Happy Birthday Jadyn!!!

Jadyn turned "1" on Sunday, July 18th! We celebrated with a party on Saturday and had a wonderful turn out of family and friends! The weather was beautiful so we grilled out and had the typical summer picnic:)

Jerry was insistent that she have a 'princess party' so we ordered a Princess Castle Cake and had princess balloons - he feels that she is his little princess:)

She received so many wonderful gifts from everyone and she really enjoyed playing with all of them. She loves to explore new things and she was about due for some new toys to keep her interest.

She really enjoyed her birthday cake - the bakery made a small, personal one just for her and she went to town with it! Her brothers helped to show her how to dig in - it was really cute! I wasn't quite sure how to maneuver her into the bathtub afterwards, but we kept the mess to a minimum:)

It is hard to believe just how fast she is growing up! She is taking about 10 steps at a time now...she started this on the 21st - my Dad's birthday! What a big girl! Enjoy the pics!

Welcome Jadyn!

We had a wonderful weekend with some very special people that work with Jerry! His former partner, Pam, and his new partner, Tammy, coordinated a party to welcome Jadyn – it was amazing! There was great food and drinks and Pam’s husband, Dan, fried up a homemade fish fry and they had all of the fixings! Everyone also brought a dish to pass so there were wonderful desserts and a beautiful cake!

Then, Pam made a heartwarming toast and gave Jadyn an adorable Build-a-Bear in the cutest ballerina outfit from her family (thank you Dan, Anita, Brian, Logan, and Aubryn). Another friend, Laurie, gave Jadyn a soft, cuddly blanket and lovely outfit. Then, they surprised us with a card which had a savings bond, cash, and a gift certificate for a local photographer! It brought me to tears! It was amazing that all of these people, about 30 or so, came to meet our little girl – but then the outpouring of generosity on top of it! All of the planning for the party, the food, the gifts – truly touching!

On Monday when Jerry arrived at work the nursing staff also presented him with a cute card and a gift certificate for local stores – we are amazed at how much people have cared for this little girl just as we have through the long wait.

Many times we felt alone in this process when we thought it would never happen and we often wondered if our co-workers and friends thought we were crazy or “making up” the adoption. It has been a blessing to know that so many people have really been with us all along! There were comments from those in attendance that through all of these years of waiting they are so happy for us that she is now home with her family – we couldn’t agree more!

P.S. - Jadyn cut her first tooth on Friday, July 9th! It is the bottom right tooth:)

Happy 4th of July!

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend with our family! Our local fire department has an annual picnic that we attend and it was wonderful to bring Jadyn this year! She really enjoyed all of the activities and watching her brothers play the games and take part in the rides. We contemplated the pony rides for her, but decided to hold off until next year:)

She had fun sampling the food and swinging in the swing at the park. We had a lot of positive comments from other people as to how cute she was and there was another couple with two adopted Asian daughters that stopped to say “Hi”, which was nice. We are still a little in the guarded phase because we do not know what other people think or what they will say; our hometown community is not all that diverse and I know of a few friends in the adoption community who have encountered some “not-so-nice” comments. Hopefully, we will be able to avoid those individuals!

Jadyn also had her first ice cream cone this weekend – she loved it! She kept screaming for more; it was so cute! There is also a picture of her with my old purse around her shoulder; it was too cute! I received a nice, new purse for my birthday and when I finished cleaning out my old purse I placed it on the floor for her to play with. She immediately tried wrapping it around her shoulder and proceeded to crawl around the floor with it over her back - it was so funny to watch!

She continues to try to walk a step or two at a time and her brothers are really working with her on this - they are such a big help to her and us! Gosh, we have an amazing family!!!

One Blessed Weekend!!!

The weekend of June 26th, we celebrated Jadyn’s Baptism and Colin’s First Communion both at the same mass! Colin was supposed to have his First Communion while we were traveling in China to bring Jadyn home so we had to reschedule. The church was kind enough to let us do both in one special mass so it was all about the Sinjakovic’s at the 4pm service on Saturday:)

Jadyn looked absolutely beautiful in her traditional Chinese dress we bought for her – the white was so pretty! I was even able to get a small bow to stay in her hair! It was her first time in tights and she did pretty well with them. She also wore a pair of matching silk squeaky shoes that we bought in China so the outfit was complete! She didn’t even cry when the water was poured over her head, but she sure looked confused when Father came at her with the oil – she kept turning around; she had the parishioners laughing a bit.

Colin was so proud to wear a tie; he was such a handsome little man! He did so well with all of his statements of affirmation and he only made a small face at taking the wine:) He has grown up so fast in the past few years; it seems like he was just my little baby and now he has such charm and wit – I am always amazed at my children…they truly are blessings from God!

Just about all of our family was able to join us for these blessed events which made it even that much more special. My brother Steve, sister-in-law Carrie, and their two children, Zach and Cassie came down and it was their first time meeting Jadyn. They loved her to bits, and she of course, loved all of the attention! Jadyn even reached out to go to my brother several times and he hasn’t held a baby since his little guy was a baby – 10 years!

My Mom came and stayed overnight and Jerry’s Mom came for the service and dinner afterward with Jerry’s brother Dennis and his two children, Devin and Arianna. We missed you Christin! But certainly understand the situation with work all too well given Jerry’s schedule:) Same goes for Jerry’s other brother Tom – he was on-call for work so he could not attend.

My sister Kathy and brother-in-law Brent are Jadyn’s Godparents and their two sons Cody and Kyle were also there. We had a full house! We enjoyed each other’s company into the night as we also celebrated some upcoming birthdays in the family – it was one big celebration weekend!

Jadyn's Godparents - My sister, Kathy and brother-in-law, Brent -



This is a picture with my sister, brother-in-law, and their two boys, Cody and Kyle-



This is my brother-in-law, Dennis, and niece and nephew, Arianna and Devin -



Here we are with the Grandmas -



Here are most of the cousins -



Here is our family -