Teacher's Convention

Each year, my school has the teachers attend a teacher's convention. It is always informative and a lot of fun. This year it was held in South Bend, Indiana on Thursday and Friday. I was very relaxed and had a good time. I knew Jinnae was in good hands with Miss Ella and her Dad. I did wonder why Jinnae seemed so tired when I picked her up on Friday. I found out later that Rick let her stay up until 10:30 pm! He said she was playing nice and didn't want to go to bed. :)

At the convention, my friends and I laughed a lot, ate too much and were creative. We decided that it was crowded for two people to sleep in a full size bed so we pushed the beds together. This worked out well. We all had more room.

My friend, Vonnie drove all seven of us in her minivan. Her husband didn't think that we could do it. He thought, as women, we would not have room for all the luggage. Well, we did it! All the luggage fit in the back nicely.

I would share more but some things that happen at the convention, stay at the convention. :)

Pictures in the Park by Cassie

Here are a few of my favorite pictures that Cassie took last week.

Six Month Agency Visit

October 11, 2008

Six months ago

On Thursday, we had our six month check up as adoptive parents. We will have one more when we have had Jinnae for one year. It is hard to believe that it has already been close to six months. We first held Jinnae on April 24, 2008. October 24 will be six months. Well, I had no worries about this check up ahead of time. I was pretty confident it would go well.
Here is what happened:
I picked Jinnae up from daycare at 4:30 pm.
We went to Family Fare and bought some heat up coookies so the house would smell good when the social worker was there. We also bought some chicken and macaroni and cheese from the deli for dinner.
We arrived home and picked up the house and then had dinner. Halfway through dinner, Jinnae pushed her plate away (anyone who has ate with Jinnae knows this doesn't happen. She never leaves even a crumb)
So, I say, what is wrong Jinnae? She looks horrible all of a sudden. I get her out of the high chair and she begins to fall asleep in my arms. Her lips turn purple, she begins shaking and feels like an ice cube. I freak out and call Rick. I can't get a hold of him. I call my sister, I can't get a hold of her. I decide I cannot keep making phone calls, I need to take care of Jinnae so I wrap her up in two blankets and hold her. She looks like she is going to throw up. Then she has bad diarrhea. It was everywhere. All over her and me. Next, I gave her a bath. She seemed to do a lot better after that. I look at the time at the social worker should be arriving in five minutes. No time to cancel the appointment now. I quick change, Rick walks in the door, and the doorbell rings. The meeting did go well, except for Jinnae being sick, the house smelling unpleasant and they documented a mark by Jinnae's lip from when she fell on her toy box earlier in the week. Hopefully, the next check up goes better. Jinnae has been fine since but I will be talking to my doctor tom. We still have the cookies. We will heat them up another day. Also, Rick was late because he was getting me an early birthday present. I will post about how awesome he is another day. :)

Typical Tuesday Turned Terrific

Jinnae was happily surprised when Grandma and Grandpa Gerst stopped by this evening. We all went out for Chinese. Afterwards, we came home, and Grandpa helped Jinnae practice walking. Rick says if Jinnae isn't walking by Halloween she won't be able to go trick or treating. So, she practiced hard. It was a typical Tuesday, turned terrific.

Pumpkin Patch and Ivy's Birthday

Jinnae was invited to her good friend Ivy's birthday celebration this weekend. In the morning, both Ivy's family and Jinnae had their pictures taken at a local park by Cassie. Cassie is a teacher who does photography on the side. She was very kind and took some great shots. Then we all went to lunch together. After that, we went to Post Family Farms pumpkin patch. We went on a hayride, looked at the animals, and bought pumpkin donuts. We then enjoyed pumpkin donuts and cupcakes for Ivy's birthday. Ivy liked the bandana, shirt and princess wand that Jinnae picked out for her. It was a great afternoon!

In the evening, our good friends, Dave and Vicky, came over. Jinnae loved meeting them and liked showing them the frog she got at the birthday party. She holds onto this frog all the time. I think she is fascinated by its eyes.

Sasha's Fall Break

Jinnae's cousin, Sasha, is home on a Fall break from college. Sasha attends Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma. Jinnae and Sasha spent a lot of time together this summer. Jinnae was so excited to see her again. She started giggling and jumping when we met Sasha at Wendy's for lunch on Saturday. We look forward to having dinner with Sasha later this week before she has to go back.

Problem Solving

As I was doing dishes and Jinnae was playing with her toys, I turned to see this. Jinnae had problem solved on how to reach the toys in her toy box better. Notice the little toy pan that she is standing on. :)

Jinnae's Grandma Gerst's Birthday

This weekend we celebrated my mom's birthday. We had a nice homemade lunch together, my mom opened gifts, and then we went to Rick's work to see his new office. Rick's company moved all their offices together into a building downtown. It is on Granville Ave. His office is on the third floor. The office building is beautiful. It is very modern in design. Rick is able to look out at the city of Grand Rapids landscape each day.

It was a beautiful day and Jinnae was glad to see her Grandma and Grandpa Gerst, Aunt Sally, Uncle Mark, Uncle Brian and cousins - Katrina, Autumn and Jewel.