Christmas, Sickness and Grace's Upcoming "Procedure"

Grace has to have some dental work done before she can have her cleft palate repaired. She is having some sort of Frankenstein appliance placed on her gums, teeth pulled and tubes inserted in her ears on Jan. 7 (with anesthesia at Scottish Rite with a dentist and an orthodontist presiding). I'm not looking forward to this at all. I felt like such a moron crying with her during her shots in September, this pain will last longer and be just as mysterious to her, I am anticipating.

Christmas was great, except for Grace having strep throat. She was in good spirits, but it was a mystery what was ailing her until she saw her new pediatrician, Dr. George, on Saturday. Antibiotic until the day of her "procedure" So far, so good with Frannie (not sick).

We are so excited to have Kevin's brother Mike and his family visit us on Jan. 8! We have a few surprise activities planned and I'm sure card-playing and beer-drinking will be part of it. We love Mike, Gwen, Connor and Maria! Hope one of you can fit in Frannie's spare toddler bed -- think "Elf." Ha ha

Don't be Offended, It's Just Her Way of Saying Yummy

Make a Smilebox slideshow

This Pretty Much Sums Up Our Day

and then there's some of this...

Who Has Time to Blog?

Although I love to keep a "journal" for the girls (this blog), it is getting harder and harder for me to keep up. Some bloggers, I think, tend to blog to see how many comments they can get, like it's a popularity contest. Others just like to keep in touch and keep that running journal for their kids or lives. Since I have let my house go to pot and I'm officially not exercising any more, why would I take the time to blog over those two? I'm just tired this morning, sorry.

We had a GREAT time in Florida for Thanksgiving and got to see all our loved ones, except for my nephew Jim who is somewhere exotic, I can't even keep up with him. Belize? Costa Rica? Living the life I tried to live in my twenties, but couldn't afford.

The story with the jewelry: my sister Peg has helped me so much, learning colors and techniques and although I love making jewelry, I never knew if I could actually make money at it somehow. So my friend Julie at school got me fired up to make jewelry for PROFIT and long story short, I may actually make a few dollars doing something I love. Wish I could go back to Guangzhou and spend about $500 on pearls and crystals again.

Third Year with Our Digit Friends

We met Donna, Lucy and Darcy at the mall for the third year to sit on Santa's lap (surround him) with our Chinese kids. I love the contrast from year one -- four moms and four kids now there are eight! In reality, the kids have grown from 6 (each of the Moms had 2 biological kids to start) to 14. How many years can we keep this up? Who is next to go back? It doesn't seem like everyone is done. Hmmm....

Who is Worth More?

Someone recently accused me of having a blog that is hurtful and insulting. I gotta tell ya that I don't really see it, but maybe because the opinions are MINE. I would like to think that I am secure enough in my beliefs that someone could come along and express ANYTHING and it would not change a whole lot about how I see the world or my view of how things work, or at least should work.

On my way to Jamaica a few years ago I had a discussion with my Mom about my special needs kids and I just became overwhelmed with emotion about the irony of how the world works and who is deemed IMPORTANT in this world. Almost every one of my co-workers has heard what a "special" person it takes to do their job. Makes me laugh -- do you mean like "Special Olympics-type" of special or that it's unusual? I realized during the conversation with my Mom how CRAZY the world is to think the most innocent people on this earth are the most worthless. I had a woman in Boston tell me that people are "irresponsible" to bring a special needs child into this world when the ultrasound shows that child to be severely disabled. Back then I wanted to physically harm this woman, but now I just shake my head and pray for her. I wish she could know the joy of working with my kids. Can you imagine if God appeared to you in your living room and said "Here is my Archangel Gabriel or Michael or Betty and I want you to spend your time with them for your career" how you might react? The lawyers with whom I have worked vs. the kids with whom I have worked. Who does the world deem more "special" or important? People may not know what goes on behind the doors of our school, but I can tell you that there is a LOT more joy here, by FAR, than in a lawfirm where I spent 13 years of my life. I am blessed enough to bring smiles to their faces and make them giggle and learn and experience music and smells and trees and symphonies that they may never have had the chance to see or experience -- and I get to spend my time with them and learn the meaning of patience (hurry up teacher, I've been sitting in this same position for 2 hours and I have an itch!), love (who smiles at you every single time you show up despite having a painful bed sore or new nasal tube?) and innocence -- true, spiritual innocence that NONE of us have? Do you think the lawyers have brought me (or anyone) a whole lot of that joy? I know we NEED lawyers for some circumstances, I'm sorry if you are a faithful and devout lawyer out there, but I haven't met many and I've worked with lawyers in Florida, Massachusetts and Georgia. It's not about the love so much in that workplace.

