Cassidy's Professional Portraits

Here are some professional portraits taken at JcPenney's the week before her b-day. She loved posing and chose this purple chinese dress to wear.

What a doll!!!

Tamara

Cassidy's 5th Birthday

Cassidy's 5th Birthday

Ready to open her presents!

American Girl Doll Gals

Showing off her new doll wardrobe

Cute heart purse

Matching pj's for Cassidy & Julie

Ready to cut cake with Daddy!

Cassidy & Mommy

Okay, so I'm way overdue -- I kept meaning to post these, but then Colton's 10th b-day was 2 days later, then school stuff, then camping for the first weekend of spring break for the kids and NOW I'm posting Cassidy's b-day photos. More postings to come throughout this week for Colton's b-day and our fabulous camping trip.

Anyway, on to Cassidy's b-day. She wanted an Ariel b-day and so we did all things Ariel for her. We had an Ariel cake, we played "Ariel says" with Daddy being the Prince. We also painted seashells and then filled fun plastic shapes up with colored sand. She invited 3 friends over and it was just perfect. This year, Cassidy asked for her American Girl Doll and has been asking for it since before Christmas. She finally decided she wanted "Julie" because Julie has a braid and Cassidy is very much into braids (she only wishes her mother was better at doing them in her hair). So, the extended family came through and we did all things American Girl Doll and added one Ariel watch into the mix. I believe that watch wish was because big sister, Cheyanne, had a princess watch for her b-day and thus whatever Cheyanne has, Cassidy wants to do the same.

We had to do the dance recital pictures in the morning for her b-day and those went fine. She had so much fun wearing some blush of mommy's and blue eye shadow for the pictures. She was "glad to be a mommy" according to her words. Then, on the way home -- I asked her what she thought she'd get for her b-day and she matter-of-factly said "American Girl Doll". I asked her why she thought that would be her gift this year. She replied back to me "Because I've asked for it over and over again" -- well, there you go -- ask repeatedly for 5 months and you shall receive :) When we were opening gifts from just the family before her b-day, we took video of her opening the doll, but didn't get the "WOW" captured moment we thought we would -- I guess again it came down to it not being a huge surprise to her since she had asked for and expected it. Needless to say, she has spent hours and hours brusing her doll's hair, changing her and they even have matching pajamas, so every evening those get changed into and then the doll has to get ready for bed as well. VERY CUTE to watch. I LOVED playing with dolls growing up, so it's fun to see Cassidy be really into them. Cheyanne liked her AG doll, but is more into building with lego's and magnetix for her fun time.

I hope you enjoy the pictures! She had a great time for her b-day and this was Cassidy's first BIG birthday party. We did not do a big party for her last year, so this was fun to see her all excited to have her friends come over and the spotlight be just on Cassidy for the day.

Tamara

Portrait pics

Carson - 8 yrs old

Cheyanne - 6 yrs old

I just wanted to post some fun pictures of 3 of the 4 kids. I try and do yearly professional pictures at JCPenny's for each of them and have 2 of the 4 done. Cassidy had to wear her dance recital costume today to make sure everything was good for picture day on Saturday, so we got some fun shots of her with her dance buddies.

The boys are finishing up their basketball season and will be playing for 3rd place on Friday night. They've done well and I'm enjoying watching their skills develop. Hope to post some pictures and video soon.

We have a busy birthday weekend with Cassidy turning 5 on Saturday and Colton turning 10 on Monday. Cassidy's party is Saturday and Colton and friends are going mountain biking on Sunday with Dad.

We're close to spring break and are planning to camp for 4 days and then be home for the rest. Hope the weather is great and we can really enjoy some family time. I know the kids can't wait to be out for over a week.

Enjoy the pictures.

Tamara

Cassidy's - 2 Year GOTCHA Day

Cassidy Belle Fu-Qun (Chen Chen) Lennard
2-year GOTCHA DAY!!!

Sushi Girls!

Checking out Daddy on GOTCHA Day!

Pretty In Pink!

Daddy -- You are so funny!!

Don't bother me -- I'm hungry!

It's Official - -She's a Lennard!!

