Ben's first day of elementary school

This morning I dropped off Ben for his first day of Kindergarten. Yes, I knew it was coming, but I can't get over the feeling that our family has just crossed over into a whole new stage of life.

I'm not sure why this feels so big. I mean, after all, Ben's only going half a day. And he already had the experience of attending preschool last year three days a week... but that was just right next door to my office. And in comparison to the hugeness of the adoption, this seems like it should be tiny. But it's not. He started school!

Ben has got a real thirst for learning right now. Of course, he knows all the basic stuff. On top of that, his coloring, writing and addition are really coming along. But I'm completely amazed by his ability to read so well already. He is constantly taking on new books and more and more words. For example, he read the back of my Fall Break mission trip shirt last night: "I was in prison and you came to visit me... whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." And he's just starting Kindergarten!! Ben is ready; it's just me who's not.

So, this morning, we got up (while it was still dark) and got ready for school. Last year I took Ben out to breakfast before his first day, so we decided to keep the tradition alive. We headed over to McDonalds (which he asked on the way to school why McDonalds didn't have an "a" between the "m" and "c"... he's so smart!) and both ordered the cinnamon melts and an orange juice. There we enjoyed a breakfast, eye to eye and knee to knee.

Later as we walked into the elementary school, I couldn't stop thinking about how big he was and how proud I am of him. I don't know how I ever got so lucky as to have such a wonderful little boy... (*cough, cough*) I mean, young man.

Emailing my blog post

I'm testing out this newest discovery on blogger.com. This is pretty cool if I can post to my blog through email messages.

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More Than Meets the Eye

Ben and Will's most recent obsession-- Transformers! Like most of their other favorite toys, they've had very limited first-hand experience with their tv shows (such as "Ben 10," "Planet Heroes," or "Spiderman"). Since we don't have cable, their viewing is limited to what they can find on Cartoon Network.com, YouTube and other websites. In fact, we have now worked through the first 14 episodes of the old (circa 1984) Transformer cartoons on YouTube (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Transformers_episodes and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ16d-qpBEE).

And personally I think it's brilliant. What's better for little boys than cars and airplanes? Cars and airplanes that turn into robots!! Add to that robots that turn into dinosaurs and insects and you have Dinobots and Insecticons!! I'm telling you, it's marketing genius.

And for Ben it's even better. "How?" you may ask. Not only does Ben absolutely love cars, robots and dinosaurs, he loves puzzles. The harder, more complex, the better. Ben will sit there and transform his Optimus Prime and Bumblebee back and forth between robot and automobile over and over and over. It's impressive.

And now the icing on the cake: it sparks conversation between me and my boys. I tell them about how I used to watch Transformers on tv when I was a kid, and that I actually used to play with my own transformers, including Gremlock (the T-Rex Dinobot), Megatron (that turned into a gun) and Soundwave (the boombox that had two cassettes that turned into a dog and a bird). The other night when Ben was getting ready for bed, he sat with eyes open wide in amazement listening and asking me questions about my favorite Autobots and Decepticons from when I was a kid. It was great. Male bonding at its finest, I tell you.

There's a special bond between fathers and sons... indeed, "more than meets the eye."

LOA

Here she is! Our beautiful daughter, Kate (Xunuo). We got our LOA ("Letter of Acceptance") at the adoption agency yesterday and FedEx-ed to us at the house today! I'm so proud to be able to post (i.e. "show to the world") her picture now. We are amazed that it came so quickly-- only 10 days from our LOI ("Letter of Intent")! Isn't she the most absolutely amazing little girl you've ever seen?! Once we got the paperwork, we signed it and will get it back to our adoption agency right away. They will file everything by Tuesday, and they expect to get an appointment in about three weeks after that. Hopefully this means we will travel by mid-September. Wow! When we go, we will arrive in Bejing, travel to Suzhou (where she now lives) to get her, and then to Guanzhou to complete the American side of the adoption process.

What can we say? Everything is happening so fast. We have so much left to do. We have a change form pending with the USCIS (immigration office) to stay on top of, Parent Education credits to finish off (reading, videos, write-ups), a care package to send, payments to make, travel arrangments to apply for, vaccinations to update, room to get ready-- all the while celebrating a 4th birthday for Will and getting two little boys ready to start school next week! Such an exciting time :) Lord, thank you for your greatness in all of our joys!

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Meanwhile, the boys finished up swim lessons today. Over the last two weeks, Ben and Will have been taking lessons at the Pavilion. They have done so well and have learned so much. Even if we had to bribe them with swim goggles, it was worth it. I think they've come to enjoy the pool so much more now. Here's a few pictures of my little swimmers...

check Ben out...