Favorite Photo Friday

This is something that I have seen on countless blogs. So, I'm jumping on the bandwagon. On Fridays, I will be posting my favorite photo of the week. So, for today, here it is. Enjoy!

Now We're In Serious Trouble!

I'll just let this video speak for itself.



And the next day...

Twinkies For All!

One of the most fun things about Jadyn is giving her something new. She gets so excited when she tries something new that she really likes. For example, twinkies!
Really, what is not to like? Even though she don't speak in complete sentences yet, I can tell by her eyes that she is saying "I love this country!" I suppose the pictures could talk for themselves, that's a twinkie face if I have ever seen one, actually that is a twinkie face with Jackie Chan hair! Too funny!

2 Month Since Gotcha Day

May 13, 2007

My Dearest Jadyn,

I cannot believe that you have been in our arms for two months, it just doesn't seem real. We waited so long for you and to have you now, here with us, is like a dream. It seems as though you have always been with us, like we did not miss the first 13 months as we have caught up so quickly. It's like we were never apart.

How precious you are to us, you are truly an answer to many years of prayer. As your name Jadyn means, God has heard, and He definitely did hear and answer. We are so thankful to our Creator for creating you at the time and place that He did, and making it possible to travel to China and bring you home. Oh what a blessing you are to us. Jadyn, you have forever changed the lives of many people. You touch the hearts of those you are around and you always bring a smile to our faces.

Jadyn, sweet Jadyn, you have caused me to experience a love that I have never experienced before. To love something so deeply that was not physically grown in my body, but supernaturally grown in my heart, can only be one the work of the Father. This love, Jadyn, is a love that can only be placed in our hearts by the God we serve. It's a supernatural love, one that is so strong, and a bond that is unbreakable. Jadyn, you have caused me to love in a completely new way. For this, I will be forever grateful.

You bring joy to our home, laughter to our hearts, smiles to our faces, and you, Jadyn, make me a better person. I see the love of the Father for us in a new and fresh way. Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus. For we are all adopted in to His family and oh, how He loves us. Thank you for being a picture of that love for me.

The last 2 months have been better than I could even think or imagine. I love you, sweet girl, and cannot wait to see what God has in store for your future.

I Love You,
Mama


July 13, 2007

America's Newest Citizen

Yes, I am well aware that the 4th of July was last week, but I have a couple of pictures that I borrowed (stole) from Amanda's blog. She was the photographer because I forgot my camera. We had a blast on the 4th at Dick and Leslie's and Jadyn decided that this country is a GREAT place to live. America, Jadyn salutes you for your cookies with blue icing and your corn on the cob. God bless America!

Pickles? For Breakfast?!?!

Well, those of you who know me well, know that I am not your traditional breakfast eater. For example, this morning I had collard greens. The pictures from this post happens to be a morning that I was eating a dill pickle while Jadyn was eating her pancakes and fruit in her high chair. She saw my pickle and HAD to have some of it. So, I did what any good Mother would do, I gave her the pickle. I personally don't see anything wrong with pickles for breakfast (or any other time as far as that goes). So here is the result.

The introduction...


The taste...


And finally, the pickle face...




This is what happens when one insists on eating pickles for breakfast.

Mom and Jadyn, who loves dill pickles!

Just A Swangin'

We got home from China and immediately knew that Jadyn HAD to have a swing. Of course, we proceeded to make a flying trip to Toys R Us and Lowe's and make it happen. Whatever baby girl wants, you know? Well, here is the end result. She absolutely loves the swing. It's just off the patio and Pat, Uncle Vern and of course, Zac, who dug the holes, made it a reality.

And finally, the video!

Happy Da's Day!

No, he's not a new Dad, but he's certainly a new Da Da. I feel bad because Mother's Day of 2007 was again, something that I could not match. How does that happen? I couldn't compare to my 40th birthday and I certainly couldn't compare to Mother's Day. But, this will have to do.

I may or may not have told you about the new camera that we got before we went to China. It is for every holiday until the year 2014, at least that is what Pat says. Anyway, I thought what better way to give him a gift that has special meaning and that showed the gift that we received for Mother's day. This is his Father's Day picture that I took for him. I took the picture and my dear friend Alison worked her magic with Photoshop. She converted it to black and white and added the color on the ribbon and a host of other odds and ends. I don't have that program (yet) so she took care of me. She is a wonderful friend. Thanks Alison!

