Princess for a Day

Once upon a time there was a girl who dreamed of being a princess. She loved to ride her horse. One day she went riding and met a beautiful princess who was celebrating her birthday. The little girl was invited to the magical castle and was transformed into a princess for a day.

The four princesses.

As you can see, SJ was invited to be transformed into a princess at AG's birthday party. Angel put so much into transforming the garage into a castle - fit for a prince and princess. Her son was also having a birthday party and all the boys were tranformed into princes. Sarah really enjoyed the party and playing dress-up.

Officially & Forever Ours

SJ is totally 100% ours now. She always was, but we wanted to do the re-adoption in the US courts for the ease of future paperwork. So on September 30, the judge made it official. We are now waiting for notice from the Vital Records office so a new birth certificate can be issued with us listed as her parents.

K is busy marching in several events this week. It started on Monday at the country club, then Thursday for the Battle of the Bands, Friday night - football game and finally Saturday - Freedom Festival. Next week it will be a little lighter, but on Friday it's homecoming.

15 months & 1 day as a TNT family

Fifteen months ago a beautiful little girl was placed in our arms. She has now lived with us longer than she was in the orphanage. So much has changed for all of us during the past 15 months. She talks non-stop (well only if she knows you), she loves to sing & dance. She is doing quite well with potty training. I would say that in a couple more weeks she may be wearing regular panties. So far for the last several days, she has come home from daycare wearing the same pull-ups she wore to school. But she gets lax when she gets home. I haven't taken her out of the diapers at night yet. Maybe soon, but she is not dry when getting up in the morning.
K is doing well in school so far. At the 1st 9 weeks, she has a 107% avg. in Algebra I, and 97.?% in Honors World History class. Of course PE & Band are "A's". Tomorrow we hope to visit one of her Xiushan sisters for her birthday. But it all depends on the gas supply. If I can fill-up SJ and I will go down the mountain.

And So It Ends

Easy come & easy go. K no longer has a beau. After giving her a flower last week just because, the young man decided that "He doesn't want a serious relationship" (at least that's what he told her). But another friend said he was told something else - something about maturity. Well, K's attitude is - "It's his loss." So who knows what the real story is, but it appears that today was break-up day for many of her friends (both male & female.)

Things are very busy at work since the end of the fiscal year is approaching. Of course I'm going crazy with trying to manage the many priorities or emergencies. Only a week more.

We were at the races last week end - the Carolina Nationals - Drag Racing. The new facility at Charlotte is absolutely wonderful. Our hotel in downtown Charlotte was right next to the Panther Stadium. Eric now wants to get tickets if the Steelers come to town.

Jessie

How do I put into words the sadness and heartbreak that I am feeling for some friends of ours - The Garrens. This strong faithful family has just lost their beautiful, vibrant, 16 year old daughter to the ugly disease cancer. Jessie was such an inspiration to thousands of people for her faith in our Lord and Savior. She was a model of how we all should be as a Christian and servant of God. If you want to learn more about this amazing individual, she and her family maintained a Caring Bridge website: www.caringbridge.org/visit/JessieGarren

There is also a link to the blog of Lanny Dohono of the BigStuff Youth Camp. He did a podcast on Jessie. It was very moving and touching and shows us just who is Jessie.

Jessie

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My dear Jessie - words cannot cover the range of emotion that I am feeling for you. I remember a beautiful little girl who loved to play in the church nursery when I was in there. I remember a little girl who always had a big smile and would just light up the room. I remember a little girl that taught my K about tea parties and Jesus in Sunday school. I will always remember...

Kathryn's has a Beau

Well it was bound to happen - K has a beau. She officially has a boyfriend. A young man that plays drums in the band. He seems to be nice. A good Christian boy. Apparently after the parade on Monday, J introduced K to his mother as his girlfriend. She had to get a picture of them for a scrapbook that she was doing on him. K and J went on their first date (well sort-of) Saturday to the fair. They had to hang with us for a couple of hours until their friends arrived. Then they spent a few hours going on rides. She also invited him to our church function at Camp Tekoa. He thoroughly enjoyed himself. Of course, I had found out earlier that he is related to many of the members in our church. We'll just have to see what happens down the road. I guess the boy thing has hit.

Sarah also had her first funnel cake at the fair. Let's say that the picture says it all.

Visit with Lana

SJ and Lana got to visit for Lana's 2nd birthday. The girls had lots of fun on the slide and see/saw. SJ also enjoyed the ice cream. It was great seeing the girls together again.