Language Issues

I have a pearl on a chain that I got when we were in China.  A few nights ago, Hannah was on my lap, when she asked, "Where did you get your necklace?"  My response was, "Where did I get this necklace?" knowing that she knew the answer already.  "From CHINA! When you got ME!" That's right.  She then asked Paul and I, "How did you guys get me?"

"We wanted another little girl in our family, and we saw your picture on Mommy's computer, and we asked China if we could be your family!  Then we did lots and lots of paperwork and China said yes, we could come get you.  So we flew alllll the way to China in a big feiji (plane) and got you!"

Simplistic, right?  Almost too simple, for your average, home-grown 5 year old.  But what I'm increasingly discovering is that Hannah's English has some Swiss cheese holes in it.  Here's a couple of examples.  This morning, she folded the kitchen towels on the couch in the play room.  She brought them to me, "Mommy!  I'm done folding!"  Awesome.  Without thinking about it, I said, "They go in the top drawer."  She takes off and disappears.  "Um, Hannah?  What did you do with the towels?"  Turns out, she put them back in the Secret Passageway, our term for the butler's pantry that runs between the kitchen and Paul's office.  There'a a nice counter in there, out of sight from the rest of the house, where I sort the clean laundry.  That's where the kitchen towels had come from before she folded them.

When I asked her where I told her to put them, she couldn't tell me.  I realized she had no idea what a drawer was.  "Hannah, what's a drawer?"  "Um, um, ummmm, um, I don't know."  Ah.  This also illustrates that she's good at "faking it" most of the time.  Between visual clues, like pointing, and context clues, she can usually guess what we want.  But she won't ask for clarification, ever.

Homeschool park day was at a park with a sand pit recently.  She can't get sand in the hinge of her prosthetic, so I wanted her to stay away from it.  I was about to tell her this, when I thought, "She'll say 'Yes Mommy!' and skip away, whether she understands me or not."  So I asked her, "Hey, Hannah, what's sand?"  Again, no idea.  Totally outside her sphere of reality.  (We've kept her away from sand at parks because of her prosthetic.)  So I had one of the big kids take her over and show her so she could understand.

I need to remember that 18 months ago she understood NO English, and she's doing WAY better than I would be, if I'd been left in China all this time, trying to speak Mandarin.

Sticking My Neck Out

I don't normally post controversial issues.  Mine is a fluffy blog about raising a big family, and adoption, and whatever else pops into my head.  So this feels weird for me, but I'm genuinely interested.  

Homosexuality.

Wow, what a loaded word.

Recently there has been a lot of "chatter" on Facebook about gay rights.  I'm friends with a lot of people with different belief systems than myself, and most of the time that's great.  But lately, it seems like all the Pro-Gay stuff is also Anti-Christian, which is very off putting.  (Probably because so many Christians are Anti-Gay, I'm starting to understand.)

I love the blog world.  I love seeing how other families do their thing.  I love the challenge of thinking about something from another viewpoint.  I love looking at pictures of cute adopted kids.

If you follow my rabbit trail to how I got to thinking about homosexuality, it goes like this:

I was reading this blog which linked to this post which linked to this post.   Are you with me so far?  Okay.  Having read all of those, my mind was spinning.  The final link *really* challenged my thinking.  Gay and Christian in the same sentence?  In the same person?? 

I hope you'll hear my heart in this.  I don't hate anybody.  But I was raised In Church, and fairly sheltered.  And I went to Christian schools, starting in junior high.  I got married young, had a bunch of kids, and surrounded myself with people fairly similar to myself.  Honestly, I don't know even one gay person.

I know that Jesus loves everyone, including gay people.  And I know that I've been taught all my life that homosexuality is wrong.

So when I start asking questions, I hope you'll take hear them from my ignorant point of view, not a bigoted one.

Setting aside the question of whether being gay is a choice or not, mainly because I haven't fully wrapped my head around that yet, here are some question I would love to have answered, both from a Side A and a Side B point of view.

For those who are Christian, and I know this sounds weird, but hear me out, what difference does it make if you're gay or not?  Sex outside of marriage is sin in the Bible.  So anyone, whether gay or straight, who is in a sexual relationship outside of marriage is sinning.  Why do gay Christians who are committed to celibacy need to make a big deal about their sexuality?  Sex and fantasies are supposed to be private, right?

