Blessed Are The Peacemakers

Maliana ~

You went to a couple of big appointments this week. The first was at the College of Dentistry at OSU in their Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery Department. It was a consultation about the bone graft you will need in the next couple of years. It sounds like a scary procedure but the doctor reassured both of us that it's actually fairly simple and you should be back at school in less than a week after surgery. He also told us that, based on your X-rays, you probably won't be a good candidate for surgery like this for at least another year. As straightforward as the doctor is saying this procedure is, I was still relieved to have another year to mentally prepare ourselves for another surgery.

Of course, leave it to you to bring some levity to any situation...here is what happened after we left the doctor's office:
Leaving M's appointment and happened to walk through a very crowded area on our way to the parking garage that also smelled like sewage...
M ~ "Mom! Did you fart?!"
Me ~ "No! That's the sewage."
M ~ "No way! You farted!"
(Shawn Wilkinson ~ where were you when I needed someone else to take that kind of heat?)

The second appointment of the week involved your comprehensive vision exam to see why your eyes have been getting blurry lately. You wound up doing a fantastic job cooperating with the doctors who commented that not many children your age could hang in there with all the different tasks they asked of you. The doctor also asked about how detail oriented you are since all indications from her testing pointed to the fact that you are what's called a "visually sensitive" child. She also made the comment that she wouldn't be surprised if you became an engineer someday. Ultimately, what was discovered is that your right eye is a little weaker than your left and you also have an astigmatism. It was suggested that you try glasses for reading and detail work at school, so off you went to pick out some new frames. They didn't have the ones that you fell in love with at the last office, but you ended up finding some snazzy orange and blue frames that sufficed. You dubbed them your Dusty Crophopper glasses and will get them in about 2 weeks. You are pretty excited.

measuring your eyes for the frames

You also reconnected with Daddy this week on some daddy/daughter dates. You had a blast going to the park and hitting some whiffle balls with Daddy (nailing him with a line drive right in "the junk", and laughing hysterically, I might add), playing on the playground, then going out for ice cream together at Westerville's famous Knight's Ice Cream. You came home together that night, laughing like crazy.

Daddy ~ "Should I wear a hat?"

Mali ~ "Yeah, If you want to be in my club."

Evidently there was a little boy at the playground also that night that came up to Daddy and asked, "Is she a boy?" (confused because Daddy kept calling you Mali but your hair is short and your clothes are stereotypical "boy clothes") to which you replied, "I'm a girl!" The boy persisted by then asking, "Why does she wear boy clothes?", at which point you must have become disgusted with his ignorance because as you walked away shaking your head, you yelled back, "Tell him, Dad!" Ha. Daddy proceeded to launch into what I'm sure was a very engaging discussion with that little boy about gender stereotypes and non-comformity and how ludicrous and limiting all of that is (in an age appropriate manner of course), but I'm sure most of it went right over that little boy's small head. Doesn't matter though. It's funny how silly people get when girls cut their hair short and feel more comfortable in shorts and t-shirts rather than frilly dresses and uncomfortable shoes. You'd think the world was turned upside down for some people when they see that. Thankfully, you could not seem to care less what those kinds of yahoos think. Once again, I find myself learning another valuable lesson about life just by being your mom. Pretty cool.

You also got to spend some more time with Daddy when I went to meet some of the Fu mommies for lunch on Sunday and Daddy took you to the Y for some more swimming practice and then Piada for lunch. On the way home, Daddy said that you told him, "I really wanted you and Mommy to pick me when I was in China" and it about melted Daddy's heart. To this day, I get choked up when I think of the odds of our 3 hearts coming together to make a family, given how far apart we all started out from each other. We are over the moon, beyond lucky to call you our daughter too, Munchkin.

We've had some unseasonably cooler weather (for July) and it made for some really comfortable evenings this week. On one in particular, our entire family (minus the cat) piled into the car and headed to the quaint streets of uptown Westerville for a stroll before sunset. It's so peaceful down there and I love that Abby is such a gentle dog that you can walk her without any help from grown ups. You were feeling pretty mature as you strutted your oldest fur-baby down the street, all by yourself.

And of course, it's not summer until we make an evening run to DQ (just like I used to do as a kid). Granted, this isn't the first DQ trip of the year, but it definitely felt the most relaxed as we sat eating our ice cream on the steps of Hanby School. Of course, you probably can't tell we felt so relaxed by the silly picture below...ha ha.

Since you've been chugging along with your reading this summer, I decided to treat you to your first chapter book this week. You chose one from the Captain Underpants series (fitting in our family) and a nifty new Lego head/book light. Looking pretty rockin' ~ see below!

This weekend Lao Lao came over and you were so excited to see her. You would not let her leave your sight for at least a couple of hours. You definitely love your Lao Lao.

teaching her to play mancala

hanging out in your loft bed

A little later that day, our family also hosted Ziying, Zuchao, and Enle (Lucas) for a cookout as well. It was so wonderful to see them and spend time together. Lucas is doing great and the love that their family shares is very obvious. As for your thoughts on the new baby...honestly, you were very unsure about what to do with him, spending most of the visit being very shy and skeptical and even getting just a tiny bit jealous any time I was holding or talking to little Lucas. Eventually you got back to your normal silly self and even talked to Lucas on your own a little bit with Daddy. Lao Lao mentioned that as she watched me with Lucas, she was reminded of how I was with you when you first came home. It's funny to think that you were getting jealous of the very same thing that reminded Lao Lao of you and I together. No matter how big you get or what other kids are in my life...you will always be my baby. Capiche?

Enle/Lucas

Lucas loved when Daddy talked to him

After they left, and against my better judgment, I let you ride in the bed of Papaw's pick up truck while Daddy drove you around the circle. You had a blast, yelling to Daddy as you drove, "This is nice!!" but of course you also kept in mind just how dangerous it also was by yelling to the kids on the street, "I'm doing something really bad!!" Ha.

even Suzy got to go for a ride in the passenger seat

And finally, while we celebrated our Family Day a couple weeks ago, we celebrated the 5th anniversary of our flight home this week. On that occasion, July 16th, I posted this to Facebook:

5 years ago today, Shawn Wilkinson, Carol Garrabrant and I were bringing Mali home from China.

Top Left: speeding down a highway in China (no car seats mandatory there ~ yikes!) trying not to miss our airplane and barely making it in time.

Top Right: silhouetted in front of the plane that would take us home to the U.S., as a family.

Bottom Left: Mali, not so sure at all about this whole "airplane thing".

Bottom Right: after 24+ hours of travel, a very tired mama and zonked out toddler touch down in the U.S. Finally home! July 16, 2009

 

And finally, as if we weren't already completely and 100% aware that we have the absolute best and most miraculous kid on the planet, no, in the universe...we get this little note home from school as just one more reminder of your awesomeness. 

Special Message

Mali was a fantastic helper today. She is also a very good friend.

Your teacher told me, not only on that day but every day, you are always so nice and helpful with everyone...stepping in, keeping the peace among your friends, and being a true leader where it counts...choosing kindness every time. I am so proud of you. What's that saying? Blessed are the peacemakers. 

Yep. Seriously, kid. You rock.
Love,
Mama