Giggles at Dinner

Here's a video from tonight's dinner.  Ginny decided that it was funny if she kept her mouth closed while Sharon tried to feed her sweet potatoes.  Cute...

Feliz Navidad

This video was filmed before Christmas, but I'm just now getting it uploaded.  Ginny likes to move when someone sings or plays music, and she'll imitate any dance moves you do.  Lucky for her I'm a really awesome dancer (yeah, right).

Paging Dr. Ginny

I took my last vacation day of the year today so I could share an extra holiday day with my family.  It was well worth it, as we got to truly rest from the busyness of a month of travel, Christmas programs, and a family funeral.     Sharon got out Nathan's old toy doctor kit today, and Ginny was fascinated with the stethoscope.  In fact, she wore it around her neck all day long.  Once she understood what it was for, she was constantly checking our heart, or asking us to check hers.  One time after she checked mine she apparently diagnosed me with something, because she talked to me afterwards for a solid minute.  Unfortunately, since it was all in Chinese, I'm uncertain as to my exact condition.  :)

White Christmas

During the day on Christmas, we got a nice surprise - snow, and I don't mean just a flurry.  By the end of the evening, we had a few inches on the ground, making it officially a white Christmas.  From what I've heard, this part of NC hasn't seen that in over 40 years.  So, not only was this a special Christmas because of Ginny, but this was icing on the cake.  By the day after Christmas, we had about 4-6 inches here.  So, we went over to the Henderson's neighborhood for some sledding, since we have no good sledding hills in ours.  We had a blast.  Ginny loved it as well too, and it seems she's a bit of a daredevil, always wanting to go down again just as soon as the sled was brought back up the hill.  Not sure if she saw much snow in Shanghai (I'm thinking not), so I'm sure this was an interesting experience for her.  

Nathan enjoying the first flakes with neighbor Bonnie

All bundled up

Practice run around the driveway

First snow angel (sort of)

Nathan on the boogie board

Ginny and Dad taking a turn

Christmas Morning 2010

Well, today was Ginny's first Christmas in the Bridges family, and I think she's had a blast.  Ginny got a kitchen set, more baby dolls than I can possibly count (yuck), and her favorite - a doll stroller, which she has marched around the house proudly all morning.  Santa brought Nathan a REAL bass gutar, and amp. He's been playing that thing like a junior rock star all morning.  There were also clothes, games, and stocking stuffers galore, and we all are very thankful, and were happy to spend a simple Christmas together here in Mooresville this year.

It is a bittersweet Christmas in the fact that we lost my Uncle Frank on Christmas Eve to heart failure, a battle he's been fighting for many years.  Services are Monday, so we have a few days in between to enjoy Christmas a bit before we get to the more serious, but still important task of saying our good-byes to him.

Still, we're again blessed this season, and have thankful hearts for the blessings God has given us.

Today's nap will happen here....

Where we decided we wanted to take our nap

Life Before

We were pleasantly surprised that when we got our pictures back from the disposable camera we had sent in our care package to China, that it was full of really good pictures.  These will be a special treasure in the future, as they'll be Ginny's only glimpse into her life before she joined our family.  Not only do we see her with her care package items, but we get to see some of her playmates, caregivers, and some of the orphanage campus.  This was a really nice surprise, as we hear many times the caregivers don't take many pictures, or if they do, they are poor quality.

A chat with Ginny

One of the things we've noticed in the past few days is how Ginny tries to mimic adult conversation.  I'm not fully sure if what she is saying is Chinese, baby talk, or perhaps she's speaking in tongues :)  Still, it's quite hilarious, as she will often laugh at her own self doing it (and yes, that's laughing and not screaming you're hearing at times).  I captured this video just after supper (forgive the very poor lighting) to give you a glimpse at just how adorable this is.

Full Picasa Links with Captions

I've shared this with those of you on Facebook already, but some of you may be interested in seeing our entire picture collection (with captions) from our China trip.  I've posted a sampling of pics both on this blog and on Facebook, but for those of you who may be interested in seeing more, you can visit one of the following links:

http://bit.ly/g2W2Mj

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=chrisandsharon&target=ALBUM&id=5543465076127468145&authkey=Gv1sRgCLyfjNz0ysqAsAE&feat=email

Songs in the night

Ginny's internal clock is  a bit messed up.  She was up at 4:00 a.m. or thereabouts this morning.  However, one good thing about it was that she was happy, I mean REALLY happy.  She was singing little songs that were a mixture of baby talk and Chinese.  She was climbing back and forth from our bed to the floor.  The songs she were singing had varying rhythms to them, and it sounded like she was experimenting with all sorts of sounds.  So, although we weren't crazy about the hour, we were tickled that she seemed that happy.

