To be inspired.....

We are all inspired from time to time regarding all kinds of things. I would love nothing more than for someone to have followed our journey or just read one of our posts and then consider adoption.

That's exactly how it happened to us. Fred had mentioned adoption one day and I blew it off. We had just suffered another miscarriage, he knew he couldn't handle the emotions of another and I couldn't handle anything at that moment!

Three months went by and we received a Christmas card in the mail from friends, with a picture of their son who is Sophia's age and their daughter they had just brought home from China that summer. The moment I looked at that picture, I knew. Adoption was right for us. We would have that Christmas card too. The journey began.

I cannot possibly convey the joy that this baby has not only brought to us, but everyone she comes into contact with. She has a grin that melts your heart. If you say "Hello" to her or catch her eye, that grin is coming your way! She is happy, sweet, funny, witty, busy and very well adjusted. She loves to pat her momma on the chest, rub my arm when we rock at night and bite her own toes!

She is just an unbelievable gift. I stare at her while we rock and cry from time to time while I think about her birth parents. They created such a beautiful person whom we will love forever and I hope that God can comfort them in seeing that they know this.

So, if you're reading this and you're feeling the slightest bit inspired and have any questions or concerns, PLEASE chat with me!! E-mail or post a comment and I will be sure to get back to you!

Latest happenings-

-We had a lovely time at Aunt K's Tea Party. Alena wore a pretty party dress and was a very well behaved little lady!

-Miss Sophia spent a night at her friend Jesse's and headed out to Pennsylvania with them to a candy and candle shop. Boy, did they have fun!! She came home with a BOAT LOAD of candy (Thanks Sandy!) and couldn't stop talking about all of the fun they had.

-Aunt Denise cares for Alena on Thursday's and this Thursday Fred and I both had to work a long day, which means Aunt Denise had a long day too! She kept me updated with hysterical e-mails from Alena throughout the day and then sent some great pictures too. She taught Alena how to catch snow flakes on her tongue and kept her up to date on the Anna Nicole Smith trial! She was kind enough to go as far as bathing Alena and having her in her pj's already. SWEET!!

- I visited Sophia's class today to introduce Alena, discuss Chinese New Year and Dental Health Ed. with them. What great kids. They were so happy to see Alena and she thought they were pretty great too! I wore her in a front carrier and she smiled away, babbled and blew raspberries at them as I tried to explain how important it is to take care of your teeth! I can't compete with her! I gave the kids really cool goodie bags that Sophia and I made up for Chinese New Year and another full of dental goodies. It was fun. Thanks to Miss Gesso for having me!Enjoy the pics!

-Bathtime at Aunt Denise's!

-Alena & momma at the Tea!

-Sophia preparing Chinese New Year bags

-Precious!

-Alena determined to get on her activity table-Thanks Gary & Arlene!

-"Here kitty kitty!"

Love to all,

Jenni

Smooth transition!

Had a wonderful first week back to work. Cried half of last weekend leading up to it and cried after leaving them at mom's on Monday morning. She forbid me to call and check on Alena, just in case she was crying, I would be a mess! A few hours into the day she called the office to let me know what an angel she was being. (Of course!!) As it turned out, she was happy as can be all week for her nannie and aunt Denise.

Sophia is so self-sufficient in the morning. Gets dressed and does her hair and we are out the door!

Alena still averages getting up once each night. Usually between 11:00 PM and 12:30 AM, has a bit of a bottle and a few minutes of rocking and off to sleep until 7:00 AM. Not so bad! I always grab her out of the crib and then go to the kitchen to make the bottle. As we walk to the kitchen we usually encounter one of the cats. She points at it, says "cat" and laughs. This usually makes me nervous, because I feel that she's pretty awake and happy and will not be going back to sleep!! She hasn't let me down yet though!

Going to miss Julianna's 2nd birthday party this evening. Sophia is soooo excited to play with her cousins and I can't wait to see Julianna and Alena play together.

Thursday I will be visiting Sophia's class to talk about "Chinese New Year" or "Spring Festival". I put together bags of goodies for them and we will be doing some celebrating here at the house next weekend, as the New Year falls on the 18th!! It will be the year of the pig!!

Enjoy the pics-

-Skyler made Alena the beautiful purple cut out decoration for Chinese New Year.

-Aunt Denise made her the awesome hat!! Loving it!

-Nannie bought her the fashionista pink fur coat (we always end up with fuzzies stuck to our lip gloss!!) and the pink hat was Sophie's!

-Sporting her Ladybug shoes from the Longaberger Homestead!

-"Life is grand: got my bottle of milk, my transportation and my fans!!"

Love,

Jenni

The time has come!

Well, this is it. I go back to work on Monday. I miss my coworkers (you all know you're like family. :) ) and the patients too, but I have LOVED being home with the girls.

It has just been such a joy to get up with them each morning, have breakfast, bring Sophia to school and then Alena and I get on with our day. It's also been nice being able to pick Sophia up from school. Alena gets so excited to see her come out!

It's just been over all busy and wonderful. Alena has done wonderfully adjusting. She goes to bed around 7:30-8:00 and has been sleeping through to 4:30-7:00 depending on the day!!

We just got everything together for Soph's class for Valentine's Day and now we're going to work on some fun stuff for Chinese New Year. The school does a pretty nice job on that, but we want to do something for her class also. Her teacher also asked me to come into the class during February for Dental Health Education.

It's shaping up to be a busy month!!

We had a great time visiting with Auntie Kathy this past weekend. I wish we all lived closer!

George was in an accident over the weekend also. He totaled his Blazer while falling asleep at the wheel. He banged up his arm pretty badly, but luckily will be fine.

Last Saturday, Sophia donated 15" of her hair to Locks of Love. It was something she really wanted to do. We are very proud of her and she looks adorable. She was so excited and we took lots of pictures. There will be an article in our newspaper and she will be receiving a badge from her Brownie Troop leader!

Alena's biggest things now are these vibrating teethers. She LOVES them and thinks they are hysterical. Someone had mentioned how much their one year old likes theirs, so Auntie Kathy bought her one and I bought her another. She'll sit in her walker with her head back, chew away and giggle. It's too funny!

Her other "thing" is, I have a white rubber jar gripper that she thinks is her personal tissue.(pictured) She keeps it on her walker and everyday blows her nose on it. So, everyday I wash it and give it back. She cracks me up!!

Love to all,

Jenni