Fortune cookies

The second day home, we went to a local Chinese Restaurant and this was in our fortune cookies

Mine: Your ability to love will help a child in need
DH: You will be rewarded for your efforts within the month
DD Ruth: You will be rewarded for being a good listener in the next week
DD Sara:You will make many changes before settling satisfactorily

I would say that this is all too true for all of us!

looking back, heading forward, school

This is part of Sara's room. She shared it with many girls.

If I understand correctly, this is the woman that cared for Sara and Sara smiles happily when she sees this picture. Notice the shirt that we sent in Sara's care package. It says "Somebody in Texas loves me" How right she is................

This afternoon I took Sara to the school to test for the ESL program. Sara was a little scared when the woman took her from me for the testing. Yes, she did qualify. The woman said that Sara knew the word dog, then nothing else so she stopped at question #6. Next we need to get a conference with the English Mandarin ESL teacher in another school and get Sara registered and transferred there. This should make morning carpool interesting, but not impossible.

My PlayList
BestAudioCodes.com

This, that and the other

I am pleased to say that the girls get along so great! We have found Sara's favorite meal-dirty rice with pork, a bowl of grapes and watermelon, and a handful of chicken wings, of course topped with her mystery stuff from the Asian market. Ruth tried the stuff and was OK with it, but she did not want any more.

I have found that Sara sleeps better when the room is not silent, so I got a small personal fan and run it at night and she sleeps like a gem! I had to wake her up this morning in time for carpool because she was snoozing right through her alarm.

Today we went to Wal-Mart to print out some of our photos. We got to #436 and it stopped. Apparently it cannot handle the 700+ photos we have on our huge chip, and it is too large for it to copy onto a disk.....probably need to buy more computer equipment to do this at home. We should have stuck with 2 smaller chips for the camera instead of one large one...another lesson learned. Still trying to settle the DVD programed for Region 3, of course now I know we are in Region 1 and our DVD players can not read region 3! Should have picked up a DVD player in China along with everything else, some of which is being shipped to us in a few month on a slow boat from China......hahaha.

We had lunch at school with Ruth. Sara is the big walking, talking show and tell in the class. Everyone is very nice to her and Sara is beginning to recognize the students. Tomorrow I will take her to the school to be tested to qualify for the ESL program and unless she has become proficient in the last 5 days, she should qualify, but who knows with this school district! We will wait and see.

And the fun begins

This is our first meeting. So glad we had the magna doodle because it was sure an ice breaker, and we could draw pictures of what we were talking about. Too bad Sara can draw better than me.

WE ARE HOME

We are home! We had so much fun that it would have been easy to stay another week...


SARA-she is shy at first, then so outgoing and funny and loving. There were tears when we first met, understandable. By the first night, it was all hugs and kisses. Her sleeping cot was next to my bed and each night she fell asleep holding my hand. She did not want much when we went shopping. Her favorite color is white and we did find two traditional Chinese outfits for her. We did not need shoes until we were in Guandghou and they mostly had baby shoes on the island we were staying on, but we did find one pair at Sherry's and she could not be happier.

While in Nanchang, we went to the six banyan temple and had all the children, and parents , get a Buddhist blessing. Sara was a willing participant in everything. She loves the coy fish. She loves HOT everything. Jeff and Sara are out at the local Asian market looking for more HOT foods while she transitions to our food. We have hard boiled eggs and rice ready. She loves her congee---over cooked watery rice--should be easy for me to cook.


We have over 700 photos and will work on getting these going.

Oh yes, the tour part of the trip was fantastic. We has a wonderful guide, Cindy, who was a local and could rattle off so many facts. The Great wall is great and was VERY difficult to climb.

Sister Ruth is having fun with Sara, who is teaching her chinese version of hackey sack. When Ruth got up for school this morning, she checked on her sister and told me that she was OK. Sara did sleep in her bed upstairs by herself and was fine. When I checked on her at about 11:00, she was up because she was hot, then slept fine.

Much more later. We need to do some laundry, etc.

Well, this is my last post for a little while. Leaving for the airport tomorrow at 4:30 AM! I am quite sure that we will NOT have a problem sleeping on the flights! We had lunch with dd Ruth at school. Just back from her soccer practice and she was working the ball like a pro....I am so very proud of her!

