How to Pick Your Travel Partners

A long overdue post....... So many have asked how we chose which kids to take to China with us.  The honest answer is that we really didn't.  It was just so obvious to all of us who would/should go:

Cole-  
*would love to add another country to his passport pages for fun (he mowed for 3 summers to go on a pilgrimage to Rome with his 8th grade class a few years ago) 
*completing his last chance final semester to raise his GPA for scholarships
*potential travel before or during final exams
*kept an emotional distance from Annie until he knew she was ours
*likes only very plain food and is very traditional in his eating-doesn't like to try new things

Hadley-
*never been out of the country
*loves people and watching and them
*involved in every step of our journey to Annie
*loves kids
*wants to adopt one day
*is a food connoisseur-always adding some spice or flavor to foods
*happy to sit and do nothing but chat

Ethan-
*never been out of the country
*always up for an adventure
*prayed every day for Annie
*had his school class pray every day for Annie
*involved in every step of our journey to Annie
*is a food connoisseur- loves to cook and change flavors or add spice
*loves to read

Mary Claire-
*never been out of the country and never wants to be
*the thought of flying that long over an ocean almost makes her cry while sitting in Wisconsin
*loves to be at home 
*loves to be at home in comfy jammies
*did I say loves to be at home?

Mei Mei-
*loves Mary Claire and wants to be wherever she is
*5 years old.......

So, you can see that it was a pretty easy decision.  Between cost and the length of the trip, we knew it was not a trip for all of us.  And many times, although we missed everyone desperately, we knew that we had the perfect travel mates with us.