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I know, I know. Why buy the cow if the milk's free? If I keep posting links to my column for you to read on my blog for free, then why would you ever buy the paper? Well, if you live in Ashland or Hartsburg, or if you just want to read my ramblings the good old-fashioned way in ink, then you'd be supporting a privately owned small business AND yours truly. Subscriptions are only $15/year for the Boone County Journal, so order yours today--and tell 'em Travis sent you!

http://www.bocojo.com/articles/2011/08/03/opinion/doc4e395e3bcbb33627656492.txt

Settling In

Sorry to leave you hanging for the last few days, but a severe case of jet lag has left me with precious little energy for writing. Tiana is adjusting well to her new home. I wrote about her actual moment of homecoming for my newspaper column which will be published this Wednesday. Suffice it to say that her reaction brought tears to my eyes. You've never seen a happier kid. Ever. All of us are adjusting to life as a family of five, and of course there are moments of disharmony now and then, but all-in-all, I can't complain. Tiana is an amazing girl and aside from Truman's occasional temper tantrums, the three siblings are getting along well. Life in the Naughton house is as normal as it will ever be.

In addition to my column, I wrote a feature article for the newspaper that will appear in next week's edition about my observations of China. It points out a few of the differences between our two countries and the ways this small town boy was affected by being surrounded by a billion and a half people. Also, I plan on revising my book Naked Snow Angels in the coming weeks in advance of releasing a second edition called Naked Snow Angels 2.0--Now With Fewer Typos! (Or something like that.) Plans are in the works for a book reading/signing event to be held at the Ashland branch of the Daniel Boone Regional Library sometime in November. And today, I received two royalty checks in the mail from Amazon for the copies that sold in May and June. Thank you to everyone who has supported me as my writing career has begun to take off. Who knows how far it will go from here, but I know that with the support of my family and friends, I'll always feel like a success.

Flinal Blog post from China

It's 11:00 on this Wednesday night in Guangzhou. I am happy to say that it is our last night in China, having spent the previous 14 nights in this country cooped up in a hotel with three bored kids who have a desperate need to get back into a daily routine at home. For a time, China was home to two of the members of our family, but it has never felt like home to me. I have tolerated the sensation of claustrophobia while being swallowed up by the throngs of people who crowd every sidewalk, restaurant, park, and street, but I have reached my threshold. I'm a country mouse who is content living in a very sparsely populated corner of the world, completely opposite of the world full of city mice I've been visiting for the past two weeks. In our two trips to China, the smallest city we stayed in had a population of 6 million people. That city is Nanning, which is where we got Truman two and a half years ago. Harbin, where we got Tiana, has 10 million inhabitants. Guangzhou, where we are now, has 12 million, and Beijing has 20 million. To put it into perspective, New York City would only be fourth on that list. And most of the people there speak English. Well, at least half do.

Tomorrow, we'll be on our way home--for a full 24 hours. The kids, and especially Tiana, will test my patience throughout the journey, but by 9:00pm Thursday in Hartsburg, MO (10:00am Friday in China), the never-ending flight, the crowds, the language barrier, the relentless stares by curious Chinese everywhere we have been, and the feeling of complete isolation despite being surrounded by millions of people will instantly vanish as we walk Tiana up the stairs of her new home and into the beginning of a new chapter in all of our lives.

I'll be back on facebook Friday (without the help of my cousin Larry Barr, who has been doing a great job of converting my emails to blog/facebook posts for the past two weeks--THANK YOU, CUZ!!!) so I can respond to your comments finally. We really appreciate all your words of encouragement and support. Thank you all!

Finally, here's the link to my latest newspaper column in today's Boone County Journal. Enjoy!

Girl in motion

Here's a video to illustrate how animated Tiana is. She's a Naughton alright!

Saturday in Guangzhou

Today was literally a walk down memory lane. Everywhere we went reminded us of our journey to adopt Truman two and a half years ago. Same hotel. Same city park. Same medical center for the kids' examinations. Same souvenier shops on Shamian Island. Same guide (Simon). Same Starbucks. But not everything is the same. We met two other American families who are going through the adoption process who are wonderful people, but we miss the families we befriended here back in 2008. (Lisa, I let the kids ride the escalators in the hotel just for fun in honor of Avery.)

Tiana was pretty good today, but when she gets bored--she is a rotten Naughton. It is hard to keep someone who doesn't understand a word you're saying entertained, but we're trying. As an exaspirated Bethany just said after putting the kids to bed a moment ago, "Someone must think we can handle these three kids!"