Journey with Reese Maleah KaiJin

Wedding

2012-01-24T23:48:00.000-06:00

Mom and I

Dad and I

Joseph and I

Reese getting ready before the wedding

Mom and Reese dancing

The ceremony (yep, my guys wore kilts)

As some of you may remember, I got engaged in July 2010. Well, the wedding happened Dec 17, 2011. Here are some pictures courtesy of our amazing photographer, Crystal Goss. I did not take any of these pictures, they are all her doing.

Reese was the flower girl. We got her dress and Mom's (and my bridesmaids' but you can't really see them in the pictures) at David's Bridal. My dress came from Low's Bridal in Brinkley, AR. The guys' kilts came from Kilt Rental USA. The wedding took place at the Albert Pike Hotel in downtown Little Rock, AR. The awesome lighting (and our DJ, Joe Snell) was courtesy of Central Arkansas Entertainment.

It was an amazing wedding, and I'm so glad that everyone who could come did. When I get access to more, I'll post more pictures (I know all of you come here to see Reese not me. :D )

As an aside, Reese is seeing a new eye doctor here, one who can deal with it and do the surgeries she needs if she ends up needing them for her glaucoma. Her pressures are up right now, so we're working really hard on doing her eye drops to bring them down. If that doesn't work (and therefore the drops aren't doing their job), we're going to be looking at taking some kind of pill. And then if the pill doesn't work, we're looking at surgery. So we're hoping the drops work and bring it down adequately. Reese is also having a laser treatment done on Friday, January 27. Seeing as I don't live at home right now, and Reese is old enough now to feel self-conscious post-laser, I doubt there will be any pictures of her in recovery-stage. But maybe you can look at older pictures and see how much lightening there is after it has healed.

2012-01-09T21:29:00.002-06:00

Reese channeling her inner "Vanna White" at the tree farm. And as the flower girl at Monica's wedding.

New year's update

2012-01-09T21:11:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year...from our herd to yours! (this post is from Cheryl, the mama of Reese)

Okay-these are not my cows. They belong to Jeff. But they make a nice backdrop. This picture was taken Thanksgiving 2011 by Lacey's Scott. (We have lots of Scotts. Scott Ryan, Monica and Reese's brother; Scott Smith,Dixie's husband, and Reese's uncle; and Scott Meislohn, Lacey's Scott. All wonderful guys:-)

Reese is taking Irish dance and gymnastics. She is home-schooling with her happily retired dad, who keeps the home fires burning while I deliver mail through rain, sleet, snow, etc. I highly recommend having a retired husband.

Reese was Monica's flower girl at her wedding on December 17,2011. Just days before we welcomed a new granddaughter, Emilee. We are waiting the arrival of another one, AvaGrace, in about a month. More pictures soon...

Reese and I at Taylor Swift

2011-10-15T01:05:00.000-05:00

Reese's 7th Birthday

2011-10-15T01:02:00.000-05:00

Reese being a pain about blowing out her candles (read: not trying)


Mom showing off Reese's present, since Reese refused.

Yes, this post is about a week late. Reese turned 7 on October 8.

Reese was less than cooperative in the picture area this year on her birthday. For her actual birthday, we kept it simple. Cake and opening her present. Earlier in the week, Joseph and I had taken her to the Taylor Swift concert in town as our gift to her for her 7th birthday. But she got a Fijit and accessories from Mom and Dad on her birthday. Our big girl is now 7. That's 4 birthdays at home.

She's having a birthday party with friends next weekend, so hopefully I can get some better pictures then. She just wasn't being helpful in that area.

Happy birthday, Reese!

As for the lack of posting, it's been busy with wedding planning around here. Also, around the beginning of September, my fiance and I moved out of my parents' house into an apartment, so I'm not around Reese a lot any more either. So less opportunities for pictures as well.

Kaleigh's Birthday Party

2011-07-21T13:39:00.002-05:00

Reese can do the splits now

Joseph took these pictures with his video camera at Kaleigh's party

Given that it has been really hot here lately, going swimming was awesome. The water was an awesome temperature. The pool was shaded so it wasn't in direct sunlight (awesome when you burn as quickly as I do). Kaleigh turned 6, and she had a spiderman cake.

Reese loves to swim, and there was a 3 foot section, so she was pretty much free to do as she pleased in that area. Joseph and I ventured to the 9 foot section some, and frequented the 5 foot. There was also a slide, which was just tons of fun. I went down it, Joseph went down it, Reese refused to because the kid is afraid of her face getting in the water. So she missed out on the fun because her head *might* have gone underwater for half a second when she was in her life jacket.

We're homeschooling Reese this fall, and she's going to a homeschool program on Mondays not far from where we live. So her school starts back on August 1. Joseph, Mom, and I return on August 18. Reese is going into 1st grade. Her reading is amazingly good, and she's recently taken to drawing quite a bit. Her last 2 pieces have been renditions of the same parrot. No idea why she picked a parrot, but she did. I'm starting my junior year of college, and beginning to think about what I want to do with my life as far as jobs and grad school. I honestly have no idea. Adoption seems like a flooded field, and I'm not sure I want to be a professor. I'm somewhat looking at perhaps working at a library at the moment. I worked at one when I was 16, and I enjoyed it. I love books, and I love the usually calm setting of a library. Maybe I could even have a library one day that had a library cat. :)

RIP Chi-Chi

2011-07-05T21:43:00.001-05:00

Oct. 31, 2006-July 5, 2011

Chi-Chi (right) and her sister, Elsie, shortly after I got them in 2006.

Chi-Chi shortly before I took her to the ER on July 4.

Chi-Chi in June 2011 (instagram picture)


Chi-Chi on my bed a few years ago

I miss her. I miss her terribly. Every thought brings tears. I want to remember. I don't want to forget a thing about her. We called her Chi-Chi, but her full name was Chidori, which is Japanese for 1000 chirping birds. When she was little, her meow sounded like birds, and she was very vocal. That changed little as she got older. We adopted her from a lady whose daughter didn't take care of her cats. Her cat had babies, and the daughter had left them there with no food or water. The mother found them, and brought them home to find forever homes. Chi-Chi and Elsie found it with me.

I want to remember how she looked, how she smelled, how she acted. How she slept by my hip. Her meow. The way she loved to be on my shelves and annoy me by knocking things off. The way she loved to drink water from the bathroom faucet and would run me over to get in there in case I turned it on. How soft she was. Her teardrop at the corner of her left eye echoed now by my own.

She died of pulmonary edema and congenital heart failure. There is no official diagnosis of why, but based on some google searches, Joseph and I suspect acute renal/kidney failure. She was too dehydrated for them to get a blood draw, so all they had to go by was the x-ray.

I took her to the vet Thursday because she'd been acting annoying, and peeing outside of the litter box more often than usual. She had no urine in her bladder, so they kept her overnight to get a urinalysis. Friday morning they gave her a medicine called Lasix to make her go pee, and they determined she had a low-grade urinary tract infection (UTI). They gave me a bag of special food for her to eat, and Clavamox for the infection. We took her home, put her in Reese's room, and she turned her nose up at the food, but she was at least drinking some. As Saturday came, and then Sunday, she was still not eating (even wet food I got her) and not drinking without a lot of pressure to. I was forcing some water down her through, but not enough. Monday, she was not wanting to drink or do much of anything. She just did not look well. I kept thinking, well, I'll call the vet first thing in the morning. We got some water in her, and Mom, Dad, and Reese left to go to the movies. Chi-Chi was sitting by Joseph and I and after a while, she got up and went and laid down under the side table. Then she moved a bit of the way up the cat tree, then later a little further. She obviously did not feel good. I gave her her medicine, and she threw it up, along with much of the water we gave her. She was breathing hard, and did not look well at all, so we took her to the Kitty ER. They did all the good for her, but she was a very sick kitty by then. Low body temperature (at least 91*, their thermometers didn't go lower), low blood pressure, dehydration, high respiration, barely responsive. I was told she likely wouldn't make the night. And she didn't. I got the call at 12:09 they were doing resuscitation and did I want them to continue.

The worst words ever are: "Just let her go."

Most of you don't care about all of this, but I am writing this to remember it all.

She loved yogurt. She loved to drink water straight for the faucet. She loved to lie on my bookshelf, and if there was anything to knock over, knock it over. She liked to lie on my jeans on the shelf. She liked to sit under the light on my side table. She slept by my hip. She was incredibly tolerating, and she had recently had become designated "Reese's kitty". She liked to lie on people's laps, and sleep on the back of the couch and the arm of it. She would follow me into the bathroom and nearly kill me by running under my feet hoping I would turn on the water faucet. She loved canned cat food.

She is sorely missed, and currently, my grief has no bounds. I pray it will get better with time, but it's hard to see a positive right now. I hope her last few days weren't painful, even if they weren't amazing. Up the last, she would purr when petted and was very caring. She was the best kitty I could have asked for.

Dad's Retirement

2011-06-05T21:18:00.000-05:00

Getting a Certificate for 33 years of service

One of my parents' bosses, Mom, and Dad

Dad

Reese got to help Dad sort mail on his last day

Helping some more


The cake. Another man, Leon, retired that day too.

Our dad retired on June 3, after ~33 years of service to the United States Postal Service. Given the upcoming heat, he's thrilled to be done with it. He can go outside and work in the heat and come back in whenever he likes now. :) My mother, in light of highs in the upper 90s this coming week, is counting down her 11 years and 11 months left before she is eligible for retirement.

Reese helped Dad sort mail some on his last day while we were there for the party. I don't know how often, if at all, she's done that. I did it relatively frequently as a child. It was fun. Reese seemed to enjoy it, and I definitely remember enjoying it.

Happy Retirement, Daddy!

Kindergarten Graduation

2011-06-01T18:18:00.001-05:00

Getting her diploma and award

Waiting to start performing

Yesterday (May 31), Reese's school had a kindergarten graduation. Reese got a kindergarten diploma and an "Outstanding Reading Accomplishment" Award. I knew she read well, but I didn't know she necessarily read better than most kindergarteners. The award pretty much says she does. So I'm so proud. She's from a family of bookworms, so we're proud of reading capabilities. :) She did really well this year in kindergarten. She was just short of where she should be at the end of the year, at the beginning of the year. She aced many of those tests, that they do about 3 times a year, at the beginning, mid-term, and at the end, to see how the kids are doing, and that they are learning what they should be.

They did a few little song and dance numbers, and it was cute.

4th Forever Family Day

2011-05-28T11:55:00.001-05:00

May 28, 2007

May 29,2007

May 2008

May 2009

May 2010

May 2011

Today we have had Reese for 4 years. She's gone from a 2.5 year old toddler, to a 6.5 year old grade-schooler, who will start 1st grade in the fall. She's speaks English fluently. She's gone from 18 months/24 months/2T to size 8/10. She's now around 4 feet tall, and 60-ish pounds. It's odd to see how much she's lost her baby face since this time last year, going from age 5.5 to 6.5. She now takes Irish dance and gymnastics. We got her on May 28, making her "our's" 4 years ago today.

She's incredibly smart. Beginning of the year testing for kindergarten had her pretty much where she should be at the end of the year at the beginning of it. She's reading well now, and just about everything she sees, but she prefers to read books to people, not alone. Her favorite TV show is Spongebob Squarepants (gah), and she's a complete diva. Such a girly-girl. I often am not sure what to do with her, because I was never that girly. I was pretty much the complete opposite.

This year has a lot in store: she'll start 1st grade, and she'll get to be a flower girl in my wedding. And that's just what we know is in store.

Happy 4th Forever Family Day to sweet Reese Maleah KaiJin Davidson.

Spring Olympics and Greek Food Festival

2011-05-23T21:12:00.001-05:00

Reese dancing at Greek Food Festival

With her trophy at the end...Everyone got a trophy.

Hopping over beanie babies...

Walking backwards on the balance beam

Running to her spot

Saturday started early. Reese had Spring Olympics at the gymnastics studio she goes to. Basically, it was an opportunity for parents to see what their kids have learned since they started, typically either at the beginning of the spring semester or in the fall. Reese has been going since the fall. It was cute. Reese had to hop over beanie babies on a foot wide balance beam, walk backwards on a normal one, then walk forwards while kicking one leg forward as she walked. Then, with the teacher spotting, she walked sideways on the high beam. Then over to tramp where she showed she could bounce, and then do the jump where you bounce down, land on your butt, and then land on your feet. There was some running and jumping in that area. Then to the next area, where she spun around on the rings, and then around on a miniature set of bars. Next was over to floor, where she did a little dance, showed she could do somersaults, a cartwheel, and a back roll. Maybe more, I don't remember. It was cute. Everyone got a trophy at the end.

After that, we went to lunch, then to a final practice before we went to perform at Greek Food Festival, I only posted one shot from there because they're all from a distance, and basically the same thing. :) Reese, Joseph, and I all performed. It's fun, and everyone seems to enjoy watching us perform. Irish dance tends to enthrall people often. :)

Reese was given a bracelet by a lady who worked at Greek Food Fest, for a promise to "not ever hate herself". According to Reese. I wasn't there and didn't hear it. Pretty poignant. I can wager why the lady made her promise that. With a special need as obvious as Reese's, as she gets older it's likely to get harder to hold herself in a good self-esteem. Child has plenty of self-esteem right now, which is great. She loves nothing more than to look at herself in the mirror.

Birthday Party

2011-05-22T12:29:00.000-05:00

A bunch of deflated (unstuffed) Fudgy Puppies


Deflated Fudgy Puppy on Reese's head

Reese went to a birthday party for a girl in her class last weekend at Build-A-Bear. She had a lot of fun. Everyone got to make a "bear", although the options within the party's price range went from bunny to bear to puppy. They got to pick an outfit, which ranged from dresses to pj's to boys' outfits. It was fun. I'd never been to a Build-A-Bear party, but it's a cute idea. Only downside is, the Build-A-Bear stores don't have a place for the cake. You have to go down to the food court for the cake, but that still wasn't too bad.

