Hockey and Hairbows

Happy Gotcha Day Finley!!! January 24, 2011

2012-01-26T10:43:00.000-08:00

January 24 was Gotcha day for Finley, one year ago in Liaoning China. We got to visit her in the orphanage the day before GOTCHA and she seemed to like us pretty OK that day but we did come bearing gifts for all the kids which obviously made us white strangers tolerable. Here is a video of that day:

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

We were so excited to have the opportunity to meet Finley the day before GOTCHA and we thought we would wow her with our gifts and love and that GOTCHA was going to be a breeze-- NOT!!! It was not quite like that. Finley showed up with Mr. Zhou and the day before she would not go to Mr. Zhou but on GOTCHA day she was clinging to him.

When we saw her she would not come to us and it was only over the whole time we were at the civil affairs office (we were the only family there and it was more like going to the DMV than the traditional GOTCHA. Fin just hung with us while we were doing the paperwork) she was giving us the evil eye and was not interested in us. As time went on, she opened up a bit but not really.

It was time for Mr. Zhou to leave and Finley was less than happy to be stuck with us. But she said goodbye to Mr. Zhou through the tears and she left with us.

She was not happy and cried most of the way back to the hotel. When we got to the hotel, we knew she (and us) were starving so Kevin and our wonderful guide Maggie went out to get some KFC right on the corner and Finley was left alone with me in the room. She freaked out the whole time and just kept running and banging on the door yelling "aye"-- auntie-- which is what she called the nannies at her orphanage. It was horrible to watch her fight for her life and finally give up and lay on the bed in the fetal position and suck her fingers hoping just to fall asleep and maybe wake up from her nightmare. Right about when she took the fetal position Kevin came through the door with food and it was like he was her savior. She ran to him-- I'm sure hoping it was going to be Maggie or one of her nannies-- but Kevin was there and that was good enough for her and he at that moment became her savior. She went to him and he picked her up and from that moment on she loved her daddy and clung to him wherever she would go. I, on the other hand, became the lowly helper whom she had no interest in and saw as more of an annoyance than a mom. Of course in time that changed and now I am loved like crazy, but back then she was not my biggest fan-- which was hard-- but at least she loved her daddy and was able to be comforted by him.

Finley has grown in every way in the past year. She has learned to trust and love me and she is a happy kid. She and her sister are the best of friends and Finley is the most giving and sweet little girl ever. She is always willing to compromise and is naturally an easy going little girl. Her English is nothing short of amazing. She speaks fluent English like any 4 year old would and her articulation is coming along. She loves to sing, do gymnastics, play inside and out and she loves to do crafts. She is the best helper in this house (and Owen too) and if you give her a job-- man does she do it with vigour!!! Her transition into our crazy family has gone exceptionally well and I will tell you this little girl is excited about getting a baby sister. Every morning when we are in the car to do the drop offs we first drop the boys at their school and we always pray before the boys get out of the car. Finley, every morning, will say "mommy pray for our baby sister in China". It is so sweet and she genuinely loves and cares for her already. She is an amazing little girl and I am proud to be her mommy!!!!

We love you Finley Hao Yi!!!!

Bad Blogger Award!!!!

2012-01-19T10:02:00.000-08:00

I WIN!!! Yes, I win!!!!

I'm so sorry I have been gone for over a week but life has been busy and not so busy. I was asked a while back to speak at our woman's ministry quarterly breakfast which just happens to be this weekend so that has kept all of my free time busy- writing my 45 min talk-- practicing-- and practicing more! I am crazy nervous about speaking in front of the 120+ woman for 45 min but I know once I get up there things will just flow and I should be very well practiced so I'm praying things go smooth. The talk is about our story and about what we have gone through in the last several years. When you write it all down it hits you how much we have gone through-- good and bad. I think the uniting theme is following Gods leading in our lives and having faith that the the trials that you are going through are blessings in disguise and when you can get down the road a bit you can look back and see God's leading and how the trials were a part of His perfect plan! I would love prayer for this weekend and my presentation. I'm crazy nervous but excited at the same time!

We have also had some wonderfully lazy days around here as well. Last Saturday Kev and Owen went to the men's breakfast at our church and the girls, Ethan and I just were hanging out. Ethan usually has games in Anaheim on Saturdays but it was a holiday weekend so there was no game. So, we sat on the couch in our PJ's and watched A Christmas Carol and did nothing. Kev and Owen arrived home from the breakfast and joined us on the couch and the laziness turned into another movie. The girls were in and out playing with dolls and barbies and coloring but generally we were just laying on the couch watching another movie. Then that movie ended and we started another and then another and another. Literally it was 5pm and we had just finished our 5th movie for the day and Ethan, Finley, Mia and I were still in our PJ's and our whole family was chilling on the couch. It was a WONDERFULLY LAZY day. Those days don't happen often but when they do they are always greatly enjoyed by everyone!!! My parents called at 5pm and offered to babysit all the kids so we could go to dinner by ourselves so we left the kids in their PJ's, I got dressed and we dropped the kids at my parents and Kev and I went to Sushi with our restaurants.com certificates. It was a perfect day-- wish we could have more exactly like it!!!

Other than that, we are just living. The computer I am typing on is going to crash very soon. The memory is gone and I cant even download a picture so I am sorry for no photos but I will take some of the girls today and try to post tomorrow on a different computer.

Hope all is well with everyone in blogger land!!

Emery Update!!!!

2012-01-11T09:37:00.000-08:00

We are so thrilled to have gotten an update last night for Emery. The orphanage that she is a part of rarely gives updates but they got a new director several months ago and some people are actually getting updates when they request them. They NEVER - and have never- given updated pictures but typically they will answer some questions if you ask.

It sounds like Emery is doing AWESOME!!! Her measurements seem a little off but they always are in China since they weigh them in clothes and the length measurement is almost always off significantly-- BUT, she is growing like a weed and, according to the answers that were provided, she seems very healthy. She just turned 9 months a few days ago so the questions I asked were directly related to where she should be developmentally at 9 months old and it appears she is doing EVERYTHING she should be doing and more!!! I am so happy!! The cool part about where Emery is from is that the orphanage has these "foster villages" that the healthy kids are sent to until they are adopted and the kids get EXCELLENT care and are typically developmentally on track when their parents finally get to china to adopt them. A friend of mine is in Kunming right now adopting their adorable daughter Emma who is 6 months older than Emery and was in the foster village as well. This little baby is beautiful and happy and totally developmentally on track in every way. She is smart and learns quickly and is very well adjusted. Her mom Christy has told me that it is clear her care in the foster home was very good and that she was obviously loved-- ohhhh-- that does this mama's heart good :) You can follow their journey here. We will pretty much follow in their exact footsteps in about 5 months!!!

Anyway, here are the questions and answers. All good news to me!!!

1. What are Long Jia Yu’s updated measurements (weight, length, head and chest)?

• Weight：8kg (17 pounds- 25%ile) ;Height：71cm (27 inches- 61%ile) ;Head Measurement:42cm (16.5 inches- 5%ile); Chest Measurement:44cm

2. Has her heart murmur caused any illness?

• No, it has not.

3. Has she been ill or had any physical problems?

• No, she has not.

4. Is Long JiaYu in the orphanage or in foster care?

• She lives in the foster family

5. Is she babbling and saying such things as “baba” or “mama”?

• She starts babbling sounds, occasionally can sound "mom"

6. Can she sit by herself?

• She can sit herself around 10 min.

7. Can she pull herself up into the standing position?

• She can stand up by holding the bed rails.

8. Can she use her finger and thumb to pick up small objects such as noodles to feed herself?

• She can exchange thing by using both of her hands. She can pick up the corn kernels, but don't know put to her mouth.

9. What does she like to play with? Will she search for an object that has been removed during play? (will she search for a ball if it is placed behind a caretakers back)

• She likes the toys that have bright color and can make sound. If her toy disappeared, she will look for them.

10. Who is she close to or enjoys playing with?

• She closes to her foster father, and like to go out with him.

Looks like Emery might follow in her older sister Finley's steps of having a super strong bond to her daddy. Hmmm...

Funniest Thing EVER!!!!!

2012-01-08T23:06:00.000-08:00

OK, my family was over tonight and my brother told me about this site http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com/. It is seriously some of the funniest things you have ever read. I have not laughed that hard in a really long time-- I was crying!!

The thing is, if you have an iphone-- which I do-- you understand. How many times have I texted ridiculous messages and realized after I pushed send that darn auto correct totally changed the word I meant. It is so annoying but in some cases hilarious!!! The ones below are just a sample but go to the site and read them-- you will pee yourself-- seriously!!!

And the last is a link to the funniest one ever but it has mature content so proceed with caution-- read the whole thing till the end-- hilarious!!!

http://damnyouautocorrect.com/15492/unwinding/

Introducing Emery Jia Yu!!!!!

2012-01-03T21:16:00.000-08:00

Introducing our new daughter

~~ Emery Jia Yu~~

Born April 6, 2011 in Kunming China!!!

I know many of you are aware that we had to let our first referral go because of some very bad health information that we received from China as an update. Because the information was so significant and because this was our 5th child, we decided her condition was too much for us and we had to let her referral go. It was excruciating and I grieved her loss heavily. Just FYI, she has now been matched with a new family and they are well on their way to adopting her and will probably get her this summer!!!

About 3 weeks after we had to give up the referral, we got a call from our amazing China coordinator who asked us about a referral for a super tiny baby. I had not thought about a very young one but when I heard the details, we were smitten. Turns out, this little baby was only 6 months old when we spoke (she is now 8 months old) and her special need was a mild heart murmur. She was in foster care and in a great orphanage program. I was shocked these babies were even out there and once we finally received the file, we could not believe that on top of all those wonderful things, she was ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE and we fell in love with her immediate!!!!

We had our friend who is a cardiologist look at her file and he said her heart murmur will probably be closed by a year if not 18 months and that she looked great!!! We were thrilled and our agency proceeded to basically put a hold on her for us. The difference with this little one as opposed to many other special needs children in China is that they required us to already have our paperwork in China with a log in date before we could accept her referral. Basically the agency had 2 months to place this child or the baby would go back to CCCWA (China Adoption Center). So what many agencies do when these little ones come available is that they look at all their families who can have their dossier to China within the 2 months and then they match the child with the family who is closest to dossier to China. Well, in this case, we were the closest family to being dossier to China so that is why we were able to get her referral.

We are so in love with her and have chosen to name her Emery Jia Yu! Her given name is Long Jia Yu so we are keeping Jia Yu (like we did with Mia and Finley) and chose Emery which we really like!

So where we are in the process is that we have sent our dossier to China and our log in date is 12-28-11 and our Pre-Approval from China is on 1-3-12 (we got Finley's Travel Approval-TA- last year on 1-3-11-- kinda cool) so we are now waiting for our Letter of Acceptance which should come in about 2 months-- 60 days + or -. Then we wait about another 2 months for the rest of the process which should put us in China in about late May/ early June which is perfect for my work schedule since the school year will just be ending.

When I first saw Emery I thought she looked so familiar and then I finally realized she looks a lot like Mia's referral. Actually, the picture below is really poor but they do look a lot alike-- look at their nose and lips and little round faces-- and even hairline. Totally a trip. She is a southern petite girl like Mia so they probably will look a lot alike.

Here is a comparison

Anyway, we are thrilled and know the next 5 months are going to take forever but hopefully we can get her soon!!

Thanks for everyone who has been so supportive with prayers and donations of clothes for Emery. We never expected to start all over with a 1 year old but she should be about 13 months when we get her so we will have to stock back up with the diapers and little baby things-- glad I didn't get rid of the high chair :)

The kids are all thrilled and so are we. God is good!!!!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T13:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas was a wonderful time this year. We enjoyed the holiday season leading up to Christmas and had a couple get togethers at our house as well as a few nice adult dinners with friends that we greatly enjoyed. Christmas Eve is always at my parents house. We start out at Church at the 4pm Christmas Eve service then back to my parents for dinner and presents. This year my mom did short ribs and they were amazing!!!!

The kids by the tree at our church.

Haleyanna, Annalee, Christian, Ethan, Nathan, Owen, Savannah, Finley and Mia (next year Emery will be there)

Making their silly faces

The girls at my parents

The girls playing tug-o-war with Cassie's boyfriend Jeff

Finley-- still working on that smile :)

Christmas morning was low key. The kids explored their stocking loot

Mia looking in her stocking

Finley getting some awesome makeup-- the girls love makeup therefore Santa made some visits to the 99 cent store this year to bulk up on makeup!

More stocking stuffers

More makeup!

And more...

All the kids by the tree :) Finley had candy in her mouth hence the big cheek

The boys pretty much got only hockey gear. Both boys got really cool "protective" gear and here he is showing off some of the lower "protective gear". I decided to crop the picture a bit as I am sure you didnt want to see the entire protected area :)

Reading a new book from Grandma and Grandpa Bock

After presents we went to Kevin brothers house around the corner and we hung out there and had breakfast. We had a lot of fun and then came back to our house and got ready for Christmas dinner that we host each year. Kev made an amazing dinner and we had a nice smaller group this year (my parents, sister and boyfriend, brother and family, Kevin's brother and family and parents). We had homemade butternut squash soup that had a spicy kick topped with cream and cilantro. Then we had brine pork loin that had been brining for a day or 2 with sweet and sour pearl onions, savory bread pudding, and chestnut bacon amazing brussle sprouts and lots of good wine. It was an amazing meal and Kev did a great job as always.

Christmas was a great time. It was so fun to watch Finley take it all in as this was her first Christmas with us and she just thought it was awesome! Next year Emery will get to take it all in for the first time :)

More Cookies with Grandma and Grandpa!!!!

2011-12-20T10:11:00.000-08:00

We did our second installment of "Cookies with Grandma" last night. I am very sorry for the quality of the pictures, but they were taken with my iphone because I was too lazy to get my good camera out-- sorry!! Anyway, it was a lot of fun but we were missing the boy--- where were they you ask? Well, scroll down...

The girls love painting the cookies

So much fun- they pain with food coloring and egg whites.

Grandma Bock and Kevin-- don't they look a lot alike-- minus the beard :)

They loved every minute of it!!!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for all your hard work. It is a tradition we all look forward to every year.

Again, the horrible quality of an iphone camera-- and in the dark-- but here is where the boys were.....

Throwing up sick all night. Owen camped out on the couch all night-- he says it makes him feel better to sleep by the Christmas tree-- never to far from his bowl.

And Ethan was no better. He stayed in his bed and it was pitch black when I took this picture so its horrible but the poor boys were so sick. Girls had it last week and they got it this week. For the girls it was only a 24 hour thing so I am hoping it is that way for the boys. They both seem a bit better this morning but it always gets worse as the day goes on. Pray they get better and we all stay healthy!!!!

