If someone asks me, "What makes you feel most proud?" I will answer without hestiation "my daughter!" She has a beautiful name "Ruxu" from a Chinese ancient poem.

Time flits by. In the first days of my pregnancy, I knew nothing and was always anxious about it. Everyday I worried about her health and stuck myself in the books about pregnancy. But the joys of gestating a new life filled my heart. Every time I came to see the doctor, I always asked her, "Doctor, how pretty is my daughter? Are her eyes big? Is her nose high?" And the doctor answered smilingly, "Yes, she is so beautiful." Don't laugh at me, every new mother likes to do that.

When I first saw her face, I forgot everything that I had suffered including the uncomfortable first three months, the anxiety during the whole pregnancy, and the fifteen-hour long birth pangs. She has my eyes, nose and chin and her father's eyebrows, mouth and ears. God is so fair for my husband and me. In those days one of the favorite things was to watch her sleeping. I like to watch her pink and delicate face, watch her long and dark eyelashes, listen to her even breathing, and smell her thin and milky fragrance emanating from her body. Sometimes she sighed in her dream. I really don't know if babies dream or not. Maybe she was missing the quiet time in her mom's womb.

When Ruxu was ten months old, she began to speak. I was so excited about the first "Mama" from her babyish voice. She likes music; she can even dance to her favorite song On Beijing's Jinshan Mountain. She is very courteous and always has a sweet smile for everybody. And she is too energetic to stay silent, except when she concentrates on Lego.

I will never forget that day, November 11, 2005. She opened her arms, giggled, and walked to her grandmother with shaky steps. Everyone was so excited to applaud and cheer at her first steps. On that day, she was one year, two months and five days old.

As time goes by, now she is sixteen months old. We are so gratified that she is growing up very happily and healthily. I think in each mother's eyes her child is always the smartest one in the world. So do I. Ruxu can count from one to ten; she likes to paint, though I still don't understand what she is painting. If we ask her, "What's your name? How old are you?" she always answers loudly and proudly, "My name is Xu, Chen is my last name. This year I'm two years old!" So lovely! Two days ago, she showed us how to play violin. Though it sounded like sawing, in our ears, this was the most beautiful music in the world.

Words to Ruxu

Honey, I feel so proud and satisfied to have you. You are the biggest treasure in my whole life. With your first crying, you came into this world. It meant the beginning of my new wonderful life. You are the best gift God gave us. With you, my life is perfect. I'd like to spend my whole life protecting you, watching over you. I want you to live in love and grow up healthily and happily.

Honey, you are so cute! You give us endless joys. You are so smart! Your clear eyes always understand the family's love for you. My biggest regret is that I can't accompany you all the time. I promise you in the future, I will accompany you every day. I will tell stories to you, play games with you, teach you to sing songs and paint with you. -- Everything I can do for you.

Anway, I love you! You are my angel baby forever, forever...

In the beginning was so hard and we were so scared of how we can make life over here.

Every single day and month was better. We learned lots and life was every day more exciting.

The first car we bought was something special to us. And all what is happening after was easy.

Now I have grandchildren who are very important in my life. I am so happy when they are with me. I like to give them all my love. I have three grandchildren, two girls and a boy. The boy is my first big love.

Now he has started talking, walking and touches everything. He makes a big mess in the house, but I am so proud of him.

I just want to thank God for healthy life, and my family.

I am so happy that after leaving my 17-year old daughter, God has given me another little baby. Because I pray to my God everyday, God has given me a beautiful baby. My baby's name is Sabar. She is now 4 months old, and she is an American citizen. I love her.

My husband and my daughter are very happy. My daughter was afraid before but now she has a sister. This news is good for our big family. Thank God. Thank you.

Joshua loved everything; he was a very happy baby. One of his favorite things to do was to play on the floor with his cousin Matt; they were a month apart. They would try their hardest to take toys away from each other. Matt was the oldest, so he learned to crawl first. Joshua would get mad because Matt could crawl away. So he started doing what my husband called "Joshua's army crawl," using his arms and toes to scoot across the floor on his belly. Josh got very good at this. Then Josh began chasing Matt around. They were very funny to watch because when Josh caught Matt they would start laughing.

Another of Joshua's favorite things to do was eat. His favorite foods were bananas, applesauce, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes, and, of course, his bottle. He ate so much that I started calling him "chunky monkey," because he got so chubby. Every time he would see someone with food he'd start laughing and smiling.

