27 months

Today, SJ is 27 months old. Wow. And one year ago tomorrow we and 9 other families were boarding the plan to China. It doesn't seem real that we have already had one year of being together as a family of four. We will be celebrating with several of the other families that we traveled with at the beach this week. Once again I am frantically packing, cleaning and trying to get ready to travel. I will try to get some pictures posted of the girls and family during the week. SJ can't wait to see her nana & pop pop. She woke up this morning asking for nana & pop pop. We said - Tomorrow you will see them. She is also getting good at saying Uncle Mark and Aunt Laura. We'll see what happens when she sees them.

K did a wonderful job at music camp this past week. The HS band was absolutely awesome. The music was difficult and the group played it to perfection. They did that only seeing the music for four days.

Just a Few More Days

In a few more days we will be celebrating one year as a family. We are getting together with several of the families (Xiushan sisters) to celebrate together. I can't wait to see the girls. K is now at a music camp this week. She is enjoying herself and is learning a lot. She was placed in 6th chair in the high school band for this week. That's pretty awesome. We will get to hear her play on Friday afternoon.

Silly Girls

My silly girls. K is trying out the cot for her choir tour and SJ is trying out K.

SJ just loves Belle. She apparently thought that the two of them could try the same position on the floor. It was just too cute.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day. This time last year we did not have SJ so this Father's Day is very special. From the first look at daddy to the first hug, snuggle and nap. So much has changed with SJ in the past year. This is the first look at daddy. I'm sure she was wondering who is this person that is smiling at me and what is going on. Of course K is trying to capture the first pics of her little sister.

Of course the proud papa just loves his little girl.

But, the best part was both of them just all tuckered out and that was the favorite position of both. Sleeping with each other. They still do.

Fast forward to 2008 Father's Day. As you can see daddy has two beautiful girls that love him very much. This is usual - both of the girls just all over their father.

Bubbles and More Bubbles

Chasing the Bubbles

Even Belle likes to catch the bubbles.

SJ just loves bubbles. She is learning to blow bubbles and of course Belle likes to jump and pop them. So since it was a beautiful day we all went out to play with the bubbles. I just had to take pictures of the girls. SJ would get so upset when Belle would pop the bubbles.

Last Day of School

Today was K's last day of school. She received a perfect attendance and "A" honor roll pins and a Certificate of Education Excellance certificate from President Bush. This certificate was awarded for her Outstanding Performance. From what she said, it was for maintaining at least a 90%+ average for all three years of middle school. We couldn't be more proud of her. It was another hot day here 90+. It has been hot for several days. We are expecting some relief in the next few days. It should drop to the 80's. Of course this hot weather reminds us of the weather in China almost a year ago. It is not quite as humid here as it was in China.

The Teenager

We cannot be more proud of our teen daugher. She ran track this year for Rugby MS - the 800 meter. Although she didn't finish in the top group to be able to go to conference, she did lower her times every time she ran. We had the opportunity to see her at some local meets. She is first chair in the middle school 8th grade band. She had two concerts within the last 2 weeks. And just recently had her 8th grade dance. She said she did dance with a couple of boys. She said that only one asked her and she asked the other one. It was her first dress-up dance. School will be getting out this week and on Wednesday she leaves for a choir tour. She has so many activities lined up for this summer - band camp, youth mission trip, and family vacation. And that's just for June/July. She will be getting some awards tomorrow from the school for the last day. I can't believe that she will be a freshman next year and in only 4 more years she will be graduating and on to college. Where has the time gone for my little girl.

Xiushan Sisters

Meighan, Ella, Anna Grace, Lana, SJ


On May 9th, we got together with several of our travel partners to visit. Of the 10 families that traveled 10 months ago, we had five of the girls together. We had a wonderful visit with our friends in SC and it was so amazing to see how much the girls had changed. During this same week-end, one of the families had a welcome home party for a family member who had just returned from overseas after being deployed for over a year. The girls had a great time playing together.

Race Trip

Time to start working more on the blog. It is so hard to find the time to update all the happenings since the last post. Actually, I need to catch up since the end of April. We went to the Southern National NHRA Races in Atlanta at the end of April. It was SJ's first race and at first she didn't really like it all that much. Everytime the cars went past she would cry. But after a nap with the headphones, she was ready for the fast cars. By the end of the day she would point and say "Fast Car" as they went by. She was a trooper for the second day of racing. She and dad had several photos taken with the drivers. They were all so nice. The funny thing through, her hat said "Girls Rule", but it was signed mostly by male drivers. We did finally get Ashley Force and Hillary Will's signature on the hat. Ashley Force did win her first Funny Car Final - beating her dad "John Force". What a race

The Sarge - Tony Schumacher & Morgan Lucas

Ashley Force