Burnett___Family-O-Rama

Recent "Theaisms"

2010-03-01T19:29:00.005-06:00

O.k. cuteness fans, here's a little fix for you.
A few recent examples of "Thea speak:"

Pictured here is one of our breakfast favorites: eggs and "blind bread" toast. "Blind bread" is Thea's term for sourdough bread. We think it's related to the word "blank" as in plain, but we're not quite sure. Perhaps it's just that it has no eyes. . .

One day, Thea had done something . . . well, naughty. I can't even recall what it was now. And I asked her that rhetorical question all parents ask, "why would you do such a thing?!?" She sighed while shaking her head and told me, "Mommy . . .it's confilated."

When things go underwater, especially our toys in the bathtub, they are "flounding." As in, "Oh no, oh no, says Noah, I'm flounding!" It seems so appropriate, I wonder if it isn't perhaps an Old English usage we've dropped.

The Burnetts are often tigers or lions, usually a whole family of them. And we normally prowl about in a very carefree manner, disregarding such things. But one day Thea said: "After I pull my socks up, hear me roar!"

The Spirit of Christmas carries on at our house in many ways. We're still listening to the Disney princesses singing all your favorite Christmas tunes (if it weren't for Grumpy's occasional snide remarks, I don't know how long I could take it). We are also still using our winter dishes, which feature the words from "The 12 days of Christmas." So, from time to time, we still sing the song. Thea's version involves "ten peppers poking."

Unfortunately, as winter drags on, we all have to cope with lots of shovelling and the inevitable paraphernalia of cold and flu season. But here's a new term from Thea. You know that stuff everyone puts on their hands before eating, it's actually called "hanitizer." There--your life just got simpler.

Blessings to all,
Dawn

Happy New Year!

2010-02-15T21:21:00.003-06:00

Psst . . .
It's me, Althea.
Just wanted to wish you a Happy Chinese New Year.
I'm hiding under here because I heard there might be a dragon around!
The folks and I are at a cool Chinese New Year celebration hosted by our area Chinese Association. There are many, many people here from China, and they all can count to ten in Chinese--just like me!

Turns out there IS a dragon here. But . . . I've learned that dragons in Chinese culture are nothing to be scared of. In most of my princess stories, dragons are scary things that breathe fire and usually like to (gulp) eat princesses.
But in China, dragons are good and powerful. Go fig.
I'm keeping my parasol handy just in case.

The dragon hasn't made any moves to devour anyone all evening. And people have been singing and doing "character charades" and silly little plays right in front of him. Looks like he really is all about just celebrating too.

So Happy New Year to you and yours from the Burnetts. Enjoy the year of the tiger!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-28T20:59:00.015-06:00

Hi friends,
Althea here with my good buddy, Santa.

Here we are at the Christmas tree farm the day after Thanksgiving. You can tell it was an amazingly warm day, because I'm actually NOT wearing mittens in this picture. (Mom's a bit of a nut about the whole "mitten thing.")

Anyway, we had a lovely time getting ready for Christmas. I had a nice visit with Santa, although I had not yet figured out what I wanted for Christmas. Daddy picked up a tree--literally! He's so strong, my Baba!

A few weeks later, I visited with Santa again. He had had time to trim his beard, and I had had time to figure out what I really wanted for Christmas--a princess castle, with knights and horses!

In the intervening weeks, life was so hectic. You know how Advent can get. I had so much to do--relearning Christmas songs, reminding everyone that Christmas is FUN, and also taking the time to make a snow princess. Sing with me now: "There's no princess like snow princess . . ."

But despite my hectic Advent schedule, I still found time to reflect on the heart of Christmas--Jesus' birthday! (You may recognize the little angel hovering just to the right of "Jophis.")

A little meditative time is needed now and then, but my favorite song is still "GO! TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN!" It needs to be sung
LOUDLY, since you're telling people everywhere.

Happy to say, Santa came through. Thanks to him and the building skills of my daddy, it's going to be a wonderful Christmastide!

So . . .
spend some time looking at Baby Jesus, remember that Christmas is fun, and
SO IS SNOW!!
Love,
Althea

Birthday Flashback

2009-11-09T19:26:00.005-06:00

Well, now that the pics have had a couple of months to mellow, we thought it was about time to share them.
Yes, our little girl has turned four. (How did that happen so fast!?!)

I'm still getting used to four, and she explains to me on a daily basis that soon she will be five. Occasionally, she goes on to say that when she's 16, she will drive the car (yikes!).

As you can see, we celebrated the big day at "Chuck E's" and lived to tell the tale.

Thea and some of her friends danced around with the Big Mouse himself, after playing lots and LOTS of games. Watching all these kiddos sticking tokens in machines, bumping buttons and levers, then gradually collecting tickets set me thinking . . .
Is Chuck E's a training ground for future casino goers?
Has anyone researched the possible correlation between frequent Chuck E visits and later gambling habits?

Given these speculations, I guess I'm glad Thea's favorite rides don't render any tickets. Her absolute favorite being the horse ride. Ride em' Thea!

And then, just in case you're behind on your cute quotient, here's some birthday dancing:

Hi Ho, Hi Ho . .to Trunk or Treat we go!

2009-11-02T21:04:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone!
Well, it was a difficult decision . . . so many Disney princesses to choose from, but I finally decided to be Snow White for Halloween this year.
Once that decision was made, the assignments for Grumpy and Sleepy were simple.

We had some extra fun this year, since our church hosted a Trunk or Treat event. Here we are in front of our "cottage motif" trunk. You can see the castle on the next car--even more princesses!
Mommy said some of you might not know what a "Trunk or Treat" is. About 20 or so cars from our church were parked in a section of our parking lot and decorated. We all dressed in costumes and passed out candy from our trunks from 2-4 on Saturday. There were prizes for the best trunk and best costumes. Lots and lots and lots of kids came by--it was fun to see all their costumes too.

Of course, it was also nice to come home and get ready for the trick or treaters who came to our house. I gave out ALL the candy this year (until I went to bed) even to the kids in really scary costumes. I'm very brave, you know.
Oddly enough, many of the kids thought a 6 -1/2 foot grumpy dwarf was somewhat intimidating. Go fig.
Personally, I get a kick out of the grumpy nose. :-)
Our count for this year was 69 trick or treaters, with the classic skeleton being the most popular option.

This is my first Halloween finding the scary parts kind of fun. Daddy says that's the point. Because of Jesus, we don't need to be afraid really, so we can make fun and play around with spooky things.
Hope you had a really spooky fun Halloween!
Princess Althea

Yes! Michigan!

2009-08-24T21:34:00.009-05:00

Hi everyone!
Thea here.
My, but we do grow up fast, don't we? One minute I'm a toddler, the next minute, I'm a bride.

Actually, the big news here is our recent trip to Michigan. We went in late July/early August for what we call the Annual Grandparents' Tour.

And a good time was had. Hoo boy!

I got to play dress up at Papa & Nana's house, where I was treated like a well . . . you know. Here I am with Nana and Papa and Tootsie the cat.

They also hosted an early birthday party for me.
Here I am with just a few of my "crazy cousins."
We had a giggly, silly, hyper, bossing-each-other-around, good time.

We also visited a farm, where I got to pet a pony, see a rabbit get a haircut, and pose coyly by a barn.

The crazy cousin time continued at Grandma Cyndy's house, where the Play-Doh's always fresh and the mac n' cheese is abundant.
I really loved her collection of little books and the big-enough-to-ride-and-hence-fight-over-with-your-cousins stuffed pink pony.

Our visit with Grandmama Rose included a trip to a park where we could wade in the river.
We also had fun going to church with her. I found their children's worksheets a stimulating foray into the realm of preschool religious education (in other words, I found all the words in the word search).

We also got in a little park time with all of mommy's family. Talk about crazy fun! We went swimming and played on the beach.
Here's a picture of mommy and I going out on a canoe with Thomas and Ethan (two of my older, cool boy cousins).
Michigan appears to be a place where everyone just plays and has fun all the time!

On our way back west, we stopped to visit some of our friends in western Michigan. I became good friends with Mazie the Dog.

I'm glad to say, we also got in some quality beach time. I mostly built sand castles and, of course, a scale model of the Great Wall.

We just happened upon the Blueberry Festival in Grand Haven Michigan, and there I met a REAL princess. Her name is Miss Michigan.
Very cool.

Then, just when I thought the fun was over, we stopped at a rest stop in Minnesota, and there was my buddy Matthew and his family! Matthew's one of my best friends at my school. Nothing like a little sliding with a friend to make your road weariness disappear.

Hope all of you have enjoyed your summer too!
Love,
Althea

A Wedding and a Visit from Grandma

2009-07-06T20:36:00.011-05:00

Hey all,
Althea here. I suppose you've all been wondering what I've been up to lately.

In addition to taking in some rays pool side, we've been having some exciting adventures the past few weeks.
THE big social event of the year on my calendar was the wedding of my Kia to Tommy. Kia has held MFB status (most favored babysitter) at Chez Burnett for . . .well, most of my life! I'm going to miss her and her crazy fun now that she and Tommy have moved to the far away land of Minneapolis. I'm waiting to see pictures of their castle there. As I explained to my mommy--Kia is the bride and Tommy is her handsome prince.
By the way, I am REALLY into weddings right now. If you happen to appear in my mommy and baba's wedding photos--you're a celebrity in my book!
Despite my fascination, I've decided not to get married until I'm older . . .5 or 6. My daddy thought 6 at least.
We've also been doing a bit of travelling since I saw you last. (This blog proudly brought to you by Travelocity.)

No, seriously, we took Cindi & Mark's gnome with us to the Black Hills for various photos ops. Cute little guy, isn't he?
Of course, while we were there, we had to visit Mart Mushmore . . .I mean . . .oh, you know, the faces on the mountain. Mommy says I look quite presidential in this shot. Then she shuddered. Silly mommy!

We went to the Black Hills with my Grandma Cyndy. (She's my grandma!) I'm a little bit concerned in the picture at right because the gnome is taking this one. Should we really be entrusting our camera to this guy?

One of the best parts of our Black Hills trip was riding the 1880's train. Very cool.

Once you're on and the train is moving though, they explain that it actually recreates a train ride more from the 1890's. What's the deal with that!?!

Despite their historical sleight of hand, it was a very fun trip. I got to hold the tickets.

We spent only a few days out there--just long enough to celebrate mommy and grandma's birthday. They share a birthday. Weird eh? They seem o.k. with it, but I'm glad my birthday is all mine!

We got back home and took grandma out to see the falls. Seems last time she was in town, the folks forgot to take her to see them. She thought the town was called Sioux Falls just as one of those fanciful whims--sort of like the 1880's train. Well, she knows better now.

So toodaloo for now from all of us here in lovely Sioux Falls.
Hope you're all having fun summer advntures too!
Don't forget to be silly sometimes.
Love,
Althea

How To Grow Like a Weed

2009-06-08T21:09:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone!
Thea here.
According to my mommy, I've been "growing like a weed." I has something to do with the fact that I can now reach all the light switches in the house. (That, of course, means I am now in charge of them all. At least, that's my logic.)
I've gotten so long, mommy couldn't even get all of my long, long legs in this picture.

So now you're all wondering . . . how does she do it? What is her secret?
Well, if it came in a bottle . . . babies would drink it. (ah,ha,ha,ha,ha! sorry, a little pre-schooler humor there.)

Anyway, for you, my dear friends and family, I am finally ready to share the formula to my success. You too can "grow like a weed" if you just follow these simple steps.

Step #1--get plenty of exercise.
When you jump on the back of a dolphin, don't just ride it for fun. Get serious, people! You've got to really ride that crazy thing! It helps if you can pretend that you're Ariel the Mermaid.

Step #2--eat plenty of protein
Now I know some of you out there get a power trip out of being a "picky eater." That's all very well, but you can find real power by scarfing every bit of meat you can find.

Here I am at Famous Dave's, having finished off the "kids' meal" ribs (yeah, right). Now I'm tucking into several from daddy's plate.
As far as I'm concerned, happiness is spelled "p-o-r-k!"

And, last but not least . . .

step #3--take time to stop and smell the flowers
And if you're trying to grow like a weed, there's just no better flower to stop and smell than dandelions. :-)
They are everywhere! And, for some reason, mommy never stops me when I want to pick them. In addition to being plentiful and pickable, they turn your nose yellow when you smell them!
What's not to love?

So keep on growing!
Love,
Althea

Easter by Althea

2009-05-08T21:34:00.017-05:00

Guess who???

Surprise! It's me on Easter Sunday!
Like the hat?
I had a ball with it.
This Easter, Mommy dressed me to the 9's (or perhaps event the 10's).
I'll be honest with you. The hat, gloves, and even my pretty hair ribbon thingy didn't stay on all that long. But really, given my basic mode of operation, everyone should be grateful the dress stayed on.

Easter Sunday was very fun. The Easter Bunny came by and brought me candy AND cool Spiderman books AND pretty princess markers.

Then we went to church where many of my fans enjoyed the hat and gloves, right before they were history.

In the service, the little kids didn't go out like we usually do. This time, I got to stay with mommy and watch a fritata . . . I mean a cantabla . . .well a bunch of adults in funny costumes singing and talking and telling Jesus' story. (My Baba was Peter. Mr Bill was Jesus.)

I liked the Palm Sunday part with the branches and the shouting "hosanna!" But then things got a little scary. People started looking angry and shouting, then some soldiers came and took Jesus away. Then they hung him on a cross.

I began to cry when they carried him over and put him in the cave. My daddy (I mean Peter) and another guy ran to the cave to look in, but they just came away, shaking their heads. Mommy held me and said it would be o.k.

And sure enough, she was right! There came Jesus again, alive! I was so relieved.
Then after another song, up, up, up he went, right up to the ceiling in our church, which is sooooooo high!

It helped that the church gave me a book of the story so I could follow along as the people sang. I really wondered about the page where a guy is kissing Jesus and looking kind of funny with his eyes. Daddy says that guy pretended to be Jesus' friend, but he really wasn't. He showed the soldiers where they could find him so they could take him away. That was naughty.

Easter--it's a lot to take in.
New dresses and candy and presents are fun.

But I find it quite fascinating . . . the story of when Jesus died, then, three days later he was alive again!

. . .makes you think.

Happy Easter thinking to all of you!
Althea

It's Story Time!

