The Jade Panda

Welcome Babies!  Referrals were made through March 14, 2006.

Click here to see more: http://chinaadopttalk.com/2009/05/21/babies-23/

Happy Mother’s Day to all! My mom and I spent some time at the Hillwood Estate (http://www.hillwoodmuseum.org/) — blue skies, flowers and dresses! Perfect day.

I am a HUGE Billy Joel fan. His song “And So It Goes” (from 1989!) sums up my adoption feelings (though, I don’t think I am as forlorn as Billy — check out the lyrics below). 

Back to the adoption — there are mixed messages right now, but it appears that adoptions are held up for the foreseeable future by the Swine Flu epidemic.

Can’t remember the tune? Click Here

“And So It Goes” By Bill Joel

In every heart there is a room
A sanctuary safe and strong
To heal the wounds from lovers past
Until a new one comes along

I spoke to you in cautious tones
You answered me with no pretense
And still I feel I said too much
My silence is my self defense

And every time I’ve held a rose
It seems I only felt the thorns
And so it goes, and so it goes
And so will you soon I suppose

But if my silence made you leave
Then that would be my worst mistake
So I will share this room with you
And you can have this heart to break

And this is why my eyes are closed
It’s just as well for all I’ve seen
And so it goes, and so it goes
And you’re the only one who knows

So I would choose to be with you
That’s if the choice were mine to make
But you can make decisions too
And you can have this heart to break

And so it goes, and so it goes
And you’re the only one who knows

I taught my final Junior Achievement lesson today to 12 second graders about ”Our Community”. We have covered how a community works, production (really – the difference between unit and assembly production), how the government works, taxes and how money moves through the community.  These kids have been a lot of fun and I have taken in a few treats for then — 2 snacks and a little notebook for each over the course of the program. Each class, I ask what do you remember? The answer is always the same. Today, as I was wrapping up, I asked “What will you remember the most?” Don’t you know — it was the same answer… the answer was “doughnuts”.  The production lesson was based on a doughnut store, so, I thought it would be cute to take them doughnuts for after the lesson.  I am apparently the coolest person ever because of that and it has become a running joke with the class (and teacher). They gave me a very nice card as I was leaving. It read “Thank you for teaching us about our community! We loved the doughnuts!”

If you have an oppurtunity to volunteer for JA, I highly reccomend it. I am fairly certain that I got more out of it then the kids. It changes your perspective to see things through thier eyes for a few muniutes a week.