Summer Time

Well, it has been a long time since I posted. We are been so busy. Now that summer is here we are starting to slow down a little which is nice. Drew is doing very well. We had some struggles in late April and May. We worked through them and know that the Gotcha Day probably had something to do with it. Drew did very well in school. His last report card had the highest marks in everything except for some reading and writing areas. This is to be expected with him learning a second language...He is reading almost at the end of the first grade though which is great.

He is excited about school next year in second grade. He was worried about it, but has met the teacher and saw that 5 of his best friends are in the same class. He is enjoying sleeping in, but does miss school already. He asked to go shopping for new folders and clothes the first weekend he was out of school. I told him that will come later.

Drew is keeping busy this summer. He has pulled out legos again (the new puppy had them away). He has completed karate camp and had a week off. He is now in his 2nd day of Chinese Culture Camp. He is enjoying it. We have been able to swim a couple times so far. He loves to swim and we hope to do it more often.

Drew spent his first overnight on the Fourth of July with his Grandpa and Grandma. He had a good time and enjoyed the fireworks. He told them that his, "Chinese brain had turned off and his Michigan brain was turned on." He is so funny.

We are looking forward to Vacation Bible School next week and visiting family and friends in Wisconsin the week after. We are going to take Drew to play and spend time with his best friend from the orphanage while in Wisconsin. Drew is excited and I hope it goes well.

Riding my Bike

As the weather has gotten better, Drew was so excited to head outside and ride his bike. He said, "I want to take the training wheels off." I knew that would happen this year, but I didn't think on the first day. Well, he did great. He is so brave and not afraid to fall. He had problems getting started and stopping, but otherwise he did fine. He went about two house lengths by himself on the first day. A few days later he worked on it again. He lowered the seat, which helped him touch the ground, then he took off. Today, he rode to his friends house who lives at the other end of the neighborhood. He is looking forward to riding all over town this summer. I just have to remind him that he is not going by himself.

Happy Birthday

Drew celebrated his first birthday in America on his given birthday of February 14th. It was neat because it was also Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day. The day before we had family and friends over to the house to celebrate. Then on Sunday, we went to ChuckeCheese for the party he wanted. He had about 13 children show up. It was very crazy and busy, be he loved it. He got lots of Bakugan toys which is what he mainly asked for. He was exhausted when it was over. He loved it though. It is nice to have a little break from hearing, "For my birthday..."

Drew's First Christmas

Well, I think Christmas lived up to all Drew expected and more. He was a little spoiled by all the gifts. We had a Palmer family Christmas and he seemed to enjoy that. He was excited to get gifts. He then had to wait 5 more days until Christmas. It was a hard wait. He laid by the tree a couple times and just shook saying, "I want presents!" He still asked a few times whether we really bought him presents. He still was not sure. On Christmas Eve, we had the Williams family Christmas and he got many gifts. He kept counting them and couldn't believe all he got. After that we went to church. He almost fell asleep on the way which meant he was crabby in church for most the service. I had to remind him that if he wanted Christmas to happen, then we needed to be at church as Jesus is the reason we have Christmas. He was a little confused between Jesus and Santa. He did go home and fell asleep rather quickly. The next morning all three were up a little before 7 a.m. and they woke us by 7. Drew got what he wanted from Santa and more. (He asked for a Rocket Clock and Star Wars legos.) He continues to ask about school almost each day. I know he misses the routine. Overall, however, he is having a nice break.

Baptism

On Sunday, December 13th, Drew was baptized. He was excited but a little nervous. We had gone to church on Wednesday night to "practice" and show Drew what was going to happen. Pastor tried to talk with him about it but he was too wound up. On Sunday, he did fine. After Pastor poured the water on his head he started rubbing his hair. It was funny. I then had to hold his hands to keep it out of the water which had spilled onto the baptismal font. After church, and pictures, we had people over to the house for Chinese food. It was fun and exciting for all. He received some nice gifts like a cross, three bibles and a veggie tales movie...

Future Engineer

If Drew doesn't become an engineer I will be surprised. He just loves to build and has an eye for how things go together. He also loves to see how things work and can take apart and put together almost anything. I am attaching a picture of one of the K'nex carnival rides he built. He also loves legos as well.

Finally -SNOW!

Drew has been waiting for snow since he arrived here. The other night we got about 1/2 an inch. It was just enough to cover the ground. I pointed it out to him and he got so excited. He said, "I never seen snow. It is beautiful." I let him go on the porch and touch it and then he wanted to "play" in it. He got his gloves/hat...on and went out to the porch and pushed snow together to make a snowball. Then he made a snow cake for TJ. A few days later we are getting a storm. Still not a lot of snow, yet, but he wanted to go out and play. He did taste the snow too, but didn't seem too impressed. It was fun to watch.