Year after year August was a fairly insignificant month on our calendar. The thirty-one days of August would float by without too much significance in our little family's life, minus a couple of special family birthdays scattered about. However, now and forever more, one ordinary day in August is now engraved into our memory and etched in our hearts forever.
August 21st, 2010 is one of those ordinary turned extraordinary days...and I can pinpoint 6:57am as the moment that change our little world. The moment I finally held my son. In the blink of an eye, there he was in the flesh and I was a mother. His mother forever and ever. My heart was filled with more love and joy than it had ever known before.
For four months I had stared at and memorized the thirty-two photos we had, read and re-read the monthly emails about our precious boy, day-dreamed about our little one's personality, and wondered what he was doing at any given moment on the other side of the world.
Today marks one year ago when we finally held our precious boy. Those incredible days have come and gone like a blink of an eye...but not one passes without a prayer of thanks to our Father from a happy mama's heart. Our sweet Titus Andrew, thank you for making every ordinary day extraordinary. Your daddy and I are so proud of you, and we are so very much in love with you.
Thank you Father for this child~and giving us more than we knew to ask for.
Now all glory to God , who is able through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Ephesians 3:20
Exactly one year ago today, Kevin and I were on our way to finally meet our Titus Andrew. Taking in everything that his birth country is. Loving every second. I never thought it would take me this long to blog our trip. There are several factors as to why. One, we had very limited internet access as well as time while in Taiwan. Two, I was emotionally and physically overwrought and the very idea of processing and trying to put all we were experiencing into words was just too much. We were just living and taking in the moments as they presented themselves. I honestly remember the details vividly that it's like it was yesterday...and I'm thankful for the time I've spent reliving and praising God for that special week.
Of course, Titus is the most important reason behind writing these Taiwan Rewind posts. He won't remember his six months of life and time in Taiwan and so it is my privilege and responsibility to share with him what his daddy and I experienced and saw while we were there. Because of him, I never want to forget a single detail. It's his precious story and the journey of a lifetime for our little family.
On August 17th at 2:34 am we received a phone call from Ted Skiles that he would like us to be in Taiwan in two days or in two weeks. We chose the two days; nothing was going to post-pone me from waiting to hold my little boy another two weeks. After all my prayer through this entire adoption journey was that I would be able to hold my son, on or before his 6th month birthday.
The funny part of this story is my niece and nephew were staying with us for the week because my sister and brother-in-law had to go back to school as they both work for their town's school district. When my sister asked if we would be willing I said sure it will be great parenting practice for us. She then hesitantly asked, "You don't think you'll get a travel call, do you?" My reply was that at best it would be weeks away. And God laughed.
On Friday, August 19th Uncle Eric and Aunt Kate came to pick us up and take us to the airport at 6:30 am. When we pulled away from our home, it was surreal to know that we were leaving as two and coming back as a family of three. Oh, what a glorious day!
We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to check in, pray together, promised to post lots of pictures, gave hugs, talked about the journey that awaited us, and said our good byes.
Kevin and I then sat and waited by ourselves in great anticipation for the journey that awaited us. Our emotions were high. We had no idea what awaited us on the other side of the world, but it didn't matter, we were ready. We had several flights before we would actually be on our way to Taiwan. Honestly, we would spend most of the day traveling or sitting in airports. And somehow due to the International Dateline we would lose an entire day. Our trip consisted of traveling from KC to Dallas, Dallas to LA, and finally LA to Taipei.
Just after 8:30pm we were finally leaving LA and on our way to Taipei. The 14 hour flight was long, but went well. EVA Air did an excellent job of taking care of our every need. We ate some yummy Chinese food, Kevin watched 3 or 4 movies, and I tried to relax.
Every 20 minutes or so I would click my individual flight monitor to see how many miles we had traveled, how many more miles of the 6823 miles we still had to travel, and to watch the progression of our plane over the wide Pacific Ocean. It helped relieve some of the anxiety in my mama's heart to know how much longer it would be until I was FINALLY in my child's birth country.
