Wednesday, December 31, 2008
The simple pleasure of yo-yo
Back on a nebulizer
Eliana has had a nagging cough for the last week or so. We also noticed yesterday and especially this morning that she was wheezing. So after Carmi spoke with the pediatrician’s office, I quickly got out of bed and dressed and took Eliana to see one of her doctors before they closed early for the day.
Eliana was definitely wheezing so she’s back on a nebulizer for the first time in probably a couple of years.
Of course we had to make a pit stop on the way home.
A short recap of 2008
January
Eliana and Karys’ new bunk bed was delivered on the 2nd.
We decided to begin the adoption process for a 12-year-old son in Dalian, Liaoning on the 13th.
February
Karys turned 3 on the 1st.
We attended an event on the 2nd sponsored by the Asian Culture and Awareness Association at Davidson College for Chinese New Year.
We hosted a local Chinese New Year celebration on the 8th. There were 75 present including 22 children from China.
We threw a birthday party for Eliana on the 16th in the church’s fellowship hall. The theme was ‘Mulan’.
Doug founded and launched a website for a local FCC (Families with Children from China) chapter on the 15th.
Eliana turned 6 on the 20th.
March
Doug’s last services as interim music director at church were on the 2nd. He served in that position for 2 years and 9 months.
Karys had outpatient surgery on the 7th.
Eliana lost tooth #3 on the 9th.
We mailed the Letter of Intent to adopt our son on the 10th.
Doug turned 45 on the 14th.
Doug registered elianahenderson.com and karyshenderson.com on the 26th for the girls’ future use.
April
Carmi and Doug were fingerprinted on the 5th.
Our homestudy was administred on the 18th.
Carmi turned 45 on the 19th.
We bought season tickets to Carowinds on the 24th.
May
We made our first trip to Carowinds on the 2nd.
We received pre-approval for the adoption of our son on the 6th.
Doug was admitted to the hospital on the 30th because of a scratch on his left elbow that became infected with strep.
June
Doug was discharged from the hospital on the 12th.
We celebrated mom’s 80th birthday on the 14th with a party in the church fellowship hall.
Doug started physical therapy on the 27th.
Doug started working half-days on the 30th.
July
We attended a picnic on the 12th at Taylor Ranch in Fletcher, NC sponsored by our adoption agency.
We received our I-171H on the 12th which is a form from the US government giving us permission to bring our son into the country.
Eliana was assigned her 1st grade teacher on the 25th.
We purchased a 2005 Kia Sedona minivan on the 25th.
Doug joined Facebook on the 30th.
August
We made a road trip to Charleston, SC on the 1st for a weekend with some families who have also adopted through our agency.
Doug returned to work full-time on the 4th.
We enjoyed the opening ceremony for the Beijing Summer Olympics on the 8th.
We attended Eliana’s 1st grade orientation on the 21st.
Eliana started the 1st grade on the 25th.
September
Carmi completed our dossier on the 2nd.
Karys was recognized as being officially potty trained on the 3rd.
Our dossier was sent to the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office on the 12th for authentication.
We made a road trip to Columbia, SC on the 12th for a visit to Riverbanks Zoo with Doug’s sister and brother-in-law.
Carmi started writing occasional book reviews on our blog on the 16th.
Our dossier was sent to the US Secretary of State’s office and the Chinese Embassy for authentication on the 19th.
October
Our dossier was sent to China on the 9th.
Doug launched a new website on the 15th called Our Chinese Children. It’s a database for children adopted from China.
Our dossier was logged into the China system on the 17th.
We made our final trip to Carowinds on the 26th.
November
Carmi joined Facebook on the 10th.
Doug and Carmi celebrated their 22nd anniversary on the 15th.
December
We enjoyed a Christmas party at a local restaurant with our FCC group on the 13th.
Eliana and the Children’s Choir presented their Christmas musical called ‘A Christmas Carol’ at church on the 14th.
Carmi’s fundraising cookbooks arrived on the 17th.
Doug and the Sanctuary Choir presented their Christmas cantata called ‘A Christmas Prayer’ at church on the 21st.
Doug’s final physical therapy session was on the 23rd.
Karys had her ears pierced on the 29th.
{extended}Tuesday, December 30, 2008
I think she’s bluffing
Monday, December 29, 2008
Karys has holes in her head
We went to a mall this afternoon to exchange an outfit that Karys received for Christmas. This is the same mall where Eliana had her ears pierced in 2006.
Karys has been pleading to have her ears pierced for a while now.
So of course Carmi got “that look” in her eye.
And of course I said, “Oh OK”.
Carmi held Karys in her lap and the longer Karys sat there, the more unsure she became that she wanted to go through with it. But everyone kept reassuring her that it wouldn’t hurt.
So I stood in front of her and held that precious face in my hands to try and keep her still as the two ladies positioned themselves on either side.
