Maria Chapman

Thought you guys might enjoy this. Just make sure you have a tissue handy!

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay1vgulzR8I

Three More Days!

Well, the school year is coming to a close VERY quickly! It has gone remarkably well.

Tomorrow is field day. For those of you who don't know what that is . . . It is a day at the end of the year for kids to play games outside like the following: potato sack races, water balloon tosses. Kids and teachers alike end up very wet at the end of the day!

Thursday and Friday are half days for the kids and full days for teachers (packing up etc). I will then have to change gears and mentally get back into being a mommy all day! I can't wait - Woohoo!

B-day Party

We waited to celebrate Lily's birthday until G & G Woof could make it down from Canada. So Saturday Lily had a party! Sunday she was dedicated in church. Sadly we don't have any pictures of the dedication. Lily wasn't in the mood (too squirmy) and neither was I (not feeling made up enough). The video is of her tickling her doll, trying to pray (for a meal), G Woof trying to tickle her, insisting on finishing her prayer, eating, and finally pushing the table away to get up!

G & G Woof Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Woof visited this weekend. Lily really enjoyed the extra attention. Thanks for loving on me G & G!

Feeding Baby

Lily was feeding her baby a couple days ago. She would offer the food to the baby and then eat it herself. I took video, but it was too dark to see anything!

Terrible News

Some of you may already know, but I thought I would send this out to you guys as well.

My heart is aching right now. Tears are streaming down my face. Many of you know of our connection with Steven Curtis Chapman. We received a grant from Shaohannah's Hope, the organization he and his wife founded.

Their youngest daughter, Maria, died in a terrible accident tonight at their home. It involved her teenage brother. Here is the link to an article. It is better for you to read the details there. Please pray for peace for the whole family. Specifically, the brother involved and Shaoey and Stevie Joy.

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080521/TUNEIN/80521174/1005/ENTERTAINMENT

Smiles and Pouts

I wasn't going to post these pictures, b/c they are a little fuzzy. Lily got her hands on the camera (fingerprints on the lens). They were taken the same day as the "Say Cheese!" picture. The first is her trying to and thinking she will get out of time-out. The second is her face after I put her back on her time-out bench. Most of the time she will stay in place, but there are other times when we have to sit with her to make her stay.

I think time-outs are so effective for her for a couple reasons. One, she HATES to sit still. The husband of a friend of mine said, "Boy, you've got your hands full!" I have to qualify that statement with this friend is the father of a 4 1/2 yr old and a 2 1/2 yr old - both very active BOYS. I went with them to a picnic last night. We all had a great time and the kids were VERY well-behaved. Lily is just BUSY!

Earthquake in China

I hadn't thought initially to post about this, but it has gotten to me a little today. I am posting a couple links that give more info than I could convey. The devastating part of the quake wasn't near Lily's birthplace, but they would have been able to feel something.

This link is a map of affected areas with numbers and such: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/china/earthquake/index.html. If you look at the blue map that gives you perspective, look just below the right-hand corner of the black box. You will see a tiny peninsula and a larger piece of land which is actually an island. Lily was born in the town on the tip of the peninsula. The quake was felt much further away than her birthplace!

This link is to an article that talks about the quake and the one-child policy: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/15/china.one.child/index.html. It talks about how many parents' pain is compounding by the fact they child that is missing or dead is their only. I will say the figures they report as the "fine" for having more than one child is not accurate. The fine is really dependent on the province and provincial officials you are dealing with. There are differing policies. It isn't one child for all. There are differing levels of enforcement as well.

There are several agencies who are already set-up with working relationships with the Chinese government and officials. Here are a few that are reputable if you are feeling like you would like to help. Because of the cost of shipping and the time it takes, money is the best way to help.

Half the Sky: http://www.halfthesky.org/

Chinese Children Charities: http://www.chinesechildren.org/

Caring for China: http://www.caringforchina.org/

They all have links to tell you how you can make a contribution.

Cheese!

Steve told me to go find my daughter. She had come pretty close to shutting herself between the storm door and the exterior door! Thanks Papets for the little dress. We received many compliments on it today!

Hillcats Ballgame

This past week was teacher appreciation week and I received a couple complementary tickets to a local single A ballgame. We went for the first hour since it started at 6. The video is of Lily chewing gum at the ballpark. We don't/won't make a habit of this, but it was fun to watch. It was only her second piece, so it didn't last too long before she swallowed it. She did chew longer than the first time though.

Kindergarten it is!

I received and accepted a job offer for the 2008-2009 school year. I will be teaching Kindergarten at the school I am currently subbing for. There were rumors of an opening in Kindergarten, but I was unaware that the teacher had actually resigned on Monday.

