100 ...

That's how many times we have posted to this blog, beginning in June 2006 before Connie, Austin, and I traveled half way around the world to meet God's little addition to our family. That, of course, would be Lily Grace. Since then, we have been writing to this blog so that one day, Lily would be able to immerse herself in the beginnings of her life, such as they were, and have something to reflect on. We are very thankful to a wonderful friend who encouraged us (demanded?) to write this blog - Lori, get some coffee, this'll take awhile. With such a void of information available to her about the first two years of her life, we felt it was important to document as much as possible for Lily the events of her life beyond her days as an orphaned angel in Jiangxi Province, China. We don't know much about her birth parents, her first 22 months, or her Chinese family, but we can be assured of a few things.

First, her biological mother must have been an amazingly beautiful lady, because Lily Grace is simply and stunningly beautiful in her own regard. We are so grateful to this lady that she cared enough for Xing Xing to bring her to an orphanage filled with God's own nannys so that one day she would be ready for us. We pray for her that she has found solace and is comforted by the knowledge that Xing Xing, now Lily Grace, is safe and full of life. Lily can look like the beautiful baby she is in one moment and an elegant, but dainty, grownup model in the next. I suppose she could get some of her physical traits from her biological father, but she doesn't really exhibit any of the features that one might see in the Asian male. Her features are 100% soft, very lady-like, but best described as very girly. Her skin, her eyes, and her hair work with almost anything she wears, so even I can sometimes pick out something from her wardrobe that goes well with her. And her wardrobe is extensive, mind you! It is sometimes awkward when someone points out to us that she is beautiful. We say thank you, but that seems a bit presumptuous on our part since God, and God alone, created her beauty - we had nothing to do with it. God had everything to do with it. Lately, however, something else has started to emerge. There is an old saying that the longer you live with a person, the more you begin to look like them. Thankfully, Connie hasn't started to look like me, but rather there are some similarities between Connie and Lily that appear to be emerging. Sometimes I see looks on Lily's face that remind me of Connie and vice versa. Lily has a way of creating beauty, not just on her own face, but on the face of others as she causes them to smile. This is very evident with Connie.

Second, there must have been some real smarts in Lily Grace's Chinese background, because she does seem to be blessed with a sharp mind, very perceptive, and very intelligent. She learns things very quickly and can make connections and assimilate ideas really well. I'm obviously no expert in the matter and probably more than a little bit biased in the subject matter, but it just seems that she is advanced well beyond what her birth age would suggest. She appears to be developmentally on track and well positioned for learning. In that regard, we say that she takes after her big brother, Austin, who maintains excellent performance in his studies. Lily attends school two days a week now and learns something new every day. One of our early posts described how Lily's English vocabulary was emerging. Well, let me say that if it was "emerging" then, today it is "exploding." She is way beyond simple sentences, telling stories about things that require several paragraphs! She sings songs, mostly in English of course but there is one that she calls "China" that she sings and it is beautiful. She will explain things to us and ask if we like certain things, usually to see if she should also like them.

If Lily's beauty is beginning to compliment that of her mother, Connie, and if her smarts are reflective of her time spent with Austin, then maybe I can lay claim to at least one trait - her sense of humor. She is such a card, especially at the dinner table, keeping us in stitches with her looks, her eyebrow exercises, and her silliness. I think my sense of humor was once a source of frustration for Connie, so bless her heart, now she has to put up with both of us! Throw in Austin's witty sense of humor and oh, poor Connie! Recently, Lily has learned to snarl her lip in the manner of the late Elvis Presley. It's hilarious. I don't know where she learned it, but she definitely associates it with Elvis. She likes to kid around, too. One evening on the way home from Steak and Shake, she donned the hat the waitress had given her and pronounced "I'm a cowboy, ye -- haa (or was that Ne - how). She was born in the year of the Monkey and will quickly remind you that that makes her silly!

Finally, Lily is an adopted child, a fact that is obvious to even the least observant among us. But we want her to know that God chose her for our family, just like He chose us for His family, and that no other reason exists that she is with us. For we are told in Ephesians 1:5 that "In love, He predestined us to be adopted as His children through Jesus Christ." What may not be so evident to the casual observer, is the emotional blueprint of this little angel. She can be sad or happy, subdued or overbearing, ambivalent or thoroughly engaged. She can scream and cry or sit quietly engaged in play with one of us. She has a range of emotions, and a surprising degree of control over those emotions, that many do not possess. She knows what it means to say I love you. In fact, she will often catch us off guard with a simple profession of love - "I love you a whole much!" - and imaginary hugs, complete with "Umm, Umm!" She knows exactly how to be a sibling sister to Austin (you know, the competition for Mom and Dad's attention), but also tells us often how much she loves him. Tonight, she went through the entire list of our family, including grandparents, to make sure that we loved all of them.

