A very merry Christmas

Christmas was beyond words ... so here are the pictures. We really had a great time, from setting out cookies (Jake carried them in thinking they were for him to eat, but he recovered well.) to unwrapping gifts and spending time with family and church friends.

Jake with his new fish tank:


Jake with Grandpa and his new guitar:


Jake with his toy horse:




Also, we enjoyed ourselves Sunday night at Kingfisher In Lights, a light show put on by a town near where we live.

Twas the night before Christmas ...

Well, it is early Christmas Day here, as we wrap up our holiday preparations (pun intended) and get ready for a big day. Christmas Eve found us with last-minute shopping after a short day at work and going to the candlelight service at our church, which we had not been able to do the past few years because of our work schedules.
The service has gotten longer, which we loved, but Jake was too fussy, and we spent the majority of our time in the foyer. Still, he did fairly well, considering, and he loves the Baby Jesus.
We then went home and got ready for Santa. Jake doesn't understand the whole Christmas scene yet, but he could tell we were excited, so he was getting that way. He hung his stocking, tracked Santa on NORAD and set out cookies and milk for Santa. At first we think he was a little disappointed he didn't get the cookies and milk, as he was all ready to sit down on the stool with the plate of cookies, but we explained the cookies and milk were for Santa, and he set them down and did OK.

Here is a picture of Jake getting excited about Santa.



From our family to yours, we wish you happy holidays. We have everything we wished for this Christmas.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

Kevin and Violet

Priceless portraits ...

A Web site that highlights Shaanxi, China, is offering a series on aerial photography that features some stunning photographs of the province where Jacob was born.

Here is the site: http://en.cnwest.com/
(anyone with ties to Shaanxi should bookmark this site, as it offers great features on the province)

And a little about the series:

"An large-scale aerial photography program entitled"Dancing Shaanxi"was launched to celebrate and mark the 30th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up,as well to show the splendid changes Shaanxi achieved.The program was co-hosted by Shaanxi Provincial Publicity Committee,Shaanxi Broadcast, Film and TV Bureau,and Shaanxi TV Station etc.The program was committed to let the public understand a new Shaanxi province,which is full of vigor and vitality."

Here is one of the aerial photos of the Xian Bell Tower. The hotel where we stayed while adopting Jake is to the upper right in the photo



Here is a photo of Qingling Mountain: The north of Xi’an is plain and the south of Xi’an is hill. The southeast is higher then southwest. The altitude of Qingling Mountain is 2000-2800 meters high. It is the borderline of northern China and southern China.

2 months home

Today, we have been home for two months. Jake's continues to grow more and more comfortable with being part of our family, and we certainly are growing more and more in love with him.

He's been jabbering a lot more lately and is saying more words we understand. We've still got work to do on that front, but we expect things to get better after he has his palate surgery in February.

It's cool to watch him each day grow and grow.

Our little Christmas cheer.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We set up our Christmas tree Sunday night — our first as a family of three.
Jake helped hang ornaments, and although he didn't really understand what we were doing, he knows the lights looked really cool and pretty.

It's going to be a great Christmas this year!

This was his reaction when we first plugged in the lights. It was so special to see his reaction.



He needed some help putting up the ornaments, but he did OK. Now, we just have to make sure he leaves them on the tree.



Our little reindeer was full of smiles.



This may not really be the Christmas spirit, but it's still a cute photo.



Jake likes music, so it doesn't take much to make a drum.

2 months of joy

It was two months ago today that Jacob walked (or actually had to be carried crying) into our lives in a hotel room in Xian, China.

It's been a great two months. Yeah, we've had some problems, like the meltdown going on as I type this because he didn't get his way. But, all in all the good has far outweighed the bad. We wouldn't have it any other way.

Here's a pic of Jake at Thanksgiving playing with bubbles his Aunt Debbie bought him and his cousin Matt was kind enough to blow for him. Jake loves them (Deb and Matt, as well as the bubbles).



Kevin