Joshua Flys Home to a Crowd!

Joshua was welcomed home by an amazing crowd of friends and family Wednesday afternoon! People showed up in red, white and blue with balloons and signs. We feel so blessed to be a part of a community who has helped us bring him home through prayers, encouragement and even sacrificial giving. We are so grateful. It has truly been a group effort to adopt Joshua!

He's such a treasure.... we brought home the gold!!!

Home!

Rusty, Lesli and Joshua were greeted by ecstatic Hudson & Hannah, family and lots of friends at the Wichita airport. They're home safely! More to come soon...

Flight Update - 2:28pm

As of 2:28pm, here is an update on the flight. Looks like they could be 10 minutes early.

Departs: Minneapolis/St. Paul-Int'l, MN (MSP)		Arrives: Wichita, KS ( ICT )
Gate: A7		Gate: 2
Scheduled: 2:15PM		Scheduled: 3:59PM
Actual: 2:10PM		Estimated: 3:48PM
Aircraft: CRJ		Weather: ICT
Note: Flight left the gate at 2:10PM but has not taken off.

Minneapolis to Wichita flight ON TIME

Here is the text of an automated email that Northwest Airlines just sent out about the flight the Cryers are on. Looks like they should be on time!

NW 5672 July 30 ON TIME departs MSP at 2:15 pm arrives ICT 3:59 pm Gate 2

A few more pictures

Here are a few more pictures to check out as the three Cryers are on their way home.

Documents in hand!

The adoption crew

Meal-time & friends

Suggested attire for Wichita airport welcome

from Joshua's Grandma Teakell

Those who would like to could dress in red, white or blue and bring red, white or blue helium baloon(s) to hold.

Information reminder for Wichita airport arrival

from Kyle Walters

Rusty wanted me to remind Wichitans (or those close by) of their arrival information. The three tired travelers are scheduled to arrive on Wednesday July 30 at 3:59pm. They will be traveling on Northwest Airlines flight #5672 from Minneapolis. Please check the flight status before you come to see if it's on time. You can check the web (www.nwa.com) or by call Northwest Airlines (800.225.2525). I will also try to put a post on the blog when I know whether or not their flight left Minneapolis on time. That post should show up an hour or two before their scheduled arrival in Wichita (that's for all of you Cryer blog junkies that check the website every 30 minutes! Okay, so maybe I'm one too...). It would be good to arrive at the airport 10-15 minutes before the flight is scheduled to land so you can make sure you see them.

Rusty also asked that we pray for their return trip. As you can see from the picture in the previous post, 22-month-old Joshua would much rather be "flying high" than sitting still on mom or dad's lap for the 17+ hours of airplane time.

How do you explain this?

You pick the caption that you think best fits the picture!

Caption One: Don't look Mom, we're just being a little wild at heart!!!

Caption Two: Really Mr. Chinese Official man.... we will make great parents... we promise not to hurt him, "abandon him again," keep him away from all danger, and provide him a good education. Seriously... please don't take him back to the orphanage now.... we've already fallen in love!

Caption Three: Well, if he doesn't dig school too much, he can always become a Chinese acrobat!!!

Caption Four (from Grandma Teakell): Having been told by the orphanage that Joshua was timid and introverted, Lesli & Rusty are being careful not to overstimulate him.

Caption Five (also from Grandma Teakell):
Headline - Summer 2026:
"Chinese Born Gymnast brings home the Gold in the High Bar for Team USA.
Edges out Favored Peoples Republic of China team by sizable margin."

More Photos

You can see more photos of the Cryers on the blog of some friends with whom they are traveling. The photos are in the slideshow posted on Monday July 28.

http://fromdatingtodiapers.blogspot.com

A Note from Grandma

Early this morning Grandpa and Grandma rendezvoused with some "not so sleepy but should have been...," four and a half year old twins named Hudson and Hannah. The two little troupers had been up since around four something and traveled a couple of hours. Hats off to Wendy P. for getting two four year olds up that early! They waved, smiled, and hugged us and had to tell us their dreams. (Hudson dreamed about Grandma and Momma and Hannah about a skunk!) Hudson was full of discussion about baseball and the batting glove he had on his hand. Since Grandpa is an expert on baseball they had lots of plans to work on batting. Within an hour of getting home, and before breakfast Grandpa read three books to them! Hats off to Grandpa! What a couple of great little kids they have been while mommy and daddy have been gone for twelve days! We're all full of gratitude for all the friends that entertained them, helping to make the time fly. They had so much fun they didn't even want to stop long enough to field their phone calls and Skype!

