Exploring Turkey Run State Park

Our campground was associated with Turkey Run State Park (in Indiana), which is where we spent most of our time. There were gorgeous trails to hike, many playgrounds for Julie, and a large suspension bridge that provided quite a bit of entertainment.

Out for a hike.


It was so beautiful!


Julie running back and forth (and back and forth) over the suspension bridge.


Getting a drink.


It's fun to get all wet!


Swinging like a big girl (Please excuse her runny nose in need of wiping. Julie had a cold going on for much of our trip.).


Visiting a covered bridge.


Going for another hike, this time with Julie in the Ergo. We hiked one of the more adventurous trails, which included crossing streams on stepping stones and climbing down steep ladders. Way to go Larry and thank you Ergo!




Ending a full day by roasting marshmallows.

Camping!

I've finally caught up to when we left for our camping trip. It was Julie's first time camping and we had a blast. We learned a lot about traveling with her too, which will help us plan for our trip to China. Specifically, we learned that we should bring a bunch of items that Julie associates with home to help her through the rough spots of being away. She broke down several times the first day of our trip, but each time she was consoled by something from home. Even when she wasn't upset, she was quite delighted to see items from home, even something as simple as one of her spoons. The first time we realized this important truth was on the drive to the campground. It was a long drive. Within an hour of our destination Julie started screaming and reaching for me to get her out of her seat. I started to sing to her but it only made things worse (that seemed very unusual to us, since she loves when I sing). We pulled over and I took her out, but she just kept looking around and crying. We think she realized we weren't going home and she was pretty upset about it. Larry broke out the portable DVD player and hooked it up in the car. We brought it with us "just in case" and we're so glad we did (thank you Grammy for the gift!). As soon as Julie saw her video playing she started struggling to get back into her seat. The first word that came out of her mouth was "home!" That was when we really understood what was going on with her. She was just so excited to have a piece of home at that moment and we were relieved to be able to give it to her. I'm really glad we went on this trip before attempting the big one to China. Here are some pictures from the beginning of our adventure.

Our campsite (#200).


Julie sleeping in the tent.


Chef Larry getting ready to cook scrambled eggs (that's what's in the plastic bag). Actually, he made a dish from my Girl Scout days called California Egg Crackle. It is a mix of eggs, bacon and cheez-its. It's really quite good!


Breakfast!


Got milk?


Snuggling in the hammock.

May 21

No pictures for May 21, but it was still a significant day. I've been calling it Julie's "balance point." On May 21st, Julie had officially spent as much time in our family as she had without us (before her adoption). It feels like she's been with us forever and it's really hard to wrap my mind around the fact that she spent that same length of "forever" without us. We are so grateful to God for the gift of this precious little girl!

May 19

On May 19th we went to a resale. Daddy bought Julie some popcorn to help keep her from running all over like a wild child. She ate the whole box all by herself!

May 18

On May 18th we had the privilege of going to the airport to meet friends who were arriving home with their new daughter from China. It was so wonderful to see them as a family of 3 after such a long wait. It also made me want to jump on a plane right then and there to go get Melody!


Three girls, three sizes: big, medium and small. I have really forgotten how small babies are! The "medium" cutie is the daughter of another family who came to greet our friends. Julie is actually eyeing her raisins and getting ready to grab a few, whether invited or not!

May 16

Like mother, like daughter!

May 15

We are back from our camping vacation and I'm going to attempt to start catching up on blogging. Here are some pictures from Julie's last gymnastics class on May 15th.

Climbing the wall:


Julie's favorite, the bar:




Forward roll down the ramp:


Jumping off the beam:


Not so sure now that it's on an incline:


Ball pit!


Cute!


Getting her certificate and lollipop:


My beautiful girl and her cherished pink lollipop (she is still talking about this one and the blue one she got after her last Kid Rock class):

No Store...Playground!

I do believe Julie has finally mastered the word "no." Last weekend, while en route to do some shopping, we told Julie we were going to the store. She quickly replied "no stohe," paused, then exclaimed "pay-gow!" Larry and I could not help but laugh out loud! I think that was our first back and forth conversation with our little one! All the evaluations we've filled out about Julie always ask if she's learned to use "no" yet, since it's a typical early milestone that kids master. I think we can finally say "yes" that she gets "no!" In the last two days she has used it to counter nearly every suggestion I make. It goes something like this (not including the phonetics of her speech):

Me - Let's go downstairs for breakfast.
Julie - No downstairs!

Me - It's time to go outside.
Julie - No outside!
Me, after being outside a while - It's time to go inside.
Julie - No inside!

Larry - Time to stop playing and have some ice cream!
Julie - No ice cream!

You get the idea. The girl who had no opinion suddenly has an opinion on everything, and it is NO! Right now we're just so thrilled that she has made this language leap that it's hard to be upset by her lack of willing agreement with us. I wonder how long that will last?!?!

Mother's Day Weekend - Sunday

Julie did not want anything to do with going to Sunday School by herself this weekend. We tried, but it was clear right away that it wasn't going to work like it did last time. So, we went up to the service to enjoy the music together, then I took Julie back downstairs and sat in class with her. She'll get it in time (right?!?!). At the end of class, every child got a flower to give to his or her mom. Julie liked it so much that she wouldn't give it up! I was happy to share.





I know I posted pictures of geese from Saturday, but this is a different family. I was even more excited about these little guys because I've been watching the mom sit on her nest for the last several weeks. I almost felt proud of her when I saw her with her itty bitty goslings! Mom and Dad wouldn't let me get very close, but you can still see how little, yellow, and fuzzy the babies are.





Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Mother's Day Weekend - Saturday

Saturday morning began with our usual run. Afterward, Larry took us out for a special meal at a very nice Italian restaurant. The bread was SO good! Here is Julie's take on the experience:





After our meal, we went shopping for flowers to plant in our garden. We got many Impatiens and one Fuchsia basket. Larry planted them while Julie napped. They will look wonderful with a little TLC.

In the evening, we went shopping for a bit and stopped at Culver's for some ice cream. There were some gorgeous lilac bushes outside, which Julie enjoyed sniffing.





There was one other thing I enjoyed about Saturday...





Yes, I know, geese are a real nuisance, but I am a sucker for baby animals of any kind. Now if only I could hop on a plane and go get my baby, I would really be happy.

Melody's Name

My friend April asked how we picked Melody's name and I finally want to answer that question! As many of you know, we got Julie's name by rearranging the letters in her Chinese name (switch the L and the J in LuJie and you get Julie). We were secretly hoping that we could do the same thing with our second daughter, but it just didn't work. No matter how we arranged the letters in SiWei, we couldn't come up with anything. I had the idea of changing her last name, Jiang, by flipping the final "g" upside down to make it look like an "a," resulting in "Jiana" (usually spelled Gianna). In addition to that idea, I printed out the list of names I have had on my computer since before we adopted Julie. Larry took the list and picked his favorite ones. That gave us a "short list" to ponder. We finally narrowed it down to Jiana or Melody, but we couldn't seem to settle. One of us would like one option while the other liked the other option, then we'd flip flop. We liked that Jiana was tied to her Chinese name but we liked the sound of Melody. Melody would also be easier for people to pronounce and spell correctly. In addition, every time I looked at our referral pictures, Melody would pop into my mind. It seemed to suit her somehow. Larry and I both liked that it sounded "happy" and also had a musical element to it. We knew we wanted Joy to be her middle name, and "Melody Joy" sounded beautiful to us. After several days of deliberations, we finally settled the matter and went with Melody Joy. We are sure that she will, indeed, bring a melody of joy into our lives, and we pray that we can do the same for her.

Matching Outfits

We have officially started clothes shopping for our trip to China. While there, we will do all of our laundry in the hotel tub and then hang it to dry, so we need to bring items that will dry quickly. The best material for that is 100% polyester. When we went to adopt Julie in December 2005, we brought a lot of fleece-type things, but that won't work in the 100+ degree heat of summer! I pretty much never go clothes shopping, so it was a lot of fun to pick out some things for the girls (I love saying "the girls!"). We got them four matching outfits, 3 dresses and 1 shorts set. I hope Melody won't be swimming in 12 month sizes! We are hoping that the matching outfits will help Julie make the connection that Melody belongs with us/her. Julie is a VERY visual learner so it might just work. At the very least, they will look so cute together! Here's what we have so far:

Strawberry patterned sundresses:


Easter dresses on sale at Target:


This is actually a PJ set, but I thought it passed as regular clothing just fine!

Pants from the PJ set, which look more like PJs, but we probably won't use these except in the hotel where we hope to have a/c:


Pink dresses:


And here is Julie's carry-on, which we plan to fill with all kinds of things to keep her busy on the 15 hour plane ride (yikes!):


We also found some black shorts for each of us, as well as 2 shirts for Larry. We'll probably wear some of our running shirts as well. If you happen to see any good deals on 100% poly clothes, let us know!

Our Sunday Miracle

Last Sunday we experienced something that felt quite like a miracle. It may sound like exaggeration, and maybe it is a little, but it sure has been a long time in coming. Drum roll please.... Julie spent the entire church service IN SUNDAY SCHOOL!!! For the first time since we got home with her 17 months ago, Larry and I sat through a church service together. I was so nervous the whole time, just waiting for our number to appear on the screen. I couldn't even close my eyes to pray! Much to my surprise, our number never popped up! At the end of the service I wanted to stand up and tell the entire church what had happened! I am SO proud of our little girl. I hope this is the beginning of her feeling more secure being away from us. Julie has gone from clinging to me for all she's worth if I even got close to her Sunday School room to me spending several months in class with her to me sitting in the hall so she could look out and see me to making it through a whole class alone! The workers said she did go to the door once to look for me, saw I wasn't there and actually went back to playing! Toward the end of class she started to get a bit upset, but one of the workers carried her around and that seemed to help. Hopefully she will be able to do it again this Sunday! Yay!

A Special Wedding

Yesterday afternoon we attended one of the most unique weddings either of us can remember. There were seven couples involved, all of whom were already married! None of them, however, were Christians at the time of their first weddings. This ceremony was so that they could renew their vows in front of God and the church, with Christ as the foundation. It was such a beautiful, amazing experience. The brides all looked fabulous and the vows the couples exchanged brought tears to my eyes (and Larry's). Many of the couples had been married a long time, one for nearly 20 years. All had lived through a lot together, and here they were recommitting to each other in such a special way. My friend, Rachel, walked down the aisle holding hands with her 2-year old daughter, Alaina. One bride even had her father there to walk her down the aisle. The entire ceremony was in Chinese, so we wore headset translators to hear it in English. Some of you may know that the Chinese are not at all into PDA, so it was very sweet when the minister told each couple to kiss and the husband leaned over and gave his wife a quick kiss on the cheek. I will not soon forget this special day.

Rachel and Alaina.


Rachel and her husband, Ping.


All seven couples.


Happy family (minus the baby who was in the nursery).


The baby, Angela. How cute!


Linda, Rachel and me with Daniel, Alaina and Julie. We all used to attend story time together at the library.


Alaina and Julie picking up flowers.


Julie and the bride. I really like this picture.


Julie getting a ride from Daddy during the reception. Love the face, Larry!


Rachel's bouquet.


The wedding cakes.



Amen!