Oftentimes, I think of Lily reading this, maybe even after we've gone on to be with the Lord, and wondering what our feelings were at the time. Were we excited, scared, happy, sad, worried. And when I see pictures of Lily and Austin together like this one, it brings out some emotions that I didn't know were there. Tears quickly create a stream of simultaneous joy and sadness along my face. Conflicting, yet complimentary emotions, understood only by those who have experienced them firsthand. And so I thank God for revealing these things to me. We know that Lily Grace was loved by her nannys as much as humanly possible. God let us see firsthand during a visit to Lily's orphanage how deeply she was loved. But we also saw other children, not yet blessed to have a forever family and who waited patiently for their turn to smile. And when we departed her orphanage that day and Lily had logged her last memories of her existence there, God sent rivers of tears to every eye of every nanny (not to mention our own) and made sure that we saw that Love, His Love, brought to life by His very breadth. It will be a day that we will never forget and a day that changed our outlook on our world. We cannot get back there quick enough, yet like so many others, now we wait.

Some of the pictures we have posted over the past year and a half bring tears to our eyes because of thoughts of what those left behind in China, and other places, do not have. A loving family, a big brother, or a little sister. Grannys and Memaws. Papaws and Grandads. The comfort of being loved and needed. The joy of loving and needing. A day in the park filled with laughter. Contrast this with a day in the life of a child who does not know what tomorrow holds. Will someone come and take me away? Will my best friend disappear? Think about that for a moment... If you have looked into the eyes of a child alone in the world and seen the emotional abyss that lies within, you know what I'm talking about. If not, I pray that someday you too will get to experience, up close and personal, the beauty and sadness of emotions in their most original, uncloaked, unmodified state. And I pray that as a result you are moved to bring hope to these children in one way or another. And if it doesn't move you to tears, please let me know and we will pray together.

If you are considering adoption, or perhaps have already adopted your own little angel, then you are the second reason that we have kept this blog. Hopefully, the things that we have posted will have been a blessing and an encouragement to you. In case you didn't know, we are in the process of adopting again. We recently completed our homestudy and the paperwork associated with that and have begun working on a dossier. Lily and Austin will have a sister one day, Lia Faith, with whom they can share their lives. She will come home on God's time. Meanwhile, we wait and pray. Soon, to celebrate the blessing that will be Lia, it seems appropriate to begin a new blog, Green, Party of Five.

Some of the pictures in this post were taken by CJ Patterson, Angel Eyes Photography. Doesn't she do wonderful work. She is working on a portfolio for us (Connie says I'm going to have to work overtime to pay for this one!) Check out a few more of the pictures on her blog at http://www.angeleyesbycj.com. Look for an entry on 15 November 2007. CJ has a special heart for adopted children and goes way beyond the typical photo shoot when she has an opportunity to capture images such as these.

The Lord has shown no greater love than by sacrificing His Son so that He could adopt us. And for that we are eternally grateful. And we are grateful that He has shared the joy of adoption with us through Lily Grace.

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, and Lily Grace (and Lia Faith)
Green, Party of Five

Coming Home ... Again. What an Honor!

On November 8th, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace and I were honored to be guests of Lifeline Children's Services for their annual fundraiser in Birmingham, AL. We are currently working with Lifeline on our second adoption and they had asked if we wanted to be a part of their fundraiser. Basically, they asked if we would participate in their "Parade of Families" during the program. And I thought "A Chance to Praise God" and thank our friends at Lifeline at the same time. Wow, how awesome is that? They asked us to send a few pictures that they would show while we said a few words about "Coming Home," the theme of this year's fundraiser. Oh, and another benefit is we got dinner and an uplifting message of adoption from David Nasser. Check out his web site at http://www.davidnasser.com.


