When West Meets East

Hello? Hello? Anyone still out there?

2009-07-28T11:11:00.002+08:00

So I've been absent from the blog for uh, I don't know, like months. Where the heck have I been? Why the stone cold silence? Is anyone even still checking this thing? Just in case I do still have a few loyal readers out there, I am sorry for my lack of inspiration. Call it summer break. Call it computer crashing and dying a terrible sad death. Call it only having Jon's work laptop at night because we're too cheap right now to buy a new computer. Call it whatever you will. I know it all equals out to one thing: a very boring blog.

So if you are still checking in on us, thank you. And here's an update to what is going on around here.

KIDS: Well, we're down to the 2 week mark until school starts. The summer has been fun and filled with a new trampoline, sport's camps, speech, playing with friends and cousins, travelling to see family and friends, and fighting with each other because we're spending 24/7 together. It's always fun, exhausting, and never dull to have all 3 kiddos home all summer, and despite the brotherly brawls, it has been pretty good. Jonah can't wait until school starts, and he keeps wistfully saying that he misses school. Not sure what that says about me and my entertainment value, but I'm glad he's excited for 1st grade. Jack will start 3rd grade, and Maddie Rae will be going to Early Start preschool every morning for speech.

HOUSE: Still working on finishing the basement and my list of home improvement dreams grows by a couple items every week...thus bringing me to my next point...

WORK: After an 8 year stint as a stay-at-home mom, I'm goin' back to work. Yep, you heard that one right. Honestly, if you would have told me a couple years ago that I'd be going back to work and happy about it, I would have thought you were crazy. But the Lord has really led me to this point and dropped this seemingly perfect job right in my lap. I will be teaching 7th and 8th grade language arts and math at a local middle school where I have previously taught. (I can just hear all the cringes out there...7th and 8th grade?! EEK! But I really do love teaching those crazy middle schoolers.) The school is right next to the boy's school, so I will drop them off next door and then head on over. At the end of the day, they will finish 45 min. before me, so they will walk over and sit quietly in the classroom while I finish teaching (again with the cringing. I know, I'm actually cringing myself at the thought of them sitting quietly doing their homework in the back of a classroom of 8th graders...yeah, right. But we're going to try it out at least.) My sister, who was looking for another job and who lives a block from the school Maddie Rae will attend, is going to watch her after her school for me. So my mommy guilt is minimum because my sister is really the closest thing to me there is, and Maddie Rae and Mallaney think and wish they were sisters already anyway. Win Win. I vacillate between excitement and sheer panic at the thought of balancing all of this, and I still have some certification details to work out since I've been out of it for so long. But I'm gonna give it a go and see how it all shakes out.

So if I'm absent for another few months, at least you'll know where I am. Sorry no pictures. The computer crashing thing was really not good for them...

The Terrible Threes??

2009-06-02T20:47:00.002+08:00

I've always heard it said that the "Terrible Twos" is really the "Terrible Threes," but I never had evidence. With Jack it was all just one big blur of temper tantrums and battles of the will. With Jonah it was all just one big walk on easy street. But now I get it! It seems that last month when Maddie Rae turned 3, some lightbulb went off in her head telling her to Throw Fits! Destroy things! Make lots of Mischief! Exert your Will! I present the following as evidence:

These materials were in her bed this morning when I went to get her up: Her brother's allowance, a tub of vaseline, a tub of lip gloss, her Nala and dog smeared with said vaseline and lip gloss, and a marker covered sheet.

The late afternoon meltdown. She won't take naps anymore, and we all pay for it around 4 pm.

But we always take the fit very seriously. We don't laugh. We wouldn't possibly take pictures of it. Because fits are serious business, right? Right.

Even the lips and teeth were green. I found this little display about 5 minutes before we had to run out the door to her brother's class picnic.

Scissors in the hand, and hair on the floor. Never a good sign.

In addition to these antics, she has also "washed" her brother's DS and my phone. The phone was no big deal because it was just the free phone I got when I opened my plan. The DS...well, that one was met by much weeping and gnashing of teeth. So I think I get it now. 3 is much more "terrible" than 2!

Confessions of a Closet Slob

2009-05-29T20:49:00.004+08:00

My name is Retta, and I am a closet slob. It is embarrassing, but true. If you walked in my house, you may think "This is pretty good." A few toys here and there, some crumbs, some stains on the carpet, some misplaced stuff around, but in general not bad. But then you may go to open my closet and find....it won't close without a foot shoving everything back in and hurrying to slam the door. And if you dared set foot in my basement or attic, you may never come back out again. It's terrible, but it's true. And I don't know how to fix it. I have dreams of having a completely organized and lovely house where even the junk drawer has everything in its place, but it just doesn't seem to be in my make-up. No matter how hard I try, it still ends up looking like this:

This is the desk area in our pantry/utility room. It's right off the kitchen, and so it doesn't technically qualify as a closet. However, it's tucked away enough that my closet tendencies were spilling over into it. But I had had enough, and I knew it was time to organize when I had to write the class parent of Jack's class in a panic because I couldn't remember what day the end of the year picnic was. And why couldn't I remember? Because I didn't write it down because I couldn't find my calendar on THIS desk. Intervention ensued.

I decided to take the doors off of the upper cabinet to create a more open shelving look, and also to keep me from just shoving everything in there and slamming the door until it stayed closed. So off the doors came to reveal the lovely mustard yellow underneath.

I had some left over paint from Maddie Rae's room (Benjamin Moore, Irish Mint), so I painted the inside of the cabinet with it to brighten it up.

The desk top is a horribly ugly laminate countertop circa 1970ish. So I bought 3 packs of my trusty cork tiles from Target and painted them with the same paint. Jonah helped with this part and thought it was the coolest thing ever. And he did a pretty good job!

I glued the cork tiles to the desktop, and I covered the rest with fabric to create little bulletin boards here and there. Cause you know I love me some fabric covered cork tiles. I created a desk skirt with an old curtain to hide the ugly recycle bin underneath.

And VIOLA! The finished desk. I still need to paint the outer cabinet white over the hinge marks and put a plate on the light switch, but it's a big improvement. Now if I can keep it this organized, it will be miraculous.

Happy 3rd Birthday Maddie Rae!

2009-05-29T08:34:00.003+08:00

Despite being a bit belated, I did want to post about Maddie Rae's third birthday. This was her second birthday with us, but the first one that we actually got to celebrate. On her second birthday last year, she was just a couple days out from palate surgery, and somehow I didn't think that pureed cake would be quite the same. So this year, we had a whole day of fun. We started out at the park with some friends for a little playtime and some cupcakes.Her absolute favorite thing to do at the playground is swing. Every day after school when we pick up the boys, if it's nice we stay and play at the playground. I spend the entire time pushing her "high!" Her physical strength and ability continue to astound me. She will be swinging really high and while swinging will pull herself up to standing and then stick her leg out in front of her swinging one legged. Today I caught her holding her body off the swing with one arm while spinning around. She can hang from the monkey bars, spin around on this whirly thing, and do just about everything she sees the big kids do. I need to get the girl in gymnastics!

Cupcake time!

Modeling some of her new bling.

Here she is helping make her cake. We always make cookie cakes for family birthday parties because Jack doesn't like real cake. Jonah and Maddie Rae love to cook, and they are always in the kitchen "helping" me. Maddie Rae especially loves to stir.

That evening we had a family birthday party and cook out with Mike, Raegi, Mallaney, and Max. She got to open her presents, eat her cake, and hang with the fam. I find it hard to believe that my "baby" is 3 already. Happy Birthday Maddie Rae!!

Big News

2009-05-21T21:43:00.002+08:00

We have some big news in our family, and it's news that we're very excited about. Jon's sister and her husband have decided to adopt a little girl from China! They are hoping to adopt a little girl with cleft lip and palate, and we are so thrilled that Maddie Rae will have a cousin who shares her heritage. As most of you know, the cost of an international adoption is very high, so they are doing some fundraisers to try to raise money. If you would like to check out some adorable jewelry, t-shirts, bags, and other items, please go to their website and help us bring baby girl cousin HOME! Rebecca also has a blog on her site so that you can follow along on their progress and pray alongside of them if you would like. It is amazing for me to see another manifestation of God's heart for the fatherless played out. He loves these children, and He calls us to love them too. What a blessing to see this love played out all over the world in adoptive families, nannies, orphan care organizations, foster families, foster care workers, donors, and praying believers.

Gardening 101 with Jonah

2009-05-08T11:15:00.002+08:00

"Mom, what's that flower called?"

"That's an iris." (feeling very proud because I actually KNEW the name of a flower)

"Oh. Well what does it DO?"

"Uh...it blooms in the spring." (feeling extremely proud because I actually KNEW it bloomed in the spring)

"No, I mean, what does it DO?"

"It doesn't DO anything. It's a flower. It grows and blooms and looks pretty."

"NO! I mean, what does it DO? Like does it reach out and eat your hand when you try to pick it?"

"No. It's a flower. Flowers don't eat your hands."

"Well, then why is it called a VIRUS?!?!"

Sweet Sentiments...sort of

2009-03-25T08:04:00.002+08:00

This past week found most of my family, most of my sister's family, my dad, and my other sister (who picked a very bad weekend to visit) all laid out flat by the dreaded stomach flu. When I was sick last week, Jack very sweetly made me a card to help me feel better. He is very thoughtful and always very good to take care of his momma. This is the front:

This is the inside. I happened to walk by the card tonight, which has been laying on the dining room table all week, and saw that Jonah had written in his thoughts:Translation:

Jack: Your the BEST Mommy in the world

Jonah: No your not. Jesus's mother is.

I'm trumped by Mary, and we're not even Catholic.

Say CHEESE

2009-03-21T00:23:00.004+08:00

Unfortunately, we've hit that "stage" around here. All you mothers will know it well. It's the phase where you tell your child to smile for the camera, and something like this happens:

Or this:

Or if you're lucky, this:

Thankfully we have a good camera, so with enough clicks I can still manage this in between grimacing "smiles."

Decisions, Decisions...

2009-03-05T02:08:00.003+08:00

I'm back to the speech therapy topic again, so if you're completely bored by talk of therapy, ARC meetings, IEPs, and saying "Wu, Wu, Wu" 800 times in a row, just skip this one.

Maddie Rae has made amazing progress in the 2 months we have been working with her new therapist. She can now make many more sounds (D, B, T, P, L, R to name a few) and her oral muscle tone and breath support has greatly increased. She can now blow a whistle, blow bubbles in her milk, and make her air come out of her mouth. We are still working on getting her mouth moving by doing the Beckman Oral Motor Protocol (ok, I warned you...not the most exciting post) on the inside and outside of her mouth and face. Speech therapy is really fascinating, I have found, and there are all sorts of tricks to develop the muscles, cranial facial nerves, and tongue movement that really work. And it feels like such victory to hear her language increasing after all our hard work. On a moment by moment basis we are encouraging her to use her words, and we break words apart into seperate sounds for her so that she can hear the distinguishing sounds. Just this week she has said "up", "out", and "eat" completely with the p's and t's at the end. With sentences, we break those down too trying to get her to say each word. So it is a lot of work for her and for us, but she is doing so well and we are all so proud of her. Her confidence is increasing as well, and she will now speak much more and try new things (she went on a talking strike for a while during speech).

She currently has speech for 45 minutes 3 times a week in our home. Unfortunately, she ages out of this program when she turns 3 on May 8, and so now we are faced with the decisions on how to get her the therapy she needs this summer and next year. We are going to continue to take her to her speech therapist once a week in her office, and we have two other options we are considering. The first is just to take her to the boy's school for speech therapy. It would most likely be in a group setting, and I would take her once a week. The second option is to enroll her in early start preschool where she would be in a classroom with other 3 and 4 year olds receiving speech during school. I am leaning towards putting her in preschool because a. it's free! b. it may be good peer pressure encouraging her to talk c. the school she would go to is very diverse and she would be in class with a lot of Chinese and Japanese kids and d. if she were home all she would be doing during the times of the school are eating lunch and taking a nap (which actually turns into room playtime because she rarely takes a nap anymore). We have our initial ARC meeting next Monday where we will begin all the IEPs and testing. So if any of you have any insight into this whole realm, let me know. I am learning as I go, and although I've been in plenty of ARC meetings as a teacher, I've never been the parent in one.

Most importantly, we thank God for healing Maddie Rae's mouth and for allowing her surgeries to be so successful. Jon and I pray often that God would continue to heal her mouth, and give her the muscles and skills she needs to express all that is in that bright little head of hers. I feel like our speech therapist was a direct answer to that prayer. She is so amazing, and she loves Maddie Rae and encourages her and us in just the right ways.

Tuesdays with Max

2009-03-04T03:25:00.002+08:00

Every Tuesday my sister works, and so I get the priviledge of hanging out with this adorable guy. Those cheeks! The only time it gets a little dicey is when I have to drop the big girls off at "school" along with the infant carrier, two backpacks, two lunchboxes, and two girls who usually take off 4 shoes and 4 socks in the 5 minute drive to school. Then I do the whole thing over again at pick up, only this time adding in lots of miscellaneous papers and the whole carseat/seatbelt/load 'em up thing. Thankfully, my friend and neighbor Nancy picks up the boys for me on Tuesdays so I do not have to repeat the process a third time! Thanks Nancy!

And I know you have all been waiting on pins and needles to hear the verdict...Bangs or no Bangs? I chickened out in the seat. I went for the same cut I've had for the last two hair appointments (which looks sort of like Christina Applegate's Samantha Who cut). Then I got home and got really irritated with a big piece that kept hanging in my eyes, and so I hacksawed it off with kid paper cutting scissors. Shame, shame. Shame on me. So I have bangs...sort of. I think I need to just grow it out to my standard long locks again and call it a day. I always end up back at the long curls.

New Kitchen Curtains

2009-03-03T03:10:00.004+08:00

I asked, "Curtains or No Curtains?" and you answered by a landslide, "YES! Curtains!"

Here are my newest kitchen "curtains." I did have dish towels hung up with curtain clips, but these placemats work even better I think. This is a cheap and easy way to hang fun pattern in your windows, and you can even change it with the season or when you get bored for only a few bucks. And if your hands are wet and you can't find a towel...no worries, just use the curtains!

Now, I also asked, "Bangs or No Bangs?" and I got a much more varied response. My appointment is tonight, so I'll have to hold you in suspense until tomorrow for the outcome on that one.

"Nap" Time

2009-02-27T04:05:00.001+08:00

Mom, why are you dressed like that?

2009-02-27T02:37:00.002+08:00

"Because I'm going to the gym after I drop you off at school, Jonah."
"Oh. You look like a babysitter."
"I look like a babysitter? Why?"
"Because of your clothes. You look like a babysitter."
"Oh! That must mean you think I look YOUNG?"
"Well...ummm....sort of."

(For the record...I had on a fleece and cropped sweatpants. And I never made it to the gym...got too sidetracked at thrift stores along the way. But I did score some great deals, and I found some cool Danish sidechairs that I'm wanting. Bad.)

Apartment Therapy

2009-02-26T02:22:00.004+08:00

Those of you who know me well, or even know me a little bit, will know that I spend quite a bit of time perusing design blogs. One of my favorites is Apartment Therapy, so imagine my gushing glee when one of the editors asked me if they could feature my kitchen bulletin board wall on their site. Of Course! Please click over and share in my 15 minutes of design blog fame.

Kitchen Tour

2009-02-24T23:57:00.003+08:00

What began on August 11 is now pretty much done. I say "pretty much" because there are still minor details to tend to, like refinishing the floors, but MOST of the kitchen is done. Here is a little tour.These photos are "pretty much" the same, except for one little detail...can you tell what it is? The top photo has my dish towel curtains in it, and the bottom photo doesn't. I like it both ways. What do you think? Curtains or No Curtains?

The breakfast area. The french door leads to the pantry, utility room, and desk area. My next project is organizing and making the desk area functional and cute. Right now it looks like a junk drawer gone wrong.

This wall is my very handy bulletin board. I covered cork squares in fabric and hung them on the wall for a cheap and easy catch all for important school papers and projects.

So there you have it. If I had to do it over again, there are definitely things I would do differently. I love my granite countertops, but I would maybe go for a lighter color instead of the black. I would have looked into IKEA cabinets as well, just to price whether or not it would have been cheaper. I also would have looked into more of a full wall pantry type cabinet over in the breakfast area. As it stands, I got really lucky because I changed the entire design AFTER ordering the cabinets, and they just happened to all work in this scheme. Whew. Our new kitchen was completely gutted and refurbished for under 10K, which I think is pretty good considering. On to the next project...