(Grandma took pictures this morning but forgot the cable to load them! BOO!)

While we're on the topic of food...

We just came back from an amazing restaurant called the Banana Leaf. It is more Polynesian than Chinese, and reminded many of the families in our travel group of the Rain Forest restaurants in America... except this had better food!! The decor was really fun, kind of a jungle type atmosphere. We were also surprised by some live entertainment!! I even ended up becoming part of the show!!! If I can get this video to post, it was taken just moments before I lost all inhibition and jumped in! Joshua LOVED the music!!! We've become convinced that the "shy, timid and introverted" child we were told we were getting is definitely none of the above!!! He still seems pretty easy going, which is the one label from his referral that I'm glad has stuck!!

Finally, Uigher Food!!!

For those of you who know us, you might remember that we have an affinity for Uighers and their food. Uighers are located in the western part of China, and are actually Muslim so their food tastes different than Chinese. Rusty say's that the only international dish he craves is Uigher lagman. We had been told that there were some Uigher restaurants up in Shenyang, and we planned to eat a lot of lagman, but we didn't find any.

Last night we went on a bit of a wild goose chase with another family in our travel group. (I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Rusty went to junior high with the wife!!) Anyway, we had gotten directions for a fast food Chinese place that some of the other families had liked. Probably an hour later, we decided that we weren't going to find the place. As we were walking back to our hotel, I looked up and saw the word "Uigher" in a restaurant sign. Rusty perked up, ran in, and started speaking to them in Kazakh. He got even more excited to discover that they were truly Uigher, and had lagman!!! So Rusty became our hero.... speaking in some language none of us understood and ordering some amazing dishes!!! Believe me, they taste so much better than the pictures!! Those of you who have had lagman in the past.... remember the tenth commandment!!!!

Squeaker

On Gotcha Day, the orphanage director brought Joshua in with a brand new outfit and shoes on. We had been told to save his clothes from the orphanage in Ziploc bags in order to preserve the smell. It can be very comforting in the transition period for the kids to get a whiff of their past. Anyway since his clothes smelled brand new, I haven't zipped them up.

But the one thing I will probably save forever is the new pair of shoes they brought him in! They're squeaky shoes and they squeak with every step. Joshua absolutely loves them!!!

They are the first things he runs for when he wakes up and brings them to me to put them on. He loves to hear himself squeak! He also loves to run... you can hear him picking up speed! If you chase him he gets the biggest grin, and giggles. It's delightful. We're going to try to post some video soon of him being chased... his facial expression will melt you.

Secret Photos Revealed

A source close to the Cryer family has revealed a few other photos which may or may not have been obtained through said person's secret contacts with Asian authorities.

Breakfast

Outside the medical clinic with Macy Li and her mom

Our Boy is Normal

Well, it's official... our almost two-year-old knows how to get hysterical! We were all at a restaurant celebrating the birthday of one of the new dads tonight and something set Joshua off. Food seems to get him a bit uptight. He was also very tired. Anyway he got mad about something, and it all went downhill from there for about 10 minutes. We were struggling to figure out what set him off, and what might bring him back from his fit. Eventually we distracted him with fruit snacks.... throw a fit, get fruit snacks!! We're in a period of time where we know he's still on system overload, and for the most part, he's been a very happy, easy boy, so when the fits come we don't feel like we can correct them with discipline yet. Grace is having to abound here right now!

Of course we don't have a picture to put with this post.... not something to run get your camera for. The other parents were just looking at us with understanding and empathy!

Sheer Cuteness!!

