More Summer Fun!

Here are some snapshots of the last few weeks. We were able to visit the Chinese Garden for the first time with Eliza! Faith had a great birthday and enjoyed the fun of a little sister getting into her presents (up until now that had been her role). Eliza is growing and is SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! She is still struggling with naps but we are all much more rested. Thank you for your prayers. She is also starting to walk. She has gone up to 5 steps unassisted so far. Another "big deal" to us is that she is now picking up food and feeding herself. It helps when we all clap for her when she succeeds. She is a lot of fun for all of us!

Happy 8th Birthday Faith!!!!

Eight years ago today we welcomed Faith Lauren into our family. It's hard to believe it has been that long. She has grown to be a loving, beautiful girl who loves her family and her Lord. She has recently become a big sister to Eliza--a challenge she has welcomed and enjoyed. Just the other day she said to me, "Mom, I think Eliza is the best present I ever got." We are so blessed to have this sweet girl!

Busy Days

We have been busy! We have enjoyed the county fair, had a visit with Uncle Dale, Aunt Amie, and cousins Blake & Jaden, and been enjoying watching Eliza grow. She is crawling very quickly and so close to walking. We are still struggling with some sleep issues so that is one BIG prayer request. Here are some pictures so enjoy!

Happy 4th of July!

We have been busy in the last few weeks. In an effort to keep up I'm posting pictures from the last two weeks. There are some fun pictures of Eliza in her car and pool. There are also some pictures of our 4th of July holiday. We were able to see the local parade and visit with family. It has been busy but fun! Enjoy the cuteness.

Happy 1st Birthday Eliza!

This weekend has been full of celebrations. First of all we celebrated Eliza's 1st birthday. We are so blessed to have our sweet girl home for her birthday. She is doing new things every day. We are now crawling like a little inch worm and clapping a lot. She had cake on Friday (her actual birthday) and Sunday (her party day). It was great to have our friends the Fortlanders celebrate with us. Emily and Eliza are growing so fast.

We also dedicated Eliza to the Lord today or I should say dedicated ourselves to teaching her about our Lord Jesus Christ. We also had the added blessing of celebrating Father's Day with our parents and Great Grandpa Zimmerman. It has been a great weekend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZA HOPE JIAKAI!!!!! WE LOVE YOU SOOOOOOOOOO BIG!!

A Week of Fun and New Experiences

This week has been a full one. Eliza is doing great! She is full of joy and loves to entertain us. She had so much fun in the recycling playing with empty containers. She will be easy to please on her upcoming birthday. She also started beating two stacking cups together and is very pleased with herself. Her enthusiasm is contagious.

On Friday of this week Faith had a swimming party at school so Eliza and I tagged along. At first she was crying in the water and then she slowly warmed up to it. We will take it slow and go in longer next time. All and all I think she had fun.

We are abundantly blessed! We are approaching summer and all of our children are amazing us! Ethan is growing fast and is so bright! Emma is constantly reading--her love of books is wonderful! Faith is full of life and love--she is always ready to snuggle! Eliza's personality is showing more all the time. She has this cute, mischievous look that she gets when she is being silly. You can see a glimpse of it in the stacking cup picture. We are without a doubt blessed beyond measure!

Our Memorial Day Weekend

We had a fun weekend with the family. We spent Saturday at our Church's Memorial Day Retreat. Eliza saw and patted a horse for the first time. She even wore her pink boots! Unfortunately I did not remember my camera. We did bring it on Monday when we went to see the Nina replica in Portland. It was pretty cool! It was smaller than I expected. It's hard to believe that all the crew were able to sleep on the deck of the boat. It really puts the journey Columbus and his crew made to the Americas in perspective. What a rough journey they must have had!