I've just been dreaming about one student in particular and realized he has taught me so many lessons. Without saying one word he has touched me more than lots of people I have encountered. I don't need a big hug from him to know what kind of love he has in there. I'm definitely a better parent to my girls because of all my students, but I owe a special hug to this one in particular. xoxo

I'm a Slacker

Making lots of jewelry, having lots of parties, working lots and I am loving my little girls more every day :)

Grace's Upcoming Baptism

We will have Grace baptised tomorrow and I'm happy that my Dad will be in attendance. Since my mother's death, he seems to be going through his own private metamorphosis, and I will be happy to sit down with him without the strain of a funeral or holidays to interfere. He took a solo trip up the east coast to visit family and friends and we are his final stop before heading home to St. Augustine.

Two years ago our dear friend Nancy made the girls' christening gown from my mother's wedding gown train -- a true sight to see. Well the day she brought this gorgeous thing to my house I realized Frannie was drooling so badly that we would have to put a bib on her and I didn't want to cover up all the gorgeous embellishment Nancy had around the neckline so Nancy showed up the following day with a bib, made from the same fabric, trimmed with mini pearls and lace, equally as dazzling as the little dress. I told her Frannie needed a bib for this bib because she would surely look like a marathon runner on mile 25 within the first 30 minutes of wearing it. Nancy, could you make some tear-away bibs for Grace for tomorrow? Let's make about 5 identical ones, from the same fabric and pearls so that when one gets sopped, I can just tear it off and she will have four more, layered underneath, okay?

Long Read, but Worth it -- Really

In a College classroom with a professor teaching a philosophy lesson....... 'Let me explain the problem science has with religion.' The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.
'You're a Christian, aren't you, son?'
'Yes sir,' the student says.
'So you believe in God?'

'Absolutely.. '
'Is God good?'
'Sure! God's good.'

'Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?'

'Yes'
'Are you good or evil?'

'The Bible says I'm evil.'
The professor grins knowingly. 'Aha! The Bible! He considers for a moment. 'Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?'
'Yes sir, I would.'

'So you're good...!'
'I wouldn't say that.'
'But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't.' The student does not answer, so the professor continues. 'He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Can you answer that one?'
The student remains silent. 'No, you can't, can you?' the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. 'Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?'
'Er..yes,' the student says.

'Is Satan good?'
The student doesn't hesitate on this one. 'No.'
'Then where does Satan come from?'

The student falters. 'From God'
'That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?'
'Yes, sir.'

'Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?'
'Yes' 'So who created evil?' The professor continued, 'If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.'
Again, the student has no answer. 'Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?'
The student squirms on his feet. 'Yes.'
'So who created them?'

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. 'Who created them?' There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. 'Tell me,' he continues onto another student. 'Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?'

The student's voice betrays him and cracks. 'Yes, professor, I do.'
The old man stops pacing. 'Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?'

'No sir.. I've never seen Him.'
'Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?'

'No, sir, I have not.'
'Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?'
'No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't.'
'Yet you still believe in him?'
'Yes'
'According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?'
'Nothing,' the student replies. 'I only have my faith.'
'Yes, faith,' the professor repeats. 'And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.'
The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. 'Professor, is there such thing as heat?'
' Yes.
'And is there such a thing as cold?'

'Yes, son, there's cold too.'

'No sir, there isn't.'

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. 'You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit down to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.'
Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.
'What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?'

'Yes,' the professor replies without hesitation. 'What is night if it isn't darkness?'

'You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?'

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. 'So what point are you making, young man?'
'Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.'

The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. 'Flawed? Can you explain how?'
'You are working on the premise of duality,' the student explains.. 'You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought.' 'It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.' 'Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?'
'If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.'
'Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?'
The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.
'Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?'
The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided. 'To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.' The student looks around the room. 'Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?' The class breaks out into laughter. 'Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.' 'So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?' Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable. Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. 'I Guess you'll have to take them on faith.'
'Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,' the student continues. 'Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?' Now uncertain, the professor responds, 'Of course, there is. We see it Everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man.. It is in The multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.'

To this the student replied, 'Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.'

PS: The student was Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein wrote a book titled God vs Science in 1921...

