Did we mention that she plays piano?

I think that we've mentioned that Kennedy plays piano.  Her Uncle Ryan brought over a keyboard last week for her to practice on.  She was pretty shy when everyone was here, but as soon as our house cleared out she worked it over.  She spent some time figuring out how the keyboard settings work and has since practiced several songs. 

She claims that she can't read music, so we aren't sure how she's learned so many songs.  She may have learned a few by finger memory, but it sure seemed like she figured out a song by listening to herself play. 

I guess that Mia will be the drummer in the family band.  I don't know who's playing guitar yet.  I have aspirations but less than zero talent.  The females are the musicians in this family.

Check out the cute smile at the end.  The clip is really short, but the smile makes it worth it.

Wii are having too much fun

Annie mentioned the Wii in the last post.  The girls are totally diggin' it.  It is hysterical to watch them go at it.  They played baseball over the weekend and I got some good pictures of it.  They have played a lot of bowling as well.  That has been the biggest hit so  far.  Table tennis has been quite popular as well.  I didn't see it, but I heard them swordfighting.  That must have been pretty funny because they wouldn't stop laughing.  I can remember when I was little and my friends and I actually used to hit each other with stuff.  Until they throw a remote through the TV, this is a much better option.

I can't wait for them to get bored with it, so I can play.....

We are still here...

I know, I know...we are not posting enough!!  It takes a good deal of time to get settled in, and once we feel settled, school will start and the settling in will begin again!

Just a note to say that Christmas was wonderful.  Kennedy still does not say much, but she seemed to like all of her gifts.  We thought she might get overwhelmed by two solid days of special events, family and meals, but she handled it all like a pro!

My brother, Ryan, got an XBOX 360 with Kinect...or however you spell it.  Kennedy and Mia played it most of the time that we were at Nana and Papa's house on Christmas day.  Kennedy did modern dance in China, so she rocked the dance game!  She quickly moved to the "hard" level, and would not give up until she earned the full 5 star rating...which she did!!  Then, she had to do it several more times to prove she was a solid 5 star girl!!  Mia got in the action too, but enjoyed the river rafting game more.  She and Kennedy had to work together in the "raft" to earn all the points.  It was hysterical to see them jump in unison!!  (Not so funny...when Charles played and jumped directly under the ceiling fan.  He nearly impaled his noggin!  Wait...maybe that WAS funny!!!!)

Santa brought a Wii to our house.  The girls are really into it.  In fact, after I had to DRAG them out of bed at 9:40 this morning, they ate breakfast and went straight to the game.  After Christmas break, I will have to put some real limits on that amount of screen time!  For now, I will let them play all they want.  It seems to be strengthening their already strong bond because they play and laugh together all day!

Kennedy also knits and does cross stitch.  Seems like we discover a new skill/talent every few days!  She is talking more to Mia when we are not in the room.  I hear them, and it is super cute!  She knows more than she shows.  We think she wants to only speak "correctly" so she is waiting.  She studies all the time!  I was happy this morning to see she fell asleep last night Knitting instead of reading the dictionary, though!  She deserves a break!!!

Here are some random pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  They are all out of order...but I don't feel like fixing that!  I had to include one of Jack...yes...he only has one eye...and Addie!  They were right in the middle of all of the gift-opening action!  Also, they are just so stinkin' cute and sweet, and Kennedy LOVES them!

Merry Christmas

We just left a Christmas Eve service at our church. Kennedy and Mia got their picture taken with Santa. With all of the craziness since returning home, we hadn't even thought about Santa. We checked it off the list at the very last minute!

At the end of the service, we sang Christmas carols by candlelight. The girls were all shown up on the video screen for the first time ever! Mia and Kennedy thought that it was pretty cool. They played it cool while on camera but they totally geeked out afterwards. Cute!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!!

Fun at Pump It Up!

I know, the picture is small and blurry!  But they had so much fun, I had to share! Kennedy was actually screaming, "Woo Hoo!"  Mia and her big sis were playing like crazy...panting and sweating!   They should sleep well tonight!  It is so much fun to hear Kennedy laugh and see her smiling from ear to ear!

Not sure how I forgot...

