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!