Easter was marvelous! But the pictures...

Our Easter was marvelous!  We started the day taking our friend Helen with us to church to see mutual young friend, Gabrielle, get baptized.  The fact that this sweet young one at only age seven has joined the family of God just makes me get all happy and weepy at the same time.  Would that all my dear ones would take that step.  We took a load of photos.

We then went to my mother-in-law's for dinner and had a big Easter egg hunt with all the littles.  The kids had a blast running around the yard hiding and trying to find some 55 eggs.  Sadly, we could not find 22 of them.  I suppose the lawnmower will have to do that little job!

I took several photos of the kids rampaging up and down the yard searching for eggs.  But the, something happened.  I LOST MY CAMERA.  

Losing the camera was bad enough, but the fact that I have lost the photos of our friend's baptism has broken my heart.  We have searched high and low for the thing.  It is gone.  And the pictures with it.  Right before we leave for China.  

So the whirlwind search for a replacement camera has began.  Pictures at 11:00 p.m. (sorry, I always wanted to say that!).

Itinerary is set

We received our itinerary for our trip.  Looks like we will receive Jackson on April 12th - the day we get into Changsha.  Our agency has lots of fun things planned for us - rickshaw ride, tour of the hutong (old city of Beijing that is rather communal), acrobatic show, and trip to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City for the Beijing part of the trip. 

For the Changsha part, we will be going to an embroidery Institution (Hunan Province is famed for the embroidery its people create), Bayi Park and the Yuelu Academy.

Finally, we will end up in Guangzhou, Shamian Island.  There we will enjoy a visit to the Guangzhou Folk Art Museum and Yuexiu Park.  Somewhere in all of this we will go with Ann of Red Thread China to do some shopping and visit the US Embassy.  Woohoo!

So it appears that we will have a lot of fun things to do as well as (thankfully) a few days of downtime.  This is not a tourist trip - this is a trip to bring home our second child.  Foremost in our thoughts will be bonding with him.

Hope you will follow along!

A Busy Day and a Lazy Day

Today started out to be very busy.  Miss Scarlett and I went to her Chinese class with Helen, her tutor.  We are excited for Helen as she is preparing to go off to Harvard Divinity School.  We will miss her, but we hope that we will be able to stay in touch and visit with her someday.

After we came home, Hubby and Miss Scarlett went to the grocery store where they discovered an Easter Egg Hunt was going to be held.  So after shopping, a lunch of hotdogs and soft drinks, they fled back to the Food City for the Easter Egg Hunt.  Miss Scarlett did well.  She brought in a basketful of eggs - most of which were purple.  According to her daddy, she passed over anything that wasn't purple for awhile.

While they were having daughter/daddy time, I was weeding the front flower beds.  I got a lot of work done, but not all the beds.  Just too many after a long and rainy winter.  I did make a HUGE dent in the weeds.  The beds look much better.  But we need some some mulch.  That will have to wait.

Hubby mowed the yard while Miss Scarlett jump roped and filled some of her plastic eggs with treasures from the yard (Nandina berries, grape hyacinth buds, tiny pine cones, and pretty stones).  I continued to weed while occasionally admiring a particularly good jump rope run or treasure.

After a light supper and baths, we all went to the Lazy Boy Store!  I finally was able to purchase the Lazy Boy recliner that I had been drooling over for the last couple of years.  I bought a dark chocolate brown Maverick recliner.

I spent part of the evening setting up my "kingdom".  My favorite antique floor lamp with scrolled wood pole, drink stand that had been an old cigarette ashtray holder (it's tall and fits drinks perfectly) and my purple and blue pansy blanket - I was ready for some serious downtime.

I am so glad Sunday is a day of rest.  I plan to be resting a lot today!

What do you think?

It's been over two years since I started my blog.  A few weeks ago, I was thinking I wanted something less Chinese-y and more generic.  My original blog designer, Verna, of the Blog Fairy had retired from the design business.  She was just too busy with her family.  BUT!  She turned me on to Becky, who created this awesome design.  She worked with me to find something that suited my personality and tastes.  In short, she did a GREAT job!

