A Day of Concerts: Pictures & Videos

This past Saturday, Preston was a busy percussionist. He performed with the Rochester 6th grade jazz band at 11:00 a.m. and with the Sangamon Valley Youth Symphony (SVYS) Concert Band at 1:30 p.m.

The morning concert was held at White Oaks Mall. I wasn't sure what to expect, thinking it might be part of a string of performances and perhaps only a couple of songs long. However, the jazz band played 6 or 7 songs and they were the only featured group. They were quite festive, playing all Christmas songs and wearing Santa hats.

The afternoon concert was held at the University of Illinois Springfield's Sangamon Auditorium. Last year, this concert was impressively amazing. I remember bursting with pride watching Preston confidently play alongside students 2, 3, & 4 years older than himself. I won't "air the dirty laundry" here in the blog, but let's just say that there was a change in directors and this year's experience paled greatly in comparison.

Jazz Band Pictures




Dad was in charge of video while I was in charge of still photos. Shaling likes to be in charge of it all.



SVYS Concert Orchestra






Jazz Band Videos
Preston plays drum set on "Jingle Bell Rock".


Preston plays the bells during "Frosty the Snowman". As an added bonus, Shaling chimes in with some singing during a brief period of the song.


Preston plays drum set during "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" (or at least, that's what I think it is).


Preston plays the bells during "Jingle Bells".


Preston plays the bells during "Holly Jolly Christmas".


SVYS Concert Orchestra
Preston plays the tympani (the kettle drums) on "Marche Militaire Francais".

Pierced Ears & Visit W/Santa

As I mentioned in the post about our visit with Dr. Huang, Shaling has been begging for months to get her ears pierced, but I made her wait for clearance that her eardrum is healed. Well, Wednesday night, we finally went to get it done! She chose ladybugs for her first earrings. Here are the promised pictures of the event:

This is her grimace BEFORE the first earring was put in. Her anticipation was worse than the actual pain when it occurred.


This is AFTER the first was already done. As you can tell from her smile, it didn't phase her a bit. She was insistent that it did not hurt at all.


A couple of pictures of the final product.



After the ear piercing, she spotted the mall Santa. She stared at him with curiosity, telling me that she didn't think that was Santa. When I quizzed her as to why not, she indicated that his beard was too short. I suggested that maybe he had just cut it. She kept inching closer, so I asked her if she wanted her picture taken with him. She did. What I didn't anticipate was the enthusiasm with which she repeatedly told Santa that she wants a dog for Christmas. She is certain now that she will be getting a dog, because she told Santa that's what she wanted. I guess this will be her first lesson in regards to Santa not bringing EVERYTHING on your list.

Here is Shaling's first ever picture with Santa:

Photo Card

2011 was a year replete with blessings for the Reynolds family. May 2012 bring an abundance of blessings to ALL of our family and friends. Merry Christmas to all!

Pictures Galore Christmas

To view our unique Christmas card designs, click here.

View the entire collection of cards.

A 4-Month Reprieve

Shaling went to see Dr. Huang (the E.N.T.) today for yet another follow-up check on her ear drum surgery (which was in September). We've gone to see him approximately 5 or 6 times since the surgery. After examining her ear today (and cleaning out a nasty-looking scab), he told me it looked clean and healed well. She doesn't have to return to see him until April, when he'll run a full hearing test on her to see what percentage of her hearing has returned in her right ear.

Before she even got out of the examination chair, she started shrieking, "so I can get my ears pierced?" She has been wanting that for months and months, but I had told her we weren't touching those ears until we were done seeing Dr. Huang about her surgery. I looked to him for advice in response to her shrieking. He said she should be fine. So, I guess we're going to mall tonight. I'll have to post pictures tomorrow.

