Monday in Birmingham

After our visit to the International Adoption Clinic, we headed for the zoo. (More on the IAC visit in another post.) JT was wonderful with Luci. So nice since he sometimes feels put out by her still--for taking the baby slot. Waiting forever for Luci's appointments to get done at the IAC didn't help, but wow! what a neat kid Monday afternoon. This tiger was really that close. He walked right up to the window, turned and sprayed the window. We moved out of there quickly. The wall between the tiger and us (his lunch) was not all that high. After the tragedy in San Francisco a few years ago, I decided it was not wise to linger here since he was agitated, and we were the only people around (no other items available for his lunch!).

Wow! This peacock let us get up close. Made me wish I had one of those super-duper cameras. Usually I like my camera just fine.

JT mugging it up....

But Luci took her job more seriously. She felt on top of the world after surviving her doctor visit that morning.

Bryan spent the whole day solving and re-scrambling his Rubik's Cube. And yes, it was cold in Birmingham.

Luci went over the rope bridge for the very first time. Yay, Luci!

And finally was happy on the merry-go-round. She was terrified of DisneyWorld's merry-go-round and has been scared of them since then.

JT was a billy-goat.

Virtual Soccer

Today we were at the McWane Science Museum/Center whatever they call it for most of the afternoon. This was a hoot! The kids playing soccer.

Af ghan istan

My favorite picture from Af ghan istan! John put this in his office area. Now everyone in the Ka bul office knows that Luci loves Daddy! Is this from Star Wars? No--just down the road from the capital city of Ka bul. Don't those towers look like AT-ATs? You Star Wars fans will know what I'm talking about.

If your child is studying geography with Flat Stanley, feel free to use this. This is an Afghan man "visiting" with Flat Stanley.

Last Week

Luci in the library. I loved this shot!

With Hannah.

Luci and Mommy wearing our "working shoes." Notice that Luci is wearing glass slippers!

Mommy and Luci and Blankie.

So Thankful!

Tom, my brother, made it through a heart surgery just fine today. He's probably the healthiest of my brothers, certainly Mr. Physical Fitness growing up, so this need of his was a surprise to me. We're praying for your complete recovery, Tom. (By the way, Bryan looks so much like Tom to me--sometimes it really astounds me how much his personality is like Tom's, too.)

Luci had two cavities filled Monday, and scaredy-cat that she is, I wasn't expecting it to go well. It went great. She had meds to help her be calm and then some laughing gas...and that TV on the ceiling helped, too. We get to do this again in two weeks.

And Luci made it to Af ghan istan! John picked her up in his mail today.

Things that Make Me Smile

Luci trying to make a face just like Curious George...since she was born in the Year of the Monkey, this is rather appropriate!Some new shoes and a cerise-colored jacket. Re-starting Flylady for getting my household in order.

The shoes are for using indoors with Flylady. I needed something with clean soles, as we take off our shoes when entering the house. These are just for inside. Flylady says to "get dressed down to your lace-up shoes." So no flip-flops (zoris to you who know what they are), slippers or stocking-feet. You just feel like you are able to get more done if you have on shoes.

Why Flylady? Because I was not B.O. (Born Organized). In 2001, I started Flylady and was doing very well. Did well until 2005, when Luci entered the picture. Actually, I was doing well with Luci, too, until she started walking, and could destroy a room with the best of them. Our house looked like a blender set to "frappe." Not good. Now I'm working on the Baby Steps again, and feel like we can accomplish a lot here.

Funny, what can make me happy.

USA animated .gif

This is Bryan, I just made this for my mom, its just a simple animated .gif image but they're fun to make. You can see a smaller version on the side bar on the right of the screen. (It wouldn't quite fit so it just says USA.) I hope you like it.

We fixed it so Luci *can* go to Afghanistan!

Since we can't get Daddy to come to us, Luci is going to Daddy. We traced around her body and colored it in. This is the result:

Luci took this one.

Ta-Dah!

Bryan says the drawing on the left is better than the one on the right. Luci has her eyes crossed, she's always trying to be funny.


Here's another one, and yes, her eyes are silly again.

She's going to Gaf-Ghanistan.

Luci packed up her backpack with all things important (plastic food from her kitchen set, binky, blankie and a coloring book), handed me her baby ("Please take care of her, I can't take babies, Mommy") and headed off to Afghanistan.

I don't think she'll get very far--all she is wearing is her Ariel panties and white patent leather shoes (which is why I am not posting a picture!).

Right after dropping Luci off at the "airport" (the living room sofa) I made an appointment at the International Adoption Clinic in Birmingham for a meeting with Leigh Anne, their family therapist. She's been a big help in the past. I think the play-acting is a good thing, but it really is breaking my heart. Luci's had other things pop up about Daddy in the past week that shows she is having a tough time with this. Can't wait for that appointment!