Becky, if you are reading this, you need to give yourself a plug!  I will definitely go back to her when I want to mix it up again.

Approved to travel!

We just received word today that we have been given travel approval!  Hooray! We are less than month from seeing our son for the first time.  Praise God!

Let the countdown begin!

Five Weeks on Weight Watchers

A friend at work and I discovered about six weeks ago that we were going the wrong way when it came to our weight.  I was at an all-time high on my weight, as was she, and we decided NOW was the time to do something about it.  So we joined Weight Watchers.

It is one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Going to the WW meetings has helped me learn what a normal portion should be.  In a world of supersized fries and super gigantic colas, I had forgotten what a normal portion should be.  Remember years ago when a small hamberger and french fries was the normal portion?  Ha!  That is a thing of the past.  Or is it?  I am slowly rethinking how much I hsould eat.

Probably more importantly, WW has shown me how UNhealthy the junk I used to eat really was for my body.  The first week's weight loss of 4.6 pounds just from cutting out the junk food (cheese burgers, fries, moon pies, etc) showed me how many empty calories I was stuffing my poor body with.  I just hope my body will forgive me.

So here I am at week five of WW. I have lost 9 pounds.  My goal is to lose 7 to 9 pounds more.  I know I can do it now.  And I am excited.

Three days is too short!

This weekend has been too short.  Even though I was off Friday with Miss Scarlett, and had a three day weekend, it felt too short.  Three days are NOT enough.

Here is a recap of our weekend:

Friday - It was a whirlwind of activity!

• Took Miss Scarlet to a new pediatrician.  Really liked the new doctor.  She is Indian and has such a gentle spirit about her.  Loving that.
• Went from there to Goodwill and dropped off a load of clothes and toys.  Glad to give some things to others that can use them.
• Stopped and lunched at Chik-Fil-A.  Had yummy chicken and a fruit cup.  LOVE Chik-Fil-A!
• Blasted over the the college to meet with Helen, Miss Scarlett's Chinese tutor.  There was an Chinese art exhibit going on, and Helen wanted to show us through it.  We had a wonderful time visiting with her and admiring all the precious artwork there.
• Stopped home long enough to grab some bottled water and head to our mother-daughter manicure.  We had gift certificates and totally enjoyed being pampered.
• Met some friends at Mr. Gattis and visited and caught up on everyones' children.  A fun time.
• Came home to an excited phone call from Helen (same one above) stating that she had been accepted to Harvard Divinity School!  We are thrilled for her and cannot wait to hear more about it.
• Stayed up until 1:30 a.m. washing clothes that family and friends had given us for Jackson and hanging them in his closet.  Nesting.  Aaaahh!

Saturday was much more mellow.  If one could say that.  

• Slept late and hopped out of bed on the run.  Went to Chinese class and heard more about Helen's acceptance to Harvard.  She is SO excited.
• Came home and had tacos with fresh salsa on them.  I love fresh salsa. 
• Went to Target, Toys R Us and Home Depot.  Bought some items, came home and crashed for a couple of hours.
• I fell asleep on the couch while hubby and Miss Scarlett went grocery shopping.  Woke up around 12:30 a.m. and watched Blue Collar Comedy.  Bill Engvall still cracks me up.

Sunday - the day of rest.  But that is just a suggestion, right?

• Totally messed up on the time change and missed church this morning.  I always feel like my week starts off badly when that happens.
• Got ready for a birthday party of one of Miss Scarlett's classmates.  Bowling with about 8 kindergartners is a riot!
• Went to church.  Miss Scarlett was singing in the Children's Choir.  Her Nana and Poppi were there.  All the kids were so cute and sounded very good.  Our Children's Choir director and helpers ROCK!
• Came home for a supper of breakfast foods.  Love those winter night suppers.  Cozy.

So now the weekend is almost over.  I feel like I made use of every single moment.  Got a lot done.  Had  a lot of fun, and got in a little rest as well.  Wish every weekend was a three day weekend!