Stargate to China: Our visit to Boston...

... was quite eventful. Shayna got to spend a lot of time with her family, some of whom she has not met yet, and enjoyed all the attention she was getting. It was nice to have all the family together and everyone was thrilled to have her there. Nana Anna (hey, it rhymes) and grandpa Danni spoiled her rotten, my sister (auntie) Dana and her boyfriend Doug played with her as much as they could, and Carlton's brother (uncle) Wes and sister-in-law (auntie) Ruth came from New York for a few days to get to know their niece and spend time with her. All in all, it was a special week for all of us.

Our most exciting day was the day when we took Shayna to the mikveh to have her converted to Judaism. With the presence of our rabbi at the mikveh, we immersed ourselves in a pool of warm water, dunked Shayna fully three times (and she didn't even cry), read two blessings out loud, and after changing back into our clothes, we went to the lobby where our family was waiting. There, the rabbi covered the three of us with a tallit and blessed us as a family, and we sipped a little sweet red wine from a silver goblet. The ceremony was very spiritual and touching and I could see our family holding back tears. Shayna became Jewish that day. We received her Naming Certificate filled out by the rabbi and we all went to celebrate at a seafood restaurant.

Shayna chilling with Tigger