I have NO idea how I forgot this...but after the pedicure yesterday, Kennedy said, "Thank you, mommy."  It was actually the first time she called me that!!!!!!  She is typically very quiet.  She pretty much only speaks when spoken to by an adult at this stage.  With Mia...she can be chatty, just not us.  She refers to us as mommy and daddy in writing and to others, she has just not adrressed us that way up to this point.  Later that same night, she said, "Good night, mommy."  My heart sang.  This is all so new, and she is 13 years old!  It is not as easy to express that at her age until she is truly ready.  We are making progress!!


The girls at Chuck E. Cheese:

P.S.  I asked if she wanted to say 'good night daddy'.  She smiled really big and said, "Not yet."  CUTE!

A moment to post...

Kennedy LOVES Jack and Addie!  Jack can usually be found in her lap!!

Kennedy was watching very carefully as I flat-ironed her hair for her Aunt Sarah's graduation.  She wanted to learn how to do it, so she studied my every move.  Oh, BTW, she got several inches cut off, added some long layers and some face-framing layers and got her bangs trimmed, softened and blended last week.  You can KIND OF see it here.

I have not had much time to post since we arrived home.  I have preferred to spend my spare time with my two daughters...when I am not doing laundry!!!  Wow...add one more person, and laundry somehow seems to actually double????

Kennedy is amazing.  Simply amazing.  Kennedy and Mia are super close, as they seemed to be instantly!  They are rarely found apart!  They have needed a few short "breaks" from each other, but even those were less than an hour!!  They are usually giggling in one or the other's room!  They love to play hide-and-seek, do art projects, listen to music...watch movies.  They are really in to any and all Christmas movies at the moment.  The other night I was wrapping gifts.  I pointed to Kennedy's stack then Mia's stack.  Kennedy looked shocked that she had "so many" gifts.  In reality, it will be a scaled down Christmas for us since the adoption trip cost so much...but she was amazed.  She took me to the calendar, pointed to the current date and counted to December 25.  She said...six days...open!  (about her gifts)  SO CUTE!!!

Kennedy is so disciplined and dedicated to learning English!  She has worked through SEVERAL units of study on the "laptop-like" thing we bought for her in China that teaches native Chinese-speaking children English.  I hear her in there practicing and saying the words in English.  She is doing VERY well!  Two days ago, she was learning about the days of the week and the seasons.  She stopped and wrote all of the days in Chinese and in English.  Later, she practiced asking Mia what her favorite season was.  When Mia said summer, Kennedy said, "Hot temperatures and sunny skies!"  Then Mia asked what Kennedy liked.  She said, "Winter.  Cold temperatures and snow!"  I did not have the heart to break it to her again that she will RARELY see any of that stuff in Texas!!!  I was just busy being impressed that she was communicating in English!!!  The sentence she says most often is, "Mia!!!  Come look!!!!"  She is always calling her over to show her things!  The last 4 or 5 mornings when I have gone in to wake sleeping beauty...she has fallen asleep with one Chinese-English dictionary beside her in the bed, and the other open on her chest.  She is so very intelligent!  Last Sunday night, before the first Monday of Christmas break...Kennedy brought me the translator and asked, "Shall I need to attend school in the morning?"  I explained that we would be on Christmas vacation for the next 2 weeks.  She told me that she had already been out of school for 3 weeks now!  She looked BUMMED that it was not time to get started with classes!  She is ready to get to it!

We have had some medical appointments and the fun testing that goes along with international adoption.  Ya know...fun stuff like urine and stool samples...9...count them...9 vials of blood drawn today!!!  NOT fun.  Kennedy had to lie down for them to take that much.  It was fasting bloodwork, so she got very dizzy!  She had to stay in the room for about 20 minutes before we could leave. Luckily, I planned ahead and brought a thermos of steamed rice, a yogurt drink, some crackers and orange juice.  She had a picnic right there in the room at the doc's office!  She handled it well, like she does everything!  Not a tear shed or a single complaint or argument.

