Chinese Dance Showcase

Saturday afternoon was Briana's last Chinese dance class before summer break. The last class was supposed to be this upcoming Saturday, but Ms. Sandra had to change it to this past Saturday due to a scheduling issue. Unfortunately, we lost a couple of girls for the last class because of the change, but we definitely had enough girls for the parent showcase.

Here are all the girls...

They started with some warm up and floor exercises...

The younger girls did their dance number...

Then the older girls did theirs...

Here is the dance from the older girls...

The girls did a beautiful job!!!

Necessary photo opp of all these amazing little girls and their teacher...

Ms. Sandra gave the girls the red fans they had been practicing with...

And Gramma gave Briana a treat (of course :D)...

Bri, Gramma and Papa...

Mommy, Daddy and Briana...

Getting some frozen yogurt with Gramma and Papa after the performance...

Sugar rush kicking in. :)

I am very grateful to have this Chinese dance class available to Briana. My friend A reached out to Ms. Sandra a couple of years ago because there were no Chinese dance classes available on our side of town. (Isn't that crazy?) So, Sandra created this class for the girls and it is the only class like this in this part of town.

Ms. Sandra has a full time position elsewhere as a dance instructor. She takes time out of her very busy schedule to keep this his class going on Saturday afternoons - and I am so appreciative. I love seeing all these beautiful girls together.

Unfortunately though, the girls were not able to perform anywhere outside of the classroom this year (like at the FCCA CNY event) due to time constraints. I really wish the class could have performed somewhere other than just in the classroom for parents and grandparents. I hope that something can be setup next year so the girls can show off how much they have learned. I love that Briana gets to spend time with her friends in this class, but I am a bit worried that it might not be enough incentive for her to want to continue to take the class in the future if no performances are scheduled for the public. I asked Bri if she was interested in signing up again in the fall and for the first time, she wavered about the class a bit. I am quite sure I will sign her up again in the fall because I think it is important for her, but I will have to wait and see how it goes after that.

Despite my concern, I am still so grateful she has had this opportunity to learn about her culture and dance.

(And a big thank you to my friend A and to my mom for providing me with most of these photos. I forgot my nice camera at home and my cell wasn't cutting it!)

End Of The Soccer Season

Things around here are starting to wind down. The soccer season was supposed to come to an end as of Saturday. Except - we got rained out a few weekends ago and now we have a 9AM makeup game on Saturday, May 4 (ouch). But technically, the spring soccer season is over for U6 soccer.

Tuesday evening, we had our very last practice...

Friday evening, Bri had yet another makeup game (it has rained a lot on the weekends this spring). She played a team that she had not played yet this season. Unfortunately, Miss B wasn't feeling it and it was very obvious. For the first 20 minutes of play, she wasn't even really trying at all. She was kicking the ball and then not following through with it. She was letting the other girls take the ball from her. I am not a person that needs Briana to make goals, but I do want to see her give it her best - especially when I know she can. I'll admit, I was getting frustrated watching her. I wondered if she was tired after a long day at school, but Bri has practice every Tuesday evening, so I didn't think that was it. So, Doug and I gave her a little pep talk on a short break. Then once she got back on the field, the old Bri was back and she ended up scoring 4 goals. I asked her later what the problem was that day. I asked her if she was nervous playing a new team. She admitted that she was nervous. She remembered playing that team in the fall and they were a bit tough. I told her that it is ok to be nervous, but she still had to try, even if she couldn't score. I rather see her miss the goal 100 times than not try at all.

So after the game, the team (minus one player) went to Yogli Mogli for a small end of season party. The girls had a really good time...

 I started to realize upon taking this picture, they were trying each other flavors. Ahem...

Then it was time for the handing out of the trophies.

The little red headed girl, M, was no doubt the MVP of Friday's game. She scored a ton of goals. She was a mini machine!

The trophies were so cute...

Awesome Team Argentina!!!

Bri loves Coach Kari...

And even though we had a Friday night game, we had our normal Saturday game as well. The girls were great on the field and Briana played hard (7 goals). She made a beautiful goal where her teammate G kicked the ball toward the goal but it wasn't going to make it and Briana came in from the side and popped it in.

Go Team Argentina!

