The Richardsons

Emmanuel finally got his glasses. He seems to like them! Although they were not the magic, cure all our problems, suddenly become angelic glasses we were hoping for. I finally figured out how to get the names of my kids on their shirts, name them after a Movie. Abegail tries on Eman's glasses Quotes From our Americanized Abegail: A: Mommy can I have P....B....(thinking) J? M: PB&J??? A: Yea, PB&J, only you and I know what that means!

Abegail went to Annie's class twice before she insisted she needed to take a class too. So today was her first day. She's in the class right after Annie and loved it. Now Emmanuel says he needs to take a class, um how about karate buddy? YMCA This year my lifesaver has been the Y. The kids can go and play and get all their energy out in the kids gym while I go work out. They have a huge indoor playground (not pictured here because the kids of course were coloring when I was taking photos) It's awesome and they are so good to us. Here's a few photos in Kidstuff. Quotes from Abegail: Mommy: Annie, Ema,, I mean Abegail..whoever you are, come over here Abegail: I should put my name on my shirt! Our parents all did that, now we know why!

The other day Abegail happened to mention that her parents had a baby boy before she was born who had died. She said she never knew him. I gave her the third degree just because I was curious. What was his name? How did he die? How old was he when he died? To all of these questions she did not know the answer. We finally found out the Davis' had a boy names Levi who they called Lee. He was born December 20th, 1996 and died January of 1999. Apparently he got sick and died and the family was never able to figure out what was wrong with him. There have been so many things that have come up like this that I have been curious about. I kick myself about our meeting with Alexander, the kids birth father, and think why didn't I ask him this or that. So when a mother went to Liberia in January I included another packet for Alexander along with a our phone number. Last night he called and we were able to get through and call him right back. It was wonderful to hear his voice and that all...

Friday is Mr Suzuki's Birthday, Abegail's first grade teacher. Since about the end of January she has told me she wants to get him a present. (For those of you who don't know Mr. Suzuki is the best first grade teacher in the whole world) I said that's fine what do you want to get him? She says, "I want to get him a new pair of shoes." I said oh, does he need new shoes, are his shoes worn out? No, I just want to get him shoes. Maybe I can ask him what size he is. I said OK. So she comes home the next day and says, "Mommy, he is a 9 1/2." I said good to know. Friday they don't have school so tonight we went out to get her class candy for Valentines Day and a gift for Mr. Suzuki. She had by this point decided she didn't want to get him shoes. I said, how about socks? No, he doesn't need socks. I said, how do you know? "Because he wears socks everyday." So we went through the toy aisle. Abegail, I don't think Mr. ...

My sister, Auntie Caroline, came for a visit this weekend and she let Scott and I go on vacation. It couldn't have come at a better time. We are so grateful for our 20 hour stay in Minneapolis (the weather was much the same as it was in Bloomington). We actually talked without being interrupted. We ate a meal without cutting someone else's meat. We showered without an audience. Meanwhile my sister kept the kids busy by making puppets and countless other crafts, introducing them to The Wizard of Oz, which they have now watched 4 times, and organizing our new playroom. My sister who has three boys of her own and a busy full time job is my new hero. Prospective adoptive parents find someone to do this for you if you can. The only thing to be aware of is coming home is a shock and reality sets in way too fast. I think both Scott and I have the one day vacation blues! But we could not be more grateful had she given either of us a lifesaving kidney. By the way Caroline, ...