7/23 Mumzy and Papa at the beach

Mumzy, Jen and Momma - Cape Lookout summer 2008

On the 4th of July, Kristy and I took Jen to see my parents at the beach on the east coast. This was Jen's first visit to her grandparents house. She loved it and so did we. It was so nice to spend a relaxing week with them. We ate lots of seafood (Jen loved the soft sheell crab sandwiches --- legs and all), walked on the beach, played in the ocean and enjoyed being with family.

The first afternoon, we went to church for a picnic and watched fireworks over Swansboro which sits just near the inlet to the ocean. Jen just about ate them out of house and home in the watermelon department. She is a watermelon eatin' machine!! We made several visits to the local Marine base as well. I love North Carolina so much but I am partial because it will always be home -- wherever else life may take me. Its beauty to me is its simplicity -- just dunes and ocean, small towns and nice people.

My parents were sweet to Jen. She arrived to find her picture in her bedroom. All throughout the house were little pictures of her peaking out to greet us. She felt comfortable in their home and adjusted well to living somewhere else for a week. Jen is a "portable" girl. She is quite adaptable. She has spent a lot of time in hotels since she came home in December. 2008 has been an unusual travel year for us. We ended 2007 together in the White Swan in Guangzhou. Then family visits and business trips will have taken us far and wide by the end of the summer.

Jen with her grandparents - Harkers Island summer 2008

My parents have lots of pictures on the walls of family members -- of my siblings and of my grandparents. Jen walked around asking about the pictures and wanted to know who they were. She has a need to belong and I enjoyed explaining about the people in the pictures. She is now in our family tree -- the little girl from China who blew in on the wind like a sweet breeze on a summer day. Jen fits right in.



Papa and Jen - Harkers Island, July 2008

No trip to the beach would be complete without a nighttime visit to the pier. How many memories I have of going to the pier from my childhood even until now. Never did I dream that I would one day stand on a pier with my own child -- much less a little a girl from China. As the sun stole away to the west, my girls posed for a picture with the wind whipping through their hair.

Once an orphan and now our daughter - how marvelous is the grace of God
Bogue Inlet pier, July 2008