Chinese New Year

We had a dinner today at Evergreen Chinese Restaurant, in celebration for the Chinese New Year. Thanks, Kathy and Greg, for hosting it! We hope Kalyn is feelling better--she had to stay home, sick, with Grandpa.

Luci praying Luci made some new friends. These are Kate and Karlee, two of the Jamieson beauties.

Kate and Luci are both Year of the Monkey. Can you tell???
More Monkey faces
Yum!
Not-so-much like Monkeys anymore. Just sweet girls.

All three Jamiesons with Luci--Kailee, Kate, and Karlee

The Whole Gang!

Hannah Beth. Last year we only had her picture to look at, now she is here in person! We have one other new baby, too--Olivia. We had one family at the dinner today waiting on their Special Needs adoption to be accepted--we can't wait to meet that little girl! Two other families are in the paperchase stage for other children to be added to their families. We hope they get the OK very soon.
Luci had a whole passel of girls following her at different times. It cracked me up--she is so different than I am. No problem making friends. She is a ring-leader, to be sure. At one point, she was going around undoing the top knot of the dresses on her new friends' dresses "because it's too tight." She also had foot races going on behind all the diners. Good thing we were in the very back of the restaurant. I asked her, "Are you going to be President someday?" She said, "Yup." Papa mentioned something about that law getting changed just for her, so maybe by the time Luci's 35 and old enough, she can be President.

Fine Motor Skills

Since Luci cut her hair, I am very careful with her when she wants to cut things. I would not have believed she could do this if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. She cut on the lines to cut the squares apart. Really nice! She is 39 months old--and doing as well as my kindergarten students did! John brought home this little dress from Fiji.

Watch ... If You Dare!

Kathy, Kalyn's mommy, sent this to me...in honor of the Year of the Rat. This is called "Rat-A-Chewy" on youtube.com. It is sort of gross, so be warned. Reminds me of the really nice (?) restaurant that our guide Jophy took us to on our last night in Guangzhou.

It says the meat is really good for pregnant women. JT saw that part and said, "I'm so glad you didn't eat that, Mom!" I just stroked his cheek and said, "Honey, we are both from the Year of the Rat! What do you think I did?" He nearly turned green!

Moms Just Aren't Supposed to Get Sick

It's the flu ... it must be, it feels too bad to be just a cold. The symptom checker on WebMD.com comes out with me more on the flu side. I don't think I'd still be feeling this bad with a cold. Moms just aren't supposed to get sick! I searched for quite a while to find a clip-art of a sick mom and this was as close as I got....

I didn't realize how much John does for me here until he got home last night ... and even though he was dog-tired, he still did the supper dishes for me and even did his own laundry from his suitcase. How nice was that?!

The boys started in on the schoolwork they have put off while Daddy was gone and I was too sick to care about. John has a few more trips this Spring...army stuff...and the boys are thinking, "Wow! More vacation days!" No way, guys. If you want any summer vacation at all, you're going to have to buckle down.

Some pictures of John's trip coming in a later post.

John's Home

Can you believe I forgot my camera when we went to the airport? Missed a really good shot of Luci running to get her Daddy--but I couldn't have snapped it anyway since it would have had the security post in it. Luci spotted John before he got passed the security post and ran to meet him--it was so sweet, even when the security guard looked like he was going to tackle Luci for going where she shouldn't.

Anyway, nothing else to blog right now except we are having a beautiful, clear day. Hard to believe those storms came through here. So glad that my blogger friends in the path made it through safely, too.

We're Fine

I still can't get hotmail to work. We get John around 2 pm.

Stuck in Big D

John is stuck in DFW airport until the morning. We hope he'll be on one of the earlier flights into Huntsville on Wednesday.

ta ta for now.

For Dad B--

Just heard from John--he is stuck in Dallas until about 10:30. He had no idea there was any bad weather. I can't get my email to open, so I'm telling you this way (sorry, everybody else). I tried to make the photo above bigger, but it won't, so there. We are in the NW corner of AL (you already knew that) but we are not yet in the red area (tornado watch). So that is good news. John thinks he'll get into Huntsville around midnight. Try not to worry. we do have that nifty safe room if we need it, and I am terrified of the storms so you know I'll be "weather-aware" tonight. Our weather--you can refresh the page and see where the storm line is currently. Once that red line that is about to get to Memphis gets through us, the bad stuff will be past.

