Beautiful Moments

Welcome, Little One

2009-02-10T19:16:00.004-06:00

I'm sitting in a warm hospital room at the moment with a little girl who just turned 12 hours old! Her name is Ember Lanae and she's simply beautiful! (I'll try to post pictures later)

What a blessing from God it is to hold this healthy little girl in our arms. We thought we had lost her on several occasions during the first trimester. But we saw God work and preserve her little life. I know God has a beautiful plan for her life and I am honored He's allowed me to be a part of it.

On a final note. For months before I found out I was pregnant Ellie began to pray regularly for a sister. So now we have our precious Ember...an answer to prayer!

The past 6 months...

2008-12-08T10:10:00.005-06:00

Well, I may not be the worlds worst blogger...but I'm not far behind. Yep, I'm back after half a year! Since Ethan came home just over a year ago (wow, can't believe it's been that long) life has been crazier then ever and is only getting worse.

We are expecting our forth child the beginning of March (I'm 6 months along). The pregnancy was complicated and very high risk in the beginning. I spent most of the summer with restricted activities and wondering if the baby would even make it. It was sweet the way Ellie would intently watch the ultrasounds, and the light in her eyes whenever we heard the heartbeat. God has watched over this little baby and everything is going well now. What a blessing to hear Ellie switch from saying "if the baby lives..." to "when the baby's born..." She and Evan are SO excited! Ethan...well Ethan is Ethan. He doesn't really get the whole pregnancy thing. But he LOVES babies so I'm sure he'll be excited when it gets here.

I also started kindergarten with Ellie at home this year. She misses the cut off date for school but was ready. She's doing very well. Teaching her has been the easy part...dealing with the boys has been a little more trying. Although Evan would sit or play quietly if it were just him, Ethan is not quite so calm. He is so energetic and wants to be right in the middle of what we are doing. It's been a challenge and discouraging at times. However, it has also really been a blessing to watch and be part of Ellie's learning.

Oh, speaking of learning. The boys are doing very well with talking. Ethan is still doing speech therapy once a week. He puts three words together routinely and is making progress every day. Evan speaks in 7 or 8 word sentences. Evan loves to talk and tries to compete with Ellie! It's also sweet to listen to him pray for a meal as he lists off every item at the table!

Today Ellie is sick and I'm home alone with all three kids. Poor Ellie threw up all night and can't even keep water down today. She's drinking a lot though and is slowly working on some turkey broth.

Well that is our past 6 months, or so, in a nutshell. I'll try to do better with blogging. I just got a small 10.5 inch laptop so I can work around the kids during the day. Our pictures are on the main computer still so it may be a while till I find an easy way of putting them on the blog from my computer. But I'll try to get some posted before another 6 months go by!

Life

2008-06-11T15:32:00.003-06:00

Not sure why, but I always choose the most chaotic times in life to post on my blog. I've been so bad at posting I'm not sure anyone is even reading any more...except the few faithful family members who are so desperate to hear news from us considering the fact I write letters less then I blog!

We are doing well...I shouldn't say well...great, fine, happy, even fantastic...but not well. Actually, we are all sick, most of us for the second time. Two weeks most of the family was sick. Last week Evan was sick again with something else (more on that later) and this week we all have what Evan had last week.

We had VBS last week and Tyler, Ellie and Ethan loved it. I on the other hand was home with Evan. For an entire week Evan had diarrhea, would hardly eat, lost weight (he made Ethan look chubby!) and slept constantly. One night while Tyler and I were in the living room we heard him cry "mommy, I hurt". This week he finally began to eat again and sleep less, but he is still so lethargic and wants me to carry him if we go anywhere. He doesn't even play! He's also pale, even his lips have lost all color. I feel so sorry for him.

Did I mention the tornado warnings, or the brown recluses in our home...at least 9 in the past couple of months including the one on Tyler's head, or the large hairy spider almost the size of my palm that I found in the shower? How about the ants in my kitchen, mouse who made a huge nest in my silverware drawer or the rat the dog brought to the yard. The very dead rat with it's eye falling out was very lovingly touched by my kids and put down the slide by Evan! Aww, the joys!

Well, I'm going to hurry and post a few pictures. It looks like we have another big storm headed our way. I'm really hoping we don't have to join the snake and brown recluses in our cellar. I'm not to worried about our house however, Ellie just told Daddy that if the house gets swept up by a tornado she will ask God to put it back together! Although life has it's interesting moments that are sometimes less then pleasurable, God always brings a smile to my face...yep, life is good!

Sorry, I have to stop with the pictures now and turn the computor off...

Why I don't blog

2008-04-12T17:56:00.004-06:00

It's 7 o'clock in the evening. Dinner is supposed to be on between 5 and 6. Bedtime for the kids is at 8. It's Saturday night...meaning I have to bathe the kids and iron the clothes for tomorrow. Oh, and I just remembered the sheets for our bed our in the washing machine and need to be dried before I can go to bed. Dinner is getting cold...well part of dinner. Actually the green beans, biscuits and spaghetti sauce are getting cold while the water boils for the noodles. Yes, I admit, I was almost done cooking when I remembered pasta is a necessary ingredient when it comes to spaghetti. The kids have been screaming and fighting and I turned off the stove I don't know how many times in order to be consistent in discipline...that, and save the children from certain self inflicted death. I sent Ellie to the bathroom for 15 minutes of time out. I had so many timers going in the kitchen I almost forgot about her. When I did remember her I realized I had 1.5 minutes left on her timer in which to remind myself why she was in there in the first place. I then went to deal with her. After I'd talked to her she asked me "what did I do again?" She didn't even remember it when I reminded her! Then, back in the kitchen in the midst of chaos I heard a little voice below me. It was Ethan mumbling his first full sentence which was muffled by the thumb in his mouth. "I love you". Ah, how sweet. Well, Tyler's at the office and has been hungry for over an hour. The noodles are still not done. For some reason in the midst of it all I thought of all of you. I really do think of you every day but haven't found the time to write. Most days aren't this calm.

Someday I'll post pictures...

Valentine's Day

2008-02-16T17:42:00.004-06:00

My last post was actually written a few days ago but I just finished it today. So I thougt I'd go back and mention Valentine's Day. The house was all cleaned up so I was very relaxed and spent a lot of time with the kids. Ellie and I made a heart cake together...pink, of course. Tyler was very sweet and made me a special dinner. He made cheese cake (which didn't even crack on the top!) and chicken cordon blu (sp?) with onion soup served on the side. We fed the kids mac's and cheese and put them to bed early. Tyler then sent me to dress up for our "date". We had a lovely candle light dinner and drank sparkling cider. We even had lovely live entertainment as Evan, from his bed, serinaded us with his precious singing voice.

Happy New Year!

2008-02-14T14:19:00.006-06:00

I have a feeling I won't be on here much. I think every couple of weeks is going to be my max! Sorry, I'm just busy and I figured time with the kids and Tyler needs to come first. But I am thinking of all of you!

Anyway, last week my mom came to visit and we celebrated Tet. Tet is when the Vietnamese celebrate the new Lunar year. We decorated with yellow flowers (I couldn't find the kind they decorate with but I tried) had a traditional Vietnmese meal, let the kids do sparklers left over from the 4th, and gave them "lucky money" in red envelopes. The Vietnamese sometimes set pictures of their ancestors on the family altar, pray to them, and invite them back for the new year. However, for obvious reasons, we don't want to promote ancestor worship in our home. So instead we set out a picture of my grandpa who passed away a year ago and we shared memories of him as well as some of our great grandparents. We have also decided to buy a rose every year in honor of Ethan's first parents. They will always be a part of our lives and I thought it would be a neat time to remember them.

The Vietnamese meal we had was very good. We had chicken kah (sp?) over rice which is a very typical meal. Served rice soup on the side along with boiled broccoli which we dipped in a lime and ginger sauce. The sauce was so good my mom drank hers! We also had the traditional coconut candy as well as candied orange peels that we dipped in dark chocolate. It was a lot of fun to prepare and eat.

I got the recipes from a Vietnamese cook book I just got. The cook book is WONDERFUL. It's easy to use, and she really helps you know how to find and prepare things here in America. I love to just sit and read it because of all the cultural things she adds. It was a little pricier but I highly suggest it to all of you parents who have adopted from Vietnam. It's called Into the Vietnamese Kitchen by Andrea Nguyen.

Sorry, I'm not trying to sound like a advertisement! On to the fun stuff...

Ellie loves to sit and write. She writes all these words to which her spelling is hilarious. I'm also finally being consistant in teaching her to read and she's doing amazingly!

Ellie had all her Cubbie friends sign her cast.

Ethan loves to watch daddy play.

(most of you are probably wondering if I, like everyone else, constantly mix up my children's names. Saddly, yes. If you notice the above picture you will see it is NOT Ethan. I'll leave it the way I wrote it though just to let you in on the terrible truth that I'm human...)

Both my grandparents gave us money for Christmas and this is what we bought. I've always wanted one and I absolutely LOVE it. We use it all the time at Walmart and the mall. The boys love it too and have discovered the sun shade is a great foot rest! This stroller is great until the boys start hitting and bitting eachother...

"Eww..."

(Doesn't Evan look like a little bully? ...although a sweet bully)

So THAT'S why Ellie was running away and screaming! (no, I'm not kidding, this is the way I found him)

Ahh...I love my boys. :)

I might add that this is NOT the way I do his hair. This was complete bed head...the funniest he's had yet, I think!

Yes...I know we are crazy...

Ethan, making coconut candy with me for Tet.

I just threw this one in because it was so cute. I never posted many pictures from Vietnam. This was taken on our boat ride down the Mekong River.

First Family Photo of Five

2008-01-22T10:01:00.000-06:00

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. It's nice to know I still have faithful readers after my long absents. :)

Yesterday we had our very first family photo! It's terrible, but I don't think we'd even had a snap shot with all five of us. Anyway, Walmart did a great job and we actually got all three kids to smile at the camera at the same time. Ethan did really well for the family photo and his individual one. Those were the only two we really wanted so it worked out. However, for the rest of the session Ethan decided to throw one of those terrible fits he's so good at. At least we got the pictures we wanted and the other two kids were perfect angels!

I should probably get off. My boys have now been fighting over my lap for about 5 minutes and have now passed the screaming and hitting stage and moved on the the biting stage (well, Ethan bites and Evan screams louder...)

Ok, never mind. I now have peace (as much as I can with Ethan strangling me with a hug from behind). Poor little Evan finally gave up and got his own chair. It's just one of those days...

In Ellie's Words: "Better Late Than Never"

2008-01-17T18:22:00.000-06:00

Sorry to every one who has been begging for updates! Thanks to all of you who have thought about, prayed for, or emailed us. I'm going to try to do a better job of keeping up now. I've been amazed at how busy it's been around here! There is no way I can catch up on all the details of the past two months and have been dreading getting back on here for that reason. So instead I'm going to give a few of the high lights...and there are a lot!

Ethan: The transformation in this kid is amazing. He now understands almost everything and has many words. His temper is beginning to improve. We have even seen a change in the way he plays and his ability to play "imaginary" games with things such as dishes. He now LOVES his mommy and will cuddle with me even when he has the option of daddy. He enjoys going to Sunday School with Evan and will go without us taking him. We had been hoping to get out on a date sometime and leave him for just a few hours the first time. However, we had an emergency last night (more details in a minute) and he and Evan ended up staying with a friend overnight. He didn't even cry!! When I came to pick him up he had one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen and nearly jumped out of the person's arms to get to me. :)

One of the biggest praises we have is that, for now, he won't be needing surgery! The Neurosurgeon said he has a very large cyst between the two hemispheres of the brain but seems to be unaffected by it at this time. Although things could change in the future. So for now we wait and take him back for another MRI in 6 months.

Ethan has so many crazy expressions! Here are a few of the common ones. His actions are often very jerky and stiff as you can see in the picture to the right.

Evan: Poor little guy had a very hard time adjusting to a new brother. Suddenly most of his things became "their" things. For a while he rode around on this little car (that he hardly noticed before) and wouldn't get off even to eat without a fit. One day I opened the seat of the car and found all Evan's "precious" toys hidden inside. He just needed something that was his and only his. However, now the two are getting along very well and copy each other on everything. Evan's latest copied behavior is thumb sucking!

Evan is our little coffee drinker (decaf of course!).

Ellie (or "Elise" as she now wishes to be called): Last night's emergency that I mentioned earlier was Ellie. While running around our living room with the boys she slipped on a play cup and broke her arm! Because of the timing with dinner they weren't able to give her anesthetics until morning so we had to spend the night in the hospital and wait to set her arm till at 7am today. She was so brave! She cried when it first happened but was fine and moving it around at the hospital. The Dr. said he's seen football players cry more than her! She is now sporting a cute little pink cast!

