Xmas card pics

We never got around to printing and sending out family xmas cards this year.
Steve's clients got their goodies though, and that felt like a vital feat.
I took some amazing shots of the kids.
If you scrolled through them consecutively, it's a slow-motion movie.
Anyway, here are some of my favorites.
Happy New Year!

Eliana getting Jia ready...

Henry wants to kiss his princess...

 Eliana is not persuaded....(love that!)

Come on, it's Henry, your brother!

Lu(cy) wants in on the fun...

 She does it her own way...

Elle is patient...

If I had sent just one to family and friends, it probably would have been this last one (below). This picture represents the kids pretty well- dressed up, ornery, with the dog by their side. But, it's not the norm. The norm is all the others--the interruptions, the negotiating, the making up, the unseen (jia was playing with stickers in one shot--they eventually ended up on her cheek). 

So often I find I have a one-dimensional view of myself and others. I believe my life should go a certain way, assume that others' do. Much of the true living, the true, hard and ugly loving goes unseen, untouched, silenced. For myself I've decided to talk about it more. Talk about the so-called weeding, and tilling, and the work that goes on in the winter, as the soil rests.  For now, here is one beautiful moment with Henry, Eliana and Jia.

Fall pics

The kids and I visited a pumpkin patch with Henry's preschool. Eliana reconnected with a friend from her class last year. Sweet,  no?

Who knew I would ever enjoy Halloween so much? The treat for the parent is watching the fun had by young ones.

The gang...

I adore this picture! And, I am so glad I got a side view of Leilah's unicorn costume. 

 I didn't get many of Henry; he was too ninja-fast to capture.

what i liked most about hong kong

About a year before Steve and I decided to adopt from China, I asked him where he wanted to visit.
You know, anywhere in the whole world-type-of-question.
Without much hesitation, he said London and Hong Kong.
Two springs later we were in London.
With Henry.
And Eliana--in my belly.
Look at Henry, playing at a water park in front of London Bridge.

 

And then there I am at the Easy Hotel. 

I am smiling and giddy because we are about to leave. 

Insomnia plagued my nights there.

Insomnia and an active 15 month old.

Active--asleep and awake.

 So...back to Hong Kong.

Steve and I left two days early for China.

We spent it in Hong Kong.

I really, really liked Hong Kong.

Mountains.

Exotic trees.

Salt water.

Out door escalators.

The Peak.

Hello Kitty.

So much to report about that city.

I think I liked the open markets the best.

Lame?

Don't care.

The bird market.

 The flower market.

The fish market.

Not to eat.

Alive, swimming around coral and all kinds of green and blue and gorgeous.

No pictures allowed.

Oh well. 

I will remember Brian and Tony(short for Antoinette).

A couple we met at the Peak.

They had flown to Bali and married on the beach.

Then to Thailand and out of Hong Kong.

They are generous souls.

Henry just turned 4.

People ask if I can believe it. 

You know, time flies and all.

I can believe it. 

3 kids later.

A business later.

London.

Hong Kong.

A full, beautiful, crazy life.

Jia!

After nearly five years, we completed our adoption of a daughter from China, November 29, 2010. We call her Jia, pronounced like Gia. Her name is part of the name her orphanage gave her, which is Jia Jing. And, even though in Chinese it's pronounced like "Ja," we "americanized" it to Jia.
O.k.
Now that is out of the way...

I've got loads on my mind about life in the past few months.
I won't ever get to it all.
But, here are the highlights...
By the way, I am having camera issues.
It pains me that this has happened now.
That I can't crop and edit the way I would like.
But I have waited far too long...so here goes
Installment #1
This is the moment I got Jia, adoptive parents often refer to it as "Gotcha" day.

Come to think of it, maybe that wasn't the moment I got her.
That could have been about 40 minutes afterward, because the moment I got her she was balling her brains out.
Then we gave her some milk.
You can't tell, but boy was she sweating.
I learned quickly that is what she does when she is anxious.
The orphanage director and a woman who is still unknown to me, brought  her to us at our hotel in Nanchang.
I can't remember the hotel name....
This next picture is bittersweet.

Bitter because Jia is so clearly sad and unsure.
Sweet because of Steve.
Sweet because it's at the Civil Affairs office, where we legally became her parents.
Even though we were officially her parents from that point forward, there was a lot of paperwork and immigration paperwork that had to be completed before we headed home.

After we adopted Jia, we spent most of our mornings visiting places of interest, like this  one... it's a picture of a door at the Chen Family Temple in Guangzhou.
I took it mostly for Henry's sake.

Then the rest of the day we spent at our hotel.
Jia slept.
Then, while Steve worked, we would try to find a place to play.

These were taken on our first or second full day together.
I detest the lighting.
I was thrilled to get a grin.
A sign of contentment and interest.

I feel so humbled to have Jia.
So sad that China lost its most beautiful baby.

She has begun to reveal herself more fully to us.
When she arrived she weighed less than 15 pounds.
After a week with pneumonia and diarrhea, she weighed 16.5 pounds.
She didn't crawl, pick up food or put much weight on her legs.
She now does all of that, and climbs the stairs and is "cruising."
Most of all, she is talking and animated more and more.
And, she needs to work on those skills, with these two.
They were exuberantly waiting for her arrival.

They can't get enough of her, most of the time.
Me either.

school, new art

Here are a couple pictures from henry and eliana's first day of "school."

Eliana adores this purse converted into her school bag. I would like to make her one, I mean I would like to have one made for her (i.e. by someone other than me). I don't know though, she may not give this one up...no matter how it overpowers her. Tell me she isn't daring me to take it from her? This girl is not afraid.

Finally, many of you know that before Henry and Eliana there was a one pound dossier sent to China, an application to adopt a child, Tabitha. Well, after more than four years, we are on the brink of a "match." Of course, I will keep everyone updated. But, here is a painting I bought for Tabitha from Marie. If you haven't read "The Little Prince," I highly recommend it.

change

There have been so many changes in our lives lately.
I started a part-time job last week for the first time as a mother.
After three and a half years at home with Henry and Eliana, I felt we were all ready for it.
At least I was.
I am teaching at the same school I was teaching when Henry was born.
It fits like a pair of old jeans.
I keep learning about myself in this new role of mom.
I think working a bit suits me.
It's not too much, about 15 hours a week.

I wanted to post a before and after piece.
Our basement has been an albatross, sticking to my worries and annoyances and to-do list like spider man's web.
Before:

After:

Growing up and dealing with yourself and your stuff feels good. It has taken many years to "deal" with the "myself bit." The basement was easier, but significant.

Tonight though I have to write about the woman who helped me deal with myself the most over the last 13 or 14 years.
Marie.
I like this picture of her and her husband and their daughter. I wish their son was in it too.

Here is one from when she helped me with a wall hanging.

She is the single most influential woman in my adult life.
She discipled me and helped me learn more and more about Christ, and our Father's grace.
She hung in there with me, my grossly self-centered self week after week, month after month, year after year.
I have learned so much from her.
In a few days she and her family are moving.
There is nothing I won't miss about Marie.
Not one thing.
Here is her dog in the moving truck with our friend, Holly.

One of my favorite studies we did together was Ecclesiastes.
I remember like it was yesterday sitting in her kitchen (she has a groovy house) and discussing the over-arching message of that book.
Apart from God, life is meaningless.
God gives life its color and shape and rhythm and sweetness and depth and beauty and hope and inspiration.
He gave me that and more through Marie.
I suppose there is a time for everything.
But I don't particularly like this time.