Happy Kate NaNa Day!

Wow. Have I really not blogged in 4 months?  I told a friend yesterday that I can't figure out how to parent four children and write at the same time.  I know people who do it, but I can't seem to get it done.  I could blame it on a lot of factors, but for the next hour I am completely alone, so I thought I would dip my toe back in here and see what happens.  I seriously doubt anyone is still checking in here, which means that if I disappear again for four more months, no one will judge me, right?

Sunday was Kate NaNa Day!  We celebrated that she had been a part of our family for five years.  We went to the local hibachi restaurant and she (and the two big boys) received a fob containing a single piece of rice with her names written in English and Chinese.  (By the way, I could read them when I bought them five years ago in Tongli, and now I can't.  What's up with that? Middle age...)
 

Parenting her is still one of those things where I feel like it was only yesterday we were in China meeting her for the first time, and yet it is as if she has always been with us.  She is ours.  She is still that brave little thing holding back tears when she is frightened.  She still laughs hysterically at her brothers.  She still processes everything very deeply.  She still misses China and grieves the loss her first family, but she refers to us as her "real" family. 

I give thanks everyday for the blessing of knowing her. She is spunky and sassy, smart and compassionate.  She reads chapter books and writes her own stories.  She is crazy good at bike riding and anything involving a ball.  She has recently decided she wants to take up golf, but is looking forward to basketball this winter and soccer in the spring.  She is growing in her faith and often asks questions about God and heaven.  She loves to draw and paint and play with play-doh.  There is nothing in the world this child won't accomplish if she puts her mind to it.

So Happy Kate NaNa Day, baby girl.  You are the best girl ever!