Wednesday, August 19, 2009

A few great things about Josie's personality:

-yells 'Mom' to get my attention when everyone is trying to talk to me at once
-runs to hide under the coffee table to tease me when she needs her diaper changed
-is very neat, hates her hands messy and cleans up after each meal
-loves to line up her toys
-loves, i mean loves all animals
-waves her finger and yells to help me discipline her brother and sisters
-loves to cuddle and still lets us hold her and feed her a bottle
-gives out lots of hugs and kisses to us
-hates any clothes longer than her elbows or knees, will push them up as high as possible
-gets wound up and crazy as soon as Daddy gets home from work
-reminds me each morning and night to brush her teeth
-tries hard to mimic every word we say and even gets some of them right
-has the greatest laugh

Seriously, it amazes me each day how much she has changed in 6 weeks and how it seems she has always been a part of our family, but then again, that's God. He hand picked her just for us.

Friday, August 14, 2009

This is what i get to look at most of my days....and i love it!


we meet with the cardiologist mid September....please pray that Josie will not need surgery.  we've been told that her heart does not 'sound good', but obviously more tests will confirm what is going on. for now, we are loving playing with her before all of her appointments begin...

Saturday, August 8, 2009

I look at these statistics and my heart aches.  Surely, God is aligning my heart with His. 

If you are at all interested in adoption, or specifically special needs adoption, I'd love to chat....

It is estimated there are between 143 million and 210 million orphans worldwide (recent UNICEF report.)

The current population of the United States is just a little over 300 million… to give you an idea of the enormity of the numbers… (The current population of Russia is 141 million)

Every day 5,760 more children become orphans

2,102,400 more children become orphans every year in Africa alone 

Every 15 seconds, another child in Africa becomes an AIDS orphan

There are an estimated 14 million AIDS orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa (a number higher than the total of every under-eighteen year old in Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Ireland combined)

This figure is estimated to reach 18 million orphans in Africa alone by 2010 (only two and a half years away)

8 out of 10 children orphaned by AIDS lives in sub-saharan Africa

Approximately 250,000 children are adopted annually, but… 

Each year 14, 505, 000 children grow up as orphans and age out of the system by age sixteen

Each day 38,493 orphans age out

Every 2.2 seconds another orphan ages out with no family to belong to and no place to call home

In Russia and the Ukraine, studies have shown that 10% – 15% of these children commit sucide before they reach age eighteen

These studies also show that 60% of the girls become prostitutes and 70% of the boys become hardened criminals 

Another Russian study reported that of the 15,000 orphans aging out of state-run institutions every year, 10% committed suicide, 5,000 were unemployed, 6,000were homeless and 3,000 were in prison within three years…

Thursday, August 6, 2009

One Month

One month ago today we met little miss Josie....i read about a hundred stories of how much she would change, i thought i was prepared, but i have to admit that those first few days were rough.  she was so shut down, so scared...and then she slowly started to show us her personality. since we've been home she's become a very typical 2 year old....climbs on everything, has figured out how to open the pantry and get her own snacks, runs around the house with all of her toys, has her tantrums, and we are loving every minute of getting to know her.  we can not imagine our lives without her....we are truly blessed!

here are just a few pics of bath time tonight:)


Wednesday, August 5, 2009

St. Augustine Beach

We had our 3rd annual family beach weekend on the Walker side and let me tell you...there were a lot of kids!  Josie did great, kept on schedule and loved the beach as long as there was an animal to run after....dog, bird, it didn't matter.  Her cousins were her very own paparazzi and proud to tell anyone who would listen that she 'just came from China':)

here are a few of my favorite pics: