Calendar Girl

Christmas is over, but I just have not had the time to post anything.
Between, well, Christmas (trying to prepare, have and then recuperate from that) trying to restore the things I lost on my computer, doctor's appts, wrestling, the new puppy and life in general - I've been busy.

Leila had her yearly check-up in Columbus on the 22nd with the cleft team.
She has one tooth that has a cavity in it.
Actually it's only part of a tooth - it's the one beside the hole in her gum.
I don't think it has enamel on part of it, which would definitely help explain the cavity.
We're going back to Columbus in Jan to have that tooth fixed.
Yeah, I know it's a children's hospital and all that.
I know they're used to working with kids.
BUT, having her mouth messed with is not something she's particularly fond of.
They said they don't plan to put her to sleep, so we'll see how that goes.
Other than that - she's good to go for another year.

Christmas was good.
We went to my aunt and uncle's for Christmas Eve.
Christmas morning and afternoon was spent here at home, and then we went to Mom and Dad's for Christmas night.

Leila liked it, but I think next year, she'll 'get' it more.
I have a feeling, she'll be really wild then.
She does love the candy though.
Getting her to eat 'real' food is turning out to be a bit of a fight when there's still so much Christmas candy in the house.
Santa also left candy canes on the tree. It sure didn't take long for her to find those either.
It was just too neat being able to pick one off your own personal candy tree anytime.
After a day of that, we had to take them all off and hide those.

We got our annual 2010 calendar from America World.
(Our adoption agency sends out a calendar each year to all AWAA families, and in the fall, you have the opportunity to submit your child's picture for the calendar contest.)
Leila's picture is on Dec! She's not the big picture for the month, but she's one of the little pictures along the bottom of the page.
I love getting the calendar with all the cute kids anyway - and I think it's really nice that our agency does that.
But it was extra nice this year, to have our little 'calendar girl' in it.


Christmas Sunday


Cookies for Santa


Stocking Time


Our Princess


A New Game for Darrell


A New Hat for Austin

Wild Weekend

Wow, we surely had an exciting weekend.

I haven't been able to post until now though, because my computer crashed (again).
It's a good thing my husband works on a computers for a living, but on the downside - by the time he gets done with work - working on MY computer is the last thing he wants to do.
At this point, I'm partially up and running again.
I have some things back, but not everything.

Austin had a big wrestling tournament on Fri and Sat.
The team took 1st (again), and Austin took 3rd!
However ... in doing so - he got his top front tooth knocked out!
(And oh how 'wonderful', the kid that took out his tooth, also took 1st place in his weight class.)
Austin stopped the match for a minute and gave his tooth to the coach to hold so he could finish.
They put it in milk, and he brought it home that night.
(That's something everyone should know BTW: if you ever get a tooth knocked out, put it in milk. It will keep the nerves alive until you can get to the dentist.)
We went to the dentist first thing Mon morning and thankfully, he was able to reattach it! WOW.

We also had a pretty good snow come thru on Fri night.
We got up Sat morning to about 5 inches.
I asked David to drive me in to the wrestling, because I didn't want to drive in it. (My car's not 4-wheel drive, and I'm a chicken.)

Austin's youth group went black-light bowling on Sun afternoon, and Darrell and I went to a Christmas comedy play.
Daddy stayed home with Leila.

Due to the backroads still having snow and ice on them, school was cancelled on Mon.
We took the opportunity to go Mon afternoon and pick up our new puppy!
Yep, we decided to get him.
Maybe we're just crazy, but David and I are both suckers for dogs.
(And hey, it's cheaper than another kid.)
Meet Zeus:


He's a cute little fuzzball.
He turned 6 weeks old on Tues.
He's relatively small now, but he sure won't be for long.
His daddy's head came up to the hood on the truck.
Sable (the Alaskan Malamute) seems to be tolerating him rather well, but Bailey (the Cocker Spaniel) is not happy about the new addition at all.
He's probably thinking - oh no, not again!

A Dog?

Austin is having a hard time with wrestling this year.
They have a new coach. He's tough on them - very tough.
As much as I liked the old coach, I don't think he always pushed them as hard as they needed.
I think this new guy may be pushing them a little too hard at times.
For instance, the week of Thanksgiving - there was no school all week.
And yet, they had practice every day (even Sat) except for Thanksgiving day itself.
Then, this past weekend when they went to the beach - they were gone from 6 AM on Thurs morning until 10:30 PM on Sun night.
I thought they would at least have the following Mon off. Nope - practice as usual.
I think there's a fine line between not hard enough and too hard.
Yes, I think he's going to take a great team and make them fantastic.
But...will it be at the expense of their morale, their drive, their hearts?

