Halloween 2013

With our big trip to Philly last week I did not include any of the girls' Halloween photos. They went trick or treating with a cute little skunk and dinosaur one night, and the next their daddy took them to the Halloween parade in town. There they collected more candy than seems legal, but I've since shared it with my college students who do not turn down free food, even when it is barely food.

In the last few weeks I have redecorated our family room. We spend so much time there in the winter that I wanted it to be cozy and pretty. This also allowed me to bond with my sewing machine and work on my math skills. Then, when those failed me, I ended up relying on my patience and work-around abilities too.

I love to see the girls reading. Pearl has recently discovered the joy of comic books, but she prefers fairies and princess themes to the typical superhero variety.

And here Sapphire pours over her Cubbie book. On Sunday afternoons she eagerly slips into her cubbie vest and pines for the hour when we can leave for Awana. For the two little girls, Awana means puppet shows, verse memorization, games, toy time, and table work--preschool-type activities.

This week I woke Ruby early one morning for her ear tube surgery. They popped those tiny tubes through her eardrums in five minutes, but she fussed over the effects of the anesthesia for about half an hour. We hope this will drain her ears, which always seem to show water, though not infection, thankfully.

Kisses and Candy Corn, A First Halloween

After church on Sunday we had a Christmas Box party. The children filled boxes with notebooks, pens, teddy bears, and toothpaste, and I'll deliver these to Samaritan's Purse to distribute all around the world. Sapphire had a hard time putting a few of the toys in the box; she seemed to think she needed them instead. Other than that, the kids really got into it, and one thirteen year old boy told me, while he walked away from our full table of completed boxes, "That was cool." 

I especially liked the notes the kids wrote themselves to place in the boxes, notes that said "I hope you like the presints. We picked them out just for you", at least that is how Pearl spelled hers.

Ruby experienced her first Halloween. The housemother in China told us she had celebrated Christmas and Easter, plus Chinese holidays like Children's Day, but this costume thing with candy was a new one for her.  I think candy corn was her favorite.

Here we all are as princesses (Pearl was a very modern Princess Kate) along with our friend the monkey. 

I've always kissed my babies, but it was an interesting process to teach Ruby that kissing is a way of showing affection in a family. When we first met her, it almost seemed like she had never kissed or been kissed before. I would understand if this germ-carrying form of affection was skipped at the group home, where thirteen kids, staff, and a revolving cast of volunteers could make kissing almost like licking a water fountain. 

When we first got her, it was just a little too strange to begin kissing her like a newborn. She wasn't usually all that happy with us, she was pretty drooly, and we were just getting to know her too.  But as our relationship has blossomed, it has been easier to hug, snuggle, and kiss her naturally and effortlessly. Now she has it down now. Before bed, she'll pucker up as a way of requesting kiss after kiss. 

As for Hurricane Sandy, which closed my campus and all the local public schools two days in a row, I don't have any impressive photos. We have many leaves down in the yard, but that is about it.  It looks like we are in the eye of the hurricane right now. They are calling for winds occasionally gusting to 60mph and more rain, but it really hasn't been to bad up here on the hill!