Slam dunk!

Check out my fish


First time on a horse

At school

5th grade graduation!

It's been a long year, but he is finally done with elementary school! Brighton did so well. He passed his math and english TAKS and almost passed his science TAKS. He is so happy that he doesn't have to go to summer school. He had all A's all year on his report card. I'm going to miss Audra, his teacher, very much!

Brighton just finished his second year of swim lessons and has informed me that he doesn't need anymore lessons. He says swimming is for fun, not for learning...hahaha! We met a family at swim lessons that adopted two girls from China. They were both in Brighton's swim class. He wasn't impressed with his new bur haircut for summer. He likes it long on top so he can gel it up.

He's now officially taller than everyone in our house except Josh. He grew so fast! It must be the good food. I'm actually really happy that he's gotten bigger. He will start junior high next year. It will be good that he's bigger than most of the boys. I'm still very nervous about him going to SFA. It's something I'm praying about, but still nervous none-the-less.

We're off to a great summer! June is very busy so far. We are getting Dani ready for camp, which is getting Brighton excited about his first summer camp coming up.

Our Silly Actor!

This child cracks me up! He is always looking for ways to make us laugh, and then HE can't stop laughing, which makes us laugh even harder. His sisters were dressing up and being silly, so he decided he needed some GLAMOUR shots as well. You know Mom can't refuse because this is such great blackmail material for when he's older! hahahaha!

Brighton's teacher and I met last week so I could sign papers for his laptop. He is SO excited to be the temporary owner of a laptop. She told me how awesome he's doing at school and I was so very proud! Ok, well, I'm ALWAYS proud, but he is excelling beyond what I had imagined for this school year. My boy is so smart!

The boys have been out working on the boat all weekend. They are determined to have it ready for the water very soon. Can't wait to get pictures out on the water.

Look at my LITTLE Boy!!!!!

Happy New Year everyone! This year I am going to try to be a better poster to Brighton's web page. This past year flew by and I realized that I hardly made any entries.

Brighton will be starting the second half of his last year in elementry school. I think he's the biggest boy in the school! Part of my heart aches a little that he's growing so fast and will be running with the big boys next year.

Brighton went deer hunting with his daddy for the first time the weekend before Christmas. David has some really cute phone pics of brighton sleeping in the blind. he wasn't in to it at all. When I asked him if he had fun he shook his head no and signed that it was VERY cold out there and there was nothing to do. LOL! I don't think my big guy is into deer hunting. He'd much rather draw them.

Christmas came this year like a fast moving freight train and was here and gone before I could blink. Is this how it is as we age; the older we get, the faster it goes? Brighton and Josh spent two hours together Christmas morning building a huge KNEX roller coaster and then playing with their helicopters. It was so cute to see them playing together like little boys. Tracy came with the kids and stayed the night. Brighton got a chance to play with his cousin Austin who is 14 and 6'5".

Brighton started Upward basketball again and will be playing his first game soon. I'm really pumped about him playing basketball at SFA. He really is good at it. He's still determined to be as tall as Yao.

Josh moved out this past week. Brighton was really sad about it. He really looks up to his big brother. I am hoping that Josh will spend more quality time with him when he comes over since they aren't seeing each other daily now. Brighton went to work with his daddy one day this week and made Josh a wooden sword. Josh wants to make one for him so they can have a sword battle. Yay! (sarcasm) LOL! I'll have to come up with some shields for my knights. I'll roll Brighton is shipping foam and make him a 5 gallon bucket helmet for his head. HAHAHAHA!

Who's THIS clown? LOL!

It's been so long since I updated Brighton's blog! I couldn't wait to post this funny pic of him though. We went to our church for the fall festival. Brighton wanted to be a clown. I have several more photos I need to post, but they will have to wait till I can upload them all.

