The Deziels

Favs from January (SO FAR)

2012-01-27T19:18:00.000-05:00

2012-01-21T09:45:00.002-05:00

No Gender-Role Stereotyping in Our House

2012-01-16T19:21:00.004-05:00

Quite often the boys will say things like "that's just for girls" or "girls don't do that, only boys."
I was sewing something for FuDa awhile back and when I started to teach him what I was doing he said, "mommy, sewing is for girls" I asked, "yeah, says who?" He said he didn't know but just knew it was only for girls. Moments later, the boys had needle and thread in hand and were learning the intricate details of threading a needle, making a stitch, and knotting it off. The next time FuDa needed to sew something (like his lamb) he actually wanted to do it by himself.

Hey Lily...this is FuDa's Lambie.

kind of sewing but actually more obsessed with the scissors...

I think this is the greatest although in 10 years I'm pretty sure the boys will think not; the boys are both doing their stuffed animals' nails. Dean happened to walk in as the manicurists were at work and said, "what the hell Julie! what are you teaching the boys????" "Why whatever do you mean dear husband?" was my only response.

I'm trying to make the boys self-sufficient well rounded respectful men when they grow up, therefore, I have them involved in just about everything I do (as does Dean).
Here they are making a Vegan Tofu Vegetable Lasagna for dinner (under supervision of course)...and it was worth my trashed kitchen during and after the lasagna construction because it was actually really good.

Our Alter Egos; actually they're pretty right on. Judge for yourself

2012-01-11T19:05:00.000-05:00

When my dad was up we created our Mii family. FuDa and Stevie had a blast creating themselves. I cracked up at my parents' because I can't believe we were actually able to create Miis that look like them.

Maamie

Poppy

I can't think of a better way to start the New Year

2012-01-08T08:08:00.004-05:00

A visit from the boys' Grandfather!

We played the Wii...A LOT

At this moment in time nothing else mattered but the Tofu soup

Our last HOORAH of the season

2011-12-31T14:24:00.002-05:00

On Wednesday this past week we headed up to the Smokies and enjoyed the end of the season at one of our new favorite places, Dollywood. It's hard to explain what we love so much about D-wood. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it's just the 4 of us absorbed into each other. We enjoy laughs together without interruption and share in the fun of the day with a singular focus...our family. It just feels good to be there and we tend to create the best memories. It's a lot of fun, but it's also our small little family's "thing" that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

Until next season...

Because of VIETNAM...a fantastic meeting

2011-12-30T09:15:00.006-05:00

We finally met a family we have known for almost 4 years through the Vietnam adoption blog world. They are from Louisiana but are vacationing in the Smokies in TN. We were fortunate enough to have a late lunch and spend some time with them at their cabin on Wednesday. It was great to meet Lily and her parents in person. Lily is so endearing and such a little firecracker (it was so fun to see Lily and the boys in action together). Lily and Stephen-Paul are both 4 and from Vietnam (Lily the north and Stevie the south). Dean and I are so glad we met Lily and her parents; friends I anticipate we will have for life!

The famous Lily smile :)

Lily, Bobby, Sandra, Dean, Julie, Stephen-Paul (FuDa was the photographer)

Christmas

2011-12-29T08:39:00.001-05:00

Our annual Christmas "Gan Bay" (cheers in Mandarin)

This little bear from Halloween still goes everywhere with the boys

A home made yearly calendar from FuDa

A card to Stevie from FuDa

I think he LOVES it!

FuDa came up to me the night of Christmas and thanked me for letting Santa know what he likes and he said it was the best Christmas ever. On Monday Stevie said, "Mommy, you made this such a good Christmas for us" That's the greatest gift I could receive, knowing the boys enjoyed the day. We had a lot of gifts under the tree but most were for family and friends; we really scaled back this year for the boys. They really don't need a lot of stuff, they just need happy memories!