Cool! A Dot in Australia!

Did you notice the dot in Australia? It's really a Fiji dot--apparently the folks at maploco don't know exactly where Fiji is....bonus points for you if you know it is north-east of Australia! Thanks, John, for adding the dot from the other side of the world....

edited at 7 pm--Fiji is now in the right place!

Happy New Year! Again!

It's the year of the rat again--JT and I are both rats. (Yeah, I know, that explains a lot.) To learn how to say Happy New Year in Mandarin (and lots of other phrases), click here.

Beginning on Thursday, there will be a new show on Nick Jr. called, Ni Hao, Kai-lan. We are going to watch it, I hope it will be good.

What the Show's About: "Ni hao!" That means "hi" in Chinese--and that's how
Kai-lan greets you every day! Kai-lan Chow is an exuberant Chinese-American
preschooler, almost 6, who wants you to come play with her and her best friends.
Kai-lan's world is infused with Chinese culture and is brimming with magical
sights and sounds, and everywhere you turn there's something amazing and
beautiful to see. Along the way, she and her bilingual buddies speak in English
and Chinese, but they always need kids' help to find creative solutions to the
daily dilemmas that come their way!

Vote! and John's Trip

Luci helped me vote this morning. The community center where we vote is only 1 mile away, a nice little trip compared to the 20 minute trip we used to make from the old house. The center was crowded, another nice change. Luci charmed all the retirees who were playing dominoes and cards. When we got home I wanted to take a picture of her with her "I voted" sticker and our flag, but she had other ideas (and I foolishly dressed her in pink, not a red-white-and-blue blouse!). I like this picture better than what I planned, anyway. It seems so joyful. And we didn't stage it!

John gets in to Los Angeles around 1 pm L.A. time. If you look at the schedule, he's either flying Air Fiji 810, Air New Zealand 4010, or Quantas Airways 3839. They all are the same jet! Amazing. John gets to Huntsville at 10:40 pm, assuming the weather is good--we are expecting severe weather after sundown tonight, so please keep his safety in your prayers. We've done the "pick-Daddy-up-from-the-last-flight-in" several times, and the trip out there and back so late is a killer (it's 1 1/2 hours each way). So John has reservations at the airport hotel and we'll pick him up in the morning. All he has to do is get off the plane and walk over to the check-in counter. Easy.

JT's Last BasketBall Game

JT got another basket! If you look carefully, you can see it going in! He may not be the best (only 3 baskets all season) but he sure has the heart. He has been sick all week and wanted to play today. Way to go, JT!
Nice trophy! Thanks, Coach!
Hey! His cupcake looks frostier than mine!
Pretty baby needs her blankie.

Some Sad News

John and the other people in Honoria are doing well. However, they got some sad news Saturday (yesterday to them). Dave's father passed away...Dave's mother is very ill with cancer, with a short time left on this earth and they thought the news was about her. So this was very, very startling and sad news.

French Fries are Missiles

Police in Laramie, Wyo., Cite Teen Girls

Who Threw French Fries for 'Hurling Missiles'
Friday, February 01, 2008


LARAMIE, Wyo. — Three 13-year-old girls accused of throwing french fries during lunchtime at their school were cited for "hurling missiles," an adult infraction covered by city ordinances.

Good thing the police didn't mosey on over to Cheyenne the day we were in McDonald's throwing spitwads at each other. Years later, those spitwads were still there. (That's the boys and me, Mom and Dad! I don't remember if Janet was in on it or not.)

The Best-Laid Plans ...

This week, while John is gone, I planned lots of fun things for us to do. We were going to:

• go to the Nashville Zoo
• see Kalyn and her mommy
• see Nathan Riley and Casey Brooke and their mommy
• have dinner with Diane while Bryan babysat Luci at JT's play practice
• do our spring cleaning

Three of those things would have had me face-to-face with a grown-up! But I got sick with this nasty cold, and that canceled all the plans. JT got sick a day later. So far, Luci and Bryan are well. I guess it's a very good thing I also planned a very light school week, since none of that is getting done at all.

New Little Sister

John and Dave finally made it to Honiara and were able to start their studies with some of the people in the area. Here is a picture of Dave (on left) and John baptizing a young lady into Christ. How about that, being baptized in the ocean? Really beautiful.

