Our Family Anniversary

As we made our way in the front door, my nerves got the best of me. A small-framed woman greeted us with a wide smile as she walked to the crib in the corner of the tidy room. She turned around to proudly reveal the baby she had lifted from the bed, and all I could do was giggle nervously and mutter, "Wow, he's big!"

I think that I repeated that phrase a dozen times as Scott and I sat on the wooden bench holding our son for the first time. Those moments were surreal...I was overwhelmed at the realization of how unprepared I was for motherhood and intimidated to have four sets of eyes on me as I interacted with Matthew. And yet as I look back at photos from that day, all I see is joy on my face.

Today marks a year since we first met Matthew. 365 days...that seems strange to type out. I think I like referring to it in days though...it seems a better way to express the time...

the days of new discoveries
the days of exhaustion
the days of triumph
the days of failure
the days of growth
the days of true laughter
the days of too many tears to count
and, most of all, the days of a love that I cannot describe

So, today we celebrated with lunch at a cafe and a visit to the children's museum! Scott took the day off, and we enjoyed our little family in a lazy, low-key way. We gave M a gift we bought in China...a pig ornament because I THOUGHT he was born in the Year of the Pig. Turns out that you're not a pig unless you were born after Feb 17, 2007 because the Year of the Dog runs Jan 29, 2006 - Feb 17, 2007. M's birthday is in January. Shows how much I know about Chinese astrology. Oh well, we met him in the Year of the Pig! Funny thing is I told him that he could hang it on the Christmas tree this year, and he remembered what a Christmas tree is and where we had ours last year!

Our first look:

P.S. Matthew is getting his fifth tooth....hooray!

better start saving our pennies!

Matthew went to college, and he LOVED it!

Yesterday we hung out at the university...sharing a slice at a local pizza joint and walking around campus. The destination was actually the campus duck pond, but M seemed to love it all. Bicycles, skateboards, grass, water, ducks, Sonic slushes...they all got his approval.

As we sat on a bench sipping our slushes, I kept asking if he was ready to go home, ready to go back to the car. Each time he would emphatically shake his head NO! This boy who will typically dig the car keys out of my bag to let me know when he is bored and ready to get goin' was perfectly content to sit at college and watch the world go by.

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SCOTT STUFF:
As we watched the US women's gymnastics team huddled together talking, Scott exclaimed, "Babes, I can't believe they're not texting each other!"

I've been sick and recently asked Scott to suck out my eyeballs with a turkey baster. He declared, "That is beyond my comfort level."

Me: Will you get some plastic cups out of the cabinet?
Scott: Speaking of plastic cups, have you talked to your mom today?
Me: Uh, no...but I plan to. Have you talked to YOUR mom today?
Scott: No, but I'm drinking a smoothie in a plastic cup.

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We have two baby bunnies in our backyard!!

Taiwan Tips #3

MY QUESTION: We were told by many sources that if our son kept dual citizenship if he should happen to travel to Taiwan between the ages of 19-40 (I think those are the correct numbers), he could be held in Taiwan and forced to serve in the military. Do you know if this is true? Can you share any benefits to a child for keeping his Taiwan citizenship?

HER ANSWER: Yes, there is one-year mandatory military service requirement in Taiwan for man at 19 (or postpone to attend college), then all men between 19-40 are in reserve to fight if a war breaks out which is quite unlikely. However, Taiwanese with expat status on their Taiwanese passport gets a 90-day relief. Therefore as long as they leave Taiwan in 90 days they won't be drafted when they live in Taiwan using their Taiwanese passport. My brother lived in Taiwan for 3 years under this status. He had to travel to HK quite often, so he never had issue with that 90-day rule and was never drafted. My brother wanted to live in Taiwan and enjoy the almost free health care under the National Health Insurance, so that was an obvious advantage to use his Taiwanese expat/citizen status. I can't really think of other tangible beneifts, unless you consider his right to vote and work freely in Taiwan as benefits. :) Taiwan actually makes it very hard to obtain a Taiwanese citizenship for the new immigrants, so the benefits of citizenship will be more for people from less developed countries to be able to live freely in Taiwan.
If the citizenship laws are not changed in Taiwan, your son's Taiwanese expat status can be applied and renewed at anytime. There has been talks of repalcing the mandaory military services with an all-volunteer military, so the draft could be a non issue a few years down the road.

MORE photo extravaganzaaaa!!!!

Carefully I lined up the white dots, then twisted ever so slowly. As I heard a faint "click," the heavens parted and the angels began to sing. How glorious is a 55-250 zoom lens? Especially to photograph a boy who hates to have his picture taken?

Most of these photos were with the that lens as I was practicing with my flash off.

