Snowbound=Fun Mess Inside

What do you do when you're cooped up inside for days?

You go from this...

To this...
And this...
And this.
Joe was out of town when we were hit by a huge snowstorm. This was no surprise to Jane or her neighbors who helped her dig out, as Joe's timing for such things is impeccable. In fact, if we want it to snow here, we just tell Joe to leave town for a few days and the flakes will fall in abundance.

So, we needed to find a way to occupy ourselves during our hours indoors. Whipped cream helped.

Jia is a Pacifist

She thinks snowballs are for eating, not throwing. And why wouldn't she? That's what her grandpa taught her this weekend after our big snowfall.

We made the mistake of buying a snowsuit that's too small and puffy so she can't do much else in it anyway. She is exactly like pathetic little Randy in A Christmas Story. If she falls down in her suit, she can't stand or even sit up without assistance. She just flails around yelping, "Help! Help!" So eating snow and riding around in a sled is about all she can manage.

A Primitive Uses a Tool

Could this angelic little girl do anything devious? Well, we don't think so, but she sure is crafty.

We have a baby gate that protects Jia from tumbling down the basement stairs. We also have a bin that we keep in the kitchen where we toss dirty bibs and rags for washing. Yesterday, Jia went into the kitchen, emptied out the bin, carried it over to the baby gate, flipped over the bin and climbed on top of it and attempted to escape over the gate! We had slight concern before, but now we are truly concerned that she's too smart for us.

Dr. Harvey Karp likens toddlers to little Neanderthals. It has been fun to watch her evolution - the use of tools and problem solving - in action!

A Confession

We are rotten parents. We gave diddly squat to Jia for Valentine's Day. No Valentine, no treats. We forgot to dress her in red or pink. She did receive a pre-Valentine's Day gift from her grandparents. Apparently her parents aren't so thoughtful. We used to celebrate this day, but we've become pretty neglectful in recent years.

Jia didn't attend day care on Valentine's Day. When we picked her up the following day, we were provided with a bag of Valentines and treats that her day care chums had given to her. To make matters even worse for Jia, we ate all the candy while she napped. All of it. She didn't get a single piece, not even a raisin.

To make matters much worse (yes, they really can get worse), we think we threw away all the Valentines before she saw them. We can't find them anywhere, and in a burst of cleanliness, they may have ended up in the trash.

We'll have to make it up to her next year, or Easter, or every other holiday. We're sure the guilt will follow us.

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

We attended a fabulous New Year celebration today. Jia enjoyed every minute of it (she even tolerated the balloon-popping contest which most small children there found questionable).

We're glad we outfitted Jia in her traditional Chinese dress as she won't be able to wear it much longer. It's nearly too small!


We shared a family brunch after the festivities. It was wonderful to celebrate this special day together.


To see a photo of Jia for the first time in this dress, click here. What a difference!

A Call to Action

Jane just returned from viewing the Blood of Yingzhou District. It's an Academy Award-nominated documentary that is truly groundbreaking. It allows us to witness a glimpse of what life is like for certain AIDS orphans in China. At a minimum, there are already tens of thousands of these kids. Some have HIV, some don't. For a decade, during the 90's, there was a huge push for blood donation as a way for rural villagers to earn some money. An extraordinary amount of HIV infection resulted. The numbers are hard to come by, but some experts estimate that the number of HIV infected individuals is around one and a half million.

Here's the trailer for the film: The Blood of Yingzhou District. Many independent movie theaters are currently showing this film. Please watch it, or at least watch the trailer. And then please do something.

Jane is on the board of a non-profit that helps Chinese AIDS orphans: The China AIDS Orphan Fund. This organization is one way to help. Please learn more about this situation and tell others.

The Ever Changing World of International Adoption

Our adoption agency recently contacted us to let us know that Taiwan had changed its adoption requirements, and that we no longer qualify because we haven't been married long enough. Thankfully, we are grandfathered in because we have already started the process. It wouldn't have been a huge deal as we would have accumulated the necessary time by this fall, but we're glad that we got the ball rolling.

A Taiwanese friend invited Jane to attend a Lunar New Year event given by the local Taiwanese association tonight. It was so entertaining! The karaoke was wildly amusing and resulted in many laughs, and it increased our excitement at becoming a part of this community.

Taiwan Adoption Process

Many people have asked about our Taiwan adoption process. Here are the basics:

The babies are first placed in a facility staffed by medical professionals. They are then placed in foster families. The babies are typically referred at a very young age, often under three months. After the referral, the child's file travels through the court process for a series of hearings. The approval of the adoptive parents by the birth mother is frequently part of the process. Adoptive parents regularly receive photos, videos and medical updates while they wait.

We are thrilled that our second daughter may have the chance of knowing her story and her birth family, and hope dearly that we are able to meet some of her relatives when we are there.