We have adopted a new child to add to our burgeoning family: our newest child is thirteen years old; her name is Jitney-Sue.

We have had Jitney in our family for seven years now, since she was six. She was in the foster care system because her real parents decided they didn't want her anymore, so they, more or less, abandoned her.

As a result of this upheaval in her life, Jitney-Sue's been shyer than most kids; it takes haer a long while to open up. If she doesn't know anybody she won't talk; however if she gets used to a person, she'll talk their ear off, so be forewarned! LOL

What we know about Jitney-Sue is very sketchy at best. Our adoption caseworker (as well as the agency) are both working in tandem to glean more information about our child, so we can find out more about her; maybe this will explain the reason behind her persistent shyness.

Jitney-Sue is a beautiful young lady with huge, doe-like dark-brown eyes, a pretty, heart-shaped face the color of cafe'-au-lait, and thick, black hair. She's slender, moves with the grace of a ballet dancer or a gazelle on the run across the plains of Africa.

Some of her interests include watching movies (her favorite  movie is "The Wizard of Oz", bar-none; she can watch that movie over and over and still sit there, entranced), drawing/writing stories or poems, reading (any book, any genre will perk her interest), playing with her younger brothers and sister, playing with the family dog, taking walks, doing gymnastics or dance (she's won trophies or medals for her skills as both a dancer and gymnast), and collecting anything Web-Kins (she's amassed quite a collection this past year).

Jitney is a wonderful, ebellient child with a compassionate spirit about her. We have been so blessed to watch her emerge from a scared, uncertain little girl to a beautiful young teenager with a zest for life. She just adores her brothers and sister, and they, in turn, adore her. They get along amazingly well with each other.

Jitney officially became our child last week; we had the adoption hearing last week at our local family court, and the judge ruled in our favor. Jitney is our child, forever, and we (and she) can't be any happier than we are right now. We now have five children, five happy, active, giggling children, who are the lights of our world.

Besides Jitney, there's 11-year-old Ramsey Lewis, 8-year-old Echo Miranda, 6-year-old William Michael, and the baby of the family, two-year-old Phillip Charles. Now we have two girls and three boys to love, raise, and enjoy.

Yes, we are truly blessed as a family!