Hey...anyone know where I can watch a video of the Olympics Opening Ceremony???

photo extravaganzaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Bunch of photos here. Anyone know how to take nice, clear pics w/out the flash on? Mine are almost always blurry even though I try to be super still. This group of photos include:

- playing in the pool on the back patio
- making a smoothie with play food
- watering flowers
- attending a carnival...a church in our town was celebrating a festival this weekend complete with a carnival open to the public. We decided to check it out, and it was both fun and disturbing! M had a blast on a few "rides" and thought the live music was funny, but the lack of safety and quality of both the rides and the prizes really bothered me. You can see from the photos the condition of the rides. On the "ride of death" a chain broke causing a little boy to hold on for dear life so as not to fly out of his seat. Some of the prizes looked like they had been sitting in a Goodwill storehouse collecting dust since 1988. Where's OSHA when you need them?

Happy Anniversary baby, I've got you on my mind!

Like many of my post titles, this one was meant to be sung...if you are old like me and know the tune, that is.

August 10 marks our TWO YEAR anniversary since our China Log In Date. Two years. And the wait just keeps on keepin' on. At this point China has matched families through January 25, 2006. Rumor Queen believes that the next group of referrals is only matched through January 27! Woohoo! Two whole days...now that's progress.

We continue to seek God's will in this and, while I would love a brother for Matthew, I'm honestly not sure what the future holds. There are many unknowns with China. Concerning Taiwan, at this point I am not comfortable with the program we previously used. (If you have questions about this, feel free to email me). And I hear the wait is growing for other countries while some programs have completely shut down.

On top of it all is the possibility that God's plan for our family is simply the three of us. Perhaps He is calling us to serve in ways that would be difficult with more children. Short-term missions? Visiting orphanages? Giving more to those in need?

I still keep up with our agency's WC list...looking for that face that says, "You've found me!" And we have no intentions of pulling out of China. But, for once, I don't want to push it...don't want to try to exert my will over God's. He knows the deepest desires of my heart, and I don't. I really don't. But I trust that He is going to amaze me as He fulfills them.

confessions of a first-time mama

Since Scott has Bible Study on Thursday nights, I ususally try to take M out for dinner and an evening activity. I call it our "date," but it would be more honestly labeled my "sanity saver." BTW, mad props to you single mamas out there. If it wouldn't be idolatry, I might worship the ground you walk on.

Last night was the dinner fiasco that included screaming, crying, and a little kicking of the feet...oh, and M threw a fit, too. Relieved to be leaving the restaurant, we headed to a special bookstore. Stuck in a back corner of this store is a toddler-high train set which M loves. As we made our way toward the train, I was suddenly overcome by a strong force...and like a magnet to steel, I was drawn to the magazine section.

I stood in front of the bountiful selection...trying to shield M's eyes from the bountiful cleavage on some of the covers. Walking back and forth along the racks, I weighed my options. Dwell? No, that will just make me question my choices of paint color. Newsweek? Not enough brain power to concentrate on news. Parents? Just.Can't.Do.It.

Ahhhh...here we go...In Style. Pleased with my selection, I began to turn away. All of the sudden, a celebrity mag jumped into my hand, too! I shrugged my shoulders and walked away with magazines in hand.

As M played with the trains, I sunk into mind-numbing bliss...

Oh, Jen, surely you can do better than John Mayer!
Rihanna, love the new hairdo!
Wow, Victoria Beckham actually owns a pair of flat shoes! Who knew?

Of course, when people would walk by I would totally snap to it...

Matthew, what color is that train? Good job!

Can you make the train go down the hill? Oh, I knew you could!

But when they walked away, my attention turned to fall fashion and Britney's new beach-ready body.

As we left the store, I felt a little lighter...less serious...and even good enough to assert the brain power needed to get M away from the train without a tantrum.

And what is M doing as I type this? Watching a video!!!!!!!! Yes, a video. Shame, shame, everybody knows my name. And not even his sign language video or his left brain logical thinking video. Nope. He is watching the Wiggles. Double shame.

Ahhhh, so there you have it...my confessional. I feel better already. Guess it's time to turn off the TV and go make some homemade playdough.

Sidenote: Does anyone know of block-like things that you can put together to create a roller-coaster of sorts for rolling balls down? There is one on his logical thinking video, but I can't find it in stores. Magnetix has one, but the pieces look too tiny for his hands and mouth.

On a roll, baby! After our morning video extravaganza, I thought it necessary to teach M the fine art of dunking cookies in milk. Afterall, how can we expect him to grow into a self-respecting adult if he doesn't master this skill? Besides, I think it is required knowledge for college entrance exams.