I was browsing through some of my old writings.  I keep a journal of sorts on the computer and this was one of those "journaling moments".  Just thought I would share it.  It was from shortly before we went to China for Sojo's birthday.  Like her mother, I am in awe of the love this little girl brings to my heart...from the moment I first saw her...

 

When my daughter was in her early thirties, she mentioned that if she wasn’t married by the time she was thirty-five, she was going to adopt a baby girl from China.  Anxious to be a grandmother, I thought that sounded like a great idea.  I worried about her raising a child alone, but knew that she was quite capable of doing whatever she wanted all on her own.  She had been traveling the world and living internationally as a teacher for about ten years, so it seemed a good fit for her.

 

Not long after her announcement of wanting to adopt, she met the man she would marry.  He was an international teacher as well.  As their relationship grew from friendship into something deeper, they decided to get married two years ago.  They also decided that adoption was the course of parenthood they would travel.  They were living in China at the time and since this was a dream of our daughter’s from years before, it seemed the natural country to choose.

 

To say I was excited about their decision; would minimize my delight.  At that time, we thought it would be less than a year before we would become grandparents.  However, changes in the Chinese adoption process made the time much longer.  As our daughter, her husband and the rest of the family waited, I did a lot of research on line about babies adopted from China and other countries.  Adoption was something that seemed natural to me.  The thought was not at all foreign or unwanted.  My husband and I had discussed it before our marriage nearly 40 years before.  At that time domestic adoptions were common and international ones were unheard of.  Today, it seems just the opposite. 

 

One day, I found myself wondering if it would be the same.  My children were all biological and my love for them was deeper than anything I had ever known.  I would lay down my life for any one of them in a heart beat.  Not only was this child going to be adopted and not of our blood, but she would be from a foreign country where there would be no doubt that she was not biological.  I had waited a very long time to be a grandmother and suddenly I found myself wondering if I would truly be as excited as I thought I would about this baby and would she fill that spot in my heart that I had been holding for her for so long.

 

I looked at Chinese adoption blogs on line and fell in love with every one of those babies and wondered which one our new grand-daughter would look like.  Would she have dark skin, would she have lots of hair or would she be bald?  Would she be nine months old or nineteen months old?  Would she smile or cry when she saw us for the first time?

 

After many more months than expected, our daughter and son-in-law finally got the referral picture of their new daughter and knew within a couple of weeks they would travel to the province of her birth to pick her up.  We had been waiting for the call.  We told our daughter to call us at any hour of the day or night.  We did not care if we were awakened in the middle of the night.  This was considered an urgent call.  We knew all of the Chinese adoption process.  You can expect referral calls anywhere from the last few days of one month into the first couple weeks of the next, so we were ready and waiting.  The month before was a disappointment, so we were sure this was the month.  One night we got a wrong number call and our hearts sank as we hung up the phone.  The night the call came, I remember grabbing the phone and lamp at the same time and knowing it was our daughter.  As she said, “Hello, grandma”, my heart sang out like a concert pianist.  “Grandma”…what better sound could I hear in the middle of the night?  She told us to go to the computer, because we would see our first picture of our grand-daughter.  As we ran down the hallway, our hearts were pumping so fast and ready to burst out of our chests.  What better way to make blood flow through a heart could there be?  As we quickly booted up the computer and saw her little face, we fell in love with a little girl who continually amazes us with her smiles, her gibbering, her giggles, her kisses, love and little antics that babies do to fill the lives of a grandparent with utter and complete joy. 

 

Although our daughter, son-in-law and new grand-daughter live across the world from us, we are fortunate that we get to see quite a bit of them.  They came home a few weeks after they first held her in their arms.  There was a lot of paperwork to wade through.  We were able to spend four weeks with them at their US summer home.  We spent every waking moment getting to know her and soak up every little thing about her.  To say we fell in love is such an understatement. 

 

They are back in China with their jobs now and we check email daily for news about our precious grand-daughter.  We check their blog for details of her antics and pictures to prove them.  Sometimes, we even get a little video of her.  We also use that new and crazy video conferencing gizmo that allows you to have a camera on your computer and then see and hear one another.  Technology is our saving grace.  It is our life line to that little girl that lifts our hearts and spirits to a level that I never knew existed.  Biological…smiological.  How could I have ever doubted that this little girl would not be loved as much as a biological child?  I look at her and all I see is love.  I do not see a different country or a different culture. Although, I know that her parents will share all of that with her when she wants to know.  They will tell her about and take her to her country of birth.  They will also share with her the country of her citizenship each summer when we will travel to spend that time with her.  She is fortunate to have the opportunity for both; and a family that loves her not for where she came from, but simply because of whom she is to them…their daughter…their grand-daughter…their niece.