Pat is a fabulous Father, he's the best. I pray daily that our children grow up with his integrity and honor. He provides for us, loves us, and keeps us laughing - at least I think that he's funny. Sometimes, the boys just look at him. Now, my heart melts when I watch him with Jadyn. Oh, how he loves that little girl. We are in so much trouble. The two of them will be a dangerous combination. The scary part is that she understands already that she's pretty much got him wrapped around her little finger. What a sweet change in our lives. Happy Father's Day Pat, we love you very much.

My Favorite Picture

I don't remember if I had this picture on her or not, but here it is. It is my favorite picture of all time. Manda took this picture the night that we came home. Thanks Manda!

From Shih Tzu to Shepherd...

...German Shepherd that is.

As most of you know, we have a shih tzu named Samson. He has actually adjusted quite well to Jadyn and normally lays just out of her reach, but close enough to her where he can keep an eye on her.

Jadyn is quickly figuring out that when she drops something in the floor, Samson runs to get it. Nice. So, off of the high chair tray and onto the floor. Samson quickly gobbles up the fallout. He just sits and waits for the next cheerio to drop, or whatever the snack de jour is. It was really quite funny at first, must I must say that the comedy is now beginning to take a back seat. Especially when you step on a piece of carrot which he failed to eat. So far, carrots are the only thing that he passes on. He even eats the bananas. But, Jadyn loves her bananas, so unless those slippery things get away from her, the bananas mostly go in her mouth.

She has also learned that if you hold a cheerio down, Samson will come and stand up for her to feed it to him. Which she quickly holds the cheerio up in the air as if to let someone know that she has a question. She then proceeds to shake her head no at the dog. Funny, how quickly they learn. Samson, however, has not learned so quickly. Because, he just keeps coming back when she holds that little hand down there with the cheerio in it.

So, to sum it all up. expect our shih tzu to be the size of a German Shepherd before too long. He has never eaten this much in his life. But in his eyes, this little girl isn't so bad to have around.

A and J

Little Swimmer

Jadyn loves the water. Bath, swimming, sink, whatever. She loves to splash, go under and drench everyone within 5 foot of her. You can tell that she is use to having some contact with water. Remember those pictures where those babies were floating by their head. I guess she's done some time in the "tank".

Silly Girl

Here is our silly girl.

The Big Debut!

On Sunday, Jadyn made her big debut at church. It was quite the event. As you can tell, she loves to hang upside down. This is her Daddy's fault. Everytime he gets her, he hangs her upside down. Thus, the reason for the hanging upside down picture. So, what we have discovered is that it doesn't matter if you are in front of 1000 people, when you want to hang upside down, you go for it. It also doesn't matter if you have a dress on. :)

She is quite the entertainer and keeps us laughing, tired, but laughing. She is spending a little more time in her walker (Praise God!) and a little less time on my lap. We are still struggling with eating as she don't want to eat from a spoon. Thank you Lord for fish sticks and pasta pick-ups. She loves pancakes or a boiled egg (only the white part) for breakfast and will eat all the fish sticks (yuck!) in the freezer. She is such a hoot.

We had a relatively quiet weekend, still working on nap time, but she is sleeping great at night. She normally goes to bed around 8:30 - 9:00 pm and sleeps 10-12 hours. I can't ask for much more than that. She seems to have made the switch from China time to Tennessee time. Yay! Well, got to go, my walker time has just run out and someone is pulling on my left arm, so typing is becoming more diffucult. Enjoy the pics.

Amy and J

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my 42nd birthday and boy, am I feeling my age, plus about 20 years. Let me tell you about the sense of humor of the God I serve.

When I was born, my Mom was 42 years old. As long as I could remember, she always said "you were not an accident, you were a blessing". Get real Mom, who has a baby at 42 and means to. I always laughed at her for being so "old" when she had her last baby, especially since the rest of her children were 14, 16, and 18.

