The Fanning Four

Today is the one year anniversary of our referral for Caleb!! And in honor of that, here is a video for your enjoyment. : )

This week is the 6 year anniversary of when I met my husband. When I look back I can't believe we've managed to do so much incredible living in just that short amount of time. If you have the privilege of knowing my husband, you know that he is one of the kindest men you will ever meet. His integrity and character are unwavering and his love of God is inspiring. And I just really like him.... Thanks for loving me....

Love Bethany quotes: "There are 2 Gods because we call Jesus God too." *Guess we'll have to work on that whole trinity thing. : ) Me: "I'm sorry Bethy, you're not old enough to help with that yet. When you're older you can." Bethy: "Well, I'm 3 and a half!!"  *Oh, ok then, here's the keys to the car..... After gymnastics: "I did SUCH a good job!" *She's humble too. "I can't walk cause my fingers hurt."

I was on my own tonight with the kids. So after we got home from gymnastics, I needed a few minutes of quiet and calm to get a quick dinner on the table. I tried something I rarely do. I asked the kids to play in their bedrooms by themselves for a few minutes. Well, all the stars were aligned and a miracle occurred: 1. They both played quietly in their room for not 5 minutes, but 20. 20 whole minutes. 2. Neither one tore up their room, screamed for me to rescue them, or injured themselves. 3. Bethany came out eventually and said, "Momma, I cleaned my whole room, wanna see?" And sure enough, she had cleaned her room. I'm tempted to try it again. I've heard of families where children will play alone in their rooms quietly but for us, it only happens on occasion. Bethany is extremely extroverted (at least for this phase of her life) and would like to be around people every second of the day. She even loathes going to the bathroom by herself. So, playing alone in a c...

I used to read posts on adoption message boards where Moms would rant about strangers asking them too many questions about the adoption or about being offended by certain questions. I used to think they were a little too sensitive and I do still believe that some people are too sensitive. However, we've been home 7 months and I am starting to understand. Most of the time I am more than happy to talk about the adoption. I love the story. I love our son. I love to share. But now my son can hear and understand. Sooooooo......I don't want him to hear things that might make him feel badly. I love answering questions, but now I would rather do it out of earshot of my children unless it's something like, "Who cuts his amazingly cute hair?" (His Momma) or "How can you stand to be around that much cuteness?" (it's hard but we manage). Another thing is that I now have 2 children to keep track of. My life is full and wonderful, and  sometimes a bit frantic....

I feel like I'm living in a nursery rhyme like "Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean." Our version is, "Caleb Shen could eat SO fast, his sis could eat SO slow." We've had eating issues with Bethy since she got off of baby food. She used to have to drink Ensure because she didn't eat enough food. She could go a whole day and eat not one bite of food. She never, ever said she was hungry. We have come a long way since those days. She's moved up a bit in percentage for her height/weight for her age. She no longer needs Ensure. She expresses hunger. She eats food throughout the day. She even tries new foods occasionally. It's been a long road and it continues. She is an extremely slow eater. Lunch takes 45 minutes and would last longer if I didn't give it a time limit due to nap. Dinner takes her at least an hour. Sometimes she does eat at a "regular" pace.  We have started using a star system to help her stay on ...

Happy Chinese New Year! We're celebrating at a local Chinese restauarant tonight. I'll dress the kids in their Chinese outfits. Pretty low key this year. We're happy and excited about the year to come!