Lifeline selected 10 or 12 families who have been part of their "Family" over the past couple of years and had each family be introduced and go up on the stage to say a few words during the parade of families. I didn't plan what to say, knowing that God would have me say what He wanted when it was our turn. Turns out He had other plans anyway, read on. Our family was introduced after the Chambers family (yes, for those of you who know and love them that's Dr. Jennifer Chambers from the Birmingham International Adoption Clinic). How cool is that! We wanted to hold Lily Grace up so that everyone could see how beautiful she is, but she was in her own world. She did not want to be picked up, she wanted to dance and twirl on stage while I spoke. There were many smiles in the audience and even a few chuckles as Lily stole the show all for herself. Oh well, perhaps that was God's way to show Lifeline's guests how He can turn around a life and let them be a part of it.

We also got to meet some friends that we exchange emails and blog postings with that we had never met. The Ferrill family was one of the featured families who spoke for several minutes. They have adopted Kimmie and Quan from China and have four really cool children that God gave them in the usual way. We seem to have so much in common with this family, even down to our music likes - Casting Crowns rocks!. It was great to get to meet them. If my math is correct, the Ferrills have 6 children. So, yes, maybe we Greens could at least handle half that many!

And speaking of new additions, we did turn in the remaining paperwork for Lia Faith to Anna at Lifeline to complete our homestudy. We had that with us at the banquet and provided it to Anna then. Earlier in the week, we had spent two hours in the pokie (that's southern for the jail) getting our fingerprints redone, then one hour in a lawyer's office to see about getting Lily Grace a US passport (preceded of course by an Alabama certificate of adoption and birth certificate), and finally a few minutes with the judge to get reassurance that yes, indeed, we are still married. It's funny, when we go to the judge's office to obtain a current-dated copy of our marriage certificate, the lady always says. Oh my, I'll have to go in the back to find that one. We don't keep records that old out here! On this Thanksgiving, I thank God that we are so blessed to still have each other after all these years! Now, we turn our attention to the Dossier work and the waiting. Please lift us up in prayer as we do this all over again! Fun, fun, fun...

Here are a few Halloween pics and Pre-Thanksgiving pics for you to enjoy.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse

The Artist (who now has a girlfriend!)

The Renderings (Love & Happiness)

The Squeaker (Squeeky Shoes Highly Appropriate)

Let's See, Was That the Nina, the Pinta, or the Santa Maria ... or the Mayflower!

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, and Lily Grace
Green, Party of Four (and working on Five)

Homecomings and Harvest Festivals

Wow, I've got some catching up to do. Where in the world have I been? We have been so busy and days seem to go by faster and faster. But you know what they say ... "Time flies when you're having fun!" Check out this picture. Sometimes Lily Grace looks like the baby that she is and sometimes, she looks like a little lady. Here, she looks like a young model in this year's latest fashionable fall outerwear.

OK, so what shall we talk about? Harvest festivals, homecomings, and one of my all time favorite topics ... Upward Basketball and Cheerleading. We'll save Halloween for this weekend, but just as a preview, Lily Grace went trunk or treating as Minnie Mouse, squeaky shoes and all. More about that in our next post.


One reason that I haven't been able to post as much lately is that I am the Director of the Upward Ministry at Isom's Chapel and we are deep into planning for our upcoming Basketball and Cheerleading season. Advertising, conducting signups, and establishing the parameters of the league takes an incredible amount of time to get it right.

But we are closing in on the beginning of practice. Maybe things will slow down a bit after that. Ha! We have completed registration and have 94 kids signed up to either play or cheer. Arranging those kids into teams of equitable talent and skills takes time and care. Then there's the task of identifying and recruiting coaches, adjusting rosters, evaluating late signups, conducting coaches training, ... Anyway, you get the picture. I am so excited about beginning the season. I get to coach a little girl's team with six girls between kindergarten and the 2nd grade. This will be different after coaching the rough and tumble boys for 7 years. I'll still help with Austin's team, but my primary focus will be to ensure that the littlest girls have a great time and hear about Jesus! Please pray for our Upward Ministry, that we might present the love of Jesus Christ in a way that plants seeds, waters seeds already planted, or stands ready for the harvest from seeds planted and watered before. I'll have more to say about the Upward Ministry in a future post. But now, some catching up.


