The Driggs Report

Tea Party and Princess Game

2011-06-04T19:48:00.000-04:00

Today we pulled out the Tea Pot and Jasmine tea from Guangzhou, China. The pot is clay and you soak it in water for a minute before you add the tea and hot water. In the strainer belowe you can see the dried Jasmine before the water hits it.

This is the table all set for our tea party complete with tea and Vanilla wafers. The Queen enjoyed our party. She said it was the best tea party ever.

And now we are playing the Princess Game and being quite silly.

Even her brother got into the action. Isn't he pretty?

And a closeup of the tea pot from Guangzhou, China. This is our first time using it or drinking the tea we brought back from China.

Awards Day at School, June 3rd, 2011

2011-06-04T19:36:00.000-04:00

The Queen walked 24 miles in the Mileage Club

Brother walked 30 miles

and was inducted into the National Elementary Honor Society this year and now has the certificate to prove it.

Field Day, WCA 2011

2011-06-04T18:59:00.001-04:00

Theme was South of The Border "Fun" Field Day 2011
1st and 4th Grade

Chinese New Year in Ralegh, February 2011

2011-06-04T18:35:00.000-04:00

Chinese New Year, February 2011

2011-06-04T18:30:00.000-04:00

We went to CNY in Raleigh this year. Here is the Queen in front of the dragon resting on poles.

Princess Night at Chic-fil-a

2011-06-04T18:26:00.000-04:00

Easter 2011

2011-06-04T18:11:00.000-04:00

Easter Egg Hunt at School

Easter Egg Hunt with Friends 2011

Playground Fun 2011

Easter Egg Hunt at Chic-fil-a 2011

Easter Bunny

Making Easter Bunny Cake

Decorating Easter Eggs (and self) 2011

Gotcha Day

2011-06-04T17:58:00.000-04:00

Gotcha Day 1 Year Anniversary 12/7/10

2011-06-04T17:44:00.000-04:00

School Christmas Program 2010

2011-06-04T17:39:00.000-04:00

School Christmas Program 2010

School Christmas Program

2011-06-04T17:37:00.000-04:00

2011-06-04T17:35:00.000-04:00

Our "Wise Man" Christmas 2010

2010

2011-06-04T17:34:00.001-04:00

Our Angel in the Christmas Program

Church Christmas Program 2010

2011-06-04T17:34:00.000-04:00

Famous Quotes from The Queen

2010-12-16T13:06:00.003-05:00

So I have dedicated this new year on the blog to tracking her sayings, well because they are just too funny and I don't want to forget them.

Like last night, at around 9pm while driving home from church, she looked out the car window and said, "I see a rainbow in my eye." It was pitch dark!!!!

And on Tuesday she managed to sneak her after school snack out of her book bag and into her desk. And then proceeded to eat said snack. And she was caught red handed, I mean her mouth was full. The teacher, who is also know a The Queen,(which we will call Queen Bee) had this conversation.
Queen Bee: what do you have in your mouth?
Queenie: bbrbrbrbbbb
Queen Bee: I can't understand you with your mouth full. What are you eating?
Queenie: nooo bbrbrbrbb
Queen Bee: I can see it in your mouth, swallow it and don't eat anymore.
Queenie: gulp! I not eating anything.
Queen Bee: I could see it. Let's stop.
(it was a store bought rice crispy treat)

And then the day before she had said conversation with Queen Bee.
Queen Bee: Queenie take your feet out of your desk. (fyi: she has the table top desk where you store books under the table top)
Queenie: my feet aren't in my desk
Queen Bee: uhhh yes they are and you are sharing/baring it all for everyone to see.
Queenie: no I not.
Queen Bee: Queenie just put your feet on the floor.
Queenie: yes ma'am

See what I mean. She is too funny and she doesn't even try.

And this is our conversation at bedtime on Tuesday night. Same night as the Rice Crispy Treat.
Queenie: I don't want no one to put me to bed tonight.
Royal Parents: you don't want either of us to tuck you in?
Queenie: No!
RP: well let's pray.
Queenie, hhhmp, ok
RP: (pray) goodnight, give us a kiss.
Queenie kisses everyone and exits scene and goes 0ff to bed.
Queenie returns.
Queenie: no one put me to bed!!
RP: you said you didn't want anyone to put you to bed.
Queenie: no I didn't
RP: do you want someone to tuck you in?
Queenie: yes!
Royal mommy tucks her in and kisses her goodnight.

Life with a queen can be so demanding. All you can do at the end of the day is laugh.

M.I.A.

2010-11-16T14:30:00.003-05:00

Yes that has been us, missing in action. I haven't been posting as much but decided I need to get back to it. But instead of focusing on our day-to-day life I am going to focus on "Life with an English Language Learner." Because y'all it is just too funny. And can be quite sweet too.

This past week she told me, "I want to be you mommy." Now isn't that the sweetest thing you ever heard. And last week she asked me why we named her "Gracyn" and I explained about giving her an American name to go with her Chinese name and she responded I want it to be "mom." Sweet sweet sweet!!! And maybe one day it will be.

First Day of School

2010-08-19T22:04:00.006-04:00

Today was the official first day of school for the kids. They did awesome. The oldest went along just fine, the middle one went in all smiles (his best friend is in his room this year) and The Queen went in surprsingly well. She totally shocked me. Once she learned what summer break was all about she decided she liked it and didn't want to go back to school. When she visited on Tuesday she went in all pouty. But today she went in with no qualms. She wasn't clingy. No tears. Was just so natural. I think the biggest trauma was back in Dec/Jan. when her whole world was turned upside down. For her this was a piece of cake. Plus it helped that she loves this teacher and that she had a lot of her friends in her class. Now praying the school year goes well.

We have been teaching her about God and Jesus. That Jesus lives in our hearts if you have confessed him as Lord, invited him in to your life, and confess your sins daily. The Queen really grasp more of that we can hardly believe. We have also been working on creation and how God created the universe. Well something quite comical happened this week. On Tuesday I went back to work and grandma had the kids. While they out and about, The Queen had to potty so her brother took her and stayed outside the door. When done she came out running and crying/screaming. So that night we were discussing the event and her other brother explained that she shouldn't be scared because God is with her, He is everywhere. To which quickly covered her body with her hands and scrunched her face at the thought of God seeing her go potty and that he could see her peeku (Chinese for bottom). Enough said, we fell out laughing and she had no idea why.

Changsha Revisted

2010-08-10T09:02:00.004-04:00

Here is one of my favorite pics from Changsha, the capitol of Hunan. That is The Queen's province. This is Changsha Park and is was huge, I forget how many acres like a hundred or some big number. We couldn't even walk through it all. As we were strolling through we found this beautiful bridge, just like out of pictures of China. So I had to walk across it, but The Queen wasn't budging. She was so frightened of water other than the tub. She was not going across that thing, and it can look scary if you are afraid of water because there was no sides, but when we got to another bridge, she wasn't budging either and it was big and had a high railing on it. So I talked with the guide, Mamie, and told her to please let her know we would never let any harm come to her. I don't know what she said to her, but the Queen took my hand and walked across all bridges and even fed some fish without any concerns. And she has trusted us ever since.

And now she swims like a fish and this past week she started jumping off from the side of the pool and doing flips into the pool. I was stunned. This is something she started all on her own. We are amazed at how far she has come. How well she fits in with our lifestyle. And how much she trust us.

Happy Birthday to Our Queen

2010-07-23T07:32:00.002-04:00

Yes it is the Queen's birthday. Today we celebrate her 6th birthday as a family. From what we understand she has never had a birthday cake or a birthday present. She has watched the others in her orphanage receive cakes &/or presents. But she has never had one. After being home 2-3 months she started asking aout her birthday like when was it etc. She would take my AWAA calendar down and had me teach her which month was her birthday on and she would flip it open to July and tuck it under her arm and carry it around and talk to everyone about that being her birthday. Then last month we celebrated one of her brother's birthday at Red*Robin and she decided that was what she wanted to do also. She thought their birthday song was soooo pretty. But we knew she just had no idea what to ask for for a birthday celebration so we just took it upon ourselves to plan something. Unfortunately the date snuck up on us while having to tend to her other brother that got his tonsils out 2 weeks ago. But we planned something quickly and now we will celebrate tonight at Chuck**E**Cheeses's. And this is her birthday wish list: a pretty pretty dress, a new cell phone that doesn't go dink dink, ie a real one that doesn't sound like a toy phone, and maybe a barbie. Well the phone isn't happening. She has a couple of play phones and that is as far as it will go. When asked who she would call: mommy and daddy. Go figure, who else. I was afraid she would try to call China. She pretends to call them but now when she does she speaks Chinglish. So one day I told her they don't understand English that she had to talk in Chinese to them. She hasn't called them anymore, lol. But she still sings in Chinglish. Mostly Chinese with some English words thrown in.
Happy Birthday to our special daughter. We love her.

Birthday anticipation

2010-07-18T21:09:00.002-04:00

Friday is a big day for some little girl. She is sooooo excited. She has no idea what to expect beyond you should have a cake and presents. Oh and all she has asked for is a cell phone, a real one, not one that goes dink dink dink (like the play one does). We ask her who she is going to call on it and she says mama and daddy.
This week we booked her party for Chuck*E*Cheeses*. She is clueless, never been there. We ate at Cracker**Barrel this past week and she was looking at the girly stuff for sale and said is this my birthday party. So sad. But she will get to have her first real party and know what it is like and how it feels on Friday the 23rd. Oh and she has never been to Chuckies so that will be new too.
She is improving with her swimming all the time. Hates working on ABC stuff, but has learned that she must do it or miss her favorite teenage show-- iC*rly.
She loves taunting her bigger brothers and they love taunting her, just like siblings like to do everywhere, all over the world.
Oh and she has decided she is not going back to school. That she will just stay home when the rest of us return to school. When asked how she would spend her time... watching tv and playing. She will have to be sad though because life is life and she must join us out there. But it makes me happy to know she enjoys her home and being here with us.

Sorry no pics. Computer issues when it comes to that right now.

update

2010-06-29T17:35:00.003-04:00

Pictures will be added later.

We have had a lot of fun this summer so far. Last week the Queen experienced her first Vacation Bible School. She had a blast. She looked forward to the chaos every night. We have also gone to the beach, the pool, and back to the beach. She loves it all. And now this week we have celebrated another birthday. Our oldest has become a teenager. UGGGG!!!!! But we are proud of him, he keeps his grades up and is so much fun. For his celebration we went to C.Beach water front amusement park. The kids had a blast and we can't believe how much the Queen loves the fast rides. She acted bored on the train. Cracked us up. But she never tired of the merry-go-round. And then over to our favorite ice cream shop.
And then next week he gets his tonsils out. So more ice cream here we come. All of them will want them out I am afraid when they see all the ice cream he gets.

So Much Has Happened...

2010-06-13T20:28:00.004-04:00

Celebrating her brothers birthday at the bowling alley and showing her funny
face instead of her pretty smile. The smile that cracks us up.

Here's the funny face at the restaurant.

The Queen showing off her bowling abilities. She is quite good at it.

And her funny face with her baba in the shot.

The Queen showing off her swimming abilities.

So much has happened in the last week that I have just uploaded some images in no set order and just going to say it all at once.

First The Queen went swimming last weekend and this weekend and after only 2 trips to a pool she has learned to swim. She really amazes. In Changsha we took her to the indoor hotel pool, only to watch the boy swim. However, she didn't know we were only going to watch and when she saw her brothers jump right into the pool she booked it the other way. She dashed out of there so fast I almost didn't make it in time before she reached the elevators. She was not afraid of baths though. Then later that week we went to the local park and she freaked out when went to walk across a small bridge. So I had the guide explain to her that we would never put her in harms way around water or make her do something she wouldn't want to do. I have no idea what the guide said to her but se has never been scared since and has trusted us totally. That day when we crossed the next bridge she held my hand and acted totally unafraid. But when we took her to a pool, well we didn't know what to expect. We put her in one of those bathing suits that has floats in the waist line. We also put on her arm band swimmies. She was good to go. Within 5 minutes of hitting the pool, she was climbing out and jumping into our arms. Then this weekend she took off in the pool kicking her feet and scooping her hands. She swam the whole length of the pool with no problem. She is still skiddish, but that is expected, but her trust in us amazing. I think what it will take is being in a pool consistently and she will get this swimming thing.

We also celebrated my youngest son's birthday, her older brother. First we went to the bowling alley and bowled then we went to his favorite restaurant - Red*Robin. And opened presents there. As you can see her the shots above, she has become quite the character with her funny faces. This funny face is our favorite and it cracks us up. So she likes to do that one for us. I, of course, was not wanting it in ALL of our shots, lol. But I have to say she was a really good sport about his birthday. She has been dying for her birthday to come for months now. She has never celebrated her birthday in China. She has witness her other friends in the orphanage celebrate their birthdays and have cake and presents but she has not because the orphanage doesn't do that. The only way you can have a party is if your adoptive family sends you a cake and present. So The Queen has never had a party or cake of her own. When she finally learned some English she started asking for her birthday so I showed her on our AWAA calendar the month that her birthday is in. After that she has carried that calendar around under her arm and pointing to that month and confirms with me again that that is her birthday. She has asked for a cell phone, a barbie, polish and lip gloss, and dress up clothes. Her request are not too hard all but the cell phone, she wants a REAL one. She is really very sweet about it all, and she was very sweet to her brother about his birthday so we are looking forward to celebrating her birthday too next month.

And lastly we had our 6 month post placement yesterday. It all went very well. I had warned the Queen prior to our appointment that someone was coming to see us and they were coming to make sure everything was going well since she came to live with us. The Queen slipped back into the very shy mode that we saw in China, but I just attributed it to a stranger being in our home. But then something happened today... The Queen went out into the den to see her brother. She never came back so I thought she was hanging with him. But a few minutes later he hollered for me to come, something was wrong, he thought she was hurt because she was crying but he didn't know for sure what was wrong. When I got there she had big tears running down her face, just sitting in the floor crying. So I scooped her into my lap and asked what was wrong. She had just tripped on the door frame and was really ok. But what got me was her silent tears streaming down, like when we first got her. So I held her and she got better. But what struck me was her relaps of behavior. And then after we parents talked we realized the social worker visit may have brought this on. So I talked with her and asked if she was afraid that the woman was going to take her back to China and she lowered her head and shook it "yes." So that was what brought on her relaps. She was afraid the woman was taking her away from us. And she said she didn't want to go. So I assured her that she would never go back to China unless mama, baba took her. Then she said, "mama, baba's heart hurt." "Yes my heart would hurt." And then she said, "mama call police and they shoot." "Yes if someone took you from us we would call the police." And now we have a little girl back. Squealing to the top of her lungs through the house antagonizing her brothers, our house is back to normal.

The Queen Graduates and Other Changes in store

2010-06-04T19:38:00.012-04:00

Our little mouse in her program "Arkeology."
And this is the face that cracked is up. She was the funniest thing through out the entire play. The kids dressed a animals and came in 2 x 2. She was a mouse. But she was more into her hair and looking at us. She even got upset that her brother was sitting in the audience and chewing gum without her. That was the first words she said when we caught up with her. She even manage to pout while singing about the gum fiasco. And she spent one whole song fixing her hair. She is such a teenager or a diva. While everyone else was concerned about their performance or finding their parents in the audience, she knew where we were and concerned with missing out on what we had. She cracked us up so much til we cried. I mean the tears were streaming down our face. We cried so much ( and muffled our laughing) that the people around us thought something was wrong and asked if we were alright. I am serious. We lost it. I guess because we were expected to be quiet.

This is the graduate in her cap and gown. Little fuzzy but everything was happening fast. Isn't she cute in her cap and gown. We are so proud of her and how far she has come with all the new things she has had to learn. She is amazing.

For her graduation program, her baba and ge ge couldn't be there because he had a ball game. So they met her at the car, picked her up and had her close her eyes and presented her with flowers and a balloon. She was in total shock. She didn't know how to react. She had that hidden smile like I can't show you how happy I am. And shortly after she pointed at them and said her teacher's name. I told her no, they were flowers for her. And then the sweetest grin came on her face and she got up on the table to sniff them and pose with them. She loved them at that point. She had never been given flowers.

This is the queen's award given by her teacher today on the last day of school. She got "It's a Whole New World" for all the changes she has experienced and how well she has adjusted at school. It has been amazing. Everyone cried when she got her award including her teacher, her mommy, and all the other parents and even some of the other kids stood and applauded. They love her so much in there.

Look at the queen's new hair cut. She looks just like a China Doll. Her haircut is sooooo cute. It just needed some shaping up since growing out and I decided to give her some bangs. She looks adorable. And it was her first haircut since she came to be with her forever family. She went from looking 5 to looking 12 years old in a matter of minutes. And she sat wonderfully for my hair dresser to cut her hair. I think she has secretly been wanting a

haircut when I get mine done and well today she finally got one.

The Queen Visits The Pond

2010-06-02T13:46:00.002-04:00

Yup the Queen put her big toe and her whole body in the Atlantic Ocean this weekend. On Memorial Day we took the kids to the beach to dig in the sand but it was actually warm enough to get in the water. The Queen loves the beach. She has been before, but not out into the ocean, til this trip. She squealed with delight, I mean the ear drum bursting squeals. She loved it. And when she wasn't in the water she was digging in the sand and dragging water up in her buckets. She is delightful at the beach. And we are so glad because we spend a lot of time there in the summer. It was one of my biggest concerns that she would not like the sand and have a fit. Many kids don't like sand and can't stand it sticking to them or their bathing suit. But she is a sport and goes along with anything we like. She doesn't mind interjecting her opinions from time to time but all in all she goes along with things just fine. And with her loving the beach that suits us just fine.
Some more updates. She graduates from kindergarten this Thursday. She will be a mouse in their little play. The last day of school for my kids in Friday and next Friday for me.
We have had sickness rampant in our house for the last 3 weeks. It has been various symptoms but they have visited us all in the last 3 weeks. Just hoping school ends soon so we can get some good sleep and hopefully get well ALL of us.
The Queen even was put on an inhaler during her bought of sickness, but she seems the healthiest she's been since we got her. And the funny thing is they gave her a breathing treatment at the doctors' office and she knew what to do. Anyway she is doing great now.
But the boys have really battled with us too as have the parents. We were all asleep by 9pm last night. Amazing being the last week of school.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T21:29:00.007-04:00

Here is how we celebrated Mother's Day eve. Actually in China it would already be considered Sunday which was our Mother's Day. We celebrated this time with Chinese food and cupcakes in honor and love of the Queen's birthmom and nannies that she called Nu mama, Te mama, Ho mama, Ge mama. But Nu mama was the main care giver for our Queen.