Joshua's first word was "Momma," but when Daddy walked into the room his eyes would light up. Josh learned to recognized the sound of Daddy's car when it puled into the driveway. Josh would cry if Daddy didn't talk to him first when he walked into the room. Josh loved it at bedtime because while I got ready for bed, Daddy would play with him. Joshua's favorite game was peek-a-boo. Daddy would hold up Josh's blanket and say, "Where's the baby," and Josh would pull the blanket down to show his face.

September 26, 2005, Joshua died. That was the day I thought I would die. If not for Jacob and Jeremy, I probably would have. I have to be strong for them because they are only four and five, and don't understand why their baby brother is gone. The only thing I can tell them is that Joshua is in heaven looking all over us. I will always think of Josh as my chunky little angel, because that gets me through the day when I would rather just lie down and die.

I said, "Oh, no." I said, "Just lay down until I get there." I only had 30 minutes left of work. When I got home she was in great pain.

I asked her what happened. She said, "Snow boarding on ice."

I had to call the first aid to get her out of the house.

When we got to the hospital, we went to three different offices. I'm, like, I have no insurance, please don't waste my money.

They finally decided to do surgery, and my bill was $13,000.

My parents are U Aung Han and Daw Hla Kyi.

I have one brother and three sisters.

My father died in 1997. My mother is now 76 years old.

They live in a small town of Burma.

I am a favorite son of my mother. Because I was a bad son, I get my mother's cherish.

I always remember my mother.

I have a pretty wife. Her name is Khin Win Yee.

I have a son. His name is Alex Nay Do Lwin.

My son is the most beautiful boy in the world.

I hope all family members gather in the near future.

Well, let me tell you about the four cutest, wonderful, brown colored and climbs all over everything that I have. But, let me just stop right here. Can you take a guess on what I'm talking about?...No, well let me go on.

They run through the house. They climb on everything including me. Always eating! They are also loving, sometime they curl up around my feet. They are some of the cutest little bundles of joy you have ever seen, to me anyway.

Do you know now? Do you just want me to tell you what I am talking about...Give up, do you? OK, I'll just tell you. The most wonderful, loving, caring subjects I am talking about are my four children.

You would never think that I was talking about my children, but I was. My two wonderful girls and my two wonderful boys. They are my "of what."

But life hasn't always been peaches and cream either. I'm a single mom. It's hard being both mom and dad to my child. I won't have it any other way. It's a struggle, but I know we can make it if we try. My son's father has never been in his life and that is how I want to keep it. Because I have always heard, "You can't miss something you never had."

I remember when I was a child and how I was happy to have both of my parents. It was a good time and I miss my childhood at times. Just thinking back on all the good times I had when I was a child, full of love and happiness, no worries, not a care in the world.

Life isn't always so good and happy. Ever since I lost my mother in May of 2004, it was hard and still is a hard and bad time for me. My mother was everything to me. She was a strong and well-rounded woman. Until the day I die, she will be forever in my heart and in my mind. But I know she is not suffering and in pain anymore. She has gone to be with the Lord. My mother was a true believer in the Lord. So, I know she is happy and peaceful.

My life has changed a lot. I guess it is all a test to see how much you can take and how much you are willing to fight to stay alive. I would say my life now is not much different from others. I stay with my father since my mother passed. It is hard at times. There have been times I wanted to give up, but I know the Lord doesn't put anymore on you than you can bear. So, I'll keep on keeping on.

I have started a class to get my GED. When I do, I want to take some computer classes. I want to further my education and hopefully get a good job so I can better raise my child and help him with the things he will ask and or need of me. I know that with a strong mind and strong will anything is possible. With my life as it is now, I can start a new beginning and make the best of what I have and will become.

The journey I took with you was one of the hardest things for me to do, but once we started, it was very comforting to me to know you were not alone. Before Mom passed, one of the last things she said was for us to stick together. So I stayed through the good and bad.

There were good days when you came and built the rock flower bed for me. There were bad days when your legs would swell so bad that water would run from them, like squeezing water our of a wash cloth. However, through it all, we stuck together, you and me.

April 2003, you were diagnosed with liver cancer and also severe diabetes. During the time of surgery and afterwards you always had that smile and a positive attitude. Saying, "I'm, o.k.," not knowing what was coming the next day.

