Hanukkah 2017

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Emma and Camille

Throughout our time together in Kyoto, people kept assuming that Emma and Camille were sisters. We would always laugh and try to explain the relationship, but in some ways it would have just been easier to nod our heads and say "yes, sisters" and in some ways it would have been the truth. They are Jewish "sisters", Asian "sisters", adopted "sisters", and giggly, goofy "sisters".

It's funny how people come into our lives especially when it happens in a dressing room at Banana Republic in Georgetown. That's where we met Emma several years ago and from that point on she quickly became a special part of our family. She was a graduate student who had recently moved to the DC area and was working retail on the weekends. In between helping Adam find some new khakis, she noticed Camille's Star of David necklace which led to other connections and a meet-up during the High Holidays. We discovered that we shared a love of dim sum, hamantaschen, board games, puns,musicals, and traveling. 

Over the years we have done our best to live in culturally diverse areas, we have been active in local adoption groups, attended culture camps, enrolled Camille in Mandarin lessons, participated in classes and panel discussions, sought out mentors and friends with connections to Taiwan, taken Taiwanese cooking classes, read lots and lots of books. All of these things have been good in their own ways, but this relationship with Emma has been one of the most meaningful things that has happened to our family.