The night before Christmas

2011-12-28T20:07:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve

Helping me clean for the midnight visitor

The boys tracked Santa for a good 30 minutes! He was in Hungary and the Czech Republic when we were tracking him.

Santa made an early delivery at our house to hold the boys over until the next day

SP's drawing of himself and FuDa (denoted by their ages). This was FuDa's gift to Stephen-Paul and Stephen-Paul's gift to FuDa was a set of CARS erasers.

Even the doggies received an early Christmas present:

A Christmas EVE Skype call with Dean's family in RI

Spreading reindeer food out in the front yard before bed

Preparing for the holiday

2011-12-26T19:27:00.002-05:00

We've done a lot this holiday and the best times were spent with the boys and Dean. We built gingerbread houses with friends, wrapped gifts, decorated, went to a Christmas event w/one of our favorite families, baked cookies, and I took a half day vacation day one Friday and took the boys to lunch and shopping for Dean.
Just a "few" of my favorite pictures

ok ok I'll admit it, I'm not very domestic. I didn't realize you decorate AFTER the cookies were baked. Don't even ask how these came out!

Fortunate again

2011-12-21T21:50:00.004-05:00

Once again I feel fortunate for the fact that I was able to volunteer in FuDa's class for his Christmas party.
I always enjoy being a part of his school life and seeing him thrive and happy in his own environment. FuDa's class and teacher are pictured below. This is going to sound STRANGE but I don't see how FuDa looks different from us until I see him in group pictures where he tends to stand out a bit. He looked at the picture and said, "LOOK! Giovanni and I are sitting next to each other and we are both brown." I was like, "Hmm, yeah, I guess you kind of are huh? I hadn't really noticed." And I really didn't.

Party pictures (it was also pajama day!)...

FuDa and one of his favorite people from class, Benjamin

Group hug for the teacher

FuDa's ESL teacher stopped in to say hello!

So here is FuDa doing the wreath toss. The moms that volunteered ran the different craft and game stations. The final wreath toss game was boys against the girls; boys won by a fraction.

As a full time working mom you miss a lot of your child's every day life. Being able to take a break during the day and visit FuDa at school is a gift to me. FuDa really does have an amazing teacher and a great class. Lucky guy...

FuDa's Favorite

2011-12-21T07:09:00.003-05:00

a party at Zuma. Our friends' daughter had her birthday party at Zuma last Sunday and we were ALL into it!

Need to slow life down a bit...

2011-12-17T09:02:00.001-05:00

go for a hike. Last Saturday was another great day so we decided that before we decorated for Christmas we would slow our lives down a bit and head up to the nature center for an early morning hike. We thought it was going to be a lot colder than it was on the trails. Stevie lasted about 30 minutes in his puffed up jacket but FuDa never wanted to take his off! The day in the woods was just what we needed to refocus ourselves during this busy time (updating home study for our Burundi adoption, IRS adoption credit auditS as in plural, the holidays, a new reading program with FuDa, house projects etc. A lot going on but all good stuff, except for the auditS of course) .

good thing about nature centers, there are always bathrooms around for the emergency pu pu.

When 2 vowels go a walkin', the first one does the talkin'

2011-12-15T20:18:00.001-05:00

A little housework never killed anybody

2011-12-11T17:46:00.000-05:00

Believe me I'm not complaining

2011-12-09T17:58:00.002-05:00

but it's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it feels like Spring time!!
Saturday was a gorgeous and warm day so we hit the park before going to the mall to see Santa (FYI, we made it to the mall but it was jam packed. And of course, when we got there and in line to see Santa we found out he was having cookies and milk (for like 2 hours!) SP said he was tired, FuDa said he was thirsty and they both wanted to head home, so head home we did to relax from our 3 hours of running around at the park .

Letters, December 4 2011

2011-12-04T17:56:00.002-05:00

Dear Santa. Hello! may I have...1 - Dump truck 2 - Pillow Pet (Koala) 3 - Toy Plane 4 - LEGOs
Thak you
SP

Stephen-Paul's letter also included a portrait of FuDa and himself.