After finishing our chinese meal, we spent some time praying for The Queen's birthmom and nannies. The queen was very sweet during this moment, trying to pray for them. We all took a turn to pray something. We realize at this moment she doesn't understand all of it, but we know in time these questions will be asked and we wanted to show honor and love to her birth mom. So when she is ready, the seeds will be planted.

After having our Mother's Day remembrance for The Queen's birthmom and orphanage nannies that she refers to a mamas. We ended our time with cupcakes as a celebration. The Queen loved it because she got to blow out a candle.

Aren't my 3 children beautiful. I was able to drag out for a quick photo before everyone changed for a MD lunch. It has been a wonderful day. And it is hard to believe that one year ago this holiday we received our referral for the Queen on Mother's Day weekend. It is hard to believe that one year later she was here with us to celebrate this day. A lot has happened in a year. We celebrated this mama's birthday with cards, breakfast, and lunch out to eat. Then it was home to the demands of life. It was a good Mother's Day, I had 3 of my kids with me.

Fifth Month Anniversay and so much more....

2010-05-08T17:20:00.007-04:00

We had to say goodbye to our beloved "Swimmy". We loved that fish. He was just a goldfish and he was awesome. For a goldfish he was huge, like he ate nuclear waste or something. We will miss him. But he was replaced today with 5 new small fish. Hoping at least one of them will survive.

Here is the oldest ge ge playing soccer. Today was his last soccer game for the season. Sorry I had to miss it since the Queen had to visit the doctor (see below). Isn't he handsome? He had a great season and a great coach. He is growing up too fast for me though, hard to believe he finishes 7th grade in just a month.

It is hard to believe it has only been 5 months. Feels like she has been with always. We are sorry we missed those early years, but better late than never. These 5 months have been wonderful and she has grown in so many ways. Her English has come along wonderfully, she has adapted so well at home, at school, at church, and in public. And she has experienced so much of just everyday life. She goes to school like every other 5 year old. She has gone to 2 different birthday parties, and this week she has experienced death. The death of our beloved fish, Swimmy. Turns out she has experienced a fish death in ChangNing, she ran to the toilet to flush it AHEAD of us, so she knew what to do.

I snapped these pictures of her after the party, she had to wear a dress to it! YUP my girly girl. And to celebrate her 5th anniversary I let her do the V victory sign that is so popular in photos snapped in China??? Don't know the reasoning behind it.

We also spent her 5 month anniversary at the doctor's office. She has had a cough since we got her and a runny nose. It only gets better when we put her on antibiotics but two weeks later it returns. This week though it seemed to get worse and sound more croupy. So I got her up this Saturday morning and ran her in so we could get some meds and get over it. But I was totally not ready for what the doctor found. After listening with that stethoscope she could hear some wheezing, but had to use the stethy thing to detect it. So we had to do a breathing treatment in the office and then she listened and said it sounded a little better so she sent us home with some prescriptions that totaled over $100 bucks. We are praying that this helps and it all gets under control and that there is no underlying problem. And hoping she gets the hang of this inhaler down. And hoping this cough gets under control. Since we can't hear the wheezing, we have to judge her breathing by her coughing episodes. And hoping the nose stops running. I am thankful though that we have a great doctor that was very aware and not passive with her. We could have gone on and on and not gotten to the bottom of this for awhile. And I learned something knew today our queen. While she was taking her breathing treatment, I noticed she looked natural at it, not nervous at all. So I asked if she had done this in China, and she said yes but pointed to the apparatus and said it was smaller. That was news to us!

Baseball, Gymnastics, and Bling*Bling

2010-05-06T21:36:00.006-04:00

Here is my little baseball player, #2. He played a great game tonight. While the queen was swinging off the fence, he was able to assist in a couple of outs, and he hit a ball to outfield and brought in a couple of players, plus he scored a run too. So we took the family out for Micky D's ice cream/shakes for a mini celebration.

Isn't just the cutest?

The Queen finished off a 3 week gymnastics blitz at her school. This very sweet couple of the church offered gymnastics classes, 3 days a week, as a ministry. It was great experience for her. When we first got her, her balance was so off. She couldn't even walk on carpet without looking drunk. And she really struggled whenever we changed surfaces. So I have always wanted to put her in gymnastics once I felt she was assimilated. But then someone told me the cost of gymnastics and well..... So we are so grateful that the Queen got to have these 3 weeks. She has learned the proper way to tumble and do handstands, it has been good for her. And as you see above she is working on a tripod with some friends and up above that she has now ventured into climbing with some friends at the ballpark and hanging off the fence.

Our little queen loves her "bling*bling. Notice 3 bracelets, 1 long double looped necklace, her earrings, but mostly those rings, that big honking door knob ring. And she wears them proud. At least she is now into matching her bling with her outfits, finally! For baseball tonight, she changed into her green sundress and wore this bling to the ballgame. She was the best dressed one in the whole ballpark.

Shots!!!

2010-05-05T18:34:00.002-04:00

The Queen had another round of booster vaccines yesterday. The Queen is terrified of shots but what child isn't? And yesterday was no different, or was it? When we arrived at the doctor's office she asked immediately if she was getting shots, and since I didn't want to lie to her I told her yes. She promptly held onto her seat belt and refused to unbuckle. Her baba convinced her to get out and he scooped her up and tears stung her eyes and the boys gathered around her trying to console her. They left us to go down the road to the orthodontist while I took the Queen inside. She was entertained with books and games in the room with me and then came that time, you know, time for the shots. We placed her on the bed and got her situated, I held her arms and hands tight and she looked over at the mirror and watched the whole thing. NO TEARS!!! She did it with absolutely no tears. I was in total shock. I thought wow she is really transitioning well and trust us so much, and the fact that maybe she is growing up. But as we were checking out the boys all returned and were wowed that she wasn't crying, then they fessed up. Oh no, that means we have to pay up! What? They promised her a b*rbie and an ice cream. So not even a wimper from the Queen. You gotta give it to her, when she makes up her mind, we'll call stubborness, she can hold in the tears amazingly. Look back at the pierced ears episode to see my point. So now the boys have to pay up. They have also learned their lesson, don't make promises you aren't willing to keep.
Oh, and we can't mention any word that resembles "shot" like shop or shopping because she breaks out crying in fear of the doctor. Nor can you use the word "shot" in a sentence like, "they won the came with a 3 point shot." Because she also breaks out in screams and runs around screaming, "no doctor, no shots." At which point the boys fall out laughing.
She is so much fun.

Wheel Day!!!!!

2010-05-02T21:29:00.005-04:00

This our Queen's first wheel day ever. I mean in every aspect of the word. Our school holds a wheel day every year after end of year testing. It gives the kids such a treat to look forward to at the end of a week of testing. You can take things with wheels from bikes and scooters down to little matchbox*type cars. Since the Queen is not into cars as of yet, so that left us with putting wheels under her. We don't own skates and the Queen doesn't have a bike yet and we didn't have even a boys bike with training wheels for her to ride on. Not that she can ride one becaue I have tried to show her at the store and she can't get the concept of peddling yet. The only wheels we owned that she could possibly ride on was a scooter. We had an old one the boys had moved on from, like a playskool one. So baba dug up the old training wheels for them and put them on the night before wheel day. So that left me watching "the monkey's" ball game from afar while trying to teach a Queen how to ride a scooter. And I have to tell you, it was entertaining. It was a good thing I was trailing behind so she couldn't see my face. But she got it down well enough that we could drag that scooter to school for her to use. The principal met me on the sidewalk as I was walking up and told me they got a big kick out of watching her ride that thing. In order to protect herself and others from her they put her in the middle of the speedway track while others scooted around her. You can see the others are way behind her on the track while she is in the infield. And my good friend, and class mom, Kristy took these wonderful pictures for us since we weren't there for those memories. I would say the face on her says it all. (and absolutely cracks us all up behind her backs because that is not her smile at all, not even her fake smile.) I guess it expresses how hard scooting is!

Pretty In Pink

2010-05-02T21:06:00.006-04:00

Isn't she pretty in pink? This is probably her favorite dress and mine too. It is the softest cloth and we both love pink. She picks this dress out every Sunday but since she had some new jewelry we had to wear this since it matched the new jewelry. I have to tell you every Sunday after she gets dressed she looks at herself and says "Mr. Robert, pretty pretty." Meaning "her" Mr. Robert is going to look at her and say "hey pretty girl you look very pretty today." And she dresses every Sunday with him in mind and what he will say. It absolutely cracks me up every Sunday to hear her say this. But she is quite serious about her "Robert." And tonight she told me "he had a pretty sing" and so did her baba. Meaning they sing nice. Can she get any funnier? I know really it all comes down to learning English, it reminds me of how it is much like an infant learning to talk. But her English gets better and better everyday and she is really learning to form our sounds with the tongue a lot better.

And she wanted everyone to notice her new earrings. Actually it was a whole ensemble. It was heart shaped with a pink rhinestone in the center and the ensemble consisted of earrings, necklace, and a ring. She loved being able to take off the starter earrings to don the ensemble.

As I was typing this my son said, "even her ears are cute aren't they?" Really I have to agree with him, aren't they?

Last but not least is my oldest child who is "quite cool" just like our favorite recording artist Toby*M*c. I must say he looks quite good if I do say myself and love that he is quite capable of carrying it off. I was too shy to ever bring attention to myself, but not my son. He is quite outgoing.

Behind Closed Doors

2010-04-28T14:35:00.002-04:00

It happened yesterday behind closed doors. Yes she closed her door to do something yesteryday. She never closes her door, it only separates her from us when that happens. So when I turned around to find her door shut mmmm....
Only to find out that she had moved her nightstand out from the wall and all her jewelry and toppled off onto the floor. And why? It was all for a baby doll bottle that fell behind it, all for baby "Shmay."

An All Time Low

2010-04-19T21:32:00.002-04:00

The Queen has sunk to an all time low. She is now dipping her Mickey "D" fries in Taco**Bell hot sauce. Black pepper was just not hot enough. I may have mentioned that she loves spicy food or "la." In Hunan, women born there are called "La Made Za's" (spelling?? doing it phonetically) or in English- Spicy Girls. The belief in Hunan is if you are hot and eat spicy food it will cause you to sweat which will cool you off. And our little "spicy girl" loves her spicy food or as she calls it "La sauce pleazzza." It started with black pepper piled on her plate and rubbing every piece of meat in it. She said in ChangNing they put it on their canteloupe. She progressed to putting pepper on her veggies, starches- mainly fries, chips and salsa, and now we have moved to la sauce, specifically Taco**bell la sauce. She can't get enough of it. She would pop of fry in then sit and wipe her dripping nose, dip a fry, eat it, wipe her nose. She just cracks us up.
I must add, she is picky about her la sauces. Tabasco** la sauce is just yucky to her, but she likes to dip her nuggets in TExAs Pete*. Eating with her is an adventure and we look forward each day to see what new surprises we encounter.

Adoption Attachment

2010-04-18T16:58:00.002-04:00

I have been thinking and wondering alot this week, myself, about attachment. Things are going great in this household with our Queen. There are small episodes from time to time that leave me wondering just how we are in this process. I guess, in those times, I am just wanting affirmation that this is "The Dance" post at www.nohandsbutours.com , I felt the affirmation I needed.
In the beginning it seemed we would take two steps forward and one step back. But now at 4 months, things on a day to day basis seem pretty normal. She is not a morning person much like my oldest child. She has certain foods she likes and certain ones she dislikes. She likes to voice her opinion more and more each day ( a little too much some days, but don't we all). She has her favorite tv shows, -**iCArL*y. And she loves nail polish more than anything.
But then came the event this week. The moment the had me questioning. The day her grandparents left afer meeting them for the first time. As I put her to bed that night she began to cry. Out of the blue crying. Nothing leading up to it crying. As I held her and asked her why, she shrugged "I don't know." But what I believe was she didn't know the English words to express how she was feeling. I really believe it was the blues, her grandparents left after spending the weekend with them. But what I was feeling was: is she missing ChangNing? Is she feeling abandoned? Does she think others will leave? Is she feeling insecure? Am I? So I did what any mother would do for her daughter that was crying... I crawled in bed and held her while she cried and then laughed and then went to sleep.
But the best part of parenting an adopted older child is the hugs, and an always ready "I love you," pats on the bottom as she walks by, and the fact that she will hold my on long walks. And she likes it!

HappyDaysR Here Again

2010-04-18T14:46:00.012-04:00

This face says it all, Happy Days are here!!!!

It has been a tiring week since spring break. The kids had tough time getting into the groove especially the queen. We had lots of ball games and practices this week which didn't allow for time to catch up on sleep. And the weekend ddin't allow for sleep time either. We had a our yearly church party and it was a blast. "Happy Days R Here Again!"

I am not sure what the queen was thinking when we dressed her up, she seemed a bit confused but once I put her time with lipstick on she was all smiles. As you can see!

And here is the whole gang on stage. What you can't see in this picture is when our family performed a skit to Yakety **Yak and The Locomotion. You also are missing out on ba'ba as Dick*Clark*, the boys as thugs from the 50's complete with candy cigarettes and the box rolled up in their sleeve, our monkey as "Malibu*Ken", and the queen and her father danced during intermission. They did the whole swinging in the air thing and twirling round and round.

And that left the queen in love...

During our trip home from church on Sunday the queen decided that she and her ba'ba were going to dance when they got home. Only she took it more serious than he did. He came home, slipped into some old clothes, and layed down for a nap. In the meantime, the queen went to change out of her Sunday clothes and I tried to put her into some play clothes. Only she had other ideas. She wanted to put on another "pretty pretty dress" for ba'ba and her to dance in. I managed to convince her to put on leggings and a t-shirt and finally a dress-up dress.

Once she was dressed she went to fetch her ba'ba only to find him dressed in his napping clothes. Was The Queen ever disappointed. (dad not wanting to dance til his nap had to be convinced he should give it up and dress up and dance so that he could finally get to his nap). So being the great dad that he is he dressed up and went to dance with his little girl. Thing SVC and his cinderella song.

And while someone was waiting for her ba'ba to change clothes she got so excited that she tried standing on her head. Said she learned this in ChangNing. And apparently she did. Good thing she had on those leggings.

And here is the queen dancing with her baba to Yakety Yak**. They had a ball. He swung her around and everything. She was happy.

They are still twisting and turning. And don't they look nice in their dancing finest.

Happy Days are here for the Queen.

Take Two

2010-04-13T20:50:00.004-04:00

It has happened again. The queen has lost another tooth, her second one total. She hadn't lost any teeth prior to coming to us, so we have had the pleasure of this experience. We missed so many of her first in her life: her first steps, crawling, her first words (although we get the pleasure of her first English words). But have gotten so many new first: her first trip to the beach, to McDonalds, to school, and now her first teeth. Her daddy got to pull the first one, but this time The Queen pulled it herself. She is an amazing brave girl. We are still amazed at how brave she is. She has left the only life she ever knew, she left the safety of a gated institute and ventured out into this world to so many new sights and adventures and she really goes with the flow. Not that she is not timid and hangs close to us when experiencing something new, but she still tries anything we ask her to. Look at that sweet smile and the gaps at the bottom.

It's A Rap

2010-04-11T20:03:00.004-04:00

The Queen with her Mimi and Papa on Sunday in their Sunday finest!

The Queen dressed and ready for a wedding her in yellow dress. Isn't she a cutie?

And here is that gorgeous smile she flashes and melts everyone.

We are wrapping up the weekend and a long week of spring break. It ends with the departure of grandparents on Monday morning and everyone back to school. It will be a rough morning.

I must say we have had a great weekend but quite busy. It involved 1 baseball practice, 2 soccer games, and a wedding to attend. Plus entertaining grandparents, which wasn't hard. The Queen herself could do that all on her own with just her animation and her ability to tell tales (and currently we are not sure if they are true or not and that is why she has been dubbed "The Queen" for drama queen- not really, the meaning has evolved into that since she has come to us).

We are ending our weekend with a new program on the Nick channel and then we have to smoothly remove her from the tv so that she doesn't catch on that her FAVORITE show comes next- at her bed time. If you don't know her favorite show , it is *****iCArley. We like the show, but to view it with her is hilarious. She goes beserk when it goes to commercial and accuses us of changing the channel. We spend our 30 min. convincing her that it is in commercials. Then when the show finally goes off, she then sits and smiles "commercial." And then we have to break her heart and tell her no, it is off. That is life with an English Language Learner.

And more life episodes with our ELL. This weekend the queen and I went to a beautiful wedding at the beach. Following the wedding was a reception overlooking the beach. It was very lovely and right up the queens alley, getting all dolled up along with everyone else. She and I sat at one of the round tables, and I really didn't know anyone at the wedding much so I knew no one to sit with. But a family akin to the bride sat down with us. The Queen notices all details, especially grooming details like hair, nails, and jewelry of men and women alike. The family that sat down with us had 2 grown sons with long hair, well one with long hair and one with longer hair. Immediately she started pointing to the young men and jabbering about their hair. But they were really cool, I explained her being new here in the US and her confusion about what men and women wear. So they were really sweet and the one with longer hair swung his ponytail around for her to see it. So once we cleared it up that it is ok for men to have pierced ears and long hair, the bride and groom entered the reception with a man playing the bagpipes and wearing a kilt leading the way. And what detail did the queen notice in all of this? You guessed it, "he's wearing a skirt!" You can imagine the conversation that followed...

And at the wedding she turned right in the middle of the service and in a very loud voice, announced, "BIG Painting!" Shhhhhh

And during the reception, once she was ready for them to cut the cake, she proceeded very loudly, the Happy Birthday Song. I guess she assumed that would inspire someone to cut and serve the cake. We waited and we were about to leave but took a pit stop first and when we passed by the reception area, what was happening, they were serving cake! Yup it was time and she had to go back in and have cake before we could leave. Too funny.

I guess you can tell we find her quite funny.

The Princess& The Pea*

2010-04-09T23:45:00.006-04:00

The Queen gets a visit from the royal paternal grandparents. She has never had grandparents in her whole 5 1/2 years existence. What is amazing is her total understanding of grandparents. She understands they are special family members, that they are to be treated with respect and that we love them and show affection to them. She has asked many weeks if they were coming and finally it happened, she got to meet them on Thursday the 8th. She ran right out to the car as they pullled up and met mimi at the car, hugged her and then went around to papa's side and hugged him. She is very smitten with them and makes her rounds to hug them when it is bed time and she does this without our prompting. It is amazing to us. God really has a way of working things out and we are grateful.