Bangs

2009-02-24T10:57:00.004+08:00

Per Carol's request, I am posting a picture of the last time I had bangs. All of my childhood pictures reside at my parent's house, but now with the advent of Facebook and horrifying lovely pictures from the past suddenly creeping up everywhere, this is available right here on my very own pc. Lucky me. Note from the previous post that both of my sisters have advised me to forgo the bangs. Can't imagine why?! I mean, look at those babies. My dad referred to them as the "thingy," and would ask me each day how they were doing as he pulled a piece up checking for hairspray effectiveness. And why are my friend and I (who both had extremely naturally curly hair and were known to actually iron our hair straight. With a real iron on a real ironing board.) sporting the squishy curler things? I have no explanation, other than it was 1988 and the bigger the better.

Here's one more bang for your buck. Ahem. Again, thanks Facebook. Can you spot me?

Yeah, that's me. Right in the front. I was in seventh grade, and so was the boy standing next to me. And that, my friends, is why no one has good memories of seventh grade.

Jonah-isms

2009-02-21T12:31:00.002+08:00

Our five year old never ceases to crack us up. I have to write these down, mainly for my own brain because if I don't...well, you know what happens. Gone.

Looking at a book...
"Mom, that animal is a male."
"How do you know that Jonah?"
"Because he has horns, and male animals have horns. Wait...why doesn't Charles (our guinea pig) have horns?"
"Not all animals have horns. Jonah, what am I? Am I male or female?"
"You're female."
"Right. What are you? Male or female?"
"Female."
"No, you're male. Male means boy."
[with indignation in his voice] "What?! Then where are my horns?!?!"

To Uncle Marky at Christmas...
"My favorite 3D shape is a rectangular prism."
"Wow, Jonah. What's your favorite flat shape?"
"hmmmm."
"I think mine is diamond. I like diamonds."
"Oh, Marky...some people call those rhombuses."

Discussing Martin Luther King at dinner...
"Mom! It's so cool because Maddie Rae is the first African American in our family!"

Apparently this one has been going around at school too. His teacher asked me the other day if I knew that Jonah was telling everyone that his sister was African-American. When I try to tell him that no, she's Chinese-American, he is insistent that NO. She is also African-American. After all, she has brown skin. Alrighty then.

And one for Jack from tonight when we were watching "Swiss Family Robinson" at the scene where all the boys are swinging from vines and the mom is sitting in her Sunday best under her parasol relaxing in the sun...
"I would NOT want to be that mother."
"Why not?"
"Because I wouldn't want to just sit around under an umbrella. I don't like to relax."

And for any of you who know Jack, you will give a hearty Amen to that one.

Hair Issues

2009-02-21T02:41:00.002+08:00

Kim, over at Celebrating Everyday Life, is hosting a giveaway for these adorable little hair clips. I am crossing my fingers that I can win one for Maddie Rae, but if not then I will head over to Etsy anyway and buy some because they are so darn cute! So if you have a little girl, go on over to Kim's blog and enter to win (and while you're there, check out Vivi Jo's room. It is adorable, and looks like it could be straight out of the pages of Domino...my very favorite design mag that is now sadly defunct due to the economy. Wah.)

And in other hair news, I'm considering cutting my hair something like the photo below. I haven't had bangs since the 80's, but I saw a girl the other night with a haircut like this and thought it was adorable. My sister says absolutely not. Don't do it. It will be the biggest mistake of your life. Of course, she also told me not to wallpaper my dining room and to paint it goldfinch instead. And that was a disaster. However, she may be right about the bangs...what do you think? I have until next Monday night to decide...

Hibernation

2009-02-20T07:12:00.004+08:00

Where Have I BEEN?! I know I have been very absent from the bloggy world, but I assure you it is only because I have been very present in my own real world with ice storms, snow storms, freezing weather, 8 snow days, and a tornado drill that scared the you know what out of my 5 and 7 year olds (who were sequestered in the school for 30 minutes past dismissal in the tornado crouch on the floor. Jack was praying to God the entire time to please just make the tornado go away, and declared it was his "second scariest day of his life". Second only to nearly dying on the plane. The fact that there wasn't even a tornado warning in our county seemed to be lost on him.) If I would have actually updated my blog, you may have been more bored by reading about it than I actually was sequestered inside for days on end. However, today something happened that jolted me, quite literally, out of my blog hibernation. I spent the morning in the ER.

Really, what good is a trip to the ER if you can't blog about it, right? It all began with my Thursday excitement...Mom's Day Out! Woohoo! I headed straight to the gym after dropping off my little one and ran my 30 minutes on the treadmill. Feeling good, I decided it was time for a serious ab workout on the incline bench. You know the one...the bench that puts your feet higher than your head and allows you to be unable to stand up straight the next day because your stomach is so sore. Yeah, that's the one. Unfortunately, the bench was at the steepest incline. I knew I could have none of that, so I crouched down and pulled the pin out so that I could lower the bench. That's when the bench came CRASHING down. That shocked me, but it shocked me even more when I realized I couldn't get my hand out of the crashing bench. I was stuck. I tried to leverage the bench up with my shoulder, but it was locked in place. I couldn't get the pin out of the hole because my hand was jammed in right above the hole. I yelled to a trainer nearby and begged her to come help me. That's when I saw the blood flowing and I got a bit more urgent with the trainer yelling instructing her to come over and remove the pin. She did, and the rest is history. Another trainer drove me to the ER, and I am now the proud owner of 6 stitches in the little flap of skin between your thumb and index finger. I never really gave much thought to that little flap before, but now that mine is throbbing and mangled, I'm realizing just how much use that little guy gets. At least I got out of the ab workout, right?

Where have I BEEN?

2009-02-08T10:06:00.003+08:00

Yes, I realize I have been a big blogger slacker over the last few weeks. Why? You might ask. Maybe it's due to the ice storm and power outages. Maybe it's due to 8 snow days and one early dismissal day. Maybe it's due to temperatures being in the negatives, and the car registering 7 when I got in to take the boys to school (when they finally had school). Maybe it's due to not having electricity on two or three different occassions over the past two weeks. Maybe it's due to our state being declared a federal disaster area. I'm blaming it on the cold and crediting hibernation for my lack of effort. But it was 64 degrees today, so you may be seeing a little more of me now...

Snow Day of Ridiculous Proportions

2009-01-26T21:14:00.002+08:00

This morning was brutal. I had to rip myself from my warm covers, haul myself down to the kitchen which mercifully had coffee brewing for my weary body. I opened up the fridge to find no drink boxes, no milk, no waffles, no nothing. And I had to pack lunches. I somehow managed to scrounge up something to send my kids for lunch, chastised Jack for guzzling all the drink boxes over the weekend when he knows they are only for lunches, and turned the house upside down looking for water bottles. I even managed to coerce Jon into taking the boys to school so that I didn't have to go out in the cold. I finally got them all tucked into their coats, hats, gloves, and shoved them out the door. Ah. Quiet. Turn on the Today show. Uh oh. Things in our county are closed. CLOSED?! There is a DUSTING of snow on the ground. And that is being generous. Sure enough. The ticker ticks to their school. Closed. Unbelievable. So the school is closed and I didn't even get the benefit of not having to pack lunches. Grrrrr. What exactly is the criteria for closing school around here?!

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

2009-01-26T10:46:00.002+08:00

KUNGHEI

FAT

CHOY!

I have to say, our Chinese New Year celebrations were quite different from the past 3 years, but we did try to mark the holiday. We went to a Chinese New Year "production" at our local library. There was a lot of dancing by cute little Chinese girls, a lion dance that Maddie Rae was scared of, and a Kung Fu number with a bunch of white guys and one African-American guy. It sort of made me nostalgic for last year when I could hear the beating drum of the lion dance out my window, could walk around and see all the decorations, and could watch my kid's eyes light up as they collected all their lai see money. After the show, the kids and I went to a local Chinese buffet with a bunch of other families with adopted kids from China. Jonah thoroughly enjoyed the buffet declaring, "Mom, this food is not good. It is SUPER good." Give the kids a buffet with an ice cream machine, and they are happy campers. I am supposed to go to Jack's class on Thursday to tell them all about Chinese New Year, so I'm trying to locate lai see packets in America. If only I had Park n Shop. Didn't think you'd ever hear me say that, did ya Carol?!?!

Wild Things and a Great Giveaway!

2009-01-24T22:04:00.000+08:00

Our house has been known to be "Where the Wild Things Are", and if I had a nickel for every time I said, "STOP being WILD!" I would be one rich mama. You take one boy and you may get moments of wildness, but you take two boys close in age, and you have some major wild things. Give them one second of free time and they are either a. wrestling b. staging a boxing match c. fighting d. dressing up as Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader and light saber dueling or e. all of the above. There is a new book out, appropriately called Wild Things, and I am happy to be participating in the book's promotional blog tour. And the really exciting part is that I have a FREE copy of the book to giveaway to one lucky reader. If you would like to participate in the giveaway, just leave me a comment with your email so that I can notify you if you win. And without further ado, please enjoy the interview with the authors.

Looking for answers on how to raise boys?
Ever wonder…
· Why can’t he sit still?
· Is he hearing a word I say?
· Why is he angry all the time?
Boys are born to be wild. Their strong spirit, endless imagination, and hunger for adventure are only matched by their deep desire to be affirmed, esteemed, and loved. In their new book Wild Things, therapists Stephen James and David Thomas help parents and educators understand what exactly makes boys tick.

1. In your last book, How to Hit a Curveball, Grill the Perfect Steak, and Become a Real Man, you addressed a lot of fatherhood issues about rearing boys. How is your new book, Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys, different?

How to Hit a Curveball felt like a perfect introduction to this book. That book challenges men to take a good look at themselves, their experience of being boys themselves and how they were (or weren’t) fathered. We strongly believe that men can’t father well outside of paying attention to their own stories. Whether we like it or not, we are all creatures of habit. We gravitate back toward what we know – good or bad. That book was an invitation to look a little closer at both.

Wild Things is an invitation to take a closer look at your son. This book is a comprehensive look at boy development from birth to young adulthood. In addition to laying out the biology of a boy, we also look at the mind of a boy and the heart of a boy. We break down what a boy needs from his mom and from his dad in every stage of his development. We also hit on all the hot topics surrounding boys, everything from the impact of media to substance abuse, the role of sports, and sex and dating.

2. The subject of Wild Things was inspired by Maurice Sendak’s classic tale Where the Wild Things Are. Why did you find this theme so appropriate?

If you read closely Sendak’s story, he brilliantly speaks to a boy’s hunger for risk and adventure, how boys crave power and purpose, and how they make sense of the world around them. Sendak’s portrait of boys felt so accurate to the two of us and a unique way of exploring and dissecting a boy’s inner world.

In Wild Things, we borrow from the passion and ethos of Sendak’s book and use that to provide insight and direction for parents, teachers, and mentors in what it means to love a boy well. We also try and give a lot of real life examples from our own lives and from the families we work with in our counseling practices.

3. You address five key stages that a boy goes through on his journey to becoming a man. What stage is the most difficult for most boys to navigate?

Each of the stages holds unique challenges. We worked hard to break down each stage in a way that is easy to digest. We think that that parents and educators will walk away with a clearer understanding of a boy’s unique design in each stage and some practical ideas in how to care for him within that stage of his development.

In many ways Wild Things is the kind of thing that you don’t just read once. It is more like an entertaining reference guide that parents and teachers can go back to time and time again for encouragement, insight, and direction.

But if we had to identify one stage as the most challenging, though, we’d have to say the Wanderer stage (13-17). This window of a young man’s development is plagued by physical and emotional change. A colleague of mine, who is pediatrician, said boys in this stage are 98% hormone, which translates to their being so emotional. A part of their developmental agenda is moving toward independence and pulling away. He’s often times the most distant and hard to read in this stage, which greatly complicates the process of letting him go and trusting him with more independence. And it is during this stage that is has the ability to make decisions that will effect the rest of his life. The risks are real and boys in this stage lack the ability to choose wisely with their future in sight.

4. Both of you are fathers of girls and boys. How is parenting a boy different from parenting a girl?

Parenting boys in the first three stages is just so physical. Parenting boys in these years requires a great deal of physical energy—and a good back. Whereas parenting our daughters is so much more relational and emotional. Both are exhilarating and exhausting, but in different ways.

When I (David) engage my daughter, it’s in sitting in a neighborhood coffee shop talking about her day at school. My boys can sit at the coffee shop long enough to finish a chocolate chip cookie, spill their milk and then we’re kicking a soccer ball across the street at the park.

We talk a lot in the book about boys in motion and how to engage these active, physical beings. Girls need that too, no doubt, but not in the same way boys need it.

We had our families together the other day over at my (Stephen’s) house. At one point all the kids went out in the front yard to play: five boys and two girls in all. There were a number of balls lying around the yard. The boys started playing soccer with one ball and the girls started playing soccer with another. After a few minutes the boys were trying to kick the ball at each other and the girls were off to the side talking to each other. To me that is a great picture of the differences.

5. What mistakes have parents and educators made in their approach to rearing and training boys?

For me (Stephen) the consistent mistake my wife and I make is that we over explain and over verbalize with our sons. This is a problem that is very common. In parenting boys, adults tend to talk to them and at them a great deal. We talk and talk and talk and end up sounding a lot like Charlie Brown’s teacher. “Whah, whah, whah.” In Wild Things we offer a number of different strategies for engaging and educating boys that better match their unique design. Boys learn through experience and physical repetition. They need consistent firm boundaries and loads of encouragement.

As far as school goes we speak a lot in the book that the compulsory model we use for schooling in the United States is generally well-suited to a girl’s learning style. It’s heavy on verbal and written expression, two particular areas of strength for most girls. It involves a good deal of sitting still for extended periods of time with mostly auditory instruction. These methods don’t match a boy’s way of learning or draw on his learning strengths.

6. How did you come to the conclusions you discuss in Wild Things?

The book is a combination of science and research, clinical experience (our own as therapists and that of others), and our own journey of parenting five boys between the two of us.

As therapists, we have sat with thousands of men and boys over the years. Our hope was to bring their voices into the content of Wild Things. We have learned so much from the males we’ve had the great honor of working with and hoped to bring their stories into this text. In addition to those, we are still learning so much from living with five of our wild things.

7. At what age should parents discuss sex, homosexuality, and pornography with their boys?

You may be surprised to hear this answer, but we’d recommend beginning a dialogue around sexuality at the age of two. We aren’t recommending education around homosexuality and pornography at two. That begins typically around age 8-10, possibly earlier or later depending on the boy. But we are strong advocates of a healthy ongoing dialogue with every boy around the design of his body, sexuality, and boundaries in relationships in stage one. We lay out a good portion of this in the book to take some of the guess work out of it for parents, and we recommend some useful resources in further guiding you through this life long discussion. As boys grow older the conversation becomes more specific and more technical. Think of it like painting: it starts with broad brush strokes and then moves to finer detail. But as a rule, it starts way before most parents think it does.

8. What are the three most important factors in keeping a boy from experimenting with drugs?

We continue to see three common factors among young men that we’ve worked with who either abstain from using substances or experiment and then make a decision not to continue. The first would be a strong faith and core values. The second would be a strong family open to dialogue. The third would be strong relationships.

9. Who are the most important role models in a boy’s life?

There is no question that a boy’s parents play a foundational role in the man he becomes. In Wild Things we have a chapter that specifically address a mother’s relationship with her son as well as a chapter that addresses a father’s relationship with his son. But it doesn’t stop there for boys. There is great truth to the old African proverb that says “it takes a village.” We talk early in the book about how a boy begins to hunger for other voices and a part of our role is to put them in his way, so that he ends up with this community of individuals who believe in him and hold him up.

10. What kinds of things can a father do to bond with his son and raise him to be emotionally mature?

One of the first things we’d challenge a dad to do is to pay attention to his own story. That was a central purpose in our book How to Hit a Curve Ball, Grill the Perfect Steak and Become a Real Man: Learning the Lessons our Fathers Never Taught Us. Unless we understand how our stories inform who we are as men, husbands, and fathers, we stand to make a number of significant mistakes with our own sons. So before a man starts making a list of things to “do” with his son, we’d encourage him to start with himself. That step doesn’t involve his son at all, but is one of the most powerful ways to love and care for him.

