Gentle Years

I would love to give you an update with pictures but very little of our technology is cooperating with our other technology, so for now here is the scoop:

We are here.  We are safe.  We have Eva and she is a delightful mixture of curiosity and intelligence.  Today we will return to the Civil Affairs Office to finalize the adoption.

By Thursday I should be adjusted to the time change and flight-have slept about 12 hours total since leaving at 3:30 on Friday morning.  That means just in time to leave for Guangzhou.  We all like Guiyang, find it very easy to get around but wish our hotel had a pool.  It is hot and steamy, except in the morning, so we're not loving that

Aidan has asked a few times when I'll be leaving.  I put the date of our leaving on the calendar and the date of our return and suggested that he cross off the dates.  He said he would not do this, but maybe I could call him and send him some pictures because he's seen on tv where people do that when they are apart.

Today when he got home from school he asked if he could bring Eva into class for Show and Tell.  He then asked again if I would call him sometimes while I am away.

We are going to set up an email account for him and he and Daddy will check it each night to see if he has any new messages.

It is going to be really hard to be away from my baby.

I am leaving on Friday at dawn.  For those of you who have adopted, you know that this is the stage at which you start to feel like the White Rabbit.  You even start talking like him, "Don't just do something, stand there... Uh... no no! Go go! Go get my gloves! I'm late".

If you understand that, you've been there :)

Fortunately for me, Grange Fair is tomorrow so I can relax-I spent the last few nights calling people for food donations for the ham & bean supper, went to Aidan's open house, had a church officers meeting  and a meeting of the social studies council executive board.  Have also been busy getting things ready for my sub, who is more than competent to take over for me, so that is a big relief.  He also just happens to have adopted from China using the same agency that we are using for Eva.  Amazingly small world, especially because he was living in Wisconsin at the time.  What were the chances of him then moving to New Hampshire just when I needed someone like him to come along?

So I'm sort of ready-you know how that goes.

I'll leave you now with some photos of those that I will leave behind:

Aidan complained that I always have the camera and he never gets to use it, so this is his idea of a self-portrait (remember that he doesn't like having his photo taken, so of course he was being a goofball even for himself as the photographer).

Aidan came home with his first "Friday Folder" from second grade.  I got to sign next to the smiley faces that said he was well behaved and never needed re-directing (he really is a good, happy boy, only stubborn at home :)  In the folder was a pamphlet on second graders and I found this particularly interesting.  Even though we've raised three children to adulthood, you forget some things.  Here is the description of seven:

Social:  May be moody, shy, sulky, touchy; sometimes depressed
Prefer playing and working alone or with one friend
May change friendships quickly and feel "nobody likes me"
Rely on adults for help and reassurance
Need the security of rules, routines, and physical boundaries

Physical:  Often keep their eyes focused on a small, close area
Copying from board is very hard
With head on arm or desk, grasp pencil point tightly and write very small
Can do quiet work for longer periods
Can get sick from worrying about tests, assignments, etc.

Cognitive:  Better at understanding ideas such as time, space, and quantity
Learn new words and meanings quickly; enjoy writing stories
Open to learning math
Good at classifying, such as sorting buttons, pictures, leaves, and shapes
Listen well and speak precisely
Enjoy hands-on exploration of how things work
Bothered by mistakes and try hard to make their work perfect
Like to work slowly and finish what they start
Enjoy repeating tasks and reviewing learning

What was really interesting was that this pamphlet was about 6 and 8 year olds as well, and the differences between the three years was really pretty substantial.

Looking forward to having two seven year and a half year olds in the house and watching them turn eight-social, cooperative, humorous, full of energy, developed eyesight-near and far, short attention span, full of ideas, quit easily, take on too much/more than they can handle, listen well but don't always remember what they heard, good at handwriting, crafts, computers, and drawing.

At school I run a Women's Studies Group and the first thing that we do is look at how women communicate with one another, how they communicate differently from men, and how they can be biggest supporter or biggest saboteur to one another.  We progress on to trust building activities for the group, guest speakers from different careers and vocations, etc., and this year our focus is on women around the globe and trying to help those less fortunate.  One of the girls is going to Kenya in December for a week and returning next year for six months to volunteer at a home for children who were orphaned because their parents died of AIDS. 

It is because of the strong and special women in my life and our open communication that I am able to be friends with other women; a rare thing sometimes.

This isn't the best photo (Mom was sick with cancer and I had been washing dishes, hence the odd hand pose), but this is Audrey on the left, Ruth in the middle, me on the right, and Mom last winter.

This is us back in 1979 or 1980 at my cousin's wedding.  (I've got the long hair.)

These are my girls.  Lauren will be 28 while I'm in China.  Farran will be with me in China.

I do have two older sisters.  Kathy was 16 years older than me and we spent years going to the grocery store together, trading babysitting, walking at 5 a.m., going to fairs, to the beach, etc., but then she had grandchildren and I started teaching....and our schedules didn't match up.  In 2004 I found her dying of a stroke on her living room floor.  I will never stop missing her.  She hated having her photograph taken, though.  My oldest sister June, 18 years older than me (I'm the middle sister), has the mental age of a young teenager and we love one another but we don't really connect.  Still, she is as responsible for shaping who I am as Kathy was.  Here is a picture of the two of them as children (with my first and second brothers):

Two weeks from today, I will meet another female destined to change my life!