It’s complete.  A&M, here she comes.

May 18 is our 6th anniversary of Julia’s homecoming – what we call “Sisters Day.”

Julia’s fearful walk from the “machina” to her new “dom” Mary 18, 2006.  Thanks to Shelley for thinking to take a picture – I sure didn’t have sense enough to suggest it.

Sister’s Day is a great day to blog Lois’ “most influential” essay.  So here goes:

The Most Influential Person in My Life

by Lois Julia Woodworth

She is four feet and four  inches tall, weighs barely fifty pounds, jabbers far too often, and loves me. She has brown hair, olive skin, dark eyes, and a scar from a polio shot on her left arm. She sleeps twenty feet away from me, wakes me in the night when she’s scared, and holds my hand when we cross the street. She joined my family five and a half years ago one May night, and she has drastically altered my life course every second since. She is Julia – my sister – and she is the most influential person in my life.

Julia began stretching her will into my life before she even came home from Russia. In late 2004, my parents asked my sisters and I if we would like to have another sister. After a few side discussions, we decided to expand our family. I began to imagine life with another sister that very night. One of my sisters -  Hannah – would have to share her room with the new addition, and the three of us would share a bathroom, but I was convinced the new sister would be worth it. Julia made me much more open to sharing and considering the needs of others long before she fearfully stepped into her new “dom” (house.)

The wait for Julia’s adoption taught me patience. My family waited more than a year for the name alone of the little girl soon to be a Woodworth.  When her name and picture were revealed to us, I was shocked.  Julia – called by her name of “Guanna” at the time  -was frail and weak. Her hair hung like brittle branches around her hollow face.  Instantly, I felt protective of this child, this orphan whom would soon arrive in my midst. Through the long months of  the adoptive process until my parents went to meet her in St. Petersburg, Julia taught me that patience cannot be overvalued.

When Julia finally did come home in May 2006, my life was truly changed. The first barrier between us was one of language. Guanna spoke only Russian; I knew nowhere near enough Russian to understand her, or respond to her. We worked out a series of hand gestures and pantomime to facilitate communication. It was this process which taught me that love did not need a language to be expressed.

Julia also inspired me to be a better person. My younger sister Hannah and I had never really gotten along; she never looked up to me for anything. When Julia came home, I knew that I needed to be the best person possible for her. I helped her draw, taught her English words and phrases, and stayed with her until she fell asleep at night. I loved her more with every passing day. Julia -  just by existing – taught me that I am the master of my own behavior. She made me want to learn self-control and practice self-awareness.

Julia arrived at my house as a fragile stranger and blossomed into a beautiful preteen girl. During her metamorphosis, I changed as well. Julia taught me the value of patience,  how to be self-aware and how to sing “Frere Jacques” in Russian.  I taught her what to call our family members, where Mom hides the Girl Scout cookies and how to turn on the shower. Julia and I learned a great deal from each other, the most important of all being love.

Hang on, Lois!  A&M is going to be a wild ride.

I’ve missed one, though, these last six years, though I think of her often. She’s young – but ageless. Speaks Russian – but soundless. Important – but formless. And not here – but omnipresent. She’s Julia’s “first mother,” the one who gave her life.

We know very little about her. She couldn’t be found before our May 10, 2006 court date. I wish we had a picture of her at least. Does she have Julia’s sparklingly dark, slightly-slanted eyes? Is she athletic? Is it she who gave Julia that unusual strands-of-gold-in-brunette hair? We will likely never know.

Our earliest picture of Guanna-to-be-Julia, which we snagged off the Russian data base of orphans.  She was about 18 months old. 

There’s no denying that first mother. I’m Julia’s mom, but I didn’t birth her. I didn’t count her fingers and toes, or coo at her, or stumble around at night heating bottles. I didn’t clap at her first step, or grin at her first word. Julia has my heart, but she doesn’t have my DNA.

