Thankful

Last year I posted a list of things I was thankful for according to the alphabet. In an effort to be thankful over the past week or so (because I have not been the most thankful person lately), I thought I would do it again. Some letters may be the same as last year, but there are just some things that I love all the time! So, here goes, the ABC's of thankfulness, 2010...

A. Atlanta, Georgia. My hometown. I miss it and it's eccentricities and great culture and great food so much. I love Atlanta and although, I'm sad to say I'm pretty sure I won't live there again (at least in the near future), I will always consider it home.

B. Brett. He is my best friend and I have become more thankful for him the past 3 months than I have ever been.

C. Cheap Baby-sitters. Oh, they are in abundance here! I should not even tell you what these lovely young American teenagers charge. But, it definitely makes it possible for lots of....

D. Date nights. Brett and I have gotten into a great habit over here of going out once a week. I am sure this is so normal for lots of you, but it was hard for us to do with our crazy travel schedule before now. I love this time and look forward to it every week (Thursday to be exact).

E. East Asia. Oh, it's been so very hard to move back here, but whether I am here or there, I will always love this place, and I am thankful to be here.

F. Friends. I LOVE my friends! I miss them all so much.

"When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight." -Kahlil Gibran

I wouldn't miss my friends so much if they had not been my greatest delight.

G. Glee. I have loved it since day 1

H. Harrison. How do I love him more each day? Today he is very very sick, and it has been so sweet taking care of him. I mean, he threw up in my hand...that's love!

I. Internet. It's totally a lifeline for me over here...not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but I'm thankful...for email, facebook, blogs, skype, and being able to make cheap phone calls to my loved ones!

J. Jesus. He saved my life.

K. Kevin. My brother who we lost in 2008. I think of him everyday and miss him so very much. I am so thankful that I had the chance to know him. He was one of the most extraordinary people I've ever known.

L. Laughter. "I just like to laugh. Laughing's my favorite." --Buddy the Elf (except he was talking about smiling).

M. My Local Starbucks. I love Starbucks, truly I do. I would choose other coffee shops if I had the option, but I love that there is one just a 10 minute walk from our neighborhood. It's such a haven for me!

N. Netflix. We don't have a DVD player here yet, so we can either watch chinese TV or watch TV over hulu and netflix. Netflix saves my life for a portion of each day while I show Harrison a 'Thomas the Train' or 'Dora the Explorer' episode (or 4) so that I can have some sanity. I am so thankful!

O. Orlando. This crazy touristy place has become home to us and we miss our life there! Whenever we move back, you always have a place to stay if you're visiting Disney!

P. Parents. I am so grateful for both my parents. I feel that I have a better relationship with them both now than I ever have. I love them dearly and admire them both so much. I also love my Dooley parents too!

Q. Quiet. Especially since H is trying to drop his nap (eeek), a few minutes of quiet time to myself is quite a treat!

R. Running into friends unexpectedly. I love being out and about and running into someone I know. It usually makes my day! Yesterday, I was having a particularly sad morning and ran into a new friend and it really made me feel so much better!

S. Siblings. I love my family ever so much. My sister and brother and I did not have the most conventional upbringing and in many ways took care of each other. I would not trade a minute of the time we spent together. I will never forget the tears I cried over not wanting Robin to leave for college when I was 15. I felt I was losing my best friend. I will also never forget the tears I cried when I had to leave Chris behind when I left for dear old Athens. Although life has taken us to different places, I cherish the few times a year we are together. We laugh so hard and I am so proud of them for being the smartest, most creative people alive (I did not receive that gene). And I was even more blessed to get to have another brother and sister. Kev, who I mentioned earlier, and Hayward who have always been family no matter what. And I lucked out with great sibling-in-laws! Dan, Lindsey, Chris and Julie are the bees knees!

T. The Classic City. Athens, Georgia. Love this place. It changed my life and I had the best time ever there.

U. Umbrellas. It rains here a lot.

V. Visitors. We have had our first crop of visitors here this week! Brett's best chinese friend from years ago (Tommy) spent 2 nights with us and now we have 2 other guys staying at Chez Dooley. I love hosting people in our home!

W. Waiting. Not my favorite, but it's always neat to see how things change while I wait. I find in most cases, that I would not have changed the length of the wait because of what I learned during that time.

X. Xylophones. I really am not sure how thankful I am for these little musical instruments. I'm sure if we had one, I would not be at all, but I really couldn't think of another word that starts with 'x'.

Y. Youth Group. One of my highlights of my growing up years, and even beyond!

Z. Zara (and H&M) just opened in my city on Wednesday. Total bonus that a) Zara is one of my favorite stores ever, and b) i may actually be able to find clothes that fit there (chinese people are tiny).