The Promised Easter Pics

2011-05-14T00:31:00.000-05:00

Reese and our cousin, Caroline

I didn't go with the family to D-ville for Easter because I had a ton of schoolwork to do (what is with Easter coming at the busiest time of semester? sheesh...), so I stayed home. But here are some of the pics my Mom brought home.

Rain, rain, go away

2011-05-01T13:47:00.000-05:00

It has rained a ton over the last few days/weeks, and we've had tornadoes. The ground is completely saturated, and today and tonight, we have a 90% chance of rain, and tomorrow an 80% chance. But my backyard is a pond at the moment. To give you guys who don't live around central Arkansas an idea of what's going on, here are some of my friend's Facebook statuses:

"My poor neighbors had to park their cars at my house and bring the boat out so they can get out if they need to. Sucks to live in the flood plain like they do... but glad my house is at the top of the hill!"

"We're hearing reports that several areas have been affected by flooding. Those include 67/167 from Jacksonville to Cabot, Highway 10 west of the LR city limit, Boyle Park and portions of Jacksonville." -a local radio station

"PET EMERGENCY:The arena where the tornado rescue dogs are being kept is taking on water fast. We are needing people with trucks or trailers to come to the Wal-Mart on Harkrider in Conway. They are donating approx 100 pallets so that we can get the dog crates off the ground." -Joey the Garden Cat

"Lovely, they won't let you out of Cabot because it's flooded all around."

"has gotta get back into Jonesboro come hell or HIGH WATER."

"FYI - Pinnacle Mountain State Park is currently closed due to limited access caused by flooding."

Anyway, you get the idea...

https://www.facebook.com/mldavidson2009/posts/1686414842208?notif_t=feed_comment#!/photo.php?fbid=10150231637658554&set=a.88702903553.101952.68455493553&type=1&theater

Here's a picture that might pull up, I'm not sure. This isn't close to us, but here's the caption" 67/167 between Cabot and Jacksonville closed. Both South and Northbound. Access road on west side of 67/167 is closed also."

When I get a cord to connect my CF card reader to my computer, I'll post pictures from Easter. :)

Laser Treatment

2011-04-15T12:20:00.000-05:00

Reese had another laser treatment this morning. According to my mom, the first 30 minutes after she came out from under anasthesia were hell. They didn't give her morphine while in the OR this time (they did last time), so she was in a fair bit of pain afterward. So this is pretty much the face of pitiful. I think this is something like her 14th laser treatment on her face.

Seeing as she's 6 now, I won't be taking pictures simply for updates' sake. If I happen to take a picture of her for other reasons, and post it, that's one thing, but she gets kind of self-conscious after her laser treatments. Understandably. It's rough for her, and little kids tend to ask questions, at best.

If you have a child with a birthmark, or are thinking of adopting a child with a birthmark, I am more than happy to speak with you. We've had Reese for almost 4 years now, so we're not exactly newbies to the whole thing. :) Most of her older laser treatments have pretty regular pictures showing how she healed up afterward. Keeping in mind that all children heal differently, those pictures are available as a resource. Also keeping in mind that her legs usually reacted really badly to laser, and that's not standard. However, if you have a child who is not Caucasian, I believe that possibility goes up for blistering and somewhat adverse reactions, as well as less lightening. The melanin reacts with the lasers in ways so that it doesn't always work quite so well as it does on paler children. These lasers are technically made for Caucasian people, not those who are darker, but it's what we've got.

Last night, we also had a good amount of bad weather. Lots of power lines down, lots of trees down, and currently 7 fatalities in our state, all except one from trees falling on houses. The last one was a double-wide trailer that flipped over. We're all fine, as is all of our family. Bad weather and tornadoes are extremely commonplace in Arkansas at this time of the year. So, yeah, lots of excitement for the next 5-6 months or so.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-15T19:43:00.000-05:00

Truck all rigged up for the parade

Reese in the parade

My friends, Robyn and Marisa (all of us in solo dresses)

Reese dancing after the parade


Helping blow up balloons to decorate the truck

It's a bit early, yes, but these are pictures from the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Little Rock. Our dance school, the McCafferty School of Irish Dance, was in the parade.

It was warm, about 70* or so, which is warm when it is sunny and you're running in spots to keep up with the parade, dancing, and wearing long-sleeves. And my solo dress is made of velvet. So yeah, warm.

It was better than rain, which we had in 2009 off and on, last year it was cold during the parade (several layers of clothing), and this year it was great temperature-wise, except that it was incredibly sunny, which led to me having a pretty decent sunburn (stupid me for not thinking of sunscreen).

Mozart's Requiem

2011-03-08T21:02:00.000-06:00

Mozart's Requiem

2011-03-06T20:24:00.000-06:00

Monday, March 7, 2011 7:30 p.m.
Robinson Center Music Hall, Downtown Little Rock
The UALR Community Chorus joins with the choirs of Little Rock’s Second Presbyterian Church — as well as six elite choirs from Parkview, J.A. Fair, Oak Grove, Hall, McClellan and Bryant high schools — and a professional orchestra to present a soul-stirring rendition of Mozart’s Requiem. This ambitious community-based production unites more than 300 central Arkansas musicians on the capital city’s most respected stage.

As Mozart’s final work before his untimely death at the age of 35, the Requiem has long captured public imagination because of the mysteries surrounding its composition. Yet the Requiem is a sophisticated piece of music on its own terms, projecting an otherworldly beauty even as it evokes a solemn vision of humanity’s final day of judgment. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience Mozart’s expressive masterpiece performed live!

You can purchase tickets here, only $10!

Joseph and I will be performing in this show, he as a bass and myself as a soprano. Everyone should come see!

Current Trends and Status in Chinese Adoption

2011-02-10T00:01:00.016-06:00

I wrote this for a class in college called "Writing for the Workplace", and it got an A, so I thought I would share it. It has some interesting information in it, if nothing else, and I thought maybe someone else would appreciate it. Please forgive the formatting issues for the bibliography, it didn't copy properly, and it didn't want to repair easily. But I assure you, it was done properly originally.

Current Trends and Status in Chinese Adoption

Annotated Bibliography
by
Monica D.

Askeland, Lori, and Elizabeth Bartholet. "International Adoption." Children and Youth in Adoption, Orphanages, and Foster Care: A Historical Handbook and Guide. Westport,     CT: Greenwood, 2006. Print.

This chapter details some of the reasons why international adoption came to be prevalent in many countries, as well as reasons for the closure and decrease of adoptions from some other countries. It also addresses the recent legal developments in the area of adoption, such as encouraging domestic adoption and providing more protections against the “selling” of children. These changes are addressed in the Hague Convention. Some of these factors may be affecting the formerly high number of children being adopted from China. The point of view from both the side of advocates for and against international adoption is mentioned.

"Country Specific Information for China." Department of State: Intercountry Adoption. Mar.     2010. Web. 01 Feb. 2011. .

The United States Department of State releases information on international adoption. This website displays the most recent information on procedures for adoption from China from a legal standpoint, as well as statistics for the amount of adoptions from China to the USA from 1999-2009. It includes information on the requirements to adopt from China, legal fees, how to obtain a visa to travel to China, finalizing the adoption process and obtaining the adopted child’s citizenship, and more.

Crary, David. "Adopting China's Special-needs Kids." Msnbc.com. 28 Mar. 2010. Web. 01 Feb.     2011. .

In the wake of an increasingly long wait for a young, non-special needs child, many couples seeking to adopt from China are turning to the special needs program and adopting children with special needs, ranging from minor to severe. This article tells of a family who adopted two girls, one with an underused right arm, and one with a now-repaired cleft palate; it also addresses other perspectives of people in the adoption community. Reputable sources in the article say that as many three out of every five adoptions from China today are special needs adoptions, with adoptions from China having plummeted 60% since its height in 2005. In some adoption agencies, perhaps even most, special needs adoptions comprise 50% of their caseloads.

Davidson, Cheryl. Personal Interview. 02 February 2011.

We discussed recent changes in the flow of adoptions from China, as well as the increase in acceptance towards deciding to adopt special needs kids. We spoke of personal adoption experiences, both of experiencing her own adoption and that of friends, and the way things have changed since she first became involved in the Chinese adoption community in Arkansas. Adoptions have slowed drastically, and families coming home with their children are few and far between. The lack of adoptions was a contributing factor to the end of the group, Families with Children from China-Central Arkansas, of which she was a member from 2004 until its end in early 2011.

Dowling, Monica, and Gill Brown. "Globalization and International Adoption from China."     Child & Family Social Work 14.3 (2009): 352-61. Print.

Globalization has made the adoption world much more acceptable and commonplace. This globalization has made there be closer links and understanding between various cultures, including that of America and China. Pursuing an adoption, and having to travel to China to receive one’s child, allows one to experience another culture on a level that books and movies cannot provide, allowing for more understanding and comprehension of the culture. This article also discusses the reasons behind infant abandonment in China, including the One-Child Policy and poverty, and how it is contributing to a wide gender gap in China, with as many as 145 boys being born in some areas to every 100 girls. Increasing domestic adoption within China is also addressed, as that is a key component to the lack of healthy babies available for adoption internationally. All of these components are crucial factors in the major slow down of Chinese adoptions from only a few years ago.

"Foreign Adoptions by Americans Hit 15-year Low - FoxNews.com." FoxNews.com. 31 Jan.     2011. Web. 01 Feb. 2011.
            americans-hit-year-low/>.

Foreign adoptions by Americans are at a 15-year low, with many countries having either closed their programs down or severely cutback the amount of children being adopted internationally. Chinese adoption has been steadily declining since 2005, Russian adoption was slowed down significantly by the highly-publicized story of the 7 year old boy shipped back to Russia alone for being “difficult”, and Guatemala all but halted adoptions due to alleged “baby selling”.

"Special Focus Child Adoption Program." Great Wall China Adoption. 22 Oct. 2010. Web. 01     Feb. 2011. .

In 2010, China initiated a new program to further encourage the adoptions of children deemed “special needs”. It is called the Special Focus Program, and it allows children who have been on the shared special needs list, a list of children available for adoption released to all licensed adoption agencies, for more than two months or who had attended a China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) “Hope Camp,” to be adopted by families who have their dossier in China already, or who can have a dossier completed in six months. A dossier is a collection of paperwork detailing information about the prospective parents’ health, monetary value, and their reasons for desiring to adopt a child. This project also allows families to adopt two unrelated children, at least one being a Special Focus child, to be adopted in one trip to China, though it does extend the length of the trip to China, as paperwork must be done in each child’s province; for a family to adopt a Special Focus child while remaining in line to wait for a non-special needs referral; and to allow a family who has returned home with a child to begin a second adoption of a Special Focus child within one year of returning home using their original dossier. This increases the desirability of adopting a special needs child, and also lessens the overall cost in some cases of adopting two children separately.

Summary and Conclusion

    Based on the referenced information, international adoption from China, as well as other countries, has dropped to a 15-year low. Adoptions from China to the United States of America reached an all-time high in 2005, topping out at over 7,900 children being brought home to the USA in that year. In 2009, the last year for which data is accessible, adoption dropped down some 60% to a mere 3,001 adoptions. Adoptions from China are processing through the China Center for Adoption Affairs, or CCAA, at a trickle, it seems, and adoptions are progressing slower and slower for families choosing to take on the non-special needs track, asking for a healthy baby, usually female and as young as possible, averaging between 6-12 months old at referral. Families with a Log-In Date, or LID, of their paperwork to China in 2006 are facing a minimum of a 4 year wait to referral, and the time frame for families logged in after 2006 is even longer. As a result of this massive slow down, many families are looking to the special needs track to adopt. Once a family switches to the special needs track, they can usually have a referral within 12-18 months. It is becoming a problem, however, that families are switching to special needs to shorten their wait without thinking of the possible consequences adopting a child with special needs can have. While many children have limited, minor special needs, such as cleft lip or cleft palate, or missing limbs, or birthmarks, some special needs can be much more severe, such as heart defects, blindness, deafness, and many other things. It is up to the family to decide what they are capable of handling, and some families do this more reasonably than others.
    With the increased wait for a non-special needs adoption, special needs adoptions have become the emphasis for adoption from China. Some agencies are no longer accepting applications for families wanting to adopt a non-special needs child, and some are reporting up to half of their caseload is involving special needs adoptions. More families are thinking about it and deciding that they could handle some special needs and switching to the special needs program. In contrast to 5 years ago, special needs adoptions outnumber non-special needs, though to what extent no one is sure, as the CCAA does not release this information. The CCAA has recently implemented new rules making it easier for the child who have special needs to be adopted, including allowing children who have been on the shared list, a list of special needs children available to be adopted made accessible to agencies, for more than two months, called Special Focus children, to be adopted by families as long as the family has a dossier in China, or can get one together in six months (former rules required families to have a dossier in China before submitting paperwork on a child, or only gave a very short three months to collect a large amount of paperwork). Families can also adopt two unrelated special needs children at one time, as long as one is a Special Focus child, and they can also return to China to adopt a Special Focus child within one year of having adopted another child using their old dossier. Formerly, families had to wait a year from returning home from China to start the process again, with new paperwork. Families are also now being allowed to adopt a Special Focus child, while keeping their dossier in line to adopt from the non-special needs track. All of these new rules have increased special needs adoptions further, even though these rules are still relatively new. Some professionals are theorizing that perhaps China is looking to phase out the non-special needs program and go to exclusively special needs, but nothing official has been said about such a thing.
    Anyone involved in the Chinese adoption world can speak to the fact that adoptions have slowed down drastically. “Why?” is a question difficultly answered. The CCAA holds to the fact that there are fewer girls being abandoned, leading to a lack of healthy baby girls to refer to a growing list of prospective parents. Some parents who have asked for a girl are even being referred boys, as the amount of healthy boys abandoned has seemed to have increased for a reasons no one can seem to pinpoint. Domestic adoption is also being encouraged in China, in keeping with the Hague Convention, which further decreases the amount of healthy babies available for international adoption. While the Chinese people are more and more willing to adopt healthy babies, most are not willing to take on the responsibility and cost of a special needs child. Therefore, the special needs children deemed eligible for international adoption are made available to adoption agencies worldwide to match with families.
    Current trends in Chinese adoption are a vast slow down of non-special needs adoptions, a vast increase in special needs adoptions, and overall lower number of children coming home to waiting families in the United States and other countries who participate in adoption from China, such as Norway, Sweden, England, Ireland, Spain, Canada, and more. China is pushing for more special needs adoptions, making them easier to do, and seemingly hoping for more people to choose to adopt special needs from the beginning or for families on the non-special needs track to switch to the special needs track. There is currently no sign of the non-special needs track speeding up, with only a few days worth of Log-In Dates being referred each month, and families are simply having to wait patiently until their day comes. Agencies, and the CCAA, are definitely encouraging the special needs track, as there are so many children with special needs, some of whom their special need is just the fact they are older and were not adopted as babies, that need homes.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2011-02-09T18:39:00.001-06:00

Sweet Mari-Grace, who arrived home last summer

Reese with Daddy

These are from Sunday, that I just hadn't gotten around to posting yet. It was our last FCC Chinese New Year celebration. Due to a dramatic decrease in Chinese adoptions, and lengthening waits for families who are adopting, we're reducing things down to a meal every 3-4 months, no celebrations, and no more waiting families meetings, and no annual dues for membership.

