Bringing in 2010

In 2000 I turned 18, graduated from high school, moved out, and got engaged.

In 2001 we bought our first home and got married.

In 2002 I started working in children's ministry.

In 2003 I graduated with my bachelor's degree in elementary education with a minor in psychology from UCF. I also started a 5-6th grade ministry at our church.

In 2004 I became a mom for the first time when Kristopher was born, I held my first (and only LOL) formal teaching position, Mike graduated with his bachelor's degree in HR managrement from UCF, and we sold our home and bought another.

In 2005 I was pregnant with our second child.

In 2006 (January) Our first daughter was born, she was diagnosed with Down syndrome in March and had open heart surgery in June.

In 2007 we moved yet again, Mike started his master's degree, and we committed to adopt a (yes, ONE) child with Down syndrome from Ukraine.

In 2008 we traveled for our child which became children, I spent 7 weeks in Ukraine- Mike 4 of those with me, and Emma had throat surgery, Micah was hospitalized, did Emma's heart surgery, and finally sold our house (from the last move).

In 2009 Mike finished his graduate work and Lynae our 5th (and 3rd bio) child was born.

A decade in the making...

And now... Mike's finished with school. No adoptions in process. No babies in the works. We're settled in a house we love. No big job changes that we can really SEE. No big things in the works. Nothing. Nowhere.

So we're waiting with open arms and wondering what season God might have for us next. He doesn't usually have us wait very long before He sends us on the next thing. We're ready. We've already said Yes. Now we are just waiting for what that means.

I just realized

I don't even have a TV that gets ANY channels at the moment... any Internet feeds of the ball dropping?? Hmm... will go hunting sometime after the kids are down. Gonna watch the ball drop.

Q&A from the last few days

Oh where's the video of that ???? Sounds very cute!!
No video this time (of Brianna 'disciplining' Micah while he laughed) but thanks for the idea :) LOL

oh my gosh - Brianna is 4 already! wow she is getting so big :)
I have to ask, are the kids riding in the dark?? Is that so they don't get sunburned :) :)
Actually... Brianna will be 4 on January 3rd, but Mike will be in Kenya so we celebrated early :) And it was dusk, maybe 5:15? We went outside while dinner was cooking.

What day was her birthday? Ragan (my oldest) birthday was on the 29th. Looks like a fun day for her. Can you believe how fast they are growing? Kind of sad. B's hair is so long, you did a great job fixing it.
Brianna's birthday is January third, and yes, they grow FAST! I must admit, my sister is the 'braider' and french braided both Brianna's and Emma's hair several times while she was visiting :)

Oh that is so NOT fair. Can I move there too, please??? I am sooooo over the cold weather now. Done with it...but trying to have a good attitude :)
Would LOVE to have you move here Adeye! And anyone else that wants to come... There are even two homes for sale in my neighborhood. What fun it would be to have some neighbors that share our hearts. I love some of my neighbors right now (ok, love ALL your neighbors, but you know what I mean LOL) and many of them I have known since I was 7 and my parents built this house, but what a joy to have another adoptive family w/ kids with Ds in the neighborhood would be!

Fresh from the tree

Delicious.

I made a gallon and a half of orange juice and another half gallon of  ‘citrus’ juice today (mixed together orange, tangerine, and grapefruit juices).  All fresh from the trees in the yard.  Another perk of December in Florida :)

Pictures

Nope, not Christmas :)

Outside playing on bikes…

 

And a few from a big girl’s FOURTH birthday party!  We had a very informal celebration.  Micah and Emma wandered in and out from the porch to the living room and somehow escaped all the photos!  But they were here, and Emma enjoyed some cake too :O)

      

But I did get these two shots of Micah and Emma today.  Micah saw his bottle sitting on the table when I went back in for breakfast and took it.  He tried to drink it standing, then went somewhere to relax a bit and drink! LOL  He’s a smart fella!  And Emma… well, she’s in time out.  And the papers she’s holding are pieces of ones that she shredded.  We’re having to “undo Christmas” in her now.  She is shredding EVERYTHING she finds.  It’s not SO bad most of the time, but we’ve lost a few books to this and she just doesn’t stop!  So she saw me and immediately took her hands off the papers.  Even tho I just wanted a picture :)  She’s going to learn not to shred!  she REALLY IS!!

