Thanks to all who let me know my link didn't work!

http://www.mysandwichlife.blogspot.com


I'm not sure why it won't let me put in the link. If you don't mind cutting and pasting, this is the name of our new blog.

Please continue on our journey with our new blog!

For a number of reasons, I will no longer be posting to this blog. Our lives have continued to change and I thought I would shift the focus just a little to our lives in general.

My new blog is call , referring to those of us in the "sandwich generation", raising kids, while caring for our parents.

I really don't have to care for my parents and think they end up caring for us, but thought this was a good name for our lives.

Hope you will make the switch and subscribe to our new blog!

Going off line for a while

Just to let you know, I will be going off line for a while and the blog will not be available for viewing.

Please email me if you have any questions!
Jerri

Summer is here!

Although school was officially out last Wednesday, it feels like summer vacation just started this week!

Last week I was in the midst of the last minute planning for our largest event of the year, our Pink Ribbon Tea Party. We were expecting over 400 women of all ages, which requires a LOT of planning. What an understatement! Plus having been out for the almost 2 weeks prior due to surgery I had not been carrying my share of the work!

So while the girls had to entertain themselves, basically, I tried to do what I could to help ensure success by Saturday.

Part of it was coordinating children to be in our fashion show.

Handy that I had to "willing" models.

So on Wednesday as soon as school was over, FINALLY!, we made our way to the Cozy Cottage at the Bishop Arts District and found VERY cute outfits for each to wear.

I was determined to have some sort of celebration for the end of the year, so first we stopped at Dicho's for one of Cretia's fantastic cupcakes. Grace has figured out that too much sugar is not good for her, so she turned down a cupcake. Annabel was all for a cookie, only. Hard to live vicariously if they won't comply with all I want to eat :)!

We ended up at Bolsa to buy a gift certificate for our fantastic emcee, Chris Arnold, of the Dallas Mavericks, and decided to stay there for dinner. It was such fun eating something different and enjoying eating outside. They make the BEST flatbread pizzas. Annabel opted for the soup, which was tomato. I asked several times since I could not remember her ever eating tomato soup.

When the soup arrived, she looked at it strangely, tasted it, looked again, tasted it. I knew something was wrong. Finally it came to me that she thought it was POTATO, not TOMATO! She ate it anyway!

I don't remember Thursday. I'm sure it was a great day, just kind of blank tonight!

Friday Mom and Dad wanted to take everyone out to eat to celebrate the end of school. Only responsibility dictated that we visit the funeral home due to a sweet family from church's losing their mother. So our celebratory dinner was at Braums!

Saturday was taken up with the tea party. Thank goodness I have Mom and Dad to run the girls around for me! They did beautifully in the fashion show, the tea party went off without a hitch, and we got to see Aunt Lisa for about 24 hours! She came to take pictures of the tea party so I could see what all I missed!

Thank goodness we have a great group that shares info on events in the area and I found a soccer camp, just up the street for only $30 each! So Monday morning the girls started soccer camp and have been having a great time ever since.

Grace told me tonight though, that every time they break into teams, that she is always the last one chosen. Oh dear! I have tried to explain to both that they have had NO experience playing soccer so how would they be expected to be the best? Yea, it sounds good, but we know it hurts!

On Monday I also found a swimming class at the local YMCA that started that night and had openings for both of their level of ability. Plus it was only $55 per child! So we start off each day at soccer camp, Mom and Dad pick them up at noon. I come running home and we run off to swim class at 6:00!

I don't think I realized that Grace can swim so well! She amazes me at how far she can go. Annabel is still struggling to feel secure jumping off the side into the pool, but each day she ventures out a little more. The teachers are excellent and really take the kids from their comfort level to pushing them further than they thought they could go!

So far they have not had a chance to get bored I don't think!

Even better, starting next week they get to go to the art camp that Marcie is teaching at! And it is FREE!!!!

I have been determined for us to take a vacation this year. For the last 5 years my trips have been centered around 2 to China, which could never be described as a vacation! First I looked at us driving somewhere and realized that Florida is at least 2 days away, with a hotel stay and meals, and me arriving exhausted, it just didn't seem like a good fit. Then Lisa thought we should go to Atlanta to see the pandas. Same thing. It is just too much for me this summer to try to go that far after 2 surgeries in 2 months.

So I have really shocked myself in making reservations for us to go to Cancun! 5 days and 4 nights, with a whole program just for kids! Hopefully there is plenty for the girls to do and I will get some down time! I cannot wait!

One more day!

School will end this year tomorrow.

It absolutely could not come too soon for me.

But my daughters have continued to prove their resiliency.

Today was the Awards Assembly and Mom and I were in the audience to cheer on our girls.

Each won so many awards. I was so proud. Annabel won awards for participating in gym, her "Best in Show" for her art project, and Most Improved, among others.

For Grace it soon became the "Grace Show" according to her teacher for receiving so many awards. They finally handed her a sack to hold all of them! She got awards for her outstanding work on the Hoops for Heart fundraiser, the amount of books she read, and then her academic proficiency.

It was really hard to sit still and not say something to the girls who had tortured Annabel all year, but of course I controlled myself!

Sunday was Grace's piano recital.

She was so nervous and concerned about trying to play without her music. I convinced her that it would be fine and was so relieved when others also used their music. I just wish everyone could have heard how beautifully she played it at home, with the dynamics where they belonged and the emotion woven into the piece.

Sunday night Grace decided she would sew an outfit for Ollie, the dog, and in between teach Annabel how to play the piano. I LOVE when they work on things together so they got to stay up later than usual. The outfit was pretty funny on Ollie. Annabel decided it was a shirt for him to play basketball in.

Tonight Annabel had a new piece that Grace was teaching her, but instead picked out part of Beethoven's V Symphony instead.

Last night we had to go to Hobby Lobby to pick up some things for my job. While there we were looking around, there was a display of crosses. Annabel said to me that she knew I liked them. Yes, I have a collection of some really pretty crosses. She told me she knew why, because Jesus died on the cross.
They never cease to amaze me.

The tooth fairy calling!

This recovery is taking too long!

My girls have been so sweet trying to take care of me, but they need attention and I am ready to move it from me to them.

Still not up to speed yet, so want to make a quick post.

This week on our way to karate the discussion of the tooth fairy came up again.

One night recently Grace got up and pulled her own tooth without even telling me! Then she went into the kitchen and got some salt to gargle with to make it stop bleeding! Her explanation was that it hurt, so she pulled it!

So if you have read my blog for any time, you know I am the most errant tooth fairy in the world and the discussion of whether the tooth fairy would come was up for discussion.

Annabel and Grace have decided that the Easter bunny and tooth fairy are not real.

As far as Santa, Annabel thinks that she is not too sure on that one yet!

I really never meant for them to believe in these things so I had always kind of did a soft sell on each, but I guess that is just a rite of childhood to believe in these "gift givers"!

Grace actually received money from the tooth fairy on the first night!

Slowly recovering

This is surely the longest between posts in a while! I still feel like I have anesthetic related amnesia or something. I know there has been lots of research on this topic and some poo poo the idea, but to me it seems very real. Plus the whole trauma of going through surgery, not just on me, but on my family.

So even though it has been a long time, this will still be a short post.

This morning Annabel and I work up early, well early considering it was a holiday.

Penney's has some clothes on sale that the girls must have so we planned to go early and hope that I can last that long.

First Grace came in showing me her tank top was almost as long as her shorts.

Then Annabel came in wearing jeans, a long sleeve Christmas shirt, and a coat.

My yin and my yang.

Pollinating your ice cream!