It was a fun celebration at a local Chinese restaurant with lots of cuties all dressed up. I simply love seeing girls dressed in those lovely qipaos, so many gorgeous colors and prints.

Snow storm...

2011-02-09T18:25:00.000-06:00

Like Reese's hat? It has bunny ears, but you can't see them.

You can see how deep it is here, almost over Reese's boots

About 11 am this morning (note the bowl at the bottom of the shot)

That same bowl at about 1 pm

About 12:45 pm

So Arkansas got hit by another snow storm. Totals today for our area (actually about a 20 minute drive from here) was around 5.8", which is A LOT for central Arkansas. Lots of fluffy, white snow. Our Dad measured and said that he measured it to be 7" in our yard, which wouldn't surprise me at all having walked out into it.

Reese played with a little girl and her brother today, which made the snow way more fun for her. She was saying it was "no fun" because Joseph and I wouldn't go out in it. I sprained my ankle Saturday and didn't want to risk twisting it again. The little girl is the cousin of some kids I played with a lot growing up, so it's kind of funny. :) They had fun, though. They played until the cold became intolerable, then Reese went to play at their house for a little while.

School was, obviously, cancelled today, and it is also cancelled tomorrow. Reese didn't have school Friday anyway, so she has no school for the rest of the week, or Monday! Lucky kid.

Happy Chinese New Year Eve!

2011-02-02T13:08:00.000-06:00

新年快乐！

I hope that says Happy New Year! I know the year part is right, lol.

Happy Lunar New Year Eve! Or at least that's how my Chinese teacher explained it. And Lao Shi (老师）was kind enough to give her dear students the day off in honor of Chinese New Year this year. Gotta love that.

Happy Year of the Metal Rabbit!

Header

2011-01-11T14:38:00.000-06:00

I made this using some of the pictures from the snow. I personally found it not to be pretty/intricate enough to use for an actual header, not to mention too short-lived since we very rarely get snow around here. But I made it, thought I'd share it. I was aiming for something more along the lines of the header over at Un Envie de Sel, but it failed epically pretty much. I just, currently, love the clean look of her blog, with it being mostly all white and all. Something kind of monotone. And I've had the same layout for like 8 months or something.

But anyway, what do you guys think of the header?

01/10/2011- Another Snow Day!

2011-01-11T14:05:00.000-06:00

Threatening to squish the base of the snowman we never finished...

Making a snow angel...

Making a snow ball

The snow ice cream we made

Yesterday (01/10/11) was another snow day, i.e. Reese was out of school. College doesn't start back until a week from today. The streets were mostly cleared in our neighborhood (until it refroze overnight), so we drove the block and a half up to the grocery store to get ingredients for chili. After we got home, we played in the snow for a while, with Reese and Joseph having a pretty decent snowball fight. My hands froze after making one snowball so I stayed off to the side and laughed. Because Joseph has good aim, and Reese doesn't. Except for from like a foot away.

We had chili for dinner and then I went out to gather a large amount of clean snow to try snow ice cream again. We used a can of condensed milk, not even 1/8 of a cup of sugar (our Sunday try at snow ice cream was way too gritty when we used normal milk and sugar), and a teaspoon of vanilla. We added just enough milk to make it easy to stir, probably around the same amount of milk as sugar. It turned out awesome, even looked like real ice cream. The picture above was taken with my iPhone, towards the end of the bowl. I forgot to take a picture before we dug into it. But it tasted awesome, and the texture was great.

Today, the snow is beginning to melt away, which is great for returning to school and all, but not so much for the fact that I love the way the snow looks. So pretty. Although no one in Arkansas appears to be capable of driving in it. It doesn't seem to occur to them to slow down in such conditions.

Snow!

2011-01-10T20:15:00.000-06:00

Early in the snow here in Arkansas

Myself in the snow on Sunday, 01/09/11

Reese in the snow. The sweater is the one her foster mother in China sent home with me in 2009, handmade by her foster mother.

Jumping on the trampoline in the snow to see if the snow would hop up (there was too much of it)

Kitty foot prints

Joseph wrote this on the hood of my parents' car, says 'M + J'

So, the snow did hit Arkansas yesterday, 01/09/11. I think we got around 7 inches total around here. A lot of snow, and it was the powdery kind, which Arkansas never seems to get, unless it is on top of ice. So then...snow is pretty pointless. Snowballs with ice mixed in hurts.

The snow fell from about 1:30 or 2 pm through a good chunk of the night, leaving us with around 7-8 inches of snow. We played in it, made some snowballs, wandered around outside, watched the snow fall. It was, and it, very gorgeous. Very fluffy.

We made snow ice cream, last night's attempt being less good than tonight's, but I'm going to do another post for today's adventures. :)

A Year in Review: 2010

2011-01-03T22:25:00.000-06:00

January

January started the new year. Going back to school, getting back into the swing of having to be there on time, and doing the homework. A new schedule for me (second semester of my freshman year of college), with new classes. And we went to (at least) 2 little kid birthday parties in the same weekend!

February

Chinese New Year was in February, and the dress Reese wore was one I bought her while in Pingyao in 2009. Absolutely gorgeous. Just sad that she couldn't wear it longer. It's supposed to be a print specific to Shanxi.

February also brought Reese's first feis (fesh), or Irish dance competition. She'd been taking classes for about 4 months, but watching since we got home from China in 2007. It also poured down snow that same weekend. We left a night early for the feis up in Branson, MO, so we would be sure to get there. It's a good thing, because a good chunk of our dance school from Fayetteville and Fort Smith did not get there. They were snowed in at home. That snowfall/ice kept us out of school here in central Arkansas for about a week, which is rare. We usually get out a day or two at most. ((Pictures of Reese in the snow are from up in Branson; we didn't get that much snow down here.))

March

March brought warmer weather, St. Patrick's Day, and another feis (or that may have been late February). As Irish dancers, we perform quite a bit on St. Patrick's Day/Weekend, usually the weekend is set around whenever the city plans for the parade. Our dance school participates in the St. Patrick's Day Parade and dances at the end. In 2010, we went from there to dance at an assisted living complex, and the next day, we danced at a local Catholic church for their St. Patrick's Day Mass. Mom, Reese, and I also went out a did a "photo shoot" at the Old Mill, which isn't too far from where we live. It was used as the intro in Gone with the Wind. Very pretty place.

April

In April, Joseph and I started dating. Completely out of left field, and that picture was taken about a week after that first date. I also attended a concert in Tulsa, OK, for my favorite band: 30 Seconds to Mars. I paid extra to get my picture taken with them and be part of the first group into the mosh pit. It was also my first time in the mosh pit. And for 30STM, it was epic. I can't wait to go to another concert of their's. Too bad they don't come near here much.

Our dance school also has a feis here locally in April; we participated in that. It was also Easter, so there was some cute photo shooting for that in between raining and looking for eggs.

We also lost my great-grandmother on April 12. She was 90-something years old. She's much missed. I also received an award for being one of the Top 25 GED scorers in 2009. I got a scholarship for that.

May

In May, Reese had field day at her school. You'll have to excuse horrid gymnasium lighting for the horrible picture. Joseph and I also took her rock climbing, with an actual person belaying her instead of a machine, in May. She had a bad experience at the Greek Food Festival with an auto-belay that let her fall like 3 feet. We had to repair that. She now loves rock climbing, though we don't get to do it often. Not enough time with school and all. Our Irish dance school also performed at the Greek Food Festival. Odd, I know, but that's how it is.

I completed my freshman year of college with a 4.0 GPA for the semester. I was quite excited.

In May, we also celebrated Reese's 3 year Gotcha Day. :)

June

June consisted of me getting up at 4:30 to be at Toltec Mounds Archaeological State Park by 7:30 am. For 2 weeks of June anyway, felt like a lot longer. I primarily helped in the lab, which was, in my opinion, way better than being out in the field where it topped out at 100+ degrees Farenheit while in direct sunlight...which most of the digging was. And I got to see all the nifty stuff that came in by being in the lab and getting to clean, sort, number, and baggy all of it. That was pretty cool.

July

July was definitely one of the more awesome months of 2010, as I got engaged, and we began looking at wedding venues (the picture up top is where we have picked). It was a most amazing proposal. Joseph definitely did well. A boat ride and dinner on the Arkansas Queen with an amazing view of the sunset over the Arkansas River, and then a ride in a horse-drawn carriage decorated with black and purple flowes with a white horse, where he later sang to me and proposed. The ring fit, which is amazing since my ring finger is tiny, but he got my mom's help on ring size. :-) So I am currently working on planning a wedding.

August

August brought looking at a view more wedding venues, which led to a trip down to Hot Springs where Reese got to feed koi fish. We also went to Memphis, TN, to see Reese's eye doctor (she has glaucoma in her right eye), and ventured to the zoo. It was stupidly hot, but could have been worse.

School started for all of us, with Reese beginning kindergarten at a new school (her old school was only K3 and Pre-K), and my beginning my sophomore year of college. It was hot. We had something like 90 days straight of 100+ degree temps over the summer.

I also found out in August that I got an unpaid internship at the Little Rock office of the Make-A-Wish Foundation: Mid-South Chapter.

September

In September, we traveled up to Kansas City, KS, for Labor Day. We competed in a feis there. It was Joseph's first time competing. He began Irish dance in May. We also attended the Kansas City Irish Fest while we were there. It occurs in conjunction with the Kansas City Feis.

In September, we also celebrated Moon Festival. And once again, it was hot. Not as brutally hot as it had been most of the summer, but pretty darn toasty. It was a lot cooler up in Kansas City.

October

On October 8, Reese turned 6 years old. That makes 4 birthdays she's had here at home with her family. She had a fun party with friends at a local gymnastics place around here where she takes gymnastics once a week.

We also went to the Little Rock Air Show in October. It was Reese's first air show, and I think she enjoyed it. It was fun. On the warm side, but not bad.

November

Not much happened in November of note. Reese lost both of her front (top) teeth, but other than that...it was just an insane time with the end of semester and all. Lots of school work to be done, lots of practicing for regionals in dance.

December

December brought regionals (Oireachtas), the end of semester (finally), and my 20th birthday. :) And of course, Christmas. Christmas was nice, and if you back up like one post, you can see how well it went over for Reese. She cleaned up. :D It's been a long year, with some trying times, and a lot of excitement. Awesome as 2010 was, I'm kind of glad it is over. Not sure another month of it would have gone over well. LOL.

2009's Year in Review is here

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T22:50:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from all of us!

Reese certainly cleaned up. She got a salon set she's been envying for a year or two now from Santa Claus this morning, along with accessories. Then she got Pillow Pets: a panda (from our brother, Scott), and a unicorn from Joseph and I; a Tangled Barbie doll (pictured above); a new sweater; make-up; a microphone (her OMG, I want!); and several other things that escape my mind at the moment. I got Joseph a nook, and he got me a charm bracelet that you can add charms to for special events: it has 2 kitties (I love kitties), his and my birthstone (May and December), and a horse, which doubles in meaning for me. He proposed to me in a horse-drawn carriage, and I used to ride horses for 3 or so years and loved it. From Mom and Dad, I got a bone china tea set I've been drooling over for months. For Joseph and I, they got us a Crock-Pot and some cute kitty kitchen towels, an oven mitt, and pot holder.

We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant with friends, an annual tradition for 3-4 years now, and then family over for dinner- my sisters and Joseph's family, as well as my grandma, seeing as we had it at her house. All in all, it was fun and we totally forgot to take pictures *face/palm*.

Happy Birthday to Me

2010-12-21T19:51:00.000-06:00

Reese in one of my old t-shirt (you know there's something wrong with juniors sizing when a 19 year old can hand down a t-shirt to her 6 year old sister).

The Penguin Cake.


		Yesterday (Dec. 20) was my 20th birthday. We went to my favorite local pizza place and ate. Joseph's (my fiance, for those of you who don't know/remember) family came, and his mother, who is going to make our wedding cake, wanted to make me a cake. So she did. She asked Joseph what I like, and as of late, I have a thing for penguins. The whole "mating for life" thing, so Joseph and I go around teasing each other going 'be my penguin?'. LOL. Joseph told her penguins and the above is what came of it. Isn't it amazing?!?

Little did I know that, attached to the fishing line (the penguins were fishing, lol), there was a gift. I had to pull the string out, and there was a present baked into the cake! It was the niftiest thing. It was a cute little penguin necklace, which is just lovely.

