Subjects and simple subjects

The normalcy of our life seems like it isn't noteworthy enough to record, but I am very grateful for it.

We were discussing how far Annabel has come in such a short time and then sometimes I wish I could wave a magic wand on her behalf and speed up the process to make her life easier

I believe you could put me into a foreign country for the rest of my life and I could never have adapted as well as she has. Her English is so good that one teacher "thinks" she can take tests in English. The result was quite amusing. She guessed at the multiple choices, since she really could not read ANY of the questions and made a better grade than those whose primary language is English.

This week I have been helping her with some homework. I know it sounds odd to comment on that, but she has not had any. I'm sure I should have taken the time to help more with her lessons, but she gets so frustrated with herself, then me, and ends up crying and in a terrible mood.

This week she had to pick the subject and simple subject. OK that was really hard and a LOT of tears! I don't think Chinese has subjects and predicates. I could be wrong, but the characters can represent so much more than what it takes us pages to explain!

Then she had a test to take, reading comprehension. I read the passages and the questions to her. It was all about virtual telescopes, hard concept to explain. Anyway, I was shocked at how many she got right! Just listening and she could pick the answer. She also pointed out that it seemed that the majority of the answers were C!

This little bit that I helped with made me appreciate the hard work her reading teacher has done with bringing her this far. I worry constantly about next year for her. I'm not sure how the new school handles kids who need ESL assistance. She really has very little interest in reading or seems not to, but I think she is terribly unsure of herself and feels illiterate as a result. That is why I wish I had a magic wand, to speed up her reading skills and I think the rest would fall into place.

The girls got their report cards and I think for once the grades were actually representative of their abilities. Grace made a 100 in math! Quite an achievement! The rest of her scores were in the 90's. Annabel made all in the 80's. Wow!

Mom made chicken and dumplings for us one night and always takes the extra flour tortillas and fries them to eat along with the dumplings. Annabel LOVES these and asked to take the extras in her lunch. Cold fried tortilla strips does not sound good to me, but a lot of what she has taken doesn't sound good.

She has them in baggie at her place at the table.

While I was preparing breakfast she was packing her lunch.

She could not find her baggie of tortilla strips.

I really think she thought we had hidden them from her.

I suggested she look in her backpack since she had just put some things in there.

She was sure they weren't there and would not look.

I suggested they might be in her room since she had taken some things to put away.

NO WAY would they be there.

Grace finally told her she better go look as I was always right on these things.

Instead Annabel pouted sure that her lunch was ruined.

In the afternoon she came into the kitchen with her baggie of tortilla strips.

Guess where she found them?

Yes, in her room, under the book she had put up.

I am tired of not feeling like myself and lacking energy. Going back to work in addition to mommy work has made for a hard week. It has been so difficult to find food that I can eat and keep down. But I believe I have managed not to lose a pound even without eating!!

We can't wait for spring break next week. I wish our finances were better so we could go and do some things. I realized I am paying about $500 a month on doctor and hospital bills and there is no end in sight yet. This is still trying to pay off Grace's surgery from July and now Annabel's in August and I am making only a minimal payment on each of thousands of bills!

At least Lisa, Gillian, and Darcey are coming for part of the week and we just have fun being together.

My girls continue to amaze me and make my life so wonderful. They have been so conscientious about not letting me do too much and have helped out any way they could, even taking on washing clothes! As far as spring break, they are just fine with staying home. I had promised them a special treat for all the extra things they have had to help with. Grace told me that it was OK, they were glad to do it. I am still restricted on how far I can drive so it has been hard, but they never complain.