I'll never forget the rush of emotions that I had as our plane descended and I got my first peek of Taiwan at 10pm on August 20th (Taiwan time). It was hard to see much, but this was it. We meandered our way through customs, thermo scanning, finding our luggage and even stopping to snap a picture or two.
Finally in the crowd we spotted Ted's smiling face. What a welcome sight! We then began our two hour car trip to The Home. It was midnight when we arrived and we were given what we considered our preview of our precious boy. It was sooo hard not to reach out and touch and hold him.
With much restraint we headed to bed. I attempted to sleep, but knowing that my son was close by, I couldn't. Finally, I woke Kevin up at 6:15 am and told him it was time to finally go hold our son. We stayed in the apartment that was about a mile from The Home but that morning that one mile walk seemed to to be ten miles. Finally we arrived at The Home to find out that Titus was still asleep. Thankfully though, Bev allowed us to wake him up. Maybe, my restraint and good behavior the night before helped my case. :) I felt bad waking Titus up from his peaceful slumber, but my aching arms couldn't take it much longer. We tiptoed into the nursery and I slowly lifted him from his bed. He studied us and stared intently at Kevin and me but his overall demeanor was peaceful. We jumped right in caring for his needs: diaper changing, feeding him breakfast, burping, and rocking him.
Our hearts were overflowing with love and joy. We were finally complete. We had waited so long for this day to come and it had been worth every single struggle. Titus has always been meant to be our child and we are blessed to be his parents. Our Father's hand brought us together...only He could of made this happen. To HIM be the glory!!!!
July was a huge month for Titus!
He is growing, developing and changing so fast.
Our baby is now in full toddler mode.
Titus now weighs 18 pounds and is 31 inches tall.
He wears size 4 shoes.
He wears 9 month clothes (with a few 12 months here and there)
and size 3 diapers.
Titus doubled his teeth, with 8 new ones in one month. Yes, EIGHT!
He was a trooper and we really didn't know he was teething. :)
However, when I was brushing his teeth last night I noticed he has 2 more coming in.
Titus climbs EVERYTHING and is BUSY all the time.
It seems like the only time he sits still is when he is being read to.
He LOVES reading books and sometimes will sit for 15-20 minutes.
His favorite books right now are:
Pat the Bunny
The Wheels on the Bus
15 Animals
Old McDonald Had a Farm
God Knows Your Name
Noah
Titus is now using more and more words. It seems everyday he says a new one.
In general he talks all the time!
Words that we understand: ball, hi, bye-bye, wow, Titus, dog, kitty, eat, mine, Baba (for grandma), Papa, Dada, Mama, banana, Boz, bear, Bible, and EIEIO
Phrases: Oh wow!, Bye Dada, night-night!
Titus can point to his eyes, nose, mouth, hair and ears when asked.
Firsts: pushes himself on his corn popper car, gets up and down from a chair, he is starting to sing, hums, uses his fork and spoon (he still prefers his fingers though)
Every night we tell Titus it is time for bed. Fairly consistently, when we tell him that he goes to the stairs, says night-night and climbs up the stairs. I hope getting him to go to bed is always this easy! :)
Right now one of Titus' favorite song and book is "The Wheels on the Bus." We were at a store looking at shower heads when Titus started making the sign for round from "The Wheels on the Bus". He did it several more times before we realized that he was putting together that the shower heads were round. Once we acknowledged this to him that yes the shower heads were round he stopped. As we were walking down the store aisles he started saying and making the sign for ball and the sign for round. He looked so happy and proud when we replied to him, "Yes, balls are round!"
We love watching Titus make connections with bits of knowledge.
Toddlerhood is so much fun!
The #1 reason we went to STL was to see old friends and meet new ones from The Home of God's Love. We had a wonderful time picnicking together, watching our children play together, reminiscing about Taiwan, and marveling at God's amazing design of creating our individual families.