Here is the empty space in her mouth where the queen lost her first loose tooth. Yeah I know, it doesn't look to empty does it. When we finally discovered there was a loose tooth, really two loose teeth, the new one was already popping through behind it. We weren't sure what to do and didn't want to scare her because of the lanuguage barrier thing we have going on. Since I hate pulling teeth, my plan was to have our pediatric dentist just pull it at a baseball game one day. His son is on big brother's team. Hey why not, it wouildn't be considered an office visit then would it. Just kidding, not really. I hate pulling teeth and refuse to do it. And she did too and that is why her baba pulled it tonight. This is the first of our children that he has actually been allowed to pull a tooth. And he felt blessed that she trust us that much.

And here is The Queen placing her first lost tooth under her pillow. Thus the story of the "Princess and The Pea". Once the tooth was in place and she was going through the nightly goodnight ritual, the sensitive royal highness kept saying "owie". That gigantic boulder, I mean tooth, under her pillow was hurting her. It was all I could do to contain my laughter. She finally decided to head off to sweet dreams once I moved that tooth to the edge of her pillow. She is excited to wake up and hopefully find some money under her pillow. She wants to shop.

Happy 4 Months!!! Happy Easter (belated)!!!!

2010-04-07T15:48:00.008-04:00

Happy 4 Months!!!!! Today marks four months with The Queen. It is hard to believe that she has only been with us four months. She has blended in so well that it is hard to believe she hasn't been with us her whole life. As you can see life is good for her and for us. She is napping on her daddy one Sunday afternoon. She is at peace with her new life. She talks about her former home but when you ask where she wants to be, it is here.

Here is the pre-Easter activity. The Queen loves girly things and especially her nails done. Mommy went to get a mani-pedi (a birthday gift) and The Queen had to go too. The ladies there were so sweet and so intrigued by her that one took it upon herself to do her nails special without any notice. She painted them pink with polka-dots and then glitter atop all that. Boy was she thrilled and the folks working there loved seeing her joy. I think it was because they were also Asian and really intrigued by her story and loved her personality. Unfortunately they didn't last til Easter, it was a week away. As you can see my finger polish there. It didn't last either.

Egg hunt #1. Here is her egg hunt at school. You can see her anxiously awaiting what was to come. Only she didn't understand all the excitement. But she is easy going and goes along with whatever. The other kids were excited so she knew it was a special day, and mommy was at school. That alone was special. The kids had an egg hunt and then a party picnic style. She had a blast and ate lots of sweets. In China, sweets are not a big thing, but she has sacrificed herself and adjusted wonderfully to eating sweets.

Then the kids on Easter morning. The Queen has experienced her first Easter Bunny visit. She wasn't sure what to think but she jumped in quicker this time than on Christmas morning. (she is not a morning person at all) But it is apparent that she has blended in with us quickly and trust us totally.

Here is the queen intently listening to the Easter story. I know she seems really intent on listening, but I can assure it is because her Baba is telling it. This was her first Easter ever. And she has noticed the "cross" but she doesn't get it or understand it all. But that is ok, because I know once day her eyes will be opened to the truth.

(and on a side note, notice how long the hair has gotten. that is totally important to her to have long hair, it is getting there.)

Here is the queen at her 3rd egg hunt. By this time she is a pro. But the really sweet thing about her is she is not selfish at all. At this age kids can be quite self centered and worry about not getting enough eggs etc. ( I know, I have lived through 2 boys already.) But not the queen. She has such a sweet disposition and is always ready to share. And egg hunting was no exception. She would gather eggs but was not in a hurry to race another child to them at all. And as she leaned over to get an egg one in her basket would fall out, she was fine with that til her brother pointed out that she had just lost about 8 eggs at once so then she took the time to pick them up. But she was all about opening the eggs and getting out the goodies inside. She has discovered her favorites and least favorites. Jellybeans, no. Chocolate, yes, recall the school lunch incident. Gum, yes. Skittles, yes. M&M, yes. As you can see her "No " list is rather small.

And this is the end of our Easter weekend. All snuggled up with her brother. Egg hunting is fun but tiring for a queen.

MIA

2010-04-07T10:17:00.002-04:00

Yes I know it looks like we have been missing in action but we are here and doing well. Just life has been busy. The queen has had a wonderful first Easter. She had 3 egg hunts, dyed eggs with her Nay Nay, and got an Easter basket on Sunday. I know she thinks we give candy or gifts constantly, no wonder she loves it here. I will post pictures later.
I had spring break last week so I was able to just be a mom and go to their school for parties and egg hunts and all the works. It was fun.
This week they have spring break and are with my mom, and this weekend the other grandparents come. This will be their first time meeting the Queen. They have had some health issues and LOTS of snow which postponed their visit until now. Yay for spring, yay for sunny weather. Boo for pollin.
I have a slew of pictures with our timeline since I last posted and will get to it this weekend when I have some time.
I just wanted to let you know we were alive and well on the East coast.

Someone is student of the week....

2010-03-24T19:50:00.004-04:00

Guess who? You guessed it, The Queen is. We had to make a poster about her and they shared it in class on Monday. Then on Tuesday she took in her favorite book, I* Love* You* Like* Crazy* Cakes. On Wednesday her teacher read a letter that we wrote about her. On Thursday the class writes letters or pictures to her and on Friday parents can join her for lunch. And what a blessing, it is a workday for me so I can slip away at my lunch time to eat with her and scurry back to work.
And the crazy thing about her favorite book, back at the beginning of the school year someone contacted me through email and said she had some books for me if I would like them since she knew I was adopting. I am now not sure who that individual was, I wanted to write a thank you note but... well I guess you have figured out that I have not been able to properly thank them.. since I have no idea who that person was. I thought it was a woman I met this summer that has adopted and is head of the FCC in our town. But when I ran into her at Chinese New Year, she said no it wasn't her. And folks these books were brand new or like new, all but one for the parents. And The Queen has really enjoyed this one. I haven't pulled all of them out yet, just one at a time when we are needing a change. So that is the book she shared with her class yesterday. I hope they enjoyed it.
more updates later.....

Ever wonder what China Toe Jam looks like?

2010-03-20T19:25:00.008-04:00

Ever wonder what China Toe Jam looks like? Well here it is!! I am going to miss that toe jam. At first sight, while still in China, I was not happy with it. It was under almost every toe and I would try to clean it out and realized it was like stuck to the toenails. It was like stained. So I figured I would have to just wait till it grew out and then I would get rid of it that way. Well as you can see, it is all almost gone but the one toe, the 4th toe. I asked the doctor about it once, I didn't know if it was a health issue like lead in her body or something, I know I know, how illiterate can I be? Give me a break, not a medical major. Now as time has gone on and so has most of the toe jam, I have grown accustomed to it. It is like one last part of her prior life that was left, and now it is almost gone. But if you notice, it was hardly ever seen since we, I mean she, wears nail polish.

The boys had a boys night out last night and went to see the Harlem**Globe*trotters. They enjoyed their evening out while The Queen and I went and did a little window shopping at home decor store. We just enjoyed the peace and quiet of being able to look at girly stuff. And then we stopped and rented a princess movie. I am not sure I enjoyed it, it is the latest one where a frog is involved and it involved a lot of sorcery and witchcraft. So it won't be added to our collection. The Queen and I also bought our items to make her a poster for "student of the week.

And this is how we spent our sunny, warm day off. We, I mean I , cleaned the house and the males + The Queen washed the cars. She had the best time. It seems to be her first time washing a car or having people spray her with a water hose. It is her first bathing suit. She had the time of her life. She got pure wild out there with all the fun. She got so wound up I didn't think we would be able to bring her down, she had such squeals of delight. But really she was easy to bring down or maybe it was the cold she had started to feel after getting so wet and she was ready to change back into her clothes. And then she was ready to cook with mama.

I joined *w.watchers* a couple of weeks ago and then my husband got bad news from the doc that his cholesterol is sky high. I had already started dieting but it is so hard when no one else in the house watches what they eat..... till now, ha ha. So now someone has joined me watching what we eat. And now begins the process of finding healthy foods that fit both of our peramters and taste good. I started trying recipes I got from ww. I have made some good dinners and breakfast dishes, but tring to find the right desserts, uggg. First htis week I made some kind of pumpkin custard. I used to love it at a restaurant on the Eastern Shore, till they closed. So I had to give the recipe a try. One word, YUCK! Second try was today, a peanut butter, chocolate chip pie. It was kind of, uggg. It involved fat free cream cheese, light peanut butter, lemon juice, some cool whip and some chocolate chips, but that was it, no sweetner. So it was kind of like peanut butter with lemon juice mixed it, just kind of uggg, no yummy yums in my household. If it had been in China, might have gone over better since they don't really sweeten anything, but being back in the states, uggg.

English Language Learner- Part 2

2010-03-18T12:06:00.002-04:00

I am going to keep a running record of the weird quirks one experiences while learning English. This weekend The Queen went skating, as you can see below, and trying to explain ahead of time what we were doing. I blew it. I told her eventually that they were going to put wheels on her feet. Her eyes got sooooo big. And the whole family fell out laughing. At that point she laughed to and figured it was no big deal, but for a few minutes~~~~

So how do you confuse an English language learner? Read here!

2010-03-17T16:38:00.003-04:00

We are soooo messing with her little mind these days, or I should say English is. The Queen turns in every night for her beauty rest at 7:30pm. Well with the time change, she doesn't understand why it is a little day light outside. She runs to the front door to point this out each evening. How do you tell them??? We try but there is only so much you can do.
And then today daddy picked up the oldest son from school and The Queen was on the playground while this was going on so they waved and the males left. Then after I was done with a meeting I went and retrieved the oldest son from dad and we also exchanged cars. So when I picked her up from school in dad's car with the oldest brother in tow. Well that just blew her mind. We explained the best we could. She seemed alright with this for the moment. Then halfway home, she brought it up again. She was going through it all, who was where with who and when. I couldn't even keep up.
The list probably could gone on and on.
Like why you where green so you don't get pinched when we have taught her you don't pinch? Figure that one out.

Birthday Weekend

2010-03-14T18:51:00.004-04:00

Note, the boys are doing the "chicken*dance"

It was mama's birthday this weekend along with other family friends' birthdays too. The Queen has been looking forward to this for weeks, although she has been begging for her own birthday, she was still excited for mama. Her oldest brother and dad went out of town to a men's conference and left the youngest two with mama. So we celebrated my birthday with my mom and went to a Japanese steak house for hibachi cooking, which The Queen loved and so did we. She got a taste of her native tongue while we were there. They served Miso soup as one of the choices, so I got that for her since I thought she mike like the ingredients and yes sirree she did. She scooped up the seawood and said, "mama Changning" while pointing at it and then later scooped up the tofu and did the same. So the Miso soup was a hit.

After the meal we all got sick by her brother. He was the only one that didn't eat the rice or vegetables. Sooo not sure if it was a really worth returning. But that didn't stop us from having chocolate cake. The Queen loves cake. She didn't like sweets that much when she first came home, they don't eat a lot of sweets in China*. Even the *oreos* are bland over there. But she has grown to love certain sweets and cake and donuts are on the top of her list! And she has grown to love pizza which she despised at first. Her baba packed her lunch on Friday and they served pizza sticks at school that day. She has let us know all weekend that he made a mistake and she missed out on that food. Won't happen again, I guarantee it.
Then today it was a friend's son's birthday and he had a skating party. So The Queen experienced her first child's birthday party and her first experience skating. She loved them both, but she didn't have time to eat pizza or cake today because she was enjoying the skating or should I say falling. But she did stop for ice cream.

And since the guys weren't here to celebrate my mama's birthday, we left the party and went to *Red*Robin* for burgers. And she experienced a restaurant bringing ice cream to the table and being sung to. She definitely loved this and mention "for" the Queen.

Let say the girl thinks birthdays are the greatest now. She carries around our agencies' calendar (that has pictures each month of adopted kids) and she goes through the months pointing out who's birthdays are that month. No she hasn't learned her months yet, she has learned the children's pictures for each month and even some of their names.

Sorry no pics of mama's birthday but the men took the camera and never even used it!

Updates

2010-03-10T17:03:00.004-05:00

Spaghetti Face

Girly Girl

It is finally warm here, more the weather we are used to all winter. Our nights average in the 45-55 range and our days hover between 65-71. And that is usually our winters. So it is great to finally be thawing out. And that means The Queen can wear dresses or skirts to school finally. She goes to her closet everyday, pulls on the hem of a dress or skirt and begs pleasa mama. (notice the a at the end of please) And with our daily highs at around 38 degrees I can't in good conscience send her to school in a dress to play on the playground at 10am everyday. Not even at the height of the warmth. Soooo this weekend when we were trying on some hand-me-downs (thanks Criss) The Queen eyed this little skirt (with the monkey bar shorts built right in). Come Tuesday when it warmed up enough for dresses we went through her wardrobe to put together an ensemble to match the skirt. She was so proud of this skirt, she flitted through the house showing everybody her new ensemble. And she gladly posed for the picture above.

And I had to throw in her eating spaghetti face just for fun. She loves spaghetti, it is probably the noodle thing.

She is really coming along with her language and understanding of things. Her daddy sneezed the other day and when we rode by her doctors office later that day, she said, "achoo baby, Dr. ____________." She wanted him to go get some shots for a change. We laughed and laughed.

We have so much fun with her as we watch her grow and learn daily.

Tragedy Queen

2010-03-05T20:58:00.003-05:00

You heard it~ tragedy Queen. Our little Queen can be such the drama queen. The smallest little unexpected touch or bump and you would think she had blood dripping, you get the picture. So that is where she gets the "drama queen" dub. But to add to it she can be quite animated. With that language barrier thing going on she communicates a lot with gestures and well they can be quite dramatic looking. It is really cute the faces she can make. And that was when it was decided that she is going to grow up to be a mime on the streets of N*Y*C. And not just any mime, a tragedy mime because really her best and clearest form of gestures is dealing with sorrow. She is extremely good and expressing tears, pain, and sleep. So if you are ever in NY in about 20+ years and see a Chinese*mime on the streets, you might see her first hand.

Now I know you are wondering about the shoes above. You see The Queen is on her second pair of dress up heels. The first pair were a perfect match for the ball gown to your right on the side bar. But they fell apart. They were only from the $store but she wore the heck out of those things. So she took her own money tonight and bought the shoes of her dreams. Not just any shoes, ones with high heels. They are higher than the ones from that cheap store, yikes. But at least these ball gown shoes have ankle straps to help them stay on. Now we have to convince her that she cannot wear them to school or church.

Valuable Lesson

2010-03-02T07:22:00.002-05:00

My son learned a valuable lesson this week in following the instructions. You know how you review tests with your child and see how they did and usually it all boils down to "not following directions." We have gone over this many times and it has finally payed off. This weekend my son entered a contest on one of those online communities. He saw the contest in one of our favorite stores and went home and promptly entered. When he was done he said I think I have won. There were 300+ entries already but none of them had followed directions. He got a message last night that he had won. Following the directions really pays off. He gets an autograph of his favorite music artist-- Toby*M*c.

More First for The Queen

2010-02-28T15:12:00.006-05:00

The Queen continues to settle into her new life. This weekend has been a more relaxed weekend for us, i.e., we haven't had to run around to ball games/practices for the boys. That meant I had more time to clean the house. In The Queen's former life she would have been right there with whoever cleaning. But she has been so transformed that life happens around her and she is too busy being a child, a little girl. While I cleaned and the boys practiced in the backyard, The Queen, spent her time doing girl stuff in her room. She took care of her babies and fixed us all lots of plastic food to eat (thanks Criss). And today she came home from church and lunch and went right in there again to read to her doll and fix us more food to eat. I am so glad she doesn't feel the need to have to be cleaning with us all the time. But when I did ask her to clean something for me yesterday she hopped in and did it with a happy heart. But when she was done she definitely looked to me for praise, which she got lots of .

Along with a relaxed weekend we got to experience some more first with The Queen. She had her first visit to our local tea room. It was so much fun to go with "my daughter." We had a full tea (except she got lemonade since she doesn't like tea) with salad, sandwiches, dessert bites and scones. The Queen liked it all but the ham salad sandwich, but she loved scones and grapes with devonshire cream, and oh yeah, drinking from a tea cup. Her 2nd first was a trip to the beach to see the ocean live and up close. She has seen pictures of the boys in the ocean and has built up the desire and courage to want it too. So while wating for the tsunami to hit it got us itching for the beach. We took a little ride down there and got out and walked on the boardwalk and

hit the sand a little, but brrrrjing cold and we had to leave. But The Queen liked it and was ready to hit the water, we had to hold her back. And her 3rd first was baseball. She has watched her daddy practicing with her brothers and has been dying to get back there in it too. Being the cautious mom that I am I just couldn't let her back there with a real bat. So on our trip to the grocery store we picked her up a plastic (fat) bat and ball. We got in the backyard with her this afternoon and she is pretty good at it. She had contact with the ball as much as she missed. And when she hit she could pop it to the very back of the yard over the swing set. And you know males genes, they were quite proud of that and so was she. She was grinning from ear to ear.

And lastly is our family wall. When we first arrived back from China, one of the first things The Queen noticed and would point at was our family photo on the wall. There was a big family photo amongst other photos of us on a collage on the wall. We didn't leave her out, what photos we did have we had blown up and framed and placed along with other frames, but she wasn't in the big family photo. So being the great dad that he is he had a us go and get a family photo done along with some shots of the kids. See our new wall and family photo that didn't make the cut.

Language Barrier and Rainy Nights

2010-02-24T22:01:00.003-05:00

A language barrier can really lead to lots of tears and frustration on all sides. The Queen had an incident with her baba before trying to go to sleep. Later as I was putting another child to bed she kept calling me. When I checked in with her there were some tears and she was pointing to a pin size hole in her ceiling that I left ages ago with a teacup hook. In order to stop tears and for sleep to come I grabbed some toothpaste and filled the hole in. I am figuring that maybe it has to do with the institute. Maybe they had holes and bugs would come in or something. So I am a genius and plug the hole. A little later I checked in a little later to find tears flowing more freely than ever, silent tears. I scooped her up and held her, then questioned her if it was because of me, no, because of baba, yes. So I dragged him into the whole thing. I am thinking poor orphan and her feelings and emotions that may be rising. We make sure life is all good again with us and that she doesn't think anyone is upset with her, that even if we have to discipline her we still love her. That gets her somewhat calm and I convince her to try to use words instead of her tears. Thats when she points to that hole again and makes swishing noises and proceeds to jabber away in Chinese. And that is when it hits us!! Rain. It is drizzling outside and there is a gutter pipe outside her room at that exact corner and it is making some swishing noises and she thinks that the rain is going to come in through that hole in her bed, above her head. I can't imagine what her room was like back in her orphanage and what she was used to dealing with. There it was her normal and she knew how to survive among it. But here, it is all new, and she was not sure what to expect I am sure. It will be nice when the Queen learns her new language.