Scars - Ankle & Heart

Last night, while lying in bed reading, Shaling pointed out about a 1/2-inch scar on her ankle and began to tell me about it. She said, "yesterday, yesterday, yesterday, last week when I was in China. I was 8 or 7 or 6 or 5..." Apparently she saw one of her "dads" (I don't know if it was a foster dad or one of the government caregivers that she called dad) shaving and later grabbed his razor. She tried it out on her ankle to see what it did. She says she said, "ow" and someone gave her a napkin and she said "ow" again.

She then went on to tell us that that mom & dad eventually didn't want her anymore. She indicated that the next mom & dad didn't want her anymore either. She described a chain of rejection. Bewildered, I asked her how many moms & dads she had. She carefully thought about it, "well, first my mom doesn't want me when I'm a baby...", then she stared at the ceiling while counting in her head. She said "seven". Then she pointed at us and said, "eight". She kept saying that she had moms & dads that "doesn't want me". Yet, as heartbreaking as that phrase is (and trust me, I'm overwhelmed with sadness for her), she just uttered it as a matter-of-fact part of her life; no tears; no obvious depression.

I told her that we weren't going to go anywhere and that we'd always be here. She told me no, that some day we would die. I told her yes, but that we were always going to want her and that we were going to be her last mom & dad, that we would be Mom & Dad forever. She asked why and I said because we love you. She smiled, but had a quizzical look on her face. Brock told her similar things and I interjected again, telling her that sometimes we were going to be mad at her when she broke rules, but that we were still going to love her.

I know it sounds bizarre, but I got the idea that the conversation was more emotionally charged for me than her. She ended it by telling me that she really wished the owie on her ankle would go away. I explained to her that it was something called a scar and it would always be there to remind her when she got hurt. As for me, I would prefer she didn't have to deal with those owies on her heart.

I've been reviewing some of our posts from last December, as we were getting ready to travel about this time last year. I came across this post:

http://bringshalinghome.blogspot.com/2010/12/video-from-tim-ellen-stowells-visit-to.html

It includes a very meaningful video that I hadn't viewed in a long time. In the video, Shaling is told that her Mom will be coming soon. She timidly smiles. Her "big sister", Yu Bei (Francine) is in the video as well, as are a couple of little boys that have since been adopted. It's pretty amazing how much Shaling has changed since then.

A Reconnection & a Flag Performance

When we brought Shaling home last January, she brought with her a folded up letter from her "big sister" at the orphanage, Yu Bei. It was obvious that Yu Bei is pretty special to Shaling, because she would open up and re-read that letter often. I knew that Yu Bei was going to be adopted, because I had met her parents at an older child adoption training seminar in June, 2010. I told Shaling that Yu Bei would be coming to Illinois to live, but a couple of hours away (I believe she is in Mendota).

Over the last 11 months, Shaling would ask me from time to time if Yu Bei was with her family yet. I was in occasional email contact with Yu Bei's mother. Their process took longer than ours, partially because they decided to get two girls at once and they were from two entirely different provinces. Last I heard, Yu Bei was going to be coming home in October or November 2011. Apparently she DID make it home, because yesterday I got an email from her mother asking for our phone number so Francine (as Yu Bei is now called) could call Shaling. I told Shaling she was going to be getting a surprise phone call and she was very intrigued, though she never correctly guessed who it was going to be. As you can see from the glow in the picture below, she was thrilled with the chat.




Shaling participated in a flag camp this week. It was run by the high school flag corps and culminated in a half-time performance at the JV girls basketball game last night. Though it may not be obvious in the video (below), she really did enjoy it and expressed disappointment to me that she was only going to get to perform once. She was all smiles during the rehearsals, but not so much at the performance because she was distracted by the fact that a certain boy was there watching her (I think it made her nervous).

***Remember, the video shows up on my blog, but not in the emails that some of you receive.



Quick update on my cousin Joanna - she was able to come home from the hospital on Wednesday, but is currently on a liquid diet until her bolster is removed (which I think may happen on Monday). She is already uttering some words and though they took more tongue than they planned (found more cancer), it is not going to be as obvious as I thought. I'm convinced she'll be able to return to teaching quicker than I originally expected. Thanks for the prayers!