What Does a Month Look Like?

I seriously can't believe that it was one month ago that we saw our handsome little Hudson in real life for the first time.  Everyone we come across asks "How's it going?" and "How's everyone adjusting?".  And I'll tell you like I tell everyone else...Everyday feels a little more normal.  And I like NORMAL! 

Hudson is doing great.  He acts like he has always been a part of this family.

I'll get back to posting pictures from our trip in a couple of days but on this very special

ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY

of Hudson becoming a Spangenthal,

I thought it would be appropriate to show some pictures of Hudson's life now... Surrounded by so much love that he can hardly stand it.  It's a good good thing.

That first night that we had Hudson, he was so sad.  This precious little boy didn't understand what was happening.  A month later the tears have changed to smiles.  I thank God for walking with us along this journey.  A journey of a lifetime of Hudson being a part of our family. 

Bath time is always a great time with the kids!

Rockin' the Faux Hawk!

You can't help but smile at this sweet face!!

Playing with his puzzles.

Playing Chop Stix with Cody at the piano...get the joke here???  Chop Stix??  China??  Our Amazin' Asian??  Okay...I know bad joke.

These two love playing on the bed.  Nothing beats playing with Big Brother!

Emma is so good at taking care of Hudson.  She always finds things for him to play with.

If Hudson isn't on my lap, he's crawling into Emma's.

This would be a spaghetti face!!

A very Happy Hudson Spaghetti Face!

And this would be The Spangenthal Family!  Our first picture of just all of us. 

So this is our first month with HudFu.  What does it look like?  Smiles....lots and lots of smiles! 

We love you Hudson Fuxing Spangenthal!  Here's to a lifetime of months and smiles!  God bless you sweet boy!

Guangzhou Part 2

One of the last days we had in Guangzhou, we went to a local park and enjoyed the beautiful area and nice weather.  These are some of the pictures we took that day.

I'm looking old in this picture...by this part of the trip, I was feeling old.  We were tired and missing Emma and Cody.  We were so ready to go home and introduce Hudson to the kids.

It was so fun letting Hudson down to run around and explore.  I don't think he had ever really had the opportunity to touch plants and flowers and walk around on grass.

He's not too sure of all these new textures.  Some are pokey...some are smooth.

Hudson with Daddy in front of one of the many Banyan trees in the park.

A view of the city.

Everything was in bloom.  The flowers...the Cherry blossoms!  It was gorgeous!

The weather this day was so warm that we took everything off Hudson except his onesie and his pants.  I'm sure that there were many locals that disapproved.  They had their children still bundled up even in the 70+ degree weather.

Loved all the colors everywhere!

Our "Little Fu Man"!

Seriously...you can get lost in those eyes!

More new things to touch and explore.  Notice the drool?  That is why he is always wearing bibs. 

Another Banyan Tree.

Guangzhou Part 1

From Hudson's province of Guizhou, we traveled to Guangzhou to complete the visa paperwork and we also had a doctors examination while there.

Hudson was a Rock Star at the doctors examination.  We were packed into this small area with probably 15 or more families and all the children had to complete 3 different exams.  ENT, height and weight, and strip down and be checked head to toe.  Hudson had the ENT first.  He had actually run a slight fever that morning because of a cold and the doctor confirmed that was all it was.  He was awake for that doctor.  Then we had to wait a bit for the other exams.  Hudson decided that this was a great time to take a nap which worked out for us perfectly.  He slept through the rest like a champ...even the undressing for the head to toe check-up. 


These next set of pictures were from the island.

We had a great time letting Hudson run around and examine all the bronze sculptures.

He was fascinated by these probably because they children were his size.  He examined them very closely as you will see.

I think that here he is counting the little girls fingers and thinking HA...I've got one more than you.  You can see his extra digit hanging down.

Now he is checking out her ears.

Gotta check out the nose too!

Posing for Daddy

This one was cute because of the little Ch*nese boy statues behind him.

Very, Very Curious!

Pictures from the trip

We had soooo many great pictures from our China trip but I will just pick out a few to post over the next couple of weeks.

I found for myself that one of the very special parts of the trip were getting out and touring the local area. 

All of these pictures were taken while we were in Hudson's province.

This was a park that we walked around.  It was very special to us because this was the very place that one of the precious baby girls that was adopted in our travel group was found.  This was her abandonment spot. 

I loved all the lanterns that were still up everywhere we went in celebration of the Chinese New Year.

Everywhere we went there would be groups of people exercising and dancing. 

This is what a lot of the homes looked like.  Hudson's province was very overcast the entire time we were there and everything was very dirty.  The pollution was awful. 

These senior citizens were so inspiring.  They were more flexible and energetic than most people my age.

Look Closely....There is a man swimming in this lake.  The temperature outside was probably in the low 40's that day.  I can't even imagine how cold the water was.  Brrrr!!

Seeing all these people definitely added to our experience. 

Coming out of the fog...

Out of the Jet Lag fog....

We have been home for 3 nights now or is it 4 nights...I can't remember...still a little fuzzy...

But we are all getting settled and getting used to being a family of 5.  That's a nice number...5.

Hudson is doing amazingly well.  Eating like a champ and bonding with all of us.  Emma (our 13 year old) commented to me after the first day home how surprised she was that Hudson was doing so well and coming to her and Cody so easily.  I said to her it's not just great...it's God.  I told her that we were so covered in prayer that he would bond so quickly that God answered YES!  I really believe it is an answer to prayer.

We had so much trouble posting anything from his province that I thought I would share some pictures from the beginning.  These are from the first moment we saw him in real life.  Such a sweet chaotic scene of 4 families being joined with their children.  It was a little crazy but something we will never want to forget.

He had his back to us as we came up the stairs into the meeting room.  I knew him immediately though because he was wearing the winter outfit that we had sent in a care package.

There's that sweet boy's face.

Hudson's not quite sure what to think about all the craziness and this strange American woman holding him here.

He enjoyed sitting with his Daddy right away.

Here he is getting his hand stamped for some of the paperwork.  Notice he is holding a muffin in his right hand.  He's not about to let go of it. 

Just keeping it real in this picture.  After we brought him back to the hotel that first night, the poor little guy was not happy to be taken away from what he had known.  So Sad.  It broke my heart for him.  He was so upset that he threw up on me about 3 times before he was so exhausted that he was ready to fall asleep.  I wore that throw up proudly.  That's what momma's do.  I made sure that Bill got a picture because it is part of the story...  Part of Hudson's journey of becoming a Spangenthal.

I'll try to be good about posting the next couple of days to share about the rest of our China trip to get Hudson.  We have some great pictures.

Monkey'ing Around China

We were warned to stay away.....apparently the monkey's don't care for Americans.

This is the traditional dress of the Miao people. That is the minority area that Hudson is from. They wear these costumes for all of their special festivals. We were outside a Buddhist Temple.

A sleepy Hudson all snuggled in to daddy.

I am just regaining feeling in my legs after hiking all the way up to that first tower that you see the day before we got Hudson. It about killed me.

Next stop: Guangzhou!

Introducing.....

Hudson FuXing

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. Isaiah 43:5

Welcome to the family Hudson!
You are so loved!