3 years ago today...

Aubri and I flew into Shenyang from Beijing and traveled directly to the Civil Affairs to "take a peek" , as our guide translated to us, at our Andy. At that point he knew he was meeting us and had said his goodbyes to his nanny and foster family. He was asleep on the couch when we arrived and I was asked to immediately start signing paperwork. When he woke, he enjoyed playing with a red car with Aubri, but really did not want much to do with me and clung to his orphanage director. We were then rushed to have our photos taken and then taken back to the hotel, where Andy was left with us before I had even understood that he was being left. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy about it but after about an hour of crying, he was willing to go out to the Walmart to shop with us. It was not my brightest move to do without a guide as a brand new parent in a city where very few people speak English and I had absolutely no knowledge of how shopping works in China. After being horribly stressed with crowds of people following us around and little Andy/HuaDi laughing his head off at us crazy white folks while commenting to the crowd how he thought we were nuts... We finally made it back to the hotel and eventually got to sleep. It was definitely an extremely adrenaline filled day!!!

Today was soooo much easier!! This little boy who thought he was emperor of the world, thought girls were definite second class citizens and had no idea how to cope with rules, went to school and had a wonderful morning. He was not in trouble at all and was even very helpful! He chose a movie to go see and where to go eat, while considering his sisters likes and dislikes as well. I bought him a new DS, since water had "accidentally" spilled on the one he got for Christmas sometime in the month of January... This time he promises to keep it dry! :-) We had to go to Walmart, just for the tradition, of course!

I wish I could say that the least three years have been easy. With Andy's learning disability, his ADHD, his exceptionally high IQ, and initial attachment issues, there have definitely been struggles for him, and for us, along the way. I can say, however, that they have been worth every moment of frustration while Andy learned to acclimate to a family and attach to us. We love him so and cannot imagine life without him!! He is "our boy", as Sera calls him and definitely is an amazingly smart, funny, and super sweet one!! He is my baby boy and I love him more than he will ever know! He definitely brings a different perspective to this family and we are truly blessed by it!