Way Too Busy and Sick Kids

2011-12-15T10:46:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we had a huge event at our church called Bethlehem Marketplace. It is a recreation of a marketplace in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus. It is phenomenal and done sooooo well. This year we had over 3500 people!!! We have been involved in it for 3 years now and this year we were 100% in charge of the food. We run "Uncle Esau's cafe" where we serve beef kabobs, lentil soup, jasmine rice and fresh squeezed lemon lime juice. The food is amazing and Kevin prepared and cooked everything. Our Sunday School class stepped up and really helped with the serving and prep. It turned out amazing but really took it out of us. We were there at the church cooking from Friday till Sunday everyday from about 12 noon till about 10pm. The whole family was involved and the girls, boys and us were there the whole time. The kids loved it and just played and helped the whole time but needless to say, come Monday morning we were all exhausted. I let the kids sleep in before we went to school but as the week wore on, the girls both got sick and we were dealing with throwing up for a couple days-- uggg!! They both are fine now, but it was not fun there for a bit.

I did not take hardly any pictures because I was soooo busy cooking and serving the whole time. Someone tagged me on Facebook with this pictures of Ethan so I decided to post it. He was dressed up as well.

Since the girls were both throwing up-- sorry TMI-- I had them sleep on the leather futon so it made for easy clean up but luckily they didn't throw up on the couch-- they made it in the bowl. Notice Mia's nasty pillow-- I had her sleep with that one since it could be tossed if necessary.

Notice the bowl... poor girls...

They are fine now and back to school.

I think our whole family is healthy right now and I am praying it stays that way.

We have some Christmas parties this weekend-- should be pretty busy but nothing compared to last week-- looking forward to relaxing a bit :)

Cookies with Grandma and Grandpa

2011-12-05T22:45:00.001-08:00

Our yearly Christmas tradition of of making cookies with grandma and grandpa Bock has been split into two wonderful experiences. We decided to decorate gingerbread cookies in one event and then do our normal making sugar cookies and decorating them in another event. We thought it would be more fun for the kids and sure enough, the first event was great!!

Grandma and the girls. Grandpa was watching the game so he was in and out- sorry I didn't have many pictures.

Grandma brought lots of goodies to put on the gingerbread boys and girls. The kids loved decorating them. They had not done gingerbread decorating before so this was a lot of fun for them!!

The boys had a lot of fun as well. Grandma also brought hot chocolate so the boys were enjoying that as well-- like Ethan's mug-- ya a measuring cup :)

And Kevin got in on the decorating as well.

We had a great time as always!!! Looking forward to the next cookie making event :)

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-28T19:36:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving is always the tradition of going to the central valley of California to our cousins house. We use to go to my grandparents house but they have both been gone for a few years so we still maintain the tradition of going up north so we can see all our family once a year. It is such a great time!! We get a hotel (3 hour drive) by my cousins in Tulare and spend all day and into the night on Thanksgiving at her house then go to our land the next morning and top it off at our favorite Mexican restaurant El Tap in Porterville for lunch and then off to my other cousins for dinner. We have a wonderful dinner with family with a huge fire and all kinds of shooting festivities for the kids. We then take off and drive home late Friday night. It is a wonderful time!!! Of course I forgot about pictures when we were with the family but got lots from the land.

It was pretty chilly so the girls were dressed for warm!

Ethan and Fin

Playing around the stream

The Girls-- Mia, me, Fin, Hailey and Savannah- front

Cassie (sister), Mom, Amy and Annalee (Annalee is 3 months younger than our Emery will be so it will be fun them growing up together-- Savanna and Mia are only 5 months apart as well)

Yes, this is what you think. Sorry for this but it was too funny that they were all squatting by each other totally on their own. I told them to hold hands and smile!!!

The boys conquered the massive hill!

My big 13 year old!!!

And then someone got the great idea to get IN the water-- not the best idea but we went with it!

Until Owen stripped--

And the girls decided to get everything wet-- luckily we had a change of clothes.

Yes, this is Ethan driving my dads car. Now, this is not something we like, but my dad drove his big truck on this property when he was only 12 so my brother and my dad decided that the boys-- Ethan-13, Owen-11 and Christian-11-- all needed to practice driving on the land. And so they did-- only on the land and they knew it!!! They actually did a good job. Christian lives on a farm so he gets to drive tractors all the time-- they all did a good job.

So that was our awesome Thanksgiving!!! Lots to be thankful for. Finley loved her first Thanksgiving and we are so blessed in so many ways!!!

Hockey and Makeup

2011-11-22T10:27:00.001-08:00

We have been busy around here with hockey always dictating a lot of what we do. Since Ethan is on the high school hockey team (as an 8th grader)and Owen is the stick boy and gets to practice on Tuesday and Thursday with the team so he is getting really good. Every week we have 2 practices and on Saturday we always have a game in Anaheim right by Disneyland at the rink where the DUCKS practice. In fact, we see DUCKS players all the time and Teemu Salanie's son is on one of the teams we play in our league so we see him all the time. Anyway, we make hockey a family event and the girls come to all the practices and games. They know the rinks well and have figured out all the fun stuff to do. I swear they are half raised in a hockey rink-- poor girls-- but they love it!!!

Ethan is #15 and he often plays defence but the coach has been putting him into forward a lot recently.

Ethan is one of the Assistant Captains. That is a huge compliment especially for an 8th grader on a high school team. He shows lots of really strong leadership skills and I am sure that is why the coach made him Assistant.

And here is what the girls have been up to the last few times at the rink.

Mia got a makeup set for her birthday and loves- and I mean loves- to put makeup on anyone who will sit there for her. Well, her sister being the sweet sister she is, will sit there and let Mia do whatever she wants to her.

After doing up Finley's face, she, in this picture, has moved onto her nails.

Love the way Mia is looking at Finley-- too cute!!!

Oh the joys of Hockey life!!!!

Adoption, Dave and Life

2011-11-15T13:17:00.001-08:00

I have had a few people ask where we are with the adoption. We just sent in our supplement 3 for our I800A last week and it was confirmed USCIS received it on Monday. What that means is when you adopt, you have to have approval to bring an orphan into the USA (that's the I800A approval). With Finley, we had an I800A approval and that is good for 18 months. So, since we are still within the 18 months (it expires November 24, 2011-- cutting it close) we don't have to submit a bunch of additional paperwork and wait the 2 months plus for the full approval rather we just have to submit and new document that says we want to add an additional child to the original approval and then they approve it and send the new approval out to us. We expect the approval in about 3 weeks and then as soon as we get the approval back, it will be about 1 week to get a bunch of paperwork for our dossier (a bunch of papers that go to China) authenticated and sealed at the Chinese Embassy and then we are DTC-- DOSSIER TO CHINA!!!! Realistically, we are about 1 month from sending out paperwork to China and that is a HUGE step!! Once our paperwork goes to China we will be logged in (LID) and then and then we wait and wait and wait. Our goal is to be in China in May, so it appears we are probably in line to be at about that time frame.

That is the timeline update and once paperwork is in China we will be able to show pictures and do all that stuff but until then, I have to keep things quiet.

On other notes, we are still working the Dave Ramsey budget really well. Even in the process of desperately trying to get money together for this adoption, we are still finding money to be able to pay things off. We are moving down our DEBT LIST that is posted on our refrigerator really fast-- way faster than we thought. Of course, we have some major adoption payments coming up so we might have to slow down on paying things off for a few months, but as soon as we pay our agency fees, we are back paying debt off. We actually only have a few things left to pay (bigger $$ items) before we are out of debt except for my student loan and our house. I cant believe how close we are and our goal of debt free except for the house in 2 years is totally going to happen-- I have faith!! Don't get me wrong, we still struggle but for the first time in our lives we are living below our means. It is not easy. I don't shop-- at all! I have not bought the kids anything new in many months with the exception of one birthday gifts for the girls. I have not bought myself ANYTHING in months and I am living on a tiny budget with literally no wiggle room. We don't eat out unless it is Wednesday nights (church) and we use a restaurant.com certificate and a few little .99cent things here and there. We are crazy dedicated but it is serving us well. We have been able to save and pay things off and we are actually able to pay for our adoption expenses. Again, it is not easy, but we are doing it and I am loving the freedom I feel knowing this area of our life is in control-- literally for the first time in our lives. I don't mention this to say we are so great. I say it to inspire other that control of your finances CAN BE DONE!! We are proof of it and we were HORRIBLE before this program. If we wanted it, we got it and didn't really understand the idea of delayed gratification. We started to change things about 2 years ago but still did not live within a budget over the last 2 years. While we did not incur more debt over the last 2 years we still did not manage our money well and we are now digging out of the hole we created. I am so proud of ourselves!!! Plus I mention all this because I do get people asking about how we are doing with Dave's program so I figured it was time for an update.

Owen giving the girls hockey lessons. Finley taking a slapshot. Sorry the quality is poor. It was with my cell phone.

Mia taking her slapshot

Other than that, we are living life. We are trying to slow things down during this time of year and to focus on the reason for the season. We are going to try to implement some low cost traditions this year so if anyone has any suggestions, we would love them!!! I am looking forward to this holiday season so very much and cant wait to bake cookies and bundle up in front of the fireplace (ya right-- not too cold here in So Cal) and watch Christmas specials. My friend Kim at 3Peanuts wrote a great post yesterday about slowing down and de-stressing the holidays. I read the post out loud to my husband and we both agreed we wanted to de-stress our holidays and we are going to talk about ways we can do that soon. I encourage others to de-stress as well and slowing down and paying attention to the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Sorry, a glitch & Generosity!

2011-11-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

Sorry everyone but we had a glitch on our blog today and it reverted to only invited readers. I did not want the settings to be that way so it is changed back now. So sorry if anyone was unable to see the blog.

I wanted to thank so many of you who have offered to send me clothes and those who already have. It is amazing to see the generosity in the adoptive community and I am moved by all of you!!!

I wanted to post one story in particular. The day I posted my "clothing plea" I received an email from a wonderful woman who was going through some turmoil of her own. She had a dream of adopting from China and had collected lots of beautiful clothes and dolls etc. over the years. I do not know the specifics that went into her decision but she had been feeling that God was calling her to give up her adoption dream. She had restled with the decision and many tears were shed but she felt she needed to be obedient to what God had been asking. The night before I posted my clothing plea she had laid the adoption at God's feet and asked him to show her what to do. If He wanted her to give this adoption to Him then to show her someone to give all the wonderful clothes to. The next morning she looked on my blog and saw my post and I guess she was moved and felt like God had put this whole situation together. She felt that it was devine arrangement of circumstances that she had made her plea to God and asked for a person to give her clothes to and the next morning she saw my post about needing clothes for our daughter from China. She felt Gods leading and tremendous peace about her decision to give the adoption back to God and that He had something different for her in the future. She emailed me and told me the situation and asked if she could send me the clothes. Of course I was terribly moved by her story and felt that God's hand was in the whole situation. I was amazed by her trust in what God had for her and felt blessed to be a part of His plan.

This amazing woman sent us a HUGE box full of the most beautiful NEW clothes and toys. It was such a blessing to us not only to receive the gifts but also to see how she had trusted in the Lord and He was leading her life. Opening that box was so emotional. There was tremendous excitement about seeing the items but tremendous sadness of a dream ending but tremendous excitement about what God had in store for her. Her obedience to what HE wanted was moving. When opening the box and looking at the items, Ethan actually said that he thought this lady was "very brave". When I asked what he meant he said that she was being very brave to be giving up what she wanted and doing what God wanted. I think she taught all of us a lesson- a very valuable lesson about obedience and I cant wait to see where God takes this amazingly Godly woman!!

I did ask if I could post her story and she was gracious enough to allow me to do so. She had hoped that through her journey that another struggling person might somehow be influence or moved by her situation and be lead to follow blindly to what God has for their life. What an amazing testimony!! We feel blessed to have been a part of her journey and genuinely appreciate her generosity. I hope to grow our friendship!!

Within all the clothes were a few older girl outfits so I put this beautiful Matilda Jane dress that she had given me on Finley. I will let the pictures speak for themselves-- ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Just beautiful!!

Finley loves spinning and thought this was a spinner dress so she decided to spin and spin and spin!

And Spin

And Swing

I love her true smiles. It is so full of life and shows so much of her personality. She is such a happy easy going little girl. We feel so blessed to have her!!

What a beautiful dress!!!!

On the horse trail behind our house

Barefoot-- ouch!

Running-- they were racing and Finley was holding her own with her speedy sister-- man can Mia run!

Sisters-- awwww!!!

They have so much fun together.

Mia is the typical type A leader and Finley is the easy going happy to play anything one. I wonder how our new little one will fit in???

2011-11-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

Download this mp3 from Beemp3.com

The Girls Preschool Halloween Party

2011-10-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

The girls had their fun little Halloween party at school today. The girls sported their cool costumes and off to school we went!! I was in charge of the cookie decorating station so I did not walk around with the girls but they came through my station and I was able to get some cute pictures then.

Finley enjoying some awesome frosting. Finley was Jesse.

Mia and Addy getting ready for one of the fun centers.

My pretty little girl!!!

She is so sweet at school :)

Mia getting ready for one of the fun centers

Mia decorating her cookie

Addy and Finley at the cookie decorating station

Finley showing Mia her loot. I love the look on Finley's face-- it is so cute!

Looking at their candy

Waiting for the next center

Love how Finley is sitting. She actually sits like that often.

The teacher made me take a picture with the girls-- not overly thrilled with it-- love the bags and wrinkles-- this is why I stay out of pictures-- yikes!!!

Is Mundane OK?

2011-10-22T17:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the recent lack of pictures but lots of thoughts have been going through my head but not a lot of camera time to take pictures-- so, you are getting lots of narratives.

With lots of time taken on my off work days to complete adoption paperwork, my sweet little girls are spending lots of downtime being board. They are watching lots of TV, doing lots of coloring and just sitting around being board. I am not normally a sit at home and watch TV mom but I have to say that has been the way things have been for the last month. I feel guilty for letting the girls just sit around and play and not giving them lots of activities to do but a part of me wants to get rid of that guilt because is it really THAT BAD that my kids just chill? The mommy guilt really gets to me but I keep thinking that letting my kids chill should not be a source of guilt.Yes, they are probably watching too much TV but it that really that bad? They go to preschool 4 mornings a week so a chill out afternoon is kind of nice.

I'm starting to realize with our new little one coming home in spring that we are going to have to have a bit of a new normal. With 5 kids and 3 little ones, I think we will probably be spending more time at home just playing and chilling. If that is going to be more of the new normal, I need to kick the guilt thing because if I don't, I think I'm going to be feeling guilty all the time.

So, what can I do about that? Are lazy afternoons and doing nothing Fridays (they don't have school on Fridays) OK? Is it OK to just have maybe a couple days a week where we go out and do something-- other than preschool-- OK? I am just such a busy person and like to be active that these down times are freaking me out a bit. I hear other moms talk about all the activities their kids are in and that they do this and that and those are the times I look at the girls schedule and I feel bad. Honestly, a lot of our time centers around the boys hockey so we do go to hockey together as a family but the girls are just not in a lot of activities right now. I don't see this getting better anytime soon-- especially adding our new little one to the family-- so how do I get OK with this?

Anyway, any input would be appreciated. I honestly am struggling with this right now and would like to have others weigh in if this is OK or not.

Thanks for the input and also for all the help so many of you are willing to give with regards to clothes for our new one. All of your generosity is amazing and I thank you so much for that!!!!