Puppy: Yes, you read correctly. When we met a lady at the mall giving away free puppies I decided that a 4 year old girl who I'm trying to teach preschool to, and 2 rambunctious 2 year old boys, one of whom we were still trying to get to know, along with a ton of house work just wasn't enough to keep me busy! So I got my very first puppy! I have since learned that they require more work then scooping food into a bowl each day! Anyone want a FREE puppy? Just kidding.

Pictures: Here are just a few of the many pictures from the past 2 months.

Monkey Kisses

Cinnamon and Sugar Doughnuts!

This is what happened in the kitchen last time I tried to blog. The boys are great at getting into trouble together. They were so proud of themselves for eating the entire bag of left overs.

Ethan loves the snow and doesn't seem to mind the cold at all

Brotherly Love

Family Night--Baking Cookies

Ethan's idea of "helping"

Mommy's helpers...I'm running out of room in my kitchen!

Ellie teaching Ethan to play with dishes

Just looking beautiful!

Daddy Time

I'm back...

2007-11-29T10:56:00.001-06:00

I'm so sorry for not updating while we were gone. It was a relief to me that Tyler took it over. There were so many details I would have loved to share with all of you but everything went by so quickly and I was dealing with emotions that were hard to express. I will not attempt to play catch up on all the details of the trip at this point. Once I have a chance to go through our photos I might do a post on a few highlights and thoughts I had.

We are home and finally back to a routine...of sorts. I'm trying to get used to having three kids. It has been interesting with two 2 year old boys who don't always agree that all of Evan's toys should be Ethan's now but do agree that they should be the only one held while mommy is busy. Also, four out of five of us are only just now getting over the jet lag.

Ethan is beginning to warm up to me now. If Tyler manages to sneak away while Ethan is busy we can usually avoid a huge crying session (In Vietnam Ethan used to cry until he intentionally gaged himself and through up. We have learned to keep his fingers away from his mouth!). He now will laugh and play with me if Tyler's not around. He will even come to me with his arms out for a hug or to be held...it's wonderful!

Ethan understands English very well for only being with us about 2 weeks. He also has his first English word! He started saying "bye" and waving to us. :) But I think my favorite thing he says is "cho" (s?). This is his Vietnamese word for aunt. This is what they called the caretakers in the orphanage and now he calls me it all the time (and Tyler which is pretty funny). I love that he has a name for me and I keep thinking "I'm more then your cho...I'm your mommy. I love you and will always be here."

It's been a rough two weeks and often discouraging. I have had to reexamine why we are doing what we are doing. I have had to seek the Lord for strength as I try to reach out to this little child and support Tyler when he is tired. But in the past few days God has blessed me with moments that warm my heart. Just now I went to the other room and Evan came up beside me. I reached down and messed with his hair. Feeling the funny bumps on his head I looked and realized it with Ethan grinning up at me with his sweet smile. Sitting back down at the computer Evan reached up at said "mommy" so I picked him up. Immediately Ethan, who was standing there said "ma" and also reached up. At the moment I am enjoying the warmth of Ethan's little body as he's cuddled up on my lap looking at a book...life is good. :)

Back in the States

2007-11-24T08:31:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone, Tyler again. I apologize about not updating for several days. We left for Hanoi on Monday, but when we got there our reservations at the Hanoi Hotel had not been confirmed, so we had an interesting evening of trying to get rooms for everyone in our travelling group. It all worked out, but we had to spend a significantly larger amount on a room that first night than we had originally anticipated (double the amount).

We then had to switch hotels, and the internet at the second hotel wouldn't allow me to access blogger. So, that's why I didn't post.

We received Ethan's visa on Wednesday, flew out Thursday night, and are now back in the states fighting jet lag. Actually, Ethan is fighting it, and therefore so am I. He woke up at 5 this morning and wouldn't go back to sleep so we went to go check e-mail. After 1 1/2 hours he fell back asleep and I am wide awake. Oh well. Time for some coffee.

We'll update with more details about the rest of our trip and some pictures, but I think we're going to try to recuperate a little bit first.

God bless

Details, details...

2007-11-16T02:15:00.000-06:00

Tyler here again. Ok, ok, I get the hint. You all want details. Well, let's start from the beginning.

Day 1, Monday: We arrived in Vietnam and were picked up by one of the CHI representatives. We had about 2 1/2 hours to get cleaned up (I believe that is the best shower I have ever had.) and then get to the orphanage. We finally were able to see our son Ethan Loc Scott Larson for the first time. Ellie immediately ran up and gave him a hug. We will get video of this up eventually. Our internet connection was pretty slow yesterday, but I'll get them up! Misty was able to feed him his final meal at the orphanage. We didn't have as much time as we wanted at the orphanage, but were able to meet some of the children in Ethan's room. (Again, pics and video to come!)

During our return trip to the hotel Ethan sat on my lap. He has yet to desire to leave this location. He threw up on me as we were about to get his picture for the visa. That night we put in a video for Ellie and ordered room service. Oh how adventurous we were... hamburgers and fries. :-)

Day 2 Tuesday: We took the picture for the visa at a place across from the Rex Hotel. First time crossing a Vietnamese street... wow. That afternoon we had our G&R or Giving and Receiving Ceremony. It is at this point that Doan Phuc Loc officially became our son. Truly an exciting time, but short. We had to sign and print our names on 4 documents and that was it.

We have found an incredible coffee shop in the area. Actually there are three of them in this chain within a few blocks of the hotel. It's called Highland's Coffee. Those of you who know me know that I really like coffee. Misty has become addicted to it as well. We were very pleased to find out about these places. My new favorite drink is called Ca Phe Sua Da. It's an iced coffee that is very strong, but is sweetened with sweetened condensed milk. If you like it hot it is called Ca Phe Sua Nong, which is also very good. If you enjoy a STRONG cup of coffee try a Vietnamese style of drip coffee. Very strong, but the flavor is wonderful! If you ever come to visit us back in Kansas I'll try to make some up for you. I'm going to pick up the cups for it this evening.

Day 3 Wednesday: That morning I kept the kids while Misty went to apply for a Vietnamese passport for Ethan. She also had a short meeting. That afternoon we went to a Vietnamese hospital for a medical checkup. That was an interesting experience. The lobby of this hospital was under construction. This means that there was dust and debris everywhere. Combine this with it being an open room with no glass in the windows created a very, um, interesting hospital atmosphere. The doctor did a pretty quick examination. He told us that it was "unlikely" that Ethan has hydrocephalus. He gave us some reasons for this, but couldn't give us a reason for his larger than normal cranium; and then jokingly said that he will be "The next big scientist of our day!" Joking about his large skull and brain. ;-) We won't know for sure about the hydrocephalus diagnosis until he has an MRI, so that is still one of our major prayer requests.

That evening we ate at a restaurant along one of the rivers here in Ho Chi Minh City. This was very good. We ordered roast duck that had excellent flavor especially if you dipped it in the accompanying sauce. Difficult for the kids to eat though.

Day 4 Thursday: We took a quick tour of Ho Chi Minh City, specifically to "China Town". During this trip we visited a Buddhist temple. Interesting, but I will expound on my thoughts on the temple from the perspective of a pastor on my blog.

We took the kids swimming that morning and Ethan surprised me with how much he loved it. He really enjoyed the pool. I was also able to visit with an Australian who has been living here for 6 years. He came to Vietnam after 9/11 for a three month contract, but has stayed for 6 years because he just enjoys the people and area. We ate in one of the hotel restaurants. They were a little more pricey than other places around here, so we'll eat elsewhere from now on.

We had more coffee at Highland's that afternoon and Ellie ate a really good banana cake. Because of the time and Ellie eating, we forgot to have supper. We began to regret that at about 9:30 that night. Note, Ratatouille is not a good movie to watch if you're hungry. Too much food involved. It's a good thing there's a free breakfast buffet in the hotel each morning.

Day 5 Friday: We had our CIS interview this morning. It was a long wait to get in, but the lady conducting the interview was very nice. After asking Ellie if she was the big sister, Misty jokingly replied, "She's just some kid we found on the street." Mary Ann, the lady doing the interview said, "That's the wrong thing to say in this office. It's what we're trying to get away from." I'm glad she said that with a smile on her face. :-) Misty also said that she's really enjoying Ho Chi Minh City and would like to stay here longer before we travel to Hanoi. Mary Ann said, "I can arrange that. You'd be amazed at what I can arrange." I, however, would like to stay by choice rather than being forced to.

We ate our lunch today at, you guessed it, Highland's Coffee. I took a break from coffee and had a smoothie. All smoothies and juices in the restaurants around here are made with freshly juiced fruit. I also had the Singapore Style Fried Noodles. This was very good, even the squid tentacles. Mmm, tasty. Actually, it was really good. The beef had a great taste and the squid tasted like bacon. I actually thought it was bacon until I took a closer look. We did some shopping after that and now the kids are sleeping while I type a really long blog post.

Busy, Busy

2007-11-15T01:00:00.000-06:00

Hello again, Tyler here. We apologize about not updating but we have been very busy lately. By the time we get back to our room we just fall into bed. It's been a lot of fun.

For those who are adopting and haven't travelled yet, be warned that your child will most likely bond with only one parent at a time. This has happened in our case. Little Ethan has bonded quite well with myself, but will have little to nothing to do with Misty. We knew that this was a possibility so she is fine with it. We're both glad that he has bonded to at least one of us. No bonding at all would be a very difficult prospect for our future with him.

We are doing really well though overall. I'm dealing with some kind of allergic reaction to something. I don't know from what or where, but a swollen lip isn't really a fun activity. :-)

Misty and I are both enjoying the traffic in Vietnam. It is just crazy. Much different than our home in Kansas where there is very, VERY little traffic.

***I'm working on a video which I will post here once it has finished uploading.***

We'll also try to post a video of what it is like to cross the busier streets. It's a lot of fun, but can be quite scary as well.

We were able to go swimming before lunch today. We weren't sure how Ethan would like the pool because he had never had a bath while living in the orphange. He loved it! As long as I'm carrying him, it seems like he'll try about anything.

Ellie is really enjoying the trip, but I'll let Misty post more about her later on.

I'm going to get going and take a nap while the kids are asleep. Misty went to the store down the street and should be back soon. Hopefully it won't be so long between posts.

Jet Lag and Ellie

2007-11-12T15:03:00.000-06:00

Good morning from Vietnam, Tyler here again. The time is currently 4 am and unfortunately we're all awake due to Ellie's body thinking that it is now 3 pm and time to a.) wake up from her nap and b.) it's the middle of the afternoon at home, time to do some playing. (Well, coloring actually.)

For now, we'll let Mommy sleep while Ellie colors, and Daddy and Ethan work on the computer. He was trying to copy what I was doing on the computer last night while checking e-mail. Right after I published the blog last night Ethan fell asleep on the couch beside me. Not the greatest picture, but it gets the point across.

With that as my last thought for now I'm going to try to get Ellie back to bed. Good night. I hope.

Welcome to Vietnam

2007-11-12T07:09:00.000-06:00

We FINALLY MADE IT!!! ***By the way, this is Misty's husband Tyler posting tonight, I'll be posting with Misty while we're in Vietnam.***

Sitting beside me on the couch in our hotel room is a little boy we have prayed for for a long time. What a great privilege it is to be this young boys new daddy.

Misty and I learned early on in this process from others who have adopted that the children typically bond to one parent first and then later the other parent. We both naturally assumed that he would bond with Misty first... not so! Ethan sat on my lap the whole way back to the hotel from the orphanage. After returning to the Rex Hotel we were preparing to walk to where they were going to take his picture for his visa. He decided it was time to give me an initiation... my pants and shirt still smell like vomit. But he's so cute...

I realize that I'm starting to ramble here, this is mainly due to getting roughly 4 hours of sleep in the last 48. With that in mind I will post one picture as proof of our new family member. We'll post more pictures and video tomorrow, once I'm awake... or at least not in a walking coma.

Much more to come. I promise.

travel...birthdays...and such

2007-11-06T22:06:00.001-06:00

We are getting closer! Three more days till we leave. We are going to my parents house (8 hours away) on Friday. We will then spend the night and leave from Denver Saturday evening. My mind is so occupied with the trip that I can hardly concentrate on anything else! I've been packing and cleaning house so we can come home to a fresh start.

