Mom2my4

Carving the Pumpkin!

Pre Halloween Days

Here is a link to ALL of the pictures..  http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AauGLVu4as1ENM&notag=1

Ba, Ba Black Sheep Video

Cangwu Friends

    I belong to a Yahoo group made up of families who have adopted children from the Cangwu Social Welfare Institute in Guangxi in

China

. A Yahoo group is an online spot where people sign on to chat. This is where Kelsey is from. There are about 50 families on the Yahoo board from all over the world. About 15 of those families are from overseas… Spain, France, Finland, and the Netherlands. Some of these families have a gathering each year in their own country. We have not yet had a reunion in the United States. So… we have all been talking off an on about having a reunion here. Guess who is charge! Me!

   I volunteered to organize or help organize the reunion if it was in Virginia or Pennsylvania. Our family is willing to travel. However, I don’t actually want to be the planner…if I have never been there before. J So the majority have spoken… the reunion will be held here in Virginia!

  It is more difficult than I thought to plan a reunion. There are about a million places to visit. So… now I am pondering… should the hotel be in the middle (not near much)… up in Williamsburg (near  Jamestown, Yorktown, Busch  Gardens, etc) … or in Virginia Beach. I am leaning toward Williamsburg because there is so much to do up there and we can always drive to Virginia Beach… they are coming for 3 days or so. Well, it costs a little more to be in Williamsburg, but Virginia Beach is very expensive. If they stay in Yorktown in the middle, the rates will be slightly cheaper, but you have a 30 minute drive to the stuff by Williamsburg and a 40  minute drive to Virginia Beach….. decisions… decisions… anyway, it will be great!

     These children share a bond. They come from the same area of the country and many lived at the orphanage at the same time. Some might be blood related… distant cousins or siblings. However, the biggest thing they share is that their early lives were spent in Cangwu cared for by many of the same nannies. We will share pictures and stories and make new friends!

Interesting things we know about our Cangwu Friends…

   *Hannah Mei, Nicole, Jessica, and Kelsey had their cribs tied together in a block of 4. They no doubt spent many hours playing though the bar with each other.

   *Nathan and Emma were still at Cangwu when Kelsey celebrated her first birthday. We sent a cake!

   *Many of the parents met their children for the first time in the same room we met Kelsey… at the Lottery Hotel in Nanning.  *Hannah Mei, Nicole, Jessica, Nathan, Emma, and Kelsey were all pictured in the same finding ad.

   *Many of the children’s referral pictures were taken against a pull down back-drop. Many children were holding the same plastic grapes!

   

   Our family can’t wait to meet the other Cangwu families. Right now there are about 10 families coming with another 4 families really trying hard to make it happen. Others may join us as the time gets closer. J

Fall Pictures

Teacher Survivor

Have you heard about next year's "Survivor" show?

Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped into an elementaryclassroom for 6 weeks.  Each person will be provided with a copy of theschool district's curriculum, and a class of 28 students. 

Each class will have 5 learning disabled, 3 with ADD, one gifted, one ADHD, and 2 who speak limited English as a second language.  Three will be labeled as severe behavior problems.

Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance with annotations to curriculum objectives, and then modify, organize and/or create materials accordingly. 

They will be required to teach students,handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, compile portfolios, communicate with parents and arrange parent-teacher conferences.  They must also supervise recess and lunch, as well as monitor the hallways.

In addition, they must complete drills for fire, tornadoes, and shooting attacks.  They must attend workshops (100 hours), faculty meetings,
professional association meetings, and curriculum development meetings.  They must also tutor those students who are behind, as well as strive to get
their two ESL (English as a Second Language) students proficient enough to take the proficiency tests.

If they are sick or having a bad day, they must not let it show.  Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program.  They must maintain classroom discipline, and provide an educationally stimulating environment at all times.

These business people will only have access to the golf course on the weekends, but on their new salary they will not be able to afford it anyway. There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to 30 minutes. 

On days they do not have recess duty, they will be permitted to use the staff restroom, provided another survival candidate can supervise their class. 

They will be provided with four 35 minute planning periods per week while their students are at music, art,P.E. and library.  If the copier is available, they may make copies of necessary material at this time.  No personal copying is allowed, and a count of sheets of paper used by each candidate will be monitored by the machine and the data reviewed by the district reasurer and building principal to check for waste or overuse.

The business people must continually advance their education on their own time and at their own expense. This may be accomplished by moonlighting at a second job, or by marrying someone with money.

The winner will be allowed to return to his or her job as a business person.

LOL! ... and you wonder what I do all day!

(I know the font and colors are messed up. I don't know why.)

Kelsey and Rachel:Looking The Same Way at The Same Time!

Friends We Met Along The Way!

    This has been an incredible last two years! We have two new daughters and have met many people along the way. The adoption community both online and in person is a very supportive bunch. It is just like being pregnant at the same time--- you develop a strong bond of friendship.

   Here are some photos, so all of my other friends and family will have faces to go with the names that I mention often. J (I do apologize as two of my friends are not pictured here….Heather whose daughter Sydney was adopted from the same list as Kelsey….. and my friend, social-worker, co-worker, and neighbor…. Robin…. whose youngest two beauties are from China.)

     So… here is to our friends who are now part of our family forever! Online… in person… travel buddies… list buddies… our friends….We have shared a journey of a lifetime!

My friend Robin passed away this summer after a brave fight with breast cancer. I have a couple of pictures, but I didn't think any of them were right. I could not make this slide show without mentioning her. She lived our neighborhood... worked at the same place... and ended up being our social worker. Big hugs to Robin's family... she was a wonderful person and a huge part of our journey.

Mother Daughter.... and Friends!

   Morgan and I had a wonderful weekend! We were invited to go to Corolla in the Outer Banks of North Carolina with a group of friends. The moms rented a house for the weekend... you get a better rate because it is 'off season'. There were 6 girls (5 girls and Morgan) and their moms. All of the girls are in eighth grade at the same school and have known each other since early elementary school.

   We spent time at the beach, the pool, shopping, riding go carts, eating, and sitting around talking! We had a blast! It was hard to leave Kelsey and Rachel, but it was really good for Morgan---and relaxing for me!

  The girls are all really nice girls and they get along so well. We all hope that this becomes a tradition!

How Do You Know You Are a Teacher?

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TEACHER? 

by Jeff Foxworthy

1. You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which  one belongs to the child out of line.

2. You get a secret thrill out of laminating something.

3. You walk into a store and hear the words 'It's Ms/Mr.______' and know you have been spotted.

4. You have 25 people that accidentally call you Mom/Dad at one time or another.

5. You can eat a multi-course meal in under twenty-five minutes.

6. You've trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct times of the day: lunch and prep period.

7. You start saving other people's trash, because most likely, you can use that toilet paper tube or plastic butter tub for something in the classroom. 

8. You believe the teachers' lounge should be equipped with a margarita machine.

9. You want to slap the next person who says 'Must be nice to work 7 to 3 and have summers off.'

10. You believe chocolate is a food group.

11. You can tell if it's a full moon without ever looking outside.

12. You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says 'Boy, the kids sure are mellow today.'

13. You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public.

14. You believe in aerial spraying of Ritalin.

15. You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.

16. You spend more money on school stuff than you do on your own children. 

17. You can't pass the school supply aisle without getting at least five items!

18. You ask your friends if the left hand turn he just made was a 'good choice or a bad choice.'

19. You find true beauty in a can full of perfectly sharpened pencils.

20. You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer and finally,

21. You understand instantaneously why a child behaves a certain way after  meeting his or her parents.