Mom and Dad got me an iPhone (which is awesome, since I am an Apple junkie). My cell phone was due for an upgrade and what an upgrade that is! I love it, it's an awesome phone, although it is a good deal different from my BlackBerry curve.

So I had a good day. Joseph got me 2nd row on the floor tickets to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra when they came to town on the 18th, so we went to that together. Obviously, he couldn't give me that gift on my birthday. :) Absolutely amazing show, though. If you've never heard Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO), I highly advise them. They make Christmas music amazing again.

Thanks to everyone who made my day awesome!

Arkansas State Fair

2010-12-19T18:18:00.000-06:00

Aunt Lacey, Dad, myself, Joseph, and Reese

Reese milking a "cow"

Dad and Reese on the ferris wheel

Reese on one of the "rides", for lack of a better term

The Fair was back in October, but we lost my "little" (point and shoot) camera from then until now. So I'm just now posting pics.

Solo Dress For Sale

2010-12-19T18:04:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure how many Irish dancers read this blog, but I figured I could post this anyway.

Front view

Back view

Sleeve

Underskirt

Without the jacket

This dress was designed by Kara Designed . I was the second owner, the first being the dress designer's daughter. It was worn 3 times by the first owner before retirement, and I've had it for a year, probably approximately 8-10 more wearings. It is a very convenient two-piece style dress.

"It is a 5-panel with sewn sequin pleats. The sleeves and upper bodice are made from a beautiful berry sequined tulle overlay. She received so many compliments the times she did wear it and I have added more bling to make it sparkle even more than it already does.

The measurements are:

Chest 37

Waist 32

Sleeve 24

Shoulder to waist 17.5

Waist to hem 16 in

Total body length from shoulder to hem 33.5 in"

That is the original sale post from when I bought it. Since then, we have let out the inside bodice/top out an inch or two, and the jacket out about 2-3 inches. I am 5'3" and it is just too short for me to wear, ending just below my bottom. It may suit someone better with less bottom, or slightly less hips, allowing it to hang slightly lower. Or just someone shorter.

It has a beautiful soft cape made to look like the sleeves. It has no bloomers to go with it, but the underskirt is a pretty black and white print, so plain black bloomers work fine with it. It also is a softer skirt in the back, which is wonderful for being able to sit down. I have 2 handmade, homemade tiaras/headbands I made that I will send with the dress.

Asking $700 OBO. Offers will be considered. For more information, please email at mldavidson2009 at gmail.com (removing the 'at' of course).

It's a very pretty dress, well received, and the colors are just gorgeous. I'd love to continue wearing it, but it is just too short for me.

These were all taken from the dress, not on a person.

Neck to hem (back side): 32"
bodice length (back side): 18.5"
skirt length (which starts under the bodice): 15.5"
sleeve length: 24.5"
Inside the jacket from side seam to side seam: 17"
zipper seam to side seam: 9"
shoulder seam to shoulder seam (back): 16"

If there are any other measurements you would like, please PM me or email me and I will see what I can do.

This is a really gorgeous dress, really shines on stage with all the sequins. It was worn by a 16+ age dancer, but could easily be worn by someone younger.

Christmas Party

2010-12-17T21:25:00.000-06:00

Working on her placemat

Playing with the jump rope her teacher got all the kids as a gift

Hugging her teacher

Snacks!


Trying to hide from the camera, lol

Reese had her kindergarten Christmas party today. It's hard to believe her kindergarten year could be halfway over! Joseph and I went to help, Mom was going to come, but she lost an uncle earlier this week and had to drive up to help with visitation. But Reese wasn't lacking for people! She had 2! :) They made placemats to eat on, played "Santa, Santa, Where is Rudolf?" which is where someone turns around where they can't see and the teacher picks someone else to hide the reindeer plushie somewhere on their body (most kids sat on it) and the person who couldn't look has to guess who has it, then they ate snacks and got letters from Santa Claus who had visited earlier in the day. Then they played a variety of "hot potato" for who got to get their gift from her teacher, Mrs. P. Everyone got one, it was just a matter of what order. They all got jump ropes as a present from their teacher, so we all went outside to try them out. Reese is pretty good, she just doesn't really get more than one good jump. But that jump is good!

It was a sweet party and for the most part she's had a good year. We've had some trouble, according to Reese, about bigger kids being "scared" of her and her birthmark, but best as we can figure, that's chilled out as we haven't heard anything else about it. Hopefully, it will stay that way as long as she's in this school. And hopefully by the time she's in middle school, people will be intelligent enough, but middle school is rough so that's doubtful. But we'll deal with that when we get there.

Today is also our Mom's birthday. Happy birthday, Mommy!

It is also 1 year until Joseph and I get married. :o Interesting to think about. :)

Getting Our Christmas Tree

2010-12-13T17:59:00.000-06:00

Reese and one of the dogs at the Tree Farm

Chasing Joseph through the trees

Playing with one of the sticks used to make sure the trees grow straight up

Kicking the stick (yes, we made sure there was no one nearby for it to hit)

We still haven't put it up, but we got it on Saturday, which was probably the last day of decent weather we'll see for a while (got up to about 60 degrees). So Dad, Reese, Joseph, and I headed out to the same place my family has gone to get Christmas trees for about 20 years. We go and hunt down and cut down our own tree (sounds really serious doesn't it?).

Joseph cut down a tree for the first time, which I'm sure Dad was thrilled about because it meant he didn't have to stay on the ground any longer than to make sure the tree would work. All of this was, of course, after a game of chase between Reese and Joseph while Dad and I looked for a good tree. And after them finding sticks and Joseph throwing them into the ground and Reese kicking them over. I'd say a good time was had by all. And for once it wasn't freezing. Not bad for December 11, really. Pretty nice.

So we got our tree, and eventually we'll get around to putting it up and decorating it. :)

The Reese's New Coat

2010-12-10T20:25:00.000-06:00

We bought Reese a new "heavy" coat today. She said yesterday her teacher said she needed one. She didn't have a "heavy" coat for this year, because she won't wear them. So we haven't bought her one this year. We usually buy one, and it gets worn maybe once or twice under extreme duress. The child doesn't get cold. She's the most hot natured person I've ever met. Case in point: she ran outside this afternoon (while the coat was still new and therefore has to be worn constantly) in a coat and a skirt. *eye roll* We have a theory it's because she grew up in Beijing and Taiyuan, all in the northern part of China, and therefore developed some insensitivity to the cold or something. Probably a completely invalid theory, but hey.

Yesterday's conversation:
Reese: My teacher says I need a heavy coat because it's cold.
Me: But you won't wear a heavy coat.
Reese: Yes, I will.
Me: You never have.
Reese: But I will.

Okay, so we're going with peer pressure leading her into warmer (i.e. more appropriate for 30-40 degree weather) than her hoodie. Anyway, we found a cute coat and gloves at Wal*Mart, and we decided to take a chance on the fact she would like it. If not...we still had the receipt and could take it back. But she liked it! Every now and then, we buy her something and she loves it, other times, it is a complete fail and she refuses to wear it. You never know. She's notoriously picky about what she wears (some kind of sensory thing? I don't know. It's particularly bad with socks, shoes, and pants, which all go over the birthmark on her legs).

But here she is, adorable in her new, "heavy", purple coat. And quite thrilled about it apparently. This is a distinctly Reese pose, classic Reese, and repeated often.

Scarlet Threads

2010-12-08T13:27:00.000-06:00

Scarlet Threads empowers rural women through employment.

{Empowering} In a rural area home to many farmers, taxi drivers, and laborers, there are few job opportunities for women, many of whom only have an elementary-school education. By drawing on the practical skills they learned in their youth, we provide them with an unprecedented opportunity to earn a steady source of income for their families.

{Employing} By helping sell their wares in other countries where they can earn higher profits than they would locally, we provide an opportunity for each of our partner seamstresses to be self-employed in her own profitable business.

This business sells the cutest aprons, bags, dresses, and (for a limited time only) tree skirts that are handmade in China by rural Chinese women for a fair price for fair wages. This is truly awesome, and I definitely had to share it. :)

"Accidental Adoption"

2010-12-07T15:27:00.001-06:00

I kidnapped this from here
This is just...hilarious, lol.

Honey, sit down. I have some news for you.

What is it?

Well, I don't know how to say this, so I'll just come out with it. I went to the mailbox today and... well, we got an I797C.

A what?!? An I797C? As in, we're going to have a(nother) child?!?

It looks that way.

But how? We've been so careful! I put away all the blank I-800A forms. Didn't you hide our homestudy update?

Of course I did, but don't forget, there was that one night...

What night? (pauses) Ohhh, that night, But it was only once. We were just messing around. I didn't print clearly. I didn't even use ink! (pauses again) But it was kind of fun. (giggles).

It was, wasn't it? I'll never forget how cute you looked getting your fingerprints. So now we've got our I797C, eh? But that doesn't always mean you'll adopt, does it? I mean, shouldn't you see the agency or something, make sure everything's okay?

I already did.

And?

I'm five documents along.

Five documents! And they're all notarized, certified and authenticated okay?

Just great. There was one small scare when the agency couldn't see the Notary's middle initial but it showed up just fine under the magnifying glass.

Thank God.

And you, honey? Are you feeling okay?

I'm feeling fine. As long as I know you're happy about this.

Happy? I'm thrilled! It's always a shock at first when something like this happens, but of course I'm happy.

Author Unknown

P.S. All you lovely readers out there...I love comments. :) It gives me something happy amidst all of this insanity that is the finals of a particularly insane semester as a college sophomore.

Oireachtas and Washington, D.C.

2010-12-06T15:06:00.000-06:00

My new solo dress, just for O's (Oireachtas). Which will be worn afterwards, but I needed a new one for O's.

Joseph and I in the Hall of Human Origins, in front of a display of casts of skulls of Homo sapiens, and our ancestors on back.

U.S. Capitol

Hall of Human Origins

The last common ancestor of all mammals...and this thing was about 4 inches long.

Leopard in the Hall of Mammals

The outside of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (yes, this is the place that the movie Night at the Museum was based on, despite the fact that movie is supposed to take place in New York)

Washington Monument

Mom, Joseph (my fiance), and I went to Washington D.C./Baltimore over the weekend for Oireachtas, which is a regional Irish dance competition. I competed for the first time in solos, 3rd time in Teams, and it was Joseph's first time at Oireachtas (he also competed in Teams). It was also the first Oireachtas I've been to that we haven't taken Dad and Reese. But we flew to D.C. and taking 5 people was going to be a bit expensive.

The area around D.C. (we stayed in National Harbor) is gorgeous. Inside D.C....not so much, but there is so much nifty stuff to do. I loved all the museums, but we only had time to go to one before flying out. I FINALLY got to go to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Sadly, the Western Civilizations area, the area I REALLY wanted to go to, was closed for renovations. But it was still an awesome experience, and I can't wait to go back. We went through the Hall of Human Origins, which is really nifty as an anthropology major, and through an exhibit that is only there through February called Written In Bone, which had a forensic anthropology lab at the end which was really nifty. The exhibit showed how disease (syphilis, cerebral palsy, etc.) and accidents (like car crashes, bullets, etc) affect the way bone looks, as well as trying to discover why so much of the population of the original Jamestowne settlement died so very quickly. It was really nifty. We also ventured through the Hall of Mammals, and did a quick tour through an exhibit on the ocean (on the way to the Hall of Human Origins). Also went through the dinosaur fossils section pretty quick (I wanted to see if there was anyone working in the FossiLab. On a Sunday afternoon...no, there wasn't.)

It was cold. Very cold. LOL

Thanksgiving

2010-12-06T14:37:00.000-06:00

Reese dancing with our aunt in the Hanger.

We had Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family, like usual. She wore a cute outfit that a lady on my mom's route handed down to us, and well, fall colors just look brilliant on Reesey. It was also my first Thanksgiving with my awesome fiance. :) Reese got to play with our cousin, Caroline, who is almost 3 (in February), and Reese is very...maternalish. She considers Caroline to be a baby who has to have help with just about everything, lol. It's cute.

All I Want For Christmas

2010-11-09T23:01:00.000-06:00

Is my 2 front teeth...

LOL.

Reese has lost both of her 2 front teeth, with the second coming out on Saturday. This makes around 4 teeth she's lost. She's getting to be so big. It'll be interesting to see when her teeth come in, since they are showing no signs of doing so at the moment. :)

Little Rock Air Show

2010-10-25T22:48:00.000-05:00

Reese in a helicopter

Waiting in line to go in the cockpit of the C-130

In the cockpit

In a fire truck. She loves fire trucks.

In a little camo (sort of) hut


The Thunderbirds

A few weekends ago (October 9, I believe), we went to the local airshow at the Little Rock Air Force Base. It was the first one since the one I went to in 10th grade (I'm a sophomore in college now), which was the first one I went to. Reese had fun, she toured some random airplane type things, and enjoyed watching the Thunderbirds.

She had her laser treatment a bit over a week ago. Her legs still look horrible, but the scabs are off of her face, at least. They ended up giving her 4.5 mg of morphine for the pain, between the time in the OR and post-op. :O I don't know how people, and doctors, can claim doing this doesn't hurt much. It sure hurts Reese. They started to try a new laser on her, but she began blistering almost instantaneously, so they went back to the old one.

They're also putting off doing further treatments on her legs for a few years, since she's reacting so badly to it. Mom and I have a theory that part of the reason she's reacting badly is because she's so tanned on her legs. She hates wearing pants, so yeah...

Also, prior to surgery...we managed to get an anasthesiologist who doesn't like the parents coming back to the OR with the kids. We've always done this since we discovered you could, it just makes it so much less stressful on Reese that Mom can carry her back to the OR and hold her until she's knocked out. Well, Mom was having none of that. As many of you mommies know...you don't mess with Mommy. Mom threatened to leave if they didn't allow her to carry her back, since we've done it EVERY time before. And the worse part is...they did this whole thing in front of Reese, stressing her out. *eye roll* sheesh...