That step gives way to the second step. In order for a father to raise an emotionally mature young man, he must be an emotionally healthy man himself. A boy desperately needs a dad who has an interior life. Our culture is flooded with emotionally stunted, emotionally damaged males. There’s no shortage there. Men have a responsibility to lead their son’s in living from their hearts. Women can’t really teach boys how to do this. Mom’s can invite it and encourage it, but the action of it must be modeled by a man.

Thirdly, we’d challenge dads to study his son in search of his boy’s definition of enjoyment. That’s different for every boy. We both have a set of twin boys. Two males with identical genetic ingredients and yet the outcome couldn’t be any more different. These guys, born within minutes of one another, have different passions, different strengths, and different longings. And they experience enjoyment in some similar ways as well as some different ways. We are both on a long journey of discovering what that is. Just as soon as we get a handle on it, it can change just as his development does. So it’s a long journey of studying these boys and pursuing their passions and their hearts.

11. People often talk about the father’s role in teaching a boy to be a man, but a mother’s relationship is important too. What are some mistakes a mother can make?

A mother’s role is so very important. That message is woven throughout Wild Things. There is so much to the answer to this question. You’ll need to read the book to get a comprehensive look at your role throughout his development. We talk a lot with mom’s about two unique callings within their role, both of which lend themselves to mistakes and potential harm to the mother-son relationship. To boil it down though to a couple of things we would say 1) The first is being safe and 2) the second is letting go. We break both of those down in great detail within the book. By being safe we mean a mothers ability to let her son be a boy. By letting go we mean a mother’s willingness to let her boy become a man. We speak a whole lot more to this throughout the book. It’s such a big question, and an important question for moms to consider.

12. If you could give once piece of advice to parents and educators reading this book, what would it be?

The study of a boy is such a worthwhile use of your time and resources. Boys are complex, imaginative, mysterious, brilliant, challenging, creative, strong, tender, courageous beings—and each is unique. Parenting and educating them is a wonderful, difficult, complex, enjoyable, physical, emotional, delightful, maddening journey. Our hope is that Wild Things is a useful guide along that journey.

If we have to give one piece of advice it would be for parents and educators to continue to invest in their own emotional and spiritual maturity. Growing yourself is the best gift you can give a boy you love.

You’ve gained some valuable advice, but there’s more! If you would like to learn more from these parenting experts about raising boys, you can order a copy of Wild Things through amazon.com.
Based on clinical research, Stephen James and David Thomas have filled Wild Things with practical tips and suggestions for parents. They guide readers through the five stages of a boy’s development, providing an overview and explanation of each stage, followed by a plan to put new principles into action. Pick up a copy today!

Stephen James, M.A., and David Thomas, M.S.S.W., are speakers, authors, and therapists who work directly with boys and their families. They also travel around the country, speaking on parenting and marriage communication, and they have been dynamic guests on CBN’s Living the Life, Good Day Atlanta, WGN Midday News, Moody’s Midday Connection, and other radio programs coast to coast. Learn more at http://www.stephenanddavid.com/.

Resolution #1

2009-01-13T10:30:00.003+08:00

I used to work out. I loved that endorphin high I would get from a good workout. I loved pumping some iron (or handweights, as it may be), and I loved dropping the kids off in childcare and taking out my aggression in a good hour of kickboxing. Then I moved to Hong Kong. Stifling heat, air pollution, and no more fun classes were all deterents to my working out, but I did manage to run a 10K with my friend Suzy and stay in shape our first year there. But then Suzy moved back to the US, and my workouts seemed to have moved back with her. So here I am 2+ years later, and still no working out. I walked a good bit in Hong Kong. Hauled my trolley up and down escalators and steps filled with 50 pounds of groceries through the city, and that seemed to keep me trim. However, I now have my nice American car which takes me everywhere and is only about 10 steps from my front door, and my jeans were getting tight. It all started when Autumn Mix hit the shelves mid-September and I screamed in Target when I saw it. From that point on, I was a lost cause.

So my resolution to join the gym and workout has officially been set in motion. I'm sore again. I'm pumping the handweights again. And I've even done a bit of yoga at my sister's encouragement. Tonight Raegan and I did a Dance! Dance! class, and it was so much fun I didn't want it to end. It feels good to be back in the saddle again (and hopefully shrinking my saddle so my clothes are more comfortable!)

Stepping up the speech

2009-01-10T03:45:00.002+08:00

Maddie Rae has been in speech therapy since we returned home, but our speech therapist moved before Christmas. We had our first session with our new ST this morning, and wow. It was good. Our old ST was known to have the theory that speech doesn't REALLY start to work until the child is 3. She was nice and would play with Maddie Rae and try to do sounds, but we weren't seeing much progress. Maddie Rae is 2 1/2 and has only about 20 words, and of those 20 maybe 10 are understandable. In other words, she is WAY behind. Our new therapist got right down to business. She wants her in speech every single day if possible. She's going to come twice a week, she wants her to go to our local university's speech clinic, and she thinks maybe the cleft team speech path will want to see her as well. She told me things I would have never even thought of. Things like: she should only sit criss cross applesauce or with her legs in front of her so her diaphragm is strengthened, that she may have poor breath support because of being in the orphanage (she doesn't, because she checked her ribs and diaphragm and determined that she must have spent a lot of time on her tummy as a baby), we should do oral exercises with her with her toothbrush, she needs to drink a thick smoothie from a straw every day, and how to encourage imitation. Wow. I was very educated, a little overwhelmed, and happy to have this new therapist. To be honest, I really worry about Maddie Rae's speech. I have never had a child with a delay, and hers just seems so overwhelming and huge. It's encouraging to have a speech therapist who's been doing it for 34 years come in and tell you it's going to be okay. Part of Maddie Rae's issue is that she is a perfectionist. She likes everything to be just so and just right, and she has learned that she can't do certain things with her mouth. So now she has a hard time even trying. The ST is trying to determine if the not trying is just her personality, or whether it's a motor thing that could require some OT. So that's where we are on the speech front. We're going to ramp it up and hope for some improvement and results.

Help Love Without Boundaries Win $35K

2009-01-07T07:13:00.002+08:00

I just received this email and thought I would pass it along. It takes about 10 seconds to vote, so please pop over there and vote for LWB's. $35,000 would go a llllloooooonnnnnnggggg way in China and could help so many children.

LWB has a chance to win $35,000 to help even more orphaned children in China, and we need your help! Casting your vote for LWB is an easy way to change the lives of children in need. Simply visit http://www.cookiemag.com/magazine/sweeps/smart_cookie_finalists09/entry/long/ Click on the circle next to the video about LWB. It is the first one, next to Amy Eldridge’s photo. Fill out the rest of the information needed and click submit. You do not need to fill out the “about you” section if you do not wish, and you can opt out of receiving any information in the future from Cookie Magazine by checking “no” on the boxes asking which information you desire. Each person over the age of 18 is allowed one vote. This contest is open to people in the US only, unfortunately. If you live in another country, you are not able to vote. Voting takes place from January 6th to February 10th. Please forward the contest information to all of your family and friends and other yahoogroups. Together, we can win the contest and change many more orphaned children’s lives.

The Potty Training Myth

2009-01-06T05:21:00.002+08:00

I remember when I was potty training my boys a few years ago, and everyone kept consoling me with the myth of "Oh, you must have had trouble because boys are so much harder to potty train than girls." I usually just shrugged my shoulders and held up my hands because miraculously, my boys were a snap to potty train. It was hard on the first initial days, but once they got it, that was it. Done deal. No accidents. Dry at night. Snap.

But I noticed something. My friends with the supposedly "easier to train" girls, were throwing their hands up in frustration after changing accident after accident after accident. I thought it would be interesting to finally have my try at my myth buster by potty training my own girl and seeing if I was just the potty training wizard, or if it really is harder to potty train girls.

So the initial days were much easier with Maddie Rae. She got it in a snap and was pottying in no time. HOWEVER, now she just seems to go whenever she has to go. If I happen to ask her and make her sit on the potty, she will go. But if I don't ask her, she just lets it rip. Today she has had 3 accidents. One occured at my sister's house while she was busy coloring, one occured at the playground, and the last one appeared as if it was spilled water that she was splashing around in on the kitchen floor, only there was no water in sight. What gives? Why are girls so much harder to potty train? My sister's theory is that it's harder for girls to hold it. I don't know what it is, but I do know now that I am indeed NOT the potty training wizard, and those of you with boys can thank your lucky stars. Because in my very scientific study of potty training, they are MUCH easier to potty train.

Christmas Chronicles

2009-01-05T07:31:00.005+08:00

My lack of blogging over the last two weeks directly corresponds to my lack of motivation for anything other than total laziness. I don't think I've been out of my pj's much before noon for the entire break, and the laundry is reaching gigantic proportions. We're all having a bit of the "Sunday night dread" over here at our house tonight in anticipation of the much dreaded back to school, back to work, Christmas break is over, sniff sniff...Monday Morning.

So to relive the grand holidays, I've put together a little chronicle. Unfortunately, most of the pictures stop after Christmas Eve because that was the point at which my laziness kicked in full gear and I could not even be bothered to grab the camera. So here's what I've got.

All dressed up and ready for Christmas Eve church. If only I could have snapped this picture a week earlier, I could have sent out Christmas cards.

The gang after church in their Christmas Eve finest. This was the picture right before tongues started sticking out, silly faces galore, and general pre-present craziness ensued.

Opening Christmas jammies.

Posing in Christmas jammies.

Christmas hugs.

SANTA CAME!!!
My dad signed the fam up for a little VonTrapp family singer moment in his church the Sunday after Christmas. Mike and Jon on guitar. Raegan and Catie on vocals. Dad on vocals and bass. Mark on drums. Me on video camera. I offered to do an interpretive dance, but they didn't take me up on it. Go figure.

And that's about all the pics I've got. Sad, I know. But it was a terrific, relaxing, and lazy holiday that was filled with family, celebrating the gift of Christ, and lots and lots of cookies. Perfect.

On the second day of Christmas...

2008-12-24T03:57:00.002+08:00

...my true love gave to me...a dishwasher without a leak.

So the tiling has been sidetracked for the moment because remember that little frozen pipe I mentioned? Well, it seems that it caused a little leak in our dishwasher line. So rather than baking up a storm, preparing my Christmas Eve feast, and making sure Santa has sustenance, I am gazing at the above scene. And again, perfect fodder for my favorite Christmas movie quote: "What can I say, Audrey? It's Christmas, and we're all in misery."

Tis the Season...

2008-12-23T01:59:00.002+08:00

...for home improvement. Actually, we've been in a pretty steady season of home improvement since moving home, but this week we're ramping it up a bit. We still have finishing details in the kitchen to attend to, so Jon is tiling the backsplash as my Christmas present. Only problem? I am having Christmas Eve dinner at my house and I have loads of stuff to make for my mom's house, and this is what my kitchen currently looks like:

Simultaneously, Jon has also decided to tackle the basement. We're going to finish it into a big rec room/sleeping area with a full bathroom. Here is the before:

And here is the hired help. Notice the coats? That is because it was 3 degrees last night! Brrrrrrr. We had our first frozen pipe. So I guess you can add that to the home improvement list too. Happy Holidays!

Lunch, anyone?

2008-12-20T00:17:00.002+08:00

So I posted my dog theory question on my facebook status, and it seems that food can indeed be linked to shedding, smell, and waste (according to my fb friends, at least). My friend Carol didn't really have any advice for me on the dog food front, but she did send me this little tidbit on the whole dog FOR food debate that still rages on in China. Jon actually saw this little delight for sale up in Tangxia, and I saw the photographic proof. Let's just say that even for a nondog lover like me, it was disturbing!

GUANGZHOU, China - While animal lovers in Beijing protested the killing of cats for food on Thursday, a butcher in Guangdong province — where felines are the main ingredient in a famous soup — just shrugged her shoulders and wielded her cleaver. "Cats have a strong flavor. Dogs taste much better, but if you really want cat meat, I can have it delivered by tomorrow," said the butcher, who gave only her surname, Huang.

Oh yeah, folks. That's right. It's not just an urban legend. EEEwwwwww.

Dog theory

2008-12-18T09:43:00.002+08:00

We have a dog. A bassett hound to be exact. She is a good dog. Kind, patient, loving, but unfortunately a total pain in my behind. I'm sorry to all the dog lovers out there, I'm just not one of them. I try, but usually the kids and Jon end up saying, "WHY do you HATE Chloe so much?" Let me count the ways: she steals any and all food she can reach (1), she barks at everything (2), she begs me for treats (3), she sheds (4), she stinks (5), did I mention she sheds (6, 7, 8, and 9), and she sheds (10). No, I really don't hate her. I just hate her hair. And her barking. And her smell.

Moving on...I have a theory. You see, when we moved home and got her back (She spent the first 2 years at my sister's house, and she hates dogs more than me. She spent her last year at my mom and dad's, and my dad is the genetic link to all of our hate for dogs.), I was determined to do something about the shedding. You may remember this post, where I gushed over the Furminator. I was faithfully brushing her every day, and the dog hair was minimal. Once fall hit and the temp cooled down, I stopped brushing her entirely, and still LITTLE DOG HAIR. Hallelujah. But then it all went wrong.

I went to the store a few weeks ago to get her new food, and they were out of the food I had been giving her. So I nonchalantly picked up a different brand. The last two weeks have been filled with dog hair, dog smell, dog hair, and more dog smell. I have been brushing her every day. I had her groomed and bathed. And still, dog hair, dog smell. What GIVES?! Then it dawned on me. I switched her food! Could this be the missing link? The cure all to shedding? I ran to the store this morning to buy the old food (which, consequently is the food we gave her as a puppy. She didn't shed as much then either, but I just thought it was a puppy thing). Fingers crossed that she starts smelling better and stops shedding so much asap. I'll let ya know.

Any dog owners out there who can confirm my theory?

Tubby Trouble

2008-12-16T22:14:00.002+08:00

The potty training is going really well. So well in fact, that I had total confidence 2 days ago. We had gone through the entire day with no accidents. I dropped her off in the church nursery (armed with two change of clothes), and she was in the same clothes when I picked her up. She even kept her diaper dry during her nap. What a star! I was gushing. Then came bathtime.

I was watching her ever so diligently as she played in the bath. OK. So really I was on the computer 5 feet away, asking her if she was okay every minute. But please don't tell the social worker. I started hearing a change in the venue. Rather than playing with her bath toys, I heard, "MAMA! MAMA! AH!"

And what to my wondering eyes should appear? A nice little brown "deposit" in the bathtub. Oh! Ew! Screams and squeals from me. The boys run in. What, mom? AH! Screams, squeals, and laughter from them. My first thought: get her out of the tub. My second thought: grab my camera. This is blog fodder, after all.

But after careful consideration, I decided that you, my beloved readers (all 5 of you), probably would rather not see that delightful picture. However, this does prove my sister's point over on her blog today. Every mother should have a blog because rather than stress, you just laugh and grab your camera. After all, it's bloggable!

Going Big Girl Cold Turkey

2008-12-14T09:43:00.002+08:00

I decided that since we were onto the big girl habits, we might as well go all out. So yesterday we said goodbye to diapers AND the pack n play. My packing list for our Christmas trip to Ohio has diminished greatly, and my cash flow has increased slightly. Yay for Big Girls!

I spoke too soon...

2008-12-13T00:28:00.002+08:00

Wouldn't ya know, right after I hit "publish post" on my previous gush of good news, the accidents started flowin'. This is the scene now. She is lying on her bedroom floor screaming and writhing around because she can't have a diaper. And I am reminded why I put this off for so long. I hate potty training.

Look what we're doing today...

2008-12-12T23:41:00.005+08:00

I thought I would finally make good on my constant utterings of "I need to potty train her..." and go for it today. So far so good. It's 10:45 am and we've had LOTS of Starbursts and no accidents. A near miss, but I caught her just in time. And she looks so cute in her little undies, I just had to share.

Rate My Space Drama continues...

2008-12-11T03:26:00.004+08:00

It seems my dining room photo is sparking the most controversy over at Rate my Space. Here is a sample of one of the comments:

That rug and drapes and mirror are terrific together. I love the farmer's trestle table, but I'm not sure it works here, but maybe it does. Monitors and photos are often very inaccurate in portraying colors, but to mine the wall color just isn't working with the rug and drapes, which look blue rather than gray. I'd like to see you try something more adventurous. If the rug and drapes really are gray, then the sage walls would have been lovely, as would a sky blue, a sapphire blue, a silvery violet or rose. But, like I say, photos can be very misleading. I left no rating at all.