Picture this:

We are driving home from the Chinese market, right at twilight, when traffic seems to be the worst, and I am juggling an ice cream cone, swerving to avoid sudden stops on the freeway, when Grace asks:

"Mom, is ice cream pollinated by air?"

HUH???

She continues, " Ms. Dunham told me that everything is pollinated either by air, bees, or something else that I can't remember. So is ice cream pollinated by air?"

I got an immediate vision of a beautiful pasture with ice cream cones populating the field like wild flowers and started laughing so hard I was afraid I would crash!

We went on to Annabel wanting to know if ice cream was made out of ice or cream or what.

I'm not sure that Grace understood or was convinced that neither ice cream cones or milk are pollinated by wind.

We have had such a great weekend, it is hard to see it end.

Saturday started with breakfast at Applebee's for a fund raiser breakfast for a friend's baseball team. Although Annabel was intent on not liking the pancakes, she ended up eating all of them, as well as the sausage. The rest of us knew we liked pancakes and sausages.

Annabel is going through a stage of not liking foods that she has been eating and not understanding the English words I know she uses and knows.

I remember Grace going through a similar stage about the time I thought she was getting comfortable here. Maybe they finally get comfortable enough to make more choices for themselves!

The rain that was supposed to end by noon kept on all day, so this limited outdoor activities, especially the new basketball hoop!

Late in the afternoon we headed to the Chinese market to stock up on noodles and look for any other delicacies. I think I am feeling guilty about being laid up again for a few weeks and wanting to make sure they have their favorite things. Plus it will make it easy on me to have plenty of noodles on hand!

We can spend a LOT of time looking through all the aisles in the Chinese market and always wish I had a guide to help me know what to buy and how to prepare it. More than one time the girls decided they missed a certain food but that I would not know how to cook it! I think they remember the noodles that I tried to prepare and they ended up molding before I could figure out how to cook them!

We toured through most of the other shops and stumbled on 2 books in Chinese that Annabel thought she would like, Little Women and a comic story she remembered. It is so difficult to find anything in Chinese that is appropriate for her age. We bought quite a few in China, but now wish I could fill up a whole suitcase full for her.

Since we had not had Chinese food in a while I was determined to remember which restaurant along the row was supposed to be the best. I think I found it since there was a wait to get in and the menu was written in Chinese so Annabel could recognize some things she was really hungry for! They ended up having spicy seaweed, some noodle dish, and then steamed dumplings. The dish I ordered for myself came with rice covered in a hamburger looking meat, with 2 varieties of green things on either side. I soon lost my dish too! That was just what they LOVED!!! Most people left with doggie bags, but we ate everything except my pork chop! The dogs enjoyed it for breakfast today.

As rainy as it was yesterday, the opposite was true today! It was a fantastic, glorious day. Dad had mentioned trimming our tree on the parkway since it is brush pick up week. With all of us involved in trimming the tree it made it a good time until I broke Dad's chainsaw! He creatively repaired it and we completed the job.

A friend had given the girls a basketball hoop and they had a great time with it today! They do very well and made up their own games, laughing and shooting baskets all afternoon. It isn't a standard size hoop, but it didn't affect the fun! Maybe it made it better since they could make a lot of baskets. I keep thinking I should find a basketball camp for them this summer, but the ones I found are very expensive! Over $300 each sounds like way too much just to learn about basketball!

Annabel continues to change, sometimes subtle and sometimes dramatic. Today was the first day that she wanted to sit by me at church. We were also discussing whether I would need to be in the hospital 2 or 3 days, and she said she just hopes that I will stay until I feel better and can come home.

There are only 2 1/2 weeks of school and I hope that Annabel can find some relief for the last few days. They had hoped to have her "help" with one of the kindergarten classes, but last week it was storming during the assigned time.

Ups and downs

This has been one of those weeks where Annabel has had more ups and downs than anyone deserves.

At the end, I have felt like she was intent on doing one of the two things:

Proving to me that she is unlovable, unworthy, unwanted

or

So disappointed in me for believing her teacher over her that she is having trouble dealing with it.

Since our first weeks together, Annabel has settled into a pretty easy routine. There has been no acting out, shouting, screaming, like I read from other adoptive families. Instead misbehavior has usually because she did not understand, not purposely trying to cause problems.

But this week we have both struggled with the repercussions of the meeting I had with the teachers, principals, and counselors this week.

Each day we have struggled with minor incidences becoming major problems.

Tonight we came home from eating out with Mom and Dad, with a little shopping at the end.

She was so quiet and just at odds with herself.

She finally told me that she was filling sick to her stomach.

After a dose of tums, she was back to herself and full of talk and fun.

But each day there has been a little something that just did not set well with her.

I have told her over and over this week that I am here for ever as her mother. No more changes and no matter what has happened in the past, I am not that person. That doing something wrong does not make you a bad person.

She has also refused any compliments, but I did feel good that she came running back for her good bye kiss one morning!

In the meantime, Grace has been attending a human development class. Annabel forgot to bring her permission slip home, so she has been excluded from the class.

This must be the MOST thorough discussion on this topic, only not every thing is completely understood, so every day we are making sure that EVERYTHING is understood! BUT I am thankful I had checked a book out of the library because I wanted to make sure I got it all right and keep the lines open for more discussion when needed!Whew!

I told Grace that Mom had never really discussed all of these things with me, so now I think she has decided she will teach Mom. She has been making her sit down with her and she shares what she learned!

I've continued having problems keeping food down and so the doctor has moved the rest of my surgery up sooner than I wanted. I dread going through that again and don't want to upset our usual routine, but will be glad to finally get it completed.

We are looking forward to the weekend. First thing tomorrow is a pancake breakfast! Yum!

She said, she said...

Sometimes I am a little slow to learn.

My day started with a meeting with teachers, counselors, and the principal regarding Annabel's school progress. The sole purpose was to show me how much they have done for Annabel.

The meeting started with the principal reading a list of things I was supposed to have said at our last meeting. I don't remember everything I said at the last meeting, but can almost guarantee that I did not say they ignored her or made her play on the computer for hours on end.

Actually I had very few problems with the way these 2 teachers had handled things, as I had said over and over again. My problem was with the other teacher, who again "missed" our meeting. He has not been to a single meeting that has been scheduled for Annabel.

And the other problem was a LACK of resources available for the teachers to help Annabel. 30 minutes of personalized attention just doesn't seem like enough.

They reported that when Annabel did not want to do something last week that she threw herself down on the floor crying and throwing a fit.

Just not a behavior I have seen, but I rarely let it get to the point where a fit needs to be thrown either.

They also reported that she NEEDS a LOT of attention. Hmmm, Annabel?

Then they told how she had not been required to sign the behavior log even though she did behaviors similar to others that were required to sign it, but they were afraid she would "throw a fit", so they had decided to make allowances for the cultural differences.

Oh my goodness! Now how is that a help?

So my daughter who is NEEDING so much attention but when she misbehaves you allow it?

I was glad there were counselors there to back me up on the assumption that not signing this log still separates her and makes her "different", a HUGE issue for her.

From one of my earliest contacts with the teachers and principals, I urged them to apply consistent discipline for her as the rest of the class, AFTER she learned what the rules were. She should not be treated differently and exempted when she clearly breaks the rules, like getting out of her seat, requiring "personalized" explanations of assignments.

The counselors wanted to talk further and sign release forms. One counselor will meet with her on peer relations, meaning, face the kids who have been bullying her. The other wanted to provide an ego boost for her, taking her to the lower grades and having her help out in a kindergarten class.

Both ideas are great.

When I finally got home and we sat down to eat, I asked a few questions about what goes on in the classroom. She admitted to jumping up and down a lot during classes, wanted special attention from the teachers, and crying.

