Mom's Surgery

My mom had to have dental surgery today to remove all of her teeth. YUCK, I know! I took her this morning and she is home now recovering but in pain of course. So just here hanging out with her today and I have the official house appraisal this afternoon. Keep her in your prayers today for a speedy recovery with minimum pain. Hope you all have a terrific Good Friday remembering what this Easter Sunday is all about. Hint: It isn't about the eggs ;)

Break on a Budget

Well since the kids are out of school this week and mom was almost out of personal days (you know those China trips and hospital stays can wreak havoc on sick time), I could only manage to get one day off to spend with the kids this week. So we made the best of it yesterday.

We started the morning off with a healthy breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, then made a quick trip to Walmart for cheap pool toys and a baby seat. Then we were off to the far away vacation destination spot...Marietta! We checked in to the local Days Inn that had excellent (but cheap of course) accomodations including a heated-indoor swimming pool-YEAH!! The kids swam and swam, we did McDs for lunch, back in the pool, Cumberland Mall for dinner, back in the pool until 10PM...whew. Up by 8am and down for the free all you can eat waffles and donuts and of course cereal. What more could 4 kids ask for?!?!

All that and I was back at work this morning by 9am :) My friend Chris and her crew (4 kids) joined us for the whole event so we had a grand ole time. Lori even made a pool drop in visit too. Big fun and I hope a great memory was made for everyone even though we didn't get to spend a whole week at the beach ;)

OMG!

Anyone care to take a guess at what I found this morning?!?!?









Updated: THis is an actual GRAY hair from MY head-OMG!!

Recap from Friday Night

We had yet another wonderful first Friday group gathering on Friday. Lots of people showed up but unfortunately my camera was not up to speed so I only took a few pics. We had people who just came home from China, people who have already been home for a while, and families who are still waiting for their new additions to come home. It was a great mix of folks and a good time. Until you have experienced adoption, you have no idea what a meeting like this does for your spirit. I still leave each meeting with an extra skip in my step and a bright smile on my face :)

One of the best parts of our Adoption Option meeting is the chance to do some official baby squeezing and swapping. Hope you join us soon to get your hands on one of these adorable babies!

PS- this is how the girls looked as I was backing out of the driveway leaving the meeting. Think they had a good time?!

Cleft Repair Mission Trip

Love Without Boundaries is at it again helping those babies in need. Click here to read about their first day in China on their latest trip. A bunch of doctors and volunteers are there to do life changing cleft repair surgeries on orphans who would never be able to pay for the surgery themselves.

Even though I will not be returning to China to adopt again, I would so LOVE to be a part of one of these mission trips one day!

Chinese Holiday Today

Qingming, Tomb Sweeping Day for the Chinese traditionally falls on the fifth day of April, but this year is the fourth of April due to Chinese leap year. While celebrated culturally by Chinese for centuries, Qingming returned as a nationally mandated holiday in China last year (2008) for the first time since 1949.
Qingming marks the time Chinese are supposed to honor and remember their ancestors at their grave sites. The Qingming Festival itself was created by Tang Emperor Xuanzong in 732. Emperor Xuanzong declared that respects could be formally paid at ancestor’s graves only on Qingming to reduce the amount of money spent throughout the year by the wealthy to honor the deceased.
During Qingming many Chinese follow a custom of burning paper money (joss paper) and other necessary items made of paper for the deceased to have in the afterlife. Traditionally this could have been paper cars, houses, and clothes. More recently this has been expanded to include luxury items such as the paper treadmill depicted here, as well as elaborate paper evening gowns and other new hits like paper dentures.

So if you’ve lost someone think about honoring a Chinese tradition. Spend some time today, at the graveside if you can, but if not, at least find some time to have a moment during your day to honor your loved one.

First Friday Again

Can you believe it is already time for our first Friday of the month Adoption Option gathering?! Man time flies when you are having fun. Looking forward to seeing everyone tonight.

Here are some memory lane pics of when Shelby first met some of her First Friday friends! Everyone in our group had prayed Shelby home safe and sound. What a wonderful gift it is to have such an awesome support group of friends. If you are anywhere near the Atlanta area, please join us.

Two Newest Additions

Well no not kids this time ;) I would like to introduce you to the 2 newest additions into the family: Thrasher and Poofy. 2 baby guinea pigs now reside in my home. I know you never thought you would see the day that I allow an actual animal with hair in my house, but the things you do for your kids!

The boys saved and saved their money for about a month or so now and finally had enough money to go buy the "stuff" for the guinea pigs, like a cage, food, etc. Now I knew that their $50 wasn't really going to get them very far in a pet store, so I figured I had at least another month or so to be petless. But noooooo, their good friend Mrs. Kim came to the rescue and gave the boys a cage to borrow for FREE. So now the boys did have enough money and they bought all the other stuff and now they had a cage. So now all they needed was to save for the pigs.

But nooooo, my thrifty son (wonder where he got that from) decided that he might be able to find a FREE guinea pig on craigslist! Well sure enough on Sunday we found TWO free guinea pigs posted and they were right around the corner from our house. So as you can see we are now a family of 8 ;)

The Big Reveal

Kim wins the prize! I just like teasing you people. We wouldn't be able to qualify to adopt again right now (even if we wanted to) considering that we are completely out of space!

We live in a small 3 bedroom house that is obviously quite packed at the moment. Knowing that as the kids grow, so does there stuff ;) So we have decided to add a master bedroom and bath to the other end of the house for just us! We will then turn our bedroom into a playroom or media room for all the kids. They will still have to share their sleeping quarters, but at least there will be a place for all their "stuff" in one big room.

Oh and just in case we get the adoption bug again we will at least now have a spare bedroom ;) My mom and dad will love this comment!

Extra Cash

Sorry no time to blog today as I have been busy busy working on refinancing the house. You know we need to get some extra cash for our newest adventure. Anyone care to take a guess at what we are going to be needing the money for??!

Flew Right By

The weekend that is. Is it really Monday again already? We did some playing this weekend with friends and enjoyed Saturday at Dac Kids when it was all yucky and raining. Faith is up and walking almost all the time now, except of course when she is whining to be held (which is most of the time). It is hard to put down such a snuggle bug who happens to be so darn adorable!

Anyhow, hope you had a great weekend. Oh and by the way, Sheila and I don't ever get the "Are you REAL sisters question?" Can you see why?

Are You Lonely?

I just read a new blog about a woman serving in Africa right now and has taken in about 14 orphans into her home. Her words on this post are very powerful so I wanted to share...

"Uncle Mike formed a special bond with the "big girls" this past week, especially sweet Agnes. I am so thankful for the sweet relationship they have made. I want to share it but feel that my words will be inadequate...

A little background two of my oldest, Nabayego and Agnes, had a father who died of AIDS when they were only 4 and 6. The only male role models they had growing up were their mother's brothers, all of whom are unemployed and sit around drinking all day. The other two "big girls" Maragaret and Prossy lived in a Sudaneese refugee camp until they were 8 and 10 and then moved in with their uncle who severly abused them. Not pretty. I was shocked when all 4 of them seem instantly drawn to Mike, since in general they are usually pretty unenchanted with men. Agnes especially was just enthralled with this new man in the house. Every night Mike would go into their room and tell them a story and they would just laugh and laugh. So precious.

Sunday night after their story, I went in to kiss the girls goodnight. Wide eyes, Agnes looked up at me, "Hey Momma, is this what it is like to have a dad?" Oh, my heart. I kissed her quickly so that she wouldn't see my eyes well with tears. The next night, Mike put on some George Strait and two-stepped around the living room with Agnes. The other Uncles joined in, taking turns with the other girls. As I watched for where I was cooking dinner, I couldn't help but weep.

I can be a lot of things for my girls. I provide for them, I love them with all that I am, they know I would do anything for them. But the truth is, I cannot be their father. This breaks my heart. So much of how I live, how I love, how I interact with others is based on my relationship with my father and the example he set. I know that my understanding of God's unconditional love stems directly from my dad's unconditional love for me. I remeber so vivdly sitting on my daddy's lap (ok, sometimes I still do) and dancing around the kitchen standing on his feet. I can be a lot of things for my girls, but I cannot be their father. They deserve a male role model who teaches them what it is to be valued and cherished. My heart is so saddened when I think that they do not have this, but I lay it in my Heavenly Father's hands because I know HE values and cherishes them more than anyone on earth could.

Then I begin to think of the children who do not have a mother or a father. Where will they learn love? Who will tell them bed time stories and dance them around the living room? Who will teach them that they are loved and valued and cherished?

Oh, yeah. The body of Christ. Each person who calls themself a follower of Christ takes up the reponsibility to love and care for the fatherless. It is not some special, specific calling. It is the duty of all who call themselves Christians. There are ONE HUNDRED FOURTY SOMETHING MILLION fatherless, motherless, parentless children who are not shown unconditional love by another human being on a daily basis. How will we then tell them that Jesus loves them? I am certain that God did not mess up and create too many children and not enough people to love them. The body of Christ is responsible for sharing His love with the people that we are also responsible for making destitute.

