Food Aid Cut in Half

Last week, the United Nations World Food Program announced that it will cut half its food supplies to the people of Darfur because of a lack of funds and relentless attacks on its convoys. Millions of Darfuris depend on this food supply. Without it, they will be pushed even closer to the edge of starvation.

Congress is preparing to vote on a bill that will significantly increase funding for humanitarian aid and peacekeeping in Darfur.

To help, you can:

Email your representative asking him/her to support security and humanitarian aid in Darfur. http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/fy08_supplemental

And/Or consider a donation to help the victims of genocide in Sudan....

Click DONATE.

And don't forget to pray for peace and financial stability.

If you'd like more information on the genocide in Darfur, you can visit SaveDarfur.org and I highly recommend the documentary The Devil Came on Horseback. You can rent it from Netflix or Blockbuster online. It isn't easy to watch, but it's very eye opening and informative.

Megan's Ballet Recital

Megan's studio had their recital performances last weekend and it was a beautiful program from beginning to end. Megan had a ballet and modern performance and all the girls did a great job. Megan absolutely LOVES to dance and she's always sad when the performances are over.

The Beautiful Dancers-Megan with some of her friends

Megan did a great job

The lighting was bad so the pictures were blurry because flash photography wasn't allowed, but here are a few. Megan's in a blue top in these.

Future Ballerinas

Expelled

A MUST SEE THIS WEEKEND

I very seldom recommend movies, but this is an important one. Pat and I are going tonight, but Megan saw it a few weeks ago and enjoyed it a lot. Yes, it's documentary, but if my hard-to-entertain daughter enjoyed it, then it's not dry, for sure. A lot of people have commented on how it explained things that they never understood before.

Click HERE to go to the website and watch the trailer and find a theater near you.

Here's one review:

LOS ANGELES, Calif.) August 28, 2007 – It’s a movie that Ferris Bueller would take the day off to go see. What freedom-loving student wouldn’t be outraged to discover that his high school science teacher is teaching a theory as indisputable fact, and that university professors unmercifully crush any fellow scientists who dare question the prevailing system of belief? This isn’t the latest Hollywood comedy; it’s a disturbing new documentary that will shock anyone who thinks all scientists are free to follow the evidence wherever it may lead.

***************************************************

Along the same lines, is another documentary I've been meaning to post here. It's called Indoctrinate U. It's particularly interesting for me since our son will be off to college in a little over a year, but everyone should be concerned about how our future leaders are being indoctrinated.


Go to the website (click) Indoctrinate U

Zoo

We had a little class and play date at the zoo this week. The girls were able to pet a chinchilla, snake, and skunk (check out Elizabeth in the third square below-it didn't smell though) and learned about the eating habits of animals. Then we walked around to see the animals.

Mei Lin's reaction to seeing the tigers.

Mei Lin and Isabella were buddies.

One Fish, Two Fish

Take a look at my two little fish. Miyah had her swim "test" last week with her clothes on. Mei Lin had hers today, but I forgot my video camera!! No worries (because I'm sure you just panicked like I did when I discovered the video camera wasn't in the bag), her teacher said we could do it again.

It's amazing to see them swimming through the water and turning over into their "rest" (floating on their backs) until they reach the side of the pool and now they even dive for rings at the bottom of the pool! Especially amazing considering the screams of terror just weeks before. To successfully "pass" the class the teacher has them swim in their clothes....jacket, shoes, and all....as if they had fallen into the pool. The goal of the class is to drown-proof your child more than teach them to swim, but they do learn to swim. Part of the "test" involves placing the jacket over their head, flipping them over into the water, and dropping them in from the side to see how they handle themselves. Amazingly both girls were unaffected by the whole thing and managed to make it safely to the side. If you'd like more information about this type of lessons or to find an instructor near you, go to Infant Swim Resource. It isn't cheap, but it could save your baby's life.

Anyway, here's Miyah taking her test and Mei Lin swimming. The quality isn't the best because I decided not to use you*tube, but hopefully you can see it a little.

Afterwards, we picked up Megan from school. As we pulled up to the building, out comes a tiny little goat to do its business. It was only a few hours old and apparently the mother wasn't taking care of it so the girl had to bring her to school in a carrier...imagine that. Only in __ (insert the state we live in - sorry I don't disclose where we live, but you can now eliminate NY City or Los Angeles). Isn't that the cutest baby goat ever?

Matt had to work that night...he's tired of me following him with the camera and concedes to one picture...

BEST BUY GUY

Later that evening, it was parent observation at Megan's ballet studio.

Miyah and Mei Lin practiced their ballet, too.