Well, I guess the laughs on me. I am 42, a new Mother of a 13 months old and my boys are 14 and 20. Now who's laughing. I am, because it's one of the most joyous times of my life. Yes, I am exhausted. I'm not as young as I use to be you know. Either that or I'm just too old to remember how hard it is to have a 1 year old. Maybe that's the senility setting in. :) What a joy my family is. The boys are great with Jadyn and she adores them. And likewise, they adore her.

Yes, today I feel 42. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel 32, but I doubt it. My back hurts, maybe because my heart is SO full. God has blessed this family with a precious little girl that was created just for us.

She Gets an A+

Jadyn's first night home - where she belongs...

Today, Jadyn had her first visit to the Dr. We went to see Pete this morning for her check up. She actually did very well, even though it cut into her nap time. She was well behaved, for the most part, and did all of her "tricks" for the nurses. Of course when Pete came in, she acted mute.

She is really quite the entertainer. She constantly surveys the room to make sure that everyone is watching her and what kind of reaction she is getting. She's a hoot!

She weighed 21.8 lbs which is down 2 lbs from what she weighed in China. I am not really surprised by that as her diet has changed dramatically (introduction of table foods) and she is in a whole new environment. We made the decision not to redo her immunizatins at this visit as we felt it best to let her have another few weeks to settle into her new life. She was so traumatized when we first got her, I don't want to risk any setbacks. She is laughing, playing, talking, and generally being the cut up that we knew she would be. So, next visit, we will begin with blood work and immunizations. That should be fun.

Pete said that I could switch her to whole milk as he was not concerned about where she is nutritionally. He felt that she would be fine on milk. He was also not concerned about her developmental delays and felt that she would continue to quickly catch up. Actually, the only thing on the developemental chart for a 1 year old that she could not do is pull herself to standing. She has some weakness in her muscle tone, especially in her upper body. If you have seen her legs, you'll understand why there is not much weakness there. We have learned to roll over from back to front and front to back, wave bye bye, say mama, say dada, show us her tongue, play pat-a-cake, and play pee pie. She is so funny. She learns very quickly. She is still not eating from a spoon except for ice cream and she ate a whole scoop of vanilla ice cream with me feeding her from a spoon. I could not get it to her fast enough. She was like a little bird.

She is a pure joy and we look at her and still can't believe that she is actually here and that she is ours. And yes, we still look at her and cry. Pray that she will soon get on Tennessee time and off of China time and that her itching and rash improves. She is more that we could ever have hoped for. She is a perfect fit for our family. Hmm, imagine that.

Woo Hoo, We Are Home!

We are home and we are GLAD of it. It is SO good to be home. We thought we would never get here. It was a super long trip home, but we finally made it. We were met at the airport on Saturday afternoon by a LARGE group of friends and family and it was sweet. Jadyn did great on the flights and with her welcoming committee. She sort of had that deer in head lights look, but she handled it all very well. She is just so precious.

We are working hard on getting her on Tennessee time instead of China time and if anyone has any secrets, I'm open for suggestions. She doesn't cry at night, just awake. She is so sweet and we are just nuts about her. All of us. She is particular fond of her brothers and likewise. They can't get enough of her. Her Daddy comes home at lunch to see her, so she is not lacking in the attention department. We are working on catching her up developmentally and she is a quick learner. She is laughing, playing, entertaining and being the center of attention. (which she is very good at) What a doll God has given us. We are truly blessed. She is fitting into the Hood family perfectly, no surprise at all however. She was ordained to be our daughter before the very foundations of the world was laid. It is so obvious, she was/is destined to be ours.

Tomorrow, we go to the Dr for her first check up. Stay tuned for an update on that. Until then...

Another Day Down!

