Operation China Warm-Up

Most of us do not have to worry about our children staying warm this winter. However, now that the temps are beginning to drop, my mind is constantly straying back to those many winter days I spent walking through the rows of babies in the orphanage-- babies who were dressed in three layers of clothes and then strapped down in their cribs with no ability to move, roll over or work the numb muscles. Sound sad? Yes-- it does but it is true. One need I remember having each year was for warm sweaters for the infants, toddlers and other children.

If you would like to pick up a sweater or two and mail it to me, I will be sending off a box of sweaters to two orphanages. I cannot say which, as one was the orphanage I wrote about in Silent Tears; A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage. You may not know exactly where it is located but I can promise you that the children will benefit from your gift of warmth.

Please only send sweaters with buttons or zippers, as these are the most convenient for the orphanage ayis to use. Size 6 month and larger needed. You can email me at kaybratt70@hotmail.com for the address to mail your donation to.

Thank you for reaching out to the children I left behind.

You Have To Make this Soup!

I spent the morning making this awesome soup! Just spicy enough...but not so much that my daughter won't eat it. I had it for lunch and I'll feed it to the family for supper. It is really, really delicious---especially today when it has suddenly turned cold here in Georgia!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1.5 skinless chicken breasts

1 Can black beans

1 can Yellow sweet corn

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can diced tomatoes w/chilies

4 cans chicken broth

2 tsp olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

1 medium onion any color

1 jalapeno seeded and chopped

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1. Boil chicken for 20-25 minutes. Cool and then shred with forks.

2. Chop onion, jalapeno, green pepper and garlic clove

3. In large pot heat olive oil then saute veggies until soft

4. Add cumin and chili powder

5. Add shredded chicken, chicken broth, corn, black beans, all tomato sauces/etc

Bring to a boil then simmer for one hour. Eat with tortilla chips or corn bread.

SOOOOOOOOooooooo good!!!

Finding Treasures

See my latest post here!

Win a children's Mandarin Picture Book!

I will be doing most of my blogging from my website now. In recognition of a newly designed site, I am doing a giveaway. But you have to go to the new blog to enter!

Just go to www.kaybratt.com and find the blog page. There will be two lucky winners!

For you SILENT TEARS readers who remember Jia Jia in the book, here is an update:

It's been a long time since I sent an e-mail about Jia Jia but I guess cause we are just living our normal everyday life and there isn't much new going on. But there has been a special event that happened last week. Jia Jia graduated kindergarten! She is such a different little girl than when she first started school. She speaks very good english, although there are still some things she doesn't say right but I think that's the case with all kids at her age. She can write her name and spell her name, first and last. She can read small words, she can say the days of the weeks and the months in the year and so on. Her teacher was so proud of her improvement. She also has picked up phrases like My feet are "killing" me and I am "burning" up. It's pretty funny. She also tells the other kids when she wants something from them "I'll be your best friend".

She will be 7 in November. It's hard to believe she is that old. Well anyways, here are some pictures from her graduation and I stuck one in there of her having fun at Chuck E Cheeses.