Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Chinese in Spokane????

If you asked me much about my Chinese heritage (I'm an 1/8) a few years back, I wouldn't have put much thought into it. I know my family tree and what brought my great grandfather from China, but not much about the history of such a powerful nation. Fast forward to 2008 & we are now the proud parents of two children adopted from China. We believe it is most important to immerse them in all things Chinese. That is whenever the opportunity arises in Spokane (or on our travels), which as you can imagine is not very often.
The following pictures are of a play day we try to do every couple of months with some families who have also adopted boys from China. As long as we mom's keep this going, I hope it will be a great friendship these boys will thank us for in the years to come. The kids had a great time, until Evan accidentally swallowed a magnetic marble & had to go the ER. Poor little guy! Thanks for hosting at your house again Stephanie.

Levi, Hudson, Evan & Ravenna

Cheers!
Pre-marble swallow!
Our next effort in getting our kids in touch with their heritage, was put on by the Chinese foreign exchange students from EWU. We walked in & it was mostly Asians, aside from Stephan, I, and one other lady. I wondered what the kids would think of this. You would have thought this group of students had never seen children. They swarmed Hudson & Ravenna. Ravenna attached herself to this one girl who was teaching Chinese language...so she was fine. Hudson had a completely different reaction. He was glued to me & Stephan, and really unsure. I truly think it brought him back to China. He was confused & we just reassured him he was staying with us & we were there to have fun. After about 10 minutes he became his normal outgoing self. The students were teaching: Chinese language (a few key words), Chinese calligraphy, & paper lantern making. The students were very nice & it reminded me of being back in China with the language barrier between English & Chinese. I admire those of you who master that difficult language.

Origami (although I think that's Japanese)


Chinese language class


4 comments:

Tiffany said...

I LOVE that you are sure to immerse your kiddos in their heritage. I think it's really important to and it will make them such well-rounded individuals! Looks like fun!

colleen said...

I"m impressed that you go the extra mile to seek out events and opportunities to connect Hudson and Ravenna with their heritage. I also think its so sweet that Hudson was glued to you....his memories from his time in China are probably more vivid.
Thanks for sharing! Kids look adorable as always!

colleen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Hey lady! Love your blog and the new pics and stories. It is great you found other kiddos and events that can immerse them into Chinese even if it's just a little! You all look so happy:) I am just tickled for all of you....happy fall!!!!!!!!