BUT when asked if she had thrown a fit and gotten down on the floor, she insisted she did not.

She was very hurt that I believed them and not her. Grace came out and talked to me and said that if Annabel had behaved the way the teachers said she did, she would have known. Whether she would have seen it or not, the kids would still have been talking about it. Good point, Grace!

We talked in detail about her behavior in class.

Here is where I just don't seem to learn.

I told her that if she gets out of her seat, she will have to sign the behavior log, and if she signs it 3 times, and gets suspended, now here is where I got really stupid; I told her that I would take away all electronics for 6 months. No effect. I would take away karate. No effect. I went silly then trying to find her Achilles' heel, but there isn't one.

There is nothing you can TAKE away from her that would have an impact, as this is what has always happened in her life.

People have come in and taken away her clothes, her home and foster parents she knew, her group home and friends, literally she is more familiar with people taking everything away rather than receiving things.

It hit me while we were at karate.

This is not the way to reinforce the behavior she needs to conform to.

We had time to talk again, and I told her I would not TAKE AWAY, but I would ADD TO. If she gets in trouble, then she will need to read more and do workbook problems for 2 hours! Boy she hates that idea.

I am so glad there is only a short amount of time left for this school year. She was finally removed from the teacher's class where the problems seem to stem from, but today they were trying to put her back into it. Their take on what happens in his class is that he is not loud in stopping behavior like bullying like they do. She told me again tonight that he did not stop the kids when they start saying mean things to her. I believe her perception on this is what counts!

Dogs in the house!

Tonight I am sure that Marcie and Drew's house is cleaner than ours.

While trying to prepare dinner for another family, the girls decided they wanted to play outside.

They were cleaning up something and wanted to give the dogs a bath.

Only the dogs did not want a bath!

In the meantime, the police helicopters and news helicopters were circling around and very loud. (There had been a car chase for a stolen car which ended a few miles away. It just added to the confusion at our house!)

So on our deck are Grace and Annabel and the dogs, a water hose going, shampoo, helicopters circling, Grandmother trying to help, and I am in the kitchen trying to cook.

All of a sudden in comes Ollie, followed by Nina, followed by Annabel, followed by Grace, and a trail of shampoo and wet dog circling the entire house, barking, shouting, dogs running, and girls yelling!

Finally the dogs were captured and returned outside to complete their baths.

Only the water hose somehow sprayed Annabel until she was dripping wet. I am sure it was an accident, don't you? Grace got wet enough that they both had to get right into the shower, so now I have a pile of wet clothes and dog towels!

I cannot imagine why our house does not seem as clean as Marcie and Drew's.

PLUS I must surely be the messiest cook in the world! While they worked their magic on the rest of the house, the kitchen looks like I must have fed an army a 5 course meal!

The dogs do smell better though and dinner was a success.

Happy Mother's Day!

In China, there are two women who gave birth to two little baby girls just over 11 years ago.

Because of their circumstances they were unable to keep their daughters.

BUT because of their love they placed their daughters where they could be found.

And because of this, I am a mom. I hope I can provide the love and care these mothers wished for their children when they made this heart wrenching decision, to help them develop into the people their birth mothers hoped and dreamed for them.

Last weekend when we were in ER with Mom, I simply could not allow myself to even conceive of the idea of something happening to Mom. My mom has been with me through some very difficult times. She spent a LOT of nights perched on a radiator/air conditioning unit when I was having brain surgery. Most recently she spent two nights in uncomfortable chairs in our hospital after my surgery. But with her there, I knew I was taken care of and could rest.

She is also the best grandmother in the world and I am glad to be a mom so she can be a grandmom AGAIN! Not that she has a lack of great grandchildren, but living next door provides plenty of opportunity to spoil her closest two!

And they love her and tend to her making sure she is taken care of! Annabel has started grabbing her by the arm and walking her to and from the car. And when Annabel has a hold of you, you know it! Tonight Mom cooked dinner and I left Annabel to help clean up the dishes, while I cleaned up a project we had started, and Grace did homework. Annabel banned Mom from her kitchen and jumped in unloading and reloading the dishwasher.

Marcie, my niece, and her husband Drew, had everyone to lunch at their house. What a fantastic treat! The food was delicious and we enjoyed all being together. Mark and Martha surprised me with a Starbucks gift card. MY FAVORITE!!!

My only gift I wanted was a nap this afternoon. Although I had one, there was more than one time I was woken up by the very loud whisper of "MOM" followed by something terribly important. Then the dogs came through several times barking, and then I decided to give up!

Saturday was supposed to be our biggest event of the year. Last week at this time all the news was still around the swine flu, so I chose to postpone it. So it was very strange to be off on a day that is usually so busy that I want to sleep through Mother's Day.

The girls were registered for another class at Lowes and made cute planters for Mother's Day. Since Dad was with us, we made REALLY QUICK trips to the dollar store and Ross, but spent plenty at all locations!

Mom wanted and needed a new sweater. I had almost bought one last weekend but at Ross found I could get 3 for the same price as one! Sounds like a commercial. Since I was in a hurry and found lots of good choices, all on sale, I just bought them all! Now hopefully she won't be cold.

We managed to fit in a trip to Sam's and then dinner at El Fenix, before I finished the day off with mowing our yard. It was a great day with lots accomplished.

The previous week was difficult, waiting to hear the test results for Mom and in the meantime I began throwing up after every meal, which gets old in a hurry. I now know what an upper GI is (Yuck), with the result being the need for the other part of the surgery needed much sooner than expected.

Thank goodness there are only 3 weeks and 3 days left of school. I am anxious to see what the plans are for Annabel to learn everything before the end of school.

Today Grace asked what I used to do on the weekends before I became a mom. I simply cannot remember, but guessing it was not nearly this much fun! She also commented that Marcie and Drew's house was a lot cleaner than ours. Surely not! She said there just wasn't as much stuff in their house. I explained that with kids it does add to your house. She wanted to know if I was disappointed that ours looked like it did. I told her I would not change it for anything!

I need a cell phone!

When Annabel was asked if anyone had talked to her at school yesterday, she told Dad, no, she didn't have a cell phone!

OK, that was not the talk I was expecting!

Yesterday I met with the principal and assistant principal to discuss what could be done to help Annabel through the rest of the school year.

While there have been attempts to help her with her adjustment to the English language, there has also been the continued bullying. It is amazing how many people I have heard from that were bullied. The only person I remember trying to bully me was stopped very quickly when my cousin threatened to beat her up. Yes, he was willing to beat up a girl for me! It was great to have a defender!

What I have worked and worked with is trying to assure Annabel that she has a defender in me and the rest of her family. Slowly I see her crossing that big divide and learning to rely on me as mom.

So none of the changes promised by the school took place yesterday, I have high hopes that some will occur today.

I need her out of the environment where she feels threatened so she can learn and some counseling to help her understand she is able to trust adults to help, not just punish her.

This week has been great because my niece Katie came to help out because of her concern for Mom. Katie is the one who came and cleaned, organized, and decorated our house while we were in China. I was glad we had it in good shape when she came so she would know how very much I appreciated all her hard work.

With Katie here, Mom has been able to take things a little slower. Thankfully she had Katie because I have been so distracted with the school and work, that I have not been much help, other than serving char burned burgers Sunday!

Last Friday the hospital threw a party to celebrate my 10 years of employment. It is VERY significant to me, as I have never worked that long in the same job title. One of the best parts of my job is planning programs to help educate the public. Being a breast cancer survivor myself, it seemed like a great idea to do something annually to remind women of the need for early detection and treatment. So the Pink Ribbon Tea party was started. It is always the Saturday before Mother's Day. This year it did not seem prudent (a good George Bush term) to continue with the plans with the threat of the swine flu. It has almost been as much work to postpone the event as it is to plan it. As soon as I announced we would delay the tea party, the CDC announced we should return to "normal". Life, funny, isn't it?

