Christmas

My goal was to update our site before Christmas and well it just didn't happen so here I am now. Christmas has come and gone and we are trying to keep our house in order as we find places for all the new toys. It was fun to be gone for a few days during the holidays but I do have to admit it is always nice to come home again. Jennifer absolutely loved Christmas this year. She was a little disappointed that all the presents were not for her. It was very sweet because she was truly excited about everything she opened, she would say "oh" as opened each present, very funny. Bill and I often talk about that we love how she truly enjoys the little things. We could have wrapped up toys that she already has and she would not have cared. The girl has a lot to teach us about being content with what we have. We took a lot of pictures of all of our Christmas' so I will just share a few today, maybe in a few days I will share some more, there are a lot of good ones or so I think. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a Happy New Year!We let Jennifer open her presents from us before we left Tuesday night. We didn't get her much but she loved each thing she opened. She got lots of books from us, which she really loved.Christmas morning we tried very hard to get Jennifer to take a "cute" picture in front of the tree at my mom and dad's. She was having a snack and didn't really want to have her picture taken, this was about as good as it got.A new coat from Grammie, how cute! Grammie got Jen lots of new, cute clothes!
The present was really for Ben and Connor but Jennifer of course had to be in on the action. Like I said before she thought every present should be for her.A new bike! Isn't this the cutest little bike you have ever seen? Jennifer is so short so even a regular size trike is too big, this bike is just her size. She was very excited to see papa bring it up stairs for her.This present is twice as big as Jennifer! She got a basketball hoop! I know you may be thinking a basketball hoop for a girl but she loves it! She will get her stool out and put it front the hoop and just stand there and shoot away. Bill has also been practicing up, he thinks he is pretty good but let's be honest it is kid sized!

Playing in the snow

As we wait for yet more snow to come our way I thought I would share with you some pictures of Jennifer having fun in the snow. About a week ago it snowed and as much as I was not excited to see the ground completly covered, Jennifer was beside herself. She could not wait to go outside. When we left to go to church she ran into the driveway ready to play, when we got home from church she ran into the driveway ready to play. So needless to say we bundled her up and out we went. She thought it was so great! Last year she loved being outside but not really enjoying the snow. This year she really got into it. Eating the snow, walking through the snow, sitting in it, eating it some more. Bill being the great dad he is reminded Jennifer not to eat the yellow snow. How fun it is to see the excitement on the face of a child over snow!

The journey of adoption

This entry has been waiting to be written for a few months now and as I think about it today I think there is no time like the present. So let me share a little bit with you about a journey we are taking right now, the journey of adoption...

I have to admit that before having Jennifer I never really gave adoption much thought. It was never really something that I thought Bill and I would do, it was something that was never really in our hearts. How that has changed and it all began with our sweet little girl, Jennifer. As you all know we found out that Jennifer had Down syndrome when she was about two weeks old. The days after finding that out were the days that our hearts began to grow for adoption. I remember one specific morning sitting in our living room, all the curtains were drawn, we were all still in our jammies, Bill was rocking Jennifer on his chest and the first conversation about adoption came up. In those moments we talked about how it broke our hearts that some families would receive the news that we had received only days earlier and decide they could not live with their baby. Although they probably would love their baby, there would simply be something in them that couldn't care for that baby forever. As we looked at Jennifer we simply saw our daughter (we still do), we have never or will ever look at her and see Down syndrome. It was in the those moments during that conversation that we decided that someday we would adopt. We would adopt a baby with Down syndrome, we would open our arms to a baby that someone else had decided they maybe could not take care of. We decided we would love that baby as our own, that we would simply continue on with life and their diagnosis would not be a problem, not in our house. That conversation took place almost three and half years ago. Over the course of the past three years we have gone back to that conversation, wondering when and if it would really ever happen. Well shortly after the beginning of the year we began to talk about our family growing. Jennifer was almost three and the time seemed right to add another McLeland to the craziness we call our home. After much discussion and prayer, lots and lots of prayer, we decided that instead of "having" a baby, God was calling to adopt a baby. So over the past few months we have been filling out paper work, filling out more paper work, doing some visits to our adoption agency and last week we had our home study. And the waiting game can begin. It is amazing to me how my heart can ache for a baby that I do not even know yet, a baby that someone else will give birth to, it is truly a God thing. Something only He could do and something that only He will fulfill. Over the past few months Bill and I have talked that God knows exactly who our baby is, only he knows when our baby will be born and where our baby will come from. We are very excited to meet that little baby and welcome them into our home, into our lives. I can't wait to find out all that our baby will have to teach us. We will keep you posted as the time comes for our family to grow from three to four. The journey may be long but what a sweet journey it is. And who knows our journey could only be starting!

