overheard

Our girls enjoyed taking part in Kid’s Camp this summer, a ministry of Campus Crusade for children. No, it’s not childcare, it’s camp. Madeline was emphatic about this.

“What’s the difference,” we asked her?
“Well, childcare is when you get babysat. Kid’s Camp is when you do arts and crafts, listen to stories and go on field trips,” she said.

The girls LOVED it! On the first day, however, Madeline had a concern. We had this conversation while I was driving them to their first day of camp:

Madeline: They’re not going to talk about Jesus there, are they?
Me: Well, yes, they probably are.
Madeline: Oh, no! I don’t want to talk about Jesus anymore.
Me: Why not? Everyone who goes to this camp probably loves Jesus, so it would be natural that they would want to talk about Him.
Madeline: Well, I already know everything about Jesus.
Me: You do?
Madeline: Yeah, like how he died on the cross, and blah, blah, blah.
Annalise: Well, it could be a good review, you know!

a Colorado summer

It’s been a ridiculously long time since I’ve updated this blog. Here’s a quick update:

We spent the summer in Colorado. And now it’s over. So sad!
We had the great privilege of serving our staff this summer: about 4,700 of them to be exact.
Every two years, we all pull together for a time of refreshment, training and enrichment.
We descend upon the city of Ft. Collins and take over CSU. We heard from great speakers like Tim Keller and Keith Battle.
We were drawn into worship with Tenth Avenue North and entertained by Christian comedian Tim Hawkins.
We left with new thoughts and ideas on how to continue moving forward in our ministries.
It was a very busy time. But, overall, we really enjoyed it.

If we haven’t seen you yet and you’re in Colorado, we’re still hoping to connect with you! We’re coming back through for a few days before we return to Orlando mid-August. We’ll be in touch!

Happy New Year!

Here’s our belated Christmas card.
Be watching for some new blog tabs coming soon!

thankful links

We hope you had a great Thanksgiving. It’s become our tradition to make “thankful links” with the girls. We take colored strips of paper, write down one thing we’re thankful for on each strip, and then glue, tape or staple the links together.

In years past we’d just go around the table while I acted as the scribe. But, this year, Madeline was able to write on her own strips, and Annalise wrote quite a few of hers too.

We laughed as we remembered three Thanksgivings ago when Annalise was 15 months old. On her turn we’d ask “What are you thankful for, Annalise?” and every time she’d reply “colors!”

ho hum

It’s just a ho hum week for the girls and I.

We’ve been taking goofey pictures,

playing in piles of laundry,

And posing for the camera.

Just trying to not lose my mind figure out life as a homeschooling family. We’re in week 4.
4 down, 32 to go. Oh my!

adoption update

Have you been wondering what’s the latest with our adoption process? Haven’t we been waiting a really long time?

The answer is yes, we’ve been waiting a really long time! One year and two months. It looks like we’re going to be waiting at least another year, maybe longer.

What’s the delay? Well, for starters, China has a back-log of people waiting to adopt children which means that they have 30,000 people waiting and only 7500 babies a year available (rough estimates.)

Even though we have an expedited process since I am of Chinese ancestery, our wait times have been increasing by the month. For example, in the last three months, no people in the expedited line have received the paperwork for their babies (AKA the “referral.”)

It’s been hard to stay emotionally engaged. The wait times just keep increasing. And, so we wait.

Some have asked if we know who the baby is. No, we don’t. And that is a good thing. Our baby is either in the womb somewhere, still unborn or not yet physically conceived. But, she was conceived in our hearts and minds long ago.

two-wheeler

Annalise is riding her bike as a “two-wheeler” now. She’s so proud of herself!

All decked out with her gear, in case she falls.

Run, run!

So proud!

the journey of 1,000 miles…

begins with the first step. [Confucius]

Yesterday was our first day of homeschool. Yes, I said homeschool. Ugh. I never, ever thought I’d be writing those words. But, here I am writing them. Madeline was attending one of the best public schools around. It’s a brand new school with an excellent staff. She had the best Kindgarten teacher out of seven classes. And, she loved it. And, after several weeks of after-school behavior problems, we had gotten to a point where it was working quite well for our family. We had adjusted. And, I liked it. My house was nice and calm and quiet.

But, there was one problem. It was too easy. Madeline had already met the standards to pass Kindergarten. And, since one of the main reasons you go to school is to learn, we thought Madeline should learn something this year. Acedemically.

Her teacher suggested she be tested to promote her to 1st grade. Long story short: two reading tests, two math tests and an IQ test later, the school administration unanimously agreed that she be promoted to first grade. But, they had to meet with the county, and the county said “no.” They were all shocked, and we were disappointed.

We couldn’t in good conscience leave her in a classroom with 18 other kids, some of whom were struggling with the work that she could have done last year. It just didn’t make sense. And, I couldn’t get the thought of homeschooling out of my mind. (If you knew me well, you’d know how utterly not-of-me this thought is!!) The idea kept coming back and pestering me, and as much as I wanted to get rid of it, it wouldn’t go away. I just knew in my gut that for this year it was something I was supposed to do.

So, our journey has begun. I think it’s going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my whole life. Childbirth included.

Some of our curriculum arrived yesterday. We’re doing a mixture of classical education and a literature based program. At least my photos make it look fun, right?

oh, how they grow!

the posed shot

Last week Monday was Madeline’s first day of school. How could she have gotten so big so fast? She absolutely loves kindergarten and comes home everyday telling me just how much. Her elementary school is huge–there are 7 kindergarten classes, and over 800 kids in the school. Last week was a short week. Tropical storm Fay managed to drop 8 inches of rain on us and was the cause of two days of cancelled school. “Hurricane” days, if you will–sort of like “snow days” where I (Kristina) grew up.

I actually welcomed the school cancellations. I missed Madeline terribly on Monday, and cried after dropping her off in her class. It’s the end of one chapter in her life and the start of a new one. *sigh* I guess it is really true that “kids grow up too fast!” Now I feel old.

the real Madeline

creatures galore

Living in Florida sure provides us with plenty of new fauna to discover. Did you know that we are home to the largest living freshwater snails on earth?? That’s right! The apple snail is such a creature. If cared for properly, it can reach a diameter of 6 inches wide! We saw this one at the lake this summer. I placed the quarter next to it for a sense of scale.

Next up: moon jellyfish.
We found these at Cocoa beach in June. Madeline, being a creature lover, was fascinated by them. Prolific in the Atlantic Ocean, they frequently wash ashore in the summertime. They can usually be handled without stinging and can reach up to 18 inches in diameter.

EDIT:Sphinx moths:

Thanks, Terri, for telling us what this is! We saw it at a baseball game between the University of Central Florida and Rice. I don’t think he moved the entire time we were there. They can fly at speeds up to 30mph, and are often mistaken for humming birds because of their fast flapping wings. It was definitely the hugest moth I’ve ever seen.

And finally, walking catfish.
My friend, Ingrid, saw these while she was out for a run yesterday, about 27 in all. I decided to go look for myself today, and sure enough, about half a dozen were still there. All over the sidewalk. The excessive rains from tropical storm Fay must have washed them up, out of the storm drains, where they live. Yes, they live in storm drains. Apparently they can walk on their pectoral fins and can live out of water as long as they stay moist. Ew!