This morning as I am trying to pick up a little before rushing out the door, it dawned on me just how great a support group we have around us. The kindness and love shown me celebrating my employment to the care and concern about mom to the candid remarks and sharing from others who have been through similar situations as Annabel, humble me. Whether you are near or far, your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Today was the meeting with the principal and assistant principal.

I had all of my documentation with me of all the times I had made contact with the

Good friends!

Too bad Annabel is so afraid of these doggies! Just kidding!

Mug shots!

Our cute muts being easily distracted. Too bad they didn't look the other way too!

Swinging

Everyone has loved Katie being here. She decided to show the girls how she swings!

Next door is good

Tonight as we came back into the front door, Annabel stopped as if a light had gone off in her head and said, "it is good that we are so close so if Grandmom and Poppa need us!". AMEN, Annabel!

Last night we had a first hand experience of why it is so fortunate that we are so close.

But I will get to that in a minute.

Annabel had announced Friday night that she was tired and planned to sleep until 10:00 Saturday morning. She reminded me that she was still tired from our road last weekend and that it had been a hard week.

Of course she was up early!

We headed out to pick up our fruit and veg coop shipment, buy gas, and came right back home.

All I really wanted to do for the day was sit and read. I'm struggling with deciding whether to postpone our big event next Saturday, and hoped I could find my answer. Some time on the deck with a great Alexander McCall Smith book, seemed to be the best idea!

Annabel has a LOT of trouble filling "down" time, so she came out to keep me company. No time to think!

The back yard was way too high and knew it needed to be mowed before the rain hit, so it was time to get busy.

Everyone pitched in reworking a flower bed and moving stepping stones, my park bench, and just general cleaning up. The whole time we were working Dad kept saying that it was tornado weather. The humidity was so high, it was overcast, and very still.

We finally found a stopping p0int and got in right before the storm hit.

Dad was pretty close on the money when you see what happened to the Cowboys' practice field. The lightening and thunder were scary. It looked like it was striking right in the front yard.

When there was a break, we had dinner, girls had showers, and we watched the new Jonas Brothers show.

It was time for my shower and Grace came running in saying that Poppa had called and there was something wrong with Grandmommy.

So with shampoo still in my hair, I tried to get out as quickly as possible, dressed, and over to see what was wrong.

Mom had been talking to my aunt and suddenly could not make the words come out. She told her that she had to hang up and then told Dad what had happened.

So I quickly try to remember what are the symptoms of a stroke and after Dad had checked her blood pressure, Annabel gave her an 81 mg. aspirin, I asked if she could tell us the name of the president.

You could see that she was stumped by the question.

I asked if she could remember the one before the current president.

Again, she could not.

I asked if she could tell me the names of the girls sitting on the couch.

She could not.

OK, that was all the evidence I needed to rule we had to get to the hospital.

The three of us ran home and changed from pajamas, got shoes, and locked up the house. The whole time I am trying to decide what were my options for the girls but decided we didn't have time to work it out at that point.

Thank goodness the hospital is SO close and they triaged her immediately with an EKG performed within a few minutes of arriving.

Knowing the ER waiting room is not the best place to leave kids, since everyone coming in is sick or hurt, the staff moved the girls into a family room.

I felt the ultimate in being part of the "sandwich" generation, as I made my way from the examination room to the family room, and back and forth all night.

After all the tests, a million texts to Lisa, the doctor announced she had a TIA, or a mini stroke, and she had the choice of going home or checking in.

Gradually she had remembered Annabel's name, and then Obama's name, and finally Grace's name, so she was ready to go home.

Today we had a VERY quiet day ending with me burning burgers for everyone on the grill.

I got my shower tonight, but sleeping with the phone close.

Drastic measures

Yesterday I took a drastic step and filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights regarding the treatment of Annabel at school.

Once I went back through my notes of all the things that had transpired and the treatment she had endured I just wanted to cry. It has consistently been an issue. She has been harassed and discriminated against because she is Chinese, I believe.

If Spanish had been her primary language there was plenty of help, but nobody could bother since she spoke Chinese.

Over and over the students have been allowed to pick on her, kick her, spit on her.

In discussing it with a counselor I realized that the "orphanage" mentality is still prevalent because she has also endured additional punishment from the teachers whenever she reported the harassment.

She cried to Grace the other night that she did not want to be labeled a "Mommy's girl" so the kids would not pick on her. Grace was trying to convince her to tell me more of what was going on.

That is another thing that bothers me. I only know about the events she has reported to me. There have surely been so many more.

I tried to go higher through the school district to resolve the issue but was told that I had to fill out a form to request help and the only place that form was available was at the school. When I went to the school they did not know where it was or what I was talking about.

I tried to reach our school board member with absolutely NO response.

This week there were two situations, one by the students, the other by the principal. This is after meeting and assurances that it would NEVER happen again, if it REALLY did happen because they were convinced it was just that she misunderstood.

In going back through my notes I found where the teacher whose class most of the instances have happened in told me on October 30 that due to the language barrier that he could not help her and she just did not understand. Then on November 2 he told me that he had a talk with her and explained that the kids weren't being mean, she misunderstood.

That is phenomenal isn't it? If you have tried to learn Chinese, like I have, after several months of class I gave up. He learned it in 2 days!!!

The counselor also told me she was concerned about lifelong repercussions of the bullying. I can't let this go on.

I had left a message and emailed to the school after what happened Tuesday. I finally got a call back Thursday afternoon asking if I wanted a meeting with the teachers again.

I started to agree then decided that was a waste of time. I have done that over and over. I will meet with the principal and the assistant principal, but also ready to see if the media is interested in treatment of a student whose primary language is not Spanish.

I am thankful we have today to basically do nothing. I always hope that time spent together, especially when Mom and Dad are involved, that we can rejuvenate and recharge her and let her know that she has a family who is here to love and support her.

Out of gas?

Tonight after Annabel had eaten 2 1/2 ears of corn and after she had already eaten 3 bananas, she announced that a boy in her class had run out of gas today.

Run out of gas?

Yes, he had been tooting a lot during class and he finally ran out of gas!

The previous post does not do justice to today

This is what I have to do at work.

I sit working, thinking, being bombarded on all sides by phone, email, and think I have done my best. Then if I take a break I can remember all the details I still need to cover.

My last post did not do justice to what happened today.

While all the other 5th graders were taking their science TAKS test, Annabel spent the day in the 3rd grade classroom with one of my favorite teachers. She had a GREAT day. She learned something. She was admired by the other students who were disappointed to learn she would not be back in the class tomorrow.

But her day started with being called to the principal's office.

According to her, the principal talked to her about what was happening in her class. She was told to come to her any time she needed to, but that she, the principal, could not stop anything the girls were doing. HUH??????

Yes, that is what she told her. That girls were like that and she could not stop them.

She had a couple of other teachers tell her basically the same thing.

I appreciate everyone who left comments about the situation. I will keep you updated.

Too much on my mind

Tonight there is so much on my mind, it feels like I am playing the audio for a bad movie and I am the narrator.

So I will sound off about a few things that are bugging me first and hope to get the rest cleared up.

Ants in the kitchen. I have tried to handle getting rid of the ants in a reasonable way and less drastic methods so I put out boric acid and ant traps. They literally walk over the boric acid and probably sleep on top of the ant traps.

The swine flu which is to be renamed by the World Health Organization to avoid people killing off all their pigs.