Hate to write and not put on any pictures so here are a few...

Playing outside while it was still nice, sadly those days have gone away.Helping dad work on the kitchen. Our stove use to be in that hole, Jennifer thought it was a great place to play, she was kind of disappointed when the cabinet went away.

Shoveling the snow already! The sad thing is that we are just getting starting!

Some of my favorite things

Bill has been gone for a few days at school. Our house seems empty without him here. Jennifer and I are both missing him, we were missing the first day he was gone! He will be back on Friday afternoon for a short stay at home for the weekend and then it is back to school for another week. With our house feeling a bit empty I was thinking about some of my favorite things that I love about my family, so I thought I would share them with you.

My favorite things:

Listening to Bill and Jennifer talk and play when I am not in the room, they have their own little secrets and things they do that just make me smile.

Waking up in the morning and touching Bill's feet with mine, may seem strange I know but it is just one of those things.

Watching Jennifer's face light up when she sees Bill come home from work.

Watching Jennifer run across our backyard, her little legs simply going as fast as they can. For a girl with little legs she can move pretty quickly!

Going into Jennifer's room at night and seeing her fast asleep in her bed. She looks so peaceful and content.

Reading books and rocking at bedtime. At the end of the day there is nothing better than holding your baby and reading a story. The only thing that is better than this is watching Jennifer rock with Bill. The two get into trouble on some nights. What is suppose to be a quiet time can turn into Jennifer giggling like crazy!

Hearing Jennifer ask to watch Barney! Bill and I said we would not let our kids become Barney fans and yet it has happened and I do smile when Jennifer asks to watch him. She is so determined and her voice is just so funny.

Oh how I love my husband and daughter, to me they are the best people in the world!

Party Girl!

If you don't Jennifer well let me tell you the girl loves music and dancing. This past weekend my cousin got married (congrats again Brandon and Molly) and Jennifer was loving the party. Jennifer was a little tired at the beginning of the reception, actually starting to fall asleep on her grandma, when we decided to see if she would dance. Once she started she would not stop. In fact when the dollar dance started Jennifer was down right mad at the dj and she let anyone how would listen know it! She was signing music to everyone and telling them to "come on" to the dance floor. She finally got my aunt to dance with her a little bit and then my brother gave in and danced with her too! She is a girl who can "talk" you into anything! Here are a few pictures from our fun weekend with family.Jennifer with Jen (yes they do have the same name). I am pretty sure that Jennifer gets some of her love of dancing and music from her aunt Jen. Jennifer was attached to Jen's hip for quite a while at the dance. Once Jennifer started dancing with Jen there was no stopping her, it was fun to watch the two of them "dancing" together! Jennifer and mom dancing together. Trust me it didn't last long! Anyone is better to dance with than mom. If she wasn't dancing with Jen, then she was dancing with her Uncle Nick and Aunt Amy.The partying got to be a bit much by the end of the night. Once Jennifer convinced Uncle Nick to dance with her during the dollar dance it was all done for her. She put her head on Nick's shoulder and feel asleep! It was very sweet!
Swimming anyone? Jennifer usually loves to swim but the water in the pool was just a little chilly for her taste. So Saturday morning we let Jennifer "swim" in the tub in our room. The water was warm and she got to have bubbles!

Pictures from school (and a few more)

Jennifer's teachers have been very kind to send us pictures of her at school so I thought I would share them with you all. The first picture is of Jennifer dressing up during center time. This is one of Jennifer's favorite activities to do at school. In fact when we were there last week for an open house this was the first thing Jennifer wanted to show Bill and I. She put on a pretty purple dress and then showed us the rest of the room. Jennifer has a notebook that comes home with her each day that tells us what she did at school and today it said that she was very excited because they put new clothes out for dress up! Isn't she just beautiful in that dress?! The second picture is a picture from the first day of school. Jennifer looks tiny compared to the boy beside her but part of that is because he is four. The last picture from school is my favorite. Jennifer is in the "teacher" chair reading books to the kids. The one teacher told us that Jennifer will get a book climb into the chair and the boys in her class will put blankets on the floor in front of her and listen to her "read"! It just makes me laugh. She will also sit in the teacher chair and pretend to do calendar with the kids. I think someday she is going to be a teacher! She will be fabulous!

