LOA! =]

We got our LOA!! Last night, around 7:30 or so. I'm sooo excited! I realize that we got it much earlier then other people did! Thank you, Jesus! I hope we can travel in April, but mom says it probably won't happen. It'll be May or June. I'm still really excited! Only a few months away from Luke!



Hold on Luke, we're comin'!

Love, Joy

March 20th!!!!!

I can't wait on that date! You know what that is?

That's when this movie



Is available on Netflix!!! BOO YAH! I can't WAIIIT!!!

I've watched Twilight SOO many times! (Last night was the eleventh time! XD)

I'm a total Team Jacob, but Edward's cool too. My favorite GOOD vampire is Carlisle, and my favorite bad vampire is Jane. :)

I like Jacob and Quil, and my favorite part in New Moon is where Bella socks Paul in the nose. LOL!

So, I can't wait. I've been doing A LOT of movie watching. All last weekend I watched this.



And This.



And yesterday I watched this twice.



So what have you been doing this week?

Happy Spring Break!

Love, Joy :)

SO many (crazy)cousins..

And SO many memories! I thought I'd try to remember MOST of my cousins on my mom's side of the family, and post their picture and some of our crazy memories! I love all my cousins, and I love seeing them at the family reunion every year. One time when I was at my Grandmama and Pop's house, we calculated up how many cousins I have and it's around 40-50!

Okay, so first and foremost,
KEMPER!



My personal wrestling coach, and one of my bestest friends in the WORLD....He's my mom's brother's son, so in other words, my first cousin. He's one year older then me, and he's more like a brother to me than a cousin! Now for memories! (Here we go, Kemper! :D)

I remember the time when I was about 5 or 6, and he was 6 or 7. We were playing in his room, and he wouldn't let me use his toy. So I said I wasn't friends with him anymore, and he said(And I quote!) "Well fine then, you're not my cousin anymore." :) How cute is that?

And then the last time I went to his house in Alabama, He had this AWESOME idea..
He hooked a rope to his bike, and his little sister(Laci)'s bike. I got on the little bike(Sure, put me on the one that's most likely to be destroyed. LOL). He told me I didn't have to pedal, just steer and KEEP MY FEET OUT IN THE AIR. Yeah! So I did it, and then all the sudden, he got really fast, and I couldn't steer. I yelled for him to stop, but he thought I said slow down, so he slowed down. Meanwhile, I thought he was stopping, so I put my leg on the ground to help stop, and then he started going and the bike came out from under me, and I fell off onto the road! He came over and sat by me and looked at me like he didn't know what to do. I just bust out laughing. My leg was all cut up, but I didn't care.

I love having all these fun(DANGEROUS) times with Kemper!

Love ya, Kemper!


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Laci!



Pretty much my little sister! We have had matching clothes, matching hair styles, and matching dresses!

I remember her helping me get Kemper up in the morning. I'd yank the covers off his bed, and Laci would scream in his ear. Aaah, the good 'ole days. :)

Laci loves coming to my house, and she always plays with my dolls and keeps them in good shape. She brings them to me when they are "crying for me".
I love you Laci!

---------------------------


Noah!



The first time I met Noah, was at a family Reunion. He came running in with a styrofoam cup in his hand, and he was screaming, "I FOUND A HUGE BUG!" Yep. That's Noah. I ran over and looked in. It WAS a huge bug! It was a gigantic beetle. LOL! Then he looked at me and he half yells, "Hey I'm your cousin Noah." I'm like, "You're not my cousin, I never met you." (That goes to show you how many cousins I have. I STILL don't know some of them!) He told me to go ask my mama, and I did, and she said Noah was my cousin!

Last family reunion, I was playing basketball with the boys, and Tanner stepped on my foot, then tripped over it,(stepping on it again), then dropped the ball on it, so I had to sit out. My toe was all red and swelling, and Noah stopped playing basketball with the others, and sat down with me for the rest of the time, which was about an hour. Of course he stole my phone and played with it, but still, he was good company.

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Sydney!



Sydney is one of the greatest girl cousins you could ever ask for. We used to look alike when we were little, we used to be the same height too, but I grew a little. Lol. We both love Joe Jonas and Nick Jonas, We both prefer pants over skirts, we both like Demi Lovato, and we both LOVE Laci! She always asks about me when I don't come to a celebration, and she writes to me sometimes. I remember at my Uncle Richie's "Welcome home from Iraq" Party, Sydney, Me, Kemper, Kemper's friends Chance and Bradley, and my cousin Tanner were playing War(How ironic). It was so fun, and I love hanging with my cousins.



