The Pond

Ryan and I met almost fifteen years ago. During one of our first dates together, Ryan took me to his family's property in SC to go fishing. I can never remember the exact acreage of the property but it is secluded, quiet and extremely peaceful. Part of the property contains a large pond. So Ryan takes me over to visit, he gives me a fishing pole, and I, acting all like I knew what I was doing, gave the fishing pole one nice whip in the air to cast out and.....well, the fishing pole went flying into the water. Nice. Ryan forgot to mention that the fishing pole was broken.

Yesterday we took the children to visit the pond and to go fishing. The boys have not been fishing in quite awhile and they were more than excited about this adventure.

One child, though he was all about fishing, he wanted nothing to do with actually killing the fish....he told us that we would be breaking a commandment if we were to kill the fish. He was so cute. Everytime a fish was caught, he would say, "Ok, now let him go. Let him swim away."

P seemed to get a lot of this slimy stuff on his hook. Then, he would want someone else to pull it all off....ewww.

MK chose to learn about fishing from G-Mom. They did quite well together.

In addition to fishing, the children were also entertained with rides in the trailer behind the lawn mower, paddle boat excursions, tromps through the woods, and down hill wagon riding. The wagon riding was the most impressive event and the one that I did not take any pictures of. The children would all pile into this wagon - there was a driver, four passengers and a pusher. The game was much like watching the bobsledding event during the Olympics. The pusher would get everyone going and then jump in the wagon once it was going at a decent downhill speed. Of course, nothing is complete without a crash involved. C was driving and one of the wagon wheels went astray leading he and his crew into the shore of trees that awaited them. Thankfully, they all had helmets on and walked away laughing!

We had a wonderful day at the pond with our family, great memories.

We're going to China, we're going to China, we feel so happy.....this is actually a song from Ni Hao Kai Lan. MK bounces between this show and Super Why - she loves both! It is true, though, we are going to China. Not anytime soon. We have not been matched with a child. We are in the very beginning stages (paperchase) of our next adoption, and if things go smoothly, we hope to be bringing another little sister home to our family in roughly two years. Sweet story.....one evening we were talking with the children, mainly the boys but MK was present as well. We were discussing our plans to adopt again and we were asking general questions to see how they felt about the possibility of having another sibling. They, all three of them, were hands down in support of going to China for another little girl. The boys were pretty adamant that they wanted a sister, MK just wants a baby. We then presented this to them, "How would you feel about not being allowed to go on the actual trip to China? What if it isn't possible for us to go as a family to get the baby?" HMMMM. I knew this one would get them. I knew that some of their excitement about adopting again stemmed from actually being allowed to go to China again. The trip. They loved the trip when we traveled for MK. They loved the airplanes. They loved the fabulous hotels. They loved the attention. They loved feeling like they were celebrities. They loved the friends we traveled with. They loved everything about the trip. Everything. Even the 12 hour flight. So when we presented it as a "you may get to go when we travel again or you may not" kind of deal, I really was interested in hearing their responses. Did they REALLY want another sibling? Of course, MK was all about just telling us about her story, how she cried and cried until we flew on the BIG airplane to get her in Chongqing, China, etc., etc., etc. She was focused on what she understood of the question. The boys were silent for a moment. Then they both spoke almost simultaneously and said they wanted to go on the trip. My first thought was disappointment. I was really disappointed that they did not see beyond the trip. I was disappointed to see that they were putting a three week trip in front of a lifelong relationship. (Disclaimer....yes, I do know they are children) Then the boys continued slowly. One said, "Well, I do want to go to China again. I will save my money everyday so I can go on the trip to get our baby sister. But, if I can't go, I still want to adopt another sibling." OK, one son was totally on-board. The other son said, "Well, I just really want to go to China. I want to ride on the airplane." OK, one is on-board, and the other one, we were thinking, is not. I asked him why it was so important to him to actually go on the trip. He responded, "Because, I really want to be the first one to hold her." I love adoption. I love that our family has experienced adoption. I love that, one more time, we will, as a family, let a child grow in all of our hearts before we ever even lay eyes on her. I love knowing that even now, even in the earliest stages of the process, there is a little girl on the other side of the world who has her forever family praying for her and loving her from afar.

