Soccer Evaluation

Excited, but nervous.

Doing her thing. Very slowly, by the way. This is actually a video--not really, but Luci was very slow and careful during every drill.

The film crew. The boys took TWO handycams, and made a nice video for John. They worked really well together, and I am proud of that! We had to explain to every skill station what we were doing. "We brough Luci's film crew so we could send the action to Daddy in Afghanistan." It's a big church, and not everyone remembered where John is. We go to the late service and a couple of people at the evaluations go to another service and so were new to me. :) So glad we have so many who are willing to help our little ones learn a new game!

Bryan thought I was nuts for suggesting he lay down for this shot, but it made a very effective background for the credits in their film. Mama sometimes has good ideas!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

I didn't know...

...that soccer cleats came in such a small size, or that there was such a thing as a pink soccer ball! (and thanks, Mary K and Joan, but there were NO pink soccer cleats in town in HER itty-bitty size! Believe me, we looked everywhere. We may color the stripes with a pink marker--she's already mentioned that!) Upwards Soccer starts soon, and Luci is ready! Links to sign up here.

Yeah, But How Did It Taste?

Bird Suspected to Be Extinct Photographed for First Time ... Then Eaten

Poor Baby....times 2

Poor Baby!

JT looked a little unsettled tonight, so I asked him, "How are you doing, JT?"

He sat in my lap and said, "Why is it when my Dad goes on a trip, they show lots of commercials of kids with their dads?" He sobbed, and I hugged. Poor Baby!

I know how he feels! I was 10 when my Dad had his big trip to the SE Asia area. Too many memories.

Poor Baby!, second round:

Bryan caught what the rest of us had just in time to miss a big teen trip with our church. A 4 day trip to Gatlinburg, for a huge Christian teen conference. Poor Baby.

I am trying to look at the money lost from this and last week's dinner (also at church, the annual teen dinner for the parents) as not a big deal. It would cost about the same to take all three kids to the doctor. (Last week I almost took both JT and Luci to the doc but they got better.) We still all have coughs. I'm so sorry Bryan is missing this super weekend. Last year he came home from that trip closer to God and with lots of great ideas and thoughts swirling around in his handsome head.

A Day in the Life...

Luci had to have her hair up like Mommy after I washed my hair. Yes, she's riding the trike inside. :) She's feeling better--so funny today. Luci took the shot of JT--poor thing has a red nose because of his cold.
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For those of you who aren't able to translate 4-year-old-ese, this says, "Happy Valentine's Day Mommy, I love you." Can you tell she wrote it inside a heart? I loved this!

Ha! I KNEW it!!

Aliens 'may be living among us'

Valentine's Day Love

We had a special little lunch for Valentine's. Usually we just give the kids a card and maybe a little candy. This year was different somehow--I'm sure some of it has to do with our little love-bug, Luci, who is so much into love, flowers, love, special things and love.
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The boys put their allowance together and got Luci a stuffed animal. I didn't notice the heart-shaped plate in the background until I looked at the picture. Perfect!

Luci arranging the doggy's bow for the photo. You can see her gluten-free pizza, cut into heart shapes with a cookie cutter (thanks for doing that, JT!).

The rest of the table. The presents for the boys? Each boy got his own heart-shaped Papa John's pizza. The way to a boy's heart is through his stomach!

My favorite Valentine...a few weeks ago he sent a letter to his Daddy that said, "Mom is being so mean! Don't believe what she says!" So I really liked this one! It says, "...And the best mom of the year award goes to...Susan Willingham (my mom) Love: J.T."

Here are the pictures

Flowers from John

Poor Luci. Flowers are lovely, but she really didn't feel well.

Ooh, they smell good!

She's happy now!
She ought to be--she got a better bouquet!
Luci, do you have a boyfriend?
"Yup! He's in Af ghan istan!"

I made gluten free cookies for Luci, and added
all natural sprinkles. A totally Feingold treat! They are so good!

Gluten free pizza to take tonight to a pizza party.
Luci said it was good, and she's the only one
I need to impress with gluten-free stuff.
But the rest of us liked it, too.

Valentine's Day

Don't know if this will work, since the page is messed up and I can't upload pictures (rats!), but here it goes:

John sent Luci some flowers for Valentine's Day! Poor baby has been sick since Tuesday with a respiratory virus of some sort and these flowers cheered her up. JT asked Luci if she had a boyfriend. "Yup! He's in Af ghan istan."

John sent me flowers, too, sweet, smart boy that he is.