The Queen's Doctor Visit

2010-02-22T20:30:00.004-05:00

The Queen visited the doctor's office today for her booster vaccinations. No she was not happy but this trip was different. When in China, we walked into the examination visit and she immediately burst into tears. Silent crocodile tears. It made us well up with tears too. It was very hard on her and us that day. Since being back in the states she has had one round of vaccines and that was so early on. That day she was frightened the moment we walked in but no tears, just nervousness and she of course cried big time that day and looked at me like how could you. But today was different, she was nervous but at the same time she would tease us about things. She even poked her head out into the hall to see if the nurse was coming and she was and still The Queen was being silly. This time when she cried it wasn't until she was actually stuck with the needle. It was just a "this hurts" cry. It didn't have all the other emotions a child that has been ripped from the only world she knows and thrust into a new world. This time it was just the raw emotions of child that hates needles. And our evening was good. She tried to pout in the car and I was able to discuss with her about not pouting (not in those terms) and she is getting it when we talk with her about her behavior and emotions. She pepped up and was just a regular kid. She would remind me that it was sore and I had taught her that we are "gentle" with

those legs. So she would point and say ow and then wave her hands over them and say gentle. And she trusted that I wouldn't touch them, and I was very careful like during bath time. It was just like my boys, ow, and it is over and we go on with our day. It was totally a new level of trust in our relationship as parents/child. It was just totally awesome.

CNY*

2010-02-21T19:46:00.003-05:00

Our family has celebrated our first Chinese*New*Year! It was so much fun and look forward to next year. We did some pretty low key stuff, not too over whelming, but next year would like to visit the one in our capital city. It is a really big deal there and I think The Queen would like to have a taste and touch of home. But she seemed to enjoy herself this year and she is so regal about it all. She really goes with the flow and will go and do whatever we ask of her. It is amazing, but I think it really shows a deep level of trust she has for us and she knows we won't put her into any situation that would harm or hurt her. That goes all the way back to China when we were in Changsha, right after we got her. We went to the pool to let the boys swim and when she saw that body of water she bolted so fast I almost didn't make it in time. She hated elevators but was to it before I could catch up. Then a day later we were at the park with our guide and we were approaching a lake and bridge to cross when she started to fret and hide. I had the guide explain to her that we would never put her in harms way. At that very point she trusted us and never stopped. She reached up and took my hand and bravely crossed every bridge that day in the park without ever fretting again. And she reached a new level trust with her family that day and has held onto it.

On to our C*N*Y celebrations. As you can see in the pics we have a little duck. She joined with our local f*c*c and the girls did the Chinese Duck*Dance for the crowd. Then we watched as other groups did other performance and saw some video footages from aspects of China. After the performances we all had dinner and guess what they served.... pizza, no, Chinese Buffet. The Queen loved it and acted like she was in Chinese Heaven, but then add an egg roll in and that just stuffed her little belly and she was done with the food. Queen's worry about their weight, especially if you are from Chinese royalty as The Queen is. These girls will really watch their weight and she is great at pointing out any American that she considers over weight.

Our next C*N*Y celebration took place today. There are many families in the area that have adopted and we were invited to a party this afternoon. The girls had a blast. It was a long banquet table all dressed up Chinese style and served all kinds of food. I think The Queen's favorite was slices of oranges and pouring herself some lemonade from the little tea sets. And she really enjoyed the polly*pocket dolls that they had in their playroom. We also got to meet another little girl that is around The Queen's age and they are from the same province. We were actually expecting to travel together and God just didn't see fit. our TA took forever to come in. Maybe it was a test of our faith. Anyway it was great to finally meet them and the girls hit it right off. I would find them over in the corner together playing around each other with the polly dolls. It was like being with a half sister, lol. The Queen did have a great time and we had fun meeting new friends and seeing current friends. And we love having a reason to dress in our Chinese attire, she is so cute in it. (it is the outfit behind the eggroll).

Lastly, The Queen gets shots tomorrow. She hates them! We can't even say a word in our house that starts with sho... like shop or shock. All she has to hear is the sho and she starts fretting. So tomorrow this should be a fun time for all. Too bad Baba has to work and miss out on our fun.

What does a Queen wear?

2010-02-16T19:29:00.004-05:00

What does a queen wear? Anything she wants. Not really, but the trick is to let her think she is. She is really not too hard to please, except on the days when she wants what she wants. She loves nail polish still, earrings, hair bows, funky tights, and shoes. And she is particular about it all. And that is why The Queen now dons a dress with its own crown front and center with a back drop of of pink stripes. It even came with its own crown to place upon her head. So cute on her as you can see, minus the crown, add the big bow for school. They still don't realize that they have royalty attending their academy yet. Trying to keep that under wraps so that the paparazzi doesn't plague us. Please try not to let his out.

We do have some really sweet relatives that found this royal dress especially for The Queen. They must have looked high and low for the perfect school dress and she is absolutely adorable in this cute thing as you can see from the pics. We even had to paint her nails to match.

And when it comes to night time attire, you can see she also wears a pink gown. A sweet lady at church made this cute gown for her and it fits perfectly. It is way to cute on her. It makes me miss my grandma. She always made things like that for me as I was growing up. She was even able to make my first child some items before she passed away. Home made items are very special and well cherished around here.

So now you know what The Queen wears on a regular day.

Now let me throw you for a loop, try not to alert the paparazzi. She will be disguised as a duck come Saturday night while she performs the Duck Dance for CNY.

Queen Updates

2010-02-15T20:45:00.005-05:00

Lots of things have since we last met. We have celebrated Valentines, Chinese New Year, snow, meeting long lost family, another virus, and a class party.
First of all The Queen was sick last week with what seemed like a nasty cold. We knew she was really feeling puny when she went and stood by her medicine. Now that is sick. When daddy took her in she had a fever and was given meds. Doc said this won't be the last since she is being introduced to our nasty bugs over here.

We also had to spend the week gettting ready for Valentines. Had to do cards and we had to decorate a bag for the cards. And The Queen experienced her first party. It was her Valentine party and I couldn't be there. I hated to miss it, but no choice, had to work. Her teacher said she seemed to really enjoy her first party. Then all weekend she asked if it was her birthday and would sing the birthday song. Yes she says very few things in English but the girl knows the happy birthday song.

She also spent Valentines hanging out with her brothers. Especially the one that looks like a bug. He dressed up fro Valentines as the "Love Bug." That kids cracks me up. He is such a comedian and can pull off dressing up goofy in middle school. See the pic where the siblings are hanging out with the bug. Plus a travel buddy's child sent the kids valentines card. I have never seen kids get so excited over valentine cards. But they felt special that she was even thinking about them. They love Miss. HotfudgeSunday. She was their little buddy in China.

We also have a tradition at our house for Valentines. We do a scavenger hunt. So basically we don't give out candy for free, you gotta work for it. We hide the loot and make up clues for them to help search for their items. The Queen got a treasure map instead. The kids love this and ask every year if we are going to do it. The Queen seemed to like it to. She got a new Meimei video.

Secondly it was also Chinese New Year on the 14th also. We didn't go all out for it this year. Basically we hung a lantern and got red envelopes with $ in them. They didn't seem to mind that was our extent. But really we are going all out this weekend. Our local Chinese groups are pulling together and celebrating this coming weekend. The Queen will join the other adoptee girls and they will perform the duck dance, think Big Bird. It will be cute. And I have a long lost second cousin that I didn't know existed til my told her family that we were adopting. They too have adopted and we have had a chance to get together. They are coming to town and joining us for CNY. We are so excited.

Then we get to the big news... SNOW! We never get snow. It can snow 10 miles up the road but never around us. We live to close to the ocean, you have to be further inland to get it unless a low sits off the coast and sends us lake affect type snow. We got 5 inches!!! We couldn't believe our eyes when we got up Saturday. And the best part, we didn't have to miss school. The kids went out to play and play and play. We had already built a snowman and made snowcream by 8am. It was the best. And our Queen loved it. She has seen it before in her province and was not shy a bit when it came to snowball fights. Enjoy the pics.

Regal-ness

2010-02-10T08:16:00.002-05:00

Is regalness a word? If it were The Queen would be it. The Queen went with me to my school PTA last night. As she entered the auditorium she began to wave to her subjects. And each person that would speak to her, she would just wave, then move on. Truly we had royalty among us last night. I bet many people didn't even realize it. She is very polite that way, not drawing attention to her status or anything. But ever the polite Queen, waving to her loyal subjects.

Changning Remembered

2010-02-08T20:22:00.002-05:00

Our little queen has been trying to tell us a lot about her former life lately. If I only knew Chinese. From what we can tell she and her 3 friends, that all came to Gotcha Day to meet their forever families, cried and 3 of them got sick and vomited on the way. Her nanny was not one that came that day, but thanks to Karen (a buddy) we have a picture of her nanny. She traveled with Fava, haHa, and Ganga. (A guess on the spelling, just spelling it like it sounds.) The Queen also had a deep scratch on her face when we got her and apparently Ganga was the one that did that little number on her. And tonight we viewed a picture that Karen sent me and she went through all the kids in the photo and pointed out which nanny took care of which kids. This has really been the clearest conversation we have had and really it was all in Chinese, yet we could communicate. I can't wait til she can tell us in English what she is trying to share with us.
One thing we have tried to share with The Queen is that we love "nu mama" ( her nanny) and that we love all the people in the picture. We want her to know we are fond of them and are grateful for their care and love toward her. We figure this will take the pressure off of her so that she won't feel any anxiety in sharing things with us when we look at pictures. We don't want her to ever feel like she has torn allegiances. And we are grateful for their great care. It is obvious that she was well cared for.

God Answers Prayers

2010-02-05T20:47:00.006-05:00

He is still in the business of answering prayers. In The Queen's school, the kindergarteners attend Spanish class once a week but since she hasn't even learned English we felt that this was probably not a good idea for her to learn Spanish. So we asked the school to come up with an alternative. The principal was able to find a retired teacher to come in and tutor her during Spanish time, YAY! So I took it a step further and mentioned to her teacher that it would be great to find some more volunteers to come everyday and work with The Queen on her phonics. Ms. Kindergarten thought that was a great idea and would include it in her newsletter. The next day the principal came knocking on the classroom door and asked if Ms. Kindergarten could use a parent volunteer, she had one that would like to work. And do you know this angel was willing to come everyday for an hour and work with The Queen and 2 other students. Did you all catch that? Everyday, this saint is coming for an hour, and to work with 5 year olds. That is why she is dubbed our angel. That afternoon when I walked in, Ms. Kindergarten couldn't wait to tell me that God had already answered our prayers and she hadn't even had a chance to put it in her newsletter.

And our Drama Queen saga continues. Yes she got up Friday morning, or should I say she tried to get up by really just wants to sleep through breakfast. The girl hates getting up but once she was awake she resumed her complaint of The Tooth. Really she had eaten all her fruit and half of her toast when she remembered the owie in her mouth and then began to moan, OHHHHH. Mama A OHHHH. (that is what she calls me) Then she finished eating her breakfast with no complaints, just has to add that touch of drama to our lives that we were missing.

And we have learned that she has definitely learned something at school. MANNERS! Get the part where I said AT SCHOOL. We have just been working on saying yes or no, but apparently at school she has learned "yes m'am and no m'am. It is wonderful. It came out of nowhere and I love it. Plus she has learned from us too, today she started saying "I am sorry" on her own, and she also said "I forgive you" on her own, or would remind us to say it. She has the sweetest personality.

And can't leave out the the young prince. It was elementary ice skate night and he had a blast, see the pic. He was able after 5 minutes to get rid of the walker and tumbled around on his own. My husband explained it as running on ice, not sure if the blades ever hit the ice.

Afterwards we all met up and a Christian*** cofffee shop that has live bands, great place for young people and old alike to hang out. Even has wifi. It was great and she loved it, she moved to the front row. She LOVES music!

Drama Queen Saga's

2010-02-04T21:04:00.003-05:00

The Drama Queen saga's continue. She is so funny. If she gets bumped in the slightest way is like lava flowing out of a volcano on her. This is not uncommon for institutionalized kids to react in this way, so we just go with it. But sometimes it just cracks me up. Like tonight, the kids were tickling on the kitchen floor. Somehow she came up with a bumped tooth. So, being the awesome mom that I am, I scooped her up and had a looksy. No blood! So I slipped my fingers in there to see if it would wiggly (it's a baby tooth y'all). No wiggling! No bruise, no blood, no wiggling, nothing. But as you can see by the pics the pain she was in, I mean thought she was in. And as you can see by the other picture that a few minutes later it was well enough to drink from a straw. But what you can't see is 5 minutes after that she complained again when Baba came in. She is soooo going to kil me when day if she sees this.

The Queens Week

2010-02-02T21:39:00.004-05:00

This weekend The Queen was given the royal treatment. She has experienced her first time out at school. She watched mama get her teeth cleaned. Ate at Tex*s Roadhouse. She had her first tutoring time at school to work on phonics. And she tried to tell us about Gotcha Day, but unfortunately it was all in Chinese.

At the royal party we shared pictures of our trip to Chin@, The Queen was shown the royal treatment and given many gifts (mostly gift cards for the fairy godmother to shop), and lots of good foodies to eat. The Queen and the royal family all dressed in authentic Chinese garb and we enjoyed our evening. The Queen loved her evening. Many times she put on the shy mouth, but she absolutely loved opening presents. It was very sweet. It is hard to say what her favorite item was, they all varied in types of gift so they all hold equal likeness. She got a doll that giggles, a dog that sings Jesus* Loves* Me, pj's, a v-tech stype laptop, a wand, a purse and some jewelry. But I ave to say her favorite foodie was anything choco ~ translated chocolate.

And if these pics from the night upload quickly I am throwing in a picture of her eating with her chopsticks at home. I try to keep this one thing from her past going, I don't want her to lose all her past.

Queen Play

2010-01-31T14:48:00.003-05:00

The Queen and I played pretend cook/eat/feed babies today after church. Mind you I had to feed the babies while she cooked and ate. She has stopped playing with the baby dolls once she discovered other toys. I think that playing with the dolls is too much like orphanage work. I am pretty sure, by her actions, that she cared for the younger kids in the institute and that she scrubbed spots out of clothes and helped with the laundry. So playing dolls is too close to being back in China*.

She is quite a hoot to play with though. She has a mind of her own and once she starts something there is no distracting her or persuading her to something else. She would rather let those babies starve than let me get near the kitchenette and get a spoon to feed them. However she was kind enough to fix me some food. She fixed me a jelly, balongna, and tomato sandwich. I vomited. Not really, just pretended since that is what she does with my cooking, ha ha. She cracks me up.

And she finished up our meal by pretending to hand wash her apron. See what I mean.

And the first picture is her with royal brother #1 showing off her poncho from her aunt Tracy. Thanks Tracy.

School Days

2010-01-27T17:13:00.005-05:00

Today was Parent's Day at the kids school today. Middle school doesn't participate in this so I included a picture of Prince #1 at Home coming, school spirit day. Doesn't he look so cool.

Today first I went to Prince #2's class. Third grade sure is hard. They have been studying plants and that teacher had the nerve to give a class quiz- parents against kids. Parents Lost!!!!! As you can see in one of the photos. But it was a lot of fun going to class with my youngest son's class. He was so sweet and he really wanted to make sure someone was coming. I had already decided to go to his class since I went to The Queen's class last Friday for gingerbread houses. The Royal Baba went to her class first today. At the half way point we switched and he got to go see the prince's action and I went to The Queen's class. They were cute. They also had a parent competition that involved addition. Everybody got their problems correct but lets just say those kindergartners are much faster than their parents. Maybe it is all those calculators we use that makes our brains marshmellows. Then the kids had to fish for numbers to form 2 digit numbers that the teacher would call out like --79. Those 5-6 yr olds amazed me. They even included The Queen in this, her teacher called out the number 3 and she went right to it on the floor and placed in on the easel like the others. The class was so sweet all wanting to encourage her with hugs. Which is right up her alley because she likes to hug people that she knows and are good to her.

And then came time to leave and return to work. I had a late meeting today which made me rather late, later than usual. She is doing well and has adjusted great. No tears, excitement when she enters. But today, with me being late, she shed a few tears. It was something new, after nap they go to recess (and she has done this part but we usually get her during that time) but today recess ended and they had to go inside and to yet another new room for her. This The Queen did not like and apparently let it be known. She cried. But it must not have been much because she wasn't all red and stuff.

And she has added on a few words that she uses freely suddenly. As I type she is saying, mama hungry ( Mama I am hungry), kitchen mama (go to the kitchen and cook something mama)!! Gotta run and get this girl some food.

Great Wall Remembered

2010-01-26T21:50:00.006-05:00

We are missing China, Royal Brother 1 and the Royal Mama. We enjoy looking back at our photos and I realized that I really haven't posted a lot of pictures of our sightseeing so I am going to go back a little at a time and post some. The only regret is that we didn't have The Queen with us to see all the sights round her country. But that only means we will need to return one day for her to see all those sight.
Today are pictures from The Great Wall.
Let me share a little bit about my experience there. It was cold, I mean Brrrjing cold. Which makes it hard to breath with the combination of cold and altitude. The steps are steep in many areas and there was ice on the left (coming down side) side of the wall. This all makes it hard to climb up or descend down the wall. There is a railing but you have to stoop down to hold it so really it is like holding your ankles as you go up the wall. Now try holding your ankles as you descend down irregular steps. You feel like you are going to topple over. Can be quite comical. While I was lagging behind on an area that was more like a sidewalk (no steps), I watched a man slip on the ice and slide most of the trip down. I tried yelling to him to grab the handrail to help him stop. He didn't listen to me. Then it hit me he probably didn't speak English. Oh well I tried.
The boys went up 3 towers high on the wall, but not me. I went part way then went back down. I decided that holding my ankles and having to climb back down that far was too risky for me. If anyone really knows me they all know I am super clumsy. I fell flat on my body this summer crossing the street at our town square shopping center. It really hurt my pride and my knees. So I didn't want to experience this in a foreign country with no medical care nearby if I needed it.
The Wall is massive and beautiful. Just like the photos you see in books.
We need to return when it is warm.

Updates

2010-01-26T21:19:00.004-05:00

Just a few things to share with you abut our queen. She has had us up the last few nights with a constant cough. But the thing is she never has any fluids coming out of her, just a cough. Since the day we got her she constantly sucks snot in, but never needs to blow her nose, but lately it has lead to the cough. So today I ave in and took her to the doctor. Because she has dealt with something for so long she decided to give her an antibiotic and hopefully this will help. But I will tell you a miracle drug that does cut the cough for a few hours-- HONEY. It does miracles, at least she can fall asleep, may get up later, but can start her night out sleeping. As you can see in oneof the photos, she is getting her antibiotic. The Queen hates medicine and I don't know if you can see tht on her face but let me tellyou she was making faces and that vomiting noise.

