A fine How Do You Do arrival in SY

Well, we have arrived . . . in SY, that is. Thursday evening when we finally landed and were snuggly settled into the LDi guest apartment, Rachel decided it was a good time to make some memories . . . . so her little nose began to bleed . . . and bleed . . . and bleed! She has had bloody nose issues since the day we brought her home, but this was CRAZY! We couldn't get it stopped for at least 20 minutes, which, if you've never had the pleasure, seems like a decade when pints of blood are flowing out of your child's body! It finally stopped, but started up again twice before we were able to call it a night. sigh! But we did learn this: if you have a hysterical child (and mom) and want to keep them calm during a nose bleed trauma, bring out the good ole internet and learn something funny....like how to count to ten in Japanese!

Thanks to all of you who are continuing to remember us during the exhausting search for an apartment. It has proven to be fun, exciting, irritating, scary and just plain funny! Keep those thoughts headed upward, we have some wonderful prospects on the horizon and are excited to see what happens....it seems that finding an apartment is like most other things in China . . . it has more to do with building a relationship than with actually finding an apartment! As cool and exciting as that really is, this homebody is really just wanting to find a place to make into a home. So, if you're talking to Dad and you think about it, ask him for a speedy process along with the beginning of promising relationships . . . thanks!

Oh, sorry no pictures this time....i'm using the Mac that Jerry bought from a friend for me a year ago that we have yet to be able to use with internet access....it's quite exciting for me to have my very own electronic gadget, even if i don't know the first thing about it yet (like how to get my pictures off the PC and onto here....) =-)

Picasso? Could be . . .

Ra is continually amazing us, but recently we have been floored by what she is begining to do by herself. Things we have practiced with her, or shown her how to do, but she has no interest at the time . . . these amazing feats often occur in the wee hours of the morning when we are still asleep, and she wakes us to show her works of art. This part we dont so much love, but her little face beaming with pride at what she has accomplished on her own, she could wake me at 5 am and I'd not complain . . . ok, well, maybe a little.



We have been practicing writing her ABC's, but she's just not taken an interest. She has been able to verbally spell her name since she turned 2, but when she marched in with this masterpiece, I was amazed, not just that she spelled it right, but that it was all in a straight line and I could recognize all the letters, even with blurry eyes.

Ok, these I recognized as people only because of the feet and hands included, but when she pointed out all the parts and explained they were boys because they had short hair . . . it was like . . . duh!

I love this one because it was the beginning of everyone having to be drawn with a belly button . . . and apparently shark teeth (no, this is not a picture of mommy when Rachel woke her to show that she had used the glue to glue ALL the construction paper together to make a . . . um . . . it's a . . . "i don't know what it is mommy"!) but it is a girl because it has eyelashes . . . (boys don't have those, you know)

And this one I love because it is both a boy and a girl says Ra....because it has long hair and short hair!

I ask you, how cute is she?!?

Something to Wonder About

OK, there are alot of reasons that I love living in China . . . not the least of which is the wonderful concept they have of "song"ing things when you buy something. "song" is the word for "free", but its a verb . . . sometimes. (ex: I "song" you this thing) For example, last winter I bought a sweater, when I went to pay, they asked me to choose a scarf from a small selection they had at the counter. Granted, none of them went with my sweater, but hey! If you know me, you know that I'm all about free stuff!

So it has now become our mission to find the strangest combination of "song"ed things...this is not even close to some of the really strange matches, but we found it particularly interesting because it came packaged this way, unlike most "song"ed things in a store. Usually they are random items (ex: a bag of potato chips and a bottle of shampoo) bound together with packaging tape, but not so this time...the battery people actually thought about this and decided that song-ing toothpaste with AA batteries was a grand idea. Hmmm....we decided that maybe they were pushing for people to use those electric toothbrushes. In that case, way to go...but with the track record I've seen so far, I'm thinking that's probably not the case.

Gottcha Day 2007 continues

building sand cities is serious business

Yay! Subway for lunch . . . mommy and daddy's special Gottcha Day treat!

Ra loves to go to walking street because it is full of fun statues and "the water ball" so we walked off Subway before we headed home for rest time.

Gottcha Day 2007

It's hard to believe we've had this little piece of joy in our lives for three years now...you hear your friends say over and over how "time flies" and "they grow up so fast", and then you live it...thank you to all of you who have counseled me to cherish the moments, I do remember your counsel (most days) and when I find myself forgetting, she usually does something so stinking funny I can't help but cherish the moment!

We also want to say, again, THANK YOU!! to all of you who made our dream of being a family a reality! Your love, generosity, shoulders to lean on, and your prayers have all become a part of the oh-so-popular bedtime "Precious Baby Girl" story. As we continue to hear the stories of other families who have gone through this same process, we are deeply moved at the true miracle we were all a part of in bringing Rachel home so quickly and without incident!

Praise to Him who (not only) can (but does) do more than we could ever ask or imagine!





The requested Gottcha Day breakfast? DONUTS and COFFEE!
(that's my girl!)
don't worry, it's decaf coffee loaded down with LOTS of nutritious milk!

Gottcha Day surprise was a trip to the sand pit at the riverside with brand new sand toys

Awww . . . isn't that just adorable?
(even more so if you could see the front of Ra's shirt . . . they match!)

Ra loved that the camera would take the picture by itself . . . and that mommy had to RUN like crazy to get in the picture!