We have been true party animals the last couple weeks. It all started with Anna's 1st B-day party - a VERY large and wild affair. Anna's parents live a few miles from us and were referred a month earlier than we were. However our agencies moved on travel at different speeds, and we actually ended up in Guangzhou at the same time and came home on the same flights. In fact Anna's parents were kind enough to loan us a diaper or two when our diaper bag was stolen in Beijing.
Unfortunately JJ was napping when we got to the party, and spent most of the party that way. She woke in time for a snack and a run around the park. Mr. M however made good use of the party amenities. He and Anna's grandma got tatoo's from the face painting clown. Very chic!
You will see Mr. M here using his handy T shirt map to show everyone where Anna and JJ came from
At one Anna is a pretty little peanut. You can see she is about 1/2 JJ's size with about 4 times the hair. I didn't get her parents permission to post - so you get this more anonomous pic. Trust me - she is really cute! You can see the difference between northern and southern girls.
Party two was an open house to meet JJ given by work. These are the people I am lucky enough to spend my days with. People also brought gifts! It was so much fun. JJ spent a little time with all her guests and loved all the presents! She fell in LOVE with a big bear, and got some really great drawing and construction type toys. She ended the evening by using her new beach pail to haul some of her loot lovely gifts to our truck. All by herself, thank you. Even if she was soooo tired she kept falling over.
Party three was an open house held at my Mom's home up north. My close friend helped my Mom and Sis get it set up, and they sent out around 60+ invites, with at least 45 showing up.
Guests came in catagories. Amazingly enough we had some of my Sunday School teachers drive in, along with Mr. B who was in my Sunday School/youth group. That was amazing. Then there were the couple people I used to work with 25 or so years ago (plus a gift from an ex co-worker mailed in because she now lives in Arizona). There were people from the neighborhood - I used to either babysit or play with their kids 40 years ago. (OK, this is scary). And there were friends from my sisters hiking club (we occasionally camp or hike with them - they are mostly members at my old church). Then there were the ladies my sister works with - some of who are blog watchers and have been kind enough to pray for us along the journey). Plus my friend and her family - we met in that same Sunday School and our families have been close ever since.
JJ again did very well and visited everyone. She seems to find adults easier than other small children, but that may be because adults tend to fawn over her a bit. Again, people brought gifts. Several of the guests are Grandmothers and they brought the FUN gifts. In any case, we probably now have JJ dressed for the next 2 years, plus we got several other items we really needed.
What can we say to everyone except - THANK YOU!
1 comment:
Wow! We needed to catch up with y'all. JJ's progress is so wonderful. Kids pick up things so quickly - which is more than I can say for myself. I don't believe there are enough megabytes left in my on board computer for much more input. I have too much useless stuff in there (ask me any question you want about 60s rock 'n roll) so I believe I need a data dump of my brain to fill it up with that which will keep me on the same level with my kid.
I clicked on the pics of the quilts to enlarge them - they are beautiful! A friend of ours made a family quilt for us which is a real treasure.
JJ is such a beautiful child and it looks like you 2 are doing a wonderful job with her. I myself can't imagine my life any other way with the presence of our little one.
Next wweek, we meet up with a 50 sumptin couple who have adopted a little boy from China recently. We'll crash in on them for dinner when they visit Disney World. They have a son from Nicaragua and a daughter from Thailand, both of whom were adopted as teenagers. There aren't that many of us out there, so we gotta stick together.
Cheers!
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