Guangzhou: Day 1

Let me attempt to draw you a word picture. Today was Medical Exam day. So, they piled all 13 families in our travel group (with their new additions whom they have known since Monday) then drove us to the island. We arrived at the medical exam office just after another bus load of families from a different adopting agency. So there were probably 20+ families going through a maze of medical stations (4 to be exact). This maze took place in a small hallway and 4 very small examination stations. Please keep in mind that at this point most of the babies/children being adopted have started to bond with their new parents, but are largely not warming up to anyone else, especially people in white lab coats who poke, prod, pull their clothes off, etc. By and large it was sheer chaos. We are glad to have that step of the process out of the way. We did learn that Joshua has a fairly large hole in his right ear drum. We also discovered an old black suture in the back of his mouth. We're wondering if there has already been some work done to fix his palate. A little confused though, because he continues to have food come out of his nose when he eats.

After the exam and a quick lunch we had what was called a "paperwork party." Not such a party, but definitely a lot of paperwork!!! I filled out about 15 forms to get Joshua's visa and complete his adoption.

Tomorrow is a shopping day. Hopefully, it will be much easier on the nerves.

Medical Exam Day Slideshow

Arrival in Guangzhou

We arrived in Guangzhou yesterday. The plane ride from Shenyang to Guangzhou took about 4 hours. The plane was packed. Thankfully, Joshua did very well on the flight. We gave him some Benadryl and Tylenol before the flight for fear that the pressure might hurt his ears...and we were hopting the Benadryl might knock him out for at least half the flight. Good news and bad news. Good news is that he had no ear pain despite the regular sinus and ear infections he has had. Bad news is that the Benadryl kind of got him wound up. We won't be giving him any more of it on the flight home! He did finally sleep about the last hour of our flight.

It has been a delight to be reunited with the families we started out with in Beijing and meet the children they are adopting. There are a lot of kids headed to some sweet families and a future that is drastically different than what they have experienced so far. Hearing some of their stories has been both fun and heart-breaking. I think we have made some life-long friends. We have even talked some about arranged marriages :) There are a few cute little girls that Joshua might like someday!

This is Macy Li. We've got her number, and we plan to call it in about 18 years!!!!

Wichita Airport Party

A post from Kyle Walters - Lesli's temporary webmaster

For those of you in the Wichita area, you may like to come and welcome Joshua, Lesli and Rusty home at the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. I asked Rusty what he thought about a big group being there and he thought it would indeed be overload for Joshua, but that "overload" would be the story of his life for a while. So bring on the party!

If you'd like to come, the Cryer's flight is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday July 30 at 3:59pm. They will be traveling on Northwest Airlines flight #5672 from Minneapolis. Please check the flight status before you come to see if it's on time. You can check the web (www.nwa.com) or by call Northwest Airlines (800.225.2525).

It might be good to arrive at the airport 10-15 minutes before the flight is scheduled to land so you can make sure you see them.

Rusty and Lesli have recruited a photographer friend and a videographer friend to capture these moments since they'll be busy hugging necks, not taking pictures!

See you there.

Sleeping Habits

A few weeks before we came to China we shipped a little care package to Joshua. It contained a photo album so that he could see pictures of the aliens who were coming to get him. I also included a disposable camera and asked that the nannies would take pictures for us of him and his life in the orphanage. I was most excited to send a soft little musical bear and a blankie. Now this is no ordinary blankie... it's the softest one I've ever touched.

Through a volunteer at his orphanage I learned that the nannies had placed our album in the window behind his crib and they changed the picture every day. This thrilled us of course! We also learned that it appeared he hadn't been given the bear or blankie. I was a little disappointed, but mostly grateful that he was getting to see the pictures. I reasoned that maybe it wouldn't be fair for him to have a soft blankie when the others didn't have one. Now I'm thinking he just didn't like it.

We received the bear, blankie and camera when we got him, and he doesn't seem to like the feel of the soft stuff at all. In fact, he has the most unusual "blankies." As long as he's got something in his hand, he's great. On Gotcha day he was fisting a piece of candy in each hand. Later he carried the wrap around $1,000 worth of Ben Franklins (we had already shelled over the cash). Another day it was the empty wrapper to his fruit snacks. Tonight it is the hotel business card. This kid will hold on to his treasure for hours! It even interferes with his ball handling skills at times! Here's a pic of his "blankie" tonight when he went to sleep.

