Happy 5th Birthday, Caylie JiuChang!

Today was Caylie's 5th birthday, and her first one here at home.  Last year we were still three months from travel, and arranged to have a birthday cake delivered to the orphanage, and were so happy to get photos of her little party.  Since she's been home, she has loved singing Happy Birthday to family and friends, and was SO excited that this one was for her!

Dinner with the family.

Messy spaghetti face!

Presents!

Pretty blanket from Aunt Cathy!

Kitty!

Pretty outfit from Grandma Nai Nai!

More Kitty!!

Happy girl!!  (And that was more Kitty, too!)

And even more Kitty!

Modeling.

Cake!!

Yummy!

Brad, Brittany and Caylie.

Daddy, Mommy and Caylie.

And the brothers.  Keelan, Justin, Taylor and Caylie!

Baby Pictures - An Unexpected Gift & Blessing from God

I have been sad since we left China that we were not given any baby or toddler pictures of Caylie when she came to us.  I'd heard of other people being given scrapbooks of their children thought that would be such a treasure.  But no pictures were given, not even the ones from the disposable camera that we'd sent earlier.  I was sad for us, that we had no record of her babyhood, but even sadder for Caylie, that she would never have any baby pictures of herself.  The earliest photos we had were taken when she was three years old, in the spring of 2012.  I had to just give these things to God, though, knowing that He cares about my daughter much more than I ever could.  There was nothing I could do but leave Caylie's heart in His hands.

The China adoption community is huge.  And yet because of the internet can be very small.  I recently became acquainted with a lady who works with some of the orphanages in Jiangxi, and was familiar with Caylie's foster care placement.  It turns out that photos and records of Caylie's early years had been kept by the agency she works with.  She was happy to send me 6 photos of our little girl, beginning at ten months old, along with updates on her progress.

What a treasure this was for us!  I am so, so grateful that these records were kept, that these people were happy to send them to me, and that God KNEW all along that we would be given this gift!  He is faithful, friends.

This is little Fu Jiu Chang at around 10 months old, with her first foster mother.

And here she is at around 20 months, with the foster mother that she was with until she came to us.  

At around her 2nd birthday.  

At around 2 1/2 years old.

A little over three years old.  This was taken around the same time as her referral photos.

And the last one was taken at around 3 1/2 years old.  She is wearing this same outfit in pictures that were sent to us a year later!

We are so thankful for a deeper look into our daughter's history.

Happy Birthday, Taylor!

Happy 21st Birthday to our oldest son, Taylor, who is a wonderful big brother!  (And dog lover!)

It's SUPER BOWL Time!!

Go

BRONCOS!!

Rockies FanFest!

We love our Colorado Rockies baseball around here.  In January they have Rockies FanFest, where the players and coaches come to Coors Field and the fans have a great time listening to interviews and watching silly things like Family Feud games, having their pictures taken, getting autographs, hearing about the plans for the new season and meeting the new players, etc.  It's a fun time every year.  Many thanks to our friend Dan for hooking us up with tickets!

Our crew - Caylie, Brittany, Keelan, and Jim - waiting for an interview session with the infielders.  

Yay!  We're at FanFest!

 A few of the infielders and coaches - DJ LeMahieu, Stu Cole, Troy Tulowitzki, Nolan Arenado, and Eric Young, Sr.

Root Sports announcer - and former MLB infielder - Jeff Huson.

Root Sports announcer - and former MLB pitcher - George Frazier.

A rousing game of Family Feud with infielders Justin Morneau and Josh Rutledge.

And on the other team, pitchers Rob Scahill and Jordan Lyles.

 Caylie with Rockies Mickey.

Keelan doing his best Carlos Gonzalez.

Brittany and Caylie with Dinger.  (Caylie luvs her some Dinger!)

And a couple of Mama and Caylie with Dinger.  She thought it was hilarious when Dinger took her hat and put it on his horn.

 Digging for dinosaur eggs.  She found one!

Getting her ball signed by pitcher Rob Scahill.

Look, Mom!  This guy's writing his name on my ball!  I have no clue why, but I think he thinks I'm cute.  ;)

 Another game of Family Feud with infielder Ryan Wheeler and outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.

And on the other team, infielder Nolan Arenado and outfielder Charlie Blackmon.  We almost didn't recognize Charlie with his scruffy face!

Just a tiny bit of competition between Carlos and Nolan!

Giving a ball to outfielder Corey Dickerson for an autograph . . . 

. . . and getting it back.  

 Thanks for writing your name on my ball, Nolan Arenado!

Keelan, waiting on a photo session.

And Jim, also waiting on a photo session.

My beautiful daughters.  :)

Rockies clubhouse.

Rockies dugout.  

We've sat through a couple of games with snow flurries, but I wouldn't wanna sit through one with this much snow on the field.  Sometimes they do have to shovel it off in the early spring!

Standing in the dugout.

View from the dugout.

I dunno what they're constructing.  Some of the seats are being replaced.  And maybe a new restaurant?

Where's my bat??

Our friend Leon in his usual FanFest spot - talking about the humidor.

Brittany, Caylie, and Keelan with players Jordan Pacheco, Josh Rutledge, and Corey Dickerson.

And Jim and I with the same guys.

Brittany took this shot of Caylie.  So cute!

We had a fun day!!