Tuesday, July 04, 2006

First Fourth




Today was MelodyJoy Marie's first Independence Day as a US citizen! It was a beautiful day and a highlight was Jordan's return from more than two weeks in Mexico with a group from our church.

They rolled back into town about 5:00 today after logging a lot of miles on the ground and in the air, flying from El Paso to Portland this morning and then driving five hours to Klamath Falls. It sounds like he had a great trip and I'm sure more details will come to light soon. We learned about his ten hour off-road trek in the back of a pick-up, why the homes in the village they worked in are so spread out (because the main crop there is marijuana), and the flat screen TVs in the restaurants, but we only scratched the surface over Jeannette's big Welcome Home dinner on the back porch . . . pulled BBQ pork sandwiches, potato salad, watermelon and deviled eggs under a clear blue sky.

I'm sure the trip will prove to be a big step for Jordan in terms of growing into manhood. That doesn't mean that he's passed me up in height, though! Despite his best posture, I have evidence that he's still got an inch or so to go before he surpasses me.

Tonight, we gathered on the street with some neighbors and lit off the $29.99 pack of fireworks I bought at Albertson's this afternoon (only $24.99 with our Albertson's card . . . such a deal). MelodyJoy's first fireworks . . . well, as far as we know. She was a trooper and none of the fireworks fazed her, not the loud Whistlin' Petes, not the blinding flashers, and not the fountains. She wasn't super demonstrative but you could tell that she enjoyed the lights and colors.

The USA's 230th Fourth of July.
MJ's first.
This little girl's life sure has taken some twists and turns in the last three months. As I gave her a bottle tonight and watched her eyes droop, then put her into the crib, I remembered a mom (and maybe a dad) somewhere in China who are missing this wonderful girl. Unknown circumstances gave them little choice but to leave her at that gas station in Maoming--and we're blessed to have her in our lives--but it must be hard for them not to know where she is and that she's being cared for.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Palmer,

I've passed on news of your blog to others in our AWAA group that are waiting with us for referrals. It's so encouraging to see pictures and hear your experiences with adopting Melody Joy. We check out your blog from time to time to see how things are progressing for your family. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, it helps us as we wait for our daughter. I'm glad we had an opportunity to meet you at the HCS graduation in June. It was a real highlight of our trip to K.Falls.
-Amy & Mike

Palmer said...

That's great . . . warn them that the blog has morphed into all kinds of things aside from our adoption journey! MJ is doing so great and it's fun to be able to share our "Joy" with others.