Whenever I write these blog entries, I find myself getting philosophical about time. After slugging through seven years of waiting to bring Wendy home, I'm stunned to find five years have blitzed by. And while I never actually had to use Lamaze breathing to bring my girls into the world, I'm using it more than ever now.
Teaching your kid to drive is truly terrifying, even when you have a really responsible kid. The day Maddie got her permit, we went to the church parking lot behind our house for our first mother-daughter driving lesson. I figured, hey, she learned to ride a bike on this lot, so driving a car here is just a slight upgrade. Thirty seconds into the lesson, we were on the sidewalk. Maddie's face paled, and I immediately went into a panicked shouting fit--"STOP THE CAR!" Meanwhile, Wendy was laughing her head off in her booster seat. Then, I noticed the police officer sitting in his car at the corner of the lot. Cue the Lamaze breathing.
The most overwhelming thing about teaching your kid to drive is that there are so many things. The gas pedal. The brake. The turn signal. All those dang knobs. I get paid to teach teenagers for a living, but I suddenly felt inadequate to teach my own teen a skill people use every day. More Lamaze breathing. Thankfully, we hired a professional driving instructor--one who used his own car and had an extra brake. She is getting a lot better. And I'm breathing a little more normally again.
Wendy is bubbling with excitement as we make plans to celebrate our 5th anniversary of bringing her home. We usually mark the special day by getting Chinese take-out and watching a slideshow of our first few days together during our amazing journey to China. Every year as we look through the pictures, I'm always struck by how much both girls have grown. Wendy is in first grade and spends her free time participating in dance, gymnastics, and Girl Scouts. She loves to help me cook new recipes in our Instant Pot, especially the Triple Chocolate Cheesecake. Maddie is a sophomore, and in addition to learning to drive, she works incredibly hard on studying AP US History, practicing violin, and writing for the school newspaper. I'm so proud of both of them.
The five-year anniversary marks another important milestone: I just sent our last post-placement report to China. The Chinese government requires families to send regular reports on how the child is doing, including updates about education, health, and adjustment. When Wendy first came home at 21 months old, it was hard to imagine what our lives would be like with her as a 6-year-old, and I was always a little nervous they would read our reports and think we were doing something wrong. Such as last week when we sent her to school without noticing she had a giant pink mark on the top of her head. It actually resembled a horrific head wound, like a zombie attack, but neither Bill nor I happened to notice it until she said in the middle of Sam's Club, "Look at my head." I gasped and asked her what happened, and she said, "It's just paint." We gave her bathtub paint for Easter, and she had washed her hair with it, but didn't wash it out very well. She said she had lots of people asking her about it at school (I can only imagine.) Needless to say, that night she got a supervised bath with more assistance with the hair-washing.
I have to admit, it was a little surreal sending that last report, realizing we have completed our official obligations to the People's Republic of China. Of course, we will continue to honor our unofficial obligations, too. We have been so fortunate to have rich resources to help Wendy keep her connections to China strong. Her elementary school has done an amazing job celebrating multicultural traditions with events like Passport Night and recognition of students born in different countries. When it came time to celebrate Asia, the school asked Wendy and other students from China to participate in a video announcement. It was such a joy to see her proudly proclaim she was from Shenzhen and share how our family celebrates Chinese New Year. Her teacher even invited her to help plan a Chinese New Year's celebration for the entire first grade where she was able to teach her classmates about some holiday traditions. Likewise, Washington University has an amazing monthly program called Dumplings, which is a playgroup Chinese college students organize for children from China. The college students are wonderful mentors for our kiddos, and they teach them about traditions through fun games and crafts. Whenever we leave the university, our hands are full of creative projects, ranging from calligraphy paintings to paper flower arrangements.
In five years, a lot has happened. We've watched family members battle cancer, and we've said a lot of prayers--some answered, some not. We have had awesome experiences, too, including unexpectedly meeting distant relatives in a remote village in the Czech Republic. What seemed like a wild goose chase turned into our favorite memory from the trip, and another special connection across the pond. Now, if we could get our beloved home appliances to stop conspiring against us, things would be just about perfect. Bill has been inspired by our tight budget and YouTube videos to attempt to repair these machines himself, and sometimes they work. Other times, Maddie and I find ourselves hand-cranking the washing machine to start the spin cycle. We've found you can set a timer for about 18 minutes to know when to insert the screw driver into the lid switch to keep the machine running while you grab the agitator and give it a whirl. Little Wendy is great about knowing the difference between a flat-head and a Phillips.
Happy 5-Years-Home, Meyers Family! I can't wait to see what the next five years brings.
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