So much to report!

Well, again I am sorry to take so long between posts. There has been so much to say, and I wanted to post pictures of the most important event (Zach started school!), but I can't find my camera! I have a feeling Zach, who loves electronic equipment, may have found a place for it (everything has a place you know ;-). Hopefully I will find the camera and post the pictures but, in the meantime, I want to tell you how well everything is going!

As I said, Zach started school. For those that don't know, our girls attend a charter school. There is a waiting list of over 1500 to get into this school. They do give preference to siblings, but even still, Zach is #11 on the sibling waiting list for his grade. I have to say, though, that we probably would have sent him to our local elementary school anyway. They have an ESL program there and God provided for Zach's needs in a beautiful way -- the only ESL teacher in the entire district who speaks Mandarin Chinese is at this school! I can't tell you what a blessing that was when we found that out. Furthermore, now that we have been the beneficiaries of that blessing for over a week, I can't tell you how much this has made a difference in our decision to send him and how he has handled the transition. We may have made a different decision without this added blessing, since it would have been more of a mystery of how Zach would handle the transition to a new place where no one understands him.

We had an appointment with the principal and the ESL teacher, Mrs Wu, and they both suggested that Zach begin on November 5, and enter 2nd grade. We were very pleased because it is exactly what we wanted for him. His birthday is the end of April and he is certainly not a large kid. It will be great for him to have that extra year to get caught up. He has been adjusting beautifully to his new life and he seems to be bonding well with his entire family. We are the ones he wants to be with. We are the ones he recognizes as his ma-ma and ba-ba and sisters. So, the timing felt right. The aspect of his transition to his new surroundings that will take a lot of time to develop is language. Starting school, especially with the assistance of Mrs Wu, will get that going much more quickly and efficiently than waiting.

I stayed with him the entire first day and then Mrs Wu explained that I would be leaving him on Tuesday. He did so well on Monday that I was less apprehensive. There were several times during the first day that he went off with his class without looking back, so I let him go without me. By the end of the day, his personality was starting to show up (the class clown part, that is!). Tuesday, he was of course a little sad. The teacher (who is a graduate of Bethel and has been to China and on mission trips), recognized this and "assigned" two boys to play blocks with Zach for a half hour. How sweet is that? He was fine the rest of the day. Each day was better and better. Yesterday, even though I thought he would be sad at school since he was still feeling the effects of many vaccinations, he was smiling and laughing the entire day.

We are so thankful for his adjustment so far. We have a long road ahead, but the initial transition has gone so much better than we could have even hoped. PRAISE GOD!

We do have our moments however. Just as he needed to learn that the toilet is not equivalent to a cleaner garbage can, he also needs to learn that a Beta who lives in a vase in the bathroom is not a toy. Nor does he need his fins brushed...

Sadly, yesterday Madeline went into the bathroom only to discover that Milkshake was dead. Definately under suspicious circumstances...

Evidence -- water around the vase, a wet brush nearby, Milkshake had a gash on his side and, yes, Zach had recently been in the bathroom.

Motive -- Curiosity. Zach has never had a "pet fish" before, and could not know that it has a purpose in life.

Conclusion -- Zach would not have purposely killed the Beta, especially had he known that his sisters were attached to the fish and had he known how important Milkshake was to them.

Therefore, we found him guilty of involuntary beta-slaughter. When Steve tried to "ask" him if he put the brush in the bowl, Zach nodded, and shrugged.

We are thankful for Mrs Wu who can explain to him that when Milkshake is replaced with a new Beta he can't put anything in the vase, including his hands, but especially hairbrushes!