We bought a card game called UNO tonight after dinner. It’s been a l-o-n-g time since we’ve played UNO so Carmi and I sat down at the kitchen table to reintroduce ourselves to the rules and then invited Eliana to join us.

Eliana had a good dose of beginner’s luck because she actually won a shortened game. We played to 350 points instead of the normal 500.

She jumped up from the table hootin’ and hollerin’ and talkin’ smack. Then she runs over to the recliner where Karys is sitting quietly and watching The Parent Trap. Eliana stands right between Karys and the television, raises her hands and says, “Bow to me with respect!”

I don’t think she was listening when we’ve talked about humility.

Karys has this major obsession lately with changing clothes.

Sometimes she wants to change just because. Most of the time, though, it’s when she dirties her shirt or pants. Such was the case this evening.

We went out to eat at a pizza joint and near the end of our meal, Karys spilled the tiniest drop of drink on her pants leg. She pointed out the spot to me which had by now grown to the size of a quarter.

“I need change clothes.”, she said.

“That spot’s not bad. You don’t need to change.”

“I need change clothes.”

“We don’t need to change you right now. We’re getting ready to go home.”

“D-a-d-d-y-y-y! I need change clothes!”

“You are NOT changing your clothes!!!”

Cue the angst which lasted...oh...until we went home and Carmi let her change.

Our documents came back from the North Carolina Secretary of State office today. Thanks, Elaine.

Now the documents go to Washington, DC. For this next step, we’ll use a courier service called The Assistant Stork in Virginia. We used Laura with Karys’ paperwork and were well pleased.

We send our documents to Laura who will personally carry our documents to the US Secretary of State’s office for authentication while she waits. She will then carry our documents to the Chinese Embassy for further authentication before sending the documents back to us. Using this courier service shaves quite a few days off this portion of the process.

And we’re all about shavin’.

It was one year ago today - September 17, 2007 - when Karys joined the Henderson family at the Civil Administration office in Baoding, Hebei.

She was a confused little girl who was so upset by everything going on that she threw up on the ride over.

What a difference a year makes. I measured her this morning and she has grown 4 inches since coming home.

Isn’t it amazing what plenty of food and love can do for a child?

Family Day videos are here, here and here.

Carmi now has an official job around here.

Being the avid reader she is, Carmi will post reviews of books that she has recently finished. Book topics may vary but will certainly include topics related to China. As a matter of fact, her first review is now online and covers a book by Kay Bratt entitled Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage.

Look at the top of the page and you’ll see a link to ‘Book Reviews’. That’s where you can find her.