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The "Girls" making cookies....cousins Brit and Lauren (twins)
Grandpa turns 78! We celebrated my dad's birthday in Dallas, TX where some of my family came out to celebrate my sister's surprise 50th birthday! We all had such a great time and so many laughs! We have so many inside jokes in my family, that we laugh for hours about stuff nobody would ever get. My nieces (the twins above) are now 20 years old and our girls just loved hanging out with their "big cousins". We shopped, went to their church, and just loved hanging out together....we can't wait to see you guys soon!
Some of our kids from China Tree School and Ming (teacher). We had a fun lunch at Classic Gourmet for our last day of the semester, we had over 70 people attend!! Thanks to all our families and for your dedication to your kids!! Great job kids and you deserve a huge "round of applause"!!
Our friend who just came home from China with now her 4th child (and she is a single mom)
Some of our dedicated teachers, who are awesome!!
Well, we are finished with our first semester at China Tree School. Dan and I feel like things went well especially with the classes for the 5+ year olds, but we struggled abit with the "little ones". I know we worried and struggled over this class, but just couldn't get this little ones class to "click"! We know the issues were varied but found out this the most difficult class to teach.
Seems simple enough, teach a little language, learn some Chinese games, sing some songs, but the "vibe" of the class comes from the teachers. We have found out how difficult it is to find preschool teachers who teach Chinese language. If you talk to the Chinese people they don't understand how a class doesn't involve, for use of a better term, "strict learning". I guess in some ways it is really against their grain. We have had to really work with our other teachers to get them to "lighten up" and just look at learning Chinese as fun! In talking with all our teachers they have never experienced the concept of "learning is fun" as they have gone through school!! We are going to make some changes in the school for January, and will probably discontinue the little ones class for awhile until we can correct these issues. I wrote some thoughts in our newsletter and feel so passionate about these kids learning and embracing this wonderful language! We will move into our next semester in early January and just thought I would share our newsletter with you, if you'd like to take a look...just go to:
www.chinatree.org ....We are very excited to start a new China Tree school in Gwinnett in January and we are also getting ready to open another one in Nashville, TN in the fall! Now those are some southern talkin Chinese folks!! All the China Tree classes will begin at ages 5+ and we will no longer offer classes for the little ones until they reach age 5. We are excited to help more kids around the Atlanta area and have just received our 501C3 (non-profit status).
Grace has her dad's sense of humor and always tries to make us laugh...seems like lately we all find humor in the smallest things, but sure starts the day off on the right foot when everyone "gets it"!! Grace thought pulling her hat down low would keep her brain warm so she would learn so much more today! Mimi agrees!!
I can't image getting serious about school for the next few weeks...we are in a vacation mode and will probably stay in this gear until after Christmas...sounds good to Dan and I!
Chillin before the big night!
Our sweet Mimi in her first violin recital!
Mimi and I have had many talks since we came back from China about how unfair it was that Grace got to go with me for 11 days, just the two of us...well my come back has been that when she and I were in China together (when I came to get her, "finally", that's Mimi's version) we got to stay 14 days together. Well our next trip, looks like spring, will involve all of us or at least a combination of the four of us...
We have had the most fun with Mimi learning the violin, she is so confident and serious when she plays, sure makes for a great student! The two numbers they played were (Mississippi hot dog (like twinkle, twinkle) and then the real version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".
Mimi looking so sweet in her fifties clothes! We love this day at school (even though the girls have no idea what the fifties is)...It's fun to wear real clothes instead of uniforms and just play all day! Of course, Mimi is already juggling boyfriends, homework and all the important things a kindergarten student has to deal with! They just grow-up so fast!! haha
Mommy's been a little busy, so we scoured Target to find this combo...we called it the late 50's early 60's look!
Have you ever had one of those days where everything just falls into place? Well this week, I must say I have had, for the first time, in a long time, a week where things are "clicking" (I always say this to my girls) My gardening is finished for the fall, my laundry is caught up, my house is deep cleaned (thank you Rosa!) I've actually grocery shopped, I've had several awesome work-outs .... I think you get the picture....
My world, as I used to know it, has been put on hold for the last couple of years! God has called our family to some amazing "projects" over the last couple of years! To name a few "the First Fridays" community, the Chinese school "China Tree", Dan playing in the band at North Metro,
Dan being on the board at North Metro, paperchasing to adopt our third daughter, and of course raising two spirit-filled girls! True to form, as God always seems to do with Dan and I, has "charged us" with a new plan! Why would God want to shift our focus to the orphans who are still in China? I have learned over the years to listen for God, this is challenging for me, but, I think He knows we are doers! Well, over the past 6 months God has done a number on us as a family! We have had opportunity after opportunity to "look within ourselves" to see where God wants us to "be". The "needle" keeps pointing to the children who are still "over there" ( as my friend Rebecca D) always says. As our focus has changed, we find ourselves asking these questions...why is this process so slow (does God have a bigger plan for these kids) of course, what can we do? Well, we went to Washington D.C. a few weeks ago and had an opportunity to talk to several Congressmen (women) who want to help...I have been communicating with them and they are interested in what we have to say! We have made some awesome contacts in China over the past 6 months (Grace and I are leaving in two weeks for China) and can't wait to follow up on several projects which are already underway! I know God only knows "what the heck is going on" with these children who are left as orphans, but one thing I know for sure is that He loves these orphans and wants our help to love them too! The challenges are big, but that is o.k. and Dan and I (and of course Grace and Mimi) are thrilled to answer God's call to "get busy" changing some things to make it easier for families who want to "love these children" and not let government get in the way! Surprisingly, the delays are something we can change, but someone needs to speakup for these kids....we are working on this! One thing I know for sure is there is not a shortage of kids who need homes! We talked with Amanda at Starfish the other night, she was at an orphanage in Shizhong (where we are building the bathrooms) and a newborn little boy was dropped off at the orphanage while she was there...this is not unusual! I guess my point is, even one child left without a family needs us to "speak up" and make this process easier "for them" to be matched with a loving family!
