1 Month!

I cant believe it was one month ago that Matthew was placed into our arms and forever became ours. Life is so very sweet with him and ACTIVE!

We received Matthew's package from Show Hope this week. He spent time there from 3 months old till he was 17 months old, when he was sent back to the city orphanage. It included 80 pictures (these are the ones below) covering his whole stay at Maria's Big House of Hope and a Show Hope tshirt. I cried all afternoon. What amazing care our boy received and it shows through him today. For someone who was once an orphan to have a history of happy memories in pictures, what a priceless gift. Funny thing, I can't tell you how many of the clothes he is wearing in the pictures reminded us of clothing that we have for him or that Robbie wore as a baby. The floor in our house is even similar to the floors where he stayed.

There are a lot of Americans and Chinese people showing love to Matthew in the pictures. A lot of the people in his pictures are from church groups or young adult/teen christians who took a trip of their own time and expenses to China to spend time with the kids at Maria's. I probably shouldn't be surprised at Matthew's love of Christian music then? When we got close to the check point into Hong Kong, Matthew became very upset. It's kind of the last thing you want when two Americans are holding a Chinese toddler on their lap in the back of a van trying to cross the border out of communist China. We tried snacks and even used his socks as puppets - nothing lasted long. So very softly, I started to sing the all the songs we sing at Sunday school into his ear. He immediately calmed down and was very peaceful the rest of the time. Aother coincidence maybe??

Sadly, all the pictures taken during the last few months of Matthew from the disposable camera that we received from the city orphanage were exposed. Nothing turned out. I feel very bad for the manager of the photo place who had to give me the news. She sweetly asked if the pictures were very important? I know she felt terrible. The orphanage was part of his life, but hopefully all those other happy memories can cover those. Maybe that's not such a bad thing...

Thank you again - we are still overwhelmed by all the love you have shown Matthew and welcoming him so warmly. I am trying hard to keep the blog updated, I have lots more to share! Just not enough free time!!