We made it!

We made it!!! We’re in Beijing. The flights weren’t to terribly long. The first was 3 hours and the Newark to Beijing flight was 13 hours. We were totally surprised to find that we flew over the North Pole. Zane thinks he may have seen a red nose flashing at him on the ground.

We are staying with our guide, Angela. She lives in an apartment building inside Beijing. Zane is having fun watching the ladies in the courtyard do their exercises. We are trying desparatley to stay awake until it gets dark here. When we arrived it was 2a.m Houston time. We just spotted some babies playing down below as well. So guess where I'm headed.......

Swim Team '08

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We Wrapped up our 2008 Swim Team Season yesterday. It was LOTS of fun. Swim team is a concept I didn't know anything about until we moved here. It is truly an amazing thing to watch. Kids here swim on a team just for their neighborhood. Then on Saturday mornings 2 neighborhoods will have a competition. Kids from 4 yrs to 18 yrs old practice every day after school. They do Backstroke, Freestyle, Breaststroke and Butterly. There are also relays, medleys and IMs. The numbers of each person's events are written on their arm. That way it's easy to remember when it's your turn to swim. So that we can keep up David and I write all the numbers on our hand as well. The kids really enjoyed the season and we look forward to swimming again next summer. We will be practicing our breathing, strokes and kick turns for next year.

Mia's 4th Birthday

Since we are going to be gone on Mia's actual birthday we decided to have her party a little early. We went to KidsN Action for a fun filled afternoon of running, games, balance beams followed by cake and ice cream.

Kaylee tried out the rings. Using her legs instead of hands.

Here we are under the parachute with Mia in the middle singing Happy Birthday. She had a great day.

Did She Dance?

OH YES! She did...... We all held our breath and we headed over to the High School to see if there would or would not be a Spring performance for Mia this year. Remember that there was NOT a Christmas performance. (Well there was a show but it wasn't dancing. Lot of crying)

This spring the song was "Daddy's Little Girl" So the teachers had a surprise for all the girls. At the end of the song each of their Daddy's came out and gave them flowers. It was so sweet to watch the expressions on their face. Some of them seemed to say "Hey Daddy, I Love you" and some seemed to say "Hey Dad, what's up? this is my gig!" But in the end they all loving went with their dads. I mean really how often does a nicely dressed man present you with flowers?

Daddy's Little Girl

Butterfly Museum

A few months ago Grandma Toni came for a visit. Mia and I took her downtown to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. They have the best Butterfly Exhibit.
Grandma and Mia are watching some of the Butterflies come out of their chrysalises.

We all had a good day! It's always fun to get out and see new things. Especially when you can see it through the eyes of a 3 year old.

Can someone say "HAM?"

Trent's Kindergarten awards were last week. At the event his teacher gave each child a "special" award. Basically something she thought of for each child.

Some of the awards were:

Best Smile

Most Creative

Most Helpful

Trent's award......... Best Dance Moves!!!!

Well I believe it. Not sure where he gets all his moves. We're wondering if he sneaks in at night and watches MTV?

Did you hear me HOLLER' Hall e lu jah?

If you were anywhere near Texas today you may have heard the Hallelujah yell from my house. I was so glad to be done with all the 5th grade festivities. Remember my almost complete DVD.... well it turned out to be much more of a challenge than anticipated. There were hardware problems, software problems, pixielazation, blurry photos, DVD+ and DVD- problems. Let's just say 24 hours before the actual presentation I had not burned the first copy. (I only needed to have 50 ready) But in a pure miracle it finally decided to cooperate.

And this morning at 10:30, 103 5th graders watched their slideshow in the cafetorium and sang along to the songs, laughed at all the silly pictures, and applauded loudly at the end. It did my heart good.

Then I came home and passed out.

Just Say No....

I constantly tease my friend Valarie about her impetuous urge to say Yes to every volunteer shift there is. I saw some cocktail napkins that said," Just say No to the Sign-up Sheet" If that had been a mug it would reside in her cupboard right now.

Apparently I need the Mug as well. I volunteered to put together the 5th grade end of the year Slideshow. It showcases pictures from Kindergarten through 5th grade. Since this is something I know how to do and usuallly really enjoy doing I eagerly volunteered.

So, last Thursday I went to the meeting where each of us on the 5th grade committe was to say what all we had accomplished. I quickly added that I was indeed almost finished with the DVD. I was so proud. UNTIL......

