October 17th,

My baby turned 26 yesterday. It seems like just yesterday that the Dr. handed me 10 lb 6 oz baby boy and said congratulations. It's been a long but wonderful 26 yrs watching him grow from a boy to a man. He was born old, so he never really was a child. Always wise beyond his years. He and I are equally as lucky for the wife he married. My first DIL would have a melt down anytime he even mentioned seeing his family, let alone coming over for his traditional birthday supper. My now DIL was ecstatic she didn't have to cook after a day at work and thanked me repeatedly. She is kind, generous, and VERY tolerant of his first wife. I believe he has found his true soul mate. This is a wonderful thing for such a wonderful person. This is a typical birthday dinner for all of my boys. They love this meal. Fried Chicken, Mac and Cheese, Greens, (the green beans are for the girls). I cook 13 lbs of fried chicken, 10 lbs of greens, and 2 lbs of mac and cheese. My boys can eat.

OK it did work.

The pictures below have been why I have had not had time to post lately. At least part of the reason. Allow me to introduce the latest member of the Trawick Clan - Meeko. When we got him, he had fleas and dread locks. Here is his story: We bought him from the Animal shelter in Benton Harbor MI, where they told us he was a Shi Tzu and about a year old. When I called the co. his chip is registered with they gave me the name of the Pound he originated at in Chicago, IL. Hmmmmm. We went to the Dr yesterday to be totally blown away by the info he gave us. The dog is about 3 1/2 old. So we are guestimating about the same age as Abigail. He is not a Shi Tzu but a Lhasa Apso. And he said judging by the shoulder width and the spacing in the eyes as well as the paw coloration a full breed. Hmmmmmmm The funny part about the whole Dr. visit is the fact that he is an ear dog. Chronic infections and inflammation. This dog is so our family. He has been to the groomer, where we will keep him going regularly, because I DO NOT like all that hair and the vet. Over all he's in great shape with the exception to the 5 lbs he's over weight. We are going to work on this because he will not walk up and down the steps, he has to be carried. The cat and him get along great. The best part is how tolerant he is of the children. We could not have asked for a better dog.

pics on blogger

Ok I have no idea if this is going to work or not. The picture portion of blooger is kinda screwy Before the grromer and after the groomer pics. The dread lock are ont he belly. The pund got the back ones cut off

Half the Sky and their great work in China

This email was sent to me so i am pasing it along. During the fall, we want to inform as many people as possible about the great work that Half the Sky does in Yiyang and elsewhere in China. The HTS on-line auction is coming up soon. If you blog or have friends who do, it would be great to have links for the HTS website and the Yiyang website on more blogs or websites. http://www.yiyangfund.org/ This website is selling the greatest calenders. They are all photos of children from YiYang SWI and CWI. Genevieve is from the SWI She is actually in 4 different places in the calender. The calender is put together nicely and has 14 months in it. There is also an area of information about the city of YiYang. http://www.halfthesky.org/ Note that there is a link to the HTS website on the Donate page of yiyangfund.org. The HTS website has a link on the home page for voting for Jenny Bowen and some HTS children to be to carry the Olympic torch in 2008. See below for when she said about that in her recent e-newsletter. SENT BY JENNY BOWEN 29Sep07 to HTS Email List Our volunteers in Wuhan had a great idea. It may be possible for some of our Half the Sky children to carry the Olympic torch next year. I've entered a contest sponsored by the China Daily Newspaper and, if I can get enough votes from netizens all over the world, I may be able to have that honor. If it happens, I will run with 8 children from 8 orphanages in China. Believe me, I am no runner. But I would dearly love to give the children a place at the party. We need a LOT of votes. Please pass this on to your friends and family. Please take a moment and vote for me right now: http://pub1. chinadaily. com.cn/olympics/ torch/members. shtml?mid= 212

internet de-tox

I have been down since Monday from the internet. GRRRRRRR. I am kinda still down because ATT has net been here to fix the problem. Thank Goodness for AWESOME neighbors. She called to ask me something and of course I was whining about my computer. She gave me her passcode and I can now get online. WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOO. Now I just wait for ATT to get here. So in the meantime I thought I would pass this along. Very True to Life. Those Born 1920-1979 TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!! First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because, WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms....... WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them! Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! If YOU are one of them.CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good . While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn 't it?!

What do little girls do when Mommy has a 102 temperature and Daddy is at work?

Why they go into the office, get the scissors and cut their hair of course.

I'm sitting on the davenport is a state of stuper from the fever and the meds to help break the fever. Genevieve is in her playromm playing while Abigail is in the living room with me reading a book.