Another issue that the Clinic is going to check out is whether melamine in the baby milk supply in China affected Luci in any way. The recommendation is to check any child adopted after January 1, 2004, so Luci will have that evaluation when our meeting with Leigh Anne is done. Luci was born in October 2004, and adopted in August 2005.

A big, huge, gi-normous thing--Luci is now sleeping through the night!

I love our new plates!

I like these Active Reservist plates even better than the last. This is a sample plate.

Did you see this story?

Virgin Mary Gives Birth to Baby Jesus on Christmas Day ... in Peru

Virgin Mary gave birth to 7.7 pound baby Jesus on Christmas Day. In Peru.
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Really.
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Twenty-year-old Virgen Maria Huarcaya delivered her newborn son, Jesus Emanuel, in the early hours of Christmas in Peru's capital of Lima, Reuters reported.

The baby's father, Adolfo Jorge Huamani, is a carpenter, causing religious Peruvians to compare the 24-year-old to Mary's Biblical husband Joseph, who was a carpenter as well.
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Though the boy wasn't placed in a manger — he stuck around in a ward at the city's central maternity hospital — he's got Peruvians gabbing about his birth, Reuters reported.
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"Two thousand years later the story of Bethlehem is relived," read a headline about the birth in El Comercio, Peru's main newspaper.
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"A few days ago we had decided to name my son after a professional soccer player," the father said. "But thanks to a happy coincidence this is how things ended up."
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story from Foxnews.com

Secret Santa Revealed!

Yesterday, after all the hoop-la of gifts and I was in a sleepy stupor, nearly asleep...the phone rang. The kids have been trained to let the answering machine answer if they don't recognize the number on Caller ID.

So, we got this very nice Christmas message from our preacher and his wife, Frank and Summer, who were calling from someone else's phone out of town: saying they hoped we had a happy Christmas, and a good 12 Days of Christmas!

Thank you, Summer, for heading up all of our merriment. Your gift was more precious than just presents. Our church family really is Family to John and me, since our physical family is far away. Thanks, Sisters!

A Fun Morning

JT is so happy with his gift from Bryan.

Thank you, Bryan!

My Army KidTraditional breakfast--pancakes (used to be cinnamon rolls), an "impossible quiche", oranges, tomato, and hot chocolate. This year we are gluten free for Luci's sake, to help her eczema (gluten and dairy mess her up; the quiche has some cheese in it but everything else for her is dairy free). The funny white squares are homemade marshmallows! No corn syrup in the homemade ones (no blue dye, either). The quiche and pancakes were made with Pamela's Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix, and they tasted incredibly good. You never would have guessed they were gluten free if you weren't told so.


Posted this one so I can share it with my Feingold friends.

Merry Christmas!!

The 12th Day of Christmas!

The Secret Santas remain a secret. They certainly gave us a thrill, and we thank them for their sneakiness and kind deeds they've done for us.

Today brought treats, including Fruitcake Cookies, and a doll for Luci--how on Earth did our Secret Santa know that Sleeping Beauty is on Luci's wish list? This is a "baby princess" doll.

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The boys helped Santa out by putting together a kitchen set for Luci. Wow! Good thing they started this afternoon instead of waiting until Luci fell asleep tonight. It took 3 hours to put together!!
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Luci made a special phone call to Santa tonight. It's been a yearly event since Bryan was about 3 years old. This year, JT thinks I am just dialing Papa's number.
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Did you follow Santa's journey on NORAD's Santa Tracker? Here is Santa going through China:

Maybe Santa should reconsider his gift list...

He's bringing us one of these. Here's the story: Doctors Warn: Wii puts 10 people in hospital each week

Up to ten people a week are being hospitalized with injuries caused by playing Nintendo Wii games, prompting doctors in Britain to issue warnings of the dangers associated with the video game system.

"There has been a 100 percent increase in patients complaining of Wii-itis," Dr. Dev Mukerjee of Broomfield Hospital, Essex, told The Sun newspaper.

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Another common injury is dubbed Wii-knee, blamed on the bending of the knee from the Wii-Fit game. This involves a special platform and a series of movements ranging from yoga to strength-training moves.

The 11th Day of Christmas

This is so fun! Paddle Pool. We've had several tournaments already (I never win). Yes, the kids are still in their pajamas! Thank you, Secret Santa!

Shades of Red Green

Bryan wrapped his presents tonight--using duct tape. Have you ever seen The Red Green Show?

Red Green's motto (one of them, anyway): The handyman's secret weapon - duct tape.

He also said: The Red Green Show is kind of like the flu; not everybody gets it.

The 10th Day of Christmas

Brought us things to make our brains think! Sudoku, crosswords, word search and a joke book (which JT is teasing me with, above), and some pretty cool mechanical pencils. I love all of these things! And don't tell the kids, but these fall into my "painless learning" category.

