Happy Second Birthday!

Hi Everyone,

Izzie will turn two tomorrow (June 1), so we had her party yesterday.  It was so amazing to be in our own home relaxing and celebrating, without any worries about the adoption.  To make the day even better, we had just received in the mail Izzie's re-adoption papers from our district court, which legally recognized her Guatemalan adoption, officially changed her name to Isabel Wynne, and reinforced her U.S. citizenship.  We feel so grateful to be an ordinary family celebrating a birthday the way any ordinary family should be allowed to do.  At the same time, we are mindful of several of Izzie's friends from the orphanage, whose parents are still fighting to bring them home.  Most of them are also turning two within the next few weeks.  The situation is just so unnecessarily complicated and so sad.  Please keep those sweet kids in your prayers.

Anyway, enjoy some pictures and a video from yesterday!

Of course, we had to have a Dora theme!

This cottage was Izzie's present from me and Jaimie.  She literally spent five hours playing with it yesterday.

Izzie overcame her fear of batting the pinata and went for it!

It took Sam one turn to knock the thing's head off and spill the candy!

Izzie's cousins Sara and Sam helped open presents and read the cards.

Here are Izzie and Oma today, playing with her new kitchen from Oma and Opa.

We hope you are all enjoying your summers so far.  Thanks for checking in!

Izzie's Welcome Home Weekend, 4/17-4/19/09

As promised, here are some pictures of the events during Izzie's Welcome Home Extravaganza, which took place a couple of weekends ago. Almost everyone from our immediate families came in from out of state to help us celebrate, and we had lots of local friends and extended family here also. I was a little worried that it would all overwhelm our little girl, but she just soaked up the fun and had a great time.

FRIDAY: The Kron side of the family arrived fairly early in the day. Jaimie and I wanted to serve homemade tamales at our big party on Saturday, so we put the family to work on a tamale assembly line. (The tamales turned out GREAT!) Everyone was then rewarded with a cookout which included bratwurst and metwurst (or "tube meats," as my brother apparently calls them) "imported" from Cincinnati by my mom and dad. Sorry, Texas, but the tube meats from Cincinnati really are superior. It's a German thing...

SATURDAY: The big party, complete with bounce house, pinata, and Guatemalan food and beer. Izzie had a blast and we were thrilled that she got to spend time with her new friends and cousins, both local and from Ohio.

So, why is Jonathan jumping so high in the above picture, you ask? Because this 20-something learned to ride a bike that day (see video below). Congrats, Jonathan!

SUNDAY: Izzie got baptized at our church by our friend, the Rev. Jay Cole. Afterward, Jaimie's cousin Steve and his awesome wife Tracey hosted a lovely reception at their home. They are also responsible for the adorable yellow dress you see Izzie wearing at the party.

So, needless to say, we were exhausted by Monday, but we had such a great weekend! It was pure joy to be at home surrounded by many of those who helped us to finally make it. Thank you, God!

Bluebonnet Photo Shoot

Hi everybody,

A couple of weeks ago, we took Izzie to a bluebonnet patch for her first annual Texas bluebonnet shoot (a requirement for all little Texans). We got some great pictures, despite it being a cloudy and extremely windy day. By the way, I swear that we were not instructing Izzie on any of these poses. I think she is just a naturally fabulous model! (The first and second pictures are my favorites, by the way!)

Hope you are all having a great week!
Kathy