Lela at Rainbow Park
" Helping" rake the leaves at Grandma Pines
Gingerbread House at the Bronx Botanical Gardens
Lian and her Care Bears
Yes, it's the lazy woman's way out. I'm posting our Chritmas letter.
Charlotte's version; We did lots of stuff, had fun, it was a great year. LOL
Time for the annual review. January 08 started with Lian’s surgery to repair her not so good China surgery. She went in on the 4th at 5:30am for nose/lip revision, tooth extraction, ear tubes and possible palate work. After several hours in the waiting room, we figured they had decided to tackle her palate too. Her surgery ran 4.5 hours, she spent 2 hours in recovery and then up to the peds ward. Once she was more awake, she started picking at her lip – no, she was signing for water, little smarty. She bounced back so fast everyone was amazed. She was doing so well the nurses gave her a clear dinner – broth, jello, juice, sherbet. She only stayed overnight (and Jamie stayed with her) because her surgeon didn’t want to send her home at 10pm. The next morning she was ready to go after snarfing down a plate of scrambled eggs.
January is also Lela’s birthday and Family day, three years since she was placed in our arms. She had a small family party and big all girl princess blast with her entire Chinese class and Sunday school friends, 15 little girls in dress up – accompanied by 21 adults. Not in our micro house, we used 2 rooms at our church.
February finally brought enough snow for sledding – a first for Lian. And a visit by our social worker for her 6 month report. Wow, that went fast. Lian’s lip was still healing and puffy – and she managed to splat on her newly repaired and oh so expensive face not once, but twice, fortunately with no lasting damage. Then Chinese class Chinese New Year party with lion dancing, dumpling making and a traditional feast courtesy of our wonderful teacher, Man Li Lin.
The Easter bunny arrived in March with so many goodies they overflowed the baskets. This year Lela had overcome her fears of large costumed characters (finally figuring costumes=goodies) and sat with the bunny who came to church coffee hour. Lian wasn’t so sure about giant bunnies and sat on Lela’s other side. Lian turned 3 on the 28th, and we had a small family party because the big party for her baptism was only 2 weeks away. She had healed well enough to drink from a straw and blow out her birthday candles – big milestones. We had waited for her baptism due to the unknowns of surgery schedule, recovery and family schedules. It all came together on April 13. Lian wore a Chinese silk dress with my family’s Christening gown over it, while I prayed for its 100 year old seams to hold up. Lela held the baptismal candle and didn’t set fire to her hair. Our friends, Bob Kerner and Donna Haggarty, are the God parents. It was a wonderful and I managed not to cry until Father Kurt sent us down the aisle together as a family. We had a big party after the service at the church and invited everyone, with catering done by Moi, so most of the previous month was cook and freeze. Sister Gillian and nephew Oscar arrived to help celebrate.
May was my first mother’s day with 2, an occasion for reflection – I never thought I’d end up 50 something with two little girls. It also brought far away tragedy, the earthquake in Sichuan, China. Lian’s city, HanZhong, is on the Sichuan border about 250 miles from the epicenter, and suffered damage and fatalities. No one from her institution was hurt, but a wall collapsed, buildings cracked, and they lived in tents while the aftershocks rolled on and on.
Memorial Day opened a nearly perfect summer. Into that 3 day weekend we crammed; picnicking at the beach, marching in the local parade (Lela’s third time, Lian’s first), post parade picnic at our church where Lela won the wheelbarrow race against bigger kids, a trip to the Queens zoo, another first for Lian, and a neighbor’s birthday party complete with petting zoo and pony ride. That month also had two big events for Lian; diapers no, big girl panties yes, and surgery for a new set of ear tubes (the first set kept clogging up with wax.)
The 4th of July was wet and grey, but Jamie was playing in the community band so we watched from under an umbrella, while local pyrotechnics provided excitement. We took our first trip to the big zoo- Da Bronx - with Aunt Christy. Somewhere along the line, Lela had because obsessed with the Lion King, so all things African were preferred. Her favorite, the lions, even gave us roaring and pouncing. Most of the summer was idyllic, swimming with friends, Friday night family picnics at the beach, library story time and water play at the park, concerts at the band shell, a couple of parties for leavening. I’m so lucky my kids have a social life, so I get one too.