Dear Santa. I hope you are well, ho ho ho. For Christmas I Would like the following please
1) Stratego 2) Legos Police 3) DSi, Mario 4) Alien Conquest
Thank you for your consideration.
FuDa Jon Yang Deziel

Every letter to Santa must include a handmade picture

2011-12-02T19:52:00.005-05:00

Celebrating Dean's birthday

The boys made Dean's birthday cake

Stephen-Paul has very little endurance when it comes to baking

But FuDa picked up where he left off

and of course, SP woke up just in time to enjoy the best part

We were exhausted from celebrating...

2011-11-27T20:09:00.001-05:00

Sometimes you just need to mix things up a bit.
We celebrated Thanksgiving a bit untraditionally this year. Typically we spend the day preparing for a mid-afternoon Tofurky dinner followed by a family run. This year however we decided we were going to go to Fantasy of Trees at 3pm so we all ended doing our own thing in the morning: SP and FuDa played computer games, Dean watched football, and I went into work to get caught up on some stuff. Around 2 we got ready and headed downtown to see the Fantasy of Trees. It's a great event for a good cause (East TN Children's Hospital; they did an awesome job stitching up Stephen-Paul in 2009) and we all enjoy our couple of hours there. Our Tofurky feast was had a bit later this year but was just as good.

This year's Fantasy of Trees had a 1950s Rock n Roll Christmas theme. Every tree was decorated differently and this tree had the music theme with records on it (45s). STEPHEN-PAUL ran up to this tree and said "look mommy, DVDs!!" I told him that they weren't DVDs but that they were records. yeah, he didn't have clue what I was talking about...

I was carrying Baby as we were walking by and I let him pet the reindeer despite the 'no touching' sign. FuDa caught us and said, "hey, don't touch that" I said it was ok I'm just letting Stevie pet him quickly. FuDa said, "don't do that mommy or I will tell on you and you will get in trouble" Nice, real nice. He would turn me in in a heart beat!

Add caption

Houston, we have a problem...

2011-11-26T08:21:00.004-05:00

and it's a problem of the alpha male sort (can it get any worse than that?!) The source of the problem one might wonder? Stevie (oh big surprise there)... and Sammy. It doesn't look like it from these pictures though does it?

Sammy, Gracie, Simone, FuDa, Stevie

Stevie and Sammy, however, are constantly battling for the top male position in our play group. Most of the kiddos in our play group are girls except for Sammy, Stevie, and FuDa. Sammy and Stevie, as fate would have it, are ONE IN THE SAME. They are both beyond smart, adorable, strong willed, stubborn, always eating, and DETERMINED. They clash like 2 brothers forever in competition. FuDa on the other hand is walking around this earth with an aura of goodness and purity, he's everyone's friend, and the quintessential peace maker. So pretty much that leaves Sammy and Stevie to fight it out for the top spot and both of these little guys are TOUGH. They laugh in the face of backing down and shutter at the thought of surrender. So needless to say there is always action when we get together.

I actually heard a rumor once that when I was out of the room the 2 of them passed each other in the hallway doing the old Western-style cowboy stare down. They were eye to eye with heads held high and they wouldn't turn their backs on each other.

Sammy is this cute affection little thing almost 2 years younger than Stevie and always run up to Stevie saying Stevie's nickname "baby baby." Stevie, you can tell, cares for Sammy but he has this issue of always needing to get his way (it's a fact, we're working on it) and when he doesn't get it....he tends to be bratty toward Sammy. Sammy's feelings get hurt, which is awful to see, then Stevie gets upset because he knows he did wrong and then a whole bunch of drama ensues. I do expect more from Stevie as he is older and should know better but we're struggling on how to reach him on correcting his behavior. It's a Stevie thing and we were warned in Vietnam. The people of Vietnam would come up to us just to tell us that because of the way Stevie's ears were positioned they could tell that he will be the leader.
Self-fulfilling prophecy???

