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Thankful Thursday

So I got seriously ticked off this weekend when reading a large adoption blog and forum that I frequent. The post was about this religious fanatic threatening the owner of the blog because she was the anti-Chirst. (eye roll) The owner of the blog said that her research showed her that the persons IP was from Massachusetts. Then this other person comments about how they were just “SHOCKED” that the religious fanatic would be from MA, they would expect that from the South or the Mid-West because there’s a lot of “bible-thumping” down there. I was SO irritated that the person would just indict millions of people in one fell swoop. That kind of stuff makes me crazy….like when people indict the whole South as being racist.

Really, can you be so ignorant as to not recognize that there are fantastic people everywhere, racists everywhere, bigots everywhere, religious nuts everywhere, compassionate people everywhere? I would like to know how the North East and the West Coast got a “pass” on having racist people or religious kooks? Do we forget that the Jonestown church was based out of San Francisco? This blog is not the first time in the last year that I have been faced with the whole, “Everyone in the South is a bigot thing.” Or the “Bible thumper” thing.

So today’s TT is in honor of all things Southern that are good and that I have grown to love since moving here in 1990.

  • Frito Pie.
  • Corn Nuggets. Essentially fried creamed corn. Oh my!
  • Fried pickles.
  • Men who open the door for women entering buildings.
  • Men who tip their cowboy hats and smile when a woman walks past.
  • Barbecue. The debate will always rage about what style is best, but I say it’s ALL GOOD.
  • When a funeral is going by on a regular road people pull to the side and show respect.
  • The many, many ways that y’all can be pronounced and used in a sentence.
  • Sweet tea. Or half and half. Or half tea half lemonade.
  • Bluegrass music
  • Jazz
  • That all types of soda are called Coke.
  • Southern Hospitality.
  • Chick-fil-A (born in GA)
  • Any sign of snow or ice causes chaos on the roads. If a single snowflake falls, the city is paralyzed for three days and
    it’s on all the channels as a news flash every 15 minutes for a week. All grocery stores will be sold out of milk, bread, bottled water,
    toilet paper, and beer.
  • “Fixin’ to” (I don’t use this phrase, but it cracks me up)
  • Big Trucks. I am so used to this now that when I travel to other parts of the country I instantly notice that there are less on the road.
  • Fried okra and cornbread.
  • Parents jumping all over their kids if they forget to say “Yes, ma’am” or “No, sir.” And Mr. and Mrs. So and so.
  • That people having guns for protecting their family and property is more readily accepted.
  • Family get togethers are a food fest.
  • How if you drive through a neighborhood, even if it’s not your own, people wave at you.

**Edit from Louanne – Ruth Ann’s post had me laughing that I mentioned all that food and didn’t mention Tex Mex. Mmmmmm Pappasito’s! And Half Price Books, my favorite bookstore that I forget got started here! Good stuff! I also wanted to say that all men in Texas don’t wear Cowboy Hats and ride horses. Mike was born and raised here and doesn’t own a hat, boots or a horse 🙂

I know that many from the South will say FOOTBALL, but I am not a sports girl and I don’t get the obsession. But that’s okay, it’s still part of the charm.

Now, if you are from the South or visited the South, what are your favorite things that I might have missed?

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Aunt Tahni visits

Tahni Visits
Tahni Visits (click to see the album)

My sister Tahni came to visit last week. She was our first visitor when we got home from China at the beginning of August. What a change she saw in Nadia over the course of those months! I enjoyed our visit because I was alive and functioning rather than a jet lagged zombie. Hee hee. Here are a few photos and the sketch she did of Nadia is really awesome and I don’t think that my photo does it justice. It was our Christmas gift and I will always treasure it.

While she was here we ate great food, picked out new glasses for me (thanks T), visited with Grammie, Paula and Clay. We also watched Kevin James’ “Sweat the Small Stuff” and Bill Cosby’s “Himself” which in my opinion are 2 of the funniest stand up routines ever. I also added a few extra photos from this weekend and Nadia cuteness.

Gift From Tahni

Below is Nadia sharing an ice cream cone with Mommy. And our family lunch.

Ice Cream with Mama Lunch date

Nadia goes everywhere with a toy in each hand. So with this outfit I put a toy in each pocket and told her that she could now have 4 toys. She was not sure what to think of those pockets, so she walked around holding on to the toys IN the pockets. Cracked me up!!

