Then and Now

In 2006, we have no pictures of JiaLi on a horse. Joe's parents have a few animals including horses. This year JiaLi has been more involved with Gramma helping to feed the horses and watching where the horses go when they go outside. Mother's Day was beautiful and of course, Joseph asked about the horses. Last year, 2007, only the little kids were able to ride because the horse that was ridden was older and smaller. This year with the younger horse, ALL 11 grandchildren were able to ride. Last year when JiaLi rode, we could not get one smile from her, she was holding on very tightly. Now 2008,she is so much more relaxed on the horses with BIG smiles and even waving her hand(which I missed because I never expected her to do it). If you click on a photo especially the last two, you will be able to see her expression better. Mother's Day was wonderful with a very special day at my parents(more to come on why) and then more fun at Joe's parents. For those who have been asking, donations for the Kidney Foundation can be made by clicking on the black and white photo of the girls in the sidebar. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers for Molly.

Kidney Walk

Our friend Molly is sick again. Molly has relapsed yet again and for no apparent reason. She is now showing classic signs of steroid dependency. It makes me so sad every time I hear that something is happening again. It just breaks my heart. I hate too how far away we are. Our family is walking the Kidney Walk for the National Kidney Foundation on May 18th. I pray that the walk and raising money helps to find a CURE for Molly!! I just wish we could do more--I can't stand it. I did provide a link in the title and in the side photo if anyone is able to help. Prayers help too. This is a picture we were able to get of JiaLi hugging Molly at the girls reunion. Molly she is sending you a BIG hug right now!!!

Spending Time at My Sister's

I had to post a picture of the dog my sister was babysitting since I mentioned it in the previous post. My sister is NOT an animal person but her daughter LOVES dogs and they are lucky enough to have friends who own this old,calm, gentle dog. Otherwise my sister would not babysit;) I think it is very cute that she takes on this task for her daughter. Jessica and Joseph are above--had to catch them since they both are missing their two front teeth. We had unseasonably warm weather the end of last week which was great for the kids since they were on vacation. We spent Friday afternoon with my sister planning on just letting the kids play in the sand. Well, if allowed to stick their feet in water, of course not only will their feet get wet!! And what better way to dry off than plopping into the sandbox;)

Thank You

Secret Buddy, I am so sorry that I took so long to post this. I received your wonderful gift last week and have had it set to take a picture and post. I love this book so much and cannot wait to read it to our new child. I love the Dream Post-It notes. I have lost count of how many times I have gone to the new picture to read the quote. The timing with things happening could not have been better. Thank you so much for such meaningful gifts. I had to post a photo too:) Here is JiaLi last week when my sister came to visit with the dog she was babysitting. We had warm weather so I let JiaLi hang out in the leotard she received from her cousin:)

Last night my husband and Danny got home and called all the kids downstairs. Now I had just finished showering the younger ones, getting them in their pjs and settled for bed. He wanted to show them this.. For those that follow our friends Ladybugs and Dragonflies, you have an idea of what is happening with Vietnam. I have never seen a full blown rainbow like this. I've seen the ones that are a straight line down from the sky but I have never seen one like this. All we had to do last night was open our back door and take in the site.

The Pool and the Zoo

It was so hard for me to narrow down the pictures. Here are just a few from the pool that cracked me up. The boys enjoyed playing with Ellen at pool time--I think because she liked the hot tub as much as they did;) And I love this photo of JiaLi with Annslee--doesn't it look like they are sharing;) I did take many other pictures but they came out blurry:( The zoo. Here Joe is trying to determine who weighs more. He thought the same:) Trying to get a group picture. Some of the girls were not too happy because there was one of those dressed-up figures and the girls were not yet ready for that. Those animals definitely need to be warmed-up to. Here we are viewing the pandas. There really is something about those animals that just warms the heart. Jenise became very close to one of the girls on the trip Lianne and we enjoyed having her with us. She is just such a sweet girl and I am so happy at how close they became on this trip. It was their first time meeting each other. Lunch time we were able to catch-up with some of the group but most were done with their lunch as we were beginning. We were so happy to catch up with Annslee:) Toward the end of the day, we were able to watch some dancers. The girls with the umbrellas attracted most of the girls to even go right up to the stage to watch. Including JiaLi but at this point she lost all energy and fell asleep. Leaving the zoo. The weather could not have been better for our day at the zoo. Here are the big girls keeping an eye on Annslee and Lauren. And have I mentioned how much Joseph loves Uncle Mark:)(of course all the kids do but there is something about Joseph and how he interacts with others) JiaLi did finally wake-up as we were exiting the zoo in time to take a photo with the dressed-up Panda. We were lucky to have Lianne come in our car:) (Joseph went in Annslee's car so we had room.) The more time the girls had, the happier they were:)

Our Trip--The Beginning

Here we are at the start of our trip. We left around 4 p.m. on Thursday and we arrived shortly after 12 p.m. on Friday. I am posting the one above because JiaLi is holding Jenise's "J" pillow that she received a few years ago from her Aunt that Jenise just loves. Well, on one of the pit stops as the kids were approaching sleep, I wanted to get a diaper/pull-up on JiaLi(she still wears them when she sleeps) and in the process, we believe the pillow fell to the side of JiaLi's seat and when the van door was open, fell out:( They did fall asleep with a little nudging here and there--poor Dan was stuck between Joseph and Edward who alternated resting their heads on Danny's shoulders. Joe and I were very thankful for the coffee pit stops. I hate to drink that much coffee but I was excited at how fast we made it to Atlanta:) We got the kids lunch when we arrived at the hotel and they were giving each other cheers for making it to Atlanta:) And here we are the reason for our trip...I need to take the time to label the pictures to show the then and now. If you look at Annslee's blog, you will see similar photos labeled. I ended up on the side taking photos--I'm short and it was just an easier location;) I never realized that in the adoption of our daughter that not only would we have a daughter but a whole new family. I am so thankful that I finally got to meet everyone that was there to help Joe on his Journey to JiaLi--you all did help him! In his journal from his trip to China, he mentions each and every one of you in one way or another. Two weren't able to make the trip and were definitely missed!!