2011-11-20T18:52:00.004-05:00

We had another fun visit from the boys' maamie when Dean was running his second 100 miler.

My mom brought these 2 bears with her and they were the biggest hit. The boys took an old box and made a little house for them. Right now, the bears are hibernating.

Only FuDa could get April to play a Star Wars video game. ONLY FUDA!

Tofu soup, FuDa's favorite

From the deck, we watched the boys chase around bubbles which for some reason never seems to get old for them

Another great visit that we all appreciated! I'm so glad we are able to see the boys' grandparents as often as we do. Now if we can just get them to leave their dog so they come up TOGETHER and visit us!

Can I hear a WOOT WOOT!?

2011-11-13T20:52:00.000-05:00

Our family room floor has finally been put in thanks to Dean. The before and after pictures show the progress. We have been talking about doing this for 2 plus years now and for some reason on this warm weekend in November after a quick morning stretch and run with the boys we decided to hit the Home Depot and just get it done.

HOME DEPOT run for the flooring

While Dean and I worked in the family room the boys were charged with the task of sweeping the deck.

I was able to find 2 pictures of the family room from when we first moved in that will give a pretty good idea of the change.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

It was so warm on Sunday that we ran out the family room doors to play in the yard

2011-11-12T16:41:00.000-05:00

The DEVIL

The ANGEL

During a lunch time break

2011-11-10T19:23:00.000-05:00

How great to see this little guy in the middle of the day!

Party...at school

2011-11-07T21:35:00.000-05:00

On Friday I was fortunate enough to take my lunch hour at work and volunteer in FuDa's class for his Fall party.
His teacher and classmates are great and I loved getting to know everybody. FuDa's teacher said the kids gravitate to him which is such a relief for a mom.

Friday night family night at our neighbors/friends' bonfire.

2011-11-05T21:05:00.000-04:00

fun to make and good to look at but that's about as far as we can go with those things

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T22:13:00.000-04:00

Man, we did a lot this Halloween. Trunk or Treat, Costume day at school, Halloween party, and Trick or Treating.

Before we walked over to Trunk-or-Treat with our neighbor Julia and her son Alec, FuDa and his friend and of course SP played in their costumes.

Walking over to FuDa's school for Trunk or Treat

FuDa's class constructed a booth for the Truck or Treat. Their theme was Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Here is FuDa's contribution to the booth...

The big cnady trade captured on film

FuDa was allowed to wear a costume to school the Friday before Halloween IF he dressed up like a character from a story book. We read Hero Dad several times and thought an American soldier would be a great character to represent.

what? don't all Army men have Star Wars the Clone Wars rucksacks?

Getting psyched for the Halloween party...

And on HALLOWEEN night Dean won the coin toss and went around the neighborhood with the boys (actually I went last year with the boys and he really wanted to be part of the experience this year).

Can you find the super sleuth ninja behind the mailbox??

And off they go...

I stayed home with my magazine, hot cocoa, and the treats waiting for all of the neighborhood kids to come through.

We offerred a healthy option and a not so healthy option. Can you tell which the kids preferred?

Best of all, the score!

Just the two of us

2011-10-28T06:00:00.001-04:00

On Saturday, Stephen-Paul and I had a day alone together. Just the two of us. ALL day. ALONE.
It's been forever since the two of us spent an entire day alone together. I remember when SP was a baby and we lived in OR, we were inseparable. Always taking walks to the park, playing for hours in his nursery, carrying him everywhere on my hip as I did whatever it was that needed to get done. But now, now he is inseparable from his big brother - which is great - but I still miss my little guy.
So today we had an 'us' day. I asked him what he wanted to do and he immediately responded Dollywood. I was kind of pushing for the Farmers Market downtown but he wasn't buying into it, therefore, Dollywood it was!

I love his shadow!

