Yes, Chinese people CAN learn to swim!!

Grace had never been in water except to bathe before, so being immersed in water was a completely new concept. At the first of the summer, she would grab ahold of me and dig her fingernails into my arms because it was so frightening to feel the buoyancy of being in water. Well, after watching her for weeks hanging out on the "baby bench", we decided to push her a bit. Mike especially helped her to get out of her comfort zone and amazingly, she wanted to keep having "swimming lessons" every time we got in the pool.

We'd heard the difficulty that some Asian people have learning to swim, which isn't surprising considering a lack of facilities or opportunities to learn as we do in the States. I don't know if this is the same in other areas of China, but she definitely had no experience at 10 years of age.

She went from clinging to us for dear life, to hopping carefully from the side of the pool to our arms and learning to pick up her feet and kick. After she got good at those skills, Mike had her go a little further each time. She would barely clear the wall and stayed as close to it as she could but then she gained some confidence and started enjoying herself.

This last month, she actually jumped off the diving board, with me right there helping her in, and I gave her a push to swim down to the deep end. She actually wanted to go again! It didn't take one or two tries until she wanted to do it all by herself. Although she would swim like she was scared out of her wits, she made it! We made sure she would jump in and swim down to the shallow end each time we swam and soon she was very comfortable and enjoying herself. The last test was going of the slide. Just last week, I told her she should try it and she did and loved it! That is her new favorite thing to do in the pool.

It's amazing to see the progress she makes and how fast she can learn something. Now that is a real miracle! Here's a clip of Grace on the slide, notice Eliza, my little fish, following her. (I just love the way Eliza walks like a bodybuilder!)

Isaac returns home from the Middle East!

The girls LOVE the beautiful gifts their cousin Isaac brought them!
Isaac went to BYU 2 years ago for the Arabic StarTalk program. Last summer he went to Cairo, Egypt to continue his studies and this summer he went to Jordan and also Israel while he was there. He's amazing at Arabic and is the "poster child" of the Arabic program (he's the student they highlight in the brochures for the program). We were all glad to have him back, especially his mom Cheryl!

School starts...already!

Grace has on her new favorite outfit...Ariel of course.

I can't believe summer is over! At least that is what the kids think when school starts. Kirk and Eliza started last Monday. He's at a new charter High School and Eliza is at the same pre-school she went to last year that she absolutely loves. Zach went on Wednesday for 7th grade day, jr. high! Olivia and Grace started on Thursday and are so happy to be back at school. Here we go again!

Kirk returns from Startalk Chinese camp!

Kirk with his teacher
Kirk with his good friends from camp

I couldn't get the whole group. This is mostly the level 3 students singing the farewell song.

Kirk had an amazing time at the language camp! He worked very hard but made good friends and had fun. This camp covers so much (they get a years high school credit for Chinese class) that they are studying for hours every day, except on the weekends. It's intense but these are the kids who want to learn Chinese and really want to be there.

Besides learning to speak Chinese, they work on arts and crafts, make a music video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_rw3p5Et98), and learn songs, poetry, etc. It's a very well-rounded course.

Kirk loved the instructors. Many are young, some are even college students themselves, so they have lots of energy and excitement. Most are native speakers as well. I just can't say enough good things about this program!

We are glad Kirk did so well and are glad to have him home.

Children's Gardens at Thanksgiving Point

Eliza is scowling because Zachary made her sit there...it's so frustrating to be four!

Walking with dad to see the "big" gardens. A storm had just passed through, leaving the walks wet and a bit windy still. A perfect time for a stroll through the gardens!

Climbing rocks and finding treasures

Splashing around Noah's Ark

We decided it was time to do something fun, so off we headed to Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. It's just about 20 minutes away and we have a pass to the gardens and the dinosaur museum and farm country. This place is huge and has so many fun things for the family. If you come to Utah County, it's one of the best places to take the children for an afternoon of fun.

Chinese Night Market at Kirk's StarTalk Camp

Last night we were able to attend the night market at BYU. It was our chance to see how Kirk is doing and to have some fun! He has learned so much and has some nice friends. He's having a great time.