 

We are getting ready to make a trip to China for her first birthday.  We are counting the days.  To have this opportunity to see her and spend quality time with her is a blessing.  Love knows no boundaries. 

 

No...love knows no boundaries.  This little sweetie jumped the boundaries right into our hearts. 

My goodness...one thing that really frosts my cake is when I misspell a word.  This blog does not have a spell check built in and I am usually on the run when I am blogging.  I quickly blog it and post it...often without proofing it.  I have always prided myself in my spelling.  Not to say, I have never misspelled a word or misused a word, but I have always considered myself a decent speller.  Lately though, as the brain begins to shrink or jiggle a little inside my head, I am finding myself misspelling words that are pronounced the same but spelled differently depending on the use.  I know the proper spelling and then I read a blog later and discover I have misspelled one of those "sounds like the other" words.  Today it was using "where" instead of "wear".  What was I thinking?  Ugh!  This is one of those "signs of growing older" that I do not like.  What other ones will follow?  Guess I will not be the one helping Sojo prepare for a spelling bee, now will I? 

 

Guess I will stick to taking her to the beach and letting her jump and play....she might just say, "Popo, let's go to the beach instead of spelling today".  Works for me....

 

 

I fondly remember family vacations at the beach.  My first are with my Dad on Lake Erie in Pennsylvania.  I thought that lake was the biggest and best place on the face of the earth.  I loved the warmth of the sunshine on my pale white skin.  I loved the sensation of the sand as it sifted through my fingers and toes.  I feared and loved the waves as they hit my body and knocked me into the water.  I could watch it forever and be mesmerized...forever. 

 

When I met Ron he told me about the ocean and how beautiful it was.  He showed me pictures and I was in complete awe of it.  I could not wait until I actually saw it for myself.  This sheltered Pennsylvania gal had only seen one of the Great Lakes and thought that was amazing...what would I think of the ocean????  Well, he took me one day after we moved to NY State.  However, it was on the sound and I could see the other side and I was not at all impressed.  There were no waves or anything.  I actually looked at him and said, "this is not the ocean".  He assured me it was and I was so utterly disappointed I thought I would cry.  I eventually got to see the ocean as I had envisioned it and have been drawn to it ever since.  The minute I see sand on the roadside, I know I am close.  As I round a corner and the azure blue water meets my eyes, I am done.  For however long I am blessed to be there, I am in heaven.  I bring books to read and never read them.  I simply sit and stare at this grand body of water, we call ocean.  It calls my name and I am there.  The Grand Canyon is Ron's mistress...the ocean is my "sugar daddy". 

 

Was it any wonder that I could not wait to take our kids to the ocean.  Their first trip was a week on Cape Cod.  That was simply the best and they loved every minute of it.  Tara and Sean were 4 and 6 and Matt had not been born yet.  We didn't get to the ocean as much as we would have liked, but each trip was special and we loved it.  They were the best vacations ever.  We made it to the coast of Maine, the Carolina coast, the Jersey coast, and of course the California coast and more recently the Washington coast.  As a family we managed to visit the Gallapagos Islands in Ecuador.  Ron and I have been to Hawaii and a few beaches in Mexico. Now, we mainly make it to the California Baja coast in Mexico.  Mostly Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco).  That's where Matt and Cathy are getting married.  I guess that tells you how much this family loves the beach.

 

So...is it any wonder our first born loves it so much that she and her hubby have shared it with their young daughter...that would be Miss Sojo...numerous times in the past 10 months.  This little girl has been to Hawaii when she went through for her naturalization process  Isn't she a cutie patootie!  This little girl went to Thailand for Christmas break...And now...for spring break she is at a beach in China.  Does she look like she is having fun and boy has she changed from that first trip in May of last year.   There are a couple of beaches fairly close to where T & D's house is in Washington.  I can't wait to take her for a walk on the beach.  Hopefully, we can find a nice warm day where she can where one of her swim suits...otherwise, it will be sweatshirts and hats to keep us warm as we feel that sand between our toes and build sand castles with Sojo.  Yea...the beach is the best. 

Here are a few pictures of the little one enjoying her first Easter Egg hunt and chocolate bunny.

 

Rehiding some eggs in her shoe....Looking for more eggs.

Oh yea...I love chocolate bunnies and this Easter thing...oh, yea....Taking my baby for a walk...walking that chocolate off.  She had lots of fun, but her tummy was overloaded with the chocolate and she promptly threw it up at breakfast.  Yucky! 

 

She is now off at the beach with her mama and baba and we are awaiting more pictures.  We hear that she is enjoying it...wearing sundresses, swim suits and playing in the sand and loving the water. 

