Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!!  

We send all of our love and wish you a wonderful, happy and healthy holiday season!

Love,

Jason, Joely & Jalen

It's Been Awhile

It's been awhile since I last updated on here so here's a brief catching up since August.  Jalen will be turning 2 YEARS OLD in just a couple of weeks and we are starting his celebrations early!  My mom and dad (Bubba and Papa West) will be here on Wednesday and we are having Jalen's 1st party on Saturday at our home followed by trick-or-treating fun!  We have invited Jalen's friends from school and our neighbors and friends to this one so most of the kids will be Jalen's age or close to it.  We are having everyone wear their costumes too so they can go trick-or-treating right after.  Jalen's other b-day party will be held on November 13th and we are still planning this but are thinking about having it at Lazer Zone, an indoor bowling, lazer tag, arcade, bounce house, and more locating just down the street so the bigger kids coming can enjoy themselves more...this party we will invite our work friends, church friends and anyone else that couldn't make it to his 1st party.  Above is the invite I made for his party this weekend:  I love my cupcake hold puncher and you will see it or have already seen it probably on every home-made card I make...it is just so fitting for so many occasions!

We have been very busy with adoption fundraisers, church, work, and family/friends lately and time is just flying.  Since I last posted we have found out we were approved to move forward with our home study in the adoption process ( a big step for us), have taken some classes in international adoption, had a huge garage sale extravaganza at our church and raised $3500 and are in the process of having another t-shirt fundraiser.  We have done A LOT of paperwork in this time and have spent many late nights with all things related.  We have also had a lot of fun with our church and friends from it and got to hang out at a fun farm nearby and play in bounce houses, go to a pumpkin patch, eat good food and play with farm animals (Joely also got kicked by a small horse that left a quite large black bruise on her right calf...this was found to be funny by everyone she works with).

 

We have continued to make so many good friends since we have been here.  Honestly I cannot even count how many GOOD friends we have here and have only been here 13 mths!  We just had Jason's parent's in town a few weekends ago and  so Jalen got to enjoy quality time with Nana and Boompa O'Neal and they were a HUGE help to us during our crazy adoption garage sale.  I know I'm forgetting some other updates but those are the major ones.  And as for Mr. Jalen, he is almost ready to move to the big kids room at daycare.  He is the second oldest kid in his room but he loves all the babies and everyday when we leave he makes a special attempt to say "bye bye baby!" and wave to every baby in the room.  He also loves his friends there and funny enough if he is in a mood, we start naming his friends (Jacob, Eve, Raelen, Noah, Carter, Ash, Jenna, Max, and others) and he calms down and starts talking about them and repeating their names!  We have started potty training but not religiously.  He did really love it at first but hasn't shown as much interest lately.  We will continue to try though and figure he'll get it when he's ready.  He does have incentive though because his potty chair plays music when he goes and he does like that!  His favorite TV shows right now are Special Agent Oso and Choo Choo Soul and every now and again Handy Manny but we are usually hearing "Oso!  Oso!" when he is in the living room.

Well that is all for now.  Our lil man is growing up before our eyes and is just such a sweetheart.  He loves to give sweet little kisses and has gotten really good at giving hugs and Eskimo Kisses, this is with us and his "sisters" aka dogs (which if you didn't know we have 3...Ali, Laila and Rescue.  Rescue was not supposed to stay but we have yet to find a home for her in a couple months and she fits right in so she may be a permanent fixture here, Jalen loves her so much!

Sweet pictures of Jalen...getting so big!

Jalen on his laptop

Jalen's Favorite New Chore

This is a short video but he does feed all the girls and makes sure he gets equal amounts in all bowls and then will put the measuring scoop and food away when he is done.

