Catching Snowflakes!

Snow:
It just keeps snowing! Yesterday, I snapped this picture when I came to pick up Olivia after school. The snowflakes were huge and all the children were happily running to catch them. Winter is such a beautiful time of year here. The snow has been steadily covering the ground since some time in November. Sometimes it starts to melt but pretty soon a new storm will come and dump some more.

Grace and school:

Grace loves going to school! She had a wonderful time on Valentine's Day. I don't think she quite understood the holiday but she found out it involves lots of treats and cards from her class which she really enjoyed. The other children in her class are so nice...almost too nice! One day, Eliza and I came to have lunch with the girls and sat by Grace and her friend. When it was time to leave, her friend picks up both of their trays! (I kindly asked her to let Grace carry her own and she could watch her to learn how). Grace is kind of klutzy, so I can see why her friend would want to help her, but she needs to learn to do things on her own. Also, she has friends in class who will hand her her coat, pick up things she forgot, etc. They are so sweet! Their has been so much love and acceptance that I try not to worry that she is a little bit coddled by the other kids. I just try to make sure she learns to do things and let people know that she can! She can even get her seatbelt on in under 2 minutes now! I feel blessed that Grace is where she can learn and be happy and I'm trying to be patient with the things that take more time to learn.

Learning the language:

We have been amazed at how fast Grace is learning English. In fact, the other night we were visiting cousins and my brother-in-law Doug heard her from the other room talking to one of the boys. He was so surprised that it was Grace! She speaks clearly and does not have an accent. She has many phrases that she uses, such as: "Let's go, Be careful, Don't worry, It's OK, school tomorrow, I'm hungry, let's say prayer, go to sleep, I'm sorry, Thank you, let's go home, Oh my goodness, Oh my gosh, (we taught her that one when we were still in China after she said it with "God" instead, which we don't allow). She can say her prayers by herself and she knows many basic words we use everyday. We are so pleased with her progress and can see that she is understanding more each day.

Two years and two months!

March 2007

Eliza, January 2007 (day we arrived home from China)

This weekend will mark two months with Grace! We met her on the 14th of December and it was made official on the 15th. As I was considering that, I also realized Eliza has been with us for about 2 years now! Our adoption for her was January 2007. It seems like so long ago but at this point that is just half of her life. She has changed so much in that time. Yesterday I looked at her and thought, "Wow, she looks so big!" She's not a toddler anymore. She is very proud of her "long" hair and is very much the princess. I'm so glad we took a leap of faith and brought her home to be in our family!

Comments are welcome!

OK, several family members and friends have told me they can't leave comments. Hopefully, I've changed that now, so give it a try!

Olivia and friends at dance yesterday. She was really working hard and kept sticking out her tongue! I had to keep motioning to her to close her mouth-yikes!

These are two photos we have on our wall in our front hallway. We've had so many people come to our home and see them and love them. I'm wondering if we could sell prints of them...E-Bay possibly? I would love to help pay for our recent trip to China (it was expensive to take everyone, but worth it). I've been also wanting to go through our house and get rid of things we aren't using just to make more space. This is usually when Mike starts getting worried about his stuff. Don't worry dear, I'll make sure and ask you before I sell anything of yours!
We happened to see the bull and cow moose as we were driving through the Alpine Loop in American Fork Canyon a few years ago. The bull was on one side of the road and the cow was on the other. Mike was lucky and got the bull. I quickly got the picture of the cow on my side. What are the chances of that?! (Notice the bull is in the showy background while the cow is almost hidden in the trees.) This is the only time we've seen a pair of moose on our many trips up the canyon.

Have a great day!

"What comes from the Heart"

Olivia chose Martha Washington as her hero for the school's "wax museum". I ended up reading a lengthy book about her that Zach brought home from the library. Most people would wonder what her contribution to our history was, but after doing some research, Olivia and I found out how much she really did for others. If you want some interesting reading look for Martha Washington First Lady, McPherson.

The quote “I am fond of only what comes from the heart”, refers to her style of conversation. She was a warm, engaging person and didn't put on airs but really cared about people. She also said “I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be.” I agree with that statement and try to teach that to my children whenever they are feeling sorry for themselves. It is remarkable that she could be happy after losing her first husband, all her children and various other family members. She and George Washington had no children together but basically raised her sons two young children after his death.

