JT's Orange Belt Test!

JT had a great Tang Soo Do test last weekend. He tested for his orange belt, which you see around his waist--his old white belt is resting on his shoulders. JT got to break a board, too. The Master at the test signed JT's belt, which is pretty cool if it is your belt. We found out while there that his teacher asked the person grading JT to grade him for double ranking--that would give JT two steps up for this one test, instead of the usual one step forward. He won't find out if he double ranked until the test certificates come in about a month.
Luci also had a good time at the test. We are not sure exactly what she's doing, but it was a lot of fun.

Luci loves JT!

Fancy Hotels--We Are the New Clampetts

We got to spend the night in the new Marriott resort hotel here. We had a balcony and this is how the kids entertained themselves. John said I was not allowed to lock them out there.

Luci loved the baby in the mirror. This was a first for her, to have a mirror on her level. Every time Luci picked up something new, she ran to show the baby. They had the best conversations...I only wish I had an interpreter.

School Time

What does Luci do when the boys are doing lessons? Just about anything she wants to, until she gets caught!
Today she got into the junk drawer in the kitchen (don't you have one?) and found the rubberband ball. Then she ran into the living room and, after a few minutes, shouted with glee, "Did it!!" What did she do? She released the rubberbands from the ball and they "exploded" all over the area--about 100 bands to pick up. She spent the next half hour picking them up and dumping them on her little table, then picking them up off the table and dumping them on the floor. Must have been pretty exciting to her. (That is a mosquito bite on her forehead.)

Another favorite pasttime is shooting Mommy and watching her reaction. The boys provide plenty of firepower for this pursuit.

Su Doku

We have caught on to the Su Doku craze. It is somewhat addicting, which you know if you have tried a few of these number logic puzzles. I found a Su Doku puzzle board that has tiles similar to Scrabble and assign the boys to do a couple of these puzzles a week as part of our homeschool curriculum. So far, so good! Here is JT finishing up a puzzle last week.

Luci's

Those of you who have been to Guangzhou remember Lucy's Bar. JT made our Luci her own Luci's joint from a washing machine box. What a fun time JT had making it! Can you see the table and lamp and plant he painted inside? I love it!

(Lucy's Bar was a favorite of ours since we spent a week out in the province of Guizhou--definitely not a place that is used to Westerners and our foods. We spent a week not knowing what most of the things we ate were. Lucy's Bar serves a sort of American food, at least it was recognizable to us and tasted familiar. A funny aside: JT told the staff at Lucy's Bar that they spelled Luci wrong!)

Luci and Bryan

Luci and JT

Look!

Look! Luci's favorite word this week is LOOK! She will hold a funny face or keep food in her mouth or stuck to her face until we LOOK at her. I think we are creating a class clown. Since we homeschool, she will definitely be the clown in her class. She will also be the serious one in her class. And the Valedictorian. And the bottom of her class. And so on.
We just call this one Fang.

Do It Myself!

Climbing the stairs is a fun adventure when you are 21 months old. It is also a very long adventure. And I am not talking about the number of stairs--it takes several minutes, and we must adjust our schedules for this "do it myself" little girl.
Bryan takes a rest on the trip up the stairs. Luci just keeps on chugging along.

Progress on the Kids' Rooms

The kids are all standing in their rooms. Since the photos were taken, sheet rock has been put in, and we've been told to get the paint colors chosen by the end of this week. It looks like it will be a real house very soon. Very soon I will be able to send the kids to their rooms for real!Luci!
JT looks manly, doesn't he?
Bryan is pretending to play a video game. Later he wants to stand in the same position, playing a real game in his finished room. Oh, and have me take another picture.

It was such a hot day. We've had nothing but hot days since Mom and Dad and Charlie and Q. and kids left. We hope that by the time moving day arrives the hot spell will be broken.

On the plus side, gas has gone down 12 cents in the past two weeks. Cynic that I am, I expect it to go back up for Labor Day weekend travel.

Gotcha Day Anniversary Happenings

Some have asked why is it called "Gotcha Day?" Here is my explanation: When the orphanage director handed Luci to me on August 14, 2005, I wanted to yell, "Gotcha!!"

Here are some of the things we did to celebrate Luci's first Gotcha Day Anniversary. Luci, although very smart, has not figured out that "eating with chopsticks"

does not mean "eating chopsticks."
<

The Dumplings that Yu taught me to make--Yu's are in the front and look like very pretty packages, and are uniform. Mine are in the back and look like, well, badly formed wads of dumpling.
Hey, we need about 2 more people in this tiny apartment kitchen!!

(Bryan, get your paws off the dumplings!)

We gave Luci a new Wiggles dvd--she adores the Wiggles! Can you tell?

What a great trio!!

Dad and I are so proud of you.

Thank You, China!! Xie Xie!

Xie Xie

means Thank You.

We released balloons, imagining they were traveling all the way to China.

Yu, Bryan, Luci, JT, and John

Yu was not sure of this strange American custom.

JT loved his job as big brother--Luci was not quite sure about letting go of her balloon, but she got into it and released a couple more.

I can see six balloons in this picture. Can you find them?

