First day of preschool

Sarah has been in some sort of Mother's Morning Out since 2005. It's always been on Tues/Thur, it's always been from 9-2...and yet for some reason I feel like this first day of PK4 is going to rip my heart out! O.K, so it changes to MWF and only from 9-12...anyone that knows me knows change is one of my least favorite things.
This summer was hard. We were together 24/7 and I learned that no pleading, no consequence, no reward entices Sarah to want to "act right" if she has to go to a doctor's appointment with me. I also learned that I'm totally baffled how stay-at-home moms have only children. :) I felt guilty telling her to go play alone too much, guilty if I invited her friends Dora, Diego, Uniqua, Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, and Austin (of the Nick Jr family) over to play nearly the whole day....and quite honestly in need of padded walls by Friday if I avoided all the guilt. I adore coloring but I have my limits, ya know?
But now that the summer is over and I'm about to have to share her on a regular basis with someone I realize what else I've learned....
I've learned that there is nothing like hearing her walking across the house and climbing in bed and saying "snuggle me mama".
I've learned that being bored isn't all that bad because she'll give me stickers for "just being cute".
I've learned that she really does learn so much just living life with me and like a good friend says "I think [you're] being to hard on yourself".
I've learned that Dora may be in a big box with cords, but she's taught my daughter more spanish than I ever would have! And Diego? Let's just say, thanks to him, Sarah will never ask the question "what animal is that?" whether we are in the rain forest, the ocean, the desert, or a jungle. Me? I took care of farm animals, pets, and various icky things in our yard. Uniqua and the gang...they've helped Sarah learn to solve mysteries (oh, and get her groove on too).
I've learned that she can spread her own peanut butter now, can jump rope, and call daddy on the cell phone without help.
I've learned that she can't wait to be a big sister and will likely flourish in her new position. She's very maternal, but not with dolls. :)
I've learned that despite needing time alone, time without Sarah is like walking around in a shell of a body without my heart with me.
And as we anticipate all that Sophie will be it's hard to imagine that God could be this good twice...and it's hard to imagine life any better.
But I know my God and I know that He gives more than we can ask or imagine. And to Him I humbly say "Thank you oh God, for trusting these little ones to us."

A Little Sophie-date

Let's review the facts:
Our login date is 12/14/05...you don't have to understand that, just know that is the date we are wanting to get to.
They (the storks in China) just matched up to 11/21/05.
They've consistently matched right at a week (6 or 7 days) at a time for the last few months.
11/22/05 is an incredibly big login date. Numbers-wise it's about as big as a typical week.

Opinions we can draw from the facts:
Holy Cow! We're getting close!
Let's say, worst case scenario, they (the storks again) only match 11/22/05 in the September batch...hang with me here....
September will get through 11/22
October will get through 11/29
November will get through 12/6
December will get through 12/13 (well, of course we'll have to miss it by one day!)
January will put Kim in panic mode of packing for China!

Now, here's what I'm thinking. What if one of the storks is having a bad day and isn't into the stork thing? Let's pray for that stork!!! Or say, what if there's a meeting to decide 'do we push a bunch through or slow it down?" Let's pray that storks' hearts are filled with compassion and decide "push!!". Or say, the storks are feeling discouraged because they can't do all they want to do for these children (haven't we all wanted to do something at work that red tape has prevented or slowed down?)? Let's pray that the Lord will move mountains (literally of paperwork) and allow all the storks to feel joy in their hearts that they have taken part in changing lives...more than they expected they could.
Most importantly, please pray right now that every child over there feels fed, comforted, hugged, smiled at, made eye-contact with, has a playmate nearby that makes all the difference, and knows that God has not abandoned them. God has a plan for them. Has given them every ounce of strength and perseverance they need to make these days only the beginning sentences of their testimony. May they not feel bitterness over details they likely will never know, but compassion for lives they will likely never fully understand. Oh that they will be filled with pride that their heritage is rich, their birthplace beautiful; their beginnings, while difficult, are just that...beginnings. That they never feel confusion over who they are. "Am I Chinese in America?" "Am I an American in Chinese skin?". May they know with confidence, above all else, that we are ALL strangers in this land...this world is not our home..."Heaven is my home. I was born in China, but I belong to God the Father Almighty".

Sweet Sophie, your family awaits you. No matter what, you are perfect in our eyes. The perfect sister for Sarah. The perfect daughter for Mommy and Daddy. The perfect picture of what God can do with 4 lives at once. We love you, Mommy.

Sarah's first spelling test

I'm no speller. Never have been. I even stump spell checker. I'm a math girl. But Sarah has a chance. She started reading early this summer. No "short vowel blend" is too challenging. :) Since the weather went into the triple digits (ok, honestly, since it went into the 90's) we haven't been able to sit under our big shade tree and "do the fish book". That's Explode the Code if you are wondering...Sarah's favorite workbook. So we've sort of stalled at short vowels. Thanks to Leap Frog DVD's (No, I can't take all the credit) she also knows that "y" is sometimes a vowel and if there is a silent e after a vowel/consonant the vowel says it's name. So she knows long vowels, she just doesn't know she knows them. :)
Glen and I watched Akeelah and the Bee (highly recommend it!) and I started playing "spelling bee" with her. It caught on. Sarah loves spelling bees now. Usually they are verbal because you just never know if she'll show her genius on command or not...but finally all the stars lined up (camera, genius, willingness) and I captured it on digital film! Sorry about the lack of flash in this one. What can you do when you have one beautifully tanned girl and one very white whiteboard? Sadly, once the camera started to flash the girl refused to go any further so you'll just have to imagine the rest.
She's so fun!!!