As for sleeping, he's a champ! He's slept through the night since we got him, and takes great naps. We love it when he cat naps on us! He's the most snuggly little dude. It's absolutely heavenly!!

For My Speech Path. Friends

This one's for all of my speech pathology friends out there.... and there are a lot of you!!! (no kidding either)

As you know (if you're one of my 40 friends in this field... not quite 40, but still...) it's pretty difficult to make sounds when you've got a hole in the roof of your mouth. Add to that nearly constant ear infections because your food and drink can go up and out your nose, and your ears get clogged. So, hearing speech and sounds is also difficult.

It's hard to determine Joshua's speech development at this time because if he does know words they're all in Chinese! He does say "Mama," when he's referring to me, and of course I love it!!!

When we were at his orphanage I asked his nanny about his speech. She confirmed that he is delayed, but assured me that he's not delayed in his motor skills, and was the most active one in his room!

We're Flyin' High!!!

This journey has been utterly amazing! There just aren't words. Getting Joshua has been indescribable. People on the street make comments to our guide that he is a lucky boy to get a good family from America. My response is that I am the one who has been given the gift!!

It has been wonderful to share this journey with all of you who are reading. It kind of feels like you're the visitors at the hospital coming to see our new little one. We LOVE getting the comments!! There are no visiting hours in this ward, so keep 'em comin' please!!!

My First Happy Meal

This evening Joshua got one of his first tastes of America....McDonald's!!! And believe it or not, Hoss, who eats any and everything we have put in front of him (except for dehydrated banana chips) was not down with chicken nuggets and french fries. He hardly touched them. That means one of two things: 1) he has reached a point where he knows that more food is coming and coming often from his new Dad and Mom thus he no longer needs to gorge at every opportunity, or 2) Mickey D's just ain't worth eatin'! Final conclusions to come later.

End of Day 4: Shenyang

First off, they gave us Joshua's passport today! We are cleared to fly to Guangzhou tomorrow.

Then we spent a good bit of time in a taxi. It was about an hour and a half out to the village where Joshua was abandoned. Apparently this 'village' (major city in the US, but less "fancy" maybe what we would call a ghetto) is like a suburb of Shenyang. First we went to the police station where he was turned in. Apologies to all you loyal readers, but they would not let us take any pictures...I mean hey, you know us. We look dangerous. However, they did give us a copy of the police report! We were thrilled about that. Would you like to know what it said? So would we, but it is in Chinese. Our guide, Summer, is planning to translate it for us tonight. The police officers gave us directions to the site where Joshua was found. That was our next destination. The site is more like a development. Lots of big, tall apartment buildings that have been completed in the past couple of years. We took a few pictures and captured what we could on video. We were not surprised to not have an exact location of abandonment to take a picture.... but, we like the symbolism.... Joshua was left on a sand pile at a construction site....what started out as a sand pile has been completely transformed...is now unrecognizable!!!!

May this be Joshua's testimony!!!

Mom's got some mad chopstick skills!!

If we have a little time, we thought we'd give you a few glimpses of what we've learned about Joshua so far. Top priority in his life is food!!! As I said previously, he's making up for lost calories!

The Hoss (as Rusty has nicknamed him) will eat anything and everything, and does not know when to stop. You name it, if it's edible he'll eat it. If he were a horse, he would have foundered by now.

His impatient side really comes through during meal time. Rusty and I have a system.... when the food's about to come, Rusty will take Joshua out for a stroll down the street. This gives me time to get some food cut up and cooling, and shove a few bites in my mouth. When they return, it is game on and all players must be in position because Joshua's ready and his mouth's open so big you can see his tonsils!!!! He'll eat faster than his little cleft palate can handle... sometimes if he eats too fast some food will come out of his nose. He's also a professional gagger.... no panic, just opens up and gags until he gets it out.

You might be thinking, maybe we should give him some snacks and he won't be so hungry. Snacks abound here, no worries!!!

As we were leaving Joshua's room at the orphanage, the other kids were having their lunch. They were each standing in their crib with baby bird mouths. The nannie went down the line with a big bowl of gruel and a spoon bigger than I'd ever eat with. She scoops up the equivalent of 3 bites and shoves it in the kids' mouth one at a time....same bowl, same spoon. Apparently you have got to be ready, or you'll miss your turn.