The Other Day...

I went out onto the deck and heard a commotion...there were three "army guys" in John's pick-up, defending Freedom!

Pretty tough, huh? Two nerf guns and an empty bb gun. The bad guys never knew what hit 'em. Our neighbor Clay, Bryan, and JT.

Gorgeous moon!

Tuesday at Our House

Today I took Bryan to a "consult" appointment at the orthodontist. They took impressions (hope Bryan made a good one, ha ha!), and Luci and I waited. Luci hid behind this magazine every time someone with a uniform came in the room.

Bryan was much more relaxed. We find out in a couple of weeks how many arms and legs it will cost. OK, this was not a toileting accident. A few weeks ago Luci and I went to a wedding where there was a lovely white carpet for the bride to walk down the aisle. Ever since, Luci's taken paper towels or toilet paper to make her own carpet. Personally, I like the TP version the best because it is cheaper than paper towels. I guess John and I will have to save up for a real white carpet when Luci really gets married. Alabama red-neck or not, TP is too tacky.

For the Ladies...

Take the Quiz here!

The description given was pretty accurate...

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

Guizhou made the news....

Guizhou is Luci's province. The end of the celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year is going on. Here's the story:

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Police: China dragon dancers riot

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"...dragon dancers in Dejiang traditionally wear fireworks on their costumes and consume alcohol, creating a risk to themselves and the public." The police thought they were a hazard. So, no dragon. Result: 10,000 rioters, by some accounts.

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Don't mess with the dragon!

This Weekend

I took Luci (and a nameless 12 year-old boy who doesn't want to admit he had to go with us, but his initials are J.T.) to an Imagination Movers concert in Birmingham. It was fun! The I.M.s are the United States' answer to The Wiggles. The Imagination Movers have a show on Disney Channel, and we must watch it every day. Here are some shots:

This is Rich. He came right up to Luci and waved to her with a great big smile. Luci was kind of in a daze. She wore her "ear muggs." This pair of ear muggs came from the hunting section of Walmart. Scott came up close, too.

Of course we made a stop at Cracker Barrel on the way home.

Sunday brought church, and getting Valentines ready for the party on Wednesday. Luci wrote her name on all 32 Valentines...I could not believe it! When the boys were that little, I couldn't get them to write their names on more than one or two. 32! That's my girl!

Luci-Speak

Heard Today:

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Campity: what you get when you don't brush your teeth.
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Fimble: that thing ladies use on their fingers when they sew.

Another favorite from Af ghan istan!

John sent us this digital magic photo of the family. I love it.

For the Grandparents

OK, so the living room isn't tidy. We had kids playing all day and that's what happens.
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JT is teaching Luci some Tang Soo Do (karate) moves. Their personalities show through pretty well.

Proven Wrong...

I've been asked several times in the past two weeks if Luci still takes a nap. I've answered, "NO and I wish she still did!"
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Sunday night I took the kids to the teen Super Bowl party at church. It was very noisy, but here's what Luci did during the first half:Can you see her ear muffs? She wears them when things get too noisy. She calls them "ear muggs."
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And here she is this afternoon as I was working with the boys on their schoolwork. yes, I know the photos are fuzzy. Pooh!

What time is it?

We keep track of what time it is when John's away. That can be kind of tricky sometimes, because in Ka bul, it is 10 1/2 hours ahead of here! Yes, that's ten and a half! Just figuring out what time it is there can be confusing. Kind of like doing long division in your head.

It could be worse...some places like Chatham Islands (east of New Zealand) and Kathmandu are some hours and 45 minutes different! At least Af ghan istan keeps up with our Daylight Savings Time (which I think is nuts and worthy of a different post) so I don't have to memorize two different equations.

What is funny is that Luci can keep track of the time difference better than John does on most days--when John calls in the morning, Luci tells him, "Good night, Daddy! It's morning for us, and you are going to bed." That is hilarious to her, and she giggles every time. John often forgets what time of day it is for us, and what day it is. Luci always remembers. I figure John has more on his mind than Luci does.

Interesting sites: World Clock

Set Time and Date on your Homepage from iGoogle

What time is it? Free games for kids

What time is it.com--find the time in any city

Ya think so?!

Early yesterday morning I got on the internet and checked the overseas news. Some genius decided that yesterday would be a good day to try to attack a convoy of "foreign troops" in Ka bul. Knowing that John was traveling, and seeing no "I'm safe" email, I waited on pins and needles until he made his usual morning call. What a relief to hear his voice! John said he saw the same news article I did, and wondered why the coalition didn't put out some news of their own...(my guess is the attacker had lousy aim and injured no one but himself)...and thought he ought to email.