What would a trip to St. Louis be without an adventure to The infamous Arch?
Since neither Titus nor Daddy have ever been up in The Arch, we decided to buy tickets and enjoy the adventure to its fullest. It was a HOT, crowed, July day and it seemed as though half the population of St. Louis must have had the same idea for an adventure too. The two lines to enter The Arch were both out the doors and meandered through the beautiful park. Finally, when Daddy purchased our tickets, we were told there was a 2 hour wait. Oh no! What to do with a one year old boy, for two hours? We decided to buy tickets for a riverboat ride on a paddle wheel steamboat down the Mississippi River. Might as well make good use of two hours, learn some history of St. Louis, and go for a long, hot ride.
The Flooded Mighty Mississippi
Finally it was Arch Time!!!!! Titus fell asleep in my arms as we were waiting in yet again another line to begin our ascent up The Arch. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed, but realized that he wouldn't remember this experience anyway. However, right before we entered the claustrophobia inducing egg with three strangers for a LOOOOONG three minute ride to the top of The Arch, he woke up. Yay!!!!
Titus loved The Arch. He crawled right up into the little windows and pointed, smiled and looked and looked. So happy he was able to enjoy the adventure.
The Old Courthouse where the famous Dred Scott case was tried.
While at the zoo Daddy was able to fulfill a childhood dream of his: to touch a stingray as well as a hammerhead shark. Mama had no interest whatsoever and was happy to watch from a distance, man the camera, and let Titus and Daddy share an experience.
We absolutely loved the Magic House; it was hands down our favorite place that we visited while in STL. When planning our trip, we almost skipped this destination because we thought it might be too old for Titus. Boy, are we glad we didn't miss out on this fun! Titus had a blast and we spent four hours playing and having fun together as a family.
Titus has always been drawn to musical instruments and the Magic House didn't disappoint him. He could have played all day with each instrument; but there was so much to see, play, and do that we had to almost tear him away from each one.
Titus loved the alphabet peek-a-boo activity. And in true Titus fashion he went down the line in order opening each box. Even exhibiting patience as he waited on a little boy to open R, S, T, and U SEVERAL times. Love my little boy's order in all things!
Titus' eyes were wide as he watched Daddy blow HUGE bubbles. He loves bubbles but for some reason our bubbles are never quite that large at home.
This was Titus' first time to play in sand. At first he was a bit hesitant but after a few minutes of Mama helping and encouraging him he enjoyed himself.
After the sand play we had to visit the water area. Titus loves playing in our sinks at home, so we knew this would be a big hit for him. I love the slicker they give little ones to protect their clothes. We couldn't help but laugh, he looked like he was about to head out on a shrimp boat.
And what would a trip to the Magic House be without playing with the static electric ball generator. Daddy is blessed to have short hair and not have this embarrassment, errr fun, with his son. Oh, the things we do for our children! :)
We could have spent a few more hours playing; there was so much to see and do! Maybe in a few years we will have to come back to play again.
Our sweet Titus Andrew, thank you for making every ordinary day extraordinary. Your daddy and I are so proud of you, and we are so very much in love with you. 
Since neither Titus nor Daddy have ever been up in The Arch, we decided to buy tickets and enjoy the adventure to its fullest. It was a HOT, crowed, July day and it seemed as though half the population of St. Louis must have had the same idea for an adventure too. The two lines to enter The Arch were both out the doors and meandered through the beautiful park. Finally, when Daddy purchased our tickets, we were told there was a 2 hour wait. Oh no! What to do with a one year old boy, for two hours? We decided to buy tickets for a riverboat ride on a paddle wheel steamboat down the Mississippi River. Might as well make good use of two hours, learn some history of St. Louis, and go for a long, hot ride. 
After the sand play we had to visit the water area. Titus loves playing in our sinks at home, so we knew this would be a big hit for him. I love the slicker they give little ones to protect their clothes. We couldn't help but laugh, he looked like he was about to head out on a shrimp boat. 