The flu itself is not bugging me, it is my reaction to it. I am a news junkie when there is a major event happening, not something like the election, just stories that are interesting. (That one is for you, Holly!)

They closed an elementary school in our neighborhood today.

They keep reporting there are only a few confirmed cases yet they have also called off major events scheduled this weekend.

Next weekend we have our biggest event of the year. Planning began last year. So I am anxious to hear the news tonight! I will watch it on as many channels as I can just to be sure I don't miss anything!

Back to us.

A friend recommended I contact a friend of a friend, who might be able to help about the problems at school.

With only minor details, she agreed that things had not been handled correctly with the bullying and the lack of instruction provided for Annabel.

She is working to get resources for us.

I feel such mixed emotions.

For the first time I feel some relief but also guilt, that I did not force the school to do more.

I finally got a return call from my voice mail on Tuesday and also my email on Wednesday. It was offered to set up a meeting with the teachers again.

I was shocked! My email clearly stated that I expected her to be removed from that classroom. I was told we could discuss it next week.

So do I just keep her out until then?

But to show how "normal" our life is, tonight Annabel was showing me a spot on her toe. It took a magnifying glass and a bright light to even see it, but she was quite concerned that it was something major.

I got so tickled at her because I told her it looked like she had scratched it.

She assured me that she had NEVER scratched her toe.

NEVER?? In all 11 years?

No, never. I said that would have to make the blog!

Good news and bad news

Today was the last of a lot of doctor's visits trying to catch up on medical exams to determine if there was a need for additional medical treatment that might have been missed in China.

I cannot thank God enough that all the reports were good! No problems!

Regular check ups are all we need. YES!!!

The only trouble, before we left for the doctor, and as Annabel came from the school, she was crying, huge tears.

She had gotten in trouble at school for shouting out an answer during a "jeopardy game" in class. And so even if everyone else was dong it, when she did it, a number of girls in the class began taunting her to the point of making her cry. The teacher allowed it to continue and shouted that he did not know how to deal with her, so he sent her to the principal's office.

Only Annabel refused to go and cried for the next 30 minutes, which was actually the second time that morning she had cried, until it was time for her doctor's appointment.

I really hoped from the last meeting that we were over these problems and actually thought we could make it through the end of the year.

Instead I am desperately searching for alternatives to avoid Annabel having to return to that classroom through the end of the year.

I just can't see having her confidence, her self esteem, her growth stifled by a teacher who seems oblivious to doing his job of controlling his class.

Grace does not want to leave and I don't know if you can get into a private school this late? Or a charter school this late? Or home school? I really don't know what to do.

Texas A & M school of balloon artists!

During spring break I came up with the idea of visiting Texas A & M's school of veterinary medicine to get a preview of colleges for Grace.

For quite some time she has said she wanted to be a vet. I'm not sure if she understands what that means, but she has stuck with it for a while.

My background of working with career exploration for clients showed me that people need to take time to really look at potential careers, not just pick a degree and hope that it fits.

When I went to college, I did not think women had a choice in a career, but being a nurse or a teacher and since I could not stand the sight of blood, I went into teaching. While I enjoyed teaching, no one mentioned how low the pay was back in the days when I taught. So after just 5 years I went on to something else. And something else. And something else.

So why not help my daughters do their career exploration early?

I had checked with A & M and they explained that spring break wasn't the best time to come since they would also be closed, but they had an open house at the end of April.

I really was not sure if we would make it since Grace was not up to speed on Friday, but a good night's sleep and she was ready to go. Annabel and I packed quickly and we headed down to Bryan and College Station.

Surprisingly I have been to China twice but never to College Station.

The drive was just beautiful and the wildflowers are just beginning to bloom. There were so many pretty little towns that you could easily see yourself relocating to if your kids ended up in College Station.

By the time we arrived it was quite evident that a LOT of families had the same idea. There was a wide variety of activities, most with long lines.

Since teddy bear surgery had been a big draw to making the trip, we managed to wait the 1 1/2 hours to get into surgery.

Annabel left her stuffed animal in the car, but thankfully they had plenty to choose from for a small donation. For almost the entire time we waited, Annabel worked through her thousands of choices of stuffed animals switching from large to small, dogs to bears, and at the last minute settled on a dog that had a heart hanging from its mouth and "LOVE YA" on its back side.

When we finally got in, the vet students made sure the girls were "prepped" for surgery. They had hair nets, masks, gloves, gowns, and even slippers over their shoes. It was all quite believable from appearances. The vet students then did a complete examination of the animal and asked each girl what was wrong with their animal. Grace took her bear "Starry" which is the bear I sent her while she was still in China. It was one of the only gifts she actually received from all the care packages I sent, so she did not want major surgery on her bear.

But Annabel was all into it and decided the heart hanging from her dog's mouth needed to be removed and inserted in where the heart belongs. The vet student was very meticulous in her stitching up the dog with it's heart back in place. Grace's bear ended up with a back brace due to some recent "falls" she had experienced.

From there we wandered through the rest of the many displays. There were so many dog rescue groups with dogs available. It was really hard to leave with no new ones!

At the end of the open house, we found where they were doing face painting, liquid nitrogen experiments, color examination, and the most popular event of the day - balloon animals! I thought the girls were going to stay there the rest of the time. The only way they left was the chance to see some ferrets.

So if veterinary medicine does not work out, they can fall back on their new skills of balloon artistry. I've even bought them both a kit at the dollar store and loads of new animals are being created!

We had a room reserved in the Memorial Student Center, which took calling twice to get directions. Upon inspection I wished I had spent a little more so we had more than room for just the bed in the room! I don't think I have stayed in a room that small since a time in London and then it was only me! BUT the girls LOVED it. They did not want to leave the room and thought it would be spectacular to stay in the rest of the day and watch the TV!!

BUT we had places to go, people to meet, and things to do.

My mom had begged me to call a distant cousin, which I did, and we met for dinner. It was great fun and her daughter, who is only 5, entertained Annabel throughout the meal!

Afterward we enjoyed a huge scoop of homemade ice cream and a trip to Half Price Books. Annabel was VERY disappointed that she could only find 1 book in Chinese. Actually there was another, but it was Harry Potter and we have it n Chinese!

Although it was a very late night and everyone was way too tired, Grace could not give up and go to sleep until I laid down. I think I forgot to mention that our room had one king size bed. There had been a lot of discussion as to who would sleep in the middle and I guess I drew the short straw because it was decided I would.

So to gt Grace to go to sleep I jumped into the middle of the bed and within minutes, all of us were asleep and slept much later than intended!

Denny's has done too much advertising and made me want to eat there! Only everyone in town also had seen the ads. Annabel grows way too impatient when making her wait. I keep trying to help her learn deep breathing so she doesn't have to drive me CRAZY tapping, clicking, snapping anything she can find!!!

We made it home safe but along the way heard about the adventures Mom had with the dogs while we were gone.

The pet sitting service didn't show up as planned so it left Mom to take care of our hounds! They seemed very concerned about the situation and where we might be so they did not want to do their usual routine. Then Ollie found an opportunity to run!

Evidently Dad's voice works the same way on dogs as it does on kids and for once, Ollie came running back!

We made the trip home safe and sound and the dogs were very glad to see us. Not nearly as glad as Mom, so we could take over our dog's affairs.

The girls practiced their new vocational goal tonight - balloon artists! Great!

A science lesson

Watching the news tonight reminds me of what Annabel was telling us tonight.

She was trying to tell us what her science teacher had told the class today.

There was something about how amazing that pigs, birds, and humans all share the same "spot"??

Hmm, don't know about any spots that all of us share.

She showed us how on her arm and again talked about the spots that we all share.

Could it possibly be that he was talking about swine flu?