Sleepy girl

New Doll from G'ma & Papa Lennard at LAX

Okay, I'll warn you right now -- this is a LONG post. Thoughts I want to share in the present day and then I decided to add three journal entries from our adoption trip that meant a lot to me. I also found two other short video clips of her. The dancing one you have to go to her adoption website. We are so amazed that it's only been 2 years since Cassidy joined our family. It seems like she has always been with us. I can't believe how well she speaks our language, how well she has adjusted to our family and living in the US in such a short time. I know if it was me moving to China -- it would take me more than 2 years to adjust and quite frankly I'd say she was pretty much adjusted at the 1 year mark!!!

TJ fixed sushi for his girls tonight and they ate and ate and ate and ate................. I think he only stopped because he was tired! We looked at pictures of our trip to China to adopt Cassidy and enjoyed watching her video on her adoption blog (see right-hand margin for that link and then under videos) -- it's such a hoot to watch her swing her hips and tai chi at the same time. We also got out her quilt and Cheyanne's quilt and our books that show who each square was from. That was a lot of fun to see those again and remember who sent which material -- thanks again to all of you who did participate in that -- we truly (beyond words) cherish those quilts, the notes people wrote and just knowing what a wonderful keepsake the girls will have forever and ever.

Cassidy wanted to use hers now, but we're waiting a few more years before putting them on their beds because they are such a treasure.

Some cute words Cassidy has used lately -- she wanted "mission" last week for something and we knew that what she really wanted was "permission". The boys said I needed to write that one down. Another one last night was "she needed some more paper toilet" -- so you see she still does some words a little backwards every now and then, but they make us giggle and smile and love her all the more.

She had the biggest smile on her face this morning when I told her "Happy Gotcha Day" and she told several people she ran into this morning what today was. She was quite proud!! I tell people over and over again that we couldn't imagine life without her and we really couldn't. She keeps us smiling, giggling, dancing and just enjoying life through her smiles and personality. We continually thank God for "urging" us on when we wanted to say "no" and for giving us the strength to adopt again. I feel it's a real testament to our kids as well when we hear the boys & Cheyanne ask over and over again "can we go back to China and adopt again?". Although, I know there are too many children over there that need homes, I'm at peace where our family is and I'll just continue to encourage others to pray for God's leading in their lives for adoption. I definitely see our family traveling to China for mission work in the future and hope that God uses our adoption experiences for many, many years to reach others who either want to adopt themselves, sponsor a child overseas that needs medical attention or just to pray for those children waiting.

Okay, enough rambling -- below are three journal entries that really captured our experience in China. The first is our "GOTCHA DAY"; the second one is my random thoughts about Cassidy (chen chen) after a few days with her; the last one was a funny story about a bus ride home on one of our last days in China.

Gotcha Day
We’ve had a wonderful day – our “Gotcha” moment could not have gone smoother. A song that Cheyanne loves to sing at home came to my mind as we were driving in the van after meeting her, “Our God is an Awesome God”. We had prepared ourselves expecting lots of crying, sadness and a LONG van ride to Fuzhou. God had something else in mind when He planned our day today. We first saw Cassidy through the window when we got to the orphanage. She was upstairs and the Director came out and pointed up to her. She was smiling and waving. We toured the orphanage (lasting about 5 minutes) and then started walking upstairs and as we turned the corner, there she was to greet us! After the initial shock of finally seeing her face, we all moved into a room where the formal introductions were made. The foster mom and her son were there taking pictures as well. We were able to get several group shots together and they had brought a box full of the things we had sent her in care packages. A funny side note was that she saw the Directors pulling things out of the box to show us and she went over there and told them in Chinese to “put it back”. Too cute!!!

She definitely speaks the language and it has been fun to have them interpret for us. After about 15 minutes, we could see that she was pushing the box over towards her foster mom and grabbing her, so the Directors decided it was time to head out and we left for the van. The foster mom was amazing and never shed a tear. I, on the other hand, was crying and trying to hold it together. Cassidy did cry some in the van when we were leaving and for about 5 minutes into the ride. The Directors came with us to Fuzhou and were busily talking to her and consoling her while I held her. They were amazing!!! She cried on and off for about 30 minutes, but nothing like we were preparing ourselves for. She took a short cat nap and then we stopped for lunch. We were amazed at how BIG she is. She is short, but SOLID!! TJ said she has “cankles” – meaning her big legs run right into her feet – you can’t tell she has ankles. She’ll give Carson a run for his money when it comes to putting food away. She couldn’t get enough of the Chinese lunch we were served. The Directors kept asking if she was done and she kept shaking her head and telling them no. She slept the rest of the trip on my lap. She has gone to TJ as well, although prefers me to feed her.

