Hi...my name is Deb.....and it has been 10 days since my last blog.
Wow...where did the time go?

Here are a few highlights from our past few weeks...

Great nephew Adrian Fitch - What a cutie!

Rob and Connie Spofford visited Shanghai. They are on a 9 week train tour across Russia, Mongolia, China and Vietnam......
Abi has been playing a lot of volleyball....
Abi (#6) on the move
Volleyball group - senior girls and senior boys from each team
volleyball stretch
and more stretching...

The city tournament was yesterday and the girls team placed second. They lost after two very competitive games...one went into over time. Oh my gosh....it was so fun to watch and so tense.......Abi got a lot of play time and had her best games ever......that is a nice way to end the city season. Next week we are off to the Philippines for another tournament. The school joined a new league this year so they will be playing teams from Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, China, Korea, .....and one other country that I can't remember. It should be very exciting....and Hey!...we get to visit a new country!

Other highlights....

Scuba interim presentation at school....this is our neighbor and Abi's friend Lucas modeling the "equipment"

Abi with other members of the "scuba squad"

Do you remember Baby Bing? She came to Bettie, one of my quilting friends, after she had been abandoned in Hainan , traveled to Shanghai by train, and had surgery. The last time I saw her was before summer. She was just a tiny thing with little bird legs. Now she is thriving!!! Thank God for Bettie who has such a warm heart and the skills and ability to take Bing into their home and keep her healthy and happy.

I was so happy to have a "baby fix" today. Baby Bing just smiled and let me snuggle her.
What a miracle she is!

You will be happy to know that families are standing in line to adopt her.

It is starting to feel like Fall in Shanghai. While we were in Houston the weather started to change. Yippee...this is my favorite season of the year!


Funny story for today....
I was sitting in our lobby waiting for my exercise partner and one of the Ayis came in to wash the glass doors. He had a bucket of water, a rag, and a sponge thingy with a handle. However his cleaning method was very interesting. He leaned into the door and breathed on the glass. This created a "fogged" area which he then wiped with the rag. Of course he was "breathing" right next to the handle that everyone uses to go in and out of the door. Gross!!! He continued this "cleaning" method all over the door....so at one point he was on his knees..leaning his head to the floor so he could fog up the glass at the bottom of the door. I had to work really hard to keep from laughing out loud......Ah....TJC....(That's just China!)

Things are better this week and I think I found my sense of humor again.

Our entertainment for today.... The Shanghai Museum

You know how we think something is an antique if it is 50 years old....well....we looked at things today that were 7000 years old. Wow!!! Suddenly I feel very young!

Did you know that porcelain is mined? I don't know where I thought it came from but I did not think it came out of the ground like coal....

And....I found out today that our new dining room chair design came from the Ming Dynasty....

Bet you could not have made it through the day without these little factoids!

Scuba diving in Hainan

Abi holding a....thing

They called it "underwater velcro"


Abi with friend Amanda
Having fun on the dive platform
Abi's new best friend....the sea cucumber

Look it's Nemo!

Abi said the "Nemo" fish look cute but they are not very nice!
They like to bite and smash into your goggles.

This week is one of China's "golden weeks"......which means it is a HOLIDAY! Abi and I watched an amazing display of fireworks last night from our apartment window. Living on the 36th floor has it's advantages!

I woke up at 5:00 this morning......what a bummer when it is a holiday! I guess I am a bit "lagged" from the trip to Houston. Abi woke up at 1:30 this afternoon....I guess she was a bit tired after scuba diving all week. Tim is in Qunshan....working on the holiday....Big Big Bummer!!!

We are back in China. We were very lucky though...the plane from Chicago was not very full so Tim had four seats and I had three. We slept a good portion of the 14 hour flight. Travel time from Houston to Shanghai is about 22 hours. We arrived in Shanghai around 2:00pm and went home to take a shower. Then.....we went back to the airport to pick up Abi.

Sights from Houston

Houston was recovering from the hurricane...many people were still without power and we could see damage on store signs and in the streets where piles of tree limbs were being collected. There were tons of power trucks in the city from all over the country. We passed one mall parking lot that was completely filled with trucks.

Neighborhoods with tree damage



The weather was actually very nice in Houston. Much cooler than Shanghai.

Highlights from our trip....Tim had a few days away from work...and...we had dinner with friends that we had not seen in many years! It was great seeing you Alan and Joyce!