Ya think so?!

I told him to just go ahead and email next time. Every time.

Little things mean a lot.

More on Dumplings

My Grandmother's Dumpling is the article a friend sent my way (thank you, Lisa!). Those of you with Chinese children might appreciate this bit of family history. The article tells the author's family story of just why dumplings are so important, and how the making of them was passed down through the family tradition.

The article also made me feel better about the shape of my own dumplings, as they are meant to be a reflection of each woman making them--everyone has their own style.

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In the article is a link to a video of the author making dumplings. The music is too loud, but the video is interesting. It's 3 minutes, 13 seconds long. I tried to link it, but couldn't.

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Another thing from the article: Lu is a "real" family name, the one Luci was given in China by the orphanage director. Sometimes a made-up name is given to orphan children, forever branding them as "rejected" by Chinese society. In China, there are relatively few surnames--nothing like the USA, where there are thousands upon thousands of surnames. Thank you, Mr. Li, for giving our children real names!

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photo by Samantha Sin

Just some little things....

We rearranged the furniture in the living room today. If we can't have new stuff, let's make the old stuff look different.

Bryan is doing some study towards the ACT test he'll have to eventually take. He has two books to study from, assigned as part of his school work. The other day he told me he had "a dream about the ACT test--a whole section on the binary system, and I knew all the answers!" I hope that's a good omen!

All of our curriculum for next year is here. I get all excited about the new stuff, Luci is excited (we'll start K with her early). I wish the boys would get even a little bit excited about anything related to school.

Luci's concerned that Daddy won't recognize our living room, now that things are rearranged.

Announcing....JACK!

Here is the little wonder who made Kalyn a big sister! Jack, we are so glad you are here! You are adorable and you have fantastic parents.

Blessed little boy!

We love you, Baby Jack!

Another Reason to Avoid Corn Syrup

If making one of my kids absolutely nuts wasn't enough to keep my family from corn syrup, then this study would have done it:

Study Finds High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contains Mercury

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Here are some quotes from the article:

WASHINGTON — Many common foods made using commercial
high fructose corn syrup contain mercury researchers reported on Tuesday, while
another study suggested the corn syrup itself is contaminated.

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In one study, published in the journal Environmental Health,
former Food and Drug Administration scientist Renee Dufault and colleagues
tested 20 samples of high fructose corn syrup and found detectable mercury in nine of the 20 samples.

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"We went and looked at supermarket samples where high fructose
corn syrup was the first or second ingredient on the label," he said. These 55
different foods included barbecue sauce, jam, yogurt and chocolate syrup.

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"We found about one out of three had mercury above
the detection limit," Wallinga said.

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And my favorite line:

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The Corn Refiners Association challenged the findings.

The Tooth Fairy Messed Up!

This handsome young man lost a tooth yesterday. Hid it under his pillow. Tooth Fairy forgot!! So this morning I'm scrambling around, looking for a dollar bill (she's more generous now, when I was little she only left a quarter). Tooth Fairy was heard to ask, "JT, do you take checks?"

新年快樂 Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Here are some quick shots from today. We had our Chinese New Year dinner with our FCC group. Luci wore a dress we bought in Guang zhou and looked beautiful, as always. She also wore the jewelry that Daddy sent to her...garnets around her wrist and around her neck! With the party favor, a dragon!

Luci handled her chopsticks pretty well. She used them properly to pick up a square of jello! Wish I had caught that on film! (Yes, Feingold friends, I know it was a bad choice in food! She does have that red sauce on her plate for the chicken, but she didn't eat any of that. Just two jello squares and some bean noodles.)

Most of the girls played afterwards. Lots of fun! These photos are much more interesting than the "official portrait" of the girls all together, behaving. :)

And down they come! Right after this, these sweet, sweet girls began tickling Luci...she loved it! The mommas were appalled, but Luci is used to much sillier stuff with her big brothers, and thus enjoyed it!

I'll post more pictures later.

I can *SO* relate to this!

Luci has had me sleep-deprived for 3 1/2 years!

