Sunsets this week were pretty, but brief and sort of low energy.
Good morning! Aloha kakahiaka!
What a week this was, from the election results in Georgia to the insurrection at the Capitol, and the continuing aftermath of that. What happened at the Capitol, and why, was frightening, horrifying, and absolutely infuriating, and should never have gotten as far as it did. The more I learn about what happened (and what didn’t and should have), the more grateful I am that far worse didn’t occur. This wasn’t just people inside the Capitol taking selfies in front of statues, or with their feet up on Nancy Pelosi’s desk. This was beyond a violent attempt to overthrow the past election – it was an attempt to overthrow the U.S. Government, and there were people in that group who planned to do great harm (i.e. zip ties, guns, bombs, flash bangs were among the things found afterwards; a scaffold was built and a noose hung; people were shouting “death to Pence;” and on and on). People died, both rioters and a Capitol Police officer who was at his job defending the Capitol, and we can sadly no longer say that one of the hallmarks of American democracy is the peaceful transfer of power following an election. That distinction is gone forever. What happened in Washington D.C. this week deeply wounded our country, but in my opinion that was the intention all along. In spite of feeling that things will improve in 2021, I am still preparing myself for more of what happened this past week as I sadly believe things may only be getting started. One sign of the times popping up since last Wednesday: ads for camouflage combat wear/gear have been appearing on sites I visit.
Out on the Awa’awapuhi Trail
Back on Kaua’i we’ve had a great week for walking – the weather has been wonderful and just cool enough to making walking easy (I still work up a sweat though). Brett and I walked for over an hour on six days this past week, at 4.6 to 4.7 mph, so we’ve been getting a great workout. It was a breakthrough for me as the final lap we walk has always been a chore, but I had no reservations about adding it this past week. We’re going to keep this route for the rest of the month, and then will start adding another lap in February, one extra per week until we establish a longer route we can do every day. On Thursday, Brett and YaYu headed to Kokee State Park to do a 6.2 mile hike on the Awa’awapuhi Trail; I stayed home for some rest and for some sorely needed quiet time. The weather was again beautiful, the hike went well, but after hearing about it I am glad I didn’t go – apparently there was over a mile of continuous uphill walking on the way back, and both said that it was quite difficult and tiring. I know I’m not in any sort of shape yet to have handled that.
Meiling turns 25 today – 25!! We fell in love with her the moment we got our referral and her picture, and today is the 24th anniversary of the day I got “the call,” something we had begun to think wasn’t going to happen. I can still clearly remember meeting a scared little one-year-old baby girl in the hallway of the hotel we were staying at in China, dressed in several layers of clothing so that she looked like the Michelin Man, and carrying a bag of (Chinese) Cheetos. It wasn’t long before Brett and I discovered she was in fact a genuine spitfire, something that hasn’t changed one bit. She was the girl who watched us carefully as we opened the safety latches on the kitchen cupboards for a couple of days and figured out how to open them on her own (nothing was ever truly safe from her – we had to know where she was and what she was doing at all times). She was the girl who could eat onions like an apple and would eat anything we put in front of her. She was (and is) the girl who could draw amazing, detailed pictures at an early age. She could and can figure out almost anything if she sets her mind to it. She’s always been math, mechanical, technology, and art oriented – she wanted a vacuum cleaner from Goodwill instead of an American Girl doll for a gift when she was nine because, as she explained, she could take a vacuum cleaner apart, study it, and put it back together and that was way more practical than a doll – and it’s gratifying to see her doing so well in her post-college tech career. She’s always been a loving, generous daughter and sister, and we can’t wait to see her again.
This morning I am:
- Reading: The Woman in White is still by my bedside and gets read almost every night. It is an effort, but thankfully remains a good story. It has made me very glad that trends in novel writing has moved to being less wordy. My goodness, it seems to take Wilkie Collins 100 words to say the same thing as current writers say in 10. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line was a great but very sad and sobering read; there was no happy ending. I finished it yesterday, and as of today my new “day book” will be Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng – I’m starting it this afternoon.
- Listening to: I was expecting to wake up to clouds and rain this morning, but instead of rain I’m Iistening to a lovely, cool breeze blow through the trees, and the sky is a beautiful blue! Yeah! It’s quiet inside – Brett is reading, and YaYu just woke up. My kind of morning!
