China, Germany, Alabama, California

You just never know where people are going to end up, or where we'll re-connect with friends. Alice and I met in a yoga class in China. Later that year, she married her German boyfriend, Jens. I remember seeing them at the lake one night and telling her I was pregnant. To my surprise, she said "me too!" We enjoyed hanging out with them and said our good-byes when William and I left China in 2003.

We kept in touch a bit and visited them in 2006 when we went back to China. At that time we met their daughter Karen who is very close in age to Abraham. We again said our good-byes.

Well, they are now living in Alabama and were going back to China for a visit recently. They stopped off here for a couple days, so we got to see them again. This time, we got to meet their baby boy, Peter. It was so fun. Our two families are very comfortable together and it was really fun to watch the kids play, partiularly Abraham and Karen :)

We wish them a wonderful trip to China and I imagine the next time we'll see them will be when we are living there and they come over for a visit. But, who knows!

A beautiful, smart family: Jens, Alice, Peter, Karen Jens and Karen going "cherry picking" in our backyard. William reading to the girls. We took them to the Pleasanton farmer's market. Alice, Jens, Peter, Alexander William loved chatting with Jens. Karen playfully winks at me while Abraham intensely takes "his woman" by the hand :) Mei Mei's not sure what to think, but she's holding tightly to those crackers!

Alice and I spent most of our time cooking and chatting. Yes, I am aware that baby Alex is eyeing that knife... Mother and son playing in the front yard. Taking a picnic break at the market.