Play Ball!

I should entitle this post "who needs a son when you are the mother of Amelia AiChun?" HA! She is the funniest girl I ever met. Since she loves Chase and Chandler (our good friends), and they love baseball, Amelia loves baseball. My parents and I were out shopping recently, and Amelia chose a new ball and bat and a baseball outfit as her treats from Grandmama & Papa. I still think she looks pretty darn cute - - even if she is going incognito as a boy!

Happy Chinese New Year!

We celebrated with friends at our favorite restaurant, The Great Wall. The lovely people who own the shop and who work there just love Amelia AiChun. When we first got home and she would not eat much, we went there often for a "taste of home". Now, Amelia prefers McDonald's (I know...I know...tragic on so many levels), but we still love to visit The Great Wall on a regular basis. Several of the people who work there are from ChengDu, where we received Amelia, so they have a special Sichuan bond. They always croon, "AiCHUN!!!!" when we walk in. They marvel over her English. They bring her special treats. We love our friend at The Great Wall.

The Chunster & The Minnster

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Yes, friends, I am officially raising a second child, commonly known as "Big Minnie" in our home. She is a giant (stuffed)Minnie> Mouse who apparently requires as much care as an actual, breathing child. This weekend, The Chunster was appalled when I refused to purchase Minnie a burrito at the Taco Bell drive through. "But
MOM! Minnie be hungry!" the Chunster wailed. "Well, give her a bite of your burrito," was my unsympathetic reply.

Minnie has to be buckled into the car. Minnie has a place at the table. Minnie has an eye patch put on daily that has to be removed before lunch (or "wunch" as the case may be). Yesterday, Minnie even needed to go potty. However, her shoe fell into the toilet, which means - OH, YES - I had to do Minnie's laundry. I also refused to allow Minnie to attend Sunday School. She was allowed to ride in the car, but when it came time to go in, I said no. "But MOM," advocated The Chunster, "how will Minnie learn about Jesus?" Again, no sympathy here. "Think of Minnie as
your first cross-cultural mission field. You learn, and then you share. But Minnie is not going inside with us."

So, now I have starved The Minnster and neglected her spiritual development, just in case anyone was keeping score. Tonight, however, I happily wrapped Minnie
up "like a buwwito" and gave her 2 kisses and 2 hugs. Lest anyone worry about The Chunster being an "only", I promise I am doing almost as much work for The Minster.

No more photos, please!

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Good politician photo, huh?! Apparently, the Chunster did not think it at all cute to have her photo taken in her bathrobe with her hair wet. I thought she looked so cute relaxing there, sipping her warm milk, but hey, I don't like to be photographed without my makeup, either! :)

East Meets West

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Here is Amelia AiChun with a West Texas tumbleweed. This was in our yard last week. Usually, it's springtime before they become a problem, but this year has been dry and not as cold. We only have had one snow so far this year. Anyway, I really dislike the tumbleweeds, but it does make for some fun conversation.

Rockstar!

The Chunster is SO silly! We were playing at home, and she ran across these - as she calls them "cool glasses" - so of course, she needed her cell phone and backpack, too. And yes, in case you can't tell, she is wearing Dora pajamas and Elmo slippers. She was convinced that she was the coolest thing EVER in this get-up. Thank goodness it was nighttime and I didn't have to fight the battle of telling her that she could not wear this ensemble in public.

Merry Christmas from The Chunster (& Mama)

Last year, Amelia had only been here 3 weeks when Christmas rolled around, so we kept everything very low-key. This year, it's a different story. Amelia LOVED putting up the Christmas tree, and she had a little one in her room with green ornaments (her favorite color) and pink lights. (She wanted green lights, too, but they were sold out.) She loves the trees and runs in the minute we get home each day to turn them on. She also thanks God for her Christmas trees each night when we pray. Amelia has been very interested in the Baby Jesus story as well. She has asked me many times if we can go to Bethlehem, and I always tell her it's too far away. So now, she thinks Bethlehem is near China because they are both far away. Grandmama & Papa bought Amelia her own nativity set with people that you can change their costumes, put things in their hands, etc. Her favorite thing to do is to rock Baby Jesus in the manger and to put things in the Wise Men's treasure chest (usually an M&M) to give to the Baby. Amelia was a sheep in our church's preschool choir pageant, and I am pretty sure she is the cutest sheep ever! She received some Thomas the Train toys, books, art cupplies, a microphone set, and other fun things for Christmas. We stayed at my parents' house for a week, and Amelia was so comfortable and happy there. So much has changed in one year!