- Watching: Brett and I are still watching Dark, and then the three of us have been getting together afterwards to watch a couple of episodes of Cobra Kai. It’s better than we expected and we are all enjoying it. YaYu and I also usually got in an episode of Top Chef: Louisville most days last week but have several more episodes to go before the final. Yesterday evening we watched the movie Prom on Netflix, starring Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and James Corden -we loved it!
The girl can cook! One of YaYu’s creations (for herself): super spicy mabo tofu and homemade pulled noodles. - Cooking/baking: Last week seemed to involve an awful lot of time in the kitchen for me (and lots of dishes for Brett), so I want to take a bit easier this week and let YaYu do more of the cooking. She’ll be making Chinese stir-fried tomatoes and eggs for our dinner tonight. Other meals will be Instant Pot pork chops and sauerkraut with apples and bacon; ham fried rice; mabo tofu; InstantPot chicken risotto; and chicken tikka masala pizzas. I baked an olive oil orange cake yesterday, and we’ll be having a small piece of that topped with a spoonful of Monkeypod orange-chocolate sauce for the next few days – so yummy! Later this week I’m planning to make a dark chocolate cake frosted with a coffee buttercream.
I’m proud of what I am able to read and write these days in Japanese, and the grammar I know. Now I have to somehow maintain it all!
- Happy I accomplished this past week: Besides getting lots of walking done, I was able to take care of almost everything on my activity card this week, although it’s going to take me a few weeks to find a rhythm to fitting everything in. I am using this video for a 10-minute strength training session every day (in a couple of months I hope to knock it up to two sessions a day). I finished Level 6 of Japanese on Memrise (yeah me!) and will begin using Japanese for Busy People and an online kanji course this week, still just for 20 minutes/day. I also decided to use the Memrise French program again for now (the MIT program required three expensive textbooks which I didn’t want to purchase).
- Looking forward to next week: Fingers are crossed for continued good weather as we hope to head up to Kilauea and hike the Stone Dam trail again this week. We really would like to get to the beach as well, but it’s been just a bit too cool for us.
All that was missing was a sprinkle of chocolate powder on top, but otherwise our first homemade cappuccinos were perfect. - Thinking of good things that happened: Brett’s and YaYu’s hike was a very enjoyable experience for both of them, and I needed a quiet day off more than I realized. We finally got around to using the new milk heater/frother that Meiling gave me for Christmas, and Brett made some very tasty cappuccinos this past week. The frother was so quiet though I had no idea it was even being used! YaYu was able to get together with one of her good friends yesterday and was happy about that. Her friend has been working, and had to return back to school yesterday (on Oahu), but they managed to find some time to get together and catch up.
- Thinking of frugal things we did: We put $2 into the change/$1 bill jar, leftover from the farmers’ market. I bundled $25 of $1 bills to go to the bank this next week. Last week was a no-spend week other than the farmers’ market. We ate all of our leftovers and there was no food waste. I earned 2,265 Swagbucks, which includes 587 bonus SB for making my goal every day in December. Earning SB was difficult several days this past week, but I’m staying patient and focusing on making my daily goal for now. Hopefully things pick up next week.
- Grateful for: My very occasional expressions of politics on my blog sometimes upsets some people for some reason, but I’m grateful this week for three things: the election results in Georgia; the certification of Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’s Electoral College win; and that the insurrectionists/rioters were removed from the Capitol and that there are already charges for some and more are coming. In spite of all that happened, democracy won the week, but my beloved country will have to remain extremely vigilant going forward in order to keep it.
Tarte flambee in Strasbourg . . .
. . . and Napoli-style pizza in Florence - Bonus question: What food do you think about most from your travels? Pizza! While we expected to find pizza in Italy, we discovered tarte flambé in Strasbourg and fell in love with that and I dream of eating it again in our favorite city. Those pizzas remain one of the top three meals I enjoyed during our travels. We also had an unusual but delicious Moroccan pizza when we were in Rotorua, New Zealand, topped with dried apricots and cream cheese. We were a little wary when we saw it on the menu and read the ingredients but decided to give it a try and were very pleasantly surprised – the pizza was flavorful and the apricots and cheese fit right in. The apex of pizza for me though was learning to make Napoli pizza from a master during our time in Florence. I created a simple pizza with buffalo mozzarella, tomato sauce, basil, and truffles, and every bite was a revelation (especially the crust!). The pizza-making experience was everything I hoped for and more as well. We ate other pizzas while we were in Florence, but the one I made in our pizza class was the best, from start to finish. The pizza we had in Rome was very different, but I loved the experience of going into a shop and having a slice of the variety I wanted cut from a huge rectangular sheet pan and then weighed to determine the cost. The crust was entirely different than what we’d had before, more like focaccia, but still very good. We also ate pizza in Normandy, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, and England, and we could have had it in Hong Kong if we desired. The only places I don’t remember seeing pizza were Uruguay, Paris, Lisbon, and India, but I’m pretty sure it exists in all three places. Other than pizza, I still dream about the dinner our Strasbourg host prepared for us in her home: duck confit, potatoes, a Mirabelle plum tarte, and an assortment of wines and cheeses. It was pure food heaven along with some very good company.
