Grandma & Grandpa Reynolds Come to Visit

We hosted Grandma & Grandpa Reynolds for the weekend. Someone (I won’t say who, but she’s 9-years-old, beautiful, & Asian) wanted Grandpa to sit next to her everywhere we went – out to eat, church, on the couch at home watching television, etc. She also pretended she was leaving with Grandma & Grandpa when they left to go home. She gave Mom & Dad big hugs while giving us a sneaky grin and saying, “Goodbye Mom; Goodbye Dad!”

I think she bonded a bit with Grandma as well. Grandma helped her get started on a beginner’s cross-stitch (stamped). Grandma also showed an interested in Shaling’s dolls. Grandma is the ideal houseguest – she makes her own coffee, puts the bed sheets in the washer (and sometimes dryer) before she leaves, and helps herself to whatever she needs. I have to give Grandma a special public thank you here for making what turned out to be a very popular dish (a grape salad) at our neighbors’ big cookout & party Saturday night.

I missed most of the cookout/party because I wrote the trivia questions for a fundraiser night for another adoptive family. The fundraiser happened to be Saturday night and I was running the Powerpoint slide show of questions. The trivia night was combined with a silent auction and a mostaccioli dinner, plus several side games (i.e. 50/50 drawing). It is my understanding that the evening went extremely well financially, and it was apparent to me that people were having a good time as well. The family is planning to bring home a 13-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son at the same time.

For church Sunday, as we always do when Brock’s parents are visiting, we went to the Methodist Church (where Brock is a member). We were blessed to have our friends, the Stengels, join us there. They are the ones that brought home Josh (XiaoXiong) & Jimmy (GuangHui) from LongGang (the same orphanage as Shaling) in April. The Stengels are considering attending the Methodist Church (instead of their home church, Rochester Christian Church) with us for awhile. The hope & prayer is that our newest children will then grow strong in their new faith together.

Now might be a good time to announce that I recently made the decision that the kids & I will forgo attending our Lutheran church for awhile in favor of attending church as a family with Brock at the Methodist church. Though Shaling thoroughly enjoyed Sunday school and Vacation Bible School (not to mention the overnight camp week at Camp CILCA), she is struggling to follow the service at my church. The flow of Brock’s service seems easier for her to follow. Plus, there are far more kids at Brock’s church. She tells us, “I love Dad church.” I figure I have a new Christian here and it’s more important that she develop a relationship with God than it is important where she develops that relationship. To be honest, I didn’t just make this decision for her benefit. I think it will do a lot for me & Brock to get back in the habit of attending church as a couple and as a family (he used to attend the Lutheran church with me when we lived in Carlinville).

Back to less personal (and more light-hearted) stuff: Shaling had a great time swimming with Josh & Jimmy Sunday evening while her brother Preston got to go boating on Lake Springfield with his friend Paul. Earlier that day, Shaling spoke on the phone briefly with Natalie (her orphanage ‘sister’ who was adopted by Carl & Kim from Florida at the same time Shaling was adopted). Far different than those first few conversations after arriving home, the girls spoke in English the whole time, though I wish they would speak in Chinese. A couple of Chinese waiters/waitresses have told us that Shaling is starting to forget some of her Chinese. That breaks my heart. Brock & I were both happy to hear Shaling chattering away in Chinese with Josh & Jimmy later that day. Shaling keeps asking to go to Natalie’s house. She is not swayed by the fact that it takes 20 hours to drive there.

She is attending a softball camp from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Monday through Thursday this week. I think she’s happy to be playing again. She also got to go swimming with her friend Katie last night. Later this week, she will have some more firsts. We are taking her & Preston and 3 of Preston’s friends to St. Louis for 2 nights and 2 days in lieu of a birthday party for Preston. We are staying in a hotel with a pool. We will spend one day at the St. Louis Science Center and one day at the City Museum. She is going to love the City Museum. Check out their website; it is incredibly misnamed. There is nothing museum about it. It is 6 stories of tunnels, caves, treehouses, slides, and other climbing structures for the kids. Plus there is a small aquarium area. In that area, the kids can actually slide through a clear plastic tunnel down the middle of a large tank of various fish (including small sharks) and they can feed stingrays.

Shaling continues to adjust well. We rarely have unexpected fits of stubbornness anymore and when we do, she’s out of them quickly. She is concerned about our feelings and well-being. She loves to help out around the house. She’s the first kid I’ve ever seen willing to jump in and clean up cat puke. She helped clean the basement stairs and sweep the garage. She likes learning new things (like how to cook). She happily helps carry laundry baskets up and down the steps. When I tell her thank you, she sometimes says, “Yeah. I like help.” Yeah, Shaling, I like help too!