China Sisters

Our name for these girls used to be "China Friends", but it has changed now to "China Sisters". These are the 6 other girls who lived with Mia for her first 11 months of life and "walked" in the same paths until we all met up in China to be forever families. It was such a bonus to travel in China the first time with these 6 families. Right before we left to move to Germany back in 2008, we met up with 5 of the girls for a reunion - the girls were only 3 years old then. In fact, I think it was my first blog post way back when! At the beginning of our U.S. trip this month (7 years later) we were able to meet back up with them in Florida and we had such an amazing time. I was frankly a bit nervous about the potential for awkwardness, being that; the girls are 10 years old now, are completely different in many ways, and don't "really" know each other. I had nothing to worry about though - the moment we checked into the hotel and went to the pool - the girls immediately hopped out of the pool and came running up to Mia to give her a big hug. I knew right then that it was going to be a fun weekend! And it really was so much fun! Swimming in pools, mini golf, beach time, yummy dinners etc - the girls got to know each other as "tweens" and I think it was a perfect age because there was no awkwardness at all. Mia came running up to us on the first day and mentioned a conversation that was had amongst the girls... She said, "Mommy - isn't it great - we all have problems! I looked at her a little funny and then she explained how; she (Mia) mumbles when she talks, one of her "sisters" doesn't pronounce her "R's strongly, one has lots of energy etc. I loved that they came to the conclusion that it is ok to have unique differences, but they are "sisters" so it doesn't matter at all! So cute!!! What a gift it is to have this relationship with these families - so grateful!!!

Can't believe these girls are 10!!!

Such a fun group! 

Keira and Mia

A night out on the town!

At the beach

Silly girls!

Can you tell - we had a bit of a photo session :-)

5 of "our" 7 girls - love these kids!!!

The last night, we found this huge empty room at the conference center. The girls ran and played for hours and the parents had a chance to relax and chat - it was such a nice time!

This was the original photo...

And here is where the silliness really started - the girls all reenacted a photo from the "red couch" (above)  A bit like the dominoe effect....