2009-03-30T20:50:00.004-05:00

Althea loves pretending (or "tending" as she calls it). Sometimes she's a baby, sometimes a mommy, sometimes she's Speed Racer or Spiderman.
Far and away though, her favorite thing to "tend" to be is the teacher. She will arrange a circle of "tend" preschoolers around her chair with very particular precision:
"Tend Matthew, you sit here. Tend Hannah over here. Tend Sophie over there."
She gets quite cheesed when I walk through her "tend preschoolers" or even need to open the fridge.
It's kind of fun to hear what she "reads" to them. If it's a familiar book, there will be a smattering of the actual story, but more often it will be a fascinating combination of exposition on the pictures and phrases from other books. One phrase that seems to appear in every book comes from Olivia and the Missing Toy: "Still, it was her favorite toy. So she fixed it, adding a bow for extra beauty. All better." You'd be surprised how often that seems applicable.
Recently, we went to a children's clothes store at the mall. Althea was delighted to discover a shelf full of books and puzzles. She started her teacher routine, while I looked over some nearby racks of clothes. I turned around a minute later, and a small crowd of other children had gathered to listen as she "read" about brave firefighters to them. (If someone had offered me a camera in exchange for my pinkie, I would now be known as "Dawn of the Nine Fingers.")
This past week, she came home from school with a book about Easter (and the events of Holy Week). I was surprised to hear some of the story:
"Jesus said 'This my food. Not your food! This my food!'
Then Jesus whined and whined and whined and whined."
The picture she was looking at was a depiction of the Last Supper. I can only assume this was her version of "This is my body, broken for you." and "This wine is the new covenant in my blood."
I explained to her, in basic terms, what Jesus said, and that he was drinking "wine" and offering it to his disciples. A lengthy discussion about a beverage called wine followed. Finally, I explained that Jesus didn't "whine," that in fact he was the bravest man ever.
Later that day, she was reading the same book, and this time it was "Jesus' follerers" who "whined and whined and whined." I had to laugh, but there was nothing to correct this time. I'm afraid it still tends to be true today.

March Madness

2009-03-23T20:38:00.008-05:00

Hello friends,
Althea here.

Well, I've been doing some deep reflection on how I spend my time, and after making some much-needed modifications to my hectic schedule, I'm hoping to have more time for blogging to all my fans out there.
My biggest change--telecommuting to preschool.
I figure the savings on drive time alone should make up the difference, not to mention that I won't need as much time for my morning "coif" if you know what I mean.

Lately, I've had some quality time with the folks and my sled. I love sledding! The rush, the snow, the excitement of having no idea where we might end up with mommy driving.

As much as I love the snow though, I'm also glad to see some warmer weather start to arrive. The main difference is this gives me a lot more time outside.
Here, I'm modeling the latest in rainy day fashions. Mommy says I'm so sunny in these, it'll make the rain go away. Silly mommy!
When I'm not looking for a hill to slide down or a puddle to splash in, I'm busy learning those letters. So far my favorite words are "green" and "mommy." It's completely a coincidence that mommy keeps pointing that word out to me in all my books.

Despite my hectic schedule, I still find time to kick back with my friends now and then. Here we are at a super fun soiree--cake, ice cream, a bunch of other hyper preschoolers and the tumble bus! Oh daddy! (The tumblebus is a school bus that has been converted into a portable gym for preschoolers. They drive around to day cares and parties spreading joy and happiness and teaching us what a "pike" position is.)

Well, friends, it's time to sign off. My schedule is just packed today. First, I'll be "tending" to be the teacher, then Speed Racer, then a ballerina, then back to being the teacher (those pretend preschoolers need my leadership!).

Enjoy the rest of your own "March madness!"

Gong Hai Fat Choi!

2009-02-07T21:57:00.004-06:00

In other words, Happy Chinese New Year!
(Although literally, it’s “Congratulations and prosperity to you!” One theory is that the first part of the greeting is connected with the idea of having survived the worst of the winter, while the second is the hope that things will soon pick up as the weather gets warmer. Apropos when you live in South Dakota!)

Greeting to all our dear family and friends!
Since so many of you sent such wonderful Christmas greetings, and since we wanted to assure you that we’re still here on planet earth, we decided to send out an update.
We are grateful for the past year (“year of the rat” though it was). Andrew has been working hard, gnawing away at all kinds of things. In addition to his work at the church, he has been teaching classes at Augustana College: Theology and Philosophy in Dialogue, Critical Thinking and a little something called “Mad Science: the Lure and Fear of Biological Mastery.” Quite fun.
Both Dawn and Andrew were given the wonderful gift of several weeks of Sabbatical time this summer. This allowed us to do some much needed prayer and listening. We both have returned to begin our 10th (!) year of ministry at Prairie Hills with fresh energy and a renewed sense of our calling. God has blessed us and our church, but there is so much more we’re called to do! Dawn also completed her training as a spiritual director (someone who helps people listen to God).
Althea has had quite a year. She is three going on 25 or so. She now makes up (sometimes disturbingly plausible) stories, instructs her mother on driving technique and plans to lead worship team at church soon. She loves letters and words and displays a manual dexterity with things like scissors that her parents did not have until they were ten. (Perhaps that says more about us than her.) Anyway, she continues to be a tremendous conduit of blessing to some very thankful parents.
We also give thanks for all of you. Blessings to you in the “ox year” ahead!

"Curiouser and curiouser"

2008-10-31T22:22:00.007-05:00

Hello friends!
It's a bit past my bedtime, but I thought I'd send out a greeting from the Cheshire Cat. Mommy and Baba and I had a very fun time tonight.
I had my heart set on being a kitty cat this year, which was a bit of a puzzle for the folks, but they finally figured out how to make it work. Mom dressed up as someone named Alice. My Baba was the King of Hearts. They showed me the pictures from the book--kind of weird, really.

I did like being the Cheshire cat, because what the Cheshire cat does mostly, it seems, is GRIN!! Can do!

We had a really fun time, waiting for "trick or treats" to come to our door for candy. Despite Mommy's efforts, I managed to eat more candy than I ever have before in one day. Woo doggies! Was I ever wired for fun!?!

Anyway, it was a fun time. As Mommy and Baba say, how often do you get to dress up in costumes? My Baba taught his class in costume and Mommy wore hers at church. Very fun.
Well, the sugar seems to be finally wearing off. I better hit the hay. I'll have to update you on some other stuff soon.
Happy Halloween, everybody!
Love,
Althea

Recent "Thea-isms"

2008-07-10T21:44:00.005-05:00

"A picture can say a thousand words," but there's also some cute words we thought we'd share with you.

The other day, Thea and her daddy were at the park playing. She got hold of his car keys and said to him,
"YOU sit in car seat. I drive."

Quite confident in her driving skills, she is also giving mommy driving tips:
"You back up quickly, mommy!
Carefully . . .carefully . . .back up carefully."

She is also quite eager to drink coffee (not surprising given her parents' enthusiasm for the brew in the morning). We have told her that she won't be able to drink it until she is older. She ALSO is aware that on her birthday she will turn three. Ergo . . .
"I almost three. I almost drink coffee."

We went and saw a production of Sleeping Beauty in the park. I always wonder how much she takes in. This morning she laid down on a box of diapers. I asked, "what are you doing, sweetie?"
"I seeping bootie."

Hooray for Summer!

2008-06-22T21:17:00.008-05:00

Hi friends,
Thea here.
I understand you're all eager for a little update.
Well, life is good now that summer's here. Mom is finally seeing that I'm not a baby and giving me a little more of the "big girl stuff" (note my stylin' toenails). I stayed really, really still while Mommy painted them and we read books until they dried. Now every time I take my socks off--it's like a happy surprise all over again: "My toenails--red!"

Of course, this last month was busy with a lot of big social events. We've been to lots of what they call "open houses." Despite the name, I'm still not allowed to explore the entire house!
Here I am at Bridget's open house playing a game with my friend Pastor Mark. He's so easy to amuse.
We noticed we were wearing the same sort of hat and started messing around with them.
Eventually, of course, I got hold of HIS hat. Ha, ha, ha!

I've also been helping Mommy in the garden.
Here we are gearing up to plant some flowers.
I'm not a big fan of worms, so I let mommy do the digging part, but I helped her figure out which flowers should go where.

My other favorite summer activity can be summed up in one word :"PARK!" I love going to parks--and the fine city of Sioux Falls has many.
I love playgrounds, and the wading pools, and the fun kids shows that the Parks dept. puts on during the summer.
My favorite recent theatrical production was about "a girl and her purple purse. A man taked it." Oh the drama! Very intense.

Last but not least, my favorite excursion is definitely the ZOO!
I love pushing my stroller around the zoo and seeing my friends--rhino and monkey and giraffe and lao hu (that's "tiger" for those of you who don't speak Chinese).

They even have a little train that we can ride in. Here's a picture of daddy and me on the train. Oh, how I love that "little train!"

Here's a picture of me and daddy with one of the lao hu's at the zoo. There are two of them, so we always sing them the famous children's song from China "Liang zhe lao hu" or "two tigers."

Since they're asian tigers, they really like it when you sing to them in Chinese. It helps them feel more at home.

Here's the English words to our song:
Two tigers, two tigers,
running very fast, running very fast,
one has no eyes,
one has no tail,
isn't that strange, isn't that strange?

Thankfully, both of the tigers at our zoo have their eyes and tails.

Finally, here's some footage of me having a little race with one of my zoo friends. Enjoy!

Big News in Toddler Town!

2008-06-06T21:54:00.004-05:00

Hi friends!
I've just started something really great . . .really exciting . . . Mommy and Daddy just can't get enough of it . . .

I'm wearing underwears!
I would gladly show you them, but Mommy says I'm not supposed to show everyone my underwears. It's "a private thing." But that doesn't stop me talking about it--to everyone I meet!
And Mommy and Daddy are such fans of the whole "going potty" thing, that they don't even mind if I tell everyone I meet that "I'm wearing underwears!"
Today I'm sporting the latest in Disney princess underwears. I also have the entire "Dora" line and some key wardrobe selections in the Le Pooh Bear Avec Fraises Collection. Although Mommy overlooked them at first, I managed to spot some really cool underwears with Spider Man on them. They glow in the dark and each one has a pocket in the front! How cool is that!
Speaking of cool, I timed this whole transition quite well, if I say so myself. Mommy was thinking the time was right a few months ago, but, as I like to remind her, some things just can't be rushed. Now that the weather is getting warmer, it's really the right time to be . . .

Warning: Dangerous Levels of Cuteness

2008-03-14T21:56:00.003-05:00

You've been warned.

Adventures in Kingdom Baking

2008-03-14T21:24:00.007-05:00

Do you ever just wake up and think, "I want to bake a big batch of cookies so I can help send soccer balls to kids in Sudan?"
Well, we did. Our church had a cookie sale to raise money. There's a big school over there that we helped to build. About 1200 students with only about 12 teachers. (How's that for a classroom ratio?)
Last summer, the kids at our church helped raise money to buy the children at the school much needed sandals for their feet, since all of them walk to the school, often many miles from home.
Our good friend, Mr. Roger, with inspiration from his grandson, decided those kids needed something to play with. The answer: soccer balls! Since our church is really good at baking, Mr. Roger asked us all to make cookies.
So we donned our Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-sponsored aprons from Home Depot and went to work!
Mommy's world-famous Cookie Monster cookie dough got turned into letter cookies! Althea is really into letters nowadays. Her favorite, for some reason, is the letter "A."
Daddy turned another batch of the dough into secret treasure cookies. We would show you pictures of the process, but it's a secret.
In the end, our church raised over $1100. That's a lot of soccer balls. Yeah God!

A Lenten Reflection

2008-03-14T21:10:00.003-05:00

On Ash Wednesday, we had a service with the imposition of ashes. Althea hung out in the nursery with her good friend Karin. After the service, she found mommy and was very puzzled about the "someting on you," pointing at the ashes on my forehead. I explained that they were ashes. She grew thoughtful as only a two-year-old can do. She noticed that many people had "someting" on their foreheads.
"Ashes," I repeated to her.
While I held her, I imposed ashes onto the foreheads of a few people who had been serving during the service, including her buddy Karin. She watched it all in an uncharacteristically still and silent mode.
Then, she hesitantly reached towards the ashen cross on my forehead.
"You can touch the ashes. It's o.k."
"Ashes," she repeated.
Then, she made a connection in her mind, and with a very serious look, said to me, "Ashes, ashes, we all fall down."
Indeed.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2008-02-10T21:48:00.000-06:00

Hey Everyone! Gong Xi Fa Chai!
(That means "Happy New Year" in Chinese.)

Althea here with a little update on the Burnett family. Mom's been rather . . . well . . . less than ideally up-to-date lately with the blog.
Add to that the strange sequence whereby our Christmas Letter turned into an Epiphany Letter, then suddenly it was Lent! I realized she was going to need my help.

So I'm going to catch you up all up to speed. (Watch out though, my preferred speed is fast!)

Quick update on the folks. They are both pastors at "Our Church" as I like to call it. While I play in the nursery with my many friends, they talk and sing in the big room. It's my favorite place to run after church is over--I head right for the front. I can't wait until it's my turn to lead everything!

Daddy is also a teacher at his school--Augustana College, which is right next door to my school. Mommy says to tell you all that he is teaching Ethics and administering the Bioethics Program, whatever that means. I like his office--it's full of fun stuff--especially post-it notes!

2007 was a very big year for the folks, since it was their first full year with me!

Let me tell you, it often took all my organizational skills to keep this family on track!

Now it's time to tell you a little bit about me (with illustrative photos of course).

Well, I've become quite the little bibliophile in the last year. I love reading books! While I've tried and tried to branch out into reading Victorian era authors, my parents seem determined to restrict me to books with pictures!

What I'm reading lately:
* How Does a Dinosaur Eat His Food? by Jane Yolen
* If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
* Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

I've also developed my own fashion sense.
And although I love dollies and can "princess" with the best of them, I'm also into tractors! My FAVORITE shirt is my John Deere tractor shirt. I'm also extremely fond of trucks and dirt.
Can we make a mess?
YES WE CAN!

And although the last few days have been SOOO COLD ( I come in saying "brr, brr, brr!"), I still find winter very cool indeed. Here's a snowman mommy and I made one day. The folks were trying to show me how to roll a big snowball, but that didn't work. They said it was too cold to "pack properly," but I think that was just an excuse. Mom got out some bowls and we managed to pack together a cute little guy.

When new snow falls, I'm at the ready, thanks to the very lax child labor laws of South Dakota.

Actually, I love to help daddy "shubble" snow. Really . . . come to think of it . . . I just like helping with most anything: dishes, laundry, changing my own diaper. (Mommy says I'm not quite up to this yet, but I disagree.)

I like to work, but I also love to play--peek-a-boo, pretending to be a choo-choo train, propelling a slinky down the stairs.

I also enjoy a nice evening out. Here's a picture of me dressed up to go out on a date with my daddy. He's already got a book about how to interview boys that want to go out with me. Silly daddy! But I sure do love him!

