Tashia Visits

My niece, Tashia came to visit one warm summer day. So we took off for Tehachapi where it is about 10 degrees cooler. It was a great visit and Aminah was able to play with Luke and Linsey for a little while also. Tashia lives in Texas so we don't get to see her too often. It was nice to be able to catch up.

Summer Days

We are having a great summer! I've been trying to keep Aminah busy with activities. She likes to paint with a paint brush and water on the sidewalk and wait for it to disappear. I also gave her a bowl of water and lots of things to pour with and she measures and plays for hours. I gave her shaving cream on a lid and she played for a while but I don't think she really liked the mess. One day she came home from preschool and she had a Fruit Loop necklace so after she ate all of her Fruit Loops she made a Cherrio necklace at home.

Mother's Day and Father's Day

The beauty of being a single mom is that I was able to celebrate both Mother's Day and Father's Day. Aminah had a performance at her school where she was able to sing songs. It was very sweet to see her at her debut. Terri, Nana Nancy, and even Mr. David came to see her sing. On Father's Day I received my first handmade tie. I proudly wore it to church.

Santa Barbara Zoo - May 2007

How about these Easter Cuties!

More Easter 2007

Aminah had to leave carrots for the Easter bunny. For some reason my flash wasn't working that night. I also wanted to show off Aminah's new "big girl" haircut and Easter dress. I can't believe how grown up she looks.

Aminah's First Haircut

We finally had to go to a professional! I had cut Aminah's bangs for a while and did fine, but then she decided to move around while I was in the middle of a cut. Then we had to go about 3 weeks (while it was growing out) with people asking me if she cut her own hair. I prepped her for the big day and made sure I brought her some treats to hold onto while we were cutting her hair. She loves Uncle Brownie (Terri's uncle) and was willing to let him cut her hair. Of course Mommy had to go first, so it was a fun day for both of us.

Check out my Slide Show!

The Neighborhood Celebrates Easter

I live in a great neighborhood. Our first Easter event was when Brenda and Kaitlyn invited us to dye Easter eggs at their house. Terri joined us also. Aminah spent quite a bit of time painting the perfect egg. A few days later Brenda and Kaitlyn invited us over for an Easter egg hunt. Aminah had a great time and had lots of fun hunting for the eggs. The previous year she didn't enjoy having to "pick up" after that bunny, but this year we had LOTS of egg finding opportunities. Terri gave Aminah the DVD Veggie Tales An Easter Carol which replaced her favorite movie (Frosty the Snowman), which I was able to recite word for word by this time. Nana Nancy came over with a few items for Aminah also including a new Easter purse. The night before Easter John and Darlene came across the street with an Easter basket for Aminah. She had definately won the hearts of our neighbors.

A Day at CALM

One day in March, Terri and Mommy took Aminah to the California Living Musuem. We had a great day. Aminah really liked the snake. She thought the reptile house was great. She also liked watching the ducks and the bears. I'm wondering what the animals thought of Aminah going through the "zoo" making her animal noises?

All Work and No Play?

Aminah likes to play outdoors but she also likes to help around the house. One day in March, Mommy was cleaning out the garage and Aminah wanted to help (I'll show her this picture when she is a teenager). She of course still needs to be stylish while she is working (Maybe she really is a teenager in a toddler's body). When she needs her sunglasses on she will say, "Eww, too bright Mommy." Which translates to: "Hey, get my sunglasses!"

Aminah is Learning to Like the Camera

For the longest time Aminah would not cooperate with the camera, but she is learning that Mommy likes to take her picture. She has also decided that she likes to see the pictures. Now when she has a new outfit on and I say, "Let's go take your picture." She goes right outside and gets ready. I'm not even going to mention the fact that once I offered to pay her money if she would just smile for me. (The girl can be bought). Both of these pictures were taken on our way to school.

Chinese New Year

This year Chinese New Year seemed to last forever. We had so many wonderful events and Aminah was definately exposed to the Chinese Culture. We went to Los Angeles for the Chinese New Year Parade with the Gividens and the Jamesons. It was nice to see so many families with Chinese children. Uncle Sing and Auntie Nette invited us to a Chinese dinner hosted by the Chinese Woman's Club. The following week we were invited to another dinner and dance with the Gividens. It was so much fun to see Aminah playing with all of the Chinese kids. The local Chinese Woman's club said that I could join as an honorary Chinese woman. I might just have to take them up on that offer. Auntie Nette thought that she was teaching Aminah how to use chopsticks but little did she know Aminah is already able to manipulate them enough to get a few bites in her mouth. As you can see she is quite the ham . . . after all it was the year of the pig. Of course Aminah was born in the year of the monkey and she will always be my little monkey.

