Fun in the Sun

There are eggs in that thar nest!

You don't want to know how I got this picture, but I'll tell you anyway. I dragged a chair out to the tree but I still couldn't get high enough. I briefly entertained the idea of bringing the ladder out, but decided it would be too much trouble. I held the camera up as high as I could and poked it through the branches. Aimed...and took about 10 pictures to get one that was actually OF the nest and in focus. I have several pictures of branches. ha.

The weather was gorgeous today, so we stayed outside most of the day. I shouldn't have because now I have laundry coming out of my ears, but we couldn't resist. Kate has to go back to U of M tomorrow for post-op testing, so we knew we wouldn't be able to play much tomorrow.

Learning the fine art of blowing dandelion seeds...

An Act of Futility

Upon reaching the dentist office today, I did a 'hmmmmm....' It was not at the U of M--although it was close by. It turns out that the U of M gave me the wrong phone number. When I had originally called the number, I didn't listen closely when they answered--just heard the 'dentist' part and gave them my little spiel.

As we were sitting in the waiting room, I began to realize that I had been sent to the wrong place. Several explanations later and lots of blah, blah, blah, we had a solution. The dentist will send a referral letter to the U of M dental school, marked URGENT since Kate is in pain from her teeth, and hopefully we will get her to the right place very soon.

Since she is on Coumadin, (a blood thinner), I was told by her cardiologist, to order her a medical alert bracelet. Wow...have they improved the styles. Look how cute her bracelet is!


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Little Jake has been watching big brother, Taylor, doing skateboarding tricks. Jake has been using anything he can find, as a stand in for a skateboard. The bathroom scale was his latest favorite.
"Wook, Mom, wook...I hab a catebowd."
"Yes, Jake, that's a cool skateboard."

He is a happy boy tonight after I found this bargain at the store today.

"Wook, Mom...I do twicks."


Hopefully everyone will notice my sparkly eyes and not the fact that I am wearing my sister's flip-flops and have my pants on backwards again.

After Jake was in bed, one of his sisters told me that on her trip to the bathroom, she noticed that Jake had his skateboard in bed with him. I checked, and sure enough...

Kate Goes to the Dentist...again

I have to take Katie-bug to the U of M dental clinic today. We have tried to get her teeth checked at our dentist and also at a pediatric dentist to no avail. She got so hysterical that they couldn't do anything. However, the pediatric dentist could see NINE cavities just by looking into Kate's screaming-open-mouth. She has a classic case of 'bottle rot' from being put to bed with a bottle when she lived in China. Even I can see all the dark holes in her teeth. Ugh...poor baby.

When she was in the hospital, I talked to one of the cardiologists about it and was told that Kate needs to be put under anesthesia to have the work done. The sheer amount of work needing to be done would cause too much trauma to her, so it would be best to be 'put out' for the whole thing. They did not want her to have this done at a dental office--but rather to be at the hospital because of the risk to her heart each time she goes under anesthesia. The doctor said, "That way, if anything should happen, she will be right here and we will be able to handle it."

So...today we are going to try to get a look inside that little mouth. I am taking SaraGrace along and will ask the dentist to pretend to look inside SaraGrace's mouth first. Hopefully, Kate will be less afraid that way. The two times we took her to a dentist, she freaked out the minute they called her back to a room. They learn so fast how to be afraid. :(

Truth be told, I think going to the dentist is right up there with a colonoscopy. Could they make it any less dreadful? I mean, really, couldn't they come up with a less nerve-grating sound then the high pitched whining of the drill? I get the shivers just thinking about it. And I also fail to understand how the entire side of my face can be sliding off my body but the nerves just inside my tooth are not fully deadened. I tried the happy gas one time, but it just made me dizzy, which is too bad because I was going to request that at the gynecologist if it had worked. Years ago, one of my kids' dentists claimed that the gas didn't stop the pain but it made you 'not care about it anymore.' Yeah. Right.