We did experience another first. The Queen has learned to take a shower. When I would lean her back to rinse he hair she was like a fish out of water floundering around. So I worked on The Queen rinsing in the shower and we moved to full bathing in the shower. And she can do it without having to hold a washrag over her eyes now. She was so proud of her accomplishment.

And you can see her having dinner. I gave her a spoon for her peas and a fork for the macaroni-n-cheese and ham. She tried using the spoon for it all. So we showed her how to stab her food with the fork. But the girl is so stubborn and insisted on eating her dinner with that spoon. She is just so darn cute.

And some cute moments with her.... We took the boys in for dental checkups and she went back with them to watch. She also watched a little girl get x-rays done and the dental assistant told the girl "good job baby" and The Queen said baby, wah wah and rub her eyes like crying. And last night her Baba was sick and laying around. She wanted to play with him and he explained that he had a cold and needed to sit around. She heard the word cold and ran and got him a big blanket. Again she is just so darn cute.

More New First for Our Queen

2010-01-23T21:27:00.004-05:00

The Queen has had another busy week. After having a holiday on Monday, Tuesday was back to regular schedule- work and school. The Queen's only struggle has been when her Royal Mama would leave to go to work first but even that got better as the week went on. She did have a bump in the road when her teacher had to go home with a sick daughter before the school day even began, but The Queen was quite regal and held herself together just fine. Oh and there was the day that her schedule got off. We always go through what her daily routine entails (side night, for her as an adoptee, it helps her if we try to explain before hand what happens next. ex: royal brother #1 is going to hug you and she is fine, but if you don't prepare her well there can be repercussions on some occasions.) So each day we tell her first you see royal teacher #1, then after lunch you see royal teacher #2 and take a nap, then MAMA COMES! Well on one occasion this week her royal Baba had to come see brother #1 and she was at the playground after nap time and she spotted him. He went on for the conference and then I arrived, he got to her first and boy she was stiff and seemed quite unsure if she even wanted to come to him. Talk about a setback, but really it was only for a second. But hey we did things out of routine and I am sure she was confused since we always go through this routine. She is such a trooper and rebounds so quickly, she amazes us, but then she is so regal being The Queen and all.

Then Friday was a big day of first for The Queen. First her class made gingerbread houses. She seemed to enjoy it, maybe it was the candy but she definitely was not fond of getting her fingers all messy and sticky. I believe that really goes back to that royalty thing but she is an awesome queen and not afraid to get her hands into things, she is just quicker than most to get them clean. Next, at lunch the "Sea Hawk" showed up from our local university and you would think she would be scared of people dressed up in big sweaty costumes. No not our Queen, she is brave! She ran right over to that big bird and threw her arms around him and was kind enough to pose for a picture. After lunch I picked her up and we attended the school Homecoming parade with Royal Brother #2. This was the Queen's first parade. You would have thought with royalty among them that they would have asked her to ride on one of those convertibles, but really we try to keep her royalty under wraps there, we can have everyone wanting her autograph or to touch her or something. But she did get to see her 2 favorite buddies in the parade, they too were adopted from China, they were riding with their big jie jie. The Queen was quite unsure of the happenings around her but she noticed the other kids were excited so she, being easy going for what she has been through, joined in the excitement. Well not really but she was curious and watched with interest. Her dislikes were the loud sirens, but then who does like them blaring 2 feet from you. She did like the candy that some threw out.

We ended our Friday by going to the homecoming celebrations that evening including some basketball games and the crowning of the king and queen. The Queen's favorite part of a basketball game is the cheering with the cheerleaders. We can see what her future will hold. Since we knew this I decided to run to the dollar store to pick her up some pom poms. Got there and couldn't find one set. We walked that aisle 3 times looking for them. Went up and asked the clerks and they sent us back to that aisle if they even had any. So I decided one more time we would go look. As I walked I prayed that just one would show up, knowing we had walked it 3 times and there was none. We walked that whole aisle and got to the very end and saw none, but decided to stop and look up and down. And on top of some stick ponies was one set of pom poms and they were school colors. I couldn't believe it, but why should I doubt God when something is in His will. And this one dollar item made that Queen the happiest one at the whole homecoming. Every time the cheerleaders got on the floor The Queen stood on her bleacher seat and cheered every cheer. She did the motions, the words, the claps, and the jumps. To be so shy in crowds, this is one time she is not shy.

She just amazes us at how well she fits into our life and lifestyle. She is a happy girl. Even with all these brothers she is a girlie girl and loves her jewelry, nails polished, hair bows, and now her cheer leading.

The Queen's Many Faces

2010-01-20T16:42:00.004-05:00

When you have an infant you learn their cries, their noises, their faces, and you know what all of them mean without them ever having to speak a word of English. It is the same way with a newly adopted 5 yr old. Even if we can't fully commuicate you learn those sounds and those faces. As you can see one picture she is smiling in one and one she is not. The one without the smile is her mad or nervous face. Makes me wonder if what I have mistaken as nervous is really just a mad face. Her mad face is displayed here because she doesn't have a nintendo*ds like her brothers. Really it is kind of funny how she has learned to communicate. I just had to capture it because I know one day this will be a thing of the past when she learns how to communicate with words. And folks she is not hurting for toys, it is just that one toy. But she doesn't have the skills to use one yet.

But then I showed her what she looked like and how there was a difference in a smile and an angry face so she perked up and smiled for me. She understands! So I couldn't leave you with the angry face because really The Queen spends most of her time smiling (excpet when the Royal Mama has to leave her had bed time or mornings for work). Isn't she just precious?

Home 1 Month

2010-01-19T21:39:00.003-05:00

Can hardly believe we have been home one month today, well at 1:25am this morning. This little Queen has just melded into our family and can't believe that it has only been one month. She has picked up so many words, she may not use them but she understands when we say brush your teeth, put on your shoes, etc. And more amazing is how much she tries to say. We went to the grocery story and as we went up and down the aisles she would point out things and say them or she would say who in the family likes to eat that. On the snack aisle she pointed out all these chocolate type cookies and would say Baba, boy she knows him, but that is because that is there thing- they share cookies in the evenings.
She has also started school. Learned to tolerate the males in the household. She has learned to nap at school. She has taught us that she actually has a very loud voice. That she giggles alot and loves to be tickled (which we try to avoid). She amazes us with her willingness to try new foods. We have also discovered her stubborn side, especially when it comes to LEARNING ~ like doing simple puzzles, writing the alphabet, saying the alphabet, looking at books. Anything that is educational, she avoids, I stare her down, and then she tries it my way. She is too funny.
She just fits so perfectly, that we know it was God ordained who our daughter would be. We love her.

Puppy Love!

2010-01-19T20:27:00.002-05:00

The Queen loves doggies, from afar. It is so cute. Every time we see a dog now she starts yelling DOGGIE, DOGGIE, HEY DOGGIE, all the while waving.
Today we were loading the car with groceries and I told her to get in the car in her seat. So she obediently went to the passenger back door, opened it, and crawled in. Then I hear this yelling DOGGIE, DOGGIE, HEY DOGGIE. I come around to fasten her and she is on the otherside of the car with that car door open too and yelling at a dog in the next car over. I get her buckled in all the while yelling at the dog. Good thing this dog was just an old shoe hound dog, he just sat there unphased by this yelling child. Then as I was buckling myself in, the owner hops in and cranks her car and The Queen starts yelling, BYE DOGGIE, BYE DOGGIE. The dog still didn't wave, but The Queen never gave up.
Now when I shared this story over dinner her brothers were too excited. They take this acceptance as "she wants a dog." So after dinner, they kept asking her if she wanted one. And true to form, she shook her NO. She just likes them from afar.

The Queen returned to school today. She had a hard time when Royal Mama left, it makes her down right mad. But once she was over it, she did fine the rest of the day. She just walked right in for her Baba and put her things away like the other kids. The only thing she forgot to do was to take her coat off. During the day they went to art and our Queen got paint around her fingernails and on her shirt. She was not happy one bit about this when I picked her up. Every 2 minutes she would say mama and when I would look back at her she would either pull out her shirt at me or she would shoe me her nails. And this was not just any mama, it was that whiny kind that says, "I don't like this, or this makes me mad." I would respond will take care of it at home and she would nod, then she would repeat this 2 minutes later. I need to run now and get that spot out of her shirt before she ask again.

Phone Call Away...

2010-01-18T21:25:00.003-05:00

This afternoon, while her talking on the phone mood, I decided to see if we could reach one of her Changning sisters. We finally found one to talk to in Kentucky. Of course the language was a barrier, but nonetheless she has been thrilled all evening. She will say her sisters' name and then repeat it and add mama since we talked to her mama too. The Queen even lifted them up tonight in our bed time ritual of name each person that Jesus loves and they have made the list. It is amazing how one little call will lift ones spirits and they didn't even know they were down. She has just hugged my neck all afternoon and will whisper her name in my ears as she is hugging me. So so so sweet. Can't wait til they can communicate.

The Park

2010-01-18T14:14:00.003-05:00

Today we went to the park, Ogden Park. We were going to have a picnic but it was just too cold, the wind was Brrrrjing cold. But we did play a little bit, moving helped. The Queen likes to swing, but needs to be pushed and then she liked the BIG slide. Then took a walk around the lake and she tried to talk and wave at al the dogs. She thinks they can wave a talk back.

But her favorite thing, even in China, is to talk on the phone. Here she is, caught in action, pretending to talk on the phone. Most of the time it is in Chinese but she talks low so that we can hardly hear her. That is also how she talks in Chinese to us now. She will come up and whisper in our ears in Chinese and then she looks to see our reaction and it must be something funny because she will kill over in laughter. Or maybe she is laughing because she knows we don't know what she said. But she has learned to say good morning without prompting, she did it on the phone today to her Baba. If only we understood enough Chinese!

The Queen Cooks

2010-01-17T15:22:00.004-05:00

This afternoon we decided to cook some muffins. This is a Sunday afternoon thing for me, fixing muffins for the week. And the fact that that is really about the only dessert I can cook besides a pumpkin roll. Go figure I can't fix any desserts decently so I have to stick with simple things from a box, but yet I can make pumpkin rolls?? Anyway The Queen likes to cook, some how that is one thing that is not beneath her. Really she is a down to earth kind of queen. She even let one of her royal subjects join us in the kitchen for our endeavor.

First we made chocolate chocolate chunk muffins and next we made lemon poppy seed with glaze icing. As you can see they enjoy licking the spoons and beaters more than the actually work. Although they were quite good at mixing. And I have to say that royal subject is a smart one, he may even dethrone her one day. I put out two mixing bowls but I had not yet figured out in my mind how I was going to have them SHARE this process. But that subject figured it out all by himself without me. As I was cracking the eggs, he said, "you are going to give me one and her one aren't you?" Or maybe he was really thinking of himself and making sure he was not to be outdone by The Queen and left out. Anyway it all worked out and they were both quite happy. It went much better than when they tried to help me cook dinner over hot burners and pans last night. Let's just say The Queen didn't like when her royal subjects pan popped a splatter on her.

And then she wrapped her afternoon adoring her Royal Baba. As you can see she adores him now. She is just gazing up at him while he has that "man stare" at the TV watching football.

Isn't She a Doll

2010-01-17T15:17:00.003-05:00

I couldn't resist posting this picture. This is a dress that a friend gave her and she was just too cute, as always, so I had to snap her in this for all to see. What you couldn't see is her fussing at me, 2 minutes before when I had to take off her PJ shirt. It didn't even touch her ears, but she always has to fuss and let me know that they are there. And you also can't see her matching accessories. She added on a bracelet and a necklace, she is The Queen of Jewelry.

The Royal Ball Gown

2010-01-16T19:01:00.003-05:00

I mentioned that I went shopping at a friends house and bought a bunch of clothes for The Queen, while there we bought a ball gown for The Queen. Here she is posing in her Royal Ball Gown. She loves the dress and feels like a Queen in it. But I have finally determined what kind of queen she is, she is the "Drama Queen." Her emotions are always extreme. Disclaimer: I say this, but really they are only when she is teasing, otherwise her emotions are really normal. But when she is playing around, if you touch her she cries a loud scream but smiles great big. And when she sings she sings to the top of her lungs!! And when she teases, she is really loud squealing. For example she loves to turn the light off on me in the bathroom and she squeals with delight unless she does it while she is actually in there with me, then she screams to the top of her lungs but when I turn the light back on she is smiling and laughing great big. At dinner tonight were determined that really she is "The Drama Queen" but for the sake of shorthand we will just continue to refer to her as The Queen.

What I really want to know is what size is the cow that licked her head? Are there even cows in China? I don't recall eating any beef from China, it was Kobe or imported from Australia if you count that mince meat burger we got in Beijing, lets don't even think about where it is from. It had to have come from that other Queen in Europe somewhere. But really where is the cow that licked her head cause she has more cow licks in her hair than I do for sure. It is beautiful hair.

The Queen Loves Shopping

2010-01-15T22:24:00.002-05:00

Yes even royalty likes to shop for a bargain. We have a friend that is raising money for her adoption and is selling her daughters' clothes and shoes, even their house, lol. So another friend and I went over to her house and went shopping and let me tell you the Queen was right in our midst holding items up and slipping on different shoes. While the other kids were outside playing, not The Queen, she was picking out pretty things but really she is drawn to SHOES. She even came away with a royal ball gown, yellow one to be exact. Every queen should have a royal ball gown and this girl loves to play dress up. She has only had one hand-me down dress but just loves it. This dress that we got today looks brand new. You should have seen her when we got home with 2 garbage bags full of clothes and shoes. She wanted to pull out every item and look at them. I was excited to come away with so many good items for her as she grows and to be able to help another orphan have a forever family.
We have also completed our first full week of school. She has amazed all of us and especially her teachers. Her main teacher told me she was amazed at how much she has transformed and how comfortable she feels now from just a week ago. She now runs and plays on the playground with the other kids and fits right in. Her nap time teacher is also in shock after her melt down on Monday. On Tuesday she was a totally compliant child and by Thursday she was napping. She even had to be woken up yesterday and today. Plus when she went to music, which is with a male teacher (and we know how much she has had to warm up to the males in our household), she went in this week just fine and she smiled during music class and even tried to sing. The girl loves to sing and this week she has really come out of her shell and experimented with singing many songs. She is not afraid to try anymore. And the finale, during morning staff prayer meeting at her school, there were a couple of praises that morning and they were all pertaining to our Queen. When they told me about that I cried. Only a week like this can happen with prayer. Let's pray that her next week is just as great. She hasn't experienced a weekend break and then return. That is always hard on a little one just starting school and this weekend is a long one.
And tonight is another newbie for her. Her royal Baba is putting her to bed. We usually both go in but she insist that the royal Mama stay but this time we decided to try Baba since she was really clinging to him and even though she wanted me she was also still reaching for her Baba so we decided to push a new routine for her and she is doing pretty good. i hear giggles, but then that may mean her Baba is not able to leave for fear of a tear. Gotta start somewhere though and this way we can start switching off nights.

JesusLovesMe

2010-01-13T21:49:00.002-05:00

Our favorite song around here. That was one of the first glimmers between The Queen and us that God is revealing Himself to our little girl. She has never had the light of revealed to her. China lives in darkness. It was decorated for Christmas and Christmas music played everywhere but the people were lost, it meant nothing to them. So The Queen came to us with no knowledge or understanding of her Savior. When we would pray she thought it was absolutely hilarious and made her so uncomfortable, she would giggle. But in no time her heart has been transformed. It started with her wanting me to sing Jesus*Loves*Me this I know to her when I missed a night of singing it. I always sing one part in Chinese so she is getting that line. Also at the same time she would sit at the table to eat and would yell Amen, meaning lets do that thing so I can eat. But something new has started happening. She wants to pray. At first she didn't know what to say so I would have her repeat me. But now she will spontaneously start praying and she prays for each family member. It is absolutely the sweeetest thing and so awesome to see God working in someone. It brings tears to my eyes everytime she prays. It is so genuine and pure. It is just awesome to be seeing God work in someone. You know it is Him revealing Himself to her. Wait til she really gets it. I can't wait to tell that some day. But I have to share what she did tonight. She always goes through Jesus Ayi (eye) ... each family member by name, but later in our night time routine, she said Jesus ayi.. and then she added her teachers' names. What a giant step from Monday when she melted down at having to leave teacher 1 to go to teacher 2 for nap time. I am amazed at how much she grasp God's love. I can't believe that our little Queen has already started praying, just glad I am on her prayer list.

School Has Started

2010-01-12T19:02:00.002-05:00

School has started now for all of us including me and The Queen. I went back to work yesterday, not that I wanted to. I didn't want to leave her, we have had such a good time together but all good things must come to an end. The Queen started full-time yesterday. She seems to love being around the other kids, the only down side is she has to leave me and she hates that. She is my velcro child and doesn't like for me to leave the room on her. She doesn't mind leaving me in a room but not vice versa. She is also happy with her teacher. Her teacher replaces me during the day, but she definitely has me distinguished as the Mama, which is nice, it means she is bonding. I think she is very happy at school, she seems to not mind the learning aspect of the day, she likes center time and has been caught smiling while at centers. I personally think she likes this better than the institute, it means no dirty laundry to have to clean. So compared to handwashing the laundry doing school work is FUN! The only downside of school is nap time and really I think it is because it means leaving her regular teacher and has to go with a new person. But today she has done better, not tears, just smiles and laughter, PTL.

The Queen's Chariot

2010-01-10T16:52:00.003-05:00

Today she left in her chariot with her Baba. Wipeeee!!!! This is a huge step for our little Queenie. As you know she has been my velcro child since we first got her in china. That is why just going to school was a tremendous step for her but true to every child she didn't want to be left. She did quickly recover each day at school and would even be caught with a smile. Our schedule everyday requires the Royal Mama to leave first since I get to work about 5-10 after seven. Then Baba leaves around 7:30am to takes the kids to school. She responds better if you tell her before hand what is happening, so we figured we better take the last 2 days this past week and have Baba take her to school. I followed close by and got her out at 1:15 each day but tomorrow she stays til 3:15, a long day. But this is how her day will truly be so we had to get her into the groove. Anyway back to the point. Thursday was the first time she was with the boys/Baba without me and true to form she had a fit all the way to school, remember she has been my velcro child. But on Saturday the boys had a full full day and she and I didn't see them once they left for basketball in the morning. We even went to bed before they got home last night. So that really made her miss her Royal Baba and brothers. So today we had to press things a little further so she would be ready to ride in her chariot off to school tomorrow. I first went to the grocery store to get some foods for lunches this week. Next her older brother needed something from D*cks Sporting Goods and we offered her the chance to go with them and leave Mama behind. And do you know what the Queen did? She left me!!! And she was smiling as her Baba drove away in her taxi. It makes Mama smile too, but you should have seen the Royal Baba's smiling face. I think he was more thrilled than I was. He had to be, I miss my velcro child.

