Can we just chip him???

Let's begin by saying we love him. He's easy to love, but OMG!

Three weeks ago Jeff sent a text to me saying he had business in Milan. "Would you like to go?"

Sure, I would like to have gone, but I also thought this would be a great opportunity for Jeff and Ellis. Ellis is 16 and can navigate a city well, so we knew he would be fine touring around during the day while Jeff worked. We thought this would be good for Ellis who has spent his first year without Forrest and is only days away from losing his best friend to his family's move to the US (and Ellis has had other losses in the past two years that have been really tough). We also knew Ellis would happily tour around Italy with only his thoughts and his camera. He's our deep thinker. Good plan.

So, they arrived on Tuesday morning and had the day to get settled in the hotel and take a quick stroll around Milan. Jeff went to dinner Tuesday night and Ellis asked the concierge for a recommendation for dinner, and off he went. Easy.

On Wednesday, a bus picked him up at 6am and then he took a train to the Swiss Alps. He was gone for 13 hours touring northern Italy and St Moritz. Easy.

On Thursday, he took a tour around Milan with an organized tour group (making sure to see The Last Supper). In the afternoon, he booked a professional photography tour that consisted of Ellis and the guide, so they were able to tour around the lesser known parts of the city. On Thursday night, Ellis had a bike tour around the city. Fun and Easy.

And, on Friday, Jeff was free. They took a train to Florence and spent the day touring that beautiful city before taking the fast train back to Milan. Easy.

On Saturday, the passport, the HKID, and his HK sim card were gone. GONE, GONE, GONE. And, on Saturday the US consulate is closed. Not easy. Jeff called the duty officer and learned Ellis could go to the consulate on Monday morning and get a temporary passport. Not cheap.

Great for Ellis. Bad for Jeff, who needs to be in Taiwan on Monday morning. Now what?

Back story. Just before Jeff and Ellis left, our great friends in Hong Kong told us they have good friends in Milan who would be available if anything came up. Our friends even sent a quick text to make sure they were in town during this week. "How sweet, but we'll be fine." Famous last words of the Holcombes.

Yep, we called that friend and connected our family to the other and asked for that assistance. The Milan family happily obliged.

Jeff flew to Taiwan and left Ellis with the family. The sweet dad drove Jeff to the train station. The sweet mom took Ellis to the consulate. The sweet daughter took Ellis on more tours of the city. Ellis is like a cat, just landing on his feet. Honestly, he just found three more days in Italy.  Easy.

CAN WE JUST CHIP HIM? We have Hank chipped. It's the future for humans, and I'm ready to sign up.

Can it be 4 years already?

June 2017, marks our fourth school year completed in Hong Kong. It seems like we've been here forever, yet it also seems like yesterday we were wiping away the tears of four very sad little Holcombes.

Not anymore. Claire told me this week she would only leave HK to attend university and then she was coming right back. Forrest is in the US, but keeps pushing us to stay at least seven years so we can all get permanent residency cards (him included because he's still on the payroll). Ellis doesn't share Claire's exact sentiment, but he's not far from it (he wants to travel the world for his career). Taylor just wants to be where Jeff and I are living (she'll be taking care of us in our old age).

Claire finished fifth grade (no fifth grade graduation at HKIS - they have a tough enough time allowing the eighth graders to "graduate") and ended her year with this lovely letter. She's the most articulate 11 year old I know.

 For the end-of-year celebration, she was given this award from her class: The Most Likely to Write a Spy Novel. Thanks to her incredible teacher, Mr Monson, she spent the year getting great encouragement in her writing and great feedback to improve in her writing.

 Taylor, on the other hand, had a proper graduation that began with curling that beautiful hair (that is already curly, but apparently the wrong kind of curly).

But, the Typhoon 8 signal was raised just an hour before the ceremony was to begin. The rain and the winds postponed graduation from Monday night to Tuesday morning. And, while the T8 signaled was lowered sometime in the middle of the night, we still had a Red Rain going on at the time of graduation Tuesday morning, which is no good for hair on your graduation day. But, that smile remained on our sweet Taylor.

Ellis completed tenth grade on June 12th (13th if he had stayed for the last day instead of heading to Milan, Italy with Jeff).  Ellis also completed another chunk of his BSA requirements. He made it to Life, just one step (large step) away from Eagle. 

The last days of school can be fun but also sad. Friends often move away from HK at the end of every school year. They go off to boarding school or their parents get transferred. The sad part of living in such a transient place is the loss of friends.

Wils has been Ellis's best friend since we moved here, and there will be a huge hole left in Ellis's heart where Wils has been for the last four years.

Spring in Mongolia

While we were enjoying the warmth and beauty of spring in the US, Ellis was enjoying "spring" in Mongolia. We all packed up at the same time in early April- the four of us leaving for the southern US, and Ellis leaving for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Back in the summer of 2014, Jeff and Ellis went to Mongolia for a boy scout camp. While they were there, they never got out of their long-sleeved shirts and long pants in August. But, I (living, as it were in the month of April in Hong Kong) didn't really let that register as I watched Ellis pack similar clothing for this trip. Thankfully, Ellis is keenly aware Mongolia is right next to Russia (he packed the down jacket and hat and wore it constantly except during the strange wrestling match).

The trip was one week with his high school youth group to visit and work at a place called Flourishing Future: https://www.flourishingfuture.com/ He came back so excited about this place because he felt they were truly meeting the marginalized where they needed to be met. Social justice runs deep in the blood of Forrest and Ellis, and I am super proud of them for that conviction.

But, because I'm not really writing about my social justice convictions on this blog, I will stay in the shallows (sorry boys). I'm going to focus on these really fabulous photos!

First, the eagle!
Just before Ellis went on this trip we watched a cool documentary called The Eagle Huntress https://www.amazon.com/The-Eagle-Huntress-Us/dp/B01JVAH4L2

He really is a good photographer.

While this looks like someone has just rescued Ellis from a hog-tying situation, I believe he was involved in a traditional wrestling contest, and apparently he won (or someone let him win).

I love this photo because you can see the tiny specks in the distance, which are Mongolian houses or gers. VAST and not a speck of green.

And, these are the Mongolia ponies. I wish I could see Ellis' legs because I am sure his feet are six inches from the ground:)

Sporty?

For some reason, we can't seem to get a photo of Ellis playing rugby. Maybe it's because he's the photographer in the family. Or, maybe it's because we are too focused on watching for injury to remember our cameras. 

Ultimate frisbee is a relaxing sport, so we have loads of photos.

I think the majority of exercise Ellis gets is from photography. He is always walking the city (our city or other cities) to take pictures; or, he's walking to get his film developed or his camera (or phone) repaired. 

Back to injuries.  Surprisingly, Jeff came home from this race injury-free. This is the Spartan Race and Jeff is the oldest person in this group, and probably the MOST competitive.

 THEN, we have the girls in the family.  Taylor has her Choir - and she loves music, but she finds the performances really nerve-wracking. But, that's fine with us because she's got the prettiest smile on stage. No singing necessary.

And, Tay has her Girl Scouts. This is the most workout we get at Girl Scouts (pull-ups to look in at a local public pool because we didn't want to pay for the pass to get in).  But, we earned the Hong Kong Expert Patch for learning (hands-on) about this wonderful city.

Claire's workouts consist of playing the violin. She walks to the bus and home from the bus, but she exerts no more energy than is absolutely required, so we don't allow her to count that as exercise. Her bus stop is at the beach, which is about a 30 second walk 

During fourth grade, her violin practice at home was painful, especially for Hank (actually, Hank still whines every time she plays, but Claire has convinced herself he is just communicating how much he likes the music). 

Now, we love it!

In the taxi on the way to the concert, she actually said, "I love this feeling I'm having in my stomach right now." I mentioned that it sounded like butterflies before a performance, but she said she had no fears or anxiety, just excitement. I believe this means she's a PERFORMER at heart.

Of course, there was this sporty event that was disguised as a birthday party recently, so Claire was sucked in.
Claire's sweet friend invited our family to join her 10th birthday party on a squid fishing boat. Loads of fun, truly. And, Claire had to stand to fish (exercise in her book).

Spring in the South

We don't really have spring in Hong Kong. It is green and dry in the winter, and green and wet in the summer. The leaves in HK don't change to brilliant oranges and yellows to eventually reveal stark limbs. The leaves don't have the chance to die in such beautiful colors only to come back fresh and strong. 

I miss the distinct seasons.

When we got to the US in early April it was beautiful to see the trees changing from their starkness to the fresh new greenery of the early spring season. As we drove from Atlanta to Alabama back to Georgia and on to North Carolina, we paid a bit closer attention to the trees in the higher elevations still waiting for their color while the trees in the lowlands were in full bloom. 

When we are away from things or people for long periods of time. we are better at noticing the little things and being thankful for those little things. We don't notice the time we don't get with those we miss and love; instead, we absorb the time before us without wasting a second. This was never more poignant than this very short trip home when we lost our sweet Aunt Ann.

When Forrest graduated I wasn't really sad like many parents around me. And, that felt strange. I felt guilty. But, I was thrilled for him. He had such great plans for his gap year. When he was in Laos for the first third of his gap year, he was geographically close and I seemed to feel that closeness. When he went to Alabama to study at Legacy, he was 8000 miles away, and I seemed to feel that, as well. This is when I started to feel the pangs of graduation. 

And, when I saw him at Legacy, I was in tears. But, I still didn't notice the time I was missing with him. I was content with the few days. I wanted to absorb the time with him and not waste my thoughts on what we didn't have.

But, this is easy around Forrest. He doesn't waste time with people. When you are around him, he is fully engaged, so you walk away filled to the brim. He does this to everyone.

It's because he is so engaged in people and so engaged in life that we didn't exactly have the time to do university tours in the year before he was applying to uni. He applied to schools all over the US, but taking time out of his busy schedule to visit those schools was just impossible. So, we relied on the wonderful photos on school websites, and we relied on the local university reps in Hong Kong.

