This blog covers our wait, travel, and adjustment to our 4 year old adopted Chinese daughter Sarah Shui Qing from Nanjing. There are over 1000 posts. I have moved my blog to Catching Butterflies 2. I hope you will enjoy reading this blog. It has alot of information on Special needs adoption. Follow us to our new address Catching Butterflies 2! Thank you for reading!

Wednesday, May 31, 2006







I got this on one of the web groups I belong to. It was written by Paul Harvey. Here in Germany many of the parents go "over board" in making it easy for their (often) one child. They try to remove every stone in the path so their little prince or princess doesn't hurt their feet. I think trouble often makes us better people. My oldest daughter has Autism. My second daughter has always had to be more responsible then her years. She (Nicole) is amazingly mature. Adopting our sons has helped to balance Nicole out. She can play more, and laugh more. Her adopted brothers have made her a more rounded person. I guess that is what Paul Harvey is really saying, children need good and bad things to make them well rounded people. This is also my desire for all my princes & princesses. With out the struggle, nothing has any real meaning! But struggle alone does not bring us life!

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them
worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and
homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn
honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the
car.

And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are
sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and
your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister.
And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the
room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because
he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to
tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that
you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask
your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding
with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one
instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and
subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush
on a boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn
what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove
and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it.
And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is
not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa
and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through
your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at
Hannukah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your
hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard
work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

Written with a pen. Sealed with a kiss. I'm here for you. And if I
die before you do, I'll go to heaven and wait for you.

We secure our friends, not by accepting favors, but by doing them.