“Up in the Air I Go Flying Again…”

Oh, the freedom of swinging…

The joy of flying through the air…

These two big sisters, made their little sisters very happy!

And they got their turn, too.

“I WuhWoo”

Monday this little one melted my heart.  I was sitting on the porch watching the girls play in the yard.  Suddenly Ami came up beside me and said “I wuhwoo” and wanted a hug.  She’s been repeating our “I love you’s” when we say good-night, but the spontaneous ones mean so much more!  Notice she has the hug down, too.↓

My big girl barely turned 4.  No matter where she goes, everyone is asking her if she’s ready for school.  Yes, I know she looks older, but the poor kid isn’t ready to grow up quite so fast.  I just tell people we’ll be doing pre-school at home.  I don’t have an official curriculum planned for the year, but, being a teacher by trade, I’m not too worried.  Miah already knows more than a lot of kindergarteners I’ve observed.

Sisters

These sisters are blessed with two wonderful Grandmothers!  Nana, thanks for the beautiful matching dresses for Ami & Miah!  And Grandma, thanks for taking two hours of your day to help us out at Doctor appointments!  We really appreciate you both!

Ride ‘em Cowgirls!

Admiring new dolls from Auntie Tisha, from her Alaska cruise.

It’s HOT out, but they want to be outside to play.  Dirt… gravel… water…

they don’t fight over these like they do the toys inside…

Being silly is a lot more fun when you have a sister to share it with.

This ↑ was a hard photo to get… the rest of them ↓ were a blur…  (Ami is teaching Miah to be more spontaneous – even if it is flinging yourself back-and-forth in a rocking chair.)

And Miah is teaching Ami to be a good helper.  If these girls keep it up, my life may actually get easier someday – I’ll turn all the cooking and cleaning over to them!

Turning 4!

We celebrated Miah’s birthday early due to our upcoming travels and the ensuing change in life as we now know it.  Even though her actual birthday hasn’t happened yet, when you ask Miah how old she is she’ll say “four”. . . “because I blew out four candles.”  The kiddos just wanted to play on the playground (which they did), but they enjoyed the cake and opening presents, as well.  The adults were just entertained by watching the kids.

The boys were initially interested in the gifts, but once they saw the contents, they didn’t stick around long.

The girls were a little more interested…

maybe too much so…

Miah later told me she wanted to have her birthday with just Mommy and Daddy.  But when I reminded her how much fun she had with her friends…

and what great gifts she got…

she decided it was okay after all.

Honestly though, she’s been even more excited counting down the days to China and Ami than she was to her birthday party.

Beating the Heat

Summer took long enough to get here this year, but we are enjoying it now.  Miah doesn’t seem to be bothered by the heat.  She actually embraces it if it means she can play in water.

As we turned out of our driveway Saturday afternoon, this was the sight that met us.  (Actually this photo was taken later, from across the river, but the sight of smoke just over the ridge met us.)

Unfortunately we have too much experience with wildfires in the area near our home.  Fortunately the Swakane Canyon fire was not as near as it initially appeared.

So our afternoon activity was to head to Lincoln Rock State Park, and watch the helicopters in action.  (If you look closely ↓ you can see Lincoln’s profile in the rock on the hillside.)

It was interesting to watch four different helicopters taking turns dipping their buckets into the river, flying over the fire to make their drop, and returning to the river in about 5-6 minute turn-a-round time.  (It was even more interesting because we weren’t watching them from our front windows fighting a blaze that threatened our home like the one three years ago.)  Miah was fascinated, but worried.  She had a hard time falling asleep that night, and was remembering the fire she watched consume a house near Grandma’s a year ago.

As we’re packing and taking care of all the final details before our trip, I came across this article about the changing face of Chinese adoption.  It’s long, but explains very well the current challenges of orphan care in China.  Be sure to scan the comments at the end for more details from Amy Eldridge.