She tries more food each day.  I had to make what is NOT a favorite dinner of mine the other night due to time constraints...frozen, breaded fish.  Turns out, she loved it and ate 3 fillets!  Who knew!  She has had a cheeseburger, hot dog and spicy chicken wings.  The spicy wings went over the best.  She still eats lots of noodles but is willing to try most things without any protest.  I think she will be comfortable with more American food pretty quickly.

My brother, Ryan, brought over his electric keyboard this week so Kennedy can play.  We went the next day to the music store to get a stand to put it on.  She walked around and showed me all the instruments she can play.  Piano, violin, drums, recorder...and some kind of Chinese string instrument they obviously did not carry.  She is so talented!  She has enjoyed playing some classical music for us, and has been working on teaching herself to play some Christmas songs by ear.  She wants to teach Mia to play, but Mia is not one for sitting still that long!  Time will tell!  (I am super proud of Mia, by the way!  She has adjusted VERY well to sharing the spotlight with her sister, and she is always thanking us for "getting her a big sister"!)

Last night, Kennedy got to speak with the person who was at the orphanage when she  arrived as a scared 7 year old.  (We posted about her before.)  She said that she was drawn to Kennedy for her strength.  She said that Kennedy allowed herself to grieve, yet did not become consumed by it.  She was so impressed with her strength and grace as she dealt with the loss of the life she knew in a family for 7 years before she came to the orphanage.  She said she witnessed MANY children who did not deal well with that situation, but Kennedy did.  I believe it.  She is so resilient.  She is wise beyond her years.

Well, the girls are calling for me to come check out their play-doh creations!  Soon, we are heading to an indoor inflatable play place so they can jump and slide for an hour and a half.  I can't WAIT to see Kennedy's face when we get there!!!  She was sure loving her trip to Chuck E. Cheese over the weekend with Charles and Mia!!!!

A Voice From The Past

Tonight, Kennedy had a chance to speak with the person that we mentioned a few posts ago that knew her when she lived in Guiyang.  This person speaks Chinese so they were able to converse in a way that Kennedy could be comfortable.  I'm sure that it was quite welcome after three weeks of English immersion!

Kennedy seemed thrilled to reconnect with this piece of her past.  It was a huge blessing for everyone involved and prayers were answered on all fronts.  We could not be happier about the path we've been on so far. 

Twinkle Toes

The girls got their toes painted today.  Kennedy was slightly disturbed by the massage chair at first, but she apparently liked the experience overall.

We've discovered through trial and error that Mia can't have her feet scrubbed.  She laughs uncontrollably during the pedicure phase.

Is it Christmas Already?

Last weekend, we finally got around to trimming the tree.  I put it up several days ago, but we never made time to hang the ornaments.  We spent half the season in China and didn't have a spare moment to put everything up.  I even ended up blowing off the outside lights this year.

Saturday morning, I just pulled out a couple of ornaments and let Mia get things started.  I gave one to Kennedy and then the two of them plowed through it like they were getting paid per ornament!  Annie and I usually police the placement and make sure that everything is basically spread out.  This year, I just let the kids do their thing.  We went back after the dust settled and cleaned up a few spots, but everything turned out pretty well. 

I didn't ask Kennedy if it was her first time to decorate a tree, but she seemed to genuinely enjoy it.  She had the enthusiasm of a young child, which was kind of refreshing.  When I started, I was kind of annoyed, because setting up the tree becomes more of a chore every year.  However, watching those girls have such a good time made me reevaluate my perspective.  It was a cool experience.

A little bit of info...

So, we have been in contact again with the person who knew Kennedy.  We received some really good and important information.  Unfortunately, due to possible monitoring, we can not post much.

We can let you know that this angel did indeed know our daughter!  She sent some pictures of them together shortly after Kennedy arrived at the orphanage at the age of 7.  When we showed them to Kennedy, she lit up and said good!  She gave a thumbs up and told us through the translator that this person visited her often and always brought her lots of fruit and candy!  She told us what year it was, and it matched what we have been told in her file.

She gave us some details that we would otherwise NEVER know.  These details will be important for helping Kennedy in the future to fill in the holes from her past.  Due to her age when she arrived at the orphanage and her instant recognition of this person, we know that she has vivid memories of that painful time in her life.  All of the photos and info that we can collect for her will help tremendously in the future when she can talk to us about this.