This afternoon she was back to the "Mommy only" mode, not having much to do with anyone else.  Bonnie from next door has been visiting with Nathan, and she has been fascinated with watching these "older kids" at play.

Sharon's stomach is still a bit quirky, and I'm still battling some sort of virus/head cold combo.  Hated to miss church today, but thankful to work at a flexible place with people who can step in when needed.

Welcome Home

We're home!

And very glad for it as well.  I (Chris) picked up some sort of virus on the plane ride back and have done nothing but sleep since I've been home.  I've also I slept until 2 pm until Sharon made me get up.  After all, I do want to be able to sleep tonight.

The long plane ride back actually went very smoothly.  Ginny has had no tantrums or bad spells at all any in the past couple of days, and was generally good-natured the whole flight.  In fact, when she was bored, she would reach her tiny hand between the seats in front of her and gave me, Nathan, or Pepaw a playful pinch, and then laugh.

The only delay we experienced was in the final light from Newark to Charlotte.  The plane had a mechanical problem that delayed our leaving about an hour.  At one point the pilot told us they were waiting on an adhesive to dry before they could take off.  I was thinking "Adhesive?" Hopefully it wasn't something like say,
the wing" that needed to be glued on.  Then, when we landed, all of the lights in the plane went off.  Completely off, no emergency lights, etc, so we' fumbled our way to the exits.

We were glad to have several families from church greeting us with signs and balloons at the airport when we arrived.  That really made our day, and Ginny reacted very well to all of her doting admirers.  We made a fast food stop at Cook-Out on the way back in, but shortly after getting home, we pretty much were all tired, and hit the hay.  We were concerned about how Ginny would react to the cats, and she has been skiddish a bit, especially last night.  Today, she's been better, though, and will tolerate them being in her personal space more.  She's been playing with blocks, toys, and puzzles, and has been copying what Nathan has been doing around the house.

Thanks again for all of your support and prayers.  We'll keep posting to this blog, although perhaps not as frequently as during the trip, obviously.

The Swan Transformed/Lizard on a Stick

Overnight as we rolled into December here in China, the White Swan Hotel, where we're staying underwent a magical transformation.  When we came down for breakfast, there was a huge Christmas Tree in the atrium and decorations were everywhere.  Even the dining room staff had on "Santa" outfits.  Very festive, and reminded us very clearly what season we're in. 

This morning we did some sightseeing and shopping very close to the hotel area.  We began by going to the "Pearl Market," which is a 4 story shopping mall with nothing but pearls, gems, precious metals, and jewelry all at wholesale prices.  There were a few stores there that previous tour groups had had good experiences with, and that were reliable, so our guide showed us those.  Most everyone (including us) left with a string of pearls to give to our daughters when they were older. 

Strands of different varieties of pearls

The second half of our sightseeing involved a walking tour or the herbal medicine and food street market.  That was very interesteing.  Every type of herb, mushroom, and plant, could be found there.  Plus, there was a wide array of live animals for pets (or perhaps dinner), including some very interesting things like scorpions, lizards, turtles, venomous snakes, crabs, ants, water beetles, etc.  One of the funniest and most disturbing things I saw was "dried lizard on a stick."  Yum.  One of our adoptive dads was brave enough to try some dried ants.  I was offered some, but politely declined.  Ginny missed all of this fun, as she was sound asleep in the stroller the entire time.  Not sure if she's big on live scorpions anyway, so I'm sure she's okay with it.

Dried lizard on a stick - Yummy!  Who's hungry???

Live scorpions.  Venom used for medicinal purposes.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the local shops here on the island just picking up souvenirs and such.  Even though we really haven't bought much and the prices are relatively cheap, it still adds up and I've probably spent more than I thought.  We're beginning to start to get organized for the trip back.  We take a train to Hong Kong tomorrow. 

Ginny passing the time at the pearl market with toys in the store.