Uh...thanks?

And my living room seems to need some help too:

Very pretty room. Love the built-ins. Nee to take some of the stuff off the mantle. Put that odd vase on the top shelf. Love the coffee table but you have too much on the tray. Turn the tray lengthwise and remove the magazines. The bowl can also go on the shelf. A candle would look nice. Some plants would liven up the place a bit. But now that you have it decorated for Christmas guess they can wait. Good Luc. Merry Christmas. :) BJ

Merry Christmas to you too, BJ.

I'm going back to Flickr.

More Ways to Waste Time...

2008-12-11T03:09:00.004+08:00

It seems that there is no shortage of ways in which to waste, ahem...spend, my time online lately. I have already mentioned in a previous post my love for Flickr. I belong to several design/home groups on Flickr and everyone is ultra nice and encouraging. "I love the built-ins!", "Great job on the wall art!", and "Beautiful paint choice" fill up comment sections. Those Flickr faithfuls make your head swell and your heart beat with joy. Well today I happened upon another internet realm in which to house hunt and share your own photos: HGTV's "Rate My Space."

I quickly uploaded some photos of our house and put them out there. And then "WHAM." Suddenly I had hundreds of hits on my photos with comments like, "You need to paint that sidetable to match your bed" and "Get rid of your dining room chandelier. It's too dated and it makes the room look too heavy" and "A warm color on the walls would look better" and "I love your room, BUT I don't like the brown thing on the table." Wow! Rate my Space is not for the faint of heart. These people pack a punch. And now that I'm on blogger wasting time, I better get to the laundry while there's still daylight...(and maybe remove the ugly brown thing from my table. Sniff. Sniff.)

Bah Humbug

2008-12-09T03:09:00.005+08:00

For all of my Christmas inspiration talks over the last few weeks, you would think I would have it all together and be surrounded by a sea of twinkling lights. But you would be wrong. There are two items on everyone's Christmas list that must be done, and they are the same two items that are still very UNdone in our house.

1. Get a Christmas tree. We still haven't done it, and the debate is still raging on. I think we will end up cutting down our tree at Walmart this year.

2. Get a Christmas card picture. We haven't done this one in 4 years because I was too cheap to pay for international postage. But we're back, and if I want to get back in people's good graces and receive cards from them, I better send them out. Right? So what's the problem? Getting motivated to take a bad picture of the fam. That's the problem.

Exhibit A: Christmas Card 2002. Cute picture, bad finger placement. And at least 10 ornaments were destroyed in the making of this photo by my ball throwing one year old.

Exhibit B: Christmas card attempts from 2003. Again. Finger placement. We actually sent this one out.

Exhibit C: Christmas Card attempts from 2007. With Maddie Rae being new and all, I thought I should shell out the dough for the postage and send everyone a little cheer from Hong Kong. However, I gave up after several of these:

So if you don't receive a card from us, you know why. It's not because we forgot you, or we don't love you, or we don't wish you a Merry Christmas. It's just because we're not very photogenic, and I'm too busy putting up my fake tree.

Made in China

2008-12-05T23:28:00.003+08:00

China may have melamine in their milk and lead in their toys, but they have one thing they have made exactly right: the loose fitting slipcover. This is genius, I tell ya. I was a bit skeptical myself when I first went to the upholsterers shop in Hong Kong. I told them I wanted to reupholster my couch, and they suggested the loose fitting cover. It sounded like something straight out of that slipcover magazine that looks ill fitting and requires constant tucking in, but then they showed me the loose cover. I was sold. It's basically a cover that looks exactly like the upholstery, but it velcros under the couch so you can take it on and off and wash it. Genius! I don't really get how they do it, but they do. And all you upholsterers and sewers out there should do it too. Here's a little show of how easy and genius it is.

Step 1: Turn couch on its back and take the cover off. Little helpers make this a bit more difficult.

Step 2: Throw in washing machine.

Step 3: Hang to dry.

Step 4: Put it back on the couch.

Step 5: Enjoy your brand new looking upholstery sans stains (that is until the little buggers and dog mess it up again in the following 5 minutes!).

Now, if you are one of those families getting ready to go to China for your baby, or if someone in your family is going to China for business, it's time to reupholster your furniture! Have a tailor or upholsterer make a mock up of half the couch with some cheap muslin or cotton fabric. Take that with you to China, and then find a tailor to make you a loose fitting cover by copying the mock up. I have two covers for my couch. The fabric and labor only set me back about $80. Jon's going to China in January and you better believe I've already got my list ready for the tailor. They can also copy any clothing or picture that you take them. I had all my curtains made based on pictures from catalogs and magazines. You can buy the fabric here or there, but you will save bundles by buying it there. (Expect to pay about $3/yard max in China). The tailor can tell you where to get the fabric, and they usually have a bunch themselves. And of course, let me know how it goes and what you get!

Olivia

2008-12-04T03:45:00.010+08:00

I'm having a visitor this weekend, and I can't wait. I met her when we were both teaching. I was teaching 9th and 10th graders English and math, and she was teaching them flute after school. We were both a few weeks pregnant with our first babies, and we had all sorts of things to discuss. Names, bottles, diapers, gender, pregnancy woes: these were all topics of our new friendship. We clicked from the beginning. There was only one small problem. We were stupid.

Not only were we stupid, we were CLUELESS. I mean dumb as rocks, everyone-says-it but-that-won't-be-me, naive. We said things like, "I'm looking forward to the challenge of balancing everything after the baby arrives." And, "I can't wait 'till this kid comes out so I can get some SLEEP!" You see? Stupid.

We ended up, providentially I would say, having our babies on the same day. At this point we were still stupid, calling each other from our hospital beds saying, "Call me when you get home and I'll come over with the baby! We can have our first playdate next week!" And then we got home. That call didn't happen for three weeks. When my phone finally did ring, I heard no hello, no "want to come over for a playdate?" All I heard was, "PLEASE tell me this has been the hardest three weeks of your life too."

We forged through that first year of nursing woes, cholic, and sleepless nights and educated ourselves out of our stupidity with afternoon naps and big bowls of M&Ms. We commisserated. We cried. We laughed. And we grew up.

There was the next fateful phone call that came just 12 months later. I was frantic, crying, pacing, heart pounding. I picked up the phone and dialed. No greeting. No "How are you?" Just "I'M PREGNANT" screamed into the phone. How would I handle another baby when I was just getting on my feet from the first one?

She ended up pregnant within a few months (without me having to sneak into her house and sabotage her birth control), and we delivered our second children 10 weeks apart. When she called to tell me she was pregnant with her third child, we were waiting on a referral for our daughter from China. When I told Jon the news, he asked, "When is she due?"

"December," I replied.

"I guess that means we'll be getting our daughter around December then."

And he was right. We first held Maddie Rae in our arms on October 30, and 6 weeks later Henry arrived in her arms.

We don't take ourselves too seriously, and we can laugh at all our past stupidity. We can get a shopping high like you wouldn't believe, and we can talk for hours. I know I can call her at any time in any situation, and she will know the right thing to say. The years have taken us to different states and even countries, but one thing has remained constant. We will always be kindred spirits, BFFs, LYLASs, and we will probably look back on our naive present selves and laugh too. Remember before our kids were teenagers and we thought we were in the hard part? Ha! We were so Stupid! But the secret is, she's not stupid. She's brilliant, and I can't wait to spend the whole weekend with her!

Us having a cold one in the Russian Vodka Bar in Hong Kong. This was the only picture she took the entire 10 days she was visiting me in Hong Kong. Hmmm. Not sure what that says about us...
It all began with these two...Jack and Danielle. We're still holding out hope that they'll fall in love and get married. However, when they get together they fight constantly. We swear something was in the water on September 17, 2001 to make these two so fiesty!

And her brood now. Aren't they adorable? :)

Are they Real or Fake?

2008-12-02T02:47:00.004+08:00

"Raise your hand for REAL. Now raise your hand for FAKE." We've had a lot of plastic surgery in our house, but that's not the subject of our votes this week. This week it's all about the Kelley Family Real or Fake Christmas Tree Debate.

I come from a long line of Christmas family traditions. One of my favorite Christmas memories (as evidenced here) was the annual cutting down of the Christmas tree. It was an ushering in of the season, a family togetherness bonding moment, and a true warm fuzzy feeling. Plus, my dad has been known to say that if he ever catches wind of one of us having a fake Christmas tree, he won't even grace the front door. We took the tree seriously in our house.

On the other side of the ring, you have Jon. His memories of Christmas trees involve assembling the tree, dusting off the branches, and plugging 'er in.

Falling in the middle are our lovely offspring. They don't really care whether they get that fresh pine scent when they open the front door. They just want to put the tree UP. The quickest path to that end? The fake Christmas tree sitting in a box in the basement.

This isn't just any fake Christmas tree. This tree was purchased in Hong Kong during our first Christmas there. It was billed as a 6 foot tree, but it's really more like 4 feet. It has about 5 branches for every foot and resembles the Charlie Brown Christmas tree more than anything real. It's ugly. It's barren. And it's time to replace it with a nice real one. The problem? We haven't had time to go get the real tree and the fake one is RIGHT THERE tempting Jack at every turn. "MOM! WHY can't we just put up the FAKE one?"

Last night after the vote (in which I lost 4 to 1), Jack reasoned with me. "MOM. Who bought this house? Dad. Who works every day and makes all the money to pay for the house? Dad. Who wants a FAKE tree? Dad. He bought the house. He makes the money. He does all the work. He should win." And this is the part where my dear husband jumps to my defense and rattles off all of the ways in which I work and am indispensible to the family and reminds his son of who made the dinner sitting right in front of him. Right? Wrong. This is the part where he just smiles and shrugs as if to say, "You lose."

But I'm the boss of the house, and we're getting a real tree.

Top Notch Swill

2008-12-02T01:58:00.003+08:00

Today the lovely, talented, and absolutely hilarious Lisa has been a dear and posted my very humbling account of my most embarrassing moment EVER over at her new blog project, Top Notch Swill. So if you would like to see how every shred of dignity I ever had was stripped from me, you can jump over there and read all about it. If you want some more good laughs, go visit her very hilarious blog, Motherlode. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Favorite Things

2008-11-29T11:35:00.007+08:00

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, I can officially begin my favorite holiday celebration. Well, I guess I've begun it already by decorating my house, listening to Christmas music, and completing almost ALL of my Christmas shopping. It's time to deck the halls, folks. In honor of the season officially beginning, I'm posting a few of my favorite things about this time of year.

Favorite Christmas Movie: Christmas Vacation

Jon and I never ever ever get tired of this movie. It's just as hilarious every time, and I can't wait to watch it (although we already watched it in June). Close runners-up are Christmas Story ("You'll shoot yer eye out, kid."), Elf ("...and when we're done, we'll snuggle."), and White Christmas ("Sisters...sisters...").

Favorite Christmas Movie Quote: Christmas Vacation "What can I say, Audrey? It's Christmas, and we're all in misery."

Admit it. We've all been there. My favorite usage of the quote was the Christmas when Jonah was 1 and Jack was 3. We travelled to Chicago to see all of my extended family. After a 7 hour drive, we were ushered into an older house that had somehow come under the care of my aunt. The house was built in the 50's, the beds were bought in the 50's, and the indoor temperature was in the 50's. I spent the first night lying in the middle of a sunken bed with Jonah, who was frozen into an ice pop, listening to the train (which was 50 yards away) sounding like it was coming straight into the house to join us every 15 minutes. And there you have it: the perfect set up for my mom to say, "What can I say, Retts? It's Christmas, and we're all in misery."

Favorite Christmas Decoration: My new white vintage mod Christmas Mantel. Ta Da.

Favorite Christmas Gift: Waking up to find a DOG under the tree...er, hiding in the bathroom. We begged Santa for a dog for years. I don't think a Christmas ever went by without a heartfelt letter from me about how I would be the most responsible dog owner to ever grace the earth. Santa wasn't a dog lover though, and it took him until I was 17 and about to move out to finally grant my wish. Unfortunately the gifted dog was a psycho Westie with a thing for toes, fingers, and my brother's face. But the rush on Christmas morning created by that little terror was memorable.

Favorite Christmas Traditions: Church on Christmas Eve, Instant Breakfast casserole on Christmas morning, driving around looking at the lights, and cutting down the Christmas tree.

Favorite Christmas Cookie: My gramma's sugar cookies. Yum.

Favorite Memorable Christmas: Christmas 1998. I think I'll dedicate an entire post to this one in honor of our 10 year wedding anniversary coming up on December 19. I'll give you a little teaser: Honeymoon in Gaylord, Michigan. (I know. The words "honeymoon" and "Michigan" should never be used in the same sentence, but they will be in this upcoming trip down memory lane...)

So there you have some of my favorite things about the season. Now, do share...what are your favorites?

Time for a cat

2008-11-25T00:28:00.003+08:00

If you're just tuning in and you missed all the mouse drama from a few months ago, allow me to recap. We rented our house out for 4 years while we were living in Hong Kong. Upon returning home, we were greeted by a revolting scene. Mouse poop in ever crack, crevice, and shelf in the kitchen. We practically had to wade through the mouse poop and dead mice under all the cabinets and appliances. In a moment of desperation the NIGHT BEFORE the movers were arriving with all of our stuff, we ripped out the entire rodent infested kitchen with much screaming, cursing, and hiding of our noses and mouths under our shirts.

Fast forward to today. Our kitchen is gleaming. I am a vigilante when it comes to crumbs in the house. I leave no crevice unturned in my OCD cleaning. You see, I have a fear. What if I open a cabinet and *gasp* hear scurrying. If it happened once, it could happen again. Right? But it ain't happening. Oh no. We've seen no bugs. No droppings. No "activity." Until today.

The exterminator came for his routine check-up, and I proudly announced that we haven't seen a thing. Everything must be critter free. "Well, mice are REALLY bad on this street," he assures me.

Up he comes from the basement with a bag. A bag with a mouse. A MOUSE. In my HOUSE. My gleaming, crumb-free safe zone. He did offer me some encouragement in the form of, "Well, he did look like he'd been there a while....maybe a month. And it was just in the basement. You'll KNOW if there's one upstairs. Just call me if you need me." He's going on speed-dial ASAP.

Christmas Mantel Inspiration

2008-11-23T23:35:00.006+08:00

The boys and I have had the weekend to ourselves since Jon and Maddie Rae went to his parent's house early. We have been getting our Christmas on, but I have been a bit stumped.

First issue: we don't have that many Christmas decorations. We've only lived in our "own" house 3 years out of our entire marriage. The other years have been spent in apartments, other people's houses housesitting, and overseas. Thus my dilemna. I want my house to look fab for the holidays, but I have nothing to make it look that way.

Second issue: The Christmas decorations we do have are a mishmash of styles, ugliness, and gifts left over from my teaching days. Blah.

Third issue: Red and green is not really jiving in my wythe blue living room.

I turned to my favorite design tool for some inspiration: Flickr. I heart Flickr. It's a great place for designer wannabes like me to show off their houses, and you can always get great ideas.

Mission: Christmas Mantels.

Isn't this little elf cute? And I like the little whimsy touch he adds.

Oooh. Love this. Love the white milk glass vases. Love the white snowflakes. I'm feelin' inspired.

Love the white tree, but I know Jon won't let me go that far. But oh, it would look SO good!

I see a theme emerging here: white. Love this white village with the blue walls. Hmmmm....

Flickr isn't all inspiration. There are plenty of photos like this one which inspire what NOT to do (or what my mantel will look like if I use what I have).

Now that I'm feelin' the inspiration, I'm off to shop. Stay tuned for my Christmas Mantel Unveiling.

Sidebar addition

2008-11-23T09:03:00.002+08:00

If you'll direct your eyes to your right, you will see a new fancy addition to my sidebar. This site is the new project of Stephanie over at NiHaoYa'll, and it is a cool site that educates and advocates for special needs adoptions from China. Stephanie is an amazing advocate for special needs adoptions, and she has 4 biological kids and 4 Chinese kids that they adopted through the special needs program. Personally, I think TLC should add their family to the Dugger, Jon and Kate plus 8, and Little People in a Big World line up.

I was going to add the "Followers" box to my sidebar as well until I realized that I only have one follower. My sister. I think I'll leave that one off for now.

