2February2010
Posted by BaBa under: Daily Life.
Love seems the swiftest, but it is the slowest of all growths. No man or woman really know what perect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century.Mark Twain
We are on our way to 30. We are T-2 after May 17th. This is but one stop to Forever.
10January2010
Posted by BaBa under: Daily Life; Observations.
MaMa saw this poster at a school supply store yesterday. It isour prayer and hope that this is how we are raising our little guy. With his comment about being a “normal” 4 year old, we get a glimpse that we are on the right track.
9January2010
Posted by BaBa under: Daily Life; Adoption Community Group.
We are still in the deep freeze here. The temperatures are really cold and the ice is melting, but very slowly. We got out today to go to a birthday party at a Jumping place with the indoor inflatables. Sheridan had a great time. We also got a chance to reconnect with Meron and her MaMa. We really have missed these guys. It was like we had seen them yesterday. We had read about their adventures and they had read ours, but it is not the same. We are going to have to make a much better effort of staying connected with those who are special in our lives.
We celebrated the birthdays of Lennah and Delylah at the jumping place. we enjoyed spending time with some friends we have not seen since before the holidays. Sheridan had agreat time at the birthday party jumping and playing at the indoor playpen. He also got to have cake which is always a plus.
After the party, we ran errands and picked up a new camera for MaMa so that it would be easier for her to get the everyday picture that we have missed out on. The camera on the iPhone is OK, but it is a phone and not a camera. So we got a little Canon Elph. Hopefully, you will see more pictures and even a post of two from MaMa in the near future.
8January2010
Posted by BaBa under: Daily Life; Special Days.
We got a dusting of the white stuff on Thursday. It was enough to close schools for the day. We enjoyed a great day together. Snow days are like stolen days which are rare and unique here. It is like you have an excuse to throw out the agenda and to do list and just enjoy an unplanned day.
The dusting of snow was not the real reason for closing schools. It was the ice on the roads. Black Ice that you have a problem seeing. Numerous accidents happened. In one tragedy, 2 teenagers suffered hypothermia and died after attempting to walk on a frozen pond.
I had a very hard problem trying to get out of the driveway. We are thankful for the new Sienna with anti-skid and other such devices. We got out to meet Donna for a playdate at Dacs. We had a great time and quickly picked up takeout in order to get home before dark.
The funniest comment of the day came when Magoo let Rainbow outside. He then shut the door and said that he did not want to see anymore snow.
Too much time in Minnesota where we had snow in massive quantities.
6January2010
Posted by BaBa under: Daily Life.
Sheridan is participating in a Flat Stanley exchange. He got MaMa to help him color his Flat Stanley. She took dictation while he answered a few questions for his profile. A lady in Idaho is organizing the exchange. So Flat Stanley will be off to Idaho in a couple of days.
Well, MaMa was probing for anything that Sheridan wanted to put in his profile. He was asked if there was anything special that he wanted to put in the description. He answered that Rainbow was upset when she got woke up early in the morning. MaMa was trying to see if he would list items like he was born in China or was adopted.
His reply was precious. I am just a normal 4 year old.
1January2010
Posted by BaBa under: Daily Life.
Hasta LaVista 2009. Happy New Year!!! Welcome 2010.
Magoo had another tearful episode last night. I got him calmed down instead of MaMa. It was late at night and I got to the room first and was able to help him get settled. This morning he told us that he woke up last night. This is a first.
Earlier this week, he got up early in the morning (close to wake-up time) to go to the bathroom. He then started crying saying his tummy hurt. I went and got him and brought him to our bed for cuddles. He promptly went back to sleep in the bed with his arms around me and slept soundly. This is another first.
Today he really watched his first movie and followed up with a second one which he sort of watched. The first was Buzz Lightyear and the second was A Christmas Carol as MaMa had read to him while in Minnesota.
1January2010
Posted by BaBa under: Daily Life.
We have enjoyed being home this week.
On Tuesday, we went out and ran errands. MaMa got her last Christmas Present - a replacement for her old phone - a new iPhone. She will really enjoy this and will be getting some apps for Magoo to use as well. Magoo got a new and nifty non working floor model to make his calls to Bob, BaBa and MaMa.
On Wednesday, we met Donna and crew for dinner and playtime. We had a good time and Sheridan really liked seeing Shelby again. He gave his old phone to Shelby so he will add her to the call list. He wanted to text me as we left that night.
On Thursday, we had networking problems at home after a power outage. I finally ended up getting a new router in order to solve the problem. The electrical outages Wednesday in the middle of the night seems to have killed the older router. It appeared to be working, but still would not connect. Troubleshooting wasted a few hours during the day. We then went to Donna’s for New Year’s eve. It was a fun night.
So passed the last of 2009. It is a year that we will be glad to see in the rear-view mirror. It has been a hard year for us and for our friends and our country. Many including us have suffered financially. We are hoping for better times in 2010 as we enter the last year in this decade.