We think Jennifer should be the new spokesperson for Cheerios! What do you think, she would be great wouldn't she?

Jennifer and Bill spending a little quality time together working in the basement. If you ever need any help on a project Jennifer is great and she doesn't charge much, usually a sucker will do.Sunday night is popcorn night in our house and as you can see it is one of the best things in the world. Jennifer makes us laugh each week as we get ready to make popcorn. She walks around the house signing popcorn, wants to get the popcorn bowl down and get the blanket out. It really is the little things in life that are worth while. If only we would all get so excited about having popcorn!

More pictures

We just got high speed internet at our house! So I thought I would post some more pictures of our summer.Here are a couple of pictures of Jennifer in Florida. She loved the swimming pool! There was no fear at all, she would walk in the water until she couldn't touch anymore and still want to keep going! She would jump off the side, sometimes before I was ready to catch her. Jennifer also loved the beach. I wasn't sure what she would think of the waves coming up and getting her but she thought it was great.Her is Jennifer washing her car, while we wash our cars. She had her own bucket of water and her own sponge, she probably did better on her car than Bill and I did on our cars!

We went to the Iowa State Fair this year, this was our first time there since Jennifer was born. Jennifer did the "Helping Hands on the Farm". It is a cute little farm setup for kids to go around. They plant a vegetable, as you can see Jennifer doing in the second picture, then they go from station to station getting different things and at the end they get a "dollar" to buy something with. Jennifer of course chose chips! She looked pretty cute in her apron and hat!This is just a cute picture of Jennifer while we were playing at the park one evening.

Jennifer is continuing to do well at school. When I drop her off she still kind of plays shy and pretends she dosen't want to stay but once I leave she if fine. I know she has a great time. When I pick her up and ask her what she did at school she always signs the word play several times. It is very sweet. Speaking of school Bill starts school in a few weeks too. He is starting his masters program for Children and Family Ministries. Most of his work will be done on line but at the end of October he will be gone on campus for two weeks. He got his books ealier this week and it is a lot of reading! Bill joked that he has read maybe two or three in the course of a year or two and now he has to read several books in ten weeks! He is very excited to get started though. That is a little bit of what is happening with the McLeland's and you can check more often now for pictures and updates!

First Day of School

It is hard to believe but Jennifer is now a preschooler! Today was her first day of school. How cute she looked walking up the sidewalk with her backpack on, Jennifer is fairly short so the backpack was just as big as she is, but it was very cute. After a hug and a kiss Bill and I walked out to leave our baby at her first day of school. Jennifer had no issues with us leaving, I think I was the one that was sad. As a mom it is hard to leave your baby, especially after being with her almost every day for the past three years. I know some of you are thinking come on its just preschool. I know, I know, it's only two days a week and only three hours but that dosen't make it any easier. Just like any parent I want to protect my child and make sure that everything is ok, with her at school I can't be there to make sure that is happening. Jennifer does not communicate like a typical three year old so I do not know what friends she played, if someone was mean or nice to her, what she had for snack or even what centers she played at. All this makes it that much harder for me to let her go. We however are very blessed to have two amazing ladies as Jennifer's teachers. I know above all else she is being loved on while at school and that is what made it a little easier to drop her off this morning. According to her teachers Jennifer had a great first day at school! She played dress up and sat through circle time wonderfully. I am so proud of my little girl!

The first two pictures are of Jennifer getting ready to leave for school. How cute is she with her little (big) backpack! The last picture has nothing to do with school, I just really love this picture of her, she is so cool!

Just a note: someday very soon we are getting high speed internet at home (yahoo) so then I will be able to update our site more!

