Happy 1/2 Year Gotcha Day!

I can't believe it was 6 months ago today that Gemma Lu joined our family. That day was surreal in many ways. It was also tough...I.mean.really.tough. But thankfully we can rely on God, and He got us through those first few tough days (and a few more tough days since then) and has been knitting us together as a family ever since.

I am amazed at how well Gemma is doing! Her teachers say she is doing just fine in school; friends/family think she is adjusting very well; we feel that she is as smart as a whip. The biggest hurdle for us? Attachment? No. Emotional "issues"? No. Sibling rivalry? No. Sleep "issues"? No. Language barrier?

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

I admit...I thought she'd be fluent in English before now. Frankly, she's not there yet. But here's what I'm struggling with the most when it comes to the language barrier--I'm caught between wanting--no, needing--her to be able to communicate with us fluently in English as well as to fully understand what we say to her, while at the same time not wanting--no, dreading--her losing her native language. It's the last thread that connects her to her country of birth and her heritage. Sigh. This is tougher than I thought it would be.

So, for now, we just let her learn at her own pace. And we trust God to bridge the communication gap.

Here are some pics from the last 6 months (you may have seen some already). Thanks for joining us on this journey. :)

Gotcha Day--scared beauty

Gotcha Day evening--bath smile

Adoption finalization day

At the pumpkin patch

Christmas Day dolly

Happy New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Year of the Dragon!!!

Chinese New Year is a wonderful opportunity for us to help the Gs celebrate a little bit of their heritage. So we see it as a special day in our house. The girls each wore one of their pretty silk dresses (qi paos) for the day.

And we made these pretty lanterns. Easy, fun, and lovely.

We had a yummy dinner of orange chicken, noodles and veggies, egg rolls, and oranges. Notice the girls are using their chopsticks!

This was my (unsuccessful) attempt at making fortune cookies.

These are the fortunes in the above cookies. Gracie wrote them. :)

Happy Chinese New Year! 

Gong Xi Fa Cai (Mandarin)

Gong Hey Fat Choy (Cantonese) 

                                                                     恭禧發財    

Front teeth are overrated

It is not uncommon with international adoptions (and China in particular) for the children to have unhealthy teeth. Gracie had some really bad teeth. She needed oral surgery when she was 4. It was not good. Since then, though, her teeth have maintained a healthy status quo. So when Gemma came along, we were totally prepared for some bad teeth. Imagine our surprise when, at her first dental visit in December, she only had 1 cavity!! Surely that was too good to be true. Alas, it WAS too good to be true. That one cavity was on a front tooth that was abscessed and would need to come out. Sigh. Okay. We can handle this. After all, it's MUCH less work than poor little Gracie had to get done. So, today was the big day for Gemma to become toothless.

 AFTER

I think you'll agree with me that she's pretty much the cutest toothless 4-year-old around. :)

Three Christmases, two amphibians, and one Happy New Year!

Christmas #1 begins early on Christmas morning at Grandma and Grandpa Peterson's house.

Amy's Grandma Lundberg met Gemma for the first time.

Great Grandma and all the kids sang "Jingle Bells" together. It was heartwarming!

Gemma "won" these glasses in the annual Peterson Christmas Bingo game.

Simon's cousin--Christian Duhamel--played multiple roles in Seattle Children's Theatre's production of A Year With Frog and Toad. He graciously invited us to be his guests, and the girls LOVED it!

Christmas #2 occurred at Grandma Dee's house in Kellogg on Dec. 29.

Christmas #3 happened on Dec. 31, at Great Grandma Perry's and Great Grandpa Jim's house in Kellogg. We also celebrated 2012 there.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The whole gang

My beauties

2011 was a blessed--albeit a whirlwind!--year. The biggest change was adding our precious Gemma to the family. God is so good! We are reminded every day how His plan for our lives is perfect, and how He handpicked Gemma for us, and us for Gemma. We hope your 2012 is a year filled with God's promises for your life! God bless you!

Waiting For Normal....