We had a really fun Christmas time. I only opened one or two presents a day for the whole 12 days of Christmas. that gave me time to really have fun with all my new toys and books.
Like the poncho? Stylin', n'est-ce pas?

But of course, Christmas isn't really about the presents. It's about Baby Jesus! You see, there was an angel who visited Mary, then she and Jo-phis went on a long journey, but there was NO ROOM at the inn (I raise my index finger for emphasis at this point). But they went out to the barn and then suddenly there is Baby Jesus! More angels fly around singing and people come to visit him.
Our church told the story again this year. And again I was typecast as a "Townsperson" with my mommy and daddy. But I did get to go into the barn and see the Baby Jesus for a long time (contemplative adoration, my mom calls it).

Next year, I'm going for the angel gig!

Love to all of you!
And a Very Happy New Year!

Althea

***

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T22:24:00.001-05:00

Happy Halloween!
It's Fairy Princess Althea here.

Perhaps you've been asking yourself, just what would the Burnett family look like if Althea got to pick the Halloween dress-up theme?
Well, here's your answer!

I was out shopping with daddy a few weeks ago when this little number crossed my path--sort of a sugar plum fairy look. Love the wand! (Mommy insists that I say funny words and just wave it in the air--seems much more functional as a tool for bonking things and people--oops, sorry mommy.)

Mommy had some fun with the whole "fairy" theme. Daddy found her a woodland fairy costume. I really liked the wings best. I have wings too, but mine aren't as big.

Here I am discovering the other super-fun thing about this weird night--candy! Kids come to our door looking really strange and sometimes scary. They look surprised to see all of us dressed up too. First they say the magic words (NOT "please" like I expected but "trick or treat"), and then they have to tell us what they are dressed up as, then mommy or daddy gives them candy. But I got some too!

The kids looked especially surprised when daddy came to the door. I can't imagine why.

He and I had lots of fun blowing on his pan flute and building Lego towers as we waited for more trick or treaters.

Here's our latest family portrait--go fig.

Well friends, time for me to fly off. Mommy says I need to find "a rose petal filled with dew for my evening ablutions." I thought I was just going to take a bath and head for bed.

Gotta love a night that's all about dressing up in costumes and eating candy!
Happy Halloween!

Close Encounters of an Alphabetic Kind?

2007-10-21T22:24:00.000-05:00

O.k. this is kind of weird. You sing the alphabet with your kiddo, you play with letters and read books . . .
But what does it mean when your daughter just randomly repeats the same four letters?
It started the other day in the car. I heard a little voice behind me chanting "C D H Y . . . C D H Y . . .C D"
Then, later that night, the same thing. Hmmm. . .
The next morning at breakfast, she started it again, grinning the grin pictured at left: "C D H Y . . . C D H Y."
Are aliens trying to communicate through our daughter?
And just what is their message?
You better know we'll be watching to see if she starts playing with her mashed potatoes--sculpting funky mountain shapes and staring at them intently.

Two!

2007-10-21T21:46:00.001-05:00

"Watch Me!"

That's one of my favorite phrases now. I'm two! And that gives me official license to run around like a crazy woman (although mommy seems to think I only have a learner's permit).

Here I am on the day of my second birthday. We went out to eat with some friends, then on the the traditional birthday jump from the giant stethoscope. America! What a kooky country!

Then I went for a ride on the little carousel. The fine print nearby says that my parents should be supervising me while I'm on this ride. For crying out loud, I'm two already!

A few days later, we had a bigger party at the park with a BIG cake--complete with lots of frosting and a dancing Dora. Dancing with a monkey? Sounds like fun to me!

Thanks to everyone for the cards and gifts and birthday hoopla. May your spirit always jump from a stethoscope and your heart always dance with the monkeys!
Althea

The Grandparents Tour 2007

2007-09-13T22:10:00.001-05:00

Peek-oo!
It's me, Althea (or as I pronounce it "Ai-ya!").

Mommy asked if I wouldn't fill you all in on our trip to Michigan this summer.

We rode on airplanes again! I love airplanes! Somehow, mommy and daddy don't seem to get as much fun out of it. Something called "flight delays" made them sad. But I quickly cheered them up by running around the airports at full speed. I cheered up many other people there in the process.

Well, we finally got to Michigan, and I got to see Grandma Cyndi, my Aunties and cousins. I had lots of fun with Olivia and Sarah and Vivian climbing all over some weird plastic stuff at the mall. I look less than thrilled in the picture because we had to stop playing to pose and take it!

Later we met up with even more cousins at the park. We ate hot dogs and strawberries. Yummy!

Then we played on the playground. My cousin Ethan shares my forward-moving perspective on life! Woo-hoo!

I also had a very nice visit with Grandma Cyndi. We had a terrific tea party together. In this picture, I just told her a really good joke. It goes like this, "3 toddlers walk into a bar; the 4th one just fell down on her bum."

I also had a terrific visit with Grandmama Rose. It's so nice to be with people who haven't seen all your material already!

We also got to swim in Grandmama Rose's pool.
I love swimming!

On one of our visits to Papa and Nana, we went to feed the ducks. I love the song about the five little ducklings. That "one little duck" who decided to boss all the others around--now that's someone I can relate to!

Finally, it was time for us to ride off into the sunset.
Love you!
Althea

Summer Memories

2007-09-13T21:04:00.000-05:00

Ahhh . . .summer. It's probably a good thing that there's a sticky, too hot, bother these bugs! sort of side to it, or we could never bear to let it go.
Here are a few of our favorite memories from this summer (not including our trip to MI--which gets its own entry).

***Just which state are we in really?
We had a lovely time visiting our dear Theologiggle friends--this year at Jana & Phil's crib in Cincinnati.
Here is Althea catching bubbles with Jerusha. Is there anything more magical than the sight and sound of children laughing as they chase the magical popping little spherical rainbows?
Then we all toured a bakery (note the stylin' head gear). This had a wonderful Mr. Rogers-esque feel to it, not only because of the "here is where donuts are made" factor, but also because the gentleman giving our tour was a gentle, soft-spoken grandfather type. It would been fun even if he hadn't handed us a huge box and said "just fill this up as we go." Yum! Here is most of the crew devouring . . . I mean sampling the results of our tour.
We also went to a ball game and water park, but the best part was just hanging out with friends.

***driving Miss Althea?
I'm glad to say we often made it out to our nearby park and the wonderful wading pool there. We usually took the stroller, but usually more to convey our gear than our daughter. Guess who likes to drive?

***born to ride
I think we met more neighbors this summer than in all the previous years we've lived here combined. Althea could endlessly zoom up and down the sidewalks and the alley. She loved taking detours up people's driveways and walkways to their homes. It was often difficult for our girl to decide whether she preferred the feel of powering the tricycle herself or the velocity she could feel when mommy or daddy pushed. Usually, we would alternate for the best of both--the desire for control and the need for speed.

***good for the grass and girl
Althea loves running through sprinklers. On the first day they brought out the sprinkler at her school, the other kids stood back and watched it shyly, but our girl ran right over and put her head into the middle of the spray with a shriek of delight! This is usually her approach to sprinklers, as well as her approach to life.

***"I was led to expect 101 of these."
We got to go over and visit some brand new puppies this summer too. Puppies and a baby . . . if you want cuter than that, you're just asking too much.

***Slip sliding away
Our summer memories would not be complete without mentioning how much we all love to splash about at pools and slide down the water slides! Althea even enjoyed just watching mommy and daddy go down the BIG slides. Of course, it was hard to explain why she couldn't do the same. I hope this little movie feed works for all of you.

blessings for the fall,
Dawn

Thus sprach Althea

2007-07-10T20:36:00.000-05:00

"Boo!"
Scared you, didn't I? Ha, ha, ha!
Don't worry, it's just me, Althea.
You're probably wondering how my parents' little "speech project" is going. Well, I'm picking up new words every day now, but of course, I say them when I want to, thank you very much. I am not a trained puppy.
More importantly, my parents are finally catching on to some of the improvements I have made to the English language. For example, it is silly to have two words: "hot" and "cold." I use "hot" to indicate an unexpected temperature and then let the context explain the meaning. It's so much simpler.
For those of you without the benefit of my personal training, here's a primer of some of my favorite words. I started you off with "boo!" Always a crowd pleaser. Adults are so silly. I hide my face behind my hands and they suddenly can't find me! Boo indeed, you goofy people.

"Eyes!"
This is my improvement on the strange words "glasses" and "sunglasses." Again, context provides all the meaning you need. It's so much simpler to call the thing you put over your eyes by the same name. Recently, mommy managed to find a pair of eyes for me in a pink pirate motif. There's hope for her fashion sense yet.
On the same principle, the soft white papery things I love so much are called "nose." This is far better since the adults can't decide if they are called "tissues" or "Kleenex."

"Nack!"
O.K. now, this one is important. If I ask you for a "nack," it's time for some serious noshing. I like fruit nacks or little cracker nacks, but I'm not averse to more substantial pizza nacks. But none of this "sharing" a piece, mommy. Go get your own!
Here I am with mommy at the church trip out to the local water park. "Wa-ter" is definitely one of my all time favorite words. It's refreshing to drink and it's so much fun for splashing, pouring, dropping, controlling, and not controlling. It makes fun color changes on just about everything it touches, yet mommy doesn't seem to mind nearly so much as when I use ketchup. Ummm . . . ketchup.

"Run!"
Love the word, LOVE the action! I especially love playing the "chase me" game when we're out in a big crowded place, like an airport. My folks are not always so keen on it though, as on the day of this picture, when I guess we were supposed to march in the parade for the Festival of Cultures. The dragon was distracting people from seeing me though, and I didn't want them to miss out.

"Airplane!"
I usually say this in a deep, dramatic voice, because airplanes are so great! I don't know how they get so little up in the sky, then so big on the ground. I also don't understand how their sound doesn't match where they are in the sky overhead. Very cool though.
After a long dry spell of not flying, I have finally gotten back into the air. Here I am demonstrating some of the safety features of this Canadair Regional Jet. We are on our way to the Covenant Annual Meeting in Portland, OR. I cheered up many people by roaming the aisles and thoughtfully told my mommy whenever I found someone going "ni-ni." (She can be kind of loud sometimes, and I didn't want her to wake them up.)

"Nake!"
Girls just love nakes! Mommy seems to think it's funny to have me tell her what a nake says: "sssssssssssssss." (As if I couldn't say "snake" whenever I wanted to.)
At the meeting, I got to meet a lot of nice people. We met some especially nice people when I happened to throw up in the hotel lobby. Mommy caught it with both hands. (Way to go, mom!) I thought it was very sporting of me not to play "catch me" until after someone brought her a big pile of napkins from the nearby restaurant.
We also met some very nice people at the nearby clinic when I developed spots all over my body. I preferred the term "pots." Seems I'm allergic to something in Portland. Just as long as it's not the snakes.

"My!" and "Mine!"
Words dear to the mouth of any toddler, I like to use them to claim people as well. Pictured at right is "my Mark." He lives at the church in a little room near mommy and daddy's offices ("church!" is also fun to say, isn't it?) . Apparently he got ordained at the meeting. I don't really know what that means, but it involved a LOT of other people dressing up in the same black robe and stole. For someone my size, this meant that everyone seemed like they were "my Mark," yet when I pulled on their robes, a different face would appear. Downright surreal.

"No!" This word is mission critical. You've just got to set limits with parents sometimes. It's for their own good.

"Happy!"
I like this word 'cause it's so versatile. You can use it for birthdays, anniversaries, or just to make people smile. Here we are using the word on Adoption Day--celebrating the one year anniversary of our family. Can you believe it's been a year? Seems like almost my whole life.
We went out to our park to see a kids' show and spent the whole day together. That reminds me of another great phrase :"Gotch-you!" We love saying that to each other, 'cause we really like that we've got each other. Happy indeed.
.

Catching up--Part II

2007-06-04T10:31:00.001-05:00

Hello again,

A bit more catching up.

We had a truly lovely Mother's Day.
Last year on Mother's Day all we had was a picture of our little one, but this year . . .
Let's just say I know why adoptive families celebrate "Gotcha Day!"

As you can see, she's growing up so fast. She has learned that if she leaves her hat on, people will fuss over her and say how cute she is. "Hat!" has become one of her favorite words.

Right before Mother's Day, we went on a little expedition to celebrate Daddy's birthday--to the Omaha Zoo! It was a big hit with Althea, since she loves animals. She liked the petting zoo, but she really loved the tigers, or as she calls them "ti-ders, rrrrrr!"

She also pointed out each and every time she spotted water. In original "Althea-speak," all forms of water were called "wash," then she moved onto calling them all "wat." By the end of our day at the zoo, we had a consistent, two-syllable "wa-ter!" I never noticed before, but there's an awful lot of water at the zoo.

O.k., this kid really loves animals, even big scary gorillas. Believe it or not, she actually wanted to get closer to the window. Mommy, the adult who knows about the safety of strong thick glass, was too nervous to get any closer. Yikes!

You'll just have to imagine the soundtrack--Althea imitating a low "Oooo, Oooo, Oooo" sound.

Easter Update

2007-06-04T10:16:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone!

I know it's been far too long since the last blog entry. Not quite sure where all the time went. I've decided I'm going to invent calendar mulch, some sort of product that would keep extra things from springing up on your calendar and filling it up too fast!

Anyway, thought we'd catch you up with events over the last few weeks--here's the first installment:

We had a lovely Easter together with our cute little bunny.

We dyed Easter Eggs, which Althea enjoyed with the contagious joy of a toddler. "Oooooo! Wow!" You would have thought we had made sparkly fairies appear.

One of those great joys of parenthood--getting to feel again the wonder of coloring an Egg!

We also enjoyed the big day at church, even though most of our time is spent in the Nursery. Thankfully, Althea really likes the nursery, at least for a few hours at a time.
When we first brought her home, I had visions of her in the Sanctuary with us, perhaps sitting quietly with one of our dear church friends. (Do I hear the chortles of more experienced parents?) Actually, she LOVES being in worship. The problem is that she wants to lead things! She wants to be heard and she wants to be up on the chancel. Not surprising, considering that's where her parents are most of the time. As Andrew says, how will she ever learn to be quiet in church when we never are?

Serious Fun

2007-04-03T22:07:00.000-05:00

Hi friends,
Althea here.

I've recently discovered some exciting new ways to have fun. So I thought I'd share them with you.

To the left, you will see me seated at the top of what is called a "slide."

And whoa, boy, wait til' you see what I can do on this thing!

Woooooo-hoooo!

Now that's just good, clean American fun, friends.

Another source of fun, often overlooked, is putting on your Baba's shoes (or "oosh" as I call them). I am always careful to undo the laces before I put them on. I don't know why--it's apparently just tradition.

