I've got the Joy Joy Joy Joy down in my heart...

Hey Everyone ...this is Jake.

Currently, Joy is making the most inhuman noises I've ever heard come from a child. my mom left the room, and its only my dad in there with her, and he's trying to get her to fall asleep. However, Joy won't let anyone other than my mom pick her, or be with her right now. She is incredibly strong-willed (I can't wait to see a face-off between her and melissa sometime in the next few years!).

Today, Joy was the most outgoing she's been with us. She smiled a ton! She's incredibly cute
....
(lol. My mom just walked into the room as I was typing this, and Joy immediately became
silent.)
...
She's getting better at blowing kisses and high fives, and she's just about the cutest little thing that ever lived.
Joy fits perfectly into our family, and It's awesome how God has worked all this out.


China is a great country, and I would like to list off a few of the highlights,
#1: China has Papa Johns Pizza! I never thought I'd be so happy to see a pizza deliveryman in my life as I was today. I'm a little bit tired of Chinese food (It's not at all like Panda Express). They cook everything here in fish oil, and it feels like it soaks into your skin, and I feel as if I smell like Chinese food all of the time.
#2: There are neon lights everywhere. It's really cool. It's not like the cheap neon lights you see on motel signs in the US, It's huge flashing/ moving neon displays covering the sides of buildings, walkways, the buffet, etc.
#3: Billiards. Mac and I played two hours of billiards tonight in the lounge of our hotel while we sipped on our lemon water. It was nice. My pool skills are far superior to Mac's, but he manages to get lucky at the very end of every game, and beat me... We are both terrible pool players. However, I played my dad in Foosball afterwards, and destroyed him... twice. So I felt good about that, and didn't feel so bad anymore about losing in billiards. The best part about billiards, is at the end of every game, the waiter/bartender guy would run over and re-rack the balls for us.

there are many other cool things about china, and I could go on all day. It's a really cool country, and I'd love to come back here someday. It's a ton different than I imagined.