The girls were so happy to see Kirk. Eliza didn't want to let go of him for most of the party! She loves her biggest brother.

I thought Eliza might fall asleep while she sat still to have her face painted.

Olivia came up with the idea of a Panda and bambool. Turned out pretty cute!

Eliza with her butterflies. (Doesn't Grace have georgous hair? I think it grows a half inch every week!)

The boys are trying to blow ping-pong balls from cups of water to the next cup (a game from Taiwan). The last 2 are filled with flour, so it gets really messy! Zach ended up beating not only Kirk, but the person in charge of the game too!

More Yellowstone photos...

"Dragon's Mouth Spring"

This was one of my favorites.

I hadn't seen these, and I love this picture of Kirk with cousin Andrew and Zach especially.

Camping in Idaho

Last Thursday, the girls and I went to Southern Idaho to camp with our CHI adoption group. I felt like quite the outdoors woman, putting up the tent with only the girls (mostly Olivia) to help. We ended up having a GREAT time and loved the campground and enjoyed the company of other families who've adopted from China.

It's so good to see all the cute little children having fun together and it's also good for the parents to be able to talk to other parents who've adopted. I was especially impressed by a couple who are in their fifties who adopted 3 adorable girls after their 2 adult children had moved on. Even though it wasn't a popular choice, they did what they felt in their hearts was right for them. That takes real courage! But now, they've bleen blessed with these three beautiful girls to fill their lives once again with the laughter of little children. They are great parents.

Kirk is off to Startalk Chinese Language Camp!

Outside the apartments

Kirk will share this apartment with 3 other students.

Today we took Kirk down to BYU for a 3 1/2 week "intensive language learning experience". It is a camp for high school students and has 63 attending with 20 different states represented. Evidently, it is well known as a fantastic program that is in its 3rd year at BYU. The Chinese language is one of the critical languages according to our government, so they provide funding for these students to learn Chinese in hopes they will have excellent language skills at a young age.

Isaac, Kirk's cousin has been a top students at the Arabic camp at BYU and is staying in Jordan this summer continuing his studies. I guess our boys are blessed with learning languages.

Heading home...

On our way home, we stopped at the lake at Grand Teton National Park for a picnic lunch. (Our 5 plus 3 of Doug and Cheryl's boys are shown.)

We had a fantastic time visiting Yellowstone! It was fun being with our family and hiking every day. I still don't have the pictures downloaded from Mike's laptop, but hopefully I can add those soon.

Wind and Rain

We went to a few places today, but in reference to my title...
My brother's tent had a few technical problems while being here. Monday while we were out at Yellowstone, there was a windstorm and it broke two of his tent posts. We were able to use some duct tape and tent pegs to splint them, but they aren't quite what they were. So, the past couple of days he has broken his tent down while we were out. So, of course, today it rained and a tent on the ground without the rain fly taut has water problems. He had to take most of their bedding to a laundromat in town and we've been using the machines here at the KOA for quite a while. The kids are around the fire we built and I'm outside using the power outlet and freezing my fingers just to do this. I have the pictures on my computer, but I'm not ready to take the time to upload them yet. We have some really good pictures of bison, elk, and bears. But they may just have to wait until we get home at this point. I'm not used to such a slow connection and I think I'd be out here until tomorrow morning before anything actually uploaded.

Doug and his family are leaving tomorrow and we may leave tomorrow or the next day for the Grand Tetons. Or home. Whichever hits our fancy.

All for now. Too tired of waiting for my battery to recharge and it's really cold now.

Edit: Hear are some photos and a video. Enjoy:

Day 1 report

We went on the lower loop yesterday and had a great time. We saw a lot of animals and if I can upload the buffalo video, it was cool. A large herd on both sides of the road. I'll let the pictures tell much of the story of yesterday also.

A couple of notes, we saw the dragon's lair cave that Eliza and Stephenie really liked. It makes odd noises and steam just comes out along with some water in a stream. You could believe a dragon lived in there.

