Camping Fun

Miss Scarlett and I went camping this past weekend with several members of my husband's family (Hubby was working). It was such a blast! Swimming, fishing, eating food cooked over a fire...aaahhh, that is the life! We came home exhausted, sunburned and sore, but we loved every minute of it. I am so thankful that my in-laws are such totally cool people.

The funniest part was that we were camping on a point at the lake while some sort of bass tournament was going on. Bass boats were flying up and down the lake at all hours of the night. One crazy boater was spotlighting (Can you say "illegal"?) and woke us up at 4 a.m.! We made the best of it by stoking our fire back up and eating marshmallows.

Here a couple of the kids' photos...

Cousins and Best Buds... Sure, I'll drive!

Her First Fish

Scarlett's First Fish

How to Be a Rock Star...

Miss Scarlett was invited to a Justice for Girls Rock Star Party by a little friend. All the girls had their hair done, makeup applied, and given a rocking headset to sing into.

This is what I came home with...a little rock star. Reminded me more of one of the Olympic skaters than a rock star, but as long as Miss Scarlett was happy, I was happy.

Second Adoption Rant

So we are now going through our second home study update and second renewal of our I-717H (which allows us to bring home a child from China to the US). I have to tell you, I am getting discouraged. It seems like things have come to a stall. You know how boats just sit dead in the water? Well, that is what has happened to our adoption file. It is sitting dead in some file, somewhere on a desk in China.

The waiting on China isn't the worst part. It is continually being hit with more and more fees for renewal of fingerprints, arrest searches (that we aren't felons), renewal fees for everything imaginable. I mean, nothing has changed! We've aged a couple of years, but that is it.

So, I am definitely in a funk about all this. We have waited 2 1/2 years already...some folks may wait longer than we will.

I am almost to the point that I want to quit. Almost. But not quite. I try to remember that waiting is hard, and good things come to those who wait. But man, it is so hard.

So we are sending in our second renewal request of the I-171H. Hopefully, we will see our child before we have to renew again. Please pray for us that we will. Thank you, and God Bless.

First Tooth

Miss Scarlett has finally lost her first baby tooth. Her dentist mentioned that she had one lose on the bottom a couple of months ago, but I had no idea how soon it would come out. Over the last week, Miss Scarlett had been worrying the thing constantly, trying to get it lose so the Tooth Fairy would come.

Yesterday while she was in daycare, she just pulled it right out! Mrs. Jean put it safely in a baggie so that it would make it home for the Tooth Fairy. On the way home, she and I discussed how the Tooth Fairy operated. When you lose a tooth, you are supposed to place it underneath your pillow before bedtime. After you go to sleep, she (the Tooth Fairy) would sneak into your room in the middle of the night and take the tooth. In its place, she would leave money. How much, we had no idea.

So, Miss Scarlett very seriously placed her tooth (still in the baggie) under her pillow and went to sleep. This morning,you can imagine our delight in seeing that the Tooth Fairy had, indeed, visited. Not only did she take the tooth, but she left FIVE DOLLARS! Yes, five dollars.

I will upload a photo of Toothless Joe soon.

Re-Education

A couple of months ago, I started a new career as working for an insurance agent. When I went for my initial interview, I mentioned that I had taken Spanish since 7th grade and, at one time, been fairly capable of communicating in said language. Needless to say, my boss was excited to tap into the quite large Hispanic market we have here in East Tennessee.

Anyway, I have not spoken it since my college days, so I decided to purchase the Rosetta Stone Spanish program to help me bush up on my Spanish language skills. I was quite rusty.

I have made it though the first four units, and I am amazed at how quickly things are coming back to me! I feel like I can read and write quite well, but the listening and speaking comprehension is still lagging behind. What I really need is to find a native Spanish speaker to practice on. Thinking of trying Craig's List to see if anyone would be willing to practice their English on me, while I practice my Spanish on them. Just thinking...

Miss Scarlett is starting Mandarin again with a private tutor. We felt it was important that she know her native tongue and be able to speak a second language. The cool part is, we have to learn it with her so we can help her practice it. We are so excited!

I'll have to let you know if the R.S. program is as good as a tutor. I suspect it is not, but have hope that it will come close!

Kindergarten Preparedness

We signed Miss Scarlett up for kindergarten this week. It was Roundup time here in our neck of the woods. We all went to the school house to take a tour, meet the teachers, principal, and generally just check things out. Miss Scarlett received a nice little packet of markers, flash cards, a Scholastic book, and other goodies from the school. It was very nice.

What we were NOT prepared for, was the list of things that we had to supply at the beginning of the school year. Things that we NEVER had to bring when I was in school. Here is a sampling of what we need:

2 large boxes of Kleenex
Mr. Clean Magic Erasers
Expo Dry Erase Markers
Band Aids
Zip Lock bags
headphones for computer time

This isn't even half the list. I mean, what's up with all this? All we had to bring when I was in kindergarten was a dime for milk and a towel with our name on it for nap time. I guess it is just a sign of the times. We pay more and more money in taxes to help fund the schools, but it seems that is not enough anymore.