Our Adoption, The Great Paden Adventure, Chapter Four

We also took a few photos of another HeartSent baby at the Nursery, Chuan, for our friend Michelle who is also waiting on their final decree. She has emailed us frequently as we shared our frustrations on how much we missed the children we had never met. Due to health reasons, we could not take pictures of more of the babies as we would have liked, and I'm sure the waiting Mommies and Daddies would be appreciative. Believe us, those babies are in our hearts, as well.

We conversed a bit more with Maan, and made plans to visit another volunteer, Lee Mei-Chun, who was unable to meet us during the day due to a class she was taking. Then Mike & Magda and Lynne and I, with our babies in tow, decided to visit the Temple of Confucius, not too far from the Nursery. To be honest, neither Lynne nor I can remember at this point if we took a cab to the temple or walked; that Emotional Cloud is pretty much manipulating our memories of that day, and this is one of the casualties. I believed we walked to the temple, a gorgeous and serene place where I really felt as if we were getting a glimpse into the Chinese culture.

The entrance to the temple was filled with "markers", large stone tablets that have been put here over the decades and centuries to honor individuals. Some are only a couple feet tall, others are more than six feet tall, and each one is inscribed with a prayer or verse of wisdom about the honored. To read them all (assuming we could read the Chinese and not just the translations) would take all day. We viewed a fiew of these and tried to get a sense of their importance in their own history.

We continued along the path towards the rest of the Temple, and came upon a small walled courtyard known as the Gate. This, I have been informed, was the gate to the city when the city was walled for protection, not unlike the large European castles we are more familiar with. We proceeded into the courtyard, and up one of the two stairways that lead to the top of the wall, which we assumed would be the lookout's post, the guard's place to allow or deny entrance to visitors of the city. At the top, inside the "guard shack" was a snack bar, showing that even history must inevitably make way for progress and convenience, and, in this case, hunger. While I could see that there were Cokes for sale, most of the other foodstuffs and beverages were clearly of local origin, and I clearly had no clue as to what they were. Rather than chance a snack on something exotic like an eel dumpling and rice soda, I passed on the idea of responding to my mild hunger pains at this time.

All the while, Paden was happily looking around, taking in all the sensory input his little brain could handle. Again, we were amazed at his comfort level with us. Not once did he ask to be put down (in the usual baby vernacular of "Waaahhhh!!!"). Though he did continue his now familiar squirming, it was to look at things coming, going, or just out of his current field of vision, but never because he wasn't happy with the current First Class Seating of his mother's or father's arms.

Back down the stairway and on to the rest of the Temple, we entered a large park area, prefacing a huge wooden door with a ticket stand. Fortunately, it's easy to gesture "four" in any language, and with our tickets paid for, we stepped over the high threshold of the Temple proper.

This was definitely another culture, it permeated the air. The signs at the gate in English had stated that this was a temple, and to please be silent at all times. Though talking was permitted, I felt as if I were in a very sacred place, and hoped that Paden would not choose this particular time to exercise his vocal talents.

The Temple had it's own courtyard, surrounding a main building where the shrine was housed. Inside the shrine, the smell of insense was strong, further enhancing that feeling of the true culture of Chinese and Taiwan tradition. Many banners and carved plaques decorated the interior of the shrine, and were, unfortunately, without translation. The top of the building was lavishly decorated with carved dragons, brightly colored and very striking. The pictures we took do not do them justice, as they were high and far away enough that proper lighting was not possible in this late part of the Winter afternoon.

In the wall surrounding the courtyard were additional rooms that contained displays of both weapons and musical instruments, and enough translation and description to understand their use. While some seemed familiar in nature and origin, others were foreign enough that I would only be guessing without those descriptions as to their true nature.

It was, at this time that Paden did indeed start to vocalize, informing his freshman parents that the afteroon meal was overdue. Thanks to another Expert Hint and help from Mike and Magda, they had brought a thermos filled with warm water and a couple of unmixed bottles of formula, ready to be combined into the proper dosages when it's feeding time. One Similac, shaken, not stirred. Paden wolfed it down in the standard inhalation format that we have come to associate with him, uneaten food is definitely unacceptable! Fortunately, Paden was still on the formula and rice diet that the Nursery had been giving him, and had not yet come to taste the wonders that are contained in little blue-labeled jars from Gerber; that would come in the next twenty-four hours. So we were able to get by at this time with just the formula and another breadstick.

We saw many high-school age students in the Temple, some with groups of ten or more, some with just a friend or two. Some seemed to be visiting for religious or spiritual reasons, some were just tourists like us. All seemed to enjoy looking at Paden and Mike & Magda's little baby, who had cosen to fall asleep in their baby carrier, assuming the infant version of the Navy "Deadman's Float", arms, legs, and head dangling freely and comfortably.

It was now almost 5:00pm, and we were informed that the Temple was closing. We proceeded back out to the park area and headed for the street in search of a cab. The street was not at all helpful, however, as the main traffic along this boulevard was the flock of motorcycles and the occasional grey-whale-sized equivalent bus. We crossed the street, and proceeded down to the corner of the cross street, thinking our chances would be better there. Along the way, we passed possibly the most obscure restaurant entrance in the world. Mike revealed the name, whether real or made-up, as the "Narrow Alley Restaurant", and, indeed, the alley that led to the restaurant was narrow enough that walking sideways was the only option to get to the stairway leading up to the restaurant.

As we continued our walk to find a cab, we realized that one of us had fallen asleep. Despite buses roaring, horns honking, and motorcycles galore, little Paden was fast asleep on his mother's shoulder. Our little adopted angel was taking a nap, as secure in his current position as he seemed he would ever be. This is the arrow through the heartstring; nothing could take that beauty away in that moment. These are the moments that you wish for. This is the moment I longed for.

Gingerly getting into the cab we eventually were able to hail, we went back to St. Lucy's to grab some final things, then off to our hotel with Mike and Magda. At the hotel, we ran into another HeartSent couple on their way to the airport to go back to Taipei. Though we didn't catch their name, we felt a real bond with them, and hoped we would see them someday at a HeartSent picnic.

Back up in the room, we did a couple quick diaper changes for the smaller personnel, and relaxed as we talked and enjoyed our babies. The next revalation of what Lynne and I had in store then appeared. I was lightly holding a standing Paden as he held onto the desk, I realized his waist was lifting between my hands, yet no one else was near me. It was Paden, showing off his body-building strength as he did pull-ups to see if he could chew on the desk (he could). Holy Cow! Shades and memories of my friend Dave's son Brian came into sharp focus, a boy who was know for scaling Dave's entertainment center at an age when walking was still supposed to be a novelty. Spunky, huh?

By now, it was getting dark, and we were all hungry, so it was off to see Mei-Chun and her friend, and the evening meal.