Skiing the Trees at Copper

Over the past year, Steve and I have discovered many wonderful aspects of Lanhua's composition and personality. On the ski slopes, several of Lan’s key features shine in a way that is impressive, motivating, somewhat frightening and absolutely perfect. She is determined to do whatever she sets her mind to, she is an astute learner and athlete, and she has no fear. Whether it was following her cousin McKenzie through the trees, chasing Allyson and Uncle Bob down the fast runs, forging her own wooded trail (yikes), or barreling down a crazy tubing run head first with her Aunt Susan, this kid has moxie. We couldn’t be prouder!

Our First Slumber Party

It started with a trip to the mountains to play in the snow and ended with a Sunday night slumber party with 2 of Lanhua's closest friends from school, Pricilla and Melina (aka her "besties). Unfortunately, Dana couldn't make it. It was a great night for the girls and an illuminating night for Steve and I. We had a blast and are so fortunate to have these children and their wonderful parents in our lives.

L is for Lanhua

On February 5, 2011, we celebrated the one-year anniversary of Lanhua’s arrival to the United States. We also honored the Chinese New Year, the year of the rabbit.  

Few photos were taken during the 8-hour gaextravaganza, but we did capture a few action shots from the dodgeball game and marshmellow roast. In addition, we photographed a special gift presented to Lanhua by her good friend, Pricilla: a painting titled "L is for Lan." It was a very, very happy day!  



"L is for Lan" by Pricilla (a sideways view)



Besties!

 

More Photos from Q4 2010

Lan and her Uncle Brian and Aunt Heidi

Monkey Cousins

Happiness is a good sucker.

Lan and Mom

Our Fourth Quarter

Much time has passed since our last blog. A detailed description of the activities, challenges and progress in the 4th quarter of 2010 would simply require too many words and individual posts. So, I’ve summarized the events of the past 3 months and supplemented my brief description with photos. We’ll try harder to keep-up in the New Year.

Foster Family: We continue to keep in regular touch with Lanhua’s foster family in Guangzhou via email. We’ve exchanged photos, stories and advice (them to us). In the New Year, we hope to communicate with them using Skype (thanks to Tandora). This relationship represents a turning point in Lanhua’s journey that I quite frankly can’t describe other than saying "it’s huge.”
English: Lan’s comprehension has reached the point where she understands most of what is being said in just about every environment. Her speech is advancing at a slower pace, but she’s a determined kid and gets her point across one way or another. She’s more comfortable interacting with new people and is slowly but surely learning to extend herself with common courtesies such as “thank you” and “good-bye.” (This has been a significant challenge for her.) Around friends and family, she's quite the chatterbox.
School: Lanhua is thriving at her new school. She loves her teacher and is doing very well in the Montessori learning environment. She’s made friends with the kids in her class and from what her teacher tells us, she’s quite social and eager to participate in just about everything. Right before the winter break, she even participated in a violin recital with her music class.
 As I’ve written before, there are no words to describe our experience this past year. Incredible, remarkable, amazing, joyous, challenging, scary, crazy and unbelievably rewarding come to mind. We are the luckiest family on the planet. Happy New Year!

New Bike from Santa!

Disneyland with girlfriends from school

Halloween at school

Lan and Pops in the mountains

A self-portrait

First time on skates - a natural!

Thanksgiving Football Game

Lan and her Grandma Wedel

Christmas Eve dancing

Lan and her Grandma Gigi

Skating with her Dad

Feeding Lanhua: An Update

When Lanhua first arrived in the US, we were somewhat concerned about what to feed her. Eight months later, we are pleased to report that Lanhua continues to acclimate to offerings of a Western diet. In addition to her Western diet of pizza, pasta, burgers and fries, she also enjoys sophisticated sushi (uni and oysters are among her favorites), most of the delicious and diverse offerings her dad makes for dinner, all that is shellfish, and just about anything that comes from her favorite local Asian market: 99 Ranch Market.

Last week we took a trip to 99 Ranch. Lan walked down every isle and tossed a number of random and mysterious selections into the grocery basket. This is a picture of some of the food Lanhua chose.  Note: We have no idea what some of these foods are, nor do we know how to prepare them. These days, our kitchen is the place of many happy experiments.

Photos from Guangzhou

Since Lanhua made contact with her foster family last week, there's been excitement on both sides of the globe. Lan spent the week preparing a big package with special gifts she's picked-out for her family in Guangzhou. She seems to be adjusting to this renewed connection quite well and is genuinely happy about writing to them and sending presents. She talks about her foster family more often now and despite her limited English, she's been very effective in describing her family and life in Guangzhou to us.

In the meantime, we received these photos from Lanhua's foster brother via email. It's been a milestone month!

The photos include Lanhua's foster mother, as well as her older foster brother and his wife. We're not sure who the other little girl is in the pictures. We think she may be a second child this family was caring for. (More to follow as the mystery unfolds.)