Christmas with Our Angel

OK.... "angel" may be a little bit misleading in describing our daughter but she did play an angel in our church production!! Jodi did very well for being up in front of so many people. She gets confused that Christmas is lasting so long and that Christmas day isn't really until next week. The bottom line is that she is enjoying every bit of the season and loving all of the fun parties (and the attention she gets at these parties!) and the lights.

The cute little blonde boy is one of Jodi's favorite friends from her class that we have been told "loves" Jodi and thinks she's really pretty!! I of course had to scope him out at the preschool Christmas party and ask his intentions with our daugher. I don't think he quite understood my question. :) Just kidding!! The beautiful group of little girls are alot of princesses from our church who went to see the new Disney princess movie together. It was a sweet time and those girls are so precious. Jodi spent alot of time in my lap because there was a voodoo theme in the movie that was pretty scary for her. She loved being with her friends though!! The last picture was so funny. Nye Nye Johnson sent Jodi a beautiful Christmas stocking that she bought in China. When Jodi upwrapped it, she started to put it on her foot. Makes sense, doesn't it?? Now she knows it goes on the mantle with Mama, Baba, and Lucy's stockings. We are leaving soon to see our families in Georgia and cannot wait. What a special time it will be!! We send all of our love to you and your family this Christmas. Thank you for following us on this incredible journey full of ups and downs!!!

Christmas Is Coming

Jodi is absolutely loving this Christmas season!

She especially loves the Christmas trees and all of the pretty lights. We had such a special time decorating our tree. I turned on the lights for the first time and heard her exclaim, "Wow!" Here's something we've done so many times that we don't even think about it!! She adds such joy and helps us to experience things in a whole new way. We put lights up around her room and told her they were princess lights. She starting singing about her lights because she was so excited. Jodi went to our town's Christmas parade last weekend and will be an angel in the church's childrens' program. That could be interesting!! You see Jodi with the leaf blower .... she literally grabbed that out of Baba's hands because she wanted to help so badly. What a doll!

We met with a orthopedic specialist today in Winston-Salem. I know his reputation well and it's a good one! He was very sweet with Jodi and we of course liked that. We have her surgery scheduled for January 28 to remove her extra thumb. She'll be casted for one month (should be fun!) and we pray that will be the end of surgeries for a very long time. We dread another procedure but God brought us through the first one and will again. Hoping you and your family are having a good holiday season and much love!!

Very Happy Thanksgiving!!

We hope that your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! As you can imagine, ours was very special. Seeing things through Jodi's eyes adds so much as she brings such joy. Here are some highlights: Jodi asking me to "please take a shower" after everyone else had their showers and I was still in my grimy morning clothes, Jodi and YeYe playing Cinderella cards on the floor, Nye Nye and Jodi playing in her room and on her bicycle, watching "Polar Express" for the first time and seeing the look of amazement on Jodi's face, Jodi helping Mama cook and then thanking me for making lunch after it was all over, Jodi and Baba acting out a scene from "Beauty and the Beast." As you can see, there are far too many to name and the blessings continue. We had quite a laugh over Jodi's list of things that she is grateful for. Truth be told, she said she was thankful for Tinkerbell and Cinderella. We decided her teachers added "Daddy" and "Mommy" to the placemat when it was sent home so we wouldn't feel too neglected.... Someone at church told us that I was probably Cinderella and that Baba was Tinkerbell! That fits!!

Fun at the Chinese buffet! The Chinese waitress was fascinated with Jodi and asked so many questions about her. She said that her friends in China will sometimes ask if the Americans are nice and take good care of the Chinese children that they adopt. She said that she tells them we are very nice and love the children very much. The waitress teared up when we told her that Jodi had some physical problems and we assured her that Jodi was doing well. Very sweet!

Jodi trying a karate kick!!!

Thanksgiving lunch with family friend Matt,

Nye Nye, YeYe, Baba, and Jodi

Jodi loves her Nye Nye and YeYe who are so good to her!! She loves that she has a family that cares so much for her. What an amazing time! One other thing... Baba and I decided to tackle the huge yard of leaves on Saturday. Jodi wants to help so much that Baba had to go and buy her a rake her size so she could participate. She loves to help in whatever we are doing and is so proud of her accomplishments, squealing, "I did it!!" when she finishes something. (Sorry but she is not available to lend out at this time. We have plenty to tackle at our house right now.) Love and blessings to you all!!!

The Dancing Queen

Hi all! We are doing well on this end and hope you are!! We went to a wedding on Saturday for one of the
beautiful Thore girls. It was quite a celebration and Jodi just loves the dresses and flowers. She assures us that she is not ready to get married until later. She was the dancing queen at the reception! We could not get her off the dance floor until she got tired. As you can see, she often prefers the snuggly approach to dancing and thankfully her wonderful friends Riley and Tyler didn't mind too much. Of course, she also doesn't mind jumping around the floor from time to time! She absolutely loves music and would rather listen to music than watch TV any day.

