Reunion

Today we went to the airport to welcome home Jiang Chun Xian. He is Jaynie's former classmate and neighbor from Guilin. His new family lives only a 2 1/2 hour drive away. Although Jaynie's Chinese is sparse and Chun Xian's English is limited they both understood the language of friendship, the language of PLAY! He is adorable!

Winter wonderland

Christmas 2007

Jaynie had a great surprise for her first Christmas! The Au family shared three days with us. Zoe brought her brother Alex, friends Brian and Elaine and her mom. Mrs. Au came and cooked Jaynie some of her favorite Chinese dishes. Zoe Au was our foreign exchange student in 2001. They are from Hong Kong. I think Jaynie was so happy to have someone to communicate with. We try our best but after three Chinese adoptions I still can't say squat in Mandarin.

Jaynie told Zoe that her boyfriend Brian was very handsome. She asked if she could have a boyfriend after she went to the University. Mike and I decided that was ok, AFTER she went to the University.

Christmas 2007

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Consider the Orphan........

This video was shared by a friend of mine. I wanted to pass it on

Look at that face!

I'm a little, no a lot, surprised at the reaction we've had over bringing Jaynie Lin home. This is our third Chinese adoption, we have four children living in our home, ranging from 6 years old to 13.
We kept the whole adoption process quiet this time. Until it was time to travel, few knew. We've been down this road before and knew weeks could turn into months and it was just simpler to keep it to ourselves.
When it was time to travel and I announced our intentions a co-worker actually said to me "Are you Crazy?" "You mean Mike will actually LET you do this"? Other similiar comments came, most more discreet. To be fair there were many more positive comments but the negative ones stung me.
So my thoughts are, If I would have spent this money on purchasing fake boobs or other assorted plastic surgery, no one would have blinked an eye.
If Mike would have bought a Harley or a corvette, that would have been socially accepted. But to be in your 40's and 50's and invest in a child seems to much for many to accept. Hopefully I learned the lesson long ago, not to depend on the approval of others but to thine own self by true.

There's no place like home...........

Today we went to the Chinese restuarant. I imagine we'll be doing a lot of that for awhile. We had the waiter tell her she had a doctor appointment today. He also told her that her brother and sister were in school and would she like to go to school? She has hit it off well with her siblings and missed them today when they weren't around.
She called her friend Mandy who was adopted earlier this year. Mandy is *short* on Chinese as she put it and Jaynie is *short* on English, but Jaynie's face lit up when she realized who she was speaking with. It's great to have the connection!