MSU homecoming game

Luke gets an MSU Bear-Grrrrrr!

Luke enjoys the slide at the tailgate party

Lily gets a butterfly on both cheeks

Lily and translater MSU student Kay

The Luke, Daddy and Lily tower

Lily captures the MSU football game on my digital camera (she is a budding photographer)

Last weekend we took the kids to the MSU football homecoming game. The Chinese professors, Sun Li and Mung Lei came with us as well as several of the students who have served as translators. There was a hugh tailgate party across the street and the college of arts and letters had a tent with all the free food you wanted. There were also fancy pretzel sticks dipped in white chocolate tied with a bow and a "diamond" ring advertising for a local catering company. By the time we walked over to the game Lily had collected over 10 of those precious stones for her ring collection. She is my bling bling girl. They had face painting for the kids, inflatables and a duck pond. We watched half of the game and then were treated to the MSU band playing at half time. Our family really isn't into football but we love the band performances at half-time.

Luke is making progress every day. He has had a hard time identifying colors but just this week got 9/9 during our color game. He is always so happy when he has success. His speech is improving and he is certainly talking for himself these days, no more stereo affect while he imitates Lily, he is his own person! I watch him at preschool concentrating so hard on a project whether it is cutting with scissors or painting, he has calmed down and focuses much better. We had his eyes checked by a specialist in Joplin who does vision therapy. He said Luke's eyes were very healthy but he is slightly far-sighted. He didn't feel it was a problem at this point in his life but we will check him again in 6 month. I also want to have his speech checked and MSU has a wonderful department for this and it is right across the street from his preschool. At times his speech is crystal clear and at other times he is rambling on and on telling a story and I cannot make heads or tails out of it. He is still my sweet wonderful boy and we have grown very close, I cannot imagine our family without Luke. He lights up like a Christmas tree when he sees me or John when we pick him up but at the same time he loves school and playing with the kids. He is very social. When we are in a situation with kids we don't know Luke is the first to jump right in and interact with them. It has been delightful to watch the changes in his personality.

Urumqi reunion

Back of the house

View of the river from top deck

Lily and puppy Copper

Hot tub "swimming"

Munching on pinata candy

Vivi and Lily with Copper(no animals were harmed in the taking of this picture)

brother and sister love: Vivi and Tonito

Breakfast for a crowd

Drew and Luke horse around

We were able to get together with two of the families we traveled with to Urumqi China back in March this weekend. Both families also adopted boys, one younger than Luke and one older. It was a treat to see them together again. We missed not having Steve and Dianna with us but did discuss a group trip to Disney World (in their neck of the woods) sometime in the future.

Kimber's family owns a vacation home on the current river outside of Doniphan Missouri. Nicer than most people's everyday home, we were able to relax and watch the kids "swim" in the hot tub, take a boat ride on the river, eat wonderful food, whack at a pinata and just relax and get caught up on our kid's progress since leaving China. It has only been just shy of 6 months and already the transformation in each child is amazing. In all we had up to 8 kids running around and 10 adults running after them and no one ended up fighting (kids, or adults) we had a few minor injuries but considering we let them roast marshmallows with sharp sticks next to a swirling river in the dark of night, I think we did very well. Kimber's Mom and Dad joined us on Saturday along with another family that are friends of Kimber and Scott. It was so nice to see Philip and Patsy again as they traveled with the group to China as well to meet their new grandson Drew.

Soon after the kids got reacquainted with each other, the girls (Lily and Vivi) paired up to play with the puppy and the three boys did what boys like to do (chase each other and act like Kung Fu Panda) The kids all started Friday night in sleeping bags on the floor but by morning, Tonito was the only one left. Lily joined John and I almost immediately and Luke came sometime in the night. It was a good thing we were in a king sized bed.

Kim and Scott outdid themselves hosting the group and I know that although Kim would say, "it was no trouble at all" it was clear that she had spent a bit of time preparing food and making sure all would be comfortable.

We hope to visit Becky and Antonio again in December in Chicago and am trying to convince the Miller's to come over for the weekend to attend our big Chinese New Years party.

Enjoy the pictures!

Three Fulingers

We attended the annual Moon festival in Chesterfield park on Sunday. Unfortunately the weather was cold and very windy. We held our ground and ate our potluck and moon cakes and the kids had a great time running around the park and hardly complained at all about the chilly conditions. The kids all huddled together on the South side of the pavilion while Linda Sun told the story behind the Moon festival. My two decided to leave the story scene and play on the swings. Hope, Lily and Jada are all from the same orphanage in Fuling China and so there is a special bond there. I think there have been around 1200 adoptions from that particular orphanage since 2001 and we happen to have been lucky enough to have all traveled there, but not at the same time. I think the bond is more special to us parents at this point, but as the girls grow, they will come to realize what a small world it really is.