Betcha didn't know that Lily Grace had her second trip to the beach in October. We kept it on the down low. Connie had promised Austin that we'd go back to the beach before the end of the year and with fall break, it was a good opportunity. Or so we thought... Can you say red tide? And I'm not talking about the kind that plays football on fall Saturday afternoons. This red tide is an explosion of algae from the ocean that causes extreme upper respiratory conditions, not unlike a cold or sinus infection.
Austin and I knew immediately when we hit the beach what was going on, because we had seen it in Jacksonville, FL in September. We lasted all of 30 minutes or so. Just long enough to build Alltel Stadium, the scaled-down, sand version of course.
The red tide was in effect for the entire fall break week, so every time we'd go out to the beach, we only lasted a half hour or so. And if that wasn't enough, tropical storm type weather invaded mid week and left the area flooded. A tornado even hit in Pensacola the day we were leaving. Oh well, so much for the beach weather. At least the dining and shopping were good and Austin did manage to get in two afternoons of golfing.

More recently, we were blessed to have Amanda come home for the weekend from her graduate studies in Chicago. Not only is she going to school there, but she's working for one of the Broadway type shows with costumes and such. I think she's really enjoying Chicago and she's actually only two hours away from her parents. She is doing well and we were all very glad to see her. Will was especially glad to see her (Will is her boyfriend and is in school himself at UAH). Amanda made it in Friday afternoon and was able to come to East Limestone's homecoming football game Friday night. We'd hoped that she would get to see Austin's band performance, but since it was homecoming, the band didn't do much except play My Girl, as the homecoming attendants marched out. Oh well, sorry Amanda. The football team did their part by claiming a big win and everyone went home happy. Lily Grace is always excited to see her big sisters, Emily and Amanda. So she was especially excited since she hadn't seen Amanda in quite a while. On her birthday, Lily got two dolls, one a boy and the other a girl. She missed Amanda so much that she immediately named them Will and Amanda. As a matter of record, Will and Amanda went to the beach with us. No, no, not the live Will and Amanda, the dolls! I'm pretty sure they had a great time. In fact, they were speechless! Check out the pictures of Lily Grace, Amanda, and Will below.

Speaking of homecoming, East Limestone did have their annual homecoming game this week. After four straight, grueling road games, they finally had a chance to play at home. This was truly a homecoming. I was beginning to wonder why we bought those season tickets. Lily hadn't been going to many of the games because the away games were very long trips. So she finally got to go again and had her usual good time. At one point in the game, she yelled "Go, go, go!!" and then turned to me and said rather disappointedly "They're not going?" It was as if she thought just by yelling and encouraging, she could make them respond in the way she wanted. Come to think of it, I think the same way. With her feisty attitude, I better try to keep that one in check!

Oh, nearly forgot the Creekside Harvest Festival. When Lily Grace gets old enough to attend school, she will go to Creekside Elementary School in East Limestone. So we thought we'd take her over to their annual Harvest festival to check things out. You know, see the teachers, begin butterin' them up, introduce their future star student, .... You can't start too early on that you know. Our neighbor and good friend Regina was in charge of the whole thing and did an awesome job! Of course, Lily Grace thought the whole thing had been put together for her.
She walked in and immediately seized control of the place. Cake walks, frog jumps, picture sessions, and clowns who make funny balloons were the order of the day. Lily Grace also got her first taste of cotton candy. She really liked the candy, but couldn't figure out where it was going when she tried to chew it!
(Mental note: This cotton candy stuff is not good for strengthening the chewing ability.) Of all the events and games at the festival, the train ride was what excited Lily Grace the most! She squealed with delight when she saw "Paw Paw's Express!" What's with this squealing anyway, Austin never did that?

And finally, to completely catch up, Connie, Austin, and I were blessed to be able to see Casting Crowns at the VBC. This is my favorite music group ever, period. If you're not familiar with their songs, they are the contemporary Christian artists who brought us "If We Are the Body", "Who Am I?", "Let My Lifesong Sing", and "Does Anybody Hear Her?" Stop now and go immediately to the nearest music store and purchase every Casting Crowns CD that you can find. They are awesome.


Love Green, Party of Four ...
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, and ...

They Are In My Closet ...