I was wrong about John's traveling companion. Originally I was told it would be the older man from Arkansas...obviously Dave is not that same guy. Sorry to "age" you, Dave!

They are scheduled to be back in the States on Tuesday.

A Shot in the Dark

We had a tremendous wind storm come through Tuesday. The lights went out at 7:20 pm for nearly 4 hours. Usually they come back on in less than 30 minutes. So, we found ways to amuse ourselves. Luci was totally confused and both boys had fun getting her to "go turn on the lights."


Learning how to make your face glow:

Playing a battery-operated video game:
Looking too cool:
Now Mom uses the flash--you can't even tell the lights were off. I love this camera! Luci danced for us, as we listened to the radio to get news of the storm:
Momma! Stop the lights!
Add extra bowl-wheels to her "Thomas the Tank Engine" box. Also, this could be labeled, "Why I don't buy the more-expensive Scotch tape anymore." Or, "Princess decides she'd rather be a half-naked mechanic."
These two pictures were of the clouds in our backyard the day after the storm. Bryan and I thought the formations were so odd.

Super Tuesday's Coming!

This year, Alabama actually gets to have some say in the nomination process. In years past, our delegate selection was set for June, long after the nominees have been chosen. We get to vote in next week's Super Tuesday vote, which makes me happy. But not my parents, they say I vote for the wrong party. I'm pretty sure they love me anyway.

Here is a Quiz to see if your candidate actually thinks the way you do. Krista had this on her blog a few weeks ago and I thought it was pretty good. So here goes:

Candidate Match Game takes about 5 minutes to go through. It does list all of the original candidates, even those who have dropped out (but they are still on Alabama's ballot, if you feel left out!).

Which person are you voting for? All I'll say is that my candidate continually gets more votes than "Undecided."

Where in the World Is Carmen San Diego?

oops, I mean where is John today??

I got an email last night from John--in Australia. He was leaving there at 10 pm my time for the Solomon Islands. So, we hope they had a great day yesterday (really today?--they are past the International Date Line) and have a good rest of the trip.

Please keep the kids and me in your prayers, too--JT and I have caught a terrible cold and we're hanging on. I'm disinfecting everything I can and washing hands so often to keep Luci and Bryan well.

Heard from John

John is in Fiji right now. He sent me an email--so glad the power was on there. Apparently they've been in Cyclone Gene which has killed 6 on Fiji and also another 6 on Guadalcanal. The cyclone has passed now. If I'm reading the World Clock correctly, he is flying out of Fiji at 3 pm our time (9 am his time).

It was so good to hear from John.

Hello Darling, Love you and hope everyone is doing fine. We are here in FIJI. It is still pouring down rain. We will leave tomorrow at 9:00 am for Honoria. We will be going through Australia then on to Honoria. I am fine and doing good. I will try and check the email later on this afternoon. Over look the spelling. Love John

We also got an email from Randy, telling about his family's trip to the Solomons. It sounded pretty scary. He is usually so calm about travel--he has a story about him and his oldest son, who was about 7 years old at the time, traveling from one island to another in one of those little dug-out boats. The sea was pretty rough, and his son slept through the trip. He laughs about that! So for him to even email about the danger, it must have been bad.

What is it with this weather?? We had a terrible wind storm here last night and were without power for almost 4 hours. (Sonya, pictures of us in the dark are coming! We can blog anything.) The weather has been bad and deadly everywhere, even in Luci's province in China. Guizhou usually does not get bad winter storms but this year is the exception.

John's Mission Trip: Where Is He Now?

John just called, at 1 pm our time and wow, I thought his cell phone works in Fiji! No! He's still in Los Angeles. The weather was (and still is) bad in Fiji, so all flights there are canceled. He and his traveling companion, an 80-something man from Arkansas, spent the night in a hotel provided by the airlines and now are trying to use their $15 meal voucher for a meal that is 'way more expensive than that (don't they check prices and give them something they can use?).

I got online and checked the weather in Fiji, and this is what Accuweather.com had. My goodness. And to think I was worried about L.A. rains and traffic. Piece of cake, in comparison. Please keep John and his friend in your prayers...and also that once they get to Fiji that their connecting flight will have waited for them to go on to Honiara--I think there is only one of those a week, so he'd end up having to stay in Fiji (a burden, I know! ha!) until time to come home.