No No NO!

I'm listening to Brianna tell Micah no No NO! over and over again... She has one hand on him almost pinning him down (tho he's much stronger than he is) and is right up in his face saying NO!

And he's laughing.

Hysterically.

Man those two are a lot of fun! :)

What a fun "after Christmas" day!

Yesterday was such a nice, fun, relaxing day!

We started with an earlier morning than anyone was really wanting, but after the kids were up they just played while I laid down on the couch, Mike on the floor, and the came up to me or sat on him and just hung out for a little while. Mike was nice enough to get them all breakfast while I laid down for a little longer- Lynae had kept me up quite a bit the night before.

Around 9:30 Mike and Kristopher took showers and I got the other 4 kids dressed and shoes on and we headed out for a quick visit to Target. Though we were going for a few things for Mike's Kenya trip, a birthday gift for Brianna, and to look at and price another thing or two, we also took a quick glance through the after-Christmas sales :) We did find some more of the big foam mats for our playroom that were 30% off which was worth it since we'd looked at them several times and this saved us almost $15.

We'd brought bottles and such, but the man that packed the cooler forgot baby food... so we ended up going back home instead of going out to a quick lunch and to another store or two. So when we did get home we had a quick lunch and put Micah and Brianna down for naps. Brianna has learned how to get out of bed at nap time though she'll sit in there for a little while before gracing us with her presence :) We all had a little rest time, and Mike built the new 'cube' that I got for Christmas to add to the one we have by the front door. Now we have double the storage there, which is great!!

After all the kids were up and we'd finished up the things in the house that we were working on I threw dinner in the oven with an auto-shut-off timer and we went outside with all the kids. Lynae hung out in the stroller, Micah played with a foot-scoot little ride-on that he got last year for Christmas, Kristopher rode his bike, and Brianna and Emma both tried out their new tricycles! The girls both really really enjoyed their bikes! One of the bikes has a handle in the back that steers the front wheel as well. The petals on it will 'coast' like an adult bike so when the child is pushed their feet don't go around and around or get smacked in the legs :) The other is a 'regular' tricycle but both have a back to their seats and the second trike is built a little larger and fits Emma great- likely will for a while!

When we came inside we were greeted with a sweet aroma of cooked chicken with artichoke hearts and garlic. I popped in some veggies that steam in the bag and some garlic bread and we had a delicious dinner. Then we got all the kids baths and put the 4 little ones in footed sleepers and Kristopher put pajamas on and we all loaded up in the car!

We decided that since this year the days going up to Christmas were so rushed and we'd missed a few things we really enjoy doing, that we would spend the evening looking at Christmas lights!

So we put five little ones in the car, we drove through McDonald's and picked up a large french fry to split between us and some hot chocolate for Mike and I, and we drove- well after everyone's bedtime- all around town to see the lights :).

By the time we got home everyone was asleep but we'd already done medicine and brushed teeth, so we just carried them in and straight to their beds.

What a fun, relaxing, and sweet day we had with our kids! (and yes, I have a few pic's to share... they're somewhere with the Christmas photos...)

Right now...

Emma's playing with a baby doll from Grandma
Kristopher has his new leapster game going
Brianna's playing with a Leap Frog Scribble and Write (mostly scribbling going on)
Micah's laying on a new book rubbing its cover (don't ask, he's just funny like that)
and Lynae's telling me it's time for everyone else to go to bed so she can have my undivided attention.

Mike's at church, they're having a meeting after service tonight about his quickly approaching trip to Kenya.

And I'm watching all of my kids in awe that God has blessed us so abundantly today and always!

