Chinese Baby Day at the Mall

Frannie and I went to meet our Hope for Children friends today at the mall to have their pictures taken with Santa. We ran into into two other families with Chinese babies. One of the moms looked very, very familiar to me and when I mentioned it, she said I looked familiar too. Funny that her daughter did not look familiar to me, but we never did figure it out ("church? school? neighborhood?"). So we all squeezed into the Santa area and got a pretty good picture! I was surprised that Frannie was a little scared of him and would NOT sit on his lap so I had to help. I'm pretty sure Ally and Frannie are looking for a good station on the radio in the above photo. What a blessing to have these friends.

Hope for Children

Dear Friends and Family: If you haven't had a chance, please take 10 minutes and watch a beautiful video about adopting. Maybe I'm just at a hormonal stage of my month, or maybe it's because we were in Guanghzou with the Tanzillos, but I got so weepy watching this video. You just have to go to the Home page of our adoption agency's website, go to the bottom and click on the video and watch:

www.hopeforchildren.org.

Frannie and Ally are in it too as a perk.

Enjoy! God bless! Merry Christmas!

Partying too Hard

Frannie had a great time at the Harkness party -- she got some good munchies, saw an old friend (Lisa -- well, Frannie met her as a new friend, but...) petted a cat (a first) and got to play with Ally! She CAN'T stop talking about Ally! She even pointed to her reflection that night in the bathroom and said "Ally." Hmmm. She woke up on Saturday and went to the tree farm with her new friend Danielle to cut down a tree! I noticed a cough starting the night before, but after the tree/hayride/goat-petting, she crashed. Poor kid had a fever and sounded like she was barking. She just wanted soup and to lie on Mom's chest and she is recouperating well.

Yippee, thanks to Donna

We got our grant money yesterday from DFCS -- who was it that called it a rebate check for adopting Frannie? Can't remember, but thanks to our dear friend Donna who told us about this grant, we got our check for $2K yesterday and a loan has been paid off. God is so good. First a tax credit and now this. God bless, Donna.

Fun Weekend

Frannie had a great time over the weekend -- we got to see Dad at work at the SEC Fanfare, meet some new people on the crew and Frannie, the superstar, was on tv once or twice. We then got to meet Shelby! Donna had called from Discover Mills and heck, since we were on our way home and that is sorta, kinda on the way, we stopped by and got to see the beauty. We have a busy few weeks ahead of us, getting ready for the big birthday celebration (we are trying very hard to keep the Christ in Christmas) and our impending trip to New York. Oh, and she has gotten over her fear of spaghetti sauce.

Makes me want to call Oprah or 20/20

I will end this post on a happy note, I promise, but just to explain to those who have asked or expressed interest, I teach children with SEVERE and PROFOUND intellectual disabilities. I don't want to downplay their potential, but these kids are working on skills such as blinking for yes/no, self-feeding, grasp/release, participating in daily hygiene routines (maybe by opening their mouth for me to brush) and the like. No sh*%#, I am supposed to be teaching them physics and geometry per some genius' law. I can't blame George W., he's not writing the rule book, but someone out there must hear from PARENTS who are annoyed. Unless all the Severe/Profound teachers revolt and threaten to walk (which, ironically, we would never do because we love our kids too much), no one cares.

Okay, so Frannie did have a great time in Florida and here are some more photos. Laura, by the way, she loved that little dog! Thanks to my cousin Judy for being the greatest hostess (unlike myself when I'm a hostess, she is calm and her hair is all in place and she smiles AND has a clean house and great food). Frannie's kidney scans are back, by the way, and she has two, but they are not symmetrical, but they both appear to be functional!). Happy birthday Jane A!

P.S. Don't you just love the picture of Frannie kicking the crap out of her two cousins? Ha ha

I have to get this off my chest

I have no way of knowing who looks at this blog and I can't control that and today I really don't care who reads this....

