China Family Reunion #3

I always look forward to our China Family Reunion and this year was no different. So far we've never had all of the families show up on the same day, but this time was pretty cool because only 2 families couldn't make it. These are the people we spent 2 weeks with in China and let me tell you, after that you get a pretty good sense of who they are. We're a hodge podge mix of people as I think most families are, but somehow it works and let me tell you the kids get on so well it's unbelievable. As you can see, Buttons had a right good time as a fish in the water.

Well, I'm off to make some food for a potluck today. I'm going to miss summer.

Party Time

When we went to China, we went with 13 other families whom I now refer to collectively as our "China Family". We were thrown together as a family because our paperwork came to our agency around the same time and we all wanted to adopt a child (or two) from China. We did not choose this family, but isn't that how most families come together? Anyway, for the last 2 years, we've had a reunion and it's something I've looked forward to each year. We were thrown together by chance and grew into a family in the span of 2 weeks in China. We met our children together, waited for delayed airplanes together, we've watched each other's children while we were sick and just plain helped one another on the journey of a lifetime.

Yesterday was our fantastic reunion and one of the families hosted at a wonderful old house with a pool that Buttons flipped over. We didn't have everyone there due to distance, vacations and sickness, but we had lots of people, food and good times. I'm certain Buttons jumped in the pool at least 80 times with her mouth and eyes wide open. She played with the other kids and we talked with the adults about milestones. I talked with one of the dads there and we decided that the second year has been much easier than the first. We've all settled in a bit with parenting as there was an easiness yesterday from the group that I hadn't seen before. I helped change a diaper for someone else, someone helped with Buttons in the pool, different parents were helping with the children on the swing set. It truly was a family reunion.

It's very important for us to keep coming back to these people, our China Family, and luckily it seems to be important for them too. Buttons and I like to look at pictures we've downloaded to the computer. If we come across a picture of a girl from our China family, Buttons will often ask "is that me?" and it makes me stop and think. I want her to see other children who have similar features and be able to understand she's not the only child who has almond shaped dark brown eyes and straight dark brown hair. I also want her to see other families like ours and understand while each family is different and special, there are other also similarities we share. This reunion is a joy in so many ways and I look forward to next year!

P.S. Happy Birthday to our niece "S"!!!