Scrooge resides at our house!

SO...did ya miss me?!? :) It's been quiet around here...mostly because we spent the entire weekend hunkered down, with a snowstorm that turned to an icestorm at the end! Actually, to be correct, I should say I spent it that way. ShaoXi managed to escape on Sunday for several hours, to go play in the snow with a friend...whose mom was much more willing than I to drive!

Back to the normal routine today. Not looking forward to the rest of the week. The Northeast is in for what is being the called the coldest temps in YEARS. UGH!!!! Get me OUTTA here! Seriously, it is supposed to be 15 to 20 BELOW...read that again, people, I said BELOW zero! That IS with the windchill factor...it's only supposed to be a balmy ZERO without figuring the wind into the equation. Have I mentioned how very MUCH I detest the cold? My getting-older-every-minute-bones are protesting as it is, and it is only 25 degrees out. This will be one of those times that you need to wrap your entire face in a scarf, or else you won't be able to catch your breath. UGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!

So, most of our Christmas things are packed away, except the actual tree. I had it on all weekend, and really enjoyed the beauty of the lights. Soon enough it will be gone to the attic for another year. Probably sooner than I would like, as Shao seems to want it gone (little Scrooge!) I will not do it JUST because she wants it, but I suppose it has been up quite awhile (since the day after Thanksgiving!) I have to get used to the look of the UNdecorated house. I HATED it at first, so very bare. It should improve once I begin REdecorating with all the usual knickknacks, which are still packed away in the attic. One of these days....

Need to head out to work...wish I could stay home and snuggle with my girl...but she's in school, and my kindergarteners are depending on me to deliver them safely to school. So its off to the saltmines...HA! :)

Blessings....Nancy

The hard reality of Chinese Adoption

The past few days have been peaceful. Mostly because on Wednesday we had no school, thus I didn't work! While this means I don't get paid, it still comes as a nice bonus, especially in the very middle of the first week back, after Christmas break! Kind of a nice way to ease back into normal life, if you ask me!

Shao came to me on Tuesday night, teary eyed. Seems her geography class was discussing Asia, and they were talking about the one-child policy in China. Hit a little too close to home for my sweetie. Now, don't get crazy here...her teacher approached her in home room and told her what she was planning on covering, and if this would be too sensitive a subject for Shao. Good work, Ms. Robertson! And Shao said it would be fine. But when it came right down to it, it was tough. She told me about it early in the evening, and said it had been hard. Later, at bedtime, she broke down in tears, because she would never be able to know her birthparents. I cried along with her. That is the sad reality of Chinese adoption. The one really BAD feature of it, if you ask me. Other than that, it is a wonderful thing.

I hugged her for a long time, and I told her that I prayed often for her birth parents, particularly her mother, especially near her birthday. I also told her that in a way, I was glad, because if it had not been this way, then I would never have known her, or been given the incredible gift of being her parent. It is a very hard road to walk, this one. I am sure the issue will come up time and again, with different twists as she grows older, and will always be one that haunts her, at least a little bit. Hopefully we can go to China in the next couple of years and she can gain a little more of the puzzle that is her. We will definitely go to the orphanage. Her last question of the evening was about her ayi. We have pictures, but no name. Very hard.

On a brighter note: it is sunny here today! COLD, but sunny. Won't get above freezing, but I will take the sun. Because TOMORROW is another story...somewhat big storm coming in, late Saturday morning. Could be a foot of snow before all is said and done. Oh, joy. May not make it to church on Sunday...which won't be good, since Shao is the lay reader. But not worth risking life and limb over, that's for sure. We shall see.

So. It's Friday. And while I don't wish away my days (I don't have as many left as I used to!), I am happy that tomorrow I have NOTHING planned. Doesn't happen often, let me tell you! More likely, I have things booked back to back. This will be nice. And I suppose, even if I did have things planned, I likely wouldn't do them, with the storm coming in. Hopefully NEXT weekend won't be bad, as it is a three day weekend (Martin Luther King day), and I'd like to get out and about a bit!

Blessings!....Nancy