Six Months Together

It is hard to believe, we picked Meah up 6 months ago! Here are the pictures of then and now or now and then!!

Well, I must say that a lot of people are scared of adopting older children and I completely understand, but let me tell you what I've learned in the past 6 months.

1. There are many firsts that don't involve crawling, walking, or talking.

2. That sometimes kids wrestling practice really is funny (everytime we pick up Acel from wrestling practice and Meah sees the kids wrestling she laughs and laughs and I guess it really is kind of funny)!

3. That a child (of yours) can tell you at every meal, "Thank you for supper, it was dood (good)and mean it!

and last but definately not least

4. Loving an 8 year old is just as easy as loving a baby!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Yesterday, we had a Chinese New Year Party at our house. We invited our family and friends and had a great time enjoying lots of good food. We had rice, chicken, beef, dumplings, spring rolls, and lots more. Mark made the kids bookmarks with their Chinese zodiac sign and coloring books about the Chinese New Year. All the kids also got a red money envelope. It was a great day spent with family and friends and of course, no pictures! Too busy in the kitchen!

Finally, a Ponytail!

Finally, after months of waiting, we finally have enough hair to make a pony tail!! No, it is not the prettiest ponytail, but it's a ponytail!

Introducing......MAJI!

Last night, Mark brought home a big suprise for us--a new puppy-Maji. Our sweet dog Sadie, passed away a year ago and we have missed her so much. Anyway, Mark brought her inside, tucked away in his coat. All the kids were sitting in the dining room. When he pulled her out, they all just kind of looked around. Isabel said, "What is it?" When Mark told her it was a puppy, she said, "Oh, well I'm glad I thought it was a squirrel!" Then the big question was if we got to keep her, which was a big "YES!" They have been so excited! Meah and Acel couldn't believe they had to go to school. Don't you get a day off if you have a new puppy???

Prayers

Every night we say prayers with the kids and after we say our prayers-they each get a turn to say God Bless... We usually let them say whatever they want to say within reason. This has always been very entertaining, usually just from Julien, because he usually says, God Bless mom, dad, you de best...cheese sticks and that daddy brings me cheese sticks, 'cause you de best, etc.

Well, this past weekend, Acel had his first wrestling tournament this season. He did really well, but he REALLY wanted a trophy and that was not meant to be this tournament. We had put him in the 55 pound weight class due to the holidays, because after he gained 7 pounds over the summer, we weren't sure when the next big weight gain was going to be. As luck would have it, he would have had no problem making the 50 pound weight, but we had to register so early for the tournament and couldn't change the weight class. He did really well and we were so proud of him, but he lost two matches by points, pinned one kid, and then was pinned in his last match. All in all it was a good day and he fought really hard, but as you can see from his prayers below it just didn't meet his expectations. When I heard him say these prayers, I just couldn't quit laughing.

So these were Acel's prayers Monday night...that mom and dad put me in a better weight class next time because that last guy almost killed me and the first two guys almost pinned me and ...