Cops: Woman Shoots Boyfriend for Not Letting Her Sleep

Jiaozi--Chinese Dumplings

Luci has been asking for dumplings--not the Southern USA version, but the Chinese version. Jiaozi. We've watched a Ni Hao, Kai-lan episode about Chinese New Year and Ye Ye (Grandfather) is making dumplings. So I set about to make some. I wish Jie Jie were here, she showed me how to make them 2 1/2 years ago. I think I did a fair job. Here are a couple of pictures of the dumplings before cooking and one of a cooked dumpling...I think they look better before cooking. Now that I've seen Jie Jie's from two years ago (click here), I can see that mine are sorely lacking! But I still think they look pretty. Just not anything like Jie Jie's.

PS--they tasted very good; little meatballs in a dumpling wrapper. Would Luci eat them? Of course NOT!

SNOW!

We had a dusting of snow! That makes any day grand around here. Today I took Luci to the dentist. The visit went well. She had a sedative to help her be calm and it made like a happy, drunken 4 year old. She was pretty funny and talked a mile a minute. But on the way home, she chewed a hole in her lip and it looks pitiful. Oh, I feel so sorry for her!

Now we are watching the Inauguration. What an incredible day, knowing that our country can pass power from one party to the other without bloodshed. To know that my kids think nothing is out of the ordinary when an African-American takes the lead because they see no difference in skin color...they see the person. We wish our President well!

Monday in Birmingham, Part 2

Luci just about broke my heart one day earlier this month when she handed me her baby doll, told me to take care of her because "I'm going to Gaf-ghanistan and I can't take my baby because she might get hurt." Then she got on the couch (her airplane) and flew off into a war zone.

A week or so before that sad scene, I received a newsletter from the International Adoption Clinic in Birmingham asking parents to bring in their children from China adopted since January 2004, to check them out for melamine damage to the kidneys. So, I called for a two-fold appointment.

Here's how it went:

I spent quite a while talking to Leigh Anne about Luci missing her Daddy. She loved what we did with Luci's picture, and the talking Daddy-bear from Build a Bear Workshop. She had some additional good suggestions for helping Luci cope. Easy to do. And that play-acting, Luci's "flying to Gaf-ghanistan" is a good thing, she's processing her loss in a good way.

Leigh Anne also said that this "Daddy leaving" opened up that wound that is deep within her brain of being left by her birth mother (Luci knew her voice from being in the womb) and being left by the orphanage officials when we got her. She does not remember the first instance, but does remember the second, and it is no secret here what happened. In any event, her brain remembers and the wounds run deep. We look at photos, have a story we tell her that is some truth + some wishful thinking (because we don't really know, we never will, so let's think the best, okay?), to help her cope instead of having this be a mystery that haunts her.

Of course, sleeping habits and potty habits and binky habits all got brought up. Leigh Anne said pretty much to do what I have to do with these things, she will eventually sleep on her own, go to the potty instead of wearing pull-ups and won't use her binky in public forever. So don't go about changing everything while she's dealing with Daddy's absence. One big thing at a time. And don't let others' expectations of what they think a 4-year-old should be doing keep me from doing what is right for this precious little girl.

Luci has some super days where everything is goodness and light, and some very sad moments in other days where she misses her Daddy terribly. Leigh Anne said that this would be a difficult thing for the rest of her life, this concern about being abandoned. Luci will learn to deal with it, but it will be hard. Right now, talking to Luci about Daddy's absence is easier because she is in the "average" IQ category. If she were a higher-functioning child, or even a few years older, she would understand that what we say (Daddy will come home when his job is done) might not be true, because she would be able to understand that "things happen, and there are no guarantees."

Thank God for average.

There are other things I could share, but won't here.

Another part of the visit was figuring out kidney damage from the baby-milk. Even though Luci's literature from the Chinese authorities said she was on all kinds of "vegetable powder and meat powder" ?? I think she had only milk formula before we got her. She didn't even like the thicker formula with rice cereal added that we fixed for her (we heard all the babies liked that)--the thickness gagged her, only free-flowing liquid would go down. So I don't think she had anything but watered-down formula for the first 9 months. Certainly not enough formula, if it were full-strength, because she only weighed 15 pounds when we got to the USA.

So we prepared her for the ultrasound. Luci was thrilled that they really did put jelly on her belly and ran it around with a video game-controller (that's what it looked like to her!) but I didn't prepare her for "peeing in a cup." That was a new one to her, and most of it missed (ha ha, I know you are laughing at me). They also did a blood draw (I didn't know that would happen) but Luci did great. The girl who is afraid of almost everything said it didn't even hurt, and was amazed that her "blud is red." I'll let you know what they say about her kidneys, but I'm not expecting any problems.