We have another day behind us and we are exhausted. We are having so much fun and still can't believe that we are finally here. Beijing is such a modern city and we have been a bit surprised at how Western it really it really is. It's really not alot different than the big cities at home, just more bicycles! :)

Today we went to the pearl market which was pretty neat. Bargaining is the name of the game there and I think we actually walked away with some really good deals. I'm happy with our purchases. Seth bought some beautiful freshwater pearls to put up for his future wife (awww) and Zachary bought Jadyn a beautiful pink pearl bracelet (awww again) and both brought tears to my eyes a little. We left there and came back to the hotel and walked across the street to a coffee shop for lunch. The food has been probably the most interesting part yet. We have had one INCREDIBLE chinese meal (no forks, just chopsticks which was worth the price of admission itself) that was so good. The breakfast bar is very western, so every male in my family left there VERY happy and full of eggs and bacon. I left there full of watermelon and a hard boild egg! :)

After lunch, we went to the Chinese Acrobatics show which was pretty amazing. I got some pretty incredible pictures of the show and will get them posted as soon as I can. We have to head out early in the morning at 8:00am to go to the Great Wall and to the Cloisonne factory (Pat say's yippee on that too!) so the day will be full. We also have the Harley Davidson shop address written in Chinese to give to the cab driver, so an adventure awaits us I am just sure of it. I'll try to capture that on film also! So, it's 2:30 in the morning here, everyone is fast asleep except me of course. I better get back to bed to try and get a little sleep before I have to get up in just a few hours. We love you all!

Amy

Greetings from Beijing!

WE'RE HERE! And we still can't believe it. Pat posted some pictures on his blog so be sure and check them out.

Man, what a trip. We are having a great time so far, but everything just pales in comparison to the real reason that we are here. My mind is on one thing and I'm having a little trouble feeling the excitement of everything else around us.

We had a great visit with a M family last night and this morning. They are doing an incredible work running a foster home. I so enjoyed seeing the children and visiting with them. All of the 12 children in their home are special needs. They are just so precious. We arrived at the hotel this afternoon and have been out walking the street looking for dinner. The guys ate at McDonald's and I opened the lid of a grilled chicken (?) sandwich that just didn't look to suit me - to much unidentifiable things attached to it. Oh well, the picture on the box looked good. Anyway, I don't think I will starve. I had part of a mashed blueberry muffin that I saved from the plane. :)

Remember to check Pat's blog for more pics. Remember to pray for our little girl. We're so ready to get to her. We love you all and we'll post more tomorrow!

Oh, What a Night!

Well, here I sit in the Detroit airport, waiting on a connecting flight to Tokyo. We left left the house at 8:12am this morning and headed for the Nashville airport. We got up at 5:00 when the clock went off and I had only been in bed for about 40 minutes. I went to bed at 4:10am, whew, what a night. I guess it was a combination of nerves, emotions, and an endless list of things to do. I hope we make it to China with everything. I had a fabulous packing list and stuck to it pretty close. What a task, packing for 2 weeks in China for 5 people.

The whole thing seems very surreal. People have asked me repeatedly if I am excited and I am, but yet it just doesn't seem like it's really happening. We have waited so long for this day and it's finally here and I can't believe it. Go figure!

Most of the blog updates will be done on Pat's blog. I will probably update from time to time, if I put the baby down long enough :) otherwise, just look to Pat's blog for the updates and hopefully a little video. Pray for us, especially for safety and good health. Pray for little Jadyn, that she will transition smoothly and with no trauma. Pray that she will know our voices when she hears them and supernaturally feel a comfort that only God can place in her heart. Thanks for following our journey. We love you all and can't wait for you to meet our new daughter!

Photography 101

Pat and I bought a new camera to take with us to China and I am so excited about it. It is a Canon XTi, digital SLR and it takes incredible pictures. Yesterday, I spent the morning with my friend Alison doing a crash course in photography. Alison is a wonderfully talented photographer and I guess I can just hope that maybe a little of her knowledged rubbed off on me. Anyway, here's a little sampling of some of the pics that I took yesterday. I'm pretty proud of them. Thanks Alison for your wonderful help and a huge thank you to Katy, who was a very cooperative model for our photo shoot. Good girl, Katy, good girl.

Short Timers!

Wow, one week from today, we will be own our way to China. Our hearts are already racing and we aren't sleepig so good. Well, Pat and I aren't sleeping so good. However, I have not slept good in a year anyway, you can tell by my blog post times. People ask me all the time why I email them in the middle of the night. It's just a hand time to blog and answer emails. :)

We can't believe it ourselves. We are leaving for China to go and get our baby girl and bring her home. Life, as we know it, will be forever changed, both for us and for Jadyn. Thank you Father for blessing us with this sweet girl. Continue to pray for her. One of the things that I have prayed since we began this journey is that God would give her our voices so that when she heard us speak to her, she would know that we were her family and feel a supernatural peace and comfort.