Note the shades on Stevie? I tempted fate with them, I'll come back to that later

Today was the perfect day to take the steam train ride. Stephen-Paul loved it. He kept saying how great it was and I just felt myself fill with happiness. I still can't believe how lucky I am to be a mom.

Those shades Stevie was sporting while driving the 1950s mobile...well they were thrown off the steam engine train right about here, never to be seen again. I knew, I knew it was going to happen. He kept twirling them around and I said to myself, "take those things away before he drops them." But like I said earlier, I was tempting fate and just wanted to see what would happen. And as fate would have it, it all went down as I thought it would. The glasses are in a ravine somewhere in the Smokies. I didn't like them anyway which made SP feel better about it.

The train ride took us through some beautiful mountain scenary.

Once the train ride was over we went to see the Bald Eagles. There are so many in the sanctuary; no matter where you looked you saw some. The Bald Eagle isn't going extinct, they're all hanging out at Dollywood!

October 26 2011 2 years home

2011-10-26T06:00:00.006-04:00

...with FuDa Jon Yang Deziel

The day before we met FuDa in China, Dean and I had the day to shop in Changsha. That is when we bought him his Ultraman figure, Monkey, and Backpack. Little did we know these items would become such keepsake treasures. And, for that very moment on that very first day of meeting...LIFESAVERS!
When I think back about how nervous I was as I stepped off of the elevator and couldn't move to the room FuDa was waiting for us in; how I was shaking so bad that the guide had to tell me to calm down or "he" would pick up on it; or how both Dean and I struggled to hold back tears of our own as FuDa wiped away the lone tear dripping down his face, I think about the amazing gift of adoption and of our beautiful son that I love more than I ever thought possible. How does one heart hold so much love?

A Sunday in Autumn

2011-10-22T21:03:00.001-04:00

Sunday, our friends and neighbors invited us to a fall festival. We are so glad we were invited because it was a perfect evening! Before we headed out we had a picnic in our backyard.

On our way to the festival

Rev pre-oreo

Rev post oreo

Stephen-Paul loved observing baby Rev

"Just" a 30+ mile run

2011-10-19T09:19:00.008-04:00

On Friday night Dean and the guys agreed to watch the kids at our friends' house so that the girls could all go out. It was a welcomed evening out with good friends. The guys did great with the kids and we had a blast out having dinner and drinks.

Kate, Betsy, me, Jen, Shannon, Jen K.

I felt a little guilty because we were out late and Dean had a 30+ mile run the next day. He didn't mind and was able to get up at 4am like it was nothing. I on the other hand fell out of bed in the late morning.
The kids had a relaxed breakfast and then we got ready to meet Dean at the finish line of his run.

I like this picture because the boys didn't know I was watching them and they were running around the front yard with sticks on their heads pretending they were reindeer.

We arrived at the park where Dean's race was (same park in the previous post) about an hour early so we could relax in the warm weather before Dean came through.

After the Cumberland Trail run we headed home and couldn't help but stay outside. The weather was beyond perfect.

A day just for...

2011-10-16T20:46:00.000-04:00

family. We had such a fun and busy Columbus Day weekend that we needed a day to slow down and spend time together. So Monday, on Columbus Day, I took the day off of work to do nothing but spend time with my family.

FuDa and I took a leisurely stroll to school.

I had a relaxing breakfast with Stephen-Paul

and was able to see THIS face all day long and laugh right along with him

We played cars, water gun fights, and more cars. We then took a drive to one of our favorite places that we don't go to often, which makes it that much more special. Dean has a run there each year and it's one of my favorite places to be a spectator.

Clearly it is very hard to be serious all of the time

Once back at home we picked FuDa up and continued to stay outside for most of the day

We even fit in a bit of 'game night'

2011-10-15T09:08:00.001-04:00

Sunday the 9th kept our weekend rolling with a little Pats and JETS action and a birthday semi-celebration for our friend Adam. My J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS chant was quickly over come by a weak attempt at a P-A-T-R... 'by the time the R came around everyone lost interest' chant!

