Gotcha

Yesterday Clara and I went to a "Gotcha" party celebrating our friend Ella's adoption. She is now approaching 6 and was adopted from China when she was about 9 months old. She has a younger brother, James, who joined the family "from Mommy's tummy," as he puts it. They are quite a pair. They have had an extra special spot in our hearts ever since Ella personally invited us to her third birthday party. Ella is very observant and super smart and caring. James is also caring and quite hilarious. Last Sabbath he was telling us how he loved us and especially Clara. He had a bit of a runny nose, so he gave her kisses on her knee. He also said a big ewww when his mom dished up the vegetable potpie I had made and told us he had been eating oatmeal for six days even though he had only had it for breakfast that morning.

The Gotcha party was a dress up party. Ella was dressed as Angel Cake from Strawberry Shortcake and James as Johnny Tractor. Although he did quickly become Super Johnny Tractor when his friend Cylar showed up as The Incredible Hulk. The pair of them were the cutest superheros I've seen.


Cylar's sisters, Jade and Cabry, were just all dressed up. Clara was dressed up as the pretty girl she is.


Yesterday Clara was willing to let anybody hold her, which is a pleasant switch from a few weeks ago when only Brian or I could hold her without terrible sounding cries. This is just in time for the holidays when she is going to be meeting lots of new people. We have deduced that she is also teething, so that could make for interesting travels. We leave Wednesday afternoon to drive to Omaha to catch a plane to Boise. On the return trip we'll visit Brian's family down at the farm. I'm looking forward to going home. It is nice to go somewhere with a lifetime's worth of familiarity and see people you love.

To wish you all Happy Holidays here is the photo part of our Christmas greetings.