Her Favorite Color Is Green

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time."
My "Dumpling" loves the color green and always has.  Funny, it's her Mommy and Daddy's favorite color also.  She always picks things that are green and always chooses the green chair to sit it.  Wearing green is a must, even when it comes to ballet!

Love you little girl and green is one of my favorite colors too.
Of course I had problems scanning this picture also.

First Christmas

"Christmas is the day that holds all time together."

This will be my little "J Birds"  first Christmas and we won't be with him to celebrate.  Makes me want to cry, but I'm sure we will Skype with them and they'll send us lots of pictures.  He is such a precious baby and I can still "smell" his hair as if I just held him today.  Love you baby J and please don't grow a whole lot until I see you in March.

I had to scan this picture and had a lot of trouble getting it done, as you can tell.  We call him J Bird because he is named after my dad.   Everyone calls my dad, J Bird.  So far, 3 great grandsons have been given his name - Carter Jack, Samuel Jack and Jack Joseph.  Any more coming?!!!

Spaghetti Face

"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love."

It looks like my "Enchilada" is trying to keep with the Christmas colors by having spaghetti sauce smeared all over his face.  Sure looks like enjoyed his dinner.  I miss him so much.  He has the sweetest little voice.  When he says "mammam"  I just want to melt.

Squeak Squeak!

"There has been only one Christmas - the rest are anniversaries."

I bought Camryn some "squeaky shoes"  from a fundraiser for The Pearl River Outreach in China.  It was run through one of the adoption websites.  Families donated clothing, shoes etc. to sell.   Prices were cheap and it was a good cause.  The person donating the goods mailed you your selection.  We got lucky and were sent many  more shoes that we paid for.  She told me that she had extra and just wanted my granddaughter to enjoy them.

I was so excited for Camryn to try them on.  She LOVES shoes!!  However, when she took her first step and the shoes squeaked, she stopped dead in her tracks and just looked at me.  She didn't know what to do and was afraid to take another step.  When I brought shoes home from our trip to China, all the girls loved them and just ran and ran to hear them squeak.  Not Camryn, she wanted them off!  I tried several times but she just didn't like them.  When Troy came home, he got her to try them again and now she loves them too.  Running "fast" like she does, really makes them squeak.

Busy Little Hands

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful."

Last week the girls and I have started making a few Christmas decorations.  Every day they want to do a new project, so I need to go prepared.

Just to let you know,  Messiah Men won the National Title on saturday.  Unfortunately, the women lost their battle.  I am so proud of both teams and their coaches.  YEAH FALCONS!!

Iron Sharpens Iron

"Respect your fellow human being, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve."

My son and daughter-in-law both coach soccer at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa.  Both the men and women's teams are at the Final Four in Texas this week.  The mens team won this afternoon 4-1 and will play in the National Finals tomorrow afternoon.  The womens team  will be playing any minute in the semis, let's hope they advance to the Final Round also.

Last year they took Camryn along to Texas.  It was hard for them  to dedicate their time to the team and the baby.  This year, they let her home with us.  I was there Tuesday and Wednesday.  Bethany's parents came  for Thursday and Friday.  We will go back to finish the job Saturday and Sunday.  It's been fun for us, but I'm sure Troy and Bethany are missing their little girl.  So far, so good with Camryn.  We'll see what the weekend has to bring.    GO MESSIAH!!!

Big Sister

"How do people make it through life without a big sister?"

"Dumpling" is such a good big sister.  She truly loves her baby brother and enjoys taking care of him.  Her other brother is already bigger than she is and I have no doubt that this one will be too.  She says that her brothers will be big like daddy, but she is going to be like her mommy, short and sweet!