New Year 2011

Confetti Countdown Filmstrip New Year's

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Growing up

Aminah is growing up in so many ways. Each day she amazes me with the things that she says. She has grown 3/4 of an inch since Christmas. I put the pants on that she wore Christmas Eve and they were "highwaters." So I measured her and sure enough she grew. The preschool told me on Friday that they are wanting to move her up to the next level of Pre-Kindergarten (that is for the older 4 year olds) because she is ready. Yesterday the Sunday school teacher said, "She is ready to move into the Kindergarten class." I know that she is comfortable where she is and she is so ready to start teaching the class herself so I guess she is ready, but I'M NOT. How can my little girl be growing up so quickly.

On another note we went to visit our friends new grandbaby Saturday night and I told Aminah that we were going to go see the new baby. She wanted to get all dressed up. She wore a dress with lots of foofoo and her tiara. I had to take pictures. I think she wanted to make sure that the new baby did not outshine her!

Kisses

Aminah: Mommy do you know what kisses are?
Mommy: What?
Aminah: Your heart coming out your mouth.
Mommy: Where did you learn that?
Aminah: I just though of it.
Aminah pauses for a minute and then says: Maybe I will teach it.

So the next time you kiss someone remember that it is your heart coming out of your mouth.

Homework

Apparently homework is frustrating for a 4-year-old. All she is being asked to do is write her name. It is something that she is not mastering. She can do most other things that are required of her, but this homework thing is beyond fun. When I told her that she needed to do her homework she grumbled and groaned. So we are sitting together and with each letter she isn't enjoying herself. She puts one hand on her head and said, "This is NOT happening!" I told her it was happening and that she needed to finish writing her name. "No TV or Computer until you finish writing your name." I tell her. Then she continues to moan and says, "It's not FAIR" with more dramatics than an accomplished actress. So that was Monday night. Tonight . . . more of the same. She keeps writing the letters wrong just so she can erase them. I told her that she has at least 17 more years of homework and she should get used to it. She just rolled her eyes at me. And thus it begins.

Christmas Morning 2008

Christmas was such a great day. When we woke up we came out to see what Santa brought. He filled our stockings and brought Aminah a doll house. We went to Aunt Pat and Uncle Brownie's house to open gifts there. They have a tradition of praying and thanking God before opening gifts. I asked if Aminah could pray first and then they could do their prayer. I figured Aminah would do her regular prayer that she always says at school, but no she decided to give her first heart felt prayer. It was like this, "Dear God, thank you for all these gifts, thank you for everything you do for us, for loving us, and for all our stuff." It brought tears to our eyes. She was so thankful for and I was so glad that I let her pray that morning. They decided that her prayer said it all, and we started opening our gifts. Nothing is as wonderful as the gift that God gave us with his Son. Of course I believe a close second is the gift He gave me when He let me be Aminah's mommy.

Christmas Time

This year we had a fantastic Christmas. We had lots of fun leading up to the actual Christmas day. Here is a snap shot of what occured. We had breakfast with Santa at my school, a girl party at Jill's house, performances at Aminah's preschool and at our church. We had a great day in the snow with Luke and Linsey. We also had Christmas Eve at my house with Justin, Ashli, and Dane.

Aminah's Christmas Program

Aminah had her Christmas Program at the Preschool and she was very excited. She had practiced her song and we invited "Bubba", Ashli, and "Baby Dane." Here is a really cute picture of Aminah and Dane (her step-cousin or her uncle's grandson or something like that) :)

Halloween Party at Preschool

At the beginning of the month Aminah's teacher at preschool asked for parents to donate items for their Halloween party. I didn't sign up at the time because there were quite a few parents already signed up and I usually will do about 3 out of the 4 parties. I had already spent quite a bit of extra money on the school fundraiser earlier in the month and felt I had to bow out of it this time. There were plenty of other parents that had signed up and all of the slots eventually were filled. As the month went on the teacher wrote "Thank You" next to each parent that had brought in their donations, so I knew that it was being taken care of. Earlier this week I received a note on the sign-in sheet asking if I could bring in either a large bag of candy or 12 toys. I ignored the little note, feeling that they already had plenty from what I had seen coming into the room. Then the day before Halloween there was another note from the teacher asking me again to either bring in 12 toys or a large bag of candy. I had arrived early enough to speak with the teacher and told her that I wasn't going to be able to do it this month. I told her I had looked through my "gift cupboard" at home and found 6 toys but didn't have 12 and she said, "well we just want to make sure that the kids have enough stuff." I felt pressured, but knew the kids would have plenty of stuff, so I didn't bring anything in. Well as it turns out I was right. When Aminah came home on Halloween day she had 67 items in her bag! Here is a list of all that she brought home:
Candy:
4 Smarties, 6 Tootsie Rolls, 3 Sour Punch, 3 Lolly Pops, 3 Starburst, 1 Nerds, 1 Dots, 3 Snickers, 3 M&Ms, 2 Almond Joy, 2 Hershey, 4 KitKat,
Other Edible Items:
1 Cookie, 1 Fruit Snack, 1 Rice Crispy
Toy Items:
1 large container of Play Dough, 1 Sponge Bob Pen with Etch-A-Sketch, 2 Eye Patches, 1 Pumpkin Sticker, 3 Spider Rings, 1 Butterfly Pen, 1 Bat Straw, 4 Lip Whistles, 1 braclet, 2 Stamps, 1 Ball and Jack set, 1 Rubber Rat, 1 Rubber Lizard, 1 Parachute Pumpkinman, 1 Bottle of Bubbles, 1 Fake Finger, 2 Chinese Yo-Yos, 1 Pumpkin Whistle, 1 Fake Gun, and 1 Glow Stick
So as you can see I wrote it all down, because I was quite amazed. I'm so glad I didn't contribute MORE to their plethora of stuff. (How often do you get to use a word like plethora? - means overabundance)

