Saturday, August 14, 2010

Some random thoughts....

First off, the Benderoos were a huge hit on the plane from Atlanta to Seattle.  It kept Kayla occupied for probably 1.5 hours which is no small feat at 3 years old.  She's currently putting them all over the hotel window.  Love it!  Unfortunately, she has not made the transition to China Time and was completely wired from 2am on last night.  But what's another day with no sleep... sleepless nights are about to start for real in a day anyway.

For anyone reading this who will be traveling soon, we're glad we had the stroller in the airport.  And, the vpn go trusted . com is working fine for blogger, facebook, and netflix so far.  I haven't tried accessing anything without it.

Next, on a more serious note, we are a very conspicuous family in a different way than on our first trip to China.  We stand out now not because we are a tall white family, but because we have an English speaking Chinese child with us.  The way it feels to be constantly pointed out because of our different appearance drives home the importance to me of finding ways to teach Kayla (and very soon Jonah) who she is and to be proud of who she is both as an American, a Chinese American and part of our family.   For our kids, being just another family is not in the cards. They will always have a white family.  Acknowledging this in my mind, in no way diminishes the fact that we are a REAL family. It does highlight how important it is to give them opportunities to form a healthy self-identity that fits who they will be as transracial, transcultural adoptees.

Today, China has set the day aside for mourning more than one thousand lives  lost in the mudslides a week ago.  Our prayers go out to those suffering through this devastation.

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