Also, Grace talked a little about last summer and the earthquake in China. We asked if this was her first time in a tent and she told us no... She lived in a tent after the earthquake for much of the summer. She told how they felt the earthquake and then "pretended" that the school fell down and the housing was destroyed. I think they weren't too sure if there were going to be aftershocks or what. This is one of the first things she's really talked about of her life in China. I think her language skills are getting so much better that she can tell us things easier now.

To Isaac in Jordan-- We're all having a great time and wish you were with us. Have a great time there and come back to tell us everything.

For everyone else, Isaac is my nephew who is living in Jordan (and other places) this Summer. We are camping with his family here in Yellowstone. So, if you see an interesting flag on the list, it may be that he looked at our blog.

Video of Buffalo crossing the road. Why? To get to the other side, of course! If you watch in the mirror near the end, you may notice the Park Ranger trying to get people back in their cars. More injuries are caused by "interactions" with the buffalo than anything else.

In West Yellowstone

We left after church today for Yellowstone and we got here a couple of hours ago. The tent has been setup and the kids are cooking hotdogs over the fire. Everyone is happy and we plan on having a really good time. We are going into the park tomorrrow morning and hopefully take some pictures.

It's cool to be outside by the tent with my laptop and hitting the Internet from the KOA. It seems odd to be "roughing it" and also be connected at the same time.

I have the cables for the camera, so maybe I'll be able to upload them tomorrow night. As long as I have power. I guess I can hook up to the power at the office or maybe near one of the cabins.

Enough for now!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy 4th of July!!!!!

Olivia and her rose...she's so proud of it!

Yes, like everyone else, I've been to busy to blog much! We've recently had the upstairs carpet cleaned and added a new carpet to our office downstairs. It wouldn't have been so much work, but we'd used that as kind of a storage room for years. Next, we are going camping soon to Yellowstone! I wonder what Grace will think of sleeping in a tent? We've tried to prepare her, but this will be our first time away from home since she came home from China. I think she'll be fine, but I do expect some whining when we go hiking. She's good at that!


Have a great weekend everyone!

Birthday Girl!

Grace's friends from school had a pool party with her in the afternoon.
Grace loved being with her school friends and her two neighbor friends, Laura and Alyssa.

Family party with her awesome cake from Costco! (No extra charge to personalize it and choose how to decorate it.)

Grace has been excited about her birthday for several months. Recently, she would almost daily remind us "June 16th, my birthday!" So we knew that her first birthday with her family had to be special. I bought her a new swimsuit, since she'd been wearing hand-me downs. She LOVES princesses, especially Ariel and Snow White, so I had to go to the Disney store for that! I went to Target and found fun things in the dollar section for her friend's treat bags. Grandma Carol and I found her a couple of summery dresses and I finally found her a pair of decent shoes (she has small narrow feet and has been wearing cheap sandals from Children's Place for quite a while). We also went to her favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch. She was definitely princess for the day!

Don't let the language barrier scare you!

The other 4th graders in Grace's class

(they also had 3rd graders who came in at the earlier schedule

and left early the day I took this picture)

Grace and her teacher, Mrs. Donithorne

One of the worries we had of adopting an older child was the language barrier. I really was nervous about not being able to communicate with our new daughter. This proved to be short-lived. Another issue was how she would do at school. It couldn't have been better actually!

Grace had the perfect first school experience this year. I was worried about so many things: Would she be accepted? Would the other children treat her nicely? Would it be too hard? Did we choose the right class? Since she was only in 2nd grade in China, I wasn't sure about putting her into 4th grade here but it turned out to be the perfect choice! Her class has been so good to her and now she has many friends. They all took her under their wing and have been so sweet. What more could you ask for?


We can't believe how fast she has learned English. We were expecting her to learn fairly quickly, as most children can, but she has just amazed us! Now our concern is her keeping her Chinese skills. She really doesn't want to speak Chinese anymore even when Kirk talks to her in Chinese. I keep reminding her to respond back to him in Chinese, but I can tell she really doesn't want to.


Hopefully she can continue to improve her English this summer and be better prepared for 5th grade this next fall. She is also reading some and I hope to help her improve in that area as well over the summer.