Austin has been wrestling for 11 years now. That's a long time.
He's saying now that he's going to finish the season because he's already started it, but he's no longer sure he wants to wrestle again next year.
I'm not okay with that.
After 11 years - 1000's of hours - bathtubs full of sweat ... to not do it his senior year???
No way!
That's supposed to be his 'glory' year.
That's when it all pays off, and he's supposed to reap some of the privileges and benefits.
I SO want him to see this all the way thru to the end.
I'd even be willing to bribe him at this point to achieve that.

You see - Austin's dream dog is a Great Pyrenees.
He's wanted one for at least 2 years now.
And it just so happens that when we were doing Leila's 6 month speech evaluation last week, it came up in conversation that Mrs. Lisa has a friend that has Great Pyrenees puppies right now.
They're full-blooded, but not registered, so the price isn't unreasonable.
Hmmm, is this fate? Is it maybe meant to be?
Are we absolutely nuts though to even consider the possibility of adding yet another animal to our menagerie?
Any thoughts???

On a lighter note, Courtney came on Sun to keep Leila while we went to the play.
Leila wanted her to sit on the couch with her and hold her hand.
We're thinking that she's imitating Austin and Kelsie.
How cute.
BUT, I told them that if she starts copying anything else - they're in trouble.

Leila and I both had our hair trimmed today.
After she trimmed it, Kim took a curling iron and put curls all over Leila's head.
It was just too cute.
(Sort of reminded me just a little bit of Emmi's wig on Gotcha Day.)
And Leila loved the extra primping and prissing she got.

Santa Claus

We started out this past week with company.
David's mom and her husband came to visit.
They were here from Sunday until Thursday.

I got my car back on Thurs too.
I'm SO glad. I missed it.
Now we just need Austin's truck home.

Thursday morning our company left and so did Austin.
The high school wrestling team went to Myrtle Beach for a wrestling tournament this weekend.
When we got up on Sat morning to 15* temperatures, he was at the beach wearing short sleeves.
Their hotel had 3 pools, 3 hot tubs and 2 lazy rivers. (Now why did I not go on this trip with them???)
There were 27 teams competing from 6 different states.
Austin placed in the top 6 in his weight class, and Point Pleasant took 1st place overall!!!
It looks like its going to be a great season.

On Sat night we took Leila to see Santa Claus.
She did NOT want anything at all to do with him.
She didn't even want to stand by him.
One thing I thought was really cool though - he knew sign language!
When his 'elf' gave Leila a candy cane, and she signed 'candy' - Santa knew what she was 'saying'.
He asked us if she signed and when we told him, yes, he told us that he had taken 2 courses in sign language.


After church today, we left Leila with a sitter, and David, Darrell and I went with Darrell's youth group to see a Christmas play at the theater in Gallipolis.
They did a fantastic job, and we enjoyed it.
There's going to be a Christmas comedy there next weekend.
I'd like to try to go to that one too, but we'll have to see if we can get another sitter.
That will be Christmas Sunday, so we may have a hard time with that one.

What a busy week coming up we have.
I have something to do and someplace to be every single day this week.

A Late Birthday

David's birthday was Thurs.
My happy birthday wishes (on here anyway) are a few days late, but I wish them nevertheless.

Austin's truck is now in the shop being repaired.
On Thurs however, my car ended up in the shop as well.
I had gone to town, but a pipe coming off the radiator has a hole in it.
That caused the car to overheat, and Leila and I ended up sitting along the road.
It just so happened though that my mom happened to be driving by and saw us.
She stopped, picked us up and brought us home.
I had to call the tow truck to come and get my car.
Now we're short 2 vehicles.
This is proving to be quite inconvenient, and I want all of our vehicles back home where they belong.

We woke up today to the first snow of the season.
Although it snowed for several hours, we only really got a dusting on the ground and none on the roads.
Because of the Christmas season and in honor of the first snow, we took the time tonight to drive through our town's Christmas light display.
Once we started thru the lights, we took Leila out of her carseat.
Being out of her seat must have thrown her for such a loop, she hardly noticed or enjoyed the 1st part of the lights.
Once she realized that it really was okay, she settled down and enjoyed the experience.
Well, she enjoyed it until we put her back in her seat at the end of the display.
Apparently she thought this being out of the seat and on my lap was a pretty good thing and definitely was not ready for it to end.

