Mashed potatoes and chop sticks

Hi all - I'm busy loving every minute with Lily. Grandma came to visit a few days after Sheila and Ger left. Thank God! I hadn't counted on that level of jet lag or lack of free time. It probably tells me in one of those magazines or books I was supposed to read to get organized BEFORE the baby arrives. Oh well. Instead of the 48 projects I had in mind for 10 days, Mom - being a great mom - did what I needed, instead of what I wanted. We had a great visit, and she left us in good shape.

While grandma was here, I learned that there will be lots of blending of the cultures. We went out for dinner to Park Chow one evening when Lily was crashed out after her first immunizations. When she woke up, we improvised, and fed her mashed potatoes off of a chop stick. I'm sure there will be lots of new tricks in the Briscoe homes, but I thought that one was funny. It worked quite well. Who knew!



Now, Lily and I are off to NJ this week until mid-June. The Briscoe girls won't believe how much she's learned. And the Briscoe men are about to be swept off their feet. Happy summer to all!!

Maryellen & Lily

Life in San Francisco

So far, so good! Lily is doing great. Aside from her clock being off, she is wonderful. What a wonderful disposition she has. Grandma arrived today, and she took to her immediately. Not that anyone had any doubt about that!

Lily is sitting up and reaching well - and she has her first tooth! She LOVES bath time, and being with lots of people. She's met Diana, Ginny, Leticia, Martha, the Madden/Williams, Kathleen and the Sweeters. Timmy, Carolyn and Lily are getting along well - a huge relief to me. Timmy - 5yo, wanted to hold her and did a great job. Carolyn, 2yo, wanted to hold "it", and needs a little work, but will be helping Lily with lots of new skills soon.

Lily's new home has been quiet without her aunties around. I found this among the pictures, and realize it may have been even more quiet if I wasn't keeping watch.


A sincere thank you to everyone who has called, written and sent us your prayers. The prayers have definitely been answered.

Peace - Maryellen & Lily

Shopping with Lily

Hi - Maryellen here. I got Lily to bed, at 1:15am, and now I can't sleep, so I thought I'd add to the blog. Many thanks to Ger for the great coverage. I've decided she needs to write the book - and I'll edit it - in true big sister fashion.

Although this is out of order, I wanted to add in some photos of our shopping trip. We've commented on it before - but we had not gotten to the pearls! We were taken to the pearl and jade markets in Guangzhou for 1 hour. THIS is power shopping. We actually stayed on longer to check out the jade market, with our new friend Connie. We're glad we did. The pearl market was like a huge mall of only pearls. The jade market had indoor and outdoor vendors. It was very interesting.

Lily, like most innocent children, likes nothing better than paper, boxes and plastic bags. But . . . she's narrowing in on her favorite type of paper . . . and she started to understand that she was in charge














































She's clever too. She kept hearing about shopping and bargains - and finally cashed in.



















She shopped 'til she dropped. She's good, but she doesn't yet have the years of training that we have from her grandmother.
















She actually received one beautiful strand of pearls and earrings from Grandma and Grandpa - which she will treasure forever.