I wish we could share more, but we can not.  If you are close to us, we will be happy to tell you more in person or on the phone.  Print will not be the format.

Thank you to this wonderful person who took a risk to come forward and help us see again without a doubt that this is God's plan for our family!

Ahh...sleep at last...followed by a Christmas Miracle!

So, I went out with my BFF, Corrie for dinner last night. We talked for hours, which I apparently needed really badly! I say that because last night, 8 full days after hitting US soil, I FINALLY slept most of the night! Thanks, Corrie, for listening, understanding and supporting me. Don't know WHAT I would do without you.

This morning, Charles called me into our home office to see something on the computer. He said there was something I HAD to see!! We received a comment on our blog several days ago from someone we do not know saying she would like to talk to us about our adoption journey. We have been SO busy settling in since we came home, that we just recently got to reply. She emailed us yesterday, and Charles opened it this morning. I can NOT get my brain around it yet. It is nothing short of a miracle. You can see the text below. I hope you are sitting down when you read it...

Hello,

I would love to hear about your journey and how God brought you to adopting your beautiful daughter, Kennedy. Adopting older children is where my heart is and I would love to do so as well some day. Your story is especially wonderful and special to me because it is a miracle beyond any other that I have seen in a long time! All adoptions are special, but I have prayed for yours almost daily for five years. I thought you may want to know a small part of how God brought about bringing precious Kennedy to her forever family. It sings Jesus' faithfulness and His passion and love for the orphaned and abandoned! See, I was there the day Kennedy was brought to the orphanage, and I followed her and kept checking on her until I had to come back to the United States in 2005. It broke my heart to leave, but Jesus promised me that the best thing I could do was pray for her even from so far away. So I have prayed for her almost every day since I left.
I just really wanted you to know at least this much of your story because I know it will be hard at times, but it will help to have more confirmation that your adoption was planned by the God of the universe! If you want to hear more details, or to tell me more about your journey, please write back.

 Have a blessed weekend,

Ummm.....are you crying too??????  I will post whatever is appropriate to share when we know more.  Thank you, God, for reminding us again that this is YOUR plan.  This person we do not know was praying for Kennedy's adoption 5 years ago, which is exactly when we started working on adopting Mia.  We adopted Mia 4 years ago, and if we had not done that, adopting a teen would have never been considered.  This plan of God has been in the works for FAR longer than we ever knew.

Big Decision

Well, I was all set to go enroll Kennedy in 7th grade at our neighborhood Junior High School Monday.  Only...I got a feeling deep in my soul on Sunday night that it would be the wrong placement for her at this time.  I could not shake it.

In Texas, her age actually places her in 8th grade.  NOT gonna happen, friends!  High School after only one semester in school in a new country...I don't think so!!!!  Before we left for China, I had arranged to place her in 7th grade instead.

When we received her school records in China, she was only a few months in to 6th grade there.  She arrived at the orphanage at the age of 7, so she began school about 2 years late.  She is VERY intelligent, but without any English, I started to realize how truly difficult it would be at first.

After getting to know her better over the last 3 weeks, I KNOW that changing classes all day and "little things" like changing clothes in front of other kids for P.E. etc. would be overwhelming for her.  The BIGGEST issue was that Charles leaves around 6 a.m. for work, and Mia and I leave at 7:15 at the latest.  Kennedy's bus would pick up at about 8 a.m.  Houston...we have a problem!!!  After newly arriving in this country and facing a mountain of changes and adjustments....she would also have to get out of the house alone and on the bus every morning.  My mommy-self knew that was a BAD plan, but there was no other option.

I talked to the principal at my school Sunday night via email about enrolling Kennedy at my school, where Mia also attends, for the one remaining semester of this school year.  She told me to bring in Kennedy's records Monday morning and she would have the registrar look in to what our options would be.  She also offered to make a call to the "powers that be" if necessary.

Long story short, we all agreed that it would be in Kennedy's best interest to enroll at my school in 5th grade for the remainder of this school year while she learns some English and becomes more familiar with American school culture.  5th grade at our school is self-contained, meaning Kennedy will be with one teacher all day and not deal with constantly switching classes!!  Also, Elementary teachers have the opportunity to be more loving and have a better opportunity to REALLY get to know their students well since they are together all day.