But she's acting mostly normal now. So it's all good. :)

Laser Tomorrow at ACH

2010-10-14T22:56:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow Reese will be having another laser treatment at ACH. I know I SHOULD know how many this makes, but I don't. I just trust each time I go in that they will alternate legs, be generous with the pain relief, and hopefully be running on schedule.

I appreciate being allowed to walk her back to the OR. I wonder how many parents do this? We didn't the first time (because we didn't know it was an option), but I made the point of "we're going to be here a lot-how can we make this the best experience for Reese?" It's hard to feel her go limp in my arms, but easier than watching her teary, screaming face as she disappears down the hall. Monica thinks its quite comical that I put on my "bunny suit" (aka the "chicken-house inspector suit") to walk down a hall. Yeah... it's a Kodak moment :-)

Reese is SIX!

2010-10-08T23:22:00.000-05:00

Opening her iPod

All tuned in...

Reese turned SIX today. That is just completely baffling. She's in kindergarten (which recently quit giving naps- and yes, that is about as much fun as it sounds. She's completely exhausted in the evenings.), she's lost teeth. She weighs more than 25 lbs more than she did when we got her and is only God knows how much taller. She's gone from a size 5 shoe, to a 10 (she has small feet). From some odd mix of 18 mos, 24 mos, and 2T to 6/6X and 6/7. She speaks English better than a great deal of the kids her age I hear at school. And it is just genuinely baffling to me that she could possibly be SIX.

She got presents from us all at her birthday party last Saturday, but for her REAL birthday, Mom bought her a silver iPod shuffle with her name engraved on the back. I kidnapped it out of its packaging a few days ago and uploading music off of Mom's iTunes onto it, so it would be ready to go when she pulled it out. It has a wide variety of her favorites, ranging from: Adam Lambert to Taylor Swift, Veggie Tales to Ke$ha, Chinese folk songs and more. I need to upload some Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus to Mom's iTunes to stick them on there. I bought Reese a $15 iTunes gift card to add some of tunes of her own selection to the song selection. She was pretty excited.

Reese's Birthday Party

2010-10-03T22:42:00.000-05:00

Opening presents...

Cupcakes!

As some of you may know, Reese will be 6 (SIX!!!) in just 6 days. We had her party (she'll have a family party on her birthday) with her friends on Saturday at the biggest local gymnastics place. Some of you may remember she had her party there 2 years ago. A great time was had by all, I believe. This time, Reesey has had gymnastics training there for about 1.5 months prior, so she was familiar with the layout of everything. She received cute gifts, including a bead set, 2 necklaces, a Rubik's Cube, a MilkMixer, a Sort-o-Matic change sorter, a crystal growing kit, fake nails (a personal fave of her's), a black wig with CURLS (her obsession seeing as Joseph and I both have black hair with curls- she has the cutest crush on my fiance), little rainbow colored braid hair extensions, a Chixo's kit, and so much more. Forgive me if I have forgotten to list your present on here. They were all adorable, and she loves them all so much.

A special thanks to everyone who attended: Bryan, Kim, Anna-Marie, and Savannah; Kammy and Mari-Grace; Charlotte, Riley, Raeghan, and Rachael; Karyn, Whit, and Kaleigh; two of Reese's classmates at school who, I'll be honest, I have no idea what their names are; Grandma Debbie; and Grandma. And of course, Mom, Dad, Joseph, and I. I think that's everybody who came.

And simply because it's kind of nifty to see: Reese throughout the years!!


Reese's 1st birthday, in China. October 2005


Reese's 2nd birthday, in China. October 2006.


Reese's 3rd birthday, and her first at home. October 2007.


Reese's 4th birthday, October 2008.


Reese's 5h birthday, October 2009.

Mid-Autumn Festival

2010-09-26T22:36:00.000-05:00

Reese (in the green) working on a mask

Some of our characters...

Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival was about a week ago now, or at least our FCC's celebration was. We met at a park, in a pot-luck type set up for finger foods, and let the kids make masks and paper lanterns. One little girl, Anna-Marie, brought chalk and all the kids had a ball with that. Joseph and I took some of the chalk and started writing Chinese characters on the concrete. The kids were going behind us and tracing over them, which was pretty cool to see. Added some more Chinese-ness to the event.

Family Photo Shoot

2010-09-25T21:46:00.001-05:00

Family shot: Mom, Dad, Reese, Joseph, and I.

Reese and Dad

Reese

Joseph and I

Reese

Mom, Dad, and Reese

Last Sunday, we had a friend of ours take some family photos and some engagement pictures of Joseph and I, as well. Some of them are pretty cute, so I thought I'd share. Also, Reese is wearing a kind of cover-up foundation in these pictures, so no, her birthmark hasn't magically lightened that much. I was wearing make-up, as was Mom, and Reese wanted some of her's. We don't push it on her, we don't make her wear it, it's always up to her whether or not she wants to put it on. We primarily put it on for dance competitions, as we don't want the judges being distracted by her gorgeous face, or, even worse, giving her pity points. We can't do much about her legs, except putting her in knee-length poodle socks, but we try to keep the playing field as even as possible. She's just an absolutely gorgeous little girl, and one of these days, she'll be a heart breaker, I'm sure. Too soon for my tastes, I'm sure of that, too.

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-18T23:32:00.000-05:00

On Labor Day weekend, we ventured up to Kansas City, Missouri, for the Kansas City Feis (Irish dance competition) and the Kansas City Irish Festival. It was a lot of fun, and Joseph's first feis (to compete in). The festival was pretty nifty, lots of Irish stuff (of course), music, and entertainment. Dad bought a kilt. I'll post a picture when it comes in the mail.

We've been very busy with school, dance, and all, so it's been kind of hard to get time to post (and remember to post). But things are all good right now. Reese has an eye infection, but it should clear up with antibiotic eye drops. No biggie, we hope, but it is in the eye with glaucoma. She also has a laser treatment coming up in October, and she turns SIX on October 8. So hard to believe that she could possibly be turning six. She's getting so big.

Notes from the funny farm...

2010-08-30T23:30:00.002-05:00

The school year has started, and we are busy, as is everyone else , I am sure. Reese started kindergarten, and of course, beyond the first day, would rather be home in bed until closer to noon (hmmm..I wonder where she gets that?LOL).

A lot has changed in the the three years and three months since we first met Reese in China. Some days if I stop and think about the chain of events that led us to adopt, and to finding the perfect little one for us, it takes my breath away. I often think of her birth parents, and her foster parents, and my heart aches for what they have missed. Is she perfect?NO! Is she perfect for us? ABSOLUTELY!

We will be traveling to Kansas City this Labor Day weekend for an Irish dance competition (a feis). Monica, Reese, and Joseph will all be competing. It will be the longest road trip we have made since we "got Joseph"; fortunately for all of us, we are the proud owners of a mini-van now...it gives the "big kids" more space from the "little kid". If all goes as planned, we will see Scott and Meaghan for Labor Day...we haven't seen them in ages!

We are sorry if posts are few and farther between. Monica and I are both in school, and I am working full-time, while she just received and internship with Make-A-Wish. I told someone today, I have gotten the family used to fast food and a dirty house...:-( A special thanks to my longsuffering husband who is dad and mom a lot of the time...and to the kids who are becoming too familiar with grouchy, exhausted MOM. And this too shall pass...

First Day of Kindergarten

2010-08-24T16:32:00.000-05:00

Reese had her first day of kindergarten at a local arts magnet school last Thursday (08.19). Being an arts school and all, means no uniforms. Which is great for the little diva, not so much for those of us who have to make sure she is presentable to leave the house. >.<

I started my sophomore year of college, so it should be interesting. I passed freshman year with a 3.9 GPA, so here's to continuing that. I'm taking History of Civilizations 1, Chinese 3, Writing for Children and Families, World Literature Themes, and Physical Geology and its Lab this semester.

Memphis Zoo

2010-08-13T15:23:00.000-05:00

African Penguins

The entrance to the Memphis Zoo

Reese in the aquarium (yay air conditioning!)

Reese peering at the sheep

Reese and the sheep

Ya Ya the Panda

Wolf. I love this picture, turned out pretty well, I feel...

Inscription in the area where the polar bears were housed... So true.

Reese and Le Le the Panda

Reese: "Hello, Chicken!"

We went to the Memphis Zoo, in Tennessee, on Wednesday. It was hot, but a lot of fun. Sadly, a lot of them animals opted for their cooler inside enclosures (not that I can blame them), so several of them were essentially invisible. Most of the ones that were outside were basically completely still. Once again, not that I can blame them, since it was over 100* Farenheit in Memphis that day. But it was cool to see all the animals. It was kind of funny, because the first time we went to see the pandas at Memphis Zoo, it was (I believe) May 23, 2004. Just under 5 months before Reese was born, and almost 3 years to the date before we left to go get her from China (we left May 24, 2007). Also humourous, is that Reese was called Le Le in China (double happiness), which is the name of the female panda at Memphis Zoo.

We were in Memphis because Reese had an eye doctor appointment at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. They checked her pressure to see how it's doing. It was around 23 in her glaucoma eye (normal is 10-20), so not horribly bad. They weren't really able to get a good reading from her good eye (not that I can really blame her- seeing something coming at you like that...) We go back in 2-3 months to get another reading and see how it is doing.

4th of July

2010-08-05T23:33:00.001-05:00

Reese and our niece, Kaci

Reese and our nephew, Brandon

Reese and her sparkler

Reese spent the 4th of July at our sister's house, with her 3 kids, ages 13, 8, and 2, if I remember right. I just got some pictures from this as I was uploading pictures from my 13 year old niece's camera onto her Facebook for her. So enjoy.

I've also started something called the 365 Project. The 365 Project is simple, you take one photo every day for a year. It can be anything, something you've done, a self portrait, your shoes! Anything! Some people even do album work for their favourite song that day. You can see my pictures for the next 363 (I've done 2 days) days here at http://365project.org/mdavidson. Please check it out. :)

The Purple Cow

2010-08-04T18:14:00.000-05:00

Reese, Joseph, and I went to a local restaurant today, The Purple Cow. They have these good purple vanilla milkshakes. That's really the only reason we ever go, is for the milkshakes. But Reese enjoys it because "they have purple milkshakes, and coloring sheets, and if you finish your picture, they'll hang it up." Yeah, the place is pretty kid-friendly. The first time I took Reese there, over a year ago I'd guess, she spilled her milkshake all down the booth seat. I was mortified, and the sweet bus boy was just like 'it happens all the time, we'll take care of it." Insert older sister sigh of relief here.

Reese had been wanting to go to Purple Cow for a while, so I finally indulged her today. She was pretty good, all things considered.

This afternoon, Mom and Dad took Reese to sign up for kindergarten. Can you believe Reesey is going into kindergarten? It just doesn't seem real that she should be that old. She'll be 6 in October.

Hot Springs, Arkansas

2010-08-03T14:36:00.002-05:00

Reese at the koi pond with our guide

Fishy food

The Koi fish

The wedding chapel at Garvan Gardens

And, for your aesthetic pleasure, a very lovely, serene waterfall

Yesterday, we made the drive down to Hot Springs, Arkansas, to visit a possible wedding venue. Since we were going anyway, we decided to make a day of it and have some fun as well. We started out at Garvan Woodland Gardens, which I'm sure is absolutely gorgeous in the spring. Due to it being so darn hot, not a whole lot was in bloom right now, but in the spring, they have over 101,000 tulips in bloom. Even without a ton of flowers, the foliage and the serenity of the place was nice. We took a golf cart tour, since it was nearing 100* F, if it wasn't. In the middle of the tour, we stopped at the Koi Pond, and Reese got to feed the koi fish, which were very large. Reese likes to feed animals, such as fish and turtles (her two experiences). When we finished going through the Gardens, we walked across the parking lot over into the part of the Gardens where the chapel is located. It's called the Anthony Chapel, and it is a replica of the Thorncrowne Chapel in Eureka Springs, AR. It's very pretty, very serene.

It was a nice experience at the Gardens. We hope to go back in the spring, when everything is in bloom. After we left, we went and found lunch at Cracker Barrel, after driving all over Hot Springs.

Robotic Dinosaur

Reese playing with a magnetic globe

I believe this was a whisper machine...

Each of those poles (well, the ball on top, but hey) made a different primitive synthesizer sound. You could touch each of them (together, individually, whatever) to create different noises.

Reese and the Tesla coil. She thought this was really awesome.

Watching the hot air balloon she made go up

After lunch, we went to the Mid-America Science Museum, which is a Smithsonian Affiliate. I went there quite a bit when I was little, with my grandparents. Much of it is still the same, but certain exhibits change from time to time. Like now through September, they have a Dinosaurs Alive! exhibit, featuring robotic dinosaurs and video games that allow you to "be" the dinosaur. Pretty nifty for me and Joseph as well, at 19 and 23 respectively. The whole place was pretty fun for Joseph, who had never been, and Reese, of course, loved it. Enough of it was still the same as it was 10+ years ago, that for me, some parts of it were good for nostalgia's sake, but not much else. Reese loved it, however, so we'll probably go again sometime.

There's a nifty part of the museum that I still find really cool. It's a "capture your shadow" thing, you stand in front of a screen, push a button, and you have 5 seconds before the flash goes off to strike a pose. Then your pose is left on the screen. Even at 19, I found this as cool as I did at 8. It was kind of fun to see Reese having fun with the same things that enthralled me as a child.

On the way home, we stopped at Kohl's and Shoe Carnival to do some back to school shopping. Reese got some cute outfits. She wore uniforms last year, so we're having to do some serious outfit inventory since she doesn't have to this year.

OH! And I am kidnapping this, from Emily's blog, And Now There Are Nine. It's a Q&A thing. Ask me a question, and I will, within reason, answer it on this blog. Hope to get some good questions. It can be about me, Reese, life in general. Just about anything. But if I feel it's not appropriate, I won't answer. I'm trying to get back into blogging more, and I am hoping to up readership some. That would be nice. :)

Engagement

2010-07-18T00:43:00.004-05:00

Yup, I am engaged. :D

To this here boy.