Christmas Tree

We put our tree up. Leila loves it.
She really doesn't bother it either. But she does want it turned on 1st thing every morning.

I'm getting better. It seems I go thru a depressing funk every Nov.
I start pulling out of it as the Christmas season begins to wind up.
Once again, I'm thinking - I can do this.
I baked the 1st batch of Christmas cookies today.
I need to start cards and wrapping, but that will come.

In the midst of all this hustle and bustle and busy Christmas craziness, I think - okay, at least I'm not on my way to the other side of the world.
We have friends that are leaving tomorrow for China. They're going to pick up not 1, but 2 little boys!
I think - wow, how wonderful, exciting, crazy, amazing, unbelievable......
Am I just a little bit jealous - yes. But am I glad it's them and not us - yes.
And I can't think of better people for such a huge journey.
I wish them safe travels and easy transitions.

Recent Trials / Thanksgiving

I haven't posted for awhile.
It seems like we've had a lot of trials lately and quite frankly, I didn't want to post unless I had something good to say.

We had my uncle's services on Nov 14.
The following week, my Dad was hospitalized for 4 days. That was due to fluid build-up and his ever-present heart condition.
We discovered a lump on Darrell's neck. I took him to the dr for that, and they did an ultrasound. Preliminary results look fine (thank goodness), but I found out this week that they want to do another test 'just to make sure'. That's okay - I'd rather be safe than sorry when it comes to my kids' health.
The same day, they put Dad in the hospital, and I took Darrell to the 1st doctor's appt, I took Austin to the ER that night. We thought he'd broken his hand at wrestling practice. It wasn't broken - it was just hurt really bad. (That was good too - if it had been broken, he would have been out the whole season instead of just a few days.)
BUT, he did end up breaking his toe at practice a few days later.

Well, by then it was Thanksgiving / hunting week - which the guys love, and I hate.
Darrell shot a 5 point, but when he did, the gun kicked and the scope hit him in the nose - breaking it.
With all the practice this new coach is demanding, Austin has been having a hard time getting to the woods as much as he'd like, but he managed to get out and shoot a 6 point on Wed.
David hasn't gotten one yet, because he's been passing up some so the boys would be able to get theirs instead.



Thanksgiving was nice (much better than last year).
We had 14 people here for dinner. It should have been 15, but we're going to dwell on what is, not what should be.
And dinner was great.

Thanksgiving night, I decided to go somewhere. Austin and I took his truck, because my car was blocked in.
Yep, we took out a deer. His truck is not drivable now. It's not that it looks that bad, but it won't start.
My brother pulled it to my Mom and Dad's house with his truck and now we're waiting until Mon morning so a tow truck can come and get it and take it to the shop.
Yes, I know - we weren't hurt. But still - what a pain.

I did get to go shopping for just a little bit yesterday. Not nearly as long as I normally do. I normally go from like 4 AM till about midnight. I was home yesterday by 11:30 AM, but at least I got to go.
I got a few things. I'd say I'm about 2/3 of the way done.

They boys put up my outside lights this week. Leila LOVES them. We turned them on for the 1st time last night. I think she even tries to say 'light'.
I put out my Christmas house decorations yesterday too. (Not bad on less than 3 hours of sleep the night before.)
Now if I can only get the guys to cooperate on doing the tree next...

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day

FREEDOM’S CALL

They Are Called To Be In Uniform
To Serve Both Day And Night
Protecting Our Great Country
To Fight The Valiant Fight
To Rescue Us From Danger
At Home – Across The Sea
Brave And Special People
Who Keep Our Nation Free
And Together On A Mission
Our Heroes, They Are There
Every Color – Every Creed
With Freedom’s Light To Share
And Day By Day – Step By Step
All For One & One For All
Our Heroes Stand Together Strong
To Answer Freedom’s Call

I am afraid that our Veteran's Day will not be so happy this year.

My uncle, Gene, passed away yesterday afternoon.
(He was ironically also a retired US Navy veteran.)
No, he wasn't old, and no, he wasn't sick.
He was on a ladder Monday. The ladder collapsed.
He fell, hitting his head on concrete.
His injuries were just too great.
We prayed for a miracle, but (for whatever reason) it did not come.

