A Full Van and Warmed Heart

This is my favorite season of the whole year and I look forward to it...There is nothing better than the leaves falling off of the trees and the cool, crisp air. I love the cold nights and the sun warming the chilly outdoors...

 

I wonder how Jacie feels about this weather...? It is difficult to ask her still because of the holes in her language base. There are so many things that I want to understand. I know that she does not like hot weather, so maybe we will be kindred spirits after all.

 

She and I went out to lunch with a friend today. She was very good through it. I know that it was long but for my friend and I, it was a long overdue visit.

 

I have been putting her in positions that are new to her. At the restaurant today, I sent her up to order ice cream by herself. Some of you may think, "Wow, its a little early for that..." Here is what I have noticed. Jacie is very good at taking care of herself...when she wants to. When she doesn't, she has no problem waving her hand at me (as though I am nothing more than the slave)and saying, "Shut the door" or "Get Jacie ice cream." You can imagine how well that goes over. Very few people enjoy getting ordered about by anyone, especially an eight year old child. She is lucky that she's so stinkin' cute.

 

She and I went to the beauty parlor to get 'my' hair done. In the course of getting my hair done, amidst all of the "Ma, look gross" comments; she ended up getting a trim of her own. to bring the story into better context, I should say that my beautician told Jacie that the curling irons were hot and not to touch...

 

Well, after trimming Jacie's hair because of her good heart, she decided to put a little curl into Jacie's new do. That is when Jacie began to freak out. Very loud, "No, no...hot..hot." She thought that her hair was going be burnt off and I could not convince her that the hair wasn't going to burn and though she could feel the heat, it was okay.

Her cut looks very cute though. I am glad that she let the beautician give her a trim. Perhaps people will begin to see her as a little girl not the prettiest little boy that they have ever seen.

 

She and I are getting to be quite the buddies. I have figured out the way to this little princess' heart...a good back scratching. So tonight I sat with her on my lap and scratched her back for a while. Then she scratched mine for a minute and the moment was over.

 

Today was her first day at 'Angie's school of hard knocks'. I am not sure that she understood that we home school, so it will take a little getting used to for her (in China, homeschooling is unheard of.) I told her that part of her 'school' could be taking swimming lessons...We will pack her swimsuit in her little backpack. She will also take nature class once a month starting next year. This year, she will have surgery to contend with so I don't think we should even try. Tomorrow we will blow up a volcano kit...I bet she will enjoy that. Homeschooling has a lot to offer her and I think given time she will enjoy it. I know that in China, she had to watch the other kids go to school (she wasn't allowed to go because of her feet).

 

She continues to grow and develop daily. I see so much potential in her. She just found out about Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child. I tried to explain to her that many of the children who get these boxes do not have a Ma and Ba. She was very concerned and insisted on watching all of the videos on the DVD, though they were the same one made shorter. She then decided that she and ma were going to color pictures for each of the 26 boxes we were going to fill. I had not planned on that many boxes...thank goodness she doesn't know her numbers well enough to notice the discrepancy. I am excited for her to go on our annual delivery day. Our family picks boxes up from several area churches and with a full van and warmed heart, deliver the filled Christmas boxes to the next stop on their journey. She won't believe the amount of boxes that are at the delivery point. I think that she will love it. It is a great day.

 

~Angie