What??? Another One???

2011-10-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

When you announce to people that you are adopting # 3 and moving onto # 5 you get some interesting reactions. Some think it is great and others just say very little. It is not like when we adopted Mia or even Finley-- it is just different. People are never rude, but they have different feelings about adopting "AGAIN!" Many think we should be happy with our 4 and why are we putting the ourselves through this stress and strain again. Many think it is not fair to the kids we have and others think we are crossing the line into a LARGE family and that is not our societal norm. Many are very happy for us and understand our calling to adopt, but others do not get it and frankly, are not overly thrilled.

I had an awesome email from a family member who admitted that when he saw we were adopting again he thought "What-- again??? When are they ever going to stop?" He proceeded to tell me what a hypocrite he felt like because he remembered after having that thought that God calls us to be outlandish-- to do things that are not normal and challenge the rules-- to be WEIRD!!! He referred me to a book that I am going to read about being weired for God. He said he felt so bad about his thoughts and was so happy we were following the Lords calling in our lives and that we were being WEIRD for the Lord. I genuinely appreciated his email and it really made me think.

I wanted to post this article written by an adoptive mom who explains the reasons why many of us adopt and grow our families into bigger than average families. She experienced peoples judgement upon growing their family outside societal norm and continuing to adopt children. She explains things so perfectly and I encourage you to keep reading as it really sums up what I am feeling.

Thanks

Over the years, starting even when we had just two kids, I have heard statements (from friends, family, and strangers alike) such as “you don’t need any more kids,” “you have enough kids,” “well, surely now you have enough kids” and “why would you adopt again? You have enough kids already!”

These types of statements used to make me feel like I had to explain our decisions or they used to make me feel like I needed to be a better parent because maybe if they saw that I was the best parent in the universe, they would think that I could “handle” more kids.

I have tried (in vain) to explain to people that we are adopting children WHO DO NOT HAVE A FAMILY, kids who NEED A HOME, but this does not seem to matter to those who continue to make this statement after or before each addition we have made to our growing family. I know that some of it has been said by those who are concerned because they do not want to see us overwhelmed or having a harder life than we could have if we chose the easier path, but this is the path we have chosen, and all we need need is support.

Recently, a family member said to me again, “you have enough kids” and for the first time, instead of feeling like I needed to justify our decisions and make excuses and explanations, I felt angry. I thought about all the other times that people have said to me similar things and I realized that many of those things were said before the addition of some of our kids, kids who those same people now love and adore. Kids who now have a home and a family. Kids who are no longer orphans. Kids who I could not be more proud to call my children. Kids who have made our lives richer, not harder. Kids who have taught me more than I have taught them. Kids who have given me more than I have given them. Kids who we would not know had we thought of our family in terms of “enough.” And, I was angry.

I have listened to well-meaning friends or family members over the years say things that have hurt, badly, and for the most part, I have remained silent. Some people said this when we only had two kids or three or four, if four was “enough kids,” then what does that say about the last three?

Another reason it has me so upset is that we are talking about human beings here, precious children, not possessions. To say that one can ever have “enough” children sort of sounds like they are shoes or something.

Another is that I have never seen how it is deemed okay for people to question our personal decisions and give unsolicited advise and judgments, but it is not okay for us to do the same to them. What I mean is that when it comes to things that go against the norm, things like adoption, having a large family, and homeschooling, it seems that everyone and their neighbour thinks it’s somehow acceptable to tell us what a terrible thing we are doing.

Can you imagine how inappropriate it would be for me to say to a friend that I thought it was a selfish decision to go back to work full time when their baby was 4 months old because they wanted to pay for a nicer vacation or to say to a family member that it sickens me to think of all the starving children who could be fed for the cost of one of the brand new vehicles they buy for themselves every year? People judge it wrong that we went into debt to pay for an adoption of two children, but think nothing of going into debt themselves for a newer car, a bigger house, or even the latest computers, gadgets, and fashions!

I do not walk around telling people that they should not move because the house they have is “enough” or that they should not get another TV because the two they already own are “enough” or that they should not buy the latest iPhone because they just bought the last version and that should be “enough.” And, if you are shaking your head thinking, “yeah, but those are things, not children” then you are starting to get the point here! It is actually pretty uninformed to say “you have enough kids” as though they were objects. If there were ever anything I would want “too many” of, it would be children. Children are a blessing.

In response to the inevitable question, “are we going to adopt more kids?”, the answer is this: I don’t know. If you look only at logic, then the answer is…probably not. Logic dictates that seven children is nowadays, in North America, a huge family. Logic dictates that seven children is a huge expense. Logic dictates that I have a husband who is much more rational than I am and is less apt to make decisions based purely on emotion. Logic dictates a lot, but it does not dictate the size of our family. For now, we are done. That could mean forever. Or it could mean that tomorrow we will start the process for another adoption. Because God trumps all logic in my mind and in my heart. Our family size will be determined by God. He has called us to adopt, and I know that He is still working in our family.

As a message to our friends and family and to the friends and families of others who choose paths that are less socially acceptable…

Please support and love us where we are at, on the path that we have chosen. Pray for us, because the path that we have chosen is not an easy one. We know that you did not choose this path and we are not asking you to adopt yourself or have a large family yourself. We are not even asking you to understand or like the path we have chosen. If you choose to come and visit us on this journey once in awhile and ask how we are or offer your help, we would appreciate it greatly, but if you can only offer judgment and harsh words, please heed the wise advise of Thumper in “Bambi”…”if you can’t say somethin’ nice, don’t say nothin’ at all”!

Clothing Plea

2011-10-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, many of you who know me or have read my blog for any length of time know that I am a clothing freak!! I love clothes and nothing is more fun for me than to dress my beautiful little girls. With that said, dressing my beautiful girls is NOT CHEAP!! I have managed to do pretty well up until now and did not have the spending restrictions I have now that Kevin is retired so the girls clothes have been filled with Naartjie, Baby-Kid Gap, Gymboree, Janie and Jack and other great clothing makers. I am not a huge saver of clothes so I have made it a practice to pass the girls clothes down to friends or people that need them. The problem I am having now is that I have passed all the little clothes to others but have not wanted or needed them back since I didn't ever think we would have a little one again. Well, things change and now we are going to have a little one and we are going to have to outfit her. I have no idea where all the 12 month to 3T clothes ended up so I cant really get them back so I am asking others that might have 12 month to 3T clothes who might want to pass them down to let me know! I would be happy to save them all and send them back when our little one grows out of them, but I am trying to figure out how I am going to clothe this child with our non existence budget. If anyone has tubs full of about 12 months to about 3T clothes that they would like to pass down to our little one, I would be sooooo thankful!! Honestly, that would be a tremendous blessing as it is kind of stressing me out thinking of how I am going to dress her. Thanks guys for any help!!!

Also give me your thoughts-- and my parents and sister are not allowed to contribute because I know what you think --lol!!!

Harper Song- still my fav

Ella Song- getting way too popular

Kendall Song- really like this one

Elsie Song (Elsie is a family name)

So which of the above names does this little face look like???

I need help. Seriously having issues and Kev and I just cant commit. I'm thinking we may have to wait to see her updated pictures but I am getting sick of calling her our "little one". I would like to call her a name-- sigh....

Swimming with friends!!

2011-10-08T10:59:00.000-07:00

We had the Yingling's over for a nice swim/ moms relax day. The girls had a great time reconnecting and the moms had a great time talking. We swam, ate lunch, decorated cupcakes and even got in a naked swimming time too-- the girls love that!! It was a wonderful day and I always enjoy spending time with Karen as she always challenges me to be my best. She holds me accountable and I always feel like we have known each other for 20 years.

The girls love swimming and had a blast. Finley is not quite as brave as the other 3 but she is coming along.

We also decorated cupcakes which the girls loved!!

My pretty little thing

Katy really loved the cupcakes as evidenced by the frosting all over her face.

Miss Mia

Miss Becky

Sorry the following pictures would not separate but the kids had a blast swimming!!!

Test is Done!!!

2011-09-29T22:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much for all of your support and prayers. After mulling this over and speaking to several people regarding the pro's and con's of having this test, I decided to go ahead and have the test but to prepare Finley for the test and talk through the process. I did exactly that and from the second I picked her up from preschool till the second we walked into the test, we discussed what they would be doing and that this is a really hard test but that after we were going to get a treat! She was very receptive to this and kept asking questions and I think the prep really helped her get through this process.

She wanted an orange cell phone as her "treat" so that was the lure the whole time we were in the test. She kept asking for it to be over so she could get her phone. She did cried quite a bit but honestly, it was not as bad as I thought. It was better- in terms of her crying- than the xray and I really attribute that to the fact that she was totally prepared and knew what to expect. She did great!! Lots of tears at the beginning but then she just relaxed and she did well. She was very proud of how she handled it and off we went to Target to get her orange cell phone. She has been saying all night "mommy no more bad Dr. tests for me anymore-- right?" It is so cute and she keeps showing off her cell phone (which by the way Target had an orange cell phone-- go figure). She was perfectly normal from the point when she was off the table and on. No trauma, no regression-- nothing. I really felt the Lord controlled this whole thing and I am so thankful for that.

Anyway, I wanted to let you all know what happened and thanks again for all your support. It was not an easy decision but I appreciate all of your kind words and input.

HELP!! I don't know what to do...

2011-09-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

I am at a loss right now. After Finley's horrific test last week I decided a couple days ago to call the urology department where she is having a test called a CMG this afternoon. I left the nurse practitioner a message asking what the test entails so we both can be prepared-- like we WERE NOT with the last test.

The nurse practitioner called me back while I was walking the girls into preschool this morning (so I missed her call) and she left me a message about what the test is like. Turns out, it is WAY WORSE than the one last week. It sounds horrible-- 90 minutes long- insert catheters into urethra and anus and then fill up everything and it is just horrible. I called the nurse back to ask more questions but she has not yet returned my call.

I am at a loss. Kevin is out of town so I have to take her to the appointment myself and I just don't know what to do. I am in tears right now because I cant imagine making her go through this again. She was so scared last time and barley made it through the test and now I have to subject her to something even worse. I don't know if I can do it. I seriously am sitting here trying to decided if I should take her or not. This test was not ordered because she is showing issues rather it was to get a baseline of her bladder pressure so it is not something that is imperative.

I honestly don't know what to do. How can I make her go through something so horrible again? I don't know what to do. Can you guys pray for the situation and any words would be greatly appreciated. I just don't know what to do...

This and That

2011-09-22T10:12:00.000-07:00

Busy home here. Lots going on but things are good. First off many have asked how I am doing with the Dave Ramsey budget-- GREAT!!! I never knew I had so much self control! I am spending hardly anything and we are paying off debt which I am thrilled by. Kev and I both are totally committed so having both of us on board really helps. We are happy as can be about our new lifestyle. Best part is Dave will be in Long Beach (about 50 min from our house) on Saturday and we wanted to see him but didn't want to spend the $39 for the tickets. Well, good thing we didn't because some friends from church bought extra tickets and offered them to Kev and I. Of course I am going and we are so appreciative but Kev has to take Ethan to hockey in Anaheim so I invited my friend Kim so both of us will be going to see Dave Ramsey on Saturday-- yaaaa!!!! Thanks John and Annika!!!!

A wonderful Junior High worker at Church requested me to be her friend on Facebook and as soon as I accepted, she tagged me with a ton of Jr. High pictures of the boys. These are mostly from Surf Camp this past July but I love them and think they are great pictures-- Thanks Melody!!!!

Ethan and his 2 best pals at Church- Andrew and Ben-- Andrew's mom and I were in the same kindergarten class -- too funny!!!

Owen Surfing

My long hair boy-- its been cut since

Being a crazy Jr.Higher-- the boys love our Jr.High department and are very involved. I love that they love it so much as I was very involved in the same youth group at the same church when I was a kid-- Kev and I met in the high school youth group at our church when we were 16-- wow!!!

Finley was not feeling well a couple of days ago so we rested together in our bed. I took this pitiful picture-- poor thing

A little better

Well, Ethan had his first Hockey team and my pictures were pitiful but Ethan is one of the only 8th graders on the high school team and he was honored as being named ASSISTANT CAPTAIN for his team!!!!! I was so proud of him. He always gives 110% and is a big time leader and encourager to the other players. I was very proud of him to be named assistant as an 8th grader-- very proud of him!!!!

The defensive coach giving him tips before the game. They lost their first game but gave the other team a run for their money. They played the league champs from last year so they are considered the best team and our boys did great against them!!

We were at a BBQ the other day and got this cute picture of the girls eating their drumsticks. Yes my girls look like rug rats but they had fun!!

And finally another picture my friend took of Fin and I the other day at a party at their house. We did the cute little pig tails on Finley and I thought they looked cute-- plus, this is a picture with me in it which is a RARE event so in the interest of attempting to show there is a mom in the family, I thought I would include this picture-- lol!!!!

Horrible Test and Hockey

2011-09-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

First we will talk about the horrible test~ uggggg!!~

Many of you who are familiar with Spina Bifida will know about the X-Ray that must be done on the urinary tract in an effort to see if the bladder is having reflux into the kidneys (or something like that). When we were at SB clinic last time the Urologist thought it would be a good idea to have this test (CMG) done just to get a baseline. It was not 100% necessary because she does not show any symptoms of there being a problem, but they wanted to do the test as a baseline.

So we unknowingly went to her "X-Ray" today never giving it a thought of how they would do this xray. We got to the pediatric X-ray area and they gave me a little brochure on the procedure. Holy cow- after reading that I was ready to load Finley up and get out of there. It was horrible. First they strap the child down on the table then clean the area and place a catheter into the urethra and then fill the bladder full of fluid and then the child has to pee all the liquid out into a diaper laying flat on the table all the while them snapping x-ray after x-ray. Oh my goodness I was freaking out but I thought maybe Finley would handle it well.

That was a great thought but we were not so lucky. It was horrible. We walk into the room and she sees the massive table and she starts clinging to me and crying. I strip her down and put on a little robe thing and the whole time she is screaming. I then have to lay her on this little board that rotates meanwhile she is screaming begging me to stop and they then proceed to place a number of straps on her to hold her down. Thank GOD I was still able to hold her hands and talk to her. They then clean down there and begin to insert the catheter which hurts and is very uncomfortable. She is just screaming and at that point had been screaming for 15+ minutes. They get the cath in and start filling the bladder which feels strange to her and she continues to cry. They finally fill it all the way and tell me she can now void. This part scared me because they said some kids take an hour to let the pee out and most take from 30 to 45 minutes. I could not imagine 45 min of being strapped to a table until she finally pees. I told Finley that she can pee now and as soon as she is done we get to leave and go home. She said in her whimper voice "ok mommy" and she let it go. She was 100% voided in 1 min and they were shocked and impressed! They said they had never seen a kid pee out so quick-- man did she want to leave!!! So they took a few more pictures and then we were done.

It was a horrible experience and yes the workers were very nice and sweet and said most kids scream the whole time but it was still a horrendous experience. Finley was a trooper but again-- not fun. This was a good test to have done and the radiologist said everything looked perfect with no kidney reflux or anything so that was awesome news but I am happy to have this out of the way and hopefully we wont have to have another CMG for a really long time!!