He was the 'rock' in that family.
Now we ask for prayers for his family and friends.

Orphan Sunday

November is Adoption Month and today was Orphan Sunday.
Our pastor preached a VERY moving sermon this morning pertaining to that.
As he told a 'story' and talked about a 'drop-off' spot, it was obvious that he'd certainly done his research.
I don't know if everyone was affected by it as much as I was or if it was just because it hit so close to home, but I certainly shed a few tears.
At church tonight, I did a presentation and slide show about adoption and our trip to China.
There weren't a lot of people there - which was okay.
It gave me a little bit of practice though, because I guess I'm scheduled to do it again for the UM Women's group at end of the month.

Birthday Celebrations and a Check-Up

David and Darrell finally got to go on their 4-wheeler ride.
They skipped church on Sunday and went down to the Hatfield & McCoy trails.
They had beautiful weather and a great time. They were both worn out by the time they got back though.



We had cake and ice cream for Leila that night.


Leila had her 2 year check-up today. She did great.
She weighs 23 lbs and is 2'7".
No shots this time, and she's good to go for a year.

The Big 13

Darrell turned the big 13 today.
We didn't do much though.
He and David were supposed to go on a 4-wheeler ride. But it rained really bad this morning, so they decided to postpone it.
We actually all went down to get our swine flu shot, but there was a really long line. We decided we were not going to stand in line in the rain, so we didn't do that either.
We did go out to eat and then had cake tonight.
But it was pretty much a lazy day otherwise.

The boys got school pictures back this week.
This is Austin's 11th grade and Darrell's 7th grade picture.

Beautiful Baby

Okay, so I know I may be just a little biased, BUT, what a beautiful baby...

Trick-or-Treat

Leila LOVED trick-or-treat tonight.
It only took her 1 house to get the hang of it.
After that, she was off. She did not want to be held or carried.
She would run down the street and up to each house, wiggle her little butt to the front of the line, and hold her bag out.
This free candy thing was GREAT.



What a pretty little ladybug!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my beautiful baby girl.
It hasn't been too great so far.
Leila and I went and got our flu shot this morning.
I really hated for her to get a shot on her birthday, but today was the 1st chance I've had to get one.
She was such a big girl. She didn't cry at all!
Her day will get better though.
We're going trick-or-treating and to the big block party tonight.

Carving Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins tonight.
David did Leila's, but Darrell did his ALL by himself.


'What is in there?'



'This is sort of fun!'



'A little messy!'



'We're done!'



'This is hard work.'



'What a great job!'



Austin missed out tonight. He went to the movies on a date.
He may disagree, but we think he missed out on all the fun.

Nosey - Nosey

On Tues night, Leila fell. She hit her face on the desk.
Her nose was bleeding, but just a little. It started to swell, but just a little. It scared me though, more than a little bit.
I am usually the calm one when the kids get hurt.
I've thought about this since, and I think one of the reasons this upset me so much, is because it dealt with her face. And with her nose and mouth not being 'normal' or 'right' to begin with, I REALLY don't want/need anything to mess that up any more.
There used to be an 800# to call where you could talk to a nurse 24/7. (I have the magnet with the number on the refrig.)
I called it. It no longer works. Apparently with budget cuts or liability or something, they did away with it.
That stinks. I never called it much, but when I did - I liked it.
I ended up calling my friend, Vicky - she's a RN.
She told me that even if it was broken, there's nothing they can or will do. She said NOT to go to the hospital (with all of this flu going on), UNLESS it swells to the point that she starts having a hard time breathing.
Okay, I felt better then.
We watched her the rest of the night, and she acted fine.
The next morning, it was still a little swollen and bruised, but only on one side.
I don't know if it could be a little cracked or if it's just bruised, but it doesn't seem to be bothering her.
When she fell down today though, it started to bleed again (a little bit). (No, she didn't hit her nose - she just fell on her butt.)
That's worrisome all over again, but we're thinking that maybe there was a small blood clot that broke loose. Still didn't seem to bother her.


You know as prissy as she is at times - with her jewelry and her purses and all, she's such a rough little thing and quite a contradiction at times too.
New people still scare her.
But when we were at the store last weekend, the boys were trying on Halloween masks to 'see what she thought'. I thought for sure she would get scared. Nope, they were funny - even with the scary noises behind them.
The other day, the boys were wrestling around on the floor (not something I encouraged, but was happening nevertheless). As soon as Leila saw them, she went running and dove right into the middle of the melee.