He might be unrecognizable in a few weeks if he keeps this diet up! It's certainly not South Beach!!!

Day 4: Shenyang

Today Rusty and I plan to make the hour trek by taxi to try to find the location where Joshua was abandoned. Shenyang is a city of 8 million people, so we'll be going on some clues. This is a pretty important trip for us today. First, because we feel it's important to his story to have pictures. He was abandoned on a sand pile at a construction site, so we're expecting to take a picture of whatever they were building at the time. Most importantly though, we are on a mission to discover some very important information about his abandonment and rescue. Before we left for China, my mom "happened" to discover an article from the China Daily on Google about a baby boy with bilateral cleft lip abandoned in Shenyang and taken to a local police station. The article has 3 amazing color photos of him only days old. We're asking Father to confirm whether or not this is part of his story. As you can imagine, those pictures and article are priceless.

Updates from Hud & Han

Here are some updates that Hud & Han emailed to China on Tuesday night!

Hannah says:
I love you very, very, very (times about 10) much and I hope you come home soon with my baby brother. And I'm very excited to see Reagan's cat and I think she's very excited that she got a cat. And I love you very, very (times ??? a lot) much!!! Bye Mommy and Daddy, see you later!!

Hudson says:
I sure love you very much and I hope you have a great time seeing my baby brother and come home soon! I sure love you very much. Dear mama. And I love you very much and you have a great time there and bring my baby brother back soon!

Day 3: Trip to Orphanage

Our trip to Joshua's orphanage went really well. It looks to be a nice place for an orphanage. Our guide, Summer, has seen many, and she seemed quite impressed. She told them that they set the standard. Of course we got the "visitors tour," but it has a lot of pretty things to look at. Joshua did wonderfully! He didn't seem scared in his old room... just jumped down and started running around in his squeaky shoes like he owned the place. The rest of the kids were snarfing the snacks we brought. Joshua's tummy has not emptied since we got him. He's been making up for lost calories!!!

The baby room was a heart breaker. There was only one nannie for about 8 tiny babies. The postpartum nurse in me came out. But even more so, the mom in me could hardly hold those treasures without tears. It was gut wrenching for Rusty too.

We're really grateful for the privilege of seeing where Joshua has lived. Not every family has been able to visit their child's orphanage. It was good to walk away and help Joshua wave goodbye!!!

Day 3

We'll be going to Joshua's orphanage in a few hours (about 9 pm your time on Tues.) Please pray that this would not scare Joshua. The director really encouraged us to take him in so that the nannies could see how he's adjusting. If we sense any fear, we'll probably take him out, and take turns inside. This will be pretty emotional I think... seeing where he has lived for his first two years, and loving on all the others who don't have forever families yet.

Day 2: Shenyang

Today was the day Joshua officially became ours. We started the proceedings back at the Civil Affairs office in the same room that we received him yesterday. The orphanage director was there, along with a notary who is more like a judge, a few other civil affairs staff members, and our amazing guide, Summer. It included a lot of paperwork. We had to guarantee that we would never abandon Joshua again, never abuse him or mistreat him and make sure he gets a good education. No problem! Then came the money hand over. The US dollar is so weak right now that they wanted most of it in their yuan (Chinese money).

Mr. Notary

The orphanage gave us a gift of engraved glass with info about Joshua's adoption from Shenyang on it. They also gave us a little baggie of dirt from his orphanage, as one's roots are very important to the Chinese people. It was such a nice gesture! We gave cookies (oh, and then we shelled out quite a few Ben Franklin's as a required orphanage donation).

with orphanage director

Then we had a mad dash across town to begin his passport proceedings. We got his passport photo first, then met with the official. According to Summer, he was not very friendly or helpful, nor was he interested in the extra work it would require to expedite Joshua's passport in 2 days. (It usually takes 2 weeks to get a passport.) He refused us, but Summer, as I said is amazing, and she's already been there again to put some heat on him. She'll call the officials in Beijing if necessary.

After we finished everything, we had Hot Pot for lunch, then went back to the hotel for a much needed nap for all three of us! Rusty gave Joshua his first bath.