The following pictures are of my little climbing monkey.

She is in midair on this picture. She loved it!!!!

She is such a climber

Ethan's high school (and 8th graders too) hockey team has it's first game on Saturday. They got their jerseys last night and since the team is a combo of 2 schools- Bishop Amat and Upland Christian Academy- they have 2 jerseys. Unfortunately, I got to the jersey ceremony too late to get the whole team in their Upland Christian Academy Jerseys (that's the school the boys go to) but I was able to get the Bishop Amat pictures.

Messing around with his pals

I hate the serious faces-- come on guys... smile!!!!

And the whole team

Good luck tomorrow team!!!!!

Current Life~ sorry it's long~

2011-09-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

Life is in full swing. We have lots going on but we do manage to find times to just sit in the back yard and take pictures of the girls swimming with my lame camera phone-- sorry tried to get my nice camera but the battery was dead-- so iPhone it was. Fridays are good days. I'm off work, girls are off preschool, boys are at school and Kev is at work-- so we just relax. In fact, it is 11:30am and I am still in my pajamas in the back yard online drinking coffee watching the girls swim-- awwww... relaxing. I love Fridays!! Plus last night while Kevin had the boys at ice hockey, I cleaned the heck out of the house, so it is clean and feels really good-- Awww...

So what is up in our household--lots!! First off the kids are good and in full school mode. The boys are in crazy Jr.High mode with school, hockey in the evenings on Tues and Thurs, church youth group on Wednesday evenings (which they absolutely love by the way) and now they are wanting to be on the school flag football team. We are trying to discourage that as it will leave no down time but they are insistent-- uggg!!! Life is about to get even crazier.

Girls are in AM preschool through my school district which is an amazing program. Mia is starting to read so they are working with her individually and Finley has just blossomed into a crazy social butterfly. They are in gymnastics and loving that as well! They are also starting Awana's at our church this next Wednesday which they will love for sure. It is a great program and the boys were in it when they were little.

Kev and I are actually doing really well. I have not made it very public here on our blog but I figure I will mention it now but Kevin had his hip replaced back on May 5 and consequently, 5 days after surgery, his police department started the retirement process on him. The hip replacement put him in better shape then he has been for years and is now mountain biking 3+ times a week for a couple hours a time but because the artificial hip has innate restrictions (although Kevin's DR. who performed the surgery said he would not have restrictions and would have released him to full duty), the attorneys for the city felt Kevin would have to have work restrictions. Since his city is small and they do not have any permanent light duty positions, they decided they would have to retire him since there are assumed restrictions with a hip replacement (ya-- for 80 year old little old ladies-- not for a physically fit athletic 39 year old man). So, the process started and on June 20 of this year, Kevin was retired from police work. It was bittersweet for all of us. Kevin was lucky enough that the hip was work related and therefore got an amazing retirement (really amazing and we are grateful for that) but even with the amazing retirement he still is down a lot of money each month. It is also bittersweet beuase Kevin's bachelors degree was in criminal justice and now it really will not help in his career.

On the positive side, Kevin has never been a sold out, in love with his job cop. He was an amazing cop and loved being on the motorcycle but it was never his passion. You can see how God began working on Kevin heart a few years ago. He brought onto Kevin's radar missions and he fell in love with it. He began taking short term missions trips on his time off and he soon realized God was preparing his heart for a love of missions. Throughout those years Kevin began to have medical issues with his hip through work and the hip replacement was going to be in his future. Back then we did not see God's leading other than we knew that Kevin's heart was changing and God was doing an amazing work in not only Kevin but in our whole families life. Fast forward 2 years, Kevin has now been retired and can now work any job he wants and will still pull an amazing retirement- God has firmly placed Kevin in our missions department at our church and he has now been hired by our church to take over the Short-Term Missions department (just one and a half days a week-- but it will increase with time) and God has provided him an opportunity to obtain his Wholesale Car Dealers License through the DMV and is now buying and selling cars from dealerships to auction and vice versa. He is just starting both of these projects but it is amazing to me how God has provided for us and has so obviously lead our family. God knew this was all going to happen and He had a plan for Kevin. I do believe that plan is starting to unfold in front of us and it is very exciting. Yes, money is exceptionally tight-- hence us starting Dave Ramsy's Total Money Makeover and Financial Peace University through our church- but God obviously lead us to this financial place as well. We are living on a budget for the first time in our lives and we know where every penny is going. We are paying off debt and IT FEELS SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!! I have not eaten a lunch out for over a month and we are living so darn frugal that it makes me laugh how far we have come in such a short time. God is so good and He so obviously divinely arranged this whole situation. I am happy and content for honestly the first time in my life. Yes I get frustrated and the kids drive me nuts but I just know God has it all under control as long as I am willing to give it to Him. I daily give my spending to God and give our family to Him so that He can do with us what He will. It amazes me what He is doing in our lives. God has even given me a bunch of extra time card work in my school district that is bringing in extra money there as well. AMAZING!!!

So sorry for the long post but I wanted to let you all know where we are right now. Lots has been going on but I have not really wanted to share Kevin's retirement on the blog but now I feel like I can. God is so amazing and we feel so amazingly blessed to have been given these hard times to really guide us where we are supposed to be. Several months ago if you would have asked if Kevin's hip replacement and the break into our house while we were sleeping and the unexpected retirement with the significant pay DECREASE and my cancer and all the other bumps we endured would have turned out like this-- I would have thought you were crazy!!! GOD IS AMAZING!!!!

Ok, To avoid a post without pictures, here are some pictures of the girls from a little bit ago in the pool. Thanks for listening to my rant!!

They took their dolls in the pool-- lovely!

Poor quality I know but the nice camera was dead.

Doll love!!

Miss Mia is an amazing swimmer now. She still freaks me out when she is in the deep end (like in this picture) but she seems to manage well.

Gotta love the bangs in her eyes. We had yet to get ready for the day and her hair was still bedhead.

Too cute!

Finley laid out her towel by the back door and was making sure her baby was ok. It was really cute!!!!

Again, thanks for listening and reading the long post.

Sad day in Hockey

2011-09-07T09:11:00.000-07:00

It is a sad day in hockey around the world. A plane with the top Russian Hockey team has crashed and all but two people died (I think 43 people dead). They have not released the names of the dead but they were many of the top names in hockey and are well known. My boys are at school and have not heard yet, but I am sure their hearts will ache for the families of these players. Please keep these players and their families in your prayers. I just feel sick right now.

Here is the news article:

A Russian jet carrying a top ice hockey team crashed while taking off Wednesday in western Russia, killing at least 43 people and leaving two others critically injured, officials said.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the Yak-42 plane crashed immediately after leaving an airport near the city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga River about 150 miles northeast of Moscow.

The ministry said the plane was carrying 45 people, including the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey team, and all but two of those on board were killed.

Lokomotiv is coached by Canadian Brad McCrimmon, former Detroit Red Wings assistant, and includes several international stars in its ranks, such as goalkeeper Stefan Liv of Sweden and Czech Republic players Karel Ranuchek, Josef Vasicek and Jan Marek and Slovakia's Pavol Demitra.

Demitra, the Slovakian national team captain, played in the NHL for the St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks. Other top names include Russian defensemen Ruslan Salei and Karlis Skrastins.

It wasn't immediately clear which players were on board the Yak-42 on Wednesday.

The Russian news agency Interfax reported that the survivors were Lokomotiv forward Alexander Golimov and a member of the plane's crew.

."There has been a terrible tragedy," Kontinental Hockey League president Alexander Medvedev said in televised comments after the opening match of the league's season in the city of Ufa was interrupted when news of the crash came. He announced a minute of silence and postponed the match.

~My Scary Little Girls~

2011-09-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures with my cell phone yesterday. I think they are so funny. The girls and their next door neighbor pal Lily were in the boy dress up clothes and having way too much fun. I was in my bedroom folding laundry and the girls kept coming through the bedroom door and trying to scare me. They were cracking me up so I took these cute pics. Finley is a scary black robe person-- Mia is a camo scary person and Lily is clearly a skeleton.

We are so lucky to have Lily living next door. She is a sweet little girl who is right between Mia and Finley's age. Her parents are wonderful and my girls are over at Lily's house all the time. Lily also has a little sister, Sophie, who is about 18 months so I am sure she is going to get involved in the play mix sometime soon :)

Full body shot-- too cute!!!

First Day of School Hockey in the news Dave Ramsey!!!

2011-09-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

Officially, all my kids are back to school. The girls started last week and the boys yesterday. I also am back to work my 2.5 days a week. I am a really bad mom and only took first day of school photos with my iphone camera so I'm so sorry the pictures are horrible but it's all I've got :(

Here is the 2011-2012 line up---

Ethan, 13 years old in the 8th grade

Owen, 11 years old in the 6th grade (Jr. High--yaaaa!!)

Mia, 4 years old in Preschool

Finley 3 years old in Preschool

The girls in their line. We decided to keep the girls in the same preschool class. They do very well together and we thought it would be really good for Finley (Mia too). This is Mia's last year in preschool and Finley will have one more year after this one.

Finley and the back of Mia at their desk. Parents were there too waiting for a little orientation.

Finley and Addy. Addy is my good friend Kim's daughter. She lives right by my work and by the girls school. We had them in the same preschool class last year and are continuing this year and on Mondays and Tuesdays Kim picks all the girls up and watches them at her house till I get off work and on Wednesdays and Thursdays I pick all the girls up and watch them till Kim gets off work. It is a wonderful arrangement and we are able to avoid any child care expenses. Plus the girls LOVE each other!!!!

Mia hanging out in the library

The boys started school yesterday and both seem pretty happy about it. This is my handsome 8th grader in his uniform. The school started uniforms for Jr. High this year-- the boys were not happy-- I think Ethan looks so handsome in his uniform-- he is growing up sooooo much and actually sounds like a man- his voice is soooo low!!!

And my new Jr. Higher Owen!!!! He is so happy to be in Jr. High and totally motivated!! He got back from Haiti with Kevin on Monday at 3am (actually Tuesday morning) and had to be at Jr. High orientation at 10am on Tuesday. Poor tired kid! He did fine and is now all rested up. He had an amazing time in Haiti and I would challenge any parent to send their kid on a missions trip-even at his age. It was a wonderful life-changing experience!!!!

ETHAN'S HOCKEY TEAM IN THE NEWS!!!

Ethan's School Hockey Team made the news!!!! Ethan is on our schools ice hockey team-- Upland Christian Academy (we combined with another private school- Bishop Amat to create our team- this is only for the first year or two till we get enough kids to make our own team). He is an 8th grader but they allowed certain 8th graders on the team (hate to brag but he is really good!!!) for the first couple years since the team is new. I'm really proud of him and his passion for hockey-- now we need to bottle that passion for school work:) Owen will be on the team when he is an 8th grader but our school is starting a Jr. High roller hockey team through the league the boys have been playing roller hockey for the last couple years. It is a great league and we will have our own Upland Christian Academy Jr. High Roller Hockey Team!!!!!

Here is the news Article-

Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League Adds Three New Schools11 Teams from the Eight Schools, Including Both Junior Varsity and Varsity Squads, Will Compete This Season Friday, 08.26.2011 / 3:08 PM / News The Ducks today announced an expansion to the club’s Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League (ADHSHL) for the 2011-12 season. Bishop Amat/Upland Christian Academy, Edison High School (Huntington Beach) and Long Beach Prep have joined the three-year-old league, bringing the total enrollment to eight local schools. In addition, the league has grown to include 11 varsity and junior varsity squads, up from last year’s total of seven. Servite High School, which joined the ADHSHL in 2010, has added a varsity team, while Bishop Amat/Upland Christian Academy, Huntington Beach Edison and Long Beach Prep will all enter the league with a junior varsity squad.

“It’s been extremely fulfilling to witness the growth of the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League over the last three years,” said Vice President – THE RINKS Art Trottier. “The expansion from one team in 2008, up to our 11 current teams, is a great example of the roots we are continuing to build here in Southern California.”

The 2010-11 ADHSHL season culminated with a championship match on Feb. 28 between junior varsity clubs JSerra Catholic High and Servite High. Over 3,000 fans attended the game held at Honda Center, as Servite skated to a 5-1 victory and first-ever ADHSHL title. In addition, the varsity squad from Santa Margarita Catholic High served as California’s sole representative at the USA Hockey High School Varsity National Championships from Mar. 23-27, 2011 in Bensenville, IL.

The Ducks launched the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League on July 1, 2008 with JSerra Catholic High School (San Juan Capistrano) as its charter member. Santa Margarita Catholic High (Santa Margarita) joined in 2009. The league then swelled to seven clubs for the 2010-11 season, with the addition of five teams and three new schools: Servite High School (Anaheim), Damien High School (La Verne) and Lutheran High School of Orange County (Orange). All league games are played on Saturdays at THE RINKS - Anaheim ICE. As the league continues to grow, the Anaheim Ducks will continue to provide financial support for each team involved in the program.

The Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League has a brand new website with news, videos, stats, standings, rosters and more for each of the teams in the league. Visit www.DucksGoal.com/highschoolhockey and click the High School Hockey link.

The full list of teams competing in the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League:

Varsity:

Santa Margarita

JSerra

Servite - new in 2011-12

Jr. Varsity

Santa Margarita

JSerra

Orange Lutheran

Damien

Servite

Edison High School (Huntington Beach) - new in 2011-12

Bishop Amat/Upland Christian Academy - new in 2011-12

Long Beach Prep - new in 2011-12

Oh Ya, I also wanted to mention that we are starting the

Dave Ramsey-- THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER!!!!!

We are amazingly motivated and we are going to get out of debt and pay off our house and save and do all that awesome stuff!! We officially start today - Sept 1-- but we have been living like this for a few weeks now. Iam so motivated I can hardly stand it. I will keep you posted on how we are doing!!

More Haiti

2011-08-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

I got a new update from Kevin last night:

Today was more of the same, although, we did have the pleasure of having Ernst as our volunteer coordinator today. We sifted more river sand for the masons, took down the wood frames around the house, disasembled them, removed all the nails and stacked the wood at the volunteer house to be used on the next house. We were allowed to use Owen's favorite three wheel motorcycle/truck thing today so we buzzed around town moving the wood, bags of cement, bringing water from the pump back to the drum at the work site and of course moving the team back and forth to the work site. People on the side of the road really stare and turn their heads when a "blan" (white foreigner) is riding a Haitian vehicle around the streets. The looks I was getting were actually quite comical. Niecie had prepared some VBS materials for the trip so her, Owen, Lloyd and Isaiah headed over to Siloe School and had about 30 kids show up for the program. One of the things the kids received was a whistle and while we were eating dinner, we could hear whistles being blown in the distance from several different directions. The neighborhood kids are great and are always eager to participate in almost anything even if it's just throwing a ball around in the street. I can't believe tomorrow is our last day to work and it's only a half work day at that. Tomorrow afternoon may be another beach day but that has yet to be determined.

removing nails from lumber that was used for the wall frames

Marcelle and Niecie with some of the neighborhood girls

sifting more sand for the masons

More Updates

2011-08-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

This is Kevin's new update:

This is a day late because our internet/wi-fi was out yesterday. Not much of a story to tell as it rained, rained and rained some more. We started work on the masonry part of the house and not long after found ourselves seeking shelter from the down pour in a nearby house that was under construction. We waited out the worst of it and made a dash back to the house. After lunch it stopped raining so we decided to try and work some more, however, the clouds did not comply and we were back at the house for the rest of the day. The power was off and on all evening and night. It rained throughout the night but we woke up to clear skies today. This morning we returned to the work site and made some good progress on finishing the walls. It is quite hot and very humid today so we are currently enjoying a needed lunch break. Since the internet is up, I decided to do a mid-day post in case it goes out tonight.