A Great Place to Live

We live in a great place.

I took Leila to the doctor the other day.
When I got ready to leave, the doctor said to wait, they had something for me.
Both the doctor and the physicians assistant had gone through their daughters' clothes.
They had a big bag and a box of clothes there for Leila.
Can you believe that?! And almost everything in it fits her.
(The weather is starting to get cooler, and now she has plenty of cute things to wear.)

Then yesterday, I stopped at the jewelry store to have a necklace fixed.
The lady that owns the store, gave Leila a Viva Bead bracelet - 'because it matched her outfit'.
How nice was that?!
(Leila LOVES bracelets.)

We may not have all the amenities and conveniences of a big city, but we make up for it in so many other ways.
I wouldn't want to trade one for the other.

Chinese Moon Festival

Yesterday was the Chinese Moon Festival.
This Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is usually around late September or early October.
(Last year we were actually in China for this important event.)


The Moon Festival takes place at the time of the autumn equinox, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest, and many of the traditional festivities center around admiration of the moon and eating foods that resemble the moon.

(The moon was certainly full and bright last night.)
This day is very similar to our Thanksgiving.

Many of the stories surrounding the Mid-Autumn Festival center around the story of Chang’e, the lady who, according to legend, lives on the moon along with her companion, the Jade Rabbit.
Chang’e was purportedly the wife of a famous hunter, whose search for eternal life finally yielded a single pill of immortality.
Chang’e accidentally swallowed the pill and became an immortal, floating up to the moon and leaving her husband behind on earth.
Many Chinese people burn incense to the Moon Goddess, and her image is often featured on boxes of mooncakes.

Another story about mooncakes comes from Chinese folklore.
In this legend, Ming dynasty fighters who were rebelling against the Mongolian Yuan dynasty used mooncakes to smuggle messages to and from rebel bands, enabling them to defeat the Mongols.

Chinese mooncakes are small pastries about the size of a human palm that consist of a cookie-like crust and various fillings, ranging from lotus seed paste to red and green bean paste.
Traditional mooncakes usually have a bright orange salted duck egg enclosed in the filling, which symbolizes the moon.
Mooncakes are very rich and heavy, so each mooncake is usually cut into 4 wedges and shared.
Modern mooncakes have also made an appearance – many of these use fruit fillings instead of the traditional fillings.
There are also frozen mooncakes that are made with ice cream, as well as jelly mooncakes.

The traditional way to enjoy mooncakes is to sit with family and friends, and to eat the mooncake while admiring the moon.

We were 'lucky' enough to get to eat mooncakes last year during the Moon Festival.
'Lucky' is a relative term though.
We didn't think they tasted so great.
They're definitely not real dessert-y by American standards, that's for sure.
This is a picture of the one our guides (Rosa and Maggie) gave us as a gift last year.
Whether we enjoyed eating it as much, really isn't the point - we LOVED the gesture and the thought behind it.


Many people celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival by lighting paper lanterns, which they carry on the end of a stick, or by lighting sky lanterns, paper balloons that float into the sky with the buoyancy provided by the hot lantern lit under them.
Dragon dances are also popular performances at this time, and many people wear traditional Chinese clothing.

In the adoption community, many families with children from China, use the Moon Festival to remember and discuss birthparents.
I think Leila's still a little young for that, but perhaps in the future we can do something similar.
We have lots of storybooks on topics like that, and we'll read then when she can sit still for an entire story.

Home a Year

We've officially been home one year now. Late, late light night was one year exactly.
We'd left China and traveled for what felt like forever.
The trip actually took almost 30 hours - 3 flights - and brought us from the other side of the world back home to our little section of it.

We didn't have enough time once we hit US soil to clear customs and immigration.
We left the stroller we'd bought in China (which I REALLY liked by the way) on the 2nd plane.
We RAN thru the airport and made it just in time.
Once we sat down in those seats - I cried.
I cried because we made, I cried because we almost didn't, I cried because we were almost home, I cried because I was exhausted, I cried because Leila cried, and I cried just because.

We had a small welcoming party gathered at the airport.
A welcome sight indeed.