Someone pops out a Memory Book that was done last year. And "since I was virtually done with my task then I had time to take on this new task as well. " (OK maybe I said I could probably do it) But as I left I began to regret my decision. I dreamed about putting that silly book together for several nights in a row. However, there was nothing I could do because I had to wait for school to open back up after the long weekend. Zane was suppose to have brought some of the needed papers home and he had left them in his desk on Friday. So my 3 day weekend that I had decided I would accomplish most of the task was lost.

So today I spent 99% of my day working on this book. I have almost all of it typed and printed out. T omorrow morning 6 other moms are coming over to help assemble these wonderful masterpieces that I am sure the children will treasure for all eternity and squeal in delight at the mere sight of them.

Now once I get this finshed I can go back and finish up the DVD.......Then I'll try to find time to book plane tickets, pack, cook and get to the store to buy underwear. (FOR TY) I realized today that he'll need some. 3 year olds typically don't wear diapers. (Let's hope not anyway)

A Mug please, I need a mug........

It's Plane Ticket Buyin' time

We can't believe that this week we will be buying tickets to China. It seems like we've waited forever but then again the time has just flown by. Many of you have seen the cookbook pictured above. It's a book my mom put together of all our family's favorite recipes. Plus other easy to make favorites. They are all real recipes( no strange ingredients)

The completeion of the book came just a few weeks ago and my mom offered to give Zane the profits from the book to help buy his plane ticket. So, if I have failed to offer you the chance to purchase one of the books, by all means contact me and I will get one ( or five) delivered to your house. We are selling them for $12 each. I can also mail them for $2 if you live away.
e-mail me dszkwalling@kingwoodcable.com

TA Came

Friday afternoon we received the long awaited Call. We now have our TA (Travel Approval) The country of China has now officially invited us into the country to complete the adoption. It looks as if we will travel June 13th. Our agency is requesting our exit interview that will take place on the last day of the trip. We will know this week, which day will be our last day in China as well. THREE WEEKS! Just THREE MORE WEEKS!

Homestudy Addendum

Because we moved after the original homestudy was written we had to do a Homestudy Addendum. It is a one page report that we will have to hand carry to China with us. Then we will present it at the appropriate time. So, it was all hands on deck Sunday night to whip the place into shape. It's amazing when you have 6 people working how much can get accomplished. It's simple math really but always amazes me.
6 People + 1hour each = 6 hours of work Mom didn't have to do on Monday

So, I thought I'd post a picture of the girls room. Look how cute the little pictures hanging over the bed are. Debbie Terzian painted these for the girls a few months ago. They go perfectly in their room. So, what did I do with my day instead of clean?

I worked on Ty's quilt. I now have every piece of fabric that I have received cut and ready to sew into the blocks. I can't wait to get it done. It's looking really neat.

A Girls Day at Home (and Wal-Mart)

Kaylee had a 24 hour fever virus and wasn't able to go to school. But because she needed to be free of fever for 24 hrs she wasn't able to return to school for another full day. So, we had a great day at home. The girls played and played and played with their American Girl dolls. They were quite the dutiful mommies.

We needed a few groceries so we headed over to Super Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. Kaylee has always had a thing for shoes so when we passed the shoe aisle she wanted to "just" try a few one.

It was all over when we saw these. And they had matching ones for Mia

After lunch they spent a few hours drawing and coloring(wearing the new shoes of course) I don't think we made it out of the parking lot before they had already changed.

And it wasn't ALL girl shopping. Ty even scored his first new shirt. I haven't bought anything for him yet because I'm not sure what size he'll be. But when we saw this Astros jersey we knew he had to have it.

Out with the old... In with the New

Today was a day of closure. This morning we closed on our other house. So we are now the proud owners of just ONE house in Texas!!! Woo Hoo! I can't believe we first put the house on the market in Sept and are just now selling it. It has been a long road......

And speaking of road.... Look who's going to be stylin' on the roads around here. David finally broke down and bought a new car. His gold camry was a 1998 and had 180,000+ miles on it.
So, today we also said good bye to the gold Camry.

He spends so much time on the road, his car could be considered his office. (I'm sure all you windshield cowboys can relate) He is so excited with his brand new 2009 Toyota Camry. It has a hidden IPod jack and leather seats. And Yes, It has the new car smell.

China Earthquake

As the news breaks this morning about the Earthquake in China I thought I would show how close it is to Ty. We are praying that he is safe and was not harmed. The earthquake occured in the peach colored province of Schiuan. Ty is in the darker blue province just south of it in Guizhou.

Our little boy is 3 years old now. Saturday was his 3rd birthday. We missed the first 3 but he'll be with us for all the rest.