She walks in and says "Mommy I'm sorry" I say sorry for what, I'm looking at her mind you but don't get it. So she looks at me all stupified and the light bulb goes off in my head. She didn't have bangs 1/2 hour ago.

We got out of our PJ's, washed up a bit and went straight to the beauty shop.

The beautician did the best she could, considering she cut gouges out of the back.

She's still beautiful, but this will take a bit getting used to.

Our Celebration

All dressed and ready to go. You see Bear Bear had to go as well. Abigail is having some rough times right now, so Bear Bear is our constant companion right now. Poor Kiddo, some days are sad to watch her empty eyes. I'm so glad today is a good day for her.

At our fav restaurant. They love this window. It was really nice and peaceful at dinner. They are not very crowded. The owners came over and sat with us for a moment . They also had their 2 kiddos there. The baby is 6M and their son is 2 years to the day younger than

Abigail. They share birthdays. The girls love him. Their children are leaving Monday for China. They will be there until after the new year. They go over with their Nai Nai and stay with family.

Genevieve and her lantern ready to go out.

And off it goes. it was purple and made of tissue paper. We made a plastic bottom for them.

Abigail's did not weather as well. the tissue caught fire and down it went, She didn't care because the plastic bottom held the candle up and off it floated.

We said prayer as it floated away. As you can tel Abigail and her hyper sensitive nose did not handle the river well. She is the queen of "Ooooh it stinks" and plugging her nose. To go into public bathrooms we put hand sanitizer on her hands and she covers her nose. What a nut.

This was the best part of the night I think they believe. We went to Bonnie Doons for ice cream. But the best part was their Aunt Barbie was there. You know she walks on water.

I hope everyone had a good time with the Moon Festival.

Happy Autumn Moon Festival

Tonight we will get dressed up, go to our favorite Chinese Restaurant, and eat mooncakes. After that we will go down to the river and let a lantern go for each girl as we say a prayer for their family still in China. I will Thank God and thank their birth mothers for the gift they have given me - My Daughters I will post pics tomorrow sometime.

The Hare - Jade Rabbit In this legend, three fairy sages transformed themselves into pitiful old men and begged for something to eat from a fox, a monkey and a rabbit. The fox and the monkey both had food to give to the old men, but the rabbit, empty-handed, offered his own flesh instead, jumping into a blazing fire to cook himself. The sages were so touched by the rabbit's sacrifice that they let him live in the Moon Palace where he became the "Jade Rabbit."

The Man - Wu Kang Wu Kang was a shiftless fellow who changed apprenticeships all the time. One day he decided that he wanted to be an immortal. Wu Kang then went to live in the mountains where he importuned an immortal to teach him. First the immortal taught him about the herbs used to cure sickness, but after three days his characteristic restlessness returned and he asked the immortal to teach him something else. So the immortal to teach him chess, but after a short while Wu Kang's enthusiasm again waned. Then Wu Kang was given the books of immortality to study. Of course, Wu Kang became bored within a few days, and asked if they could travel to some new and exciting place. Angered with Wu Kang's impatience, the master banished Wu Kang to the Moon Palace telling him that he must cut down a huge cassia tree before he could return to earth. Though Wu Kang chopped day and night, the magical tree restored itself with each blow, and thus he is up there chopping still.

The Cake - Moon Cake During the Yuan dynasty (A.D.1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D.960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without it being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each moon cake was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644). Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend.

The Lady - Chang Er The date of this story is around 2170 B.C. The earth once had ten suns circling over it, each took its turn to illuminate to the earth. But one day all ten suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved by a strong and tyrannical archer Hou Yi. He succeeded in shooting down nine of the suns. One day, Hou Yi stole the elixir of life from a goddess. However his beautiful wife Chang Er drank the elixir of life in order to save the people from her husband's tyrannical rule. After drinking it, she found herself floating and flew to the moon. Hou Yi loved his divinely beautiful wife so much, he didn't shoot down the moon.

Gas Prices

Wow this is some really great advice. I know the gas prices here are up and down. It's nothing to have 25 cent difference in one day. It's hard to keep up and budget with the prices the way they are.

1. Fill up your car or truck in the morning when the temperature is still cool. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground; and the colder the ground, the denser the gasoline. When it gets warmer gasoline expands, so if you're filling up in the afternoon or in the evening, what should be a gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and temperature of the fuel (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products) are significant. Every truckload that we load is temperature-compensated so that the indicated gallonage is actually the amount pumped. A one-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for businesses, but service stations don't have temperature compensation at their pumps .