Please join my broken heart in praying for the fatherless, but more than that please pray about how YOU can be instrumentall in loving the fatherless. They are not just in Africa, they are right in your own community."

Bathroom Baby

This is what happens when you leave a toddler unattended for 5 minutes:

Oh and yes please notice the "child-proof" lock that is on the door. No match for little Miss Faith, she can get into anything! Well as you can see she is feeling better today and her wheezing is under control thanks to more steroids. Fortunately her x-ray was clear and she does not have pneumonia, just her crappy RAD (reactive airway disease) acting up yet again. RAD just really means baby asthma.

Anyhow, she is doing better thanks to the meds and lots of breathing treatments. It pains me to think about her in the orphanage without access to these medications since I know how hard it is for her to breathe sometimes. I really hope she is starting to understand that she no longer has to just suffer through the pain. Mommy and Daddy will take care of her and give her the means to breathe without pain! Imagine not being able to do the most basic necessary function in life-BREATHE- without pain :(

Poor Baby Girl

Yes, my little Faith is sick-again :( We were back at the doctor yesterday morning with a whole lot of wheezing and fever-again. Doctor said same protocol as before assuming it is pneumonia-again. WHAT?!?! Yes, that is what they said, so off to have an official xray done this morning. I am going to be very curious to see if it really is pneumonia-again. I went ahead and made an appointment to see a pulmonologist, but that appointment isn't for a couple of weeks. If the x-ray says she really does have pneumonia-again, then my doctor is supposed to try to get us in sooner at the pulmonologist. She is already on Singulair and Pulmicort as preventative measures, but she still gets sick. This is just craziness and my poor little girl can't breathe when this stuff attacks her :(

Sisters??

Ok, here is the latest dilemma in my head these days... What is the best possible answer to some of the "sister" questions I get now? This is how a "normal" conversation might go when I am out and about:

Stranger: They are so cute!

Me: Thank you

Stranger: Where are they from?

Me: China

Stranger: Are they sisters?

Me: Yes

Stranger: No, I mean REAL sisters?

Me: They are now!

Nosy Stranger: No I meant are they REAL biological sisters?

Me: Why do you ask?

Nosy Stranger: Taken back and usually ends the conversation and walks away.

Now here is the deal. I don't really mind the questions as I know people are curious and people are people. But here is where I have to step up to the plate and be the best mom I can be, so I need to decide now while they are young the best "canned answer" for some of these questions. And keep in mind that I could care less about what others think, I only want to answer the best way that matters the most to my girls.

So I am wide open for suggestions??! What do you think the girls would like me to say out and public when asked...Are they sisters?

TGIF

Nothing new or exciting happened this week so I guess that is why I am slow on posting. Believe it or not only one doctor was visited this week. And that was for Faith at the asthma/allergy doctor for her first visit. I think it is just too soon to tell if Faith really has asthma or an allergy for that matter right now. So we will just have to wait and see how things go. Anyhow everyone is feeling well this week so we have been playing outside as much as possible and enjoying the nice weather. I sure hope it stays for the weekend. Have a good one and be sure to spend time with the ones you love :)

Got Your Green On?

Happy St. Patty's Day to everyone out there. Travis was so excited this morning that he FINALLY got to take his Leprechaun Trap to school today that he and his Papa built last week. Travis is so proud of that little shoebox creation Papa designed. As you can imagine since my dad built it, it is one of a kind. Sorry I forgot to take a picture of it this morning.

Have a great day and I hope you have your green on or you may get pinched all day. As you can see me and the girls have our green on today :) These pics are when I was dropping off Shelby at school this morning. Boy has she come a long way with the morning drop offs. Now she actually complains on Saturday and Sunday when she doesn't have school-ha! Boy what a difference a year makes!

Walking

We have an official walker for real now! Faith must have heard me on the phone with Babies Can't Wait on Friday saying how she might need some extra PT (physical therapy) to get her up and moving faster. I have made an appointment with them already to have her evaluated as I suspect she may qualify for PT, OT, and ST (physical, occupational, and speech therapy). However, by the looks of her now, we may get to rule out the physical stuff!

Amy's Gotcha

I just got off the phone with Amy who is in China with her sweet baby girl. Here is little Miss LynnMarie finally with her mommy and daddy! So happy for them. She sure is a cutie pie :)

Smiles for Friday

Just cause Daddy is coming home!