Today, I mailed packages to our two little guys in China. I included toys, candy, disposable camera, photos of our family, and assorted little items that a boy would enjoy. However, I didn't get too carried away sending things because Ben told us that he never received any of the items that I sent him, other than the photos of our family. I did enclose a short letter too, with John's help. Google translate, just so you know, is wayyy off the mark. I wrote the letter, translated with Google, and then showed it to John. He just laughed and said that half of it didn't even make sense. Lately, John has been helping other adoptive families write their letters too, for a small fee. He wrote a nice personal letter to a 12 year old girl from Beijing who will be coming home to her family next month. Other translation services can give accurate translations, but John can actually speak to the child's fears. John remembers what it was like, less than 2 years ago, to be pulled from his home, his culture, his friends and his "family." Fortunately, John also knows that he is fortunate to live here in America now. In the meantime, we just wait for April and hope our little guys adjust to our family as fast as John and Ben.
Great stuff here! Yeah - we have a friend who was happy to translate for us - and the on-line services only get about 'half' of it right. I have found that by using simple sentences and nothing with conjunctions or commas helps!
ReplyDeletehugs - aus and co.