These girls have played together for two seasons now and they have progressed so much. They are working as a team and learning to pass and control the ball. It is amazing how far they have come.

I have a mixed bag of emotions about soccer ending this season. I am going to miss watching Briana play on Saturdays and I'm going to miss chit chatting with the other soccer moms. I'm also going to miss U6 soccer. Bri and her team will be moving up to U8 in the fall. 

On the other hand, it will be nice to get my Saturdays back for a while. And Georgia summers stink. I'm glad I don't have to sit and watch Bri play in 100 degree weather right now. (I will probably have to do so in future summers if we stick with this soccer thing.)

I'll be very ready when soccer starts back up in the fall and I know Bri will be too!

We also finished up Chinese dance on Saturday afternoon for the summer - but that is my next post. :)

Milkshake

My gal loves a good milkshake. :)

I Am Not A Hero

When Doug, Briana and I were heading to Florida for the cruise, we used a Park N Fly service to get us to the airport. We took a little shuttle from the PNF to the Delta terminal. Two men were on the shuttle having a conversation (they were not together).

One man looked over at the three of us and asked if Briana was from China. I said yes and before I had a chance to say anything else, he jumped in saying he was married to a Korean woman. I just kind of smiled and acknowledged what he had said.

The shuttle pulled up to the terminal. We jumped off the bus and went our separate ways. I didn't really give the conversation too much thought because to be honest, I was a bit hurried and just ready to get through security to get to the gate.

We walked into the airport and started heading toward the security line. The man that asked about Briana was walking in front of us again. He turned around as we walked and he said to us "That is a wonderful thing you did." I knew exactly what he meant. I said to him, "Well, she is really OUR blessing." At that point, we did go our separate ways.

I know he meant well. He was trying to be kind.

But ~

I don't want Briana to ever think we adopted her because we wanted to do a "wonderful thing." That was never our intention. I don't really like Briana having to hear someone say something like that. 

My act of adopting Briana was purely selfish on my part. I wanted my own child to love and raise. I didn't look to save anyone. I never wanted to be patted on the back. And I am most certainly not a hero.

When Doug and I went into the adoption process, my main objective was to be a mom. Yes, Briana gained a new family in the process - which is wonderful. But, I honestly never went into the process thinking what a "great thing" I was doing. I believe the main objective of adoption should be creating and growing families - not trying to save anyone or do a "good thing."

I know Briana has a very nice life and she is a super happy kid. Doug, Briana and I love each other with every fiber of our beings. But any joy that Doug and I have ever brought into Briana's life, believe me, she has returned it twofold.

Briana is my entire world. I try to let her know that every day.

So if anything, she is really the one that did the "wonderful thing."

Utterly Cute

 Wednesday morning, I helped get Briana dressed and she looked so stinkin' cute.

She loves the curlycue bows that my friend Kathy makes, but I didn't have matching color ones, so she said she wanted two different color bows. This kid is so cute she can pull of anything really. :)

So utterly cute...

Possibly a new trendsetter? :)

Definitely my little fashionista.

A Full Sunday

There is a local festival that comes into town every year in the spring and in past years, there has always been a reason we haven't been able to go. This year, we decided we were going to check it out. Sunday was a GORGEOUS day. Perfect for a festival.

When we arrived, we came across cloggers...

There were lots of inflatables for Briana to go on...

Briana absolutely wanted to go on the bungee...

We stopped and got her face painted...

There were lots of booths/tents with items for sale. My friend Kathy has a tent there every year for her bows, so we got to visit with her. And there was of course lots of food too.

 There was also a civil war reenactment...

I wish we had more time to walk around, but we had a birthday party to go to right after our visit to the festival. (One thing I will say though, I think it was a bit of a strange choice to have muskets and canons - which were very loud - going off at a big event right after the Boston incident. I'm just sayin...)

 We headed over to Chinese dance friend M's gymnastics party (4th party of the year). This is where Briana used to take gymnastics, so she was so happy to be back and able to play around on all the equipment...

Jumping into the middle of the parachute...

All the kids waiting for cake...

Briana had a totally full afternoon. What always surprises me is that Briana somehow manages to stay wound up until right before bedtime. Once her head hit the pillow though, she was out for the night.