---------------------------


Tiffany!



Tiffany and me have been through SO much, it's hard to remember. We do fight, but we always work it out, and if the boys, (*Cough* Tanner *Cough* Kemper) act up, we always set 'em straight. :)

Last time I saw her, she brought a baseball and a glove and just threw the ball back and forth while we talked.

We ALWAYS talk CONSTANTLY. Don't all girls?

(In the picture, Tiffany is the girl in purple, beside me, who looks REALLY squished. LOL!

-----------------------------


Jessica!



She's only a few years younger then me, and even though we don't see each other much, we're great cousins! She's my fashion-talk buddy. :)

I love you Jessica!

(In the picture, Jessica is the girl in green beside Tiffany).


And that's all! I have tons more, but those are some of my closest.

------------------------------

I love ALL my cousins! :)

~ Joy ~

What Will He Think?

Mom gave me the creative writing assignment of writing(In story form or list form) what thoughts I think will be going through Luke's head from the time he meets us, to the time he comes home. So here I go! Oh yeah, "Dang" is pronounced "Dong". Lol.

"Come on Dang-Dang!" I furrowed my eyebrows as this strange woman from this strange place took my hand gently, though I felt like pulling away roughly, and led me into another huge room. There, I saw many white-faced, light-haired, happy-as-a-clown people, with many other people that kept calling them mom and some weird word, "dad". The girl that had my hand led me to a couple with a shorter person with brown hair and brown eyes. She grinned at me and called me "Luke". The taller couple, the man with black hair and green eyes, and the woman with red hair and brown eyes, crouched down and hugged me tightly. "Dang Dang Luke!" I looked around franticly. Who are these people? Why are they touching me? EW they smell gross! What is that strong smell? Why do they look so different compared to all my adults? Where is my mama? Where is my Baba? HELP ME! I began to cry. I didn't know what else to do, and crying is a sure fire method to getting your way. But to my suprise, the woman pulled me up into her arms with a grunt, and pressed her hand against the back of my head, and started rocking me. I screeched loudly. LET ME OUT!! I WANNA GO HOME!!

The woman who brought me to these people was slowly drifting away. I reached out for her, but she shook her head and pointed to the couple. "Mama, Baba. Mama, Baba." She pointed to the little girl. "Jie Jie. Jie Jie." I furrowed my eyebrows and screamed louder, hot tears rolling down my cheeks. These weren't my Mama, Baba, and Jie Jie. They were complete strangers. Was I dreaming? I looked around, still letting out little gasping sobs. The same thing was happening with children I regonized from being cooped up in another room before coming here. Some were swatting their hands about, in panic, and some were crying into their couple's shoulders.

I screamed again. The woman set me down. Then the little girl came over and crouched beside me, and handed me a truck. I let out a little gasp and tried to swallow the lump in my throat, but my eyes were still watery. I examined it carefully, rubbing my finger over the plastic. It made a honking noise. I pressed my finger over the place again. The little girl smiled. "Truck." I tilted my head, and smiled a little. Then I remembered the situation, and let my arm hang beside me, the truck still in my hand. I sobbed louder. The little girl patted my back. "It's okay Dang Dang. It's okay. We love you." I furrowed my eyebrows. The girl looked at the woman, and pronounced the words slowly, her voice shaking as if she was having trouble saying it. Her tone sounded weird. "Woaini, Dang Dang" She loves me? How does she know my name? I don't even know her? Who is she? Who are all these people? I blinked.

The tall man picked me up and hugged me, and then set me down again, and took my hand. The woman took my other hand, and they led me, with the little girl following behind, out to a car. I clapped my hands. "Che, Che!" The girl grinned brightly. "Che. Car. Che. Car. Che is a car." I furrowed my eyebrows, ran to the car, and banged on the door with my palms. "Che! CHE!" The girl laughed and opened the door, hoisted me up into a car seat with a grunt, and fasted me in. She opened a bag of goldfish crackers and handed them to me. "Chi`fan." I nodded, and obeying, devoured the bag. She laughed. "Look at 'em go momma!" The woman laughed. She touched my hair. "He's got pretty hair." I leaned away from her hands. Who are these people and why are they touching me and feeding me and giving me toys? This is so confusing! I thought about crying, but decided to finish my snack first. The girl handed me a juice, and I sipped it up. She smiled.