Of course, there's nothing more fun than a hat party!

But, still, one of my favorite ways to have fun is to tell secret jokes with my angels. I just burst out laughing and Mama and Baba have no idea why--it's so funny!

Happy Lunar New Year!

2007-03-07T20:56:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year everyone!

As you probably know, the Lunar New Year (or Chinese New Year) was on February 18. In China, this kicks off a serious time of parties and family gatherings. We're told it's kind of like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's all rolled into one.

So many people travel inside the country of China to visit relatives and friends during this time that it's just about impossible for foreign travellers to get around. Our adoption agency just doesn't even try to schedule trips during that time.

We finally got to attend a very cool party with our local chapter of FTA (families through adoption). The party got postponed due to the blizzard. The first couple of pics show Althea and the other kiddos coloring pictures of pigs and other New Year's related stuff.

This is the year of the pig--very auspicious! While in China, we were told that many, many couples got married last year in the hopes of having a baby in the year of the pig because of its auspici-osity. Go fig.

It was a super fun party--great Chinese food, decorations, and music. Althea grooved on the music, especially once she found a long red ribbon on the floor. She picked it up and started dancing! Olympics here we come!

There were also many fun crafts, supplied by one of our high school's Chinese culture clubs. Althea was a bit young to make a lantern or a fortune cookie, but she certainly had fun running and running and running all over the place, saying "hiiiiiii" to such an appreciative audience. Hmmmm--is it the year of the pig . . .or the year of the ham?

Anyway, we had a really great time. We brought along a video of some traditional lion dancing to show the kids. Very cool wushu stuff. I think it will turn out to be an ongoing event for the group and for us.

So happy auspicious new year to you all!

Girl Stuff

2007-03-05T12:18:00.000-06:00

Hello friends,
(It's Dawn this time.)

Just thought I'd share some fun shots of the little one. Seems she's really taking to some of the typical girly stuff with vigor.

For example, she has decided she really enjoys hats--mostly for the effect they have on her Baba when she shows him how cute she looks.

She also enjoys purses and bags--putting things in them, taking things out of them, and carrying the bag around like she's headed out for some serious power shopping. She definitely enjoys shopping more than her mother. Perhaps this little girl is just what I need to finally deal with my "shopping issues."

Here is a shot of one of our morning rituals. She loves "loooooooo-tion." When it's time to head out the door, I ask her if she wants some lotion. "Jes!" she exclaims and runs for the bathroom. She giggles as I dab the lotion on and rub it around. We put the extra on our hands. Dry skin--it's a winter thing.

We've also just started experimenting with "pretties" (little hair clips shaped like butterflies). Althea's only recently had enough hair to try this. To date, we haven't gotten very far with them still in her hair. Usually, as soon as we get a few feet from the mirror, she pulls them out to look at them. Unfortunately, they also frustrate her because they're a bit too hard for her to put in herself. And she loves doing things herself. She has already conquered socks and can manage most pants and shoes with only a tiny bit of help.

And amazingly, she already will insist on certain clothing choices for the day! Often, I can do a bit of a bait and switch when needed, but I know those days are numbered.

My sisters would most likely say she is wise to start cultivating her own fashion sense rather than relying on mine.

As you can see, she decided my hair needed a little work too, using a pretty avant garde styling technique.

But despite all this girly stuff, our little one also seems to be in touch with her "masculine" side. She loves toy cars and racing them around. She enjoys growling at any opportunity. And we've had to work lately on taming a pretty serious upper cut!

It's Jim Henson's Blizzard Babies!

2007-03-05T12:02:00.000-06:00

Hiiiiiiiiiii friends,
Althea here again.

A new word has been added to my secret vocabulary lately--blizzard! At first, I though it must be something bad, since my parents and everyone else seemed kind of worked up about it when it was headed our way.

Turns out to be a great thing--a WHOLE BIG BUNCH OF SNOW! And I love snow!

I also learned about a "snow day." That means my school is closed so I get to stay home with Mama and Baba. Very fun for the most part. Baba spent an awful lot of time shovelling and shovelling and shovelling the snow. I got to be out there to help only sometimes.

I think snow is the best! Not only does it give me a new challenge for my walking and balancing skills, but you can also kick it and squish it with your hands and feet. I also like making tracks through it. (Though this time there was so much, I couldn't get through it without falling down).

As you can see, I did fall down a bit. Can you believe my mother would snap a picture at such an undignified moment!?! I told her very clearly that she really ought to be helping me up instead. Sometimes that woman really tries my patience!

Looks like I'm starting to get a bit "winter moist," so Mama says it's time I went in.

Hope you're all having fun this winter too!

On the verge of speech?

2007-02-11T21:42:00.000-06:00

Hello friends,
Or should I say "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" the way I often do to folks at church or Hy-vee? (What an appropriately named store!) My Baba says I greet people like a southern belle coming out at her first cotillion (whatever that means!).
Anyway, I thought I ought to write to tell you about how my parents are progressing with their little "speech" project. It's SO cute.
They frequently speak words clearly to me, often pointing at objects, and obviously expecting me to parrot back what they are saying. Please! I speak whenever I am ready to and not on command!
As a matter of fact, just to have fun with them, I occasionally will speak a word, very clearly, just once. They have to turn to each other to confirm that I actually said something, but then I just don't repeat it no matter what they do. It drives them nuts! Words I have spoken (besides the standard "Mama," "Baba," and "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii") are "giraffe," "booger," "go ahead," "duck," "outside," and "Jesus." I also gave them a clear "amen" one night when Baba's before-dinner prayer was getting a bit too long. I was hungry!
I do go ahead with the bits of sign language they've taught me--please, thank you, juice (boy does that one come in handy!). But frankly, I'm more interested in tones than all these words, words, words. Here's my Baba "singing" me a book about the notes of the scale--it is one of my all time favorites!
I was glad to hear that many of my friends from China are playing the same "say a word only once and watch your parents contort themselves" game. We stay in touch with those in our travel group through a website. Although Mama rarely lets me do the typing!
There are certainly moments when I'm starting to wonder if my little game is worth it.
Often now, I am trying to get them to see something I want (need!) and they just don't get it! I suppose I'll have to start actually naming things to get my message across. I point and say "uh" in a very clear way, but so often, they just don't seem to get it. They say the first thing to go when you become parents is the brain.
Of course, I understand what they are saying to me. Actually a LOT more than they think. Boy, when I do decide to start talking, won't I make their lives interesting!
Still, there are so many things that can't be put into words. Deep things that only babies know about. That's why we get those little secret smiles sometimes. We remember things that you start to forget as you grow older and start talking. Things like . . .

(wouldn't you like to know!)

Althea on Christmas

2007-01-06T21:10:00.000-06:00

Hi friends,
Althea here to report on my first Christmas.
Apparently, this "Christmas" thing involves going to church a LOT, usually wearing really cute dresses. That's o.k. with me though, since I have lots of friends at church and a whole room just for me to play in. They call it the nursery. Of course, I share it with the other kids just to be nice.
This is a picture of me Christmas Eve morning.

Then here we were back in the same evening. Like the Santa dress?
I had a fun time racing around that night.
My parents have been reading me a book about the first Christmas (approximately 500 times) and it seems to involve a baby named Jesus being born in a barn. We always cheer when we get to that part of the story.

The next morning, my parents got me up EARLY. Yes, THEY got ME up before I really wanted to. Definitely a first. We went to church again for Julotta (Swedish Christmas sunrise service). I came in my red sleeper. Mom and I mostly hung out in the back of the sanctuary. I really liked the music and the candles.

Later on mama introduced me to the whole Christmas present thing. I like tags.

I also really like boxes!

Of course, the presents aren't bad either!
Check out my trick riding!
My parents continue to be amazed at my balancing abilities.

Well, I wouldn't say I've got the whole Christmas thing figured out yet, but my mama says even a lot of grown ups haven't got it yet.
But as you can see . . . I am intent on figuring this thing out!
Happy Epiphany, everybody!

Blessing Althea

2006-12-08T22:10:00.000-06:00

Baptism or dedication? For some Christian parents, this isn't a decision they need to make at all: they simply follow the practice of their church. Others follow family tradition, or face the sometimes touchy task of negotiating between differing traditions. Blessed with high-support, low-pressure families and a church that leaves decisions about baptism up to the parents, we're free to decide based on our own convictions and belief of what is best for our daughter. So what are we going to do?
As Covenant pastors, Andrew and I have been tremendously blessed to serve the whole church by baptizing both babies and professing believers. (It's such an interesting place, the Covenant Church!) We have seen evidence of God’s grace working powerfully through both infant and believer’s baptism. But now, we’re parents—and we have to decide. We can’t really do both for Althea!
We spent some time, talking, debating and praying about what to do. And, as we said, we have definitely experienced God’s grace at work through both forms. There is a definite appeal to the idea of having her baptized now as an infant. Our hearts tell us to "do everything" we can to bless our daughter and introduce her to living in Jesus as early as possible.
But, after all of that, we have decided to dedicate her instead, letting her baptism wait until the time she can decide she is ready. Here was the “tipping point” for us. Through our reading about adopted children, we learned that many of them long for some participation in “who they are.” For many adopted kids, the thought of all their parents’ decisions—to become their family, to move them to another country, to completely rearrange so many pieces of their identity—can be difficult. Many adopted kids long to have a “say” in who they are, and there are various ways parents can help them do this. One way we have decided to help Althea in this area is to let her decide when she is ready to be baptized, as a believer.
There can be a lot of pressure on pastor’s kids to be more religious or more spiritual than other kids (and ours is a “PK” twice over!). We really want Althea to have the freedom to be herself and to respond to God’s love and grace at her own pace.
We so appreciate all your love and prayers for her and for us. Please pray for her as we plan to have her dedicated on December 17. Send up one for our associate, Pastor Mark too, as he will be performing the dedication. She can be a handful!

Autumnal Althea

2006-12-07T22:11:00.000-06:00

O.k., I know it's December, but I've been meaning to post these pics for . . .well . . .several weeks, obviously.
It was time to deal with the massive leaf accumulations in our yard, and Althea was ready to help.

First just a little romping about in the leaves.

Then she apparently thought eating them might work for clean up purposes. Mom discouraged this. Silly mom, roughage is good for babies!

She really does like to help (or try to) with just about everything we're doing. Her favorite trick lately is to spill milk out of her sippy cup, then delightedly wipe it up with a paper towel I give to her. Seems like a good idea, until she moves on to start eating the towel. Apparently, she really is craving more roughage.

She thought the giant bags were pretty neat. Actually she seems to enjoy containers of any kind, especially bags. Our girl just loves putting things into bags and carrying them around. One of her favorites is to pull all the magnetic letters off of the fridge and put them into a mini tote bag and deliver them to us. (Perhaps a future postal carrier dreaming of delivering letters?)

We were concerned that the leaf blower might scare her. Just who did we think we were dealing with? She loved watching Baba make the leaves dance around!

And when the leaves are all bagged, there's nothing better than kicking back with Baba.

All Hallow's Eve @ Chez Burnett

2006-11-06T20:52:00.000-06:00

Many have asked about what our little one would be for Halloween--not knowing that actually, we ALL dress up. (How many times a year do you get to run around in fun costumes?!?)

Anyway, this year was a bit of a "call back" since Andrew and I were Ninjas again. But having found a little Ninja costume for Althea, how could we resist?

Technically though, she isn't dressed as a Ninja, but a "Minja." Minjas are "midget ninjas" as discussed on the very popular ask-a-ninja site.

You can see that Althea really was grooving on the little weapons that came as part of the costume. (Don't worry, they were very safe plastic.)
I'd like to say she loved the whole Halloween thing, but alas, that would not be so.
The dubious look you see at right was actually more the expression she wore as our doorbell kept ringing and weird looking people kept appearing at our door.

People like this . . .
After awhile, we had Baba just go answer the door.

But it wasn't long at all before our little Minja drifted off to sleep. It had been a busy, weird day.
And, due to the fact that she doesn't know any better, she didn't even get to eat a bunch of candy.
I doubt we'll get away with that one even next year!

Althea's "Hang-ups"

2006-10-20T22:20:00.000-05:00

Ever have trouble reaching the Burnetts by phone? Perhaps this will explain things.

Our darling little one LOVES the phone. I mean, whoa, does this kid love telephones!
Really, when you think about it, what's not to love? Little beeps, lights, sometimes a mysterious voice talking to you--really quite cool now that I think about it.

What this means though is that every time she sees us using the phone, she screams like a little banshee to get hold of the phone. I hear someone out there saying, "She just needs to learn she can't have it. Don't give it to her." Tried it. Many times. She still goes nuts for the phone EVERY time.

Giving her the phone wouldn't be so problematic. I can put the call on speakerphone and still talk. Here's the real difficulty--Althea has an incredible knack with these things and manages to hang up within seconds each time. She's already hung up on her grandparents multiple times. (Thankfully, they think it's cute.)

Althea and Xena the Cat

2006-10-04T22:13:00.000-05:00

As some of you know, one area that we worried about before Althea came home was the potential conflict with our cat--Xena, Warrior Princess Kitty.
We like Xena quite a lot, but . . .well . . .let's just say she's doesn't play well with others. Given her feistiness and usual habit of completely disappearing whenever children come to the house, we really wondered how she would deal with Althea's arrival.
Initially, she seemed predictably put out about the whole thing (and literally put herself out). She wouldn't even come in the house for about two weeks!
Eventually though, she figured out that she would have to learn to cope with this tiny intruder. I think it helped that Althea has always LOVED Xena, always been fascinated and thrilled whenever she even spotted her at all. Cats know they deserve admiration, so they usually respond well to it.
So, as you can see, they have reached a pretty good understanding. Xena even rubs up against Althea (then quickly scoots away). Althea has learned the word "gentle," and applies the meaning well most of the time.
I suppose they may still have some interesting encounters as Althea gets faster and rowdier. (Whoa, there's a sobering picture.)
But for now, we're grateful both for gentle toddler admiration and feline tolerance.

Sunday Afternoon Lights

2006-10-01T23:10:00.000-05:00

Hi friends!
Althea here.
My Mama has been super busy lately, so she asked if I'd post a blog and let you know how we're doing.
Well, all in all it's going quite well. I really like the learning center I go to several days per week. (But don't tell my mom. I always fuss when she's there. Makes her feel needed.)
I'm having a great time walking (actually I prefer running!) I can't believe how much more stuff I can reach now.
I thought I'd share some pics from my latest sports adventures with you.
Are you ready for some football!?!

I just love kickin' back with my Baba and watching the Big Men go crunch!

Here I am, getting into the proper stance for the O line.

