Pics from the summer

Back Together

So we've had a wonderful summer being back together as a family. Every day we count our blessings that we got to move and live near to the school. The kids ride their bikes or walk to school, we go there and have water gun wars with friends, etc. We also live walking distance from Walmart which is a very big deal here in China :) it's not the exact same as ones in America but it sure is convenient! And if I go right after I drop off the kids at school, I don't have hundreds of others shopping with me!

In other news, marissa has learned to ride on a bike with no training wheels and is in second grade now. DJ is in kindergarten and loves his new classmates, and Halle is going 1/2 days to preschool where it is in Chinese and English. She loves it and is so far, a great student! yay for her!

U.S. Passport

Okay, next on the big steps once we returned from America was to move, get Min Hao settled in his new foster home, and get Halle a U.S. passport! Happy to say, that is all accomplished and now we're just waitng on her SS card so we can finally file our taxes! :) Halle enjoyed her stickers from the consulate!

Trip to America

I know it has been months since I've blogged! We moved and then had to get a new internet connection and then my computer died and has now been resurrected! :) Needless to say, I will slowly try to get everyone reconnected with the big events since my last post! Starting with, halle and my trip to America. We got to visit lots of friends and family and most importantly, Halle became a US citizen and got re-adopted which just gets her name officially as her American name on all docs and easy access for her to her birth certificates, etc. We loved staying with my mom, halle's grandma, and got to do lots of fun things with her like visit the daycare she works at, go to parks, and get a first haircut! Halle also had lots of fun making new friends and eating American food. She can't wait to go back next summer! I would love to add pictures, but they are still being "found" somewhere on this new hard drive! So hopefully, pics to come soon!

Dispersing!

Well today we start saying good-bye to each other for a few weeks! halle and I must travel to the US to walk through immigration while Dave takes Marissa and DJ to Malaysia for some time in the sun with grams and gramps. Meanwhile, Min Hao will be spending some time with some of his favorite people and his new foster family. We just finished the school year and said our good-byes to everyone. Halle can't wait to start jr. kindergarten next year! All the while we're packing up to move closer to teh school (praise!!!) so everything is topsy turvy which my heart feels like as I'll be away from dave, marissa, and dj for 3 weeks! Attached are some end of the school year photos!

AAAAHHHH!

to my shame i have not been blogging hardly at all! of course i could blame it on busyness- our dog had a tooth infection, we're moving to a new home, we're traveling to different continents in less than 2 weeks, we're finding places for min hao to stay while we're gone, and the list goes on. dave just recently returned from traveling all over west china riding camels, donkey carts, and seeing old ruins. our camera died somewhere along those travels and thus my desire to blog has been crushed without adorable pics of my kids to post with my little blogs :) needless to say, we are busy but also enjoying so many things. right now here in our little corner of china, the weather is perfect, halle is becoming a rollerblading sensation (i know this is offensive to some parents who think she is too young to skate but she is a big, strong girl and athletics is apparently in her blood!), min hao will have a new foster family come july, he and marissa have been horseback riding 2 hrs away from us and will be attending a horse pentathalon next weekend, and we have joyfully watched the changes of the many tadpoles in our pond becoming frogs. i love spring. i love the Father for creating it and how it makes you appreciate life in general.

if my camera were working i'd probably attach a pic of the kids catching tadpoles, halle in a poofy green dress next to the blooming cherry trees,

To my shame

Wow, I really can't believe it's been so long since I've posted. could be because of the total amount of crazy important things we've been up to :) Like Halle's 6 month post adoption report. All is well and it's taken care of. although she did manage to go through like 2 dresses (kept getting nice and dirty at the playgrounds) she was clean when the social worker arrived :). We also had Marissa's 7th birthday which was fun of course! She had 3 classmates spend the night- her first big sleepover! Where does the time go! the bummer was that DJ and Min Hao had both gone to the dinosaur museum as a field trip. Who would've known there would be a humongous traffic accident where no one moved for 6 hours so they both missed her party completely. Praise the Lord they made it home safely and blessings on those teachers and chaperones who kept a bus of 4 and 5 yr olds content and unafraid for 6 hours stalled on a freeway! Right now Dave is traveling all over western china with his juniors and seniors riding camels and going to stockyards. I'm so thankful that all 4 kids have stayed healthy and have been practically angels during these 10 days Dave is gone. They are so precious!