Tonight was a new first for me. Our church’s youth group meets on Wednesday nights for a Bible study and I was given the opportunity to teach.

I chose Ephesians 2:10 from the New Living Translation as my text which reads, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

This passage has kinda become my “life verse” for right now and I enjoyed sharing some thoughts with our young people… for 1-1/2 hours!

Let’s just say… I have a newfound appreciation for Pastors and the preparation necessary for their sermons every week. Whew.

Zane’s birthday was Wednesday.

Having a birthday in the middle of the week… well… it stinks. With our commitments at church that night, there simply wasn’t sufficient time to celebrate his big day. So we had a little party tonight.

Actually there was a second reason to celebrate.

It was one year ago today that we flew out of Charlotte on our way to China to bring Zane home.

Today is Zane’s birthday and our young man is now 14 years old.

Trying to get a photo when we’re all scrambling to get out the door in the mornings is virtually impossible. I’m barking orders like a drill sargeant to get him to move so I dare not tell him to stop.

So a photo will come later.

In honor of his 14th birthday, here are 14 things about Zane you may not have known:

1. He does not eat cheese. No surprise there, really. I’m not sure that we’ve met a Chinese person yet (except for Eliana and Karys) who does.

2. He also does not eat eggs.

3. He has read the first 6 Left Behind books. In Chinese, of course.

4. I think he has a crush on Demi Lovato who plays Sonny Munroe in Sonny with a Chance.

5. He would like to have a dog.

6. He does not like blue jeans and therefore has never worn a pair outside the house. The only time he wore a pair inside the house is when he tried them on.

7. His current word du jour is gracious.

8. He listens to Chinese songs on the computer when he plays online games.

9. He says he doesn’t like to sing but I’ll occasionally catch him singing along to those same songs.

10. He has this really annoying habit of saying “really?” when we tell him something.

11. The only sport he likes is soccer. I don’t know that he’ll ever play organized ball but he runs like a rabbit and would probably do well.

12. It seems odd to me that Zane is from China and yet he doesn’t know how to ride a bike.

13. He thinks coffee stinks.

14. For the first time, he said a prayer last Saturday before a meal at moms house. Carmi and I were taking Eliana out to dinner for her birthday so we missed it.

Someone recently emailed Carmi and I with several questions about older child adoption.

Carmi answered the email but I thought it would be a good idea to post a question a day here and share our answers with you.

If you have any questions of your own, please let us know.

1. Was it hard to communicate with Zane?
2.  How did he adjust to you? Siblings?
3.  How did he adjust to school in America?  How did you know what grade to put him in? How is he doing now in school?
4.  How was he able to make friends and feel comfortable at school when he could not speak the language?  How is he doing now that he can speak the language?
5.  How did you try to teach him English? How is he doing now?
6.  Did he go to school in China?  If so, did the school teach him about Buddha and did your child have a strong connection to Buddhism?
7.  Was he in an orphanage or a foster family?  If in a foster family, did he have a difficult time adjusting to your family?  How is he doing today?
8.  Can you share something that you wish that you would have known before you adopted an older child that you can’t get from a book but only through experience?

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I’ll never forget the glance Zane gave Carmi and then me as we first entered the room where he waited for us. There was a tremendous amount of processing going on in that young mind when he met momma and daddy for the first time.

Zane was well-mannered and obedient in China. I remember we were at the White Swan buffet in Guangzhou one morning and a newly-adopted younger boy was r-e-a-l-l-y acting up. Carmi had met the mother earlier and this poor lady had her hands full. Zane was quite bothered by how the boy didn’t listen and was misbehaving.

I’ve heard it said that, as a general rule, children from China aren’t very affectionate. Makes sense. How can children be expected to exhibit a behavior they haven’t likely experienced for themselves?

Zane seems to be an exception.

He looooves his momma and dotes on Carmi a lot. He’ll hug her, stroke her arm or hair and tell her that she’s pretty.

After being home less than a month, Zane was jumping on my back wanting a piggyback ride. He’s constantly putting his hand on my shoulder or slapping my back. He strokes the hair on my arm and even wants to hold my hand on occasion.

He continues to be well-mannered. The only real issue is that I have to tell him 2-3 times to do something but I believe that’s just a teenager thing.

As far as his relationship with Eliana and Karys…

In China, Eliana just about drove poor Zane crazy because she wanted to be right there where he was ALL the time! She was so excited to have a big brother. He even complained to our guide at one point. We had to come down pretty hard on Eliana and force her to give him his space.

Karys and Zane did very well together from the beginning just because she didn’t bug him.

Once we came home, Eliana continued to crowd Zane. He would get really angry… I could tell it in his face… but he exhibited good self-control. I’m sure He wanted so badly to hit her but he didn’t. Which is a good thing because that would not have been tolerated.

We continued to work with Eliana and now they get along great. Some days they will sit in the same chair playing a computer game. It helps that Eliana is a tomboy and would much rather play a game than to play with baby dolls.

Zane teases Karys unmercifully but she tells him that she loves him anyway.

He still hasn’t become comfortable with saying “I love you” but that will come.

Zane’s birthday is Wednesday but we had a little pre-celebration before lunch at moms house today.