I have to admit I'm a bit nervous about everything. I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around the idea of bringing home a toddler. Don't get me wrong, I'm not having second thoughts and I feel ready! However, unlike a newborn, he is coming to us with a developed personality, habits (both good and bad), Independence, and everything else a two year old has. Baby problems are so easy to deal with, you feed them when they are hungry, you put them to sleep when they are tired, and you change them when they are dirty...that's it! But as they get older you deal with sharing, hitting, biting, rebellion (yes, even 2 year olds have it but many people call it Independence), and a whole array of other more difficult problems. But then you add the challenges that come with adoption such as bonding issues and grieving and you get a whole new dimensions to the situation. I think what is causing me to be nervous is that fact that in some ways I'm viewing him as something that needs to be "fixed" and all these things I need to do to help him. I know that's not true and I need to just relax and remember he's just a little boy, MY boy, who needs love. I know that when he's finally in my arms I won't be thinking of all the things I need to do but I will be thinking of how happy I am and how natural it is to just love and be mommy to my son!

Ok, with everything else on my mind I have failed to mention Ellie's birthday. I'd love to do a post all about her but I don't think I'm going to have the time so I'll have to do it later. She turned 4 on Monday. We didn't have a cake or a party because we decided to wait until we got to my mom's house. We didn't even have a gift because it hasn't arrived in the mail! However, we took her to her favorite place to eat..."Old McDonald's" (from the song) and she got a happy meal and was able to play at the play place. She was happy!

She is such a sweet little girl and is a true delight to Tyler and I! She often warms my heart with the sweet way she touches me or says "I love you". She is a wonderful big sister and always takes the time to help Evan up the steps at the play place. I can hardly believe how fast she is growing up. I can't imagine life without her...Ok, I can, it would be MUCH quieter but not nearly as much fun! I LOVE YOU ELLIE GIRL!

Pumpkins, Birthdays, Costumes and More...

2007-11-03T09:57:00.000-06:00

I've been so busy with the adoption that all my post have been on that lately. So much so that my mom suggested I start a blog for family...and she was serious! For those who may not realize this, this IS my family blog! I talk about everything and more often then not I end up talking about the adoption because that's what is on my mind. But, once again I have gotten behind in pictures and thought I'd catch up for the month. My problem is that my camera holds so many pictures I never upload them so they are never ready for blogging...but I know, I should do better.

COSTUME NIGHT AT AWANA

On October 31st we had a Bible costume night at Awana. Ellie was Mary and brought he doll, Kaylee, dressed up like baby Jesus. Evan was a monkey from Noah's Ark. Since the animals came be two he brought his other monkey with him! Evan LOVES his monkey outfit! :)

THE PUMPKIN PATCH

We went to a friends house last week and got to pick pumpkins. We had a lot of fun and the kids loved it.

This is Ellie on the way there...sound asleep!

EVAN'S SECOND BIRTHDAY

I was very sick that night so my mom made the cake. It wasn't till late in the evening that my fever came down enough for me to join the party...hence the PJ's on the kids!

Evan loved his dinosaur cake and kept pointing and growling at it!

Eating Cake!

Unwrapping gifts with Nannie A (My mom)

Evan signing "Thank you".

When we first taught him this sign he thought we were blowing kisses. So now he blows kisses for thank you...it's so sweet!

This is my grandma jump roping!

She gave Ellie a jump rope as an early birthday present and is demonstrating.

HERE ARE SOME PICTURES I THOUGHT WERE CUTE

It's tea party in the tent!

Bath Time!I can't believe how much they look alike!

I love this look. This is a very common look on Evan's face. It's the side glance he gives to see what his big sister is doing so he can do it too!

I love the expressions on their faces in this picture as well...the a affectionate big sister and the crazy little brother just wanting to impress her!

This was taken the week Ellie was gone and we had time alone with Evan. Since I pneumonia I couldn't do much, but I sat on the porch with a blanket and watched him kick the ball around. He's growing up so fast!

How sweet! This is Ellie asleep in the car with the neck pillow I made her. I'm hoping this is what she will look like the whole way to Vietnam!

A one way ticket home

2007-11-02T14:03:00.000-06:00

We got our tickets today! I was expecting three because that is the number we have going. Then I noticed a fourth and at first thought there was a mistake. Then I remembered we are bringing home a kid!! What a wonderful feeling to see my little guys name written on a plane ticket that will bring him home!

Off the subject, but we will soon be a family of FIVE and I'm barely 26! Wow...

Visas already!?!

2007-11-01T14:00:00.000-06:00

Wow! I just had to share. Many families don't receive their visas till just days before travel, sometimes the same day. Our agency told us to order them IMMEDIATELY! So we did. We even had them shipped to my mom's house in case they didn't show up before we left for Cheyenne. We paid for the 4-5 day service and didn't expect them until late next week.

Well...They arrived in Cheyenne today and we just mailed them on Monday! 3 days! That was amazing time for just the mailing sized of thing, let alone the time the embassy took. Wow, I'm wishing we'd saved the money and gone with the 1 week service! :)

It's all official

2007-10-31T09:36:00.000-06:00

It's official. The CIS said we could come and file our paper work under the old rules! So we will be driving to Cheyenne Wyoming (8 hours from here) to my parents house on the 9th. We will leave Evan with them and fly out of Denver, which is pretty close to my parents, probably on the 10th. We will then spend Thanksgiving there and leave around the 27th or 28th. We don't have tickets so the actual dates may be off a bit.

I have a lot to do today to get ready for Awana but it is so hard when all I want to do is pack!! On a side note, the poor lady who covered for me at Awana while I had pneumonia is now sick with pneumonia herself! I'm hoping she will feel better by the time we leave.

General Update

2007-10-30T14:05:00.000-06:00

We have new pictures of Ethan that a friend sent us! They are cute so you'll have to go to Ethan's Story to see them.

I'm feeling better and finally getting over the pneumonia. I'm still coughing and yesterday coughed so hard I threw up. But I'm feeling much better...now I just need to get rid of this cold I have! I just keep catching things! :)

We ordered visas yesterday and now are waiting to buy tickets until we have conformation from the CIS that we can do our paper work in Vietnam. Otherwise it's back to waiting for us.

I've been cleaning and cooking all day and now I'm just waiting for our guest to show up. The Mick's are our Village Missionary Representatives for the area (in other words, Tyler's boss and his wife) and they are coming for dinner tonight and a meeting at the church. They come every 6 months and it just happened to fall after I've been sick for 2 weeks and 1 day after I get the "call". I'm excited to see them but feeling just a little unorganized.

Well there's a quick update from me. I'd better get going and study for Awana tomorrow while I still have time.

Here we come Ethan!!!

2007-10-29T10:38:00.003-06:00

We got the call!!!!!! We are going to go to Vietnam in 2 weeks!! The CIS is making exceptions for families who travel before October 16th and our G&R (Giving and Receiving Ceremony--when Ethan becomes our officially in the eyes of Vietnam) is the 13th so we can still make it! We will be allowed to file our I-600 and get permission to bring Ethan back while in country. I'm really excited and have a TON to do. I can hardly type much less think so I'll post more later. For now we have to go to town and send our visa application! YEA! Thank you God!!

I-600 is off...now we wait

2007-10-26T14:41:00.000-06:00

Well, yesterday we received the I-600 form that we have to fill out before going to Vietnam. We overnighted it back and today our agency received it from us and it's on it's way to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) in Vietnam. Whenever we here back from them (could be up to 60 days!) AND we get our G&R date (Giving and Receiving Ceremony--when Ethan becomes officially ours in the eyes of Vietnam) from the Vietnamese government we will be able to go!

We should be in the next group to get a G&R date. However, with the changes in the CIS we really could be in for a long wait still. Although the CIS is allowed to take up to 60 days they think it will be more like 3 weeks. Probably the soonest we will travel at this point is mid to late November.

More Paper Work!

2007-10-24T15:39:00.000-06:00

Well...we are getting very close to travel! I got a call today from the Vietnam Coordinator. The CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services) has recently changed their policy in how they process they I-600 form (this is a petition to classify an orphan, in this case Ethan, as our immediate relative). For those who are already lost...it's ok. All that really means is that there is one form that must be filled out and approved BEFORE we go to Vietnam instead of WHILE we are there. The only concern is that we are very close to travel and we can't go until we get approved. The CIS has the right to investigate Ethan's case, if they wish, to determine that everything is legal and he is truly an orphan and this can take up to 60 days. But I'm hoping for a quick approval.

SO, with all that said, we will be working as fast as we can to get this in order. Nicky, the VN coordinator, thinks we'll be in the next group to get travel dates. If all goes well, and we get CIS approval quickly, we could be in Vietnam around the middle of November! Nothing is official but we are moving along!

Pneumonia

2007-10-22T19:14:00.000-06:00

Well, for those who have been concerned for me...I went to the doctor today. It started off with flu, but then, after a little over a week with a fever of 102-103, the noticeable loss of weight (very bad when you start off under 100), and a cough that was only getting worse, I decided it was time to go. Yep, I have pneumonia! She gave me a strong antibiotic and an inhaler, so hopefully I'll be feeling better in a week or two. I look really bad in the mirror...sort of like a skeleton covered in skin! But I actually felt much better today.

So there is an update on my health. My dear mother and grandmother took care of me all of last week and this week Ellie went home with them. Evan has been so easy to take care of. I sometimes forget how fun that kid is. Ellie is so dominating (mainly because she can talk and doesn't stop) that sometimes I hardly notice Evan during the day.

My Sweet Evan!

2007-10-21T21:06:00.000-06:00

I meant to write a post about Evan on his birthday but all I really did that day was lay around with a fever. So, Evan is now 2 and I thought I'd share a few things that make him such a special little guy!

Loving--Evan is very sweet and is never short on kisses. He comes with his arms spread saying "hu, hu" when he wants a hug and is never content kissing just one cheek.

Gentle--Even though he's a boy he loves to cuddle his baby. He rocks it gently and will "sing". If he finds Tyler or I trying to take a nap he will bring us the baby as well as a blanket and tuck us in.

Crazy--That kid loves to do this funny walk with his hands up and growl. Other times he runs in wild circles making loud unrecognizable sounds while wiggling his head, arms and body.

Mimic--He loves Ellie so much and wants to do everything she does. At the table he'll side glance at her then copy the position of her hands. He'll look again and copy the position of her fork. And then he'll check a final time and copy the rude behavior we were just correcting!

Smart--Although he took a while to talk compared to others, I'm still very proud of him! At 18 months he only had a handful of words, almost all of which sounded like "da". But then, almost overnight, he began to copy everything and now has a vocabulary of over 40 words. He also knows many signs.

Imaginative--This is good for a kid who just turned 2! He pretends he's eating out of an imaginary dish, or will run from invisible bad guys then point and whisper when I ask what he's doing.

Fun--This word probably describes him best. He is full of energy, smiles, laughter, and is just a lot of fun!

I love that kid so much and can't imagine life without him! Happy Birthday kiddo! I wish you could always stay this age...

Pictures!

2007-10-19T15:55:00.000-06:00

We got pictures of Ethan with the album and monkey we sent him! I'll post one here but the rest you'll have to go to Ethan's Story to see.

Where to begin...

2007-10-18T11:25:00.000-06:00

I have had the flu since Sunday. I'm now over the worst of it (except for a nagging cough and inability to talk with out hurting my throat). However, now I'm very weak because, with my 103 degree fever, I have only eaten a cup of yogurt, a few small items a fruit and a very small milk shack since Sunday afternoon (today is Thursday). Now I'm having a hard time adjusting my body back to eating. Eating has never been a favorite thing of mine so I'm trying to take it slow.

My family (Mom, Dad and Grandma T) came to visit Monday. Dad left on Wednesday and left my mom and grandma here until next weekend so they could "nurse" me. This was decided once Tyler began to show flu symptoms as well (poor Tyler has very bad aches, among other things, today). It has been wonderful to have them here. We have been able to rest and let my mommy take care of the kids and the house!

THEN, today is my sweet little Evan's 2nd birthday!! I have this post I was working on for him but now that I have been out of it all week it will have to wait till later. But Evan is such a wonderful cheerful little guy and I want to wish him a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We celebrated on Tuesday and he loved the cake with dinosaurs.

Today is also the first anniversary of my Grandpa death. I think Grandma is having a hard time with it but she seems so strong. My Grandpa was a wonderful and Godly man who is greatly missed.

And finally, I got new pictures of Ethan! However, my stamina is quickly disappearing so I'll post them to Ethan's Story later. Sorry.

I'm going to bed...

Video at last!

2007-10-13T21:17:00.000-06:00

Hey! I've been messing around and I just figured out how to upload video...I know, it took me long enough. Well this was taken a long time ago but I love it. Evan went through a period of time in which he was terrified of feathers (I have an old feather pillow that produces many of these terrifying objects). He acted like they were spiders, which is probably what he thought they were. Well, I'm proud to say he finally conquered that fear and now chases other people with feathers. Yes, I know I'm being mean and teasing my poor little boy in the video...but he's just so cute!

Family Night

2007-10-13T16:30:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Tyler and I were on a date and the topic of "family night" was brought up. We decided to start having a family night ever Friday starting the next day (it was Thursday). So we bought some pink M&Ms and an inexpensive movie that we thought Ellie would enjoy. The next night, after dinner was cleaned up, we all sat around with popcorn, M&Ms and watched a movie. The kids loved it!