Lloyd and I mixing up some mortar

Owen, Niecie, Isaiah sifting sand

Marcelle, Isaiah and Niecie sifting more sand

making some progress on the house

New Haiti Update!

2011-08-23T21:37:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I am one day behind in posting but here are the pictures and emails from Kevin.

MONDAY:

Today was a little slower paced than we were expecting. We made some more wall baskets and then went to the site of a rubble home that we will be completing. It was put up and filled by the team before us. We sifted the sand for the crepisage (stucco) wall coating that is suppose to go on tomorrow. One thing you realize and have to come to terms with real quick while you are here is that you are now on "Haiti time" and things don't always happen on schedule and in fact may not happen at all. We also got rained out for most of the afternoon. We have heard about a tropical storm that may be headed our way but have not had any changes in the weather yet. We are rolling with the punches and in fact, the slower work pace and the extra down time gave us a chance to spend some time with friends and we made some new ones. Owen and I went out in the street in front of our place to throw the football around and before you know it, there were about six kids who joined in. Then more showed up on bikes and they let Owen ride too. Then the riding turned into racing up and down the street to see if anyone could beat Owen. (Owen was undefeated). It was a great time hanging out, talking and playing.

TUESDAY:

Today started with the team loading rubble from a pile in the street into a small dump truck. The rubble was then transported and dumped at the site of a rubble house to be used in filing the walls. It was tough work in itself (the rubble has been sitting for a while and is quite compacted) and today was hot so we made what seemed like slow progress. We broke for lunch and the rain started again. It rained off and on all afternoon/evening, in fact it is raining as I am typing this. We didn't do anymore work today but we did use breaks in the weather to visit the school site again, passed the football around, Niecie and Lloyd played jump rope with some of the neighboring kids. One of the boys that Owen had ridden bikes with yesterday showed up again. He was yelling "Owen" from way down the street as he was riding toward us. His bicycle was in desperate need of some repairs so I scrounged up whatever wrenches I could find at the house and gave his bike a quick tune-up. He was so grateful and excited that he didn't have to stop every few feet to put his chain back on anymore. He attends a Catholic school in Port au Prince and is in Grand Goave visiting his grand parents. He spoke proper French only and was so desperate to communicate with Owen. Daniel showed up and was able to translate for them. They were playing like they were old friends. He wanted his grand parents to meet Owen so we walked a few blocks to their house and introduced Owen. The two boys rode there bikes around for a while and Owen showed him how to jump over the piles of rubble in the street. All in all today was another good day, even if work is being somewhat delayed.

the team after breakfast in our outdoor dining room

-Owen sitting on the motorcycle/cart thing he is facinated with. Alex let him ride it around and last night he actually drove some of us

-Me and Owen loading up some rubble to be transported to a home site.

A Wonderful Sunday in Haiti!!!

2011-08-22T00:46:00.000-07:00

Kevin wrote this evening and you would not belive it but Owen figured out how to make his I-touch text from Haiti for free!!! It was so much fun texting him tonight. Below is the email from Kevin and it sounds like they are loving it and all is well. I will let you read and look at the pictures but I, again, am thrilled they are doing so well!!!

Kevin's email:

Wow today went by fast, I thought I would have time this afternoon to get on here but we stayed late at the beach. We went to church and saw lots of old friends and hung out with them after for a while. Went back to the house, ate lunch and then loaded in the tap-tap for the ride to the beach. We went to a different area of the beach that was real nice with palapas to sit under and chairs. Everyone swam some and then Maxie and Dave (a guy from conscience) showed up with snorkeling stuff and a football. Owen, Maxie and Ernst were gone the rest of the day.... I had to walk way down the beach to get them out of the water when it was time to leave. They had a blast and I guess there is some decent snorkeling here too. The tap-tap driver was real cool and spoke decent english...he was asking Owen if he wanted to stay in Haiti and teasing him about being a fish. We rode back to the house, ate dinner, played some cards, did our devotional time, showered and thats a day. While we were playing cards, Ernst, Niecie and Owen were sitting on the roof of the house. Then Dave showed up on the little motorcycle/taxi thing they have here and took them all for a ride around the town. Owen thought that was so cool. He figured out how to text on his i-touch and I think he is texting you right now.

Tomorrow begins our six day week of hard work so I'm going to get in bed because our day starts at 5:30!!!

owen trying to balance a basket on his head

getting on the tap-tap for our trip to the beach

marcelle so happy to be on the beach in haiti

Lloyd enjoying the warm water

Marcell, Owen and Ernst enjoying themselves

They made it to Haiti!!!!!

2011-08-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

YAAAAA!!!! They made it safely and the best part is the WIFI in the house they are staying in works!!! I am going to cut and past what Kevin said in his email but I am sitting here with the biggest smile on my face right now knowing they are doing so well, especially Owen. I am just thrilled to say the least!!! Here is the email from Kevin:

We made it here just fine, traffic out of port was insane and took a long time.....however, we were picked up in an AIR CONDITIONED van!!! no riding in the back of the truck!!! Owen was super tired but wide-eyed for most of the drive. He is loving it here, the food, the people, the sleeping arrangements, the house, the work, all of it. He took a bunch of pictures on the drive but they were all pretty bad except for a few (lots of blurry ones and lots of van door post pics).

We did a little work on wall baskets today in the vacant lot next to the CI house but Saturday is traditionally a half work day so we are relaxing now. We walked around a little yesterday and caught up with most everyone. Maxie was so excited to see me. He has been going to an English class taught by Nixon and he is excelling (of course). He is quite conversational now and we have very much enjoyed being able to talk to each other. He passed with straight A's last year and was very excited and thankful when I told him I brought money to pay for next year. He is going into 8th grade and has 5 more years to finish. He wants to be an engineer if he can get to college. The children and adults are so interested in Owen, everywhere we go they stare at him and some children come up, grab his hand and ask him to come play with them (Ernst translated that part). Owen doesn't seem to mind and no one has been aggressive or anything.

There is a girl named Sarah that is doing a 9 month internship here with CI. She is from Surrey, BC. She lives about a mile from where my house was in Delta!! too funny.

I will try and send some of the pictures now too,

A wonderful church from Louisiana has partnered with our church a few times and this time there are 3 people from their church- 2 of them have been there before with Kevin. Great group!!!!

Working hard

Cutting the baskets that make the walls of the rubble house. They basically make walls with that wire on the ground and then line it with chicken wire and then fill the baskets with rubble from the house that fell down. Totally cool homes-- you can read about them here-http://haitireplacementhomes.org/

Owen is my worker man!!! He is the hardest working kid around!!

Building the walls. They use to build the homes and had a difficult time attaching some pieces or something like that. Last trip down there Kevin was able to develop a way to bend the wire that GREATLY improved the way the homes were build. They named the wire the KEVWIRE and if you go onto he site I gave you the link for before, under terms, they have that wire listed as KEVWIRE and a brief explanation about Kevin-- too funny!!!

This is the bunk house where they are staying. It is in the back yard of the main home where they relax and eat meals.

The bunk house

Owen sitting in front of the rubble house that Kevin completed last October when they were there.

Taking a break-- It's crazy hot so you have to rest and drink a ton of water or you will have problems.

I love this picture. It is all the kids we grew to love when we were there. The first kid in the burgundy is Maxi who was the kid we just fell in love with. We sponsor him with my friend Laura through the church school there which is a way better school than what is available to him. Then there is Owen then little Kevin who my Kevin had a great relationship with (remember slap hands-- that's little Kevin) and then Jean Paul who we also fell in love with. I cant believe Owen is sitting and working with all of them-- too cool!!!!

Lining the walls with chicken wire.

I am so thankful they are doing so well. More updates to come soon.

KEVIN & OWEN ARE OFF TO HAITI!!!!

2011-08-18T23:45:00.000-07:00

Kevin and Owen have taken off and are currently on their way from LAX to Miami and then to Port au Prince tomorrow morning. I belive they arrive in Haiti around 1pm and they then have the 4 hour drive in the back of an open pick up truck to Grand Goave where they will start building Rubble Houses the next day. I am so excited Owen is going to get to experience this and my prayer is that this will forever impact him. You can not be changed by a missions trip to Haiti. The devastation, poverty and destruction is so overwhelming it is hard to even comprehend. But, the Haitian people make you realize how resilient people are. That God gave these people the ability to praise Him even when their lives have been torn apart. These people are the reason Kevin has been to Haiti 3 times and will be returning again in 3 months. The people draw you in and the comradely and love we have with these wonderful Haitians is unbelievable.

Luckily, Kev will have WIFI so he will email me pictures and an update every night so I will be able to update anyone who is interested in their adventure.

This is the truck that Kev and Owen will ride in from the airport to Grand Goave. It takes about 4 hours but if the roads were good and you just drove 60 miles per hour it would only take about 40 minutes-- long drive-- uggg!!! Owen will get a lot of breaking in as he drives through the streets of Port au Prince. That was very hard to see-- especially at the beginning of the trip. The devastation was hard to deal with.

Kevin with some of the amazing kids

And this is my baby boy who is going to get the education of his life. It is going to be so fun to take an entitled American kid and drop him into the middle of devastation Haiti. I cant wait to see how he responds. Owen is our worker kid and loves to work and is wonderful with other kids and adults so it is going to be so fun to see what this does to him.

Is Adoption Second Best???

2011-08-13T22:13:00.000-07:00

I wanted to add a little to this post and thank you all for your responses. I have really struggled with this and I am so thankful I was able to discuss it all with you. It has really helped me get perspective on this subject. I also want to thank the anonymous poster who was adopted from Korea who shared her opinions on this subject. That was an amazing addition to the discussion and I thank the anonymous poster for sharing her heart. Also I wanted to thank Kim for her addition. I know you were not even going to comment but what you shared and the perspective you added was very helpful for me personally. Thanks again for all the input!!!

Sorry to write a post with no pictures but this has been bugging me for a while. Our adoption story is like many. We had two boys and then decided to try for a third. We tried for about a year and then decided to be happy with our two healthy boys. A little after we decided to stop trying we were bit by the adoption bug and then decided to pursue adoption which lead us to Mia. A nice happy and very common story about our journey. The problem with this story is the trying for a third child part. For some reason, in many peoples minds, the fact that we attempted a third - or had two biological kids-- okayed us adopting. Like somehow choosing adoption is a good second choice but by no means should be a first choice unless you can not have your own bio kids. I am obviously generalizing but I find in the many questions I get about the girls, it seems the sentiment of many that ask is that adoption was a nice choice after having our own kids. Of course most would not say they think this way, but I would venture a guess that most non-adoptive people believe that adoption is second best.

This leads me to a conversation I had a few days ago. I went down to my friends house with the girls to hang out for the day and into the evening. Another mom came by to drop off her son to spend the night and we struck up a nice conversation. She was a lovely mom who was as sweet as can be. She was taken by the girls and asked about what lead us to adoption. I told her the story and included the part about trying for a third. She was taken with how perfect the girls were for our family and said she had always thought about adopting after she had her bio kids. She went on to tell me that she has a niece who was 24, married and has always wanted to adopt. She said she saw her at a birthday recently and she told her that they had decided to pursue special needs adoption for their first child. This wonderfully nice lady went on to tell her niece that she should not adopt now and that she should first have her "OWN" kids and then adopt after that if she still wanted to. Please don't get me wrong. This lady was very sweet and was very taken and respectful of adoption but I was just shocked by her comment. I started to hold my tongue but then I had to let it out. I explained to her that adoption was not second best and it is not something to be tried AFTER you have your OWN kids. It is a perfectly amazing way to grow your family and that adopted children are as equal in a family as bio children. She was kind of taken back by my response and I tried to be very nice and explain things, but the whole conversation got me thinking. Do people really- on a conscious level- think adopting is second best or is it a subconscious ingrained belief that many subscribe to without even knowing.

I'm not sure the answer to my questing, but I do know that I have had soooooo many people express similar sentiment without even knowing they are downplaying adoption. They just make statements that shock me and totally degrades adoption without even knowing they are doing so. Have many of you had similar experiences? Do you guys notice this? I don't know if I am overly sensitive but I am sick of people making adoption out to be less than having biological children. That is you have gone to great lengths to have "YOUR OWN" child then it is ok to adopt. I'm just kind of sick of it and I wanted to vent. Anyone have similar experiences or feeling??

Rincon Beach!!!

2011-08-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

OK--side note-- Not sure why the new blogger editor is putting pictures backwards but all the pictures in this post are backwards-- sorry!

We went to Rincon Beach last week with Kevin's brother and his family and Kevin's parents came out for one of the days. It was a great time and we had a blast. You truly are beach front and a stone throw from the water. It is an amazingly relaxing trip and the kids love it!!!! We had a wonderful trip!

Again, the pictures are backwards but Owen took this campfire picture of me and wanted me to post it-- too funny!

Mia climbing down the rocks. Our trailer sits at the top of the rocks and the beach is directly below. Very short distance to the water.

The girls with her cousin Kylie

Mia, Kaitlyn, Kylie and Finley

The girls found an umbrella and posed for some pictures for me.

Cute!

Mia loves taking pictures and will pose for anyone!

Too cute!!!

Of course each child was buryed at some point during the trip. Mia helped bury Owen this time.

Watching the activities

Burying Kaitlyn

Kylie and Lynsee (auntie Lynsee to the kids)

Greg and Lynsee (Kevin's brother)

Kevin's parents joined the party!

Cool birds in formation

The birds were a trip-- they even dodged the kite lines

Ethan showing off his well sculpted physique--lol!!

I just cant believe he is growing up so much. He is only about a half inch from my height and is almost 13 and going into the 8th grade-- I am blown away by how old and big he is getting-- wow!!!

Some of Greg and Lynsee's friends came out for a couple nights and they brought their little girls. They were so cute and the girls enjoyed playing with them!

Grandma and Mia

Owen flying a kite

Getting all the kites in the air

Finley flying a kite--wearing Kevin's sun glasses

Pretty girl!

Older kids boogie boarding

Older kids climbing down the rocks

Our little pro-boogie boarders-- not sure what was up with Owen but cute picture other than that.

Practicing her gymnastics moves

Owen and Kylie-- cute pic!

Finley loves the sand

Greg and Lynsee had their dogs there so the girls enjoyed walking them all over. Finley had Molsen.