Joseph proposed to me on our 3 month anniversary, after a dinner on steamboat (very cool), and a ride in a horse-drawn carriage (where he proposed). And I said 'yes'. No date set, I don't think we're horribly concerned about setting a date just yet. It's more just letting everything sink in at this point, I believe. It definitely is for me.

Random edit: 7/18/10: Does anyone think I should do an engagement/wedding blog?

My boyfriend...

2010-07-10T23:45:00.003-05:00

So, this is my boyfriend, Joseph. Thought everyone might like to see a shot of the elusive beau. He's so sweet and nice and absolutely amazing with Reese (when he feels good, which he hasn't been for a while, but she's a lot to deal with on a good day, lol). We will have been together for 3 months on the 17th, so a week from now.

Reese absolutely adores him, and she has so much fun messing with him. He's like another older brother to her (like Scott).

Pre-K Graduation (Yes, bad blogger))

2010-07-07T21:59:00.002-05:00

Yes, bad me. Reese graduated pre-k in May. I'm just now blogging it. -.- But in my defense...the pictures have just now gotten onto my computer, too.

Now, I don't fully understand pre-k graduations. They're cute, yes, but they really serve no purpose. But it was one of the fullest rooms I have ever seen (and I've been to graduations of other levels), and I'll be honest, I teared up. My baby sister is moving to kindergarten this fall. :(

Kammy's Home!

2010-07-03T13:30:00.002-05:00

At the airport last night...

Our friend Kammy came home with her new daughter, Mari-Grace, last night. Mari-Grace is a beautiful 2 year old from Datong SWI in Shanxi province (Reese's province) with an unrepaired cleft lip.

After basically 4 years of waiting (from the beginning of paperwork), Kammy finally, finally, has her sweet daughter, her sweet Mari-Grace.

Congrats, Kammy and Mari-Grace!

Gotcha Day

2010-05-28T22:14:00.001-05:00

3 years ago, on May 28, 2007, this is the little girl we met. Dang Kai Jin, soon to be known more commonly as Reese Maleah KaiJin. She was 2.5 years old and quite distraught. She wanted her mama, her foster mama, not the redheaded mama they had brought her too. That day, May 28, 2007, was the last day she woke up in a familiar environment, with people she knew and loved, before her world was radically changed. The last day her beloved (and kind) foster mother dressed her in clothing that she had picked out and bought for her adored foster daughter. A day that rocked several peoples' worlds: my family's, Reese's, and her foster family's, back in China.

Fortunately, food goes a long way with small children, and we made something of a peace until bedtime. When she became distraught again. I distinctly remember Mom pacing up and down the halls of the Shanxi Grand in Taiyuan, waiting for the tell-tale thud of a sippy cup hitting the carpeted floor, signaling our newest addition had given up the fight against sleep and succumbed to Morpheus' arms. Giving us all a little peace in a tumultuous time, for Reese, from her grief, for us, from her tears and the inability to console this precious little girl.Given time, she began to discover we weren't so bad. Her English skills improved dramatically, and, sadly, her Chinese skills faded to that deep recess of a small child's mind where such things are kept, waiting for the day to be called upon again, giving just a fragment of an edge in the ability to learn new language caused by the neural pathways having already been formed. She was right on par with other 3.5 years, and on May 28, 2008, we celebrated 1 year of Dang Kai Jin being known as Reese.

Another year went by, and of course, Reese grew. She was in K3, heading into Pre-K in the fall. She's a happy, brilliant little girl, full of laughter and incredibly dramatic. And of course, high maintenance. May 28, 2009, after my return trip to China in March when I got to meet her foster family in Taiyuan, we celebrated 2 years of having Reese in our lives, the longest and shortest 2 years ever. How 2 years can fly by, yet seem like forever is baffling to me.

This year, Reese is 5, going on 16. She's about 46" tall, and weighs around 47 lbs. She can write her first and last name, say her alphabet, write her letters, spell some words, and, reportedly, count to 1000, though none of us have sat through that to be sure. We are sure of 100, though. She completely Pre-K with flying colors and was declared by her awesome teacher to be completely ready for kindergarten, which she will start in the fall at the local Arts Magnet Elementary School, where her drama queen and dive side is sure to be indulged. In August, she began taking Irish dance, like myself, and competed for the first time at our school's winter feis in Branson, Missouri, in January. She's quite talented when she wants to practice and put some effort into it.

It's been an amazing 3 years. Time has flown by, and at the same time, it seems like we've never been without her.

Life has changed for me a lot since we first got Reese. I went from being "the baby" to being someone's older sister. I went from being a high school student, to completing my first year old college, majoring in anthropology, with a 3.89 cumulative GPA. I returned to China and learned loads more about Reese's life before us than I could have ever dreamed of, and acquired access to a resource unparalleled in a world where solid information on our children's lives before they come to us is small and lacking detail or clarity. We established a connection with her foster family, who raised her for more than 6 months before we adopted her, and that is likely the closest thing to her biological family we will ever get. And we are grateful, for them, for their care of her, and for their willingness to maintain contact with the little girl that they selflessly gave their hearts to, knowing she had a family awaiting her across the Pacific Ocean. I have a boyfriend, for the first time ever, and Reese loves him, and he enjoys playing with her. I just learned last week I will be competing as a soloist at Oireachtas (Regionals for Irish dance) in Washington, D.C., in December for the first time. Relatively speaking, things are pretty good right now, if not a little hectic.

I hope everyone else out there who reads this blog is having a good life, too. Comments are appreciated.

((This post is backdated for ease of access in the archives. Actual posting date: 06.07.2010))

May 24th...

2010-05-24T23:45:00.003-05:00

That was me, 3 years ago, at the Little Rock Airport, ready to embark on the first part of our journey to Reese. 3 years ago today, May 24, we were about to leave USA soil for the first time, to venture to China, to meet a 2 year old neither of us had met, but loved already. 3 years ago, a little girl's world was about to radically change.

Pictures from the Farmstead

2010-05-24T16:05:00.003-05:00

These pictures are from late April, but I haven't posted them. We took these down at the Farmstead, about 20 minutes from our house. It's an old farmstead house, with a well and a garden and all (of course, the well is covered up, concreted over). But anyway, some pretty good shots of the kiddo.

Laser Treatment

2010-04-18T00:32:00.002-05:00

Reese had another laser treatment yesterday. I think it's like number 14 on her face. She's blistering on her forehead and her legs. Thank God for tylenol 3 with codeine.

This may be some of the last 'really-close-to-the-day-of-laser' pictures you guys get. Cause she asked me if I was going to show any body. I told her I wasn't making any promises I wouldn't. But yeah, this may be the last post-op shots you guys get before the spots start fading out. Just an fyi.

They've started giving her morphine in post-op. Apparently, we finally convinced them that, yes, in fact, it DOES hurt. Geez...

Rest in Peace

2010-04-18T00:13:00.002-05:00

October 15, 1918 (I think, she was 91)- April 12, 2010

Our granny (my great-grandmother) passed on last Monday, April 12, 2010. Her funeral was on April 15. I thought I had a picture of Reese with Granny Edith, but I can't find it, so here's a picture from the birthday party in 2008, her 90th birthday.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-18T00:01:00.003-05:00

All late like, I know. Life is just insane around here with school and all, so blogging kind of falls by the wayside. Sorry about that.

The day before Easter, we went to an egg hunt at a church near our house. They do the hunt every year, and Dad took Reese last year, so we decided to go again. They divide the egg hunts into age groups (birth-3 years, Pre-K to Kindergarten, 1-2nd grade, 3rd-4th grade, 5th-6th grade), so the little kids don't get trampled by the big ones. Thank God. She enjoyed it, got some good candy, and also got the cats new cat toys (plastic easter eggs make awesome cat toys if you have hardwood floors).

Sunday, we went up to D-ville to visit my mom's side of the family, like we do basically every Easter. We did an egg hunt there too, also with plastic eggs, because with Mom and me being in college, dyeing eggs just fell by the wayside. Reese enjoyed it just the same. She was helping Caroline, our 2 year old cousin, find eggs. That was probably as much fun to Reese as looking for the eggs. She likes "babies".

Reese actually had 2 Easter dresses this year. One we didn't get any pictures of her in, and then there's the bunny dress in the above pictures. We got that at Cracker Barrel for 50% off, when we stopped there on the way up to D-ville for Easter. It's soft, and Reese loves it. :D

Black and White Wednesday

2010-03-25T18:44:00.001-05:00

Yes, today's technically Thursday, but...I didn't want to wait until next week. Black and White Wednesday comes from here.

New Look

2010-03-25T18:25:00.001-05:00

Just updated the look of the blog for like the first time in a year. :D

Let me know what you think.

Long Time, No Post

2010-03-16T20:04:00.002-05:00

Reese in the snow we were swamped by here in the south in February

Reese in her school costume at the Ozark Mountains Feis on January 30.

Reese with one of our kittens, Carys, the night we got her (and her litter mates). And yes, she's wearing make up. LOL.

And I am sorry about that. But college is insane, and Mom's taking classes too, so we're both really busy. We're still alive, though. :D It's just, between school, dance, and fostering kittens (we got 6 new ones a few weeks ago), and the job I had up until recently, it's been nuts.

So...here's a post full of pictures.

Chinese New Year 2010- Year of the Tiger

2010-02-09T16:04:00.002-06:00

Reese during the dragon dance...

Mom, Reese, and I

A close up of Reese during the group shot

Not a bunch of pictures, cause the lighting in the gym just wasn't very good, but here's a few any way. We had a great time, the party looked awesome (even if gym lighting isn't conducive to photography). Reese had a great time playing with the other kids and generally running amuck in a relatively controlled setting.

It was good to see everyone again, since CNY is usually when most of the FCC comes together, even those who don't come to other events. It was also nice to see that we had 6, I think it was, kids come home last year, including one 13 year old (she's now 14) from Estonia. She has 3 younger siblings from China.

It was a great time, and everything was fun and came off well. I love seeing all the kids in their Chinese outfits, so many different colors, styles, and patterns. Such a colorful celebration, lol.

Reese Roller Blading

2010-01-25T18:22:00.001-06:00

Reese at Hunter's birthday party, skating around. I finally have a camera that will do video (got it for Christmas! yay), so video of the kiddo.

Little Kid Birthday Parties

2010-01-25T17:02:00.003-06:00

Reese using the skating equivalent of a walker (notice the curls that her sister, Michelle, did when she spent the night at her house).

Norah, Rachael's friend from school, Lexi, Rachael, Reese, and Raeghan (Rachael's sister)

Reese, with her first curls made of her own hair.

In January we've been to 2 little kid birthday parties: one was Rachael's 5th birthday party, and Reese's classmate, Hunter's birthday party (I'm suspecting he turned 5, too). Rachael's involved being all princessy, and Hunter's was skating and Scooby-Doo. Which is also the party I sprained my wrist at a grand total of 8 days ago. Still wearing the ace bandage. I tried to avoid a 4/5 year old kid, and landed hard. If I'd just landed on him, everything probably would've been okay, lol.

Rachael's party involved painting fingernails, curling hair (Reese's hair holds a curl surprisingly well), and wearing princess dresses. It was cute, and Reese had a ball. I never would've guessed Reese's hair would hold a curl like that, fine, Asian hair and all. But it is thick.

Hunter's was at a skating rink, which is pretty self-explanatory. Reese had fun, she loves to skate. She got her own pair of roller blades for Christmas from Santa, which she wore to the party. She wants to take "skating lessons" cause she wants to "go fast", like I can. When there isn't 4/5 year old road bumps. That throws a monkey wrench in all kinds of plans.

The week before Hunter's birthday party, our dad was in the hospital having a hernia repaired. He's home now, and all is well, though he is off for a few weeks. While Mom was at the hospital with Dad, I kept things under control on the home front. I took Reese to school Tuesday and Wednesday, and Mom kept her home Thursday after she stayed the night at the hospital. Thursday night, she stayed home with me, and Friday and and Saturday night, she stayed with our sister, Michelle. Which is a pretty big deal, since that's only the second time she's slept away from home by herself, without Mom, Dad, or me. Both times, it's been with Jie Jie Michelle. We have a nephew who is about 7 years old, and Reese really enjoys playing with him, and our 13 year old niece, Kaci. Michelle and Kaci even curled Reese's hair while she was there, and painted her nails. Needless to say, Reese had a great time at our sister's house. Dad came home Sunday, and, like I said, he's off for a few weeks. But the time while he was at the hospital wasn't nearly as bad as last year, when he had the hernia repaired (apparently, he's the one repair a year of this doctor's that fails...figures).

College started back for Mom and I January 11, and Reese started back to school the Wednesday before, so we're all still trying to settle into the craziness that is college with all that's been going on. Oh! And Reese has her first loose tooth. So right at about 5 years and 3 months, her first loose tooth is wiggling and the adult tooth is coming in behind it. She's getting so big!

Top Ten Photos of 2009.

2010-01-01T22:15:00.002-06:00

1. Santa and ReeseReese really enjoyed seeing Santa this year. And she just looks gorgeous in all that black!
December 2009

2. Goin' Feisin'

In our family, we do Irish dance. This is Reese and me at a dance competition (feis).
November 2009

3. Like Brother, Like Sister

Reese loves her brother, Scott. They get along really well.
November 2009

4. ROAR!

Reese dressed up as a lion for Halloween. She was the cutest little lion.
October 2009

5. Little Fish

Reese LOVES to swim. I think she's part fish. Kinda surprises me she's not from a coastal province, as much as she loves to swim.
October 2009

6. Miss Priss

Reese looking like such a big girl at my graduation party.
July 2009

7. Easter Shoot

One of the first "photo shoots" I've done, and I love the shots from it. The light was awesome.
April 2009

8. Cats, Cats, and More Cats

In May, we began fostering kittens with FuRR. This is Reese conked out and covered in our first litter of kittens.
May 2009
9.Going Home

Me, with Reese's foster family. From L-R: Foster mama, brother, grandpa (yeye) and grandmother (nainai), and me.
March 2009 (Taiyuan, Shanxi, China)

10. Dance, Dance, Wherever You May Be...

Reese and I at the Ozark Mountains Feis
January 2009.

