Colored Pencil

Look And See What God Has Done!

Check out Leslie's latest update here. God has certainly moved mountains for Susannah and her family and has been answering prayers from all over the world on her behalf. What a change from the first picture! Isn't she adorable?!

Susannah ~ in China and Needs Prayers Immediately!

Those of you that stumble across my blog from various places, please pray for feverently for this family and their new daughter Susannah this week. The are in desperate need to get their daughter out of China and home to the US for urgent medical care.

First Day of School - Taylor

She didn't go to sleep until after midnight and look how fresh she looks! The excitement of today being the first day got to her last night and she couldn't sleep. Look out Ms. Jackson!!

Meet The Teacher

Today was Meet The Teacher Day at Taylor's school. She will be in Ms. Jackson's class. She is a wonderful teacher for the Gifted Program. Taylor is very excited and Katie even got to take her own backpack into class and help Taylor choose her desk. She liked "big school"!

Ahhh.... Much Better!

I think Katie likes this ride much better! Sweet Lauren was behind the wheel with Katie.

Can you see the fear?

Jake gave Katie a spin on our visit to KY. Looks like she thinks Jake needs to take Drivers Ed.

Infant Swim Resource - Katie

Katie is taking ISR swim classes. ISR is Infant Swim Resource. Not your typical swimming lessons. These teach young children how to survive if they were to fall into a pool or other body of water. Watch the video below and
see what she is learning how to do.

This video is not associated with our particular instructor but shows what skills are learned if they were to fall into a pool. It is agonizing to watch but I would so much rather see a child like this than the alternative. It is amazing to watch them as they are learning this and how instinct takes over to help them survive. The absolutely worst thing you can have a young child do is wear floaties in the pool. This conditions them to hold their heads at angles that will cause them more harm should they fall into a pool. We didn't know this and had Katie wearing them. You could instantly tell the difference and the problems the floaties causes.

If you are in the East Orlando area and are interested in this program, please call my friend Heidi Burnett or visit her website at: http://www.teachnkids2swim.com/ or visit www.infantswim.com to find an instructor in your State or area.

My First Pedicure!

My! What cute toes you have! Today Taylor wanted her fingernails and toes painted and guess what? So did Katie. She still sucks on her fingers so no manicure for her but she LOVED getting her toes painted.

When we went to Sanibel, Taylor and I both got anklets and Katie noticing that started to wear her ponytail holder around her ankle - too funny. So being the great sister that she is Taylor went and bought Katie an anklet at the beach - with her own money even! Katie loves it.

Sanibel Island

A New Friend

Meet my new friend Adalyn! She is from Chongqing just like me. We had a great dinner date with our parents in KY...

17 Year Cicada

While in KY visiting this week we were "excited" to see and hear (VERY loudly) the 17 year cicada! They crawl out of the ground (you can see the holes in the last pic), molt and leave their old shell behind then develop into what you see in the top pic. They will lay their eggs then die and the eggs will burrow back down into the ground to emerge in another 17 years when Katie is around 19 years old.

Click on the Pic to get a close up view...

Profound Lesson

Today at church our pastor gave a sermon in a series called Faith That Works. He told a story about President Jimmy Carter and a question that was asked that affected him profoundly. As a young man he was asked in a bible study,

"If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"

Wow. This has really got me thinking... they probably would let me go for lack of evidence. I've spent way too much time on the computer, shopping, watching tv, things of little consequence and not enough time doing anything else. I'm going to put the blog on hiatus for a while. Pics will still be posted here and there but I am not going to worry about it for now.

Have a wonderful summer!

Flower Power

We just finished completely redoing our front yard. Most of the plants were diseased from when the builder put them in a couple of years ago and they looked awful. I'll post before and after shots later. I LOVE flowers and convinced Jim to plant 2 hibiscus shrubs. One of them has absolutely gorgeous flowers right now. It just rained and I took this shot this afternoon of one of the flowers. Sooo pretty! I would have flowering things all over if Jim would let me but it can't be tooo fufu!

毕

毕

If I am right this is the Mandarin word for FINISHED/COMPLETE and that is what we are!

Today our last official adoption requirement was finished - the 12 month post placement report. I can say that after years of filling out paperwork - sometimes in triplicate- for everything regarding the adoption I am glad we are done. We have her CoC, Readoption, Passport, SSCard, Foreign Birth Certificate and her placement reports. What a journey it has been!

My heart goes out to all who are still waiting the agonizing wait for their referrals. I just can't believe how much things have slowed and that agencies are still signing up clients without telling them the real story about the wait. Our hope is that the process will speed up soon for all those still waiting.

America's Next Top Model!

I was SO excited to get a package in the mail today from here. My blogger friend Robin is sewing up a storm to raise money to adopt beautiful Mia Hope from China. She is one talented lady and has several items for sale on her site that are completely hand made by her. I'm sure she has worn out more than one sewing machine as she has gotten tons of orders. Can you see why?! Just look how cute these are! We got the Kimberley dress in the Carnival Bloom fabric and the Swing Top Jean Set in Chinese Kids fabric. Excellent quality and workmanship. We are thrilled and can't wait for Katie to wear these out! Katie did a good job of modeling. We sent her head shots to Tyra this week...(just kidding):)

A Year In THE Life

Can it really be that exactly one whole year has flown by? Looking back at the hundreds of photos from our China trip it just seems surreal. Here is a look back at each month beginning with Katie's photo just seconds after she was placed in our arms to the current day. Our gotcha day post is here. Oh how she has changed and blossomed! We could never imagine life without her...

Birthdays are SWEET! (pun intended)

 

 

 

Birthday Finale

And finally the birthday box from Granny. Too cute!

 

 

 

 

Birthday Part Deux

Katie got an Elmo laptop from Dad,Mom, Cody and Taylor. She LOVES Elmo. You can't tell but the shirt she is wearing has Elmo on it. The other gifts here are from Grandma Rop.