We went to a local "hole in the wall" restaurant for dumplings, which were delicious! China has a new policy that all the dishes and silverware from hole in the wall places must be sent off to be cleaned. They are returned shrink wrapped. It was quite comforting until I saw the owner's little boy running around chasing the cat, then playing outside with the little rolling pin that the ladies I was watching had just used to roll out my dumpling dough. Apparently it's his toy stick until they need it!! Oh well, mine were fried, so lets hope everything got killed!!

We feel quite amazed, blessed and in love with our third child!!! DNA is soooooo overrated!

Gotcha Day Photos

IMMESURABLY MORE THAN ALL WE COULD ASK OR IMAGINE!!!

A post from Rusty

Coming into this adoption we had tons of questions surrounding the little boy we were getting. They ranged from serious emotional well-being to what in the world will we feed him. Here are a few of them and how we have seen God answer them already:

WOULD HE COME TO US WHEN WE FIRST MET HIM OR WEEP AND CRY AS WE TOOK HIM?

He came to us right away! First to Lesli and then to me. He was a bit timid, but did not cry or put up a fuss.

WOULD HE CRY ALL THE TIME?

So far in 20+ hours he has cried a total of about 2 minutes. He does not seem to be afraid of us at all and he has a wonderful easy-going personality.

ONCE HE GOT USED TO US, WOULD HE BE ATTACHED TO US LIKE A THIRD LIMB?

He plays with us for 10-15 minutes, then goes off and finds one of the few toys we brought for him and plays by himself for 5-10 minutes. I bought him a ball last night; we probably played ‘catch’ for a solid 10 minutes. Hudson is going to really enjoy him!

HOW COULD WE FIX HIM FOOD THAT HE WAS USED TO SO HE WOULD EAT?

Well, we still do not know how to make rice porridge, but have learned that the boy will eat absolutely anything!!! In fact he eats it so fast that he begins to gag. If he can reach the food he will cram it in his mouth. And with his cleft issue, he seems to have grown into a professional gagger! Yep, he doesn’t get excited, just gags until it comes up. We catch it as it comes out of his mouth and then he starts putting in more food. We must be careful to give him small bites and not make it available too fast.

HOW BAD WOULD HIS CLEFT PALATE BE?

We don’t really know. He definitely has a hole in his palate somewhere because when he eats it often comes out his nose. But he does have a roof to his mouth. We cannot see the hole. His gums are a little gnarly, but he has a good number of teeth and they are not too crooked.

WOULD HE FEEL SECURE ENOUGH WITH US TO BE ABLE TO SLEEP MUCH AT NIGHT?

Oh yes! He fell asleep on me in the sling last night on the way back from dinner. That was about 8:30pm. He woke up about 7am this morning.

HOW LONG WOULD IT BE BEFORE HE WOULD COME TO US OF HIS OWN FREE WILL?

Less than 2 hours. By the time we went to lunch, he was even raising his arms up in the air and running to us with a smile on his face! It was and is some-kind-of-wonderful!!!

HOW LONG BEFORE HE WOULD SMILE AND SHOW HAPPINESS/JOY?

He smiled at me before our 45 minute meeting with the orphanage director was finished.

HOW LONG BEFORE WE WOULD GET TO HEAR HIM LAUGH?

Lesli chased him around the restaurant getting/tickling him. He was running from her and giggling as he ran in his squeaky little sandals. Yep, they squeak like a baby toy with every step…and it doesn’t bother us a bit!

HOW LONG BEFORE HE WOULD STOP HIS SELF-SOOTHING BEHAVIOR OF ROCKING AND HEADBANGING (WE HAD HEARD THAT HE DOES BOTH)?

We have not seen any of this behavior at all. In fact, I thought I heard him singing last night as I carried him in the sling.

HOW LONG BEFORE HE WOULD TRUST US?

Well he comes readily to us, but does not really go to anyone else…there is much more trust that needs to develop…but we seem to be well on our way!

We cannot believe how wonderful he is and how easy he has been so far! We came in prepared for it to be really difficult. So far it has been a dream! He is amazing! Glory to God for His graciousness! He has already answered many of your prayers and ours.