Girls Versus Boys

As I watch Quinn toddle around our living room, looking just as cute as she can be, I contemplate the series of events that brought her all the way from Datong City, China,  to my living room in Viborg,  South Dakota.  Mainly I think about the decisions that her birth mother had to make when she discovered that Quinn was a girl...with spina bifida.

Was she abandoned because she was a girl, or because she was a girl with a handicap?  The One Child policy in China has caused some problems in China that has been surfacing over the past few years due to the lack of potential wives for the many sons raised during the past 30 years since this policy began.

Cultural preferances are usually based on necessity.  My great grandparents raised 11 children on a farm, but large families were the norm back then.  The more hands available to work on the farm, the more land that could be farmed.  As our culture changed to 8-5 jobs and families living in the suburbs, the need for large families declined.  We became a "One girl, One boy" society, with the average family being 2.4 children.  (The .4 comes from those "crazy" families who went ahead, flaunting convention, and having "GASP".... 3 children!)

I think it's interesting that China is now having to rethink this policy and begin taking steps to address the gender imbalance that they are seeing.  This article below touches on some of the changing viewpoints, and some of the steps being taken currently to amend the gender imbalance trend.

http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4702-China-s-gender-crisis

I think that someday down the road, China will regret shipping off so many of their little treasures, like Quinn, to other parts of the world.  Hopefully they will come to understand that every child is a treasure and special, no matter what limitations they have. 

Our group's three treasures~  (yes, ours is the crabby one!)

Quinn was not happy having her picture taken!

Quilted memories

Yesterday we went to Sioux Falls to celebrate two of my cousin's birthdays, visit my aunt in her new "digs" and have lunch together.

With the move came the necessity to downsize, so my cousins had spent many hours splitting up family momentos and photos, along with other unnecessary "stuff".  

Because of my love of quilts, I was bequethed this special momentum from many years ago, that belonged to my aunt's mother, my Grandma Mik.

Each family had made at least one square that would represent their family, and it was put together as a gift for my Grandma Mik for her birthday many years ago.  After 20 years,  it is somewhat ragged and showing the effects of use, but it is special to me and I will cherish it always. :-)
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Meanwhile, I finally finished the quilt that I was working on for Quinn.  I picked alot of fun colors and soft textures, to stimulate her senses and also give her something that she will want to cuddle up with for comfort.  If you look closely, you can see her name and her birthday stitched in one of the middle pink squares.

Quinn Dec 16, 2009

  [Okay people, I've got the quilt done, her suitcase packed, and I'm READY TO GO!!!  So send the approval already!!!]

By the way, I just have to add that I am always so proud to take my kids to gatherings, because they pull out the manners that they may not use around Mom and Dad all the time, and they are AWESOME around others!  The girls didn't complain one bit about all of us old people sitting around and visiting at an Assisted Living home, and they were friendly and able to hold a conversation with an adult. 

They make this momma proud!

Luke's Quilt

FINALLY got Luke's quilt done- check that off of my winter project list. :-)

There's something about putting together a quilt for my kids- selecting fabric and patterns that I think they will like, spending the time piecing it together, every stitch applied, making something special for them from me. 

My hope is that my children will treasure these quilts and share them with their own children someday.  I still have a quilt made by my Grandma Haugen, and it's one of my most treasured possessions.  She made it herself specifically to cover and warm her family, and that loving intention carries through to those who use the quilts. 

The quilts I make for my family may not be the prettiest or the best, but I hope that every time my kids wrap themselves up in them, they know how much they are loved.