Welcome, Little One

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...

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

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

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

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!

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.