Our little archer and his very tired daddy just arrived home this evening from Oklahoma City. Brighton was so happy to see me that he teared up and wouldn't let go of me. I wasn't sure how this was going to go, with my not being there with him out of town for so long. He's doing quite a bit better with his abandonment issues and doesn't seem to mind being separated so much from Mom and Dad anymore.

Brighton was signing a million miles a minute, telling me all about the tournament. He said that it was very windy and he was having trouble balancing. He was very frustrated that he didn't shoot well. The doctor in Bethesda said that he would have these balance issues for the rest of his life, so I wasn't surprised. He will just have to learn to live with the fact that he won't shoot well in rain or wind or any other condition that might make balancing an issue. I asked him if he had fun and he said yes. I told him "Well then, it was a great tournament! He was so excited about the gifts he received when he got there. He couldn't wait to show them all to me. What a fantastic idea! He told me that he met quite a few kids and they were all really, really nice. He even remembered the name of one of the boys and fingerspelled his name to me. He said he was really nice to him.

White House

US Capitol in background. (we were too tired to walk there)

Part of the Vietnam wall with the name of a man my mom knew

WWII Memorial

Beautiful rainbow over a beautiful boy

We walked to the Vietnam Memorial in the rain. It stopped raining about the time we got there. A beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky, and Brighton told me that it is a sign from God to show He would not flood the entire earth again!

Brighton was really shocked at how many names were on the wall. After learning about the history of our wars, I hope he's getting a better picture of how important it is to honor the men and women who sacrificed so much so that we can be a free nation.

He knew what this monument was before we even got inside! Thank you Mrs. Walsh!

Can you tell what he's signing?

Reach out and touch the Washington Monument!

My sweet boy and I. Look how tall he's gotten!

We took the Metro into Washington DC on Monday. Riding the subway was an experience in itself. Brighton was fascinated by how fast it goes. It was raining in DC, so I was happy that I remembered to pack my umbrella. We walked to the Washington Monument, the WWII Monument, the Memorial to the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, the Reflecting Pool, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Office Building, and the White House. We were way too tired to walk to the capitol.

I told Brighton to go knock on George's door and ask him if we could come in for supper, but he pointed to the police and said we would get arrested! He seems to have this fear of police that I think stems from the way we were treated in the subway (long story) and in China. I walked up to an officer and asked him if he thought it would be okay if we knocked on the presidents door to see if we could eat there. He laughed and talked with us a bit. Brighton seemed more at ease around them after that. He was more impressed with the people riding around on Segways than he was seeing the White House.

When our plane was taxiing to the runway at the airport the pilot slammed on the brakes, throwing us all into the seats in front of us. Everyone was looking at each other with shocked expressions. Brighton asked me what happened. The pilot then apologized and explained that a coyote ran across the runway and everyone starting laughing!

"Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

Testing at the National Eye Institute and the National Institute on Deafness and other Communicative Disorders at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland

I bet you don't have contacts like mine!

Don't worry....his eyes were numb!

Dr. Zalewski putting on the goggles

Getting ready to spin really fast!

We are finally through with all of the eye and ear testing! It took two long days. Brighton was a trooper, but was really exhausted afterwards. I learned so much while I was there. Dr. Zalewski made it a point to detail everything he was doing and explained vestibular function so well that I feel like an expert now. This was the first time I've ever been to a doctor who was nice enough to explain what he was doing and why he was doing it.

Brighton has no vestibular function. He will never be able to balance with his eyes closed. He doesn't know when he's falling. He has learned to compensate by using his vision to be able to tell when things are moving around him. The doctor said to NEVER let him swim in the ocean! he must have a life vest on ay all times in a lake. When he's in a pool he can wear goggles to help him know which way is up by opening his eyes under water. When he loses his sight, he will no longer be able to balance himself.

The interpreters we had were very kind. The couple that interpreted for Brighton during the audiology testing were amazing! I am so thankful that they were there.