By the way, after John's military meeting on Saturday, he met up with his brother Bill and sister-in-law Pam who live in Tehachapi. John got to spend the night with them, go to church, and then they had supper at a restaurant with Pam's mom who lives in L.A. Bill and Pam took good care of John and they had a nice visit.

Okay, It Sounded More Like a Homeschool Family...

When I first saw this headline, it sounded more like a homeschool family than a "house of filth." (That is, after the Twelve Days of Christmas song got out of my head.)

HOUSE OF FILTH IN TEXAS: 68 dogs, 26 hissing cockroaches, 16 rabbits, 15 guinea pigs, 13 gerbils, 7 doves, 2 dwarf hamsters, 2 hedgehogs, 2 bearded dragons. an opossum and a pink toe tarantula...

We are the only homeschool family I know who does not have a pet of some kind. JT's pushing for a gerbil...he's been told that if Daddy goes on another long-term army trip (2 months or more), then we'll get a gerbil.

What a Day!

JT's basketball team is, well, not the best. They try hard, though. The first game they played today had the score of 12 to 0--that's twelve baskets to none. Sounds better than 24-0, don't you think? Remember that photo of JT with his team? Here it is again, just in case you don't remember it. I should have told you the name of the team--you won't believe this--it's Black Magic!


The second game was nearly halfway over when JT made the first basket of the day. HOORAY! Every parent cheered. It was great! I wish I had a picture of JT's face when he made that basket! What joy! That seemed to open up the flood-gates, because after that there were 4 more baskets by other boys on his team. So that score was 34-10.

I rescued Luci from the Baby Jail (what the boys call Child Watch at the YMCA) at halftime in the second game. I leaned down to tell Luci, "Hello, Beauty." She looked up at me and said, "Hi, Beast."

Here's Luci today--the t-shirt was on the boys' racks at Walmart but it was cuter by far than any of the little girls' t-shirts (they were too "kiss me" for me to pick one for Luci). This shirt seems to say it all, anyway.





(she has a peanut in her mouth, that's why her teeth look a little funny.)

Come Back!

John got a verbal hug from Luci today--he called from Barstow, CA, this morning on his way to an army meeting before the mission trip begins on Sunday.

Luci got on the phone and told him, "Come back!"


John's observation on Southern California's mountain region--

"It looks like Afghanistan out here."

Afghanistan: photo from TrekEarth

Reminds me of the "Welcome to Boise National Forest" sign that the boys and I found--but there were no trees in sight! And what about the Bradley cousin (which one was it? Dad will correct me--) who wanted to know about Vedawoo Forest near Cheyenne, Wyoming: "Where's the tree?!"

Ten Things

This was the question on the Vox blog today: I dare ya to answer it on your blog!

What are 10 things you've done that (most) other people probably haven't?

1 had some work published--Bible study for 2nd and 4th grade Sunday School
2 was born in a foreign country
3 been on mission trips to the Caribbean and East Africa
4 adopted a child from China
5 homeschool my children
6 traveled across country with 3 children, in a minivan, with no other grown-up (2,000 miles each way!)
7 won a free trip to Washington, DC, with a teacher's group
8 traveled to Africa all by myself (but met up with some missionaries over there)
9 made 26 Raggedy Ann dolls
10 been on a Disney cruise

John's Mission Trip

John left this morning for a mission trip to the South Pacific--Guadalcanal Island in the Solomons, east of Papua New Guinea. These photos are from this website. They look sort of "'way back in time," but the photos John took on his last trip there are similar. It still looks so lost in time. You might remember from history studies (or, if you are old enough, from the news stories) of Bloody Ridge. The last time John was there (in 2000 or 2001), he and Randy English preached in a church building up on Bloody Ridge. John has studied a lot about World War II, and it meant a lot to him to be up there.

This is John's first mission trip since 9/11--the last was in July 2001--and he's glad to be back in the groove of things. He'll be back home on February 6.

This morning, JT and Luci and I took John to the airport. Bryan stayed home, but got his hugs in before we left. Yawn!

Luci was not very happy saying goodbye to Daddy. She wants to get on a plane, too.
True feelings come out on the way home--or maybe it's just Luci's silliness!

What Does Luci Do ...

...when the rest of you are working on schoolwork? She puts her potty seat on her head. (yuck)
Entertains us with her dancing. The shoes don't match, but they are both pink (so in her eyes, they do match).

