HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, BABY GIRL!!

Julianna,

I can't believe that you are already 2 years old! Time is going by so fast and you are growing up before our eyes. You are such a precious and beautiful gift from God. I sometimes still can't believe that all our prayers have been answered and all our dreams have come true. You are such a blessing to your Mama and Daddy. It is so rewarding to see you learn new words and new things. Every day for you is a new adventure and you make me enjoy the simple things in life like when you chase after the sky or blow a dandelion. I took so many things for granted before you were here, but now the simple things in life mean so much more.

I want you to know that even though I wasn't there physically for your birth and for your 1st birthday, you have always been in my heart. I promise that I will be there for every birthday that you have for the rest of my life. You may have been born in China but you grew in my heart.

Happy birthday, sweet baby girl!!

I love you more than I can say!

Mama

Opening birthday presents


Mama, Daddy, and Julianna


Waiting patiently for birthday cake


I LOVE buttercream as much as my Mama!


Playing in the backyard with family


Princess Julianna


Pushing her baby around in her new stroller

Easter Pictures

Dyeing eggs with cousins


Will and Julianna


Eating candy with Sarah Beth


Mimi helping Julianna find an Easter egg


The Jernigan family on Easter

One Year Ago

I can't believe it has been one year since receiving our referral of Julianna. I can remember pretty much everything about that day from checking the Rumor Queen website constantly all morning to racing home with Ed from work to get "the call". She was the most beautiful baby we have ever seen. We could see in her eyes from the very first picture that she was strong willed and she definitely is that. She is everything we wanted in a child and more. I have said it before but I would go through everything all over again to have my sweet baby girl. She is a gift to us and to our family.

One verse I held on to for years was Romans 8:28 - "All things work together for good to those who love God to those who are the called according to His purpose." It doesn't say all things ARE good but that they work together for good. There were many things that happened to us and to Julianna that weren't good, but God used the bad things to bring us together as a family.

Here are Julianna's referral pictures we received on April 3, 2009:







Here she is on April 3, 2010:

Christmas Pictures

Here are some pictures of our 1st Christmas together. We were all really sick with pink eye, laryngitis, etc, but it was still wonderful to be the Jernigan family at Christmas. Also, there is a new post under this one about our 1st 6 months home.


Seeing Santa for the 1st time at the FCC Christmas party


Seeing Santa for the 1st time at the FCC Christmas party


After she got her present from Santa, she QUICKLY got out of his lap!


Christmas morning


Christmas morning


Christmas morning


Christmas morning

We have been a family 6 months today!

It's hard to believe it has been 6 whole months since we became a family of 3. The time has gone by so fast and then, in other ways, it seems like Julianna has been with us forever. We can't imagine her not being in our lives. As her Mimi said, she is a miracle! We love her more than words can say.


Julianna in China - June 2009


Julianna at Home - December 2009

My Girl

I wanted to post some bullets to update everybody on how our sweet baby girl is doing:

-Julianna is walking! Not a lot but she is walking some now. She is so proud of herself. She still prefers to crawl since that gets her where she want to go faster.
-She gives the sweetest hugs to us - she will lay her head on our shoulders and pat our backs. Then she will rub our backs. It just melts our hearts.
-She now says "that" when she wants to know what something is. (Sounds more like "dat".) She says "juice" for any kind of drink and shoes which sounds more like "Jews".) Her favorite new word is "cat".
-She can point to her hair, eyes, and mouth. She has a harder time with her nose for some reason.
-When I tell her it's time for her bath, she say "ba". She still loves her bath.
-She LOVES shoes! When she sees her shoes she wants them on immediately! This has us worried that she will be spending lots of money on shoes one day!
-She stayed in the nursery at church for the first time this past Sunday and did great! I think her parents were more worried than she was. :)
-She had her first haircut in the US and didn't like it at all. She didn't cry but whined a lot.
-She loves Baby Einstein videos and learns new words from the videos.
-She loves to swing on her baby swing and take walks in her stroller every day.

We are enjoying every day with her and continue to be thankful to the Lord for this blessing we have been given!


Julianna at 16 months

1st Haircut

My birthday with my baby - my best birthday present ever!


At the park

Just Pictures

I am so behind on my blogging. It's getting harder and harder to find the time to post with a one year old. Today's post will just be pictures. Enjoy!


Julianna peeking around the corner of the living room


Isn't she beautiful??


Crawling to Mama


Crawling closer and closer to Mama


Hey Mama! I'm right in front of you!


Having Fun in her sandbox before we put sand in it


More fun in the sandbox


Julianna's 1st visit to NASA (Thanks for the pictures, Mark!)