Doctor's Visits, Work and Time Without Kevin

Kevin is back from baseball playoffs, but leaving again on Thursday for SEC football. Yeah, boo.

Grace went to the pediatric cardiologist and got TWO thumbs up for a job well done on the PDA repair. No need to visit him again unless something new happens. She has an ENT appt. tomorrow for an assessment to have tubes put in her ears while she is knocked out for her palate surgery. The palate appointment is next Friday. In the meantime, she is taking meds for a parasite and double ear infections! God bless the poor kid. She sure likes my chicken, though, as you can see!

I am back to work and wham - I caught some ailment which feels a lot like what I got in China. Good thing Kevin is home.

Making your Child Do Tricks for Entertainment

I'm sorry, but this cracked me up. I have a great picture of Danielle T. with these same glasses on and I can't help but think of Jerry Lewis imitating a Chinese guy with buck teeth and these very same glasses. She wanted to wear them, really.

Cheryl and I were just remarking how well Grace was doing, amazingly happy and sleeping so well. We shouldn't have said it, because she woke up last night at 12:30 SCREAMING for some reason and stayed up for more than 2 hours, crying the entire time. She got diagnosed with double ear infections a few days ago and despite the amoxicilin, she may not be getting better? She was also scratching a lot too so we may need to go back to the doctor and run a full allergy test. I am also going to buy some baby detergent today too. Hope she's not allergic to the dogs, yikes, that would be HORRIBLE.

The girls are at daycare today again and I am taking a breather, cleaning up and getting my hair done. What to do?

P.S. Why hasn't anyone invented a jet pack for every day use? That oatmeal commercial got me thinking -- it's got to be easy to invent and I promise I wouldn't run into power lines or anything. I just want to zip over to Publix for one or two things with my backpack and I think I should be able to use a jet pack.

In case you were wondering

Kevin is working every single day until late October (out of town mostly for baseball playoffs), which reeks of two years ago. I KNOW he can't help it, but it STINKS anyway. He is trying to work hard and I'm trying to get acclimated to two children who are sometimes.... at odds. They get along mostly, as long as Gracie keeps her mits to herself and doesn't touch ANY of Frannie's goods. Not always easy. I may not answer phone calls right away, nor act very social, so I am sorry, alright? If you see me in Kroger with curlers in my hair and slippers on my feet, just walk the other way and pretend you don't know me.

How can it be?

Grace fits in like she has always been here. She and Kevin are silly as ever -- of course he can make her laugh until she wets her pants, who doubted THAT? I have been taking her over to Frannie's daycare guru, Cheryl, for little visits and this morning I wanted to try to leave her for just 10 minutes to see what she would do. Apparently, Cheryl is an adequate substitute white lady because Grace was only concerned about breakfast there and knew exactly where to sit to attain it. Tomorrow I'm going to try to leave her for half a day and see how it goes.

Grace just toddles around our house, checking out the cabinets while she smiles. Hmmm. Should have gotten this one years ago. Nancy, I am going to try on her Christening gown when she wakes up from her nap :) I'm pretty sure it will be a perfect fit.

Can you believe she still can't feed herself properly?

You Asked for a Family Photo

Here's a shot, summing up our day. Good night everyone.

Home Sweet Home

There was a flood? Huh? The aftermath is incredible. Casey, call me! Good thing we have a disaster relief person in the family. Our church and church school got flooded!

We made it home with very few issues. Nancy's husband and good ole' Pitty Pat met us at the airport with airconditioned vehicles and lots of space for all our bags. The girls slept almost the whole way (thanks melatonin, jr.), but still no Kevin. He is driving home from the airport right this minute and we are hoping for a huge group hug any moment now. The girls were MOSTLY on Atlanta sleep time, thanks again to No Jet Lag, however, Grace did not get any so we were all up at 2am and never went back to sleep.

I will post the last of the pictures soon. Thanks everyone for your comments and prayers. God bless America. :)

Last Blog From China

We are packed to fly out to Beijing for a 24-hour stop-over. The Forbidden City and Peking Duck, please. We are so happy to have been here, to experience all this foreign culture, but like most people in the world, we look forward to going home.

