Hohhot, doctors, and random stuff

Judd went to the doctor this week and has gained almost 3 inches and almost 4 pounds since June when we brought him home. He went from too low to be on the growth chart to the 25th percentile. Not surprising if you've seen Judd throw down the food.

News coming out the area of China where Judd is from is that there are more protests. For you long-time blog stalkers, you remember when we were in Hohhot there were protests which made our trip to China, um... stressful. There was another Mongolian herdsman killed and there are more protests in the area. This makes our blog, um, the only American site to go to for Hohhot news.

I also saw on YouTube a video of traffic in Hohhot. The simple fact that a person would not only film but upload a video of traffic in Hohhot tells you what it's like there. Notice the guy on the bike turning the wrong way into traffic and everyone just move around him. Ah, the memories.

Just wanted to share a few pieces of randomness.
-chris

Judd's party

We wanted to share some pictures of Judder's party.

Here is his Hungry Caterpillar cupcake cake, from the Eric Carle book. It seemed a fun idea, plus, Judd is a hungry little caterpillar.

Judd with cousins Mercy and Jadon.

Happy birthday Judder. 

Judd is two

Today, Judd Longshan Graves is two years old.

We have only been with Judd for four months (one-sixth of his brief life). But we are learning a lot about him. Here are a few words that Anne and I would use to describe Lil' Genghis. 

Smart. One of the first things the orphanage worker told us was how smart he was. She was right. He knows what everything is and how to use everything. Last week he put on my deodorant. I catch myself daily wondering how he knew something. He just knows everything.

Busy. He dances. Yells. Sings. Dismantles. Destroys. He is an active, fun little guy. And man, he wears us out.

 

Compulsive. This isn't a word to describe most two year olds, but it fits Judd to a T (errr... to an OCD). He freaks if he doesn't have on shoes. He must shut any open door. He has to put everything back in it's place. Everything. Our former (favorite) pediatrician told us that a kid like him will probably be a doctor. I believe it.

Hungry and thirsty. He still weeps daily for food and his cup. And it's not like he's deprived. I've lost count of how many people have told us that he's chunked up. But he still acts like the same under-fed orphan we met in China. I'll never forget Judd's almost-correct sign for a cup and him saying "ugh" "ugh" "UGH" for cup. And he'll do that half a dozen times in a ten-minute car ride.

Determined and demanding. Here's the script: Judd yells and points for something he wants right then. We say no. Judd weeps. Above is a picture as proof. We told him no. Don't feel sorry for him folks. It's just anger for not getting his way. But his determination isn't always a bad thing. He is a focused, problem-solving, strong-willed guy.

Loved. I can't write a post without bringing up the miracle that a little boy from North China was meant to be a Graves boy. Two years ago today, Judd was abandoned and alone under the flags at Tianyuan Mall in Hohhot, China. Today he is surrounded with family in East Tennessee. Tonight he sat with a mom and dad and two silly brothers eating ice cream. This week he will see grandparents, an aunt, and cousins. For most people I know, that isn't anything noteworthy. For Judd, that is nothing short of a miracle.

Judd belongs. Judd is loved.

Happy birthday Judder.

-chris

 

the mohawk

So Judder got a haircut.

We gave him a mohawk. It seems to fit well with his personality.

Here are a few random pieces of info about Micro Kahn.

He is talking more.  Anne's favorite thing is reading him Good Night Moon and having him repeat after her. "Say goodnight red balloon." Judd says, "Re ma ha te wa night night." Well, close enough.

He works the crowd. At soccer practice tonight he said hey to everyone. Then high fived everyone. Then knuckle bumped everyone. He's that kind of little dude. Friendly.

And he loves to wear shoes. He wears all of our shoes around the house all day, endangering his very life crawling up stairs in Wyatt's size ones and Anne's flip flops. Then, in an ironic twist, when we go out in public, he kicks off his shoes. He won't keep them on an sends them airborne in the aisle at Target. Go figure.

Just a quick update and a few pictures. Say bye, Judd. "He ta do re la bye bye." Close enough. 

new pictures of Judd

I asked for you to pray for an update on Judd. Well someone did. Today we got four new pictures and a medical update from a contact at New Day Foster Homes, a place which we have thanked God for countless times. Here are the pictures and our thoughts about them...

