I have many great photos of China travel group reunions and other visits with China friends, but this one made me smile today thinking of how much fun the girls had at the beach last year.
I am so thankful for all the amazing people we have met and friends we have made through the adoption community. It’s impossible to imagine my life now without the friends I have made on this journey and it never would have happened if we hadn’t adopted from China. I am so thankful for their love, support and friendship.
Today we went to Dallas for Amelie’s re-adoption hearing. In Texas it’s just a formality to be able to get a Texas birth certificate for her. That way when she is older and needs a birth certificate for various applications and other needs she won’t have to deal with her Chinese one. We did the same for Nadia in 2008 and the same lawyer friend took care of everything for us. We got there early and the girls got a lot of attention and smiles because the hearings happen at the Dallas Juvenile Justice Center – and let’s just say there isn’t a lot of happy stuff going on in there.
We waited in the courtroom with several other families and we were called first to go before the judge. Jonathan asked us all the questions and the judge said that she accepted it, we posed for a photo – then bam we were out of the courtroom.
We filed our paperwork with the clerk and received the form we need to mail to Austin. We left the courthouse and headed for the Paris Coffee Shop in Fort Worth for breakfast and PIE!
The director of Museum School told me at the beginning of December that the girls loved these “Straws and Connectors.” She got some out of the classroom for me to look at and I realized that this would be an awesome gift for the girls. I told Papa and Grandma Brooke about it and suggested that they get the jumbo set so they could build some big things. They have had a lot of fun with it, but they hadn’t really tried anything big until the other night. Nadia told me that they decided they were going to build a tent and they got to work.
They were making great progress before Mike and I started helping.
Amelie said, “Now we look like we in purse!”
This turned out really cool, but it was very fragile. The next morning Nadia wanted to try something a little more stable and I told her to get the instructions out. Mike started looking at it with her and they decided to try another one.
The final product with a sheet on top to be more like a tent. What a great gift! I highly recommend them for your kids.
Our friends the Hameloth’s have some cool kids. Travis and Jared are their teens that created this totally fun video for Nadia for her 6th birthday. They showed it to us while we were at the beach, but were waiting on the final edits to share. It’s so fun and Nadia just loves it!
Jared also has a blog about the Lego creations he makes and you can see it here.
Miss you guys and thanks for this extra special gift.