This week we had pizza, made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies together, then sat in our jammies eating cookies and watching a movie. When we made the cookies we put the mixer in the middle of the table with all the ingredients and let the kids take turns dumping. It was lots of fun...but as usual, my camera didn't make it to the event! Sorry. Maybe next time I'll have pictures.

I always feel like I spend to much time telling the kids "not right now". Well Friday nights have become a night I look forward to and has really helped me become more aware of the time I invest into my kids, not just on Friday, but the rest of the week as well.

Meet Tyler...

2007-10-05T21:35:00.001-06:00

The other day my grandma called to tell me how much she appreciated my blog and how she felt it helps her to get to know me better. Then she said she would like to get to know Tyler better and brought to my attention something I'd never thought about before...I don't ever mention him! When I mentioned this to Tyler he said "no, you don't". Talk about a guilt trip, so here it goes.

Here are just a few things about Tyler that I love:

He knows me and my deepest insecurities, seen my craziest moments, heard me cry over the silliest things (including previews for Disney movies), dealt with my complaining, put up with my nagging and listened to my endless talking...yet through it all still loves me and actually wants to be with me!

He supports me, comforts me, protects me (sometimes from my own self-criticism, other times from that huge spider lurking in my bathroom), and encourages me to be the best I can be.

He will take turns changing the diapers, even the dirty ones! Now, I have to say, I usually get called for the blow outs but he'll still stands there and look helpful. :)

He is very thoughtful and sensitive. He still takes me out on dates (we just went a couple of nights ago...thanks sweet heart!), brings me flowers or other gifts just because, winks at me from across crowded rooms just to say I love you, and opens my car door...when I'm patient enough to wait! He also left a short love note on the computer today...how sweet!

He casually says "ok" when I say "hey, lets adopt next" and then calmly sits back and lets me run with it. He's even coming around to the idea of 20 kids (just kidding).

He is a loyal and loving husband, father, son, brother, friend and pastor. He is friendly, outgoing, and seems comfortable in any group or situation.

He can cook a meal when I don't feel like it and he makes a very good cup coffee! This probably comes from his time as manager of a coffee shop.

THEN...there is the procrastinator, the guy who loves his sleep, and the total electronic geek that loves playing video games, surfing the web, finding new deals on anything electronic...and some how convinces me that a new lap top, new video camera, new digital camera, etc, are all VERY necessary for our adoption trip to Vietnam.

AND...he is great at multitasking. Right now he's suppose to be working on his sermon but is MSNing (instant messenger on the computer) me constantly and I can hardly finish this post, arg! To make matters worse, he's flirting with and teasing me and won't leave me alone! Yes, we get along just fine, why??

Yes, these are all a part of the man I love. Thank you Tyler for putting up with me these past 5 years!

Doctors and Such...

2007-10-01T21:41:00.000-06:00

The Lord always seems to work out the smallest details without us even realizing it until it is all said and done. A while back I had been talking to a friend about pediatricians and she highly recommended one in particular. At this point our whole family goes to a family practitioner but with Ethan's hydrocephalus, and any orphanage delays, plus any international issues (immunizations, etc), I felt a ped. would be better suited for his needs. However, for insurance purposes we have to work with doctors in our network. I was amazed when a search in our network turned up only two pediatric Doctors in Salina and she was one of them!

We met with her today and loved her. She not only seemed confident with the hydro but has worked with lots of internationally adopted kids! Up to this point I have been really nervous going into this special needs adoption because I hadn't even found a doctor to look at his medical. Today was the first time I had shown it to anyone with a medical background. She was VERY optimistic about his information and the pictures she saw of him (plus she thought he was cute...of course)!

What a relief today has been. I can put the medical concerns behind me for now. When we get back I'm suppose to call her and we'll be able to get him in within a couple of days. :)

Totally off the subject, I'm in a really good mood right now because my kitchen has just been reorganized! We had a terrible time with bugs last week so I had to throw away ALL my beans, grain, pasta, pancake mix, etc. Anyway, today we picked up these nice plastic containers (plus spent a ton on replacing food) and my lazy Susan looks so nice and neat now and I can fit so much more without everything falling out...it makes me smile. :) Haha, call me crazy but these things make me happy.

Kozy Moments

2007-10-01T00:29:00.000-06:00

When we first decided to adopt we thought we could do it without going into debt. However, because we accepted a child with special needs our time frame for raising the funds was cut in half. We are now, not only in debt for the first time, but also we are anticipating surgery for Ethan once he is home.

With that in mind, I have decided to start selling baby slings. These are great for those of you who are adopting (we were actually discussing them on the yahoo group a while back). They would also make great shower gifts. :) At this point I have only made one and I'm working on a second. As I finish them I'll post pictures on a new blog I have. I'm only going to start off with a few to see how well they sell. So if you are interested please click here on Kozy Moments or click on the picture. Also, I would love it if you could spread the word. If they sell well I'll make more!

Finally...pictures and a NON-adoption post

2007-09-29T14:19:00.000-06:00

Alright, after my last post (if you haven't read it scroll down and catch up. Your behind...almost a full day!) I realized that not only do I have a blog specifically for the adoption...but I have filled up my family blog with the adoption as well...yep, I'm adoption addicted!

SO...with that said, here are some pictures of the kids (yes, the kids I already have).

The Water Park

We recently discovered this wonderful little water place in a park near us ("near" being an hour away in the closest real city). At first they weren't sure but once they were totally wet they loved it!

Evan's Smile!

Ellie's Smile!

(Kids never seem to work together)

Mommy's BIG Eater!

When I took these pictures we had had Totino Pizza's for dinner. Evan ate a whole one by himself! PLUS, salad and a root beer float. Afterwards his stomach was hard...and huge. He lifted up his shirt for me, patted his tummy and acted so proud of himself!

The Sprinkler

It wasn't very warm, but Ellie still wanted to play in the water.

I just love that grin!

At first she wouldn't touch the water, but she had lots of fun running in circles!

You know you are adoption addicted when…

2007-09-28T15:30:00.000-06:00

Your mail box has two messages, one from your grandmother and one from another adoptive mother who you only know through blogs and yahoo groups. However, since she fills that terrible need for adoption related material you exchange 5 emails with her in a day while your poor grandmother waits a month for you to say hi…yes, sadly, this really happens. Did you get my email Grandma? Sorry!!

Your dishes are overflowing in the sink, there are no clean clothes except the ones still waiting to be folded from last week, you are just beginning to think about dinner and it is 6 already (you only thought of it because the kids are crying), and yet you make time to check the adoption yahoo group (30 times), check your email (70 times), update your blog (the post is on adoption of course), check about 20 other adoption blogs…twice (ok, 5 times), and make yet another packing list for when you go to pick up your child (next year).

Speaking of being ready a head of time. You have baby furniture bought, the nursery decorated and even some baby outfits...2 years in advance! This one isn't quite as much me...but it happens! (I was just reading your blog yesterday...you know who you are!)

You have no motivation to clean up the mess previously mentioned…until, you realize how hard it would be to pack in all this chaos and how hard it would be to have yet another child running around in it. With the adoption in mind the house is clean in record time!

Your husband signs up to win a million dollars while thinking of a red Corvette, new computer, etc. You really want him to win because the money would help with…you guessed it, the adoption!

Every time the phone rings you jump and run (even when it is the toy phone). If you were to get a phone call informing you your husband had actually won the million dollars you would be tempted to be disappointed since it wasn’t “the call” (your adoption agency calling with a referral or travel dates).

When your mom calls and asks how the kids are and you go into depth about the adoption. When she informs you she meant the two you already have (you know, the ones currently pulling the phone away, yelling in your ear, asking for a cookie…yes, those) you answer “oh, yea…um, they’re fine…did I mention how excited they are about the ADOPTION!”

“I-600A, 171-H, dossier, DTV, LID, Referral, The Call, G&R, PAP”…you just understood that.

Well, I think that's enough writing for today. I need to make dinner...after I check my email again...and just a few blogs...

The Moon Festival

2007-09-26T11:53:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was the Moon Festival in Vietnam. I have read someone that the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is considered a children's festival, at least in Vietnam. Sometimes the children parade around wearing masks. Children's Hope International put on a celebration for the children at Tam Binh 1 were Ethan is. I'm hoping to see some pictures. This is one of the holidays we will be celebrating as a family next year! Here is the article from the CHI blog:

Moon Festival Celebrations!

Whether you call it the Fifteenth of the Eighth Moon, August 14,
Year of the Pig or simply September 25, 2007—today marks one of the most
important dates on the Lunar Calendar: the Moon Festival, celebrated in both
China and Vietnam.

Families and Asian communities across the US began
celebrating this past weekend and many have celebrations today and into the
coming weekend. Eat the traditional moon cakes outside under the moon with your
family and friends, lead a parade of lit lanterns down your street, or plant a
tree in honor of the harvest to celebrate this great day of abundance.

Children’s Hope participated in many activities in orphanages and poor
communities within Vietnam yesterday (due to the time difference). In the Vinh
Long and Tam Binh 1 and 2 orphanages, the children enjoyed lanterns, a special
lunch and moon cakes for the festival. In Vinh Long two separate festivals were
planned for the areas poor children, one within the community and another in the
surrounding rural areas. Within the community, 480 children were presented with
small gifts in celebration. We hope to share pictures of these festivities in
the next E-news!

Children’s Hope wishes you and your family a happy Moon
Festival!

Post #100!

2007-09-25T23:38:00.000-06:00

We have pictures...thank you Jessica! :) I was hoping to use my 100th post to tell you I got the call...but pictures will have to work instead. The wait is becoming much more difficult since we have now entered the time frame in which we could receive the call with our travel dates at any time.

He looks so deep in thought here

Ethan with his friend and the spoon again!!
Wow, he really looks different in this picture

I can almost see what he'll look like when he's

a little older and his hair grows in!Big Bite!

Any time now!

2007-09-20T21:46:00.000-06:00

Wednesday night was our first night of Awana. Things were a little less organized then I would have liked, but overall it went pretty well. We had 25-30 kids and quite a few of them were new to our church. Tyler was in charge of the older group and went over time. He said he could have easily used another half hour. I, on the other hand, was in charge of the Cubbies (preschool) and ran out of things to do in the first half hour (we had 1.5 hours)! I have a lot more planning to do for next time. :) Saturday is our Awana basic training so I need to get ready for that as well. For the most part things are calming down a bit and I'm feeling much less stressed.

With that said...I'M READY GOD!! SEND ME TO VIETNAM!!!! :)

Today we went to Salina and got clothes for the boys. I was doing ok with shirts but all of Evan's jeans were getting short. I figured with two boys (the same size), and winter coming on, one pair of khakis, two pairs of overalls, and lots of shorts just wouldn't cut it. So we got two sets of matching jeans and a set of matching foot pajamas. I need to buy them some soft cozy pants as well, but I couldn't find two in the right size. I had so much fun buying double (even if I spent twice as much). I have always wanted twins!!

Blessings in Disguise

2007-09-18T08:01:00.000-06:00

I would have LOVED to get the call last week and be traveling with the other 7 families leaving for Vietnam on Friday. Two of my friends are in that group and I wanted to be with them.

BUT...as usual, God knew better! If you read my last VERY lengthy post you know Tyler, Evan and I were sick last week. Well, it last until Sunday night! Then, just when we thought we were feeling better Ellie got it! She was sick Monday morning. She's feeling fine now but is still running to the bathroom every once in a while. Then on top of that, we have our first day of Awana club tomorrow. Oh, and Awana Basic training was cancelled last Saturday and rescheduled for this coming one so we would have missed it...and we are the directors of our Awana program.

What would I have done if I had been trying to pack for Vietnam and prepare for a third kid in the house!! It would have been crazy. I probably would have tried calling my mom (who lives 8 hours away), but my Dad is just getting back from Kyrgyzstan and I'm guessing she'd want to be with him after his long deployment. So I would have been one sick over stressed mama! God really looks out for me. :)

Sick...

2007-09-13T18:01:00.000-06:00

Last night and today have been...interesting. Yesterday after the kids were in bed I began to feel very sick to my stomach. I decided to go to bed early but soon got up and throw up my entire lunch (I hadn't felt like eating dinner). Now for me this is unheard of. If a cold or sinus infection is going around I will always catch it, but I never get the stomach stuff, that's Tyler's job. Even when pregnant I only threw up once (this is if you combine both pregnancies), and that was in the hospital. I then drank a lot of water because my throat hurt so badly. After throwing that up too I took Tylenol and tried to sleep.