Happy Mother's Day

This morning in church Pastor encouraged us to write a tribute to our mothers. I actually had been thinking about this earlier in the shower so I knew it was meant for me. He even read to us the tribute(letter) he had written to his mother. So, even though I was able to spend the last 4 days with my mom, I thought I'd write out a few things here. We all know I'm to cheap for cards. (Hallmark never would have been around if I thought of it first)

Anway, I believe I have the greatest mom in the world. She is caring, loving and has taught me many things. She taught me to be independent, to be assertive and to be helpful to anyone that needs help.

During elementary school, she taught at the school and I always had someone to hug at the end of the day, and didn't have to go home to an empty house. During Middle school, she spent countless hours reading the encyclopedia about the Country of Turkey so that she could explain it to me and then I could write the reports. During High school, she spent many hours counting Band money and working in the concessions stand. And during early marriage she spent hours cooking for David and I and knowing when to stand back and let us handle it. And in recent years I watched how my mom took care of my Granny through all of her last years and days. Her commitment will leave a legacy for me, my kids, and all who witnessed it.

I got my love of crafting and organizing from her. I can hold a garage sale on my own and now know how to cook (after a lot of phone calls for advice.) I can make a stick horse and paint an apple tote bag without instructions.

But the biggest thing she's ever done for me is raising me in a home that loved Jesus. One that respected elders and went to church. I always felt love and nothing else in our home.

So now that it's my turn to raise my kids in a loving home I often stop to think what would my mom have done? I want each of my kids to feel equally as spoiled and loved as I did. (without the rotten attached)

And even today as the attention could have turned completely from me to the grandkids I feel just as special. Because I know that my Mom is always there to support me. She takes good care of me and helps out just as much as possible. (with the kids, laundry, cooking, and letting me take a nap) And also, she's the first one I want to call when the good...... and the bad stuff happens.

I Love you Mom (and My friends are right......I am spoiled and truly blessed when it comes to Moms!)

Traveling

We were just informed of our travel group to China. There are 5 families and we are literally from around the US. Salem, OR / Canton, OH, /Tallahassee, FL/ Cumming, GA / and Texas. The only region not represented is the NE.
Some of the families have started corresponding through e-mail and it seems like most of the families have other children already. In fact at least 3 of the siblings (+Zane) will be traveling as well. Of the children that are being adopted there will be a 12yr old girl, 5 yr. old girl, 3 yr old boy(Ty) and a 2 yr old boy. (One family we haven't heard from yet)
Last time we really enjoyed our travel group, they were such a Godly group of people. It is such a special experience, and when you share it with someone, it makes complete strangers life-long friends.
Gettin' more excited by the day!

Q: What can 78 cents buy you?

A: One can of Shaving cream. And a WHOLE lot of fun

Zane and his friend Taylor get a little practice for the not so distant future. (Wah! Wah!...not ready for this)

Grinning from ear to ear.....

It CAME!!! Our LOC (Letter of Confirmation) came today. Tiffany from AGCI called about 1:20 to let us know that she had just received it from China. So it looks like the countdown is on. We should travel about 6 weeks from now! THAT'S JUNE!!!!!

$2 VS $200

About 2 months ago Zane stepped on a pretty big stick. It went right into the pad of his foot right under his toes. I pulled out the stick and cleaned it out to the best of my ability. Then we waited for it to heal.
When he wears socks and shoes it doesn't hurt him but I noticed that barefooted he would always limp. So, on Monday I took him to the doctor. The Doc said that if there is something in there a Podiatrist would have to be the one to remove it. But he suggested an X-ray, antibiotics, a topical cream and soaking it in Epsom Salt. (let's cover all the bases here) We went to the hospital and waited almost 2 hrs to complete the X-Ray. Then began the soaking process 2 times a day. (The doctor suggested 4 times but Zane wouldn't agree to take the bucket to school,ha!)

The Doctor's office called to say that the X-ray didn't show anything in his foot. (of course this is the same hospital that said Trent's leg wasn't broken)

After talking with a friend she said to continue soaking it because the Epsom salt would cause his body to get rid of it. On the second day Zane showed me a black thing under the surface of the skin. So, with David operating the flashlight and holding the foot down, I began to prick the skin with a needle and what should appear but a good size splinter.
Hopefully now his foot can truly heal.

I've never bought Epsom salt before but apparently it has many healing properties. According to the bag it's good for soaking sprains, a laxative, and great on your shrubs and flowering plants, and I guess we can add to the list expelling splinters. Hmm! Who knew?