Olivia is sitting with some sewing things since Martha did a lot of sewing and darning for the soldiers under her husbands command. She was very concerned about the soldiers and especially her husband during his years of service to his country. It took a lot of bravery on her part to do the things she did. I don't think George Washington would have been the man he was without her support and encouragement. Isn't that the role that many of us as parents and mothers have? Helping and serving others is a noble "profession" and is something she did very well. By the way, she was a religious person and spent an hour each morning in solitude, studying and praying. That couldn't have hurt her attitude much either!

It is nice to learn about the history of our country and the people who shaped our nation. I definitely learned some new things and found a new perspective on the "Father of our Country".

Cross-country Skiing at Soldier Hollow

I have to admit, I've never considered cross-country skiing but it was really a lot of fun! I used to go down-hill skiing more, but it is pretty expensive and my fear of heights sometimes bothers me on the steep slopes. Today I was one of the parents that accompanied Zach's class to Soldier Hollow. It was a beautiful day to be outside and was really quite pleasant!

Zach E. , Zach A. and Zach C. Yes, they have 3 Zachary's in their class and they are all friends and ride to school together.

Of course the hill at the lodge was more fun than the actual skiing! Notice the Olympic Cauldron in the background from the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Zachary getting rid of more clothing after his climb up the hill. We were all too hot! But it was quite cold this morning, so we layered a bit too much.

Next time we go, we will get the "skate" skis and make sure we don't wear too much clothing! Or, we might just go on the tubing hills instead!

Wordle of the Articles of Faith

Kirk and Zach made this on Wordle. It's kind of fun because it will be a little different each time. I wouldn NOT use their gallery though, since anyone can post anything on it.

Stephenie

Chinese New Year's Party

We have a fantastic local group for families with children adopted from China. Our biggest get-together of the year is the Chinese New Year party. It was so much fun! I'm so grateful we have a group of other families to share these holidays with and to provide some familiar faces for our children. We had around 100 come to the party and make crafts, share Chinese food, dragon parade, fireworks and cake.

The girls just had to have a picture in these neat hats!Grace sang a couple of her songs and Olivia (the dragon) is in the children's parade

Zachary was one of the other dragons (complete with his own special "sound" a very loud one of course!)Grace was the star attraction. Everyone was so happy to hear her sing and meet her in person. She loved the party and had a great time!

Zach and Kirk were one of the first in line to eat from our table, as you can see! Taylor and Abby are friends of our sitting with us.
Me and the girls posing in our finery.

More about the Chinese New Year...

If anyone wants to follow the traditions today or Sunday. I found this on Wikipedia:

Fifth day of the new year-Today (Friday)
In northern China, people eat Jiǎozi (simplified Chinese: 饺子; traditional Chinese: 餃子), or dumplings on the morning of Po Wu (破五). This is also the birthday of the Chinese god of wealth. In Taiwan, businesses traditionally re-open on this day, accompanied by firecrackers.

Seventh day of the new year-Sunday
The seventh day, traditionally known as renri 人日, the common man's birthday, the day when everyone grows one year older.
It is the day when tossed raw fish salad, yusheng, is eaten. This is a custom primarily among the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia and Singapore. People get together to toss the colourful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity.
For many Chinese Buddhists, this is another day to avoid meat.

Grace will be so dissapointed that she isn't really turning 11 on Sunday (here in America anyway)! Gee, how should we handle that argument??!

Have a great weekend!

The Year of the Ox!

Grace has been greeting us all with "Gong Xi Fa Cai!" and has just been so excited about the New Year. We have our decorations up and Kirk came home Monday with a red envelope filled with coins and chocolate for her. She was very pleased and bowed to him. I decided we should do something special, so I made our favorite birthday cake (chocolate, of course) and we put some candles on it. It's not traditional but she knew we were celebrating and that's what mattered!

I understand that the first 15 days of the New Year (the first day was the 26th-yesterday) are spent celebrating, so we will have to make sure we continue the fun for a couple of weeks. Sunday night should have been our big New Year's Eve Celebration, I missed that but now I know! Come to think of it, Grace was a little put out Sunday night...maybe that's why!

We do have a party this weekend. Saturday is our Utah Valley Chinese New Year Party. It is always fun and will be especially fun to bring Grace to her first party with our local adoptive families. It will be the first time she's been with so many other Chinese children since she left her country too!

If anyone has some traditions they want to share, please let me know!