So, on this day after Thanksgiving. I truly am thankful. Thanksgiving morning was a hard one for us. We were so homesick, but the day got better and better and I can honestly say that I went to bed way more thankful than when I woke up. We had a fabulous turkey dinner with some friends, watched football and had great laughs. My heart was so full. And although I missed being at the Dooley family Thanksgiving this year and getting to hug my parent's necks, I will never forget the sweetness of celebrating this day of thanks with my beloved husband and son in far away China. I'm so thankful God brought us here.

2.5

My Dear Harrison,

This past Friday marked you being 2 and a half. Oh my goodness, I cannot believe it! You are growing up so fast that I can barely keep up with you! In the last few months, you have bowled me over with your vocabulary! You are truly conversing with us now. You make full sentences, and although sometimes we cannot understand you, you very much understand yourself! You have even picked up a few chinese phrases; "Ni Hao" (hello), "Xie Xie" (thank you), "Zai Jian" (goodbye) and "Wo Ai Ni" (I love you). You have made about a million friends here and constantly ask for all of them by name. You still don't touch chinese food, but you eat well, or I should say, you snack well and then try to skip meals.

You are both friendly and shy all at the same time. But, no matter what, you are ALWAYS chatty at home with mom and dad. You LOVE to wrestle and do so every night with daddy on our bed. You ask, "wrestle?", which then proceeds in lots of throwing and tickle fighting. You have a mind of your own which is evident when you ask me to "please stop, mommy." Daddy and I think that you thrive on words of encouragement and quality time (which is the same as us). We think this because if you do something good, you will often tell us, "mommy, I gave daddy his glasses," if we don't get the chance to praise you first. Also, you love to do things together, even if it's just watching TV, you want us to be there, too (and you DO really like TV, especially chinese cartoons).

You are so fast these days, I can barely get a hug from you. I truly think I only get one kiss a week from you (although you still get a hundred a day from me). I cherish the times you sit on my lap or willingly give me a hug or kiss because they are so few and far between these days since you are finding your little independence! Oh, and speaking of independence, you really like walking these days as opposed to your stroller. Would you mind re-thinking that one? Please???

On October 24th you slept in your big boy bed for the first time. You have done great! The first couple days were rough, but then you were great for about 2 weeks. However, the past 2 weeks you have discovered you can get out of said bed, which makes for some long days. You have begun skipping your nap and only taking one every 2-3 days. This is Mommy's worst nightmare, but thankfully you still give me some reprieve by having "rest time" in your room on the no-nap days. Oh, and it does make you go to bed pretty early and sleep late, so I guess I'll take it!

Your favorite toys right now are Thomas the Train and Legos! You play with both for hours (probably because those are the only toys we brought over here... Oh really? you didn't realize that? Well, we're super glad you still like them). You also love to read and for us to sing to you at nap time and bed time. You always ask for "one more song". Currently your favorite melody is "Jingle Bells". Daddy and I usually sing it to you at least 3 times before bed each night, along with a dance routine. It's quite fun for us.

You love to play on this playground almost everyday. It is in our apartment complex and we usually go there at least once a day. Our very new tradition as of last week is to stop at the WoWo (a convenience store right outside our gate) and get lollipops before we go play. I realize you could choke on the lollipop, but you're also so careful that I just don't think you will. I hope I don't get proven wrong.

Oh, and one more thing...I think you weigh about 31 pounds...I'm not quite sure about your height, but you are definitely 3 feet tall, perhaps even 3 feet, 1 inch. You are so tall, little man! And just for mommy to know when I look back on this, I really wish I had brought cuter clothes over with me. I know you don't care a lick, but I miss your john john's!

Hare Bear, I love you more than you could ever know. I was looking at baby pictures of you recently thinking, "I loved him so much then", or "oh, wasn't that time so fun?" I truly have loved every stage of your life, and am having so much fun right now. I am so privileged to be your mom and I still can't believe you are mine. I am so proud of you for just being exactly who you are. And I hope we can both always remember that!

I love you to the moon and back,

Mommy

Mom's Retreat

First of all, I want to thank y'all for your kind words about my previous post about our loss. That meant so much to me... There is so much more that is part of that journey than just our miscarriage, but it's hard to know what to share on this blog aside from pictures and stories of our family. I figured I could use the prayers.

We received much care on that day that would have been our due date. A few people here knew and one new friend brought me flowers the night before, and shed a tear with me, while another sweet friend texted me all day to see how I was doing. For the first time, I felt at home here.

On that day, I left to go to the capital city for a Mom's conference for all the mom's working with our company in the entire country. There were 100 moms there, both expat and Asian. I was very familiar with the area we were staying in which was fun! We had a great speaker and I really enjoyed seeing a few old friends and making new ones. I feel like that weekend was a turning point for me, as it is no secret I have been a little lonely here, but really got to connect with some fun people and have lots of laughs. It takes a lot more time to make friends in a new place when you're a mom (or at least it's that way for me), so I am grateful I had this weekend to hang out sans Harrison and have tons of fun shopping and eating great food with other fun ladies. Unfortunately, I have NO pictures from the event, but more pictures will come soon of some other recent out-of-town jaunts.

