Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Red Thread Girl


"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break."

Many of you know this Chinese proverb. I took these photos of Jadyn on her Gotcha Day last week. She was playing with the red ribbon from her gift, and I thought of this proverb. I thought it would be fun to take a photo of her with it.

I thought this one was funny. She's a funny girl.

Monday, February 23, 2009

A Fun Day

We had a fun playdate today. We picked up Jadyn's friend "S." and we went to an indoor playground for play and lunch.

S's parents are in China at the moment, to pick up her baby sister. We had the joy of taking her to play. I'm sure it gave her grandparents a little break too. Her parents will be back this week with her mei mei. Awesome!

We had a great time at the playground. Jadyn was pretty intimidated by all of the tubes and slides. She usually is, so I wasn't terribly surprised. I do always hope she'll suddenly feel brave though. Since S. was our guest and I didn't want her to have to play up there by herself, I crawled through the tubes and went down the slides over and over. Lots of climbing and crawling involved here. I'm sure it was good for my sedentary body. We had lots of fun!

I did play a lot with Jadyn, but mostly on the lower level. Mean mom that I am, I made her go down the slide with me several times. She wasn't terrified, just not thrilled. She didn't cry, so how bad could it have been?

There were a few other moms who were playing with their kids. I wasn't the only mom crawling through the tubes. A funny thing happened - A tiny 2 or 3 year old blonde girl said to me, "You too big." I just laughed. I think if I can actually fit in the tubes and am able to do all that climbing and crawling around, I'm not too big. :)

Here are photos of Jadyn and S.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Favorite Photo Friday

New Sunglasses

Jadyn comment of the morning...."Mom, your hands smell like oatmeal."
I think that's pretty strange, since we haven't even had our breakfast yet. I think my hands smell like.....nothing. I guess it could have been worse.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Thankful Thursday - Celebrating!

Three years ago, this little bundle of joy joined our family. It's almost hard to believe that 3 years have already passed.

My thoughts today are of that awesome journey to our daughter. I won't ever forget that wonderful trip, taking in the culture of our daughter's homeland.
We walked on the Great Wall on the day before we received Jadyn. It was my birthday and what a special day it was. We knew though, that all of the great things we saw were just a prelude to the best gift.

We received Jadyn in a hotel conference room on the evening of February 19, 2006. Our lives were forever blessed and changed.

We are very thankful for our precious girl. Today we celebrate this joy!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Bits of This and That

Here's a photo I took of Jadyn a few days ago. I thought it was cute that Cinderella was taking her horse for a ride, instead of the other way around.

Lauryn and Aaron invited us to go bowling on Valentine's Day. All 6 of us went bowling together and that was lots of fun. We went at about lunch time, and that way everyone could spend the evening with their Valentine.
I do have to admit that my legs were sore the next day, from the bowling. I thought that was pretty pathetic. :)


















Yummy cookie and chocolatey goodness! Jadyn helped a bit, when I made these cookies. She washed her hands before we started, but then couldn't resist repeatedly licking her fingers and dipping them in some sugar that was on the counter. I told her that she would have to rewash her hands so that she wouldn't spread her germs if she was going to help. She said, "But I have another hand!"


A Trip to the Pet Store!

Jadyn loves to go to the pet store. Usually when she asks to go, we don't have time. Today I surprised her with it. So fun to look at all of the pets, enjoy them, and someone else gets to take care of them. We have all the pets we need here.




















Sunday, February 15, 2009

Tagged!

My friend Nancy tagged me with the Sixth Picture Tag.


The 6th picture in my 6th photo file happens to be from our adoption trip to China. Coincidentally, the anniversary for our trip to China is coming up this week, so that's kind of fun.


This photo was taken just moments before Jadyn was placed in our arms. The lady on the right is our adoption facilitator who works in China, for our agency. She is a wonderful woman, and well-loved. In the middle is Catherine, from our travel group and she had already received her baby, since 1 group of babies came from another orphanage, a little earlier in the afternoon. The man on the left is an orphanage official. The man with the camera is the brother of one of our travel mates. You can also see a baby in the hall, ready to come in.

Thanks for tagging me Nancy. I enjoy this sort of thing.

I'm tagging:

Anita, at He Leads Us

Liz, at The Freeby 5

Kristin, at A Family Is Forever

Terri, at Our Hearts' Desire

Here are the instructions....


1. Find your sixth picture folder and in that folder, find the sixth picture.

2. Post it on your blog with an explanation of the picture

3 Tag four others and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they've been tagged.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!

♥ Have a wonderful day with all of the special people in your life! ♥

Here are a couple of photos from Jadyn's little Valentine's party at preschool. She was overjoyed with all of her little cards and treats.



Love doesn't make the world go round, love is what makes the ride worthwhile. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Late Night Rambling

Here is a drawing that Jadyn made a few days ago. I'm sharing it because I think it's interesting. It makes me smile.

This is Jadyn's drawing of herself. She is at a table with a plate of cookies.

It looks typical of what a 4 year old usually draws when they draw a person. I remember that my other children drew similar photos when they were about this age.

Notice the stick fingers and toes. I have to give her credit for getting the number of fingers right. I smile when I look at the legs and feet. They do look like a chicken's, don't you think?

She made herself unusually tall this time. She always gives herself black hair and brown eyes.

Here's a picture of Jadyn with her dad. This was when she was sick a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was sweet that Dad played dolls with her.


"Look Mom, I can hold a penny on my nose!"


"Mom, look how I can bend my head backward!"

One minute she hates to have a photo taken and then next minute she loves it.

Monday, February 9, 2009

A Fun Festival

Here are lots of photos from the Chinese New Year Festival we went to yesterday. We had a good time and we saw lots of friends.

Ready to go to the festival.
Watching the dancing is my favorite part. Aren't these girls cute? This dance symbolized tea picking. This year, there were carnival games for the kids. I think it was pretty fun. Here is Jadyn, picking out a duck to see what prize she won. The Chinese zodiac animal walk. She won when they picked her animal. She picked out a little bear.
The fishing game
Ring toss game. Some rings went in, and some...didn't. As long as she gets to pick a prize, that's what matters. :)

Trying out the juggling sticks.

Making a necklace.

The dragon in the parade.

Here is what Jadyn thought about the dragon. Holding Dad's hand was not safe enough. She felt the need to go under the stairs. I guess the dragon looks really big and creepy if you are 4.