These 2 are one in the same. To see them together is to see each of them getting a dose of themselves. Little Sammy mirrors everything that SP does. We were laughing so hard when he had to position himself just right to squat like SP. Including the addition of SP's jump before his squat.

Ask if these 2 moved from this location all night. NOPE! Only for some vegan carrot cake and cup cakes, and that even took some coaxing.

Vegan cupcakes being eaten Neanderthal style.

Later that evening Stephen-Paul and I had some valuable one-on-one time out on the front porch. He wanted to, out of nowhere, blow bubbles outside. It was a great moment to share with SP. Simple time yet life long memory created.

2011-10-12T18:51:00.007-04:00

Saturday was one of my favorite get togethers of the year, a Fall (90 degree) day with our friends celebrating the Fall season. But dang, about 2 hours into it I was wondering if this was such a good idea. It was wicked hot, the notorious Knoxville allergy season was kicking in full gear, and SP was tired oh no wait he was hot oh no he was hungry oops back to being hot oh wait tired again and yup, you guessed it, thirsty and hungry once more. Luckily,being distracted by all of his friends (and the rolling tube) changed his spirits and saved the day.

I thought I was all smart by dressing the boys in their bright UT orange. I realized when I lost site of them and couldn't find them in the SEA of orange that EVERY person there was dressed in orange and they just blended right in. Note to self: if you are trying to stand out, do not wear orange on a game day.

We were fortunate to have some time to spend with our friends, and lucky for us they are also our neighbors, at the farm for a bit before we met up with our FCC friends. They are so much fun to hang out with; I just wish we had more time together with them on Saturday.
We were at the farm for 6 hours and pretty much engaged in every activity (some of us more than others)

Jordon and Claire

I mentioned he was tired right

Taking a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, our group took up 2 tractors. Here's a fraction of the crew

I'm looking for the smallest possible pumpkin because as all moms know, we're the ones that end up carrying everything!

blah blah blah The Patriots, blah blah Patriots. Patriots Patriots Patriots. Blah.

I'll need to get this picture from Wally or Elizabeth. I bet it is much cuter when taken face on.

We were a group of about 20 kids, good luck getting a group shot that fits in frame; has everyone facing the same way; and doesn't include one child trying to escape

Dinner restored all

This is the tube thing referenced above. The boys would have spent the whole day doing this. They were cracking up the entire time. I was able to shoot a great video of them squealing and laughing and of Dean having way too much fun "pushing" them around.

I love Simone's jump here, she is literally airborne. The best part is, when she landed Stephen-Paul flopped like a fish. It was hysterical watching him try to get back up just to 'flop' all over again with every jump Simone took.

One of my all time favorite pictures ever. Olivia and her new baby brother Owen, Simone and her famous little brother Sammy, and the boys all just doing there own thing in a split moment in time.

Kickin' off a killer weekend

2011-10-09T23:48:00.000-04:00

random Fall nothingness

2011-10-07T20:46:00.002-04:00

2011-10-07T17:38:00.000-04:00

The airport meeting with maamie...

My mom came to visit when Dean headed to GA for his run so that I wouldn't have to miss work. As usual, the boys HAPPILY maximized their time with April.

The boys went to see The Dolphin Tale in 3D with their maamie, hence the matching glasses

The 4 of us spent Saturday in the Smokies. It was a perfect day for a fall festival in one of the towns.

Went we weren't running all over town we just stayed at home and spent time together.

Dean's 100 mile run

2011-10-02T20:58:00.001-04:00

Dean ran the 100 mile Georgia Jewel last weekend. He ran from 4:00am on Saturday to mid afternoon on Sunday. He ran straight through. 100 miles. Straight through.

He came home on Monday and we bolted out to see him as soon as we saw his truck.

