image of girl standing on Great Wall belongs to HTS


Half the Sky (HTS) Foundation is a nonprofit organization that was started to help children in orphanages throughout China.
HTS was started by Jenny Bowen after she adopted her first daughter from China in the 1990's. She had noticed that her toddler would not look at her in the eyes and realized that babies in orphanages were not receiving the cuddling and holding that they needed, in order to thrive. Her daughter was adopted from the same orphanage as Cady, and so it was only fitting that the pilot program was started at that orphanage. Now HTS is at more than 36 orphanages in China, and growing stronger daily. Cady was sponsored by someone thru HTS, which meant that her nanny only had 3 children that she was responsible for. It also meant that we were presented with a monthly journal that her nanny kept for her. That journal is among the most precious things we have for her future. There was also apartment housing on the orphanage premises. Those apartments housed elderly that would spend time with the children on a daily basis, cuddling and holding them. There is also a big sister program established to keep the older children involved. Being sponsored by HTS meant that the chances were very high that we would receive a child that is happy, healthy and knows how to love. Anyone that has met Cadence can see that this was a successful program for her early months in life. Before we got our referral for Cady, we had no idea HTS existed. Now we feel blessed every day to know that she was not only in the program, but in such loving care by those hired thru HTS.
HTS also plays a major part in preparing the older children to be successful participants in society when they are no longer adoptable. This was a big concern for Jenny, with all the children that are left behind.
Learn more about it in this short video
HTS video

At this time, Jenny Bowen has an opportunity to run with the torch during the 2008 Olympics in China. There will be 8 foreigners selected to do this, based on votes. She still needs a lot of votes, but I cannot think of one person more deserving than her, that has made a greater contribution to the children of China and to the children that have been adopted.

Please take a moment and vote for her here:
Torchbearers

You can also read more about HTS, and learn how to sponsor a child. The cost for an entire year of sponsoring a child is only $300. We were so very grateful to Cady's sponsor. We wrote him a letter, and he had no idea how much work was really done with her for so little money.
Half the Sky Foundation

Thank you to everyone who sent your prayers and thoughts our way over the past couple of weeks. It's really amazing to know that we have so many friends online, and some that we have never met, but feel wonderfully connected to.

I thought I'd share recent photos from my mom's visit. Cadence adores her. Grandma's really do have a special way with their grandchildren that no one else can match. In the pictures below, Mom's performing the Jack and Jill game for Cady. The Jack and Jill game is infamous in our family.
It goes like this:
Tape a piece of paper on each index finger, then tap them on a table top and recite the phraise "Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill. One named Jack and the other named Jill. FLY AWAY JACK. (lift one hand over your head and swap the index finger for the middle finger). FLY AWAY JILL (do the same with the other hand). COME BACK, JACK. (reverse the fingers again) COME BACK, JILL (ditto).
We once got Mom to do this at a restaurant, telling her that we had forgotten the rhyme, while all of us adult children watched and giggled at her silliness.

Below are pictures of Mom preparing Jack and Jill, with Cadence loving every minute of it. Oh, and yes. That IS a cinderella napkin tucked under Mom's chin. Cady picked out the napkins for my birthday cake, which was celebrated during her visit. Mom decided that the napkiin was a nice accessory to her attire, and Cady agreed.



Tomorrow night, I'll post a video of Cady trying her hand at Jack and Jill's flying skills.

My most memorable thoughts of Grandma? That she loved God, coffee, stories, life, and me.

She told me more than 20 years ago, that she was not afraid to die. She said with strong conviction in her voice, that she knows God exists, and that he will take us to His Kingdom if we believe. So for a week and a half now, she's been stepping in to the afterworld, just to get glimpse of what waits ahead for her. She's come out of it every time, happy, giggling or feeling at peace.

Some things about Grandma that make me smile. Grandma has always loved her coffee. I took her to her first Starbucks a few years back, and it was like a kid at a candy store. All of 5'1" of her stood at the counter, arms uplifed above her head at the counter, waiting for that freshly brewed taste of goodness.
When I was a child, I would watch her practice scquare dancing in her bedroom, and occasionally got to wear one of her skirts, pinned around my back.
She was always in to gadgets. She had her own dark room, and developed film as a hobby. She'd been to Europe, Israel and Russia. She started the Dental Assistant program at San Jose City College, and without a highschool education. She drove 3 hours from 8pm to 11pm while it was raining on a December night, when I called her to tell her that I was in labor with my 23 year old son, Daniel. She was 67 years old at the time. Whether or not she was driving to see me was not even in question.

I have no idea why I was always so special to her. But I was. Perhaps it was becasue she always wanted a girl, and had two boys, and I was her first born granddaughter. Perhaps it was because she could see a lot of her personailty in me. Whatever the reasons, she loved me, and admired me to no end. And it felt good knowing that. She would say to me, almost every time I saw her, "You always have been special to me. You know that, right?" I'm not quite sure if she will ever know how honored I feel knowing that she loves me so strongly.

When I was growing up, we always had Christmas day at Grandmas'. She baked a turkey and ham....even though she didn't eat meat (and they were good!). But her mashed potatoes were her specialty. The table was always so elegant at Christmas time, with very special table cloths, and fine china. Always a center piece and tapered white candles. The family would sit around the table, long past dinner time, and debate politics, or social issues of the year. She had a very high intellect, a practical thought practice, and a strong a will, so debating her was like fishing for sharks. But we would also talk about many other things from mood rings to raising boys on a secluded ranch to animals at the pound which lead to why her animals should be fed too much, to Bible scriptures to stories about amazing things that had happened to her, in her lifetime.

Many times I would visit her for a week or two in the summer, and we would stay up till 2 am talking about anything and everything together, just she and I sharing our thoughts. She constantly told me that I'm very special to her, and I grew up believing that she loved me more than anyone ever could. I don't think there ever has been, nor ever will be another person in my life that can see in to my heart so closely and love me as deeply.

Tonight at 10:54pm, my grandmother broke away, and drifted to a party, in celebration of her life.
She passed over peacefully.
From the moment she went to the hospital a week and a half ago, to the moment she left this earth while in Hospice House, family members have not left her side. My dad was holding her hand as she left, and the family members there at the time, said a prayer as her spirit left. What a beautiful way to pass over. I'm very glad everyone pulled together for her. It's exactly what she would have done (on her own, if she had to) for any one of us.
Grandma, I only wish I could talk to you one last time, at a Christmas dinner, to hear about this adventure. I'm sure it was the most amazing adventure of your life.
I love you, Grandma.
People like you do not come into our lives often.
Grandma, you always were special to me, you know that, right?

I grew up in the 70s, and spent my late teen years in the disco era. Long scarves, silky shirts, feathered hair, and cool looking shades. We were stylin'.
A couple of weeks ago, Cady and I were eating lunch on the couch. It's not something we often do, but it was a treat for both of us. For me it was because I watched a concert on PBS that highlighted several disco stars. For Cady it was all about .....well, eating on the couch, and wearing her own cool shades, a new pair of purple goggles. As it turned out, she too was movin' to the groovin' when A Taste of Honey sang Boogie Oogie Oogie. You can even see her recreating the Funky Chicken dance.

Check it out here:
Boogie Oogie Cady and her hip goggles. OUT A SIGHT!



Adding a YouTube link for Yoli and others with difficulty getting Quicktime to work right.