Thank you all for your emails of concern and I am sorry if we worried anyone.  We really are doing just fine.  But we are super busy until the end of this month with sports camps and youth camps so my blogging will be sporadic at best. 

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Abbey is doing super. It really is much easier than I expected.  That's not to say that there are no challenges, because there are, they are just very managable.  For example, I feel like I must watch her as closely as a little one because she is just so curious about things.  You just never know when she is gonna stick her hand down the garbage disposal to try to figure it out.  Things like that.  But she is very content and happy.  She just has this look of joy on her face most of the time.  Language is still an issue, as expected.  But she does well using her translator or my jibbigo app on my iphone.  Her eating is getting better.  She is very willing to try anything, but she just doesn't really like a big variety of foods.  She loves potatos (and potato chips) and strawberry anything.  She really liked the spaghetti I made the other night.  We are working on her starting to just get up and get her something if she is hungry, instead of waiting until one of us eat.  I have watched her just wait for one of us to go to the kitchen and fix a snack and then realize that she was hungry.  I want her to feel free to fix her own snack at any time.  But we will get there eventually.

She had the oppurtunity to watch Ashlyn and Sarah play volleyball Monday night.  She was pretty impressed but said that she was not gonna get out there and play.  We shall see.....

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My sweet Ashlyn had a birthday on the 3rd.  I can't believe that she is 17!  It seems like yesterday that she was a baby in my arms and now she is a young woman.  One word to describe Ash is EASY.  She has been the easiest of all my kids.  She just goes with the flow and doesn't let things get to her.  She is a smart girl with a good head on her shoulders.  She loves God and wants to obey him and gets irritated when people don't take his word seriously.  She is hilarious and makes everything fun.  We absolutely love this girl to peices!  I do not even want to think about her going off to college.  But as all the college brocheres in my mailbox say, that time is approaching. 

I am not much on big organized parties, but I love impromptu get togethers.  We just called up a few friends that were not busy and threw some steaks and hotdogs on the grill and celebrated Ashlyn's day.  Sydney picked out a cake for her, which her and Lauren (my brother's daughter) then smeared in each other's faces.

Abbey has told us that she wants to learn to play the guitar, so our friend Greg gave her a little impromptu lesson.  He said she had a real good grasp on music and would have the guitar down in no time.  (There's no pics of Sarah because she was sweet enough to take these pics for me!)

OK that's all I have time for now.  I have to drive my two college age youth helpers to a training at Jeff City so they can work as small group leaders at our upcoming Super Summer camp!  Driving 5 hours round trip today and tomorrow.  ~sigh~

Crazy Big Family

Yep that's what Abbey is calling us.  I think she has figured out that life will not be boring in our house.  Our family laughs a lot and at times is just plain nuts.  But we are not boring. 

Abbey is settling in well and I think is doing great.  She still has some moments that I think she may be sad or feel left out of the fast moving conversation, but they are not very often.  She has contacted several friends back in Luoyang using QQ.  She has also contacted several Luoyang friends who are already here in the States.  Tonight during our grandson's t-ball game we were able to call Macy from the KC area.  She has been home since August-ish.  Her mom, Lori, and I have formed a friendship through our adoptions and she is a sweet freind to me.  We called her during the game and Abbey and Macy were able to talk for a good long time.  It was also hilarious for us to watch people walk by and hear Abbey speaking Chinese.  They would whip their heads around with this crazy look on their faces.  HeeHee.  Here are a few pics I managed to take before Abbey turned around to face the other way.  Typical teenager.

And here are a few more pics I took tonight.  I looked at my camera and I had not taken one pic since returning from China.  Shame on me!

These are only of Bryce because Jayden would not get his picture taken.  I"ll have to get him next time.  But look how tough Bryce looks without his front tooth!  Grrrrrrrr!

Ashlyn and Sarah are in volleyball camp this week, it is pretty quiet around here during the day.  But tomorrow Abbey, Sydney, and I will go to town.  Abbey's glasses are ready and we will get to pick them up.  And yes I will get pictures for y'all.