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."
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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.

Bryan's Not-So-Excellent Adventure

Bryan broke his arm yesterday--helping John put down a plywood floor in the attic area over the garage. Bryan went up the attic stairs (one of those sets that pull down from the ceiling) and stepped out on an unsecured 2x8. The other end of the board went up, and Bryan went down.


Bryan said he landed straight--feet first, and he credits his gymnastics training for keeping him from getting more hurt. He landed on his feet, immediately bent his knees and rolled backwards. At that point, his arm got bent in a wierd way and when he got up, he told his Daddy, "My arm is broken."


John hauled his power tools and Pal, our yellow lab, back to the truck. They flew to our friends' house, where the power tools and Pal are living until we get into our new house, and rushed Bryan to the emergency room. All of this before noon.



His arm was broken just above the wrist. One bone was fractured, the other was a clean break all the way through (ouch!).

JT, Luci and I were at a Wiggles concert 75 miles away when we heard about Bryan's accident. We got to the hospital just as Bryan was waking up from his anesthesia--they knocked him out in order to re-set the bones. Here are Bryan, Luci, Daddy and JT trying to comfort Bryan.

Bryan was feeling pretty good at this point--the pain medication worked really well. He had to stay overnight for observation since he was put under with anesthesia. Because it was so late in the day when it was administered, they wanted to make sure he had no adverse reactions.

Bryan is home now, feeling fine...He's left-handed, and tells me that he can't do his school work since he broke his left arm...but somehow, he can play video games?? He also says that he needs chocolate covered donuts and a new dvd that just came out. He got the donuts and just might get the dvd.

Luci's Language

It has been so fun watching and listening to Luci as she learns to speak. We started out with some basic sign language, which helped to ease her frustration in communicating with us...she shrieked less frequently. That meant I wasn't getting scared out of my wits and jamming on the brakes nearly so often as we drove through town--hearing that shriek is scary!

Luci uses her sign language to tell us what she needs. Yesterday, she used it to call the boys to dinner. We told Luci to go "tell the boys it's time to eat." She ran down the hall and knocked on their door. When they opened the door, Luci put her fingers to her mouth in the "eat, eat" sign. They knew what she meant, and came to supper.

We quit counting her words when Luci got to 50 that she used correctly and consistently. She is far beyond 50 now. Today, she used two new words that were clear as day--"cook" and "blanket."

Yesterday she saw a picture book with Bert and Ernie on the front cover. You remember them from Sesame Street. She recognized Bert--Luci pointed at him and said, "Papa!" (Frankly, I think Dad's skin tone is not that yellow. Just kidding, Dad!)

Luci knows who owns what in this house. She will tell you whose swimsuit she is holding, whose sock that is on the living room floor (she's a great tattle-tale, boys!), whose computer this is, and who uses the pots and pans. But her favorite word, beyond comparison, is "MINE."

Tank-You!

The other day, John drew out a simple house plan and showed me where he wanted to put extra insulation.... around Bryan's room (so we wouldn't have to listen to his video games).... around JT's room (so he wouldn't hear the toilet flush or hear the TV from the living room).... around Luci's room (and here John said, and I am pretty sure he was joking!, "So we won't hear her crying).

I looked at Luci and told her, "I love you, Luci." She looked back and sweetly said, "Tank you!"

John and Bryan spent Saturday morning putting up the insulation. Bryan worked just as hard as John did. Bryan let J.T. know that, on the next house, J.T. gets to put up the insulation with Daddy.

**The kids' bathtub and our shower are (is?? it sounds wrong either way) installed. We picked out a big whirlpool tub for our bathroom, and now we are trying to figure out a surround for it. I'm not sure about tile everywhere--I want a country look. **There are stairs to the basement now, so that makes the trip downstairs much more pleasant. **I'm having fun choosing colors for the walls. John would be happy to make all of them the same color, but I am trying to dissuade him from that idea.

Mama Luci

This was such an adorable thing to witness. Luci makes a very good mama to her baby Mulan doll. She loves wrapping it up in a blanket and giving the doll a bottle. A doll with a doll.

This is the same rocking chair that Mom and Dad got for me when I was little...it is very old, but I won't say just how old. The boys used this rocker, too, but there is something special about a little girl rocking her baby doll.

J.T.'s Birthday Party

J.T.'s birthday party was Saturday. It was the easiest party I've ever given for the boys' birthdays--just cake and ice cream, goody bags made from things we had on hand already, and let the kids play in the apartment complex pool. Well, maybe Bryan's was easier than that--have his friends spend the night.

On the side of the pool, from left: Bryan, Nathan Riley, J.T., Rachel #1, Casey Brooke, Hannah, Rachel #2. In the water, from left: Bradley, Britt and Tyler.

J.T.'s birthday cake--a helmet-shaped cake, decorated with icing tinted with cocoa powder and chlorophyll. J.T. wanted to be a sergeant, hence the ranking on the helmet. I had the night-vision goggle party hats and dog tags in my party box--all ready for the big day. I got the idea and directions for making the cake on the internet, but I don't have access to the web address right now. It was easy to do, and according to one friend, it turned out "so awesome." And no, John, I did not bake this in your Kevlar helmet!! But it looks like I did, and it tastes better than that. :)

Catching Up

We really did move. We have some friends who helped us and may not want to be friends any longer. Which is ok, since we found out at the reunion in TN that they are related to us--so they are stuck with us!
Bryan and JT dressed up at Shiloh. We were there with Mom and Dad and Katie and Laura. They got to hear a lecture about war-time surgery...and some ended up feeling queasy. Luci and I missed the talk so Luci could nap in the van. Birthplace of Which Famous American? (hint to family: this is in Waynesboro)
Audrey Vivian holding Luci Vivian.Charlie and Audrey the younger holding Maggie. Laura, Katie and J.T. Sorry it is so dark.
The "kid's table" in our apartment on my birthday. From bottom left, Bryan, Katie, Suzi, J.T. and Laura. There were 15 poeple in our apartment that night! Loud and fun. the lady downstairs was gone that evening (I hope she was, anyway! I didn't see her.).

Luci's first swim, ever. No, she does not have 4 legs! Those are John's arms, holding on to her.