Sometimes, I just cannot believe the refereeing at these games. Let the guys play, for crying out loud!

As you may have noticed, I have opted to become an "Urlacher backer." Many teams are vying for my loyalty, but I think the Bears really have what it takes to go all the way this year! (Besides their coach must be a really sweet guy--his name is Lovey!)

Thanks to my friend Kelly from church for the cool jersey!

I leave you with a thought from the wisdom files of John Madden: "Winning is a great cologne."

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Sept. 11--A BIG Step Forward!

2006-09-11T20:46:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody, guess what I just did! Can you guess?
I just walked by myself! Wanna see me do it again? Do ya?

Well, DO ya??

All righty then!

Next--flying!

Patriot Day . . . a day for reflection . . . a day for remembering . . . a day to take important steps forward into the future!

Sept 9-10--A Busy Weekend

2006-09-11T20:20:00.000-05:00

It was a busy weekend for the Burnetts. First on Saturday, we got ready to go out to the Sidewalk Arts Fest downtown. Very fun time with many artists, crafters, and political persuaders of every persuasion.
Here is Althea in her very artsy outfit, ready to head downtown. Althea is sporting the latest in cropped nostalgia jackets, combined with a simple white peasant top and sporty leggings that just say "Watch out world--I'm walking soon!"

She was also very excited to be given Baba's old wallet to play with, but in preparation for the Sidewalk Arts Sale was staggered to find it empty (?!?). Thankfully, her folks came through to buy her a few new bibs.

Sorry no pics from downtown. It was SO COLD I don't think my fingers could have worked the camera. In true South Dakota style, Sidewalk Arts Fest is always either heat-stroke hot or earlobe-frosting cold. This year, we went for the latter.

The next day was our Rally Day at church: "Revvin' up for fall!" Althea sees no reason to be quiet in church (after all, her parents aren't!). So she and Mama spent most of the service out in the gathering space.

Here she is with some friends from church:
Mr. Curt and Elsa (a good friend with great taste in shoes!) and Mr. Duane.

But finally, after so much excitement, it's good to just be able to crash on Mama.
Ahhhh . . .

--

My First Birthday

2006-09-05T23:03:00.000-05:00

(editor's note: apologies for the lack of blog over the past few weeks. We're moving towards "the new normal" at Casa Burnett. slowly.)

Hi friends!
Althea here to tell you all about my first birthday and the celebrations of the day.
At church, I donned the "Fun to be 1" bib and crown supplied by Papa and Nana from MI.
Sure enough, it turned out to be pretty fun after all. My favorite part is how quickly I could take off the crown--usually just before someone could snap my picture (tee, hee, hee).

Then, just as I had decided to humor them and keep the crown on for awhile, they introduced me to a strange American ritual.
Apparently, when you turn one, you're supposed to be given free reign to cover yourself in frosting and cake.
I found this rather hard to believe.
Here I am, consulting with my Mama:
"Really, you really want me to do this?!?"

"I mean seriously, mom, this is incredibly messy. Just look at my hand!"

I managed to eat some of the frosting and a bit of cake. (I could tell they expected it of me.) But it's not as much fun to make a mess on cue. I much prefer making them when Mama doesn't expect it. (Did you know peanut butter makes a great hair conditioner?)

The next day, we moved the party out of doors and went with the giant cookie theme. Now that's what I'm talking about!

I got seriously tickled once my crown was off because . . .

Now look who's got it on!
(Pink really isn't his color. Don't tell him I said that.)

All in all, I think it was a great birthday. (Of course, what do I have to compare it to?) Thanks everybody for your cards and wishes and singing!

P.S.--Keep praying for my parents. Now that I'm one, I start day care soon and they're . . .well . . . a little nervy about the whole thing. I suppose it's just the age. Or maybe they're teething?

August 3rd--Althea & the Great American Pastime

2006-08-05T21:24:00.000-05:00

Althea went to her first ball game this week, watching our Sioux Falls Canaries, who almost pulled it out with a valiant effort at the end (not that we were able to stay for the whole game--our night life isn't quite what it used to be). Anyway, here are Althea's thoughts on the whole experience:

"Well, I do like my patriotic wardrobe choices, especially the hat."

"The hat is even better for playing peek-a-boo with Baba."

"Peek-a-boo with my friend Krista is also fun, but I'm still not quite sure what they want me to do with the ball."

"This I know what to do with!
Thanks for the pizza, Ms. Julie!"

"Hmmm . . . there appears to be some sort of sporting event taking place down there."

"Someone needs to show these guys how to make a proper spit-ball."

"Oh my stars and stripes! Did you see that!?! Did you see that?!?"

"Seriously, Mama, are you paying any attention to the game?"

"I love being an American!!"

(Cue choir humming Proud to Be an American)

August 2-Melon Crazy!

2006-08-05T21:03:00.000-05:00

O.k. did we mention that Althea kind of likes WATERMELON?!?!

The delightful carnage!
Oh the watermelon-anity of it!

With our rinds lifted high, we say, "Thank you, O Lord, for watermelon!"

July 31--A New Coffee Achiever?

2006-08-01T16:27:00.000-05:00

Dorothy Sayers, one of my favorite theologians, says that when Jesus said we must become like little children, he did not mean we should stay children, but look forward eagerly to growing more and more: "All normal children (however much we discourage them) look forward to growing up. 'Except as ye become as little children,' except you can wake up on your fiftieth birthday with the same forward-looking excitement and interest in life you had when you were five, 'ye cannot see the Kingdom of God.'"
Althea demonstrates this forward-looking excitement every day, wanting SO much to do whatever her Baba and Mama, or bigger kids do.
One of her abiding quests in life is to drink coffee!
Every morning, she watches both her parents drink this beverage, with considerable satisfaction--it's only natural she should want to get in on some. The other day, for the sake of peace, I brought her a travel mug (empty of course).
It satisfied her for that morning, but probably won't work for long.
Actually, it will now be rare that we will all get to drink coffee and hang around in bed--it's back to work for Mama and Baba tomorrow. Sigh.

July 28--Sleep Update

2006-07-28T23:14:00.000-05:00

O.k., so many of you have asked about how Althea's sleeping is coming. Here's the scoop.
Nighttime is much, much better. In fact, she has been mostly sleeping through the night the last few days. At this point, the parents are the bigger problem, just making sure she is heading for bed early enough. She still fights going to sleep, but not for long at all, at night.
Now during the day, that's a whole 'nother story. We are aiming at just one nap-time, but we often slip and call it "scream time." A good nap day sees her actually asleep for more than 30 minutes.
The odd thing is--she is tired at that time. Really tired. Twice now she has drifted off during lunch (an irresistable photo opp for mom, I'm afraid). When this has happened, we cannot get her to wake up and continue eating. She will stir and open her eyes, but then drift right back off.
Twice now we have taken off her bib, undone her seatbelt, lifted her out of the chair, changed her diaper (including Desitin), carried her through the house and upstairs--all without her waking up. But right before we actually place her in the crib--her eyes pop open and she starts to cry. It's a little spooky.
Still, I'd rather have the battle over the day nap. As a matter of fact, I'm going to head for bed right now.
Night all, peace to you,
Dawn

July 26--Althea's first trip to Barnes & Noble

2006-07-28T22:58:00.000-05:00

Just to confirm once again that Althea is really our daughter--the girl loves books!
Anyone who has ever been kind enough to help us with a move knows what bibliophiles we are, so this is very good news.
The tricky part is that she also loves tearing paper--not the best combination. This means for now she is limited to board books. We have some, but we could tell she was yearning for more (parents just know these things). So we took a trip to one of our favorite places--the huge Barnes & Nobel bookstore. Result: one very excited little girl. It got a bit tricky that she couldn't touch the gazillion beautiful and interesting looking books, but it helped that we let her hold her new board books. She was especially excited about The Rainbow Fish, probably due to the shiny scales. Althea is seriously into glittery things.
You will also notice a ribbon in her hair--the first time she has allowed anything to remain on her head. Charmed the socks off the nice folks in the Social Security office a few minutes before. Can't show you pictures from there--no photos allowed!!
After picking out our books, Althea and I cozied up in a corner to read them while Baba did more browsing. A mighty good time was had by all.

July 21--Althea visits SDA

2006-07-24T22:10:00.000-05:00

For a while now, Andrew and I have been taking martial arts classes at a local gym called Self Defense America (or SDA). It's been terrific fun, regular exercise, and we've gotten to know some really great people. We had taken a bit of a hiatus from class with the China trip and subsequent recovery, but we're now getting back into "form" (really lame inside joke). Anyway, we thought it would be fun for Althea to see a bit of what we do, so we brought her in for a belt promotion test.
We dressed her in the atrociously cute TaeKwonDo uniform Master KC & Miss Cassandra gave us as a shower present. At first she was taking it all in very seriously. This is her intense concentration look.
You will also notice her hair is definitely getting fuller and longer, especially noticeable around the back. Oddly enough, it even seems to have a little bit of wave to it. Go figure.

After a few minutes, she really began enjoying things--especially watching the kids run through their techniques. I did take her outside while the motivational speaker was doing his thing. I think he was actually pretty good, but Althea decided she should be the motivational speaker for the evening. She tends to have the same reaction to the sermon in church. She really is our daughter.
When the test was over, Althea got to crawl, cruise and roll around on the gym mat--which she loved! Sorry no pics of this--I was too busy crawling around with her. She thought it was a hoot to see her Baba doing a backwards roll. Anyway, towards the end, she was feeling quite at home. Too bad she can't start in the Little Dragons class for a few years yet.
Saying goodbye, she made what any martial artist or kung-fu movie fan will recognize as the sign for peace:
Peace to all of you--our friends and family,
Dawn

July 20--Supersize me!

2006-07-24T14:52:00.000-05:00

I suppose it was inevitable--our first trip to "Mickey D's." Althea is an American after all (we now have her United States Passport to prove with with ease to all and sundry). Soon she will even have that frightenly indispensable thing we are all allegedly supposed to keep secret that is about as secret as your eye color--a Social Security number.
Anyway, here is the cutie pie and her Baba outside of "Mac & Don's Supper Club."

That worried look on her face must be because of the driver's ed car, 'cause she loved the food at McDonald's. She ate like eatin' was about to be outlawed! She took down a substantive amount of Mama's chicken selects, many fries, a good bit from Baba's quarter with cheese, AND a good portion of a yogurt parfait.
"They put in a secret ingredient that makes you crave it fortnightly!" (Bonus points to anyone with the movie reference.) Here she is chowing down with Mama:

Yes, yes, I wipe off the table with an antibacterial wipe before she eats from it--stop your fussing. This kid is from China! She laughs at our puny American germs!
Our sudden plan to induct her into another crucial piece of Americana was a serendipitous meeting with Peggy Holte from church and her three grandkids. We were all at the park watching the children's theatre program and they invited us to join them at lunch. Ella, Evan and Ian are all really fun--Althea enjoyed their antics. She usually does enjoy people--especially kids and silly adults like her parents. Here is a picture of us with Ella and Evan.

I appear to be somewhat crazed--put it down to the above mentioned secret additive.

July 17--Althea goes to church!

2006-07-18T22:25:00.000-05:00

We thought it was high time we got our little girl to church. (I'm afraid she shows every tendency of having a serious case of original sin. Oh well, at least her parents know how to treat the condition effectively, or, at least, where effective treatment can be found.)
Anyway, we're glad to say her first trip to church went very well. She enjoyed the music--both choruses AND hymns, I'll have you know. That's my girl! She likes dancing around to the music. She was a bit squirmy, but still pretty good for a seeker.
She made it through the first part of the sermon, then she spotted another little girl in church and started up a new acquaintance! "Ah!" she said, "Ah, ah, ah!"
Translation: "How do you do? My name's Althea. And yours? That's a fine little girly dress you have on. Oh, this old thing, my mama throws it on me when she doesn't care what I look like. What do you think of the service so far? I really like the drums! I wish they'd crank up the volume though!"
Needless to say, Andrew had to exit with her for a bit while our guest preacher finished up (thanks again, Paul!).
The pics are from her meeting church folks after the service. The first is a meeting with "Mama Karen" as we call her.
The second is Althea and mama playing "Tickle Spider," a game of ancient origins in my family.
--Here is Althea getting acquainted with Krista--one of the finest young babysitters I know. May their relationship prosper.
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--Finally she got a bit tired of the whole "people meeting" thing.
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--But she had done so well, that we celebrated by going out to eat! Woo hoo! Here is our girl enjoying her favorite appetizer--Cheerios!
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July 15--Althea hits the Hyvee

2006-07-18T22:06:00.000-05:00

We needed a few groceries, so we decided to see how our girl would do in the grocery store.
We're glad to say--she was really great. She enjoyed all the interesting things and people to look at. (Have we mentioned her tendency to STARE at people? She looks deep into your eyes, deep into your soul, and calculates how likely it is that you will hand her some watermelon. We'll have to work on the staring thing later.)
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Anyway, I couldn't resist sharing a few fun photos.
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As we were checking out, Althea spotted a garlic focaccia bread. Our girl loves garlic bread!
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She was very excited to see and smell it, but not too keen on waiting until after we had paid for it.
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Notice the patient resignation in the third photo. Delayed gratification--always one of life's hardest lessons.
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Feel free to subtitle the pictures yourself. My take on the last two are:
(1) "So Baba, what happens to the garlic bread now?"
(2) "We take it home and eat it? Hooray! Hooray!"
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July 13--Around the neighborhood

2006-07-13T23:55:00.000-05:00

Although nights remain difficult--could we be working on more teeth already?--we've been having some great daytime adventures with the help of Althea's favorite baby accoutrement: the stroller!
Going with the stroller started as something of a desperation move, based on Daddy's need to stagger outside with Althea each morning at 8:00 a.m., exposing her to sunlight in an attempt to reset her circadian thingummy. (Please don't ask if this is working... I have to believe it is.) It turns out Althea loves strolling around the neighborhood and especially the park, where she will even let Daddy take a few minutes to sip his "formula" out of a travel mug and read the Journal.
Bliss.
While hanging out at the park, we've taken in a story time children's theater performance, started enjoying the baby swings, and even dabbled in the wading pool. [Now there's a happy verb being put to its original use!] Althea loves splashing, of course, but her favorite activity is poolwalking, taking advantage of buoyancy to toddle a lot further than she can on dry land at this point. The pool is also an opportunity to show off her cute swimsuits!
You can also see that Althea is enjoying Mommy time a lot more and not so dependent on being in Daddy's arms, except when meeting new people. (Maybe she just enjoys a higher vantage point.) It adds a lot of flexibility to our day, although now we've had some fussy moments when Mommy is off on an errand. But as Hagar the Horrible says, it's nice to be missed, even by a rock...
Every day we get to see a little more of Althea's personality. One of the new highlights is an extra dork laugh added to the original musical "ha ha ha" that would remind Generation Xers of Horschack or more recent folks of an unspecified Napoleon Dynamite character.
Thanks for all your love, prayers, and support--and thanks especially to the folks who have been bringing us home-cooked meals. You are so appreciated!