Our Guangzhou experience has been mostly good, I hope I haven't complained too much. Our hotel is very comfortable, the room is huge and we are about 7 minute's walk from the island through an interesting maze of shops, as you may have seen from previous pictures. We got quite a few bargains along the way -- can't wait for Kevin's face when I give him one of these surprises (ha ha). Little Grace is a trooper, but she is soooo mischieveous. She loves to play tricks (like knocking your hat off or stealing your spoon) and laughs like crazy when you catch her. She is already watching Frannie's every move and when Frannie gets impatient with her, she just toddles away or keeps trying to steal Frannie's toys. Grace smiles a lot and just wants to be tickled, fed and to look at herself in the mirror. Her skin spots are healing rapidly, but I can't wait to get her to the doctor for a check-up. She needs to see the cranial-facial doctor, the cardiologist and the orthopedic doc for her feet too. It may be nothing, but she walks funny to me. I was a little nervous at first, because I had forgotten the first few days and weeks with Frannie when we were ALL getting to know each other. We didn't automatically love each other and that scared me the first time around. This time I knew I would eventually see past the smelly baby they handed me, not see her imperfections or stubborn nature. I knew eventually I would just look at her huge grin and want to gobble her up with kisses, falling in love all over again. Kevin is just going to burst.

WWKS, final installment, Guangzhou, China, What the Heck is the Date?

Honey, you better come home because the dishes are piled pretty high and I have no idea where the trash bags are. Where is the washing machine anyway? I had to buy new underwear and the Chinese restaurant just delivers my sweet and sour chicken every night now. Pick up some eggs on your way home from the airport, would ya?

Not Much Going on Here

What else is new (besides a new baby) except that I am sick, which is so par for the course. I started to feel a sore throat a few nights ago, which escalated into painful headache, sinus, etc. Poor Nancy is out in the heat right now with the girls so I can rest.

Our consulate appointment is today and the swearing in ceremony is tomorrow. Thursday is shopping with Ann from Red Thread! Can't wait.

Pray for Nancy not to kill me and pray for me to not be so grouchy.

Substitute blogger's note: Due to the flooding in Atlanta, I have been without internet since Sunday night. Sorry for the delay!

We Are Making Progress

We went to dinner at Lucy's last night with a couple from Chicago and their daughter, Ruby (hee hee). We had to sit outside in the humidity, but enjoyed a few burgers and beers. What a great group we have -- truly fun and caring people.

Today Nancy and I decided to forego the temple trip and the pearl market as we hope to go with Ann to the pearl market later in the week. Darcy, I asked another woman to get you your names, and I will get them later. We walked through the maze of vendors between our hotel and the island, with lots options to buy! We were tempted by dried snake skins, enormous tree bark, tiny kittens and lizard skins! We were told that some of these are good to boil and put in soup, but only some are good for men, others for women. Don't get them mixed up, I guess or we could be in trouble. Don't worry, I won't eat any prostate soup or testicle tea!

Picture this: August, Atlanta -- you go to the gym with your sweat pants and long-sleeve shirt on and the air at the gym isn't working! You work out anyway and after about 20 minutes of a strenuous workout, your shirt and sweats are completely stuck to your entire body -- that has been our experience, just walking around Guangzhou! Actually, just walk outside and you too can experience this phenomenon! How interesting!

Our group is heading over to a restaurant tonight on the island for some "traditional" Chinese food that our guide Helen has recommended. She showed us the restaurant last night and luckily, it was not the one Kevin and I experienced last time, but it's right next door! Hope we don't find any live grubs in our dinner.

We did just a little shoe shopping today.....

Finally in Guangzhou

We made it WITH OUR WHITE FOLDERS to Guangzhou. No real incidents this time, except that I stupidly packed all our liquids (ALL the girls' medicines, which we have been using and needing), hair-care products, etc. in my carry-on so we got it all confiscated, of course. I begged the guy for the antibiotic and he relented, but only after making me chug some. Fine with me! Chug, chug, see?

We have a large group and we met everyone this morning. 7 families, one from California, and the rest from Michigan. We all had to have our medical checkups today and little bobble head Gracie had to get 5 shots. Out of nowhere I just started sobbing right along with her, it made me so sad that she's been cut and poked so many times in her little life. She did seem to not blame me after, however :) She gave everyone in the room her stink eye and just clung to me like a little monkey.

I have to tell the funny story about her pictures from when we sent her a cake for Chinese New Year that I posted on her blog 6 months ago (the one with cake SLATHERED on her face, ha ha). I spent months telling my friends how happy I was that she looked happy and at peace with her foster family. I pegged her Gramma, her foster mom and her "older" sister. Come to find out, the foster Mom was the woman who gave her to me on Gotcha Day, an unknown woman to Grace from the orphanage, the Gramma was the Orphanage Director and the older sister was another nanny. Ha ha.