Next thing I remember is Evan knocking on the inside of his door and crying. When I opened the door he was standing in a room covered in...you guessed it, his dinner! He had obviously walked through it several times. It was tracked all over the room, on the bed, even on the wall! He looked at me and pointed at the mess, he then pointed at his stomach to tell me where it had come from, then began to cry. Poor kid.

Well, Tyler bathed and cuddled with Evan while I cleaned up the mess. My stomach hurt so bad and I was amazed I didn't add my own mess to his. Later that night he woke up again having thrown up some water. Oh, did I mention he had diarrhea too that was leaking as well?

This post is becoming much longer then I had realized...sorry. Anyway, this morning I had intended on letting Tyler take care of the kids because I felt terrible and hadn't slept much. It has been a VERY long time since I'd been sick and I almost never take time off from the kids when I AM sick. So I deserved it right? Well, I woke up to the sound of Tyler in the bathroom...yes, it was his turn. So, once again, we are all sick and I'M the one taking care of every one...a mommy's life I guess.

But I realized something very important while cleaning puck off the floor at 1 o'clock in the morning. I would be willing to do this for the rest of my life it would keep my precious children little and sweet. I think someday I will miss these years.

Well, now that you have endured this very long post I will let you go and I will check on my chicken noodle soup which is probably burning by now...

Travel...?

2007-09-12T17:38:00.000-06:00

I want to go!! Well, one of my friends has a son in Vietnam. They were about a month behind us in the wait to travel. They just got the call and are going in just over a week! This wasn't too surprising since their little guy is in an orphanage that is known for getting the paperwork done quickly. However, I have another friend whose child is at the same orphanage as Ethan and whose dossier reached step 2 (The point at which we start counting the "4-5 month" wait to travel) on the same day as mine. I just found out that she got the call today and is traveling as well!

I thought for sure I had another month to wait but maybe, just maybe, we'll get to travel sooner then I thought! I would love for this to be true!! However, realistically, I have SO much to do before I'm ready to go!

These are just my rambling thoughts. Please pray for us as we wait, and prepare, and wait...

Fun Meetings and Pictures

2007-09-11T20:39:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we had our first get together with the other Village Missionaries in the area. We all met in Red Cloud, NE (about 1.5 hours form us) and had lunch. There was one girl there who we had met at conference this summer and Ellie was so happy to see her. They played so well.

After that we drove 5 hours to Kansas City for our agencies parent educational meeting. We got to meet the newly arrived children or two or friends and show off Ethan's referral. We had a wonderful time.

The way home was interesting. Both kids went to sleep and I was talking with Tyler. Suddenly I heard a familiar sound. I spun around and sure enough, every inch or Evan's body from shoulder to hips, was covered in throw up. The poor little guy was whimpering but doing it all with his eyes shut and kept falling back asleep. We finally pulled over and had to clean it all up with baby wipes. I was glad we'd brought extra clothes. We finally got home around 2am.

Also, we got pictures today!! Here are a few of them. You'll have to check out Ethan's Story for the others.

Happy Birthday Ethan!!!

2007-09-07T08:20:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Ethan!!! It's the big 2!

Just as a reminder, I also have a blog strictly for Ethan. Sometimes, like today, the entries are slightly different.

Anyway, it is so strange to think that Ethan's birthday had just begun when I went to bed and now, when I'm first getting up, is already over! I've been think back to two years ago. I was 7.5 months pregnant with Evan and babysitting two little girls. I never would have dreamed my first son had just been born! What's even more interesting is that Evan and Ethan are a month and a half apart but both came home (home being the orphanage for Ethan) from the hospital on the same day.

After his birth his mother left the hospital. I've also been thinking of her today. I wonder if she is grieving the loss, wishing she knew where he was, or perhaps not even alive anymore. I suppose we'll never know. But this I do know, she will always be a part of who Ethan is and we will never forget her.

Tagged...twice

2007-09-05T18:47:00.000-06:00

I'm afraid I have now been tagged twice and almost every other adoption blog I know is already doing it, SO...I'll give in and respond!

You have to post these rules before you give the facts.

1. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.

2. When you are tagged, you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts.

3. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged & to read your blog!

A-affectionate

N-neat. Ok, this is what I would LIKE to be. My house is almost always a total and complete disaster with dishes undone, clothes on the bed room floor, toys covering the rest of the floor and paper work on almost every surface. With that said. I love things to be neat and I have a VERY high standard of clean...unfortunately, I just can't accomplish it. (probably because I spend to much time doing things like tag games on the Internet...hmm)

N-noisy!!! Yes, sadly it is true. I am quite noisy around the house. I tend to run around, jump, talk, yell, talk, sing, talk...you get the impression.

Well, now I have to tag 3 people. However, I have waited so long to reply that everyone I can think of has been tagged (Kelly, I was going to tag you and didn't finish my post before you got me). So, I guess I'll tag my cousin Heidi and anyone else who hasn't done it (is that cheating?)

Bringing home Ethan...One T-shirt at a time!

2007-09-05T09:01:00.000-06:00

I am now selling t-shirts, mugs, and bags through cafepress.com. I have a couple of adoption related designs and I get a percentage of every sale. I hope to add more shirts in the future so tell me if you have any creative ideas (they don't have to be adoption related).

I have pictures of two of the shirts below. You can see the rest HERE so take a look and please tell me what you think!

Faith and Blessing

2007-08-30T23:17:00.000-06:00

Well we got some not so great news today. I had applied to Life International for an interest free loan. They had called for more information and we had been waiting to hear back. Well the lady called and said that funds would not allow them to help us at this time. She seemed really disappointed and seemed to really care.

Tyler and I are now applying for a regular loan through a credit union he's still a part of. If you wouldn't mind praying that we would get a good loan through them we'd appreciate it. If we can't get a loan through them I'm not sure what we will do! This is also a little scary because Tyler and I have always been debt free and we thought we could come out of the adoption almost that way. But things didn't happen in our way or in our timing. However, I know God will provide

At this point we need about $15,000 to bring Ethan home. It has been neat to see the way God is already providing. We have $2500 of this covered by Shaohannah's Hope (Steven Curtis Chapman's foundation). We have one friend who has given us a gift and another who is giving us some of her inheritance from her mother! It is always wonderful to look BACK and see the way God has worked. However, when you are looking FORWARD and could get "the call" any day and then need the money immediately...well it's a little less relaxing!

On another note...we went to Salina today for diapers. One downfall of living this far out is when you forget to pick a necessary item (like diapers) up while in town you have to make another trip which involves 2 hours of just driving time. Well, while there, we went to Pizza Hut to get the kids their free pizza from our summer reading program. Before our food came the waitress brought over a plate of Cinnamon Sticks and told us there was a gentleman who wanted us to have them! That made our night. Then before we left a couple (not the same ones that gave us the cinnamon sticks) called us over and complimented us on our children. This was amazing since it was 8:30 (past bedtime) and we had only just then fed them dinner! Only by the grace of God were our children anything but screaming hysterical tired messes!

"No Evan...my picture!"

2007-08-30T14:44:00.001-06:00

Oh yea, one picture I was going to show you. This is one that did NOT make it into Ethan's book. It was Ellie's turn for pictures and Evan thought he should get in it! As you can see Ellie wasn't thrilled with the idea. This picture just cracks me up! I love Evan's cheesy grin.

Evan's Room

2007-08-30T14:09:00.000-06:00

Most of you will remember me talking about Evan's room. I was ripping out carpet , refinishing the hard wood floor, striping wall paper, painting, making curtains...etc. Here are a few pictures of before, during, and after. It's hard to photograph because it is so small in there. These pictures are taken from just outside the door! Also, I don't have a good picture of the curtains but you can see part of them in a few of the pictures. Anyway, they are made out of the same material that I made Ethan's blanket out off. Also, I know there is only one bed...we've been working on that. We eventually would like to do toddler bunk beds (a twin almost fills this room) but for now we are going to use our second mattress like a trundle bed and slide it out at night. This gives the boys more room to play.

BEFORE: The "before" really was pretty nice...until Even started on the wall paper...and then we realized the very old carpet hid the stuff that leaked from Evan's diaper! Yuck...

DURING: Yes, this is red indoor outdoor carpet underneath the brown!

This is what happened in the REST of the house while I was busy...Mix Daddy being gone, Mommy being hard at work, and Evan's room pushed into the living room and this is what you get!

AFTER:We still have a few things to do, but here it is!

Ethan's first birthday gift

2007-08-30T13:48:00.000-06:00

September 7th is Ethan's 2nd birthday! When he turns two we will be allowed to send him a small toy and photo album. While in Chicago Tyler and I found a little beanie baby monkey. I made a little blanket out of the same fabric as the big one I'm bring to Vietnam with us and sewed it into the arm of the monkey. I also put a pocket on the blanket for the photo album. Here are some of the pictures we're sending to him.

Ellie took this picture of me

(with the help of the tripod and a bit of cropping on the computer)

This is Evan and Ethan's room.

I'll show you the before, during and after pictures in the next post.

Just a few random highlights

2007-08-28T08:43:00.000-06:00

We have updated pictures of Ethan! I'm not going to repost so check out Ethan's blog.

We discovered Ethan's name is not really Doan Phu Loc but is. . . (again you'll have to check his blog)

I had a very discouraging week last week. All the responsibility and work that is going into Awana (much more then I had expected) mixed with child discipline, messy house, among a few other things had me really down. I'm now feeling much better but I'm not very motivated to pick the Awana planning back up because it's what discouraged me in the first place. I think I need a lot of prayer in that area.

According to Ellie, she is "almost grown up". What does she want to do when she's grown up? With NO hesitation she said "drive". So where does she want to go? "Old McDonald's, Walmart and Target". Yes, my daughter has high expectations for life! :)

I've been organizing my videos on the computer. One of these days I'm going to post a few for you...so be watching (although it may be a while). In the mean time, here are a few pictures.

Adoption Update

2007-08-11T11:21:00.000-06:00

On the adoption front...We got new pictures of Ethan!! His eye looks much better and he is looking so big! I can't wait to pick him up! Also, we got Ellie's passport in the mail so she is officially coming with us now!!

Chicago!

2007-08-11T10:16:00.000-06:00

We had a great time in Chicago. We thought we would be sitting in sessions all day and doing lots of study. We did learn a lot but we also had a lot of fun!

I went to my first baseball game (the White Socks vs. the Indians). That was fun and I've decided I like base ball a whole lot more then football! (sorry forgot the camera)

We then got to hang out in down town Chicago with all these huge buildings! I'm from small town (actually no town) America and we don't even have neighbors closer then a mile. I love the city and it was so refreshing to see people (a rare sight in our area)!!! While there we got lunch on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Building (3rd largest in Chicago). We literally ate lunch in the clouds! It was a little scary on the way up though. The lady working there put WAY to many of us in the elevator. We were packed so hard we couldn't move. The elevator jerked, jumped a few floors, sat there and finally delivered us to the original floor. When the doors opened several got off (very quickly) and then the ride up was fine. After lunch we went on a boat tour of Chicago area and the lake and got rained on! It was quite an experience!

The day we left I got the chance to see Heidi, my cousin, and her husband and two boys (the same age as my boys and also adopted). It had been years and I was so great to see them again!

Our trip home was interesting! Because our flight our of Chicago was delayed we missed our connecting flight in St. Loise. The next direct flight was at 4pm the next day. So we spent the day in St. Loise...without a car! We considered going to CHI headquarters but it didn't work out with transportation. Over all we had fun and enjoyed the adventure of it all. I was grateful for the good book I'd bought while at the airport in Chicago.

Sorry this has been so long!!! Here are a few pictures from our "lunch in the clouds" and our boat tour. The picture of the tall building is where we ate!

My Week

2007-08-02T16:29:00.000-06:00

Just a few highlights from my week without Tyler, who is gone to camp.

-I redid the hardwood floor in Evan's room. This consisted of pulling up carpet, sanding, filling the cracks, staining, running to the store for more wood filler because the first didn't take the stain, wiping off the stain (which hadn't dried after 12 hours) and resanding because I didn't do it enough the first time, restaining, painting the wood filler because it still didn't take the stain, sanding again, putting on the protective finish, sanding, putting on the 2nd coat of protective finish, sanding, putting on the 3rd coat of protective finish, and begging the kids to stay away from it all!

-Preparing for our trip. Tyler and I are flying out Sunday to an Awana Training program in Chicago. Tyler will get home from camp this Friday with just enough time to leave again for Scottsbluff for a friends wedding and to drop off the kids with Grandma. We will get home late on Saturday, go to church on Sunday and leave for Witchita to catch our plane that afternoon. Between travel, being gone, and having to prepare a sermon, I'm having to pack for him...along with packing for myself and the kids!

-Still working on planning for the Awana program

-Trying to keep up with both my kids (by myself) and get the house clean before our trip.

