No School Today

It's 7:30am, the wind is whipping and the snow is falling!!! I wonder if the kids will let me curl up with a good book and a latte . . .

Ants

He really wanted a hamster. Knowing that we have a very inquisitive cat and due to a poor track record for keeping pet enclosures clean, Santa opted to bring Alex an ant farm. It's actually pretty cool. It's filled with a gel that is not only their home, but their source of food (lots of little Hansels and Gretels).

We ordered the little guys on line a few weeks ago and had been eagerly awaiting their arrival. Of course the day of their delivery was the coldest we've had so far this year. And they had to hang out in the mailbox for hours until we returned home in the evening. They were in a little vial. No blankets. No mittens. No hot chocolate. They were not looking very happy. Or active. Or alive.



Much to our surprise, and quite the test of our reflexes, the little nippers were far from dead (well, most of them anyway) and those little Steve McQueen wannabees tried to escape! Only one brave soul perished in the ill fated prison break, may he rest in pieces. The surviving soldiers proceeded to scoop up the hypothermia victims, deposited them in one corner of their new home, and began tunneling. According to the literature it takes about a week for the ants to begin digging their new digs. Ours must be overachievers (Steve McQueen was no slouch) for they have moved and grooved and have a quite impressive 3 day old subterranean habitat.

Bunny Clock

Debbie, a new blogging friend, posted a photo of a soup tureen that looked a bit like my bunny clock. I mentioned to her that I would snap a photo and post it for her to see. It's not an antique but I find it to be quite charming! Voila!

There's Ice in My Birdbath!

How wonderfully seasonal! Although my family in Chicago may feel differently, I'm so happy for the cold!

Nine on the Ninth of Ohh Nine

One year ago today we logged on to our agency's website to see the new list of waiting children. That is when we first saw our Kate. I could say that hers was the only face that spoke to me. The shy smile and the hand on the hip. But there were others. Other children that we would have been very lucky to welcome into our fold. One thing that did stand out about our Kate was that the very day that we were looking at her picture was her birthday. My first thought was I hope her family finds her today on her birthday.

When we got the call the following week, it was my birthday wish that was being answered (our birthdays are two weeks apart)! And our life and family took a new, exciting turn. We took this picture one year ago to send to our daughter waiting for us in China.



It's amazing to think that 9 years ago today this amazing, spunky, loving creature was born. And 1 year ago today this amazing, spunky, loving creature was born to us.





Happy Birthday Kate!! We love you and are lucky beyond compare to have you as a part of our family!

The Lemonade Award

The purpose of this award is to give it to someone who is showing gratitude or a good attitude ("if life hands you lemons, make lemonade") within their life or blog.
The rules:
1) put the logo on your blog
2) nominate at least 10 blogs that show great attitude and/or gratitude.
3) have your 10 pass it along to 10 more!

I wish I had enough blogging friends in my arsenal to pass this along to and do it justice, but I think the few friends that I do have tagging along with me on this journey will be able to spread the wishes as strongly as 10 friends would!

Thank you Kimberly! A wonderful friend to me and my family here in North Carolina. I appreciate the Lemonade Award and will pass it right along!

Below are a few friends that have been very supportive in many ways, being there when perhaps I was the "lemon" that they had to deal with! Some I think I was able to be on my best behavior with. An old blogging friend that has had to deal with the lemons that were dealt out to our agency, but has hands down handled them with grace and whose blog brings so much beauty to those that visit it. And one new friend that I have yet to have met, although I did know her husband in college, and I hope to meet her in person someday!

Lynn at http://wishesquilt.blogspot.com/

Lori at http://ajourneytoourdaughter.blogspot.com/ (who I know is very busy getting her business started up, but your blog has brought much joy!)

Lynn (a different expat Lynn) at http://lifeaccordingtolynn.blogspot.com/

Chelsea at http://gourfamilyadoption.blogspot.com/

Jolie at http://www.little-latham.blogspot.com/

Carla at http://gulke.blogspot.com/

Picture Tag

My friend Lynn tagged me for picture tag. Sounds like fun, so I think I'll play along.

The object of picture tag is to:
1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.
2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3) Explain the picture.
4) Tag 4 people to do the same.


No Cheating! (cropping, editing, etc)



So this is a picture of one of our Virginia Tech friends, Brian Self, at his wedding in July 2006 to Eileen. They were married in Colorado in the shadow of Pikes Peak. They are now living in San Luis Obispo, SLO, (not sure if I spelled that correctly), California. He's an engineering professor at Cal Poly and she is working on her Masters in Sustainable Architecture.

So, Kimberly, Chelsea, Carla, Kristy? Photos anyone?

Kerbie's Visit

When we traveled from Beijing to Nanchang on May 11, 2008 it was just two families, the McKenzies and the Lathams. Jolie and Shawn met their precious daughter Kerbie in that same conference room just minutes after we had met Kate. We really enjoyed their company while we were in China and were thrilled that they live in Richmond, VA. We were certain that we would visit with them once we got back home.

We were so excited when they planned their trip down to Atlanta with a stop-over in Raleigh! Kerbie is such a sweet thing! She is 20 months old now and has started talking. She loved the dogs (she has a couple of her own) and enjoyed making sure they ate all their food. She also helped Phil work on his squatting (very important resting position in China).