Our bags are packed...repacked...repacked... just zip them closed, and we're ready to go. More nervous then excited..sure that I forgot something! I feel like dd Ruth will be OK when we are gone, and sure that my parents will be worn out by the time we return hehehe

Take care everyone and we know that you are think of us...we will try to remember everything and sure we will forget most.

We will write when we can

Well, my parents both came up to care for Ruth while we are gone. They have a better chance when it's 2 to1 hehehehe. She is actually a wonderful child.

Just got back from Ft. Worth for my sister's wedding shower. My mother was one surprise. She was not going to come up until next week for the wedding. The shower was nice. ONE problem....with this new camera...I got home and downloaded the photos...oops! Sorry Lisa!

Only 2 days to go and I feel like I still have a thousand loose ends to tie. I win the award for the most lists: What Ruth's daily schedule is, what her eatting habits are and how to prepare each, what school projects are due while we are gone, bed time rutuals, bath rituals, medical authorization if needed, laundry and more laundry. Tomorrow we are going to have lunch with Ruth at her school. DH will work from home. So glad I decided to blow off cleaning house, this will give my parents something to do when we are gone.. .. .. ..

300,000,000 and counting

Today the US hit a all time high of 300,000,000 population. I know for a fact that this number will increase on 11/8 when we bring Sara home. All of those waiting are VERY ready to increase this number quickly if they could.

Today was warm, but tomorrow will be another season. This is the time when everyone gets sick because the weather is hot, cold, cool, hot, wet...you get the idea.

We are beginning to get this packing in order. I look at the stack that needs to go and look at the suitcases, and wonder what kind of magic I will use to make it fit. DH will have a suitcase to himself, and I will share with Sara..I am more frugal with what I take, and I got some great traveling tips from my MIL and M...thanks!

WELL. . . . we got slammed at soccer. We lost 2-7. It was raining and cold which did not help. One of the girls on the opposing team used to be on our team and her father used to be our coach. We are all very glad he is no longer our coach because his coaching style involved yelling degrading things at the girls at the top of his lungs. His dd is a ....hand full... too and had been bullying some of the girls at school about this game as it was approaching...... Needless to say there had been some stress leading up to the game and I think it really showed. Our girls did not play very well at all.....

Tonight dd R announced that she wanted her very long hair cut to her shoulders and I tried to get her to agree to do it at the beauty parlor with me....no go. So, off it went! One reason it was left long is that it is the custom of her home country, and she did not want us to touch it. It is very cute and she looks so grown up.

friends and money

We had some very special adoptive moms visit yesterday, one with her new beauty, two moms in waiting. We had so very much fun and the girls all got along so well...need to do this again....

We also got out itinerary for our hotel and in country travel...don't faint! We had better get used to the 12 hour difference REALLY QUICK because they like to do everything EARLY. It will take us time to figure out if we are coming or going.

I began packing today and yes, I think I can get Sara and my things into one suitcase. I left the other for DH. I did not know that they made such small containers of so many things...so cute! Still need to check to see what is and is not allowed...need to remove the pocket knife!

Found this on Alyson's blog Three P's in a Pod

Dreams

Well, we are only 15 days from leaving and my head is obviously full of too much! Last night I had a dream, or should I say a nightmare. We went to China to get our Sara, but suddenly she was a set of very young twin girls...OK, this I can handle. Then they brought out a boy and said, well, since you are taking the girls, we will throw in the boy too--triplets! I was glad to wake up.

I spent the afternoon doing the seasonal shuffle..the summer clothes up, and bringing out the winter clothes. I did manage to find clothes for Sara in the things that Ruth no longer fits into. Once Sara is home, we can get an accurate size for her but in the meantime, the paperwork indicates that she is smaller that her little sister.

Waiting . . . .

Not doing much...just waiting.

Sleepovers, Soccer, Weddings

Ruth has fun at her sleepover birthday party last night for a girl on her soccer team. They went downtown to a fondue place and she was laughing so hard as she tried to tell me about it. Apparently the girls kept losing their food into the fondue.

Early soccer game. We won 4-2. The girls were in top form. Ruth was obviously tired from so much overnight partying. Ruth was awarded most valuable defensive player in the game. This is an honor because her name will be in the newspaper next week.