I am once again going to take some time off from writing beginning this week, for two weeks this time. I have been having difficulty finding time and inspiration to write these past few weeks, and have realized it’s time to rest and recharge and think about how I want the blog to be going forward. I have also come to realize I can either blog or start writing a book but not both, so I want to think about that as well. These first few days of the year have been busier than I imagined, with more daily activities to complete, longer walks, etc., and finding time to write for the blog has frankly been difficult (although never a chore). I’m not giving up, but want some time to reflect and think about a direction that will work for me going forward, things I’d like to write about, and so forth. For those that just subscribed I hope you’ll stick around . . . I will be back on January 24.
That’s a wrap for now! Here’s hoping for a calmer week going forward, with good things happening and time for all to breathe. Wishing two good weeks for all ahead, and I’ll see you in 14 days!
The Occasional Nomads 
As far as pizza, people around the world love it. As far as politics, your blog, your opinions, but this week I definitely agree with you on everything. Hard to believe that 72% of Republicans think the election was stolen. My mom is one of them. Just because you don’t get the outcome you want doesn’t mean there is fraud. Enjoy your down time. Will look forward to your return.
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First, I have never had a problem with people having different political views from mine. But what’s happening now is very, very different. I have been reading up on how things have come to this here. Sadly, and frighteningly too, the rise of Hitler in Germany and how people came to accept him has many parallels with what’s happening in the U.S. Most people in German were not Nazis, but they went along with what happened, or feigned ignorance, until things really got out of hand, but most were loyal to the end. I think during the next few years I U.S. is going to be on a very bumpy ride.
Still love, love, love pizza, but good pizza is hard to find on Kaua’i (it does exist, it’s just not convenient or very affordable). These days we use mini naan bread as a crust – it works surprisingly well – and make mini pizzas once a week.
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What happened last week was scary and disturbing. Since it’s your blog, you can say whatever you want! My nephew tested positive for COVID so that was another scary thing that happened last week. Thankfully, he doesn’t have symptoms, but the friend he most likely caught it from has developed symptoms. That’s the scariest thing about this–a person can have it and not know it and can unknowingly infect so many.
Pizza: the best pizza I’ve ever had was in also in Florence. I didn’t like the pizza in other parts of Italy. The crust was kind of doughy, but it was perfect in Florence. I don’t remember eating pizza in any other countries I’ve visited.
I’ve been cooking and baking a lot the past few days, mainly because I’m trying to limit my time in stores as much as I can, so I’m using what I have in the house and being creative.
I’m on season 3 of Cobra Kai and am really enjoying it. It’s been renewed for a fourth season, so that’s good news and I read that it should be out in late fall. I haven’t heard of Dark or Prom so I’ll have to check those out.
Happy birthday to Meiling and enjoy your break!
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Scary and disturbing is an understatement, and the more that comes out, the scarier and more disturbing last week’s incidents becomes.
So sorry to hear about your nephew. I’ll be you are all on pins and needles, but I hope that he gets through it and comes out well on the other side. I felt AWFUL last Sunday to the point if it had persisted into Monday I would have gone to be tested – ached all over, slight sore throat, runny nose, etc. But, I woke up feeling fine on Monday and same for yesterday and today. So, I have no idea what was going on other that it might have been exhaustion – I have really been pushing myself lately.
We are enjoying Cobra Kai as well, especially the connections to the movies. Prom is a musical, but the songs are good, the premise is fun, and we enjoyed it (big names in it as well: Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, and more).
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Thanks. My nephew is almost out of quarantine and he never developed ANY symptoms, thank goodness. I have days like the one you described where it seems I’m coming down with something and then it goes away. Who knows what causes that, but maybe you were just pushing yourself too much, like you said. I got the second Shingrix shot on Tuesday and had a nasty reaction. I felt like I had the flu a few hours later and that carried over into yesterday. I seem to be ok now, but I’ve never had a reaction to a vaccine before so I wasn’t expecting that!