Drugged dummy

2008-11-21T03:03:00.002+08:00

There's a funny thing that my body does. I'm not really sure why or what the chemistry of it all means, but for whatever reason drugs stay in my system for a loooooooooong time. I've always been a one Benedryl only in an emergency kind of a gal because if I take any more than that, I'm liable to be stuck to my bed the next morning unable to function. I've had a sinus infection for a couple weeks now, and last night I did the forbidden. I took night time cold medicine.

I slept great, and I even woke up on time. That's where the trouble began. I stumbled into the shower feeling a little groggy, and couldn't figure out why the shower was so cold. I kept turning the cold down, down, down, until I finally concluded that Jon must have taken an hour long shower before me and used up the entire water heater tank. It's 25 degrees out, and I'm pretty sure my water was not much warmer. I scrambled through it ready to chew Jon out for his extravagance, when I realized my drug induced folly. Instead of turning the cold down, I had turned it all the way up to full blast. Oops.

Must have been a fluke right? Wrong. It didn't stop there. I went to pick up my niece for Mom's Day Out and spent a good 5 minutes frantically running through the house looking for her lunch box which I had "just had in my hands and must have set down somewhere" before looking down and realizing I still had it in my hands. It was at that point that Raegan, my sister, decided that she better do the driving for our Mom's Day Out excursions.

She drove, and we were all good until we got to the mall. I opened the door to get Max and exclaimed, "RAEGAN! You didn't have his carseat seatbelted into the CAR!"
"Um, Retta, his seat is snapped into the car seat base [you total moron]."

And the real kicker. We're sitting at lunch in the food court, and I peek into Raegan's Gymboree bag and notice that she picked up gift boxes for the Christmas pj's we purchased for all the kids. "Oh, what a good idea! You got gift boxes. Why didn't I think of that?"
"Retta, don't you remember we had a conversation about the gift boxes in the store? The lady asked us if we wanted them."
"Nooo. She must have just asked you because I didn't hear any of that."
We run into Gymboree on the way out for my coveted gift boxes. I peek into Raegan's bag to see her gift boxes, only to realize it is actually MY bag and MY gift boxes.

From now on, I'm layin' off the cold meds.

The truth about school lunch

2008-11-20T03:32:00.002+08:00

I have often wondered why Jack and Jonah come home with half their lunch uneaten most days, or why they are STARVING after school and on the brink of perishing from lack of nourishment (according to them). Yesterday I attended the school Thanksgiving "feast," and now I have a much more accurate view of what's happening to all that lunch food I so lovingly pack every morning.

1. Lunch was served at 10:30 AM for the kindergarteners. That's right folks. Lunch at 10:30.

2. Cafeteria food is just as appetizing now as it was when I was in school, and stuffing molded into a ball from an ice cream scooper does not get eaten by these kids either.

3. The teachers leave the kids under the care of the lunch ladies, who serve the food and dismiss the tables. Everything in between is a free for all.

4. Second grade boys spend more time talking about how hilarious is was that day when Jack's gogurt exploded all over them, singing songs that they've made up, asking what order of best friend's they fall under, and talking about their various scars and injuries than they do eating.

5. Second grade boys also think it's really funny to do things like drink their green bean juice with a straw, eat their ice cream and mash potatoes with their fingers, and decorate their faces with the whip cream from their cake.

6. Kindergarteners think that eating is a show and whoever can do it funniest and loudest is the winner.

7. School cafeterias smell the same no matter what decade, state, or school.

8. Fake burping is really funny. Real burping is downright hilarious.

9. All those fruits and vegetables packed or bought? Yeah, those are goin' straight in the trash.

10. Oh wait, there's a trash can? I just stuff it all back into my lunch box and take it home for good ole mom.

A good read

2008-11-14T00:49:00.002+08:00

I just happened upon this really cool blog, and I thought I would share it with you. It's written by a husband and wife who are living in China working at a foster home. In honor of Adoption Awareness month, and because adoption is never too far from my mind or heart, I recommend reading this post. Have some tissues handy!

Have a drink and some candy

2008-11-13T03:53:00.002+08:00

I realize that I am way late on the whole trick or treat blog wagon, but I did want to document my kid's reaction to their first real American Halloween experience. We did trick or treat in Hong Kong, but only one street in our compound participated. What resulted from that small fact was 2000 trick or treaters all on one tiny block. It was madness, but it was fun. Because of that, Jack's reaction to American trick or treat was "Where are all the PEOPLE?!"
Jonah's reaction was a simple, "I LOVE Halloween!" every time his bag would be filled up. He couldn't quite believe his luck. "You mean all I have to do is say trick or treat and they give me free candy?!" This coming from the kid who thinks junk is a food group. Maddie Rae had a similar disbelief to her reaction. I took the stroller thinking that there was no way she would be able to keep up with the boys. Boy was I wrong. The girl ran her way through two solid hours of candy begging. By the end she couldn't even lift her bag, but that did not deter her a bit. She would hand it to me in between houses, then hoist it up when it was time for more candy. The first few houses she turned around to me in disbelief crying "MAMA! MAMA! MAMA!" while showing me her bag. Gotta love this American tradition!

Jonah, show us your face!

And this was before the sugar (except for Jonah who already has something going on in there).
And to change threads completely, here is the kid's lemonade stand from Saturday. We live 3 blocks from a major University football stadium, and it was game day. Time to make some money. They earned $6.50 and got several tips (probably because they looked at people like they had 3 heads when asked if they could make change. Most people just said, oh never mind, keep the dollar. Nice sales tactic.)

Happy Adoption Day, Maddie Rae!

2008-10-31T22:28:00.003+08:00

October 30 was Maddie Rae's first adoption day. It was a fun day with lots of celebrating Maddie Rae. We began the day with her Halloween party at the Mom's Day Out she attends with her cousin and BFF Mallaney. I haven't been able to get her into her Halloween costume yet, but Miss Hailey worked her magic at MDO and she wore her ladybug costume with pride.

Maddie Rae and Mallaney modeling their costumes for us. This picture looks quite a bit different from the ones taken last year at this time!

Daddy feeding her wonton soup. Jon is so in love with Maddie Rae, and I'm not sure that he will ever be able to bring himself to actually discipline her! He was always the kind of dad that wanted all boys. He wanted a house filled with testosterone, hunting, football, wrestling, and lots of 7th grade boy smell (that's what I call that "outdoor, wet dog" scent that kids come in with after sweating outside. I coined the term after teaching 7th grade and having to endure an entire hour of that smell times 30 when the kids would come in from outside.) Who knew he would be such a softy for a little girl?! When we first brought her home last year, she was terrified of Jon. She would just scream and scream when he would come in the room, hold her, or look at her. Little by little he won her over, and now you would never know that he was that big scary guy to her.

Cupcakes......and presents. Maddie Rae's adoption day will always be a very special day for me. We will celebrate her birthday because what kid doesn't want a big birthday bash, but to me her adoption day will always be the real celebration. I couldn't help but tear up a little behind my sunglasses today at her little school parade as I saw her confidently march out right next to her cousin and stand in her place with a huge smile. What a stark contrast from the scared little girl that was handed to us last year. She has truly blossomed, and we thank God that he chose us to be her family!

Boisterous

2008-10-09T22:59:00.002+08:00

This is one of Jack's vocabulary words, and it is a perfect description of my three boisterous children. Let me preface this post by fully admitting that I was spoiled in Hong Kong. We had a live in nanny/maid, and therefore I never had to take all three kids anywhere unless I wanted to. Well, obviously, we cannot afford that luxury back here in the good ole US of A, so I am back to the normal routine of hauling all three kids around everywhere. It hasn't been TOO bad until last Monday when I scheduled a doctor's appointment for the 2 boys at 2 and 2:30. First mistake: right at naptime. Second mistake: right after the boys have been sitting in school all day saving all their boisterous energy for good ole mom. So here we are in the exam room. Maddie Rae is on the brink of massive meltdown because she can't accompany Jack to the eye exam. Jonah is on the rolling stool pushing himself from end to end in the tiny room. Jack is talking non-stop to the doctor and telling her things like, "I sometimes wear my helmet when I ride my bike," and looking at her like she has 3 heads when she asks if he helps out at home with chores (I'm still getting used to chores myself!). Jonah spouts out our Hong Kong address and phone number when the doctor asks him, to which she tells me "Make sure they learn their NEW address and phone, mom." All this time, I am shooting Jack "looks" and just trying to corral all three of them into some sort of order just hoping and praying that they can all maintain some sense of pseudo calmness until the doctor finishes. But then the finishing scene. I saw it as if in slow motion. Jonah stealthily starts ripping exam paper off the table. Maddie Rae catches a glimpse and starts tearing. Jack can't be outdone, so he begins his destruction. The paper gets wadded up, the paper gets thrown, and suddenly the doctor is being pelted from every direction with paper bombs. I am frantic. I am grabbing whatever I can grab. I am scrambling for a kid and an arm. And the beauty of it all? I have to go back there next Monday with Maddie Rae who has been in our family for a year and has yet to see a pediatrician, be weighed, or have one shot. Mother of the Year award to me, friends.

Can't get enough of this...

2008-09-27T02:24:00.002+08:00

Blue Sky!! Jon and I are constantly looking up and marvelling at the beautiful sky. I never really paid much attention to the sky unless it was a remarkable sunset or a dark rain cloud. Now after being denied blue sky for 3 years and living in a constant encasement of smog, I just can't get tired of these beautiful nonpolluted skies!

Living in America

2008-09-24T01:33:00.005+08:00

Maddie Rae has adjusted really well to all the recent changes in our lives. She is a busy little girl these days with all sorts of new activities. She is attending a local Mom's Day Out program with her cousin two days a week, and so far she seems to love it. She bops in with her backpack and lunchbox and usually a toy or two from the car, gives me a hug, and gets to playing. On Wednesdays, a speech therapist comes to our house for an hour to do speech therapy with her. Her speech is extremely behind due to her cleft palate, but we are making small gains. She can currently only say the vowel sounds and "m" and "n". The speech therapist has explained that these sounds are all nasal sounds, and that is why it is easy for her to say them. Saying consonant sounds requires a flap in the back of your throat to close off. The therapist is a bit concerned that this flap is not there or else not working right because she can't make any other sounds, but there is a surgery to correct that if needed in the future. We are working on getting her air flow to come out of her mouth rather than her nose by doing things such as blowing party blowers, blowing bubbles, blowing bubbles in milk, and blowing a cotton ball across a table with a straw. Last week she couldn't do the party blower at all at the beginning of the hour. Slowly, we started to see the blower wiggling a little bit, and by the end of the hour she could blow that thing all the way out! The speech therapist could not believe how much determination, will, and attention span she had to keep working on that thing until she could do it. She's a tough little cookie! I have also noticed her trying to repeat words more and saying more sentences, even though most people wouldn't understand her. She came out of Mom's Day Out last week with a duck puppet on her arm saying, "Quack!" (well, really "AAaaaa"), so she's trying! She can say several sentences and many times will repeat the same thing over and over to me, but I won't know what she's saying. Most of the time though, she is really good at communicating her needs either through sign language, body language, or pointing. She understands everything, and we are praying that she will be able to talk soon.
She and I get a lot of one on one time now that the boys are in school. We usually eat our breakfast and drink our coffee and milk watching the Today show together on the couch :) She entertains herself really well at home and usually spends the morning playing or "helping" me with whatever I'm doing. She loves to be out and about and likes to stand on the back of the cart (NOT sit in the seat, thank you very much) while we're shopping. The car puts her right to sleep, so a lot of days she falls asleep in the car and then I transport her inside to her pack n play and she never even stirs. Once the boys are home, it is time to really play. The kids usually spend the afternoons outside playing while I make dinner, and she loves to be outside. She was a little bit scared of our dog, Chloe, at first, but now she loves her and loves to give her treats and make her do tricks.
She still loves her pink crocs, and won't wear any other shoes. The other day when I had her try on some winter shoes in Target, you would have thought I was trying to break her arm. She screamed and screamed. She is already so picky about her clothes and shoes, and I am finding myself already telling her that I'm the mommy and I get to pick out her clothes. I foresee some fun in the future on this one! She is very physically advanced, I think. She has always been able to control her body really well, and she is very muscular. She can do a perfect somersault and loves to tumble through the grass while we all cheer. She can also run FAST, and she always walks out to the car on this little rock wall we have with nearly perfect balance. I think there may be some gymnastics in her future.
And just so you don't think it's ALL sweetness and sugar, here she is throwing a fit. She must cover her eyes and not look at me....
but, she always peeks out just to make sure she has an audience :) She's a cutie!

Home

2008-09-21T23:03:00.008+08:00

Here are photos of our "new" home. Just disregard any boxes or unfinished mess...they still abound! I'll put down info on paint and shopping for all you shoppers out there who are like me and like to know where things came from.

(Rug and curtains: West Elm. Table and chairs: Shambala, HK. China cabinet: flea market find. Mirror: Tequila Kola, HK. Paint: Ladyfinger, Benjamin Moore)

Maddie Rae's room. The "artwork" is fabric in embroidery hoops. Super easy and super cute! (paint: Irish Mint, Benjamin Moore. Bed: Custom made in HK, but it's the Anderson from Pottery Barn with trundle. Duvet and pillows: custom)

The view out our front door. 2 things I didn't see in China very much...blue sky and the American flag!

Bathroom "after". We ripped out the old shower doors and put in a new pedestal sink. (paint: Gray Owl eggshell, Benjamin Moore. Sink: Kohler Bancroft. Shower curtain and window fabric: Target)
Our bedroom. I originally thought this would be the boy's room, so I painted it this color. Then I changed my mind, and I'm actually glad that this color ended up being our bedroom because I love it. It is the most beautiful paint...sometimes looks blue, sometimes green, sometimes gray. (Gray Cashmere by Benjamin Moore. Bed: Tequila Kola, HK. Lamps: JC Penney. Curtains, duvet, shams: custom. Artwork: LoWu, Shenzhen. Silk throw: Suzhou Silk Factory) Boy's bedroom. (rug and shelves: IKEA. Bunk beds: custom made in HK, but same as Pottery Barn. Paint: Silver Fox, Benjamin Moore)
Not a great photo of the kitchen, but at least you can see some of our progress. Still a lot of work to do... (Appliances: LG. Cabinetry: American Woodmark, Gettysburg White. Handles: Lansa, IKEA. Faucet: Price Pfister. Butcher Block countertop: IKEA. Granite countertop: Blue Sapphire. Paint: Gray Owl eggshell, Benjamin Moore)

Breakfast area. (Pot Rack: Grundtal, IKEA) You can see our back deck through the window. Our entire old kitchen is still out there. Like I said...a lot of work to still do!
Living Room. (Wythe Blue by Benjamin Moore. Coffee Table: Stockholm, IKEA. Rug: ApLeiChau, Horizon Plaza street level carpet shop, HK. Can get a similar one from West Elm, "Woodgrain". Curtains: custom. Artwork above mantel: HK Chan Gallery in Stanley, HK. Porcelain lamps and decor: Overjoy Porcelain, HK. Chairs: Rimba Rhyme, HK.)

Kitchen Remodel

2008-09-16T02:12:00.004+08:00

I am now the official owner of a fully functioning kitchen! We don't have all the finishing details done yet, but at least we have countertops, running water, and appliances. I was able to download some pictures this weekend while my dad was here and I could borrow his downloader so that you can see the progress.

The initial "gut" after finding the mouse poop and dead mice under every appliance and cabinet. We not only ripped out the cabinets, but we also ripped up the old linoleum floor and subfloor to reveal the original hardwood underneath. Bonus! This was the day before we moved in.
The breakfast area. We watched the Olympics every night while we worked.
The cabinets arrived and Jon installed them all. by. himself. I know, I was impressed too.
Cabinets in, but still no countertop or sink. Love the new LG appliances!

The breakfast area has now become cabinetry and an island. That light fixture is now gone too.

Eating dinner outside. Thankfully it was summer when this whole thing occured!

This is a tangent, but I had to include this one for my friend Carol. When I was still in HK, I had a bunch of curtains made. I had some cute fabric with embroidered aqua seahorses made into panels for my sunporch windows. When I got them back, I realized that they had sewn the curtains so that the seahorses were lying flat on their backs looking, well, dead. I did find a use for them, though. One of the panels is now over a table in our sunporch concealing the dog kennel underneath.

