48 hours

The last 48 hours have been a roller coaster, not just of emotions, but of experiences, settings, people, life.

On Friday night we were at the hotel in Austin, the four girls and me. There were two queen size beds that looked so comfy and cozy and then a rollaway bed. Lisa assumed I would take the rollaway bed, but I slept way too many nights in China on one of those and the beds in this hotel looked like they could provide rest I needed.

I shared the bed with Darcey and she warned me that she sleeps restlessly.

After all the lights were out and everyone else was beginning to drift off, Darcey jumped out of the bed and retrieved her red China bag, that her mother always carried, which now holds all her "babies". She took them out, opened up her ladybug blanket, also from her mother, and placed them each in a special way. I told her they could sleep with us as I know how important they each are, but she insisted they were fine on the floor.

She whispered that she had trouble falling asleep at night, that she had tricked Grandmother and pretended to be asleep. I mentioned that she got sent to bed earlier than everyone at her house and what did she do? She said she just lays there some times but sometimes she talks to her animals.

All night long this poor little baby cried out in her sleep tossing and turning. I don't know if I was much comfort, but I was glad to be there to let her know she was not alone. Somehow though she is always the first one up too.

Everyone found something to eat on the hotel's breakfast buffet, except Annabel. She was suspect of the eggs with sausage that were intended to be a breakfast taco. They just didn't have the congee, tons of bacon, or chicken noodle soup.

The girls loved staying at the hotel.

I've said before that adoptive families start in a distorted fashion with life in a hotel. You can get spoiled to someone cleaning up each day and making your bed, much less if there is a breakfast buffet waiting. So when you return home, it is a double whammy! No one there to clean up after you and prepare your meals.

We checked out hopefully with everything we went in with! Last minute check unveiled Grace and Annabel's dirty clothes in a bag under the bed!

We met Lisa at her house and the girls got to entertain the doggies and Uncle Ken entertained them.

Then even though it was 30 degrees below zero (or at least felt that way) Lisa decided we needed to take pictures at her school and park.

Annabel is learning to "strike the pose" when the camera is turned on her. The other girls are familiar with the routine and know the magic Lisa can do with her camera.

Starbucks provided some warmth and too quickly we had to say good bye.

As we were leaving Austin the girls were watching Nemo.

If you are familiar with the movie, the mother and 399 of the siblings are eaten in the first few minutes and Nemo and his father Marlin are left on their own. You know, if you are tired enough and in a location that already feels sad, that can make you cry. I don't know why Disney always has such sad stories!!

The girls slept the second half of the trip which left me with plenty of time to mentally scan our calendar for the next week. It dawned on me that there is little free time and that the girls had to get their hair cut! So on the way home we stopped and the girls got new do's! Watching our money has changed even where we get our hair cut and we miss our friend Tina and her comedy and great cuts, but when you can get 2 for the price of one, you have to do it!

We ate dinner with Mom and Dad, unpacked, and thought we were heading to bed.

Within a short amount of time Annabel came to tell me that Grace was crier (crying).

It seems that Grace was so sad and lonesome over leaving Gillian and Darcey and she could not go to sleep.

This used to be a regular occurrence, the not being able to go to sleep, but since Annabel, it is the first time.

I decided to lay down with her which is extremely difficult since she has a twin bed that has a body pillow, a stack of her favorite covers, some stuffed animals, her robe, and any number of things in there.

Now I am not a small person, but I managed to curl up at the foot of the bed with my toes clamped around the knobs on her night stand and actually fell asleep!

She woke me up because I was snoring!

I promised to return after the news and when I didn't she came back crying again.

I told her she had to clear some things off her bed for me to fit and we tried it again. The first time either of us turned over I was like the kid's song about the little one said, "roll over, roll over, so they all rolled over and one fell off" and that was me that fell off.

She tracked me down in my bed later in the night and woke me up often to let me know I was snoring.

This was the first Sunday since Chinese school started that we have been back to our church. There was no class today due to the holiday.

I know the girls enjoyed seeing everyone as much as I did. It feels like it has been forever since we were there last!

Lunch, a nap, dishes, dinner, laundry, showers and you don't have much left of a Sunday.

Grace has been back tonight to let me know she is still sad.

Me too.