Mia had Keeta

Rincon was awesome! We hope to go again sometime during the school year or even Easter vacation.

Hosting Chinese Students

2011-08-06T22:17:00.000-07:00

Every year our church hosts 100 Chinese students from Chengdu Sichwan China. They come to the USA for over a month but spend 12 of the days living in host family homes (people from our church) and going to school at our church. They learn about American Culture, English, Food and most importantly Religion. Every year we have a number of students accept the Lord as their personal savior which makes the whole program worth every little inconvenience (there are some with all the extra driving etc.). This year we had two great boys- Dwayne- 16 and Blues-17. They were great kids and we will stay in contact with them through email. We have been hosting students for 6 years now and are still in email contact with a number of them. It is very cool!!!!

Pictures came out backwards but these are our boys with the girls at a function at Coldstone Creamery-- yummm!!!!

The boys always love Owen becuase Owen will just hang with them. He is so easy to get along with and he will just sit there and ask them questions or go shoot hoops with them. Ethan is always off with his other friends and enjoys the boys but rather be doing other things. Owen is all about just hanging with them and finding out about their lives-- to cute!!!

More Owen love!! The three other boys are the boys my parents hosted.

The church sends all of us to a baseball game and the Chinese students always enjoy the experience.

The other boys are the boys my parents hosted. They were a lot younger-- one was only 12 and was just a few days older than Ethan which is scary to me. I don't know that I would send Ethan to China for over a month-- wow!!

Owen acting in his typical manner

Little miss poser!

And our non-poser!

I really didn't take many pictures of our student but we did have a great time and will look forward to hosting again next year!!!

Camping at Rincon

2011-08-03T11:36:00.001-07:00

We have been camping at Rincon beach in Ventura CA. It is a beautiful beach and we camped here for the first time a year ago when we were waiting for Finley. It is so cool to have her here at the beach a year ago we wrote her name in the sand. We are having a great time and are camping with Kevins brothers family. I am posting all this to my blog by emailing on my iPhone so the pictures are poor quality and the format is off and I can only email one picture at a time so each picture shows up as it's own post so thats annoying but at least I can post on the go. So here are a few pictures I took with my phone.

2011-08-03T11:24:00.001-07:00

2011-08-03T11:23:00.002-07:00

Beach camping!!!

2011-08-03T11:23:00.001-07:00

Finley Spina Bifida Update

2011-07-29T00:15:00.000-07:00

First I had to start with a cute picture just for the heck of it!!!! I love this picture-- pure joy on Finley's face-- LOVE IT!!!

OK, so we have some updates of where we are with Finley's Spina Bifida (SB) and out course of action. We had Finley's first SB Clinic yesterday. SB Clinic is where all major specialties that deal with SB-- Rehabilitation, Urology, Neurology and general Peds-- are all in clinic in the same place and you are in a room and they each come in one after the other to do their assessments. It is a long appointment (they tell you about 4 hours) but for us, since we were the last appointment of the day, it was only about 2 hours. Clinic is to monitor progress and to watch for changes. Most SB kids go to clinic during their growing years every 6 months to a year. They get baselines and then check to see if there is any deterioration that may be caused by being tethered or for whatever reason. For us, this was our first appointment where they were looking for baselines and also to see if they suspect tethered cord.

So we started with the Rehabilitation DR who immediately started asking us all kinds of questions about if Finley catheterizes and we said no. Then she said-- oh then she diapers-- we said no. She stopped and looked at us and we said she is 100% potty trained and she just kind of stared at us like it was totally unexpected. Then she moved onto the bowels and asked about our regimen. We said we didn't have one because she is 100% bowel potty trained also. She again just looked at us with a dumbfound look. She then scrambled for the results of Finley's renal ultrasound to see if she had any problems with her kidneys-swelling, etc. and of course there was nothing-- a perfect ultrasound and her whole renal system looks perfect. The rehab DR was just so funny. She had Finley walk and did some stuff with her feet but she said she could not believe how good she looks and said that they NEVER see kids like Finley and from a rehab perspective, she is 100% PERFECT!!!! We were thrilled!!!

Next came urology. He was great! Nice awesome DR who was just as shocked with how high functioning Finley is. The Dr. does want us to get 2 very important tests done that are not fun for Finley but he feels that these are necessary to get baselines and it will help us to determine if, in the future, she shows decreased bladder and bowel function we can point to the possibility of tethered cord. The first test is an X-Ray of her bladder. It is not comfortable and poor Finley will hate it but it is necessary. The second is some Uro Dynamics test. Not sure why they have to do that but again, it will help us in the future so I have no issues putting Finley through some temporary discomfort in an effort to help with diagnosis in the future.

Next came neurology. This was the DR. we have known for a while and the one we love!!! There has been some indecision with neurology because Finley's initial MRI showed her to be exceptionally tethered but she shows ABSOLUTELY NO SYMPTOMS of being tethered. So really, tethered cord is a clinical diagnosis- not radiological- therefore, according to Finley's lack of symptoms, she currently is possibly not tethered. So, the decision for now is to do nothing. Follow her in clinic and watch for possible symptoms, but for now do nothing. I did ask about having plastic surgery look at her large lipoma on her bum and they said they rather wait a bit and then maybe have plastic surgery involved later. They said if they have to go in and untether her in surgery later down the road then they would take care of removing the lipoma then, but for now, they do not want to bother it- which is not what I wanted to hear. I guess I wanted them to say that we could look into removing it. I know it is kind of vein but I really worry about Finley becoming self conscious about her "bump". It is not obvious to most and with most of her clothes you don't notice it, but it is there and a few kids have made comments this summer since she is in a bathing suit so much. They are not mean comments but they are often "what is that bump on her butt". Just kid curiosity, but I don't ever want her to feel bad about it. I don't know. I will get over it and maybe sometime down the road we can get look into getting it widdled down. Back to the neurologist-- he thought Finley was amazing and could not believe how agile and fit she was! YAAAAAA!!!!

Last came the director of the clinic who we had seen once before. He echoed what everyone else said and even brought neurology back in the room to watch Finley climb up the chairs because he was so amazed by her agility. They both just stared at her in amazement and even said to each other that maybe she doesn't even need to be followed by clinic. Of course she will be followed but they were just amazed and said that they rarely see a kid as high functioning as Finley.

Overall, a wonderful clinic visit. They ordered a few tests which we will do in the next few weeks or so and they said she is clinically doing amazing! So, no surgery for now. YAAAAAA!!!!!! That is our update. Our little nimble miracle is just as good as can be! We could not be more thrilled!!!

Gymnastics Time!!!

2011-07-25T21:06:00.001-07:00

*by the way, this post was all done by email-- totally cool feature of blogger I didnt know about-- try it out!

The girls have finally-- officially-- started gymnastics. Dance if fun for them but Mia just has a very natural ability with gymnastics and Finley seems to follow suit so we decided to officially enroll both of them. Mia has self taught herself the round off, cartwheel and other way beyond her age skills. She can jump into the middle splits without even thinking about it. She has an amazing strength to body weight ratio and she is very muscular. That serves her well in gymnastics. We decided to split the girls into different classes because their skill levels were so different. Don't get me wrong-- Finley is quite adept as well but is more at the front roll/ back roll level. Anyway, they had a great time at gymnastics and we are so fortunate to have a great kids program at our local gym. Mia is in Kinderstars where they work on more tumbling/ bar work and Finley is in Tiny Stars which is a preschool beginners class (one step from mommy and me). Both girls did amazing and are so excited to go back again soon!!!!

Mia getting ready to go on the long trampoline-- sorry there are few pictures of Mia. I started taking pictures with my phone and then moved to my other lame camera so I cant seem to get the Mia pics off my phone-- sorry!

Finley doing her side roll

Clearly enjoying herself

Finley on the zip line thing

Finley on the little balance thing (sorry for my lack of gymnastic terminology)

Bouncing down the trampoline-- gotta love her little cheeks hanging out. Her lipoma (bump) on her bum always pulls her undies or whatever she is wearing up her bum. It is kind of cute but I am always pulling whatever she is wearing down.

Summer This and That

2011-07-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

We have been doing a lot of summer hanging out. Not a lot of exciting and super cool things- rather a lot of relaxing, swimming, hanging around the house (and free things :). Consequently, I have been searching high and low for easy--non mess making-- things to do so we all don't go stir crazy. Yes we have been on 2 camping trips and we have one more planned the first week in August but other than that, we are spending time relaxing and just hanging out. We have 2 Chinese students, Dwayne and Bruce, staying with us for 2 weeks. They are part of our church's program where 100 students from Schezwan come to the US for over a month and they spend 2 of those weeks with our church learning about religion, American culture, English and a bunch of other cool things. We have hosted students for about 5 or 6 years now and we enjoy the experience each year. Our boys this year are very sweet and I will post pics of them soon. For now, here are a few activities we have engaged in :)

PS- still trying to perfect the mobile blogging but it is not the picture quality I want so I'm annoyed but still working on it.

Making sugar cookies. Yes a fun summer activity to fill the time-- the problem is now in the boredom of summer I am eating those cooking and I must say I am putting on a few pounds for sure. I can tell I am eating out of boredom and my thighs are having trouble fitting into clothes-- uggg!!!!

Mia proud of her creation

Finley working on her creation

Pre- decorated. OK, now for the lameness of me-- I can never save cookie cutters. Somehow they disappear all the time. Soooooo, the only cookie cutters I could find were Halloween ones. Therefore, we decorated cats, moons, pumpkins and broom sticks-- lovely!! BTW, the girls could have cared less what they were decorating as long as it involved lots of frosting and sprinkles, they were good!!

We have also done lots of coloring, drawing and painting. My nieces live around the corner- and we have a pool-- so they have been spending lots of time hanging out with the girls. Here they are working on their painting projects:)

My little hair dresser!!!

2011-07-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

I am playing around with trying to post from my Iphone directly to my blog. This is my first try and it appears to have worked but the picture quality is poor. I will continue to try to post- so bear with me as I might have a bunch of random posts to try to perfect this process-- by the way it is totally cool!! You can post from your phone.

Really??? Spina Bifida????

2011-07-18T10:48:00.001-07:00

While I watched Finley prance around the park carelessly jumping off the side of play equipment or swinging on the monkey bars to other parents gasping as she did her next daring jump, I pondered the fact that this little girl has absolutely no limitations due to her Spina Bifida. She is a monkey in every way and takes pleasure in watching us all white knuckle it as she leaps from one play apparatus to the next. Finley is truly an amazing child who defys the odds and is not at all what many of us would expect from a child with spina bifida. She has no limitations and even if she did have physical limitations I doubt she would let them hold her back. She is a tough cookie who is a fighter in ever way!!!

I think Finley gets a lot of her daring personality from just having that personality but I do think having Mia as her sister helps. Mia has no fear and does things with her little body that is way beyond her years. Having Mia as an older sister model helps push Finley to push the envelope.

Yes she drops from this and it is much higher than it looks in the picture.

She also jumps off the side of the slide -- the taller ones too. She freaks out all the parents as they watch-- I love it because they are looking for her parents to stop her and they have no idea I am mom because I am not Asian and then after her trick I cheer and clap and people look at us with confusion. I get such a kick out of that!

A visit from our Shenyang guide-- MAGGIE!!!!!

2011-07-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

We were so excited to get an email from Maggie, our guide in Shanyang from Finley's adoption, who was in Los Angeles on business. We were so thankful to have the opportunity to meet up with Maggie and hurried home from our beach vacation to take her and her friend out to dinner. Maggie is an amazing woman who was pivotal in helping us communicate with Ms. Wang at Finley's orphanage. She is the one who put us in contact and did a lot of the translation and really set us up to have so much communication before we got Finley. She has been so generous with her time and visits Finley's orphanage often and even brought gifts for all of us from Ms. Wang. She also brought adorable panda backpack's for the girls as a gift. It was a wonderful night and I am so thankful for the opportunity to get to meet with her and her friend. She is just an amazing person I feel privileged to know!

We went to Northwoods Inn which is very "American" with steaks and all kinds of old west type cuisine. The boys had already arranged a sleep over with friends so they were unable to come to dinner. The girls have a bunch of clippies in their hair that Ms. Wang sent with Maggie as gifts.

Maggie putting the clips in Finley's hair-- too cute!

All the girls!!! The girls loved Maggie and quickly warmed up to her. Mia said that Maggie was a pretty Chinese grown up and she wants to be pretty like Maggie someday. I thought that was so cute!

So cute!!

Maggie and I

The whole gang

We had such a great time with Maggie and were so thankful to have the opportunity to meet with her. Hopefully on future visits to the US, we can meet up again-- maybe have a Fushun Orphanage West Coast Reunion!!!!

Doheney Beach, Dana Point, CA!!!!

2011-07-10T16:45:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful camping vacation to Doheney Beach this past week. We were able to join a wonderful group from the boys hockey team and a bunch of their friends when they had a cancellation. Doheney takes reservations exactly 6 months in advance and books up for the year in about 2 minutes online. Therefore, to be offered a camping spot for a week is an opportunity you MUST TAKE!!!! So we did and they even had one more cancellation that our friends were able to take at the last minute. All in all, we had a wonderful and relaxing vacation!!

The pictures were all on my little old point and shoot so they are not great but it's all I have.

Mia playing in the hole Kevin made. Give the kids a hole in the sand and they are happy for hours!

Finley playing in the sand

Mia dancing on the shore-- she is so funny-- she is dancing, singing or tumbling CONSTANTLY!!!!

Owen surfing. Doheney is a surf beach so there were TONS of surfers everywhere!

Owen and his board-- by the way, you will notice very few pictures of the boys. They were off running wild with their friends the WHOLE time so it was rare I was able to get a picture of them.

Girls about to dig a hole

Sand--gotta love it

Playing with daddy

Such awesome legs- I only wish.....

Mia doing a cartwheel

About to do the splits

Love the smile :)

Love that smile-- so darn cute!!!!

That one too--- so cute!

Finley is a good sand digger

Relaxing on the beach

Throwing Cheese balls at the seagulls

Ummm.... Pole dancing?????

Some posed pics but still cute

Silly girls

Posers :)

My beautiful girls!!!

Sugar cones with rainbow sherbet...... awe...summer....

Mia is particularly a fan

Mia riding her scooter-- at the camp ground this activity is very popular

Finley on her big wheel--thing-- it's a razor brand and the back spins around-- its called 360 or something like that.

Riding the campground

One of the only pictures of Ethan from the weekend-- he is way too cool now-- ya right!!!

Eating with Jenna (our friends daughter)

And the boys- with Jack and Dane

Steve and Janine and Kev-- I was so happy-- not one picture of me the whole time--yipeee-- just what I want - a picture of me in a bathing suit-- NO WAY!!!!

We had a blast!!!!

Busy Summer and Happy 17 years!!