Jon making the island. I purchased the butcher block countertop from IKEA, and Jon made the base. I stained the base dark brown and we hung a pot rack over it. Jon also used old door hinges to attach the extra butcher block to the end of the island so now we can flip it up if we need extra space.

And this is what Maddie Rae did while Jon was building the island....a yogurt masterpiece.

Max is here!

2008-09-12T21:35:00.004+08:00

Max Owen Gyorffy was born at 1:20 am last night weighing in at 9 pounds 8 ounces! He is absolutely adorable, and we are all in love with the little bruiser. Mom and Dad are doing well, and we are taking big sister Mallaney to meet her baby brother today. Raegan is excited that she just lost most of her baby weight by giving birth to a huge baby :) Enjoy!
Mike's parents "Nana and Papa" meeting their new grandson.

What a cutie! He already has chubby cheeks and long fingers.
He was so awake and just looking at Raegan. He already knows his mama and was most content in her arms. So precious.
Mike is most thrilled to have a little boy to wrestle with.
Mammy, my mom, holding her new baby boy.
And another proud Nana!

The Furminator

2008-09-09T01:43:00.003+08:00

For those of you with rather furry friends leaving their fur all around your house, I have a tip for you that has saved me lots of vacuuming time. It's called the Furminator, and it has to be the best dog brush out there. Chloe, our bassett hound, sheds so much that you would think she should be bald. Everywhere she goes, she leaves a trail of dog hair so thick you practically have to wade through it. If she sits on a pillow or chair, it is soon covered in a layer of fur. But that was before the Furminator. I saw this thing advertised in a magazine with a picture of a Golden Retriever sitting in the middle of a huge pile of fur that had been furminated off of him. Being desperate, I decided to give it a try. It was pricey ($35 for the small size), but I have not regretted it for one instant. I brush her with it for about 15 minutes a day, and it is remarkable! Now where she used to leave chairs, pillows, and sofas coated in hair, I may only find one or two stray hairs here and there. Amazing!

Progress, Settling, and Repatriation

2008-09-08T09:22:00.003+08:00

To say the last few months have been hectic would be a major understatement. Fortunately it's been a fun hectic filled with first days of school, new friends, and reconnecting with American life. And oh yeah, gutting our kitchen. I wanted to post pictures tonight, but alas, I have misplaced the download thingy yet again. So the big question lately has been, "Do you feel settled yet?" The answer to that question is a tricky one. I do feel settled in that I feel like I am "home." I'm back in the city I am comfortable with. My sister is right down the road, our church is already a home to us, and we fit right back in with our friends. However, as similar as everything is, it also has a time warp feel to it. Like I've come back to the same life, only I'm different. I've lived in Asia for 3 years, my kids are school age now and the toddler phase is long gone for the boys, and we have a new daughter from China. Some days when I'm driving around with Maddie Rae in the carseat behind me in the same van that we had before we left, I can't help but feel like the boys should be back there causing trouble and making noise as 4 and 2 year olds. It's just weird! Now I'm carting them around to school, soccer, and cub scouts, and I have a little girl accompanying me on my shopping trips. So in a sense I don't feel like I'm living "my life" yet, and I'm having to redefine my life here to a new normal.

As for the house, we are making major progress! Jon and I used to have a joke when we were first married and I wanted to buy some piece of furniture. He would always say, "Don't buy that. I could make it!" I always chuckled and said, "yeah right." I won't chuckle anymore because he CAN make it! He has so far ripped out the bathroom vanity/sink and plumbing and put in a new pedestal sink and new fixtures. He gutted the whole kitchen, ripped up the subfloor (to reveal hardwood floors...yay!), did all the electrical wiring, installed all the cabinets by himself, installed the microwave and dishwasher, and is currently finishing up the island that he built. The granite and sink are coming tomorrow (hallelujah), and after that we will just have all the finishing touches like crown molding, drywalling the soffit, installing the lights, tiling the backsplash, and repairing and refinishing the hardwood floor. I am absolutely and totally in love with this house, and it feels so good to be home.

On the kid front, the transition has been really smooth. The boys really like their new school, and we have been really pleased with their teachers and the atmosphere there. Jonah is in Kindy, but because he is so far ahead from his HK school, his teacher is sending him to a first grade classroom for phonics everyday. She also works one on one with him daily so that he can continue to progress and be challenged. Jack is getting used to US school and has been challenged by having to learn US money. He is doing really well in 2nd grade and is enjoying soccer and cub scouts. Maddie Rae, Chloe (our bassett hound) and I walk the boys to and from school everyday, and we have really enjoyed our daily walks. Maddie Rae started going to a Mom's Day Out program with her cousin twice a week and she loves it. She happily goes in, gives me a hug and a high five, and is on her way to the playdough. She has also started speech therapy once a week for one hour. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our newest cousin due to arrive any day now. I missed the birth of Mallaney, my sister's first daughter, when we moved to HK. It nearly broke my heart at the time, so it is extra exciting for me this time around.

I will end this novel now that we are all caught up, and I promise to get over my blog identity crisis and start posting again! Pictures coming when I find that blasted downloader!

Dream Kitchen

2008-08-12T10:52:00.004+08:00

It's a very good thing I've been obsessing and dreaming about my house for the past 4 years because now the rubber is meeting the road and I'm having to make decisions FAST. The above photo is what I HOPE my kitchen will look like in a few months. This kitchen is very similar to ours, and I am in love with this look. We've gutted the entire kitchen, cleaned and bleached out all the dead rodents and their accompanying poop, ripped up the subfloor to reveal wood floors that match the rest of the house (yay!), and Jon is currently ripping out the 5000 nails that were holding the subfloor down. I have been trying to put my creative architect hat on all day to come up with the perfect layout, and I think I have finally got it. It came to me while Maddie Rae and I were driving up to Cincinatti tonight to pick up the boys from their weekend at my mom and dad's house. Unfortunately, it involves drywalling up the current dining room/kitchen door so the refrigerator can go there, and then knocking out a closet to create a new door. But, I think it will make the kitchen much more functional and fab. In the meantime, I'm going to go to one of those places where you can make all your meals there and take them home with you and we're going to eat on paper plates for the next few months!

On a different subject entirely, our little sweet Dawn had her lip surgery and looks amazing! Dawn is one of the babies that our church in HK was able to sponsor for surgery with some of our earnings from the porcelain sale. Isn't she adorable?!

Call us crazy...

2008-08-12T01:23:00.003+08:00

We ripped our kitchen out one day before we're supposed to be moving in. It all started very innocently as Jon lifted up the oven to try to straighten a crooked tile. What he caught a glimpse of under the oven was what would change the whole course of our master "renovation plan" to not do anything hastily or rashly, but to take our time. When you lift your oven up and find dead mice and piles upon piles upon piles of mouse poop, there really isn't anything else to do but rip it all out. It got worse as we ripped and found the same revolting scene cabinet after cabinet. So here we are. No kitchen and moving in tomorrow. I have redesigned the kitchen, but of course the cabinets can't be delivered for 4 weeks. I guess I will be washing dishes in the bathroom for the next month. Terminix is coming tomorrow to spray for and kill anything that isn't human, and we continue the demolition tonight. Nothing like a little stress to come home to!!

Weekend at the Lake

2008-08-05T21:35:00.005+08:00

We spent the past weekend at Jon's parent's new lake house. They moved there while we were in HK, so this was our first time at the house. Maddie Rae met her Aunt Becca, Uncle Bobby, and cousins JD and Clara for the first time. Aunt Bec is so in love with her new niece, and I'm pretty sure Maddie Rae was very happy with all the attention too! A little swimming in the lake helped us cool off.

Nana and Pappaw with 4 of their grandkids. Maddie Rae was still asleep.
This is Maddie Rae's buddy. She loves her Pappaw.
They have 2 kayaks that we paddle around in, and this summer Jack was finally old enough to go in one all by himself.
Jonah and Pappaw took a few "speed boat" rides. It's really just a fishing boat, but Jonah thinks it goes really fast. The kids also fished, had water fights, made millions of crafts, had s'mores at an evening bonfire, and had soccer and wiffle ball games. Jack couldn't hold in his joy...he kept just saying, "I LOVE it here!" Everyone should have parents/grandparents who live at the lake!

Becoming Home

2008-07-29T09:34:00.002+08:00

My posts are very boring these days sans photos, but in our current state of disarray, I have no idea where in the world our download thingy is. I guess I could go to Walmart and get a new one, but it's still taking my brain a while to adjust to the fact that I can easily go get the things I need. It also seems that our computer and our friend's computer (who also lives in HK and is home for the summer) have contracted some Big Brother China virus that won't allow us to connect to the internet in America. And finally, I'm having a blog identity crisis. I started this blog as a way to keep our friends and family updated on our lives half a world away. We're just down the street now, and there aren't quite as many blog worthy moments when you're living the American life that we all know and love. Hopefully we will soon be somewhat more "settled", and I can revamp the blog. Our adoption agency has asked us to advocate on our blog once a month for various issues related to orphans and adoption, so I'm excited about that.

And onto the house, which we have lovingly dubbed "Pandora." It seems that the more we try to fix, the more we uncover that needs to be done. The electrical issue that we thought would be an easy fix turned into "Pay $8000 to bury the wires or tear down your deck." So we are currently sitting on that little problem waiting for money to start growing on trees. I started ripping down wallpaper in the bathrooms on a whim one night, and that turned into Jon ripping out the old vanity, installing a pedestal sink, installing new bathtub hardware, ripping out the old shower doors, and hopefully getting the tub resurfaced. The painter has finished the walls and started on the trim. Unfortunately, when we went over to look at the fantastic job that was promised us, we saw paint dripping from the crown molding, paint puddles on the window sills, and drips running down the window frames. I was less than happy, to put it mildly, and our contractor promises us that it will be fixed. It makes me sick, to be honest, but I'm trying to get over it and tell myself that it's "just paint." The colors are gorgeous and I love them. Our stuff is supposed to arrive in Cincinnati this Thursday where it will then clear customs, be released, and be picked up by a moving crew to be delivered to our house. We got word that our container was singled out for "screening". Not sure what that means, and we're hoping hoping hoping to be moved in before school starts on Aug. 13. Until then, we are filling our days with soccer camp, pool days, friends, family, trips to the park, and marvelling at the beautiful blue sky and puffy white clouds that we will never take for granted again!

Love Without Boundaries $1 Challenge

2008-07-29T08:16:00.002+08:00

I'm copying and pasting an email from Love Without Boundaries below. This is an interesting topic to me because I often wonder and get asked why Maddie Rae was abandonned by her birth family. Was it because of her cleft lip? Was it because she was a girl? Was it for medical reasons or superstitious reasons? I would like to believe it was because her birth family loved her enough to try to get her the medical attention she needed in the only way available to them. So that's why this LWB $1 challenge sounded good to me. If they can help even one family keep their child, my dollar is well spent!

Love Without Boundaries Foundation has set a goal to raise $5,000 by August 27.----------------Goal: $1 challenge to save a child's life!LWB is launching a $1 challenge to kick off our new Unity Fund for impoverished, rural families in China. So many times over the years, we have met families who have had to make the painful decision to abandon their child in the hopes of getting them the medical care they need. It has been a dream of ours for many years to begin such a fund, so that when we learn of families in true crisis, we can provide their children with the surgeries they need so that such a painful decision does not have to be made. We have met so many of these families in person, and they love their children completely, but they simply could never afford a $5000 heart surgery to save their child's life when their family is living on less than $50 per month. Our Unity Fund was created to keep these families united and to give a second chance of a healthy life to at-risk children living in poverty. Join with us on this dream, and actually help prevent children from being orphaned. We challenge everyone to send just ONE DOLLAR during this challenge period to LWB's Unity Fund. Is it possible to find 5000 people to donate $1? With your help, we believe it is. If we meet that goal, then together we can impact a child's life forever. Pass on this message to everyone you know! Pop just $1 in the mail to Love Without Boundaries and help change the world, one child at a time. Love Without Boundaries P.O. Box 25016 Oklahoma City, OK 73125-0016 or donate $1 online at www.lovewithoutboundaries.com or donate through Facebook by clicking "donate" and then choosing "other" and putting in $1. Together we can continue our work of bringing hope to those truly in need! ----------------To learn more about the goal or donate, follow the link below:http://apps.facebook.com/causes/51591

Home Sweet Home

2008-07-13T09:47:00.002+08:00

We have been home for 2 weeks tomorrow. It has been a whirlwind, and my sister suggested that I give a play by play of all our drama on the blog. Let me set the scene for you: we are staying in a relocation apartment absent of toys and safe furniture. We took all the glass furniture out and are now eating on a card table. That being said, we are very thankful to have a place to stay because if we had to move into our house right now, it would be ugly.

My house. My beautiful, charming, longed for house. It is still all those things, but it is in a state of major renovation right now. Unfortunately, it's not the fun kind of renovation such as a brand new kitchen or bathroom. It all started with a thorough "deep" clean that took 2 professionals 16 hours. I then called in a contractor to fix the cracked ceilings, water damage, and clogged gutters that we thought were causing the water damage. Unfortunately, when he went up to fix the gutters, he noted that they were perfectly fine. Uh oh. He started to investigate and it went from bad to worse. First it was a hole in the roof above the water damage, then it was water damage throughout the house, then it was "you need a new roof." Then the electric guy showed up at the same time to tell me that our wires weren't up to code. And at the same time, a moving van showed up with our stuff that's been in storage for 3 years. As it stands now, there are new shingles in the driveway ready to go on the roof. The electric wires will be fixed at the time of roofing. The ceilings are all getting re-skimmed, sanded, and painted. The sunroom is being redrywalled. The water damage is repaired. And every single square inch of the entire house, ceilings and all, are getting painted starting Monday. I think then it will be inhabitable and we can save our money for gutting the kitchen! I will post before and after photos when our computer arrives.

Amidst all of this we have managed to also buy 2 cars, get Jonah's stitches out, set up meetings for Maddie Rae's speech therapy, visit with friends, make doctor's appointments, pick out paint colors, get car insurance, feed the kids, and go to Walmart twice! There's no place like home.

911, We have an EMERGENCY!!!

2008-07-08T22:46:00.004+08:00

We are back in the USA, and we got back to our hometown one night ago. The next morning Jon left for Boston, and I was preparing for the boys to go to their grandparent's house so that I could stay here and work on the house. The apartment we are staying in had glass top tables in it, and Jon thought to remove the coffee table from the room before he left. We had just had lunch when Jonah sat down on the end table to pick up a toy and it immediately shattered and he fell through the glass. I screamed, picked him up, and quickly realized that the left side of his face was basically hanging open. I ran for my phone, dialed 911, screamed for them to send an ambulance, and then tried to stay calm so that Jack, Jonah, and Maddie Rae wouldn't be more panicked. My sister came to get Jack and Maddie Rae, and Jonah and I had an exciting ride to the hospital. He had surgery at the hospital to close the laceration, and he did amazing. He never cried one time. They put in his IV, picked up his skin, cleaned the wound, and messed with him all over and he never even shed one tear. They were able to stitch together the muscle internally and the skin externally, but he will probably have one heck of a scar for a while. Ah, parenting is not for the faint of heart!! I'm attaching the "after" picture because the before would probably make you completely sick!

Goodbye, Hong Kong

2008-06-25T19:06:00.002+08:00

We aren't actually flying out for 3 more days, but the movers are coming first thing in the morning and the computer will be first to go. I must say my goodbyes now.

Goodbye Saturday morning Peng Chau basketball.
Goodbye Sunday afternoon beach volleyball.
Goodbye sand flies and mosquitoes.
Goodbye Discovery Bay, Plaza, Discovery Bay International School, and the clubs.
Goodbye Discovery Bay International Community Church and the X-Treme Sunday school class that we have taught for 3 years.
Goodbye and good riddance, Park N Shop.
Goodbye Seahorse Lane and Headland Drive.
Goodbye Mom2Mom group.
Goodbye LoWu, jade market, The Lanes, WanChai, and all my other fabulous shopping spots.
Goodbye to my live-in helper and 3 years of not cooking, cleaning, scrubbing a toilet, or ever having to worry about hiring a babysitter. (I know, I can hear the snickers and snide remarks all the way across the pond)
Goodbye to Melvis at Good Luck Malaysian in LanKwaiFong (and goodbye Roti Canai and Happy Foot)
Goodbye to fabulous holidays in Asia.
Goodbye to our daughter's birthplace.
Goodbye to our cherished friends in Hong Kong.