"Dang Dang." I turned to look at her. "Dang Dang Luke" I tilted my head. I was familiar with Dang Dang, but what was this Luke thing? I furrowed my eyebrows again and she locked her right eye with mine. "Me jiao Dang Dang, me jiao Luke" I squinted. My name was Dang Dang, not Luke. The car pulled into a hotel as I finished my crackers and juice. I fumbled with my straps, and let out a whine when I couldn't figure out how to get the thing off. The girl hurriedly un-did it and smiled at me. "Ni Hao, Dang Dang." She helped me out and led me into a clean, new smelling room, and jumped onto the bed and grinned. "You want to jump?" I furrowed my eyebrows and stuck out my lip. What was this stupid language they were speaking? She shrugged and pulled me onto the bed, and took both of my hands and started jumping. I giggled and jumped too. Soon I was laughing full out, when BAM! Something cold and wet hit my arm. I spun around, almost falling off, but the girl caught me. The man was holding a toy thing. I jumped down, and the girl handed one to me. I looked at it carefully. It was plastic, and green, and had a little trigger. I pulled it, and water squirted out. The girl called it a "Wa-ter-Gun" Or something like that. I looked at the man and the girl, squirting each other now. I squirted at the girl. She laughed and squirted me back. Then I squirted her again. We played for a long while.

Then, the woman leaned down beside a big suitcase, and drew out some pjs. I giggled. The girl went into the bathroom with some pjs, also. The woman began to take off my clothes. I screamed. WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE TOUCHING ME AND UNDRESSING ME?? I WANNA GO HOME! My giggles faded, of course, and I frowned, then the frown turned to a glare. The woman dressed me in some soft pjs, and then tickled my belly. I frowned and pushed her hand away. "MAMA!! BABA!!!" She looked sad. I began to sob again, and the man picked me up and sat me on the bed. I hit the pillow over and over again, then laid down. I slowly started drifting off to sleep as the girl came out of the bathroom and pulled the covers over my shoulders......

RING RING! A telephone went ringing through the air. I sat up groggily. Then I remembered what had happened. I began to cry, then noticed that the little girl was beside me. She woke up and put her arm around me. "It's okay, Dang Dang Luke. We won't leave you. I know you miss your famliy, but we can be a good family too. I know it. You'll see. We love you so much!" I buried my face in the covers. She got up and tiptoed over to the suitcase and got out some shorts and a dinosaur shirt. She dressed me quickly, trying to keep me from screaming. Of course she failed, and tears fell all over the clothes. She tossed the pjs into the suitcase. "Dang Dang, you stay right here. I'm gonna go get dressed, okay?" She smiled and handed me a stuffed car and ran into the bathroom.

I got down on my hands and knees, still crying, and moved the car slowly. Then I picked up speed. "Zoom Zoom! Vroom!" I giggled, and wiped my eyes and nose. The little girl came out and picked up another car, and made a car crash. "Uh Oh!" We both laughed and then the man and woman came in.

A lot of days passed like these, sometimes us going to get food at mcdonalds, sometimes going to fancy reasturants. The woman gave me some baths, and the man taught me how to play with a ball that he called a "baseball". The girl played cars with me, and gave me piggy back rides.

Then one day, they picked up their bags and the girl took my hand. We got in the Che again, and the girl put her arm around me. I tilted my head questioningly. "We go bye bye?" Bye bye was a word the girl had taught me to say to others when we left them. But she always told me "Dang Dang Luke, you never have to say bye bye to me, Jie Jie Joy, or Mama or Baba." We pulled into a giant parking lot and they got me out. We went through a huge bunch of rooms the girl kept calling the "Airport" and then we boarded what she called a "airplane". We rode several of these flying things, and I always got the window seat, and the girl and I examined the clouds. "ZOOM ZOOM" I would cry. Then she'd laugh. Then after about a day and a half, we got off, got into a car with a boy that looked a lot like me, and he started talking to me as the man drove us away from there. The girl called him "Gu Gu Colt" and he called me "Luke" I shrugged and smiled at him. The boy kept talking to me, and hugging me, and telling me he loved me.

As we drove along, something changed. I got this thought. This is my family.

I know that was alot, but thanks for reading! :)