A Month of Milestones

Well over the past month or so at our house, we have celebrated/experienced several milestones. First of all we re-did Sam's room to accommodate 2 boys instead of 1! We are all ready for a little brother and the other bed looks so lonely without little Xin in it. While we were moving beds into the attic, we decided it was time for Jiada to sleep in her big-girl bed so the crib was packed away. We did not rush this event and yes, she was too old to be in a crib but she LOVED her crib so why change a great thing? Besides, I realized this will probably be my last child to sleep in a crib. So that little task was done with a few tears shed (by me, NOT Jaida). Next came Will's 45th birthday! The kids just LOVE birthdays and numbers mean nothing to them so we enjoyed that celebration! The next day we learned our dossier was sent to China!!!! One step closer to our Xin. Shortly after that Sam finally lost his top tooth! He did not get a tooth until he was 15 months old so he has been very slow to lose them. He looks so darn cute with that big gap on top now! We also experienced our first set of stitches as Julia took that honor. She rode her bike into a mailbox and gashed her finger open-YUK! Will was the lucky parent to attend that ordeal because I would have then required stitches in MY head as I would have fainted right there in the exam room! All in all it was a busy month and an event filled month and a blessed month! Thank you Lord!

Our Weekends

Well, most of the fall weekends have been taken up with soccer. Sam and Julia both play soccer and Julia did a club team this year. We have held out on this type of sport for as long as we could but this is her "thing" and she loves it!!!!! This means 3 practices a week and 3-4 games a weekend! Some are 2 hours away. It is quite an undertaking but as I said , she LOVES it! Sam and Will managed to squeeze in a UGA football game one Saturday-Will doesn't get to as many as those as he would like these days. Jaida, bless her heart, faithfully but not always cheerfully, attends most all the games and has become quite a fan of the "big" girls. She yells their names and cheers for them. She also whines and asks constantly"We go home now?" All in all, it makes for a packed weekend and I am so grateful for the home schooling because with that my kids get time to just play in the afternoons before the furious flight of driving 2 kids to 2 different practices in 2 different locations begins!

Jaida is 3!!!!!!!

My baby is 3! Or as Jaida says "free". On September 27th my baby became a "big girl" according to her (if we could only get her to agree big girls don't need passys). She was so excited about this day! We had donuts, church and a short nap and off to Funsville we went. She choose to go to Yo Pizza for dinner but alas they are closed on Sundays so we went to the old stand-by favorite-Mexican. She loved all the attention, cause you know she gets NONE any other time! We always have a birthday chair for the birthday child. It is decorated, and you ,as the birthday child, sit in it and open presents, eat cake, etc. She was quite protective of her chair and relished in this much anticipated perching point. Her big gift was a bike and she pedals those little legs as fast as she can. It was a great day! I am sad in a way that my baby is growing up but there is a season for everything. She is such an adorable little girl, full of life-smart, smart , smart, funny, precocious, loving, athletic, creative and cute as a button. We all adore her to no end! As I rocked her that night, I was flooded with emotion for her birth mother. I so often forget that I did NOT birth her but that night as I held her against me and took every part of her in, I cried for the woman who gave her life. I am so BLESSED God chose me to be her Mommy and I get to watch her grow up and love her, kiss her, laugh with her, dry her tears and tuck her in every single day. She does not-she would be so proud of her! I hope somehow God can give her the peace in her heart she needs to know that her baby is loved beyond words! I will be forever grateful to this woman for giving me this amazing gift-her child, my child, God's child. Happy Birthday my sweet Jaida!!!