I love the one of Jodi dancing with her Baba and told him we would show this picture at her wedding. As they were showing pictures of the newlyweds when they were little, I know the parents had to be wondering where the time went. We already feel like Jodi's growing up too quickly and can't believe how incredibly fast these past 7 months have gone by. She has grown 3 inches already and put on 8 pounds!! WOW! We covet your continued prayers for her health. During these growth spurts, she is at higher risk for spinal cord issues and we thank God daily that she is doing so well right now. May God bless you wherever you are right now.

Happy First Halloween

It was definitely a Happy First Halloween for Jodi AKA Cinderella. We were fortunate enough to join another princess (Keri), Hannah Montana (Madison), and their great parents for a night out. Jodi was very unsure and quiet at first. Her first house happened to be the Allens, some wonderful friends from church so they helped her ease into it. As you can see by the other pictures, it didn't take too long before she was quite comfortable and on a mission! I felt a little badly for Jodi because it was hard for her to keep up with her friends at times but they were good to come back and get her. Also Baba saved the day and became her royal carriage which every true princess should have. It was a balmy night strangely enough so we all came dressed for the cold and instead sweated! One other blessing for the evening.... we went by the Murphys house who unexpectedly had a present for Jodi. One of the treasures was a beautiful pale blue headband with little jewels in it that just happened to match her Cinderella dress. Pretty cool!!!! I worked a deal with Jodi to get half of her candy for my services in escorting her to the doors. We'll see if that actually works and I am NOT holding my breath! Love to you!!!

Trunk or Treat

So how do you explain Halloween and Trunk or Treat to a five year old that has never experienced it? You don't even try and just tell them they get to put on a beautiful dress!! A huge thank you goes out to my gifted seamstress cousin Anne and cousins Kat and Emily for the use of the beautiful Cinderella dress. Jodi felt like a true princess as she strolled around, holding up her dress with both hands like she had seen Cinderella do in the movie. Mama got to hold her crown most of the time as well as the goody bag. We had a ball (no Cinderella pun intended...) at our church's Trunk or Treat. We were so fortunate that Tinkerbell (lovely cousin Emily), Peter Pan ( handsome cousin Andrew), and a pirate (little cousin Alex) were able to join Jodi. We rode down the big slide (a little scared at first), played games, and rode on a cart pulled by a mule. The big finale was Jodi's favorite part! We walked around to the different cars to get candy.

Our Jodi has a big sweet tooth like her parents. She went to the first car, took her one piece of candy, and said "thank you." I then told her she could go on to the next car. She looked up at me with big eyes and said, "MORE CANDY???" It took her no time to get into the swing of things as she ran from car to car. Jodi kept saying,"I got a lots of candy!!" It was so precious and we loved sharing that time with her cousins and her best friends. She thought Baba the pirate was pretty cool too! She was incredibly happy and stayed excited all the way home.

When I was putting her to bed, Jodi started to giggle and said, "Mama.... I got A LOTS of candy.... man...." What a blessing to experience these firsts with her. I'm sure in the orphanage candy was few and far between and I think it was hard for her to grasp so many people wanting to give her such a treasure!! Everyone has been so kind and generous to her and we again say "thank you" and GOD IS GOOD!!!!!!!!

Catching Our Breath

Wow! What an amazing few weeks we have had. As you can tell, there has been no time to write so I'm glad to finally have a few minutes. We had a great first vacation together in the North Georgia mountains with mostly incredible weather. It especially meant alot to me to have Jodi there because I grew up camping there. She loved doing all of the things that I always loved like playing in the creek, going to the waterfalls, and feeding the fish and ducks.

We started our trip with a wonderful weekend with Fred's friends and their families. Jodi got to ride on her first "boat" and was in the back yelling "faster, faster"!! She also got to ride on her first horse which was a 30 year old horse named Patches that Fred and I led around the pen. She kept copying the sounds of the rooster crowing which Fred managed to capture a picture of. Jodi also got to meet her Aunt Mildred, Aunt Shirley, and Uncle Ron which meant so much. We also had some special time with her Nye Nye Huffstetler and YeYe (Fred's dad). She hiked a mile to get to one of the waterfalls much to our surprise with no complaints. She is such a sweetie and still keeps us laughing!

