Happy New Year!

We are excited to get home and begin our new year with our entire family!!
Today has been a tough day for me. Not much sleep, being incredibly homesick and hearing from home that 2 out of 4 are also home sick for mom and dad! This is killer! Not sure if Conner was "just having a moment", as Brady puts it. Or if he is really missing us that much. Either way it is breaking my heart! I know in my head that they are fine - and in good hands (thanks to Mimi, Papa Paul and Uncle JB) but the Mommy in me wants to hold them!
My on the spot tears have concerned Jorja. So, of course, I'm sad about that too. I try to hide my sadness, but sometimes she catches me.
We went to a children's park yesterday. It was nice to walk around the lake and look at some beautiful scenery. We love our guide/friend Rebecca! She is very informative and fun to be around.


Lately, when we have gone to the hotel's playroom we have had the room to ourselves. This is great as, Jorja doesn't open up too well when their are strangers around. We get to run and play and she lets us see her sweet personality! We brought some balloons with us today - and she just giggled running around throwing them in the air and hitting them. She loves to get us to play with her.

Rebecca, Joe and Winnie - what a sweet family!

The only really rough time is bed time. We went to a wonderful dinner with Rebecca and her family. (Bryan actually had a good Italian dinner! - no garlic bread though)
Jojra was great during dinner, eating a ton of bread sticks and 1/2 of my spaghetti dinner, and then finishing up the bag of gold fish that she had opened on the walk over to the restaurant. When we got back to our room, she begin crying when I told her to take off her shoes. She knew it was time for bed. And to make matters worse, she needed a bath. (not her favorite) After an attempt on her part of a temper tantrum - she doesn't realize that we have seen every type of tantrum and that doesn't phase us. :) We got everything done and in her pj's. We spent about 30 minutes talking to her in bed. We began blowing kisses and she eventually gave both of us kisses on the cheek too. This is a huge step. Jorja definitely has a personal space that she is cautious to let anyone in to. Every day we seem to break into that space a little bit more.

Thank you for all your comments. This sure helps get us through the days!!! Love y'all and Happy New Year!!
Please any misspelled words - I spend my days reading English written by Chinese (some of the spelling is too cute) and IM'ing on kids at home. They laugh at me that I use punctuation and everything! Sorry - can't teach an old dog new tricks!