My job as a special ed teacher has been peed on by whoever is responsible for the changes made to the GAA -- I'm not even going to explain what this is, but the gist of it is this: I took this job because I love my students, period. My first principal, God love her, Jean, told me that if that was #1 on my reasons for teaching then I'll probably do ok. She taught me that all else after that falls into the "other" category. At this stage of my life, I wish I could afford to quit. Apparently the bureaucrats who made these changes could care LESS about who is teaching these kids -- why should they? Their kids, I'm sure, have IQs above 70. If they cared one teeny bit, they would come visit our school, come to work with me one day and realize that TEACHING MY STUDENTS PHYSICS IS THE CRAZIEST THING YOU'VE EVER HEARD. The entire point of an IEP is the operative word "individual" which means that due to my students being unique in their abilities/disabilities, they need to be taught what is FUNCTIONAL, not what society thinks that all kids should know. "Oh yeah, we forgot about those retarded kids. Whatever." Does anyone else see the insanity in this? I spent half my day working on this paperwork that is completely meaningless and it is making my head hurt and my back hurt and makes me want to quit my job. We are all made to lie in order to please the administration and THEN we have to sign a document stating we have not lied. I might as well go back to working with lawyers.....

I think of the faces of my students and it makes me want to cry. Music and silliness and swinging and songs make them love school and want to stay awake for our lessons, not the History of Western Civ. In the meantime, Frannie is doing great -- she has two kidneys, thanks be to God and Kevin and I have our health. Have a nice day.

Trip to the Beach

Frannie Does Boston

Frannie and I went to Boston this weekend to help surprise our Aunt and Uncle for their 50th wedding anniversary. It was great to see everyone! Frannie was very well-behaved and had a great time on the duck tour. I wish I had had my camera ready when the amphibious vehicle dove into the water -- she was ecstatic! We were so glad to spend even this short time with all the Mullins clan and to see my Mom, Dad and Peggy. Although we are spending Thanksgiving with everyone in St. Augustine (we are leaving this evening), it was a real treat to spend some time away in Boston. Doesn't it look like Marissa is whistling "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man?"

Check out my Slide Show!

Frannie's Birthday

Frannie's Birthday

We could not have asked for a better girl. She wakes up all tossled, puffy-eyed and grinning and she completely cracks us up. For a birthday treat, I thought I would get her her first Krispy Kreme doughnut, I mean, carpe diem. Since I was there too.... well, you know. I wanted to wait until we got home for her to eat it, but it was close to nap-time and she started to nod off in the back seat so I said "FRANNIE!! Try this." She grabbed the sticky little piece and just looked at it (she hates anything stuck to her fingers and of course it was gooey and warm -- it doesn't get much better than that, but she didn't know that!) so I assured her she would like it and almost the instant she stuck it in her mouth, she stared at me in the rear-view mirror and signed more more more so it went on like this until we got home and I could take these pictures. She had a great day, despite Dad being in Gainesville for work (poor, poor guy). We had a great birthday dinner with Cheryl and her family at Los Hermanos, toasting Frannie's third year of life :)

Chicken Little

She got lots of candy and this is her buddy Jacob!

Thanks be to God

Yahoo! We found out today that we got the DFCS grant for Frannie. For adopting a special needs child, we applied to receive a $2,000 grant and we were approved. We just had to prove we spent $2,000 or more (ha ha) in travel and adoption fees (ha ha). This will help with my "time off" pay deduction from school. Thank you God for these favors.

Frannie, the writer

Thank goodness Frannie likes books and writing, like her parents. I pray it's a sign of things to come. I am also grateful that she is left-handed (by default, who knows?). Say a prayer that we gain some insight into whether to apply for another adopted child or not. Am I just being lazy or is it a message from God?

I am going to try this

I have so many good friends and family with blogs and until now, I have not tried to link them, but here are a few "must see" blogs for everyone!

Jim -- my nephew who has been in Madagascar now since August, working as a pseudo tour guide and animal researcher -- the photos are almost fake-like -- how could little tiny Jimmy have taken those pictures? http://onelifeexpeditions.blogspot.com

Donna -- leaving Atlanta in 3 days for China for Shelby -- if you want ANY information about adoption from China, ask Donna! She has some great posts and it will be so exciting to read her blog in the next 2 weeks! http://myshelbybaby.blogspot.com

Shelley -- a friend from work who started keeping a journal/blog about life and her family -- she is an amazing writer/poet/philosopher http://shelleyib.blogspot.com