I took a sick day yesterday and finished season 3 of Cobra Kai. I won’t say anything in case you haven’t finished it yet, but I liked the ending. I also like how they show clips from the Karate Kid movies. I was thinking how it’s probably pretty rare to be able to assemble the original cast of movies made over 30 years ago.
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Sorry to hear about your vaccine experience. Both Brett and I were in the trials for the vaccine – we learned later that Brett got the real vaccine; I got the placebo. I’m still waiting for the real thing – every time I ask I’m told the clinic doesn’t have it in stock. Grrr. One of these days!
We also think it’s remarkable that they got so many who starred/appeared in the films to join the Cobra Kai show – it’s been fun seeing them and linking them with clips from the films, even the Japanese actors from the second film. My favorite part so far was Johnny naming his new dojo “Eagle Fang.” I couldn’t stop laughing!
Brett and I decided that rather than pushing ourselves every day we’re going to take Sundays off from walking in order to rest. I think what happened last week was that I was suffering from exhaustion, or a form of it. I feel good this week, but know a day off each week will help.
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The Shingrix reaction certainly wasn’t fun, but at least it’s over. I feel fine now. It’s pretty cool you and Brett were in the trials.
I was just reading that the episode where Daniel goes to Okinawa really was filmed there. I didn’t think the show had that kind of budget, so I thought maybe it was filmed in Hawaii, but it turns out Karate Kid 2, which was supposed to take place in Okinawa, was actually filmed in Hawaii, but I’m not sure where. Have you been to Okinawa? A lot of the rest of the show is filmed in Georgia, believe it or not!
I think the only two cast members who have passed away are Pat Morita and one of the original Cobra Kai (the one who was ill in the episode where Johnny meets up with the old gang). That’s pretty amazing. But I guess it helps that most of the cast of those movies were all in their teens and 20s at the time. I’m the same age and I had a crush on the Johnny actor and also the Cobra Kai actor who became a pastor in the ‘reunion’ episode. The show brings back a lot of memories. I used to practice one of the Okinawan karate styles, although it was nothing like what you see in the show! We wore protective pads, but we did spar and it was no holds barred. I made it to brown belt and had to stop due to injuries. I think about going back but then realize that’s crazy!
It’s good to take a break from walking. You live in a place where you can walk whenever you want, so it’s probably tempting to get out there almost every day, but too much training will just leave you exhausted so you best to space it out.
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I was so happy to see all the tributes to Pat Morita in Cobra Kai – I always liked him, and thought he was underrated. These days I think he could have been more widely cast rather than filling only ethnic Japanese roles. We were very surprised to see both the scenes in Okinawa and also Elisabeth Shue show up – Brett and I both thought she would be the “no-show” as she had a very successful film career post Karate Kid, and the Okinawan actors were a big surprise as well. The third-season ending was indeed very satisfying.
Gale-force winds today so we’re not sure if we’ll get to walk today; it rained yesterday but it was our day off anyway. I always feel weird now when we don’t go out to walk – I think that’s a good sign, but a day of rest is a good thing too.
I have never been to Okinawa – Brett and I have talked about taking a military flight there one of these days (Kadena AFB is one of the most frequent destinations out of Hawaii). I’d love to go – I’ve heard it’s very different from the rest of Japan.
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Well, I learned something new. I was always told (by my Italian American friend) pizza was actually an American Italian creation. Apparently not, if you are eating pizza all over Italy….lol.
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The pizza we ate in Italy was steps above the pizza we’ve eaten in the U.S. (with a couple of exceptions). I sort of thought though that Italian pizza would be a bit more uniform, but it was different everywhere we went.
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Everything I Never Told You…so good, but don’t expect cheerful. She also wrote, and had a brief cameo in the TV series, Big Little Lies. Love her writing. Boy did that photo bring back memories. Spitfire was the first thing Brett said when you had your girl and were in the hotel. She is so lovely and smart. And yes…our Democracy had some ups(!) and downs this week..but in all, it stands. I am so proud of that.
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Thanks, Joan – Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line was also not a cheerful book, and I can see where Everything I Never Told You is going as well and I get into it. Still a wonderful read.
We sure had our moments with K as we figured things out and adjusted, but she is a delight these days, and is doing better than we ever imagined back in the day. Can’t wait to see her next year!
I’m proud and grateful that our democracy held this week as well. We’re still on somewhat shaky ground, but I am filled with hope for better days ahead.