Grace has a very good sense of humor. She about dies laughing when you drop anything and she loves silliness and therefore, she and her Dad will get along just fine. HOWEVER, Kevin, she is stubborn and likes to hit her big sister. We are working very hard to show her gentle, gentle, no hitting and I must say, Frannie is a champ. Today, Grace slapped her across the face in the van on the way to her medical exam and about 4 seconds later, a toddler from behind grabbed a fist-full of her hair and she just squeaked.

Difference No. 9765 from the US: people in the US, as a general rule, do not SCREAM at parents when their child is screaming on a plane during takeoff and landing and parents of screaming children do not GENERALLY smack their 18-month olds for screaming. I wanted to physically harm that horrible man, but.... international incident ....

My favorite Frannie lines from this week:

1. After waking up on the airplane, lying on my stomach, she blinked at me, stuck two fingers up her nose and said "Mom, I have two nipples."
2. After days of hearing Frannie say "Look Mom, I'm shaking my bum bum," and I finally said "Frannie, that is enough. We don't need to hear that anymore" to which she responded "Yeah, all the other girls would be jealous."

WWKS, Guangzhou, China, September 19, 2009

The jewelry market in Guangzhou, I hear, is closed for the rest of the month of September. I hear it's a dangerous place anyway. All the jewelry is fake and so I think you shouldn't waste your time there....use this time to practice the Gator chomp with Grace and play the Florida fight song for her while she sleeps.

We went to the zoo today, which sounds like a lot of fun, right? It was like a war zone with some wild animals thrown in. The differences between the US and China are so numerous to even mention (a man stood at the top of the stairs today as we grunted and struggled to get the stroller up the stairs and he just watched us), but one enormous difference is that when you are at the zoo in the US and they have dug a hole the size of a compact car right in the middle of the pedestrian path, they AT LEAST put a freakin cone up to warn you DANGER is coming! The zoo in Chongqing was under major construction and people continued to walk around the rubble and the huge piles of rebar and bricks regardless. To make it more interesting, it was 95 degrees. How can we go to Chongqing and not see the bleepin pandas? Well, it took us 2 or 3 hours to find them so we looked at the 3 of them eating bamboo. Let's scram, go back to the hotel and get something incredibly fattening to eat. We are wiped OUT.

We ate hot pot last night which was crazy. They gave us our own private room and the inner boiling pot made my lips numb so when I asked the waitress/cook to not cook me any more spicy, she continued to hand me veggies and noodles that tasted like molten lava. We laughed a lot. Thank goodness we could bring our own bottle of wine -- it came in handy :)

Frannie has mastered the squatty potty. The first time she tried it, she squatted, her pee hit the opposing wall and it ricocheted off the wall and splashed all over her shoes. She's learned. Personally, I've given up drinking liquid so that I don't have to ever chance peeing in these toilets.

WWKS, Chongqing, China, September 19, 2009

You are so embarrassing. Nice shot of the gator.

Substitute blogger's note: Sorry this is late but some of the pics that Ellen sent didn't come through and I waited to post this in case she got my message and resent them. They're not here yet so there may be some additions tomorrow. I apologize for the lateness of this post.

Today is What Day?

Okay, so I boycott Walmart in the U.S. and I spent this morning in Walmart. We went looking for the cute, cheap shoes that I loved the last time in Xi'an and apparently, prices have increased or this town is more expensive. We had a good time shopping -- Nancy and I concur that if we had 1 yuan for every stare, we would be quadrillionaires. I wanted to start sticking my tongue out at all the people who stare, but I don't want to start an international incident like my husband did in Xi'an. Nancy and I decided to say Ni Hao to every person who stares, smile and allow them to touch, stare and make comments. No hurt feelings when they point to Grace's funny lip, I just don't want them to make judgments on Americans based on one experience with a psycho-protective American Mom. So when one woman came up and started to adjust Frannie in her stroller, I just held up my hand in front of her, smiling and said Ni Hao, but let it be known -- back off nut job.

