Remembering... March 21-22, 2009...

On Saturday, March 21, 2009, we visited a Living Hope orphanage in Beijing and then climbed the Great Wall, saw the Bird's Nest, and experienced major culture shock during dinner ... a huge contrast to a year later... No longer traveling as tourists in a distant land, on this same date this year, I waved as Britti and Chelsea headed off in the band bus for a trip to Disney World. Ellie-Kate was none too happy that the older girls were going to see Mickey without her. During the afternoon, we watched basketball as Emmy and Ellie-Kate threw balls at the Little Tikes basket in the kitchen. We missed the entire tournament in 2009 so we were bound and determined that we weren't going to miss much during 2010!

On Sunday, March 22, 2009, we flew to Kunming, taking one of the oddest flights that we had ever taken. As soon as the plane left the runway and was still ascending into the sky, people started to get up, reach into overhead bins, and move up and down the aisles. We were so stunned and waited for the flight attendants to come and enforce the safety rules. However, everyone seemed to treat such behavior as completely normal and acceptable. From the unfamiliarity of Beijing and the flight, we emerged from the plane to our China version of Oz-- lush green grass, blue skys, warm weather. We felt right at home... until we checked into our hotel and went to the Kunming Walmart. Oh my... The store was chaotic, crowded, and very different from the one in Athens. I never went back, but poor Roger and Britti ended up going every day during our stay in Kunming. A bit disoriented, we craved "normal" so we asked the concierge and then the taxi driver to take us to Pizza Hut. Instead, we ended up at Rocco's, and it became our dining room away from home-- we ate there every day, including Ellie-Kate's first supper with us. We spent the rest of the evening in anticipation of our new baby...

This year, on March 22, 2010, I took the little girls to Burger King so that they could play in the indoor playground and eat a quick lunch. As I watched them run and play, I stood in awe of their natural interaction as sisters... Emmy is quite the big sister, helping her little sister through the indoor maze and down the slide. Ellie-Kate was born to be a little sister, looking up to Emmy with a quick smile, energetic laugh, and squeals of excitement as they dashed back for yet another "run" through the playground. After lunch, we sadly went for pictures with Lindsey at Walmart. Lindsey's leaving in a few days for nanny school. Our girls question why she even needs school-- she's been their beloved sitter and our house/animal sitter since Emmy was a toddler, and she singlehandedly managed our whole household when we were gone for three weeks in China and St. Louis.) We're so blessed that Lindsey was still in Athens when we traveled to China last year and that she's been able to share Ellie-Kate's first year here with us.

More soon--

Christie