Then we had an hour drive home. We had to stop at a Walmart on the way though.
All of luggage was still in Chicago, and therefore, so were diapers, formula, cereal, and bottles.
Everyone else waited in the truck while I ran in to get necessities.
I grabbed a 12-pack of Mountain Dew too. (I don't think they sell MD anywhere in the entire country of China!)
As we were leaving Walmart, we got stopped at a red light. When the light changed green, David didn't go.
I looked over, and he was sound asleep!
I told him to pull over for me to drive. He started to assure me that he was fine.
Yeah, right!
I told him that I did NOT travel around the world and back for him to wreck and kill us 45 minutes from home - to pull over NOW.

We made it. Got to bed around 3 AM. We were all up and ready in time for church the next morning. Gotta remember - we were still on China-time.

This 1st picture was taken at the airport a year ago. Do we look a little tired?


This picture was taken yesterday. I'd really like to think we look a little better in this one.
You know, at first glance, you think Leila is the only one that's changed a lot. But take a closer look at the boys too (especially Darrell). Look at how much taller he's gotten in just one year.


I was so glad we did get ready and go to church that next morning. They were happy to see us, we were happy to see them, and look at the welcome back sign they had waiting for us.

Another Loss

We received news yesterday that David's Granny passed away.
No - I'm not repeating myself.
His Grandma passed away 2 weeks ago, his Granny passed away yesterday.
She was 104.
David and I have no grandparents left. She was the last one.
She was born first, and yet she lived the longest.
She was an amazingly crafty lady.
We're heading out the first of next week - KY this time.

A good thing though - the new kitten/cat (Spook) is adjusting quite well.
I'm not sure if he's incredibly brave and or just plain stupid.
He constantly tries to take Sable's food (yeah - the BIG dog), and yet, he growls at her when she gets near his!
Apparantly he hasn't quite realized that she could eat him in one bite and not even get choked.
I put an old 'Lion King' towel in his box. I suppose he's really taken it to heart!

A Babysitter

Still a lot of memories this week, but not as much as last.
Last week was THE week - one of the most amazing of our lives.
This week, a year ago, the days were starting to run together, and we were getting a little homesick.
Then:



And Now:







It was SO unbelievably hot there most days that it wasn't even enjoyable to be outside during the day.
I'm not kidding, as soon as you stepped out the door of the hotel, it was instant sweat.
I remember saying something about how miserable it was one time, and our driver thought it was funny.
He didn't think it was so hot.
Of course not, it only felt like 150 degrees!

A year ago yesterday, all the babies had their required medical exams. It was a little different than what we're normally used to.
For instance, on the hearing part, they plunked on a toy piano. If the babies turned their head to look - their hearing was fine.
Gosh, that was so much easier and quicker than the one they did once we got home!

Here at home (now), Leila had her 1st 'real' babysitter.
Yes, my mom has kept her some, my sister-in-law has kept her, and of course the boys end up with her at times.
But on Sunday, she had a real, full-fledged, paid babysitter for the first time.
A young lady from church came and stayed with her.
(Ironically, the girl's older brother used to keep the boys all the time for me.)
It was hard too. She screamed when we left. I waited about 15-20 minutes before I called back.
Jessica said she was fine. She'd only cried a few minutes.
Oh, what relief. And she was fine all evening. Oh, joy!

Celebrating

To celebrate 'Gotcha Day' yesterday, we went to the Chinese restaurant to eat last night.
It was just a small group - us, a little family, and a few close friends.
It's odd. Before we went to China, we used to eat Chinese a lot. But, we haven't been out for Chinese since we got back - year ago.
Maybe we had enough there that 2 1/2 weeks to last us awhile.

After we got home, we gave Leila a 'Gotcha Day' present.
It was a little jade heart pendant. It matches Mommmy's - just a little smaller.
I took it today and had it put on a chain (probably should have done that beforehand).
But here, it was still on the cord/string that they put it on that day in 'Donts' shop on one of those last precious days in China.


We had such a smooth and easy adoption. I'd be lying if I said we haven't considered going back.
It would be nice to even up our household. 2 blond 'homegrown' boys - 2 dark haired 'imported' girls.
We started talking about it in an off-hand way mere months after getting back the first time.
Then some events happened and unfolded back in August that made us have to make a REAL decision.
We discussed it and looked at all our options.
As much as we would all like to do it, we came to the difficult decision that we just CAN'T.
Financially it just isn't an option for us at this point in our lives.
Never say never.
But, I will say - probably never.
And I can say without a doubt - definitely, not now.

