Build-A-Bear Outing for Jax!

Today after church, the six of us decided to go to Build-A-Bear Workshop to build Jax a stuffed animal for Shon and I to take with us to China.  I got this idea from a friend of mine who is in China right now adopting two children!  I thought this was a fun idea and it proved to be a great bonding excursion for our entire family.  The kids all worked together to find just the right animal to stuff and the winning animal was the PANDA BEAR-which is kind of ironic, since the Panda is native to China!  He is very cute indeed!  Pictures will follow this post.

After choosing the bear, filling him with stuffing, placing a heart with our love inside, and sewing his back closed...we went to choose an outfit for him.  We wanted him to show his American patriotism and with the winter olympics this year, the kids chose a hoody with USA and the olympic rings on the front and a pair of jeans to match.  It is so cute--the hoody has two holes for his ears and the shorts have a hole for his tail!  They thought of everything! 

Now, it is time for a name.  We couldn't think of anything in the store of course, but after getting to the car, Shon thought of the perfect name.  Jax's new panda bear is named "Mao."  So, the bear is technically named after Jax's last name in Chinese, which is Mao.  Every child in Jax's orphanage is given the last name Mao because they are from Maoming, China.  Ironically, after getting home we looked up how to say panda in chinese and it is "xiong mao" meaning "bear cat," so his panda is actually named somewhat correctly! 

We had a lot of fun making this for Jax and we just hope he enjoys it and that it brings him some comfort during his first few days with us that may be so very difficult for him!  Enjoy the photos!