After coming home from the hospital, home care came in to help provide the care that was needed for you. The pain and suffering that came your way is hard to forget. There were times I would just sit with you and cry but with your gentle hand and touch you would say, "I'm o.k." As time went on, you needed more medical attention, a nursing facility was needed. My heart broke to see you there because having been the strong person you were, life seemed very dim for you. I stood beside always knowing that you were a fighter, an encourager to me. You would sing the song that you had made for you and me. "I'm your Bro Bro wherever I go go." Even when you were very weak, the song never stopped being sung.

I knew our walk together was coming to an end. On October 29, 2004, I came to see you at the nursing facility where you lived. Walking in the room, as always saying "Hey Bro Bro," you would always answer, but not this time. Shaking you did not help either. I knew something was really wrong. That night we got a call. I knew you were leaving me. You left from our journey together October 30, 2004. We are no longer traveling in bodies together. But I will never stop traveling with you in my heart.

Things I hold dear to my heart are things like when I was a little girl having a nightmare. I'd get up and go to my mom's and dad's room. Both of them would tell me to come here with their arms open like they knew I was coming. They would say, "Everything will be alright."

There are a lot more memories of my dear parents, but one that comes out a lot is when I look at my daughter. It was when I found out I was pregnant with her. I was scared and my mom and dad said, "We will always be here for you and help you any way we can. Remember that we love you and that will never change." My mom and dad were always supportive, no matter what. Like when I told them I was I was going to get my GED. They both said, "You can do it if you put your mind to it." I still hear them saying that.

My world came tumbling down on Monday, June 27, 2005. I went to the hospital to see my mother. There was a note on the door saying, "Report to the nurse's station." So I did and they told me that my mother had passed away. The only thing that I could do was scream and ask, "WHY". Now I know she is at peace and watching over us and loving us.

Then, I only had my father left, but not really because he was dealing with Alzheimer's and losing his wife, my mother. His journey came to an end on Sept.6, 2005 when he passed away. Finally, he too was at peace. We all were there with him and holding his hand - showing him we understood. At least I know he's up there with his wife, together up in heaven's paradise.

At least I have all these memories from when I was a child to comfort me 'til we meet again. So I want to say, "I will always love you Margaret and James, my dear parents. I dedicate this essay to you. I love you and miss you a lot."

traditional family consists of a father, mother and siblings. In modern times a family can be made up of more than just the traditional family and extend to combine other relatives and close friends. In my opinion whether a family is extended or traditional, each is a precious gift sent from above. The gift of family provides protection, caring, and love for one another, which is essential for every individual person.

I had the traditional family growing up. My own little family consists of two girls and me. While we've had some hard times, we always have love and understanding for one another. I am truly blessed by my little family and beyond.

When we left France five years ago to live in the United States, we stopped this heavy treatment. After two and a half years of integration and thinking, we decided to take the adoptive route, a way passing through a jungle populated by lawyers ready to help for a "good" price (something above $30,000) to adopt a Chinese baby and adoption agencies asking us if we were baptized at church. These were not our values. Children are too precious to be traded like merchandise and our spirituality has nothing to do with adoption.

So we contacted Social Services of Missouri (where we were living at this time) and engaged the public process by enrolling in a sixty-hour class for future foster care and adoptive parents. Following this was a home study, and finally came the time to choose children.

We had three criteria guiding our choice: we wanted siblings, as young as possible, with the least possible psychological and physical problems. This particularly after hearing all the stories and experiences from social workers during training sessions (alcohol syndrome, drug exposure, aids...)

Then, we made a great great great great great great great great (sorry) choice! We adopted DEJA and LAMONDRE, sister and brother, three and four year old, handsome and wonderful African American kids.

Adoption is always two-sided. Parents adopt children and children adopt parents. The big challenges of the first year, and even after, were in building bonds with our kids, knowing them, doing the right things, finding the right answers to their questions, and, most important, building trust.

At the beginning, it was difficult, as both of them were attached to their foster care family, and once more they lost their family. We were strangers. Deja attached rapidly thanks to the tenderness we provided. Lamondre showed a perfect behavior, but with time, we discovered, he felt pain and anger as consequences of attachment disorder.

Now Lamondre is almost seven and Deja almost six. Both are in elementary school. Lamondre is a good student, and Deja is one of the best in her class. Lamondre is gifted in sports. He plays soccer with eight and nine-year old children and practices karate. Deja plays guitar, dances, and also practices karate. Their behavior is so much better. They seem happy, and we are, too.

