Trouble in 10 Years

Sydney and her cousin had a blast cruisin in Sydney's new ride. They looked so cute but in 10 years it will be a little scary!

Gaylord Texan ICE

Sydney's First Christmas

Sydney's first Christmas was nothing less than magical. She woke up around 7:45am (we were already up because we were too excited) and was so excited that Santa came to her house! She scanned the room and then went upstairs to get her older brothers and sister out of bed. It was wonderful to watch her open all of her gifts and of course I am not in any of the pictures since I was the photographer. I always forget to have someone else take some of me in all the action. We had 2 video cameras running the whole morning, so I will try to get some shots from that and post some video soon.

Sydney asked Santa Claus for a guitar and a power wheels truck for Christmas. She was so excited when she opened the guitar but looked a little disappointed when she had opened all of her gifts and she did not get the truck. We had everyone help us bring the many trash bags out to the garage. She couldn't believe it... there was her truck!!! Santa must have built it in the garage while she slept. He took his milk and cookies out there and tools were everywhere!

Of course, that was her favorite toy and she is now an experienced driver.

Christmas Eve 2008

Getting everything ready for Santa

We had family over for Christmas Eve dinner. We had a wonderful time and of course the kids loved opening presents. We were blessed to have my parents, sister and her family, my brother and his wife, and Peter, Mark's brother, and Bill at our house.

Christmas was AMAZING and I will have lots to pictures to share!

6 Months Home!

Dallas Airport June 21, 2008

Happy 6 Month's Home, Sydney! It is hard to believe that just 6 months ago we landed in the USA as a family of 6 and Sydney officially became a U.S. citizen. It has been an incredible journey and has had such a happy ending.

We will have our 6 month post placement home-study this weekend and our re-adoption hearing January 8, 2009. We do not have to re-adopt Sydney since both of us traveled to China to adopt her but we want her to have a U.S. birth certificate to make her life a little easier in the future. It is complicated when your child has a birth certificate in Chinese with a different name, and we do not want to have to pull out all our documents each and every time a birth certificate is needed.

I just realized that Sydney was Baptised on her 6 month Anniversary home! Amazing!

Sydney's Baptism

It was a beautiful but surprisingly COLD day here in Texas. I had intended for Sydney to take off her sweater for the ceremony but that was not going to happen without a struggle. She was already mad about wearing the cream shoes. Sydney was very confused on what Baptism meant and when we mentioned "Godparents" she was even more confused. But what is most important was that Sydney knew every thing today was about loving Jesus and how Jesus loves her. The ceremony was beautiful and Sydney enjoyed it.

I kept thinking through the whole ceremony what could be better than giving a wonderful child a chance at a new life?...an eternal one with Jesus Christ.

Happy Baptism Day Sydney.

Winter Photos 2008

Sydney and her cousin Rylee Winter 2008

Everyone Was Kung Fu Fighting...

Mommy and Sydney

These pictures were taken from Elizabeth's (Sydney's older sister) birthday lunch. You can see more pictures on our family blog.

Elf on the Shelf: Fred

We decided to start the Elf on the Shelf tradition at our house this year especially since it is Sydney's first year home. I heard about this from a friend and I must say it is a lot of fun!

Basically, the idea is that you request an elf from Santa to watch over your child or children during the day and he will then report to Santa each night on their behavior. The elf shows up after Thanksgiving and will leave for the year Christmas Eve. The fun part is that each morning the child or children have to find their Elf! They also have to officially name their Elf and register it online.

The only downside is that the Elf must be in a different place each morning...requires some effort on the adults part.

It is worth it though! Every morning Sydney wakes up and immediately asks "Where's Fred?" She talks to him through out the day and it helps to keep her in line. She loves her new friend Fred.

The Elf comes with a book that you read to your child that explains the tradition.