Sorry--no pics of Mother's Day yesterday because we didn't have time before church. Afterwards I had to run an errand and Jeff had the little kids all tucked into bed for their naps when I got home. I just HAD to get out of that uncomfortable dress, so no pictures this year! My sweet husband got me another corsage this year, and yes, it was mangled by the time church was over, but it is the thought that counts!

He had to leave for Boston late in the afternoon and this is how we all felt about saying good-bye to him again.

wah....

Mother's Day Memories

I was thinking back to some of my most memorable Mother's Day's today. Of course, the best one was my very first, after many years of infertility.

I spent one Mother's Day on a flight to China to get Chloe.

I spent one Mother's Day in Guatemela when we were adopting Jake.

But remembering one Mother's Day in particular, always cracks me up. It was 2002.

The day dawned cold and rainy. *Sigh*

Taylor had to be at church at 8AM to sing a special group song for Mother's Day. That totally threw our Sunday morning routine off. I was getting ready when I heard a commotion in the hall. I looked out to see Jeff carrying a naked, two-year old Molly, to the bathroom. Seems she had chosen that morning to poop all over her bed and herself. There was no time for extra baths in the Sunday morning schedule. This was not good.

While Jeff bathed Molly, I dashed up and down the stairs, alternating between getting ready to go and urging Taylor to eat so that he could leave. He insisted that he WAS eating...but you would have needed a slow motion camera replay to detect any movement.

I proceeded to get the girls ready to go. All went well until I was putting the finishing touches on Jillian. She leaned over and barfed on her leg and our bed. I looked at her in disbelief. THIS.WAS.NOT.HAPPENING. She insisted that she wasn't sick. Fine. At the risk of getting too graphic, it didn't look like the kind of vomit one gets with the flu, so I decided to believe her. I took her downstairs and herded her toward the car. As I passed the kitchen counter, I noticed a corsage lying there. Jeff was obviously not going to have time to make a formal presentation, so I said, "Is this mine?" (Duh!) He said, "Yes," so I grabbed it off the counter and dashed out to the car. I tried putting it on...only to see that there was only one pin. Argh. I have never mastered the art of pinning a corsage on--the ability escapes me to this day. That day was no different. With one pin, it was nearly impossible. I fiddled with it all the way to church and managed to bend the stem of the rose. Realizing that I was in danger of breaking it off entirely, I left alone...somewhat crooked and wobbly, but on.

We got to church, and I took Molly in and sat down. As I leaned over to put my purse on the floor, the rose snapped off the stem and plopped onto the floor. All that remained pinned to my shirt were a few lonely leaves, sprigs of baby's breath and some glitter.

I sat back in my seat and laughed my head off. It was the worst morning ever--kinda like a bad movie. To this day, the absurdity of it brings a smile and I hope it makes you smile, too.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day

*to all the women who long to be mothers, you are not forgotten
*to birth mothers who have placed a child for adoption, you are remembered with gratitude
*to all mothers everywhere, give thanks for your treasures and enjoy your day!

TGIF

Katie-bug continues to do well and gains a little strength every day.

Jeff and I went to lunch today (woohoo!) and when we got home, we found that Jake had not learned his lesson from the last red-marker-all-over-the-place incident.

"Is my lipstick on straight?"

I found Zoey a pink and purple basketball yesterday and she is LOVING it!


I like to take pictures of cute little piggy-toes, denim and Radio Flyer tricycles.

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful that my girls found this bird's nest and hoping we can watch little birds hatch over the next few weeks.

I am thankful for Spring...the beauty of it as new life awakens from a long winter slumber. (hmmmm...that sounded like some sappy H*allmark card or something).

I'm thankful that God has a great love of beauty and has chosen to paint the world with such vibrant color this time of year.

I'm thankful that I can look at and take pictures of the beautiful flowering trees in my yard.




I'm thankful that this week it's just the bear who has bandages on his chest and tubes coming out of him.

I'm thankful to God, the Creator of LIFE and everything GOOD, for adopting me as His daughter.

Zoey the Dribbler...