Like my wife says, if God didn't allow us to have birth children, it is because he knew Deja and Lamondre needed parents to give them a new beginning in life and a chance.

Everyday, she wakes up at 6:00 a.m. and gets her children ready for school. Then she walks to the hospital where she works from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Three years ago, in the morning Elines was feeling ill. Then she made an appointment and look for a doctor. The doctor asked Elines how she had been feeling. "Today I had a headache." Then the doctor checked Elines' blood pressure and when he looked at it the doctor told Elines that she should get help immediately because Elines' blood pressure was very elevated. She went to undergo surgery immediately. Her case was very serious and she got treatment of her disease by medical operation. I remember that news was very sad for everybody. She stayed there for 2 weeks. Today she is very well and she is very happy.

Every weekend I go to her house and I play there with my nieces, Carol and Leticia. She makes good food and I always eat there.

One day I decided to take her to a place where I thought she'd be bored and never ask me to take her out any more. And surprisingly, she said, "I really like going out with you, Nga, even though the place makes me bored. But you know that is because I love you and I always want to stay together with you. I'm so proud to have a sister like you."

I was almost shocked at that time and I realized that she's older than her age. She has more love and is more generous than me. I'm staying in the US and I'm far away from her now. That was what I wanted before. But in my mind, she's always the most important person that I love. I want to tell her "I miss you so much." She's always a little little pig in my heart.

He knows the "correct" answer.

As a good wife I've already educated him.

"Yes, I know."

I don't care whether it is an honest answer or not. It is my only strategy to brainwash him. It seemed almost successful. One day I made "fusion food" for dinner. But he said it was just "all mixed up edible something." (Actually, I agreed with him, secretly.)

Finishing kitchen work, I sat on the sofa beside him. He was watching T.V., and I asked, "Do you know how good a wife you have?"

"Uh-huh...," he mumbled.

"Hmm, uh-huh?"

I had to confirm whether my brainwashing still worked or not. "You must know how wonderful a wife you have, don't you?"

"Yes, yes," he replied as he watched the Golf Channel.

After a little while I was folding well-dried clothes. Then he asked casually, "Do you want our boys to marry women just like you?"

"No, no...?...!"

Oops!

His eyes were still following Tiger Woods. But I could see his thinner eyes, widened nose and tightened mouth.

I bet he will pay for that -- soon!

I walked to McDonald's and ordered and paid for the food. I was singing so the voice knew I was back. The voice came out to eat its lunch; I stood there watching it eat. I asked the voice, "Why did you call out like that?" and it said, "Because I was so hungry."

I soon found out whose voice it was. It was my favorite Grandfather's voice that I heard calling me while I was in the graveyard looking for his tombstone. I said, "Grandpa, I'm glad that we found each other," and he said, "The same thing right back at you." So I told him I was going to check the rest of the graveyard out for some more voices. No more had I said that when I heard another voice yelling for help. This time the voice was very strange to me and I was scared to death by the sound of that voice! I followed the voice's sound to another grave about one mile down the path. The voice scared me and I screamed and started running as fast as I could run. I told the voice, "Leave me alone!" but it kept following me like a shadow so I hid behind a big tombstone where it wouldn't find me. I heard the voice run past me; it was a skeleton screaming for help. I didn't help the skeleton because it was just bones with no flesh on them -- you could see right through it. Then I saw six guys digging a grave. I walked over and said, "Hello." When they turned around I screamed because I was talking to six skeletons dressed in clothes. I ran so fast that I fell on my face! A rock knocked me unconscious, and when I woke up I was in the grave. I said, "Please get me out of this grave because I'm not dead yet!" They helped me out, I ran to the gate but it was locked, so I jumped the fence. I sped down the street to my house, and locked all the doors and windows.

I woke up in my bed and finally realized it was only a dream about my favorite grandfather. Even though I knew it was only a dream, I still felt scared because I was only a child at the time this happened. The next day we got the call that he had passed away. Now that I am an adult, I feel very sad and lonely without him. I have visited his grave to let him know that I still love him and miss him.

n the last day of December, I went to a hospital because I began to have birth pain. My husband and I worried about the baby. My stomach was aching for 10 hours, so I felt tired. Suddenly, it hurt so much that I called loudly for my husband to come and help me. My husband called a nurse. On January 1, 1995, my husband and I heard our baby's first cry. The baby's first cry was loud. We were extremely happy and excited.