Aww...now there's an adorable baby! Molly was so charming smiling and chewing on her eggplant during ballet.

Molly belongs to Jill. Okay, too much cuteness for one day.
Well...actually, there's more cuteness in a new post below.....come on, you know you can't get enough cuteness....

Happy Birthday, Mia!

It was another 4 year-old birthday party today...this time for sweet Mia. We met Mia and her mom and sister at a Valentine's party and they live in our neighborhood and have very similar families...a 17 year old son, 13(?) year old daughter, two more bio kids and then Mia whose now 4 and Gabriella whose 2 and both from Guatemala...almost exactly like us, only they have two extra bios and our adoptees are from different countries. It's rare to find families so similar, but God's good at showing us we're not alone in our insanity (kidding-I meant BLESSING)...there are others that answer the call to start all over through adoption. We're just getting to know this family and we're enjoying them a lot.

Here's Mia's sister, Gabby...isn't she sweet?
Miyah's enjoying the cupcake
What.....
......are you serious, I have frosting on my face???

I posted an Easter update below...you'll have to scroll down a bit it's posted under April 1. I'm a little late as usual.

Happy Family Day Mei Lin!!

Today we celebrated the one year anniversary of adopting Mei Lin. What an amazing little blessing this sweet girl is! It shouldn't have surprised me, but I don't think I expected just how much she'd enhance all of our lives. She's so full of fun and joy. I just love her little smile greeting me every morning and her little voice chattering and singing and laughing. True, things were much quieter before this little spirited one came home, but I love all the noise and mess and tantrums she's added to our family. I wouldn't trade any of it for the desperately needed R&R (LOL). I don't want to sound cliche, but I can't stop thinking about the absolute miracle adoption is. These girls feel like my very soul. It just amazes me how God weaves these little beings into our hearts.

Mei Lin was so excited to hear it was her family day even though she had no idea what that meant. She kept singing "Happy Bewfday to me!"

We were all pretty tired tonight so Pat picked up PF Changs instead of going out (and Mei Lin's tantrum over the dress I wanted her to wear seemed a foreshadowing of things to come that evening). After dinner Mei Lin opened the gift we bought her in Kunming and the girls played.

You know I always overdo the pictures, but here's a little side by side comparison from the day she was officially ours and one year later...

APRIL 2, 2007

Holding her for the first time.

Later that day: The "I'm not so sure about you yet" look.
ONE YEAR LATER (TODAY)...she's sure about everything.And I always love to see how these kids change and grow, so here are month to month pictures of her over the year.
MAY
Feeling at home already!


JUNE
What's so striking about this photo is the fact that she's almost Miyah's size now and she's so much smaller here.

JULY
All-American Girl!

AUGUST
SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

JANUARY
2nd Birthday!

FEBRUARY

TODAY!

This is no small miracle...we're all home for dinner

(actually this was taken right before Matt gave Mei Lin a sweet kiss and dashed out the door).

Mei Lin got a little purse made in Kunming with some little knitted Chinese dolls from A Gift from China (my favorite store in Guangzhou).

Happy Forever Family Day, Sweetheart! We love you ALWAYS AND FOREVER!

Easter

This is for you, Sharon. She's posted a couple of comments asking where my Easter photos are, so I don't want to disappoint her.

The fact of the matter is, we came back from vacation the Friday night before Easter and I really didn't put much effort into Easter this year. I knew they'd be getting vacation souvenirs so I wanted to keep it simple. I did manage to buy one small thing for their baskets and my wonderful husband went and bought all the candy and Mei Lin's new basket ($2.97 at WalMart!) before we left. Then I went into the girl's closet and found a dress for each of them that still fit because I just didn't have the time or desire to go searching for dresses (I know, you don't believe I would turn down an opportunity to shop-but it's true). And instead of cooking a nice Easter dinner we went to PF Changs after church...not real Eastery, but we got a table without a wait.

And, I tried to remind myself that Easter isn't about new dresses and baskets and candy...though those things are fun. Last year we celebrated without any of those things and we had a wonderful Easter in China. None of that stuff matters when we remeber it's all about HIM.

~~~~~

The annual stress-inducing dying of the eggs. If you're wondering why "stress-inducing" you haven't dyed eggs with 2 or more preschoolers in a while. Try it next year...it only counts if you do it in YOUR kitchen. And dress one in a white shirt.

Never too old for candy...and money in Easter eggs.
Miyah going through the Resurrection Eggs.


Sorry, no pictures of Megan. She wouldn't let me take any while she was in her pajamas, then changed out of her Easter clothes as soon as she got home from lunch.

Happy (Belated) Easter!!