It has recently come to our attention that Zoey loves basketball. I showed her how to dribble a basketball ONCE and she can actually do it. She just turned THREE! She can dribble at least 6 - 7 times in a row. My junior high coach couldn't do that (but we won't go there)! The basketball is bigger than Zoey's head but she can run, dribble and shoot. She makes less than half of her shots, but she is a very determined little girl, and keeps at it until it goes in. She cracks us up!


She shoots!


She scores!

We're thinking that maybe we should get her a smaller basketball! The big one keeps getting stuck in the net.

I pray a lot that God will help Jeff and I to know what gifts God has given to our kids so that we can encourage them. I'm guessing Zoey will be into sports. :) Molly, on the other hand, has always been intrigued by medical stuff. A few years ago, she made her own 'shot' out of a medicine syringe and a sewing pin. She put the pin inside the syringe and gave her stuffed animals their immunizations. When she came to visit Kate in PICU, she made a beeline for Kate's medical equipment and wanted to know what everything was and how it worked. A few days before Kate was discharged, the staff gave her a stuffed animal with a lot of real medical supplies. Things like the electrodes and wires that were put on her chest to monitor her heartbeat, doll sized-hospital gown, mask, etc. It was SO COOL!!! I knew that Kate wouldn't appreciate it the way Molly would, so I gave it to her. She was THRILLED! She took it a step farther a few days ago, though. She put several straws together to make IV tubing and attached a sandwich bag to that. She hooked it on a doorknob to keep it elevated above her patient. The other end was attached to her bear with--of course--a syringe with a pin stuck in it. :)


My two sick girls seem to be feeling better tonight. They were both in the 99 degree range part of the day, but normal tonight. They are bored out of their skulls and hoping to go to school tomorrow.

Kate continues to heal well and today she ate a decent amount of food. Yay! She is battling thrush again because Mommy forgot some of the four-per-day-doses of Nystatin that she is supposed to take. Bad Mommy. ugh. She can't eat for 20 min. after taking it, and I only seem to think about it around meal times.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, which meant I followed the kids around with my camera.

SaraGrace is always eager to strike a pose


Jake is full of the JOY of LIFE and oblivious to the fact that he put his pants on backwards that morning

Both boys concentrate with their tongues hanging out, 'cause, you know, digging is serious business




Kate actually draped herself over the bar and looked at me--as if BEGGING me to take her picture. hahaha


Lovin' life!

True Story Tuesday

Some bloggers have started doing "True Story Tuesday" and there is a cute button to go with it...but I don't have time to find it. I will occasionally participate in this, though. :) While Kate was in the hospital, this story came up while we were sitting around visiting with family.

New Uses for a Swiffer

It happened about five years ago. Ryan was babysitting Chloe while the rest of us were at church on a week night. On my way home, Ryan called my cell phone to ask when we would be home. I said we would be home in five minutes and then he began to tell his story.

Ryan: Chloe pooped.
Me: snicker.... I'll change her when I get home.
Ryan: It was soooo gross.
Me: Did you change her?
Ryan: Yeah...I got the Swiffer mop and attached a wet wipe to it. I told Chloe to hold her butt up in the air and then I wiped it from across the room with the Swiffer mop thing.
Me: (Cracking up) Did it work?
Ryan: Yeah...but I barfed two times.
Me: You ACTUALLY barfed?
Ryan: Yeah...the first time I barfed a lot, the second time just a little.
Me: Oh Ryan...really?
Ryan: Yeah...MOM! It didn't smell like anything a human could do. It was so bad.
Me: (Dying laughing...totally cracking up) Oh, sorry you had such a bad night!!

He really DID wipe her butt with the Swiffer mom from across the room (well...the handle is probably 4 feet long or so). He actually demonstrated his technique when I got home.

You have to admire his ingenuity!


Ryan and Chloe around the time of the "Swiffer Incident" as it came to be known...

Memorial Box Monday --on Tue. :)

I couldn't decide what to write about on Monday, so I am just now getting to it. My aunt recently reminded me that that two of our girls, Kate and SaraGrace, look a lot alike, and she is right.

They have more in common than their looks.