2011-07-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

I'm really sorry for not blogging consistently but summer has got the best of me. We went to Les Miserables last Friday night and it was absolutely amazing and one of the best Val jeans I have ever seen. We got these things called HOTTIX and they are seats in the theater that are partially obstructed views. The HOTTIX go on sale on a certain date and they go fast. You literally have to get on the phone the second they go on sale and call many-- many -- many times in order to get 2 tickets (you only can get 2 tickets per call-- I had to get 7 tickets so I had to call 4 times which added up to hours on the phone and about 500 redials). The tickets are sold from the front of the orchestra to the back of the balcony depending on when you call. They cant tell you where your seats are at all and they are very strict-- they cant even say "oh you got orchestra". It is totally kept quiet until you get the tickets in the mail about a week later. The best part is, each HOTTIX is only $20 per ticket TOTAL- OUT THE DOOR!!!! AMAZING DEALS!!! Turns out, we had AMAZING seats. I must have been one of the first to get HOTTIX for our date because our seats were A1 and A2. My parents and Brad and Amy's were row 8 and 9 the last 2 seats in those rows and my sister had a box seat. All of our seats were phenomenal and I we had perfect views of everything. The best part is that Kev and I were front row!! We could look into the orchestra and literally got spat on! We could see EVERYTHING and being that close really draws you in! It was amazing and I am so thankful that we got those seats because it made the night even that more special-- for all of us!!!

Kevin and I are celebrating 17 years as a married couple tomorrow (July 2, 1994). We were just 22 year old kids but at that point we had already been together dating for 6 years- we were 16 years old when we started dating. Each year we do a quick trip to Las Vegas for our anniversary. We literally eat and sleep and relax and that we did. We spent 2 nights at the Venetian and ate amazing food and just got back this afternoon. It's about a 3 hour drive so Vegas is an easy get away for us and we just love our yearly trips. This was a great anniversary trip and I am so thankful we got away.

So, to my wonderful husband-- I cant tell you how much I love and appreciate you! You are an amazing man of God who I enjoy watching what God is doing daily in your life and in our families life. You lead our family in every way and most importantly-- spiritually. You are such a wonderful example to our boys of who they want to be when they grow up.

Your priorities are squared away and you know what matters. You love God, your family and give of yourself in every way to so many here and on the missions trips you take. I am so thankful for you and all you are.
You are my best friend and an inspiration to not only me but to many. I am told regularly how amazing you are and I agree wholeheartedly.

You are tender, loving, giving, and provide a perfect example of how the boys should treat their eventual spouses and what the girls should want in a spouse. I thank God for you all the time and I pray for you and the direction God is taking you daily. Happy anniversary my love!! I am so thankful for you and love you so very much!!!!!

Happy 17th Anniversary!!!!

Oh The Pure Palatable Joy!!!!!

2011-06-24T19:05:00.001-07:00

Here are some hints about what I am doing tomorrow.

He was imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread.

He was forever changed by the grace shown by a single man..... ringing any bells???

He adopted a child from a worker who was died because she--- "Dreamed a Dream"--- any closer?

There was a young woman who was in love with a young man who felt "On My Own"-- come on-- this has to be giving it away.

But alas, this young man was in love with the young woman who the imprisoned- changed for good- man adopted. These young lovebirds had "A Heart Full of Love".

OK, OK, I will give it up!!!!

I am going to see my #1 favorite musical of all time

LES MISERABLES!!!!!!!!!

I cant wipe the smile off my face because in just 19 hours the curtain will be going up on my favorite musical at the Ahmnanson Theater in Los Angeles!!! I have literally seen it 10+ times. Kevin took me to see it when we were 17 as a surprise. One year during my college years, I saved up my $$ and got myself front row seats-- by myself because I could not afford a ticket for someone else- we were all poor- but it was the best birthday gift ever. Basically-- I LOVE LES MIS and know every word of the whole musical by heart and have sung every song hundreds of time-- just ask my parents- I would sing Les Mis 24/7 around the house to the point that they know all the music as well.

So you have the point that I am stoked!!! We are seeing the Saturday Matinee with my family- my parents, Brad and Amy and Cassie (Kev too) and then after the show we are going to our favorite restaurant in LA "Bodega Louis" which is a new amazing hot spot. Our favorite musical and favorite restaurant-- the makings of a perfect night without the kids-- oh yaaaaa!!!!!! I will let you know how it goes!!!

Dochwhiler Beach Los Angeles

2011-06-23T10:52:00.001-07:00

First off let me thank Ashton from Princess Blog Designs for creating my new look. I love it and I needed a nice new look-- so thanks so much!!! She not only does a great job for next to nothing but she also is very special young lady who has 2 adopted siblings from China and soon one more-- Beautiful little Ainsley!!! Ashton is an advocate for special needs kids and just a great all around young lady. I am fortunate to know her!!!

As a quick post-school trip last week we headed to Dochwhiler beach in LA. It is at the end of the runway at LAX. Besides the noise of the planes (which you get use to), it is a fun place to do some beach camping and the best part is you literally camp on the beach-- which we love!!! We had friends who were going to be there the whole week- 7 days- so we decided to go for 3 of those days and had a great time. We would have stayed longer if Kevin didn't have to get home for a meeting but the little break was nice.

* By the way, I had bought a new point and shoot camera before this trip because it was waterproof-- it was horrible and the pictures are bad. I am returning that camera ASAP**

At the beach my kids are always entertained for hours by a very large hole. Kev always digs a massive hole and the kid go at it.

Owen working on the hole

They drill for oil off the coast of California the whole way up and down so here you can see the lovely oil rig in the background.

The kids loved the water and the boys not only boogie boarded but also surfed and both boys were able to get up and ride a wave.

Love this picture as Mia is in mid-jump

It was a bit cool (by our Southern California standard) and a bit windy as it is always at the beach.

All the kids attacking the hole

Finley is a bit tentative to go in the water but got her feet wet a few time

She sure did love the sand toys.

I didn't get a lot of pictures because I was so horrified by the quality of the new camera but that was about it. It was a fun trip.

Saying Goodbye

2011-06-18T10:00:00.001-07:00

Saying goodbye is never easy but it makes it a lot easier to know that someday we will see our beloved grandfather in heaven and spend eternity with him in the presence of our Lord and Savior!

Cliff Hammer's earthly body was laid to rest on June 17, 2011 at Riverside National Cemetery. He was laid to rest with full Military Honors due to his years of service in the US Navy. He is survived by his wife of 73 years, Thelma Hammer who just celebrated her 95th birthday. All family and some friends (although he outlived most of them) were there to pay their final respects and to support my grandma. It was my grandpa's request that my dad perform the ceremony and my dad did a great job. My sister Cassie did the eulogy and it too went well. It was amazing to recount his life in a few short paragraphs but I do hope my few paragraphs at my own funeral will be as jammed packed and full of love as my grandpa's.

Taking pictures with my grandma before the service began

I loved seeing the casket draped with the flag. My grandpa's military experience shaped him and it was a big part of who he was. The flag put a tear in most of our eyes.

Supporting my grandma-- My moms siblings- Aunt Debbie and Uncle Cliff (Cliff Jr.)

Pall Bearer's were Kevin, Ethan, Owen, My brother Brad, my nephew Christian, my cousin Terry and my cousin Katie's boyfriend (soon to be fiance) Eric. This was a great experience for the boys.

Playing Taps-- man was that hard to hold back the tears. So emotional!

Presenting the flag to my grandma. I was so impressed with the people from the military who participated in the ceremony. It was beautiful!

A final salute

Cassie giving the eulogy

My dad doing the service. The girls wanted to sit with my mom.

Passing out flowers to be laid on the casket

My grandma laying her rose on the casket for a final goodbye.

My mom taking Mia up to lay her rose

The girls with grandma

Again, being a part of the ceremony was so great for the boys. They were respectful and did a great job. They loved grandpa Hammer as he was a big part of their lives. They loved listening to his military stories-- we all did!!!

My grandma watching the Hurst close. It was very hard to watch grandma because she was aware of what was happening and knows grandpa is gone but is also dealing with her own memory problems (remember she is 95). She remembers most of us but struggles with just day to day. I know this was hard for her and you could tell she was grieving.

Ethan was such a man! He was supportive but also was very emotional. Out of all the great grandchildren, Ethan knew grandpa the best and was very touched by his passing and the ceremony. I love that Ethan is totally in touch with his emotions and is not afraid to show them. He was a big support to my mom as you can see in this picture.

Because Ethan was the oldest, he was allowed to go to the luncheon after at a restaurant by our house. The little kids had a babysitter at our house and they swam and ate pizza but my mom thought Ethan was able to handle being at the long luncheon-- and he did. We had a private room and we were able to laugh at the wonderful memories we all had. Ethan even shared a few. It was a great time with our family remembering the glue that held us together but also the one who shaped us all.

We love you so much Grandpa and we know we will see you again!!!

Too much sometimes

2011-06-11T11:44:00.001-07:00

I'm typing on my phone since I'm sitting at the car dealership because my battery has died. Just got my car back from being fixed this past week from the robbery so I'm a bit irritated by this battery thing. Anyway I since I have an hour Plus to kill I thought I would update a bit.

Thanks to all who commented about my grandpa on facebook. My favorite grandpa who has been an important part of my life went home to be with Jesus on Thursday night at 9:50pm. He was 93 years old and was an amazing man.

Grandpa, Grandma and Mia in April-- literally only a few months ago!

Cliff hammer ( grandpa) was the best. I was an, ummmmmm.... Challenging strong willed kid. My other grandparents, God bless them, would get very annoyed with my strong personality but not grandpa hammer. He loved that part of my personality and we always clicked in every way. He is where I got my personality from. He was outgoing, friendly, driven, loyal and had a fierce independence - just like me. He also had a little decevious streak just like me. We clicked and were close. He use to call me a couple time a day which I loved. He was absolutely in love with my grandma and I think her going into the memory care unit where they lived contributed to his downward turn. Literally a little over a month ago he girls were at their adult community hunting eggs with grandpa. He was perfectly fine when he had to watch out for grandma but when she had to be put in memory care I think he gave up. My grandpa is now in heaven with so many of his friends and family and I'm sure they are having a huge welcome party. He was 93 and outlived most of his friends and family.

Grandpa with the girls in April

The hard part for grandpa to let go of was grandma. Grandma is a few days away from turning 95 and while her memory is in and out, her body is perfect. She literally could walk 3 miles a day. She is in better shape than I am and I think grandpa knowing he was leaving grandma kept him from letting go at the very end. I spent the whole day with him in Wednesday and all my siblings and cousins came to say goodbye that day. But grandpa was a strong man who was not about to give up too easy so he held on till Thursday night and upon reassurance that he would see grandma in heaven, he finally let go. The funeral is on Friday and I look forward to celebrating his life with all our family. He loved his family more than anything and we loved him more than anything. He was the most amazing grandpa who I will someday see again! I love and miss you grandpa.

Saying goodbye to Grandpa on Wednesday

Another update I want to do while sitting here is to update on Finley since I get asked all the time. So first neurosurgeon (ns) said she was tethered and needed surgery. He consulted with another ns since fin does not show any symptoms of being tethered and they decided we should wait for surgery because just because an MRI shows tethering it does not for sure mean she is tethered. So they decided to send her to the Spina Bifida clinic and let them get some baselines and see if the many specialists that see her think she is tethered and if we should wait for surgery. So last Friday we went to sb clinic and had our initial appointment with the sb clinic director. He would order tests and then about a month later we would return to clinic to see the other specialists. We met wit the director who has been in Spina Bifida for 20+ years. He was very knowledgeable and we really liked him. He was shocked how high functioning fin was and thought she might have not had any nerves involved at all and that is why she has no loss of function. He did not think she would need surgery as Henie not convinced she is tethered in the first place. He said all sb kids look tethered on an MRI and yes she has fat in her spinal column and she may be attached to it but she has pretty much no symptoms so she just may not be. Furthermore, he said 95% of sb kids have impaired bowel and bladder control and that he is surprised Finley has control of both. He says that just confirms the thought that more than likely Finley only had a lipomeningicyle and not a lipomylomeingicyle (that means he does not think the part that stuck out of her body had any nerves involved). Again, that would explain why she is so high functioning. So at this point we are going to have a bladder and kidney ultrasound and then meet with the sb team to see what they say.

We are pretty happy about this news and while there are still a lot of unknowns, things are looking really good for our little survivor. We pray she is one of those kids that defy the odds and so far every dr that has looked at her says she does not fit the typical profile and she may just be that kid that DOES defy the odds.

Finley's preschool certificate

Mia's preschool certificate

Officially we are all out for summer and since Kev is still recovering from his hip replacement he is off too. We are going to do lots of camping this summer and are taking a quick 2 night trip to the beach this Monday. We have a few trips planned but nothing major since money is always an issue. Anyway, sorry for the long nonpictue post but when I get home I'll try to add a few pictures of my grandpa.

Impromptu Girls Disneyland Trip!!!

2011-06-03T10:32:00.001-07:00

It just so happened that I was not working on Thursday and had no appointments scheduled and that it would have been easy to pull the girls from preschool for the day, so we did an impromptu trip to Disneyland!!!! We even took their little pal Addy with us. To make the situation even sweeter, Kevin and the boys were going to be at Ethan's new school ice hockey team clinic at the RINKS in Anaheim which is literally about 3 minutes from Disneyland from 8-9:30pm. So, Kev and the boys got a ride to the rink in the team van and I met them there after Disneyland and we all drove home together. It was perfect!!!

The pics are poor quality because they were taken with my I-Phone-- I forgot my camera-- bad mommy!!!!

Finley on the teacups

Finley going down the slide backwards in the Toon Town Play Area
Addy in the Toon Town Play Area

Finley relaxing on some giant fruit!!

Mia on the Tea Cups!! She loves this ride--mommy not so much :)

Mia posing on some giant fruit :)

Mommy and Finley on a ride-- cant tell which one.

Mia on Small World-- she also loves this ride and sings the song all the time

Finley on Small World

The girls posing for a pic-- Love Finley's smile-- we are working on that :)

We left Disneyland around 7:30 and headed to Ethan's clinic about 5 min away.

Teemu selanne from the ducks was at the rinks hockey rink in Anaheim where Ethan's school hockey team plays. I guess teemu's son plays in our private school league and he was there watching the game. The second out boys saw him they went gaga and he was nice enough to autograph and shake their hands. He even asked me if the girls were twins and after I told him they are adopted and 1 year apart he commented how he loved watching them play and how cute they were. He was really cool!!!!

This is Teemu FYI

These are the kids ambushing him-- Ethan is in the shorts and purple shirt right in front of him and Teemu is in the red jacket-- sorry about poor quality-- I-phone

It was a really good day at Disneyland and a fun end to the day with Teemu. The girls were happy and got along and we only went on little kid rides and the crowds were good and it was just a great day!!!!

CONGRATS HOCKEY DIVISION B CHAMPS!!!!!