Yesterday was a great day for Lily Grace. That's because our favorite doctor in the world, Dr. Jennifer Chambers at the UAB International Adoption Clinic, and her staff have decided that Lily Grace is socially and physically ready to take on the world! Of course, we've known that since we brought her home, but it's good to hear it from the professionals. The sad part of it is that we won't get to see Dr. Chambers and her staff again until Lily turns 5 or 6 years old. Lily has a great doctor here in Madison too because Connie did her research before picking one, but just the understanding look and nods that we get from Dr. Chambers always comforts us.
Lily has been tended to by the UAB IAC clinic staff for a little over a year and we have nothing but good things to say about our experiences there. We are just absolutely thrilled that we have such qualified professionals who are also caring, parents of internationally adopted children themselves. It's funny, when we have an issue that we bring up with Dr. Chambers, often times she says "Me too, here's what I do." The developmental and social staff, Drs. Jill, Leah Ann, and Amy, are also just as caring and qualified. Guess we'll just have to adopt another little girl so we can continue the treks to Birmingham and our visits with some really cool, professional doctors/moms (more on that later).



Lily scored well enough on all of the developmental and social skills tests that the doctors see her as no different than any other 3-yr old child trying to make her way in a complex world. Physically, she is still in the lower percentiles, but she is developing normally. She'll just always be on the smallish side. Mentally and emotionally, she's doing well and has adapted about as well as anyone could have hoped for. At one point in the developmental skills tests, Dr. Jill decided to ask Lily Grace about some obscure body parts, like fingernails, toenails, etc. and where they were. Now, when we play this game, it's usually with parts like legs, arms, elbows, shoulders, and of course Belly!!!! So Lily knew the game well, but was a little confused by some parts until prompted a little. "Fingernails ... here, see paint. Toes ... right here! Knees ... here they are!" Everything was going well until Dr. Jill asked Lily where were her heels? And with a straight face and confused look, Lily replied "In My Closet." At that point, Dr. Jill decided the test was finished. We were all falling out of our chairs with laughter. This gal is 100% girl, no doubting that!

Our next stop in Birmingham was to visit with our Adoption Agency, Lifeline Children's Services, and our friend, Anna. During this visit, we completed some more of our homestudy requirements for our next adoption, a sister for Lily Grace. We're getting close on getting all the paperwork chased down so please pray for us as we continue this process. We have just a few more items to track down and then we wait. That will be the hard part, we know, but it is what God would have us do. Of that, we are certain. It's funny, the first time we visited Anna at Lifeline, Austin was with us and we were beginning the process to adopt Lily Grace. This time, Austin was in school and couldn't miss, so Lily Grace was with us as we continue the process to adopt Lia Faith. Oh, and Lifeline has asked us to be a part of their "Parade of Families," during their annual fundraiser. We'll be one of ten families that get to tell their story of adoption. It'll have to be brief, I'm sure, but we are so excited about this opportunity!

I know, this should have been multiple posts, but there have been too many happenings lately, so I tried to get them all in here. One more to go --



Today, Lily Grace and I got to go to Tate's Farm, a pumpkin patch and farm in Meridianville where lots of schools take field trips. Lily's class at Lindsay Lane Baptist Church decided to take a field trip there and I got to go along. Thanks Ms. Melanie and Ms. Carrie for arranging the trip! Of course, I stood out like a rocket scientist in a pumpkin patch, being the only Dad. And since I was going in to work afterward, I was dressed for work, not for the pumpkin patch. Big mistake, with humidity hovering around 200%. It had been several years since we'd taken Austin, so I had forgotten that this was an interactive farm, where if you don't get dirty you have to pay extra! So I ducked into the gift shop and purchased the proper attire - a Tee Shirt that said "I God Mine at Tate's Farm!" Don't even think about it, there are no pictures to serve as evidence of this wardrobe nightmare.



By the end of the two hour tour and pumpkin patch adventure, I was soaking wet, dirty, smelly, and ready for a shower. Lily wanted to go over and visit the pigs - I told her that I was too dirty to visit the pigs, they might be offended! Anyway, Lily Grace just enjoyed herself all day, occassionally squealing with delight (what is it with this squealing thing?) and causing others to laugh. Her favorite part of the day, according to Lily, was the corn basket - a huge tub of corn that all the kids got to play in. It looked fun, some of the moms even got in themselves. My favorite part was watching Lily learn about things on the farm - she even picked some cotton.


Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace , ...
Green, Party of Four

It's Your Birthday Sweetheart!

So celebrate in the knowledge that we love you very much and we are very happy that God placed you in our lives. Guess whose birthday is today! Celebrate in the knowledge that Jesus Christ loves you even more than we do, though to us that might not seem possible. Celebrate in the knowledge that God planned a family for you that includes a wonderful son and a precious daughter. Celebrate that He has plans to expand our family again so that you can be mommy to another of His miracles.