We’ve talked about her first mother from time to time. Mostly I bring her up. I don’t want Julia afraid to ask about her, or think that she can’t love us both. I love all four of my daughters; loving two mothers is just as natural. I’ve answered her questions as best I can. I have lots of conjectures, but not many facts.

What I do know is that Julia’s first mother loved her enough to give birth to her. She was young with no one to help her, and likely very frightened. No one threw her a baby shower. No friends at church thought to loan her maternity clothes, or a car seat. No one sent flowers to the hospital, or brought over dinner, or offered to babysit so she could run to the store. No one congratulated her for giving birth to such a beautiful, beautiful baby.

So today I want to thank her for giving birth to such a beautiful, beautiful baby.

Happy Mother’s Day, First Mom.  Our girl is doing just fine.

On the way south – a stop at Van’s Bar-B-Q for really delicious brisket served on waxed paper with onion, pickles and a jalapeno on the side.  Their heavily-grafetti’ed tin walls now sport a “Team Katniss” slogan.  As we approached Nuevo Progresso, Lois asked, “The beer billboards are all in Spanish now.  Does that mean we’re close?”

 The obligatory “between two countries” shot. 

“Bike Expo and Tattoo Convention” – two good reasons not to return on Cinco de Mayo. 

First great find of the day – purses for me.  For more than a decade, I’ve used backpack purses exclusively.  They’re hard to find.  Last month – while battling a migraine – I accidentally cut the straps of the purse I was using.  Dumb.  Lois was using her Vera Bradley backpack purse (left) which just happened to be in my favorite Yellow Bird pattern.  I sweetly asked her if I could borrow it until we went to Mexico.  Or maybe I dumped its contents into a Wal-mart plastic bag, shoved that at her and grumbled, “You wouldn’t mind loaning me your purse for a month, would you?”  Either way – she loaned me hers.  I bought three identical black leather backpack purses at $23@.  That should hold me a few years.  Normally, women buy knock-off Coach bags, and Juicy, and the like.  I don’t care about the label.  I care about the functionality.

Sweet Sop drink mix thrilled Keith and Hannah.

Begin fanned by an older sister?  Oh, no, Julia’s not spoiled.   After all…..

…she begged for a sword and didn’t get one.  You ever heard five people all shout “No!” at once?!

The most exquisite items we saw:  Collapsible tin nativity sets – but these were different than we’d seen before.  In addition to the holy family, they sported prop-up wise men and their transport animals, including an elephant.  The colors were jewel-brilliant

A great view of the main drag from the third-floor of Angel’s “Bar, Restaurant and Dental Clinic.”  Lunch for six with drinks, an appetizer and entrees:  $40.  Their warm salsa with salty chips – magnifico!  Try the cheese enchilladas and the chicken tacos.  Good store on the ground floor, too. 

Mexican dresses – a “must buy.”  Lois favors the wrap-around, wispy style; Rachel, Hannah and Julia are more traditionalists. 

Street vendors asked $5/pair for sunglasses – but we paid $4/pair, of course.

This is what a talavera elephant, manatee and bird look like in the store.

Box them with a talavera chicken, and they look like this, i.e., taking up most of the back of the Expedition.  Come by this summer and you can see what they look like in the backyard menagerie.  We drove by a “Rent-A-Tire” business and Lois asked, “Can you do anything with those tires?  Or are you limited to driving?”

For the first time ever – we crossed the border twice.  Normally, we are “go up one side of the street, down the other, and go home” people.  We were getting ready to leave Sunday morning when Lois realized she couldn’t find a $2 name bracelet she just had to have.  I stayed with the packed car while Keith took the girls  back across.  The good part:  We learned all the stores and the street vendors are open Sunday.  We’d always thought we had to shop Monday – Saturday.   This gives us a little more flexibility in scheduling family outings.

