Photo Shoot!

I asked Katherine to take some photos of Lucy yesterday in her sweet little Southern Belle smocked dress. She was so excited when I pulled out the new dress and hair accessories and then she really hammed it up in front of the camera. I thought she was going to be my little clone because she can't carry a tune or throw a ball, but now she has the photogenic thing up on me.
By the way, aren't those dimples cute!

4 weeks together

It is hard to believe that we have been a family of 5 for 4 weeks....in some ways it seems like longer and in some ways shorter. Honestly, the first 3 weeks at the Holiday Inn shouldn't really count....I get light-headed even thinking about that hotel room.
This past week has had its ups and downs, but I think we may come out on top in the end.
Lucy's English is really picking up. Today at the grocery store, Will walked off in the opposite direction and she said, "This way!" She also says, "cool." So now it is official....her English is better than my Chinese.
We have found that going out with Lucy almost attracts more attention than the boys do. The problem is that the Chinese try to talk to her and we really don't know most of what they are saying which is not in our best interest. I guess that is part of raising a child in her home country when it isn't your home country....confusing, at best.
Our teammate, Mark, brought a Build-a-Bear back from the states for Lucy and she really likes it. She makes sure she has it when she goes to sleep at night.
So, we have cut paper and washed dishes.....that pretty much wraps up what there is to do in Siping.

Trying to settle in.......

We have been back in Siping for 5 days now and we are trying to establish a new normal routine. Lucy is adjusting pretty well so far. She is doing great during our home school time. We only do about 2 hours a day and we take about 30 minutes of breaks during that time! There is only so much you can teach someone who doesn't speak your own language......I bet she is thinking the same thing about me.
We watched about 5 hours of Brady Bunch DVDs today. Lucy really likes Cindy. She laughs out loud at some of the episodes. I'm sure Lucy wonders why she got stuck with us instead of an awesome family like the Brady's. I use to wonder that, too until I realized how screwed up they were in real life.
We are finally discovering things that Lucy won't eat (no comments on my cooking please.) She cannot stand the texture of oatmeal and she doesn't like tuna fish, either. I finally made her some ramen noodles after she turned down the tuna fish. She slurped those down, literally.
Nothing much else to report here.....we are basically just staying home and working on family dynamics. I understand what the expression "2 steps forward and 1 step back" is all about now.

Home Sweet Home..........

Siping has never looked so good! We made it back safe and sound on Saturday evening. Lucy enjoyed her first airplane ride although the lady in front of her probably didn't....unless she enjoyed her seat being kicked and the tray table going up and down 1,000 times.
Lucy was very excited to see her room and she has meticulously looked over every toy and game in the house. The boys have done really well playing with her today. She and Will discovered that they can play a pretty good game of badminton in our tiny living room.
Daren will start back teaching tomorrow and we will begin home school. I have no idea how that is going to work out and I can't say that I'm looking forward to it, but maybe it will be nice to get into a routine of some kind.

2 more days!!!

In 2 more days we will (finally) be returning to Siping. I'm sure Lucy thinks that we live at the Holiday Inn. Today we went to the Guangzhou Consulate with about 100 other families and signed another document and took an oath that we are who we said we are. Now we just wait for Lucy's US Visa to be delivered to the hotel and we will be done with this place.
I hate to admit that the highlight of Guangzhou has been the Western fast food....McDonalds, Papa Johns, and Pizza Hut. When you live in Siping, you only have KFC and that gets old quick. There is a restaurant called Lucy's (coincidentally) that claims to be American food and we have been there several times because the atmosphere is nice, but the food is far from great. My enchilada was actually a burrito with cinnamon tasting chicken and no cheese...yuck.
Anyway, enough about food. Lucy is doing pretty well. We met 2 other families today with 6 year old girls and after comparing notes and observing, I see that those guys are in about the same boat as we are. This will be a long process for everyone involved.
Lucy also thinks that she has gotten a year younger since we got her.....the Chinese say that a baby is 1 year old when she is born, so Lucy has been taught that she is 7. Today, I asked our guide to explain to Lucy about the age thing. Lucy was not happy with us. She still insists that she is 7. I guess we will work on that one later.

Well, the storm came which has kept us in the room for the past 2 days, so not much to report here. We have watched lots of DVDs (thank goodness for those), played UNO, made jewelry, dressed barbies, fixed hair, and colored.....then only 20 minutes had passed!
I think we are going to have a sore-loser on our hands and no, it's not Daren this time. Lucy does not like to lose and she doesn't mind showing it. She also likes to rub it in when she does win. I guess she is a deadly combo of both Daren and me. Poor thing. She may never make a friend.
Jude is such a good helper with Lucy. He makes up games to play and tells her the rules in Chinese. She will do whatever he says. I have to remind him to try to speak a little English to her, too. Will just keeps wondering if she knows that we are going to be her family forever. I have to remind him that she is just getting to know us and probably thinks this is all temporary. It would be interesting to know what her little brain is thinking.
One week to go.....however, I just realized that our little Chinese apartment is not much bigger than this hotel room....oh well, one day at a time.

Just trying to adjust.......

We have had a few days of just trying to adjust to one another. It hasn't been exactly smooth sailing, but we hope we are making process. We are all missing home....whether that be Siping or Arkansas and we are so ready to get on a regular schedule.
We still have 9 days to go here in Guangzhou with pretty much nothing to do. We have heard that a typhoon is suppose to hit, but we already have one little typhoon on our hands, so we aren't too concerned about another one!