Oh yeah, that's what it was.

Out of a funk

I usually write my posts over and over in my mind long before it ever gets on the page. When this happens, I try to work it out so that what I end up writing will focus on the girls, rather than the distractions that at times cloud my life.


Yet, this time, it has been difficult.


I have a degree in counseling and so I try to rationalize, compartmentalize, and then justify the feelings I am experiencing.


The timing of tax day along with our 6 month follow up, was substantial.


It required reviewing the past year on so many levels.


Starting with the financial, I became overwhelmed when I looked at what I had earned, seeing how little it had increased from the previous year, but with the bottom line being that regardless of the amount, we had been through one of the toughest years financially that I have had in a LONG time.


It worried me.


With all the economic problems most are facing, had I been a good steward of the money God provided through my job? I felt like I was the receiver of the talent that had gone and buried it showing nothing but the original gift provided. Yet I could see the cost of the adoption in the other column and easily could see why money had been an issue. But once you get down on yourself, then you can begin to worry that even that talent will be taken from you. And during this time you are susceptible to rumors you hear at work, the impact evaluations of you and your performance have, and then just like that you doubt it all!


But thankfully all I have to do is step out on my deck and receive words of encouragement from having wonderful parents next door. It's not necessarily magic, but does make you feel that at least 2 people think you can do something right!


Preparing for the visit by the social worker, I was looking for pictures and other things she would need to complete her report to China.


I came across documents from our initial return home. Can I just say that was a REALLY difficult time and think I am still tired from that. Much less adding Annabel's surgery and then mine!


OK, enough about my funk!

Sunday at Earth Day was a great time.

It is amazing what has been accomplished developing Earth Day for Oak Cliff in just a few short years. Marcie, my niece, has been in charge of the artists and their displays. Probably best that I had 3 kids who did not want to look at everything there, as it saved me money! But what was even more difficult to ignore was the number of cats and dogs there who needed homes! Oh my goodness, I am so glad I can be rational sometimes. Some might even call it evidence based decision making, even though I have received low marks on that!

It was a very nice experience meeting Grace and Annabel's friend. She was a breath of fresh air compared to what they have endured from the other kids in their class. She was very polite and I especially liked that she made time for Annabel to join into the conversations!

Annabel had her first experience in a porta potty! If you have been to China you know that even their restrooms can be pretty bad, not much better than a porta potty at some public facilities. BUT after eight months here, she was not too sure about trying out our "temporary" toilets!

Grace found out that she has passed the math TAKS test, but did not get commended. I felt badly for her as she had made commended last year and was hoping to again this year.

Tonight seemed to be a good example of when too much can happen on a school night! I knew we would be pressed for time between school and piano and actually put something in the crock pot before leaving for work.

With the girls getting out of school at 5:00 and needing to leave for piano at 6:00, I was glad we did have time to sit and eat and talk together. I taught 5th grade for one and half years and very glad I don't teach it now! Stories of what happens in those classes are chaotic! It seems like everyone on facebook is helping build some final project. Their class is actually making their final project at school out of those thousand popsicle sticks! YIKES!!!!

When we came back from piano we met with a potential "dog sitter". Thankfully she thought she could handle our two ragamuffins. After she left our neighbor dropped by worried about a suspicious person who had been parked in front of our house. Good to have good neighbors.

He volunteered to watch our dogs, but the dogs just would not be his friends. Too bad!

A brief conversation with mom gave me an update on my aunt, with dementia, and a cousin diagnosed with prostate cancer at way too young of an age, plus learning a long time church member had passed away. So while the girls took their showers, I turned our meal into stew for that family.

Tomorrow morning we are celebrating volunteer week with a breakfast and then again dinner! I am so grateful to the fantastic volunteers I have worked with. They have taught me so much. Plus they are always just grateful at the wide variety of programs I keep coming up with and thankful that I care.

New school, art exhibit, the zoo, karate, and taxes!

This has been a busy week and when I realize that I last posted the day before the infamous April 15, it explains a lot. But I think I will start from today and try to work backward, while in extreme pain!

Today was a great day, very busy, but full of important details.

We started the day with a great breakfast from Grandmom's Restaurant, which is conveniently located next door. It was so cloudy and overcast this morning, we all overslept, so really helped to have breakfast prepared for us.

Our first stop was North Hills, the school I have chosen for the girls for next year. It is quite a ways from home, but every time I go, I am so impressed with the students and their impressions of the school. They always have students as volunteers leading future students around the campus. These kids are engaging, very conversational (is that a word?), and extend their hand to shake, smile, and look you in the eye.

We had our pre-admission conference at 9:35.

We met the PE teacher who did our conference. It was supposed to last 30 -45 minutes, but with 2 girls that were full of questions, ours took more like an hour. Then they had a math placement test. Annabel breezed through hers since she guessed at all the answers, because they were word problems.

I thought Grace had been swallowed up in a math black hole because she took 1 1/2 hours!! She told me a few of the problems and I was impressed that she even tried.

They had a special display set up for ESL! Thank goodness! I spoke to the teacher and she said they would be pulling Annabel out for special classes. All I can say is, "FINALLY!"

After three hours, which was supposed to be maybe an hour, we raced home after stopping by a Korean restaurant for lunch for the girls.

The dogs were supposed to get groomed today, but we were 2 hours overdue for that appointment. Thankfully they agreed to take them late. Dip and Clip on Davis is the best about that. Most places require you drop them off early, even though they won't be ready for hours!

So I left the girls to eat their noodles and take a shower while I ran the dogs to the groomer.

From there we went to the Ice House Cultural Center. There was a special "Dia de los Ninos" exhibit and both girls had a piece on display. Grace has had several pieces on display, but it was Annabel's first. AND Annabel WON! BEST OF SHOW!!! I was so excited for her and it was hard for her to conceal her pleasure. She got a nice red ribbon and was only 1 of 2 winners out of 120! It was a clay piece and now she has decided she LOVES working with clay.

At North Hills they had a choice of fine arts; band, choir, art, or theater. I was sure they both would choose art, but when Annabel found out that clay would not be done EVERY day, she chose band. This was pretty funny, because I am not sure she knows what band is, BUT she loves to play like she is playing drums. Grace chose theater, which was also a big surprise, since she has really been quite shy lately. But when she learned it would be like the Christmas Carol we saw, she decided that's what she wanted to do!

After the art show we came home to get ready for our 6 month visit by the social worker for the adoption agency. It has actually been 8 months, but we had some conflicts getting it set up.

Amy, the social worker that did the original home study, was the same who came today. She is so kind and helpful, it really was not as stressful as it could have been.

She was telling me about some recent research, specifically on adoptees from Ethiopia. They have discovered a relationship of the neurotransmitters and the heightened stimulation of older adoptees due to the extensive trauma endured. These are treated with supplements and tremendous improvement seen. I relayed that I was concerned that Annabel was not grieving for her foster parents the way that Grace did, yet I know she must miss them at least as much. After all, they were the only parents she knew for about 8 years. We still have lots to work through and will follow up with some suggestions Amy made.

After that we went to pick up the dogs and it is so nice for them to smell good if even for a little while.

Facing the second surgery, I decided I had to get in better shape. It is really hard to work in working out once I get home, so I took advantage of a special at a gym that included a couple of sessions with a trainer.

When he asked how long it had been since I had worked out regularly, it dawned on me that it was MUCH longer than I had realized. So here I am WAY out of shape and WAY over weight and the trainer started me off with squats and lunges. About half way through i thought about what was missing, WARMING UP!!! I am so sore! Duh!