-Last night we had a huge lightning storm and lost power for a while. It was actually kind of relaxing because I couldn't see to do all the things I needed to do so I just went to bed early! Evan has been clingy lately and crying more at night so I stayed with him while he tried to go to sleep (he's in our room while I redo his floor). Finally I picked him up and laid down in bed and let him fall asleep in my arms...it was so sweet! He seemed so happy and peaceful. He would open his eyes, look at me and smile before closing his eyes again. :)

-Oh, and Ellie asked me how she got into my tummy today! I sort of came up with some answer that didn't really tell her anything, something about how Daddy helped put her there and God helped make her or something like that! She's only 3 and I'm not sure I want "that" talk yet.

-Oh, and then she started asking if I'd always be here and ended up crying (hard crying) twice in two days when she realized that someday I would die.

-Well that has been my week, and it's only Thursday! Well I should go because Ellie has now asked to eat at least 20 times in a row and is now jumping around making these high pitched screeches!

My Cute Kids! :)

2007-08-01T13:40:00.000-06:00

I've been neglecting the pictures once again...sorry! So here are a few from July.

JULY 4TH

We had a great turn out for our Church's 4th of July party.

This is Ellie wearing part of the pinata afterwards!

Lighting smoke bombs with Daddy!

VILLAGE MISSIONS CONFERENCE

Evan's Comfy Spot

Dirty Feet :)

We hung a sheet up so Evan would go to sleep.

I love the little feet hanging out!

This is just Evan being...Evan

COPY CATS

If Ellie is doing something Evan has to do it too.

He loves her so much and copies every move!

"He did it!"

"No, she did it!"

OTHER PICTURES

Ellie's "big" bed

They always look so sweet when they sleep!

Evan's been going through a clingy stage and often wants me to just hold him. Sometimes he'll bring the sling and try to put it on me! This time he was so tired he fell asleep while I was making dinner.

I've been having a terrible time with blogger. Notice all the double spacing (or sometimes very small spaces or just uneven in general) in this post, it was not by choice. For some reason the format gets messed up and I can't fix it. I'm always having trouble getting the pictures and labels to be spaced the way I want them. Sometimes everything looks good until I go to preview it and the spacing is still way off. I never have problems if I'm working with just the text. It usually happens when I add more pictures, try to change the order, or try to center them. Any suggestion? Am I the only one having this problem?

Top 5 things...

2007-07-31T18:59:00.000-06:00

I was on my friend's blog today and she had a list of ten things she was doing to pass the time before picking up her son. It made me laugh and then think of what I was doing. So Kelly, I'm going to copy you, but my list is a little different...

Top 5 things I SHOULD be doing while I wait to pick up Ethan:

1. Planning for the big trip to Vietnam and making list for when we get "the call" and only have two weeks before we leave. This would include figuring out where the last half of the adoption expenses are coming from!

2. Researching the details of our insurance, finding doctors in our network, and other medical preparations

3. Buying the things Ethan will need, like a booster seat. I really don't need much since he'll share everything with Evan including clothes

4. Finishing Ellie's baby album, starting Evan's (yes, I know he's almost 2 already), and planning Ethan's

5. Reading books on adoption

Top 5 things I AM doing while I wait to pick up Ethan:

1. Trying to prevent Evan from beating on his big sister with any stick type item he can find while attempting to keep up with Ellie's 5o "why" questions every 5 minutes

2. Running in circles to keep the house from drowning in a 3 foot mess while I plan dinner in the back of my mind (the planning is about as far as it gets...)

3. Decluttering, reorganizing and redecorating to make life easier when Ethan is here, but actually making a bigger mess in the process.

4. Wondering how I'm going to manage with three kids (2 of whom will be just entering "the twos") while simultaneously planning for the fourth

5. Stressing over the "Top 5 things I SHOULD be doing" list :)

Carpet and Goo Gone

2007-07-29T16:56:00.000-06:00

Ok, last post I was a bit depressed...not sure if it came out or not. Anyway, I was feeling overwhelmed with life in general. I think I was just emotional. Today I'm feeling much better! :) Yesterday I decided to rip the carpet out of the boys room. I new there was hardwood under the red indoor out door carpet that was under the brown carpet. I had now idea of the condition though. Well the carpet came out in just a few minutes and revealed a lovely hardwood in good condition! There is a little damage in the middle but a little sanding on the entire floor and a touch up of stain and varnish should make it beautiful! I was very excited. :) Also, we had an Awana meeting today and I'm feeling a little more organized.

I decided it was time to better toddler proof my home today. Ellie was so easy as a baby. We lived in a small house and I always new where she was. Plus she was very well trained not to open cupboards and was never a real explorer. Not Evan. Today we heard him screaming and when we got there he was opening his eye then closing it quickly and screaming. We finally found out he had found the Goo Gone I had left out and sprayed it directly in his eye. We had to hold him over the sink and run water in his eye for 15 minutes. He finally calmed down a bit and would look at us through the running water. Poor kid! I was finally convinced I needed to be more careful and I put all the medicine out of reach and baby proofed the cabinet with my hairspray and stuff (my cleaning products are already locked away). That kid gets into so much trouble...but he's always so cute about it!

What's New...

2007-07-28T08:46:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. I have to admit that things have been busy but nothing worthy of a fun blog post! So, what have I been up to? Here you go:

-Redoing Evan and Ethan's room (I'll post pictures when I'm done. Which will be a while). This involves stripping wall paper from the plaster, texturing the walls, painting, making curtains and hopefully replacing carpet. So far I have stripped the wall paper and made curtains. It's going to be a cute jungle theme. I'm hoping to incorporate some of the jungle feel from Vietnam, we'll see. I also bought three cute jungle pictures from Walmart for pretty cheap.

-Preparing for Awana. Wow, didn't know it would be this hard!! For those of you who don't know, our church is starting Awana (a children's Bible memory program) this fall. Village Missions (our mission agency that works with churches in rural America) is flying Tyler and I to Chicago in a week for a pilot program in which Awana is working to get the program into smaller churches. We will have a week of training. I'm trying to line up workers and figure out what type of supplies I'll need to order while in Chicago. The problem is that I need to do the ground work before I really know what is going on.

-We ordered a passport for Ellie. We have finally decided to take her with us to Vietnam.

-Last of all I'm trying to keep up with both my children (who have been very trying these past few days! Ellie is in her room as I type waiting for me to deal with her.) and all the house work. I've also been trying to plan for our big trip to Vietnam with really no clue as to when I need to be ready.

So there are a few things we have been doing. It may not really sound like much but lately the kids alone have been more then I can handle! :) Well, I will try to post when I have something interesting or get any adoption updates.

Pictures

2007-07-19T10:14:00.001-06:00

CHI sent us an update! I'm a little concerned about the way Ethan looks. His left eye is beginning to drop a bit. I'm really hoping this isn't caused by the hydrocephalus getting worse. Please pray that we would be able to bring him home soon and that he would stay healthy until we can give him medical attention!

That's my boy!

2007-07-18T20:44:00.000-06:00

I put this on Ethan's blog as well, but while we were gone we received pictures of Ethan. Jamie, a friend of ours, just got back from Vietnam with her beautiful little girl. While there she took a few pictures for us. I love the one where he is sucking his thumb! He's going to be just like me. Also, it seems that in the right light his hair looks blond. With Tyler's dark hair we always thought our kids would be dark...nope, both blond. So we said we would have to adopt to get that lovely dark hair...who would have thought our Vietnamese baby would even look blond!

Finally Home

2007-07-18T20:30:00.001-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. We just got back from a week long trip.

First we went to Estes Park for a conference with Village Missions (VM). For those who may not know, we are part of Village Missions which supplies pastors to rural churches that can't support themselves. Anyway, we had a great time there. We met lots of other VM families and we both learned a lot. The speakers really focused on how our relationship with God needs to be center. I think this is easy to let slip.

After that we went to my mom's house for a couple of days. My brother came home from the Air Force Academy and I got to meet his girl friend. She is so wonderful and I hope Zach makes her an official part of the family! Unfortunately my dad and youngest sister were gone. Dad's stationed in Kyrgyzstan, and Dayspring was in Guyana on a mission trip. I really missed them.

Finally we went to Tyler's parent's house for a couple of days and had a nice visit there as well.

It was a very long week and we had very little time to rest. While at the conference poor little Evan kept having to go to bed at least an hour or two late, get up an hour early and miss his morning nap. To make it worse, I had to leave him in a nursery twice a day when he's not used to ever being away from me. He often got this tired little stare and when I left him he would just ball. :( We had a great time but we are so glad to be home!

Answer to Prayer

2007-07-06T16:11:00.000-06:00

I went onto our adoption agency's waiting child website today and saw two more children had been placed. These were both little boys within a month of Ellie's age who were Hepatitis B+. I had considered taking one of them at one point but didn't think Ellie would deal with it well. I have been praying for these boys for a long time and it made my day to see them placed. Also, in the past few weeks there was a 12 year old boy who was placed (Sorry mom and dad, you lost your chance!) and another 4? year old boy with Heb. B. I realize that most of this won't concern you, but I am so excited. At least one of these kids have been on the waiting list for a year. I think it is wonderful to see the way God brings children and their families together. Many people from our agency have been praying for these kids and it is such a blessing to finally see them off the waiting list and their families on the way!

While I'm on the subject, maybe you could pray for three children on the site right now. One of them is a gorgeous little 2 year old girl with HIV. One of the others is the little girl who was in the pictures with Ethan. I think I'd take her if they would let me have two! :)

Misc. Pictures of Cuteness

2007-07-03T16:42:00.000-06:00

I just uploaded some pictures from my camera and thought I'd share a few with you.

Corner time...so cute when naughty!

Wow...I didn't realize how much Ellie had grown

until I came across her old dress shoes! She's only

3 and on her fifth pair.

This is Ellie's new hair cut!

Pool Time

2007-07-03T16:10:00.000-06:00

It's been a beautiful day here and the kids have enjoyed their little pool. I didn't want to waste one of the expensive pool diapers on Evan so I sent him out in just a onesie. I figured he might pee out there but I didn't think it would matter. However, I wasn't figuring on a different sort of mess. I'm posting several pictures. The last one is of Evan in the tub with his dirty onesie around his waist and standing on tip toes trying to stay away from the poopy water!

"Ya Ta" (For all you Heroes fans)

Action Shot!

Yuck...I don't want my feet in THAT!

My Dear Little Evan

2007-06-30T17:13:00.000-06:00

Evan has been so cute lately. He has to wave at every person he sees and won't leave until they wave back. Today we were just leaving Pizza Hut when he spotted this little girl about his age. She was very pretty with a delicate face a little blond ringlets. When he saw her he made this small sound like "ooh". He then went over to her and just stared. As we were getting in the van he just took off. I turned to see him standing on the sidewalk waving to the little girl who was about to drive away. He then started blowing kisses. She blew one back and then the grandma drove away. It wasn't till they were gone that he would come with us. It was so sweet! :)

He's also been quite the sweet heart at home. Although he can't talk yet he understands so much and communicates very well. He has started kissing us (with real kisses) all the time. He likes to kiss one cheek and then make me turn so he can kiss the other. It's also common for him to do the signs for "love you". He puts his little fist on his chest and rotates back and forth as hard as he can (meaning love) and then he points at us. He'll do this just out of the blue and it warms my heart!

Ellie's "Big" Bed

2007-06-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

Today we are going to Witchita to get a twin mattress for Ellie! I'm so excited to be moving her to a "big" bed. We will then move her toddler mattress in with Evan and I can start preparing for two little boys in there!

At some point I hope to strip the wall paper in Evan's room (I wasn't going to but he already started for me) and paint. We might even replace the carpet before Ethan gets here.

Well I should go and get ready to leave.

New Blog...Ethan's Story

2007-06-22T07:45:00.000-06:00

I have decided this blog is great for family and friends who are interested in our lives in general. But when it comes to the adoption, it can be a bit confusing. I will continue to keep this blog updated with all the details of the adoption, but I have started a second blog titled "Ethan's Story". This one will be dedicated to the adoption only. However, I will probably not post as many details of the paper work in that blog as I do here. It is my goal that "Ethan's Story" will be just that...a story of how God brought us together (not all the tedious details of paperwork). I have a lot of work left to do on it and I'm not quite up to date on the post, however, I'd love to hear what you think. I will put a link under "fun links" on the side of this blog if you want to see it.

June...

2007-06-20T15:58:00.001-06:00

And finally, the recent pictures!

"Cinderella"

Poor Evan...falling asleep!

That's my crazy girl!

Evan has learned to "swing" by himself.