August featured an epic trip to WI to visit my mom and dad, just me and the girls and mountains of their luggage, 2 car seats, stroller... We nearly missed our plane courtesy of Southwest only assigning 2 guys to check in bags for 5 planes, and our bags did miss the plane. So we got to spend a delightful 2 hours at the Midway baggage carousel, waiting, waiting for the next plane. And we’d only been up since 4am. Finally secured our bags, the rental car and off to the Mad City. We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa Wilson and saw the sights – the zoo, beach, playground, Sweet Corn festival and carnival – but Lian is not an adrenalin junkie like Lela. We squeezed in a quick stop in Chicago to visit Gillian and Oscar in their new digs, and the Shedd aquarium before returning.
September brought school, pre-k for both girls. Lian was approved by our school district for a school for speech and language and rides the bus an hour each way. Lela goes 4 afternoons for 2.5 hours, 15 minutes away. Guess which one had separation issues. Lela started our church music and art program for big kids as she will be 5 soon – with Lian tagging along. 9/16 was Lian’s first Family Day, home a whole year. It’s amazing what she has taken in her tiny stride – adoption to a strange land, surgeries, therapies, learning a new language, many, many new experiences, undergoing the most killer PE program on the planet, following big sister Lela (a chubby child that walked with a wobbly toddler gait can swing from the monkey bars), toilet training! She’s a wonder and perfect for our family. As a bonus, Lela went dry at night with no accidents.
October is merely a run up to Halloween. Lela suffered serious indecision in costume choice. A lion, a Dalmatian, a lion, a princess, a lion, a princess. She finally settled on Belle, of Beauty and the Beast. Lian was princess Aurora, or “Wo-wa”. We trick or treated with friends around town, and acquired huge bags of swag which still linger.
Turkey day was a quiet family affair. Christy did the turkey and stuffing, I did the sides and a bakery did deserts.
As we barrel into December, the Xmas frenzy is ramping up – at least on Lela’s part. It’s good for naughty or nice threats. This is only Lian’s second Xmas and I’m not sure it’s really registered yet. So far we’ve scheduled the miniature train exhibit at the Bronx Botanical Gardens, Chinese class party, 4 pre-k parties and concerts, FCC Xmas party, 2 birthday parties, and are trying to figure out how to cram in a visit to Macy’s Santa land and the Bronx zoo winter wonderland – and see some friends. Note that this is their social schedule, not ours. Just to add more excitement, Jamie and I were gifted with dual cases of bronchitis just in time for the holidays and I found out I’m allergic to one of the 3 meds I was on, courtesy of a red, bumpy, extremely itchy rash, but not which one.
Me, good things. I have a new PT job, Executive Director of the Manhasset Bay Protection Committee, an inter-municipal water quality group. New glasses, nice to see clearly again. Bad stuff, undergoing a speed root canal and crown this spring as my dentist raced to beat our loss of dental insurance. I’m still volunteering for numerous causes; Audubon, Community Chest, Ecological Commission, Waterfront Commission, and working for St. Stephen’s. I spent many frustrating weekends this summer trying to locate a leak in our backyard fish pond, which involved pretty much rebuilding the perimeter, so much fun; sweltering heat, heavy rocks, slime and mud. No veggies went in this year, (anyone who says two kids are as easy as one lies like a rug) but lots of fruit all summer long; juneberries, tiny alpine strawberries, raspberries, plums, blackberries, figs, raspberries again, enough to share with the birds. Plant oaks for your children, fruit for yourself.
Jamie continues to work at Strategic Insights Inc. He planned on building a shed in the back yard this summer as part of a long range plan. Then we’d convert our useless as a garage storeroom into another room, move the office down there and reclaim the third bedroom as a playroom/bedroom – there are teenage girls in our future. Instead he took out several raised beds to create a piece of lawn for the girls to play on and built a brick patio with their help, as long as you define help as excavating the sand and dirt base to make mud pies and bury all sorts of interesting things. They preferred the mud to the lawn. All our pets are with us, (1 dog, 2 cats, 60 outdoor goldfish) though Sally the dog is getting old, how old we’re not sure since she was a rescue dog, but she’s been with us for 12 years.
When we sit down to dinner and look across the table at our girls, we are overcome by the presence of everyday miracles. Lela clutching her stuffed animal de jour and pillow cover, Lian now the one most likely to be dressed in a pink, shimmery princess costume, tiara and high heels; giggling, whispering, poking each other, sneaking food on and off plates, throwing diva snits in stereo. Real sisters. Two sparkling threads of light that embroider our lives. Every once in a while someone will say how lucky the girls are, and we always reply, “No, we’re the lucky ones” unable to compress the wonder, joy and love they have brought us into a snappier retort.