P.S. I talked to the owner when we were up at Monkeypod week before last, and asked about the jam-of-the-month shipments. She said she had put jams away and those orders SHOULD continue to be honored. Fingers crossed.
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Enjoy your break!
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Thank you! I am enjoying my time off, but doing a lot of thinking on how I want to do things going forward.
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Oh please don’t stop blogging! It will feel like losing a friend. I kid a bit – of course you get to decide where you put your efforts going forward. You would be missed, however.
Your girls all appear to be fierce, as my granddaughter would say. And fierce daughters are the very best kind so give yourselves well deserved pats on the back Mom and Dad.
Re: The Woman In White, yep, my book clubs thoughts exactly when we read it – wordy. As compared to, say Frankenstein, written also by a ground breaking female. Loved Frankenstein BTW, if you’ve not yet read.
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I have decided, for now, that I would rather blog than write a book – I like the comraderie of blogging versus the solitary pursuit of book writing. I would like to change things up a bit with the blog, for this year anyway, so I am thinking about that – what will stay the same, simple changes that I can make, etc.
Our girls are all fierce, in different ways. Meiling and YaYu are more outwardly determined; WenYu is quiet and calm but gets it done. We are intensely proud of all three – our children are our greatest joy.
Slowly but surely I am getting through The Woman in White, but it has turned into a much bigger effort than I ever imagined. I have not read the original Frankenstein, and it would fit in nicely with this year’s reading theme. Thanks for the recommendation!
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How about one blog a month. either on the first or last Sunday of the month. That way you can write your book and we still have the pleasure of your blog. Best of both worlds.
I’ve been worried that the uprising would happen and am particularly worried about inauguration day. Really bad security. I can’t understand why he hasn’t been removed from office. He can still do so much damage.
Happy Birthday Meiling
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I will continue to blog weekly, but want (and need, I think) to do things a little differently going forward, so am thinking about that. I enjoy writing and hearing from readers, and don’t want that to stop. But, I felt like I was stuck in a routine and want to shake that up a bit.
I am also worried about the inauguration and honestly wish it would be held quietly, in an undisclosed location. I don’t think the worst of this is over yet.
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Enjoy your break.
Regarding The trends in writing at the time’The Woman in White’ was written were driven largely by serialisation. Each chapter was published in serial magazines and the more chapters than the more the author got paid. ITs also a reason why each chapter tends to finish on a cliff hangar. It meant the reader would buy the next months magazine.
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Thanks for the information about writing trends back then – I should have remembered this and factored it into my opinion. It continues to be a good read though, and the story holds even with all the wordiness. Like a reader back then, I continue to want to know what happens next.
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I certainly understand the desire to step back from the blog, but I hope you will post occasionally even if you decide to dial it way back. I so love your posts.
This week was disturbing to say the least. I was settling my mom back into her independent living apartment after her husband went into a skilled nursing center and she spent the holidays with us. So I listened to the coup attempt (because that’s what it was!) on the radio during my 7-1/2 hour drive. The potential for more insanity up to and including the inauguration is awful. It truly is a cult and it’s frightening how many people can’t see that.
As a healthcare (hospice) volunteer, I was able to get the first vaccine dose Friday – a real blessing. So far it’s no worse than the flu vaccine, although I do feel a little achy and tired. 🤷♀️
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I will be back – I enjoy blogging; it works for me. I have decided to put book writing on the back burner for now for the time being for a variety of reasons, but also want to change things up a bit on the blog to hopefully make it more interesting for readers, and for myself as well.
I wonder what my parents would think about all that’s going on these days. They were solid Eisenhower Republicans, but I wonder if they would be horrified by today’s events (since both were WWII veterans), or whether they would have become immersed in Fox News or whatever and ended up thinking last week’s events were necessary or something. It’s hard to know. My stomach is in a knot about the inauguration next week, and the potential for what may occur.
Brett has checked on when we will be eligible to receive the vaccine and it looks like end of March through May. Although we are older, we have no underlying conditions, and can continue to self-isolate. There are so many more on the island who need it more than we do at this point.
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I have similar political views and appreciate whenever you give voice to yours. I remember right after Trump was elected I commented about the similarities to Hitler. A reader took issue with my comment and said that Trump was just elected and we should give him a chance. Well we have and are now experiencing the results. You stood up for my comments.
