Pelley Family Blog

Here in Cleveland we are nearly setting records for how long we can go without significant snow.  Normally, this would be a good thing.  But Ruby wants snow so badly she can’t stand it.  Even a minimal amount takes her outside.  She’s enjoying her first winter. 

looking in a mirror at the snow in her dark hair

looking out at her first BIG snow

If you have girls, you have hair.   Most Chinese girls come with the “orphange cut”, which can make any mother cry.  It seems to us that after it was known that Ruby was to be adopted, they let her hair grow.  And has it ever grown.  Joanna has given her multiple lessons on keeping it combed, as it seems to grow nests in the back.  I even told her this week that we would cut it off if she couldn’t keep it combed out.  She has new motivation.  Now - a change of directions: we go to church with lots of Black Americans.  The kids are fascinated with Joanna’s hair.  I got this picture of Cleo fixing Joanna up one Sunday.  Like that braid down the front of her face?

I really don’t enjoy making cut-out cookies.  Big time commitment, and time is one thing I don’t seem to have enough of.  I was home with Ruby one Sunday afternoon and decided these cookies needed to be made.  I showed Ruby how to do the first tray full, and she took it from there.  Here are pictures of her fitting as many cutters as possible onto the dough, and the “icing” with Joanna - they got a little too happy!

Ruby LOVES soup.  In her part of China, soup is eaten three times a day.   I’ve been making a lot of soup lately, and got a kick out of Ruby trying to get every last drip out of the pot!

Ruby HATES pizza.  Food continues to be one of the biggest issues for Ruby.  One of Mike’s coworkers put it into perspective - put an American ten year old in China and have him eat their food three meals a day and enjoy it.  You see?  Most mornings, Ruby eats chicken noodle soup.  We kept Campbells in business until she finally decided to like my homemade soup.  Her most distasteful food is pizza.  Think about it - if you don’t like bread, or cheese, or spicy meat, why bother?  Well, she finally eats bread - so I thought if we made our own pizzas some evening - she might start liking it.  We had a great time - but here is what she put on her pizza:  about one tablespoon of sauce, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms.  She loved it!

Hard questions come at the most unexpected times.  As we were decorating our tree, Ruby noticed that Joanna and Grace have ornaments from their first Christmas, and she did not.  She lamented that we have no pictures of her as a baby.  I feel the same.  I’d love to know what she looked like.  I’d love for her to compare that to her children some day.  But, we have nothing before the age of four.  Most of the First Christmas ornaments have babies on them.  Another adoptive mom sent me the link for a company called Mandy’s Moon (www.mandysmoon.com).  She sells all sorts of customized items, and is an adoptive mom herself.  We found the perfect ornament - of an Asian girl with a Christmas tree.  The inscription has “First Christmas Home” and Ruby’s name.  I highly recommend this company.  I may use them for all the girls ornaments next year.  Anyhow, as they decorated the tree,  Ruby was thrilled to find an ornament with her picture in it - and we explained that we had this on our tree last year - in anticipation of her coming.