My little sister Lisa stopped by and we went to Hobby Lobby to look for flowers for her wedding. She is having an archway that they will stand under and she (we) will decorate it with tulle and flowers. She asked Ruth to help sign in visitors and other little things. So sad we will miss the wedding, but for such a good reason-Sara.

I forgot to mention that Ruth brought home her report card and she is a member of the A HONOR ROLL! That's right--all A's. She also got an award for perfect attendance.

Well.....our poor dog Howard has a bacterial infection in his ear...YUCK. We are working on an aggressive treatment. I will take him back in a week to see if this treatment is working. Apparently it is a bacteria that is resistant to most antibiotics...hope it works.

I began putting out Halloween things. I am always early with holiday decorations. This way I get to help kick start the neighbors hehehe

DD Ruth is doing a sleepover slumber party tonight, that begins with a fancy dinner downtown. Luckily, our dd will eat just about anything, including vegetables so no problem there.

Finally Fall

I love the fall...no more hot weather, and none for 6 months!!! The colors are so beautiful, though we do not get as much color change her in N Tx. Mostly green one day, dead and brown the next. My parents are enjoying fall foliage in Canada still. They should be back next week.

Chinese VISAs

We received our passports back with the visas in them. It looks great. I thought it would be a larger piece of paper, but it was actually pasted inside the passport. DH make the required copies of everything, and I think this is all for the required paperwork.

Another family from N TX got their referral yesterday for a FU girl and we have the privilege of taking a package to their daughter...always glad to help another family.

I am beginning to get excited and I think all of this painting, etc is my expression of nesting. I did a lot of it the day before I gave birth to my son Bryan. With Ruth, my parents were in town and my DF was painting her closet and my DM and I were hanging wallpaper when we got her call that she was born...and what a shock!!!! She was supposed to be a boy! So I painted flowers on the wall along with the dinosaurs and she never noticed.

Spending $$$

Well, we decided to buy the sofa and ottoman table and it was delivered today. Of course we are afraid to sit on it because it is so nice, but I am sure this will change. For right now, we are moving the existing lazyboy sofa into the front room until we either find someone to give it to or we donate to the local charity.

Once the furniture arrived, I realized that the blue/gray color on the fire hearth had to go and NOW.....so off to painting, again. I also had to eradicate the color from the trimwork over the kitchen cabinets and do you know how to paint that high...first you call all guardian angels to help keep you from falling (and keep the phone close incase you do) Then you put a step stool on top of the counters, grab onto the trim molding on top of the cabinets and pray that that does not pull off, bend half backwards, learn forwards, and paint quickly.......you will be sore when you are done. I will finish the painting tomorrow, muscles willing.

soccer, rain, dog, shopping

Saturday we went early to soccer for the team pictures. Afterwards, we began the warm up for the game. The team we are playing beat us 5 of the last 6 seasons, losing the last season to us. They are very regimented, with multiple coaches, all dressed alike, the parents all dressed alike. We are the team running around the field like a bunch of fun loving kids, they look like a drill team. About one minute before the game, the sirens go off indicating there is lightning in the area and we clear the field, all the girls piling into the back of our van with the tailgate up, and the coach backs his huge SUV up to ours and also opens the tailgate-thus making a roof over the area. The parents gather, the music is blasting, we have a mini birthday party of a team member who brought the cup cakes today. In short, we had a great time. The game was finally called after 45 mins....good thing because about 1/2 minutes later, it let loose...

We will have a makeup game later.


When we get home, our old dog Howard is walking on 3 paws. He indicated an injured paw yesterday, but today is really playing it up....off to the vet. The rain has cleared and gotten cooler. Howard has somehow sliced one of his pads...no quick solution. He will have to give it time.

Jeff makes it home safely from Athens. Gas at our local station is 2.01!!!


Next a friend and her 9 yr old daughter come from Coppell for a visit. We did like we always do---went shopping. We are in need of replacement sofas and we found something we like. Ran back home for DH Jeff, who would rather see the results than the actual hunt. A nice brown leather coach and large square leather ottoman-good for feet and sitting on. We think about it and head out to our favorite restaurant-China King Super Buffet. YUM!!!!

A/C, Marshall Islands, A passing friend

Nothing much going on. Had the A/C man out this morning. The downstairs unit quit last night, but luckily the upstairs unit was humming along. Just needed a small part not a complete new motor-YEA! With it being up to 100 today, so glad we have a man that can come out on the same day called!