July 11--Report on Operation "Nightsy-Daysy"

2006-07-11T16:36:00.000-05:00

Report from Special Agent Althea (a.k.a. Commando Cutie) to HQ:
As instructed, I have been monitoring the recent activities of the nefarious "Sandman." And just as you thought, sir, he is trying to turn night into day and day into night!
I have kept a careful log and somehow he is managing to make it dark in the daytime and very light at night. (Some sort of mass hypnotic suggestion, perhaps?)
All efforts are made to make me sleep during this alleged "night" and act as though this "day" time were the main time for playing and eating. Ridiculous! I am sad to report that my Baba and Mommy are apparently part of the plot as well. At first I feared they were full double agents, but their sympathy leads me to believe they are merely the Sandman's dupes.
I have had to use every technique you taught me in training camp, sir. Basic fussiness helps me quite a bit, but I have often had to resort to prolonged wailing. (And to think I wondered why you insisted on those daily wailing calistenics!) From about 1 am to 4 am every night, I never sleep except for about two minute cat-naps. I purposely take these in the most uncomfortable position I can find to prevent deeper sleep from occurring. My mommy surrounds me with cushy blankets and soft toys, but I always try to select a good book to jam into my abdomen before dropping off for my two minutes of surrender.
Some other observations: although my parents pretend to just be reading to me, I have noticed mysterious changes occur when "night" falls. (1) their reading becomes far less exciting. No silly voices or tickling. Sometimes they just silently turn pages. (2) the lights in my nursery periodically seem to dim. I don't know if this is just my imagination, but it seems to occur when one of their hands ducks out of sight. Some sort of remote control device, no doubt. I will endeavor to obtain it and secure it somewhere, but they frequently undress me for what can only be full body searches. (3) My formula seems a bit warm and tends to have a sleepy effect. Could they be slipping me a Mickey? or perhaps a Minnie?
At one point I even resorted to disguise in an attempt to overhear more of their schemes. I used my patented watermelon disguise. But my obsessive hat removal tendencies thwarted that plan. Sorry sir.
Although "day" is the right time to sleep, I still fuss a little even before my naps, just to keep in shape. Of course, I save the real resistance tactics for night time, I mean, "night" time. (Almost slipped there.)
The food here is good. They have finally figured out that American baby food is disgusting, and returned me to the normal food I have loved for months. I down lots and lots of noodles--good for helping me wiggle a lot, especially during diaper changes. I have also consumed a lot of watermelon in hopes of making my disguise more effective next time. "Be the melon. Be the melon. Be the melon."

I close my report with a favorite quotation:
"Do not go gentle into that good night . . .
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
--Dylan Thomas

Raging on in my never-ending battle with the Sandman,
Althea

July 8--at home, but seriously tired

2006-07-08T22:41:00.000-05:00

Hello dear ones,
Sorry we haven't been in much communication yet. Frankly, we've kind of been in survival mode. This picture is one of the more tranquil sunny moments. Happily, there are many of these. Our girl loves to play and laugh and sing. She loves investigating everything, but especially how things sound when she puts them in her mouth and makes noises!
Unfortunately, it is also not easy for a 10-month-old to turn her days into nights and vice versa. We have had a rough couple of nights, with many prolonged screaming times. Last night was unusually bad and we wondered why until we saw two little blood spots on her pillow this morning and . . . (experienced parents have already guessed) tooth number four has come! Is this girl serious about eating or what?
Between lack of sleep and the fact that both of us are still recovering from Althea's cold--those Chinese get wicked sore throats--we haven't been quite ourselves. We are not going to try to go to church in the morning--just a bit too much at this point. But we hope to be starting to surface and call people and such in the next few days.
Thank you so much for your love and prayers. I better go help Andrew, she's started crying again.
Love,
Dawn

July 6--the longest day EVER

2006-07-07T21:17:00.000-05:00

Ok, we aren't going to have a lot of photos from this day, 'cause frankly, things got ugly. At the start of our trip we were very cute and chipper (see right). This is Andrew and Althea at the start of our first flight from Guangzhou to Tokyo. That one was only a bit over 4 hours. Althea was a trooper--played some, ate some and mostly slept. Seemed like it would be a pleasant trip. Andrew's legs were pretty sore, but the next plane, for the long leg, would have a lot more room.
But ah . . . the next plane, the plane from Tokyo to Minneapolis. The sooner we forget that little nightmare the better. Apparently we were flying very close to Jupiter--the air on the plane got SO dry. After awhile our throats were parched and voices were hoarse. Andrew got a terrible case of altitude sickness (not the case on the Minneapolis to Tokyo flight there, so go figure), he could hardly move. Althea, understandably enough, was getting very crabby, as were the many, many other young children and babies on the plane. Not pleasant. After our second screaming diaper change in about a 20 minute span, we realized we had missed the midnight snack. Not a big deal to us, but when Althea saw the fellow down the row enjoying his carrot cake. AHHHH!! You have never heard such screams. I again did my gymnastics routine to emerge into the aisle and ask the stewardess for one of the snacks. The volume of Althea's screams can be imagined when I tell you the stewardess eagerly handed me about five of them. I returned with only one, which changed Althea's screams instantly into giggles of delight. This girl loves her food.
Somehow we made it through that flight. It was pretty awful. Another young child nearby was apparently having night terrors at one point.
Then we got to Minneapolis--and got in the "immigrants" line with our little immigrant. It was an interesting experience. It took a LONG time. Again, we were not allowed to take pictures, but when they stamped her visa paperwork, our little girl officially became a US citizen!
Later in the airport, we met up with our friend Julie, also from Sioux Falls, who was there adopting Lily. So here's a picture of two happy little new Americans! (Lily's got a kind of wrapper 'tude going on.)

Althea was great for the last little flight to Sioux Falls--slept the whole time, as did her mommy who was holding her. (Though not her daddy, as he was watching to make sure mommy didn't drop her in her sleep.) That was about the only sleep I got on the trip; Andrew got even less.
We are beyond tired. We have entered a new zone of tired way beyond anything we have ever known. But we are home--home with our little one. She seems pretty happy about it.
I don't know how much I'll be able to write in the days ahead, but I'll try to give you an update soon.
Much love and many thanks to all of you for your love and prayers!
Dawn

July 5--a day we mostly can't show you

2006-07-07T17:17:00.000-05:00

Well, today was a big day for us. It began with Mommy feeling pretty bad, so she skipped the morning group outing. Andrew and Althea went to the Chen Family Academy with a small group of parents, led by our good friend Wayne. The pictures are (1) a fellow enjoying his breakfast with some philosophers and (2) Wayne with the school's "door guardian." The school was set up to educate members of the Chen clan from all over the region. They boarded there and prepared to take the civil service exams. Next, you'll see Andrew trying to reach the door knocker. Cute little guy, isn't he?

After waking up mommy to have a tasty lunch (see nice picture), and a nice nap of course, we went to the US Consulate to apply for Althea's visa. We weren't allowed to bring cameras, so you'll have to use your imagination. We arrived there with the entire group of about 35 families. We went up and up and up and up many escalators to a fairly serious inspection check point where you had to have your US passport and get searched. Then we went into a big room to wait. Then they called us up one by one to verify both parents' U.S. Passports and our baby's Chinese passport. Whew!
Then we all had to stand up and raise our right hands for the oath. (Althea had a teething biscuit in hers, but she held it up!) We swore or affirmed ( I later learned from Andrew that as Christians we "affirmed.") that everything we had said or written during the adoption process was true. And then they handed out the visas. And there was much rejoicing! Yeah! This means we go home tomorrow!

July 4--a fun day, even without fireworks

2006-07-07T16:01:00.000-05:00

Even though we were in the land of fireworks, sad to say, we didn't get to see any on July 4th. Still, it was a very fun day. No governmental appointments, just hanging out together.
First we managed to take a special side trip to the Wong Fei Hung Museum in the nearby town of Foshan. For those of you not heavily into Kung Fu movies, Wong Fei Hung is sort of like China's Robin Hood. He was a doctor who helped the poor for free, but he also fought to protect China from foreigners who were introducing opium to the people. Here is our family at the museum.

It was a beautiful, very peaceful place. We went there at a time when there weren't so many visitors. It was just us and Wayne, our tour guide. Wayne was very knowledgeable and also very fond of Althea (big points in his favor). Here's a picture of Andrew and Althea and Wayne with the statue of Wong Fei Hung.

After some napping and playing in our room, it was time to go to the big barbecue. All the Holt families had a big 4th of July outdoor barbecue by the river. There were about 35 families in all, adopting kids from three provinces. Our group had only eight families.
Actually, right before the barbecue it was picture time. Althea and the rest of the babies in our group were posed on a big red couch for a shot of all of them. Things started out kind of tense as you can see to the left. All the babies are pretty goodnatured and many of them are frequently smiley sorts. Althea is the youngest of the group. Most are between 12 and 14 months old. But they are all quite grabby! So the whole group shot thing deteriorated pretty quickly, as you can see:

Still, they are a sweet bunch of babies and we've enjoyed getting to watch their personalities open up and get to know the other parents in our group.

Once that ordeal was done, it was picnic time. We were right out by the river and the food was great, including french fries and real ketchup (oh how I missed ketchup!). Here are some pictures of the fun:

July 3--An Important Step!

2006-07-03T09:22:00.000-05:00

Today was an exciting day for Althea and daddy. For the first time, she was willing to sit in a high chair at breakfast and dinner without throwing a fit! This is very good news for daddy--a.k.a. the human high chair. Slightly calmer day today. Got some errands down--laundry and that sort of thing. Althea continues to open up, but very slowly. She laughs and plays mostly in the safety of our hotel room.
Please pray:
(1) that Althea will continue to grow in her trust of us.
(2) that I will get over the cold--my ears are mostly blocked--bad news for flying.
(3) that all the other appointments and such will go smoothly.

Thank you so much for all your love and prayers!
Dawn

July 2--A Very Busy Day

2006-07-03T09:13:00.000-05:00

We went with our group to the pearl and jade market--two huge places just full of various vendors--and not a price tag to be seen. You ask and haggle. Sorry no pictures--I was rather doped up on cold medicine by this time and forgot to take any. Then we met my sister-in-law Elizabeth's friend Ruth who took us to "the real Guangzhou." We got to see a lot of little shops in funky warren-like structures. Ruth helped us haggle with the vendors. It was much more fun! Althea really took to Ruth. Ruth took us to a tea shop where a wonderful woman made us many different kinds of tea served in tiny little cups and won over Althea with some tasty crackers. Yum! We got back in time for a nap for the little one before dinner with our group.

Then we all took a boat ride down the Pearl River. It was beautiful! Althea really seemed to love being out in the open. She particularly liked all the buildings as they lit up at night around the river. Here's a shot of her and daddy on the boat top.

July 1st--Difficult Lessons in Parenting

2006-07-03T09:02:00.000-05:00

Today we had to take our little darling to the clinic for her "baby visa"check-up. Althea was NOT a happy camper as seen here. But it was over fairly quickly once it got going. Another room full of screaming babies--can you imagine working there all day? Then we went back to the hotel and played and played and played. Here's Althea and her daddy looking out over the city of Guangzhou from our room. It is so fun that our little one is opening up and laughing and letting us play with her. She is so funny! And we played and played until suddenly we realized it was almost time to meet for dinner and (gasp!) no nap had occurred. We quickly learned why this is a very bad idea. She had a major melt down at dinner and then fought sleep like her mortal enemy when we were trying to put her down later. She also woke up with screams in the middle of the night--which was both awful and puzzling as we couldn't find anything wrong. Then we discovered it--her two teeth have been joined by a third. Ouch!

June 30th--Althea Flyn' High!

2006-07-03T08:47:00.000-05:00

Hi dear ones, I apologize that it's taken me so long to write. Chalk up the delay to (1) new parents learning about the crucial role of naps, (2) a busy schedule when we initially got to Guangzhou, (3) "internet cafes" with only one working computer and then the drive for sending you pictures didn't work!!! and, last but not least, (4) although Althea is getting over her cold, I have fallen for it rather hard. Well, here's how June 30th went--it was mostly about getting to Guangzhou. We learned what an interesting challenge it is to pack with a baby, especially a baby who insists on being glued to "baba's" hip when"baba" is your primary packer. Anyway, we finally got things into luggage and struggled out to the airport, concerned about Althea's first airplane ride. Turns out we didn't need to worry. She was perky and excited--checking everything out around the seat, looking at the people around us and playing with her toys. Shortly after take-off, she fell fast asleep and stayed that way until WE woke her up at the gate. I don't suppose she can manage that for the flight home. Once we got to Guangzhou, she was the happiest we have seen her yet. Here she is laughing like crazy with daddy. Then she slept all through the night. Hooray!

June 29--A Good If Sleepy Day

2006-06-29T11:58:00.000-05:00

Well, we had the best morning yet, with only a little bit of grieving from our darling girl. Our group went on an outing to the countryside today, visiting a rural village that would be similar to the ones our girls most likely came from. It was, of course, pretty primitive, especially the roads! I was amazed time and again when our bus driver got us through craters and mud bogs without the slightest hesitation. But, the countryside, as seems to be the case with all of China, is under construction. There is new construction everywhere! In the rural village, we saw the people working hard at their agricultural work or building new and better structures. Here's a picture of Andrew and Althea in the courtyard of the home we visited. The umbrella is a Chinese thing--and a very smart one in this weather--it really helps to have portable shade.

Then we visited an embroidery factory. They have a museum (here's a picture of Althea and her daddy near an old loom), but they also have ongoing artists working on new pieces. We were able to purchase a few small items for gifts for our girl later in life. Hunan province is famous for it's beautiful embroidery (and its beautiful girls!). I should mention that despite her cold, Althea is eating very well. She was the first one in our group to produce a "#2." That's my girl! She has started to play with us more--very fun. She thinks mommy's hair is funny and will shake her head sometimes so I will copy her and flop my hair around. She also likes pulling it. Did I mention she has a grip like an eagle's claw? Just try to get something away from that girl when she wants to hold it! Please continue your prayers for all our health. We fly to Guangzhou tomorrow--our first flight as a family. Should be interesting.
Love to you all, Dawn

June 28--Althea's Personality Begins to Emerge

2006-06-29T11:38:00.000-05:00

Well friends, June 28 was kind of an up and down sort of day. We had some difficult periods of grieving, but also some very fun moments. We gave ourselves alot more time for breakfast and that was a lot better. It's tricky getting Althea AND mommy AND daddy all fed in a hurry. Our big expedition for the day was to Wal-Mart! Yes it's true. (And no, the Wal-Mart in China is not full of things made in the US.) Wal-Mart in China has some seriously funky Chinese fruit. The selection is a wee bit different at this Wal-Mart. True to her report, Althea does like shopping. She really enjoys looking at things and people. The difficult part was that she wanted everything NOW--not quite up to the concept that we needed to purchase things before she could dive into them.

