last ET group beach day

Well Friday was our last ET adoption group beach day, bummer!! We had a good time even though the weather was not the greatest. All of the kids played in the sand, and a few even went swimming in the water, and boogie boarding. Julianna had fun, she is really doing well in getting over her shyness with other kids her own age, and since her friend Aster was there she got right down to the business of playing and digging. She even went so far as to run into the waves and she ran off down the beach dancing and playing with the surf!! Jon went for a dip and said it was cold, I stayed on shore and knew it was cold!! It was a fun day though with lots of new friends to meet, and travel to discuss, and they are all so excited about an imminent referral for us!!
I should have started this blog with our really big news though, Julianna can read!!!!!
Woohoo!!! She has done it, she has finally really figured out the whole reading thing, the phonics method of reading worked great for us. Julianna has read a few stories, the ones that accompany the Hooked on Phonics set, and she really is reading them, not memorizing, and she can now read various words we give her, and reads them well even when we add a letter or two to the beginning or the end, so cool!!! We are so proud of her and she enjoys showing off and reading for gramma and grampa, and Grammy and papa, and of course nana and Pop got quite a few readings of the same short story, but they didn't seem to mind!!!!
On a different note, as Jon recently posted we helped out at the soup kitchen last week, and it was great for all of us. It is good to see and work with such diverse people as those in our church, we had many people and a few kids too. Everyone did a great job to assist people who just need a bit of a helping hand. They really appreciated the time and the effort and love we put into our dishes, and we were all reminded to be thankful for what we have. I am often forgetful of this, and now would like to publicly give thanks for my health, my family(close and extended!) and my opportunity to help others and show them kindness since that was returned to me ten fold. Thanks to all, and most of all Thanks to God!! Jamie