First Day of First Grade

Wow! What an incredibly fast summer! Jodi has had a ball with swimming, childrens programs at the church run by her Baba, and visits with both Nye Nyes. She recently went to Atlanta with me so that I could attend my high school reunion. (Thank you for not asking which one.....) It was fun to show her our old house, my old elementary school, and walk through my old high school with her. Who would have guessed that #$ years later I would be getting to show my daughter where I went to school! ?

Mom and I also found out that Jodi loves jazz music. We went to a restaurant near Mom's place where a small jazz ensemble was playing. After Jodi finished eating, she stood next to her chair and started dancing. She then asked if she could stand across the room closer to the band. Mom and I laughed as she slowly inched her way to the band and by the end of it, was high fiving them and whispering to them what a great job they did. It was so so precious and no way to capture that on film!

Jodi started her first day for first grade on Monday. We saw her eyes get bigger and bigger as we walked through the doors of the school. There was alot of chaos with all the parents taking pictures and all of the excitement. She burst into tears just sobbing and not wanting us to leave. I was trying to do the "right" thing and cut it short so we left fairly quickly. As you can guess, I felt terrible and did the big "no no" of going back in after we had already left. The teacher just looked at me like, "Great.. one of those moms who's going to have a hard time letting go...." After I left for the second time, Jodi pulled it together and had a great first day. The teacher said that Jodi is well liked and really tries. We're so proud of her and she's had no problems since. She continues to bless us every day!!

Happy 7th Birthday

We survived, I mean enjoyed Jodi's 7th birthday party....! We rented out our local downtown theater for a party and movie which really worked out perfectly. Jodi's favorite movie is "Tangled" so that was the feature of the night. We had a great turnout of her friends from school and church. As you can see, Jodi's special friend brought her a rose which he picked out himself! Fred is out buying a shotgun as we speak.....

We learned alot about hosting a party for alot of kids with alot of energy. Let me share my insights after the fact! Since we went with the Tangled theme, I decided to get some crowns for each of the girls to decorate as they arrived. I decided I needed something for the boys so I invested in a dozen blowup swords. Those of you who know groups of little ones better than I are already shaking your heads. What was I thinking, right?? I thought that the girls would want the crowns and the boys would want the swords. The girls did get their crowns but then proceeded to knock each other over the heads with the swords, running up and down the aisles chasing each other. The boys of course went crazy with the swords, knocking each other around. Then child after child came up to me asking where their sword was! Who knew??!! There were a few tears as a child or two got hit the wrong way but no casualties thank the Lord. I think I probably have a reputation now with the other moms who I was hoping to impress.... "Don't go to her parties... she's new at this..."!

We then played some games which the kids really seemed to enjoy. We served corndogs, popcorn, cake, and cupcakes. My friend Jackie put together the cake for us which turned out to be beautiful. Our other friend Caroline made some cupcakes that looked like Paschal from the movie. Really cute and good! The theater put together a CD of pictures we provided which was shown before the movie. We were tearing up as we saw pictures of little Jodi as she evolved into the beautiful girl she is now. That was a special moment for us! After we sugared up the kids (correct... that was the second mistake), the movie started. Jodi was sitting next to her special friend so Fred somehow ended up sitting behind them. After about 45 minutes, we started seeing some movement in the crowd. That's all it took and most of them were down in front chasing each other and you guessed it, hitting each other with the swords. All of that being said, I think the kids had a good time and I know Jodi was elated to have all of her friends in one place. The only thing missing was you all!

If you've seen the movie, Rapunzel's parents send up floating lanterns every year on her birthday. It's really beautiful in the movie so we decided to do it ourselves! We went over to the school's playground and sent up 4 which we kept tied to some yarn to keep them within safe range. I have to say that they are absolutely beautiful and very easy to use. It was very special and fun. We got a little too confident when we sent up our last lantern which of course has a flame to send it up. I let go of the string a little too early and we watched in horror as it sailed away from the playground, over the school, and way off into the distance. We never heard of any fires so we think it's all good! Live and learn, right???!! Love to you all.

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!!