I could go on and on, but I will stop because it's making me sad! It is a bittersweet time for us. We are so excited and ready to move back to America and be close to our family again, but this experience has changed us and shaped us in ways that we never could have imagined from our former lives in America. I'm not exactly sure how all of these changes and experiences will translate back into our new life in America, and I would be lying if I said I didn't have some fears about fitting back in. We've heard that it is harder to repatriate than it is to expatriate. I have a hard time believing that it could be harder moving back to my home than it was moving to China, but I know it will not come without its challenges. So be patient with me if I fill my cart at Walmart with a year's supply of CoffeeMate and Benedryl. Have mercy on me when I'm trying to juggle cleaning, 3 kids, making dinner, shopping, having a dog again, driving, and all the things I used to do but haven't done in a while. And just smack me if I am constantly referring to Hong Kong. It's just that my daily life is here now, and it may take some time to readjust to a new normal. Must get to packing now. See you all in a few days (that feels good!).

Beach Goodbye

2008-06-23T13:50:00.005+08:00

Beach beauty. (btw, credit for most of these photos goes to Lorne Christensen. Thanks Lorne!)

All the ladies carted lunch for 25 people to the beach. Not an easy feat when you have to take a ferry, bus, and taxi to get to there!
Carol and I...Carol joked when we got Maddie Rae that she would be my "surrogate sister." And that she is! She is like a sister to me, and I will miss her so much (I just said goodbye to her this morning, so I'm still liable to launch into the ugly cry).

We headed out to Cheung Chau beach on Saturday for a beautiful day of sun, sand, and sausages. This was a relatively clean beach with just enough waves to allow the kids to have a lot of fun in blow up innertubes and boats. I don't think we heard from the kids for the entire 4 or 5 hours we were there! This day was in honor of sending us off, and we were so thankful for the sunny weather and good friends. I have never been more scared and sad than I was when we got on a plane to Hong Kong 3 years ago. I grew up in one house, left that house at 18 for University, and lived in that University town for the next 12 years. Moving was not on my radar...especially moving to CHINA!?! It was not always easy, but I am so thankful that we took the risk and stepped completely out of our comfort zone. God has blessed us with friends who feel like family, a daughter from China, and an understanding of Chinese culture that we would have never gained from just a short visit. We have been blessed with a wonderful church family, ministry opportunities in Mainland China, and connections with people from all over the world. Our kids have internalized China, and China is and always will be a part of us now.

Blue sky and a hike with a view

2008-06-20T20:18:00.003+08:00

*This photo is for my dad. Dad, it was taken with your new lense from across the room! And note that she's drinking a drink box from a STRAW!!!*

Today we had blue sky and puffy white clouds in Hong Kong. This happens in the summer because the winds change and blow clean air up from the South China Sea. In the winter the winds blow from the north bringing with them all the pollution. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather by taking a hike up one of the mountains on Lantau Island. Reminder: it's rare to see this many vibrant colors!!!
This is on top of the mountain. The boys did great hiking up. Jack is an amazing hiker who never once utters a word of complaint. Jonah did well going up, but he lost steam going down the steep decline. This is a view of Victoria Harbour and Central. If you look closely, you can see the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier.

This is Discovery Bay right behind us, and Central HK in the background. Tsim Sha Tsui is on the left and the little island on the right is Peng Chau (where Jon and Jack go every Sat. morning to play basketball).
At the top.
We saw this little buddy on the way down the mountain. Jon ran and got the golf cart and thought it would be funny to put a dead snake in the back to scare us. We were scared. Until we saw this bad boy, who was alive, then we were really scared. We think it's a cobra, but we're not sure. If anyone is good at snake identification, please let us know what it is.

How are the boys with the move?

2008-06-18T17:56:00.003+08:00

This is a question that keeps coming up, so I thought I would answer here how the boys feel about moving back to America. We moved to Hong Kong 4 days after Jonah's 2nd birthday and 2 months before Jack's 4th birthday. They were babies when we moved here, and now they are both school aged kids. Jonah especially has no real memory of living in America, and Jack's memories are very limited. They have both spent their summer holidays in America, so their repertoire of American life involves swimming in Mammy's pool, fishing in Nana's lake, and having nothing but fun. They both will tell you that they are very excited to move back to America and live in "the attic house." I suspect that when summer is over and "real life" starts we may have some issues. They will have to adjust to a new school, new kinds of kids, and a new atmosphere. They don't know American money and will probably often ask for 100 dollars. They only know the metric system, and have quite the little British accents (Jack especially). They call erasers "rubbers" (which could spark some interesting phone calls from school), ask their friends if they want to "have a go playing catch" (meaning, "do you want to play tag?"), and they live in the same small community here with all of their friends. It is really safe here, so they can run around with a lot of freedom riding their bikes, going to buy slurpies on their own, and playing on the beach. So while we are all more than excited to move back to America, I am somewhat sad at what they will lose: freedom, safety, friends from all over the world, thinking it's normal to go to Thailand for a long weekend, and being immersed in Chinese culture. I hope that we can somehow keep the things that we've gained from living abroad alive for them.

Weekend Wrap-Up

2008-06-15T19:40:00.005+08:00

This past weekend was really fun. We started out our weekend with a nice night out on Friday night at the Intercontinental with Brad and Carol. It's the rainy season in Southern China right now. Typhoons are all around and we get constant rain and thunderstorms. It made for some gothic looking pictures of the harbor on Friday night. It was Brad and Carol's 21st wedding anniversary. I could have been her flower girl. Hehehe.
Carol and I putting our hands in Jackie Chan's handprints. The Avenue of the Stars is right outside the restaurant.
Love this picture...think I will frame it. Thumbs up on the photography, Jon.
Saturday was jam packed. It started for Jon at 7:15 am when his friend, Greg, met him at our door and wisked him off to "Sport's Day." Greg and Lorne, 2 of our good friends, organized a going away sport's day for Jon. They played cricket, basketball, squash, ping-pong, tennis, golf, American football, soccer, beach volleyball, and bowling. He didn't get home until 10:30 pm, and he loved every second of it! My good friend, Nadine, took Carol and I to afternoon tea at the Conrad. The cream and scones were deeeelish. Sunday was our typical go to church, go to lunch, and play beach volleyball all afternoon. Ah, we will miss those HK Sundays spent on the beach right outside our flat!

Wuz Up

2008-06-11T10:25:00.003+08:00

We are busy wrapping up our time here and preparing for our move (which happens in 2 weeks!!). I haven't posted pics in a while, but we finally got the new lense, so I figured I would post some random things to sum up the last few weeks.

I knew she was too quiet!!! She also decorated her arms and my duvet. Thankfully a new one was already in the works.
Jonah had a show at school about Under the Sea. They sang songs and all had lines to recite. He did great as a newsreader reporting about sharks in the area.
This is one of Jonah's best friends, Jack. Jack is from New Zealand, and when he found out that Jonah wouldn't be able to come to his birthday party, he cried for an hour. Jonah invited him to come to America to his birthday party, but I'm guessing that's not gonna happen! They have been in the same class for 2 years, and Jonah will really miss him.
The boys have found a new love for all things Indiana Jones. We took them to see the movie last week and they loved it (well, Jack loved it. Jonah slept through it and said he didn't like Indiana Jones' face. I guess they weren't expecting Indy to have aged!). Jack put together this outfit and wears it all the time. He uses a belt as his bullwhip. Lookout.
This is where Jon and I can be found a lot. We're in that stage where we have SO much to do, but not much of it can be done until we're home. So we sit here and look at paint colors, cars, insurance, hotels, and forms knowing that we can't really do anything for a few weeks, but feeling better just looking and trying to make decisions. Can you say, holding pattern?!This was taken yesterday after Jon's "last" day at work. They had a farewell lunch for him and gave him a really nice book. Everyone that he has worked with for the last 3 years signed it, and it was so hearfelt and lovely. He has made some lasting friends here in China who not only call him "boss" or "coworker", but more importantly "brother" and "friend."

Dragonboat 2008

2008-06-09T16:43:00.004+08:00

Yesterday was the Dragonboat Festival in Hong Kong. Our little community on Lantau Island holds one of the races, and our church has a team called "The Ripple Effect." Jon and I have both rowed. The first year we were here, he rowed on a very competitive team. Last year I rowed on The Ripple Effect (a not so competitive team :) And this year it was Jon's turn again.
This is the view out of our friend's Martin and Sandy's flat. On a clear day (which unfortunately isn't very often) Hong Kong Island and Central are right there, but you can't see the skyline in this photo. You can see the DB Ferry which takes us to Central, and in the bottom right hand corner you can see the 6 dragonboats racing. We have been having really heavy rains involving landslides and flooding, so yesterday we were just happy to have smaller amounts of rain for the festival.

Each Dragonboat seats 20 rowers. The front is decorated with a dragon. There is a drum in the front where one person sits and drums the beat that everyone rows to. It's essential in dragonboating for the rowing to be synchronized. The man in the back "drives" the boat with the rudder.
Tall white guy...that's our rower!

Fans cheer on their teams on the beach. The boats load up on the beach and then they row out to the far flags. Once all the boats are there and ready, they fire the gun and the drums and rowing begin.
Racing to the finish line.Sandy's enjoying the best part of the race...the Krispy Kreme donuts afterwards!

Porcelain Sale

2008-06-09T08:33:00.002+08:00

I shared about 6 weeks ago about our upcoming porcelain sale, but I never did follow up on how it went. Overjoy Porcelain donated 80 boxes of beautiful hand painted porcelain to our church so that we could have a sale and donate all the proceeds to orphanages in China. Above are all the boxes as they arrived to the church.
We spent almost an entire morning and afternoon unpacking and arranging the porcelain the day before the sale.
Our Mom2Mom group put the sale on. Above is our group which has members from Singapore, Canada, England, Dubai, USA, South Africa, and Sweden. We're quite the multicultural bunch around here, and I will really miss that aspect of HK life when we move home.

We ended up raising over $6000 USD! With the money we were able to buy many appliances and toys for Zoe's orphanage in Huazhou (see photos here) AND we are sponsoring 2 babies upcoming cleft lip surgeries at the Anhui Cleft Healing Home AND we are sponsoring the renovations on a baby room at the Cleft Healing Home AND we still have about $1500 left to hopefully go back to Huazhou in the fall and build a playroom.

Wallpaper

2008-05-28T14:10:00.005+08:00

I'm not normally a fan of wallpaper. It sort of takes me back to the 80's and little ducks and geese running around in light blue and mauve. However, as I'm perusing my decorating blogs and mags, I'm seeing a resurgence of wallpaper and I'm finding myself attracted to it. I'm particularly in love with this Jonathan Adler print above. These photos are from Turquoise, and I love the silver foil (and the turquoise birdcage light fixture). How great would this look in my upstairs landing next to that vintage bathroom tile (much better than that hideous yellow for sure!!)?

And speaking of turquoise...I purchased some fabric in this color for one of my rattan chairs that I'm going to reupholster. I'm thinking a french door painted in this color might look really yummy at the bottom of the stairway with this fabulous wallpaper. Ah...4 more weeks.

Cheers, Mate!

2008-05-23T13:49:00.002+08:00

Jonah had his "Pirate Day" at school yesterday. He was so excited and had so much fun hunting for buried treasure, making a treasure map, and dressing up.
We had a significant milestone today...Maddie Rae drank out of a sippy cup with a spill proof valve. Which means (drumroll, please)...she can suck!!! Before her surgery, she had to just chew on the bottle to make the liquid come out. Because of her cleft palate, she couldn't create a vacuum with her mouth in order to suck. Now she can. Yay!!!
Showing off her new cup.

Jon's buying a new camera lense tonight with our money we got from Dragonair for almost dying in a blaze of glory on our flight back from Beijing. Non-blurry pictures coming soon!

Shopper's Paradise

2008-05-22T14:52:00.004+08:00

Yesterday was a bittersweet day for me. Bitter because it was the last time that I will partake in my own little personal shopping paradise that is LoWu Commercial Center in Shenzhen, China. Sweet because of the DEALS I got.
These are our "trunks", as Carol and I lovingly refer to them. These little trollies carry everything we buy in the city. They are a must have for urban living.This is the front of the fabric market. You first go get your tailor, and then you go to the market to pick out all your fabric. As far as the eye can see there is every kind of silk, suede, cotton, corduroy, chiffon, linen, and more.
I'm very excited in this photo because here I am picking out all the fabric for all my "new" house. I came armed with all my measurements and vision, and I left with custom made curtains to my exact specifications, roman blinds, duvet covers, pillows, shams, and extra fabric to reupholster a couch and chair. I didn't pay over $3 USD per yard for any of the fabric, and the curtains cost about $10 each. My king size duvet cover was a splurge at about $7 per yard and $20 for the custom sewing. Unbelievable!!!!!! Jon asked if I had buyer's remorse, and I realized I had non buying remorse. I wish I could have/would have bought MORE!!!!
These are the tailors. They are measuring one of Carol's Talbot jackets that she brought with her. She had silk blouses and linen jackets tailor made and didn't pay over about $15 total for any of them!!!!!!!!! I will never be able to shop in the mall or Target without longing for LoWu ever again. Eliminate about 10 middle men, and you eliminate about 80% of the cost. LoWu...I will miss you!

Tagged

2008-05-15T13:33:00.002+08:00

My friend, Michelle, over at Day by Day tagged me. I have to tell you three things about myself. Hmmm....let's see....

1. I never drank coffee until our first year in Hong Kong. Now I can't live without it, and I can be seen every morning until about 10 am with my Rubbermaid Travel Mug (best travel mug ever) full of a nice cup o brew with CoffeeMate flavored creamer. Every summer I bring almost one suitcase back to HK of CoffeeMate, and I have exactly 4 bottles left for the next 6 weeks. Nice planning, eh?

2. I love to shop. I got the shopping gene from my Grandma because my mom hates to shop and will only buy something if she "needs" it. My latest purchases have been furniture to put on our container back to the US and hand painted porcelain lamps for our "new" house. I'm going to Shenzhen, China next week to have curtains and duvets made for the house. I can't wait to set foot in Target in 6 weeks.

3. I miss blue. The pollution is terrible here, and I miss blue skies. This is why I am going to paint nearly every room in my house blue when we move home. Speaking of painting, I also love to decorate and if I had my dream job, I think I would be an interior designer. I'm currently obsessing about how to decorate my blank slate of a house and I'm in love with chocolate brown and white and of course, blue.

Now the fun part...I get to tag back.
Carol and Mel, you're tagged!

Turning the Corner

2008-05-09T13:11:00.003+08:00

Happy Birthday to me...Here's my new mouth! (The gumline will be repaired with a bone graft when she is about 10)

Maddie Rae finally gave in yesterday and ate a jar of baby food and some jello. She also drank a cup of PediaSure, and today she has even had a mango banana smoothie. Hopefully we're turning a corner on the eating. Her mouth is still really sore and she is nervous about the spoon. She is doing remarkably well: playing, happy, and sleeping well. Yesterday was her birthday, and although it was very anticlimactic all things considered, she did get a few new toys. I guess we could have pureed some cake, but something gets lost in that translation! Thanks for all your continued prayers for her recovery.

The Torch

2008-05-08T13:51:00.004+08:00

Shenzhen, China - Today - A block away from my office on Shennan Lu (street). Interesting - the sky was blue and air was crystal clear today..

On Strike

2008-05-08T10:30:00.002+08:00

Maddie Rae is currently on a 48 hour eating strike. She ate yogurt and jello at the hospital, and ever since she has been home where "real" food exists, she has refused to eat her liquid diet. Thankfully, she is drinking apple juice so she's not getting dehydrated, but I am getting really worried about my little 20 pounder not eating. She is sleeping right now, and when she wakes up I'm going to try to give her some PediaSure to get some calories in her. Any suggestions or tips for getting her to eat from anyone out there?!?! I'm getting desperate!!