My favorite pictures from 2009. In no particular order, just the way I found them. 新年好！Xin Nian Hao! Happy New Year!

Christmas Dinner pictures

2009-12-27T22:26:00.002-06:00

Our Christmas tree (real tree) decorated in purple and silver, and Reese's random red ornament. ;)

Reese and Aunt Lacey (Mom's little sister)

Our nephew, Jonathan, playing in the cat tree I got the cats for Christmas

Oh, and we discovered Christmas Eve, I believe it was, that Reese has her first loose tooth! It's one of her bottom incisors, lateral, I believe, on her left side. It's pretty loose, and the adult tooth is coming in behind it, just starting to peek through. Guess we're reeeeeallly going to have to start pushing the tooth brushing thing. I'll be sure to post a pic when she's lost it. She's right at 5 years and 2 months old.

Christmas Day

2009-12-27T22:04:00.002-06:00

A page in the Legacy of the Cat book, detailing all possible eye colors in cats.

Reese and I with our Zhu Zhu Hamsters

Reesey

Happy for band-aids

Christmas morning is, like in many places, a lot of fun around here. Santa comes and brings goodies. Like the Band-Aids Reese so coveted (she LOVES band-aids), in fact, he brought us each a box of Hello Kitty band-aids (cause Hello Kitty rocks!), and Reese a box of Hannah Montana ones as well. Along with a tube of hair accessories, a set of Hello Kitty barrettes and a Hello Kitty compact that can fold into a brush, a toy cell phone, and lip gloss, among other things. And under the tree, from various folks ranging from Santa to Mom and Dad to me, was presents galore: a new Leapster 2 (since she drowned her last one that she got for her birthday. It still starts but the touch screen feature no longer works.), the pair of skates she's been so coveting for quite some time, a Play-Doh set, a Ni Hao, Kai-Lan goes to China DVD, and several other things. I got a point and shoot camera (a Canon Powershot) that shoots video as well, so I don't always have to drag out the big dog for pictures, a blanket, and a book called the Legacy of the Cat from Reese, which is just awesome thus far. It's a book detailing the genetics and regulations of various breeds of cats. And I love cats.

And we each got one of the coveted Zhu Zhu Hamsters. She got Chunk (white), I got Winkie (black and white). They're uber fun, I totally recommend them. I want one of the wheels for them. :D

For lunch, we went and ate at Fu Lin, an awesome Chinese place in town, with some friends. I got Reese into an absolutely gorgeous Chinese dress I got for her in Pingyao in March. I never expected it to still fit, though she'd never tried it on before. I got it on her without undoing the zipper I didn't realize was there. It's a gorgeous, absolutely soft silk dress with a print on it that, I am told, is special to Shanxi province. She looked so grown up, it was crazy. Like looking 15 years into the future. Go figure, since the dress is a size 10. I didn't expect it to fit because she's wearing 5's now in US sizes. However, it does bring up the fact we might need to get more size 10's, since that's the only one she has right now (another one she had in light pink, managed to get a sharpie laid down on it and has a rather large black spot on it >.>). I apparently need to go back to China, since she only has up to a size 14. She has a fuschia pant set in an 8, the one dress in a 10, 2 in a 12, and 2 in a 14 (in teal, gold, dark blue, and hot pink, in varying prints).
Our sisters and aunt and grandmother also came over for dinner that evening. It was fun, food was great, and the kids ran around having fun. I'll post pictures from that in another post.

Oh, Christmas Tree!

2009-12-26T20:46:00.002-06:00

Deciding on "The Tree"

On Sunday, December 20 (my 19th b-day), we went and got our Christmas tree. With Oireachtas being the first weekend of December, it throws off the time frame we used to get our Christmas tree (the first weekend).

We went to the B. Christmas Tree Farm, where we've gone every year (except one, when we went to a friend's tree farm) since 1988. We decided on a smaller than normal tree this year. Usually we get one about 7' tall, this year the "perfect" tree stands right about 5', maybe a little more. And it didn't get put up until Christmas Eve, because things were uber crazy all week. But it's up now, and it's beautiful. :D

Reese's Christmas Party at School

2009-12-26T20:31:00.003-06:00

Reese's class had a Christmas party on the 18th. It was a PJ party, so all the little kids were in their PJ's. It was a fun, all-around sugar high.

Reese and Santa

2009-12-19T19:31:00.002-06:00

Santa visited Reese's school Thursday. Her school asked me to take pictures for them, so I did. For roughly 3.5 hours, lol. Reese was, as ever, a ham chop. As you can see.

I had to share that, though. Reese is no longer scared of Santa. I think she was kind of scared of him last year either. Definitely not so this year.

December Birthday Party

2009-12-17T23:06:00.002-06:00

Reese and Caroline. Reese loves babies (although Caroline's nearly 2).

The group blowing out candles. Scott, Granny Barb, Mom, Uncle Jeff, Papa T., Aunt Mandy, Lacey, Me and Caroline, and Reese (who wanted to help blow out candles). Papa Jim should in there somewhere, but apparently made it out of the frame...

Mom and her brother, Uncle Jeff

Reese and her current "pose"

Every year, we have a birthday party for all the December birthdays in our family, since they are numerous. This is a party just for my mom's side of the family, there's a couple others on my dad's side as well. My brother's the 15th, my mom is the 17th (Happy Birthday, Mom!), my uncle's is the 12th, my great-grandfather is the 14th, and I'm the 20th. We also kind of celebrated January and February this year, too. My aunt is born on the 31st, my other aunt is also born in January, and my Papa Jim is born on Feb. 1, and Caroline is February 28th. And Granny Barb is born somewhere in there, too. So yeah, kinda a load. Anyway, it was good time for fun and food up in D-ville.

Happy birthday, everyone!

Dillon Christmas Party

2009-12-13T20:34:00.002-06:00

Anna-Marie, Reese, and Savannah

Our local FCC paired up with Dillon International for our annual Christmas party, merging the two events, since a lot of our families are Dillon families. It was a fun party. I was official photographer, so I didn't get to do a whole lot other than take pictures, but I got some cute shots of Reese. She had a great time playing with the other kids and stalking Santa. And she looked so cute in her new dress! We also used Dermablend make up (honey beige leg & body is what we use) to cover up her birthmark. Not because we care if it can be seen, we don't, but sometimes she likes to put it on. It makes her feel "big" having on foundation. It's amazing what it can do to cover up her birthmark.

Reese loved Santa. I think last year she was scared of him. If I remember right, we wanted to get her picture taken with Santa at the mall, and she would have none of it. This year she was right on him, it was so funny.

Southern Region Oireachtas 2009

2009-12-08T22:32:00.002-06:00

Mom and Reese (in her new soft shoes, and my old wig, which is now Reese's)

Reese in her wig, with her new blankie

Me in our McCafferty School of Irish Dance group photo.

This past weekend, we flew down to Dallas, TX, for the Southern Region Oireachtas. Oireachtas is basically regionals in Irish dance. My dance teacher, Mrs. Judy McCafferty, was the SRO chairperson this year. We danced well, my 8 hand and 4 hand didn't place, but I danced the best I could and that's all I could do.

Reese also got her first pair of soft shoes this weekend. They're a size 9.5 UK. So tiny. She started taking Irish dance lessons back in August. She should compete for the first time at the Ozark Mountains Feis in Branson, in January. Ozark Mountains Feis is one of three feiseanna the McCafferty School of Irish Dance hosts.

Irish dance is a lot of fun. If you live in central Arkansas, or northwest Arkansas, and are interested, check out the McCafferty website. We have classes in Little Rock, Fort Smith, and Fayetteville, AR.

Good Karma Squeakers!

2009-12-07T21:18:00.002-06:00

Good Karma Squeakers is being kind enough to donate to our local FCC's Chinese New Year Silent Auction in 2010. We're so excited! They have some amazingly cute squeaky shoes. Some of them are so cute, I wish my feet would fit in them. Boys and girls shoes. There's a pair of absolutely precious hot pink squeaky boots for girls, and ADORABLE little leopard print Mary Janes (leopard print is very popular right now...and cute).

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-30T22:34:00.002-06:00

Reese and our cousin, Caroline, who will be 2 in February

Mom and Dad

Our brother, Scott, Reese, and Mom

Scott and Reese

Dad, Reese, and me

We had Thanksgiving up at D-ville with my mom's side of the family. Scott and his fiancee, Meaghan were there, so was Papa Jim and Granny Barb, Jill, Dixie and her husband, Scott; Granny and Papa, Granny Edith, and Aunt Mandy and Uncle Jeff and Caroline. I think that was everybody.

We had lots of good food and a good time, and while it was windy, it wasn't too terribly cold, thank God. Reese bounced on the trampoline a lot (she loves trampolines), and I bounced some, too.

I know it's been a while since I posted, I've been a bad blogger. ;D Life has just been really busy. I'm finishing up my first semester in college (there's gotta be a t-shirt for that somewhere), and finals are next week, and some of my classes have tests this week, and/or early next week. I have my last college algebra test Friday, and my final exam next Tuesday. I have a cultural anthropology test Monday, and the final is next Friday. (Anthropology is my major.) Only 2 more Honors Composition classes. Have to turn in my final paper tomorrow and do a presentation either tomorrow or Thursday and then I am done! Need to find out when my other 2 classes (Chinese 1 and Intro to Psychology) are having their exams. I get to register for Spring 2010 classes tomorrow, which is a little technical because I'm hoping to get into my college's Scholars' Program, which has a separate core from the standard one. The only thing that remains the same is you have to take your math core class, an American history or American national government class, and foreign language (for your study abroad experience). So I'm trying not to take anything that won't count for that, if I get in. So as of tonight, I'm going for Chinese 2, Archaeology and Ancient Civilizations, Physical Anthropology, American History since 1877, and Intro to Gender Studies. The first 4 classes will all account for either my major or my core requirements, whether or not I get into the scholars program.

Anyway, hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!

Pre-K Thanksgiving Party

2009-11-30T22:06:00.003-06:00

After the party, in her class. ((Yay for uniforms. Reese is very opinionated.)

Dressed up as a pilgrim...

Last Tuesday (the last day of school for Reese before Thanksgiving break), Reese's school had a Thanksgiving party. K4 kids were pilgrims (though I think Reese was the only "genuine" pilgrim), K3 were Indians. They made outfits and each of the 7 classes made different foods. One made pumpkin pie, another made fruit cups, Reese's class made vegetable soup. One class made homemade butter. I went and helped them set up and dole out food.

She has the most awesome Pre-K teacher, Mrs. W. She's absolutely brilliant and an awesome teacher. Reese loves her and we love her. She's the protege of the teacher we really wanted Reese to have at a different Early Childhood Center. But we are more than happy with Mrs. W. She's awesome.

Also, Mom and Reese went over to Memphis, TN, last Monday to visit with Reese's eye doctor (the person she'll have to see if she ever needs eye surgery for her glaucoma for whatever reason) to get her pressure checked, or to at least see if they could check it without her being under anasthesia. Fortunately, Reese was awesome and they were able to check it. Her pressure in her left eye was 16, in her right (her eye with glaucoma) it was 24. Normal is between 10 and 20. So even her "bad" eye wasn't too far off. However, as we've known for a while, she has incredibly limited eye sight in her right eye due to her pressures being so high in her early life. She has light recognition in that eye, that's it. But she has 20/20 in her left eye, so no need for glasses! Yay! (Since Reese would never wear the ones the opthalmologist here prescribed for her.) They're going back in I think about 3 months to check it again.

2009-11-02T15:07:00.000-06:00

Thousands, THOUSANDS, of these on campus today. Wonder what it could mean? Referrals? Referrals speeding up? Who knows but I send our ladybug infestation out to all, for luck in adoption. :D

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T22:32:00.003-05:00

Dad took Reese trick or treating this evening. I manned the truck, following them for when they decided they were done. She's got candy, and we're going to get some on sake tomorrow for me, since Mom has decided that at 18 (19 in December), I'm too old to go around begging for candy, even if I do take a cute 5 year old with me. Lol.

Reese was a lion, and I used eyeliner to put whiskers and a nose on her. She's such a cute little lion. The big belly just makes the outfit, lol. And yes, the lion outfit has a tail.

This is also just over a week since she had her laser (a week ago yesterday). Obviously, you can't see her legs, but yeah. She's "shedding", for lack of a more politically correct term. The scabs from her "spots" are coming off, which they haven't done that I remember, previously, on her face. He legs, yes, but not her face. But they did turn the laser up, and her face was more swollen afterwards, so I guess it doesn't really "surprise" me. But she's healing up nicely, off of Tylenol 3 now, and just getting plain ol' Tylenol now and then, when it hurts. Some of the scabs on her leg just came off, and she was complaining of them burning just now, and I offered her Tylenol 3 (since she really seemed to be hurting), and she wanted it, and she HATES the taste of Tylenol 3. I even offered her normal Tylenol ("purple tylenol") which she LOVES and she still took the icky Tylenol 3 over her yummy normal Tylenol. She understands the T3 works better than the normal Tylenol on big owies. But overall, she's doing well in the healing process, I believe.

Happy Halloween!