"A wife of noble character, who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life." Proverbs 31:10-12

From the day we met so romantically (in the parking lot of Dairy Queen), I have loved you. From the day we were married, I have treasured you. When Austin was born and I saw the awesome mother you would become, I was thankful. And when you told me one day that God said we should adopt Lily Grace, I was changed forever.

"She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:27

Thank you for tending to our every need and for putting up with our every whim. Thank you for being a loving mother to Austin and to Lily Grace. Sometimes Lily Grace simply wants her mommy because she knows how much you love her.

"Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her." Proverbs 31:28

I hope that today will be a wonderful, blessed day for you and that something that we do will be part of making it so.

"Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Proverbs 31:30

Thank you for being a Godly mother to Austin and Lily Grace and a forgiving wife to me. Your patience exceeds what I should be allowed.

"Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate." Proverbs 31:31

Thanks for being a Proverbs 31 Woman for our family! God's plans are working out just fine with you in our midst.

Happy Birthday Connie Jo (oops, I let the middle name slip out!)
We love you and hope you have a great day!
Jerry, Austin, and Lily Grace ...

Two Tickets ...

$90. Hotel Stay $300. Parking $35. Hamburger and Barbeque at the Game: $30. Watching Austin celebrate as the FSU Seminoles won one of the biggest games they ever played in: priceless. Even if it was at the expense of my Crimson Tide. Seems Austin's teams are getting the better of mine this year, with East Limestone starting off their season by thumping my state champion Athens Golden Eagles 7-6 back in Sept.



Connie bought two tickets to what was billed as the "River City Showdown" last March and gave them to me and Austin to go. Austin has been a Florida State fan since the days of Coach Cav at East Limestone (Coach Cav turned ELHS into a mini-FSU, complete with similar uniforms, war chant, and attitude!). Of course, I've been an Alabama fan since the days of Bear Bryant and 63 National Championships (no, wait, I think we have 64 now!). Every thing worked out just great. Except the game. I was mad, no angry, that we played as poorly as we did. But give a lot of credit to Florida State's defense. They made everything we tried to do look foolish. JP had an awful game. The o'line looked like a high school unit and let's not even talk about the backup DB who gave up two touchdowns!! We've got some serious work to do and not much "stuff" to do it with!



We left out Friday afternoon after Austin got out of school, got haircuts - can't go to the game looking shaggy now could we - and hit the road. East Limestone had their football game Thursday night, so that was good and bad. Good in that we got to leave after school Friday, bad in that we were out late Thursday night and didn't get much sleep - not good for a looming 9 hour drive to Jacksonville. For the record, the ELHS Indians moved to 5-0 on the season, with a very convincing 58-0 win. Now, for all their troubles, they get to face their arch nemesis, the North Jackson Chiefs, also 5-0 and ranked #1 in the state in class 4A. The Indians and Chiefs both dress like Florida State and use the war chant as their fight song...over and over and over and over ... Can we say "I'm tired of this Na, Na, Nannna Na, ... Na , Na Nanna Noooooo! Oh well, back to the River City Showdown...

We stayed on Amelia Island and of course everybody there was there for the game, so there were FSU and Bama fans everywhere. There were even some other divided families there with "FSUBama" Car tags and flags of opposite colors flying from each side of their cars. Saturday morning we thought we'd go down to the beach and play in the sand for awhile. Little did we know that there was a "Red Tide" warning. I'm not kidding! Both of us were coughing and sneezing and having sinus troubles within minutes. When we noticed the locals were wearing masks, we left the beach! All day long, I kept telling Austin that it was a "Crimson Tide" warning! After the game, he told me the warning had been downgraded to a watch!




Of course, Austin's favorite part was visiting with the FSU band during the third quarter. We went over to where they were sitting and next thing I know, he's down in the middle of the band talking to the percussion section leader about different drumbeats! He got some up close videos for his own ELHS band drumline - maybe, Ms Sam will cut him some slack for missing competition to go to this game!




Congrats to FSU and to Austin. Better start saving for that tuition, son. I hear it's expensive for out of state students!

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, and Lily Grace ...
Green, Party of Four ...

Dora! Dora! Dora!

