Home at last...as 5! ----by Eric

Finally after a year of red tape, lots of waiting and praying, and a whirlwind 15 days in which we spent 60+ hours on trains our family is back home in Shiyan and settling into a new rhythm for a family of 5.

As we waited inside a room at Shepherd's Field Children's Village (the foster care facility he's lived at for the past 16 months) awaiting the moment when Sheldon would tromp across the playground to meet his forever family we knew all kinds of confusion, fears, nerves, doubts and emotions would be swirling around his little heart.  This would mark the 4th major upheaval of his young life- all the faces, routines, and places which had grown familiar suddenly removed and replaced with unknowns.  So much for a little one to process even once in a lifetime!  It's now been 17 days since the moment he entered that room and into our family and there's been not a hint of anything other than excitement and full acceptance of his new family and life.

We've been praying for such a long time that God will prepare us for him and him for us and we can now see how the prayers have been answered.  We give praise to our Heavenly Father and to his caregivers at SFCV who did such a marvelous job preparing him for a family.  We're realistic in anticipating that new emotions, questions, and phases of grief will surface in the weeks, months, and years ahead, but we're thankful that the immediate transition has seemed so smooth for him.  And that's with us all living in 1 hotel room for 2 weeks!  By the end of the 2 weeks I was having emotions and griefs surface! :0)

Obviously there's been significant adjustments to be made by all 5 of us and each day has it's share of ups and downs but the ups are slowly beginning to dominate the downs.  Having a 6 year old little brother has been a shock to the system for Brinson and Aiden, but they are making the transition and have already planned or made a few movies with the newest member of Brother Alliance.

Sheldon is such a happy little guy! (unless of course it's bedtime or he's being asked to do something he would rather not do, in which case he acts as you'd expect. :) But he's even making huge strides in that regard as well!)  He absolutely adores his two big brothers ("Franceen" and Aiden) and is quick to join in anything they are doing. This helps with teaching and training. We'll say: "Brinson, it's time to wash your hands and go to the table," and Brinson will say, "yes sir" and head to the sink.  "Aiden, it's time to wash your hands and go to the table" and Sheldon will answer along with Aiden "yes sir" and follow to the sink. He's observing everything they do and is real quick to remind them to say "thank you" for any and everything that he does for them.

We've discovered that Sheldon LOVES to help around the house which has been a great way for us to bond throughout the day.  He cooks with us, does laundry with us, and wants do the dishes alongside us.

Although the aunties who cared for Sheldon each day at SFCV spoke only Chinese there were several foreigners who lived there which made white faces and the English language less foreign for him.  The older children (ages 5-19) have classes in one of the buildings each weekday for several hours with English being one of the many subjects learned.  Sheldon came to us knowing many of his ABCs, 123s, and several simple phrases.  His basic English and our basic Chinese allow us to communicate everyday needs without much problem.  Are you hungry? Time to wash our hands. Time to go to sleep. Do you need to use the bathroom? etc, etc. has been pretty simple.  His English has already made huge strides. Everyday he busts out with a couple new phrases we haven't heard from him before which he apparently picked up by hearing us.  Needless to say, our Chinese has improved quite a bit as well.  We also have friends we've invited over to translate for us when there is something really important we need to tell him.

Today is the first day our family gets back to teaching and studying and so we're still going day-by-day in figuring out how life is going to work.  There's a lot going on but it's all good.  We're made aware each day of our need and dependance on Him for strength, patience, energy, and grace.  Praise be to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for bringing Sheldon into our life and giving us all that we need each and every day.