Missing Daddy

Today Jennifer is missing her daddy. Bill has been gone about two and half weeks now and it seems to finally be setting in to Jennifer that he is gone. Several times today she has asked for her dad. This morning as I was sitting at the computer Jennifer crawled up into my lap, she looked at the computer screen, which had a picture of her and Bill on it, and she just stared for the longest time. Then she looked at me and said, "Dad, Dad!" She was very excited to see his picture, then she held out her arms to the picture like she wanted her dad to pick her up. It about broke my heart. We only have a few more days and he will be home. I have heard from Bill a few times while he has been gone, a few phone calls and email messages. Everything is going well for them, which is always good to hear. As hard as it is for Bill to be away I am reminded that often in my quietness that it is good for him to be in Taiwan too. The work they are doing there is going to impact eternity. There are people in Taiwan who do not know the grace and love of Jesus Christ. The people of Taiwan need to hear about a loving God. So although the days are getting long, I find peace in knowing that God is using Bill to reach people for His kingdom.
Jennifer and I got back from Florida on Friday, after ten days of being away from home! While it was fun to be away it was also good to be home. Jennifer was a little out of routine. Sometime soon I will put some pictures of our trip on the site (when I have time to get to Bill's computer at church). We visited the beach a few days and Jennifer thought it was great! She was not scared of the waves at all, in fact we had to keep a hold of her because she was so daring she kept going out farther and farther in the water. We also went swimming a few times and again Jennifer thought she could do everything in the water herself. Several times she would push my hands away when she was going to jump in! She has no fear!
Thanks again for praying for our family during the past few weeks. I have felt myself being carried though in the palm of God's hand. It is amazing the peace I have knowing our family is in the center of God's will right now. I will update when Bill gets home and put on some pictures of both our trips!

Taiwan

As most of you know Bill left for Taiwan yesterday morning, Saturday June 28th. We thought we were prepared to say good-bye but I guess you are never as ready as you think. So after a tearfull hug at 6:00 in the morning it was good-bye for three weeks. When I got to church this morning they had gotten a phone call that the team had arrived safely in Taiwan, it was about 9 o'clock our time, 10 o'clock at night Taiwan time (there is a 13 hour difference). So it is good hear that he there and safe. Please continue to pray that all goes smoothly and they would fell the presence of God throughout the trip. Jennifer and I leave on Tuesday to go to Flordia with Bill's mom. We will be gone for ten days. I am looking forward to a few days away of keeping busy while Bill is away. Hopefully I will hear from Bill a few times while he is gone so when I hear information I will be sure to keep everyone updated. Thanks for praying for our family during the time!

Vacation '08

It has been almost a week since we got back from vacation. Looking back I wish we were still there. What fun it was to just relax... eat alot, laugh alot, fish alot, play on the beach in the sun, play some games and sit around doing nothing. It was a great time. We packed up a van and headed out with my family up to the same place we went last year. Jennifer of course was spoiled for the week having grandparents and Uncle Nick and Aunt Amy to play with. If mom and dad said no to something she had four other people who would more than likely give in and give her whatever she wanted. Life is good when your three and on vacation.

Now it is back to our busy and crazy lives. We came home to lots of water in Charles City, we missed out on the worst of it but got to see a little with our own eyes. It is hard to imagine all the water being just everywhere, a few of the restuarants in town where under water, the bridges where closed, lots and lots of home were damaged. For a few days people could not travel from one side of the town to the other. Bill is busy getting ready for his big trip to Taiwan. He leaves on June 28th and won't be home until July 18th (for those of you wondering that is 21 days). He has lots of get ready for his trip as well as make sure all the regular things that he does on a weekly basis are covered while he is away. Needless to say he is very busy right now. While Bill is gone Jennifer and I are probably going to head to Florida with Bill's mom. She was planning a visit anyway and now Jennifer and I might tag along. It would make the time go by much quicker for us!

Here are a few pictures of our vacation (I will try to limit them, we did take 306 pictures while on vacation!!)

Bill's favorite past time on vacation was fishing. He would have fished the whole time if he could have. A few of the windy, rainy days Bill could bundle up and head out to the dock, just to get a few minutes of fishing in.If we were fishing then we were on the beach, playing. We tried several times to make that perfect sand castle, it never worked.

Here is Bill's big catch of the week. He caught a carp off the dock. It was a huge fish! Of course we don't keep carp so back in it went.Here however, is the biggest keeper of the week. Yes I did caught it, I however would not touch it so thanks Nick for taking it off the hook and holding it for me!
Jennifer was just happy to be on vacation, getting whatever she wanted!Jennifer decided to take a little time to read on the beach on day. Actually she took Aunt Amy's book and read it to her.Vacation is over, on our way home to start the crazy summer ahead.