Beautiful Video

As most of you know we are in the process of adoption and a friend of mine found this YouTube video and shared with me...it is just beautiful and pretty much says it all.  The bold print is my favorite and SO true. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=demRHgul2Zk

When Love takes You In

By: Steven Curtis Chapman

I know you’ve heard the stories
But they all sound too good to be true
You’ve heard about a place called home
But there doesn’t seem to be one for you
So one more night you cry yourself to sleep
And drift off to a distant dream 

Where love takes you in and everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
When love takes you in 

And somewhere while you’re sleeping
Someone else is dreaming too
Counting down the days until
They hold you close and say I love you 

And like the rain that falls into the sea
In a moment what has been is lost in what will be

When love takes you in everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart

And this love will never let you go
There is nothing that could ever
cause this love to lose its hold 

When love takes you in everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart 

When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
When love takes you in it takes you in for good
When love takes you in

 

New Family Pictures- August 2010

 

We only had about 5 minutes to take these pictures with the extreme OK heat setting it so we didn't get as many as we would have liked.  Once it cools down we'll go out and get more but they turned out pretty good for the quick time we had!

Smart Lil' Cookie

Jalen's such a smart little boy and I know he must get so frustrated that he can't always communicate what he wants with us but he is getting better. His speech is becoming more and more clear by the day and he is really into mimicking everything we do now so gotta start watching what we say and do :)

Today he kept repeating "a ball" over and over and pointing to our hall closet where we keep our vacuum and Swiffer broom. I kept telling him "there is no ball in there" but finally gave in and opened the door, he grabbed the Swiffer broom and went running into the kitchen where he got down on his hands and knees and shoved the broom under the stove (like he has seen mommy do before to get a small object out when it is pushed or rolled under). He thought there was a ping-pong ball under there and knew just what to do to get it out. Unfortunately there was no ball there so he was very persistent to keep trying and I have my camera in reach so I was able to record his persistence. Sometimes he just amazes me with what he knows and how his little brain works!

Jalen Jammin' in the Car

We turned around to see Jalen bopping his head back and forth today the song
"Can we pretend that airplanes
In the night sky
Are like shooting stars
I could really use a wish right now (wish right now, wish right now)"



So funny. I know it has been a while since I have posted on here. I love adding pictures and for some reason have such a hard time lately uploading pictures on here versus the quickness I can do on Facebook. Jalen is a little over 20 months old now and is just doing so many new funny things. If you say Ready, Set,.." he yells "Go!" although it sounds like "Doh!" and if you say "On your mark,.." he says "get set, go", again sounding more like "det set, doh", the pattern is he hasn't gotten the "g" sounds down yet :) Jalen also will say "two" after we say "one.." and he tries to hold up 2 fingers when he does so (preparing him for his 2nd b-day in Nov). Jalen has been doing good in daycare and I was told one day by one of his teachers that he has such a funny personality and one of the best she has ever seen. I know this but I didn't know how he compared to the other cuties in his class. He also is beginning to really know his colors, especially yellow, he loves to yell "lellow!".

It has been very hot here, 107 deg today to be exact...thought we moved out of the desert! We are going camping this coming weekend in Sulphur, OK (just 30 mins from our house) with Hilary, Joshua and Jude and cannot wait. It will be our 3rd attempt so please no rain this time around! We will be heading up after work on Fri and coming back on Sun. there are cold springs, rivers and a nearby lake so we should be able to stay cool pretty well. We are so excited to have Jalen experience camping for the first time and how much fun to do so with a friend I grew up camping with!

Jalen Update

This first picture is the day after surgery napping on the couch...he uses Laila as a step stool and climbs onto the couch when he is tired to nap. The 2nd picture is when we got home right after surgery, this picture was followed by about a 3 hr nap!





I am home with Jalen today and he is doing ok. He's not eating or drinking as well as he did the day of surgery as I am sure he is feeling the pain more now but when he is hungry or thirsty he takes it all in at once practically. He hates the Tylenol with Codeine but it almost instantly does make him feel better, just doesn't taste great and it's amazing how 1 tsp can take so long to get into a little boy's mouth! Above are a couple pictures since he has been home, poor little guy, I can't wait till he is fully recovered and back to his normal self again.

