Grace's Birthday

We had VBS last week at church. Joy made some new friends and they all had a great time. They sang on the stage and all did so well. I am so impressed with how outgoing Joy is and Joshua has come so far even that he wanted to get up with Isaac and not cling to us to sing.

This weekend we celebrated Grace's 10th birthday. Wow I feel old! I'm gettting out of the "Have toddlers" group and moving into the "Have preteens" group. Clayton and I took her out to dinner by herself Friday, then Saturday she had a friend party, and Sunday was a party with our extended family. What a weekend! I think she feels birthday'd out. She's upstairs playing her new violin... she starts lessons this week.

Joy continues to do well. We were able to clarify what her perceptions of her forever family might be and as it turns out she doesn't seem to have any. I'm not sure what the "Learn English and in 5 months go back to China" was all about. Maybe she just looks at 5 months as forever away and assumes once she finishes school she'll go back. The person from Guilin that talked with her felt like she understood that when she is an adult she can go back to visit. We hope to go back with her before then but at least she sees us as a permanent situation. We are grateful for all that and she continues to seem super happy.

Last night I made cabbage and she looked in the bowl, put it up to her face, and breathed it in. For me... it's smelling the smell of my grandmother's homemade noodles... for her it's cooked cabbage. It was sweet. We also are putting chopsticks at everyone's plate now because a few days ago it was her turn to set the table and she did this. I had stopped because she had stopped wanting to use them but we've started it back up again. Joy also loves it that we are trying to learn Chinese. She is learning English much faster than we are learning Mandarin but today we were reading a book together that has English, pinyin, and Simplified Characters and she said one of the Chinese words wrong and I actually was able to correct her. She said "Good Job Mommy". I thought the same thing. Who knows how many words she's said incorrectly without me knowing but at least I caught this one.

I'm also trying to work on redoing our blog so that we can advocate for kids that God brings into our lives. My main focus will be kids that we are made aware of through Caring for China, An Orphan's Wish, Grace and Hope Foster Care, and Madison Adoption Associates Camps in China. These are all organizations that helped Joshua and Joy and us on our adoption journeys. I plan on included grant organizations that us and those we know have used to help with the financial aspect of adoption. If there is anything else that you think of that would be helpful please let me know. My hope is that I can advocate for children needing familes and provide help for families that are considering adoption.

Joy has her surgery to remove her 14 baby teeth on Wed., June 16th. They are all rotten and infected so they have to be removed and the infection taken out. She will be at Egleston and it'll be outpatient so she'll be in good hands. Please pray for her this week. We are going to get her and Faith into an orthodontist together after her mouth heals!