We had a great opportunity this past weekend to go to a 100 year homecoming at the church where Fred first started in youth group. It was such a blessing to meet all of those special people and highlights included seeing a video of little skinny Fred playing Tarzan while flying around on a rope and hearing the reunion concert of the Crystal Critters, a band made up of his old youth group and leaders. What a blast! Jodi was dancing around while her Baba sang with his buddies. We got to stay at Nye Nye Johnson's and Jodi got a chance to meet new friends and family. She was so excited to meet a wonderful new friend Betty who lives in Mom's building, our family friends John and Ann Watson, and her cousins Jack and Will (also 5 years old). She gets especially shy when meeting new kids but eventually warmed up! Mom and I were just shaking our heads because everyone that came was so sweet to bring her gifts. She would run right up to them and grab the bag from their hands before even saying "hi." I think we've created a monster. She's going to think meeting new people means getting new things!! Everyone has been incredibly generous to her and we can't believe how blessed we are. We still can't believe we get the good fortune of being her parents and we pray that God continues to give us wisdom in the best way to raise her. There is no question how loved she is and how loved we are and we thank you for that! God bless.

Meeting More Family

We had another amazing but quick weekend with Aunt Julie and Uncle Mal ( because Malcolm was a little hard to say!). We went out for a great dinner on Friday and then off to the zoo on Saturday. Uncle Mal is a wonderful photographer and we laughed because every time we went to an exhibit, the animals would go into this great pose position. I had just finished telling Malcolm and Julie that lions sleep most of the day and not to expect much. Lo and behold we come up the hill and there is the lion sitting up beautifully with his head held high! It was really funny! The gorilla exhibit was packed full of people up against the glass and all of the sudden one of the gorillas slapped the window and ran away. People were screaming and laughing. That's the great part about the zoo.... it is different every time. We love that Jodi is getting to meet her beautiful and amazing family and just wish we all were closer. We know that she feels loved and very special with the wonderful hugs, gifts, and time given to her.

Our little Jodi has quickly learned how to conquer and divide Mama and Baba to get what she wants. Fred and I are having alot of quick meetings to make sure we are on the same page. Amazing how fast they pick up on this! We are definitely having to teach her boundaries and the meaning of the word "no" which she is starting to question. I guess that makes her officially a 5 year old. Lots more for Mama and Baba to learn!

School, Family, and Lots of Fun

Jodi had her first day of preschool last Tuesday. We were very anxious to see how she would do since it was her first time away from us for any period of time. We are so proud to say that Miss Jodi was once again an trooper, going right to her class with only a little upset. Later that day when she was walking with her class, she passed by a room that Fred was in and just said, "Hi Baba." She LOVES school and also started Kindermusic which she will participate in once a week. She still shys away from the other kids some because her language is not where theirs is but we know that will get better.

Jodi got to meet her Aunt Laura and Uncle Bobo AKA Latham over the weekend. She was shy with them for about one minute before becoming her silly self. She immediately took them to her room to show off her toys and clothes which was so funny. We're having to teach her about boundaries as Saturday morning she decided to give Uncle Bobo a wakeup call by walking right on into his room to get him up! We had a great time at the zoo and saw a chimp up close and personal. It was truly amazing to see him so close behind the glass and to realize how similar he is to us (some of us more than others.....:) ) We then got to meet up with the wonderful Earnhardt family for dinner which was great! These are our cousins on my dad's side of the family. What a special day!! We got to sing Happy Birthday to Aunt Laura on Sunday and celebrated all day which Jodi thought was pretty cool. Now that Jodi understands more about birthdays, she keeps asking when hers is. I hate to tell her she has to wait until May!! She continues to blossom before our very eyes and we cannot express how blessed we feel to be her parents. She keeps us smiling and on our toes! Love to you!!

Jodi's First Show

We got to take Jodi to her first big show which was an amazing performance by Chinese artists. The dancing was so beautiful and the singers were unbelievable. They had a full orchestra and the show overall was incredible. It lasted a full 3 hours and we weren't sure how Jodi would do. Believe it or not, she was great most of the way through (a little squirmy at times since she is 5) but she seemed very interested in the dancing and beautiful costumes. She'd look back from time to time and say "beautiful!" When the curtain first opened, I (Mama) starting tearing up because the dancers and set were so pretty. It made me feel so proud of our daughters culture and Fred and I are so grateful we got to experience it firsthand when we went to get her in March. Jodi of course loved getting all dressed up in her dress that "twirls" and kept asking us if she looked pretty. I think she knew the answer!!!

Fred and I also learned firsthand that when your child gets sick, you very often manage to get it too! Fred battled the cold first and now I'm coughing and sneezing my way through. Oh well!! So much for my Labor Day projects. Love to you and yours and Happy Labor Day!