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas and the festivities leading up to it were a lot of fun! I hope you had a blessed celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ!!

On Christmas eve we let the kids exchange small gifts that they'd bought for each other. Kristopher earned 1/2 of his Christmas 'buying power' for the kids and he and I went shopping last week to pick things out for them. He even wrapped them all himself! Then we went to Mike's parents' house in the afternoon and had a big family dinner together. Afterward we went to church... which was an experience. In a 45 minute service we managed to have one kid spit up ALL over and another kid load their diaper (twice!). And Emma kept periodically yelling throughout. But we made it through! I hate to feel that way about church, but with 5 kids and 4 adults (Mike's parents were with us some of the time) it really did work out ok.

Christmas morning my sister was here for a short time. Lynae started SCREAMING while I was getting dressed- No idea why! So Elizabeth got up whether she really had wanted to or not :) The kids discovered that Santa had come and we had a relaxed morning exchanging gifts for one another and seeing if Santa brought what each of the kids asked for. This was Micah and Emma's 2nd Christmas with us, but the first year they really enjoyed opening gifts. Micah was still somewhat off in his own little land, but he would try and wanted to see what was in them if we were with him.

Of course this is Lynae's first Christmas and after that initial screaming fit she had a great day! She st with each of us, laid on a blanket to see what was happening around her, and loves the Christmas lights :) She did like the gifts she received too, which is always nice. And the good thing about big brothers and sisters is that they will 'restart' the music on a toy!

In the late morning we went to my parents' house and celebrated with five other bro/sis/sis in law, an aunt and two uncles! It was the most people to be home at Christmas in a long time! My one uncle wasn't feeling well so we did miss seeing him for Christmas. We all had a nice time visiting together, the kids playing with toys, the adults hanging out and talking, and Micah even got a nice long nap!

Unfortunately, yesterday I woke up with a bit of a sore throat and was careful not to share any germs throughout the day. Today I am achy and still have a sore throat, but DayQuil is a wonderful thing and I'm doing ok now that it's had some time to set in.

We had a blessed Christmas filled with family and friends! Eventually I'll get some photos up, but for now I'd rather enjoy my kids anad husband this beautiful Saturday! (Maybe at nap time :) ).

Irony

I get weird spam comments occasionally. Not enough to care so much. I just delete them and move on. Ironucally, this message was just left for me:

Great story you got here. It would be great to read something more concerning this theme. Thanx for sharing this info.
Sexy Lady

and of course there's a link which I've discarded.

But it wasn't just on ANY post... It was left on my post that it directly from the Bible with the story of Jesus' birth.

I wish "she" really did want to read something more concerning that theme. Yet somehow I don't think that's what the original author intended.

(these type of messages are left so people will visit their websites with... ick... on them. They're written "nicely" so that you might visit and not delete it.)

The Message- Matthew 1

The Birth of Jesus

^18-19The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn't know that.) Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.

^20-23While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God's angel spoke in the dream: "Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to get married. Mary's pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God's Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—'God saves'—because he will save his people from their sins." This would bring the prophet's embryonic sermon to full term:

Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son;
They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for "God is with us").

^24-25Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God's angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.

The Loux Family... prayer request

From the beginning of our time in Ukraine we were made aware of a family who was coming to adopt the little Misha. They were a family that saw so many obstacles in their process and continued to overcome them, but they were the real reason that I ever saw a need in the Ukraine program and stepped in to Reece's Rainbow. The Loux family completed their adoption and brought home three sons all with special needs. They almost simultaneously adopted 2 girls from the Marshall Islands. This family of faith and with the biggest heart for the orphan that I have ever met... has met today with tragedy.

Derek Loux, when driving home from a conference to learn about combating child trafficking, died in a car accident when his vehicle hit black ice.

Renee (his wife) and their ten children along with his brother John and wife Tracie and family are now mourning the loss of their husband, brother, father... and we mourn the loss of a wonderful friend and advocate.

