Dinner and a Movie

I'm spoiled beyond words.  

With our trip to China on the near horizon, we've tried to plan special nights for each of the kids-- some one on one time before we add to the chaos.

On Friday, I had my night with Lucy.  She had previously decided that she wanted to stay home and watch a chick flick.  Lyle suggested that he could make dinner for us as well. 

 I should have known it would be quite a production.  

Lucy and I were instructed to stay out of the master bedroom until 5:30, when we were escorted up to "La Beck Restaurante Oo! La La!".

The ambiance was so cozy and inviting.  I'd even call it homey.

The menu was prominently displayed on a music stand as we entered.  I can understand why Lyle forbade Lucy from having an after school snack.  There would be plenty of food.

I could have made a complete meal just from the appetizers.  The artichoke dip was divine.

The service, from start to finish, was exceptional.  This lovely waitress, according to her nametag, was  "Chief of Recitations Dramatique".  Later in the evening she favored us with a poetry reading.

The salad was served by a handsome gentleman with a French accent......or maybe it was Russian, it was a bit muddled.

And the salad, oh my.

Fresh pepper from our ever-attentive server.

The Sous Chef, Mademoiselle Cholita, was so very excited about this event.  She "called" me on the phone earlier in the day to confirm our reservation.

In this photo, we're enjoying our soup.  You may notice Mademoiselle Cholita in the background sampling the bubbly, actually chug-a-lugging the bubbly.  We thought that was a tad unprofessional being that she was on-duty and all.  

The sparkling cider was an excellent vintage.

The main course did not disappoint.  The parmesan chicken and garlic green beans were fantastic.

And then we watched the movie....the only part of the evening that took some preparation on my part.  For some strange reason, I thought that "Gone with the Wind" would be the ideal chick flick.  It's probably been 20 years since I'd seen it and my memory did not serve me well.

Midway through this marathon movie, Lucy asked, "Does it get happier?"

Ummm, no not really.

If Rhett had only cooked a dinner like this for Scarlett, I think the ending would have been different. 

By Small and Simple Things.....

Are great things brought to pass

This scripture came to mind as my Rose started on a new instrument last week.  She chose the cello for several reasons.  First, because she knew a woman from church who gave cello lessons, second, because she liked the sound, and third (and maybe most importantly), because it's an instrument that Lucy and Bruder have never played and could therefore offer no advice.  So far, one week into it, Rose and the cello have been a love match.  However, I've been through enough beginning musicians to know that won't always be the case.

We've decided that Rose will practice the cello in the master bedroom and we've made her a little "cello corner".   None of our chairs allowed our petite Rose to sit with her feet firmly planted on the ground, so we've found that an overturned laundry basket is our best solution.  Her half sized cello still looks so big for her and when she carries her massive case on her back, I have to stifle a laugh. 

After supervising Rose's practice, I went downstairs and heard Lucy singing an Italian aria.  I haven't really stopped to listen to her sing in a long time.  It's just kind of background music to my day.  It struck me last night just how much she's improved over the past few years of voice lessons and that she sounds downright professional.  After she finished, she practiced the piano, something I haven't had to prompt her to do in years.  

Bruder brought his guitar down to the kitchen and we had an impromptu sing-along with him strumming songs from several different eras.  He was mostly self-taught and now with consistent lessons over the past several months, has improved by leaps and bounds.  He writes his own music and often surprises us with his compositions.   I never have to ask him to practice.  I often have to ask him to stop so I can hear myself think.  

So when Rose asked last night if I thought that her cello teacher had to start by plucking the strings just like she's doing now, I told her that I'm sure that she did.  If there's one thing I've learned as a parent over the past 16 years, it's that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.  Can't wait to hear our Rose in a few year's time.

Hip Hip Hooray for LOA!

One step closer to Kunming! After waiting a whopping 67 days, we finally received our LOA (Letter of Acceptance). I brought it to Lyle's office so he could sign his name lickity split and then I sent it overnight mail to its next destination--Texas of all places.

This is finally starting to seem real. We'll apply for visas in the next couple of weeks and as soon as China says GO, we'll buy plane tickets. We're still looking to travel in March. Lyle has drawn out plans for the bed with built-in drawers that he's going to build for Yun Xi and I've hung some pictures of our little guy on the wall. I feel like I'm in nesting mode--cleaning organizing, Goodwilling (that's a word right?) and just trying to envision our house with one more person. A little boy person! It's been a long time since I've had one of those and I'm woefully unprepared.

But ready or not, he'll be coming soon!

A Musical Christmas

"Feliz Navidad" from Cholita to you and yours.

Believe it or not, a ukulele was top on her wish list.

She was very pleased.

Bruder received an instrument of a slightly higher quality--a Taylor acoustic guitar, 

in addition to the Beatles t-shirt from Lucy.

And although Rose was primarily gifted with "kits", her true love, 

she will be picking up her rented cello next week and begin lessons in the new year.