1January2010
Posted by BaBa under: Adoption Community Group.
It is the last day of the year, and we have one last tale to share.
On the day she came into the world, XiaoAn (Quiet Morning) lost everything she came with.
She was wrapped in a woman’s jacket and left near the orphanage gate in Guilin, a beautiful city in Southern China.
When the staff took her inside, they noticed that her little heart was thumping hard in her chest. Her breath was raspy and forced. Her rosebud lips and tiny fingertips were blue.
They kept her in an observation room. The doctor said it was her heart and that she might not survive. Every day her special Half the Sky nanny came to hold her and rock her and let her know she was not alone. XiaoAn did not cry. Only now and then would she open hazy eyes – and her nanny would whisper sweet words. “It’s all right, XiaoAn. I am here.”
The orphanage applied to send XiaoAn to our China Care Home in Beijing. Her nanny traveled with her on the long train journey, comforting her whenever she woke.
When XiaoAn and her nanny arrived at the Home, they were welcomed by the care supervisor and nurse on duty. In the morning, XiaoAn was examined by the medical director and immediate arrangements were made for her to have tests at a fine children’s hospital. When she is strong enough, she will have corrective heart surgery and her Half the Sky nanny will be by her side. XiaoAn will survive.
This is only the beginning of her story. In her first days of life, XiaoAn lost everything but has gained something extraordinary. Something that your support makes possible. She has a family again at Half the Sky. A family that will never let her down.
She is a child both lost and found.
Please help more of China’s Children be cared for in the corner of Half the Sky during 2010.
Your donations are needed for Half the Sky
31December2009
Posted by BaBa under: Adoption Community Group.
Once upon a time…actually about a year ago, a little girl was found chilled and alone inside the train station at Harbin, a city in China’s northeast.
MeiYan (Beautiful Swallow) was about 5 years-old. She had spina bifida and could not walk. She didn’t speak although no one could find the reason.
When no one came for MeiYan, the orphanage staff brought her to live in our Family Village.
Her new foster parents were worried; MeiYan showed no interest in anything. Every night, when he came home from work, her papa held her hands in his and told her stories. Every day after Little Sisters Preschool, her mama took her for rehabilitation. MeiYan always cried. Her mama encouraged her and showered her with little paper flowers when she finally succeeded in standing.
A few months passed. One evening, MeiYan’s sisters threw open the front door calling, “Papa is home! Papa is home!” MeiYan looked up and made a sound, “Papa.”
Papa swooped little MeiYan into his arms. He said, “Yes, yes, my adorable girl.” The whole family enjoyed their dinner together that night even more than usual.
Her progress encouraged MeiYan’s parents. They are now determined to help her walk and speak. Each evening Mama helps MeiYan practice taking steps. When she is frustrated, Papa holds up his phone and says, “Come on, let’s make a movie, MeiYan” and MeiYan tries again.
And MeiYan is beginning to talk. Just last week when her mama prepared to go out to buy vegetables for dinner MeiYan spoke out in her small voice, “Mama, cold outside - gloves.”
Mama’s eyes welled with tears. “Thank you, MeiYan.”
As she passed through the snowy orphanage gate, the guard called out, “It’s freezing. Why don’t you put on your gloves?”
She looked down. She still held the gloves in her hand. MeiYan’s words had warmed her through and through.
In this holiday season, thank you for helping MeiYan and children like her find the warmth of a family’s love.
Happy New Year!
From Half the Sky
28December2009
Posted by BaBa under: Adoption Community Group.
Once upon a time…actually not too long ago, just at sunrise, a tiny 2 year-old girl was found alone and crying on the streets of Chongqing, a big city in the west of China. A kind-hearted delivery man tucked her into his arms and carried her to the district police station. By the time they arrived, his shirt was wet with her tears.
The police brought the child to the Children’s Welfare Institution. There she would be cared for until, hopefully, someone would come for her.
No one came. The orphanage staff named her HuaChen – ‘Morning Blossom.’ And soon after, she entered our Little Sisters Preschool.
Although she was surrounded by happy children reveling in making their own (sometimes messy!) works of art with paint, markers, feathers, and beads, posing happily in front of mirrors wearing their favorite dress-up clothes, HuaChen would not join them. Instead she spent her time alone, weeping in the corner.
HuaChen’s teacher sat patiently with her in the corner and talked to her soothingly. When she reached out to touch HuaChen, she cried harder and harder, so hard that her teacher said her tears “almost broke my heart.”
But one day, when the children wore paper ears and were dancing and singing the mouse song, HuaChen sniffled and was silent until the song ended.
After that, things started looking up for HuaChen. Every day the teacher sat beside her, singing every children’s song she knew and HuaChen would listen. In time, HuaChen began to snuggle in her teachers arms, and then to sing.
Now her teacher says HuaChen is “finding happiness again.” And she is learning to be loved.
In this holiday season, thank you for helping HuaChen and children like her find happiness.
Happy Holidays!
Half the Sky
Weather in Nanjing