But I knew I probably still needed to keep moving. The zoo was having a special for members to spotlight the new albino alligators. It was really interesting being at the zoo after dark since most of the animals are nocturnal. It was difficult to see some of them, but kind of scary too. Regardless of the pain level, much less the fear level, we kept on until 9:00!

The last stop was the carousel.

While there, Annabel pointed out a family whose hair was red. She could not understand how someone's hair could be that color! There was also a Chinese family behind us in line. Annabel whispered, rather loudly, "I think they are Chinese". Really??

At karate Thursday night, the girls had sparring.

Maybe parents are not supposed to watch.

I get so nervous when the girls actually have to "fight".

There was one little girls taking her exam for a yellow belt and first up was Grace to spar with her. Grace just wouldn't fight back. She looked terrified! Pretty quickly it was Annabel's turn and she had overcome her fears from the last bout. She went right into it, headstrong, and did a great job of defending herself. I told them I was going to hire a big old boy that could take their punches, to practice with! Annabel was concerned she would hurt him! I LOVE HER SPUNK!

Wednesday was the dreadful tax day, which really wasn't dreadful, since we should get a return due to adding Annabel! But to file your taxes you must have your children's social security numbers. That was why I had applied for Annabel's back in February.

BUT it disappeared. It truly disappeared.

I searched this whole house, going through stacks of mail, adoption papers, magazines, coupons, books, drawers, files, truly everything.

I looked at work. I went through every single thing on my desk and trust me, it was a LOT. It had simply disappeared.

I finally went back to the social security office and got the number.

While putting things back into their files, there was the card. Also my pants that I had lost showed up! I knew if I could take a long enough break from looking that both would be easy to find. I would almost think that someone was just playing mean jokes on me, but guess I not!

Tomorrow, Sunday, is the Earth Day celebration in Oak Cliff. Grace wanted to invite her friend to go with us. I'm glad she did. Last year her friend who went with us ended up joining forces with the class bully and I think she has been very sensitive to extending her hand in friendship again.

If I can withstand the pain, I must stand up and call it a day!

The mystery of the Easter eggs

I'm glad we did our Easter egg hunting on Saturday because the weather forecast was correct. Rain!

We had a great church service, then on to Mark and Martha's for a delicious lunch. My girls LOVE seeing their cousins. And their aunt and uncle of course. My brother ALWAYS works with the most unusual characters and is very entertaining telling about his job.

In anticipation of the next surgery, I've decided I have to get in better shape. I took advantage of a 6 week program at Anytime Fitness so we stopped by there before going to Tom Thumb for breakfast necessities, and then McDonalds for dinner.

When we got home, I noticed the egg carton on the table was all torn up. Neither girl claimed responsibility and that was when I noticed the remnants of egg shell on the floor.

I guess I need to install a video camera to see who actually manages to climb up on our table, as both dogs are very small. But whichever one, they were capable of tearing apart the egg carton and getting out the egg, consuming all but a small bit of the shell. I hope the shell works as roughage!

Neither dog will talk or sell out the other!

When Grace first became ill with allergies last time I ignored her fatigue and general malaise as irritation over something else. But then she got sick and was pretty miserable for 2 weeks.

Last night when I got home, she had the same symptoms. This morning she climbed into bed with me, so that is where she is, sound asleep. I just cannot get over how much the two of us are alike. When I start having allergy/sinus problems, my body just wants to rest. If I can take a day to do that, then I nip it in the bud, otherwise, I can count on weeks of coughing, blowing, and overall just feeling badly. I hope we might stave it off this time.

It still feels odd sometimes when it is just Annabel and me, like it was for breakfast this morning. But I did notice we are finally becoming more comfortable. I grabbed her by the head as she ducked out this morning in an attempt to plant a kiss on the top of her head. AAAHHHH!!!! Why did you do that Mom?? At least she didn't wipe it off!

The Easter bunny is coming to town

I hope the Easter bunny is more reliable than the tooth fairy!

When we were growing up, I remember going to a huge Easter egg hunt in Paris, Texas. It was so much fun and I was always hoping to find one of the "special" eggs to win one of the "big" prizes. I'm not even sure what the "special" eggs looked like or what the prizes were, but the thrill of the hunt was what it was all about.

This is just one more holiday that is difficult to explain to Annabel.

I know we did all of this for Grace, but maybe since she was only 6 and had her cousins here to celebrate, it doesn't seem like it was as difficult to introduce these holidays.

But for Annabel at 11 years old, it seems "late" to just now be having these holidays. But it doesn't seem to lessen her interest in participating.

Today we dyed eggs, which did not make any sense, but she enjoyed it anyway! She is always afraid that her things are not good enough, but i thought she did a great job.

While they were busy dying eggs, the Easter bunny hid the eggs, since it is supposed to rain all day tomorrow.

So now I have made her dye eggs, which are supposed to be eaten, then I send her out with a basket to look for her food.

Still she didn't mind and got into the pleasure of the hunt very quickly!!

Amazingly both girls found almost the exact same number of eggs all 100 times we had to hide them!

OK, so it was not 100 and pretty quickly they decided they would rather play, but on the third try I used the smaller "hide and seek" eggs and hid them so well that at least 5 are still out there somewhere!

The three of us played soccer, or our version of it and then progressed to "Four square". I had forgotten about playing that until today. I LOVED that and kickball at their age.

We kind of made up our rules as we went along but had a good time.

I called it quits when we were all tied.

Annabel wondered if they would be getting gifts when they woke up, since Grace told her they would.

I think they were afraid that being grounded would eliminate the visit by the Easter bunny. Jana sat the standard for HUGE Easter baskets. Or was it my Auntie Betty?

At our house, the Easter bunny always came the Monday after Easter. But one weekend we were at my grandmother's at the same time that my Auntie Betty and her 4 boys were there. The Easter bunny was coming to see the Hogue boys, so they also had to come see us! That ruined the bargain Easters from then on!

I took the easy way out, I have to confess. Annabel did not have an Easter basket and for just the basket alone, it was $10!!!! Can you believe that? At Sam's I found a great Easter basket with a soccer ball and tons of other great things. But f I don't get them out of the car, it will start raining or the Easter bunny will be as bad as the tooth fairy!

I mamam

Some days seem to be more full than others. Or at least in 24 hours, a lot can happen.

Last night on our way home from piano, I asked for the third time if anyone had homework.

A very quiet voice from the back answered, but I could not hear what Grace said.

Finally Annabel just blurts out that their math project is due tomorrow. This would be the math project that had been assigned 4 weeks before, I'm guessing. LOTS of days had passed with NO homework and lots of free time.

This assignment had them watching five 30 minute TV shows and recording how many commercials they saw. From there they had to make a graph and determine what conclusions could be drawn from the results.

Believe it or not, they had also watched plenty of TV in the last 4 weeks too.

Thank goodness for DVR or TIVO or whatever, since we were getting home at 6:30 and faced 2 1/2 hours of just watching TV before doing the rest of the project.

We had plenty of shows that we had recorded so I took control of the remote and we breezed through the shows and stopped at the commercials. Quite the opposite of the usual way to watch TV.

But the commercials on Disney and Nick are pretty entertaining too so I switched and made them watch a Food Network show, Good Eats. Much more interesting to me, but found out they have a LOT more commercials than Disney or Nick. Very surprising!

When it came time to write their conclusions, I had to help Annabel with spelling. So she wanted me to help her write, "I am surprised...". So I spelled am, a m. So she spelled it back, mamam. HUH???

Every time I tried to explain a m then she said, ok, m, now what?

It took me a while to understand that each time I said a, she thought I meant like "the" M, so she kept on adding mamam. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it was pretty funny.

Today I had my appointment with 2 of the 3 teachers and the assistant principal. It has taken a while and lots of visits to the school, phone calls, and emails, but I think they finally understood what I was explaining and what Annabel had also told them.