Flower Girls

Aminah was in her first wedding today. She was a flower girl with her best friend Linsey. The girls were adorable and took their job very seriously. Aminah's teacher just got married a few weeks ago and so Aminah knows a real flower girl. She was able to share all kinds of information about what a flower girl does and what kinds of things a flower girl has. Apparently, flower girls get a coloring book when they are done. Unfortunately, the bride didn't have this bit of knowledge because there was no coloring book. Also it appears that flower girls are supposed to wear white instead of brown. Again the bride wasn't aware of this rule either. Another mistake the bride made was that she didn't have flowers for the girls to wear in their hair. I guess the bride didn't know much about weddings because Aminah also noted that the bride didn't wear a veil. Next time you need a wedding consultant just ask Aminah, because it seems she "knows" a LOT about how weddings are supposed to be, even though this was her first wedding.

Complete Sentences

At school I am teaching my students to use complete sentences. It is something that is following me home. I have found myself numerous times telling Aminah to use a complete sentence. Here is a sample of how that is going.
Aminah: Mommy ask me how many sides a circle has.
Mommy: Aminah, how many sides does a circle have?
Aminah: None
Mommy: Use that in a complete sentence.
Aminah: Hey Mommy none.
Mommy says with a smile: You are so smart!

It wasn't exactly the complete sentence I was hoping for, but it sure was cute!

Now What?

I've been waiting for 11 1/2 months now for the Vietnam adoption. I knew it would be a long journey and that it would be filled with ups and downs. Today Vietnam officially closed adoptions to the United States. What now? Well until Vietnam and the United States can come to an agreement (called the Memo of Understanding - MOU), adoptions will NOT be happening. I still have quite a few people ahead of me before my number is even an issue. Let's say that Vietnam and the United States were to make an agreement by the end of the year, I would still be on the waiting list for about another 100 or more people ahead of me. That doesn't mean that things would move quickly then either. I have moved up about 100 people in the last year, but only because people knew that Vietnam was closing so they started looking elsewhere. Now I need to decide, if I'm going to look elsewhere or if I'm going to continue to wait for something that might not happen. If I continue to wait then I will have to renew my current homestudy and my fingerprints, and I will probably have to do that a few times before this is through. Lots to think about. On the bright side, Aminah continues to be her amazing self. I'm lucky to have her and know that if God wants us to be a family of 2, then at least we are a terrific team.

Gotta Love Preschool!

This Thursday I got a call from Aminah's preschool. I had sent her to school with the sniffles and a cough so I thought that was going to be the call. Ms. Stephanie told me how much she liked me as a parent and wanted to make sure that after this call I didn't hate her. I was a little worried at this point about what she was going to say. She told me that Aminah had lice. OH! I totally didn't see that one coming. I told her I was on my way. That is when the fun began. I had Back-To-School-Night that evening and had to get ready for that. My head was totally trying to figure out what I was going to do about the LICE. Terri was going to Walgreens so she picked up the special shampoo and when I got home at 8:30, we began the process. I knew it was going to be a process, but I had no idea how much laundry I would go through over the next few days. We have pretty much been able to control the eggs and there was only one bug (the one they found at school). Hopefully on Tuesday she will be egg free and will be able to go back to school. I guess we will have to continue to check her daily for two weeks and we will also have to do another round of the shampoo 7 - 10 days later. No problem, I really don't want this to ever happen again. Aminah has a great attitude and the only time I saw her slightly upset was when she was at school and all the kids were running up to me telling me, "Aminah has bugs in her hair." She had such a sad look on her face at that point. I told each child that I knew and I would handle it. The look on Aminah's face when I calmly told them that was a little of relief. The rest of the process hasn't been tramatic for her at all. I can't wait to see my water bill and electric bill because of all the extra laundry that is being done in HOT water. It will be worth it, if I can have a bug/egg free household.