Happy Birthday Sweet Sophie!

Sophie turned 2 today which is so hard to believe. She is a tiny, smart, talking machine. What a little angel. We love you Sophie, Happy Birthday!

Some "Official" Information

When I got home from church tonight, the UPS man had delivered that long awaited package. The one that everyone in the adoption community longs for and wants to get their hands on - Officially it is called "Invitation to Travel-Notice of Coming to China For Adoption". We have two very official original documents that states the following...

Mr. Patrick Shannon Hood
& Mrs. Amy Rebecca Hood

You have met the requirements for adoption set by the laws of China and have been approved by the China Center for Adoption. You have agreed to adopt Fu Baojun, DOB 4/13/06 residing in the Fuling Social Welfare Institute. You must take this document with you to the provincial Civil Affairs Bureau to register and complete the adoption proceedings. This Invitation to Travel for Adoption becomes effective 15 days from the date it was issued (3/30/2007) and expires three months later.

It is embossed with a seal, a very official looking stamp and a picture of that sweet, round face. How great is our God!

In that same packet we found the following information:

CHINA ITINERARY
Patrick, Amy, Seth & Zachary Hood

May 9 - Arribe at Beijing International Hotel

May 10 - Acrobatics show in the afternoon

May 11 - Visit Great Wall and Cloisonne Factory

May 12 - Visit Tiananmen Square, the Forbidded City, and Hutong tour

May 13 - Flight HU7151 (8:35 - 10:55) to Chongqing - Stay at the Harbour Plaza Hotel. Go from the airport to Fuling SWI directly to pick up the children. The orphanage is in the same area as the airport. Please prepare a diaper bag and two gifts. Free in the afternoon.

May 14 - Fill out forms in the morning; adoption registration and notarization in the afternoon.

May 15 - Visit Chongqing Zoo to see Giant Pandas

May 16 - Flight MU8741 (7:40 - 9:25) to Guangzhou. Visa photos and medical exam in the afternoon.

May 17 - Visa appointment.

May 18 - 3:00pm Go to the consulate to take the oath and pick up visa.

May 19 - Flight NW10 @ 8:30am

Wow, it looks like we might be going to China very soon. Woo Hoo!

Another Answer to a Prayer

God is just so good. I have said it many, many times throughout this whole process and He just never ceases to amaze me. Once again, He has allowed us to see a glimpse of Jadyn before we get there. One of the Fuling Kids Yahoo group members just returned from Fuling after a visit there with her daughter. She took tons of pictures of the babies and there are several of Jadyn. We are just SO thankful.

For the first time, however, a little reality has set it. The bungee cord on the diaper has deeply saddened me. The reality is, Jadyn is in an orphanage. While it is one of the best facilities in China and we could not be more grateful, it is still an orphanage. That breaks my heart. But, not for long. We are almost into single digits on the number of days before we travel. Maybe it really hasn't sunk in yet, but it's all I think about. Thank you Lord, for allowing us to see our baby girl and know that she is being cared for. Hold on Jadyn, we're on our way!

We're Leavin' on a Jet Plane!

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

Now that you have that song in your head, I thought that I would give you a little flight information.

May 7 - Leave Nashville Airport on Northwest Airline - Flight 1742 and 8:12am
Arrive Beijing - May 8 at 9:25pm

May 19 - Arrive in Nashville on Northwest Flight 1735 from Detroit at 4:17pm

So, kiss me and smile for me,
tell me that you'll wait for me,
hold me like you'll never let me go.
Cause, I'm leavin' on a jet plane,
don't know when I'll be back again, (Not!)
Oh, babe I hate to go! (Really Big NOT!)

Everybody sing! Make Janis Joplin proud!

Happy Birthday Zachary!