Jalen's Surgery

Jalen is doing wonderful so far. A little trooper in pre-op, surgery, and post-op and now sound asleep at home and resting very comfortably.

I am having a hard time getting more than these 2 pictures posted to this blog but the rest are on facebook as well as a couple videos that I am uploading right now from Jalen's surgery this morning.

New Pictures of Our Family

Jason, Jalen and Joely

Finally a recent family picture!

Laila and Ali

May 2010 and Exciting News!!!

Well,I have been a bit behind on the blog lately. We have had so much going on lately that it was just put on the back burner but I'll get you up-to-date. Jalen is now 18 mths old and actually getting some long hair (for him at least). His hair is still so blonde that it is hard to tell in some lights but up close it is there and getting quite long especially on the sides and in back. He has been talking up a storm although it is still his language of trying to communicate. We can usually tell what he is saying but I'm sure others can't so well. He constantly still says "uh-oh" and now loves calling the dogs which ends up sounding like "ay-ya" for Laila and "ah-la" for Ali. He has been doing better at day care with his biting reports although in the last 2 weeks I have had 3 papers to sign off on 2 in regards to him being bitten for no reason and 1 for him running and falling flat on his face and ending up with a big fat upper lip and scratch up to his nose. He's a tough boy though and none of this phases him. Jalen also has his school pictures taken so I will put them up when I get a chance. They turned out so cute! We have been having quite a bit of rain and thunderstorms here too and as I'm sure you've seen on the national news, some tornadoes. We are lucky that Ada generally gets missed though so even though we have had some warnings already and alerts to take cover, we have not been hit.

In other news, as most of you know now...We're Adopting! We are so excited and have started the long process towards adopting a little boy or girl from Ethiopia. We have a new website dedicated to our adoption process and would love for you to follow along and pass it on to anyone you know.

http://expecting-from-ethiopia.blogspot.com

here are a few pictures from the month of May so far...enjoy!

Jalen in his MSU t-shirt from papa


Jalen playing with his friend Carter (and Carter's mom Heather)


Jalen and Mommy during the tornado warning, watching the storm


Our back and front yard during the big storms



Playing ski-ball at a b-day party for a little girl in his class


Riding on the carousel, notice the healing fat lip


Riding on a choo-choo


Hanging out with Carter and his parents (Heather and Buck)

April 2010

Well, it has been over a month now since I have last posted, wow how time flies! Jalen is 17 mths now and just changing and learning new things every day. He is trying to repeat things now all the time and has been saying a lot of new words, although most are now 100% clear, we can tell what he is saying. He does say "hola" pretty clear though and it took me by complete surprise when he did. He loves it when I sing the Spanish alphabet to him because it is so upbeat and fun and I am hoping to teach him Spanish more now that he is repeating and starting to talk. He also can sign "more", "please" and "thank you" although he generally blows a kiss when you tell him to say thank you. Here are a couple pictures from Easter in AZ, I am having problems uploading pictures on here for some reason so if you want to see all of them, check out my facebook page. Between now and Memorial Day we have a lot going on, getting together with neighbors for a cookout, having Home Depot come in and install blinds in our windows, going to McKinney, TX for Jude's 3rd birthday party, going camping with Hilary, Joshua and Jude in Sulphur, OK, going to OKC for a day for a continuing education course and then Jen and Ryan are coming here for Memorial weekend, we are so excited!!!

Daddy and Jalen

Mommy and Jalen

Sunny days in OK

Here are a few pictures from the last couple days. The rest are on Facebook so check them out!

Out to dinner with some friends

Carter (one of my lil patients)

Carter and Jalen at dinner

Jalen climbing on the step stool

Jalen getting set up for his nightly bottle, he does this every night when we mention the word bottle