I blog tonight in spite of my fatigue. I'm exhausted. I refuse to give up, although I feel the weight of everything I've taken on digging into my shoulders at every step. I still want my Chinese daughter. I still want to set good examples for my girls; I want to be an educated, complete woman who has let her light shine as brightly as she could. I have the wish of many mothers: more hours to love her babies, more hours to sleep the weariness away. I spent Saturday night painting dozens of little fingernails, later listening to little girls giggling away the night in happy reverie. Sarah had three little girls from our Louisiana family over for a sleepover, and they all were so happy to be together. Those four little giggling girls are well worth the double mortgage for a while.

I have a test in "Signals and Systems" Wednesday. I need to read and study, but I need my toddler's hugs more. For now, though, I'll heed the signals that my system needs rest. To bed.

Have been much more busy on my Katrina blog lately, but wanted to note that IAAP and Great Wall have new Waiting Child lists.

This post is only tangentially related to China adoption, but I wanted to mention a few things about the hurricane relief efforts that have been swinging into action recently. Apparently Tim found my last post (of September 7th). He was appreciative of my mentioning him, and he also told me that all proceeds from the sale of his CD for the month of September will be going to the hurricane Katrina relief effort (the American Red Cross). SO - if you like good music, buy it this month and you'll do others some good, too!

As an aside, Dave and I have decided to offer a home that we've used as an on-and-off rental property as free, temporary housing to an evacuee family. We can manage this for 6 months, and have lots of incredibly generous help from friends that have offered to help furnish the house and feed the people that arrive to occupy it. To take a look at what we're doing, go to Nashes' Hurricane Katrina Housing Effort.

If you know of any people that are looking for housing - pass our information along! We welcome the opportunity to help.

I don't even know where to start, things have been so crazy around here. Between starting doctoral study, and the kids going back to school, and starting my work again, and Hurricane Katrina news - it's all pretty overwhelming.

To change the subject, I thought I'd focus on a nice note I received from Tim Chauvin recently. He is very musically talented, and has sold his CD to more than a few families that have adopted from China. This is because of the last track on his "Winds of Change" album, entitled "Daughters of China." As Chauvin is an adoptive father of two little girls from China, his song is particularly poignant and meaningful - you can tell his heart is full.

I won't violate his privacy by posting his e-mails here, but I do want to comment that he is a very friendly and likable person (in addition to his musical talents).

Here is my review of his CD (which was posted on the CDBaby website):

Reviewer: Amy Nash

As many reviewers have mentioned, the draw to the CD was originally the
"Daughters of China" track. However, the rest of the CD has songs that are just as
loving and well-constructed. Chauvin's style reminds me a lot of James Taylor,
very warm and classic folk. Thanks so much for a new staple of our
collection! Looking forward to more!

(I do have to mention that Tim said that he liked being compared to James Taylor.... which I can understand!) Anyway, for those adopting from China, or those who simply want a great addition to their CD collection, I highly recommend Chauvin's debut album.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/chauvin