Ooooo pockets

Bath time

Get this off!

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China Trip answers

“WHAT? NO WAY! OH MY GOSH.I am so jealous. SOOOOO jealous. And so glad you will be blogging! WOW, how did this all come about? You have to blog THAT story. How does a couple say, “Ok, let’s go to Beijing to study Chinese!” Please do a post about that because I’m dying to know. And I’m dying to copy every move. Oh I’m so so so jealous!!“

The quote above is from MUTHA and echoes what others have asked, so I will attempt to answer the who, what, where, when, why and how.

Who – Our little family.

What – headed to Beijing, China for a month this spring. Mike will be going to the school each day for classes. The school is in an office building. I will be having a tutor from the school come to our apartment for 2 hours a day. The apartment will be arranged by the school. It is a furnished one bedroom, with broadband Internet access. The information states that the kitchen has a fridge, microwave and basic kitchen utensils. The apartment has a washer, but doesn’t mention a dryer. I know that on our trip most people in China hung their clothes up to dry. I am going to try and get a confirmation from the school this week, as we thought they might have those small stack-able washer/dryer combos that are one unit. They offer extra-curricular activities throughout the week that include learning about Chinese tea, wine, cooking and other subjects. I think that will be fun to take part in. They have excursions each weekend to see the sights which will be fun to do again because it was so hot last time and we were just thinking, “Get us to the babies!!”

Where – Beijing, China. Apartment in the University District.

Why – We want to learn the language for future humanitarian reasons, and for Nadia to learn the language of her birth country. She will be raised as an American, but her knowing Mandarin will be valuable later in her life. At some point I am sure she will want to go back to visit and we want her to be able to speak to the people in their language. We have tried to learn from home during the wait. We had a native speaker that came to our house to try and tutor us, we have the Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone. Both are very good and we are still working on that before we go. And will continue to use it once we return. This trip is really a trial to see how much we can learn in the actual environment.

When – Less than 2 months from now, and we will be there the entire month of March. HOLY COW!!! Why at this time? Because it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much cheaper to travel to China in the spring than in the summer or over Christmas break. Good deals on flights and so on.

How – The nature of Mike’s job is one that he can work remotely. The company he works for has agreed to let him work remotely since we will have broadband access. He will be taking 2 weeks of vacation for the trip and working from there 2 weeks. They have many other employees in the states and Canada that work remotely permanently, so it’s nothing new for their company. That is a great blessing to us that they are allowing this. The church is allowing me to also work remotely since most of what I do is by email/phone anyway. One week is spring break and the other 3 weeks my good friend Karen will be picking up the paperwork and meeting with the school counselor if they need anything for the KHUSA program. Blessings everywhere for this to work out.

Now Mutha asks how a couple ends up doing this. We just decided to do it and once Mike did a ton of research we felt that this program with this school would be the best choice. It’s going to be an adventure and those of you who would like to do it can just consider us your guinea pigs. We can report back on the truth of the apartments, shopping, education and so on. We have now decided not to adopt a second child and that has offered us the flexibility to make this trip.

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A forgotten story

First – to those who have asked I will post the “who, what, where, when, how” for our China trip this weekend.

But I was thinking about the trip today and I thought about when we were coming home from China. We were in LA and our flight was delayed, delayed, delayed. We took up residence in this one area of the terminal and people were coming and going all around us as their flights left. At some point a Chinese couple and their teenage daughter sat across from us. She was staring at us for a long time and finally asked about Nadia. We answered all the usual questions and she translated for her parents. They were on their way to Texas to see her brother graduate. She made faces at Nadia watched her for a long time and finally asked if she could take a photo of Nadia. The whole thing was fascinating to her, but in a good way. On the plane they were seated a row behind us and she smiled and said things to Nadia off and on during the flight. I thought it was really sweet because she was so nice about the whole thing.

So I thought hmmmm how much of that are we going to get in China because we won’t be with a big group of other foreigners? Nadia and I will be out and about shopping and stuff and I will be the one sticking out. It’s going to be an adventure. Perhaps I am going to need a translated card for this time that says, “Last year we came to your country to adopt this child. This year we have returned to visit and learn more about China.” That probably a good plan since I don’t think I am going to learn enough fast enough to answer all those questions 🙂