*They both have congenital heart defects
*They both came close to dying in China
*Their lives were both saved because of God working through Love Without Boundaries and Hope Healing Home
*They both waited a long time on waiting child lists before we found them
*They were both toddlers when we brought them home



Love Without Boundaries helps many children in China, but Hope Healing Home is a relatively small organization that helps children with special needs. Out of thousands of orphans in China, it is amazing that we would have the privilege of bringing home two children who both lived at Hope. If not for SaraGrace living there, I probably wouldn't have been offered the position of Coordinator for the LWB kids in foster care through Hope. During most of the two years that Kate lived there, I typed her monthly foster care reports. One day I got an email saying that she had been waiting a long time on an adoption list. Her file was about to be sent back, meaning that she might lose her chance of ever getting a family. Ever since she was transferred to Hope at age nine months, I have been watching her grow up and loving her from afar. I never dreamed I would be her Mama. God had been at work all along, right under my nose, but I had been unaware of it!

Through my work at LWB, I also had the privilege of watching God write another amazing story. A close friend of mine was waiting to adopt, and one day she got a call. There were two children fitting the profile of special needs they were willing to consider. My friend told me that she was really drawn to one of the girls and that they were praying about what to do. She told me the name of the one they were leaning toward choosing. After we hung up, the name began to eat away at me. Where had I heard that name? We use English names for the kids in our LWB programs, but of course, I have their Chinese names on file. Could it be possible that this little one was in my foster care program? Not likely. I only had 15 kids in the program at the time, and there were thousands of kids on waiting lists. With a pounding heart, I got the list out and sure enough...there she was! My friend's daughter was on my list...and I 'knew' her! I knew her personality. I knew her little face. I knew her foster mom. It was incredible!! A few months before my friend traveled to adopt her daughter, my husband and I went to China to adopt our son. While there, I visited all my foster care kids, and was able to give my friends' daughter an extra hug and kiss. I wasn't able to let on that I knew anything (per CCAA rules), but it was such a privilege to hug the neck of my friends' little girl! And now I get to see her every week! :) Her parents are very special and are such an inspiration to me. They have three older boys, but when they could have started thinking about traveling and retirement, they decided to adopt. They now have two little girls from China. They tell me that their daughters bring them such joy and they have no regrets about spending their retirement years working on homework, helping at preschool, going to doctor appointments, etc. They are living out their faith, being the hands and feet of Jesus when it would have been more 'comfortable' to spend their time doing something else. I am so glad to call them friends!

Still sick

Chloe and Jillian are still sick with fevers. Jillian perked up for a bit this afternoon but then went back up to 103 degrees tonight. I have quarantined them in one room and am hoping to keep the germs at bay. Praying, praying, praying that none of the little kids get it. If they do, Kate is almost sure to get it. ugh. She is on a diuretic, which keeps fluid from building up in her chest, but it also means that she could quickly dehydrate if she got a fever. Molly had this virus while Kate was in the hospital and it lasted about four days. I don't want to think about Kate having a high fever for four days!

Pretending my kids aren't sick

While Jillian and Chloe languished on the couch today, I decided to pretend they weren't sick and go out for a bit of therapeutic photography.

For my Florida and California friends...some spring colors from the Midwest...




And some of my favorite subjects found themselves in front of my lens...


Taylor was bugged that I was trying to take his picture. He and Ryan tell me that I am 'so annoying' with my camera.


Kate isn't mad at Daddy, she is just a serious kid sometimes


"Hmmmm....I spy with my little eyes..."


"I don't let anything bother me and always have a smile on my face."


"Take my picture, Mommy! Take my picture!" (He still likes posing, so I plan to take advantage of that!)


Kate--looking great only three weeks after open-heart surgery! Yay, God!!


My hunka burnin' luv :0

Argh...

Kate is doing fairly well, other than not having much of an appetite and severe constipation.

However...this morning Chloe and Jillian woke up with fevers. Chloe has a sore throat and Jillian just vomited. ARGH.

Getting a fever and/or vomiting could land Kate back in the hospital, so if you could please pray that no one else gets sick, I would soooo appreciate it.



To say this is discouraging is to put it mildly. I am tired.

