Just a few Photos

Gracie spent a long time the other night making this tray of beautiful ice cream sundaes out of playdough. I thought they looked so pretty I had to take a picture.




Another one of the most gorgeous photos of this big guy who melts my heart.







And...I guess brothers seem to be agreeing with her...

So, yesterday Mitchell was sitting at the counter doing math and Grace and Faith were both hanging over his books talking a mile a minute and he looked at me with a big grin on his face and said, "Seriously, why do you have to have so many kids." and then he laughed. And it was a nice moment, because even though the girls were annoying him, he saw the cuteness in it and it was kind of a thankful moment.

Watch the Pro at Work

I can't believe this is true, but until yesterday, we never gave Faith chopsticks to use!! Why? Why did we never give her chopsticks? Sheer stupidity I guess! We discovered this yesterday when we finally thought to give her some and then we all scrambled for video cameras and cameras and had a ball watching the pro!!!

With Grateful Hearts

I have put off writing this post for a number of days because I simply have not been able to conjure up enough brain power to put this all in writing...

The other day, Mitchell and I took Faith to the local Chinese Restaurant. It was a most fascinating visit. She was greatly disturbed when the owner and his wife spoke to her in Mandarin. She was disturbed by even the sight of them and when they spoke to her in Mandarin, she would furrow her brow deeply and turn away. So, we ordered her something to eat and thought maybe if we sat there for a while she would become more comfortable and begin to answer them. We were wondering if she would say anything (even a word or two) to them in Chinese. (I must add here that if you remember, she was a regular chatterbox in China. She spoke to all our waiters and store clerks and such and entertained them greatly and we couldn't understand a word she said. She spoke extremely well for her age. Even the doctor in China told our guide to tell us that she had an amazing amount of language for her age.) Anyways, we wanted to see if, after 4 months, she would still say anything in Chinese when spoken to.

It was amazing. (When I tell this story, I am not exaggerating or saying that I'm glad for her reactions. I am just telling the story.) We know that she actually processed the difference between the languages, people, and time in her young life. She, very much by choice, refused to say anything in Chinese. He would ask her a question like, "Is your rice good?" and she would, like I said, furrow her brow and turn away. I said, "Answer him, honey." And she would always say, "No, I have to chew." He said something and she quickly looked up and looked right at him, and he said, "She know just what I say!" And I had no doubt, by her reaction, that she did indeed know. (I'm so sorry that I don't remember what it was, he did tell me.) I asked the owner how to say "eat your rice" and he showed me. I then said it to her in mandarin...she looked at me and very seriously said, "No, mommy, stop it!"

The owner's two little boys came walking into the restaurant after school and I said to Faith, "Tell them Ni Hao." She said, "No, mommy, I like a Hi" We were floored by the thought process in this. She understood both, very blatantly chose the English word, and communicated that to me in no uncertain terms.

During the visit, he wrote Xiu ru (Faith's Chinese name) in Chinese characters for us. Once when her back was turned to him, he called out her Chinese name and she turned around quickly and looked at him.

We had some very interesting conversation with him. He said he and his wife have been here a few years and they rarely see any other Chinese people. (We live in a rural community) I could tell they loved seeing her. He said, "One other Chinese family. They come in. We sit and talk. We very happy." It took me a while to explain how we got her because he did not know what the word orphanage meant. I told him, "No mother, No father, big building for all the children." "Oh.." then he knew.
He talked about children and language because, of course, his little boys speak both languages. He said, "She here a little while and she will not remember. Little child get a new brain very fast."

I told him that I think it is sad that she is losing/will lose her Chinese, and he said, "You let her be American girl now...China, forget about it. She a very lucky girl. You know she a lucky girl? Thank you. Thank you for bringing her here. She not have a chance in China."

When we were leaving, he said good-bye to her in Chinese and she turned around and said, "Bye" in English. She understood it...and she translated it.

It was a fascinating visit. On the drive home, Mitchell said, "Boy, that was interesting wasn't it?" Later that day, I went down to the family room and told Mitchell, "Thanks for going with me, that was fascinating." He said, "I was just gonna come and tell you the same thing."

One tiny visit, one big picture. We saw two people...from one culture. One mid-life and one just a babe. We saw the babe process two languages and understand that one meant her old life and one meant her new...and more importantly, we saw her choose her new life over her old. We caught a glimpse of the gratefulness felt by a middle-aged man who, from what we learned in China, probably waited at least fifteen years for a visa to come here. We saw him process two lifestyles, one his old and one his new...and more notablty, we saw him express gratitude for the new.

So..I've been thinking...
Are we grateful? Are we a grateful people? Are we grateful enough??


And our birthday of the month. Matthew turns 14! Here's his Polamalu cake, thanks to his cousin Jennie. To be followed by the Polamalu jersey. We love you Ma!!

