December 15, 2010 - December 15, 2012

It is amazing that 2 years has gone by since we walked outside the train station in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and was handed our 7 month old baby girl! God surely had his hand on us then & now! He is an awesome God to allow us to go to a different country, get our baby girl & bring her home! Sometimes you just don't have enough words to decribe how awesome God really is!

I don't have any pictures today, just a note to everyone that today is our Gotcha Day! 2 years ago, we were so nervous, but now it almost seems like a dream (a wonderful dream).

Thank you God for bringing JaiLi into our lives, giving her to us and helping us raise her in Your ways!

God is Great!
The Martwick's
Darwin, Melissa & JaiLi Rose

JaiLi is 2 years old!

JaiLi turned 2 a week ago, time has flown by! I can't believe she has been with us for almost a year and a half. We had her birthday at Pizza Hut, the theme was Hello Kitty (she says it, "Hi Kitty"). Her grandma & grandpa drove 9 hrs. to be with her for her birthday. She had a lot of fun opening presents. Here are some pics from the party.

As you can see she is a clown! She is so funny, she likes to be the center of attention!

Hope you enjoyed!

The Martwick's

JaiLi Horseback Riding

JaiLi got to ride a horse!

Daddy was right beside her the whole way, but once the horse started moving she sat up straight and rode like a pro. She did pretty good, I think!

 She looks like she knows exactly what she is doing, but it took us a while to get her to keep the hat on!

Here she is actually on the horse's back! She has her little monkey backpack (what she calls her patpat) on her back. After the ride, she got to touch the horse's nose and pet her. She liked that.

Hope you enjoyed!

The Martwick's

Fun Facts

Here are some fun facts about JaiLi:

She is 32" long / 22 lbs. / wears 24 month clothes (although I have to take the waist in on most of them, she is thin in the waist) / wears size 4-5 shoes / size 4 diapers

She loves her Daddy (every time he walks in from work she says, "Hey!", like she hasn't seen him in forever.)

Her new word is "I'm busy" (so cute!!)

She likes her clothes (she will look at herself in the mirror, or hold her clothes out and admire them)

She is walking all over the place

She doesn't like her hair fixed, she would rather have it hanging in her face (ugh! I want it up, so it looks nice)

She doesn't like the park, no slide, no swing, no teeter-tooter : ( (I know it will come later)

She loves the phone (to call her "Papaw" (grandpa))

She loves riding on the back of Mamaw's wheelchair

She hates the word "NO"

She still carries around her blankie that she had in Taiwan

She likes all kinds of food, but her favorite is anything that she can feed herself! Very independent!

She likes puppies and kiki's (kitty's)

She likes Hot Wheel's over dolls! (the other day she had a Hot Wheel in 1 hand and a ballerina in the other - too funny)

She loves books (sometimes it looks like she is really reading them!)

JaiLi is such a wonderful addition to our family! She is so smart and so loveable! I hope you enjoyed sharing a bit of fun facts about her with us!

Many blessings,

The Martwick's

Dadda, Momma & the Princess JaiLi

Lots of Changes!!

Sorry it's been so long since I wrote, it's been kind of crazy around here.
First off on June 2 I became a full time mommy!! Whoohoo!!! We are having fun, sometimes I want to pull my hair out, but hey, that's all part of the fun.........right??? ;)
Then JaiLi has been getting her molers in (this part is no fun, 4 at a time!!!!)
And finally for the best part, she is starting to really walk (trying to post videos)!!!! It's so cute to watch her. Grandma wants everyone to know that she started walking at her house first!! (Lol, they are so funny with this first grandbaby)
All in all it has been a great summer!

Thanks,
The Martwick's

Birthday Girl!

Our baby girl is 1 tomorrow, we had a party today for her. Oh, how she is growing! What a joy she is to our family! Hope you enjoy the pictures! She had fun, she is wore out and ready to go to bed! Blessing to all! (I will post some videos in a bit.)

 Momma made me my first cake!

 Lots of Presents to open!

 Wrapping paper is so fun!

 But, Tissue paper is better!

 Everyone helped me open my presents!

Ooooo, my cake was good and ALL mine!!!!

Such a beautiful face!



Daddy & His Girl

Ready for church. Doing breathing treatment : (

Trying to Walk!

