Our holiday hosting has been an adventure. I am behind blogging about Parker because we all got sick right after Christmas. First we were struck by a cold, then a few of us were struck by a stomach bug. We didn't do too much for a week while we all recuperated.
We had a fantastic Christmas with Parker and my family. On Monday, we took a family trip to Chinatown. Parker got to enjoy finding his zodiac animal, exploring old Chinatown, and enjoying some traditional Chinese food.
I found a lamb recipe from Parker's province and decided to try making it (Cumin Lamb with chillies and Wonton Soup). Parker helped me prepare the vegetables. We had a fun time cooking together. The meal turned out great and he really enjoyed it.
Since I will be traveling sometime during the school year, we took a shorter Christmas break. We have been working on schoolwork and we even had a class on France with some of our friends. Parker wanted to do school with us, so I printed up some math pages and he did great. He loves to get his problems correct. He got upset if he missed them and he would fix them until he got 100%. Wow, can he wear off on my kids??
Learning about France and trying French food!
On Sunday, January 1, Parker and I visited a church in Chinatown. He really enjoyed hearing a service in Mandarin and even met some people who were from his province! Afterward, we visited with some new friends and had great Chinese food!!
We also recently visited the eye doctor. I was fortunate to find a local Chinese student who was able to come with us to the doctor and interpret for Parker. We discovered that the only thing wrong with his eyes is a lazy eye. Since it was never taken care of, his one eye became dominant. We were able to get him a prescription for glasses. Seeing the amazement on his face when he got his glasses two days ago was amazing!! PSA: if you are looking to get glasses, Costco is the way to go. We got 2 pairs of glasses for less then half the price we were quoted at the eye doctor for one pair!!
He couldn't believe that he could see in his "bad" eye. He kept covering his good eye to look through the other eye.
Parker has been talking about "hamburgers" for a few day, so we took him to Top Notch Burgers in Chicago for dinner on Wednesday night. He not only ordered a hamburger, but he also ordered a hot dog. This boy can eat??
Thursday morning I drove Abigail and Grace to their Classical Conversations class in IN. Our tradition is to get donuts on the way to school, because who has time to feed 6, let alone 7, kids at 7:20 in the morning? Parker went into Dough Guys and picked out a bacon maple donut.
Thursday afternoon, we drove back to IN and picked the girls up from class and drove to Rockin' Jump in Carol Stream. The girls had a Groupon from their Grandma to use. We invited friends to come along with us. It was me and 11 kids!! We filled my 12 passenger van to the max. All the kids had fun jumping, especially Parker. He also did some rock wall climbing. I wish we had his glasses for this adventure! The glasses didn't come in until the next day (Friday).
Friday night, we used another Groupon and went ice skating. Parker did great on the ice and had a blast with Ryan (a family friend). Have I mentioned that this boy can eat?? He had breakfast, snack, lunch, a snack (1.5 peanut butter sandwiches), dinner, and then a hamburger at the ice skating rink!!
Parker is an amazing boy. He has loved being able to see with his glasses! He is still waiting for a family to officially pursue him. Parker leaves Chicago in 5 days!
We cannot let this boy age out of the chance to have a family to call his own!!! Please share about Parker with your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors...everyone! Let's find this boy a family!!
If you or someone you know are interested in finding out more information, please contact Meredith Chambers at Great Wall: 512-323-9595 or meredith@gwca.org
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There are some other amazing children waiting for their forever families as well. You can check them out here.
DJ's host mom is also hosting the most amazing girl right now. Her name is Joy and she is just AMAZING!! I would totally sweep her up if I could. You can find out more about this sweet, JOYFUL girl here and here.
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