Trying the Bike

It's been a good week. Jodi lost her second tooth which fell right out when she was eating some pizza! The tooth fairy is cheap at our house but she did get a quarter to put in her piggy bank. She tried her bicycle but after a few attempts told me that it was "too hard." She did really try and we'll just have to encourage her to keep it up. We know it's great exercise for her legs but recognize that it really is alot of work for her.

Jodi caught her first cold this week. Her usually sweet little voice was about 2 octaves lower the other morning which sounded funny coming from her! We may have created a monster because she's walking around saying, "Jodi Lang doesn't feel good. Poor Jodi Lang. Poor Jodi Lang." She's healing up well but it's hard to see her sick.

Earlier this week we had the radio on during dinner. We're dating ourselves here but one of Fred's favorite old songs came on the radio called "Funkytown." We were singing it and dancing around in our chairs basically being silly. Out of the blue, here's Jodi singing "Funkytown" right on pitch. We fell out laughing because it was so unexpected. What a cutie! We're gearing up for her to start preschool the week after next. Hard to believe how far we've come in such a short time. So many blessings!!!

Food from the South

Fred officially introduced Jodi to the Waffle House which is new to Asheboro. They had a date night and we discovered that Jodi loves omelettes! Waffle House was mine and Fred's first official date (I had to invite him after a church function...) where we talked until the late hours. It meant alot to now share that with her. We went back to our physician in Concord for followup this week. He was so pleased that she has done so well and we thanked him for his wonderful guidance in caring for Jodi. God has absolutely led us to the right people!

Little Miss Jodi is getting into everything including Mama's makeup when Mama's not around! I was looking for my compact and noticed this trail of powder all over the bathroom only to find my broken compact mysteriously under the towel rack. How did it get there, you may ask??!! Our little girly girl is fascinated with makeup and when asked, proceeded to cry and tell me over and over, "I'm sorry." She has such a conscience and you eventually have to tell her she doesn't need to apologize anymore! Jodi starts preschool in just a few weeks which we can't believe. We're excited for her on the one hand but on the other hand, she will be out of our sight for several hours a day. It's hard when you can no longer control their environment and what they are exposed to. That's when our prayer life gets really good!!!

Jodi has grown 2 inches and gained 5 pounds since coming to America. Fred keeps telling her to slow down so we can have our little girl for a little longer. It's getting harder to pick her up without grunting and sweating but we're still trying!! Love to you all and God bless.

Fun with Nye Nye Huffstetler

This first picture shows Jodi doing her favorite thing now which is winking! It's hilarious because her whole face scrunches up. We laughed the first time she did it so now she does it alot and not always at the best times like winking at people in church!! Nye Nye Huffstetler came and stayed with us a week which was a tremendous help. Jodi had so much fun with her and as you can see from this picture got some beautiful dresses from Nye Nye. Jodi is starting to do more imaginative play now like being Supergirl and running around the house with a blanket tied around her neck. It's so fun to watch this evolve because she didn't know how to play like that at first. Now she has tea parties with Nye Nye and plays mama to her baby doll!

We had our first meeting with a social worker which is required at 6 and 12 months. It went well as far as we could tell so we guess we get to keep her!! Just kidding.... The social worker came out to the house and observed us with her as well as asking alot of questions. Jodi was very sweet, running all around the house and laughing and playing. I really think Jodi is going to be all about the fashion. This morning she came out in her Sunday dress with another bow on the front that she had added by using a hair clip to hold it on. If the dress doesn't twirl, she doesn't want to wear it!! We are continuing to do well and hope you are. Love to you!!

Sleeping Bag Party

Little Miss Jodi got the greatest surprise from her cousin Emily! She is now the proud owner of a Disney Princess sleeping bag which she is so excited about. She wanted to get in it immediately though first putting it over her head because she'd never seen a sleeping bag and didn't know what to do! Her wonderful Baba decided on a "sleeping bag party" so we set up a sheet as a tent and they spent the night under there. Jodi had her flashlight for their campout and I could here the two of them laughing away under their tent. Pretty special!! Earlier that day, we had a great time swimming with her cousins and Baba taught her how to float. She is getting more comfortable in the water and loves the pool!

Jodi is also working on her fashion sense and we think she may have a future in fashion. (OK... maybe not but....) She came out wearing Baba's ties around her waist which looked really cute. She loves to put on her makeup that Aunt Betty gave her when Mama's getting ready. Quite the girly girl!!! We thank God that Jodi got a good report from her neurosurgeon. I think he's as pleased as we are with her progress because as he said, "I've never seen anything like her before and probably never will again!" We don't go back for another 6 months. Jodi is making some progress with her language though she gets frustrated sometimes. She definitely has her moments of pushing limits but still responds to us (which we pray continues!!!). She will often say, "Mama and Baba proud of Jodi Lang." We nod our heads and tell her how much we love her. Thank you for your continued love and support and God bless.