We spent much of the afternoon hanging out at the hotel. We decided to see if there was anything interesting on the tube. Chinese TV is...well...kind of different. We were amazed when Althea made a lunging grab for the remote and wrestled it away from daddy! Did we mention she is incredibly strong? Things are going a bit better on the bonding front. She still isn't happy if I hold her, but she's interacting with me a lot more. She still has a cold--please pray for that to clear up.

Love to all of you, Dawn

June 27--A "Baba's girl" Gets Adopted

2006-06-27T09:43:00.000-05:00

Well folks, no big surprise but it looks like we've got a serious daddy's girl on our hands. (Or, as she is ALREADY calling Andrew "baba," a baba's girl.) She has decided Andrew is great (and actually I'd have to agree). Here he is giving her a bath, which they both really enjoyed.

This morning we went back to the office where we picked up our babies for the official adoption through the province. We filled out some paperwork and Althea had her footprint taken. Here we are right afterwards, an official family!

She is _slowly_ warming up to me, but she was very attached to her foster mother, so I also seem to trigger bouts of grief sometimes when doing things her foster mother typically did. Diaper changes are no fun at all! We celebrated the last one anyway, since she had pooped! (File it under,"You know you're a parent when . . .") I have snuck off to blog while she takes her afternoon nap. At least so far, the sleeping thing is much better than we anticipated. She slept from about 9 pm to 5:30 am last night and took a 1-1/2 hour nap this morning. She is also eating a lot better today.

Please pray for her health as she seems to have a little cold. We plan to try a bit of Western baby cold medicine on her tonight before bed and see if that helps her little cough. Pray for me to continue to be patient with her gradual acceptance of me.
In the words of St. Francis, pray that I might not so much seek
--to be consoled as to console.
--to be understood as to understand.
--and to be loved as to love.

Oh, and how we love her!
Blessings to you all, Dawn

June 26--Gotcha Day!

2006-06-27T09:18:00.000-05:00

We finally have her in our arms. This morning we flew to Changsha and this afternoon the group went and picked up our daughters. We learned that Althea's nickname is XiangXiang. As you'll recall that means fragrance or incense. We decided this was very appropriate as she certainly was INCENSED at being given into our arms. Crying is really not the word. ALL eight babies in our groups were screaming! (It was, from their perspective, a mass alien abduction after all.) Anyway, this picture was a rare moment of calm in the storm. For my birthday, Andrew gave me a beautiful locket with Althea's picture in it and I am showing her her picture. She calmed down on the bus ride back to the hotel. (Many, many thanks go out to General Mills, the makers of our new best friend--Cheerios.) Back at the hotel, she was relatively calm for awhile, exploring the room. She especially liked Andrew's PDA as it was playing music. It was not until meal time that the real storm hit. She was very hungry by the time the food arrived, but eating is a huge grief trigger for her. She ate, but got very upset and threw it up twice. She wailed for hours as I just held her and talked and prayed for her. Andrew went to a paperwork meeting. When he got back, he walked the halls with her for awhile. She calmed down when he sang to her in German. Go figure. Andrew actually got the first smile from her while dancing with her to Weird Al's Polka Party. I guess she really is our daughter. Finally she fell asleep in his arms. Here's what it looked like. Very beautiful.
Love to you all, Dawn

June 25--Orientation & Anticipation

2006-06-25T13:24:00.000-05:00

New pictures! New info! At orientation this morning, they gave us an updated look at our daughters. Oh my! Was that ever a room full of excited people. We'll let the pictures tell you how incredibly beautiful she is.

Apparently she does NOT have the giant clown feet the last measurement report gave us to believe. We have learned that she enjoys baths (hooray!) and shopping (I call that rather precocious.). And she is apparently very close to walking already, already able to do it while holding on with one hand. (Glad Andrew got all that child-proofing done!) It has been confirmed that Hunan province is the home of spicy food and spicy babies.

Oh, and we went and saw Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was the first time we noticed people taking pictures of Andrew. Did I tell you we have new pictures of our daughter!?!?!?

We fly out tomorrow morning to the province and we should finally get her in the afternoon. Words fail me. Since we'll be a little preoccupied at first, and we'll be in a new city in terms of internet access, it may be a few days before I can write again. But please keep up the prayers! I will write when I can.

Love to you all, Dawn

June 24 in China

2006-06-25T13:05:00.000-05:00

June 24 was a seriously Chinese sort of day. First we went to the great wall--sure enough it's really great! We hiked along for many sections with some other folks from our travel group. Also a fun way to get to know each other. It's so interesting how the hike changes depending on the pitch of the hill at any given moment. There were some stretches that were unbelieveably steep. One surprise to me was the many, many, MANY peddlers on the wall, constantly working to sell you all sorts of things from "I climbed the wall" t-shirts to small dolls of boys that really pee. Then we went to one of the few remaining hutongs--the extremely narrow streets with traditional dwellings. A family brought us in for a tour and explained the ins and outs of hutong life. Very interesting. But definitely the highlight was the way we got around in the hutong--rickshaw! We were a little concerned as both Andrew and I climbed into one of the tiny rickshaws. The driver looked a bit concerned also--I noticed he glanced back at his tires as we started. Turns out we all had reason for concern as one of the tires did break! Andrew would want to make sure I told you that it broke on my side though. :-) One other highlight to the day was that we actually found a place for dinner that had REAL ICE CREAM. A wonderful and rare treat in China.

Blessings to all of you on the other side of the planet! Dawn

June 23--What a birthday!

2006-06-24T08:45:00.000-05:00

I guess I'd have to say I had the best birthday ever in Beijing. (I did miss you though, Mom.) Our first breakfast at the hotel--east meets west in a breakfast buffet form. (And I thought I would lose weight in China!) Then we met our wonderful tour guide, Susan for a tour that went first to the Lama Temple. It's a form of Buddhism. I guess the highlight for me from there was seeing a big sign with part of our daughter's name on it--Xiang means incense. And hoo doggies was there a lot of incense going on!

Our next stop was the Summer Palace--used by many of the imperial families. Very beautiful--lots of sculptures and beautiful furniture--wonderful ornamentation on the buildings. ***Tip for anyone planning to do this--bring a tiny tape recorder. We were tipped off to do this and have been taping our tour guides. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for a record of all this fascinating info.*** Our next stop was the pandas at the Beijing Zoo. Many pandas, mostly doing what you usually see pandas doing--sleeping. But some were a bit more active. All were super cute. Our favorite part of the regular tour was definitely the Temple of Heaven. It is not particularly Buddhist, but a place where the "High God" was worshipped. Very interesting indeed. Here's a shot of me outside one of the buildings.

Then, just as we thought the fun was ending, we started to talk about Kung Fu on the way back to the hotel. Our guide told us about a great Kung Fu show in Beijing and then decided to take us there! We ate at a "noodle joint." Very fun, more real than the official tour stops for food. Then we went to the Red Theater for a truly amazing show. We're not sure if they were actual Shaolin monks, former monks or just Shaolin practioners, but whoa! Here's just one picture from the show. It was awesome--there was a story line about a little boy who becomes a Shaolin monk. Your basic "boy walks on path training in awesome wushu way, boy loses path with help of girl, boy feels bad about the whole losing path thing, boy repents and atones with cool iron body tricks, boy regains path and becomes the new head of the monastery" story.

What a birthday! Still...we kept getting distracted at all of these places. Our guide started laughing at us, as we kept looking wistfully at tiny Chinese girls as they passed by...Soon, so soon

A Day of Adventures

2006-06-23T14:28:00.000-05:00

Well friends, we had quite a first day in Beijing. First we had "adventures in banking." We had been feeling pretty savvy about getting our traveller's checks for free since we're AAA members. But we discovered that while American Express brand traveller's checks are well known and accepted just about everywhere, AAA visa traveller's checks are met with puzzled looks, furrowed brows, and a suggestion of another place that "will be able to take those." We went on quite a trek, finally ending up at the Bank of China over a kilometer from our hotel!Actually, once we got the money thing solved it became quite fun. Getting so far from the hotel allowed us to see another layer of Beijing life and experience the truly terrifying pedestrian experience. We finally discovered the only way to cross a street--wait for a local and walk right behind them!

Then we had some "adventures in fine dining" at a really great restaurant. The food was incredibly delicious and so beautiful. Here are some pictures of us in the restaurant and the marvelous food. The orange fish sculpture was made from a carrot! All in all, we are feeling great so far, though every darling little Chinese girl we see makes us impatient to get to Hunan!

Love, Dawn and Andrew

Here We Are In Chiiinnnaaa!!

2006-06-22T13:59:00.000-05:00

Well, friends, we made it to Beijing at around 11:00 am in this time zone (10 pm your time). Here's how Andrew looked on one of the many plane rides. We are doing quite well aside from some stiffness and a bit of ankle swelling for Dawn (boy, am I pregnant!).

We are already feeling pretty adjusted time-wise. China is very cool, though it's a wierd feeling to be illiterate.

We ate some interesting things for breakfast at the hotel in Guangzhou. We're not quite sure what all of it was, but the poky deep fried things turned out to be chicken feet. Yum!

We will write again soon.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayer support!

Love, Dawn & Andrew

Blest be the ties that bind

2006-06-19T08:37:00.000-05:00

I know there are some of you faithful blog checkers either in the adoption process or considering it, so I thought I would post a copy of an article we recently wrote for our church's newsletter. It is about the bonding process and some of the different recommendations for those adopting children:

Notes from
the Pastors

“Children are a gift from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3).

And we are so excited to finally be going to China to pick up our little gift! We plan to fly to China on June 20, returning back July 6. Thank you so much for all your prayers and love and encouragement to us. Please continue to pray both for Althea and for us, especially during our time in China later this month.
Knowing that Althea is a precious gift from God, we are doing our best to prepare and plan for her arrival. As we have read and talked to others who have adopted internationally, we have learned a few important things that we want to share with you. The most important thing we have learned is that it is wise to work extra hard for a really good attachment in the earliest part of our time with our daughter. We’re not worried about it, but we are planning to do a few things a bit differently than many parents do, so we thought it would be good to explain them.
When children come to their parents biologically, they have a tremendous “head start” in the attachment department. They are born already recognizing their mother’s smell and her voice (and often dad’s too!). They already associate their parents with comfort and security.
In our situation, our daughter Althea will undoubtedly think we look funny, smell funny, and sound funny (insert joke here). She will also hopefully have established a strong bond to her foster family. This means it is good for us to be more intentional about helping her form a strong attachment to us. It is much easier to go ahead and spend a concentrated “attaching time” at the start of our time together (the first 6-8 weeks). With that in mind, here are a few things we are planning to help this process.
(#1) We can’t have a welcome home party at the airport.
This was our original plan, but we have learned it’s not actually a good idea:
“A common misconception is that the baby will be ‘excited’ about coming to her new home. In fact, the baby will probably be frightened by the new sensory bath in which she finds herself. All of a sudden, after a lengthy journey, she is being thrust into a crowd of many new and unfamiliar smells, sounds and strange bodies. . . . The baby should have as much serenity as possible and must be in Mom’s (or Dad’s) arms the entire time.”1
(#2) We can’t pass her around for a while.
Most parents are able to let everyone take turns holding the baby; and we have certainly enjoyed holding your babies! But during the first 6-8 weeks, it’s really best if we don’t play “pass the baby.” She needs to learn that these two people (strange as they are) are the source for comfort and interaction. Certainly, a few minutes in another person’s arms would not make much difference, but consider how many of you wonderful loving people there are! So please be understanding when we can’t begin letting others hold her for a while.
(#3) All three of us will be “holed up” for a while.
The best way for us to promote good attachment with Althea is for us to spend lots of time together, without a lot of distractions. So when we come back from China, you won’t see much of us at first. We’ll still try to communicate with everyone through the blog (www.burnettfamilyorama.blogspot.com). And you can also write us notes there (please do!). But don’t be surprised if, during our parental leave time, you see very little of us. Also, we have to ask that you don’t stop by and visit. (It’s really hard saying that, but it seems the best for her.)
We really do look forward to Althea getting to know and love her church family, but we know a solid foundation of attachment to us is so important. Feel free to think we’re silly for taking these books so seriously, but please respect our plans. It’s wonderful that we have such a loving, affectionate congregation! We do give thanks for you!

Peace & joy ,
Dawn & Andrew

p.s.--many, many thanks to our dear Laurel who will be keeping our blog up to date while we are in China!

Our Prayer Calendar

2006-06-15T13:05:00.000-05:00

Here’s some idea of what Dawn & Andrew (& Althea!) will be doing on their trip to China with prayer suggestions. The calendar reflects the date in Sioux Falls, so the events of most days will take place the following night while you sleep— technically the next calendar day in China. (Don’t worry about it, God can sort it out.)

Before the Trip
Please pray for our preparations, both for the trip and our home, and ourselves! Please pray for Althea, that her last days with her foster family will be happy, healthy ones.

Tues, June 20
We leave in the afternoon—flying through Minneapolis, Tokyo, Guangzhou, then to Beijing at 9:55 pm on the 21st (Sioux Falls time). Please pray that our travel will go well.

Wed., June 21
Still flying to Beijing. Whew! Pray that we will begin to adjust our sleeping schedule. Please also pray for others in our travel group—that their flights will connect well.

Thurs., June 22
We will be visiting the Beijing Panda Zoo while you sleep. Pray that we will be able to stay awake. Please also pray for our health. Many of the parents become ill.

Fri., June 23
We will visit the Great Wall of China. Please pray that we can be attentive as we try to learn as much as possible about our daughter’s birth country.

Sat., June 24
Orientation Day--Pray that we can pay attention.

Sun., June 25
We fly to Hunan Province to meet our daughter!
Please pray for her as she will have just taken an eight-hour bus ride over bumpy roads, then she will be handed to people who seem very odd to her. Pray that God would grant her peace and help her not to be too afraid. Pray for us that we will be patient with her fears and grief and will find good ways to comfort her.