Here is Judd obviously early on at New Day. Little dude. According to the reports, it looks like he was 6 pounds, 18 inches when born. Who knows how old he is here. Still, here he looks like the CCAA picture we received when matched. And have I complained on this blog about how often he is pictured wearing pink? Take a look and this and following pictures. Poor defenseless dude. Yet another reason he needs a daddy.

This is like the face we randomly found on New Day's site in January. Cute face, chubby cheeks. This is the face we have in our minds when we think of Judd. But that's not his face any more...

 

So Judd had surgery. We had no idea. They have repaired his cleft lip, which is usually done before 6 months of age. It is doubtful that his palate has been repaired since that surgery is usually done after a child is 1. But who knows. That is the big news of the day.

This doesn't look like the same kid. We've stared at this face all day. It's unbelievable how different he looks to us. Anne said that if she had seen him in a friend's picture taken in his orphanage (yes, we are stalkers who look at other blogs looking for our child; hey, it worked once before). But this is not the face we've had in our minds. One, his lip is fixed. Two, he's much older and bigger. Three, he has a mohawk. Hmm. And four, they keep dressing him in pink. Daddy's coming to help you Judd!

This is our little man, at least a few months ago. He's 17 months old right now, and it seems that he left New Day at a year old (we believe he is now in the main Hohhot orphange with Half the Sky). My guess is that he is just under a year old here. Total guess.

It's really amazing how different he looks. It's weird for us to have a picture in our head since we got the match in November, now to find out that he didn't even look like that in November. Who knows what he looks like now.

We had two pictures sent to us when matched, and they are now close to a year old. Then we found another small picture online. So, these four pictures more than doubled what we had before today. Strange to have a son who is seventeen months old and have only seven total pictures of him. Strange to know so little about him. Strange to think that you'd not recognize your son in a picture. But adoption is strange like that.

So here is Judd Longshan. This is our boy. Pink clothes, mohawk and all.

introducing Judd...

We had a surprise this weekend. After months of no updates, no news, and frankly no nuthin’, we saw our little boy, Judd, completely by accident. Here’s the story.

Anne recently joined a very helpful Yahoo Group for adoptions from the area where Judd lives. On the Yahoo group, a lady named Rhonda posted about New Day Foster Home that works with special-needs children in the area. Anne clicked on the link to learn more, and there was our boy, one of twenty faces looking back at her. We. Were. Shocked. We’d been praying for an update—news, any news—and heard not one word since November. Then, we accidently find Judd on a website.

We had no idea he was at New Day. We had no idea what New Day was. And we had no idea we’d stumble upon an answer to a prayer. So this finding was huge.

We know it is him. Same name, same city, and same birthday of what we were told. Plus the CCAA paperwork said that he was in foster care, but we weren’t sure which program. Plus, we knew by looking. Same big eyes. Same face. We clicked on his picture, here is what we read:

These seventy-four words and few-thousand pixels are the bulk of what we know about Judd. The first report we got of Judd (just before Thanksgiving) was that he was only 10 pounds yet several months old. We were obviously concerned. In chronically understaffed Chinese orphanages, there are too many needs for the staff to meet. So we’ve been praying that God would take care of him somehow. Well, Praise God, Judd isn’t in an orphanage with a hundred or thousand other kids. He’s in a New Day foster home, with good people who are helping my boy make it. Thank you, God, for New Day.

Finding this page answered our prayers in many ways. We have new information. We have a new picture. But most importantly, we are assured that there are people who are taking care of Judd until we can. We’ve looked all over New Day’s site and love what they do. If you are interested, you can read all about New Day or watch a video about what they do. They also have a blog for their Beijing home with lots of pictures. They are great.

So world, let me introduce you to Judd Longshan. He’s a cute kid and we imagine him to be sweet and fun. He was born in October 2009 and will hopefully be here in April 2011. He’s our boy.

Thank you God for an update. Thank you God for New Day. And thank you God for Judd. Please be with him.