Art Work Part III

I haven't had a chance to post Gabby's final art project from last spring. Unfortunately, the flash makes it a a little hard to see.

This is my favorite project from the year.

Scrunched

Junie found one of Gabby's scrunchies for ponytails and stretched it over her head. Who knew it would stretch that far.

My Hat's Off To You

Gabby then
Junie now

Pasta-bilities

Gabby was trying to be helpful by getting some pasta off of the back shelf for me. She was also trying to make June happy by carrying her at the same time. Apparently she should have only tried to do one at a time. While grabbing the shells, an already opened box of spagetti spilled all over the floor and into the kitty litter. This was only about a third of the spagetti, which looked like a spagetti sculpture to me.

You're Face Will Freeze That Way Part II

What does a hippo say?

Gabby's turn.
Tupperware preserves freshness.

Your Face Will Freeze That Way

John and Junie were practicing their acting skills

by making different faces to show how they

feel. They'd better be careful or their faces might

freeze that way. Surprised is my favorite one.

SAD

SURPRISED

HAPPY

One year, one day, nine hours

THEN


NOW
June has been with us one year and a day. Exactly a year ago, it was eleven at night in China and John and I were taking turns rocking June to sleep. She never ended up using the crib that the hotel provided for us. Instead she slept every night next to me and John, always making sure that at least one part of her body was touching one of us. John and I stayed up late most nights watching American movies with Chinese subtitles while Gabby slept comfortably on a cot covered with two feather in the next room. She had her own large, wall mounted flat screen tv which she watched nightly until she easily fell to sleep.

Gotcha day, September 13, 2007, had been was incredibly busy. Our group, a total of 13 families, was supposed to meet their the babies at 2:30pm, but ended up waiting at the government offices for about and hour after we arrived. When the nannies brought the babies out it was amazing. Every baby had a different reaction to meeting her new family. Some were quiet, others cried, and some ignored their new people. Once all of the babies were united with their families, the nannies came out to tell us about our babies and answer any questions we had. Since June was the only baby from her orphanage, we had her nannies all to ourselves.

When all of the questions were answered, the exchanging of money took place. It felt awkward to watch the nannies count out the $3,000 in cash that we had brought as an orphanage donation. It didn't seem to bother the nannies.

Once that was done, we all gathered to make our way back to the bus which took us directly to the hotel. Looking back, the day was gone in a blink. Now, a year later, it is hard to believe that it's been that long.