DH Jeff is on his way to Athens, TX for a funeral of a long time family friend, Billie. She and her family were very close to Jeff and were like a second family. Billie died Thursday.


I thought I would share some information on our daughter Ruth. She was born in Majuro, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, located in the pacific just west of the Int'l dateline. 1,500 very small islands, very poor, and the nicest people you will ever meet. We have an open adoption and have met her birth mother. We got Ruth at the young age of 10 days olds, but took us until this past fall for the US Gov't to figure out how to get her citizenship!
This is the hotel we stayed in. Don't let the photos fool you...they are third world, but with a beautiful coral reef location.

Vacancy

The room is finished and ready for occupancy.

Tumbling down

My MIL in Florida took a tumble a few weeks ago and ended up in the hospital for about 5 days, getting CAT scans, stitches, soreness. She is now home recovering. Don't you love her shirt w/ dd Ruth's handprints on it! We got one just like it that we sent to dd Sara in Fuzhou, without handprints on it.


My mother took a tumble a few days ago. She had been on the ladder getting the leaves off the roof from the HUGE oak tree that hangs over the house. Somehow on the way down, she took the express, landing on a large flower pot, and cracked a rib. She is in a lot of pain. They are both in our thoughts and prayers.

SHOTS

Well, I got my three shots today hehehe

The RN did a great job and I felt no pain. I also got happy faces on my bandaids because I did not cry!

We are tracking our plane tickets that were sent yesterday.

Mailing Sara's package

Today I mailed a package to Sara. Hopefully she will get it in a week, according to the postmaster. I also overnighted the package to GWCA to process our Chinese Visa.

I ALSO confirmed the airline tickets. We thought we would upgrade to business class and we could, for only $8,000 extra EACH! I wonder what is going on in Business class that costs that much. Of course they can probably MOVE! We hope that the flight is not too full and we can have a seat between us, or we will be spending a lot of time pacing to streach out our legs. We we went to get dd Ruth it was also 17 hours, but split between two days and we had an overnight layover in Hawaii.

We are leaving from Dallas, to Chicago, to Beijing. Coming home will be from Hong Kong to San Francisco and back to Dallas.

Time creeps on

5 years ago today..

...our country changed forever.

Our daughter Ruth was 3 and I had just dropped her off at daycare. I did not hear about the planes on the radio because we listened to Barney or Veggie Tales everywhere we went...I heard about it after I took to Ruth to her classroom. I rushed home and turned on the TV, and cried. Suddenly the world in which our daughter would grow up would never be the world in which we grew up in and I ached for her.

My husband was working in downtown Dallas on the 27th floor and I wanted him to get out of building and away from the city. He knew that he had a responsibility, but got home as soon as he could, and I just cried and held him when he came through the door.

At the time we lived near a very small airport and one night Ruth asked me if a plane was going to land on her...I hugged her so tight.

Special soccer practice/Teo

This afternoon Ruth and her Strikers soccer team had a very special practice. The coach was Teo, a Brazilian soccer player/coach. Teo played in the World Cup with Pele in the 70's. He is the Dallas Texans offensive and keeper trainer, along with the N TX Olympic Development coach. It was a long, hot practice but Ruth said she had fun and learned a lot. We have two other coaches that work with the team during the two weekly practices.

Jeff had fun conversing with Teo in his Portuguese. Jeff and his family lived in Brazil for a number of years..what an adventure that was!

Soccer begins

Today is the first game of the soccer season. This year we play on a full size field with a goalie. Our problem is that as a goalie, all but one of our girls ducks when the ball comes at them full force-not that I blame them! Ruth has not practiced this position and the coach will probably play her as a forward. She has gotten an awsome kick. AND THEY WON!!!

7-0 This year the girls play real positions, and our awsome goalie pulled us through. That kid is not afraid of anything! GO STRIKERS Last 3 years they were the butterflies, but this year they have decided that now that they are 8, they needed a tougher name...it all begins too soon this growing up thing!

Weather in Nanchang

More Paperwork!

OK, I do remember 16 months ago when we began the huge amount of paperwork. We got it done in our time. WELL, now we have more paperwork due NOW! I have spent all day getting forms, filling them out, getting shots lined up-yes I can procrastinate!