A spill of bright red soda on Hannah’s one remaining clean shirt prompted her to ask Keith for his last clean shirt – a spiffy blue Hawaiian number.  Rachel accused her of trying to “grab all the hot babes” with it.  Hannah was the only one who thought to bring movies to watch on the five-hour drive.  They watched “Halloween Town” on the drive down.  Rachel begged for a different flick on the drive home, so Hannah gleefully pulled “Halloween Town 2″ from her purse.

Lest we forget why the border agents have a tough job…..

Esperamos volver – we hope to go again next year.  Angel’s chicken tacos are calling……

Fast forward to the last two weeks.  I’ve left no challenge uncursed.  My children have have endured my stress, judgment and exhaustion.  From a mysterious “Walking Dead” rash on my face to the torn pantyhose encasing my tired toes - I have just stumbled and grumbled through each day, allowing activity and worry to suck my joy.  Until tonight – when Rachel showed me her latest doodle.   Her “What I’m Thankful For” list made me do my two favorite things: laugh and think.

If I composed my own Top 50 list, it wouldn’t contain “25 Wiggling My Ears,” or “38 Guinea Pigs.”  But it would certainly include “2 My Family.”

I’m surprised “Sunglasses” didn’t make her list.  She’s always loved them. 

Thank you, Rachel – and everyone – who makes me laugh and think.

If I had a list – the good kind! – you’d be on it.

Rachel has been our next gen early adopter of all shiny objects with buttons.  Here’s a four-minute jaunt through her technology graveyard.  Of course, she’s the one I took to the office at age 12 to help with a volunteer project -  mailing T-shirts.  At lunch she asked me, “Mom, have you ever heard of a typewriter?  It’s kind of like a printer but it’s just text.”

Lately, I’ve been reading about “nomophobia,” or the acute fear of being out of cell phone contact.  At first I thought, “That’s just one more twitch of the psyche for people without enough real problems.”   But Hannah’s question made me think, and I see that I, too, have succumbed to nomophobia. My AT&T iPhone is either in my purse, in my hand, on my desk or charging on the kitchen counter.  I’d be lost now without it – literally, and figuratively.

Last month, I represented AT&T at the Ft. Lauderdale  She Streams vlogging conference.  I shot this picture with my iPhone.  From a cab window!  In years past, I would have taken a camera with me.  Photobucket has a lovely app for direct upload.  You don’t lose your pixel quality like you do emailing and then uploading shots from a p.c.

My phone is my entertainment (Words with Friends).   Before I get to work in the morning, I’ve scanned my office and personal email using the WI-fi on the bus.  If I’m lost, I either use its GPS, or call Keith to direct me from his.  I use a credit card at Sam’s for the rebate, but don’t like the big bill at the end of the month.  Before I leave the store, I’ve logged into my bank account and sent a payment to cover the charged amount.  One of my older girls has an unexpected expenditure – I can move money to her account.  I don’t carry my bible to church any more – I use the app.  I text my “MyCokeRewards” now.  Heck, I text with my older girls all day.  Keith gave me directions within a building once using Facetime – I could show him where I was.  We’ve stopped printing Groupons, etc. – we use our phones.  The trip to Ft. Lauderdale was the first time I used an electronic boarding pass – swiped my phone, got on the plane.

I am not a fantasy book lover.  Hardly ever read the stuff.  But I did read Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” series, and there was a recurrent phase that totally resonated with me:  “The world has moved on.”

Our world really has moved on.  I have noticed that those most folks contemptuous/suspicious/irritated  of or by wireless smart phone (smart phone + has an operating system, uses a data plan) usually live in a very well-defined niche.   That’s not saying a niche is “good” or “bad” – simply that “it is.”   When we lived in Houston, I was more “niche-y” than anyone I know now.  If you’re in a niche, you know that one place to stop and get directions.   Email is something you might check daily – or not.  You carry paper pictures tucked in crevices of a wallet still sporting a check book.  You don’t shop much – if ever – online because you go to the same stores which likely feature paper coupons.   Your friends may be in the same type of niche, which works well.   The rub, of course, is that tricky next generation, and the one after that, and the one after that.  Because the next generation never goes backward on connection methods, and they don’t wait.  The world keeps moving on.