Instead, we decided to even up something else in our household.
We have 2 dogs, but only 1 cat.
Soooo, Leila and I went today and adopted a new cat/kitten from the shelter.
Now we have 2 dogs and 2 cats.
That's a pretty good way to celebrate an 'adoption anniversary' - don't you think?

Gotcha Day

Happy Gotcha Day to my beautiful baby girl!
Happy Gotcha Day to all of our 'travel buddies'.

One year ago, our then family of 4 anxiously piled into our van and was driven thru the crazy Chinese traffic to the Government Affairs Office.
When we got there, we rode the elevator up to the 8th floor.
There was a lobby type area, but it was full of a Spanish adoption group getting their children.
Yesterday had been a holiday, so no adoptions had been processed. That made today an extremely busy day.
It looked a little chaotic. New parents were crying - children were crying.
We didn't understand the Spanish OR the Chinese that was flying around us.

We were the only ones from our agency, and Leila was the only one coming from her orphanage that day.
Rosa (our guide) arranged for us to wait privately in an office. We kept peeking out the door.
(Rosa was our rock the entire time we were in China.)
As soon as we saw the orphanage director carrying her across the room from the elevator - we knew it was her!
Just 3 had made the hour long trip from Shunde CWI - the orphanage director, the driver and Leila.

They went into another room for just a couple of minutes and then came into ours. The lady immediately handed her to me.
I know Leila had to be scared. But she didn't show it.
She never cried - not once all that day. (We did though.)
She didn't eat all day either. Turns out we were making her bottles warm - not hot.
We've wondered and wondered what she thought of it all.
What was she thinking? What were her thoughts about what was going on?
Her entire world had just changed.
She'd been in that orphanage since the day she was found - the day she was born - 10.5 months before.
She was tiny. She was just 14 lbs.
This was her then.

They gave us a small bag with a few items in it. I guess it was her 'to-go' bag. There was 1 diaper, 1 bottle, a small bag of fomula, a small box of cereal, a rag/dishcloth (to sleep with), a small photo album with some pictures, and the name tag from her bed.
We gave them a gift bag with clothes for the babies still at the orphanage and a few small gifts for the nannies (ayi's).

All that day, she just looked and watched. She took it all in.
When we left there, we stopped at the store on the way back to the hotel.
We needed to pick up a few things for this new life.
We got some more diapers, food, and a stroller - which incidentally never made it home from the Chicago airport.

The adoption journey is a hard one. There were SO many times we considered pulling out of it. It's not for the weak. BUT, oh, it IS for the best!
It is one (of the 3) best things we've ever done in our lives.
This child has blessed us in so many ways that we could never have imagined.
Our lives are (more in debt), but oh, so much fuller than they ever were before.
I guess sometimes you don't realize just what you're missing in life until you have (or lose) it.
Back when we started this journey (3.5 years ago now), our agency said that Jesus was adopted.
Yeah, but I never really thought about it like that. That really made an impact on me.
Yeah, we're adopted into God's family. But I never really thought about that either on such a personal level as I do now.
I truly, truly believe that not only is adoption such a part of God's plan in our lives, but I believe that God gave us Leila not only to fulfill our lives but to witness to others.
She's quite the attention getter. Everywhere we go, people stop us and ask questions and talk. It gives us the chance to witness and talk about God's plan with all of this.
The ones that really 'get it' though - are the ones that understand that we're the lucky ones to have HER, not that she's the lucky one to have US.

Just look at her today!

I ordered Leila and I t-shirts last month.
There was a company doing a special promotion where a portion of their proceeds went to Love Without Boundaries.
If you're not sure what LWB is - look them up. They're wonderful!!!
They work to benefit orphans in China in all sorts of ways.
(I even managed to get 4-5 pictures of Leila, from when she was little, thru them.)
Anyway, on the back of each one is a Bible verse.
The one I picked out for me says:
'Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance'. (James 1:2-3)
I picked that one because although I do know most of the time that we're very blessed - other times I feel very sorry for myself and think that we have WAY too many and more than our share of trials and troubles.
(Leila's says 'Chosen' on the front - and has a different verse on the back.)

Memories and More

Oh what an emotional week this is. What memories it brings.
You see - one year ago, we were in China on the most amazing trip of a lifetime.
Every day I find myself thinking - one year ago, we were.....
One year ago yesterday, we were at the Summer Palace, Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City.