We will send Sara her package tomorrow so she will have time to take photos and get used to the idea of a new family before we pounce on her. We are very excited to be going at the same time with a family from FL who is adopting one of Sara's friends. Hopefully by the time we go, another family who is also adopting one of Sara's friends will also have their TA and all 3 of us can go together!

We are so excited and it feels great to say "my girls".

Travel Dates

Tentative travel schedule:

Depart U.S. on October 26, 2006
Arrive in Beijing on October 27, 2006
Beijing Tour on October 28, 2006
Fly to Province on the morning of October 29, 2006
*If you skip Beijing you must be in the Province by October 28, 2006
Gotcha Day- October 30, 2006 (upon confirmation with the Beijing
office)
AC appointment- November 6, 2006 at 9:00 am
Family goes to AC to pick up passport with visa and take oath -
afternoon -
November 7, 2006
Depart China- after 9pm earliest on November 7, 2006 or anytime
November 8,
2006

Going for Sara-9

Today at 2:17 pm we got a call from Beth at GWCA that our TA was unexpectedly sent with the TA's they received.

We really did not expect our TA until NOV and were fine with this...more time to get ready, get shots, get our sanity. Our daughter Ruth-8 is very excited about her sister coming so soon-well, almost 16 months after we began, but who's counting. We are now waiting on the appt date and travel dates.

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern 85% Spider-Man 55% Supergirl 55% Hulk 55% The Flash 55% Iron Man 55% Superman 50% Wonder Woman 50% Robin 48% Batman 30% Catwoman 25%

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

Labor Day

Happy labor day to everyone. We have spent the three day weekend doing NOTHING! What fun is this. DH is actually off work for all three days, and working from home instead. At least we get to see him now and then. We saw the movie Barnyard. It was a cute movie. I did decide to repaint my liv/din room. Ran out and got the paint from Home Depot since they are running a special w/ $5.00 rebate per gallon and I needed two, so since we did not labor this holiday, I did plan on heavy laboring this coming week.

Also totally enjoying the rain we FINALLY got. Those of you in N. TX know about the terrible drought we are in...yea rain!

School begins-another cold

Our dd Ruth has gotten her first school cold. You know...put a LOT of kids together and what have you got? A virus chain! Every year it is the same thing. They pass the bugs around like candy. Thank goodness we have a 3 day holiday to clear this up. Lysol all around!

Well, we are now a full three weeks into school-third grade! It has already begun

.........THE DREADED FUNDRAISERS...........

I really hate these things. Almost every home in this neighberhood has a child going to the same school, so they are also trying to sell these things-coupon books for the local area. Being ONLY good in this immediate area, it is no good for the other relatives that live either out of the city or out of the state! We never go out, so no good here. Ruth (I) did sell one to my younger sister that lives nearby. DH is not allowed to sell things at work and, being the boss, sticks to the rules. YOU SEE>>>>>>for many many years my sisters had children selling stuff and I did not have children. I always bought things, usually the cheapest available, reminding my sisters that someday there would be payback..gotchya!

And another thing, they give these really cool (cheap) prises based upon what the child sells. Yes mommy, I can sell 86 and get my own ipod worth about $5.00!!!!! They have even had us fill out slips for every item sold and it is posted on the board...that way humiating the child in front of the class if they do not have their name up there...what are we teaching our children?

countdown

We are Cynthia and Jeff of Texas. Well, I finally decided to tell our story to Sara, aka Fu Jia Rui. She is 9 years old and waiting for us in Fuzhou SWI. We have a daughter, Ruth-8, from the Marshall Islands adopted at 10 days old. Her adoption took a total of 5 months from homestury to bringing her home. Sara's adoption began the beginning of May, 2005!. We were LID 10/28/05 and began our wait. On June 23, 2006 we decided to look at the SN list and found our daughter Sara on the list. We were approved and sent our LOI on 7/7. We are currently waiting for our TA (travel approval) to go to China and bring Sara home. We will be leaving Ruth with her grandparents, but she is fine with this because she is NOT interested in shots (like we are?)

3rd Grade Begins

School began today. Ruth has a wonderful teacher, Mrs Clark. She did a lot of subing for the class last year, so they are familiar with each other. I walked Ruth to the class early since we missed the Meet The Teacher day last week while in Georgia on vacation. When the day was done, she had a GREAT day and was very excited and called Jeff to tell him all about it. I really missed her during the day.