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

JOAD Outdoor 2008 - Lakeside

(a visitor)

Look what Brighton made! He asked if he could make Chinese dumplings. He mixed the ingredients, rolled out the dough, filled them with chicken and pinched the dough together. They were fantastic!

First time at swim lessons!

Brighton and Tanner passed their class!

Brighton took swim lessons at Adamson Lagoon this summer for the first time. His friend Tanner, who is also deaf and is in his class at school, was also in the swim class! Tanner's mom made sure the parks department set up an interpretor for the kids. They always give her such a hard time about it. It's frustrasting to always have to fight for your rights or your child's rights. I've been told that you never really get used to it and that we'll be fighting for him until he's 18, and then he'll be fighting for his equal rights as a disabled adult for the rest of his life.

I called the public library and requested an interpretor for "Snakes Alive!" for the boys on Wednesday after swim lessons. They had no problem getting an interpretor and were very kind! The boys had a really good time and loved touching the snakes. EEEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Psalm 150:6

Playing the recorder with the rest of the 4th grade class!

Getting his music award

Getting award from principal for being on the A Honor Roll all year!

School is out, and Brighton Sheng did fantastic! He received straight A's all year at school and only missed one day of school, and that was the day we went to Austin to finalize our adoption. He's also growing like a weed. When we arrived here in the US from China, he weighed 80lbs. and was only as tall as my shoulders. Now he weighs 120 and is as tall as me!

We're having a busy, busy, busy summer! Right now Brighton Sheng is taking swimming lessons and attending Vacation Bible School on the same week. Yesterday, we managed to squeeze in a trip to the library for Snakes Alive! He LOVED the snakes and even petted them...EEEKKKK!!

We leave for Maryland and Washington DC in two weeks for Brighton Sheng's appointments at the National Eye Institute. He is now a participant in their study on Usher Syndrome. I'm hoping to get a little bit of a better picture about his condition and what to expect for the future. We are going to go to see the White House while we are there. Maybe Sheng can run for president!!! : )

Our Re-Adoption of Brighton Sheng Anderson is Now Complete!!!!

Well, it looks like blogger isn't going to let me make paragraphs again. (not sure why it does this from time to time)

We traveled to San Antonio yesterday, March 26, 2008, to re-adopt Brighton Sheng. He will now get his U.S. birth certificate and social security number. He was so excited! When we first walked into the hallway to get to the courtroom, there were hundreds of photographs of babies and children who were adopted through that very court

Attorney Jana Olson Baker was just a blessing. She is one of the sweetest people I've met in this entire process! She came bearing gifts for the kids, a U.S. flag for Brighton Sheng, and she even offered to take photos for us. She told us her son is attending A&M! WHOOP!

Judge Martha Tanner was also really wonderful and down-to-earth. Her courtroom was very comfortable and she really made us feel at ease. She allowed Brighton Sheng to sit in her chair and hold her gavel. After the process was completed, she invited us all to stand behind her for a group photo. Brighton Sheng got to hold her large gavel, and she handed more out to the rest of our children. Josh got to hold the tiniest gavel! It was really a pencil with two erasers positioned horizontally at the top of the pencil.

After we left the court, we walked down the Riverwalk and ate there as well. Brighton Sheng kept commenting on how beautiful it was there. We found out the Riverboat Cruise was booked, so we will have to travel back to San Antonio so he can ride it.

We walked to the Alamo and toured the old mission. Brighton Sheng loved the cannons! He also liked throwing money into the old well and making a wish. It was a long and happy day!

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

Order in Judge Sheng's court!

Signing The Pledge of Allegiance for Judge Tanner (momma forgot to put her hand over her heart....she was interpreting the pledge for the judge)

We can ask him whatever we want. He HAS to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth! hehehe!

Our family with Judge Martha Tanner

A cannon at the Alamo

Visiting the Alamo

Bridge over the Riverwalk in San Antonio

Brighton Sheng with momma

Spring Break camping Trip

Fishing for the big one!

Roasting marshmallows over the campfire