Though times seem dark and frightening, there is hope all around, often found in small, oddly wrapped packages. Prosperity is not about money, but striving and thriving, so we wish you a prosperous New Year. We long for the shelter of peace, and pray for all who live in fear and uncertainty. May your holidays and New Year be filled with the presence of family and friends, joy in the moment, hope for the future, and love for a lifetime.
Love to All,
Jennifer, Jamie, Lela and Lian
Subscribe to our blog for 2009
January is also Lela’s birthday and Family day, three years since she was placed in our arms. She had a small family party and big all girl princess blast with her entire Chinese class and Sunday school friends, 15 little girls in dress up – accompanied by 21 adults. Not in our micro house, we used 2 rooms at our church.
February finally brought enough snow for sledding – a first for Lian. And a visit by our social worker for her 6 month report. Wow, that went fast. Lian’s lip was still healing and puffy – and she managed to splat on her newly repaired and oh so expensive face not once, but twice, fortunately with no lasting damage. Then Chinese class Chinese New Year party with lion dancing, dumpling making and a traditional feast courtesy of our wonderful teacher, Man Li Lin.
The Easter bunny arrived in March with so many goodies they overflowed the baskets. This year Lela had overcome her fears of large costumed characters (finally figuring costumes=goodies) and sat with the bunny who came to church coffee hour. Lian wasn’t so sure about giant bunnies and sat on Lela’s other side. Lian turned 3 on the 28th, and we had a small family party because the big party for her baptism was only 2 weeks away. She had healed well enough to drink from a straw and blow out her birthday candles – big milestones. We had waited for her baptism due to the unknowns of surgery schedule, recovery and family schedules. It all came together on April 13. Lian wore a Chinese silk dress with my family’s Christening gown over it, while I prayed for its 100 year old seams to hold up. Lela held the baptismal candle and didn’t set fire to her hair. Our friends, Bob Kerner and Donna Haggarty, are the God parents. It was a wonderful and I managed not to cry until Father Kurt sent us down the aisle together as a family. We had a big party after the service at the church and invited everyone, with catering done by Moi, so most of the previous month was cook and freeze. Sister Gillian and nephew Oscar arrived to help celebrate.
May was my first mother’s day with 2, an occasion for reflection – I never thought I’d end up 50 something with two little girls. It also brought far away tragedy, the earthquake in Sichuan, China. Lian’s city, HanZhong, is on the Sichuan border about 250 miles from the epicenter, and suffered damage and fatalities. No one from her institution was hurt, but a wall collapsed, buildings cracked, and they lived in tents while the aftershocks rolled on and on.
Memorial Day opened a nearly perfect summer. Into that 3 day weekend we crammed; picnicking at the beach, marching in the local parade (Lela’s third time, Lian’s first), post parade picnic at our church where Lela won the wheelbarrow race against bigger kids, a trip to the Queens zoo, another first for Lian, and a neighbor’s birthday party complete with petting zoo and pony ride. That month also had two big events for Lian; diapers no, big girl panties yes, and surgery for a new set of ear tubes (the first set kept clogging up with wax.)
The 4th of July was wet and grey, but Jamie was playing in the community band so we watched from under an umbrella, while local pyrotechnics provided excitement. We took our first trip to the big zoo- Da Bronx - with Aunt Christy. Somewhere along the line, Lela had because obsessed with the Lion King, so all things African were preferred. Her favorite, the lions, even gave us roaring and pouncing. Most of the summer was idyllic, swimming with friends, Friday night family picnics at the beach, library story time and water play at the park, concerts at the band shell, a couple of parties for leavening. I’m so lucky my kids have a social life, so I get one too.
August featured an epic trip to WI to visit my mom and dad, just me and the girls and mountains of their luggage, 2 car seats, stroller... We nearly missed our plane courtesy of Southwest only assigning 2 guys to check in bags for 5 planes, and our bags did miss the plane. So we got to spend a delightful 2 hours at the Midway baggage carousel, waiting, waiting for the next plane. And we’d only been up since 4am. Finally secured our bags, the rental car and off to the Mad City. We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa Wilson and saw the sights – the zoo, beach, playground, Sweet Corn festival and carnival – but Lian is not an adrenalin junkie like Lela. We squeezed in a quick stop in Chicago to visit Gillian and Oscar in their new digs, and the Shedd aquarium before returning.