It was an a'Dora"ble day for one little Lily Grace Xing Green. She finally had that birthday party that she'd been telling everybody about for a month. Nay, reminding every chance she could get. She was so excited, she told her mommy after church when she laid down for a nap "I so cited!" The day couldn't have been any better. The weather was great, we had friends and family over, and the neighbor cut his yard! Oh, but that's another story for another time. Just let me say that I've been trying to get this neighbor to do something for two years and Connie says something to him (gently, I'm sure) about Lily's birthday party and next thing I know there's heavy earth moving equipment running around like creatures from some H.G. Wells novel! I'm sorry. I digress. Connie says I do that alot. It's kind of like ... er, back to the story.

I think the little girl, our Lily Grace, is pretty smart. You see, she spent the past month taking advantage of every opportunity to tell potential party attendees when her birthday would be and what kind of party she would have. One night at church, while we were celebrating Family night with dinner, Lily took a bite of green beans, smiled, and announced that "Sept 24th Gilli's bir'day. I gon have Dora party." No one was talking about anything that could remotely have triggered thoughts of birthday parties, but Lily knew there were several potential party-goers in her midst, so she went out on a limb. And without another word, she went right back to her green beans. Just like that. We all laughed, but she had made her point - be there, Sept 24th.

Sept 24th and so they came. My cousin and I had spent the previous weekend assembling Lily's new "swing set" from Lowe's. Check out the pictures below. Instructions said it would take two men 16 hours to put it together. I remember my first swing, a worn out tire from a 1966 VW beetle with a long rope. It took two men ten minutes to assemble it! Er, back to the story.


We had one of those big bouncy things, as Lily calls it, delivered for the kids to play in while we adults reflected on how fast they grow up. The big bouncy thing had Dora, Diego, and "Oh maaaaaan" all over it. I can never remember the name of that squirrel looking character that says that, but Lily has picked up on it and knows quite properly how to use "Oh maaaaaan!" For weeks, she's been going around saying "Oh maaaaan!" at every opportunity. It's hilarious. Once she got into the bouncy thing, there was no getting her out.
Well, almost. What kid can resist hotdogs, cake, and ice cream, while being toasted with that time-honored, venerable favorite "Happy Birthday, to you, Happy Birthday, to you. Happy Birthday, Dear Lily. Happy Birthday to you."

All of Lily's friends from church came over for the party, along with most of her extended family. Thank you to everyone for coming and for celebrating Lily's birthday with us. I am sure she will remember for a long time your kindness to her on her special day. And a special note to Sara - we love you and we were very glad you came. Please come over and see Lily often. However, we noticed during the party that most of Lily's friends are nearly of dating age! Note to self - get that application for Lia Faith going faster! Lily needs a little sister.



Anyway, Lily's bestest best buddy in the world, Sarah Ann, came over from Russellville just for the party. Thank you Tom and Laura and Ashleigh for bringing Sarah Ann and Will over. It's hard to describe how much love we have for you and how much we appreciated you waking us up last March with pictures of Lily Grace from Jiangxi. Thank you will never be enough, so instead, we ask God, that He continue to bless your family! It is so funny to watch Sarah Ann watch Lily Grace now. I've said many times that Sarah sometimes views Lily with an expression of "There she goes again!" I really wonder what each must be thinking now. But Sarah Ann was a little more cautious than Lily about the Dora bouncy thing - and for good reason. Checkout the "strawberry" on Lily's forehead, earned from a face first plunge down Dora mountain just before "hotdog" time. But she's a tough little girl, only wimpering a little before announcing "I'm OK Daaeee!"


After dinner and cake, it was time for Lily to open the presents that her friends and family had brought her. It is so amazing to see how much this little girl is loved. She got presents from as far away as Chinatown in Chicago, Il. Thanks Amanda, we love you and we miss you! In an effort to encourage her to be thankful and humble, we asked her to hug each guest and thank them for the present. And so she did! If you didn't get a Lily hug Sunday afternoon, it's only because you weren't in the same zip code. She took that part very seriously.

If you're wondering where Austin is, he and his "teen" friends spent the afternoon in a pool tournament in his new Florida St room, complete with Seminoles colored pool table. Seems like a bad week to paint the basement cardinal and gold and paint a Florida St logo on the wall! Anyway, below are some party pictures. Please enjoy them and if you get a chance, say a prayer for Lily and especially for her "little sister," not yet revealed to us by God, but certainly waiting there in China and dreaming of days like "Dora! Dora! Dora!"




Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, and Lily Grace
Green, Party of Four