Summer Palace

Forbidden City
One year ago today, we were walking on the Great Wall of China. What a surreal experience. I still to this day, find it hard to believe that one.



One year ago tomorrow, we boarded a Chinese airplane and flew from Beijing to Guanghzou.
We were going to pick up our baby girl.
One year ago......what a year it's been.
And yet, it's flown by. Wow, it seems like just yesterday.


On another note, we went to MD this weekend.
On Fri evening, we had visitation at the funeral home. Leila turned into quite the social butterfly. Those of you that actually 'know' her, may find that hard to believe, but really - she did. She ran all over the place. Now, she still didn't want anyone to hold her (she didn't transform that much) - actually she didn't even want us to hold her. She was free! She ran around and visited with everyone all evening.
There was another visitation(?) going on in another room at funeral home at the same time. She even visited those people! I had to go and get her out of there - more than once. I told some of the ladies in there that apparantly, she was tired of our people and wanted to see theirs. They told me that they were getting bored with theirs too, and to let her stay! I said, well, maybe so, but I'm thinking that maybe it's just not appropriate!
She was NOT so good on Sat however, but that's another story.
I guess that 2 days in a row is just too much to expect.

Although Darrell missed his track meet this week, he shaved over 2 minutes off his time last week. Pretty impressive I think.
They also had a run-a-thon today to raise money for warm-up suits. He ran 6.5 miles in an hour. I was quite impressed with that one. I couldn't run that in a day.

And on yet another note - we woke up this morning to find a dead deer in the back yard. We're thinking that since an early bow season opened today, perhaps someone shot it, and it jumped our fence to die in our yard. That left us the task of getting rid of it. But not before the dogs found it. They had a baths yesterday, but ended up getting another one today.
And, I found a lizard downstairs today! Now, you must understand, that I have this insane, complete, total irrational fear of lizards. Sort of like some people (won't mention names) that are afraid of little innocent mice. Anyway, the cat had already found it and had it mostly dead. I did manage to finish it off - a task for which I am quite proud of myself for. I could not, however, bring myself to pick it up and dispose of it. I ended up shutting the door and leaving it until Austin got home.
Now my fear is not only how and when it got in, but more importantly - are or will there be more???
I'm really, really not loving the whole wildlife thing right now.
My big brave hunter:

One Year Ago

One year ago, we were ready to leave for China. Our bags were packed. Our flight was early the morning of 9/11. We left our house one year ago tonight and spent the night at a hotel close to the airport. This time one year ago - we were on our way!

Tonight, we've been packing for another, different trip. We're leaving early in the morning for MD. David's grandmother passed away on Monday. As sad as the occasion may be, it will still be nice to see people that we haven't seen in what seems like forever. It's just a shame that often times it takes an occasion like this to bring people together.

We did however, get the pool closed this week.
Summer is officially over.
It's always a little sad, and yet, I'm always glad to get it done at this point too.

Track Meet

Darrell had his 1st Cross Country track meet on Sat. He did pretty good. There were 130+ in his group. He came in right about the middle of the pack. They have a very small team. Cross country is still pretty new at our school. It's only the 2nd year for the high school team and the 1st for the Jr High team. (Actually Darrell is the only one for the jr high boys team.) I'm so proud of him for going out and doing it. Most kids his age wouldn't have the guts to go it alone like that.

1st Day of School

The boys went back to school today. Austin started the 11th grade, and Darrell moved up to 7th. They're in the same building (but in different parts) for the 1st time since Austin moved up - that was 4 years ago. They each have 4 classes (block scheduling), and will get a totally new schedule next semester. Right now, Austin has chemistry, history, drafting & fundamentals of electricity. Darrell has math, english, science/geography, & health/gym.

We had the kids' Sunday school classes come out last Sunday for a pool party and cookout. Everyone couldn't make it, but the majority did. It was a good day and a good way to spend the last weekend before school started back.

Here's another picture of Leila and Sable. The pictures make it look like they're best of friends. Pictures can actually be a little misleading though. It's more of an aggravate/tolerate relationship. Leila aggravates the dog endlessly. She uses her as a pillow, chair, stepping stool, etc. I'm sure Sable wonders why on earth we ever brought this 'human puppy' home. She probably thinks the only good thing about her is that she drops a lot of food.
(Leila doesn't bother Bailey, the other dog much - probably because he usually runs from her.)

A Short Break

Leila is always on the go. This was a short break she took today.