Veggie**Tale Saga Continues...

2010-01-09T18:51:00.002-05:00

She cracks me up! Since it was Saturday morning and I needed to get ready to go to the AWAA seminar and show off our "Spicy Girl" I put a cartoon on for her to watch while I showered (she has to be near me). But before I could jump in the shower she started pointing to the 3 bunny characters on the TV and started meowing like a cat. So I had to stop and straighten her out on her animals. I told her no they were bunnies and I proceeded to show her that bunnies hop. In her straight, dead pan, face she looked at me, hit her arms and pointed to the bunnies on tv. Yup they have arms so that was totally confusing since they hop and so do the vegetables, but these guys had arms???? It is all so hard for her little mind to keep it all straight. Wait till she learns to talk about it in English, boy will a lot of things become more clear.
So we ended our day with another veggie tale story. The boys are out of town, they went to the "Winter Jam" concert but I knew she wouldn't be up to that large of a crowd or the loudness of it so we went to a movie instead. Anyway after the movie she and I went for some Japanese food. Yeah I know she is Chinese but she loves the Japanese, it doesn't have all those sauces on it. While we were enjoying our meal a couple sat in the booth in front of us and we could see the mans head above the seat and he was bald. So she started patting her head and pointing to him so I told her he was bald. So then she pats her arms and points to the man. I lost it, we were back to figuring out this whole veggie tale thing. I laughed so hard she put her hand over mouth. I can't wait til she learns English....
Now let me put in a plug for the movie we went to see. We went to see the movie "Blind Side" with S. Bullock. It was a great story and it is true. This family takes in a boy and it is their story about having him and he has gone on to be a professional football player for the Balitimore R.avens. Many go to see if for the various aspects it hits in society, but I went because of his adoption story, you know it is close to my heart. But for whatever you may get out of it, doesn't matter, go see the movie or rent it when it comes out. It was so good that at various points in the story line, the audience would erupt into applause.

Veggie**Tales through the eyes of a non-English speaker.

2010-01-07T22:01:00.002-05:00

If you have never seen the Veggie**Tales, well you need to to appreciate this. They are Bible stories acted out with a good moral story line too, but the characters, well are vegetables. They have no arms, hands, legs, or feet. And we English speakers over look it, even the kids over look it. But tonight I decided to show The Queen the story of Queen Esther. You know, from one queen to another. Anyway about 10 minutes into the movie she looks at me and starts hitting her arms and pointing to the tv. That's right, they have no arms. This continues so I explain that they are vegetables and vegetables have no appendages but listen it is a great story. Oh yeah, she doesn't know English yet. So this continues every time a new character enters or re-enters the scene. And I repeat yes they have no arms they are vegetables, and she says "oh." Then she starts hitting her legs and pointing to the characters. "Yes they have no legs, they are vegetables." "Oh" Then she gets down on the floor and starts hopping on two feet. Yup you guessed it, since they have no legs or feet they can't walk so they have to hop everywhere.
At this point I am laughing so hard I am crying. This is hilarious to watch it through the eyes of a 5 year old non-English speaker. Really it makes no sense to her and now to me either. As English speakers we don't pay attention to their oddities, you get hooked into their cuteness or their funny lines they deliver, but when you can't understand them and you don't know what they are, well you then point out the obvious. And did you know the king on there has no teeth and the gourd has no eyes? You really should pop over and watch them with The Queen, especially if you need a good laugh.

What a Difference a Month Makes!

2010-01-07T21:48:00.002-05:00

I know I am on a role today but had to do it while it is on my mind or I might lose it and quickly.
Tonight while I was laying down with The Queen I was thinking about what a difference in just a months time. We have had her for 1 month this past Monday and it is hard to believe.

As I was lying there I was thinking about how in the beginning we had this scared little girl that was even afraid to share her smile with us. Oh she wanted to but was too shy to even let us in on it. Only when she wasn't aware of herself we would glimpse that smile of hers. And now she is always ready to share her joy, her happiness, her smile with us. She just lights up when she sees one of us coming.

Now she lets us touch her any ole time. In the beginning it was only me, the royal mom that could touch her. And even then I was constantly having to guess whether she liked it or if she really despised my actions. My only glimmer as to whether she liked my actions or not was through her actions with her doll. My stroking her cheek at night or kissing her forehead constantly (you can't help it) was carried out on her dolls when no one was suppose to be watching. Then I knew she liked it.

Hugs, well there weren't any. We would hug and she would just stay a stiff board, or if it was the boys she would push them off. She can still be reserved with them, but as for her parents, we can hug her anytime and she is always there with a hug back. And many times she instigates it now, especially with her royal Baba. When I lay down with her now she just molds into me and snuggles right up, no more stiff board.

And no more vomiting sounds. In the beginning that was how she communicated if she didn't like something, like a food we picked out etc. And that was ok. She also like to tease with that a lot. She would sniff my lotion, that she had also put on, and would make the vomit sound but then sniff hers and say mmmm. We see very little of that now or should I say hear little of it. She communicates more with shaking her head for "no" and "yes". And she is just communicating better each day, she is very creative.

We are just amazed at how comfortable she feels with us and around our house now. Hard to believe it has only been a month.

Thoughts on Adoption

2010-01-07T13:03:00.002-05:00

I have just really been thinking about adoption in general lately so I am going to attempt to post them.

I had no idea how much we would love and enjoy her. I can tell you I am just as protective and anxious about her starting school as I was with my boys. It is hard to imagine for those that have never adopted but it is true.
Before we actually took the plunge and adopted I was proceeding with a bit of caution. Never sure how I would really feel once we had her. When we first entertained the idea about adopting, we came together as a family and prayed about it many times. We did our research to see what type of adoption was best for our family etc. But when we took that first step and said YES we are going to adopt and we made the commitment to proceed with the paperwork and all, it seemed like a huge burden was lifted off of me. You would think it would be the other way around, hey we had just committed ourselves to a huge life change and lots of money was expected. But instead it was the opposite, relief. Why because we had answered God's call on our life. We didn't have the money when we finally took that step, but we knew we had been called and we were going to step out in faith and trust that if it was God's will He will provide. And provide He did. Sometimes we didn't know where the money was going to come from to make the next payment on it, but it was ALWAYS there, always. We had to do a lot of the leg work, we did fundraisers of all sorts. We had to make our house ready for a 3rd child but it all came together in record time, because our adoption timeline was a record too. Once we had the ball rolling, my feelings changed. I no longer viewed her as an adopted child versus a biological child. I realized there was no difference. Why had I made it such a big thing in my mind to have biological children, an adopted child is no different, you feel the same. And God always matches you with the perfect child. And if they have a design flaw, it can happen to your bioligical child too. And that is why we chose to go the special needs route. We would love her just the same. And really it is no biggie that she was a special needs child. People say to me you can't tell she was special needs. That is because only we know what it is, and the doctors, and that is not even confirmed yet anyway.
My other fear and this was my own lack of confidence in myself and my discernment. I was afraid of getting ahead of God in this process of being matched with a child. I was worried that if the agency called with a child for us to look at her file, would I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that that was the one. AND each month when the agency gets referrals from China they match the children up with families that would consider those children's special need, they will have some left over at the end of the month and they post for families in the process to look at and consider looking further at their file. Would I know? Well one thing I knew was that I would never find my child on that list. If I picked one off the shared list then I was afraid that it would be "us" picking and not God. So I felt that, for us, we would have to wait for the agency to call us with a match. Knowing this in my heart, I would show my DH a child on the list that we might want to consider and he would always say, "ehhh maybe," then a no. I had to leave room for God to do what He wanted. When we finally got a referral, I was nervous then. I was still scared of making the wrong choice. I just wanted to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was the one. I hear of everyone saying, "they just knew that was the one." And when we got the referral, I didn't "just know." But we prayed about it as a family and we were all in agreement. Then when we called the agency, she was gone, someone else in the world had locked in on her but they would call if after the 48 hours lock was up if she became available again. We go the call on Saturday morning at the soccer field. I had to run home, take her paperwork to a pediatrician to review and that was it. When I walked out of the doctors office I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt she was the one. All my fears were lifted. God used that visited to take away my fears. And I have never had to second guess the decision.
I just want to encourage anyone that is thinking about adopting or ever thought about it, to truly consider giving a child a home. An institute is no place to live. And my daughter, had she stayed in China, would have not had a life worth living. Because of her special need, which is so minor in the USA, she would have never been able to attend school for a higher education, never had the chance to go to college, could never of had a job, and would not have been able to buy a home. She would have lived on the street and made her living on the street. If a person is not perfect in China, they are an outcast. In Beijing we saw many deformed and sick people begging or selling things on the streets to make a living. This could have been my daughters life, but now, well she lives like a Queen! But coming from the life she had, she will never look at her royal subjects as peons, she will always consider them her equals. She doesn't mind getting down to the nitty gritty with me while I clean and work. But at the same time, the Queen in her comes out and she must have her nails done when we are finished with our tasks. Love her heart.

The Queens Life.... thus far!

2010-01-07T12:45:00.003-05:00

Ok so she is not exactly leading the life of a queen. It may not be the "Queen's Life" one would expect, but she has a pretty good life and she seems to be adjusting well. Today was another newbie for her. Today she had to leave the house without Mama and she had to do it with Baba. Now she loves her Baba and jumps up and down and squeals when he arrives home in the evenings. What a drastic change from the first week we had her. But leaving me to go with him, well that is just unheard of for a Queen. Her royal subjects are just now listening to her cries and screams. But well for the rest of us life must go on and "The Queen" is learning to adjust. Royal Mama has taken her to visit school all week and she has gotten to know her teacher and classmates and can even stay in there without crying, but we have never had Royal Baba take her to school or the classroom itself. Today wasa the first day for that. I left the house first since that is how it is on a regular school day, the slave, I mean royal Mama, but leave the house early before everyone else. So true to tradition we went with that today. When I told her bye bye, her little eyes filled with tears but she tried to stay brave and not let it out, but eventually when I had to go out that door the wailing let loose. So they went on and got in the car to follow me on out and we all arrived at school early. She wailed all the way to school, I could hear it... you thought in my car didn't you, no over the phone. But when she arrived at school she calmed down, this of course is where her royal subjects are. She recognized her school and calmed for daddy so he put her in the front and let her pretend to drive til time to go inside. She went in brave, like a Queen should do for her subjects, and that was it. Routine routine routine. She loves her royal teacher and feels safe with her like she does with Royal Mama. They even said she was smiling during center time.

When I arrived to pick her up at recess, she was eating her snack and looked at me but didn't move til we said it was ok. I told her we were leaving and she waived goodbye. I think she thought I was leaving her on the playground again as I did yesterday, but I communicated she could come and she jumped up then and told her Royal Teacher bye. I thought I would be able to run home and get alot done but instead I had too many errands and well it looks like we will be home a short time before returning for the boys. And she has already asked for the Royal Princes. She is ready for them to come home.

What she Needs...

So many have asked what does she need. I don't say this for people to go out and buy her something but this is for those that have been asking and want to get her something. We are good for the winter time now, but spring will roll around soon and we have nothing but a couple of dresses for church. So if any of you that has asked me what she needs, she needs the spring/summer wardrobe, any piece of it. She is a firm 5T now that she has adapted to eating for us. Shoe now seems to be around a size 10.

Jesus Loves Me.... and Bed Time

2010-01-05T21:34:00.003-05:00

I have so many things to tell you about her and the last 2 days but the top of the list is this...
Every night when I put her to bed I always sing "Jesus Loves Me" but when I get to that part in the song I sing it in Chinese and add her name to it. When we were working on her crying it out versus not crying it out, her Baba also sang it to her the same way. Well last night when I laid down with her I didn't sing it. Something just told me not to. I had kicked it over in my mind but opted not to for some reason. Really I wasn't sure it was making a difference and worried that she was associating it with something bad, us leaving her alone. But as we were laying for a while, she started to attempt to sing it and she sang the part "Jesus loves Wen Li." I just about busted inside. She got it, she wanted it, and she let me know she liked it. Isn't that just like the Lord to give us those affirmations when we need them. So I sang it the usual way and then she said Baba so I sang the chorus and replaced her name with his. So then she attempted the chorus and replaced it with each family member. She doesn't know who this Jesus is that we pray to and sing to, but she knows something is special about that name!!!!! And crying it out is a piece of cake now. She does it for 2-5 minutes and is done, and the way she starts it up is sooo fake. She has to work herself up into a real cry.
Now on to the other events. She had her teeth cleaned today and she did GREAT! We were all amazed at this office today. Dr. Skip kept coming by saying wow, she is doing great. The girl cleaning her did awesome. She sat her up and showed her each instrument and how she would use it, but demonstrated on Wen Li's hand. The only part Wen Li didn't like was lying back. But she got over that quick. When the doc checked her out, she pushed me away. I was in shock, she pushed me away y'all. But I didn't mind really, glad she felt that comfortable.
Then we went to visit her school again. First we went to visit her big ge-ge's class and they loved seeing her. Then he walked with us to her class where they were lining up for a potty break and then off to art. I let her do the potty part by herself, it is time to sink or swim. Then we went to art and I stayed for half of it. I left half way through and she really cried, poor art teacher was probably lost at that point, but again she has to do it on her own next week sooo... time to learn. But the good thing is she calmed right down for her classroom teacher when she came to pick her up. Good sign. She also did the lunch thing again and went through the line to learn how to do that too. Tomorrow we will visit longer and I will stay for her during recess and snack time and some class time, then leave. We are also taking in some of our things we brought back from China to share with the class and maybe some candy too.
And tonight!!! She was the most loving thing to EVERYONE, hear that EVERYONE in the household. She was even loving on those brothers. I guess distance DOES make the heart grow fonder because she sure was excited to pick them up after school today.
And tonight I also pulled out one of her Chinese outfits to try on her, I had remembered that a silk pants suit that I bought her ran small and might fit now. Oh when I got that on her she threw herself into my arms and just hugged me. She was very excited about that outfit, then she went off to find her brothers and show them. She returned to me and started to sing one of our Chinese songs that we ALL know off of a Mei Mei video. Some of the songs the girls wear outfits similar to the one she had on and then it clicked, she looked like the girls in the video. She was excited that I had her an outfit like that.
Let me tell you how smart the girl is too. She has memorized all the songs on the Mei Mei videos and many of the dances. And we have only been watching it now for little more than a week. The girl has a photographic type memory. We are amazed!!!! She should do well in school once she picks up that language.
Speaking of bed time.....goodnight

Your Invited...........

2010-01-05T07:45:00.002-05:00

Meet and Greet for Gracyn Wen Li Driggs
When: Friday January 8th
Where: Grace Baptist Church
Time: 6pm
Cake will be served.
Directions from I40: take 40 east to Wilmington. When I40 ends at Wilmington, there is big church on the right and that is it. The fellowship hall is to the far right next to the woods.

Adoption Seminar
America World Adoption Association
is hosting an adoption seminar at Northside Baptist Church
Where: their fellowship hall
When: Saturday January 9th
Time: 10am- noon
This is for anyone that has ever thought about adoption or if a family member has thought about adopting and you want to get informed, this is for you. This is the agency we used.

Some New First for The Queen

2010-01-04T17:10:00.003-05:00

Today were some first for The Queen. She went to school today. Not for a real full day, she visited her class today. We visited right before lunch and went to lunch with them. The students have been anticipating her arrival and were so excited to see her. They were sweet trying to speak some Chinese to her, but you all know how she reacts to that--she shuts down more. And some wanted to touch her soooo bad, I don't blame them we do too. But our boys can attest to the fact that she really doesn't like that either, I guess if she could have pet peeves they would be the ones. I am the only one that can consistently come up unexpected and touch her and I can kiss on her any ole time and she lets me love all over her, but anyone else-- they have to ask The Queen permission to touch. That's what makes her The Queen. You must be from royalty to get into that inner sanctum. The brothers have not been as privileged yet, she was even standoffish with her royal Baba today at his work which leads me to our 2nd first today. She got to visit her Baba's workplace. She loved him coming to the car and was screaming his name on the way to his work, but once we arrived, well, he was just a peon. No not really, but she still made sure the royal highness Mama was close by. I mean we had left the royal palace and it was just all so new across the moat.

A Day in the life of a Queen

2010-01-03T19:57:00.003-05:00

Well the Queen went to church and Sunday School today. She wore a sweet little dress and put her hair up in piggy tails so everyone could see those new pierced ears. She is doing great with them and hardly fusses when I clean them (3x's a day, uggg). When we got home today she jumped into our game of crash-m-cars. She thought it looked fun til it crashes into your fingers so then she decided it was better to just watch from atop daddy. Who would have thought 3 weeks ago she would be all over him like that, he's not liking it one bit, yeah right.

Our New Chef

2010-01-02T19:31:00.003-05:00

The girl likes to cook too. Usually it was A. Man under me while I cooked but now that he is into sports, well.... I lost him. So now I have a new cooker, The Queen. She seems quite comfortable and confident around a kitchen too mmm.... makes one wonder. Here is a snap shot of our new chef cooking with me tonight. Our dish, Dijon Chicken, rice in our rice cooker, string beans (which she gobbled up first), cranberry sauce (which she despises), and celery with cheese which she loves and licked the cheese off the plate when it was all gone.

At the moment she is telling her Baba to get his ears pierced. She just doesn't have this male role verses the female role down yet. She keeps trying to get the boys and Baba to paint their nails, ain't happened yet....

Pierced Ears

2010-01-02T16:50:00.005-05:00

Our prissy girl asked for pierced earrings last night. DH asked me last week, after noticing some other kids with pierced ears, if I was going to get hers done. I told him that when she ask me one day then I'll get it done but not before then. I said this thinking it would long after she learned English. But she has learned to communicate with a sort of grunt when she really wants something, and of course she acts it out too. So that is how I know when she wants her nails painted. And she usually understands what I am saying when I verbalize it to her and act it out to make sure I am understanding her. Remember your ESL now, one learns to hear it before they can speak it many times, new English learners many times don't like to verbalize it til they are comfortable. Anyway, as I was putting her to bed last night she started pointing to her ears and doing that sort of grunt she does. So I asked if she wanted earrings. I then acted out how it was done and that it hurt and acted out crying, then I asked again if she wanted it and she kept shaking her head up and down -yes. So I told her we would talk to Baba. I kissed her again and she told me bye bye and I left, she never cried. (Hope she hasn't learned that if she ask for something that I may give in so she doesn't cry, ha ha ha.) Well she didn't forget when she got up. Once she was awake that was the first thing she asked for so we went to Baba and of course he agreed. So we went to the mall and got a little girls ears done. I asked her over and over in different ways, even in Chinese, if she understood that it hurts and did she still want it? Yes every time. And let me tell you NO TEARS!! She is a stubborn thing and she had herself set to NOT CRY!!!!! And she did not. She was amazing. And sooooo proud of those gold little balls on her ears.

