Graduating Kindergarten

Jodi has officially graduated kindergarten. It was a bittersweet day for me and Fred as this time has gone so quickly. She is growing up very fast before our eyes. You could tell how much she and her classmates love each other! They were running around laughing and playing, giggling at each other as they performed... so cute. We hate that they are going their separate ways next year though we hope to stay in touch with many of them.

Jodi had her dance recital on Saturday night and really did well. She kept saying how nervous she was but she didn't freeze on stage and really looked like she was having a great time. We were quite the proud Mom and Dad. She made a special friend in class this year who said Jodi was his girlfriend. He is pictured with her at the recital. He fearlessly performed a solo performance of "Bad" during the recital and told his grandmother that his dream is to be on "So You Think You Can Dance." The last day of kindergarten, she said she found him lying on his bed looking sad and he said,"You have no idea how hard it's going to be not seeing your girlfriend every day.... no idea." Wow... I couldn't help but tear up because of how adorable that is. Tomorrow we celebrate her birthday so more to follow!

Our Dancing Queen

Hi all! I had not been keeping this up very well but will do better! Jodi is about to finish up kindergarten in only 2 weeks. We are stunned at how fast this school year has gone. She will be attending a small private school in the fall called the Agape School. It has an excellent reputation and will help her continue to make progress with her speech as she adjusts to her hearing aides.

Jodi has her first dance recital in 2 weeks. They got to wear their beautiful costumes for practice so here's a sneak peek. She only wears the costume for the performance and as much as it costs, she gets to wear it whenever she wants to! Her left leg continues to give her trouble. We met with a physical therapist this week who is a friend of mine. She found that Jodi definitely has hip weakness and instability in that leg. Her left leg is also shorter than the right so we'll see an orthotics person for that! We feel like we're on a good track and Jodi is very willing to do her exercises with me. We continue to find good help and feel very blessed with that.

The car was my incredible Mother's Day gift which I needed badly for work. Jodi and Baba spent the afternoon cleaning it for me. Baba said it looked like the car was smiling so we put our smiling daughter next to it! (I think the car has braces...) Much love to you and your family and thanks for checking in on us.

Happy 2nd Gotcha Day!!!

We can hardly believe it but we are so excited to celebrate our 2 year anniversary with Jodi! What an incredible 2 years we have had!! It's hard to remember life without her. She's enriched our lives in so many amazing ways.

We did our now annual tradition of going to McDonalds which was our first family meal together in China!! Chicken nuggets for everybody! It's so strange to look back at our first photos and see how little Jodi really was. As you can see by the picture of her and Baba, she was quite the young beauty when she went on date night for Valentine's Day. We've had fun reminiscing today and Jodi was even able to tell us a little about her life in China. It's still strange to realize that she had so many lifetime experiences we'll never know about.

We have found out that Jodi has hearing loss and will have to get hearing aides soon. That was sad for us but will help her out so much especially with her speech. We just pray that her condition doesn't worsen but we'll deal with whatever comes up. God has taken us this far and we know he's not about to abandon us now!! Much love to all of you!

A New Year

We had such wonderful holidays and as usual, couldn't believe how quickly it went by. I know we all loved our White Christmas which was just beautiful!

Jodi is having a good start to the new year as she started ballet and tap. She absolutely loves it and gives it her all! She seems to catch on quickly even though some of the steps can be challenging for her. She is growing so fast before our eyes even though we've asked her to slow down! So much for that!

We are taking Jodi to a specialist next week to have her hearing further evaluated. Our local doctor believes she has some hearing loss so we are praying for good news. We especially pray for no more surgeries but will do what is best for her. It's hard for us to tell if she has hearing loss because like every other 6 year old, she says, "Huh??" quite frequently especially if Mama or Baba is asking her to do something. :) Much love to you in 2011 and thanks for checking on us!

Happy Holidays

Once again, I am really delayed in getting this posted! We are enjoying the holiday season so much. We were fortunate to have Nye Nye Johnson here with us for Thanksgiving and even got to celebrate early birthday! As you can see, Jodi is very happy to help with opening and handling the gifts. We also enjoyed some special time with our great extended family!

We had a brief and beautiful snow last weekend right when we were putting up the Christmas tree. Pretty incredible and it really felt like we were in the middle of a Hallmark commercial. Jodi had those boots on in no time (pink ones of course) and went right out in it. While Mom was here, she came across a little red dress we had bought for Jodi in China which we had forgotten about. Fortunately it still fit so we grabbed a few Christmas pictures in her beautiful dress. Our little princess has no problem striking a pose and cracked me up with all the poses she knew to do. I guess when you're a princess it just comes naturally to you! We cannot believe how Jodi has grown and blossomed in this year and are so grateful to have her in our lives. We look forward to another special Christmas with our families and wish the same for you!!

Happy Veterans Day

We had a great week celebrating Veterans Day and Old Mama's Day! I got spoiled for my birthday by getting a great party with balloons and a fantastic dinner out.

Jodi is officially a Daisy Scout which means alot to me because I always loved Girl Scouts! She is part of a special group of girls and got to ride in the Veterans Day parade. It was very touching to see this beautiful child waving an American flag. You might recognize the back of the "honorary Daisy" to Jodi's left although he adamantly said he was not a Daisy!! You decide.... :)Actually Baba was quite the trooper because I couldn't get off from work in time to get Jodi to the float. Hope all is well with you and your family and thanks for checking in on us.

Happy Halloween

As you can see, our little princess dressed as a little princess for Halloween! Thanks to cousin Alicia, Jodi had the real Belle hair but after about 30 minutes she decided that her real hair might stay on better. (Princesses do have a tendency to run....) She had a ball trick or treating with her sweet friends. We still don't know who the little skeleton was... he just showed up at the party.... spooky! :) Jodi was captured by pirates while trick or treating but they were very friendly and let her keep most of her candy with the exception of a few chocolate bars. :) We hope all is well where you are and Happy Fall! (Thanks for the help Uncle Bobo so that this blog would be possible today).