Thanksgiving 2006

Happy thanksgiving to everyone. We stuffed ourselves like turkeys. My mother makes the best homemade everything. We did come home one day early since I had the mother of colds. Maybe I should have stuck around for some homemade turkey soup! Sara got to meet many of her cousins and two of her aunts and uncles. She adjusted well the the family all around and learned a card game that we have been playing since kids. Today she was playing it with Jeff and beating him! This child is quick. Ruth learned the game last year and beats us all the time.

SISTERS

Nothing else needs to be said.....Sara and Ruth looking so sweet...plotting how to wear their parents out.

Eatting American style..finally

This morning Sara had an all American breakfast of biscuit and scrambled egg, picante sauce, and cheese. She loved it

Late morning we went to the Dallas Arboretum...a trip that due to traffic took well over an hour. Of course by the time we arrived, poor Sara was in tears and car sick again. She quickly recovered with her first hot dog, feeding half the bun to the starving (fat) birds. They were having a tree house exhibit designed by architects. They were.....very interesting. We loved the flowers and Jeff, Sara, and Ruth all got soaked when playing the the huge frog fountain! We had a good time, but were ready to leave. The day was gorgeous and the girls wore jeans and sleeveless shirts....eat your hearts out those of you up north! I would love to see some tree houses designed by kids!

This evening we had pork chops and green beans and Sara ate this too. Of course you understand that everything is topped with her pickled cabbage stuff from the Asian Market....sort of like ketchup on everything China style.

Sara got to call her friend M who lives in FL and came from the same SWI and were adopted the same day. They just chattered on for the longest time and giggled the whole time. Sara told me some of what was said. They were comparing the number of pets, TV's, bathrooms, 1vs2 stories, and how many times they have missed a bath since home....this they thought was particularly funny!

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.