We have recently watched on the HengFeng Orphanage blog as new families get their referral photos and it always brings back all the joy, excitement and anxieties of that time in our lives. Though the adoption processes have slowed almost to a crawl in recent years, it is important to remember that there are still children waiting for their family (and vice versa). Genevieve is approaching 2 and half. She has been with us longer now than she was at HengFeng, and is a wonderful, happy, fun (and funny) little girl. She has adapted well to her day care "school" at Appalachian and is much loved by the teachers and student workers. (Our Disneyworld Photos below)...
Her verbal skills have advanced significantly in the past three months, and she is asking lots of questions these days. Music noticeably gets her attention and she loves to sing and dance; also really enjoys being read to and "reading to you". She and Andie grow closer each week it seems...with fewer fights over possessions these days and more playing together. They must be together to watch iCarly, and they especially like to draw and model clay.
Genevieve has evolved into "GiGi" more often than not but also still remembers that she is also Li Jing. We have ditched the bottle a good while back, real close to ditching the diapers (but not quite), and her purple blanket is her current nighttime security device.
Andie has had a great year as a first grader, and amazingly we manage to get her on the bus at 7:15am MOST days. The days we falter are probably due mostly to Mom or Dad (or both) being comatose. We have had a long and cold winter here in Boone and anxiously await the re-greening of our yard. We had our share of colds and flu over the winter (as did most of Boone it seems) and may be looking at having another child with "ear tubes" sooner than later as this seems to be Gigi's key malady. Our trip to Disneyworld and Seaworld in February was a great break from the Boone weather. Ah, to be wearing shorts and t-shirts if only for a week!
The girls absolutely loved the trip and parks. We did five straight days covering the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Seaworld from morning until 9 or 10pm each night! I was one tired "Pops" at the end of the week as Lynne was attending a conference for several days and I had to fly solo. The entire Disney experience is pretty amazing...fascinating to me how they pull all that off each day of the year with so little visible infrastructure. I would NOT want to be there in the summer, that much was clear. February seems an excellent time to visit, though the crowds were still pretty intense at Magic Kingdom despite a recession!
We now will be gearing up for summer camps for Andie, visits with grandmothers and as usual, lots of work in all directions for Mom and Dad. I will be teaching a week long watercolor workshop at Cheap Joes in June, Lynne will be feverishly working Orientation at ASU...and as always we will wonder in September where the summer went.
We enjoy hearing and getting photos from our HengFeng sisters all over the US, and hopefully will get together with at least a few of them over the summer. Family events, whether a wedding or a funeral, always remind us that life is precious and fleeting. And...despite the challenges we face in our country at present we are all extremely fortunate. Hope everyone is doing great!
Genevieve has evolved into "GiGi" more often than not but also still remembers that she is also Li Jing. We have ditched the bottle a good while back, real close to ditching the diapers (but not quite), and her purple blanket is her current nighttime security device.
Andie has had a great year as a first grader, and amazingly we manage to get her on the bus at 7:15am MOST days. The days we falter are probably due mostly to Mom or Dad (or both) being comatose. We have had a long and cold winter here in Boone and anxiously await the re-greening of our yard. We had our share of colds and flu over the winter (as did most of Boone it seems) and may be looking at having another child with "ear tubes" sooner than later as this seems to be Gigi's key malady. Our trip to Disneyworld and Seaworld in February was a great break from the Boone weather. Ah, to be wearing shorts and t-shirts if only for a week!
The girls absolutely loved the trip and parks. We did five straight days covering the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Seaworld from morning until 9 or 10pm each night! I was one tired "Pops" at the end of the week as Lynne was attending a conference for several days and I had to fly solo. The entire Disney experience is pretty amazing...fascinating to me how they pull all that off each day of the year with so little visible infrastructure. I would NOT want to be there in the summer, that much was clear. February seems an excellent time to visit, though the crowds were still pretty intense at Magic Kingdom despite a recession!
We now will be gearing up for summer camps for Andie, visits with grandmothers and as usual, lots of work in all directions for Mom and Dad. I will be teaching a week long watercolor workshop at Cheap Joes in June, Lynne will be feverishly working Orientation at ASU...and as always we will wonder in September where the summer went.
We enjoy hearing and getting photos from our HengFeng sisters all over the US, and hopefully will get together with at least a few of them over the summer. Family events, whether a wedding or a funeral, always remind us that life is precious and fleeting. And...despite the challenges we face in our country at present we are all extremely fortunate. Hope everyone is doing great!
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