Searching for a Routine

Thursday, August 6th-10:30 P.M.

Will started back to work on Wednesday. I know that it was hard for him to leave his new little daughter. For eighteen years Will has had the same routine, up at 5:30, off to work by 6:45. All it took for him to change his routine is one little girl named Isabel. For Will's first day back at work he had the perfect vision of a nice family breakfast. Every other day that would be fine since Isabel is usually an early riser. Of course, Isabel quickly burst his bubble. Wednesday morning was the day that Isabel chose to sleep in. I tried to tell Will that this family breakfast idea was fine while I wasn't working, however I just couldn't make any promises after I started back to work. I tried to assure him that Pop Tarts probably came in some type of Asian variety. Thank heavens Isabel helped me out of this one by sleeping late.

For the last two days we have been trying to establish a daily routine. Each morning after breakfast we begin our work on English. We've been working in basic reading books on phonics and sight words. We have also been using the computer to visit various children's educational websites. Isabel has never worked on the computer so this really seems to hold her attention. Each morning Isabel does a little more and, if nothing else, puts my mind at ease that she will be fine.

Today was day four of visiting Asian restaurants in Dalton. Will and I have started rating each restaurant with a similar scale to our hotel Chinese lantern scale. We rate on a 1-10 Chinese Chop Sticks scale. We thought about becoming Asian restaurant food critics and having a column in the Daily Citizen on Sundays. If you need any information about an area Asian restaurant please contact us at
555-ASIA. It really has been nice because each day we've met someone at each restaurant that speaks Chinese and will have a conversation with Isabel in her native tongue. The people that we have met have been so kind. They always offer their phone number and tell us not to hesitate to call and they will translate. They are just being incredibly nice but they will never know how much it means to us. We've added them all to our Chinese hot line list.

Isabel has met so many people in the last four days. We were afraid that she may be overwhelmed but she seems to be taking it all in stride. Yesterday she met friends from the bank and Dalton Public Schools central office including the superintendent. I went to school this afternoon to pick up a few things from work. Isabel was able to meet many of the teachers. Everyone was so sweet to her and I know that she had to enjoy the attention. I feel that this child will have so many people that will love her and watch over her. I must say I don't know what I did to get so lucky to work at such a wonderful school.

This evening Isabel asked to call the orphanage. Well, she didn't ask. She brought her little notebook with numbers to Will and then pointed to the phone. He asked her if she wanted to call China and she said yes. She made the call. We put the phone on speaker phone and listened but please don't ask us what was said. She chatted up a storm. We can only image what was said but she did seem to enjoy it and the phone was handed off several times during the conversation. Today we picked up our pictures from the trip. We think that seeing the pictures of friends made Isabel a little homesick.

She was so worth the wait!
Hugs and kisses to all!

Will, Marla, and Isabel