Dean drove home, felt great, and was only a little bit tired. 100 miles and an earned buckle later!

We went out for a quick celebration and we'll be celebrating again when he finishes his next 100 miler in November in Alabama.

Fortunately my mom flew into town so that I could work on Monday since Dean was driving back from Georgia. She came in for a few days and the boys and I are are so grateful we had the opportunity to spend quality time with her.

More pictures of our fun times with Mammie to come.

A Poet

2011-09-28T12:46:00.006-04:00

Dean was discussing poetry with Stephen-Paul the other day and asked Stevie to think of a poem. Dean jotted it down with the following in the margin of the poem "Stevie's words!!! w/daddy at breakfast." Here is what the little guy came up with...

I love my mommy and daddy because.

I love my brother FuDa because he always plays with me.

I love my brother FuDa when we watch T.V.
I love my brother FuDa,

And I want to go shopping every day.
And I love to eat every day.
I always love to play in the pool and I want to bring toys in the bath tub.

Neruda? Rimbaud? Whitman? Cummings? I think he's an original!

Mail Day

2011-09-25T11:39:00.005-04:00

We received 2 pieces of mail today that have emotional significance for us.

First we received a Happy Adoption Day card from WACAP, the fantastic agency we used to adopt FuDa. If it wasn't for them, for several reasons, we would not have been able to bring FuDa home. How enriched our lives have become because of FuDa; we can't even conceive the thought of him not being in our lives.

Our Adoption Day anniversary is next moth and we are so touched that WACAP remembered us.

We also received a letter today that moved ALL of us; the boys were thrilled! We received a handwritten letter and picture from Loc our 15 year old extended family member in Vietnam. Loc wrote in his letter that he loves soccer so he decided to send us a picture of himself with a soccer ball.

We also received a letter and a picture from Loc's house mom.

Loc's handwritten letter was in Vietnamese and was then translated for us in English (how great to see his handwriting in his own language).

He specifically picked out a picture for us and wrote about how he is doing with his studies, about soccer, and his New Year's celebrations. He also commented on the letter we sent him and said, "I saw your picture with your dog which seems so restless." HAH, how true! He went on to say that he also has a dog in his HOL (Homes of Love) home. He wrote a lot about FuDa and Stevie and said, "I will pray for Stevie and FuDa's studyings. May they always loves each others."

Homes of Love Extended Family Program

FuDa's First Sleep Over

2011-09-21T14:44:00.002-04:00

Is this the beginning of the end? FuDa slept out last month for the first time since he's been home with us. He was well prepared and excited to spend the night at his friend Edvin's house from his Second Grade class. I, however, was not. I kept asking him if he was sure he wanted to go. I told him he could call me any hour of the night and I would come and get him. I told him it was ok to be scared. He said, "can we go now mommy. hurry hurry!"
I hovered extra long as I dropped FuDa off and then headed to dinner with Dean and SP.
Dean and I barely slept a wink and Stephen-Paul kept asking if it was time to pick FuDa up yet. I was panicking because I forgot to pack his slippers (you don't know my little China man and his sleepers) and of course, I forgot the tooth brush. I had these dreams of his teeth falling out and him going off to college the next day. Clearly this was much more traumatic on me than him.
When we picked FuDa up (which SP demanded we do as soon as his little eyes opened) I asked if he missed us. He said he was too busy to miss us. Apparently they were up until 2:30am laughing and screaming and having all sorts of boy fun!

Hugging good bye

Loving all the extra one-on-one attention

Before we picked up FuDa we ran some errands like...buying a new camera for the 4th time in 5 years. That's practically a camera a year. It's definitely from over use. SP took the very first picture, which I probably shouldn't let him do hence 4 cameras in 5 years!

Pick up the following morning!

Moon Festival 2011

2011-09-15T14:44:00.000-04:00

Just Hangin'

2011-09-12T21:21:00.004-04:00

2011-09-11T15:47:00.011-04:00

We thought today was the perfect day to hang our new flag...