Aminah's First Day of Preschool

Aminah was so excited to go to school. She was totally ready although I had some mixed feelings. Her previous daycare was so close to my school and took such wonderful care of her that it was a tough decision. I will always be grateful that Aminah had such a loving place to go when she was still a "baby" but now that she is a big girl she is ready to learn. She was very excited about the swings. That seemed to be the top thing she would talk about along with the food. She is no different than any other school kid when you ask what they did at school they always talk about recess and lunch. Aminah is in a class with 15 other 2 year olds. God bless the teachers, they really are wonderful and patient. Aminah also loves to paint. When I go to pick her up in the afternoon she says, "no, not yet." I finally figured out that I was picking her up right at paint time, so I had to adjust my schedule a little so that she could do her painting.

Merry Christmas

Aminah and Mommy had a great Christmas! Aminah woke up to another "tree" in her living room but wasn't as shocked as she was the previous year. She didn't have any problems keeping her hands off the ornaments. I didn't put very many presents under the tree until about December 20th because I thought it might be too tempting. We spent Christmas morning with our friends here in Bakersfield (Aunt Pat, Uncle Brownie, Nana Nancy, Mr. David, the Tolberts, and of course Terri) and Christmas afternoon was spent with the Gividen's and Jamesons in Tehachapi. Aminah was just a "little" spoiled at Aunt Pat's house. Everyone went overboard. There were so many gifts for her from them that I ended up taking most of the gifts I bought her home (still wrapped). I took them out a little at a time and some are still wrapped 6 months later. Santa was very nice and gave Aminah a kitchen for Christmas. It fits perfectly in Mommy's kitchen so that she can "cook" while Mommy is also cooking.

I also have to tell a funny story from November. We had a couple of foggy days here in Bakersfield and one Sunday when we were leaving for church it was very foggy and I was showing Aminah the fog. We could barely see our neighbor John across the street. I was showing her the fog and she was saying, "oh yea, foggy." I wasn't sure if she understood what I was talking about. Two days later we were leaving for school and it was again foggy. She noticed right away and said, "It foggy." I of course was amazed that she could figure this out so quickly. So as we are driving along she is talking about the "fog" and then she said, "it foggy . . . ribbit, ribbit." So much for by brilliant teaching. She was probably wondering the whole time, "I don't see a stinkin' frog, but I'll play along just to humor the lady."

Where have I been?

Well it has been only 9 months since my last post. I could have created a child in that amount of time but alas . . . I have only been really busy with my toddler. Lets see if I can do a little updating with pictures. These were taken September of 2006 (yikes). Aminah loves to play outside and she has a container for her toys. Where are the toys you ask? Well they are all over the yard and she is in the container. She really loved that game. Not as much as she loves her "Wooky" (her boyfriend Lukey). Here you will see their "first kiss" as I like to call it. Luke's sister Linsey is watching. Luke's mom, Libby and I hope that one day this will be shown at Luke and Aminah's wedding and of course Linsey will be the maid of honor. The two picures of her in her Chinese outfit are just too cute. The one that looks like she is sneezing is actually her showing me what a skunk says (for those of you that don't know what a skunk say, he says, "shoo, shoo, shoo" and he covers his nose). I can't wait to add more to the blog. Stay tuned!

Watching Video

I love seeing this picture. I finally let Aminah see her "Gotcha Day" video. Although she doesn't quite understand it she does know that the video shows "Mama" and "baby Aminah." She hears other babies crying in the video and tries to tell them to "shhh" and tells me they need to go "nite-nite." So what if this picture shows her with a little spaghetti sauce on her face, I still love this picture. She looks so happy watching the moment we became a family.

Aminah and I went to a Laua for the homestudy agency that I went through for Aminah's adoption and post-adoption paperwork. We met up with another family that was with us in China. Aminah and Emma were able to play together and it was so nice to see these happy girls. They have been home over a year and lets just say, "what a difference a year makes." God has blessed our families. Emma just found out that she is going to be a big sister. Her little sister will be coming home from Columbia next month.

Aminah and I hosted a get-together with some friends. We had two other families that had also adopted from China as well as two families that are planning on adopting from China. One of these families had already sent their dossier to China and the other family decided that evening to sign up with America World as their adoption agency. Thank you God for Aminah, and for these precious children that have become such an important part of our lives.

Happy Gotcha Day

One year ago today I was in China meeting my daughter for the first time. It has been an incredible journey. I can't believe that God loves me as much as He does. God brought us together and made us a family. We celebrated tonight by going out for Chinese food with our friends. Aminah had a great time. What a difference a year makes. A scared little baby was placed in my arms and a year later a confident little girl runs around knowing that she has the world wrapped around her finger, and most of all she knows that she is loved.