Remembering Summer

I took these pictures about a month ago, when our days were not so busy with school and all the activities that come with it. On this afternoon, Gwen and Madelyn enjoyed playing out on our deck (you'll get another little view of our outside space here) with their friend Jacelyn. They were supposed to be filling the baby pool, but I don't think much of the water went in it!

Up In The Green

Poconos 2008

These photos were taken in Bushkill Falls Park in July. We had visited Bushkill Falls nine years ago, when we were in the Poconos with Scott's family. It is so lush and green! I loved being there again.

Who are these goofballs?! We didn't plan for us all to wear similar colors... but it made a nice picture.
Mom, Sarah, Mindy and me.

Making Music

Seth and & Will Stevenson compose a song together.
Durham, NC, July 2008.

Saturday Notes

Yesterday while Madelyn was entertaining friends in the baby pool in the yard, Mr. Wu put a couple of large, live prawns in the water. Funny, very funny. Fortunately the girls thought so!

I am getting used to the museum look of the draperies in our house. Either I no longer retain my sense of style, or they're not as bad as I thought at first. Pictures are coming soon for you to judge for yourself.

So very happy for China about the awesome opening ceremony last night. Amazing. Bonus to be watching live from the home country... no commercials in the entire broadcast.

On Friday the boys finished their first week of a 3 hours a day, five days a week, three week long Mandarin course. They admitted on Friday that it's been kind of fun. It helps to be doing it with friends. :-)

There have been several gorgeously clear, blue sky days this past week, and even some nights when we could see stars! Maybe the environmental clean-up for the Olympics reached all the way to Shanghai.

China Sisters

On the last leg of our US trip, we visited friends in Chicago. Our dear friends from Gwen's adoption trip made a two and a half hour drive, each way, to spend some time with us there. Gwen and Kate hadn't seen each other for more than a year, but within minutes were acting like sisters. We've told the girls that the four of them who came from Yibin social welfare institute and were adopted at the same time, are "China sisters." We really want to keep this connection for them alive as they grow. It was such a treat to watch the girls interact, and to chat with Jen, Kate's mom.
We met at a park, where our Year of the Monkey girls were in their element! Kate and Gwen LOVED this part of the playground! After every turn of this wheel, they would jump down and beg to go again! Jen, Kate's mom, is pushing them around in this picture.

Monkey girls have to get as high as possible...
Sweet Kate!

We made a sign to let Kimberly know we wished she could have joined us... her momma really tried to make it happen, but it is tricky to travel from Florida to Illinois for just an afternoon. We missed you both, Carol and Kimberly!


The Monkey girls were busy with their antics up to the last few minutes before we got into our cars to part ways. The girls were pretty sad to leave each other. I lifted both Kate and Gwen up for a three-way hug with me while Jen got Kate's little brother into the car. Gwen wriggled away after a minute or two, but Kate put her head on my shoulder and gave me a good cuddle. I had a few cuddles like that from her back in December 2005, when we all first met our girls. It took me back to the hotel in Chengdu, Sichuan province, to have that sweet cuddle from Kate again! Thanks, darling girl. What a treat to see you thriving in your wonderful family. Thanks, Jen, for making the long drive. You are a real friend!

Madelyn Faces

Go Jump In The River

Poconos 2008

My girl is poised to jump.What mother in her right mind lets her children jump into a river of questionable depth? Well, the tree was right there, and other kids were doing it...
... but after this move, I drew the line. No flips. No more. None.
Of course then Uncle Shann had to get in on the fun, with his stunt. Seth looked on approvingly.
...and then took a flying leap. I was quite relieved when this activity was over and we floated on our way downriver.

Home

We're home, and we're tired. Caleb was the first to be in bed, by about 5 o'clock. The other three followed, Madelyn curling up in her clothes on top of the covers, and Gwen falling asleep in the middle of a story. I forced myself to stay up, but after only a couple of hours of sleep on the plane, I am hoping to be in bed before 9 tonight.

It was an amazing month. We got to be with so many people that we love, a wonderful gift. We played on the beach, in the woods, in the river. We stayed up late talking. We had a lot of good food. We drove quite a few miles. As good as it all was, as we finished up our time in the US with a visit in Chicago last weekend, I began to long for home. Our China home.

The distictive China smell hit us in the face the moment we stepped off the plane. But unlike last July's first steps off the plane, this time the smell was familiar, if not homey. We looked at each other and grinned.

So here we are. Yes, the new curtains do look like a museum. It is very muggy and smoggy outside. We're back to a sea of black heads of hair and an unfamiliar language. But now it feels like home.