Zachary Wins School Geography Bee!

Zach with the moderator, his teacher (Mrs. Walker) and me, Olivia and Eliza


Yesterday Zach participated in the National Geography Bee at his school. He was hoping to win but with all the kids in the A.L.L. (Advanced Learning Lab) program there, it was a little harder. Some of the questions were super hard and others were easy. I'm always surprised at how little the children really know about the world around them. Zach has always read about all different parts of the world though and although he's not a nut about geography like Kirk, he still has more knowledge than most kids his age. The winning question was about Zach's area of expertise: the Aztecs! He's always loved learning about the Mayan's and Aztec's, so when they read that question, I knew he would win!

After school, Kirk and I packed up Zach's camping gear for the Klondike Derby. The scouts go up the canyon nearby and have a fun winter camping experience. (It doesn't sound fun to me but they love it!)
The rest of us and Grandma Earl, went to Draper for the open house of the new LDS Temple there. We didn't get a picture in front of it as we were trying to stay in line for the tour but we did pose in front of a beautiful picture of Christ afterwards in the chapel next door. If you are in the area, you can get tickets online at LDS.org.

Guess who's great idea it was to put Kirk in the middle? Oh well, trust me, it is a beautiful picture of Christ at the tomb.

My Little Kitchen Helper

Eliza just loves to help in the kitchen! She is helpful in many ways actually (too much usually). Things she's offered to help with lately:

wash the dishes

do the laundry

mop the floor

drive her brother to school

(some are more possible than others!)

Favorite thing to say:

"I'll do it!"

"Like me!"

"And me?"

Her cute apron was part of a set of aprons from my AWESOME sister-in-law Debbie. She heard me mention at Thanksgiving that I would love a cute apron and was going to try to make some. She made one for me and all three girls! They are so pretty and she is a quilter, so they are very nicely made. Thanks Debbie! It really was "exactly what I wanted."

Grace's First Glasses!

Now she's ready for school!

I took this picture before school this morning. Yesterday afternoon I was told the FedEx shipment with her glasses didn't make it. I'm afraid I was rather terse with the girl who called when she told me she understood my frustration with waiting for over two weeks for them to come back from the lab. I replied "No, I don't think you do !" Then, I proceeded to tell her how this was our first concern when we brought Grace home and also that I could tell she had a hard time getting in and out of the car and walking in new surroundings. I almost started crying, I was so upset. I would have been less harsh if she would have said: "This is unacceptable. We will find out where they are and call you right back." I wanted action and an apology not "Oh, they should have been here. Maybe they will come tomorrow."

Then amazingly, they called back shortly after getting an earful from me, to let me know they just arrived by US mail! Oops, I guess the lab forgot to ship them overnight. GRRRRRR! For some reason, the girl who shipped them off to the wrong lab in the first place and was so un-helpful on the phone didn't happen to be there when I came in to the office. Really, I am a very patient person and had been very nice about the whole wait, but this was ridiculous!

As you can see, Grace looks just adorable in her new glasses though (and her cute new earrings)! She is quite proud of herself and should be able to see much better now.

School, glasses, and singing...

First, school:

Grace was pretty happy at school this week. She is in a 4th grade class and it is all English speaking of course, with the exception of one boy who is also adopted from China. Olivia has reported to me that she is always with friends and happy when she sees her at lunch or recess or in the halls. At the end of the school day, she runs to me for a big hug!

The only problem so far has been our carpool. With the addition of Grace, I now have 4 different trips to school. She and Olivia are at the same school but different times. Zachary, is at the same time, but not the same school! Kirk is about 30 minutes earlier than Olivia and in jr. high. (When the weather is nice, which has only been fall and spring the last couple of school years, we ride bikes or walk.) I tried to start a carpool for Grace with neighbors to help me with the drive and also to help her have another child to walk with to and from the class. Yesterday was our first day to have their family drive and she was OK going with them, but NOT coming home! I had to come pick her up after she started crying and balked at going home with the other children. Oh well, I guess I learned not to push things to fast. The neighbors were really sweet about it though and brought her over cards and pictures that said "We are sorry you were sad today" and "We want to be your friend". Everyone has been really warm and welcoming to Grace.

About the glasses:

I was really annoyed to find out Grace's glasses went to the wrong lab for her lenses! Now it has been 2 weeks since we ordered them. Hopefully they come on Monday so she can see better and have an easier time getting in and out of cars, walking on steps, etc. This was our major concern for her when we got home and it has taken much longer than I expected.

