I Heart China

Every once in a while I find myself thinking about my life, taking a step back and looking at my life and my family, who we are, what we've become. The day I met Dave I knew that he was the one for me. I'm serious. I may not have realized it on a conscious level that day, but I can honestly say that in my heart, I just knew.

But I never would have imagined these two beautiful Chinese girls in our future. And how my personal corner of the world has expanded to include such a total love of their birth country.

I am amazed that I have become a person who can describe several Chinese food dishes as "comfort food." Growing up, I never even liked Chinese food. On our first trip to China in 2008 I struggled a bit with the food. I tried everything, and tried very hard not to be an American food snob, but I just didn't care for a lot of the flavors. Then when we started preparing to adopt Lin in 2009, Dave started really cooking a lot of Chinese food at home. And by the time we arrived in Shanghai in 2010, the flavors were so utterly familiar to me. I loved it! At this point in our home I'd say that maybe 60 - 70% of our meals are Chinese. When we adopted Lin, instead of teaching her to love American food, we opened our minds (and mouths) to true Chinese cuisine. That I feel completely comfortable in the Chinese grocery store amazes me.

I am amazed that when I hear someone speaking Mandarin it sounds familiar to me. I am certainly not fluent, and I may only pick up on a mere fraction of the words spoken, but it is a familiar sound. I'm not intimidated when I hear it. I tend to get a big goofy grin on my face and smile at the people talking, trying to convey that, even though I don't understand you, I love hearing you talk.

I have a favorite Chinese TV show. Isn't that crazy? But I do.

I guess I don't know why I'm feeling so philosophical today.

I just wanted to say, I Heart China.