Things we have learned so far about IN

1. Mid-westerners really are nice. (Not that I ever saw that New Yorkers are "rude")

2. We love living near Chick Fla. 

3. People here speed. The main road we live on has a speed limit of 55. Most everyone goes at least 70. Not me with my NY tags that are probably a cop target lol! 

4. So far the mexican and chinese is so much better than NY, and we have the name of a good Thai place that we need to try. 

5. Most of the churches are not kid friendly. (This is not really different from NY or GA- and thankfully we have found one that is).

6. It really is windy near the windy city.

7. The homeschool laws are sooooo much better. 

8. It is hard to find a part time NP job. 

9. Beef n noodles is yummy. 

10. We think we scared off the snow. 

Our Next Big Adventure

Scott is the new VP of IT and CIO at St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer IN!!!!!!!!!!!  Goooooooo Pumas!!!!!!!!!!

It will be an adventure- I have never even set foot in Indiana! 

He is supposed to start the beginning of October, so we will be packing up and moving 14 hours away. 

Noah is excited that we will be closer to Zaxby's. (We will be about an hour from one).

Alex is relieved that English is spoken there. He did not want to learn a third language. 

Aiden is hoping there are less spiders. 

Claire is excited about "everything."  Yeah we will see after being in the car for 2 hours. 

Things we will miss about NY:

1. Vermont

2. Stewarts

3. Soft serve ice cream

4. The large amounts of snow

5. The hills and being so close to mountains. 

Obviously we will miss our church family and the good friends we have made here.

Things we are looking forward to in Indiana

1.  Chickfla

2.  It being slightly warmer. 

3. Hopefully much better ethnic food. 

4. Less restrictive homeschool laws!!!!!!

5. Exploring a new part of the US

First Day of School 2015-2016

Today we began our second year homeschooling. The kids were so excited. 

They each painted a book box to hold their schoolbooks. 

Noah is a 3rd grader. He said his favorite subjects are math, science and art. He wants to learn more about space and the solar system this year. He wants to be a scientist or teacher when he grows up. 

Alex is a 2nd grader. His favorite subjects are science and reading. He wants to learn more about robots. He wants to be an inventor when he grows up. 

Aiden is a kindergartner this year. His favorite subjects are art, math, and science. He also wants to learn more about robots. He wants to work at a chocolate factory when he grows up. 

Claire is also a kindergartner this year.  Her favorite subjects are art and math. She wants to learn more about everything! She wants to be a teacher when she grows up. 

It took me a while to decide what curriculum I wanted to use. We are continuing with Singapore Math, First Language Lessons (grammar/ language arts), and Telling God's Story. We are using Story of the World for history. We are adding All About Spelling, and Writing With Ease for the older two. For science, we are doing unit studies (please, please someone write an elementary science creation and old-earth based). So far the topics on the list include nutrition, robots, space, weather, and dinosaurs. We will do some Chinese- culture and hopefully some language. 

The school year in review

We finished our first year homeschooling!! I think overall it went great. We will change things up a bit for next year. I loved the math and english curriculum. I am going to change the history/social studies and science. 

Noah completed 2nd grade technically but was working ahead in most subjects.  He said overall his favorite was english. He liked learning new words. This suprised me because his favorite subject is math. 

Alex completed 1st grade.  He is doing so well learning english and learning other subjects in english. He said his favorite has been learning to read- which has been the focus all year for him. It has got to be crazy coming from a language that is so different. He is doing great and has learned a lot. 

Aiden and Claire completed Pre-K- which is more fun than scholarly. We did a letter of the week thing, and basic counting, calendar, etc. Aiden said his favorite thing was cutting. Claire said she liked writing her name. Both will do Kindergarten next year. 

For scoence/history/social studies all four did a curriculum that focused on different countries and ecosystems. I hated it to be honest. It had to filter a lot of the science stuff, as it was very much teaching young earth science is the "right" belief system, and I just don't agree. 

Noah says his favorite country we studied was the countries in South America and China. His favorite ecosystem was rainforests.

Alex says his favorite country to study to study was China. His favorite ecosystem to learn about was forests. 

Aiden says his favorite country to study was the US. His favorite ecosystem was the oceans. 

Claire says her favorite country to learn about was China because she loves China. She says her favorite ecosystem to learn about was the artic/antartic because of the ice. 

I learned a lot this year too. I learned that I like being with my kids so much. I learned that giving them lots of free time expands their imaginations. I learned that homeschoolers also need snow days. I learned that I really love himeschooling- way more than I thought I would. I learned that I can meet the unique educational needs of each of my kids better than the school system. 

This summer we actually will so some school type stuff. Noah wants to get farther ahead in math, and Alex needs to continue his reading instruction. 

I have mostly decided what we will do next year- I will post about it when I decide for sure. I will have a 3rd grader, 2nd grader, and 2 kindergartners. That seems crazy. 

1 year in our family!!!!

Alex has been in our family for a year. It has fone by so quickly. He fits in our family so well. E love him so much and cannot imagine our life without him. Noah's favorite thing about Alex- "he's funny."  Aiden's favorite thing about Alex-"he loves me." Claire's favorite thing about Alex- "he helps me build legos."

I also asked Alex some questions. 

What do you miss most about China?

The food, and my friends. 

I totally agree about the food buddy- I miss that too. Finding authentic chinese food here has been a challenge. 