Plays peek-a-boo while we work on poetry.
Watches Cinderella upside down.
Rests in her closet.
Loads the printer with her own paper.
Gets on the trampoline (with her roller skates! and princess dress, of course) and then tries to take off the skates.CUTS HER HAIR! John actually asked me, "Why did you let her cut her hair?" Guess what I said in response.

Something a Little Serious

Luci has been saying to me, "Don't Leave Me."

This happens mostly at night when I am holding her in my lap, getting her to sleep. I tell her every time that "I am your mama forever, I will always be your mama, I will never leave you--except maybe to go get coffee sometimes. But I will always come back." She nods her head and cuddles in. We are pretty much joined at the hip and we are rarely apart.

Last night when she said. "Don't leave me," I asked her if anyone had ever left her. Surely she doesn't remember her China-mama leaving her at 2 days of age. It is possible that there is some physical memory of the director and nannies leaving her with us at age 9 1/2 months. Possible, but I am wondering if that is really likely. (She's 3 years, 3 months old now.) Maybe the sensation of being left. Anyway, her answer to that question was,

"Yes. In China. She left me." Who, baby? "China mama."

At this point, I am trying not to cry.

How much of this is she remembering because she's heard us talking to others? Now I need to quit talking in front of her, and I suppose even quit talking about her story without her permission at any time. It isn't my story to share. It's hers. (so I guess I need to ask her permission to blog it from now on)

I told Luci that I would always be her mama, I will never ever give her away or leave her, and I will always come back from that coffee. She nodded her head about the coffee and hugged me tighter. Later on she relaxed and I said, "I'm your forever mama. I will never leave you."

She crawled up higher in my lap and put her arms around my neck, and said, "Thank you."

I cried then.

Thank You, Denna!

Yesterday Denna gave me this blogging award. Wow, I am almost speechless. Almost! Can't shut me up. Denna is a friend I met through blogging. I thought her daughter from China looked a lot like Luci, and in my search for finding anything familiar for little Luci, I wrote to Denna and asked where in China her daughter was born. So a friendship began. Turns out that Brooke, pictured below, is about 3 months younger than Luci and is from a different Province. I think the similarity of Brooke and Luci at that age (12 months) is just striking. Denna also has a beautiful daughter named Courtney. We got to meet in person at the Birmingham Zoo 3 months ago, and her whole family is such a delight. They are a homeschooling family, Christian, so we have lots in common.

Denna said some sweet things when she gave me the award, and since it is not a humility award, I will share it with you.

• Susan from add one Chinese sister. I got to meet Susan, Luci, Bryan, and JT. I love to read her blog and see how the children are doing. She always makes me laugh. There always seems to be some excitement around her house. Susan home schools. I like to hear about her school days. Susan and I have a lot in common.

I try to be funny at times, I can't help it--I even married a guy whose last name ends with HAM. So, Denna, I'm glad I can make you laugh sometimes. I hope that when I'm serious that it comes across well, too.

Now that I have this honor, I need to pass it on--that's the rule with a blogger award, you get to share the fun by giving it to five others who have not received it yet. Right away, I thought of these folks, all of whom have a talent for writing and photography:

Gina T-S.--Her blog is private, but wow, it is such a good one. She has a great love for the Lord, and she has a great way of wording things. And she's smart!

Gena K.--she is the head of our education (birth-6th grade) at our church. She loves my children and that makes me love her. She makes me laugh, and she makes me think.

Krista M.--Also a friend from church. She has lots to say about many things and is always interesting. She's not afraid to bring up any subject.

Kaylee--she is married to my nephew Connor, and she has such beautiful children! (they are related to me, what can I say?) She has a joy that comes through in her blog.

Jennifer--She is Luci's doctor at the International Adoption Clinic in Birmingham. She also is the mom of twins, who are just 3 weeks older than Luci. Jennifer and her husband have such a heart for international adoptions and the orphans who cannot come home; I wish we could do what they do!

Julie--She is going to be a mom soon! She loves photography and she is so funny. I can't wait to see pictures of her baby all over her blog. (yes, I know this is SIX, but hey, I know a lot of great women!)

Okay, Gina T-S, Gena K, Krista M, Kaylee, Jennifer and Julie--you get to honor 5 of your own blogger friends! I can't wait to see who you pick.