Lucy -- Frannie's oldest friend from China is Lucy's daughter, Ally, who has the most beautiful family ever. The Fays look even more like the Griswolds/Clampetts around the beautiful people like the Harknesses http://allyinchina.blogspot.com

Darcy -- My next door neighbor (almost -- we are .3 miles from each other) who is leaving on November 14 for China -- read her story about how she is travelling with her dear friend Amy. http://daniellecomeshome.blogspot.com

Frannie's Baptism

It's official now, Frannie is part of her Catholic family and MAN did she look great or what? Thank you Nancy for all your hard work and sharing your incredible talent with her. The dress is now safely tucked away for Frannie's sister or for framing later. She even made a fancy bib to drool on -- as my sister put it "She needed a bib for the bib" because it was so ornate and beautiful. Thank you to my whole family for travelling so far to meet Frannie, participate, assist in the cooking, cleaning and merry-making. Next time I will take Kevin's advice and buy all the food so I don't have to be in the kitchen so much during the party and bite everyone's head off when they step one foot into the area. Sorry about that folks. Hope everyone had a great time!

Beautiful Amanda, an usher-dog and the rally cap

First I must say that Frannie and I attended the most beautiful wedding of our friend Amanda. Frannie's first impression was "Hmmm, Americans have dogs in their weddings." It was truly a gorgeous evening with lots of emotion and good times. God bless you both Amanda and Chris. Even when Frannie is not "in daycare" over at Cheryl's house, she cannot stay away for too long because she has such a great time. Yesterday Frannie was getting everyone pumped up for tonight's Red Sox game, wearing her jersey and rally cap (thanks Deb) and yelling "Go Sox! Go Sox!" when her silly friend Owen, shown here, starts yelling (I'm not making this part up) "Go underpants! Go underpants!" He is known for being a funny guy. Frannie has vowed to not change her clothes until the Red Sox are confirmed American League champions.

Frannie's cannot WAIT for her gramma, grandpa, aunties and cousins to get here! She's been practicing everyone's names. She and Elena will have a blast, I'm sure. She has her final fitting for the beautiful baptismal gown tomorrow. It is truly a work of art. Found her some cute shoes at a consignment shop for $4.99. Yippee!

So Much Fun at Cheryl's

Frannie really has a great time at Cheryl's house -- with or without Mom. She's learning so fast and I'm sure it's the time over there. She loves her Jacob too!

Frannie's Oldest Friend

We had lunch the other day with Donna (soon to go to China for Shelby, October 31), Darcy (soon to go to China for Danielle, November 15), Lucy and Ally. It's such a blessing to have all these friends, but I marvel every time I see Frannie and Ally together. They look like they are heading for Rodeo Drive in this picture, driving around in a convertible, doesn't it? They share so many habits, but are different little girls. I don't have a picture of Danielle, but she is just cute as a button. I kept staring at her picture when she was on the list, wondering if she was our girl, but Frannie, of course, was our girl, without a doubt. The Hope for Children Waiting Child List had our girls listed as numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9!

Sometimes its Like Looking in a Mirror

I believe Frannie and I (Ellen) have so much in common, that it's eerie:

• Neither one of us likes fruit
• We don't mind watching them take blood out of our arm
• We have a sensitivity to the sun being in our eyes
• We are hot-natured
• We like to watch medical shows (no lie, Frannie would rather watch that than any cartoon on the air)
• We got really bad boy hair-cuts when we were little
• We both hate footy pajamas
• We like shoes
• We like practically anything with cheese
• And the list continues

Can't wait to see everyone at her party next Sunday. Frannie is going to be stunning in her fancy dress. I'm looking for shoes if anyone has any recommendations. Target is out and the consignment store on 29 is out too. She will wear them once so I'm not willing to spend more than about $10.

Frannie's Friends

Frannie has had such an action-packed week with friends -- going for ice cream with Tristian, going to the Carnival with the Brennan girls and for half-caf double mocha lattechinos with Shelley and Sophia! She has just been trying to keep busy while missing Dad. But he's home now, thanks to the Rockies sweeping Philadelphia. Can't wait to see all the HFC women tomorrow at lunch -- looking forward to hearing about Donna's and Darcy's upcoming trips to China (October 31 and November...14?, respectively?). We miss Ally and Lucy too!