August 30th, 2009
Last week Miah attended a swimming party for two of her cousins’ birthdays. Kian ↓ turned two, and Kevin turned 10.
Kian is growing up bilingual, Spanish & English. Miah knows a few words in Spanish, and can almost count to 20. (In English she goes far beyond that.) We have a CD of Spanish kid’s songs she likes to listen to. But her favorite CD is Speak & Sing Chinese with Mei Mei. She never tires of it, nor another CD of kids singing that we got while in China. She even sings some of the songs on her own without the CD. We were amazed at how quickly she memorized #s 1-10 and other words in Mandarin. I’m sure it’s triggered a memory of her first several months hearing Chinese. If we were in a larger community, I’d love to enroll her (and myself) in Chinese classes. But for now I guess I’ll order more CDs and DVDs!
In addition to music, Miah loves to play in the water — as long as her face doesn’t get wet!
Toes getting wet? That’s perfectly fine!
August 25th, 2009
What a wonderful time we had last week with our friends, the Shanks. They serve as Missionary doctors in Cameroon, and blessed our church Sabbath with some of their amazing stories of God’s leading.
We all enjoyed a hot, yet refreshing hike to Lake Valhalla. After our descent, we went out to eat in Leavenworth, and then came home to some Tillamook ice cream (something unheard of in Koza). Miah latched on to Sarah, like she did last year when they visited. Ever since they left, she has been talking about her and saying, “Sarah will come back.”
August 21st, 2009
It’s a bear! RUN!
Just kidding. We had a great hike yesterday to Lake Valhalla, and Miah did over a mile and a half on her own (the steepest part, thankfully 
). The highlight of her day was finding huckleberries to eat, and they seemed to boost her energy! (I just can’t fathom how these tiny berries make up the majority of a black bear’s diet!) We also found mosquitos. When we ask Miah why the mosquitos like her so much, she says, “Because I’m so sweeet!”
August 18th, 2009
We were grocery shopping yesterday, Miah and I. She generally likes to walk, but will ride in the carts that look like cars and have steering wheels. She also gets into the cart when we go through the check-out so she can be on level and see all that is going on. This is where she was as we purchased our goods at C*stco; so I was on one side of the check-out, and Miah on the other. We happened to be behind an asian lady. The next thing I knew, the cashier was moving carts out of the way, and moving Miah’s cart up to load her groceries. The lady in front of me quickly told him, “She’s not mine, she’s with her!” gesturing to me. We both laughed, and she asked if Miah was Korean. (I think this lady was Filipino.) I told her she was Chinese, and she responded, “Oh, she’s pretty,” and then moved on. Miah was oblivious to it all . . . (a good thing, because it wasn’t that long ago that she would be in tears to be separated from me with a strange man between us.) I’m sure we’ll encounter more situations along this line, and hopefully be able to find them humorous as well.
August 15th, 2009
On the road yet again to our annual family gathering near Mount Adams. (In case you were wondering, it’s hiding behind the clouds.)
Flyfishing with Daddy.
Picking huckleberries with the cousins.
Nana and her two “Happy Campers”.
Hiking around the Natural Bridges.
Snapping beans to cook for the yummy potluck dinner.
Yep, we’re related to pretty much all these people. Click on the pictures to see close-ups of family, fishing, and Miah and Stephanie’s “Happy Camper” shirts.
