School Home~

All of a sudden, SJ has taken a big interest in doing school.

Yesterday she said, "Mom, I want to do school home."

aka~ Home School

I pulled out a few mazes and she worked for a long time on them.

She couldn't wait for her Baba to get home to see her work.

She has a very long attention span and will work as long as I am willing.

Today she worked a good 45 minutes tracing letters and names

I wrote with a highlighter.

She's very diligent and learning SO fast!!!

So proud of my baby! :)

For This Child I Prayed~

1 Samuel 1:27

I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him.

Sunday was a day we will never forget...

ShayleeJoy JingJing was dedicated to the Lord!

The Burgess family shared about their work @ university in China

and the love they poured on the people in Putian City SWI.

The morning began with two littles loving on their baba!!!

SJ's first Father's Day with her forever baba~

Our house was full of love this weekend and

we loved loving on the Burgess family

who was here to speak in our church

and be a part of JingJing's dedication service.

The service was perfect

with the Burgesses speaking, Jing's dedication,

and Josh singing J's song!

We were SO blessed to have family and friends

here to help us celebrate.

A friend with a Putian City son was here all the way from Nashville

and it was SO sweet to spend time getting closer and sharing~

Thank you Heather and Zion for driving so far

and for the precious frame you gave Jing!

Jing loved Ms. Sheryl reading her books~

Besides our two huge families,

we were surrounded by other adoptive families~

the moms and their babies...

The Brooks Family~

The Warwick Family~

We were also loved on by family~

and John Daniel~

This is such a sweet photo of Lydia and Jing.

Lydia loved on Jing when she was still in the orphanage~

she said she would run into the baby room,

scoop her out of the corner and take her outside

where she would sing and dance and pray for her~

Oh Lydia~ how I love you so!!!

Rosie and Sammy~

A cute set of twins~ LOL

After a day of amazing JOY,

it was time to say goodbyes and see you soons~

The sweet thing is we will see the Burgesses again

when we travel to get Will.

They live about 45 min away from where we will stay

so it will be the sweetest thing to be together again soon!

And the MOST bittersweet part of the day

was watching two cars with half my children go driving out of the drive~

Josh and Savannah headed home

and Amelia headed to college.

Scott and I had once again had a VERY emotional Sunday

similar to the one we had the day after the wedding~

change is so hard yet so necessary.

Wouldn't change a thing!!!

Because I am very blessed~

Psalm 45:11~

Let the King be enthralled by your beauty;
honor Him, for He is your Lord.

JingJing Love~

We saw JingJing for the first time in Feb 2010,

accepted her referral,

and sometime in July, I received an email from Lydia Burgess

describing the love she had for little JingJing.

At the time, it was exactly what I needed to continue the wait

for our precious baby!

Then in March, we were able to meet the Burgess family

and spend time listening to their life in China.

They described their day to day life teaching in the university

and the time spent at Putian City SWI.

It just blessed us beyond belief that they had loved on JJ

before we ever knew her!

We were able to choose a weekend for them to come for a visit

and this just happened to be it!

It was SO close to being perfect~

we were just missing Cathy and Joanna!

Our weekend included...

face to face love~

a little swimming~

sister time~

just hanging out~

rides in the boat~

a little computer time~

being together~

one on one time~

family~

How do you even put into words what they have done for JJ?

My heart is SO full for the Burgesses~

they are one of the most precious families we know

and will always be a huge part of JJ's story.

They were here for her dedication service today

and I will post about that tomorrow. :)

Pool, Ladybugs, and Will~

EK invited some of her friends over after Bible School today.

They enjoyed a picnic lunch~

SJ constantly says, "I want to do my 'wimmin' lessons"

and ready to shed her swimmy.

Having the time of their lives~

Josh gave EK a ladybug land kit for Christmas

and we finally got around to ordering them.

They came in the mail today and everyone thought it was SO cool!

They came in a canister ~

They needed water~

EK said, "This is SO exciting!"

Careful observation~

AND a few new pics of Will...

doing puzzles at preschool~

playing in the sand~

and eating~

and eating~

and eating!

All in all, it was a wonderful day!!!

This and That~

Today I woke to another photo of sweet Will @ preschool.

He was so diligently working on his finger painting~

and while EK was @ bible school,

SJ asked if she could paint not knowing I had a pic of Will painting too~

Don't you think they favor each other???

Bible School is going great!

EK says she loves it every day.

Today as we walked away SJ asked if she could go to her Bible School~

I said next year when she was 4 she could go...

she wrapped her arms around my leg and said,

"Yay! I LOVE you mama!"

When we get home,

it is time for lunch and today after EK was done

I looked over to her bar chair and this is what I saw~

Poor baby curled up sound asleep on that hard chair...

What in the world will she do when she has to make it all day @ K?

Definitely think naps will be a necessity. :)

A BIG Day for 2 Littles

~ EK went to Bible School and LOVED it~

On Saturday, Scott jumped in the pool to cool off

and before we knew it, SJ had jumped right beside him

without her swimmy (she had no idea she didn't have it on).

I freaked just a smidge and Scott grabbed her right away.

I knew right then it was time she had lessons.

So today Amelia asked SJ if she wanted to do swimming lessons.

SJ said YES!

And just look what happened in the first 5 minutes~ not kidding!

She is natural fish!!!

Since way before the wedding,

EK has had about 5 loose teeth

and just in the last 2 weeks 2 permanent teeth have grown in

behind the two front bottom ones.

One was barely hanging on and Scott said it was time for it to come out.

He grabbed some floss and I my camera~

And you may remember,

EK is very afraid of the tooth fairy

(don't know why)

SO, our elf Hermie is coming to drop off the money...

not in the house but in her carseat in the car.

We have had this planned for a very long time.

Wonder what will be in that little pocket in the morning. :)