There is a great interview given by Rick Wilson of The Lincoln Project on Amanpour & Co. He essentially says that getting rid of Trump is not enough, that we have a cultural problem. Here’s the link in case anyone would like to hear his perspective. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEVTnC0Hky0
How awesome to have an exercise breakthrough and the final lap is no longer a slog! Kudos to you!
Happy birthday to Meiling and happy “gotcha” day to all of you.
Regarding pizza…..well I live outside of New Haven, where 3 of the top 16 pizza restaurants in USA are located as per The Daily Meal’s annual list. I have eaten pizza around the USA and around the world but my heart belongs to CT pizza! The experience of making pizza in Florence sounds like an incredible memory.
Happy writing and resting. I’ll miss you!
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I think the history surrounding Hitler’s rise to power offers more clues to what’s been going on here than many want to admit. Although there are differences, there are many, many similarities, too many to be discounted. As I’ve said, most people were not Nazis, but they willingly went along with what was going on.
I have heard good things about CT pizza, and NJ pizza as well. We still plan to get back east one of these days and I want to try them all!
I’ll be back!
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Thank you for your commentary on the insurrection. I felt so sad for America. And so thankful that things went the right way in Georgia!
I read this week that 4000 Canadians vacationed in Hawaii over the Christmas holidays. It makes me ashamed to be Canadian.
Otherwise it sounds like you are all active and happy!
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Trump as impeached for the second time this morning, so things are moving along – now to see if the Senate convicts, although that can be done after Biden’s inauguration. We’re all waiting for the new senators to be seated, but their election needs to be confirmed in Georgia first – it will happen this week, I think.
There have been very, very few visitors to Kaua’i, from Canada or otherwise, but cases are still climbing here. Most are community related; that is, family members getting together with family on other islands, and then then bringing the virus back with them. I think the floodgates for visitors will open up again in February – I am dreading it. I am thankful though that island residents are committed to mask wearing.
Had a bad day last Sunday and thought for a while I might have contracted COVID (how? where?) but on Monday I woke up feeling great, and we’ve been out walking since.
Hope all is going well with Link at home with you. YaYu has settled in, but our apartment is really too small for three people. We manage and get along fine, but this would not work for the long term.
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I loved reading the story of Meiling! It made me remember when we fell completely in love with a passport-sized picture of a baby in Seoul Korea. He was our son from the moment we saw the picture. Then lightening struck twice and we also adopted our daughter a year later. Same story. We carried her little picture around with us for four months until she came home. Someone once asked me why we adopted a child from overseas when there we children here who needed parents. The only answer I had was some things in life are bigger than me. I just knew beyond question that my baby was in Korea. Those babies are in their 30’s now. Our son is a technology supervisor and our daughter is a medical doctor. And now we have a grandson!
This is not all of the story, of course. Being the only anything can be hard and they were the only Asian kids around. But it’s still a story with a lot of happiness in it!
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Probably the most frequent question I was asked, was what did it feel like to hold a child that I had not given birth to, and I can honestly say that all three of our girls were OURS from the moment we received their referral photos, and even more so when we held them for the first time. We have been asked many times why we didn’t adopt in the U.S., and my answer has always been, “because our children were waiting for us in China.” We seriously looked into adopting locally when it looked like China adoptions would fall apart during our wait for Meiling, and went to orientations and classes, but we were driving home one night and Brett and I both felt in our hearts that there was already a little girl waiting for us (there was!), so we stopped the local process. We stayed in Portland even though we had a few hard years because of the girls as there is a strong and vibrant Asian community there, and as it turned out, a Mandarin immersion program through the public schools that all three participated in. Hawaii was a strong draw for us as well because of the Asian population here – the girls easily fit in.
Adoption has always been and is a wonderful way to make or grow a family!
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So happy to read that you are going to continue blogging! I saw your email on my blog (I know how hard it is- I cannot get my comments through on another wordpress blog, even though I can comment on yours most of the time.) Anyway, feel free to email me about the Delta gift cards, if you are interested. – -thehawaiiplan@gmail.com
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I like blogging and the interaction with other even if all I’m writing about it mostly mundane day-to-day stuff, and I really don’t want to give it up. It’s a good creative release for me. Breaks are necessary though from time to time, and I needed a reset right now. I’ll be back.
I’m very interested in the Delta gift cards, but want to build up our travel savings a little more – I’ll shoot you an email later this week!
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Missed your Sunday update. Hope to “see you” next week.
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I need a break every once in a while, a reset so to speak, but I’ll be back next Sunday!
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