Laser Treatment

2009-10-27T20:21:00.003-05:00

Her leg on Saturday night (early blistering)

Also, Saturday night

Friday, Reese had her 11th laser treatment on her first, and her 3rd treatment on her left leg (last one on her left leg was last December). They turned up the laser on her face to 13, and on her leg to 11, up one notch on each. Her face was a bit more swollen than usual, but it's her legs that have really been bothering her. With her legs, the laser was turned up and therefore she blistered. We think they'll keep it at 11 for a while, until her legs get used to it. Obviously, the blistering hurts. They actually gave her morphine while in surgery, and 2 more kicks of it in post-op. My mom had to take her to Arkansas Children's Hospital alone, since I had school, and Dad had work. So I think the anasthesiologist really didn't want her to have to deal with Reese's usual post-op reactions, which include screaming, crying, and, of course, pain. Fortunately, things were a lot easier for Mom because of the extra pain meds. She's on tylenol 3 with codeine to help with the pain from the blisters. She's going back to school tomorrow.

These laser treatments help lighten her birthmark, 10 laser treatments later, her birthmark is obviously lighter on her face, particularly around her chin, jaw, and upper forehead. It's slowly breaking up, and some areas will be more stubborn than others, like her eyelids. It's a long road we have ahead of us in the area of laser treatments for her birthmark. Our friend, Stacey, has a daughter with a smaller facial port-wine stain, who has had 13 laser treatments and is now on maintenance. Reese's PWS is appearing to be more persistent, but it is also more extensive, which could have something to do with it. I'm really happy for Stacey and Erin Joy that they will have less of this in their lives now. I know it's really no fun for the kiddos.

Birthmark Beauties For Adoption

2009-10-26T21:37:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I don't actually know what she looks like, but there's a 6 year old girl on GWCA's (Great Wall China Adoption) individual waiting child list. Her special need is a large hairy nevus. She's described as: This beautiful little girl is described as active and extroverted and has a beautiful singing voice. She is very clever and curious and will ask questions until she is satisfied with the answer she is given. Her favorite activity is to play with jigsaw puzzles.

She's ID 148 on GWCA's list. Not only is she older, but she has a birthmark (hairy nevus tends to black and, as the hairy part mentions, fuzzy, but usually removable to some extent through laser treatments, skin excisions, and skin grafts.), and so I feel compelled to advocate for her. And it's an open list (anyone can look at it), so I don't think sharing will be a problem.

There's also a 10 year old girl with a hemangioma on her wrist, and a 5 year old boy with "post operative right lower limb KT syndrome (deep vein deformity with lymph angeioma)" on CHI's Future Stars List. The boy, I think, has Klippel-Trenauney Syndrome ("KT syndrome"). I could be wrong, but it sounds right. KTS is similar to Sturge-Weber Syndrome (SWS), the syndrome Reese has. It's just more focused on limbs than face, as a general rule.

All 3 of these kids are from China. Check them out!

Happy Birthday, Reese!

2009-10-18T21:04:00.002-05:00

Anna-Marie (barely visible at the bottom of the pile), Savannah, Reese, and Rachael.

Her party was at a swimming pool (indoor, thank God, since it was like 54* outside)

Raeghan, Rachael, Reese, Anna-Marie, and Savannah, which together represent a good chunk of China: Guangdong, Chongqing, Shanxi, Hunan, and Yunnan.

Reese's cake (no, we didn't make it)

Reese turned 5 on October 8. Life has just been nuts since then, so I haven't really had a chance to post. She wanted to have her party at a pool, so fortunately, we were able to get her party at a nice indoor pool, so our little fish was thrilled. She had a fun party with the R's there: Kim, Bryan, Anna-Marie, and Savannah; the W's there: Charlotte, Evelina, Riley, Raeghan, and Rachael; the B's: Bob, Meredith, and Allison-Grace, and Kammy, along with our Uncle (our mom's brother) Jeff, Aunt Mandy, Justin and Caroline, and Grandma Debbie.

Reese had a ball, she got a Leapster 2 (which she loves and I highly recommend), a charger for it, a case (we got the messenger bag style, despite the fact it only comes in blue/green), and 2 games (Pet Pals and Ni-Hao, Kai-Lan's Beach Party). She got several books, a Mulan Barbie, a Chinese Barbie, a Scooby-Doo movie, a dancing/singing poodle, some make-up stuff (she loves make-up stuff and nails), and some Color Wonder marker things.

Her favorite part was definitely the pool. She's a little fish when appropriately dressed in a life jacket. She loves to swim and play in the water.

It's so weird to think we've now had 3 birthdays with her, and the two before that she was well-cared for and her special day truly celebrated. She's an amazing little girl, and I love her to pieces, even though she's ornery and can be a brat (but that's a kid for you, right?).

Happy Birthday, Reesey!

Reese's 1st birthday, in China. October 8, 2005

Reese's 2nd birthday, in Taiyuan, Shanxi, China. October 8, 2006.
Reese's 3rd birthday, her first at home with us. October 8, 2007.

4th birthday, ~October 8, 2008

5th birthday (actually taken on October 10, 2009).

Moon Festival 2009

2009-10-05T12:30:00.002-05:00

Part of the group shot: Kai, Reese, and Kaleigh

Group shot!

Norah

We celebrated the Moon Festival on Saturday. Or Mid-Autumn Festival, if you prefer. Anyway, it was fun and the moon was gorgeous once it came out. Reese had a ton of fun with every body. Got bug bitten horribly, but she had fun. And my car battery died so we had to get a jump (thanks Kammy and Kelley)!

Anyway, we had fun seeing everyone, and the food was good. And Reese had fun.

TAYLOR SWIFT!

2009-09-27T19:23:00.002-05:00

Reese by Taylor's bus

Bad shot of the big screen

Reese in her Taylor Swift Fearless Tour 2009 t-shirt and glow stick

Reese, Dad, and I went to see Taylor Swift last night. It was an awesome show. If you have any chance to go see it (even though most, if not all, of the shows in the USA are reportedly sold out), you really should. It's absolutely brilliant and exciting. Reese was tired, but she enjoyed it (well, that's what happens when you won't take a nap! >.> ) Anyway, this was Reese's first ever concert.

Excuse the bad quality of the shots, all I had was my camera phone.

Reese loves Taylor, but by the time the two opening acts were about done, she was ready to go. I think she was pretty sure Taylor wasn't really going to be coming out at all. Taylor Swift had like 9 costume changes, and every time there was a huge amount of applause, you could tell that Taylor really loves what she does and she's really grateful for this opportunity to do what she loves.

Love Without Boundaries

2009-09-09T22:10:00.001-05:00

www.lovewithoutboundaries.org

It's a wild life but it's our life!

2009-09-05T11:02:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since we posted.Things have been busy since school started. Reese started pre-k at a local public school, Monica started college and a new job (go Petco!), and in what can only be described as a decision based in insanity, I decided to go back to school also. So I signed up for three online classes and one "real" class at UALR. Kudos to my husband who is going to keep us all on track for the next few months.

Reese is loving her school, Monica and I are both enjoying school. The drama in our lives at this moment is Reese having something flaky going on with her heart. A chest xray last week for a bad cough revealed an enlargement in one part of her heart. So we will be visiting the peds cardio folks at Children's Hospital soon to see what is going on. More updates soon.

Kaci's 13th Birthday

2009-08-18T16:04:00.002-05:00

Reese and Dad

Reese

Sunday was my niece, Kaci's 13th birthday, but her party was Saturday. It was luau themed. There were burgers and hot dogs and "pina coladas" and fruit punch, along with cake and s'mores. So it was fun. Reese had a good time, and I got my roasted marshmellows. LOL.

updates...

2009-08-08T11:22:00.002-05:00

This is Cheryl, the mom. I am posting a quick update. Things are great here! Except it's too hot...School starts for Reese,Monica and I in less than two weeks. We are pretty excited about that! We are getting around to the last minute supply shopping, gathering of books, uniforms (Reese) etc.

Watch soon for some First day of school pictures!

St. Louis and Indianapolis

2009-07-30T20:40:00.002-05:00

Reese with a Pharoah head dress

She caught a "fish".

Sitting on a spyhnx in the kids' Egypt exhibit

In an Indy car

In the ocean exhibit in a submarine

Looking at fossils

Dad, Reese, and me on the skywalk from the parking garage to the museum

Me with my medals after my dance competition

We went up to St. Louis for a feis (fesh), an Irish dance competition, last weekend (the 24-27). I competed at the St. Louis An Samhra Feis, and I got 1 gold and 2 silvers. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. I'm pretty proud that I did well. It's nice to represent your school well, especially when you're the only dancer from your school there.

We drove to Terre Haute, Indiana, after the feis was over and stayed the night there. For the second night in a row, Reese got to go swimming (Mom took her swimming Friday night to try and get some of her energy out, seeing as she'd been in the car all day). I went with Mom and Reese and we played in the pool for a while. Reese "swam" between Mom and I (a distance of maybe 2 feet and someone's hands were on her the whole time), and she hopped from the ladders into our arms. The pool in Terre Haute was 4 foot deep at it's deepest. So not too bad. Taller than Reese, yes, but Mom and I didn't have to worry about accidentally stepping in too deep water.

The next day, we went up to Indianapolis to go see the King Tut exhibit at the Indianapolis Children's Museum. If you get a chance to see King Tut, you really should (no, King Tut is not in the exhibit, but there is a lot of nifty things from his tomb), but I don't recommend bringing young children. If they can't respect it, they shouldn't be there, in my opinion. One kid in our showing touched a statue and set off alarms, and I got to listen to a couple of kids giggle and be generally disrespectful because some of the statues had nudity in them. I wouldn't take Reese, she would've been a huge pain and Dad and I wouldn't have been able to enjoy it. But seeing as it was in a children's museum, Mom was able to take Reese to explore while Dad and I went through the exhibit. With Reese's attention span being roughly a grand 10 seconds for most things, they went through 3 floors in the period it took us to do 1 exhibit. Some variety of the exhibit is in Indianapolis, San Francisco, and Toronto right now (or, in Toronto's case, will be soon). It's been in Chicago and Dallas, that I know of.

The Children's Museum is awesome. It's the world's largest, 5 stories total. The vast majority of it is hands-on and what isn't is, logically, behind glass. Or in the case of the Tut exhibit, set aside. Reese had a good time. She doesn't get to go many places where she's free to touch as she pleases. It's a rarity to be able to just let a kid wander and touch (under supervision, of course) without worrying that they'll break it, drop it, or otherwise harm it. Or themselves. It has a carousel from the late 1800s, early 1900s. It's been redone and is functional again. It's a dollar a person, but Reese loved it.

Cool Videos

2009-07-22T16:32:00.002-05:00

The first is here. It's the full version of the 30 Seconds to Mars video, "From Yesterday", which is, to the band's knowledge (and I assume this to be true as it hasn't been disagreed with) the first video by an American band to be filmed in it's entirely in the People's Republic of China. And it's awesome. It's unrated (therefore unedited), but I thought some might find it nifty. But you've been warned. :P Here's the short edited version.

And this is an awesome video by the same band, called "A Beautiful Lie" that was shot entirely on location 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Some of the glaciers they filmed on may not even exist any more courtesy of global warming. Global warming is a very real threat and needs to be taken seriously. If not, the ice melt from the glaciers could drown places such as New Orleans and Manhattan Island, along with a good chunk of Florida. And beyond that...the glaciers would be gone. That's just some of the things that need to be addressed. Anyway, it's a cool video.

Cake and Cats

2009-07-18T17:14:00.002-05:00

My first decorated cake...

Like my first attempts at roses?

Reese and our newest foster kitten, Daytona

Mom and I are taking a Wilton Cake Decorating class at the local Michael's. It's fun. We had our second class last week (our first actually decorating), and we made the rainbow cake, seen above. Mom made the cake and did the initial icing; I did the vast majority of the decorating. Mom can't sit down and decorate on the cake; it hurts her shoulder that she had rotator cuff surgery on about a year ago. The roses are all my doing. :D I'm pretty proud of them.

The other pictures are Reese with Daytona, one of our kittens we're fostering for FuRR (Feline Rescue and Rehome). She's quite fond of the little bugger. He's a sweetie, real cute. Still skittish, but we're working on that. Mostly the other cats scare him; he's getting a lot better with humans though. He's downright cuddley!

Pictures

2009-07-13T22:16:00.003-05:00

We've bought Reese some of the uniforms she'll need for Pre-K this fall. We got her a sailor blouse, 2 polo shirts (one white, one blue...or maybe 2 white and a blue), a navy skort, and 2 khaki jumpers. Thank God, this fall we won't have much to argue over for clothing options. So maybe some of the morning fights will disapate.

Isn't she cute in them?

Oh, and there's a funny post on Meow is like Aloha.

My Graduation

2009-06-28T22:35:00.003-05:00

Getting my Diploma

With one of my presents

My cake

Reese

We had a celebration for my graduation/graduation party last night. I home schooled, and this was just a good weekend to do it. It was fun, it was great seeing all the people I care about, some of which I've known for years. (Most of them actually.) My "school color" was purple, so that was the theme. Not a whole lot to say about it. Thanks, everyone, for coming and for the presents, I really appreciate it. And thanks, Mom and Dad, for putting on the party.

It's Hot...

2009-06-24T13:31:00.002-05:00

I've been a bad blogger, I know. But honestly, nothing of any real entertainment has happened. It's too hot to really do anything. It's 93* F right now, and it rained yesterday, which presumably cooled it off. We're actually under a heat advisory right now. My poor parents have to work outside in this. Eek. And today is supposed to be warmer than yesterday.

So yeah, it's hot... *plots to move somewhere cooler*

Happy Anniversary!

2009-06-10T20:43:00.001-05:00

A day late, but yeah. Happy 19th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

If I had nifty pictures...I would post them. But since I don't...I won't.

However, I am watching Reese Friday for Mom and Dad, so they can go out and have dinner for their anniversary.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

June is Adopt-A-Cat Month

2009-06-08T23:32:00.001-05:00

I'm a kitty foster-mama, so this seems an important thing to point out. June is Adopt-A-Cat month. You can see more information over at my blog about cats and fostering, Meow is Like Aloha.