Fun Family Photos!

In between trips around China and people heading out of the country for the summer, we were able to finally do an official family photo shoot with our team of eight!  It was with a Shanghai famous photographer known as 'Gang of One' and he was fantastic!  We went into a side alley street - where people were just living normal life while we came in to have pics taken.  So while we smiled, we also watched life go by....people walking by in their pajamas (at 4 o'clock in the afternoon!), food being cooked & carried between houses, walking of the dogs, kids out playing...and yes let's of people stopped to watch us too!  We even had to move stuff so cars/scooters could get through during the shoot.  Very fun and we love the pics!

Where did these genes come from?

At the end of the school year we were pleasantly surprised to learn that each of the girls had won Excellence in Art awards!  No idea where they got these talents...maybe the art gene skips a few generations??  

Kelly - Photograph of Zoe

Lindsey - Pottery

Megan - Chalk Pastel

"Road Trip" China Style

How to sum up having two of your best friends in the world come to China, graduate high school and then spend 2 weeks travelling across the country…AMAZING!  Katie Sue & Zachery Linn came to Shanghai one week before graduation.  Thank goodness that Kelly only had one final exam that week since not much schoolwork was happening after they arrived!  Instead a lot of catching up, sight-seeing, walks around Jin Qiao and watching movies!  The day after graduation the three of them boarded a plane (because you don’t really take road trips here in China!) and began their cross country tour.  First stop – Yangshuo.  Hiking among the rice terraces, kayaking in the Li River, biking among the karst mountains and a little caving.  Next stop – Xining, where they visited great friends from Fayetteville – Amanda Wherry and the Gurels.  Much fun meeting Amanda’s friends in the Xining deaf community, visiting the hospital where she works, having drinks at the Gurel’s coffee shop, going into the countryside & meeting some locals.  Xining is a totally different China from Shanghai and it was great for the three of them to see & experience that!  Final stop – Beijing (what trip to China would be complete without going to Beijing?!?).  Forbidden City & Tianamen Square before hiking on the ‘wild wall’ – an unmaintained portion of the Great Wall where you can see the wall & its beauty without the large masses of tourists! 

YANGSHUO

XINING

BEIJING

Kelly Thielman...Class of 2012

How true it is when people say...time flies!  I can't believe that last month we watched our amazing oldest daughter graduate from Concordia International School!  She has done a little bit of everything throughout her school years - public school then home school then charter school and finally private school.  I would have to say that the home school years were my favorite with the extra time as a family (especially as we started our adoption journeys during these years), the opportunities and flexibility they provided.  Then again I was the principal - we'd have to check with her teacher Dad to see if he would say the same!  And then of course these last two years at Concordia have been unique and 

challenging but the experience of a lifetime.  

For perspective on the competitiveness of the international school here are a few soundbites:  there is no valedictorian of the

 class because there are way too many people with perfect 4.0 GPA's; there were ~10 students who graduated with enough AP credits to already

 have a minor degree in Mathematics and as soon as school gets out SAT camp starts - morning to night, every day for several weeks and it is packed!  Now doesn't that sound fun!  But in a society where Kindergarten kids go to boarding school Monday-Friday and in first grade parents begin to lament because the pressure at school really starts to heat up, maybe SAT camp really is a break?!?

We are so proud of our girl...not just for what she has done through her school years but for who she has become.  She is a young woman after God's heart, seeking to fulfill the plans He has for her & recognizing that it isn't always easy!  She is a treasure and a joy!  And for now we'll just leave it at the celebrating graduation part...because I'm still trying to accept the next phase (going off to college)!

SENIOR PICTURES  

VERY FUN!!!

Round 2 for the Grandparents!

That's right both sets of grandparents made it back to China for their second trips!  What a blessing it is for them to travel this great distance to see us all again!  Of course the fact that Kelly was graduating certainly helped too!  They each came for two weeks and overlapped the week in the middle which worked out great to have time alone with each of them but also to have time together with all of them!  Here are some of the picture highlights!

Xiaolongbao (pork dumplings) at the Nanxiang Restaurant

Eating Coldstone Creamery in Xin Tian Di after a morning of sight-seeing!

Touring through YuYuan Gardens

Weekend at West Lake in Hangzhou (after taking the high speed train!)

Visiting Baobei Baby Sharon right after her surgery

Visiting the Urban Planning Museum (yes it is actually interesting despite the name!)