We will continue to "speak-up" for these kids who are desperate to "have someone speak-out on their behalf".
So, with God's prompting Dan and I have shifted our focus to the orphans who are still in China. In the meantime, if you are waiting to adopt, have adopted, or just want to check out this whole adoption thing, check out the new First Friday group called Adopt Option http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AdoptOption and join in a community of so many who love these children!
One of the things Dan and I have always talked about was that we wanted both of the girls to learn an instrument. We both think this is so important, "a life essential" so to speak. Of course Dan plays guitar so a natural for Grace was learning the guitar and she did get a guitar last year. Daddy has been teaching her and they are awesome together! They even sing songs and play together. Mimi's has had an interest in the guitar but her hands are sooo small! So, we've been talking about other options and she chose the violin. I had no idea they made such small violins! We started looking and they really do come in all sizes (the first one we found Grace told Mimi it looked like an American Girl Doll size!) We ended up finding one on "Craig's List" and it's a perfect fit...the lady we bought it from was even nice enough to send us a chart for fitting Mimi perfectly so we didn't make a mistake starting her out. We all drove out to Douglasville (almost to Carrolton...it was "out there") yesterday to pick up the violin. Through a friend we found out that Due West Methodist church is offering a program (music and arts) for the community. Mimi will be taking individual violin lessons from a very nice girl who has a master's degree in violin and we were able to set it up right after school. The contact is Glen Conger @ 770 427-3835 if you are interested in this great new program for the community. Let the concert begin!!
The girls and I got home yesterday from being gone all day and I listen to our messages and one call was from Washington, D.C....the message was to "please call Marcy at CCAI in Washington, D.C." I'm thinking our agency CCAI but no it's the CCAI (Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute) www.ccainstitute.org Well, it was too late to call back so this morning I called Marcy who was very pleasant and excited to tell us, "Mrs. Chapman, you and Mr. Chapman have been nominated and chosen by Phil Gingrey (R-Rep) for an Angel in Adoption Award and you are invited to come to Washington, D.C. in September to receive this award." Wow! I couldn't believe it! She said they would love to have our entire family, (even knew Grace and Mimi's names) attended the gala and all the events for this very special award.
One really awesome thing during our visit to Washington, D.C. is that Dan and I will have an opportunity to sit down with several Congressmen in a very informal setting. We will get to tell "our story" and ask specific questions or bring up concerns about International Adoption issues. There is so much that can be done to improve the adoption journey and these guys are very influential in how things get done.
There will be lots of attendees like Bruce Willis (above) who will attend this big day! I asked Marcy, who called us from CCAI, who the keynote speaker was this year, with this being an election year, she said it will be someone "very special"!! Can't wait to find out who that could be....
As I thought about this opportunity to have this time with these Congressmen, I thought what questions would our FF community like to have answers to. So, if you have anything we can ask these Congressmen please either e-mail me or call me with what is on your mind. chapmansk@bellsouth.net 0r (678) 574-9596
Dan and I are so excited to introduce our China Tree - Language and Culture School website. Thank you Tymm Hoffman for creating an awesome website for our school. If you have any questions or would like us to hold a spot for your child for this fall please e-mail or call me.
http://www.chinatree.org/*New this Fall*
We will add a child class for the 3, 4, 5 year olds which will be the kids with their parents in class with them.
A beginner class for kids who have never taken any Chinese language classes (ages 5, 6, 7)
* Each class has two teachers, both teachers are Chinese but fluent in English. The curriculm we will be using for the second year in a row is from CCAI's Joyous Chinese School in Denver, CO (now over 350 students enrolled) and we thank YuLi the Director of this very successful school for working with us and giving us an awesome curriculum for our children to learn and continue to learn Mandarin Chinese.
We hope you consider joining us this fall! To me, it is still the most amazing experience to watch the faces of all these kids in the classroom speaking Chinese to each other and having real conversations with other kids in the class. Our school is becoming "top-notch" and we have some unbelievable opportunities with Kennesaw State University this year as the University begins a brand new International Chinese Program. We will have access to many of the International students who helped us very much last year in our classes!
Contact me with any questions! 678 574-9596
We have been thinking of a way to spend some family time and camping just isn't our thing, but boating, now your talking!! So far, we have the boat, a slip, a couple of life jackets, and a cooler, sounds good to me......not sure if we will ever learn to waterski but a big tube and a couple of floating rafts work fine for us! Sorry David!! We took "her" out for a ride last night, it was cold but we all slept very well last night. We have all agreed on the name, I guess everyone names their boat, so she will be called "Iona"..... like Iona boat!! Looks like we are going to have a great summer!
Our boat "Iona"
First trip out, not a boat in sight, never hit anything!
The "Girls" making cookies....cousins Brit and Lauren (twins)
Grandpa turns 78! We celebrated my dad's birthday in Dallas, TX where some of my family came out to celebrate my sister's surprise 50th birthday! We all had such a great time and so many laughs! We have so many inside jokes in my family, that we laugh for hours about stuff nobody would ever get. My nieces (the twins above) are now 20 years old and our girls just loved hanging out with their "big cousins". We shopped, went to their church, and just loved hanging out together....we can't wait to see you guys soon!