She loved the Magna doodle we brought with us and held tight to that the entire van ride and carried it into lunch with her. She was able to draw on it and loved erasing it more. The other toy was the Leap frog stuffed animal that sings the ABC’s. Evidently, she loves music and toys that play music. She really came out of her shell this afternoon once we settled down in our room. She is active and we were able to get giggles out of her when TJ showed his ever-so-popular toss your Cheerio in the air and catch it in your mouth trick. It was pure joy to hear her laugh and giggle for the next several hours. She loves cheerios and put the whole tupperware container away. She started dancing when we put music on. Blowing bubbles brought more giggles and smiles. So far, we’re shooting 100% on the toys. Of course, if we keep pulling them all out tonight we’ll be through them all the first day with no more surprises.

We’ve discovered that she is very smart, just like they said. I was teaching her sign language for “more” and she just decided to say it along with the signing. She also learned “thank you”, “I love you” and a few others that TJ & I just chuckled about. She loves her “Little Ling” doll which talks in mandarin and then says the phrase in English as well. She walked around the room pushing it and repeating the phrases.

Our hotel is AMAZING and I’ll put more about that tomorrow. It is now 7 pm and we’ve had her with us for only 11 hours and we’re amazed at her personality, adjustment for her 1st day and how cute she is in person!!! We know the adjustment/grieving process will probably come and go over the weeks, but we’re just very thankful to God for giving us such a peaceful day with her and seeing her smile and laugh. It is an amazing gift! Thank you all for your support and prayers, we praise an awesome God.

Random Thoughts on Chen Chen (Day 8)

Her laugh is so infectious – it’s the sweetest sounding giggle and so nice to hear that she’s happy with us for the majority of the time. She’s definitely a night owl and seems to come alive after 7 pm much to our dismay. I’m definitely a morning person as are the boys. At least she’ll keep TJ company at night and can sleep in with Cheyanne in the mornings. Another neat thing we’ve noticed is that it appears I finally have a LEFT-HANDED child. Who knew it would take 4 kids to get it, but I finally have someone joining me in this right-handed world.

She loves her baths especially with Daddy playing funny man. Of course, he’s the “go to man” at home for baths as well. Somehow he always comes up with great bath fun and is willing to sit in there for 45 minutes of splash time. However, it has become quite clear that she HATES having her hair washed. We had LOUD screaming tonight and the other night as well. She also hates having her teeth brushed which we guess is because of the toothpaste. They don’t usually use toothpaste especially on young children. We’ll hope the bubble gum flavor waiting for her at home will do the trick.

She really went after her meal at the Peking duck restaurant. Seems to hate meat, but loves corn, fried rice and lots of soups. She’s another good eater like Cheyanne. I guess TJ just needed to have children without my genes to eat heartily and LOVE vegetables. I can tell I’m going to have to work on my menu list for her as she likes many things I have no idea how to make. It’s also been different this adoption trip because we actually have to think about feeding her and wondering what foods she’ll eat. Cheyanne was on a food strike with us the entire trip. She lived off of milk and crackers and worried us the whole time.

I will admit I’m having a hard time teaching her English. It’s not that she doesn’t catch on to it because she is repeating a lot of words to us. I find myself not wanting to teach it to her. I love hearing her speak mandarin in that cute little voice and I don’t want her to lose that language skill. She really does speak well and our guide is able to translate a great deal to us. I didn’t realize I would feel this way on this trip.

Heading home from China:

I had to share a few thoughts about this adoption trip. On our way back from the safari park -- Cassidy was just adorable. She decided it would be fun to take off her shoes & socks and then played the game of hiding her socks in her shirt. That caused her to have the most wonderful belly laughs for over 20 minutes. TJ & I were rolling as well and all the families on the bus wanted to know what was so funny. It was one of those “gotch moments” when our love was just overflowing for her and realizing how much we have bonded with her in just a short time. She is loving us as much as we are loving her. I could've had that sock hiding game go on forever just to hear us laughing together.

*****

Scroll down a little ways to see two video clips while in China.

Thanks for reading and being part of our GOTCHA day 2-year anniversary.

Tamara