It has been hard to think about much more than this upcomming moment. It is amazing to think that we are so close to Miles (just a few miles away) after being half a world away from him for so long. Tonight we walked around Bangkok....it is a VERY busy place!.....We met another family who is also adopting through Holt and they are very nice. They will be meeting their little girl who is 4 and their little boy who is 2 tomorow.

Ethan and Gracie...we miss you so much and be watching for the blog tomorrow to see pictures of your baby brother....We love you!!

Mom and Dad

trouble with internet

We are having a hard time with the internet today...we'll write more later. We will be heading back to Bangkok tomorrow. Then we will meet Miles on Sunday!

We are Here!

Hey everyone we are finally here. Long flight, but everything went well. Last night we spent the night in Bangkok. Today we are in Hau Hin at a resort called Dolphin Bay. Here are some photos from our Hotel in Bangkok.