What do you get when you cross a piranha with a nose?

I don't know, but I wouldn't pick it!

Neighbor's Lights

This family has a light show that is synchronized with music. You tune your radio to the signal and enjoy the show. This year they even made a path through their front lawn to make it safer for those of us stopping to enjoy the show on the busy, two-lane county road.

In one window, Santa appears. It is a projection in a screen and it is pretty neat.

The 8th and 9th Day of Christmas

The Secret Santas struck again! This morning on the front porch was a big "Santa's Bag" with more gifts, for days 8 through 12. (I actually saw it at 11:45 Saturday night, after Luci woke me up. It had to wait until morning because turning the alarm off and then back on would've woken the kids up.) The bag had a message attached, saying, "Ho Ho Ho! 5 days to go!" Such fun! But I'm concerned, Secret Santa--I hope you weren't driving out in that bad storm that went through last night.

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You all are just too too kind. Really. I am overwhelmed at your generosity and just wanting us to feel loved during John's deployment. Consider your mission successful!

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The 8th Day of Christmas was a Webkinz Snowman. I've seen the Webkinz animals and really wanted one (I mean Luci has seen them and wanted one...) but never have gotten one. So thank you, Santa--this is such a cute one, perfect for this time of year.

I'm blaming JT on us opening the 9th Day of Christmas...he counted up and read on the tags that the 11th Day was to be opened on the 23rd, and the 12 Day on the 24th. His funny logic said that we need to open the 9th Day, too.

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And look at what a lovely statuette Day 9 brought! This is just right for us this year. I have a set of the Nativity scene but haven't put it out in a few years because Luci might break some of the pieces. It's from Japan, from the years when my parents lived there and where I was born, so it's irreplaceable. This statuette is perfect because Luci can handle it without dropping, and it makes a nice addition to our table's centerpiece with our Advent candle wreath. Perfect for focusing our thoughts on our Bible study. Today, besides being showered with gifts, we had lots to do! Worship in the morning, lunch at McDonalds, shopping for a few last minute gifts, then home. This evening we had our church's Christmas party. The kids sang and did a couple of skits. Luci was in the group which tried to sing Jingle Bells. Santa came, and Luci made a visit! Surprise! She knew it was Josh, one of Bryan's best friends. Otherwise, she would not have gotten close.

JT and Luci and the dog.

Cole and Luci, and the dog again. Luci, if you and Cole do eventually get married (as they plan to do!), then this photo will surely make the reception table. Love that finger, sweety.

Can we open presents NOW?!

That's what Luci says every day as she looks longingly at the stash under the tree.

Our advent calendar, which I made in 1995. JT marvels that it is older than he is. All three kids take turns putting ornaments on...even Bryan. It's almost Christmas!

Of course, Santa can't come until all the doll babies are dressed and looking spiffy. Here, Luci is giving her animals swimming lessons. (?) The boys had their chores, too. Kathy, I want you to know that the house is now tidy (including the kitchen counters!) so why don't you two come for another play date?

Yesterday Clay came over to play video games with the boys in the Man Cave. Don't have a picture of that. Kailey (Clay's sister) and her friend Kaitlyn came over to see Luci. I heard the camera clicking, and this was the result:

More Secret Santa Surprises!

Yes, Julie--Several someones (not me!) left a bunch of wonderful gifts to cheer us up on this most different Christmas holiday. One for each day. Are you in on this, Julie, and just trying to throw me off the scent?
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Today's gift is a cute set of snowman mugs with "Gourmet Hot Chocolate." Yum! The mint is the best flavor. Thank you, Secret Santa!

This morning we got to play with Kalyn and her mom, Kathy. We had a blast! Here are the girls in their princess dresses. Kalyn's been coming to our house for about two years now. I remember the first visit...Kalyn, I love how you have blossomed with your parents and how much you smile and laugh with us now! Here is Kalyn being so silly. She is sitting in a little rubbermaid container. When you're all grown up, you won't believe you were ever this tiny!

Luci being silly, too, but you can't see the container!Here it is. Just the right size for a 3 or 4 year old!

We finally have a clue...

OK, either Trina R. is involved in this, or the Secret Santa shops at Mars Hill Book Store. These are gorgeous note cards! John will get a couple in the mail this year, but the rest will be for my girly friends. Mom and Dad, here's Luci with her new baby doll. We started reading Luke 2 this morning and she ran to get her baby and put her quilt (that Jessi made) on her head so she could "be Mary." Awww.

Thank You, Nana and Papa!

This video is just 24 seconds long, so watch fast!

Bryan and JT love these cars! Luci does, too, as you can see. When they crash into each other, the little rider pops out. Hilarious!

Thanks, Mom and Dad for such a fun present.