Chris and Lindsey Wedding

Ok, it has been a long time between postings. I have some new photos I wish to share of my nephew's wedding this past weekend. Lily was the flower girl. We headed for Wichita on Friday and made it just in time for the rehearsal. Lily did not cooperate at the rehearsal. The fact that she was supposed to walk down the aisle with a boy threw her off guard. I think it was the fact that she had to share the spot light with a boy. She promised to perform when the time came and she lived up to her word. She did not have the happiest expression on her face, but she did her part and stood in place the entire wedding. After the wedding on Saturday there was a dinner and then a dance with a DJ. Luke and Lily danced for three hours straight. I started pouring water into them thinking they might be getting a little dehydrated. I have never seen so much energy. Luke really loves to dance and was trying to imitate a form of break dancing. He was one sweaty boy by the time we left for the hotel. We were able to see both of my sisters and their families. My niece Angie is getting married in April so we will all be together again soon. Enjoy the photos.

Just Catchin' Up

The time just seems to fly these days but I'll try to bring you up to speed with some new photos. Since my last post we have been to Wichita to visit my sister and her family. Lily is the flower girl in my nephew's wedding in September and she needed to have a last fitting of the dress before the big event. Of course she looks like a princess in the floor length ivory sleeveless dress complete with dazzling sparkles. We had a really hard time convincing her to take it off. While in Wichita we visited Exploration Place, a hands on science center. The kids love going there.

Last weekend we took a quick trip down to Bella Vista Arkansas to visit my Mom and Dad. It was Mom's birthday two weeks ago so we brought down a complete meal right down to the birthday cake. The kids had a great time playing at a nearby park.

This week the kids preschool is closed in order to prepare for the new school year starting next week. This means we had to pull out all our resources to make sure one of us was home with them. John starts teaching next week and has many meetings this week to get prepared. I will be taking off tomorrow to play with the kids. I think we will take a trip to the zoo and to jump mania. That should wear them out.

Logan has started marching band for Glendale high school and last Friday we attended the first presentation of their drills learned thus far. He seems to be doing very well and I am looking forward to attending his competitions this Fall. One trip will take us to St. Louis and I have already contacted our friends the Minden's to see if we can get together. Kevin and Stacy were with us on our first trip to China and have daughter Maddie who is only one day older than Lily. Enough of this narration thing, just bring on the photos you say?

Opps, one more event to mention. Camp Panda was all last week and both kids attended. This was a day camp put on for the first time through camp bear, the MSU summer camp series. The kids took classes in Chinese art, music both vocal and instrumental, language and dance. Both Lily and Luke enjoyed the camp and John felt it was very successful for it's first year. I'm sure he is going to tweak a few things here and there to make it even better for next year.

More photos of the Miller's visit

The Miller family comes for a visit!

Last Sunday the Miller's came to visit us. Kim and Scott were one of our travel families on our last trip to China. They were getting their son Drew from Urumqi while we were picking up Luke. Pictured above is Drew, their son Riley, Lily and Luke. We were so happy when they informed us that they were going to vacation in Springfield. We met up with them on Sunday and all went out to a Japanese Steak house for some good food. Lily really dislikes the flare up of fire that takes place during the cooking presentation so she hides under the table. Everyone came over to our house after that to play in the backyard. The kids seemed to blend together really well. I had to leave town that evening for a two day seminar but John was able to meet up with the Miller's everyday for some playtime. I got back on Tuesday and we had a cookout at our house. On their last day we went down to ride the Branson Belle on Tablerock lake. We had an enjoyable meal, roamed around the boat (all three levels) and then watched a great show. At one point during the show Drew kept putting his arm around Miss Lily and she would pick his arm up and unwrap it from her shoulder. It didn't discourage Drew as he tried it several times. The kids all went for one last round of swimming at the Miller's hotel and then it was good-byes all around. The next day when I picked up Miss Lily from school, her first question was, "where is Kimber and Scott?" We are already making plans for a camping trip down their direction in a couple of months. They live close to the beautiful Current River and it is only a 3-4 hour drive away.
Drew just celebrated his 5th birthday and is doing very well. He pronounces his words very clearly and speaks in the third person, it is kind of funny to listen too. John tried to talk to him in Chinese but he pretended not to understand. I think this is a common occurrence of older children after they get immersed in English. John still continues to talk to Luke in Chinese and every once in awhile he gets a response in Chinese but not often. "Ba Ba" is now called "Daddy." It is kind of sad to see the Chinese go but we hope to get Luke in Chinese class with Linda Sun this Fall after camp Panda. Right now his brain is making the transition to English and his speech gets better with every passing day.