Mon., June 26-Wed., June 28
Time to get to know each other. Please pray that we will be filled with love and patience and that Althea will learn that we can be trusted. Pray that she will continue to eat and drink well. Also please pray that we will not get sick from lack of sleep and exposure to new germs.

Thurs., June 29
We travel down to Guangzhou. Please pray for our first plane ride together.

Fri., June 30-Sat., Jul 1
Our first few days in Guangzhou will be mostly for cultural trips, some shopping, and most importantly—lots of bonding time! Pray that we will use our time well.

Sun., July 2-Tues., July 4
We will then be meeting with government officials to complete Althea’s immigration paperwork, and waiting for the papers to be processed. Please pray that we will be able to entertain Althea as we sit in boring waiting rooms. Pray for patience for us and that we will continue to learn and enjoy our time in China.

Wed., July 5-Thurs., July 6
We begin the trek homeward early in the morn (around 6 pm Sioux Falls time). Pray for all of us to have good plane rides (the longest one is 11 hours!) and that all of our connections go well. We do not have long layovers, but we sure don’t want to miss any flights. Perhaps you should pray for the other passengers around us too.

Post Trip
Please continue your prayers for us as we settle in at home. Pray that all three of us will be able to adjust to the time difference and be able to sleep (at least some) when it’s dark. Pray for us as we settle into our new life together at home—learning new routines, experiencing new challenges and joys.

Xie-xie (thank you!) for all your prayers!

Whoa! How big is she now?

2006-06-06T21:50:00.000-05:00

Well, go figure. The adoption agency told us we wouldn't get any more information about Althea's size before going to China. Then today, we just received an update!

It seems she is now . . .

26.7 inches tall (taller than we expected).
17.6 lbs in weight (a bit bigger than we expected)
17 inches around her head
17 inches around her chest
in possession of 2 teeth
and 4.72 inches in foot size!

Now, we're finding that last one kind of hard to believe. Get out a ruler and imagine feet almost 5 inches long on a nine-month old baby! I guess we should plan on her having excellent balance.

And for those of you really paying attention--yes this is another picture of her. I call it her "mug shot," while Andrew has dubbed it her "oh no, goodness" picture. It is not new, it's also from January when she was only 4 months old.

We should be able to send new pictures of her in 20 days! June 26th is definitely scheduled as "Gotcha Day!" Woo hoo!

". . .under the name of Sanders"

2006-05-28T15:31:00.000-05:00

Some of you have asked about Althea's nursery, so I thought we'd show you. For those of you allergic to cute, scroll down to other entries.
Early on in the adoption adventure, I asked Andrew if there was a particular theme he would like for the nursery. "Well," he said, "I don't know if we'd be able to find such a thing, but it sure would be great to decorate with Winnie the Pooh." (Yes, he was completely serious.) Obviously he hadn't been near a baby aisle in the store for a long time. Andrew and I are both big fans of the bear, so despite his "pooh-biquity" that's what we went with. Here is the result:

Here is a shot of her crib.
We painted the ceiling and upper walls a periwinkle . . . purple . . . blue sort of color (Perennial Sweetpea), and repainted the rest of the walls a warmish white (Light Navaho White).

The shot to the right features the ceiling fan Althea's daddy installed. Handsome and handy too!

Here is a closer shot of the crib:

Here's a closer look at the absolutely adorable border:

And, finally, a pic of the chair that we're planning to put into the nursery before we travel to China (right, honey?). It's a wonderfully comfortable rocking recliner. Somehow it got temporarily moved into the basement rumpus room and into a prime position for the viewing of Kung Fu movies.

Silly old bear!

We're going to China!!!

2006-05-24T21:40:00.000-05:00

Woo hoo! We finally have gotten our travel dates fixed and today we ordered tickets.

Here's the basic plan:

June 20: fly out of Sioux Falls (1:12 pm)

We then fly literally and figuratively "into the future" by way of Minneapolis, Tokyo, and Guangzhou--finally arriving in Beijing on the morning of June 22.

June 22: settling into Beijing

MUST STAY AWAKE, then collapse when darkness falls

June 23: Panda Zoo and Summer Palace Trip

MUST STAY AWAKE to look at Pandas, then hopefully sleep when it's dark

June 24: Great Wall Trip

MUST STAY AWAKE and not fall off of wall. (I plan to repeatedly shout out to all those around me: "Hey everybody! This is the Great Wall of China!" Just like Big Bird in the now epic tale Big Bird Goes to China.)

June 25: Orientation with Adoption Staff

Apparently, there really is no pun intended.

June 26: Travel to Hunan Province

O.k. . . o.k. . . .trying to stay calm, but this (or at the latest the 27th) will also be
Gotcha Day!!!
Otherwise known as the day we finally get our darling little Althea!

June 27-29: Bonding in the Province Days

Not as much detail for this part yet

June 30: Head down to Guangzhou for more paperwork. Yum!

More details about this time will come later too.

July 6: The journey back home begins!

Closer . . .closer . . .

2006-05-18T16:30:00.000-05:00

Well friends! We just got a much closer estimate for our travel dates.

It looks like we'll be headed for China somewhere around June 20, arriving back in the US somewhere around July 7.

So it looks like we will spend my birthday (June 23--my mother's birthday too!)
and the 4th of July in China! I wonder if there will be fireworks?

Where in China will you go?

2006-05-13T21:10:00.000-05:00

Having received this question quite a bit, we thought a map or two might be helpful:

Stop #1 will be in Beijing--the capital city. We will spend a few days there getting past the worst of the jet lag (hopefully). (By the way, any getting-over-jet-lag tips you might know would be greatly appreciated, just hit the "comments" button below.) We will get to do a couple of touristy things like see the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. There we will also have orientation (no pun intended) with our travel group.
City #2 is Changsha in Hunan Province. The first thing on the agenda there is getting our daughter! Woo hoo! (or perhaps I should say, "Waaaaaa . . .whew!" We expect rather a lot of crying.) Right now our daughter is in the city of Yuanling in Hunan Province, but she will be brought to us in Changsha. Yuanling is 370 kilometers northwest of Changsha. We will spend about 4 or 5 days there, getting to know each other, then we all fly down to . . .
City #3--Guangzhou This is the site of the US Consulate, and therefore the place to finalize Althea's visa and immigration paperwork. We will be there about a week. Finally, we'll be ready to head for home. So after a quick flight hopping over to
City #4--Hong Kong we will head back for the good 'ole U S of A!

And for those of you curious about the relative travel distances, here's an interesting map of the US superimposed over China:

When you look at relative latitudes, it's sort of like flying into Pittsburg, then down to the Florida panhandle, then way down to the Florida keys. Hot and sticky in late June, but well worth it!

"How Pound?"

2006-05-05T11:26:00.001-05:00

That question is a family joke that came out of Andrew's parents' tour of Asia with the USO. Apparently, this was a question Andrew's dad, Jim, was frequently asked. For those of you who don't know Andrew's folks, his dad is very similar in size to Andrew. At one point in their trip, they got into a cab, but before the cabman drove away, he got out to look carefully at all his tires!

All this to introduce the question--how big is Althea? How much do you expect she will weigh when you bring her home in June? Many of you have asked us this question, with the comment that she looks really quite big in her photos. Apparently, she is not in fact very big at all. The measurements we do have come from January, the same month in which the photos were taken. At that point she was 4-1/2 months old. Her weight at that time was 6.0 kg (a bit over 13 pounds) and only 58.7 cm (or about 23 inches.

I have found height and weight charts for Southern Chinese girls (isn't the internet amazing?). Acccording to these charts, at 4 months, Althea was average in weight, but actually quite below average in height.

Now, using these charts, and assuming that Althea has continued to grow at the same rate (perhaps a silly assumption, but it's all we have), our prediction is that, at age 9-1/2 months, when we will be picking her up from China, she will be approximately 16.5 pounds and a bit over 25 inches tall. Skipping to the key question so many of you have asked, what size clothes will she wear? Given these estimates, we predict she will be in 6-9 month clothes when we go to get her, but expect her to move rapidly into the 9-12 month range (especially once daddy starts pumping her full of protein).

Web Nesting?

2006-05-03T20:25:00.000-05:00

Like the new look of the blog? Andrew says I've been "web nesting."
Deb Rienstra, a dear friend of ours, wrote a wonderful book called Great with Child, in which she reflects on all the amazing experiences and funky realities that pregnancy brings to one's life. She has a chapter called, "Nesting," where she says:
"The traditional wisdom is that nesting is primitive behavior related to our animalian ancestory, in which the female of the species prepares a place to give birth. Makes sense. But I can think of some pretty uniquely human motivations, too. For instance, if I don't clean out the house, where on earth are we going to put all the baby paraphernalia?"
(To find out more about all the wonderful books Deb has written, visit Debra Rienstra @ Calvin .)
Along those lines, we have been doing more to our house over the last few months than the first four years we lived here combined. But more than that, the "nesting" urge seems to have spread into the blog. I was perfectly satisfied with the blog until our adorable daughter's picture was on it. Then I was suddenly struck by how plain and prosaic it was--not fit for our daughter's image!
So, I've been learning (obsessing?) about "blogskins." And with many, many thanks to a blogskin designer named Debashish Chakrabarty, who adapted a design by a fellow named "BigheaD" we now have a new look. What do you think?

Serious pose

2006-04-29T14:59:00.000-05:00

Althea's report says she "smiles constantly" but the camera catches her in a serious moment here. Maybe this is a good time to mention that Hunan is the home province of Chairman Mao, who enjoyed the "smelly tofu" dish that is still a Hunanese specialty. Something for Andrew to try when we get there... This pose also offers a better view of the "kung fu" booties she also wears in the other photo.

Here she is!

2006-04-29T13:59:00.000-05:00

Our daughter Althea JinXiang Burnett, looking (as promised) very cute! This photo is from January when she was 4 months old. Her profile tells us she has an active disposition with quick reactions (if you look closely, she's wearing "kung fu" booties, so we have been warned) but is also a good overnight sleeper. She likes listening to music and her favorite toy is a bell. Her favorite activity is "being held in arms." We'll be happy to help with that!

What's in a name?

2006-04-29T13:44:00.000-05:00

OK--now we have the info packet from China, and the first item of business is: getting our daughter's Chinese name right. We had some confusion getting it over the phone. Her name is Jin Xiang [Jin1 Xiang1 in Pinyin]. Jin is gold and Xiang is fragrance or incense. A beautiful name for our beautiful girl! Stay tuned for pictures in the next hour or so...

It's a girl!

2006-04-27T17:44:00.000-05:00

At 4:23 pm on April 27th we finally got the call from our social worker--we have a match!
Zhao Jin Xiang was born September 5 in Hunan Province, home of spicy food and firecrackers. We expect to get a packet on Saturday with more info and a picture--which we will post here. What we know so far is she is "healthy and very cute, with a little bit of hair."
No specific travel dates yet but it looks like approximately late June.
Hooray!
God is good.

It's getting close now!

2006-03-17T10:40:00.000-06:00

I haven't updated for a while--apologies to you "regular checkers." The last batch of matches from China came through March 8--they have matched up dossiers logged in through May 30, 2005. Our was logged in May 31, 2005. (Arghh!!!) It's sort of like one of those amusement park rides where people get on in batches (the Space Needle at Cedar Point comes to mind). You wait in a gigantic line, and as you're getting to the front of the line, you sort of estimate the size of the next group. It really, really looks like you'll get on with the next group . . . then they close the little gate right in front of you. Arghh indeed.
But, the good news is, we are SO in the next batch of adoption matches. This should happen sometime in April. This would mean we will be heading to China most likely some time in June. So stay tuned Burnett adoption fans!! The exciting adventure will finally begin soon!!
Thank for all your support, love and prayers!
Dawn

A tiny bit of more info

2006-01-19T11:27:00.000-06:00

Hi friends,
Yesterday we were given just a tiny bit more info about our paperwork process in China. Our paperwork arrived in China on May 6 (this we already knew), but we found out it was officially logged into the China system on May 31. This is actually good news since sometimes it takes up to 7 weeks to get logged. This now means we have a somewhat more firm estimate about timing. We will probably be in either the March or April "batch" of matches (so that's when we'll finally get some info about our little one). Then we will travel to get her in May or June.
It's an interesting way to be "expecting," n'est-ce pas?
--Dawn

The pictures we sent to China

2006-01-02T16:53:00.000-06:00

Thought you might find it interesting to see the pictures we sent to China with our dossier. Perhaps these explain the reason for the delay. :-)

Here is a picture of me cooking. Those of you familiar with my culinary skills might gasp in surprise, but this shot is authentic. I am here making fruit soup for our annual Julotta service.

Here's Andrew playing the piano in our living room. His parents should be so proud! The particularly observant might notice the small "dog-lion" figurine sitting on the piano. We assure you that Chinese decorative items are merely a coincidence.

Here is the mother-to-be, reading in the library.
The fact that she is reading a book on Chinese history and culture is, once again, an amazing coincidence.

And then, finally, a couple of shots of the happy couple. Don't you feel a tremendous urge to match them up with a wonderful little Chinese girl?

Yet further delays

2005-12-14T16:27:00.000-06:00

Hello friends and family,
I'm afraid we've gotten word of yet more delay in the "match" process. Current estimate is that we may be matched with our daughter in February or March, which would mean traveling in April or even May to China.
We don't really know why the delay has increased. Perhaps it means there are many more families waiting to adopt (that would be our hope). They are continuing to process dossiers though, so we just need to wait.
We appreciate so much your prayers and support. It's difficult since we have put so much of our life on hold, turning down many oppportunities at the beginning of the year so that we could be free and ready for the China trip. Now it looks like other plans will have to be changed.
Please pray for an extra measure of grace. We know, at one level, that God is not surprised by the delay and that He knows exactly when the child he has planned for us will be ready. But it's rather difficult to wait, I think most especially at Christmas time.

Update on Timing

2005-12-01T12:43:00.000-06:00

Hello friends,
Well, the pace of processing at the China adoption agency has slowed and slowed and slowed. When we sent our paper work to China the wait time from paperwork to match was 6 months, then it was 6-7, then 7 . . .well you get the idea. Now our wait has grown to 8-9 months. This means we might hear about our daughter in January, but just as likely in February. This would give us a travel date to China in March or April. Sigh. We appreciate your prayers and encouragement. We are trying to trust that this is all in God's timing.

The Adventure Begins

2005-09-05T10:45:00.000-05:00

Hello family and friends!
This is the beginning of our family blog, the place where we plan to chronicle the adventures of the Burnett family.
Dawn and Andrew Burnett are preparing for the trip to pick up their baby daughter in China, most likely in January or February of next year. We won't have many details until November or December at the earliest.
But when things start moving this fall, they will really be moving fast! So stay tuned!
Love,
Dawn & Andrew Burnett