Our singing plans:

Unfortunately, I have been fighting a sore throat and sinus problem this week. This morning I woke up and felt really dizzy and sick. It must have affected by ears and balance. We had to postpone our recording appointment for this morning since I couldn't even get from one room to another. Hopefully I'll feel better quickly and we can still record our songs this coming week. Until then, here is another recording of Grace teaching a song to Kirk's class:

Grace's Talent...

Grace loves to sing. Here she is at Kirk's school last week!

Saturday, we are going to a recording studio to make a CD of Zachary and Olivia singing and also Grace's favorite songs. She has so many and they are just beautiful! I wanted to record her quickly before she forgets any of them. Fortunately, we have a good friend and neighbor who is letting us use his studio. I had planned this a month or two ago just for recording Zachary and Olivia but added Grace when we found out she is talented at singing as well. Also, I realized how fast children forget their favorite songs if they don't practice and hear them often. Kirk could take a copy of Grace's songs to his Chinese class so they can learn a few songs.

I've also been thinking it would be nice to make her CD available to others who might want to have these songs for their families. We would love to sell a CD of her songs along with her stories and poems and then put part of the profit (assuming we could sell any of course!) to "Grace's Grant." This would be a $4000 grant that would go to helping an older child from China be adopted. When we first looked into adopting Grace, we were not prepared financially, silly people, we didn't see into the future very well. A family who just loved Grace, but couldn't adopt her wanted to help her find a family and offered a $4000 grant! I'd been praying that we would find a way to start the process of adoption and it was just a miracle. (One of many surrounding her adoption!) We are so grateful for the help at that time and would love to help another family.

It will be good to record Zachary before he gets any older too. He has always had the sweetest voice and I don't have any great recordings of him singing, although he has sung in several musicals. He is starting to think he has to sing lower even though he has an awesome boy soprano voice still. I know it won't last for long!

Olivia loves to sing and has been singing since she was tiny. I remember when she was just 4 or 5 and the boys would ask her to make up a song about ponies, or fish or whatever they could think of and she would do it on the spot! We all love music and most of us love singing. The rest are happy to listen. Yes, Grace came to the right family!

Ready for school!

We spent last week getting Grace ready for school. After all the doctor and dentist appointments, we visited Olivia's class and finished all the paperwork for Grace to be ready for school this week.

Visiting Olivia's class for show and tell.

Olivia and Grace sang for music class.

The next day, Grace came to Kirk's Chinese class. The loved asking her questions and she sang a song or two. She was so proud to teach the class a short song.Kirk just LOVED standing up with Grace as she was introduced to her class, as you can tell!

Today is Grace's first day at school. Hopefully, all goes well. There is one other boy who was also adopted from China in her class. He and his mom came to visit Saturday. They are in our adoption group and have adopted 4 children from China. The principal and staff have been so warm and welcoming to Grace. I've been impressed with their treatment of her. I think she will be watched out for at her new school. If her glasses would come in soon that would be even better!
I'll try to update later on her first day at school.

One week home with Grace!

Wow! This last week just flew by. It has been a busy one, especially for Grace. Last Friday, we took her to our optometrist. She desperately needed glasses. She has an eye that turns which is likely caused by her poor eyesight. She also has astigmatism (sp?). (I'm usually in bed by now, so don't notice my spelling!) She picked out some cute glasses in purple and we hope to have them this Friday.
Monday, she went to the pediatrician and the dentist. Both involved some poking and prodding but she was pretty brave. She now has her necessary immunizations for school and we also learned she has no cavities! Tuesday was lab day at the local hospital. A TB test is required before she starts school. Then in the afternoon, we went to the orthodontist to find out how soon she would need braces. At least this appointment was painless and she even got a cookie at the end. Plus, we found out it would be next year before she could start braces.
It was a little slower today, no appointments! We did take the cameras we brought home of pictures from her SWI though. Since our visit didn't happen, the director kindly offered to use the cameras we had sent (but that didn't get there in time) to take pictures of her home, school and family and friends. She loved looking through all of them. I wondered if it would make her sad, but she didn't seem to have any problem, just excitement.
We all love Grace and she seems to reciprocate the feeling. She is a great singer and also love to recite poems and stories. Never a quiet moment around this house!
More later...
Stephenie