So $2 for the Epsom salt or $200 for the X-ray. I always do love a good bargain.
(No pictures for obvious reasons)

Ty's 100 Good Wishes Quilt

Ty's 100 Good Wishes quilt is off to a good start. If you want to see all the fabric's then click over to his site.
Here are the directions if you would like to join in:

The colors are Navy, Brick red, Khaki, Lime green and butter yellow. Anything with those colors and appropriate for a boy will do.(please no flowers or ballerinas) Below are the "official" instructions. Thanks for being a part of this.

To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or 100 Good Wishes Quilt. It is a custom to invite 100 people to contribute a single square patch of cloth. These quilts were originally made from garments of family and friends, which would surround the child with luck/energy of the people who wore these clothes when she is wrapped in the quilt . The 100 patches are sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. Part of the patch of cloth goes into the quilt for the baby, and the other part of the cloth will go into a creative memory notebook with the wish for the child. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation.

We would like to ask you to be a part of this tradition as we assemble a quilt for our new son, Ty waiting in China. Along with a piece of fabric please send a small note card with your good wishes, name and a small swatch of the fabric glued or stapled to it. We will make a book with the cards so he will be one day be able to identify where each piece of his quilt came from.

Ideas for selecting fabric:
100% cotton fabric is best, as it washes and wears better.
Purchasing new fabric is GREAT! There are so many types of prints to choose from. If you are purchasing new fabric have the salesperson cut only ¼ of a yard. (Or you can purchase something called a “Fat Quarter” at many stores like Michaels, JoAnns, WalMart.)
I only need about a 6” square but any remnants can be used for the borders. Don't wash it please
The color scheme is Navy, Brick red, lime green, khaki and butter yellow
Include a little note with your name and a picture if you've got one. A 4x6 index card will work fine.
Please do as many squares as your family would like. You can choose to do one square from your entire family or let each person choose their own fabric and send multiple squares.
Email or call me if you have questions dszkwalling@kingwoodcable.com

Due Date May 10th. (Sorry it has to be so early but I would really like to get the quilt made before our trip to China) If you live near me you can definitely hand it to me or if you live in Westlake and don’t want to mail it then you can drop it by Mom’s house.

How much longer?

We get this questions often. And the answer is not a simple one.

We are 11 weeks into a 12 - 17 week wait for our Letter of Confirmation. Then once that is received we will tentatively travel 6 weeks later. If everything goes as planned, means we will travel sometime between late June and late July.
Hopefully we will be home before the official start of the Olypmics.
The olympics begin 08-08-08.

August 8th, Hmmm....that date sounds familiar. Surely if the Chinese officials knew that was my birthday they would let me travel now. The number 8 is Very Lucky. So I must be too.

She speaks the Truth

Mia was happily eating a happy meal in the back seat

and I said, "Can Mommy have a french fry?"

Mia says "Yes, and hands me ONE"

I said, "Can I please have more than One?"

Mia replies, "If you break that one in half you will have Two"

Interesting

National Geographic magazine’s May 2008 issue is devoted to China! I thought I would share some of the facts in this issue. If you have a chance go and pick it up!

1. China’s one child policy created a generation of only children that numbers 90 million.
2. 119 baby boys are born for every 100 girls.
3. The number of unmarried young men – called bare branches – is predicted to be 30 million by 2020.
4. 45 percent of Chinese women surveyed say they do not want to give up their careers to get married.
5. Three in ten Chinese families have grandparents living in the same household.
6. Beijing enforces a one-dog policy that prohibits pets more than 14 inches high.
7. China is expected to overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest economy in ten years
8. China has the world’s highest number of annual deaths triggered by air pollution
9. Urban Chinese earn more than three times as much as those in rural areas, the highest income gap since the start of reforms in 1978
10. Public protests rose by 50 percent last year.
11. On in four residents of Beijing is a migrant from the country.
12. 67percent of millionaires surveyed say they are sacrificing health for money.
13. China has the world’s largest number of Internet users - 220 million – surpassing Web surfers in the U.S.
14. Authorities have added 171 new pop culture phrases to China’s national language registry.
15. Cell phones in China have grown from 87 million in 2000 to 432 million.
16. Today31 percent of Chinese 16 or older say they are religious, four times the official estimate a decade ago.

Go Fish

The kids have been wanting to have fish. I grew up having goldfish so I thought it would be fun to set up an aquarium. We went to PetsMart and I had decided to let everyone pick out 2 fish for the tank. But then as we looked we found several guppies that we all liked. Then when I informed them that guppies reproduce easily and that we could have baby fish it was all over. Everyone changed their minds to guppies.

With the advice of the store clerk we asked for 2 males and 4 females. (He said If there are to many males they will fight each other, (no joke here make your own up) )

So on the drive home the kids were excited and called Nana to fill her in on the new "pets" Then when I was talking to her I said I hope now that we can get them to breed. She responded, "Well as prolific as you and David seem to be you shouldn't have a problem" Ha! Ha! Yeah, thanks.

