Somethin' about the past few days...they've been like magic. A little busy, nice weather, mostly happy kids, and some really fun people.
First, I should mention that our camera is currently unusable, so our laptop is recording all our moments via photobooth.
Monday...maybe nothing special, and it's sometimes nice when that happens.
Tuesday a cool girl hung out with us. She may be, oh dear, seven years younger than me, and I may be her former teacher, but we're buds.
Wednesday the boys asked to paint. Traditionally Jonathon is stressed out by this activity. I think he qualifies for sensory processing disorder; as a result of being institutionalized and ill for so long he's uncomfortable with normal stimulus, like dirty hands or tickling. This day we tried finger-painting rather than using brushes. At first Jonathon thought it was an awful idea, but eventually he relaxed and comprehended the cause-effect relationship between dip + smear on paper = pretty colors. He was focused and genuinely enjoying himself as he created fabulous koi fish! Great progress! Titus meticulously painted vegetable gardens; Mike went for quantity over quality with a rate of 4 paintings per minute.
Thursday night had to be the happiest time of the week! These fabulous people run the Butterfly Home. Compassionate, sincere, unpretentious, uninhibited, candid, and wise-crackin...good people to be with. And they have treats like blueberries, cheese and butter. And they are happy to share information about --and glasses of-- wine and whiskey. Hiccup. And they love the Queen. I think Alan may have teared up whilst talking about the Queen. And someone else may have said that the Queen has done a damn lot of good for Britain.
GREAT FOLKS!
Splendid time together.
Oh yeah, and we got some babysitters. They did a super job in spite of Michael bawling for Mommy. I texted them about two hours after bedtime to see how things were going:
9:03pm Babysitter: Good, Titus and Jon are sleeping, Michael is still playing with us.
9:05pm Me: Ok thanks for doing such a great job. If you want to put M to sleep just be strict, put him in the tent, let him cry or you can stay and comfort him a little.
9:09pm Babysitter: haha! No problem, the kids are really good. But M doesn't want to go to sleep until you come home.
9:10pm Me: Ok, do whatever you think is best, thanks so much.
9:15pm Babysitter: He is sleeping now with Titus.
So we came home to two brothers on the top bunk (we recently got bunkbeds).
Awwwww.
Friday morning a therapist, also a British lady, came over to assess Jonathon and gave us many ideas for therapy! We are so thankful!
Drew met with his advisor, she's a big deal, and she seemed pleased to use her connections to help Drew find an internship in a Chinese company over summer holiday. Yeah!
Remember I walk by three brothels every Friday night? One of the girls waved back at me, and maybe even smiled a tiny bit. It's a start.
Saturday morning we all went over to the social welfare institute (orphanage) to help the Butterfly Home relocate to another building in the compound...by 'we' I mean Drew, and he had the sweat-soaked outfit to show for it. I was chasing T+J+M as they played outside, but good times, Lydia, Li Ci and another girl spent the morning with us. Unfortunately Lydia can't continue telemarketing due to migraines. So we're back to the special order cross-stitch idea. Also, that morning I caught up with an American friend, very very thankful for the chance.
So we had lunch out with Lydia & Li Ci. Then Li Ci helped me carry all the little guys home. Titus fell asleep in her arms on the bus. Jon slept strapped on my back in the baby carrier. Mike dozed off in my arms. When we turned the corner onto our alley, Wang Zhao was just arriving at our door! A word about Wang Zhao & Li Ci...two young women who I greatly admire. I have said this before -- they grew up in the orphanage, but they're not carrying any callous pain. They are thankful, bright and hardworking. I love them!
Meanwhile, Drew was at the church English group, topic: marriage. So he was all love-dovey for the rest of the day.
That night one of our guy friends, who also grew up in the orphanage, brought a few friends over for supper. This we found slightly inconvenient and annoying but whatever, I kept thinking that I should show hospitality to everyone. Attitude checker.
Titus made a spiderweb in the office.
Sunday...morning we skipped church, sensing a need for social rest. But not really physical rest, because we cleaned house like mad and took the boys & lots of trucks to the track sand pits. I ran a mile, a bizarre act which took about, oh 15 minutes, more or less. Then our tall and firm Drew, who also hasn't run in five years, tore up the track with a 6-minute mile.
It does sound like magic. Busy magic!!! :)
ReplyDeleteFour paintings per minute! Impressive!
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