Posts

Party of 3?

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A taste of the future? This Christmas and New Year’s were wonderful and spent filling our hearts with special memories, but I could feel the cold wind of change on the back of my neck. For the first year in forever, the boys were just too busy to fit in a trip to Moody Gardens lights. But we did get a fabulous couple days on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. For the first year in forever, we weren’t able to make the time for watching Elf or A Christmas Carol. But we did have a fabulous Christmas Day where we were still blessed to have the presence of my grandmother, Jane. For the first year in forever, we missed a lot of our extended family (thanks COVID). But we did get to celebrate a year where, though separate, we were all well and healthy. More and more my boys are busy. And busy with things that don’t include me.  Busy doing the things that will build their futures…their futures as adults. Yeah, I have a few more years but the winds of change are here. More and more r

I'm Back!!

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Well, just over seven years have passed since you’ve heard from me. That’s a long, long time. I’m not the same person I was when I last wrote. Our family is not the same family that is was when I last wrote. Seven years is simply too much to update you on, so in this post I’m simply going to introduce us as if we’ve never met and we can go from there. I’m going to give it my all to blog a little more often even if the only purpose it serves is to create a chronicle of our lives for me to look back on someday.     It’s kinda odd, this blog could be so many things. An adoptive family blog, a special needs family blog, a sports family blog, a multi-generational home blog…the list goes on. But it’s none of those in exclusivity. It’s exactly what the title says. It’s a blog about us living the life we imagined…leaving behind no regrets, no chance untaken, no what if’s. Even if they all don’t turn out the way we planned, we take the chances and live the lives we imagined. So, when I left you

A Walk in the Clouds

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Today was Sunday here in Changsha. We took it really slow this morning and didn't venture forth until noon. Our hotel is walking distance to Mt. Yuelu so we decided to head there. Mt. Yuelu has significance here for several reasons. It is the home of Yuelu Academy, one of the world's oldest university's, built in 976 AD. The mountain is also home to both a Taoist and Buddist temple. Finally, Mao Tse Tung spent time studying there. Mai's home village is very near Changsha and so many Chinese travel here to see it. We had a nice, looooong hike on the mountain. Thankfully, there was a cable car to take us up a good portion of the mountain. It was really beautiful as we were literally walking in the clouds. After we headed back for some pizza!

Xi'an

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We actually had a decent night sleep on the train. Upon arrival it seemed that our train station experience would be as crazy and horrific as the Beijing experience, then Peter arrived. Peter was an English speaking taxi driver sent from heaven to get us through Xi'an.  We loaded our luggage in his minivan and headed to the hotel. On the way he mentioned he'd be willing to drive us out to the Terra Cotta warriors. We decided there was no time like the present and we changed courses. On the way Peter took us to the workshop where they make replicas of the warriors and we were able to see each step of the process. Arriving at the warriors we were able to meet one of the farmers who discovered them in 1974. Then it was in to see the warriors. They are as impressive as we expected. As impressive as the warriors are, the boys will tell you that the highlight of the trip was the apartment we stayed in for the night. It is called the Xian Warriors Apartment. Despite being nearly impos