September brought school, pre-k for both girls. Lian was approved by our school district for a school for speech and language and rides the bus an hour each way. Lela goes 4 afternoons for 2.5 hours, 15 minutes away. Guess which one had separation issues. Lela started our church music and art program for big kids as she will be 5 soon – with Lian tagging along. 9/16 was Lian’s first Family Day, home a whole year. It’s amazing what she has taken in her tiny stride – adoption to a strange land, surgeries, therapies, learning a new language, many, many new experiences, undergoing the most killer PE program on the planet, following big sister Lela (a chubby child that walked with a wobbly toddler gait can swing from the monkey bars), toilet training! She’s a wonder and perfect for our family. As a bonus, Lela went dry at night with no accidents.
October is merely a run up to Halloween. Lela suffered serious indecision in costume choice. A lion, a Dalmatian, a lion, a princess, a lion, a princess. She finally settled on Belle, of Beauty and the Beast. Lian was princess Aurora, or “Wo-wa”. We trick or treated with friends around town, and acquired huge bags of swag which still linger.
Turkey day was a quiet family affair. Christy did the turkey and stuffing, I did the sides and a bakery did deserts.
As we barrel into December, the Xmas frenzy is ramping up – at least on Lela’s part. It’s good for naughty or nice threats. This is only Lian’s second Xmas and I’m not sure it’s really registered yet. So far we’ve scheduled the miniature train exhibit at the Bronx Botanical Gardens, Chinese class party, 4 pre-k parties and concerts, FCC Xmas party, 2 birthday parties, and are trying to figure out how to cram in a visit to Macy’s Santa land and the Bronx zoo winter wonderland – and see some friends. Note that this is their social schedule, not ours. Just to add more excitement, Jamie and I were gifted with dual cases of bronchitis just in time for the holidays and I found out I’m allergic to one of the 3 meds I was on, courtesy of a red, bumpy, extremely itchy rash, but not which one.
Me, good things. I have a new PT job, Executive Director of the Manhasset Bay Protection Committee, an inter-municipal water quality group. New glasses, nice to see clearly again. Bad stuff, undergoing a speed root canal and crown this spring as my dentist raced to beat our loss of dental insurance. I’m still volunteering for numerous causes; Audubon, Community Chest, Ecological Commission, Waterfront Commission, and working for St. Stephen’s. I spent many frustrating weekends this summer trying to locate a leak in our backyard fish pond, which involved pretty much rebuilding the perimeter, so much fun; sweltering heat, heavy rocks, slime and mud. No veggies went in this year, (anyone who says two kids are as easy as one lies like a rug) but lots of fruit all summer long; juneberries, tiny alpine strawberries, raspberries, plums, blackberries, figs, raspberries again, enough to share with the birds. Plant oaks for your children, fruit for yourself.
Jamie continues to work at Strategic Insights Inc. He planned on building a shed in the back yard this summer as part of a long range plan. Then we’d convert our useless as a garage storeroom into another room, move the office down there and reclaim the third bedroom as a playroom/bedroom – there are teenage girls in our future. Instead he took out several raised beds to create a piece of lawn for the girls to play on and built a brick patio with their help, as long as you define help as excavating the sand and dirt base to make mud pies and bury all sorts of interesting things. They preferred the mud to the lawn. All our pets are with us, (1 dog, 2 cats, 60 outdoor goldfish) though Sally the dog is getting old, how old we’re not sure since she was a rescue dog, but she’s been with us for 12 years.
When we sit down to dinner and look across the table at our girls, we are overcome by the presence of everyday miracles. Lela clutching her stuffed animal de jour and pillow cover, Lian now the one most likely to be dressed in a pink, shimmery princess costume, tiara and high heels; giggling, whispering, poking each other, sneaking food on and off plates, throwing diva snits in stereo. Real sisters. Two sparkling threads of light that embroider our lives. Every once in a while someone will say how lucky the girls are, and we always reply, “No, we’re the lucky ones” unable to compress the wonder, joy and love they have brought us into a snappier retort.
Though times seem dark and frightening, there is hope all around, often found in small, oddly wrapped packages. Prosperity is not about money, but striving and thriving, so we wish you a prosperous New Year. We long for the shelter of peace, and pray for all who live in fear and uncertainty. May your holidays and New Year be filled with the presence of family and friends, joy in the moment, hope for the future, and love for a lifetime.
Love to All,
Jennifer, Jamie, Lela and Lian
Subscribe to our blog for 2009
All bundled up.
Playing on the pool steps is fun too.
