Fun Days!

School is continuing on. We seem to be settling into a groove. Starting early and then getting a break I think will prove helpful. It's allowed me the freedom to think about changes, what worked, what could work better, etc.

Sweet story! Today when Joy was reading her stories in Mandarin she put the book up to her nose and smelled deeply. I asked her, "Does it smell like China?" She smiled and said yes. I bought this particular book in China. It makes me think about everything international adoptees leave behind. Yes, they gain forever families but they leave familiar faces, smells, foods, sites, language, and many more things.

Clayton and I were talking about how easily the kids all learn Chinese and English. Joy has started whispering in my ear if I ask her what a certain word is in Chinese. She must be embarrassed for whatever reason so I feel the need to learn faster and make it more of our lives if we are truely going to become somewhat bilingual like we'd like. So... Clayton had the idea to make learning Mandarin just another part of school. I have some My First Chinese Readers Vol. 1 that I got from our friend that is from China and teaches here. You can order them at China Sprout and I believe there are 4 volumes. So... after hitting the panic button upon the idea of one more thing to do for school I decided it would be doable maybe not every day but at least 2 or 3 times a week. The girls and I did two lessons this morning after everyone was done with everything else and had a blast. I think it will be good bonding time for the 4 of us then they practiced on the boys and taught them some new words. We are going to try to use conversations in public so Joy isn't the spotlight. So she can see that we all enjoy using the Chinese language. I'm amazed at how many characters I am even starting to recognize after listening to her read and following along most everyday. It's encouraging to see progress! Fun times indeed!

And this is what our table looks like every morning! Oh how I will look back on these days and say... Only God! As I am typing this Faith is humming Amazing Grace in the living room....

And here are some photos of Faith at horse camp at the end of July. She had a great time!

Isaac watching his sister! Always up in a tree or anything else he can climb up!