Our little princess is growing up! She is trying to walk, she is pulling herself up on everything, sometimes scaring her mother half to death!
Thank You, Jesus, for such a precious little girl! You have entrusted us with a blessing! We pray that You will guide us and lead us so that we might raise her up in Your ways!
Love,
The Martwick Family

9 months old and 2 months with us

It's amazing really, JaiLi has been with us for 2 months, she is 9 months old (this is a little late coming). She has 4 teeth, she is trying to pull herself up on things, she crawls everywhere and she isn't afraid of anything! She has grown out of all of her 9 month clothes, wow, we have started getting her size 12 months and some of them are too short. She has grown an inch and a pound.
This little girl entered our hearts almost 9 months ago, but she has made herself at home in our hearts since then. She is so lovable, precious and precocious! She gives kisses and hugs, she waves goodbye and scrunches her face up to anyone that will look her way. She has everyone wrapped around her finger! We have people that aren't even close to the family that will tell her that they love her, she is just irresistible, lol!
The other day I tried for 30 minutes to get her to say, "Mama", she would laugh and say, "Daddad"! Of course that just melts her daddy's heart!
She is adjusting so good! She is eating more solid food and loving it! She loves her bath! She is so funny while taking a bath, she laughs and splashes and has a good time!
Just wanted to update on the things that she is doing and how she is doing.
Blessings to all!
The Martwick's
Daddad, Mama & Snicklefritz (that's her cute nickname)
Here's a few of pictures of her playing in a basket. Her hair was fixed in pigtails, that's why it's sticking up on both sides.

Yeehaw! Ridem' Cowgirl!

Miss JaiLi is so talented, she can do all sorts of things now! She can crawl (better keep track of her or she will be down the hall and in the bathroom trying to tip over the trashcan before you can get to her), she can pull herself up (only with hanging onto your fingers, she doesn't pull up on furniture yet, praise God!), she is actually going forward in her walker (instead of always backwards), she is learning what "No" and "Uh uh" means (she doesn't like it, as soon as you say it, she starts crying! She's the "Princess" after all, no one says, "No" to the princess! hehehehe, except Mom & Dad!) and she is sleeping all night (oh, happy day!! God is so Good!). Oh, yeah, she can also say, "Dada" and "Mama" (are we just imagining it, or wishing for it? don't bust our bubble, that's what it sounds like to us, hahahaha!)

But her latest accomplishment is...................

.........yes, riding a vacuum cleaner! Doesn't that look like fun! Come on everyone, you know you have always wanted to try this, when no else was looking! She thought this was so funny!

I just love her laughs, her little girl voice (it's actually deep), her crying, well..........hmmm, ok I don't like that so much, but it's a total package deal, so we just deal with the crying along with everything else. God has richly blessed us with this little bundle of joy! She is so fun!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!
Blessing,
The Martwick's
Darwin (JaiLi's DaDa), Melissa (JaiLi's Mama) &
The Princess - JaiLi

Perfect Pigtails

I had to take a picture before they got messed up and went lopsided! She has just enough hair on the sides to pull up and make pigtails on the side. Sorry I haven't blogged lately, being a mommy and working really takes it out of a person. I will try, no guarantees, to do better!

Such a Cute Baby Girl!

Our Little Rosebud!

Okay, so I had to post this picture. JaiLi is such a joy to us! She has been a blessing since day 1! We love her with everything we have and we're so glad that she is our baby! God has richly blessed us! The everyday things she does, it's so sweet to watch her crawl around (she's getting better at it, if you're not watching she will head right for Daddy's plants and stick her hand in the dirt, hehe).

Being a mother is such a great occupation! Sometimes I just hold her and thank God for giving her to me. I told Darwin the other day that I figured 2 things out.......JaiLi fits perfectly in my arms and in my heart!

"Thank you, God for bringing this sweet girl into our lives, You have made us a complete family!"

The (Completed) Martwick's

Darwin, Melissa & JaiLi Rose

JaiLi is Crawling!!

HOME!!

We are home at long last! JaiLi did well on the drive home (8 hrs. in a car seat can't be fun!), she fussed a little, slept a lot, but overall did good.
She slept really good last night, didn't wake up until 7 am. Hallelujah! She had been waking up at 1 or 2 am and not going back to sleep until 4 (makes for tired parents the next day!).
We really love being parents and thank God for JaiLi! She is such a blessing! God has richly blessed our family!
Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes!
Blessings,
Darwin, Melissa & JaiLi

Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo, Japan skyline and motel.

 Toilet that washes and dries you.

Controls so you can tell it how high to squirt, lol! Crazy huh?

AIT Motel

 See that partial glass wall? That is all that was keeping the whole bathroom from being a shower.......the floor became very slippery!

 JaiLi with Momma!

Dunn Residence

The view from the Dunn's Residence.

 Malachi (a baby the Dunn's are keeping for a couple in Illinois)

 This was the parking garage below the Dunn's apartment, each space has either storage under the parking space or a place for another car to go, crazy huh, but hey at least you don't have to worry about wondering where you will park.

 If you look close you can see the other car under there.

Scooters! Scooters everywhere! Watch out for them, if they hit you, you have to pay!