Fun, Fun Summer!

Been a few weeks since I blogged--we have had 4 straight weeks of visitors through the month of June. It's kept us busy, but we certainly enjoyed having everyone. In the beginning of June we were blessed to have Dave's mom (Nana) and Paw Paw Hugh come--we visited the butterfly museum while they were here. A few days later, our neighbors from Ponchatoula (Tim, Stephanie, Halee, and Greg Morris)came to stay for 4 days. We went to the zoo, the arch, and toured the Anheiser Busch facility. They left on a Monday morning and that afternoon more beloved La. friends graced us with a visit: Christine, Emma, and Sean. We swam, relaxed, and visited the Onondanga Cave together. 2 days after they left, my parents, sister, and her family arrived (on Fathers Day)and stayed a couple of days. We shopped, swam, and thoroughly soaked up our time together. Everyone left this past Wednesday and no one is scheduled on the calendar as of yet. Of course, we are enjoying the quietness of just our family, but I really enjoy having company also. Grace did pretty well with all of the upheaval, but she was affected by it somewhat. She threw a lot more tantrums than normal--some were VERY public. For instance, she threw a doosey at the Arch-----everyone was staring and I had to take the 4 kids and leave the museum while my friends continued their tour (Dave was at work). Everyone stared at the "poor little Chinese girl" who was screaming her head off and assumed her mommy didn't know how to take care of her. A security guard even came and stood by me with a very concerned and worried look. But the topper was when a one-armed woman (no kidding, she only had one arm---which I'm not making fun of--it just has significance in the story) tried to take Grace by the hand and walk away with her. Normally Grace goes with ANYONE, but for a change, she wouldn't go with this woman (possibly due to her one arm--hence the significance of mentioning it). The woman said--"tell her to go with me"--I think she felt she could do a better job calming Grace down. What she didn't know is that Grace was just mad because I wouldn't give her a cookie until she held my hand in the museum so she wouldn't get lost. I said back, "Excuse me, I am attaching and bonding with this child whom I've just adopted, I've got it, thank you." She almost wouldn't take "no" for an answer until I got REALLY firm with her. I've learned how to not let public tantrums ruffle my feathers or dirty, concerned, looks from people derail me from my task.

On June 20th, our church threw us a money tree shower in honor of Grace's arrival which was really nice and thoughtful. We go back to La. for the 4th and Grace gets to meet all of her cousins and aunts on Dave's side. All of the kids are thrilled--especially Emma since she gets to spend her 13th birthday in her beloved La. All in all, the summer has been great fun--hope all of yours has been too!