3…2…1…pop!
Karys’ mouth flew open and for a moment nothing came out.
Then her face turned beet red.
Then she started screaming.
All I could do was look into those beautiful little brown eyes and say, “They lied to you, baby girl.”
I picked her up and after a few minutes the screams and crocodile tears subsided.
Here’s the finished product.
Carmi decided to get a third hole in each of her ears.
To make Karys feel better?
Oh…I’m sure she wanted to cry too.
After it was all over, I said, “I need a drink.”
Off to Starbucks we ran to soothe my nerves and then a bookstore to soothe the girls’.
This book was all over the kid’s section.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Dust off a Sunday suit
Our Worship Leader at church took the day off so I had to dust off a Sunday suit because he asked me to lead the music.
I have to say that I really enjoyed it. The hard part was getting up early for the 8:30 am service after sleeping in for 9 months.
I sang Strange Way To Save The World by 4Him in both services. I wasn’t particularly pleased with my execution of the song in either service but the song did seem to fit well with the message topic. In the 11:00 am service, the Sanctuary Choir presented a song called “God of Every Generation” from the Christmas cantata.
{extended}Saturday, December 27, 2008
Movie day
Today was movie day.
Our brother-in-law, Art, picked Eliana up this afternoon and took her to a 1:45 showing of the movie Bolt. The film is about Bolt, a small white German Shepherd who has lived all his life on the set of a TV show in which he portrays a superhero dog. As a result, he thinks that his superpowers, and events on film, are real. When he is accidentally shipped from his Hollywood soundstage to New York City, he embarks on a cross-country journey to reunite with his owner and co-star, Penny. Along the way, Bolt teams up with a housecat named Mittens and a hamster named Rhino. Eventually he discovers that he doesn’t really have superpowers and that the show is not real.
Art and Eliana both thought the movie was funny as well as some lady behind them who, they say, laughted o-u-t l-o-u-d the entire time.
This evening we popped popcorn and watched The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor which I bought Carmi for Christmas.
{extended}Friday, December 26, 2008
Crash and burn
This is a picture of Karys last night at my mom’s house.
Guess what’s in the mug.
It’s coffee.
And guess what?
Karys was still awake around 1:30 this morning so we don’t think she’ll have much coffee anymore. At least not after 9:00 pm.
This morning we had breakfast available at 7:30 for any family members who wanted to drop by and eat and watch the girls open their presents.
Eliana was up by 7:15 but Karys missed out on breakfast.
Carmi finally went into the girls’ bedroom and roused Karys around 8:30.
By 10:30, the family had left and this is what Karys looked like. The poor child crashed and was already asking for a “nappy”.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
The view from 300 feet
Carmi was going to leave work early today so she took Eliana with her to the office this morning.
Karys and I met them for lunch. After lunch, we went back to Carmi’s office so some of her work buddies could meet Karys for the first time.
The girls enjoyed the view from the 31st floor.
P.S. Don’t look, mom.
Santa at the Great Wall
The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, is tracking Santa. He was recently spotted over China at the Great Wall.
Do they know it’s Christmas time?
Hard to believe it’s been 24 years since this song was recorded.
24 years later, Christmas is still simply another difficult day for so many.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Gatorade should go in the mouth
I took the girls to Chik-Fil-A for lunch today before running a couple of errands. I think Eliana wanted to eat there just so she could shoot Karys up the pole in the play area.
They played fast and furious and were thirsty once we left Chik-Fil-A so I bought them each a gatorade on the way out of our first stop after lunch.
We’re sitting at a stop light waiting to turn onto the main road and Karys dropped something so I turned around to get it for her. When I turned back around, the light had turned green and there was a sizable distance between our van and the car in front of us. So I floored it.
“Oh, great.”, I heard Eliana mutter from the back seat.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”, I asked looking into the rear-view mirror.
“I was taking a drink when you took off real fast and I spilled drink on my shirt and pants. I’m gonna have to change when we get home.”
“Sorry about that.”, I apologized.
“Yeah. And I DON’T like gatorade up my nose!”
Then we came to the end
It has been a bittersweet morning.
I had my final physical therapy session at 9:30. That should be a good thing and it is. My first session was June 27th so I’ve been going twice a week for almost 6 months.
But I’ve had a good experience with my therapist, Donald. He is a h-u-g-e African American dude who played football for Howard University in Washington, DC. We are kindred spirits because he is a born-again Christian, deeply rooted in his faith who taught at his church. He often shared nuggets from the Bible with me which I needed and appreciated during my recovery. I think it was good for him too as I got the impression that he couldn’t do that with many coworkers or other patients.
I’m going to miss Donald but I’ll take our son to meet him when we come home next year.
{extended}Monday, December 22, 2008
Checking in with mom