Because the world keeps moving on, I’d watch for nomophobia to become more and more prevalent – in fact, I think it’ll be the norm.

You could call your doctor about it, of course.

Just don’t try to use a pay phone to do it.

Tonight Keith and I enjoyed Lois’ “Summa Reception.”  I’d never heard of one until this year.  This is so cool.   High school seniors with 100+ grade point averages each choose one teacher who has most influenced them.  (Lois’ GPA is 108, and she is ranked 24th of 598.  Yes, I’m bragging.  Are you surprised?)

The students and teachers are honored at a reception and ceremony.  Tonight, 94 “summa seniors” at Ronald Reagan High School offered remarks about their “summa teachers.”  Several teachers were from elementary school days; several from middle school, including a band director (chosen twice) with whom we worship; two students chose their mothers who were also elementary school teachers.   A uniformed summa senior chose his ROTC instructor, a retired Army sergeant.  The Model UN sponsor whom Hannah admires so much -  chosen three times.  One summa senior quoted a long passage from Shakespeare to thank his English teacher.  Neat, neat, neat variety.

Lois chose Carolyn Trigilio, her calculus teacher of two years.   Lois, by the way, is secretary of the Calculus Club.  And took first place in the state competition for Latin Derivatives  last weekend, plus second in Latin Grammar.  But I digress.  Frequently.

Hard to hear, I know.  Here are Lois’ remarks about Ms. Trigilio:  “A recent study showed that students conform to a teacher’s expectations for them, and vice-versa.  If this is really the case, I cannot begin to guess what Ms. Trigilio expected of me.  I would often enter her classroom ready to learn with more energy than either of us knew what to do with.  Still, Ms. Trigilio was calm, oddly personable and a superb teacher.  Ms. Trigilio’s silent method and sly smirks proved not only efficient but also encouraging to her classes.  Thank you, Mrs. Trigilio for challenging and fostering me for two of the longest years of my life.”

During the reception, I overheard several teachers expressing their honor and delight at being chosen.  Wow.  What a motivator.    The teachers get a bucket of recognition from the parents and students, as well as the NEISD brass (the superintendent himself opened the evening.)  The students get the privilege of publicly recognizing the teachers.  The parents get to clap for their kids, plus personally thank the teacher – hard to gripe about property taxes with this kind of evening, right?   Win-win-win.  And what did it cost?  A few trays of sandwiches, two bowls of punch, 200 fold-over programs for the parents, and 150 multi-page booklets for the students and teachers.

I think that’s brilliant.

Like a certain high school senior I know.

The kind of “senior moment” I like to have!

Red velvet, too – yum!

Sarah always makes us very welcome, which is fortunate – since we’re coming to her house regardless.  With all our bags.  And pillow pets.  And 12-packs of Diet Coke.  Which everyone will have to step around in the entry way, so sorry, really, Clark, we’ll be taking it with us when we leave here next month.

Couch Fulla Cousins:  James, 5; Rachel, 20; Julia, 12; Lois, 18; Hannah, 16; Laura, 8.  Strange to think this may be our last spring break with a full house, since Lois leaves for A&M in the fall.

We spent Monday the Houston Livestock Show.  I don’t like animals, but I love the fair atmosphere.  Plus we got a free koozie for checking in on Facebook, and I’m all about the $Free.99.

Julia’s first candy apple, inspired by cousins Laura and James.  Sarah and I swore we were going to devour fried Milky Way bars, but when we got to the concession stand, we were just too hot and tired to think about them.  Neither of us had sense enough to wear shorts instead of jeans.  We slurped multiple bottles of cool water instead of licking gooey caramel deliciousness from our fingers.  Next year, Sarah – next year.

Don’t let these babies get your goat, girls.