The next day when we were coming home, it snowed. We were so happy because it felt special to come home with our baby in snow. My baby's name is Shinah.

have many Vietnamese friends, my some friends are married. In Vietnam when the girls grow up and they are enough eighteen, they can get married. But I have only one the best friend. She is not married. She is younger than me, she is so beautiful, kind, generous -- her family is poor, her parents are old. She has a brother and a sister, they are in high school. She is a travel agent, now she's working for a travelling company in Vietnam, so she has a lot of chances to travel and meet foreigners. She can speak four languages, that's English, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Vietnamese.

Although her family is poor, but they love and take care each other. She is oldest in her family so everything in her family she have to take care in her free time. She goes to some volunteer places to help them.

Although we live far from each other, we sometimes contact and email each other.

Two months ago, she called and told me she had a plan to go to Japan. Nowadays in Vietnam many companies make contract with a company in Japan for Vietnamese people to work in Japan. So, her friend recommended her to go to Japan. She really wanted to go but she couldn't decide because her parents are getting old. Some weeks later, she didn't want to go to Japan and she found one more job. She will be a receptionist and start to work in two weeks. She is a good friend. I admire her.

y father is my favorite family member. My father is very old fashion. He doesn't believe in doctors too much. He believes in his own way of medicine. He also has a good heart. He will do anything for you, if you ask him. His hobbies are watching television and being outside.

My favorite family gathering is at Christmas time. There is so much food we have lots of left-overs for two or three days. For Christmas, my sister does most of the cooking. She fixes the food and brings it down to my parents' house. There are so many of us we all can not eat at the family table. Some of us fix our plates and eat in the living room. We enjoy each other by laughing and talking. The sisters clean up after the meal and wash dishes. The men sit around talking about their cars and what went on in the news. They also like to watch the game on television.

What I cherish most about my family is that we try to get along with each other. The moments we spend together mean a lot to us. I also thank God for my family.

he birth of my child was an experience like no other. A beautiful, and most wonderful thing had occurred, and my life stood still, for what seemed like forever. I was happy, sad, and scared to death. I never knew how wonderful having a baby in my life would be. I couldn't sleep. I was so worried all the time, up and down, at all hours of the night, checking on the baby, and making sure he was okay, and comfortable. Feeding and changing the baby as often as needed was hard on me sometimes. Keeping a job was impossibility. So, my husband and I decided that having me stay home with the baby, while he worked, was best.

Now, after twelve years, and two more children later, I often ask myself, "How in the world, did I manage to keep it together?" Honestly, I don't know! What matters is I had fun, even though I didn't get paid. That didn't matter to me. Taking care of my children's every need, and having them happy, was all the pay I needed.

Now that twelve years have passed, I still as a mother, check on my children to see if they're still breathing, and comfortable, because my job as their mother never ends. I learn new things about my kids everyday. I also teach them new things as well. But as their mother, I often wonder, and worry about what the future holds for them. I can't picture them as adults right now, because that's too far for me to comprehend.

My focus right now is to teach them well. I want to help them through the most vulnerable times in their young lives. School is a hard place to feel in control all the time. Kids feel they have to look, act, and feel a certain way because of their peers. Maybe it's what they've read in a magazine, seen on television, the video games they play, and all the violence, and cruelty that makes children think that what they've seen is how they're suppose to be. It's scary for me to think my children are exposed to things of that nature, which could cause them to lose their innocence at such an early age. Innocence to me is something precious and it's something I don't want my children to lose. I want my children to succeed in school, relationships, and life. But, I find that when children are influenced by peers, and by society, and being expected to act in a certain way, innocence no longer exists.

My children are at different stages in their lives right now. My older son is twelve, and just wants to fit in and have friends. My daughter is eight, and going through a phase of liking boys more than half her age, and wearing flashy clothes. My youngest son, who's four, thinks good food is bad, and bad food is good, and he thinks he can rule everybody in the house to get his way. My children aren't perfect, but they're equal to everyone's children, no matter what their race, whether male or female, age, religion, and, so on. Nobody is better than the other. So, for me, my three children, today is a hard life for any one to live comfortably, without feeling bullied, scared, lonely, and unaccepted. It would be nice to know that my children, along with everybody else's, could just get along. Life's too short for our children to spend all of their time arguing and putting each other down. I hope to bring my children up in a safe and happy environment, because my children are a slim part of all the children in the world who are the future leaders of America. I hope together, as parents, we can make that come true.