15

That'd be 15 days! 


15 SHORT long days until we leave for China!


Beautiful day today.  


Chilly, crisp, bright blue sky.


Church.


Linden Hills and Lake Harriet ramble.


Final ice cream of the season at Sebastian Joe's.


The great stick pick-up in the yard (makes me think it's a miracle the trees are even alive.  Man, they are shedding little sticks like crazy).


First Signs video watching for us all tonight!  A little video that introduces first sign language signs so that we can all use a few signs when Emma Kate is first learning English.  


I learned yesterday that she is speaking Minnan, not Mandarin.  All the kids in her orphanage speak this dialect.  I'm not sure if she will understand Mandarin or not.  I don't know if they are closely related enough that there is overlap.  Emma Kate's province has the most dialects of any province in China.  Interesting fact.  It is very mountainous, and difficult to travel, so the languages between villages remain distinct.
It was fascinating to me to read about that aspect of her home province.  


In China, a province is akin to what we call our states.  So her birth city is Jinjiang.  Her province is Fujian and her country is...China!


JinJiang, Fujian, China


15 days, baby girl!  We are coming!