We are placing her in the class of a WONDERFUL teacher who immediately emailed me about how excited she is that Kennedy will be in her class!  She has experience with non-English speaking students!  She asked which dialect Kennedy speaks so she can do some research over the holiday break coming up!  She also asked permission to share some appropriate info with her current students to prepare them for their new classmate, Kennedy!  (She will begin on January 4th, after the 2 week holiday break.)  She is going to have her students research info about Kennedy's region of China.  She is also going to ask our PTO president, who speaks Chinese, if she would like to volunteer and work with Kennedy!!!!  We will send the hand-held translator to school each day with Kennedy to use with her teacher as needed.  I am also going to send a box of Mandarin Chinese vocabulary cards with the English translation on back to school for her ESL and/or classroom teacher to use with her.  The cards are meant to teach Chinese, but can easily be used in reverse!

I can not tell you how relieved I feel about this decision!  Her teacher is a true God-send to Kennedy and our family!  Kennedy will ride safely to school with Mia and me each morning, and hang out in my classroom with Mia after school each day while I finish up my work to head home!!!  She will be in the same building with her mom and little sis all day, and learn English in a loving, supportive environment!!

Next year, I will move her to our neighborhood school.  At that time, she will have a fair amount of English mastered.  The school district can test her then and we can make a decision on the best age-appropriate grade placement for her at that time.  I am sure she will end up in at least 7th or 8th by then, but for now, she will be right where she needs to be!!!!

Adding To The Skill Set

I took the girls roller skating today.  Kennedy has seemed interested in it.  I had no expectations about skill level, but she was pretty solid.  I did not see her skate backwards or do any street tricks, but she stayed up the entire time and navigated Mia as well or better than I did.  She wanted inline skates, so Mia got them too.  Both girls did pretty well.  If they are lucky, Santa will bring two pairs of inline skates for Christmas.

Mia laid out several times today, particularly early on.  Kennedy actually giggled out loud a couple of times, which was cute, if not a wee bit sadistic.  It's kind of like my mom, who finds others' pain and suffering to be humorous.  I will not tell the full story of the time my dad broke his thumb and my mom laughed at it, but I will confirm that it's a true story.  Kennedy seems to be cut from the same cloth, going back to the day that she laughed at me when I fell off of the bed in Guiyang while we were playing cards.  Oh well.  She'll find plenty of material in our house...

Texas or Bust

We made it home safely yesterday.  Our flight from Los Angeles left a few minutes late, but arrived a couple of minutes early.  Once again, Kennedy showed no real emotion over the trip.  It has all been very matter-of-fact for her so far.  It seems as though she's thinking "I'm going to Texas?  Oh, okay.  Let me know when we get there." 

The girls slept through most of the flight.  I apparently slept through all of the turbulence.  I had no idea that we experienced any until well after we landed, so I guess it wasn't too bad.

When we arrived at baggage claim, some of our friends met us to greet Kennedy for the first time and to welcome all of us home.  It was really nice!  There were balloons, signs and gifts, to go along with the roses from Nana and Papa.  It was really touching that people cared enough to share this moment with us.

Welcome to the USA

We arrived at LAX this evening.  Fortunately, the flight was uneventful.  The girls slept through the majority of it.  Mia flopped like a fish, to use Annie's terminology, but Kennedy slept for about nine hours in the same uncomfortable position. 

The return flight was much more comfortable and there was a significantly smaller chance of picking up anything gross this time.  The time seemed to fly by (pun intended).  Everybody slept at least a little bit.  So, we are not feeling as horrible as expected.  Over thirteen hours in the air and over an hour in customs and we are still feeling happy.

Annie's parents met us at the airport this evening.  That was nice.  The girls got flowers, which was pretty cool.  We had a low-key dinner at the hotel.  Annie wanted a salad.  We haven't been able to eat raw vegetables for over two weeks.  Kennedy had no idea what to eat.  We've been accustomed to Chinese menus and picture menus.  There was none of that tonight.  She chose a salad, but was completely grossed out by the ranch dressing.  I gave her half of my sandwich, but she didn't like that either.  We have a long way to go before American food is the norm.  We'll take any suggestions.  So far, we're thinking truckloads of ramen noodles and vats of chili sauce.