This is a terrible picture of the two of us but I thought I'd show you the sling Evan's been riding in (sorry you can't see it very well, I might post a better one if I can get someone else to take it). Evan loves being carried by mommy! I thought I'd get into practice before I have to carry Ethan who will probably be two. I'm planning on carrying Ethan a lot since we'll need the time to bond. I was originally going to just try it out to see if it would work with a "big kid" but Evan now begs me to carry him in it when he's tired. We have had some great cuddle time.

May...

2007-06-20T15:43:00.000-06:00

Here are the pictures from May.

Ellie got a new (new to us at least) flannel night gown which she loved! In fact, now it is the middle of June and very hot yet I still can't convice her not to wear it!

In May our whole family drove to Michigan for a friends wedding.

Tyler was the best man.

The Bride-to-be gave Ellie a play veil which she loved!

April...

2007-06-20T15:06:00.000-06:00

I know I've been terrible about posting pictures. But I didn't realize HOW bad until I saw it had been April since I even took the pictures off my camera! SO...here are some pictures from April. May and June will be coming shortly.

This is Ellie's room. We took down this old wall paper (first picture--taken last Aug.) and got down to the plaster (second picture--taken in March) and finally textured, painted, and put up flowers! As you can see in the third picture it is quite busy but girly. :)

Ellie loves to brush her own hair and teeth

Evan and I just being silly. :)

Caring for the Orphans

2007-06-15T22:20:00.000-06:00

I just received an email from my agency. They are trying to spread the word about their sponsorship program for orphans. If any of you have ever considered sponsoring a child but you're not sure who to go through, I think CHI is wonderful! They work with several countries and the cost is only $32 a month. On the sight they have stories of the different children in need. Some are very sad! Just reading what some of these children (and in many cases their parents) go through makes me grateful for all the blessings I have! Here is the address if you are interested. Even if you're unable to sponsor a child at this time maybe you could pass this information on to someone else who may be interested.

www.HelpAnOrphan.org

"Pure, unstained religion, according to God our Father,is to take care of orphans and widows when they suffer and to remain uncorrupted by this world."James 1:27

Officially Waiting

2007-06-15T10:17:00.000-06:00

We just heard that our paperwork has been submitted Hanoi, Vietnam. Meaning we can officially start the "4-5" month wait for travel. I don't really have anything else to talk about so I'll quite for now.

Updated Pictures

2007-06-13T11:07:00.000-06:00

The kids and I are alone now until next Sunday. Tyler left this morning to fly to Michigan for a wedding. Although I'll really miss him, I'm looking forward to getting a lot of house work done.

We just received some more pictures of Ethan today. He has the same outfit on as last time but judging by the out fit on the little girl in the picture with him I'm pretty sure these were taken at a different time. The little girl is one I've seen on the waiting child list with our agency. I think she's a year older than him and she's waiting for a family.

Late Dinner

2007-06-07T10:44:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was interesting. We went to Salina in the afternoon (we live an hour from the closest Walmart). We went to Sonic for some drinks around 6:30 but because of our late lunch and the fact that we wanted to save money we decided to eat dinner at home. Well we got home and got busy with baths, putting kids to bed. We put Evan down and finally got Ellie tucked in by 10 or so. As we were giving her her last kiss when she informed us that she was hungry!

10:30 found us feeding her and getting Evan up who had decided he was hungry too. Instead of relaxing by ourselves, we all sat down to watch Star Gate together while we ate. They were finally back in bed at 11. Their bed time is 8! There is nothing more frustrating after a long day of kids to realize after the "last kiss" they still need dinner which means mess...and brushing teeth again...and tucking in again...!

Grant Money!

2007-06-04T15:40:00.000-06:00

Also, I forgot to mention this in the last post, we received a grant from Shaohannah's Hope today. They are giving us $2500 toward adoption expenses! We also were approved for a loan. Hopefully now we will be able to build up our credit enough to get a good loan for when we have to pay travel expenses in about 5 months. I'm a little worried about that one since we don't have much to put up as collateral. I'm excited to see the way God is working. It was such an encouragement to get that grant!

Update on Ethan!

2007-06-04T12:38:00.000-06:00

I apologize for not putting more pictures on my blog. I haven't loaded the pictures from my camera to the computer yet so I'm a little behind for pictures with Ellie and Evan. I promise I'll post some one of these days.

HOWEVER, we received updated pictures of Doan Phu Loc (aka, Ethan) today! I was really hoping to hear about his measurements and growth...but I still love pictures! He finally looks a little bit Asian and you can see the dark hair a little better. Also you'll notice that the big cut on his forehead is healing nicely. He looks so different...but still so VERY cute!

"What are you looking at?"

“You have got to be kidding me…
I’m being adopted by who?”
(I love the raised eye brow and curled lip!)

Tagged...

2007-05-31T08:55:00.000-06:00

I've been officially tagged by my cousin Heidi. I'm supposed to tell you 8 things about myself that you may not otherwise know. Problem is, I don't think there is anything that you all don't know about me! So here it goes.

1. As of today, Tyler and I have been married for 5 years! I was his first real girl friend and he's the first guy I dated for longer then 3 months. I have to say this has been the best five years of my life!

2. As Heidi said, I'm addicted to the internet. I think adoption does that to you. I check my adoption yahoo group, email, and other blogs, every few minutes for any type of update or new information. My addiction is deep enough now that, even when not adoption related, I spend way to much time on here.

3. Although most wouldn't know it, I hate being in a small group of people, or with an individual I don't know well, when Tyler isn't with me. I never know what to say and have this fear the conversation will come to an uncomfortable silence. I do just fine, and can carry on a nice conversations, as long as I have my "security blanket", aka Tyler, close by.

4. Academics is my biggest insecurity. I never did very well in school (just lazy and got away with more since I was second oldest out of 6 kids and all home schooled) and now feel very uncomfortable when the conversation turns that direction. My hands sweat if I have to write something in front of someone without the benefit of spell check.

5. Call me strange but I actually enjoy cleaning house! Although I usually opt to just sit and surf the web or watch a movie, I love to clean, and especially, organize the house. When I get into an energetic mood I'll fly around and clean all day.

6. Most people don't see this side of me (only Tyler and my kids see the full force of it) but I am a crazy individual. I love to talk in strange accents or sing in a wacky voice and bounce, jump, skip, or dance around the house. I do the oddest things...yes I'm weird!

7. I have always been sensitive, but after marriage and with each new child it has gotten MUCH worse! I now cry over Disney movies...yes the animated ones like Sleeping Beauty. I also have to really protect myself from sad horror stories (mainly true ones like the holocaust) because they will haunt me and make me cry for months. In the past few years I've become so fragile that Tyler has had to start protecting me from some things.

8. I just realized last night that being out here in the middle of no where is bothering me more then I realized. Although I'm insecure in small groups, I love to be around lost of people I don't know. I realized how much I'm missing this when I started to think about our trip to Vietnam to pick up our third child. Besides holding our son for the first time, the thing I'm looking forward to most is seeing people!!! Lots of them, at the airport and all over the big cities. Never mind the fact that I'm going to a new country, I'm just excited about being in the city for three full weeks!!

Ok, that's enough about me. :) I really don't know who to tag. Tyler is really the only one who reads this much and has a blog (I have instructions NOT to tag him)...so I guess I'll pass this over to my myspace friends...Dayspring, Mom, and Morning, consider yourselves tagged. Write 8 things about yourself that others may not know and send it in a bulletin.

Fishing

2007-05-28T19:52:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we went fishing with a family from our church. It was at a small pound and the sun was making this beautiful path across it. There were so many picture perfect moments but, of course, I forgot my camera! I was so disappointed...so I'll have to describe a few of the things I missed on film.

Ellie was sitting in the tall green grass with her knees bent up. She was holding her fishing poll and giving me this sad little look. She was disappointed because she couldn't catch any fish.

Evan kept watching everyone else holding the polls and fishing so he decided he would join in. He sat on his camping chair right next to the shore and held his long stick just like a poll. Every once in a while he would shake it like he was casting, then just sit back and hold the stick out for a while. He was so relaxed!

We had a great time roasting hot dogs and marshmallows around the fire. It was a wonderful evening, and Tyler even caught two fish!

Frustrations...

2007-05-23T22:25:00.000-06:00

We will be getting a letter in the next few days that says we have to pay the "referral fee" for the adoption. Since we were expecting to be on the waiting list for about a year, we thought we would have plenty of savings for when this time came. Needless to say, things changed!

I thought, "not a problem" we already have half of the money and we can get the other half in about a month or two since it really isn't that much. I thought the agency might let us pay a little now and the rest as soon as we had it. Wrong, they said that would be fine but they would put the adoption on hold until the money was in (Our agency is great about working with us, but in this case they need the money to pay people in Vietnam). Under other circumstances this would be fine but this kid needs to get help!

Again, "not a problem" we can get a small loan or low interest credit card and pay it off in the next couple of months. Wrong again. Oh, you mean "no credit" is the same as "bad credit". Umm... So now we are looking at getting any credit card that will take us (yikes...have you seen that interest!) but even those won't accept us right away. Since we have "no credit" they have to stop and think about it...Hmm.

Well we are now looking at a week before we find out if USAA will accept us and if they don't all the others are saying they'll let us know in the next 30 days! By that time we could have the money without there help! Arg... Anyone want to loan us a couple of thousand?? Just kidding...but your credit card...hmm, there's a thought!

Thoughts

2007-05-23T21:51:00.000-06:00

I have had many emotions flowing through me as I consider the adoption. I do not question that this is the path God has chosen for us. Yet I keep considering all the uncertainties and possibilities. We have no way of knowing the extent of his condition until we have him home.

I have been dealing with the fact that I may not have that "perfect" child running around with his "perfectly brilliant" mind. But then the Lord gently reminds me, what is perfection? Is it our ability to express ourselves or figure out lives most complicated problems? Is it measured by the admiration and respect that others have for us, or the vastness of our physical abilities? This is not what God sees. This little boy may never be able to do what other children can do, but inside that little body there is a soul that was created ever so gently in His image. A child who, in God's eyes and in mine, will always be perfect.

Our Son!!

2007-05-21T21:41:00.000-06:00

We have a referral!!!! We have decided to adopt Doan Phu Loc. He is 19 months old...only one month older than Evan. Yea! I get twins! We are very excited but nervous at the same time. He has hydrocephalus and unless treated it can cause serious brain damage. We are praying for fast travel dates so that he can come home and receive the medical help he so desperately needs!

I finally got the last document for our dossier back from the Vietnamese Embassy (they had made a mistake so I had to send one document back to them) and mailed the whole thing to CHI today. After they get it it will be sent to Vietnam and translated. Once translated our wait to travel begins. The wait will be 3-5 months. Regardless, we should have him home for Christmas!

Oh, and we will probably name him Ethan Scott Larson but aren't sure yet.

First picture we saw of him

OK, anywhere else think his hair looks blond?

He really doesn't look Asian to me!

Ouch...look at his head!

But that's OK...

nothing the computer can't fix!

Life Decisions...

2007-05-17T22:54:00.001-06:00

I feel like so much has been happening since I last wrote! We went to Michigan for a wedding last week and had a wonderful time. It was a very relaxing trip. Evan loved the pool at the motel!

Anyway, Tyler and I could really use your prayers! We are looking at a little boy on the waiting child list who is 19 months old. He has hydrocephalus (used to be known as water on the brain). He has a speech delay (which could be from being in the orphanage) but is otherwise right on target for his age. He seems to have a very mild case of hydro but we really don't know. The medical report is very...hmm, vague. I do know that any medical intervention would have to wait till he was here and that would be 5-6 months from now. We have no way of knowing what time of brain damage could happen during that time. We have to make a life decision with very little information...in other words, we need lots prayer!!

Tornado Watch

2007-05-08T08:45:00.000-06:00

If you were watching the weather channel you may have noticed the big storm in Kansas last Saturday night. Yep, we were in the middle! Friday night there was a town about 2-3 hours from us that was all but wiped off the map. One of our friends had a teenaged daughter there. Fortunately out of the 1500 people living there only 10 were killed. Anyway, on Saturday we had several tornado watches. We went to a friend’s house to hang out in their basement...much nicer then sharing the cellar with a snake and spiders! There were 17 of us in the house (the Wirth's, their daughter with her family of 9, our family and my aunt and uncle who were visiting). Keeping track of Evan all the time was a little scary especially when the lights would flicker leaving it pitch black. We had a tornado touch down about 5 miles east of us and one about 5 miles north of us. We went home around 10 pm but I guess the storm lasted all night. I have to admit I kind of enjoyed the excitment of it all...yes call me crazy, but I would have rather enjoyed trying to get all 17 of us into the little bathroom and all the kids into the bathtub! Hmm...maybe I'm too adventures for my own good!

Tyler's blog

2007-05-07T13:38:00.000-06:00

Hey, just thought I'd mention my links on the side. You know...one of them is for Tyler's blog. Poor guy has gotten very few comments...hint, hint. I know he doesn't write much but if you just get on there and say "hi, I'm reading your blog" I think he'd like it. Hmm, I just hope he doesn't read this...