Until then...

So glad...

That my little Harrison looks just like his Daddy! When I was pregnant, I prayed that our child would look like his dad because Brett was just such a darn cute little guy! His mom emailed us some old pics the other day and I had to share them so that you could see the uncanny resemblance as well! I guess now I know what H will look like in a few years time!

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

It's Superman!!!

Today Harrison went "trick or treating" for the first time! Some of the adults in our apartment complex got together in one little cul-de-sac of the neighborhood, and we all spread out so the kids could come "trick or treat" to us (all outside). The group was about 15 kids and maybe just that many adults!

In the picture above, Harrison is standing in front of Cameron (Thomas the train), and next to Gunner the Bumble Bee and Canyon (in the red costume--not quite sure what he was).

Below is a picture of (almost) everyone who dressed up...If you can't tell, I am in the picture and dressed up as Brett.

Harrison and sweet Gunner eating lollipops together.

Harrison and his 2 dads (did anyone ever watch that show?) Can you tell which one is the real Brett??

Happy Halloween!

Glory Baby

Sadly, I had a miscarriage this past February. That baby would have been due this Friday. We were so devastated as our plans to move to China included hoping that we would move over with a newborn...well, here we are, 2 months into this gig, and our arms (and my womb) are still empty. It has been a lonely time for me, especially as I look at how I hoped life would look like here, and am faced with the reality that it's not what I wanted or hoped for. I miss that sweet little one every day and am so thankful I got to carry him/her for the few weeks that I did. This month has been especially hard as our hope was to be pregnant by the due date so that we would not have to watch it pass still longing for another baby. But, alas, we are still longing and still trying to hope. Not that another baby would ever replace the one we had....no, far from that.

And while I'm still so very sad that we had to lose a precious life, I am grateful that that baby is whole and with Jesus. That sweet baby has 4 cousins, 7 great grandparents, and a dear, dear uncle fighting to hold him/her in Heaven, and I smile and cry at the same time thinking of it.

I am posting the lyrics to a song that I listened to a million times in college, but never actually heard the words, or understood their meaning. However, since our loss, I have listened to it a million more times, and it has given lots of comfort, along with lots of tears.

To my Glory Baby, you will always be a part of our family and we will never forget how you changed our lives. I miss you everyday, and I can't wait to hold you.

Love,

Mommy

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Glory Baby, You slipped away

As fast as we could say baby, baby
You were growing, what happened Dear,
You disappeared on us baby, baby
Heaven will hold you before we do
Heaven will keep you safe
Until we're home with you
Until we're home with you

(chorus)
We miss you everyday
Miss you in every way
But we know there's a day
When we will hold you, we will hold you
And you'll kiss our tears away
When we're home to stay
We can't wait for the day
When we will see you, we will see you
But baby let sweet Jesus hold you
‘Til mom and dad can hold you
You'll just have heaven before we do
You'll just have heaven before we do

Sweet little baby, it's hard to understand it
Cause we are hurting, we are hurting
But there is healing
And we know we're stronger people
Through the growing and in knowing
All things work together for our good
And God works his purposes
Just like he said he would
Just like he said he would

(chorus)

I can't imagine Heaven's lullabies
And what they must sound like
But I will rest in knowing
Heaven is your home
And it's all you'll ever know
All you'll ever know

(chorus)

What we do on Monday mornings

About a month ago, one of the other moms here discovered an indoor playplace at a local mall. Ever since then, a few of us try to go every Monday morning. It has only happened a couple of times, but it's great. We all pile into someone's mini-van (there are about 5 moms, and between us we bring 7 kids, and yes, we all fit into 1 car with no carseats), then maybe stop by Starbucks and hit the playground, and complete the morning with lunch at Papa John's. I know what you're thinking...Or at least, what I would think..."Ew gross, Papa John's?" Yes. I ate my weight in Papa's pizza my first 2 years of college and from then on, it grossed me out. But, I have to say when you live over here, beggars can't be choosers, and it tastes pretty darn good. Now, it's no Mellow Mushroom or Fellini's (my 2 personal faves), but it's yummy!

So, a couple weekends ago, I wanted to show Brett the place that Harrison loves so much, so we cabbed out there and played and had lunch together at Subway (this mall is chock full o' western restaurants!) Here's a couple of pictures from all the fun...

I love the mini-animal merry go round!

not sure what the above thing is, but H gets knocked out by it a lot!

random floating balloon room

and the very favorite...the slides going into the balls!

we raced down the slide, and if you can't tell, it was FAST!

I think we will spend a lot of time at this little gem, especially as the weather gets cold. We have not seen a cold winter in 6 years, so inside we will be! I am thankful for this time with other moms as I'm really hoping to become better friends with all of them. Harrison is already BFF to the bone with the whole entire city, so I'm glad I get to hang out with him...he makes me look so cool!!