Tomorrow, it's Texas or bust!  We can't wait!

In the USA!

We just landed in LA.  Kennedy will become a US citizen as soon as we get off the plane and pass through immigration.  Pray for a short line, because that is not likely!  I can not tell you how happy I am to be in America, my friends!  Texas tomorrow!  Woo hoo!

Tai Chi, Mia Style

Here is an action shot of Mia doing Tai Chi on Shamian Island.  I don't believe that she is doing it correctly because a) she was screaming "TAI CHI" every thirty seconds or so, and b) Kennedy was giggling every time she did it.  Maybe I'm overanalyzing the signs here...

No Substitute For Fine Details

I have been in Lucy's probably seven or eight times.  Today is the first time that I've noticed that there are a couple of trees in the middle of it.  Fail.

One Last Time On Shamian Island

We went back to the island this morning to kill some time before we leave for the airport.  We had lunch at Lucy's and did some window shopping.  Mia played at the park again and we managed to feed the fish at the White Swan.

 

Kennedy ordered a Coke Zero at Lucy's for some reason.  She didn't like it even a little bit.  I can't believe that she took more than one drink of it.  You would have thought that we had put dirty sand in her mouth, based upon the look on her face after she tried it.  She was too polite to change it though.  Annie and I both told her to get something different, but she was going to stick with it.  Annie ended up trading her Orange drink for Kennedy's Coke Zero.  Annie does not like diet drinks, so this is a move based on real unconditional love.  It was kind of cute in a strange aftertaste sort of way.

 

There is a picture of Mia trying to eat the Coke Zero with a fork.  I think that this was Kennedy's way of offloading it on somebody else.  : )

 

There is no photographic evidence to prove it, but I was interviewed by some television station on the island about the Para-Asian Games that start on Monday.  I was watching them film a segment where the reporter was interviewing a painting with questions about the games.  Afterwards, he asked me if I spoke English, then asked if I knew anything about the games.  I told him no, which was probably perfect for the segment that he was filming.  For the record, I guessed two out of three questions correctly.  I think that the painting was smarter than I was, though.  I have absolutely no clue what station he was with.  Based upon the three Chinese people on the crew, I'm guessing CCTV.  I will have to set my DVR to record it for the next two weeks.........

Flat Stanley Eats At Lucy's

Here is Flat Stanley, outside Lucy's American Restaurant on Shamian Island.

Cool Sign #8

I gotta get me some of that.

Cool sign #7

This is on the window of our hotel room.  I had not noticed it until today.  Perhaps, in the interest of safety, it should be a little bit more prominent.

We Laughed Our Big Macs Off

We ate at McDonald's for dinner tonight.  At some point in the meal, Mia turned to look at Kennedy.  When she did, something that we suspect to be either drool or milk flew off of her and onto Kennedy.  Kennedy and Annie erupted into laughter immediately.  Mia and I had to be brought up to speed after Annie caught her breath.  Then something else funny happened and we completely lost control of ourselves.  Kennedy was laughing so hard that she actually made some sounds.  And, she was stomping her feet and burying her head.  We were all snorting and giggling and guffawing.  I'm sure that the local people were secretly wondering what kind of happy meals we'd gotten ourselves into.

 

This picture will show you very clearly what the top of Kennedy's head looks like when she laughs really hard.  I think that Mia was telling us all about Expectation #2 and not making fun of others' mistakes at the time.

Family Photo Fail

This is what happens when you ask your kids to take a picture against their will.  Lesson learned.

The Not-So-Great Outdoors

We have been looking all week for a place to play outside the hotel.  We finally had a chance to go to the garden behind the Garden Hotel earlier tonight.  We played badminton for a few minutes before we were dive bombed by a swarm of creatures that can best be described as the evil spawn of a fly and a bumblebee. Whatever they are, they don't bite, but they do like to head-butt people in the general vicinity.  Not cool.