Well! It has been a long time since I last blogged. In the last 2 months, things have been very busy. We had Chinese New Year, vacation, Easter, and other family birthdays. Things are going really well and we are blending nicely. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and so I will post some pics of our activities in the recent past. As we have hit our 4 month mark of being home with Jenna, I think it is time to end this blog, which I have thoroughly enjoyed. I will be starting a new one on our continuing lives. If you would like to keep up with us, just contact me.

Thanks to all who have been a part of this most special time in our family.

My rootin' tootin' Ricky!



Kyle and Jenna heading off by themselves to ride the coasters :)


Lydia got a special private audience with Captain Hook and Mr. Smee!
In front of the monorail - again. Jenna saids she
wants to ride in the front every time - she likes the co-pilot card the engineer gives the kids - too cute!
We took a 2nd trip to Disney World and Jenna enjoyed it more the 2nd time around than she did the 1st. She and Kyle took off by themselves for most of the time so they could ride all the roller coasters. Erick and I don't do roller coasters!
Things are settling into a normal routine here and the family is transitioning pretty well. I think we got blessed with a very good little girl who cares about those around her. I am very proud of the way she has taken up her new life and is blending into our family. It has been a lot to deal with and she takes each new day to learn more and more.
Posted are pics of our Disney trip! BTW - Mc Donald's french fries are 10 times better at the Magic Kingdom!

We've been doing really great and Jenna is working so hard at blending in with our family. Since our last post, we celebrated Lydia's birthday and took Jenna to Disney World for the 1st time. We all had a good time as Disney is our family's favorite place to go. Erick Jenna and Kyle got to go back and visit MGM this weekend. Jenna especially loved it because of the roller coaster and other rides. Posted are pics of Lydia's bday and our Disney trip.

Jenna and Ricky learning to ride a horse! Jenna did not want to get off - she loved it. Ricky thought he was all that! He was pretty cute. Thanks Paula and Katie!

Jenna is looking at the photo album her new friend brought her. It is filled with pictures of her and Jenna's sister back in Taiwan.

It's a small world, after all!!!!
Here is an amazing story that only God could bring about! When we started the adoption process 8 1/2 months ago, I joined an online forum for people adopting from Asia. Back in April, I met (online) a woman who was also adopting a girl the same age as Jenna and who lives fairly close to us. We have been in contact, first, through the forum, then through email and phone calls as the months have passed. She brought her daughter home a little over 2 1/2 months before we brought Jenna home. We have been on the phone more than a few times sharing each other's day-to-day progress.
Well, Jenna has a sister still in Taiwan who is not adoptable, so we were not able to bring her to America. A couple of weeks ago, I was showing Jenna my friend's little girl and was explaining that she was near us and was from Taiwan also. Jenna got a very strange look on her face and excitedly told me that her sister's best friend had moved to Florida and that she was the same age as my friend's daughter! That was all I needed to email a photo of Jenna's sister to the family. Sure enough! My online friend's daughter is Jenna's sister's best friend!!!! My friend emailed me some photos of the two girls together back in Taiwan. We were incredulous! Here we had been in contact all these months and we end up having much more in common than we were anticipating!
Prior to this miraculous discovery, we had been planning on getting the girls together "sometime soon." Ha! Within a week, we were watching Jenna and her sister's best friend meet for the 1st time! It was so cool! They hit it off great and cannot wait to see each other again :O) It was a wonderful day and I have posted some photos of their time together - it is obvious how happy they were! I will post most of them after I close this post, which is rather long.
God is absolutely amazing!

Jenna's 1st pinata! She loved her cake!


Jenna's 1st birthday with us was good. We spent the day shopping and then came home for a small family party. She really liked her gifts and her cake! Have I mentioned that she loves to shop?

These are our first family portraits together!

Chang Kai Sheck's lift - pretty cool!

This daily special really was special - I was allergic to it!


Now that the holidays are over, I've had time to sit down and look at our pictures over the last 3 weeks. Wow! A lot has happened! We traveled the world, met and brought home our daughter, introduced her to her siblings, shared Christmas and New Year's and are now getting ready to celebrate her birthday in a few days. Funny how fast that something you've been waiting so long for can change your life so quickly! Jenna has been doing great and each new day welds us all a little closer to each other.
In reviewing our photos of Taipei, I came across some of special interest. We really enjoyed our time there and wanted to share some of the sights. Most of these are at the CKS Memorial. It was beautiful!