Our guide is.... okay, I'm trying to be a Christian here .... annoying to me. She is not very clear, she is not very helpful and almost everything I ask for results in "that will cost more," including fetching my missing bag from the airport. She talks over me, she corrects me constantly and when she told me to bring 6,300 yuan to the civil affairs meeting then later, in the office said 'so where is the 7,080, did you forget it? I wanted to kung fu her too. Not to whine, but after our previous experiences, I'm ... looking forward to getting out of this place.

Kevin had to e-mail me a passport photo, which I had forgotten to include in my packet. I had to venture to the photo lab, down the street from our hotel and when the photo lady tried to gesture to me that something was obviously wrong with it, I could not help but have fun with it and say "Yes, I know he is funny looking" and she frowned and repeated more gestures, pointing to his forehead and his chin and I said "Yes, he is a smart alec and I want him to shave that goatee too." We finally got through it and she just wanted me to know she might have to crop the picture, but in the meantime i had fun. Making fun of Kevin is so fun in China.

Grace is showing her stubborn side occasionally, not allowing me to feed her (FINE by me!) and she started to hit Frannie with a scowl on her face. Luckily, Frannie had learned to just wag her finger and say "No Gracie!" and pat her gently. Gracie is ticklish, loves it when she or I drop ANYTHING and likes to imitate her big sister. Her palate is pretty severe, from what I can see and she will definitely need plastic surgery on her gums, etc. The other day when we went to the civil affairs meeting, the orphanage director was not able to attend so the same nanny that brought her was there again. Gracie did NOT want to go to her and clung to me. Hmmm, scary. She does not seem to be grieving, but I'm not sure of anything (she could still....)

I will post the pictures from today later. We are wiped out and I need to sleep! Miss you KJF :)

WWKS, Chongqing, China, September 17, 2009

Go teapot. Go Gators. It's too late to think of anything fun or funny.

Gracie is a Fay!

Gracie could not be doing any better (well, physically, she could, but...) she is smiling lots and Frannie is generally sweet to her. We went to our civil affairs meeting today and Frannie got very, very jealous of my holding Grace and cried when I had to go in the other room to take pictures. Frannie is usually pretty good with her and only freaks when it comes to my holding Grace. It's not always easy to hold two of them (while walking, for instance), but she is doing better than I thought. Nancy has been a true champ, taking my freak out moments in stride and taking up where I leave off....Grace had not cried once since we got her until yesterday. We had to leave our thumbprints on the official documents and when I put her thumb in ink and had to turn her hand over and and press down, she cried like I had pinched her. So sad to see. When I gave her a bath last night and tried to use the shower head extendo-arm to rinse her head, she wailed for a good 10 minutes. Alrighty, no problem, we have a plastic cup for rinsing purposes.

Grace's skin does worry me, but it seems to be getting better somehow. I'm waiting for word from MP....

My prayers go out to Karoline and her family as I just read that her Mom passed away. God bless all the Rumps.

We went out to get meat on a stick for dinner last night. See Frannie eating tentacles with gusto. We all enjoyed the spicy Sichuan food. Believe it or not, there is an entire section of the grocery store dedicated to Ramen noodles. We are trying to eat the local cuisine as much as possible, but I have to admit to Donna that we did break down and eat KFC one night due to time constraints. HOWEVER, we had mystery meat sandwiches from there so it doesn't count as eating American fast food. We are scheduled to eat at a hot pot restaurant tonight after a tour of the hot spots in Chongqing.

WWKS, Chongqing, China September 16, 2009

Have you started teaching Gracie how to Gator chomp yet? Have you told her about Tebow? Does she know that the Gators are 2-0 already?

The girls spent the evening in the hotel room checking out Gracie's new toys, backpack, sunglasses and playing peekaboo. Frannie is struggling some, but doing remarkably well, considering. Grace has a questionable scabby thing going on? I'm praying it's not scabies, but we are medicating it like it is. Hoping to get some advice. Unfortunately, both girls napped very, very late and they did not want to go to sleep until after midnight. We are trying to regulate them both today, but as the adoption week goes, we have to meet at the civil affairs office today right in the middle of nap time and we will just have to make do. Grace is almost exactly Frannie's size when we got her, about 12-18 months. She is vocalizing, and actually makes sounds like Mama, but she can't really articulate. She won't let me see her palate yet. She is smiling a lot and loves noodles!

For some reason, we cannot get the sound to work on this brand new computer only on the dvd. The sound works fine for all other sounds, but we can't get it to work for the dvd. Yes, i have already checked the computer set-ups, sound settings, etc. Thanks for any advice!