2011-05-31T07:53:00.000-07:00

The Monarchs won the DIVISION B Championships!!!! This was an amazing game and their team was really fresh and they literally lost most of their games at the beginning. They had an awesome coach but he was new to coaching on this league so when the draft came for players he found out the Ethan and Owen were the # 1 And # 2 draft picks and since they are brothers they have to be drafted together (my rule because I want them on the same team). This coach had the first draft pick and he drafted my boys first. Well by the time his 3rd pick came along, there were very few experienced players left so we ended up with a team that had 2 amazing players (Ethan and Owen), a couple kids who had played a couple seasons and a bunch of brand new players. Luckily the new players had potential but it was pretty disheartening for the first many games as Ethan and Owen were out there desperately trying but they just got beat badly for many games. Finally about mid season something changed and they started to do better and better. Ethan was Captain and Owen was Assistant Captain and they both did a great job at mentoring the other kids and they really came far. Finally, we went to playoffs and we won-- then we went to finals and amazingly, we won against a totally stacked team that had only lost 1 game. It was a phenomenal game and we all just sat there with our mouths hanging open when we realized the other team was going to lose to our little under dog team. The final score was 5 to 3 and Ethan scored all the goals-- good job sweetie!!!!! It was an amazing game and season!!!

In the midst of game play

Ethan is 15 in black

Owen is 14 in black

Coach giving Ethan (Captain) a winners talk and he made a speech about how proud he was with Ethan that he really mentored the other players-- he almost cried!!!! It was amazing!!!

Ethan on cloud 9--- Couldn't find Owen for an individual pic. He was off celebrating with a few other boys.

The girls love the hockey games!!! Cousin Kylie came to this one too

The Whole team!!

Dog piling on the goalie-- he was awesome!!!

The coach took all the boys out to dinner because they won and at the last minute we decided to host a hockey swim party next Saturday so I will post pics of all these crazy hockey kids going crazy in the pool!!!

GOOD JOB MONARCHS and my CAPTAIN AND ASSISTANT!!!!!

And for your viewing enjoyment...

2011-05-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

We have some video. I don't post video much because honestly I just forget to but tonight I went on a kick and here you g-- 4 lame videos of our family. Welcome to a typical night at our home. Yes it is loud and yes it is crazy but it is never dull or boring. So tonight Owen spilt his mazzithra (sp??) cheese pasta on the ground and decided he would use the vacuum to clean up his mess. Kevin got the great idea to vacuum Owen's hair because the cheese was in his hair as well. Well, here is what ensued:

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Craziness I tell you-- craziness!!!!

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And then we move onto Finley and her little personality. She cracks me up.

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Our little helper. She is so funny and is the best worker in the house (Owen takes a close second - you saw him vacuuming earlier- he loves to work around the house). It was so funny because we see the same dynamic with Ethan and Owen as we do with Finley and Mia. Owen works hard and then all of a sudden Ethan will realize that whatever Owen is doing might be interesting and will come up at the very end and try to act as if he had been working the whole time. Sadly, Mia does the same thing with Finley. Finley was clearing the table and when it came time to punch the buttons on the dishwasher all of a sudden Mia decides she wants to be the one to push the button although she had not helped at all-- Finley did all the work. So sadly we have 2 great worker and 2--ummm..... not so good workers-- :)

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And wonderful Miss Mia telling her amazingly creative story-- NOT!!! It's kind of cute.

Happy 4 year Gotcha Day ~ May 21, 2007~ (3 days late-opps)

2011-05-24T21:40:00.000-07:00

I'm 3 days late on posting but things are crazy around here but I did not want this day to pass without recognition of our beautiful little girl and her 4th anniversary of her GOTCHA DAY!!!!!

Yes, 4 years ago on May 21, 2007 in Changsha Hunan China, we saw our beautiful little girl in person for the first time ever. She was just 6 months old but she was full of personality and she melted our hearts immediately. Here is when they handed Mia over to us for the first time.

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Back in our hotel room. She was wide eyed and taking everything in. She was perfection!!

So 4 years have passed and our little girl has experienced amazing growth and changes. She has turned into a smart and kind leader who has a magnetic force that attracts others.

Among the many things she has tackled, she has gracefully and lovingly opened her heart and her bedroom to her new sister only 3 and a half months ago. She has proven to be a caring and loving sister who has taught Finley so much.

She has shared her mommy and daddy and has given up the role of only daughter gracefully. While the transition has not been perfect, it has been a learning experience for Mia and she has grown in the process. She is a proud older sister and loves her mei mei more than anything!!!

She is a leader and leads in a loving manner and loves nothing more than to get everyone playing together!!

She is our picture of how God's plans are perfect. She is a picture of how He adopted each of us into His family and how He loves us unconditionally. She is my big girl whom I love more than how far the east is from the west!!!!

Happy 4th GOTCHA Day my sweet girl!!!

Where are we now??

2011-05-15T16:52:00.001-07:00

Kevin is healing well but is still in a lot of pain and cant drive yet, so life is crazy busy running 4 + 1 husband around. He is not even close to back to normal and is on crutches for the time being so it makes things difficult to get around but he does manage to walk each day and is able to help around the house with the girls a bit. BUT, primarily it's me and I must admit, I AM TIRED!!! I am sitting here now on my new little Dell laptop (arrived in the mail on Friday-- since my others were stolen-- its a little mini-- love it!!!) and actually relaxing for the first time I can remember in a while. I am enjoying it but all the things are going through my mind on what I need to be doing to get the kids ready for the week and get to the grocery store to get a few things-- uggg-- I wish I could turn off my mind.

Anyway, we had another neurosurgeon appointment for Finley on Friday and we have a bit of a plan now. First off, we have one DR who comes from the wait till symptoms occur camp and another DR who is from the do preemptive surgery before symptoms occur. The two DR's have mulled over the options over and over and have come to a consensus that they want to see if the possible "symptoms" that I am seeing (clumsy, flat foot run, tires easy) are because of the tethered cord or just typical 3 year old things. She will be seen soon by the Spina Bifida clinic where all specialties look at her and make sure everything is good. They will be able to see if the "symptoms" are related to the tethered cord and if so we will have surgery ASAP. The other part of this that is really good is that the DR said that there are some strange kids that have a very stretched cord due to tethering but they somehow never show symptoms-- ever. He says it is rare but there are some kids that just defy the odds. He said that Finley is a bit strange to him. He asked her to touch her toes and she just bends over and does it. He then watched her bow her back and do almost a back bend while playing on Kevin's lap. He says there is no way she should be able to do those things being as tethered as she is. He said when touching her toes it should either hurt or she would avoid doing it or if she does, she should be leaking pee. He said she just does not fit the typical profile right now and he does not know if that will always be the case and if it is, he does not want to do unnecessary surgery. So, that is the plan as of now. We will get into the SB clinic ASAP and start running tests to get baselines and to see her overall functioning levels and then we will go from there. Overall, we are happy with this plan and hope she is just one of these strange kids that never show symptoms. That would be amazing!!! We pray for that!!!

So for your enjoyment, here is Finley's school picture. I put it on facebook but had not posted it on my blog. Every time I look at the picture I laugh hysterically!!!! I think she has the funniest picture in the world!!!!

So we are working on getting Finley to learn how to smile. She is working on it but is not totally there-- here is another try. I took it with my phone. Getting better :)

The girls are obsessed with my bra and they put them on all the time. They make me laugh. I know it is embarrassing but here is this is a picture I took with my cell the other day-- too funny!!!!

Oh ya, on a final note, Miss Mia decided she would finally do what all moms pray their daughters never do-- can we all say it together-- CUT HER HAIR!!!! Oh yes she did-- she cut her hair-- and yes the bangs. It is not horrible but her bangs are at about her mouth and they use to be the longest part of her hair-- so we have a cut scheduled this week to make it look a bit better. Also, she informed me later that day that she also cut Finley's bangs!! They are very not bad but you can tell a little bit when her hair is being pulled back. Oh happy day-- uggggg!!!!!

Home & More Professional Pictures

2011-05-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

In an effort to keep your interest during this long update blog post, I am putting some of our professional pictures here and there. These are some from literally the very beginning of the CD that we were given. I have 186 pictures and these are some I chose from maybe the first 50 so I will post tons more as the week goes on but all I have to say is that I love them!! I love having these awesome pics and so many of them are candid or all funky-- things I would never do with a camera. Anyway, enjoy and I will put more up soon.

Kevin made it home from the hospital yesterday at about 5pm. He is in a lot of pain but we are keeping on top of it and making sure he takes his pain meds. He has done really well with moving and walked quite a bit today. He is able to navigate up and down the stairs on crutches as he became a pro on those 4 years ago when he broke his hip (the reason he had to have the replacement) and was on crutches for 5 months. Shoot, Kev walked the Great Wall of China on crutches, so going up and down the stairs post hip replacement is on crutches is nothing to this pro:) He will start physical therapy in the home within the next few days and he will slowly be able to move more and more in time. This is a slow recovery but he is strong and will be back to normal in a bit.

We are so thankful for all your love and support and our Sunday School Class started bringing meals to us tonight which is such a tremendous blessing to not have to think about making food in the midst of trying to so everything else. Tonight our good pals The Murphy's (who will be leaving to adopt their son from Russia in about 6 weeks) brought us some true good southern cooking-- Chicken Fried Steak, mash potatoes, green beans, corn bread and a home made pie!! It was AMAZING as Charity is from the south and knows how to do it up proper!!! The boys got home from hockey starving and I swear they ate everything that was left besides one steak--- YUM!!! Thanks so much Murphy's-- your amazing!!!

The kids are doing well. This whole Kev being out of the picture a bit has given Finley and I a chance to bond better. We were doing fine but she still HAD TO HAVE Kev put her to bed and really still went to him for the love and nurturing unless he was gone and I was a second. BUT, with him in the hospital and even now kind of out of commission, she seems to really be attaching to me well. She is actually happily letting me put her to bed and is choosing to hang with me instead of Kevin. I know that sounds lame when I type it, but choosing me over Kev for her is HUGE and I feel like we have made some strides.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it but they found my car all crashed up. I had to look at it today at the repair shop and I think they are at about $8000 in repair costs and if the engine has any issues, there will be more. I am so very thankful that they found the car and while I hold no hope they will ever catch these guys or get any of my stuff back, the car being found was big. We are now on the security band wagon and we now have window tract things that prevent the windows from being opened even if they are open (they forced open our kitchen window to break in). We now have motion lights on the front, side and back of our house which makes me feel so much more secure. And best of all, we now have an awesome alarm system that is monitored with every window and door alarmed upstairs and down. That really gives me peace of mind and I am happy to announce I have not yet set it off by accident :)

On the Finley front, we had our neurosurgeon talk with the other pediatric neurosurgeon at Loma Linda and they discussed Finley's situation and MRI results and now we are getting mixed messages about surgery now or later. I'm not sure what they are thinking but we are going to go in on Friday to have a final discussion about the timing. The problem is we are saying that Finley has no symptoms of losing function. While that seems true to us, we really don't know how accurate that is. She has somethings she does that we don't think much of but maybe they are symptoms. The problem is if Finley is totally symptom free then maybe we should wait to do the surgery (I don't really agree with that but that is their line of thinking). The problem with that statement is do we really know if she IS REALLY SYMPTOM FREE??? We have only been with Finley for 3 months. We don't really know what she was like a year ago and if things have changed since then. Finley runs kind of flat footed and she is clumsy. She also seems to tire easily when she runs or climbs stairs which could indicate lower leg deterioration. The problem is we really don't know if she has always been like this or are these symptoms that we need to address. So, we are going to meet with them hopefully Friday and give them all these "symptoms" that we may or may not be seeing and let them make the decision if they think we should wait or move on surgery now. I tend to be the kind of person that likes to get things done and the thought of Finley losing function because we waited on surgery freaks me out, so of course I am more inclined to do surgery now, but we want to go with what the Doctors recommend so we will see.

Anyway, that is what is up with us. I hope you enjoyed some of the pro pics.

Another Update

2011-05-07T09:59:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to give a quick update on Kevin. He is doing well and was up to walk 2 times yesterday. They would only let him walk a little bit because people tend to overdo it the day after surgery so they made him only walk a bit-- but he did great and had no issues. He has had Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy come visit him a couple time and will come again today as well. With PT he is walking and learning the correct way to do that with his new hip and OT is teaching him how to do all the little things like put on his socks and shoes and other fun personal things. The OT stuff is only to teach him while he is healing and has movement restrictions so he should be able to do all that stuff on his own soon (not sure how long but hopefully soon). The doctor came in yesterday and said Kev looked great and should be in line to be discharged Sunday. They had thought if he was doing really great that they might let him out today but I think that was a bit too soon and he had a little temperature last night so I'm sure they will keep him till tomorrow. Overall, he is great and we are trying to prepare for him coming home and having to climb stairs to get to bed. We will make it work :)

The kids are good and I was able to sneak the girls into see daddy yesterday. The rule is the kids must be 16-- can you believe that-- 16!!! So clearly the girls are a bit young but I just took them in the elevator and walked to his room like we knew what we were doing and no one asked us anything so we kept going and sure enough we made it to Kev's room. They were so excited to see daddy but Finley was kind of cautious and a bit confused. It took her a few minutes but she warmed up and daddy became daddy with a bunch of tubes coming out of him. I have been so blessed with so much help with the kids. Today we have hockey games and then I'm taking the boys out to see Kev and the girls are going with my mother in law Mary. Tomorrow-- well, I'm not sure yet but I will figure it out :)

Thanks so much for everyone's prayers and hospital visits. It has been nice seeing people drop in to say hi.

After we snuck the girls in :)

Hockey and Hairbows

Happy Gotcha Day Finley!!! January 24, 2011

Bad Blogger Award!!!!

Emery Update!!!!

Funniest Thing EVER!!!!!

Introducing Emery Jia Yu!!!!!

Christmas 2011

More Cookies with Grandma and Grandpa!!!!

Way Too Busy and Sick Kids

Cookies with Grandma and Grandpa

Thanksgiving 2011

Hockey and Makeup

Adoption, Dave and Life

Sorry, a glitch & Generosity!

The Girls Preschool Halloween Party

Is Mundane OK?

What??? Another One???

Clothing Plea

Swimming with friends!!

Test is Done!!!

HELP!! I don't know what to do...

This and That

Horrible Test and Hockey

Current Life~ sorry it's long~

Sad day in Hockey

~My Scary Little Girls~

First Day of School~~ Hockey in the news~~ Dave Ramsey!!!

More Haiti

More Updates

New Haiti Update!

A Wonderful Sunday in Haiti!!!

They made it to Haiti!!!!!

KEVIN & OWEN ARE OFF TO HAITI!!!!

Is Adoption Second Best???

Rincon Beach!!!

Hosting Chinese Students

Camping at Rincon

Beach camping!!!

Finley Spina Bifida Update

Gymnastics Time!!!

Summer This and That

My little hair dresser!!!

Really??? Spina Bifida????

A visit from our Shenyang guide-- MAGGIE!!!!!

Doheney Beach, Dana Point, CA!!!!

Busy Summer and Happy 17 years!!

Oh The Pure Palatable Joy!!!!!

Dochwhiler Beach Los Angeles

Saying Goodbye

Too much sometimes

Impromptu Girls Disneyland Trip!!!

CONGRATS HOCKEY DIVISION B CHAMPS!!!!!

And for your viewing enjoyment...

Happy 4 year Gotcha Day ~ May 21, 2007~ (3 days late-opps)

Where are we now??

Home & More Professional Pictures

Another Update

First Day of School Hockey in the news Dave Ramsey!!!