3 Amazing Years

Three years ago today Aminah and I became a family. God sent me half way around the world so that I could be her mommy and she could be my daughter. What would my life had been like if I didn't go where He called me to go? I wouldn't know how much HE loved me. He must think I'm pretty special, because he let me be this little girl's mother. There just aren't enough words to express my thankfulness for having this little one in my life. This week I was talking with Aminah's teacher from last year. She was telling me that she noticed that Aminah was a very caring little girl. Whenever someone is crying she comes over and tries to comfort them. She is always willing to share with others. She thinks about others and likes to make presents for people. She is compassionate and loving. I am a very blessed mommy. The last three years really have been amazing.

Olympics in China

Tonight Aminah and I watched the opening ceremonies of the olympics. I wasn't sure if Aminah would be interested or not. She is used to cartoons. I told her that I wanted to watch the olympics on TV because they were in China. She wasn't really interested at first (she was busy on the INTERNET - more on that later). She saw a group of people running and then it showed the Great Wall of China. She said, "They are all running to get them babies." She knows that when I went to China I saw the Great Wall and then got my baby. She made a connection.
So back to the fact that my 4 year old is on the INTERNET. I've taken her to a few websites that are designed for kids. PBS has a great site with all of her "friends" that she sees on TV. I usually will man the keyboard and mouse because she is young. I don't have a real mouse set up on my laptop so I thought it would be too difficult for her to use the touchpad. Well, I was wrong. Tonight I wanted to get some housework done and she wanted to play on the computer. I set her up on one easy PBS game that she wouldn't have to do much with the mouse and started getting things done. I came back and she was switching to other games and was able to use the touchpad! Children of the Digital Age.

Colorado June 2008

I'm finally able to upload pictures from Colorado. I tried earlier this summer and had technical difficulties. I hope you enjoy the pictures. I'll try to get some more summer pictures loaded before summer is over.

Check out my Slide Show!

My New Year's Resolution

My New Year's Resolution was to blog every week. As you can see that didn't happen. It seemed like such an easy thing to follow through on. I'm so far behind I'm not sure how to catch up. Things won't even be in order. I guess I need to look at my pictures and see if anything makes for a worthy blog post. I'll check back soon. No really I will.

Re-Adoption Day

It was a fantastic day. I left school early and picked up Aminah. We came home and got ready. Our appointment was at 1:30. Why did they have to schedule it during nap time? Anyway, I had invited a few friends to join us, but because it was during the school day I didn't really think anyone would be able to make it. I called my dad's house and talked to my stepmom and she said she would see if they could make it. So when I got to the courthouse I was surprised that they were there. Also Libby called and said that she was going to make it. When she arrived she Diane with her. Another nice surprise. When we were walking up to the building Aminah asked, "Is this the orphanage?" I guess she was a little confused. No telling what was going on in that little mind of hers. I tried to explain a little better. So we had to wait a little while, but then the bailiff called us in, and we were the only family there. Aminah and I had to sit at the "Plaintiff" chairs. There was a microphone that Aminah found right away and started playing with it. She thought she was something else. The judge finally asked the bailiff to move the microphone for the technical guy's sake. The judge asked a few questions and then said that he approved. We signed the papers and it was official. In reality it was official in China, but this Adoption Day is so that Aminah can have a birth certificate stating that I AM HER MOTHER. We took pictures with the judge and that was it. I invited everyone to go have ice cream with us. Yummy. We had some errands to run afterwards so Aminah never did get her nap. On the way home, she fell asleep. Poor little thing was exhausted. All in all it was a great day.

Zacchaeus and College

So Aminah knows about Zacchaeus in the bible. We have some Bible Heroes flash cards. Last night we were going through the flashcards and came upon Zacchaeus. I unfortunately didn't remember anything about this particular person. Aminah took one look and saw the tree behind him and said, "He climbed in a tree to see Jesus." Well I thought she was just making things up, but I read about him on the back and that is in fact what happened. Wow, I asked her if she learned that at church or at school and she told me, "Ms. Rachel told me." I love the fact that she learns so much about the bible at school.
Today I asked her if she was going to go to college when she grew up. She said, "I dunno." I asked her if she was going to be a teacher or a doctor, and she said, "We will just have to see."

Shy but talkative

Aminah is so shy around other people, but she will talk up a storm around me. Today she was telling me about her school. It has been raining some lately and she was talking about how she loves the rain. She said, "You know they are called rain drops." I told her that yes, I did know that. I asked her if she is able to go outside when it was raining at school. She said if it is just "a little bit rainy" then they do, but if it is "a lot rainy" then they don't. I asked what they did if it was "a lot rainy" and she said they stay inside. Then she continued to tell me that if they go outside and it has rained a lot then they can't go on the grass because it is too slippy. So they have to wait until the grass isn't slippy anymore. I told her that that was the way it was at my school also, and she said, "Yes, I know that." I know that wasn't a very interesting conversation for most people, but for me . . . it makes me realize that she knows what's going on around her and she is taking it all in. She is able to tell people all about something that is important to her. I better be careful with my conversations around her. If she is able to tell me this much, she probably tells an earful to the preschool teachers also. I love when she will tell a story and then tell me at the end, "and that is the end of the story, THE END."