I envision a cello/ukulele duet in the future.

If you doubt the legitimacy of such a pairing, check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efMbdb-Wmwo

The handmade gift this year came from Lucy in the form of a piggy bank for Cholita.

What a fantastic Christmas.

December 24th

It wouldn't be Christmas Eve without our traditional big Subway sandwich.   

Which is always followed by the reading of Luke 2.  Rose was our beautiful Mary this year.

Good tidings were proclaimed by Cholita, our lovely angel.

All came to worship the babe in Bethlehem.

From there, things move in a very different direction.  The Christmas Eve jammie pyramid.

Olaf looks concerned.

He knows how these things always end.....

.......with a child or two falling on top of him.

It was a wonderful Christmas Eve, but someone was missing.

We hope he likes jammie pyramids.

Wish he knew we were waiting

It's strange to feel so connected to a person half-way around the world and realize that they don't have any idea you exist.   This week we put together a book for Yun Xi that we'll send to China.

 We included pictures of Mom and Dad, brother and sisters, of course, the dogs.

Olaf can be a bit shocking if you're not prepared.

He'll see his future home,

and learn a little bit about us.

But unfortunately, he probably won't see any of this until just a few hours before we meet him.  At the most, he might hear about us the day before.  Every orphanage has the prerogative to choose what information they share with the children and when they share it.  Yun Xi's orphanage is not the norm and I wish their policies were different.  I'd like to think that he was looking forward to meeting us as much as we are looking forward to meeting him.  Instead, he has no idea that a family half-way around the world says a prayer for him every single night and that they can't wait to bring him home.

I'll still send the book to China.   It will be worth the shipping costs if he even gets just one look at us on paper before we walk through the door in person.  It will be a traumatic day, there's no getting around that,  but we'll do everything we can to start off on the right foot.

The Christmas card photo you WON'T be getting

For Bruder, Christmas card picture-taking is akin to the rack, water torture, the pit of despair....

And if they're not pouting, they're laughing.

Or attempting to put someone else into position.

Or complaining about someone's static cling hair.

Or looking who-knows-where.

Or one teenager might be giving his sister a punch while the other gives her sister the heimlich.

Or I don't even know what was going on here.

But I do know that whatever it was, it's preferable to the response I get when I say I want 

"loving family".

Believe it or not, there was one this year that made the cut.

P.S. Lyle made this swing for me several years ago and I love it.  We painted it three different times trying to find the right color.  White....too blah, blue......too zingy.......sage green, just right.

Oh, how she loves a project

The students in Madeline's science class were asked to make creative representations of cell biology.  I told Madeline that she could do anything that didn't require sewing on my part.  She asked only for pipe cleaners and popsicle sticks and then retreated to her room.  Last night she came downstairs with this:

A cell zoo

 The zoo keeper is obviously the golgi body, or the "mail room" of the cell, shipping materials off to different parts of the cell.

These might look like monkeys, but they're really mitochondrion, producing 90% of the cell's energy.

 The carnivores, like the wolves and the lions and the alligators are the lysosomes, breaking down materials like food into smaller pieces.

 There's a complete accompanying report that explains that the fencing is the cell wall, the lizards and snakes are the chloroplasts, the manager's office is the nucleus, the food storage barn is the vacuole, etc. etc.

 I'm quite sure my 8th grade self would have made a poster.  

The littles were completely enchanted.

And the big smile?  Sister has promised them the zoo when it comes back from school.

An early Christmas.  

Our Si Guy

We've decided on a name and miraculously, every single person in the family is thrilled with it.  I'd begun to think that was impossible.   For the longest time, I campaigned on the virtues of the name Levi.  I made converts of Cholita and Lyle and Lucy.  Bruder and Rose weren't sold on it, but Bruder said he'd be fine with whatever we chose and Rose.......well, let's just say she doesn't suffer in silence.   She did, however, come to us one night and tearily say that she surrendered.   She's nothing if not dramatic.

Still, there'd been so much angst over the name that I couldn't say it with the same happiness I had when I first mentioned it to the family.  The poor, wonderful name Levi had been beaten to death.  So, from the back of the pack surged a name that we'd been considering from the very beginning.

* It's Biblical.

* It's somewhat quirky.

* It means "one who hears", which we quite love.

* There was a man in the Bible by this name who carried the cross of Jesus, a story that we'll be sure to mention when we teach our little guy the gospel.

* It has a nickname that Lyle finds incredibly cute.

* And the final kicker..... when the name is written in Mandarin, it has the same first character as our little boy's name, Xi.  In China it's pronounced Xi Mon.  I took it as a sign.   And goodness knows we needed one.

The moment Cholita heard the news, she grabbed a marker and put into writing the sentiment shared by the whole family: we love our little Simon.  

And anyone who mentions chipmunks, well, they'll have to face the wrath of Olaf.

He's more vicious than he looks.