Yes, Annabel still has a LOT of adjusting to do, language to learn, rules for a western society, manners, how to participate in groups, etc. BUT regardless of any or even all of this, she does not deserve to have someone taunt her, calling her bad names, make fun of her ethnicity, and spitting on her.

No specific plans were made but it did help that I knew specific situations, where they had happened, who all was involved. It has taken Annabel a LONG time to get to the point where she has shared this much.

This afternoon I decided that we needed to go shopping for something new for Easter. The girls have received so many clothes from friends that we have not bought anything in a long time and money is still so tight, but when you shop at Target, you can at least get a pretty good value and all the "extras" that girls need.

We had such a good time and ended the evening with Taco Bueno and thanks to coupons that was less than $10!

So when I write it all down like that, it does seem like a LOT for 24 hours! Plus work, plus volunteering at the book sale.

Speaking of work, this has been one of the crazier of weeks. Not due to the work itself, but due to the problems so many brought to us this week.

Then late yesterday afternoon, my co-worker Gloria, whom you have read about before, has been told that a spot on her eye may be cancerous. Not the best bed side manner, but the doctor was very frank about the risks and told how a similar patient had died within 2 months of surgery. Gloria is handling it much better than I could especially with a 15 month old and husband of 2 years.

The surgery cannot be scheduled for 2 more weeks, so there is plenty of time for prayers.

I'm thankful my friend Erika's husband is coming back from helping with the fires that have plagued North Texas. The weather is forecasting LOTS of rain, so hopefully he won't have to return any time soon.

Tomorrow has a day with building a bird house at Lowes and then possibly a craft at the Ice House. This is Annabel's first Easter, so this will be interesting.

A few more. I wish there was an easier way to add pictures.

Grace's birthday pictures

OK, so I am a lot late, but wanted to finally add some pictures. These are from Grace's birthday party at the bowling alley. We had a great time.

Tomorrow I finally have a meeting at the school. Anxious to hear what they have to say.

A fun filled day to Killeen, Texas

While some of what goes on in our lives probably is quite dull, it keeps my life quite eventful!

Today the 5th graders went to Killeen, Texas for an all day field trip.

If you had been here for the preparations for this day trip, you would have thought we were packing again for China. There was a check list that was checked twice! At least!

BUT you just cannot risk not having such vital components as your nintendo and MP3 player for the day, right? Plus your hot cheetos, yogurt, and oreos.

The preparation started last night and continued until they went out the door this morning. They made sure that Poppa knew that they had to be there NO later than 7:15, so 7:05 was the agreed upon time!

I couldn't help but worry all day for lots of reasons, but a main reason was concern for Annabel and the risk of being a target for the "mean" girls while spending so much time together.

The best part of the trip was that no one knew where and why they were going! So I have googled it and found out they went to Central Texas College.

According to Grace, the first stop was the nursery.

You know, the place where you learn to be a nurse. From there they think they had lunch and saw some movies and the library.

Annabel sat by her favorite teacher on the bus and I feel that I should apologize to the teacher. Annabel reported that the teacher kept trying to fall asleep, but that Annabel managed to ask her a question any time she nodded off.

When Grace called to tell me they were coming home early the noise on the bus was so loud it was almost impossible to hear her.

While hearing all the details, I kept asking if they were hungry, as it was getting late quick. No, neither were hungry, no problem.

Then as I sent them to get ready for bed Annabel announced that she had not eaten her dinner on the bus and was VERY hungry. I can't stand the thought of sending her to bed hungry as I am afraid she has done enough of that in her previous life.

It is not easy to prepare something that she can eat at 8:00 p.m. as she can take up to an hour just to eat a bowl of noodles. She does not like sandwiches, cereal, peanut butter and crackers, so I made rice! Thank goodness for Annabel, Grandmother brought home chicken tenders left over from her Luby's LuAnn special.

Last night at karate I thought I was going to cry.

The karate uniforms are $30 and I was just sure I could find one cheaper, but attempts at ebay were foiled as we are blocked from ebay access at work!So I kept losing out.

I had decided to go ahead and ask the instructor to order Annabel one. We got one for Grace from a neighbor whose daughter quit after just a few lessons. But Annabel was the only kid in class who did not have a uniform.

The instructor maintains a tough exterior pushing the kids to reach new levels of skill and ability while maintaining a strict environment.

But last night he came up to Annabel and handed her a new uniform.

We looked at each other shocked.

She quickly put it on and it fit perfectly and she quickly became just one in the class.

I don't think he expected to be paid but I was so glad for Annabel to "fit" in, I didn't care how much it cost. He took the check for the uniform but would not let me pay for her t shirt. What a nice guy!

A good weekend with hopes for a better week!

When you adopt a child from China, there are really strict rules on the qualifications for the adoptive parents. One of these is age. I think I know why.

By the time the adoption of Annabel was complete, I was actually past the maximum age limit, but had started the application in time, so they approved.

This weekend, I have felt every MINUTE of my age.

Friday night I helped with an auction that benefits the girls' school. This was done by a group that helped us out so much when Jana died and then again when I adopted Annabel, that I was glad to help them out for a change. ONLY all of those parents are MUCH younger than the maximum age for adopting.

We helped with setting up, then went back to get our clothes to change. While trying to make it up the steps to the party, I fell. Big time.

Our focus at work this year has been on falls and fall prevention. I had felt somewhat smug during the discussions because it had been a couple of years since I had fallen.

Friday's fall made up for it. I landed on one side, so my arm, shoulder, and leg are bruised and VERY sore. Then I had to stay on my feet through the whole thing and dogs were yapping by the end of the night.

The girls had a great time spending the night with Mom and Dad. They even went to IHOP without me and got to stay up much later than I allow!

Saturday was a day for errands and if I had not had my girls, not sure if we could have done it all.

At the grocery store, I gave the girls the coupons of what we were shopping for and away they went. I realized it was a good way for Annabel to practice reading too.

Later we went to pick up the dogs' medicine. While there, I thought the girls were just going to stay. Thankfully we have a kind and patient vet who took the time to answer thousands of questions. When I mentioned that Grace wanted to become a vet, he showed a number of scars from bites and scrapes from the animals he has treated. I don't think that was a deterrent.

Since Annabel had a hard week, I always think a visit to the Chinese buffet provides "comfort food". I told them that while we were eating and realized they are completely unfamiliar with that term. Pretty funny to explain.

Tonight while eating dinner, I asked Annabel if she had to wash her own clothes in China. She had told us before she did, but I was not sure how she did it. I am not sure what she was describing, but somewhere behind the group home, she was responsible for washing her own clothes, as well as her foster brothers. She knew how to get out the stains and rub the clothes together to get them clean. There was also some sort of scrub board they used. I forgot to ask how they dried them, but when asked about her foster family and washing clothes, she told me that her foster mother had a washing machine. I hope so, but really doubt it.

Grace had told me before about going to the river to help her foster mother wash clothes. Today she mentioned that you had to be careful not to lose your clothes by them floating down the river.

I asked Annabel if she was surprised when I adopted her that she no longer had to wash her own clothes. She said she wasn't, but she also mentioned again about her foster mother calling her "Annabel".

Grace mentioned something else that happened when she first got here and didn't tell me because she was afraid to tell me. I asked why she was afraid. She and Annabel answered quickly because in China they would have been in trouble for a lot of things they were afraid to tell me. So the safer way was not to tell me.

I wish the amount of love and support they get during the weekend could hold them through the week. This is a hard week too with another of the TAKS tests and a day long field trip. At church today, a dear sweet man prayed that they will triumph over these bullies. So do I.