We had two Chinese girls staying with us over the last 12 days. Luna and Vincens were delightful young women who enjoyed staying with us and especially enjoyed my chicken fried rice dish. Yessiree, this Italian girl can make Chinese chicken fried rice!

Farewell party with Luna and Vincens.

Caroline's tooth came out at the party shortly after this photo was taken.

The group of students and their families.

Off they go to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, DC, Boston, and home to China!

How We Spent Our 4th of July Holiday

Here's how we spent our 4th of July holiday:

We picked - and ate - lots of cherries from Grandma's tree:



We had water cannon fights.





And made our own little hot tub, albeit with cold water:


Peter decided to try it. Notice the extreme water displacement.


Can you tell he is entering the teenage years soon?? Notice the hand protecting the IPod.


Meanwhile, my girl decides to continue playing...and posing.


Haven't seen a commercial for hair sweeping like this in years!

And then it's back to ladylike poses.


On Tuesday, we went through some boxes in the crawl space above the linen closet. I went through all these books to donate to the library. There are more up there, but here are about 12 bags of books. Can you say, " Hello Kindle"??

Hope your holiday was filled with gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy here. We're not perfect, but we are free thanks to the men and women who sacrificed their very lives for our freedom and to the Founding Fathers who risked their lives to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Hard Questions

When we adopted our children, I knew there would inevitably be tough questions coming from their ever-growing, curious minds. Since Peter was adopted domestically through open-adoption, his questions can be answered honestly and with considerable detail to fill in the gaps the questions are directed to. Born to teenagers, they simply were not prepared to be parents and picked us. There's more, of course, but that's the basic story.

Today Caroline asked me to tell her her story.

Caroline's story is not so easy.

Caroline was born in China. Her adoption is another casualty of China's "One-Child" policy.

We've told her before about how we went to China to adopt her and how happy we were.

Clearly today, that was not enough.

While we were at Target having a snack, she asked me to tell her the WHOLE story. And if you know my daughter, she knows exactly what she is asking. When I imagined this day, I did not imagine telling the story at a table in Target. But, life has rarely turned out the way I imagined it....

She was left at the door of the Civil Administration Building in the City of Huaihua in the Hunan Province.

She was 12 days old.

It was raining the morning they found her in the springtime. She was given the name "Chun Yu" which means "Spring Rain."

She was found with a note that indicated her birthday, the time she was born, and that she was the 2nd daughter born to her parents. That's all we know.

"Why was I left there, why didn't they keep me?"

"Because they would be in trouble with the government."

I explained that China has a one-child policy and that mommies and daddies are only allowed to have one child and that her birthparents already had a child. They held her for 11 days before they left her.

"Why didn't they just hide me?"

"Because if the government found out, they would be in trouble."

"Why did the government make this law?"

"Because there are a lot of people in China and they were afraid that they would run out of food." (Trying to keep it simple for her to understand)

"It's not fair."

"You're right, honey. It's not fair."

"Well, it's a good thing you came and got me or I may have starved in that orphanage!"

"Well, I'm just happy that I got to be your mom! Daddy and I love you very, very much."

Hugs....

Later as we were shopping, she said, "I'm glad your my mom and I love my family."

Me too, baby girl. Me too.

I LOVE technology! It Makes the World So Much Smaller!

So a little backstory is fitting here.

Six years ago, while we were in Changsha adopting Caroline we were staying at the Dolton Hotel in Changsha, Hunan Province. The morning that we were to meet Caroline for the first time, we had breakfast in the hotel. Our waitress was named Sandy. She saw us praying for our meal and asked if we were Christians. We told her that we were. She was very happy and said that she was also a Christian and how God had transformed her life. Anyway, a few days later, she asked if we wanted to visit her church. We were thrilled to and she gave us the address of the church. We took a cab to the church and while we were there, a man came out and motioned to us to follow him. He was the assistant to the priest and we were escorted into his office/apartment. We got a chance to chat with them and pray with them and they with us. It was a sweet time.

This was us meeting with the priest and his assistant. The priest is holding Peter:



Sandy was such a sweet girl of 21 at the time (she is now 27). We kept in touch with her by email over the years and recently found out that she is here in S. CA! We arranged to meet her yesterday and went shopping. Caroline absolutely adored her and has been calling her "my big sister." This made Sandy happy because she does not have a little sister.

It was a blessing to meet Sandy in China and it was a bigger blessing to be able to see here here in the US.

This was us with Sandy back in 2005:



This is Sandy with Caroline today:

Caroline loved Sandy.

And the feeling was mutual.

As you can see, Peter and Caroline have grown up quite a bit since we were in China. Caroline is actually a year older than Peter was when we went to China! Amazing!

Sandy is as beautiful now as she was then. She told me that I look much younger than I am. I want to keep her!

Caroline was ok with that!

So Proud of this Kid!

Peter's middle school had their awards ceremony last week.

I should preface this by saying that the teachers were allowed to choose only 8 students in each class of 20+ students.

I am so proud of my son. He received 2 awards! He received the Principal's Award for Educational Achievement and an award for Academic Excellence in Social Science!

Each student stood on the stage while the announcer explained why this student stood out to the teacher. It was a great night for him and we took him out for his favorite food: ice cream!

Friendship

It's always nice to have the friendship that spans your entire lifetime.

The person you spent your very first year of your life with before your parents came to get you.

Who will always have your hand.

As you navigate your futures.

The Miraculous Sound of Silence

The sudden silence in the back seat caught me off guard. I thought something had gone terribly wrong. So I checked on them and found this:

Then, I thought that Caroline's neck might get sore. I guess I didn't need to worry because when I checked on them again, I found this:

Amazingly, neither of them was saying "Stop touching me!"