Evan's b-day party

Jailyn was invited to her first friends birthday party! Evan's party, or as Jailyn pronounces his name "Ewwwn"!
Evan turned the big 3 years and welcomed it with a bag! He had a cool Monster Truck jump house, a fire truck came by, and Jailyn's favorite - pony rides! I think Jailyn's 3rd birthday may have to have ponies too! Oh, my goodness she loved them! Every time we had to take her off to let someone else ride, she had a temper tantrum, and then she would run back to the fence yelling, "My turn! My turn"
Enjoy the photos!
Thank you Evan, Mike and Suzanne for inviting us! We all had a great time!

Our helper

Jailyn loves to help with chores. She loves to use the lint brush on the family room coach and chairs, that the dog lays against. And she loves (infact gets very mad if we don't let her) to get the new bag for the trash can. She comes running to the kitchen when she hears the trash being emptied. She opens the kitchen cabinet (which she got scolded for the first few times, until I figured out what she was trying to do.
She gets the bag and begins her job of getting it ready for the trash can. The other day we let her take her time and she did the whole thing. We even have to tighten the bag, once in the trash can, and she attempted to do that. She amazes us! She just watches everything and doesn't miss a trick!

Do you like her little outfit? I decided to enhance some of the older kids overalls and jeans and give them a little Jailyn flare! These are for the fun Colt Round-up school assemblies at Conner's school. (Hopefully, Jailyn's next year)
After the assembly we stayed to eat lunch with Conner too.
What a fun day!! Conner is sure proud of his little sister!!!

Jailyn -Alpha Dog!

For Christmas Cosmo (our black lab) received an invisible fence for his gift. Okay, so maybe it was a gift for me - but he wears the pretty new necklace. He received this gift because we were just so tired of him eating everything off the counters and out of the sinks in the kitchen. We put the disc in the cabinet near the trash can. He can still get to his water and food bowls and to his favorite, cool spot on the kitchen floor - but not near any people food. This has been working really well.

The other day, Jailyn, Cosmo and I were in my closet and Cosmo decided to get into my bathroom trash can. I scolded him and he went to my room to lay on his bed. Jailyn went running off into the family room (where the rest of the family was). All of a sudden she came running back into my bedroom with the invisible fence disc. She ran to Cosmo yelling, "Bad dog!"

I was screaming for Cosmo to come to me, as he was whining - being shocked every time Jailyn got near. I was totally freaking out (not helping the situation!) Poor dog!

Believe me Cosmo will not be messing with this little 22lb Alpha Dog again! :)

New Blog

I have decided to begin a new blog. We have received so many comments and questions since we began the process to bring Jailyn home to our family that I decided to take the time to discuss these topics. Feel free to leave comments and questions. I pray this blog will encourage others about adoption.
http://touchedbyinternationadoption.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday Conner J!

I can't believe my baby boy is 9 years old!
We began the day with pancakes and candles!

He had tests at school, I hope he did well - I'm sure he had a hard time concentrating. He came home to find a St. Louis Rams freezer mug (in the freezer) and a Rams baseball cap on the top of his wrapped presents! He had tears of joy. He was so surprised!
We spent time playing outside riding bikes and playing baseball!
Then we went to karate! Conner had a great class and at the end was able to break a board!
With his head!!! He wow'ed the fans!!!

Conner choose Olive Garden for his birthday dinner! We had a great waiter! It was a slow evening so we had the attention of a few of the waiters! He had a great time!! They made him do the chicken dance (kenzie joined in on the fun!

Then we came home for yummy cake!
You know your 9 year old is still a little boy when his wish when he blows out his birthday candles is to go to sleep cuddling with mom! He was so excited when his wish came true! and he rested very soundly!


Happy Birthday Conner J! We are so proud of you!!!

New Waiting Child List

ASIA Adopt has a brand new Waiting Child list! There are 12 children under the age on 1 years old. I am amazed at how many there are this young. They are soooo adorable!!! There are a few with cleft lip and cleft palate.
www.asiadopt.org click on Waiting Children You will need to follow the steps to get the password but believe me it will be well worth it! These children are beautiful!
(We met a couple in China who used ASIA Adopt and were very happy with the assistance they received.)

Madison Adoption Association is expecting a new list any day now too. Join their yahoo group if you want to see this group of children. (Our social worker works very close with Madison and loves them.)

Have a great day! Praying that these children find their homes soon!

Drew is on hold!

Please pray for he family that is looking at this little guys papers! He has been on this WC list for almost 6months!  Pray that his family will find him soon!!

Too cute not to post!

Conner is having his 9th birthday party! and he has scheduled his party for us.
The Theme is Pokemon

7:00 pm - 11:00am

7:00- 7:40 Pokemon Charades
7:40 - 8:25 Pokemon Name Game
8:25 - 9:35 Free Time
9:35 - 9:55 eat cake
9:55 - 11:12 Watch Pokemon 4ever Movie
12-00 - 12:30 Free Time
12:30 - Free Time again
(no sleep listed!)
6:00- 6:40am breakfast (guess I will be up early fixing breakfast!)
6:40 -11:00am free time

Is my boy a scheduler or what! hopefully, he will be a little flexible!

11 months with Jailyn!

I can't believe Jailyn has been home for only 11months! She fits into our family so well! It seems like she has been here since birth! Once in a while it will dawn on me that I don't have any infant photos of her, and that I never saw her first smile! The times I do think about that just kill me, but on a day to day basis we just go about life loving each other and learning from each other.

Jailyn is speaking so well. She plays well with anyone/everyone who will give her attention! She still loves to mimic everything anyone does. This is good and bad! Her mouth has gotten her in trouble a few times - trying to back talk to us like the other kids try to get away with!

Jailyn loves bath time with Conner! It is a really good bonding time for the two of them.
Kenzie and Jailyn love to sing songs, draw and read books.
Brady loves to play!!!!! Brady has no problem coming down to a two year olds level. :)
Daddy was off work for Christmas and New Years... he spoiled her rotten! It was a great bonding time for them!
Jailyn and mom love cooking together and playing and napping. Jailyn is still having a hard time going to bed with out Mom. Even if we do get her to go to bed in her crib, she usually wakes up in the middle of the night to lay with Mom. I don't mind the cuddling!

Thanks to all of you who have played such a huge roll in bringing Jailyn home and helping us juggle everything now! We really appreciate it!

If anyone would like information on adoption feel free to contact me! The road is long and bumpy but so wonderful when you finally get that little one home!!!

Update on Zhang Qi and Evan

Remember this little guy that I told you about on December 1st?
He was literally starving to death!

Thanks to your prayers and donations he is growing healthier and healthier!
Here is an updated photo of him!
Our little friend, Evan received a clean bill of health from the MRI!
Praise God! Evan has a long road a head of him but we all feel better to know
that he does not have any brain damage. Please continue to pray for him and his
parents as they work hard to bring him to age level development!

My heart hurts!

I am so excited to have found our little girl and can't wait to hold her in our arms!  But, my heart also ahes for those friends who are still waiting to see the face of their child!  I have many friends who have been waiting approx. 24 months (some a longer wait, and some haven't reached the 2 yr mark yet and are still waiting!).  I know God has lead us down different paths!  Please don't be mad at us!  Please look at it as another child is finding their forever family!  

Of course, I am the type of person that wants to make everyone happy - I have no control over this!  As I pray for your journey, please pray for ours too!

Can't wait for y'all to see your babies faces!