Despite Christmas Break being far from a "break" most of the time, (we have been busier on break than we are normally!) I've had some spontaneous moments of reflection where I have found myself marveling at how drastically our family has changed since this Summer and how much has transpired since August. I have to admit that writing is not my forte, thus I struggle with how to frame this post. So many thoughts and emotions have engulfed me that I find myself needing to come up with a way to capture them to make writing about them later an easier task.

The title of this post is the best way I could sum up my feelings about the last 5 months of 2011 as so much has happened. Further, I find myself several times throughout the day wondering if I really experienced the last 5 months or if I am dreaming. It is quite surreal to say the least. It is not until I stop and remind myself that we brought another person into our family that I realize the magnitude of the events that we have experienced and considered their impact on all of us in a myriad of ways. To my best ability things seemed to enter this "blur" mode when we took Gracie to Silverwood for a reward as part of her reading program in the previous school year. It was that very day (I remember Amy telling me we got TA as Gracie and I played in the water park) that things went into warp speed.

From that moment on, it has been a deluge of emotions, challenges, successes, failures, and milestones. As I live these events I've needed to constantly remind myself to live in the moment and stop waiting for things to feel "normal" again. But then a few hours go by and I fail to do this resulting in a variety of unwanted outcomes. I'll spare the details but simply say that I'm thankful for grace being given to me by God, my wife, Gracie, Gemma, and other friends and family. I've posted about wanting "do overs" previously and I still have those moments. Although I don't subscribe to "New Year Resolutions," I have used the ringing in of 2012 (gasp) to refocus as much as I can and continually remind myself of perspective and taking things one day at a time, as opposed to waiting for normal.

As we kick off 2012, I wanted to highlight a few things that have impacted us since the latest chapter began last August.

• Despite Gemma being diagnosed in China as "Developmentally Delayed," we continue to be pleasantly surprised at how alert, bright, and animated she is. The more comfortable she becomes with us the more her personality comes out! (understatement) It is exponentially different/better than I anticipated on August 15 for sure!
• Not only has big sisterhood been more challenging than Gracie anticipated, but it's been equally challenging to Amy and me as well. (Gracie is a wonderful big sister, it's just harder than she could have ever envisioned!)
• In relation to the sisterhood point, I'm amazed at how rapidly Gracie and Gemma truly behave as sisters, both good and bad. They are competitive with each other and you would think they have been together for years seeing how they interact. 
• I am amazed at how much more work it is (physically and emotionally) to have 2 children as opposed to one. It's definitely more than 2X the work! (and more than 2X the love) People with more than 2 children truly have my admiration. It's wonderful to see how everyone has different feelings and preferences in this are. 
• Speaking of amazement, I am still in awe at how Gemma adapts and fits right in with our family! She is such a brave girl!

I can't end this post without writing about how inspired and moved I am by my wife Amy's heart for adoption, motherhood, and her faith. I am continually amazed at her devotion and compassion in these endeavors. I'm amazingly blessed to have her as my wife. 

As we face 2012 head on, ready or not, I will continue to emphasize and focus on not "waiting for normal."

Sunday Snapshot

First time decorating Christmas cookies since coming home with her forever family in August.

Christmas Joys (lots of pictures)!!

We decided to cut our own Christmas tree this year. Here we are at the Rusty Gate Tree Farm...about 45 minutes from home.


The cousins "ride" on the tree.


The girls "help" dad carry the tree to the car.


We visited the "North Pole" (in Coeur d'Alene) and saw this beautiful display of lights.


Gemma's first time decorating a Christmas tree!


She's putting on her own ornament.


Gracie gets to place the angel on the top!



Gracie and her BFF at her school's Christmas concert.


A little nervous just moments before showtime.


Owen and Gemma anxiously await the music.


Gracie in action!


Sisters after the show.


Next it's Gemma's turn...in front of the tree at her school's Christmas concert.


Gemma had quite a bit of stage fright and didn't sing much. But we're proud of her for hanging in there and standing with her class through all of the songs!!


I think she was relieved when it was all over.


Gracie loves to frost cookies!


She's showing Gemma how to do it.



Gemma's turn!


Gemma's cookies


Gracie's cookies


Both girls were in our church's Christmas program this year.


Still has some stage fright...


Gracie sang beautifully!!