Hengyang, Hunan Province

2011-09-08T18:51:00.004-04:00

FuDa is from Hengyang China. He lived in the social welfare institute and was also fostered (although all of the details and specifics are relatively unknown) since he was approximately 3.5 years old.
Our friends from TN recently brought home their new son from China (we'll meet him tomorrow at the Moon Festival), also from Hengyang City's Social Welfare Institute (SWI) .
When we were in China we were advised against going back to Hengyang and the SWI because FuDa was older (7) and they were afraid that it may be traumatic to bring him back there after he was just introduced into our family. We wish we could have visited in his city like we did with Stephen-Paul in VungTau VN.
Fortunately, our friends took great pictures while in Hengyang and they shared them with us. The best part...when we showed the pictures to FuDa he just started talking about what was around, how to get there, about a playground, and stairs. Seeing the pictures really opened up a dialogue about his life in China.

Description from our friends:

The dragon pillar, the village sign, a not very good picture of the sculpture that seems pretty important, and a view looking up into the village from the city. When you go there first you go to Hengyang, which is a good sized city, then you turn into the village, which is just right there in the city, then you go all the way through the village to the country, then down a long, unpaved road, then you are at the SWI.

The Social Welfare Institute

So grateful for these pictures!

"Is he a Yankee ma'am?"

2011-09-04T21:10:00.106-04:00

uh. what? Is this 1862 or what??!! Seriously, does it matter that YES he is indeed a Yankee (not to be confused with a Yankees fan though since he is from New England)? Just FIND HIM!
Let me start from the beginning so that this all makes some sort of sense.

On Saturday we all took a ride to Norris Dam to check out the site of Dean's 50K the next day. It was a gorgeous day and a productive trip since the boys and I would be going up alone the next day to see Dean race.

On the way home we stopped at a park to burn off some excited energy

The next morning Dean and I were up at 3:00am as he was getting ready for the race. I knew what he was bringing, I knew what he was wearing (keep this in mind for later), I knew what route up there he was taking, and I knew what spot at the race to wait for him at. When the boys got up we took our time before heading up there since it was going to be a good 6 hours before Dean would be coming through. They played computer games and SP and I shot some pool.

As usual fare in the Deziel house, we ended up having to get ourselves ready and RUN out the door to make it up there on time. Once there we found THE best place to wait for Dean to come.
and wait

and wait

In an antsy state I looked over at the time clock and felt a shock of panic. Over 8 hours had gone by. 8!

I walked on shaking knees to ask the race director how many runners were left out there and he said, " just one". GULP. He saw me turn white and asked if he was my husband. I said yes. He asked "is he wearing a blue shirt?" I couldn't remember. I saw him before he left, we talked about what the best shirt would be to wear in this heat but when they asked me what he was wearing I blanked. Then, as though he didn't miss a beat, he asked "IS HE A YANKEE MA'AM?" "yup" is all I could reply but I was thinking yankee?? really? Holy Yosemite Sam-esque. He said when he was last seen he was looking and feeling great but they haven't seen him in awhile and they were actually sending park rangers out to look for him.
I walked over to the boys to let them know we were probably going to be here for a while as their dad seemed to have gotten himself WICKED lost.

They sent out 3 ATVs and had 2 people on horses looking for him.
After what seemed like a lifetime the ranger checked in with me for the 4th time but this time said, "they think they located him off the trail" Breath. That's all I did. I just sat there and breathed! Dean's so resourceful that I knew he would be ok but your mind tends to do crazy things when you have nothing but time on your hands to pace around and think. What a RELIEF when we saw him come through...

Dean was fine all around and actually finished even though the race directors and the boys and I were the only ones left to cheer him in. Well, the rangers were all there too and quite happy that they found him. Yeah, so were we. The universe smiled on us today.

Catching up on some weekends

2011-09-03T22:12:00.001-04:00

Camera left on table = self portraits