Please be in prayer for the Loux family. This kind of loss is difficult any time of year, but two days before Christmas is so much harder...

www.louxfamilyblog.com

It can't be ignored

Once we know the plight of orphans...
once we know the treatment they receive...
once we know how many are waiting...
once we know the lack of medical care...
--- the lack of love...
--- the lack of therapies...
--- the lack of attention...
Once we know their life span...
once we know their destiny...
once we know that there's a way to help...
once we know that God can even use me...

What choice do we have but to act on it?

Or turn away.

Unfortunately, turn away is what many choose to do.

I consider it a huge blessing to help be a voice for these sweet children. To advocate for them both in this online environment of 'virtual life' and in my day to day life as we meet people along the street... in the mall... at the doctor's office... at the school... and we share our story. Our story. The story God wrote for us. The one He's allowed us to be a part of.

But more than just being a voice, more than living it out with our two adopted kids, I am touched more by the adoptive families that I work with and the children they are bringing home than I could ever return to any of them. It's an honor to be a part of God's plan for these kids to come into their forever families!

Now that we know, though, what do we do?

One of the parents I'm helping adopt right now posted a blog post about the orphan. About how adoption is often looked at as an 'ok' thing for people who can no longer have their own children. It's a great second try at parenting. It's a way for parents to have the baby they long for if they cannot birth their own.

Or maybe...

It's ok for a family that has decided not to have more biological kids. One that has that drive for a larger family but will not be giving birth again. Then the orphan is there to fill that void.

But the point she made is that the orphan isn't even a part of the story until there's a mother longing to hold one. Until then, it's about the parents.

There are 147 million orphans!! Seriously, One hundred forty seven MILLION.

And whether or not you're looking to hug one or hold one or send one a $1/month meal, they're still there. Still living out their reality and not knowing what life is like in a family or with people that really care about them.

Especially orphans with special needs that lay in their beds day in and day out with little or no interaction and often minimal nourishment.

So what will you do? How will you choose to act on the knowledge of these people suffering? How has your life changed knowing about the orphans? How might theirs be? What will you do with this knowledge?

The ICK.

I'm SO TIRED of the ICK!

Today we brought Emma, Micah, and Brianna back to the pediatrician to retest for Strep now that they're just finished with 10 days of Omnicef, a strong antibiotic. Guess what?

EMMA IS NEGATIVE!! WOO HOO! This is the first time since August that she's tested negative! Which is a good thing because we now KNOW she's not a carrier. Unfortunately, it means that every time she tested positive in the last 4 months (4 times!!) she really DID have strep and really WAS sick!

Micah and Brianna, however, both tested positive. I'd say this gives us an answer, but it doesn't. Not at all. Brianna did NOT just do an antibiotic. And both have runny noses and coughs. So even though we know that they just finished anti's and SHOULDN'T have Strep unless they're carriers, it's possible that they both really DO have it and that the last anti just didn't kill it off for Micah.

So now what? Now we do another 10 days of antibiotics for both of them. This is the FIFTH TIME that Micah has been positive for Strep since August!! The third round of anti's for Brianna. *sigh*. We're trying something else and adding another drug on the end of the antibiotics to see if that will help. I forget what it's called, but we'll try it... It's supposed to reduce Strep even in a carrier.

In a month we'll go back and have these two re-tested again. That is, assuming that they don't show symptoms and end up back in the office before then. And at that point if we're still showing trouble we'll be putting in a call to the ENT. It sounds like unless this disappears very soon, Micah and maybe Brianna too will bee losing their tonsils. Brianna's already had her adenoids out.

For now, we'll enjoy the antibiotics and know that as long as they're on anti's they shouldn't be contagious! So we can enjoy the Christmas festivities with family without the fear of sharing the love :). Here's hoping no one else gets it!!