Home

2008-05-07T14:49:00.004+08:00

Maddie Rae's surgery to repair her cleft palate and put tubes in her ears was on Monday morning here in Hong Kong. The surgery went really well and the repair looks "great" according to Dr. Lam. She did amazingly well, and the difference in her from her last surgery (which was only one week after we were home with her) to this surgery was remarkable. She was much calmer, much less fearful, and she snuggled in and accepted comfort from both Jon and I. Nala, her favorite little lion, stayed with her the whole time (even through surgery!), and she was very careful to take care of Nala by rubbing her mouth, snuggling her, and giving her kisses. Monday she basically slept all day long. She perked up Monday evening a bit, and then she slept well that night. Tuesday morning she started drinking water and milk, and then at about 9 am she saw some yogurt and couldn't get it in her stomach fast enough. By Tuesday afternoon, she was walking around outside, acting silly, talking, and doing great. Dr. Lam came to see her Tuesday evening and said she could go home. We got home late last night, and aside from waking up once, she slept great until 11 am this morning. She did spike a fever last night right before we left the hospital, but Dr. Lam said that was probably due to the fact that she is aspirating some saliva when she swallows since all the muscles and tissues have been rearranged. The bad news is that she can only have liquids and can't have her bottle. She was NOT happy about not having her bottle last night at bedtime, and I have a feeling tonight will be ugly. She has also refused to eat today because she doesn't want to eat pureed bananas, chocolate pudding, chocolate milkshakes, yogurt, jello, sweet potato, or anything else I try to bribe her into eating. All she's had the entire day is apple juice. So we're praying that she will eat tomorrow.

A BIG HUGE thank you to my dear friend, Carol, who left her house yesterday morning at 7:30 am and didn't return until 11:00 pm. She stayed with us at the hospital all day long so that Jon could run into work and be home with the boys. We love you, Carol!!!

And on a final note....Both times I have been at the hospital in Hong Kong, there have been some special people there. Last time it was a woman from England; this time it was a woman from Tennessee. These women volunteer 5 weeks of their lives to come over to China and take babies who are in orphanages to Hong Kong for surgery and medical care. The doctors in Hong Kong volunteer all of their services, and these special women live in the hospital with the children and take care of them. Anyone who has ever been in a hospital knows how quickly the walls close in on you, you lose track of days, and you can't get an hour in a row of decent sleep. It's uncomfortable, boring, and hard work. These women absolutely amaze me at their selfless acts of love for these sweet babies who don't have a mama to stay with them.

Thank you everyone for all your prayers. I'm off to do the bottle-less bedtime and to pray that our little peanut gets hungry enough to think pureed food is yummy!

Heading to the Hospital

2008-05-04T20:23:00.002+08:00

We are heading over to Adventist Hospital early in the morning so that we can be checked in by 7 am. Maddie Rae's surgery to close her soft palate and insert tubes in her ears is scheduled for 10 am. We are praying for a successful surgery and recovery, and that the pain, trauma, and fear would be as minimal as possible for her. It's such an awful experience when I have to walk into that operating room with her and watch them put her under. It's equally as awful when they bring her out screaming her head off and totally traumatized as she comes out of the anesthesia. I have some special new toys and soft baby foods packed. As soon as she's eating and drinking on her own, she'll be able to come home. I'll update as soon as I can.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

2008-05-02T23:16:00.002+08:00

Jon went on his big adventure yesterday which was a private helicopter ride! A guy who lives near us owns his own helicopter, and he offered to give a helicopter ride for free as a prize for a youth scavenger hunt that our church is doing. He said that we may want to "test run" the prize first, so Jon got to go with 3 others from our church on the test flight. He came home saying he wants a helicopter. After all, it only takes 80 hours to get your license. Oh yeah, and a couple million. But who's counting? You can see the adventure here under "hong kopter." Pretty awesome!

Snappin' it old school

2008-04-27T19:29:00.004+08:00

So Jon assures me that our camera works if I just go old school and manually focus it. Of course, this takes away the benefit of being able to snap a kazillion photos per second in order to get one decent shot of my kids. We will get a new lense soon, but until then, you'll have to bear with our slightly blurry manually focused kids. These are just some random shots from the weekend.

Nothing's changed here...

I'll be two next week, and my mom and dad are seeing a lot more of this face around the house (except usually I am throwing myself on the floor, burying my head in the ground, and passionately wailing in high drama).

This week and next are crazy busy. This week is the big porcelain sale, Jon has an exciting adventure on Thursday (more to come on that one), and the movers come for the walk through on Friday (can it really be happening?!). Next week is Maddie Rae's surgery and 2nd birthday. She will have her surgery to close her soft palate and insert tubes in her ears on Monday, May 5 at 10 am (10 pm Sunday night for you Eastern time zoners). Her big 2nd birthday is on May 8, but we will probably wait to celebrate until she is feeling better. I'm dreading the surgery and hospital stay, but I will be SO happy to have this behind us and to have her mouth completely healed.

Porcelain Packing

2008-04-26T13:59:00.008+08:00

We made a great Hong Kong discovery about a month ago: Overjoy Porcelain. Overjoy is a porcelain business run by a sweet husband and wife duo, Arthur and Josephine. They sell beautiful hand painted porcelain and have exported to Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Lord and Taylor. They are selling off the porcelain and retiring to Canada, and after we spent an afternoon buying so much we probably funded their plane tickets, they told us of their generous plan. They planned to give the remaining porcelain free of charge to charities until it was all gone. This got our wheels turning, and Carol had the great idea to ask if our church could have some of the porcelain for a sale to benefit orphans in China. They said yes, and we went yesterday to pack up the porcelain. Imagine our surprise when we walked in the room and saw loads and loads of porcelain that they had set out for us. We packed up 70 boxes, and we are having our sale on Tuesday and Saturday this coming week. 100% of the proceeds will go straight to orphanages in China that are near and dear to our hearts. The Hicks plan to take part of the money directly to the orphanage where Zoe spent her first few months in Guangdong, and we hope to be able to fund a cleft lip/palate surgery for one of the babies at the Anhui Cleft Healing Home. We also still know of several needs at the orphanage in Hefei where Ellen came from, and we hope to also help them out. Please join us in praying that our sale will be a huge success, and that many children in China would benefit from Arthur and Josephine's generosity. Pictures below are credited to Carol (which I lifted from her blog because yes, you guessed it, still no camera).

These three beauties are our inspiration: Maddie Rae, Zoe, and Ellen (and a mysterious cloaked boy who loves all three of them a lot too!)
Arthur helping us with the packing.
Our crew (minus Sandy) with Arthur and Josephine. All the porcelain on the floor was for us (and it wrapped around the aisles too!!).
Jeannette, Nikki, and Sally wrapping up the porcelain.
Sandy and I showing off the goods.

This is little Wren, who is living in the Anhui Cleft Healing Home. We hope to be able to sponsor surgery for her or one of her friends in the home. Couldn't you just scoop her up?!

Another conversation with Jonah

2008-04-17T18:46:00.002+08:00

Jonah: Awww. I want turn back into a baby.
Mom: Why?
Jonah: Because I was so cute. I need a fairy.
Mom: Why?
Jonah: So she can come over and turn me back into a baby.
Mom: (laughing)
Jonah: Stop laughing! I'm serious.
Mom: Sorry, Jonah.
Jonah: Mom? Do vets get married?
Mom: Yes.
Jonah: Awwww (major disappointment). I don't want to get married.
Mom: You don't have to get married if you don't want to.
Jonah: What doesn't get married?
Mom: Well, anyone who does anything can either get married or not. You can decide.
Jonah: I don't want to get married. I just want to be a vet.

Out of the mouth of Jonah

2008-04-16T15:27:00.003+08:00

It's really annoying to have a broken camera. I have to resort to posting things like graphs and charts. Hopefully it will be up and running again soon (whenever we can bring ourselves to fork over the money for a new lens), and I will be back to posting pictures of the chillins. Until then, I will entertain you with a few quotes from our middle child, Jonah.

Jonah is really funny, but if we tell him that he gets really angry. He thinks being told he's funny or being laughed at is an insult. I guess there's no stand up routine in his future, but I do want to write a few down just for my own future benefit.

On "Healthy Eating Week" at school:

"Mom! I'm hungry. I need some junk."

J: "Mom? Can I have a Cadbury Cream Egg?" (note: 8am at time of asking)
M: "Jonah, don't you remember it's Healthy Eating Week?"
J: (shoulders slumped, dejected look across his face) "Awwwww. I'll eat something healthy after my cream egg."

M: "Jonah, do you want some of these sweet grapes for dessert?"
J: (clearly VERY confused) "What? Grapes? GRAPES?! Grapes aren't junk, they're fru-it."

To his big brother this afternoon:

"Wow, Jack. Why are you being so nice to me today?" (That gives you some insight into how rarely that one occurs!!!)

1000

2008-04-14T13:47:00.002+08:00

For your viewing and reading pleasure...

2008-04-11T13:58:00.002+08:00

See the Kelley Pictures Beijing 2008 movie here.

Then jump over to here to see what I was up to yesterday.

And for my family back home who at times have doubted whether or not we would ever be home, the following email excerpt:

We just received the repatriation initiation from Lexmark. We will now proceed to initiate the various services for your departure, including the pre-move survey of your household goods for shipment, termination notice to your landlord, etc. Noted you are planning to depart from HK on June 29.

Cheers!

Movie Star

2008-04-07T12:57:00.007+08:00

In honor of her first 6 months with us, Jon has made another Maddie Rae movie. Click here to go to our website and then click on "Maddie Rae 2."

I think it does a great job of capturing her personality. It also captures everyday moments that still at times stop me in my tracks. Not only does she have a family that loves her, but she has so many opportunities to experience everyday things that I never really even thought twice about before. I watch her delight in crunching leaves under her feet, collecting pine cones on a walk, and folding her little hands to pray, and I can't help but think of her friends back in Shaoguan SWI who are still stuck behind 4 walls unable to experience everyday "normal" life. As I see the joy in Maddie Rae unfold, I remember those children who have not yet or who never will experience the miracle of adoption. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." James 1:27

May we all seek to know how He intends for us to "look after" children who do not yet know the love and nurture of a family.

Glimpses of Beijing

2008-04-03T23:53:00.003+08:00

Jon doesn't want me to post photos from Beijing because he always makes a movie for each of our trips, and he doesn't want me to reveal the photos before the movie is "released" on our website. However, I feel I need to share a little glimpse of our trip other than our eventful ride home, so here are a few snapshots.

We went to a section of the Wall that was not so touristy called "Mutianyu". We rode chair lifts up and there was a luge slide down, but it was snowing the day we were there, so the luge was closed. Helen, our guide, said that she had never seen snow at the Wall before and that it was something very special (and cold).

Ah, this is the last photo taken with our camera. Right after this picture was snapped, Jon set the camera on the camera bag thinking the strap was around his neck. It wasn't. We heard a loud, "NOOOOOOOO!" and the camera plunged down to the level the boys are on in the picture.

Mammy and Grandude at the Great Wall of China.

Chinese people have often not seen westerners and they love to stare, surround us, and take pictures with us or of us. I like to pretend that I'm Angelina Jolie when the "paparazzi" swarm me. You can see our admirers below at the Forbidden City.

We went on a Hutong tour in rickshaws and were invited into an older couple's home. This is their courtyard complete with birds that said, "Ni Hao" clear as a bell. The boys loved them and Jack asked the woman if he could take one home.

We also went to the acrobat show, Kung Fu show, and Tiannamen Square. I'll post a link to the movie whenever Jon finishes it. Aside from dropping our camera at the Great Wall, getting stuck in a 3 hour traffic jam trying to go to the Kung Fu show (which we never got to that night), almost losing our wallet in the car (but thankfully getting the driver to come back to the hotel with it), and almost dying on the way home, it was a fun trip.

KA991 from the cabin

2008-04-02T16:10:00.003+08:00

Okay, I promise this will be my last post about our near death flight. We are still processing and experiencing a bit of PTSD, and the blog is evidence of that!

Carol just sent me this link. It was shot during the whole thing if you want to "relive" the experience with us. Next post will NOT be about this flight...I promise! The people interviewed in the video were from the group that helped us. They were so nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtarH-d07U0

My mom and dad are heading back to the US on a 747 right now. Thankfully, it has 4 engines!

Newspaper Articles on KA991

2008-04-01T10:53:00.007+08:00

Perspective is everything..

Oriental Daily News (reporter was on the flight). The group pictured was a very kind group of people who helped us get food and told us what was going on when all the announcements were made. Thank you Ingrid and friends!

South China Morning Post (and the "children crying"...they belonged to us!)

Flight KA991

2008-03-31T19:32:00.008+08:00

Jon's notes on flight KA991 on 3/30/08, DragonAir Airbus 330 from Beijing to Hong Kong yesterday..

- Retta, Jack, Jonah, Maddie Rae, Mammy and Granddude (Retta's parents) and I took off at 1:30p. We heard a loud grinding noise and vibration about 45min into the flight. Smoke filled the cabin with a burning smell, the loudspeaker told us to duck our heads down to avoid inhaling the fumes. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling. After about 20 minutes of wondering what was going on, bumping through the air, and breathing through the oxygen masks, the pilot finally announced a left engine 'stall' and loss of all oil in engine. He said that we would head back to Beijing on only the right engine. Long tense descent. Lots of talk about preparation for the 'Happier Place' and that we were glad 'we were together.' Turbulent and twisting on hard right rudder. Jack was very scared, crying, confused. Jonah put oxygen mask on and fell asleep after asking for a lollipop. Retta and I both trying to calm Jack and not lose it ourselves. I went back and forth in my mind about 5 times trying to decide if this was actually going to be it or not.

- The pilot landed the plane safely. Everyone very relieved to get out. We saw the damaged engine on way out (photo). But were then crammed into buses for trip back to airport. Buses pulled next to gates but would not let us out. Lady faints next to us. Others were very nervous and banging on glass. Security/airport workers made eye contact then passed by and ignored us. DragonAir bus driver would not answer repeated calls/knocks/bangs to let us out and help sick woman. So I started tearing down the bus door. After a total of 45min standing on the bus, the doors opened and passengers exited into airport. Originally two rumored options, one to take late flight at 10pm, the other was to cancel and stay in Beijing. Mass chaos. No info. Soon DragonAir reps disappear with no guarantee of anything. Finally after several hours the airplane meals were handed out. Then another few hours and we had instructions from Cathay Pacific rep. The flight back to HKG took off just before 10p and were home at 3:00am.

- All thanked God for how it ended

JK

Click here to see Chinese news report. It's all in Chinese, but you can see the inside of the plane after it landed and Retta's feet, Nala's tail, and a brief glimpse of Maddie Rae as they descended onto solid ground after landing.

Inside cabin after we landed - smoke gone

View of left engine damage

View after landing - Buses being packed with people on right

Relief after getting out of plane and bus, however still not sure how to get to HK

Easter Images

2008-03-24T15:44:00.004+08:00

Peeps...it's what's for breakfast.

The hunt is on.

Outside church lookin' good.
Just the girls.Thanks for the dress, Olivia!
I love my daddy!
I know the boys are noticably absent in these photos. That's because despite my attempts to get a decent picture of the three kids, the boys ran off with their friends the second we got to church. When we got home, they promptly went into the sugar induced coma that only Easter can produce, and in between that time, they were bouncing off the walls from their ravaged Easter baskets. I asked Jonah (after he had consumed all his Peeps and half his weight in chocolate eggs) if he would like some eggs for breakfast. He quickly responded, "NO!" Then he thought for a minute...."Wait, do you mean REAL eggs? I can't eat anymore chocolate eggs."

More from the office window: Safety First

2008-03-23T22:17:00.003+08:00

Jon says this is how you play Plinko in Shenzhen.

"In the Barn"

2008-03-23T16:13:00.006+08:00

"In the Barn" is the title of this photograph by one of my new favorite photograpers, Jen Gotch. She is a prop stylist in California and has a cool polaroid blog with the most captivating vintage photos. I love the title of this one because, like this photo, we are "in the barn." Today our coming home counter moved into the double digits.

There's a funny phenomenon happening in our "barn." Jon and I seem to have unlocked our other selves. Living abroad for three years has opened us to parts of ourselves that we never knew existed. I now have a love affair with coffee. Jon has become a wine and cheese kind of guy. We no longer gasp at the thought of running off to Thailand for the weekend, shopping in Hanoi, or trekking through Guilin. These things have become normal, expected. But those parts of ourselves that we had to suppress in order to make it here, those parts are starting to emerge again. Jon's inner redneck is finding its way out as he pours over hunting magazines. My inner decorator is finally being allowed out as I start to dream of finally having a home. I haven't allowed this part of myself out for so long because when I did, I found contentment impossible. But now we are in the barn. Now I can let it out, and I'm finding it delightful!

Look who stopped by...

2008-03-22T23:35:00.001+08:00

Happy Easter!