2. If a tanker truck is filling the station's tank at the time you want to buy gas, do not fill up; most likely dirt and sludge in the tank is being stirred up when gas is being delivered, and you might be transferring that dirt from the bottom of their tank into your car's tank.

3. Fill up when your gas tank is half-full (or half-empty), because the more gas you have in your tank the less air there is and gasoline evap orates rapidly, especially when it's warm. (Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating 'roof' membrane to act as a barrier between the gas and the atmosphere, thereby minimizing evaporation.)

4. If you look at the trigger you'll see that it has three delivery settings: slow, medium and high. When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to the high setting. You should be pumping at the slow setting, thereby minimizing vapors created while you are pumping. Hoses at the pump are corrugated; the corrugations act as a return path for vapor recovery from gas that already has been metered. If you are pumping at the high setting, the agitated gasoline contains more vapor, which is being sucked back into the underground tank so you're getting less gas for your money .

Hope this will help ease your 'pain at the pump'.

T minus 7 hours and 19 minutes

I can't wait - Survivor Jiang Xi, China. http://www.survivorchina.net/ I have watched every season. In 2003 I was in China for the finale. In 2005 I was in China for the finale. Both times I paid a hefty phone bill to get a blow by blow. Way so worth it. I watched the very first episode when Richard marched across the beach naked. Gosh I love that show 1) The purse is ready and the shoes by the door to go to New China for dinner so I don't have to clean the kitchen. 2) The jammies are laid out for 7 pm showers with the girls 3) The taquitos are ready to be baked. 4) The Homemade Salsa is made 5) School clothes laid out for morning - Abigail has picture day 6) The wine is ready Those of you who are not survivor fans - You really may need to check it out.

Wizard of Oz

This past Sunday we went to the Wizard of Oz Festival in Chesterton IN. Thing 1 and Thing 2 think the sun rises and sets on the Wizard of Oz. There bedroom is decorated in it, they will be Dorothy and Glinda for Halloween and the CD can be sang word for word. I almost forgot they can recite the movie too. So this was pretty cool for them.

Genevieve just knew she could go down this shark slide. Well she did it. My Wild Child strikes again.

The girls have never had a snow cone before. Wow, did they really enjoy it. I love the sharing pics the best. I know to enjoy it now because once they are teenagers life is very different.

Genevieve really enjoyed this part. meeting the characters. They looked awesome. Abigail on the other hand wanted NOTHING to do with them unless it could be done from 25 feet back.

She really wasn't to sure about the monkey. She told him," Don't fly me away". The little boys mom and I both got a chuckle out of it .. He looks great

Abigail watching things from 25 feet back.

I love this picture. They sure do love their Aunt Barbie. You know she walks on water in their eyes.

Felicia walks on water too. They all really had a great time.

Twylla a week after she found us.

Our Baby is home from the Vet today. She has been there since Thursday morning. She was fixed and declawed. The girls missed her something awful. To be quite honest I did too. I didn't realize how close I had gotten to Twylla until she wasn't here. The girls at the office really took to her as well. they took turns sitting with her at night because she kept crying. They said as soon as they came near her she would stop crying and start purring. I explained to them how she has been with us since she was 3 1/2 weeks old and needed bottle fed every 4 hours and taught to urinate and excrete by me. So as far as she's concerned, she's human and another one of my kiddos.

She is now 5 1/2 months and looks very different from the day we got her.

Arthur china Episode

I contacted PBS about when the dvd would be available for purchse of Binkey's family adopting from China. This is one I would love to add to our collection. This is the response I received. - Woooo hooooo Dear Ms. Trawick,Thank you for your interest in WGBH children's programming. We always appreciate hearing from our viewers. Arthur: Big Brother Binky, Parts 1 & 2 In this special two-part episode, Binky's family adopts a baby girl from China. Binky receives the news of getting a baby sister with great excitement, and he delights in helping prepare for her arrival and visiting China. Although Binky sometimes worries about how his life will change, and more importantly, whether his new sister will even like him, Binky becomes the proudest big brother in Elwood City. This episode will be available for purchase on iTunes in several weeks. Check the iTunes store periodically for availability. At this time, plans for release on DVD have not been finalized. Please check back with us or at shop.wgbh.org in the future for availability updates. Thank you for your kind comments. They will be passed on to the producers of Arthur and the station managers. Thank you for writing in to WGBH. We hope you continue to enjoy the terrific children's programs produced by WGBH like Arthur, Postcards from Buster, Between the Lions, Peep and the Big Wide World, Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman, Design Squad, and Curious George. Find out about all these great shows online at pbskids.org! Sincerely,WGBH Member Development and Services

