Another post so soon!

Ha ha! Surprise, I've actually managed to get another post before the change of seasons!
We've been pretty busy here @the Smith household, between visits w/family, birthdays, and shopping!
Nathan continues to amaze us w/his adaption to life here in the states. He is quite familiar w/bath and bedtime, both of which always meet w/a slow wave of the hand horizontally and "Nooooooo". He loves playing w/his cars and is ABSOLUTELY fascinated when an airplane flies overhead. He gets very excited and wants everyone to know what he sees. Unfortunately he is unable to say airplane, but we get the idea!
We were sitting outside today enjoying the weather, Mama was reading a book and Nate and I were playing w/his cars. I went over to Denise, gave her a gentle kiss and told her of a random quote that had suddenly come into my mind.
It's from the movie "Excalibur", if anyone is familiar w/that. It is the story of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, Merlin, and all that stuff. I've always enjoyed the movie and felt it was quite striking in atmosphere and just the general setting. Anyhoo, there is one scene towards the end where King Arthur is dying, along w/the land since the "land and king are one", and he has sent his knights out to find the Holy Grail. This is not to be confused w/the Python troop who also were in search of the Holy Grail! One of his knights does finally find the Grail and brings it back to Arthur w/life renewing water. After sipping from the cup and regaining a bit of strength Arthur says he "never knew how empty was my soul until it was filled." I felt a little like Arthur today, not dying mind you, but not really knowing what I was actually missing out on until Nathaniel came into our lives. It's days like these when I fell TRULY blessed to be his father. I don't know what I've done to deserve that spot in his life, and I'm sure I will falter from time to time, but w/Denise by my side and our family and friends, I feel Nathaniel Ze has one heck of a sporting chance to have a "Wonderful Life"!

Loving Mama @the zoo!

Nathan and Grandma setting up the train set

"Let me show you how it's done, Uncle Charley!"

Nathan had buddy Danny over for a play date!
"Have you heard about these Goldfish S'mores? They're awesome!"

Alright, buddy, stick 'em up! Aunt Debbie gets Nate w/the bubble maker

Don't panic Elizabeth, I think I know CPR...er...China's Pretty Radical?

Nathan's first encounter w/a Slip n Slide. He was good for a couple runs, but then he kind of pooped out. The fact his bathing suit kept falling off was an added bonus!

                                                        Denise and I feel this pretty much sums him up! LOL...

And now for something completely different...

Again, my apologies to those of you who are living vicariously through our blog to keep tabs on Nathaniel. It really is amazing how much time goes by now that we are a true family. Let's see...he and Mama have been to several doctors. Once for strep (yee-haw), another trip recently for a check-up and verification of the common cold, another to a pediatric urologist (everything checks out a-OK). Whew!
It is amazing how he has truly taken to us and our families. Recently I had a niece graduate from Ashland High School and we were @the graduation party from 2pm-9pm. All sorts of people coming and going. Now Nathan wasn't the life of the party by any means, but he interacted w/some children and did quite well, we were all impressed. He has officially met almost all of his immediate family and loves them!
We're making some headway in the communication department. He knows what baths are (doesn't care for them, but he knows what they are), he loves to go put-put (travel in the car), and is truly a blessing to us.
Many of the households I service for work have inquired about how he is doing, it's just amazing how many well wishers we have out there! One home in Mansfield actually gave me a toy fire engine to give to him because they were just so thrilled that things had finally worked out for us!
We've started going to mass again, albeit noon and sitting in the back. He is intrigued by the whole process, but not sure what to make of it. How do you tell a young Chinese about our Lord and Savior and all he has done for us? We tell him who Jesus is and that we love him, especially for all that he has done for us these past months. At times Denise and I will look @each other and just marvel that he's ours and all that we went through to make it happen. It almost seems surreal or dreamlike, our time in China. We follow what other blogs we can of our fellow travelers, seeing how things are going in their lives.
Yes, of course, we have pictures! But before completely losing you all to his royal "cuteness" let me just repeat our thanks and gratitude to ALL who have been praying for us, calling and saying "hello", and just being there for us during this whole transition. As we heard during our church service while in Beijing, "God is good all the time, and all the time God is good!"

"And what do we have behind door number three? That's right! A brand new, red wagon!" This has become Nate's main means of transportation!

"So, who's this Stephen Hawking anyway, Grandpa?"








"I loves me some jello"

"I loves me some pizza"

"I loves me some ice cream"
(See a pattern? And he's slightly underweight according to the doctor!)

Nathan's first trip to the zoo, complete w/dinosaur and Scotsman!

Nathan pulling Jianmei in the wagon. Jianmei is the daughter of Brian and Renee who actually got us interested in the Chinese adoption process. This picture was from our niece Elizabeth's graduation party.

Bonding w/his Godmother!

Had to throw this one in! This is Nathan's cousin, Josh, also during the graduation party. This is someone Nathan can really look up to and admire! LOL!

I absolutely love this picture! A boy, his balloon, and Mama's garden...