A Happy "Daddy" New Year

2010-01-01T22:15:00.003-05:00

Ok so daddy, aka Baba, is having a happy new year. What a way to start 2010 but with a little girl all over her daddy today. She still checks in with Mama, but she has been quite comfortable with her Baba today. It all started with me waking her and putting her in our bed. After waking up some she grabbed her baba's hand and pretended to paint his fingernails. We went to a friends for a cookout and she let her baba lead her to a bench swing and sat there for about 30 minutes with her baba watching the boys catch a football. And once we were home she let her daddy play with her, bathe her, dry her hair, and after I painted her fingernails, she sat in her baba's lap throughout the entire movie MULAN. She has been all over him hugging him and looking up at him for approval. I missed her curling up in my lap tonight but it was worth it to have her curl up in her baba's lap and to have her interact and love on him.

And on top of all that we had another biggie, tonight we put her to bed and she always expects me to lay with her and stroke her and say sweet loving things to her. Well tonight she interrupted our time to ask for pierced earrings. I explained in my charades sort of way that it will hurt and she shook her head that she still wanted them. Then she told me bye bye so I got up to leave, turned and said I love you and she said it back then said bye bye again, laid back, and has not one time cried!!!!!!!!!!! Did you hear that, no tears tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO TEARS tonight!!!!!!! I think she is learning to trust us.

And I forgot to mention the cookout. They do this every New Years and I am sorry to announce that they may not do it next year because of it being such a cold day. Anyway they served pork ribs and the girl loves her ribs, she cleaned the bone and she did the same with her chicken drummet. They also served plain sweet potatoes and she gobbled it up too. But I knew she would do that, all over China there were street vendors selling hot baked sweet potatoes everywhere off of carts, so I knew that was also a staple. She loved it. So we have discovered something else she will eat. We had this dinner around 2:30 and she ate til she was full, then came home and I fixed a big thing of rice in my rice cooker to serve her over the next few days. We she ate a bowl of rice too. And during the movie we had popcorn and she finished that off too. But it was obvious that she had had popcorn too. She didn't bother to take it to her nose and sniff it prior to eating it.

I have to add that she has become more and more loving to us, especially her parents, the boys she can be more reserved with. And she has understood that we pray before we eat because if there is food in front of her and she is wanting to eat she will start saying AMEN AMEN and then waits for us to come hold her hand and pray. She has got that down and even does it for snacks. It is really cute and such a change from the first few times we did it. She thought we were crazy closing our eyes and holding hands before eating and would snicker at us during that time which would set the boys off into giggles. But she has gotten pretty serious about it now and just means progress. We know she has no idea what it is all about but you have to start somewhere and it is a good sign of things to come.

Have a great New Year in 2010!

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T21:22:00.003-05:00

Happy New Years everyone. We have had a great day. My sister and niece were in town and we took the kids to the children's museum here and town and The Queen had a great time. Her attention span is wonderful. The kids in our group would run to a room, start to play something in there and after 5-10 minutes they were done and ready to move on. Not the Queen. She would stay and til she thoroughly investigated everything. Then she would move on. She loved the art room and made a bean shaker and a beaded bracelet (her choice). Then we went to play on a bus and she loved being the driver and from there she sat in a dentist chair and like all kids that was for only a second. But then she found the science station where you could mix colored water to make new colors and she spent about 30-40 minutes at that station. And then onto the stage and lights where she found dress up clothes. My sister and niece brought The Queen a hand-me-down princess dress this weekend and fell in love with dress up. So the remainder of our time was in the stage area in a pink gown and she worked fiercely with finding stuff to fill a purse she found in a bin. She took a piece of gold cloth and folded it neatly and placed it into her purse. One of the many skills she learned in her former life. We definitely don't want to lose that valuable skill, I could use that around here, lol.

Prior to our celebration this evening we all went to Moe's to eat but stopped to pick up The Queen some Chow Mai Fun noodles. She chowed down. She couldn't shove those things in fast enough and had me fill her plate again. And she was using chop sticks. I can use chop sticks but not that fast. She is really cute using those things too. After dinner we came to the house and the kids had fun with hats, horns, and some party poppers.

It All Comes Down to Poop

2009-12-30T23:05:00.002-05:00

Yes I said it, poop. One of the very first things our guide in Changsha taught us was the Chinese word for poop, baba which is also the same word for daddy. Remember my Chinese lesson, it all boils down to the accent. Anyway nothing sets her off like bodily functions. She fits in with the boys just fine. She is just like them, she can pick up on it in a movie or tv show as quick as any boy. Plus she will say one of our names and makes the gassy sound as if she is claiming we did something.
But today was the day of all days!!!! I had to collect a stool sample. We went to the doc yesterday to get a checkup and only had to get 2 shots. She did great, really better than in the clinic in China, a more soothing atmostphere and all the physicians there are females (you know how she feels about males). And I picked this office out, or I should say God picked it out, before we ever brought her home. Anyway I was put in charge of collecting a stool sample. I almost posted today, but never got to it, to ask everyones opinion on just how to do this. You know they say it must go into the cup directly so you get a sterile sample. Come on, we are talking poop, how sterile can this be? My sister came in town today and she told me how to do and said no way to avoid a sterile sample so I just didn't worry about that part.
Now the biggie was getting her to go so I could collect it. This is a child that llikes to pass gas with her mouth, that is make the sounds constantly always adding one of our names to it so as if to say we did it. Anyway the reason I was going to post was the fact that when she said she needed to go, well I just put that cup behind her so I could catch it. Well The Queen sitting on her throne, decided she didn't need to go after all, and you know, she held it all day long. She was going to bed and was going to hold on to it!!! Wonder how long she could have held out. She is going to hate me one day for this post. Finally some brain cells clicked in. No really I was just flying by the seat of my pants. I took off her nail polish for the pictures on Monday and she started pointing to her toe nails and babbling in Chinese. Well I knew what this meant, she wanted some polish on them again. So I told her the best I could. Queen, you baba and mama will put that polish on asap. So I asked one last time, Queen baba? Yes, she shook her head up and down yes!!!!!! It worked, I bribed her, yup I bribed her with nail polish. She sat on her throne and I collected my job and then we did nails. While drying them she said shia shia mama = thank you mama. I told her I loved her and she said I love you back. We went from a stubborn Queen Bee to a loving little princess. She was on cloud nine. Cloud nine doesn't mean smiles, she doesn't frown, she is just too shy to show big smiles when on the spot. But for her to say affectionate things without telling her to say them, well that was huge. Who can believe that we could bond over baBa? Me!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-27T14:44:00.002-05:00

Here are some pics of our Christma morning. Nothing special, just us in our PJ's.

M.I.A.

2009-12-25T19:49:00.002-05:00

Yes we have been missing in action these days. Jet lag has been hard on me and the kids. The kids and I slept 12 hours the first 3 nights and DH would make us get up or we could have kept on. What finally got us out of our funk was a friend called and invited us to a playdate at Ch*c-f*l-a and lunch. So the kids were quite up for that. She has 2 little girls from China that they love playing with and by the end of our time someone else had joined in the play. W. was a little scared of the playland area and the noise but after we ate she went back in and Jadyn pulled her up into the play area and Miata had her sliding in no time. From then on Miata and the boys were her sliding buddies and she always came down the slide with a smile. I am glad she took to the girls because they can watch for her on the playground at school.

We did experience our first sign of a racial putdown. I was not expecting it and was quite taken aback by it. I was not expecting it sooooo soon. While playing on the playground at our playdate, 2 bigger boys came in and once when she was going up the stairs to the slide one boy leaned against the net and started making like baby babble, to the tune of like nanny nanny boo boo. And his face was not smiling either, more a mean look. I think he was making fun of her Chinese babbling. When she gets excited about something her Chinese comes out and she goes on and on in Chinese even though she knows we don't know it, so at that point that meant she was having a very good time with her brothers and the friends we met with. Now mom was not handling this too well. W. didn't notice too much or she seemed to ignore the boy, but mom wanted to punch him or tell him off but instead held her tongue because really I was in shock and thankful at that point that she won't be going to public school (and Lord willing we will continue to be able to afford it always). But my friend finally and very kindly said something to him in a matter of fact way.

Christmas has been so special with her this year. On Christmas Eve we met my mom and had lunch then DH and I took the kids to see a movie. W. had a balloon from lunch and half way the movie she let it go accidentally. She looked like she was going to cry but she held it and would glance up at the balloon every so often. But after the movie we ran back and got her another one, how crushing it would be to have your very first helium balloon at age 5 and lose it that way. She was quite happy. We then ran and did a couple of errands and came home and baked 3 kinds of cookies. The girl likes to cook and moreover she has learned that she loves the batter. She even loved that to lick the beaters after mashed potatoes today. She found that she likes peanut butter cookies, sugar, and chocolate chip cookies, but peanut butter are her favorite. Then after she had some noodles and we snacked we ran out to see a cousins lights and let them meet "The Queen". At bedtime we did our Christmas Eve tradition, we lit candles, had hot chocolate, cookies and daddy read the Bible story of Jesus birth in Luke. At first The Queen was nervous when we turned out the lights and lit the candles but once she saw the hot choc and cookies she settled in and followed along. She seemed to like that family time. Then we always come up with some Christmas games to play, this year it was J's turn to come up with the games and he did a great job. And then off to bed. We have been working all week with her sleeping in her own bed. That is just something we have to do, we cannot commit to her sleeping in our bed, that is something we never did with the boys either. We are committed to working with her on this and staying in as long as we need or coming in during the night and laying on the floor to help her. It has gotten better each night. She was asleep in 15 min. on Christmas Eve, we couldn't believe it. Her favorite thing still is for me to stroke her face and look into her eyes. I have read that looking into their eyes is a great bonding tool, many do it while giving their adopted child a baby bottle because that is how a baby bonds with the parent. I have tried this since she loves to gaze into my eyes but she is really not into it, she knows about tending to babies (it is obvious by how she plays with her dolls) and she giggles like this is not right I am too old. But we do gaze at bedtime and she loves it.

Christmas Day was great also. We all slept til 10am. She awoke at 4something and we did let her in our bed then so the boys could sleep in. We had breakfast at noon and supper at 6pm. Christmas was smaller this year since we went to China for part of it but everyone loved what they got and were pleased. DH and I got a new little girl for our Christmas. The boys got their usual video games, clothes and sports stuff. The Queen got a kitchen set combo from T*rget and a tea set, a cradle with a doll in it. She loved everything and soon as she got the tea set out it had to come from the box and she immediately started playing. Then she got all her dolls in the cradle and would get one out to the table to eat. I have to brag on this cradle. I searched everywhere for a doll bed and you know those things are crazy expensive and they are not even wood but plastic or chip board. Then at a church party the ladies said don't buy one let us look in our attics and my friend Susan came the next day to church with the perfect doll cradle and it was wood. I had some pink flannel at home and planned to then make a doll blanket for the cradle but I am not really a sewer and wanted to make a mattress or something for the cradle. Then I remembered a lady at church that IS sewer and asked if she could make some kind of mattress for it. She said she would and asked if she could make a bumper pad too. What YES of course!!!! Let me tell you it is absolutely beautiful. She made a bumper pad, pillow, and a blanket trimmed in lace. I had no idea how beautiful it would have turned out, it looks like something you see at an expensive store worth $500!!! And I had no idea when I got that flannel what it would end up for, it has vines with small hot pink flowers on the vine. Just enough to make it looks so sweet for those babydolls. When I can I will upload a pic of it. Being off schedule keeps me from blogging these days. Hopefully when she sleeps better and we are on schedule I can post some pics of last days in China and Xmas.

The Queen is getting very close to her daddy these days too. When he committed one night to sitting with her while I did some sleeping, she learned a little then that he is not so bad. He was able to sing to her and calm her down then the next night I worked with her but she awoke at 5am so he got up with her that time and they spent a lot of quality time together playing, reading books and eating breakfast and that time did it. She now comes to her daddy and drags him somewhere to play with her and she lets him touch/hug or kiss her cheek, feed her, help her with boo boos etc. She pretty much comes to either of us now, but when it is really bad, well then it is still mama. We have learned though that when a female friend puts out their hand for her to go along with them she will go, so we have to watch that til we know she is fully bonded with us. She has done this with several friends /family people. I know they get excited but it hurts us from time to time to see that she will go with a complete stranger to her so easily so that just lets us know that fully commited to us. But we know she is growing closer each day.

Have a great end of 2009 year.

FIRST!!!

2009-12-17T05:59:00.001-05:00

Well another day of first with Wen Li. Tonight we decided we needed to spend up our RMB's since we can't convert them at the hotel and have to do it with the guide and what better way to spend $$ but on dessert and coffee/hot chocolate at Starbucks. And we get the use of their free Wifi. Usually she is glued to my side whenever we go some place strange but not tonight. Since I am the one that does the ordering here (I have that gift of communication even if I don't know the language) and while I was in line and they were getting a seat, I told her to go with Baba and she DID IT. She stayed with the boys the whole time I was in line waiting on the drinks. She also blew into her straw for the first time (instead of sucking) and blew hot chocolate all over her nice white blouse, we laughed and she laughed. She fixed my hair in the room for the first time, into 3 pony tails, lol. She ate spaghetti for the first time tonight and loved it, especially the meatballs (which is good since we like italian and she doesn't like pizza).

And those wonderful gold beads that she loves and has worn since day one, well she was playing with them tonight at dinner and broke them. But she seems ok, but she tried to hide it til I asked her where they were. And last night, she put me to sleep instead of me putting her to sleep. I was so sleepy since I had been up since 4am. She stroked my cheek over and over and kissed me several times on the forehead just like I do her when she goes to sleep. The girl is a quick learner! She is so sweet and is just blending in more and more everyday. And she is really starting to take to the males in the household more and more. She seems more comfortable with them each day. She lets her daddy pick her up and twirl her and helps her touch the ceiling. These are bonding moments and she loves the.

We are ready to be home but dreading our long long trip!!!!!!!!! I dread re-entry into the time zone. I am finally on China time and it has taken me over a week to get there. Now to go back will be hard. Jet lag makes me woozy for days! And we have a 4 hour bus trip to Hong Kong where we will have to go through customs twice. Once on the bus as we enter Hong Kong. We will have to get off with all our luggage and go through customs then we have to get back on the bus and travel to the airport for customs again. The issue will be for us is to make sure we get on the correct bus at the first check point since we will have no guide us. But there will be 4 families so hopefully we can watch out for each other.

And the boys made another families blog. Meilynn, a chinese daughter with another family picking up their son, made friends with the boys and called them her "boys." Well they made the blog as "her boys." We have made many friends and that is the sad part of leaving. But it will be Christmas when we get home and we get to bring our daughter home so we have lots to look forward to. See you all soon.

From Down to Up

2009-12-16T08:52:00.001-05:00

Hey! This is Chris. My first time sending to the blog. Natalie is very tired after a day filled with downs and ups. I say it that way because when Wen Li got up this morning we could tell she was heading to a melt down. Sure enough, by mid-day, she had an hour long melt down that she just couldn't stop crying. By the end she probably had forgotten how it started. Thankfully, the down turned to up before the end of the day.

After her outburst, we went to the US Consulate and took our oath. That means all she has to do is step on the ground at Newark Friday and she is a U.S. citizen. When we all (many families) finished the oath, the administrator congratulated us all. We clapped and began hugging and kissing Wen Li. The amazing thing . . . she let us!!! It was as if she knew something special happened. The rest of the day was great. In fact, this evening I had my first dance with my new daughter. She finally asked me to pick her up and she wrapped herself around me and let me play with her in my arms. I made some la la's for music and twirled her around off the ground. It was great. She wanted more but the only tune I could come up with was the theme from the Adams Family. That's right. Our second dance was to a TV theme song!!! But it was funny and she laughed a lot. Later, she put barets (sp.) in the boys hair. What a way to end a day!

We are so ready to go home. We get her visa tomorrow and leave here for Hong Kong at 5 am. Our flight should head out around 11:30 Hong Kong time. It will be a long day/night/day....however you want to look at it that's what it will be.

We will be busy tomorrow night getting ready so this might be our last update. Natalie might get on but I doubt it. Check anyway. We miss everyone back home and can't wait to see you all. Wen Li is shy and doesn't like to be touched by me some days so please understand that you might have to admire at a distance for awhile. It's hard for me so I understand.

That's it. My first and only entry of the trip. A pajama clad Alex and I are going to leave Starbucks and head back upstairs for bed.

God bless you all!

Chris (and Alex)

Update 2

2009-12-15T09:14:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow we have a group photo taken at 10:30 am and then at 2:30 we go to the consulate for swearing for pictures made and then swearing in on Thursday.

Wen Li is doing so well. We can't believe the difference a week makes. Last week at this time she was shell shocked, scared, stiff, and void of smiles. Now she lets me hold her freely, I kiss on her freely, hug her freely, and tell her I love her all the time. She repeats it back to me freely when she wants to, she molds to me, she kisses back when she feels like it, she tries out her new language when she feels like it. And to see her laugh, cracks us up. She giggles and throws her head back or forwards and puts her hand over her mouth when she laughs. And she loves to tease us, for example, we have lemongrass lotion in this hotel and she likes for me and herself to rub it on our hands after we wash them, she now has had baba do it too. WE always smell it once it is on because it smells just like lemon. When baba had it on and she would sniff his she would make a noise like it stinks and then throws that head back and laughs because she knows it is silly. And tonight, sharing her fries with us. Huge!!! I can tell that in her orphanage she never felt hunger pains. Orphanage kids that have will hoard food or don't know when to stop eating. That is never an issue for her ever. And the lotion thing, it seems that someone has done lotion with her before because she has a particular way of rubbing it in. I squirt a dab on her palm and then she dips her finger in and puts a dab on each side of her 2 hands and then rubs in. She also has a great attention span. The kids in our group that are around her age seem to have trouble with this and with boundaries like grabbing other people or their belongings. Not Wen Li. She can play with her dolls for an our or more. and she likes to try out new English words, but many times on her terms. And she doesn't like to watch tv. I was given the impression that they do this alot in the orphanage, her bio even said she liked to. I can tell she does not like tv. She is never drawn to it, even if we try to put it on a Chinese cartoon, she can take it or leave it and mostly it is just leave it. I do think she stood in the tub for a bath though because she likes to do this with me. She has learned though that she can lay on her tummy and just splash and splash. One thing though is she doesn't like strange noises, but that is expected. She is not scared of the doorbell though (yes our hotels have all had doorbells) but if the boys burp that gets her or she dies laughing. When the tub drains out and makes a gurgling noise, she jumps out fast. About her dolls, she loves to dress and redress them and she would probably like barbies for that reason but I am afraid she might put the small objects like shoes in her mouth, not that she does that but I have found a small small barrett in her mouth once, I am sure she was doing like babies and using it as a way to feel it and learn about it but I wouldn't trust her with small small tiny obects for right now. And she is dying for me to paint her nails, she studies mine and then points to hers but I don't have it with me and I can't find it here in Guangzhou. Found it in Changsha but it was $$ there.

