It's a...RAT! Chinese New Year 2008

I'm playing catch up on the blog a bit, which may not be true blogger style, but this way the pictures will be here for anyone playing catch up on our lives! Below are a few pics from our Chinese New Year Celebration at the end of February. This was our 3rd year hosting the event, which seems to be growing each year. We only invite our friends with a direct connection to international adoption, as that provides a houseful right there.

Mom and Dad Bowen joined us this year, and mom enjoyed seeing all the little girls, including Kay & Larry Calhoun's daughter Joy who traveled with us in China.

The kiddos had fun with the dragon dance this year, though there were about 10 "official" dragon dances to give everyone the chance to lead the parade and wear the dragon head. Our Chinese teacher, Bing Fields, and her family joined us and helped make the boiled dumplings that Lori is trying to master. (Master is a long way off, despite my cooking skills!) We enjoyed Chinese egg rolls, dumplings, pot stickers and noodles, plus a few chicken nuggets for the kids! Three of the little ones have peanut allergies, so this is also a great way to celebrate when a Chinese restaurant would be too dangerous for them.

It is always wonderful to celebrate the girls' heritage with so many friends who share a common linkage across the sea.

We're missing a few who had to leave early here, but in our annual traditional "red couch" photo is (l to r) Joy Calhoun, Luke Karlas, Olivia Riutcel, Katie, Mari Pellman, Carly Dahm and Alex. Mari & Carly just got baby brothers from South Korea a few weeks ago (in May '08)

Dragon Carley leads the noisy parade!

Mari, Olivia, Alex and Carly dismantle the "craft" table.

Alex and Luke in another version of the Dragon parade.
Dina and the newest addition to the Chinese gang, Sarah Cheek. Baby Sarah came home just a couple weeks before CNY. Dina and Doug started their application about the time we finished with Katie's, so they endured a 2+ year wait once their application was in.

Two Years Ago Already!

My first look at Katie once I knew she was my daughter. Two years ago today.
Katie today...full of smiles, loves her family, lots more hair!
Katie at Christmas.

She may not be as tall as some, but she knows how to get things accomplished!

Katie getting ready to go to "school" (a weekly organized playgroup where Alex attends preK). She always takes her backpack just like her big brother!
Katie playing "Santa" at Christmas...her favorite blankie is stuffed into the hat that she's holding.
Alex and Katie getting ready for Santa. Katie thought that she should try the milk to make sure that it was good for Santa.
Our family at Christmas.

Katie, our neighbor Eve and Alex showing their tomato bounty in front of our garden last fall.

Katie and Alex snuggling up, toasting to another year of being together. (Okay, so I made up the toasting stuff....)

Today marks the 2-year anniversary of the day Kaitlyn Annamei joined our family. When I think about that day, it feels like yesterday. But when I looked through our photo album of our China trip, it is amazing how much Katie has grown and changed in those two years. At 9 months old, Katie could barely sit up and was only drinking formula. We figured out pretty quick that she was capable of more, and she was sitting, standing and crawling soon after we got home. Her gross motor skills took off and haven't stopped since. Last summer, when she was evaluated by several therapists she was over a year past the "average" physical abilities for her age. We think Alex has a lot to do with that, as Katie can't stand it if she can't do what her big brother does.

This weekend we are celebrating Chinese New Year at our house with many friends who have also had their lives touched by adoption from Asian countries. We'll see a few of our travel mates for whom today is also a special day, plus lots of friends who share the adoption experience with us. We're looking forward to it!

Katie continues to thrive and bring great joy to our family. Well, great joy and the occasional frustration...but then again, what kid doesn't? Katie continues to be a very strong-willed little girl, but as her language abilities have grown our ability to work with her personality has improved dramatically. And "dramatically" is a good choice of words, becuase if Katie doesn't become a rocket scientist or gymnast, there is a very good chance that she'll be on Broadway. She's very dramatic! As I say often when she's out of earshot, she's darn lucky she's cute. I have figured out that cute really does get you far in life. (I was not so blessed, so this is new territory for me.) Katie still gets a tremendous amount of positive attention when we are in public. There is something about a cute Asian toddler that draws comments from far and near. I'm used to it now, but I don't run an errand without making sure I look presentable in case someone notices that this child has a parent with them.

Katie loves to pretend to cook, and will now easily spend an hour setting her play dining table, fixing dinner and serving her stuffed friends their meal. She also adores playing with big brother Alex, and since summer they have really enjoyed playing together. Once Katie hit 2, she had the ability to really keep up with him and they had lots of fun in the water together all summer. This winter, they've enjoyed a couple occasions of sledding and lots of time in our indoor bounce house. They also run laps in the downstairs trying to catch each other. It's really fun to see. As a parent, one of the most heartwarming experiences for me is to see Katie and Alex enjoying each other's company. They won't go to bed without a kiss and a hug for each other. I truly hope that this relationship follows them into adulthood.

Now for the pictures. Sorry I've been more than behind on posting here. Our digital camera was out of order for most of the summer, so I was shooting film. Then we switched photo management software, and I only got it added to my PC last month. Excuses, excuses! So I've posted several months worth to catch you up.

Most of you know, be we are hoping to add a third to our family later this year if things work out. We are still "in line" to adopt again in China, but the wait continues to look to be about 4 years total. We're 1 year down come April. In the fall, we added our name to the South Korean adoption list, and had to go on "hold" last month or we would've had a referral by now. We can stay on hold for awhile, so that's what we're going to do for now. The Korean program is similar to China, except there are more baby boys available than girls. We could be referred either a boy or girl, but given the odds a boy looks more likely. We know that God will find the right child for our family, so we're not too worried about the specifics. Since the baby would be about a year old when he/she joined our family, we are hoping to wait a bit longer to let Katie get a little older before she becomes a big sister. And by the way, don't mention this to Brad, but it looks like we can stay in line in China if we want a 4th! One at at time...we'll have to wait on that decision.