Into the New Year

Happy January!! The first picture shows her royal highness on her throne from Aunt Laura and Uncle Bobo. It lights up which she (and Mama) thinks is very cool!! The next one shows her with her Nye Nye when we were on our way out of town at Christmas. The holidays always go so quickly and I'm always left with a sense of sadness when it comes to an end. Now we look forward to the promise of spring!! The last picture shows Jodi modelling her new coat (pink of course) with the fuzzy hood. She had me take her picture in 3 different locations and gave me approval on each one. What a character!!

We are quickly approaching our year anniversary of meeting our daughter for the first time. It is beyond belief to us that this year has gone so quickly. Now we can't imagine life without her. Jodi continues to be a very loving child, affectionate and constantly saying, "I love you." She is also a strong willed 5 year old who is trying her best to push her little weight around and split Mama and Baba to get what she wants. She keeps us on our toes because she's a smart little one!! We continue to pray that we are the parents she needs us to be and that we keep a united front!!

Physically Jodi is doing well for having such an unusual diagnosis. She is definitely weaker in her left leg and can fall quite a bit when she's playing but it doesn't seem to bother her much. At our last doctor's appointment, we were shocked to find out that she has grown 5 inches since we got her!! She truly is a different child and you can see it when you compare pictures from a year ago. Jodi has her hand surgery on Thursday and we would greatly appreciate your prayers for her healing. We only have to stay overnight if there are any complications or if pain is an issue. Our love and thanks to you wherever you are tonight!!! God bless.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you!! What a year we have had. Christmas was just incredible and Jodi again got to experience so many firsts. She decorated cookies with her Aunt Betty and Aunt Mary, learned to play pool with Uncle Mal, played with her cousin Will, opened more presents than she could have ever imagined, and received so much love and many many hugs. Everyone went out of their way to make it special for her. It was so much fun to watch her joy and excitement with each new experience. It's hard to believe that last year she was still just a picture on our refrigerator that we anxiously waited to meet. Jodi has brought us more joy and wonder than we would have ever experienced on our own. I think as we age, we can lose some of the excitement and now we get to see it all through her eyes. What an incredible gift we have been given. The world of children can be a very sweet and innocent one. The love that we have for Jodi is beyond any words and a true gift from God. Thank you to all of you who have continued to give us support and so much encouragement. We send all of our love to you and we wish you many blessings in the year ahead.

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!!!