Today she gave out hugs and kisses to me so freely I was in shock. She even said I love you in Chinese and English quite a few times today, shock shock. She even threw her arms around me and kissed me once today but lots of just kisses today. I can't believe a week ago how different she was. And she is getting more and more at ease with her baba around. She doesn't reach out to him but she doesn't push him away like earlier this past week. We had dinner with 2 other familes last night and they has adopted before and explained how their kids rejected baba and males for over 6 months and how they handled it. It was just what Chris and I needed to hear and that helped alot. So the progress we saw even today was exciting.

She really is a smart little thing. She has such a sense of humor and loves to tease. She cracks us up. But she is very sensitive to even the slightest little bump like how we run into a table or something, that sends her into major sobbing. But even that is an improvement from last week. Last week she was void of the correct emotion for situations. Like she fell off the bed and kids usually cry, she would laugh. If she bumped something, she would laugh, just the wrong response. But not now she cries. But she also has a whiney cry if the boys touch her so we are having to teach them to back off and not crowd her so. But I have to say we pray our night time prayers and then she loves to go with us to tuck them in and she alwasy kisses them goodnight, so they love this routine with her. The boys are doing well, they just want to get their hands on her so much but she is not ready for that, they have to wait on her terms not theirs. But it gets better each day. And she just has the best disposition. And she is still the girly girl. Loves her bows and barretts and her necklace. She puts that thing on every morning. I bought her a new one, actually it came free with some shoes I bought her and now that is her new favorite necklace. Can't wait to put a dress on her. I have put her in a chinese dress and she was a cutie. I even have a jacket to match it.

Will try to update tomorrow evening. Good thing I love Starbucks!

update

2009-12-15T06:28:00.001-05:00

Hey things are going well. Better and better each day. Today she has been so loving, giving kisses and hugs freely. Especially to me without even asking. Once she even came up and threw her arms around my neck. At dinner tonight we went to McDonalds next door and she would dip a fry in ketchup and then she would take turns feeding each one of us. What a change from one week ago.

Today we bought her and Alex a pair of Nike tennis shoes and paid only $18 usd for them, woohoo.

Update from Guangzhou

2009-12-14T20:28:00.001-05:00

Today is Tuesday for us and we are having to sit in our room this morning while Amy and Linaker go for our interviews this morning. If there is a question then they will call us. If all is well then we have sat there for nothing but that is ok. After that is a free day. Not sure what we will do but hate to stay in the room all day but it require paying for a taxi, which is cheap when converted into US dollars but sounds expensive when you spend their money.

Yesterday we had our follow up on the TB test which was fine, didn't even have to do a chest x-ray which was even better because she burst into tears again when we entered the clinic even though Amy explained to her what we were doing. Everyone in the group felt so bad for her they moved her to the front of the line just to get her out. We then shopped and looked around Shamian Island. It really could remind you of Charleston with the buildings and palms except that everything is under construction. Every building is covered in some green cloth and has scaffolding around them. The scaffolding is made of bamboo. Anyway Guangzhou will be hosting the Asia games next year so they are sprucing everything up. They are tearing buildings in half to add new roads and stuff. After shopping we ate at the best Italian place that is fairly new I heard. Dolce La Vita and it is the authentic stuff, great pizza.

Wen Li is doing well. She had some temperament yesterday but was just testing her boundaries and nothing that wasn't handable, is that a word. She went to sleep the same way again, a great bonding time. And she woke up in a great mood. BTW she doesn't like pizza but she likes spaghetti. She is still glued to my side even here in Starbucks.

Last night she pulled out all her doll clothes and pretended to wash and rinse them and then proceeded to lay them out and dry them on the back of the chair. I guess I need to get her upstairs to fold those clothes and dress those babies now.

PS

2009-12-13T10:27:00.001-05:00

We just figured out that when we arrive in Wilmington we will have been up 42 hours straight!!!!! Leave Guangzhou at 5am Friday, to Hong Kong, catch a flight to Newark, layover 5hours, flight to RDU and then drive to Wilmington!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 42 hours y'all!!!! Hoping we can sleep on that international flight but I only slept 45 mins on the way over?

Roller Coaster Day! Sat 12/12/09

2009-12-13T10:12:00.001-05:00

Hey!! It has been one roller coaster of a day for Wen Li and us too. Not that that means it was a bad thing because it wasn't, we have made major progress with bonding and attachment issues.

We left our hotel in Changsha at 5:30pm and headed to the airport for an 8pm flight out. We got stuck in 2 major traffic jams, and you know I have described the traffic here so that was pretty bad. We almost didn't make it in time. But once we got there and luggage in, we then found out that our flight was delayed until 9pm. We left our guide and went through the gates to discover our friend that we celebrated birthdays with and some other families so that was a great time! We arrived in Guangzhou about 11pm and at our hotel after midnight. There was one other family in our group with a late flight and it was one that we have grown close to so we were excited to spend some time catching up with them on the ride to the hotel. Our hotel is GREAT!!! and more Americanized, and good food, and McDonalds right next door, and Starbucks in the shopping area connected to the hotel. Internet is NOT FREE!! So I am in Starbucks doing my update. Therefore all of you Skyping us, well that is over for the week. Sorry but too public a place to do that.

We had to rise early and meet in the lobby for an 8:30 doctors visit for Wen Li, check up and shots prior to leaving China. So we had to shower and eat before that and had to have all paperwork ready for the appointment so I got to bed late, just getting stuff ready for the day. Then we are always afraid that our alarm is not going to work and so I didn't sleep either. I kept waking up every hour checking the time. (the family we rode with from the airport, she does the same thing, I think that is why we hit it off, we are alike). I have to tell you why the clock phobia, it is all in military time, so when we see 00:36 it blows your mind. Makes it hard to set it and not constantly second guess your ability to set an alarm. Turns out Chris set it but he never turned it on so I was right in not sleeping, ugggg.

SO we went for that dreaded check up!!! Every one knows the babies get shots on this trip, even if their record is up to date, they automatically get H1N1, TB test and something else. But depending on your orphanage if they got the cheap shots you can be in for more. Some babies got 7 & 8 shots today. Wen Li only got 4 + the TB. But our girl is so smart. We walked into the place and she instantly recognized what place this was. She got the biggest crocodile tears in her eyes that Chris and I couldn't help but tear up too, it just broke our hearts. The family that I have mentioned above, the grandparents are with them and they took their granddaughter and the boys for a walk and they didn't have to experience all that. For the visit you go through 3 stations and then on to the shots. The stations are simple. The first was listening to her chest and looking in her throat and ears. Wen Li lost it at that point. She shed more tears than we have ever seen, but she never left my lap. She just wimpered so lowly, she was totally pitiful. It broke all the other families hearts too. Next we had her hearing checked. They play a note on an electric piano and and squeak a toy behind her to see if she turns. Third station is vision. They have to trace a shape in a book and do a vision chart by holding hands in the correct direction as the chart. When I saw the other kids doing it I knew right away there was no way she would do it. She is so totally shy around others outside of our room. She won't even talk to a Chinese person or our guides. And true to fashion she just sat there in my lap wimpering. I had to call our guide over to explain how shy she is and that she won't talk or do anything for strangers. They were concerned she wasn't talking but I cleared that up since our drama queen holds conversations on the remote control and does the whole flipping the hair and giggling while on it. So they just skipped that and sent us to shots. She had to get 4 shots. As they started the first one she was crying so hard she threw up. But that did not deter them and she never flinched. She took it so brave, she cried but was brave. She probably cried another 10 min. afterwards but her daddy had bought her favorite candy at Walmart for her and put a piece of that in her hand and she finally opened that and the crying was over. Back on the bus, I told her in Chinese to repeat me and she spoke 6 new English words. She was very good at it. But that was it on her new language for the rest of the day.

After the doctors visits we went to the Friendship Store, which is a 7 story department store in Guangzhou with everything. We stocked up on a few snack items and I bought her a pair of white soft leather Sunday shoes, only about $20usd, 138rmb dollars. I had to you know, saves me a trip when we get back if we try to take her to church that first Sunday home. But while buying our snacks she had a total meltdown. I had to hand her to Chris while I bought the food. She screamed all the way down from the 4th floor and then wimpered for most of the trip back to the hotel. But once back, she was an angel the rest of the day. It really thrust us forward quite a bit, despite the meltdowns and wimpering, she has grown closer today to all of us. Here are some examples, since she usually won't let the boys and Chris do much for her...

I had to go to a paper party in the afternoon at 3:30 and we knew that wouldn't be easy since I am her safety net. So we all went to the guides' room and Amy explained to her what I had to do and she left with the boys. She didn't want to, but she bravely walked away with them and they took her to a play room. She did just fine! When I got done I went to the room and they had just returned themselves so it was great timing. She spent the afternoon pretending to be one of the boys by putting on their shoes or toboggans and she would march in and just laugh. She is really so much fun.

Later we and our friends went to McDonalds for dinner, yum yum!!!! Then it was back to the room for baths and early bed since we got off schedule due to flight and early appointment. Chris and I have a king bed and we are putting her between us. I had her by myself in Changsha since we didn't have connecting rooms. Anyway, I usually stroke her forehead and cheek and then when I stop she will reach over and hold my hand or arm. Well tonight I had stopped and waited for her to hold my hand, instead she reached over, grabbed my hand and forced me to stroke her cheek some more. I don't mean one or 2 times, she did it over and over for about 20 times, my shoulder ached from having to hold it up in an awkward angle. But that is how she fell asleep, with me stroking her face softly. Sometimes when she is playing with her babydoll, I will see her do the same to it. So sweet she is.

Oh today on the bus, she took her purse with her baby stuffed in it. I had given her some gum and I saw her take small piece of her gum off and she tried to give it to her baby. I had to stop that one but normally I don't, I have seen her feed it a grain of rice. She is just too cute. And she has learned to love the bathtub. We have this great big tub and well wet room. You have a glass wall and class door you enter into and you are standing in the shower and right behind it is the tub, but there is no wall or class seperating the two, so if you are in the tub splashing it just splashes into the shower. So you can freely play. Plus there is a window on the other side of the tub that looks into the room. Anyway, she felt so free in there that she started splashing and singing to the top of her lungs and before I knew it she was on her belly like she was swimming. And this is a girl that is scared of water. She really showed signs of being comfortable with us today and we are so glad. I was talking with our guide Amy about her being so shy, even with our guide in Changsha and other Chinese people that speak her language and she explained that Wen Li is probably fearing that one of them will take her from us and take her back to the orphanage. That that is a typical behavior of a child when they feel that way. So that was also encouraging to hear.

I don't think I have told you about her fear of the water. When we visited the pool in Changsha, the boys just jumped in and when she saw that pool and them splashing she took off running the other way. I had to catch her, so I just held her and we watched and then went up to the room while they stayed. We also saw many lakes and rivers at the Changsha Park and she would start fretting whenever we would get near or have to cross a bridge so I had to have the guide explain to her that we would never cause her harm in that way. Well today when we left the clinic, we all had to wait across the street until the group was done. We had to wait beside a river (canal) and there was no guard rail at all. She didn't act scared a bit, not even shen we had to walk beside it to the bus. So that also showed a great deal of trust with us.

We are just amazed at how well she is doing with us and how she is growing to trust us more and more and how she is just coming to life around us. She has power struggles from time to time like the meltdown in the store, but she comes out of it even closer to us and that is what just amazes us even more. We just love her to death. And she is quite the card. She loves to

Hide-n-seek! Keep it short and sweet.

2009-12-13T10:11:00.001-05:00

Short and sweet and to the point. Wen Li has had a great day. She only tested me once out today and that was because she insist on sitting on the front row of the bus behind the driver to look out and wants to stand up and since driving is crazy in China, I can't because she will hit the bar if slings us. But it wasn't too rough and she listened. We had a great time at a Chinese tea room and sightseeing at Chen Museum/home. We came back to the room to snack/lunch and relax and decided to venture out to Shamian Island on our own for dinner and shopping with friends. While relaxing we were watching late night with Conan. I know it wasn't midnight here, lol. Anyway I tried to get her to lay down by me for a nap or to lets play but she just stood at the end of the bed. Finally I pulled her into me as I sat on the edge of the bed (and this was all in a 20 min. period) and when I did she came and molded into me and burst into silent crocodile tears. I have no idea what was going through her little mind, it broke our hearts. But I know she needed to do that, it is part of that healing process, to grieve and move on. But I will say, she never once rejected me or my touch or my consoling at all. She just let me hold her and love on her and kiss on her. The men could not touch her at this time. Later I saw her take her doll and change it clothes, pretend to wash them and while she was redressing that baby she leaned over and kissed it on the head like I do. That was huge y'all. Anyway, back to the story. We decided to head over to Shamian early since she was sad. We found some great deals. Bought me, Chris, Joshua and Wen Li all mandarin style silk outfits for 200rmb (that would be about 30 usd) and she threw in a toy for each of the kids. Then at a street vendor I found Wen Li another Chinese baby doll. We felt she needed something new that she could hold, touch and play with. We had not bought her anything til that dress. She held the bag and would peak in but never took it out til dinner time and she had me take it out of the package. It had a doll baby on the back of the mom doll. I told her it was mama and Wen Li. Well that was the wrong thing today. She no longer would play with the mama doll, lol. Only the baby Wen Li. But she is very gentle with her dolls, but hey this is a girl that has taken care all week of her party city beads. Later in the evening, she kept doing the same action over and over til Chris figured out she was trying to play hide-n-seek. We ended up playing for over an hour. And she learned to start counting in English to 10. It is obvious that they played it in the orphanage because she appeared to be counting in Chinese and said ready or not hear I come. This was the best bonding time with the entire family. Tonight after our family prayer time, Chris and I hugged each boy, this time she went to them and hugged them each too. Major break through, all on her own initiation. She is getting more and more comfortable with us. It is like watching a flower bloom a little more each day.

Oh and some have asked her size. Well 4T's fit but look like they won't fit much longer. I thought 5's were too big but turns out the fit fine, if they aren't pants. The pants I have are 5's and once I adjusted the waist to the last loop on both sides she has been able to wear them, they fit fine in the length but they are still too big in the waist so we tuck the shirt in trying to fill that gap. But she manages.

Tomorrow we go back to the clinic for the TB reading, but it looks good so we shouldn't have to get a chest x-ray. But prayer for her because just the sight of it she will break down into tears and that will kill us.

Tonight when she went to sleep she let her Baba rub her hair while she fell asleep and I tried not to stroke her but hold her hand and she was fine with that til it was right time to shut the eyes and then she put my hand to her face but I don't think I stroked her face more than 5 times and she was out. But while Chris was stroking her, she took my arm and stroked my arm for me. This child has really come out of her shell with us a little more each day and it is wonderful. She has the best personality. And she loves to joke around.

And a quick Chinese lesson. Be careful if you try to call Chris baba. The first Ba goes up high and the last one falls down. If you do it reverse with the first low and the second goes up you are saying "poop" and we wouldn't want to point and him and call him poop to her! Ma also has 4 different meanings but I don't remember but the emphasis is the same as baba's.

Guangzhou Day 1

2009-12-12T08:45:00.001-05:00

Hey!! It has been one roller coaster of a day for Wen Li and us too. Not that that means it was a bad thing because it wasn't, we have made major progress with bonding and attachment issues.

NOTE: we do not have free internet in the room, suppose to in the lobby, but not true. So I am in Starbucks. That means post may not be as frequent, may not reply to email due to time constraints and no skyping.

The Driggs Report

Tea Party and Princess Game

Awards Day at School, June 3rd, 2011

Field Day, WCA 2011

Chinese New Year in Ralegh, February 2011

Chinese New Year, February 2011

Princess Night at Chic-fil-a

Easter 2011

Gotcha Day

School Christmas Program

2010

Church Christmas Program 2010

Famous Quotes from The Queen

M.I.A.

First Day of School

Changsha Revisted

Happy Birthday to Our Queen

Birthday anticipation

update

So Much Has Happened...

The Queen Graduates and Other Changes in store

The Queen Visits The Pond

Happy Mother's Day

Fifth Month Anniversay and so much more....

Baseball, Gymnastics, and Bling*Bling

Shots!!!

Wheel Day!!!!!

Pretty In Pink

Behind Closed Doors

An All Time Low

Adoption Attachment

Happy*Days*R Here Again

Take Two

It's A Rap

The Princess****& The Pea*****

Happy 4 Months!!! Happy Easter (belated)!!!!

M*I*A

Someone is student of the week....

Ever wonder what China Toe Jam looks like?

English Language Learner- Part 2

So how do you confuse an English language learner? Read here!

Birthday Weekend

Updates

Tragedy Queen

Valuable Lesson

More First for The Queen

Language Barrier and Rainy Nights

The Queen's Doctor Visit

C*N*Y*

What does a Queen wear?

Queen Updates

Regal-ness

Changning Remembered

God Answers Prayers

Drama Queen Saga's

The Queens Week

Queen Play

School Days

Great Wall Remembered

Updates

More New First for Our Queen

The Queen's Many Faces

Home 1 Month

Puppy Love!

Phone Call Away...

The Park

The Queen Cooks

Isn't She a Doll

The Royal Ball Gown

The Queen Loves Shopping

Jesus*Loves*Me

School Has Started

The Queen's Chariot

Veggie**Tale Saga Continues...

Veggie**Tales through the eyes of a non-English speaker.

What a Difference a Month Makes!

Thoughts on Adoption

The Queens Life.... thus far!

Jesus Loves Me.... and Bed Time

Your Invited...........

HappyDaysR Here Again

The Princess& The Pea*

MIA

CNY*

JesusLovesMe