On this day 2 years ago; I had just hung up from a family member in DC. Our discussion was based around how her DH was doing today. You see he was suppose to be at the pentagon the day the planes hit it on 9/11 but he missed his train into the city. He was spared, his friends were not. Every year is a struggle on the anniversary of this tragedy. On this day 2 years ago; I was desperately worried about Margie and her family. They were in MS when Katrina hit their little town. No one had heard from her. Not even our agency. On this day 2 years ago; I was getting ready to meet friends for dinner and my mind felt as if it couldn't hold a bit more info or confusion. So I I got on the computer to turn to my April Pandas Yahoo group for support. What a great bunch of folks. It seemed as if there were so many times that only they truly got it. I got side tracked and clicked on GWCA's site. On this day 2 years ago; Hong, ZhiLan walked into our hearts when she found us. When I clicked on the WC site and opened up Baby #13's file there sat my daughter. I couldn't figure out why I had a knot in my gut the size of a soft ball for a child who was nothing we had originally requested when we went DTC for our second daughter. I know now that God knew more of what we needed better than we did. She too knew we were her forever family, because when I opened that file and saw her picture, she told me with her eyes. OK Mommy now I found you, come get me. Thank God GWCA did all they could to make sure we were able to adopt our daughter. What a difference a couple years make.

OK this has to be one of the most tasteless you tubes I've ever seen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg1lY0fD_VM

Abigail's first day of school

Today is Abigail's Day. She goes to her first day of preschool. Of course the lady bug lover she is it was necessary to sport it all. it was very important to her to wear the earrings and hair bows her Sarah and Samantha gave her. The only disappointment was the shoes did not fit any more. Wooooooo Hooooooo, she is now in a size 5 1/2 shoe.

That smile melts my heart. She is honestly the sweetest kid I've ever met.

Bear Bear sporting the earring. Abigail taking the picture on her toy phone. Boy they really do pay attention when we do things..

She likes the earrings ALLOT

Look at that face. all because of New Earrings. She is such a girly girl

Genevieve Sporting her new earrings from Lana.

Genevieve's Day

As much as I would love to post about our past week and show pictures of Abigail. Today is only about Genevieve and her first day of school. Not sisters and such. She's ready. We went to Open House on Friday and she got to meet her teacher for this year. She was not ready to leave her teacher from last year but once she saw the cool kitchen in Mrs. Moore's room, it was all good. I meet her speech therapist Friday.

Speech is the whole reason the girls are in a preschool program. If I pay for them to go into a private preschool program, our school corp has to provide speech once a week for each girl. Their program costs $155.00 a month for both girls. A private therapist costs $160.00 a week for both girls. So for the cost of a one week session they get 4 sessions. They also are learning great social skills and interaction in a group setting. These are things that are very difficult teaching while home schooling them. I have had to adjust their program to the afternoon so that's a bit more challenging this year.

I will play catch up tomorrow. Abigail starts her program Thursday, so that will be her day.

survivor

Check out this link - All the survivor castaways revealed. On the countdown - Woooooo Hooooo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWCn7_K5YKE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Esurvivorchina%2Enet%2F

Our Earrings Came

http://www.lanasjewelry.etsy.com

This link was sent to me by a friend so I contacted her. Thanks so Much Rach.

This little girl custom made earrings for both of my girls. Genevieve's are hypo allergenic because of her sensitivity to everything. And Abigail's, Oh Abigail's are the most special. She made single earrings for our darling. I have an entire jewelery box full of single earrings. She even boxed them in the prettiest boxes. I can't wait for the girls to wake up from their nap.

I remember when she wanted her one ear pierced how uncomfortable I felt doing it. Shame on me. She wants to feel pretty and where sparkles just like her sister. She doesn't even know that she's different with only having one ear. I guess we don't know it either.

Check out Lana's Jewelry. She's our hero right now.

Aug 27th, 2007

We are not done moving all the rooms so I figured I would share some pics from the past week. I've taken a break this morning because the rains have finally stopped long enough to come out and play and get some yard work done. I was a bit concerned that we were going to need to get goats for the back yard. The girls decided that they need more chicken after Anthony came over to eat. Thank Goodness for older Brothers who think you walk on water.

Abigail will only eat chicken if it's torn off of the bone. Even then she picks each little piece up with two fingers.

Genevieve on the other hand will grab a bone and maw the mess out of it.

Hi Mommy - I didn't do it, I really didn't

My Mermaid. She taught herself to swim this summer. I really believe she may be part fish. Her face is looking so good.

OK - This is as far as I go in the water. Jie Jie is the fish I float.

Look how good Genevieve's face is healing. Vitamin E is our friend