As for his friends- he has 2 close friends in his foster home. One, a girl he calls his Jie Jie (older sister) lives in the US in Alabama. We (her mother and I) plan to get them together this summer. The other is a 10 year old boy who still waits for a family. He is a nice boy and in school. He really needs a family. Here is a picture:

What do you like most about America?

God, all the trees, and McDonalds

Oh this boy. He still loves McDonalds. The day we met him in China, we let him pick where to go for dinner. He picked McDonalds. We take so much for granted here.  It was obvious that Alex rarely was able to get a happy meal. We all know that when you are young the most important part of that meal is the toy. When you grow up in a place with limited resources and with 30 other children happy meal toys and trips to McDonalds are very rare. So I will admit that we have eaten McDonald's more in the past year than in the previous five combined. 

There are so many more trees and green spaces here when compared to China. Alex loves being outside. He loves to collect rocks and acorns when we hike. It is so fun to watch him experience the wonder of nature. 

When Alex started speaking in English with some confidence one of the first question he asked was why God was not in China. This is something else we Americans take for granted. We have to freedom to worship (or not!) as we please. Those who know me well know that I want everyone to worship as they please. But this post is not about that. Alex believed God was not in China. In the past year I hope Alex has learned about how much God loves him. Watching him learn about God is so interesting to watch since he did not grow up with God. He asks such great questions. Alex said that we need to tell all of China about God. We agree buddy. 

What do you like most about our family?

You are nice, I have brothers, and we have a cat. 

Hmmmm no mention of his sassy little sister! Yes, we try to be nice. We love this boy so much, yet love is such a hard concept to learn when you come from a trauma background. Love and family permanency take time. That's ok- we have time. He is stuck with us forever (including Claire!). Alex has bonded so well with his brothers, and he has bonded with Claire too. 

When we first got home Alex thought it was so weird that we had a cat as a pet. (And no- do not assume that people eat cats in China- Alex has never eaten cat). Only the rich in China have pets at all. When we added Ming to our family- Alex was so excited. He loves Ming. He says he wants to live somewhere that we can have lots of animals and lots of trees and a pond. 

What are your favorite American Holidays?

My birthday, Christmas, and Halloween. All three celebrations were new to him this year. He also does not understand getting random gifts. We will get the kids a little something (new shovels for dogging worms this week), and Alex gets excited and keeps asking is why we got him something. Because love buddy.  

He has grown at least 4 inches and gained over 4 pounds. He has a talent for building things. He is kind, and silly, and smart. We are so glad he is part of our family. 

2 years ago!!

Today is the 2 year anniversary of the day Claire joined our family. I remember so much about that day. Some memories stand out. Waiting in the lobby of our hotel before boarding the bus. There was snow. 

The eerily silent bus ride (the only time our jovial travel group was quiet!). Watching the buildings go by, wondering if my girl would be late. I had a feeling (and heard a rumor) that she arrived all the way from Shanghai the day before. 

The rush of emotions when we walked into the room and I spotted her. The world stopped. There was my baby. I wanted to scoop her up and burst into tears, yet could not do either as I did not want to terrify her. Her Ayi pointed to me and said "Mama!"  Claire repeated her, sounded unsure. I dug out cheerios. The nanny dug out the picture book we had sent and pointed to my picture to show Claire I matched. 

She took the cheerios, and eventually made it into my lap. I could not hold in the emotion. 

Things settled and I had a chance to look around and see the other families welcoming their new kiddos. 

The roads were icy and one family's child did not make it in time to meet us there. They met him later at the hotel. 

I remember signing the temporary gaurdianship papers. 

I even let my dad hold her for a minute. She bonded quickly to her Ye Ye.

We got some pictures with the Ayis. 

It was time to go. We were there for hours, but it went by so quick. Saying goodbye was hard. 

We got on the bus and Claire soon fell asleep. We had this view:

She did not wake up for quite a while. She had a great nap at the hotel. 

How we spent the rest of the time in China (well minus the coat and hats when we got to Guangzhou):

I prefer baby wearing over strollers. I also remember using a squattie potty more that once while wearing Claire! 

Two years ago:

Today:

She has grown so much. I asked her if she was scared when we met. She said "nope! Ayi was with me, then you came."

World Aids Day

It is World Aids Day! Of course I have to post today!! I thought I would share some stats and random thoughts. Stats came from the WHO and UNICEF. 

There are 35 million people living with HIV. In 2013, there were 2.1 million people newly infected. 240,000 were children. Less than 1 in 4 children with HIV had access to ART- the life saving medications. Less than 1 in 4. 

There are 153 million orphans in the world. 17.9 million have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. 

17,000,000. That is a lot of zeros. That is a lot of children without parents. 

Most live in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. It is estimated that there are 10,0000 in China. 

Want to help?  It can be easy!  Ideas:

Help fight the stigma and fear. Be willing to educate yourself and others. 

Support a family you know that is affected by HIV. Just saying you care about them and that  HIV will not change how you interact with them goes a long way. 

Support charities that help those affected by HIV/AIDS.  My favorite is ELIM kids (they work in China with orphans and families dealing with HIV/AIDS. They educate orphanage staff and have a group foster home). https://www.facebook.com/elimkidschina 

Consider adopting a kiddo who is HIV positive:) 

Share something on social media for World Aids Day #WAD2014