Healing Hearts

A friend of mine just posted this short video on her blog and I just HAD to share it here, since Kate's heart surgery is so fresh in our minds.



If you get the blog via email updates, you will need to go directly to the blog to see the video but please take the time. It's short and it will touch your heart.

We know that Kate was six months old when her parents left her at a hospital. In my heart, I believe that they had hoped to be the ones to raise her, but could not afford the surgery she needed. There is also the possibility that the doctors told them that there was no hope of repairing her heart. Truly, in China, there are few places that could have done the difficult surgery. It was considered an extremely complicated surgery even here in the US by the doctor who pioneered the procedure they originally had hoped to do. Her birth parents may have been told that nothing could be done.

After having her and loving her for six months, I can only imagine that they left the hospital without her, their own hearts broken in an attempt to save hers.

The part of the video that made me cry was watching the doctor talk about how he had to stop the child's heart to save it...and when he told the parents that there was always the risk that the child would not survive. Watching Kate being wheeled away in that little wagon to surgery, was definitely the lowest point for me. I was fearful that we would never see her again. At the end of the video, the Daddy holding his little girl in the air is certain to bring a tear to your eye...and watching the kids after surgery as they get to experience LIFE is something that leaves me speechless.


Several of my friends have been blogging today about the inequalities of life..why some have more and some have less. Not only financially, but, more importantly, why some are loved and some are not. I cannot answer any of those tough questions, but this I know. We who have love, are called to give it. We know there are children in this world who need to be loved. Once we know, we cannot turn away and pretend we don't hear their cries. They do not care about us providing a college education. They do not care about having expensive clothes or a huge house. They only want to have a family to belong to and someone to love them. It's easy to convince ourselves that all kids NEED what our culture has to offer in the way of luxury and use that as an excuse to leave the children in an orphanage. We may think we are too old or too tired (or too anything) but the truth is, God can use any of us, at any age to help orphans in their distress. It may not be easy, it may not be comfortable, but how many times in a lifetime do you get the opportunity to save a life? I know that not everyone is called to adopt, but there are many ways to help a child find a family. For some children, having surgery before adoption helps them find families--so giving financially to Love Without Boundaries or Children's Heart, is a great way to help. I also know that many of you have prayed and prayed for orphaned children and that is a wonderful way to help them. So thank you all for helping one little girl these past few weeks with your prayers...and if any of you are considering adoption but are fearful about money, your time, your stamina, etc., please know that God will meet your needs.

Home Sweet Home

All dressed and ready to go home


"Riding in my chariot but I'm not sure where I'm going."

Our first day home went reasonably well. Kate is doing well and even ate some supper tonight. The little kids have taken turns having meltdowns, but I expected that they would. They are glad to have Mommy and Kate back home. Jeff's mom and sister flew home today. We are so thankful that they were willing to come and take care of the kids. I don't know what we would have done without them.

"Thank you, Aunt Penny!"


"We love you, Grandma!"


Kate had a few packages waiting for her when she got home, which she opened this morning. It worked out well so that she could ease into the day and share her surprises with her siblings (who had looked covetously at her big pile of loot from the hospital.) They are all lining up to have surgery so they can get presents. haha

Kate was very confused about what was happening when we got her ready to go home last night. She got panicked and started crying when Jeff wheeled her out of her room. I kept reassuring her that I was staying with her and we were going home. She continued to look apprehensive all the way home. Once we were home, she still acted a bit unsettled, so when I took her to her room, I showed her that Zoey was sleeping in her crib. Kate peered intently into the crib but didn't say anything. I got her settled in and was talking quietly to my sister in law outside the bedroom door, when we heard Kate talking to herself. A few minutes later we heard Zoey stirring in her crib, and then Kate said, "Are you Zoey?"
Zoey said, "Yes. Go night,night."
Kate retorted, "YOU go night, night."

Penny and I cracked up!!

Kate was pretty active today and took a long nap. It's been very good for her to be home and playing with her siblings. They do tend to gawk at her chest and all the new scars she has, so I have to remind them to give her some space and not stare.


"All ready for bed after my bath."