Today, Zachary Christian Hoods turns 14. WOW, it's hard to believe that our baby boy is that old. He has been, and continues to be, such a blessing to our family. He can't wait to be a big brother and we know that he will make a great one. He arrived in the world 9 days early and has been going head strong since that time. He was born in Dallas TX and sometimes Pat tells him that he's adopted and we think that Emmitt Smith is his Dad. I see the resemblence, don't you??? Actually, we really could do a maternity test, because there is no mistaking who his Dad is. He is a Pat Hood clone. We love you Zac, we are proud of you, and hope you have a GREAT birthday. Hope you wanted a trip to China for your birthday! :-)

3 WEEKS, 3 WEEKS, 3 WEEKS!

When Seth was 4 years old we moved to Ft. Worth Texas. It was a dark, dark time in our family. We loaded up everything we had, which was not much, and headed out. We were SO homesick and wanted to load everything back up and move back to East TN. We had some dear friends, David and Linda visit us while we lived there and Seth was in the back seat of their car doing the following cheer - 3 WEEKS, 3 WEEKS, 3 WEEKS! You see, in 3 weeks, we were going to East TN for a visit and he was VERY excited. We all missed home and our family and friends very much.

Well, in exactly 3 weeks from today, we will be in the air, on a plane and on our way to China to bring our little girl home. It's been two long years and the journey, at times, has been tough. But we are 3 weeks away from beginning the real journey. The journey to bring Jadyn home.

So officially, today we can all do the cheer that has so stuck in our minds. We talked about it a few weeks ago with David and Linda in fact. So all together now!


3 WEEKS, 3 WEEKS, 3 WEEKS!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

Today is Jadyn's 1st birthday. Oh, how I wanted to be in China to tell her happy birthday myself. I want her to know that she will NEVER have to spend another birthday alone. I want her to know that her family will always be there for those special days. I want her to know that Mom's buy ridiculously priced clothes that can only be worn once because it only has 1 candle on the embroidered birthday cake. Speaking of cake, I want her to know that one day a year, babies are allowed to put their hands in their cake and rub it all in their hair and everyone thinks it's cute. Most of all, I want her to know that we are so thankful that God created our little one year old just for us. And by this little one year old, we are forever blessed.

Happy birthday Jadyn, your Mommy and Daddy love you very much. Soon and very soon, we will be there to tell you ourselves. Hold on, the party is not forgotten, only postponed until we can get our arms around the 1 year old guest of honor. We love you, sweet girl.

We FINALLY have a TA!

Well here it is!!! We finally have our TA. We have to be in Beijing on Wednesday, May 9 for touriing, we will arrive in Chongqing on the evening of Saturday, May 12 and our Consulate appointment is Thursday, May 17th. We will be returning to the US on Saturday, May 19th.

I am a little disappointed that we have to wait so long, but if there is one thing that I have learned during the past two years it's that I am SO not in control! I realize that it's God's perfect timing and I am very thankful that we finally have a light at the end of this very long tunnel. We are truly excited!

Update on Jadyn

This past week we received an update on Jadyn. We think that this update was aquired within the last two weeks. Here is the info that we have:

Weight - 22lbs
Length - 29.5 inches
Foot length - 4.7 inches
8 teeth
Can sit/stand/crawl

Friday is our sweet baby's birthday. We so wanted to be there to wish her a happy birthday ourselves, but we'll just have to have her a big party when we get home. We are looking for our TA's this week. We are also praying for quick travel.

Fuling SWI

This is where Jadyn is currently living, but not for long.

If These Walls Could Talk...

Here is a couple of pictures of the beautiful mural on the wall above Jadyn's changing table. Let me just say that I am THRILLED with the outcome. The mural was painted by a dear friend, Roseanne Peppers, who I have come to know and love through working at City Hall. She is an incredibly talented person that pulled the image that I had in my head and put it on the wall. What a feat! I sit and look at it and my mind travels to China, where Jadyn waits. I hope that it gives her a connection to the heritage that is hers. Developing a sense of pride in who she is and allowing her to see the beauty of the land where she was born makes me feel that I am giving something back to the country that gave us this child. Thank you Roseanne for the hours you spent and for each loving stroke, for I know that when you paint, you paint with love. Jadyn thanks you also!