Well it’s certainly a little late, but the birthday weekend went through with no issues and lots of fun. I’ve added a Birthday page at the top for photos, and also have video available.

This time the video will be much longer than supported by YouTube (19 minutes!), so I have it set to a different spot. Quicktime for Mac or Windows needed to view..

Cady’s Princess Party

Tomorrow marks 18 months since all of our documents were logged in with China. And we thought it was a long wait with Cady! For Cady, it took 10 months from login date till referral date. I suppose time has flown by fairly quickly. Part of that is because we knew time would be much longer to wait for Melody, so we’ve settled in and have kept busy with our older daughter.
At times, though, it’s been very hard on all three of us, knowing that somewhere in China, our daughter will be born and go thru undoubtably traumatic experiences, and want and need.
While we wait.
But she will be strong. She will be protected by Angels. She will be loved. This I know, because God has sent us on this journey to her, and it is thru His strength, His Angels, His Love that she will be protected.

It was difficult to cut 50 minutes of video into a more viewable timeframe, so this took a lot longer than planned. All the same, here is Cady’s first “Olympic” performance from September

How to decide? I have the luxury of being able to ask for one of these for my birthday, but I can’t decide on which one I want.



The Canon 40D has a faster framerate (6.5 fps) compared to the Nikon D90 (4.5 fps)

The Nikon is a 12.9 megapixel to the Canon’s 10.1 - I’m told that this is not a very notable difference for light hobbyists.

The Nikon can shoot video, though I’m really not sure whether this means 30 second clips (not very useful) or 15+ minute clips (only kinda useful) and the Canon can not shoot video. We would likely be looking at a new dedicated video camera in the near future anyhow.

Both are SLR, shoot RAW formats, and offer the same pricing.

I really like the higher framerates on the Canon, and I’m leaning in that direction. The real key here is to be able to get images of Cady when on the move, notably in odd light situations (such as the gym she has gymnastics in)

Either one will be a huge step up from my very old Olympus C-740

Let’s hear it, photogs. What to choose, what to choose?

Cadence: Mom, when bikes are on the road, they have to stop at the stop lights.
Mom: That’s right, because it’s dangerous otherwise.
Cadence: Yeah, and if they go past the red light, it also means they’re taking cuts.

Cadence: (saying this for no reason)
“Are you kidding me?”
or
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Or the double whammy....
Cadence: Mom, are you thinking what I’m thinking?
Mom: I think so!
Cadence: Are you kidding me??

What can I say to that?


And finally....the old knock knock joke which goes: Knock, knock.....who’s there?...Boo....boo who?....you don’t have to cry about it.

Cady’s version:

Cadence: Knock knock
Dad: Who’s there?
Cadence: Crying
Dad: Crying who?
Cadence: You don’t have to say boo hoo about it!

...when Melody comes home, you should put her in your tummy”.
That was what Cady said because one of her teachers is pregnant.

I told Cady “Some mommies have babies in their tummies till they’re born, and have babies that way. And some mommies adopt babies after they’re born, and have babies that way”

“Oh” She said.

Then, she walked away to beat on her toy drum.
Guess that was all she needed to know, for now.

I can’t help but think that sometimes it must be so confusing being adopted.

There are too many updates to count.
Cady and I enjoyed some fun at a local kids amusement park last month. It was a special day with just the two of us.




But of course, the funest ride was the train that choo-chooed around the park. What is it about trains and kids? It’s almost better than getting a box to play in after dumping out all those unnecessary toys.

Cady performed in the local Gymnastics Olympics this year, with the rest of the 2-3 yr olds. Wasn’t much to it for children her age. But she loved every minute of it.



For the most part, waited for her group to do their thing, then she ran around in a large circle with other children her age, then did a few tumbles, and their individual obstacle courses, with a balance beam, and stood on a platform to SALUTE! For her age group it was more about waiting on the sidelines till the older kids had performed, than anything else. Her gymnastic center holds the National Champions for competitive gymnastics this year, and we’re very lucky to have the arena only a few blocks away from our home. Cady is very enthusiastic to be in with the older girls that compete. We’re transitioning her to the 4-6 yr olds this week, and she seems to thrive from the challenge.



Cady with her gold medal.




We also recently celebrated Autumn Moon Festival.


Traditionally, Chinese eat moon cakes in beautiful containers like the one above, and gather to be with family, then make good wishes for family members while looking at the moon. This celebration is held on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar. This happens to be the fullest moon of the year as it parallels the autumn and spring Equinoxes of the solar calendar.
So, we gathered with friends and went to a small Chinese community gathering. We then went out to lunch with our friends, and of course rode on a carousal because what would be a celebration of anything at all without a carousal ride of some sort?



We then went home and ate.....some of......the mooncake. It was really rich.






Making wonderful wishes for Melody, on this Autumn Moon Festival


Most recently (last weekend) we got together with several blogging friends whom have also adopted from China, or are in the wait list. Our friends David and Susan started the idea to get together, and it was more fun than we could have imagined.




My friend Donna (left) and me (right)




Donna’s daughter Gwen


Donna’s other daughter Maddy. She INSISTED on spiderman!



The three of us





One of my favorites of Cady as a butterfly. She really had a hard time that night, when she realized I washed it off in the bathtub. Poor thing.


You can view many more of park fun by viewing the link above titled “untitled page” we have a new update to our blog and I haven’t yet found the magic marker that changes the names of groups of pictures. heh