Then, we relied on his adventurous grandmother to take him to visit this school he accepted sight unseen. He had a few days between Legacy and the start of his final leg in the gap year at JH Ranch in California, so they flew to DC and made the rounds.

Rest for a Day - Korea - March 2017

The trip to Seoul was technically Taylor's "Daddy trip" for her 14th birthday. But, like her 5 year old "Daddy trip," Mom was preferred (couldn't think of a kinder word - sorry Jeff).

Every three years, each child gets a Daddy Trip. We try to land the trips on birthday years, 5, 8, 11, 14, etc.

But, for Taylor's 14th birthday, she planned a very special trip to visit the Baby's Reception home and her foster mother in Seoul. When Taylor was an infant Mrs. Lee cared for Taylor for almost eight months. To plan this trip Taylor had to contact the social welfare service in Seoul and ask for help in this matter. We both filled out paper work; there was information only I could supply, and there was information SWS needed specifically from Taylor in her own handwriting.

We put a date on the calendar and Mrs. Lee was asked to meet us at the SWS office in Seoul.
March 3, 2017

We have friends in Seoul who offered a place for us to stay, so we arrived in Seoul late on March 2nd. I decided we didn't need loads of time in Seoul for Taylor to get nervous, so we booked a short two-night stay, so we could be back in our home for her to process this experience.  It's only a 3.5 hour flight from Hong Kong, so it's a relatively easy trip.

On the morning of March 3rd, we were up at 8 am and out the door by 9:30. When we arrived at SWS Mrs Lee was already there. From the moment I saw her, I recognized Mrs Lee from Taylor's baby pictures. She didn't speak English, but she was smiling from ear-to-ear when we entered the room. She was calling Taylor, YouMee, which was her Korean name, and the name Mrs. Lee would have used while she was caring for Taylor in her home almost 14 years ago.  For the next 45 minutes she spoke through a translator about Taylor, and Taylor through the translator asked questions about that time in her life. 

Surprisingly, Taylor wasn't nervous at all. I think, deep in her soul, she she knew was finding pieces of herself that had been missing to her.

The only piece that Taylor could not find was something she wanted of her birth mother. Taylor didn't want to physically meet her birthmother, although we did find out that she is now married and living in Seoul, but she was hopeful there would be a photo of her in her file at SWS. She asked the post-adoption social worker if she could contact her birthmother and ask for a photo, but the social worker told Taylor she felt it would be best to wait for that request. I'm not sure I agreed and I promised Taylor we would revisit that request in a few months. 

Before leaving SWS we were given a tour of the Baby's Reception home where the newborns are living before they go into foster care or into a children's home. The Korean government has vastly changed the rules around international adoption in hopes that domestic adoption would take its place. Sadly, this isn't the case. 

As we were leaving SWS Taylor told me she wanted to learn Korean and someday return and work in the Baby's reception home. In a profound way, this trip gave Taylor peace.

About a year ago, our church showed a powerful video called, The DNA Journey. It's a five minute video and all the kids saw it and decided they wanted to have the test. Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw7FhU-G1_Q

As the kids were talking about this, I realized how this very affordable test from 23andMe might help Taylor and Claire find some pieces to their puzzles. We ordered DNA tests for Taylor and Claire (of course, Forrest, Jeff and Ellis all have kits on the way) and sent off for the basic ancestry test. It takes about two months to receive the results.

Taylor found she is 54%Korean, 38%Japanese, and the remainder Chinese. Claire found she is 68%Korean, 17%Japanese, and the remainder Chinese.

23andMe is a privately held personal genomics and biotechnology company based in Mountain View, California. The company is named for the 23 pairs of chromosomes in a normal human cell.^[1] Its saliva-based direct-to-consumer personal genome test was named Invention of the Year by Time magazine in 2008.^[2]

Friends from Afar - Feb 2017

We really love visitors, but we don't get a lot of visitors who are actually in our home to see us. We do have lots of people who need a place to stay in HK and find out about us through a friend or through our church; and these people become friends before leaving our home. But, they don't come to HK specifically to see us (especially considering they don't know us before arriving).

But, on the rare occasion, we get old friends or family who cross the globe to spend time with us. And, this is always a treat.

The Kapiloff family entered our lives before any of our children were born. Lenny and Jeff worked together at Home Depot in Atlanta. Lenny was twenty years Jeff's senior and as good as gold. As soon as Forrest and Ellis were old enough to eat ice cream, Lenny was treating them to desserts.  He said it was to listen to their cute southern accents. When Taylor arrived, Wendy was in our home within a day with treats and love. Sadly, we had moved away from Atlanta when Claire arrived, so she missed out on the spoiling.

They are a family you want to have by your side for life, and we feel like we have this in the Kapiloffs. But, sadly, Lenny died two years ago, in his early 60s.

Last month, his wife and youngest daughter, Ellen, made it to HK for a week. While we would have loved to have had Lenny here, we all brought his memory to life during this week.

The China Club

Bird Market - still a bit disturbing

Dragon's Back hiking trail - still against Claire's will.

And, a foot massage to end the week - perfect:-)