Wordless Wednesday

Different

At church this morning something so small hit me in the largest way. Ryan and I began volunteering in MK's Sunday School class today. The children were all sitting at a table when one little girl asked, "Hey, what's your name?" We introduced ourselves. Then, the lead teacher said, "Mr. Ryan and Ms. Beth are Mason-Kate's parents." Simple statement, one that I do not think twice about on any given day. Today was different. I thought twice. Why? Simply because here we were surrounded by 3 and 4 year old children who will say whatever is on their little mind at any given time. And for one small moment I panicked because I realized that this is the age that little ones notice differences. Differences don't matter so much at this age but they are noticed. And I quickly began to wonder what if one little one stands up and points out the obvious to MK. What if one child notices and says, "She doesn't look like you. You don't look like her. You can't be her parents." I am all about a plan. I am all about thinking ahead and having a plan, I like to be prepared for everything. I wasn't prepared today. I wasn't and I still am not prepared for what to say to the child that asks the inevitable. I want desperately to have just the right words and I will figure them out, but in the meantime, I am going to embrace the innocence.

We are a busy family. That is often said on this blog. However, as busy as we are, we do strive to slow down and just be together as a family, no one else involved, nowhere else to go, just hang out and be. That said, after a long day of appointments at the "office", as MK says, we came home, spread out a blanket in the backyard and had a picnic. Following our picnic, the children played, Ryan and I talked, the kids did some jumping and swinging, giggles were heard, happiness was definitely in the air. Baseball season is in full swing now with the boys. MK is well aware of this as she spends more evenings than not at a baseball park. On this particular evening, as the boys were playing a game with Ryan, MK took it upon herself to try and figure out for herself just how this baseball game works.

Maneuvering this glove thing is tough work!

Steady....she has her eye on the ball.

Step one, two, three and throw the ball. Easy.

Everyone is currently enjoying this beautiful, southern style, Spring in Georgia. We just finished up a picnic in the backyard and can't seem to bring ourselves to come inside. MK, donning her undies and socks, is on the the trampoline jumping, the boys are all playing baseball, and me, well, I had to come in for one moment to write about our friends, the Hatchers. The Hatchers began their second journey to China one year ago. Today they met their son, Xin, for the first time. He is four years old and as handsome as can be. Please check out their site at www.babyjellybeans.com (enter Xinran as the child's first name and Hatcher as the last name). So glad to see another little one making their way home!

The Masters

Every year during our Spring break week, we welcome The Masters Golf Tournament into our city. The tournament is played on one of the most beautiful courses located at The Augusta National Golf Club. This year Ryan and I had the opportunity to attend on day one of the tournament. It was fantastic to say the least. Ryan and I do not have many opportunities to just spend time together, just the two of us, without any interruptions. Thursday at the tournament gave us just the time we needed to enjoy being a couple. It was most entertaining too. I was constantly trying to remember Birdie was good, Bogey not so much and Par, what does that mean again??? And, as usual, I so enjoyed watching and talking to the different spectators. People come from all over the world to attend this tournament. At one point I had to remember we were not at Disney because of all of the different languages being spoken all around us. Amazing. And we were thrilled to be a part of the excitement.

The boys were a bit sad that they were not able to join us this year but they quickly recovered when they were invited to my sister's house for the night and we promised to have a Masters party on the last day of the tournament. We purchased t-shirts for all three of the kiddos. On Sunday, we all sat down to our fun filled meal in front of the tv to watch the final round. Ryan questioned me a bit as I was teaching them to gamble. We all took the player that we wanted to win and put a quarter in the pot. Winner took all and Colin was the one who came out on top. Minor gambling (no pun intended) at its best. Following our meal, the boys quickly gathered up their golf clubs and headed out back to play their own Masters tournament. Mason-Kate....well, as usual, she made us laugh. Ryan was putting her to bed. She insisted on wearing her Masters t-shirt to sleep in - yes, after having it on ALL day. EW. Did I mention the whole entire family was wearing a Masters t-shirt? Well, Ryan was putting her to bed when MK looked at his shirt and then looked at her own shirt with the most confused little expression. All of our t-shirts have the standard Masters logo, an outline of the United States with a pin flag marking Augusta. The child size tees have a larger outline than the adult size tees. While pointing to the pin flag on Ryan's shirt, she asked, "Daddy, why your boat little and my boat big?" Very clever I must admit. In her mind, the US outline was the boat and the pin flag was the sail. Thinking outside of the box at its best!

Putting for Eagle.....

P studying for his best shot of the day!