Bike, birthday, sick kid & Chinese school

Mimi learns to ride with no training wheels!! Go Mimi!! After a few days, in the bitter cold, she got it and now she is a maniac......

MPCS future cheerleaders!

Our Grace turns 8! We love her teacher, Mrs. Dodson, she looks like one of the kids! What a blessing to have such a loving, hugging, warm environment to learn in!! Our girls love to go to school, they miss it when they aren't there....thank God for providing this wonderful place and these wonderful people to embrace our kids and give them confidence to pray together and to pray for each other, learn about giving to others, and not feel they have to follow the culture, which these days can be pretty scary:) We are blessed!!

Family photo! Maybe next years Christmas card! ha

New China Tree school opened in January - Gwinnett! We have 15 students and two awesome teachers! The school is designed for kids 5+ years old. Our teachers Yumin and Hong Ma are both getting their Masters Degree's at Georgia State in Linguistics. They are fabulous teachers and with their dedication and love for these kids we are off to a great start!

Making and eating dumplings! We handmade over one hundred dumplings!

Three beautiful girls - loving learning Chinese language and about their culture!

Class picture taken to send to our new friend Li Ke, whom China Tree school is sponsoring. Li Ke lives in an orphanage in ZhengZhou and is 10 years old. Our goal is to have the kids from China Tree go to China in two years and we will definitely stop in to see our friend Li Ke.

Our first trip to Scottish Rite - Mimi had such a bad stomach virus. They made her feel so much better...

Mt. Paran's annual daddy/daughter dance! The three of them had a special dance they worked on...lots of foot moves and booty shakin! I heard tons of stories about the night, my girls loved their date! I sat at home by myself, which was such a rarity for me these days, and just enjoyed quiet!

I am working on a new blog design, not my forte, but it's fun learning. We are getting ready to go to China in a couple of months and are getting our first medical mission team in place. If you are ever interested in traveling other than an adoption (hopefully one of our trips will be for Hope) please let me know. We have this upcoming trip and then another in the fall 2009 and early 2010....we will "always" swing by Xian to visit with Amanda at Starfish....this is an ongoing "need" and she is an incredible person who is doing so much for these kids.I hope to get my new "blogsite" up soon...there is so much we are working on and I hope to pass along some of these opportunities to those intersted in getting involved over in China.There are big things and small things to get involved in....we sure have seen the incredible "need and appreciation" from those who are working with the orphans who "still wait". I never knew how much these workers appreciate our involvement and our comittment to supporting them each and every day. They work very hard and sometimes the "daily grind" can seem overwhelming and hopeless..but I've seen the gratitude from a caregiver's face when we showup with supplies or just a fresh look. Let me know if you have any interest in joining some of the work in China....just e-mail me at chapmansk@bellsouth.net