So about 3 hours later Zane says how many fish did we buy?6 . Well there are seven now? Seven? OK so the guy must have mis counted or slipped us an extra one.
Then that evening someone discovers there are babies. What Babies already?

So here is a break down of the last few days. People we are literally going to be swimming in guppies around here soon.

Day 1 - home from the store 6 fish
Day 1 +3 hrs 7 fish
Day 1 + 6 hrs. 7 fish 4 babies
Day 2 7 fish 5 babies
Day 3 7 fish 6 babies

I think the babies have been there all along but they are just now getting big enough to see. Maybe they came in with the tank water from the bag.

David says if we keep going at this rate we can open our own store. We haven't decided on the name for the store but we'll keep you posted.

Another Teacher in the family?

Each student in Kaylee's class had to do a report on a country. Kaylee chose Scotland. She then had to present her project to the class. On her poster board she had a picture of the flag, Queen Elizabeth II, a guy in a kilt playing bagpipes and some examples of different plaids. She did such a great job. She remembered all of it and really seemed to enjoy "teaching" everyone. She even had a red pointer that she brought from home.

As a part of Scotland's traditions she told them how many people have Tea and Crackers. So I brought 26 glass tea cups and saucers. I had to scrounge around to get that many but locally goodwill had the last few I needed for .25 each. The kids all loved drinking tea from the fancy cups. We were also able to find some English Cookies at Fiesta grocery store

Sra. Buitano told them that they all had to drink with their pinkies up. It was fun watching the boys try this.

Go Rocket

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Princess?

Mia is so into Princesses. Every day she tells me, "Mommy, I want to be a real princess." Of course I always tell her "Mommy thinks you're a princess"

Of all the princesses, Cinderella is hands down her favorite. But a few days ago she annouced, "I have decided to be Snow White. And mommy you can be Cinderella"

When I asked why she said, "Snow White has black hair like I do. And Cinderella does all the cooking and laundry like you do."

.....Hey wait...... maybe I want to be Snow White too!!! I could use a few working dwarfs around here.

It's the week for 11

Our previous neighbor had a dog named Molly. She was a yellow lab that looked almost exactly like Rocket. (In fact several times we would see her running through our front yard and think Rocket was out.) She was young and had not been fixed. Rocket, who had never been a digger before, suddenly kicked it into high gear. There were about 3 days in a row that he and Molly had been found "together" On one such occasion I found them more than a little together. However, we won't go there because I am still trying to block the visuals from my memory. Plus, it may have been the most challenging disucssion I've ever had with Trent. I really did my best not to lie, but frankly he wasn't ready for the truth.

Fast forward two months.......... we went over to the old house to do some pressure washing and found out that Rocket had been the proud father of 11 puppies. 8 of them survived and they all were light brown/yellow like he and Molly.
They had sold all but 3 of them. The kids had a blast playing with the puppies. Mia was content with petting them and letting them nibble the edge of her dress.

Yes, of course they all wanted one. But the answer was a firm NO!

He's the Same Forward and Backward

Zane had a great 11th Birthday. The weather was perfect and we heated the pool for a fun afternoon. The kids had a blast squirting the water guns. We also played a few "messy" games. There was whip cream and shaving cream and Ice Cream!!!! The kids at the party were all Zane's classmates. They have all been together since the 1st grade. They are all in the Spanish Immersion program. In first grade it started with 25 students and now it's down to 13. It was a nice relaxing party and I can tell we're going to have a lot of fun this summer with the pool.

Playgroup comes visiting

We had a few friends and moms over today for playgroup. It was a lot of fun. And since Gayla did such a great job of blogging it already, just hop over to her blog and read all about it.
But wait, read this first

Three things I need to add to the day's events are:
1. Apparently the middle of the hot tub is a little deeper than the step and Amy was the first one to discover this. So, her mom had to get all the way in, clothes and all!!!
2. The kids were served the PB&J's. I did serve something different to the adults(ckn. salad) Even though some of the moms acted like kids and refused to eat my ckn salad!!
3. I beat Deborah at a game of pool. (this was my first win ever) But who's keeping score?

FINALLY!!!

This girl has wanted a tooth to come out for months. I think the primary reason is the whole Tooth Fairy = CASH!!! So when one tooth finally became somewhat loose, she pushed and pulled on it, she tied dental floss to it, she ate the hardest apples she could find and then with a little assistance from mom the tooth finally came out.

I could never do it

Why I could never be a newscaster or model for that matter. Watch this