Penny's Neighborhood & Preschool Humor

Yesterday I went around taking pictures with the digital camera for the purpose of preparing our daughter for her new environment. When we are told that we are officially matched we'll be able to finally contact Penny and send her a photo album with photos of us, our home, her school, church, etc. So, here's some pictures from our neighborhood. I hope Penny will feel welcomed into her new community. We are thankful for new neighbors who don't have big fights next door. When we moved into this duplex a year ago we thought it was so quiet. That all changed with new neighbors that arrived in March. Just before they moved the fights had escalated to where we had to call 9-1-1. Not the kind of scene you want your future child to be entering into. So, we are praising the Lord for sending us new neighbors--a dad and his 15 year old son. I joked with our landlady that it was fine so long as he doesn't touch our daughter. When we met them on Sunday as we walked home from church I was relieved to meet a very normal looking, almost shy teenage boy and his kind, smiling dad.

Now, on a silly note, the quote of the day from one our preschoolers when I entered the classroom. "Ms. Chandra, are you an old lady?" I guess he thought that the nice sweater I had dressed up in for picture day was supposed to be my Halloween costume. And, for whatever reason, he thought that my fashion statement was outdated. My reply to him was, "Well, yes, compared to you, I AM OLD!" I gave my Kindergartners a good laugh when I told them the story and then proceeded to act like a granny. Gee, my job can be fun!

Gift from Grandma & Gift of Gab

My mom is so thoughtful! She can't wait to be a Grandma again! I think this waiting period is harder on Grandma than anyone. So, Grandma sent her first gift for her granddaughter, Penny. It's an adorable, soft teddy bear. Mom said it's for her to hug when she's afraid, riding back in the airplane. Meanwhile, I've been spending my time learning Thai. Now on some Saturdays I meet with a Thai woman, named Ratree. She needs to practice English and I need to practice Thai. So, we have a language exchange going on. After all, we women enjoy talking, don't we?! So, I hope that I'll be able to gab with my daughter as soon as possible! The crazy video clip is of me trying to help Ratree pronounce English. I'm discovering that it's hard for Thai people to pronounce their consonants, especially at the end of the words. Quite different than Japanese. Unfortunately, I didn't learn Thai, first. But, I'm sure there's a reason for everything.

In 2 months it'll be One Year in Waiting!

Oh my, the waiting is hard. And it's difficult to explain the emotions of knowing that you are expecting your first child while no one else knows (unless of course you tell them). There are no tell-tale signs like a bulging tummy and the yucky morning sickness. But, you wish somehow you could shout to the world, "Hey, we're expecting, too! And our wait is a whole lot longer than most people." Here is a picture of me imagining I'm hugging our Penny. Well, I did finally make my first purchase for Penny as far as clothing goes. I was in Walmart last Monday and saw these cute fleece jackets. And I thought, "Oh, our daughter will need something like that because she'll surely be very cold when she comes here." (See Weather Info on her hometown if you scroll down on the right side.) So, I couldn't resist, especially since it said "Broncos" on it. Never mind that the Broncos stink so far this year. However, our Colorado Rockies made it to the Playoffs, which hasn't happened since the early 90's. An interesting note is that one of the key players who helped them get there is a Japanese player name Kazuo Matsui.

Golden Magic

On Sunday afternoon Jay and I went on a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park. We started at Bear Lake, proceeded to Bierstadt Lake and came down a mountain with twelve switchbacks to end at the trailhead for Bierstadt Lake. Coming down the mountain was absolutely spectacular. It truly was golden magic with the afternoon sun gleaming through the aspen trees below. We could also view 14,000 ft. mountain peaks and a lake down below. We long for the day when we can bring Penny along on these hikes. But, she'd probably have been very cold. The wind was bitter. In fact, they had had so much ice and snow that the road up to Bear Lake had been closed until noon. It was well worth the hike even though Jay started catching a cold afterwards. I guess it was his turn since I caught a cold at the end of our last hike together. So, he's been staying home getting well today. And I went shopping at Walmart this morning and picked up my very first article of clothing for Penny. I'll have to take a picture of it and show it to you in the next blog.

Oh, I forgot to mention our encounters with "wildlife". Not all of the animals were very wild. Even though there was a sign asking people not to feed the ducks, they obviously thought they could help themselves to humans' food. I literally had a duck practically crawl into my backpack to check out my stash. He came so close that he actually pecked the bottom of my hiking boot. Later when we were driving back to Estes Park we got to hear the male elks doing their bugling to round up their harems of lady elks. It's a really interesting and eery sound.