...And a Happy New Year

I just finished packing away my Christmas dishes and it was kind of sad. The decorations must come down this week, but I'm having a hard time making myself do it. Mitch and I have so enjoyed snuggling up by the tree and watching Christmas movies after the kids were in bed, but alas, all good things must eventually come to an end...maybe not for a day or two :) We have enjoyed plain, ordinary, normal things so much this season.
We've discovered that Mitch's new job up the mountain is located at the North Pole. Seriously, we knew it snowed more up the mountain, but it snows up there every day!! The hour long drive becomes two at the speed of 40mph! We figure if he ever applies for a job at the real North Pole, he'll have lots of job experience.
Matthew and I worked on our China video a little yesterday. I had aspirations of pulling video clips and photos together into a nice video of our trip during Christmas break here but wow, break went fast! We didn't start school this week, but need to start Monday. Looking at the video clips made me cry, it kind of brought it all flooding back. Hopefully I'll be able to get it done and post it here before too long.
The snow around here is beautiful, but it is bitter cold. The kids and I dawned heavy coats, boots, and such to take a romp in the snow the other day. I put Faith in her crib to take a nap. We took a beautiful 15 minute walk in the snow in the woods by the house. We came inside as frozen as icicles fifteen minutes later. Now....here's a lesson for ya'll... don't ever assume your toddler is in bed just because you put them there. We have a saying around here. Any time we don't know where Faith is, we say she's "somewhere wreaking havoc". Within the course of fifteen minutes she had crawled out of her bed, gone into Matthew's room, messed around with his ipod, gone into Gracie's room and eaten most of her Christmas candy, gotten into the Christmas crafts and spread yarn all over the place, and done one of her all-time favorite things...shredded lots of toilet paper all over the family room carpet. Now....how can one toddler cover that much ground in fifteen minutes....the world may never know.
Well, I finally, after all this time, got Faith to "pose" for some photos. So, here they are....ta-da!!!

The only problem I had was everytime I said, "Say cheese" she would hike up her shirt and say, "Take a picture of my belly!"

Her new favorite phrase is "Awww tum on!" This she learned from her big sister. Here... I'll use it in context. We were at the counter

yesterday cutting out squares of finger jello Gracie made and putting them on a plate for dessert. Faith said, "Ten I have some?" I said, "Not now, this is for dinner." "Awwww Tum On!" she said.

This is where you'll find her much of the time, lying on the floor, coloring. She is left handed, but switches off occasionally.


On the serious side. I had a neat conversation with a clerk at a local store yesterday. I see her alot and we've gotten to know each other a bit. She asked about Faith's first Christmas. We talked about how amazing it was to see a child (on her birthday in Oct.) who didn't know what presents were. We talked about how we have so much!! We have so much stuff!! She talked about kids not being satisfied, but wanting more. As I was driving home, I was thinking about my kids this Christmas. I was proud of them. I thought about Mitchell, how he didn't ask for anything and said he didn't care if he only got one present. I thought about how they loved the gifts they got for each other and that was really neat. We started a couple years ago taking one evening, giving them a small limit of how much they may spend on each brother or sister, and just turning everyone loose in Walmart to pick out gifts for each other. This has been so neat. I am always completely amazed at how well they know each other. They pick things for each other that are perfectly suited to each person, things I wouldn't even think of, and they are always really pleased with the things they've found and enjoy giving them to each other. We let them give them to each other on Christmas Eve...when there are no other gifts...because that allows a special time just for this. It is incredible to see how well they know each other.

Here's a photo I love. I just happened across it today. I haven't ever posted it. This is in our hotel room in Guangzhou (you other mom's will recognize the room entry way really well). We were packing up to head to Shanghai for the first leg of our journey home. This is a photo of all the things we packed to bring home!!! Notice the one extra thing we packed that we didn't bring along when we came :)

I've been reading Choosing Gratitude by Nancy Leigh Demoss. It's funny how it makes you notice all the little things you don't normally notice. Like I was sitting in the car the other night, waiting for my husband to come out of a store. It was a place I hadn't been since the end of September, and as I sat there waiting, I was thinking about how I felt the last time I was there. I remembered that the last time, I felt like everything in our lives was really hay-wire. And so as I sat there I realized how thankful I was to be sitting there, no longer hay-wire...but "normal" (whatever that is)...and I was grateful.
And so, with the new year and since this blog is to express our grateful hearts, I need to list some of the things that I am grateful for:
I am grateful that when we cannot walk...God carries us.
I am grateful that God's plan, whether its easy or not...is sovereign and beautiful.
I am grateful for the most awesome family whom I adore and who showers us with love.
I am grateful that God veritably "shouts" to me through His Word, so that even I, in my human condition can hear Him.
I am grateful that even when we can't see the whole plan, God gives us continual glimpses of Himself as if to say, "See, I am in this."
I am grateful that God has breathed fresh life into my spirit, so that I can finally say.... "What's next, Lord?"
Love to you all,
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!