The annual Christmas missive

Merry Christmas and Happy
New Year. We hope this finds
You and your family happy
and healthy.

First, we are very proud to announce the
long awaited arrival of Mia Grace ChengJin. Born November 26, 2006, in the People’s Republic of China, she was home to be ours forever September 10, 2007. Our life will never be the same and for that we are grateful. God has again been very good to us this year.

Of course, we did have the option of making the above announcement by mounting a big, purple inflatable animal on our roof. We know nothing is as classy as making an announcement with a big purple gorilla but, unfortunately, the only one we could find was sitting on top of the local Porsche dealership. Plus, we had to send our annual missive to make sure you don’t forget just how shiny and happy we all are in the Anchaya-Pepper household. Least you forget, we did include a picture. Don’t let the fact that the shine is from sweating anxiously deter you. We never do.

This year began pretty similar to all others. Early resolutions to lose the holiday weight were more than successfully achieved by removing all household mirrors that reflected anything from the neck down. Other awesome successes included my being able to thread a needle, at least once, without any reading glasses and selecting just the right pansies for the neighborhood deer. Apparently, blue and yellow just scream “salad”.

We also took several amazing and exotic vacations. In March, we took Aidan to the Tennessee aquarium for his second and final hurrah as an indulged only child. We successfully completed the entire visit without me pushing him into the water like I did in 2006. Oddly, Aidan only wanted to walk while hanging on to his Dad. Although exciting, it was no match for another totally awesome attraction we discovered in Chattanooga that dealt with road service. Just doesn’t get much better than that. We also took Aidan to Stone Mountain Park for his third and final hurrah as an only child. However, our hurrahing had become much more efficient. As we made our way to Stone Mountain we made a safety stop at the half-way point to replenish our provisions and to make sure everyone got a good stretch. We then drove the remaining 7 miles.

Of course, much of our vacation schedule is dictated by what day is the hottest on record and where we can find a large cartoon character to pose with. Of course, the combination does result in a new character, Stinky Sponge Bob. We’ll spare you.

Aidan played soccer in a park league and seemed to like it although he found defense to be remarkably similar to standing in one place for a long time. However, he was willing to endure as he got to wear really cool shiny blue shoes and partake of communal Gatoraide.

Our big event was on August 3rd, when we got the long awaited call that China matched us with Mia. Robert and I left on September 5th to go meet her. We first went through Hong Kong where we learned useful things like 4 is the unluckiest number, if your building looks like a cigarette you’d better put a pool on top or it will definitely burn, and if you don’t keep your tub and shower plugged your energy will just be sucked right out. Can’t tell you how silly we felt since we always thought the energy drain was from our work schedule or the kids. From Hong Kong we went to Guangzhou where we checked into a hotel on Shamian island for a two week stay. Fortunately, there was a floor attendant who came into our room every time we left to ensure that the sink and tub were plugged. We tempted the fates a couple of times but because I was about to turn 44, we decided we best not push it and started putting those plugs in. We were matched with Mia on September 10th and we love her dearly. We did get to travel to her orphanage and got to see the very special Cantonese cuisine. Fortunately, the bread was very, very good.

ince our return, we have all been little scientists. First, we got to demonstrate the impact of 12 hour’s jet lag on the aging body. Not pretty. We also quickly discovered the principal that adding one little girl geometrically fills up a minivan. As we don’t have one, we have made the necessary adjustments like taking her to church without any shoes, especially in the jet lag test period. Mia has found gravity to be a fascinating force that she loves to interact with. She has been conducting experiments on terminal velocity from her high chair, crib, chair, floor, and car seat. She has discovered that the importance of a test object is directly proportional to how hard it is for one of her parents or her brother to retrieve it. Objects tested from her car seat during rush hour have the greatest value. Aidan has been continuously researching chaos theory with Mia’s assistance. They spend quite a bit of time in the morning and after school working together on this project. Aidan is a very patient researcher who has taken Mia under his wing. We would love to know how you and your family are doing. We are at pjoan@bellsouth.net. Merry Christmas!