They asked the obligatory question: What is your preferred grade level? I responded with a very quick Kindergarten as that is where I am most comfortable. I had no idea at the time I answered the question that there was an opening at Central in Kindergarten.

Yet again, I am amazed at God's timing and his blessings. Now we just wait and see if Steve hears anything from JMU. BTW, they are giving me credit for 2 years of teaching. So my starting salary is high enough to pay for daycare costs and still be the same amount of money coming in every month (as now with Steve working).

What a busy "24 hours"

I got home later yesterday than normal from teaching due to the appointment with the counselor. I returned home to a message from Amherst County Public Schools that they were wanting to interview me today - yes - today as in the work day that has by now been over for several hours. It was too late to do anything about it.

I went to school dressed for an interview I wasn't sure I would have. I ended up being able to go during the kids lunch, so they didn't need to cover my class. Now to the interesting part. I have heard from several people that Amherst makes very quick decisions, so I was expecting to hear something this afternoon.

I left for a ladies bible study tonight a little disappointed that I had not heard from them. I returned home to a message to call the Director in the morning at work. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but . . . How many times do you get a phone call at 8:30 pm letting you know that they are NOT going to hire you.

I'll keep everyone posted!

Lily

Last night I met with a Christian Counselor to talk about my frustration/anger, parenting Lily, etc. She seems to be a very nice person who believes much the same as we do (in Christ).

She thinks that some of Lily oppositional nature could possibly be be rooted in attachment issues. She said that many of the kids she has dealt with that have those types of issues have attachment issues (whether the kids are adopted or not).

We are going to try and be more intentional about reinforcing/creating a bond that makes her feel safe enough to comply and not have to be in control. Thought you would like to have a bit of an update.

Just Pray - Update

Well, things didn't end the way I thought they would. Lily basically didn't get out of her bed until 12:30. She fell asleep around 11:00, so she was refusing to obey for about 4 1/2 hours. It is nearly 4 and we are going to attempt another short nap as she is cranky. I will go into more detail in the next day or so.

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We are having a VERY difficult morning with Lily. So much so that we aren't going to make it to church. It has been awful. We are in the middle of a battle of the wills. She was/still is being very defiantly disobedient. We are now at hour 2 1/2. I love her, but I am at a loss.

Saturday Outings!

This morning we stopped at plant sale, but we were a little late and most everything we would have been interested in was gone. Lily got to pot a marigold. She held it all the way to Amherst (about 30 min) smelling it and smiling. She knocked the stem over, so I don't know if it will survive. I staked it with a straw, so we will have to wait and see. After the sale, we headed up to Amherst to the school where I am teaching. They had their Spring PTO Fundraising Carnival. Lily enjoyed it, but we were cutting it close to lunch.

At the carnival, the Amherst Sheriff's Dept. was making ID cards for kids. We had a ID card made for Lily. It is like a Driver's License. It has her picture, birth date, height, weight, thumbprint, and her picture. She got to hold a big Elmo while they printed her (electronically)and took her picture. Elmo was as tall as she was! She officially weighs 19.4 lbs and is 32" tall (fully clothed and diapered).

Lily also was able to jump on a few blow-up bouncers. The first really intimidated her as their were other big kids on it, but the next two she enjoyed. They cleared them out for her to let her and I jump by ourselves. My fellow teachers enjoyed meeting her. I didn't take any pictures there as we weren't there too long and I was busy keeping her happy. I guess I am just not a hard core blogger!

I took the picture on the way to the plant sale. She found my winter scarf in my bottom dresser drawer and insisted on wearing it!

The Deal is Done!

We are now a family with two functional vehicles! We hated to spend the money, but at least we had it in the savings. This was the only local vehicle that was in our price range and fit our list of requirements. I found a Honda Odyssey that I would have loved to get, but I knew in my heart that was spending way too much for our "needs." Our schedules just didn't allow us the time to drive to, test drive, do mechanics visits, etc on cars that were some distance away.

We now own a 2000 Mitsubishi Galant. It looks pretty sporty on the outside, but is somewhat non-descript on the inside. It got a new paint job less than a year ago. It has a few more miles than we were wanting our "new to us" car to have (107,700), but it is certainly not high mileage for the year. It was purchased originally in November of 1999.

We did all the research and found most people were pleased with the year, make, and model. The complaints they had were unrelated to the reliability and drive train, so we bit the bullet. One of Steve's co-workers, Jesse, found a Consumer Reports magazine that rated the 2000 or 2001 Galant as the best used car between $4000 and $6000.

We exchanged $ for the car and title on Tuesday, took the Olds to the junk yard on Thursday, and plated the Galant yesterday. We are thankful that God provided and are praying that the car at least gets Steve through PA school. BTW, we haven't heard anything from JMU yet . . .