Multiple Loyalties

Today the kids and I went to visit dear friends in Medina, where we lived several moves ago. As we drove through the town, past several old haunts, we all felt nostalgic for our old hometown. Cries of "Oh, I remember this!", and "I loved that place!", punctuated our drive through the familiar streets. The conversation progressed to the kids discussing how they love all the green in America, how lush it seems everywhere, compared to the "concrete jungle" we live in in China, to use Caleb's words. They talked about wanting to live in the US again. Then Caleb wisely said, "But once we're back in China, with our friends, then we're going to be glad we're there."

As I've written in several previous posts, this month I too have reveled in the green, the blue, the familiar. It's great to be here. But I know my little part of China well enough now to have elements of it that I know I will long for, once we leave there for good someday.

I told the kids this afternoon that I think it's good to love more than one place.

Friends

One afternoon while we were at Sarah's, Gwen seemed to really connect with Juline. Sweet Juline cannot sit up because of the weight of her head, due to the hydrocephalus. Gwen lay down next to her on the bed and talked to her for a long while. This is not generally spitfire Gwen's normal mode of operation, so it was amazing to see. She reveled in Juline's responses. Later, when another foster mom picked Juline up to take her for the week while we were all in the Poconos, Gwen sobbed and sobbed that Juline was leaving. Not sure what that connection was, but it was something special.

Daddy's Gone, Daddy's Home

Scott is back in Shanghai. As I type this just before bed here in the US on Wednesday night, he is back at his office on Thursday morning, trying to jump into the work that awaits him.

While were in the US, the curtains and screens were installed in our place. Scott said the curtains look extremely formal, like a bank or a museum. Hmmm... can't wait to see what they look like. The phone and internet lines were put in also, so Scott will sort out hooking those up before we get back.

The kids and I have five or six more days in the US before we head back. I am excited about spending time with the people we have yet to see, and glad to have more time to soak in all the things I love here, but with Scott back in China, I'm feeling a little antsy. Maybe it's good that he went back a week ahead of us, because it will make it easier for me to leave here.

Youngest Nieces in Black & White

Alyssa Jane, two and a half years old

EmmaClare, almost two years old

At the Lake

I grew up within a couple of miles of Lake Erie. We swam at the beach and grilled kielbasi and ate potato salad at the park above it. We vacationed at a lake community of cottages on Lake Erie several summers. When Scott and I were dating, we enjoyed sunsets sitting on the pier, dreaming about our future. Several times we made breakfast together at the beach. Caleb took some of his first unsteady steps along a Lake Erie beach. I've walked with my sweet grandma, who is now nearly 100, along these shores.

This week I've returned to these beaches. Lake Erie may have had a bad rap in the past, but the last two evenings by this body of water in the Midwest have been lovely. The peachy pink sky reflecting in the water... well, a Shanghai sunset just isn't anything like that. My girls paddled around in the lake tonight in lovely, warm, clear water.

I guess we always see places we love through rose colored glasses. Or maybe that was just the color of the clouds as the sun was setting...

Catching the Big One

Poconos 2008

I'm loving the chance for my boys to be boys this week... something about the woods and the river that seems to bring out those basic instincts, reminds them of things about themselves that may have been in hibernation for a while.

Up In The Green

This week I am loving green. And blue. And blue and green. And the river and the trees and the mountains. I'm trying to soak it all in, to save it for when we're back in the big city.

We're in the Pocono mountains this week with my family. We're floating down the river, diving for golf balls, watching skunks and racoons at night, and catching fireflies. We're fishing, splashing, and lazing on the water. We're golfing, toasting marshmallows, hiking to waterfalls. We're talking into the night. We have muddy feet. We're reading (The Shack- if you haven't gotten a copy yet, do.), having cousin squabbles, and blowing bubbles.

It's great to be together. Have I said that already? :-)

Thursday Night

Loving being at my sister's home here in Pennsylvania this week... driving on the hilly, winding roads past old stone farmhouses and through densely wooded areas; loving the deep blue sky we enjoyed tonight as we ate dinner out on the patio; loving the fresh air... it smelled so good tonight, I couldn't put my finger on what it was, but it was a clean smell. Loving going to Wal-mart and browsing. Loving hanging with Sarah and her kiddos, including sweet Juline, whom Sarah and Shann are caring for this summer while she recovers from surgery to correct her hydrocephalus, before returning to her parents in Haiti. Loving watching our kids interact. Loving working in the kitchen with Sarah, doing dishes with her and talking together while meals are prepared. Loving working in Sarah's yard a little, clipping a branch here, pulling a weed there. I've missed that. Loving fast internet. Loving (gulp!) a little reality TV.

Loving being in America. And thinking of China.