Cabrito on the hoof!  Hannah was smiling a lot more Monday than she has been today.  She had six (count ‘em – six!) wisdom teeth removed this morning, plus an oral cyst.  Glad we went to Houston earlier because we’ll sure be staying close to home the remainder of spring break.

Julia spent about 10 minutes in front of the bee exhibit, trying to locate the queen.  I joked, “She looks a lot like me!”  But alas – my humor was lost on her.  Sigh.

So Happy Pi Day – and Spring Break!  Hope you have a sweet to celebrate – maybe even a fried Milky Way.

The holidays are coming – be ready!

Rachel, Lois and Hannah each got a special trip for their ninth birthdays.  I took Rachel to American Girl Place in Chicago.  Keith took Lois whale watching in Seattle, and Hannah to San Francisco.

Keith took my very favorite picture e-v-e-r of Hannah on her special trip.  He had a full day planned, but she saw the Pacific ocean and begged to stop.  That’s where they spent most of the day.  This pictures captures “her” – joy and abandon.

But for Julia’s ninth birthday – the trip just didn’t work out.  We had first-year college expenses for Rachel, plus we were saving vacation time and every dime for the family cruise in December.  Julia wasn’t home to hear about the trips of Rachel, Lois and Hannah so I’m not sure her being shorted was bothering her as much as it bothered me.

One day, Keith and I would like to take her back to Russia to visit.  Let her see the beauty of St. Petersburg.  But that is a few years away, sooooo….

To celebrate her recent (12th) birthday, I took Julia to Space Center Houston to have lunch with an astronaut.  Rachel and Hannah couldn’t afford to miss work, school, Girl Scouts, etc. but Lois – grinning wickedly about “senior spring” – tagged along.

Julia’s fifth grade teacher  has their room decorated in “Early NASA.”   They’ve held several video conferences with NASA’s educational staff, and next week – they’re studying the moon.  Great timing for this trip, no?

When we lived in Houston, we visited often.  Lois (center) was only five years old in 1998 when “Space Family Woodworth” shot their Christmas card photo on site.

The three-story playground – a huge hit.   I, however, preferred the stairs to return to the ground level.

The older girls tease Julia about having a “six pack of abs,” but those weren’t much help lifting a planetary-adjusted weight.

While Julia spun around 360 degrees in this capsule….

…Lois and I could watch her on this exterior screen.  Omigosh!  Good that we did this before lunch.

Before enjoying lunch with astronaut Ken Cameron, we heard him speak for 30 minutes in the Blast Off Theater.  He spent a year training in Russia with cosmonauts.  My favorite Russian had a million questions for him – until he sat down at our table.  Then it was all “nodding of the head” and “chewing of the chicken strips.”

One small girl; one giant Saturn V rocket – part of the tram tour.  You may be asking, “Where are all the other people?”  Answer:  We went on a rainy Friday.  We had the place virtually to ourselves.  We never waited in line,  or had to elbow someone at a display.  It was awesome.  The perfect time to go!

The Saturn V building made great use of QR codes.  Lois and I got a huge kick out of scanning the codes for more info like…..

….a photo of and links to more info on the third stage.  Don’t have the AT&T scanner?  Well, heck - get it now!

The magic of a green screen!

We ended the day (5 p.m.) where we began (10 a.m.) – in the play area.  Julia absolutely loved building motorized “lunar rovers.”   This is my favorite picture of the day because it captures her fascination and concentration.

Next year, Julia will be a teenager and we’ll start those delightful adolescent experiences.

But for this year – I’m glad to still have a child to enjoy an out-of-this-world birthday.

Tonight she helped lead worship for the students at church. Of all the things I will miss when she leaves, her beautiful harmonizing alto will be among them.

And really – when I see her leading the many to focus on The One – she could tell me she was going to drop out and dig ditches and I’d be just fine with it.

Maybe.

Well, not really.

But I do love to her my girls sing.

Speaking of music….we sang “Happy Birthday” to a certain 12-year-old this morning….but more on that later….