 

Easter brings hope and the opportunity for each of us to remember .... We are truly blessed and we are thankful for all the blessings...especially this sweet little one.

I remember starting this blog about one year ago when Tara sent me on a quest for Easter Baskets.  Remember...I now have about 9 of them on a shelf in a closet.  I sure hope we get a car load of grand children or I don't know what I will do with them all.  The one that Tara eventually chose was hers from when she was a little girl.  Which happended to belong to her father when he was a little boy.  So Sojo is the 3rd generation to have the basket.  It is now Easter in China and we were privy to seeing Sojo with her first basket and egg hunt via Skype.  God Bless Skype:)  What fun we had, what laughter we enjoyed.  It took her a few eggs to get the hang of it and then she was quickly looking and discovering eggs on the chair or on a table.  She had no clue there were goodies inside of them.  She liked the sound of them when she when she would shake them.  She liked even more, the goodies inside.  A marshmallow, which she had never tasted before and thought was pretty good.  She liked the Cheerios and Puffs too.  She liked taking the grass out of the basket and letting it fall to the ground and then taking it and putting it on her baba's head or her own.  That was lots of fun.  However, when she discovered that the brown bunny in the basket was actually chocolate under that cellophane wrapping...whoo...hoo...she really liked that.  She loved munching on his ears and even shared with her mama and baba.  It wasn't nearly as much fun when mama and baba said that the bunny had to go back into the wrapping for awhile, but fortunately toddlers have short attention spans and she was easily distracted as we said our goodbyes and felt so blessed to be able to watch her enjoy her first Easter.  I will post some pictures tomorrow after Tara shares some with us.  What fun...

 

One year ago we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of this precious little Sojo.  Today, we give thanks for the blessing she is in our lives.  10 months of utter bliss having her in our lives.  Each moment is more precious than the last and we know each moment to come will be even more precious.  Thank you Lord...how could I ask for more.

We are missing all the fun with Sojo.  She is talking up a storm and learning so many new things.  She is also giving out doses of love and hugs and that's what we are missing the most.  She says, "bao, bao" which means hug in  Mandarin Chinese and then she hands out the hugs.  She hugs her Mama and Baba and she hugs her animals and doll and animals in her story books and even a telephone pole.  That's why we wish we were telephone poles right now. Here is a picture of her hugging an animal in her story book. Oh how I wish I could hop into that book.  Talk about hopping...here is a picture of our little bunny and we are sending bunny hugs her way.  Hoppy Happy Day to you Sojo.   The bunny ears are from her Gong Gong.  :)

Is there anything more beautiful than a desert flower and our grand daughter dancing with your little monkey?  I think not.

Spring is bursting here in the desert.  The temps are in the 70's and green is beginning to appear.  Sometimes in the form of weeds, but it is still green and that is a color we do not get much of in the desert.  The Aspen trees are bursting forth in green.  The Ocotillo is green and will soon have its glorious orange plumes.  We see the Brittle Bush budding along with many other desert bushes.

 

A couple of weeks ago we went to Sedona for a few days and hit the last hurrah of winter up there.  The red rocks were beautiful with the dusting of snow behind the ridges.  Water was flowing in the creeks and the cloud formations were awesome.  On the way home when the clouds cleared and the sun began to shine again, we stopped at Picacho Peak where if all of the planets are aligned or if we get the right amount of rain in the fall and again during winter, we have a glorious display of color as California poppies carpet the hillside of the Peak.  It was worth the $6 entry fee into the park to take a short walk and take a few pictures. 

 

Now one last shot of what I know as a glimpse of “grace”…our Sojo.  Grace is such a gift and Sojo is certainly a gift to us.  Every glimpse we get of her is a gift.  Whether it is a picture her Mama posts on her blog or when we get to see her and chat on Skype or when we are lucky enough to see her in person and give her hugs and kisses.  Each is a gift and a glimpse of grace. 

 

For some reason...I cannot downloand anymore pictures.  I guess I will have to put the rest on another day.

Happy 65th birthday to my wonderful husband.  He is truly like a bottle of fine aged red wine...just pure sweet goodness.  And, I am blessed to have him in my life.  Anyone whose life he touches is blessed.  He is a gift from God to me.  Happy Birthday Sweetie.

 

I think about how he has held each of our children in his arms over the years, much like he holds sweet Sojo in his arms now.  How he teaches her things like cooking and feeding birds and how to swing from a tree. How they express their love toward one another.  How blessed I am to share this wonderful experience of grand parenting with him.  This journey with him is amazing.  Thank you God for the gift of RGR.