It's funny, because as I ponder this, I feel like I'm asking a Jew in 1940 Germany to "pass" as gentile.  It's not that I'm trying to shove the issue (or the people) back into the closet for my own comfort, it's more, why is this a big deal?  Why flaunt your gayness?  Why the need to be part of the "gay culture," which, admittedly, I know very little about.

Here's my analogy:  Homosexuality is no bigger a sin than any other sin.  Take stealing for instance.  It's wrong, right?  But if I think about taking something, am I better off trying to put the thought out of my head, or am I better off hanging out with thieves and endorsing their exploits?  Which one is going to lead me further into temptation?

If I'm way off base here, and I freely admit the possibility, please gently share so I can understand.  I'm not talking about the non-Christians, who don't think religion should govern what they do in the bedroom. I can understand that.  I'm talking about, and this feels weird to type, Christian gay people.

End of the School Year Events

Or, The Beginning of the End, at least

Today was Hannah's Pre-K graduation.  That's her beloved teacher, Ms Patti, reading the story.

How in the world did we go from this:

to this:

in what seems like a blink?

(okay, so it's been 17 months.  Still.)

The Big Kids still have another 2 weeks of school, so I've set aside some art projects/schoolwork/activities for Hannah to work on while we're doing school.

Look at this picture.  Look at all her hair.  Now scroll back up to the bottle-feeding shot.  No hair.  That alone tells me that some time must have passed.  

But I remember this:

like it was yesterday.

(disclaimer: no car seats in China, don't go postal on me)

It only *looks* like she's about to thwack the other kid, I swear.  

My big 5 year old girl.  We know which K class she'll be in at her new school next year, but we haven't heard yet what track she's on, so I have no idea when school starts for her.  Her summer may be long or short, who knows?  But with the enthusiasm she has for everything in life, I'm sure it will be full of fun.  She's already asking to go to the pool.  

And this?  My big boy reading an original poem at tonight's poetry coffeehouse.  

I could have sworn he was just this adorable little guy a couple years back.  Not a decade.  

Here we are at the end of 8th grade.  Teetering on the brink of High School.

We owe many thanks to some wonderful teachers & staff at his school. 

Like our beloved Mrs T. 

Middle School has not been fun for him (or us, as parents), but we're sooo close to being done.

Don't blink, mamas.  

I know it sounds so cliche, but it's TRUE.  It goes by so fast.

I'm so grateful I was HERE for my kids' childhoods.

And I can't wait to see what happens next.

Mother's Day Photos

I like to play with Paul's camera.  

Since it was Mother's Day, most of the family was willing to indulge me.

Paul even made dinner for me.

Annaliese has been sick, and did not want to participate.  

But she painted my nails for me as my Mother's Day gift.  :)

Brianna is always up for pictures.  

She made me a lovely card.

Sam lasted about 5 minutes out in the pollen-rich wind before he went back in the house.  

And he wasn't all that happy about it, either.

Maybe it was the sun in their eyes.

Despite the fact that Josiah was trying to give me "tough guy" looks, I got a few nice shots.

And a lot of "other" shots.

Hannah thought the tall weeds were hilarious!  

She kept trying to "splash" them like she does the bath water.

This pose reminds me of the cover of a historical romance.

Just add a covered wagon in the background. 

Furby likes to climb and run and jump and play.  Which is good.

Until you get burrs in your saddle.

He gave me extra snuggles for Mother's Day.

Another crazy out-take shot.

Not sure what's up with the lips.

She made me a butterfly magnet at school and a handprint picture at church.

This one would have been a nice shot... except for Josiah skating through the background at just the wrong moment.  Eli picked me a bouquet of wild flowers for Mother's Day.

Pretty girl

Funny gargoyle

Crazy fencers

The end

Mother's Day Confession

I have a favorite child. Wanna see a picture?

Paul and Eli

Brianna

Sam

Josiah

Eli

Eli, Bri, and Samuel

Eli

Furby

This picture totally makes me giggle.  You have to be careful sleeping around here.  An army of pilgrims might come and camp on you.  

Furby & Paul

Furby

Brianna

Annaliese

Brianna

Sam

Furby

Zach

Josiah

Furby

Hannah

Annaliese

Zach

Hannah (who was being SO cranky that she got sat down to "think about it" for a minute, and totally crashed.  You'd think I'd recognize TIRED by the 8th kid.)

Back: Sam & Furby

Front: Eli & Hannah

Hannah

Hannah

My favorite child is the sleeping one.  Of course I love them when they're awake, too, but there's just something precious about a sleeping child.  They're so... quiet.  I like that.