Do you see more? We let go of eight all together.

I have spent a great deal of the last month in tears as I read 20 Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew. I could go on and on and make you all cry, too, but that is not fair to you. Let it be known that we are supremely indebted to Lu Min Jie's Chinese parents and are so thankful that they gave Luci her beauty, intelligence, and sweet nature.

Xie Xie

First Anniversary

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of our Gotcha Day!

Isn't Luci Vivian Minjie beautiful?

What a doll.

Tomorrow, our sweet Chinese friend Yu is coming over. We will go shopping at Walmart for ingredients for steamed dumplings, and Yu will teach me how to make her mother's recipe. I will make my mother's recipe for fried rice. We will also release red balloons as part of our celebration of Luci. That sounds like a pretty nice day, doesn't it?

Hair Dos and Don'ts

I have finally figured out a way to fix Luci's hair. She squeals with delight and runs to the bathroom when I ask her if I can fix her hair. The bands that hold Luci's hair are about the size of those little bands that kids who wear braces use. Very tiny, but so is Luci.Below, this morning's hair-do. All ready for church! Don't you love that outfit from China?
And, just how does the daughter of an electrical engineer fix her hair?

She makes it look like she stuck her finger in a light socket!

Roll Over, Sit and Beg....

Those are just three of the tricks Bryan and J.T. have taught Luci. Today she learned to play dead--except she is such a ham! She says, "oh!" and doubles over and falls down to the ground and moans for a while.

Some children will tell you outright that they would rather have a puppy instead of a little sibling. Bryan and J.T. got the best of both worlds....a cute little sister who does doggy tricks.

Almost a Year!

August 16, 2005

Bryan, Luci and J.T.

Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China

Can you read their shirts? The boys had such fun making their Big Brother and Biggest Brother t-shirts before we left the States. Luci's shirt says "I'm the little sister." In this photo, Luci had been with us for less than 2 whole days. Compare this photo to the one below, and see how she has blossomed. What a miracle child!

And here we are in Florence on August 4, 2006. We had our 12 month post-adoption homestudy on Friday, and we took this photo for the homestudy files.

What a difference a year makes.

We can't remember a time that Luci was not with us...she certainly has put a spark in our lives. Thanks, Luci! You are just what we needed.

See-Through House

Here are the latest photos I have of the new house. John says they've put up quite a bit of the sheet rock so I need to go back and get more photos. Here is what I have so far. It is sort of a see-through house right now. Here is our master bath--the shower, to be exact. No! That's not right! It's really the hallway into our bedroom--but beyond the hallway is the shower. Sure am glad there will be a wall there--it could get embarrassing, taking a shower so everyone can see.
The living room. Don't you just love that corner fireplace?
This is the hall to the kids' bedrooms. It will be our Hall of Fame--where we hang family photos. Thank you to a friend named Katie who gave us that name.
Is this the dining room or the garage? I think a bit of both, but when the walls are in it will just show the dining room.

The Wiggles!!

I took Luci and J.T. to see a Wiggles concert a week ago...the day Bryan broke his arm. (Really, J.T. took Luci and I chaperoned...I also paid for it! J.T., when you ask a girl out, you are supposed to pick up the tab!) We had a great time, as you can see from the photos here. Thank you, John, for not calling us about Bryan until the show was over so we could enjoy the program. The Wiggles are a singing group from Australia. They have dvds out and are on the Disney channel every day. Since Luci is so young, just 21 months, I wondered if she would even look at the stage--I did not need to worry! As the Wiggles would say, "No worries, mate!" She had a blast!! She danced and sang (in her baby-way) and had a great time, as you can tell.
"Wake Up, Jeff!" One of the characters is continually falling asleep. The audience yells, "wake up, Jeff!" and Luci did her part.
We went down on the floor before the concert started and got this photo in front of the stage.

After seeing Bryan at the hospital, we went to the store to get markers for signing the famous cast, and we also got a Wiggles dvd for Luci. We have been watching it non-stop ever since. Luci gets in front of us to get our attention, says, "Dance!" points to the tv and wiggles her hips to let us know she wants the Wiggles to play. It is getting to the point that I am ready to watch SpongeBob SquarePants instead. If you know how much I despise SpongeBob, you know how desperate I am.

One of the songs at the concert and on the dvd goes like this:

Hands in the air,

Rock-a-bye your bear,

Bear's now asleep.

Shh, shh, shh.

Luci acts out the whole song. Above, she is telling you that "Bear's now asleep," and below she is saying, "Shh, shh, shh."

Luci is just so sweet that she melts my heart every time. Maybe I am not ready for SpongeBob quite yet.

Fun Fotos//Phun Photos//Fun Photos

Luci has learned to bow when prayers are said.

She is learning from the pros, Bryan and J.T.....where else would she learn to peek??
After one of our Sunday Spaghetti dinners, Luci demonstrates her knowledge of Chinese--we think that noodle-y word on her cheek means, "Cute Girl Loves Spaghetti." This T-Shirt says it all, don't you think? I bought the sleep set for Bryan weeks ago. I didn't realize that it would turn out to be prophetic.