After all the kids had gone to bed, we started swapping "horror" stories about the first few weeks back from China. All the adjustment issues. Trying to figure out how to be a working family again. Feeling totally disfunctional, disillusioned and afraid to let on how low some of the lows could be. It was reassuring to know that we were not alone in our stress. I felt like an idiot for not realizing that they were probably experiencing at least a little of the same and, even if they weren't, that they at least would be supportive, having made that same journey with us back in May.

It was great spending some time with them. Lots of laughs. Lots of stories. Good therapy!

He's Going to Hate This !!

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She's Going to Love This!

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Elf Party

It is so easy to take for granted how lucky I am. I never give a second thought to the fact that I live in a safe and loving house, with all my needs met and a whole lot of my wants, too. And it's been a couple of years since I was actively serving in the community, so it's easy to have a kind of happy bubble existence. And easier still to put off new volunteering starts because we were "expecting". At any moment we would get word from China. I would need to be a full-time, kid at home, 24/7 Mom. Not that it would happen quite that dramatically, but I didn't want to commit to something that I couldn't follow through.

I realized last year that I needed to pop that bubble and find a way to contribute here in our "new" hometown. I got an application to begin volunteer training with Interact, an organization that helps battered women and their children in the Triangle area. Then we found out that we were picked to adopt Kate!

It's been a busy 6 months since our trip to China, but it's time to dust off that application and get moving. Wednesday night, Alex, Kate and I spent the evening at Interact's annual Elf Party. We organized toys, clothes, books, and other gifts for Interact's Holiday Bazaar. The bazaar is an opportunity for their clients to come with their children and pick out gifts for one another. We helped set up "shopping" areas for Mom's to "shop" for their children and another area for the kids to pick out gifts for Moms. The bazaar will be held this weekend and will have volunteers helping the kids "shop" for their Moms, helping Moms by keeping kids out of the way while Mom shops and getting all gifts wrapped up to keep secret until Christmas.

Both Alex and Kate had a great time and I had numerous complements on how helpful and hard working my two Elves were! Hopefully next year, after having gone through the volunteer training, I'll be able to help out during the bazaar itself! While we drove home Wednesday night, I had two tired kids both agree that we definitely need to do that again next year.

Inspired

Kate received a video of the Nutcracker performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov and was so inspired that she ran up to her room and put on her "butterfly dress". After posing for a few pictures, she danced around the kitchen, asking Dad to help her with the lifts!

Snow!!

Hey Yall! The leaves haven't even finished falling, yet there's snow falling! How groovy is that!





Hope you didn't strain your eyes to see the snow in the photos, but it's there. Promise.

Girl Party

A few weeks ago, both Phil and Alex were out of town so Kate and I decided to have a Girl Party! We brought out some lovely plates, lit the candles and dusted cupcakes with pink sugar crystals. We painted each other's nails and watched the bonus DVD that came with her High School Musical 3 soundtrack. We danced around and took pictures. We had a lovely time at our Girl Party and found that we didn't miss those boys one bit. Well, maybe we missed them just a little!

Is It Too Good To Be True?? North Carolina Is Blue??

Our local stations are saying that we've done it, that we've gone blue here in North Carolina, but I haven't seen it yet on CNN or other National outlets. It's fantastic how much excitement there has been leading up to yesterday and I'm so hopeful for our State! I'm proud to say that my county, Wake county, voted for Obama. Just waiting for a decision to be made for the state as a whole.

Today's The Day

If you haven't already voted, get out there and be heard.

Halloween

Kate's first Halloween (that we're aware of). We had a Princess, a Psycho (Alex' friend, Nolan) and a Cereal Killer. Alex, Nolan and another friend, Jesse (Santa with a Scream mask), took off and did their own thing, while Kate and I visited some families on our street and just tried to take in all the sights. She definitely had the whole trick or treat thing down, and was thrilled to see the candy filling up her pumpkin!

Unlike last year where we were wearing shorts and tshirts, last night felt like a fall holiday. Cool and crisp. So it didn't take too long before our Cinderella was feeling cold and was ready for some hot chocolate and Disney channel. Alex returned home about an hour later with more candy than we'll ever know what to do with (especially since he still has candy left over from last year).

Fall Party At School

Games were played, pumpkins were decorated and lips were blackened (picked the wrong day for a white t-shirt). And while all this is going on, no school work is taking place. What more could a kid ask for?

Ireland Continued

While the purpose of our trip was to visit my Aunt, Uncle, Cousin and Granny, we did manage to get in quite a bit of sight seeing. On Monday we went into town (Dublin) and went to Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral and Dublinia.



The Castle is on the site of the original Dublin fortress and where the black pool which gave the city it's name was located.



Dublinia is very cheesy, but does a great job of explaining Dublin's history. You walk through Viking history, life in Medieval times and lots of information about the Black Death. Nice.




Christ Church Cathedral is the resting place of Strongbow (in the picture Alex is showing how he apparently died) as well as home to some beautiful stained-glass windows. Alex was quick to point out the Holy Hand Grenade found in one such window. Perhaps Monty Python is not the best roll model.




Wednesday we visited Kilmainham Gaol during the day and that night saw Ireland beat Cyprus in a World Cup qualifier.




Thursday we visited Trim Castle (location of the majority of the filming of Braveheart) and Newgrange, a very cool stone age passage tomb.

The Boy is Home!!

Alex spent the past 3 days at an outward bound-style camp for a 7th grade class trip to foster unity, teamwork, whatever . . . it drove me nuts not having him home!!! Oh crap crap crap I don't think I can let him go to college. Maybe if I let him play video games instead of doing homework I can sabotage his academic efforts.