Oh, and a few things I learned-- A carrier CAN still spread it. Wasn't sure on that one. But often they don't treat a carrier... In our case, it is a BIG DEAL to get rid of it even in a carrier because the other kids are obviously catching it and we can NOT have the kids all constantly sick! And even if they remove the tonsils and adenoids, it's not a guarantee that this will get rid of Strep. It can hang out in the larynx and other places in the throat too. But in my opinion... the tonsils are a pretty good place to start if we're trying to get rid of it! As much as I hate for the kids to go through another surgery :( It's still got to be better than being sick constantly.

One more thing. If it doesn't go away even after the surgery, the other suggestion is to pull them out of school. If they're healthy while they're home, then there's likely a carrier at school that they are in close contact with and that they keep catching it from. Since both kids are in the same class, this isn't that far fetched of an idea. I hate to pull them from school since it really is a great program and I love their teachers, I will if that's what it takes to get them healthy and to STAY healthy. We could also change classes within the school if we'd be allowed to. That might be something we look in to.

For now, off to more antibiotics, and we'll spend our Christmas break trying to kick this ick!!

(PS. they've had 3 different types of antibiotics and this is round #5. We did one twice, then a different one, then another different one, and we're back to the 2nd one again with some other 'added' drug whose name escapes me and we have to get insurance prior approval for... no idea...)

Mike’s Master’s Commencement!

Down in West Palm Beach some friends from the world of the Internet were having surgery.  Coincidence?  Maybe, but it was wonderful spending a few hours getting to know Debbie better and to learn more about her and her family!  Debbie has adopted twice from Ukraine and her second adoption, a daughter, just completed some pretty intense limb surgeries and is still doing rehab for a few more days.  We found a ritzy area to grab a Starbucks and walk around.  The picture is a bit fuzzy, but here it is…

 

Graduation was fun, Kristopher and Lynae went with us and here’s the Ham…

 

Here are Mike’s parents and Lynae

Notice something missing??  I only have a quick video clip of Mike walking, NO PICTURES!  My battery died.  His parents took pictures but I don’t have them yet…

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Pictures with Santa

Kristopher and Brianna went to a breakfast with Santa last weekend and Kristopher got his picture taken with Santa!

And while we were in West Palm Beach, my parents took care of Micah, Brianna, and Emma, and brought them to see Santa too!

(this is a picture of a picture, the original doesn’t have as much glare!)

A visit from friends!

Last Monday we had the privilege of meeting someone that I’ve emailed with many times and who shares our heart for adoption…  I shared earlier about our get-together, but here are some pictures!

Linda with her new baby Beth- she’s just a week younger than Lynae :)

And with Miss Emma…

 

This one, Right to left is Linda with Beth (and a stuffed dog courtesy of Kristopher, he says the dog has Ds too so it should be in the photo and Linda is just too sweet!), Melissa (Missy) with her son Erik, and Me with Brianna, Emma, and Micah.  Missy and Erik live here in our town and Erik is from the same orphanage as Emma and Micah :)  SMALL world!!  We didn’t really know each other very well until her paperwork was sent my way to help her adopt and she didn’t know about our adoption…

I think Mike took these other pictures (with Missy’s camera LOL) while we were trying to get everyone together… they turned out pretty cute- thanks for sending them to me Missy!!

Alive but busy

Just thought I'd share :)

More conversations with Kristopher

We were listening to Christmas music in the car and one of the songs has John 3:16 in it. So I turned off the radio for a minute to take that teaching moment and once again work on Kristopher memorizing the verse. We copied through the verse once then I sang him a children's song version of the verse. We talked about what it means. Then, he responded.

"Mom, God made our heads out of rocks that he covered with heads, that's why they're round. How did God make rocks? How about sand? How'd he make that? Oh, can you turn the music back on?"

I know he hears me :) And I love the thought process of a 5 yr old boy! LOL

Mom...

When will we have another new baby that looks like Lynae? Because she's beautiful and always smiles at me and I want another baby like her.

Goodness, the things a 5 yr old can come up with! I don't think he's having jealousy or adjustment issues with the new baby, what do you think?

(and the answer was no, not right now, Kristopher! LOL)