Change in the Waiting Child Program

2007-05-03T14:48:00.000-06:00

I just got off the phone with Nikki from CHI and she told me that the waiting children (kids with special needs) are now being handled differently. They have developed a list of families interested in special needs children, which we are now on. Instead of placing children on the "waiting child" site, they will be offered to the first family on that list who is open to special needs. The people on the top of that list are those who have been waiting the longest. At this point the whole list is pretty short (just over 10 maybe) and not all of those families are open to non-correctible things such as HepB+ as we are. All that said, we still have no idea how long our wait will be. However, it is nice to know I don't need to check the list every five minutes as I have today. When we are first on the list and our child comes we'll get a call or email. So yea! for now I can relax and wait like everyone else. I have no control so why worry anymore. Ahh...I can feel the relief. And then again...I now have no control, I'm completely at their mercy...hmm.

Cloudy with a bit of rain

2007-05-03T11:40:00.000-06:00

Tyler went on a "date" with Ellie today. They left to Salina this morning and should be back sometime this afternoon. Ellie got dressed up and was so excited! It is very quiet around here without her. I have to admit I've hardly notice Evan. He just quietly entertains himself and hardly makes a sound! I've been doing some cleaning but not as much as I should. I'm afraid I've been on the computer way to much.

The weather is a bit grim today...which matches my mood. I'm a little discouraged with the adoption right now and I've been checking the waiting child list, email, the yahoo group, and anything else that might bring at least a little news. I only know of 2 referrals our agency has received in the last three weeks so no one is really moving up on the waiting list right now. But I know that God is at work. I just wish I could relax a bit and focus on life right now! As my wonderful Nicky (the coordinator for the Vietnam program in the Kansas City branch) just told me "You will go through tough times in the waiting period and your feelings will ebb and flow. Sometimes it will be more difficult, and sometimes it will get easier. This might be a tough spell, but it will get better. I promise." ok Nicky I'm holding you to it! :)

Thanks for listening...I'm sure I'll be back to my normal patient (at least more patent then now) self in a few days! Darn these adoption hormones…

Fun Pictures

2007-04-26T20:24:00.000-06:00

Evan's eye's have been getting worse so we took him to the doctor today. they are not very red but they get all gummy and yucky within just an hour of cleaning them!

Also, I've found a photo editor on our computer that I like...hence all the photos. These are just random ones I thought were cute and decided to play with. :)

This was about 4 years after Tyler and I got married (the picture above this one is from the actual wedding day). We had never gotten professional pictures and decided, since we already had two kids, it was now or never! So here is a picture of Ellie and I looking at the wedding scrapbook after we got back from taking pictures. The funny thing is that Ellie remembers this very well and thinks she remembers our wedding!

Sleeping and Beauty

2007-04-24T10:06:00.000-06:00

Here are some more pictures I thought were cute. In the first one, I realized that Evan was being really quite and the last place I'd seen him was watching a movie with Ellie...which since had ended and she'd turned off. After looking around, this is where I found him. :)

Dreaming...

Easter

2007-04-24T09:31:00.000-06:00

I thought it was about time I posted pictures of Easter...I know, I'm a little late! This was the first time the kids had decorated Easter eggs and they loved it! :)

"Ooh...Can I drink it?"

Case of the Missing Page...

2007-04-23T14:35:00.000-06:00

Just when I thought everything was perfect... We are missing a page from one the documents in our dossier. I know it was sent to the Vietnam Embassy but it didn't make it back. So today I sent the document back and asked them to add the page if they have it. I'm really hoping they didn't staple it to someone else's dossier in Florida or somewhere...I've heard of that happening! So now, when I was all ready to send it to my agency, I have to sit and wait for a week or so and really hope they can find the missing page!

Adoption, Kids, Sickness and Fun!

2007-04-22T08:56:00.000-06:00

Wow, I can't believe it! Our dossier arrived back from the Vietnam embassy yesterday! We sent it on the 11th and were expecting it to take 2-3 weeks. It came in 1 1/2 weeks. I now have to make a copy of it (all 64 pages) and send the original to my agency, who will then send it to Vietnam to be translated and processed. I'll probably send it on Monday.

The kids are home and they’ve been a lot of fun. Evan just kinda looked at us uninterested when we picked him up. Ellie on the other hand was thrilled. She kept looking at us and saying "I'm so glad to see you again!" and then hug us or lay her head on our shoulder! She has been so sweet!

Today is Sunday morning but the three of us (the kids and I) are stuck at home. Ellie has a really runny nose and pink eye in both eyes. We miss being at church but are having fun. It is only 10:00 and we have already played Candy Land, Shoots and Ladders, and read a book together!

Break for Mommy!

2007-04-20T23:44:00.000-06:00

This week has gone by so fast! My mom took the kids for the week and Tyler and I have been enjoying the "vacation". I've done very little house work but my house is still spotless. I did dishes and cooked only once...and that was because we were having company! I've stayed up late and slept in. Then I had devotions for an hour this morning with no interruptions. On Monday night we went to Wichita and got a motel. Oh I love being kidless...and I'm adding another one? Well, we're picking up the kids tomorrow and just the thought of their little faces filled with excitement to see us, those little arms wrapped around me, and their little kisses are enough to remind me why all the work is worth it...ok, I'll take one more! Although the break was MUCH needed and I'm already looking forward to next time...I wouldn't trade my little ones for all relaxation in the world!

One Step Closer

2007-04-11T11:36:00.000-06:00

WooHooo! It's on its way! We just got back from the post office and our dossier is on it's way to the Vietnam Embassy in Washington DC so it can be authenticated! I think it will take about 3-4 weeks before I get it back...I'm not really sure. After that it will be sent to Vietnam. So basically I'm done with paperwork. I guess this is good but now I don't know what to do! I kind'a enjoy the organization and paper stuff...Oh well, I guess I'll stay busy with dirty diapers and dishes for now. :)

Almost done...

2007-04-10T16:28:00.000-06:00

We went to Kansas City yesterday for the monthly parent education meeting with our agency. We got to meet a few families that I had talked to through the yahoo group. It was a lot of fun!

Our dossier is almost complete. I'm only missing one document. It came yesterday in the mail but we weren't here to sign for it. We tried to pick it up at the post office today but it was raining and our dirt roads were really bad. We ended up sliding into the ditch and Tyler had to walk 3/4 of a mile to our neighbor’s house to get help! By the time we were out the post office was closed (they close at 12:30...one thing I don't like about small towns!). So, tomorrow we will hopefully pick up the last document and get our whole dossier sent to the Vietnam embassy for authentication! Then I'm basically done with paper work! :)

Just rambling...

2007-04-05T19:44:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy but nothing is really happening. I've been doing all the paperwork for the dossier lately and I've been surprised at how easy it has been compared to what I expected. At first I was overwhelmed but once I got my list (I live off lists...I'm lost without one!) I was fine. I actually really enjoy doing things like this that take a lot of organization and detailed work.

I really have nothing to say so I'm rambling...

But while I'm rambling...the other day Tyler was in the car with Ellie. She was singing "hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go...". When Tyler asked her who sings that song her answer was "the Dorks, you know, from Snow White"

Wow, Evan's HOT...literally

2007-03-23T12:21:00.000-06:00

Evan had a hair cut...a short one. I'm posting a picture below that shows what happened. Wednesday Evan was warming himself by our wall heater when I smelled something burning. It was only later I discovered what it had been...he singed his hair! So, out with the beautiful curls and in with the spikes. I'll also post a pic of his new cut. It looks really cute...when spiked, otherwise it's very jagged in front (thanks to the singes).

No, that's not food!

Evan's new cut

Dossier!!!

2007-03-22T12:32:00.000-06:00

Wow, surprise, surprise...We aren't supposed to start our dossier until we are a few months away from a referral (which would mean about a year from now) or we have been matched with a child off the waiting child list. However, I have been asking about so many children on the waiting list that my agency called today and told me to start my dossier!! This is so that if we do choose a child off the waiting list then we don't waste the time putting together our dossier. This will cut off a couple of months of waiting if we choose a waiting child. Wow, this was NOT what I was expecting today. I'm going to be swamped with paperwork now...but it's a good thing. So now I am ordering birth and marriage certificates, getting Dr. letters, police reports, financial statements...and the list goes on...But most off all, I am checking the waiting child list on-line constantly! I am really praying our child will appear soon...

(If you have any questions about some of the terms, check the bottom right-hand column on this page)

More Pictures...

2007-03-16T21:35:00.000-06:00

I promised to post some more pictures so here they are. The first one is of Ellie with milk in her hair. We have no idea how this happened. I turned my back and next thing I know Ellie is screaming for me and has milk driping down her hair. The best I can come up with is she was trying to see the bottom side of the bowl. Even she's not real sure. :)

"...?"

Kisses for Mommy

"Huh?"

My sweet heart

Mama's Girl!

My Lil' Superman

2007-03-11T14:40:00.000-06:00

Wow...we have SO long to wait before anything at all happens with the adoption! So for now my goal is to make a list and do all those things I'll never get to once I'm a mom of 3! Also, I thought it was time to stop boring you with all these long post and just send cute pictures for a while. So here are some of Evan, the cute ones of Ellie are still on the camera. Evan is wearing his new Superman hat which he loves. We also got one to match for his brother...whenever he shows up!! (oops...what if we end up with a girl off the waiting child list or something? we didn't think of that!)

What a Stud!

Aww...look at the tear

"Sure wish my brother was here!"

Our ways are not His ways...

2007-03-10T08:32:00.000-06:00

Last night we got an email from our agency that said the other family had chosen to adopt Tran Le Phat. Tyler and I just sat there in silence for a long time. I still don't think it has quite soaked in yet. Since he went off the list back in December and then the family backed out, I keep thinking, that could happen again. Tyler and I have been tempted to ask God to "smite this family" so they wouldn't complete the adoption!...Just kidding (we really do wish them the best). Back in December it was easy to deal with because we weren't even done with our home study. However, this time we missed getting him by just days and it has been much more difficult.

With that said. We know that God in in control and that he has that perfect child already planned for us. We know that once our son (or possible daughter) is in our arms we'll understand. But for now we wait...and wait....and wait....They say that the wait time for a referal right now is 12-15 monthes! So unless we choose a different child off the waiting child list, it will be over a year before we travel! It's a little hard to get my mind around this after thinking there was a possibility we could have our kid home by this Christmas! But, God is good. He knows best and I praise and thank Him for his guidance.

171!!!!

2007-03-09T12:47:00.000-06:00

WooooHooo! We got our 171 (CIS approval) today!!! We are now on the "waiting list" for a child (see the bottom of the right hand column)! The timing is amazing. I was told 6-9 weeks before we would get it. At 6 weeks I got a letter that said they needed more information. I was then told they usually take about 2 weeks to fix things after that. And now, here we are 4 days later, 2 days before the 7 week mark, and we have it! I think they processed it before they had the extra information. Praise God!

As far as Tran Le Phat is concerned, we are still waiting. Last Tuesday another family with CIS approval started reviewing him. They haven't decided yet so there is still a chance we can get him. However, we won't know until they make up their minds. They could take another week or so if they wanted.

I trust that God is in control of everything. But it has been hard to wait. I keep thinking, if our social worker had done the homestudy properly the first time we would have had our 171 on Monday and would have had the chance to review him before this other family. I just have to keep remembering that God even knew that! Please pray for this other family to decide quickly. Also pray for patience on our part while we wait!

Regardless, we are on the WAITING LIST!! Praise the Lord!

Trust...Rest...

2007-03-07T21:29:00.000-06:00

I take a deep sigh for the hundredth time today. These past 10 days have been the longest and most trying days I've had in years. Just trust...deep breath. My God is omnipotent. My God is omniscient. My God is love. If these are true, which they are, He is deserving of my undivided trust. Just rest...deep breath. Trust leads to rest. If I am trusting God fully and completely, I have no cause for worry. My heart should be calm and stayed upon the Lord. At rest.

A family with CIS approval is reviewing Tran Le Phat, and we still wait for our approval. They have first choice and unless they choose not to accept him he will be theirs, regardless of when our 171 arrives…deep breath. My God is omnipotent. My God is omniscient. My God is Love. He knows, He is able, and He is love. He will bring about HIS will, in HIS time, and in HIS way? He will gently guide me into His perfect plan…whatever that may be. Who am I to question? I would never be happy outside His will so why ask for it? Just trust...deep breath. Just rest...deep breath. Just breathe...

"Trust in the Lord...Delight thyself also in Him...Commit thy way unto the Lord...Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him." -Psalm 37:2-7

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your way acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” –Proverbs 3:5-6