Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday - need I say more?

Demystifying Special Needs

There's been something of a ruckus lately on why one would chose to adopt a special needs child given the choice for a healthy child. I guess I should just confess right now that 5 years ago when I saw Kai's photograph for the first time, I was not looking for a child with his special need. I had an extremely short list of special needs that I deemed "acceptable" for our family. Kai's special need was most definitely not on that list. But you know what, God knew that our hearts were much bigger than we realized. And He taught us that children are children - regardless of their scary sounding diagnoses. They are amazing little human beings who deserve the love of a family. Forget the label and love the child.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have 2 little boys - not 2 little boys with special needs. They are wonderful, they are smart, they are healthy and they are full of life. What if I had let my fear of special needs say no to their sweet faces? I don't know about you, but to me, these guys are perfect in each and every way.

Another Step Completed - DTC

Yes, approximately 4 1/2 months after our family decided to adopt sweet Molly Kate, we are finally DTC (Dossier to China.) The dossier is a big, nasty, bundle of paperwork and it takes a lot of organization to get it compiled. It feels great to have this step behind us. Being DTC is a pretty big deal in the timeline of our adoption although we still have a long way to go. My guess is that we'll travel in late August or early September. I know, it's forever in the life of a 3 year old - don't remind me. Today I'm going to be optimistic and focus on the fact that we're one step closer to our little girl. It doesn't get much better than that!

Praise God

My baby girl sitting on her hospital bed (notice no iv lines)

My angel with a wonderful nanny hired to sit with her in the hospital

I received a phone call from our adoption agency a little over 5 weeks ago. They had just been contacted by the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) and told that Molly Kate had been transferred to Beijing for heart surgery. This was a huge shock for us (since we were prepared to have her surgery here) and put me into a world of worry. I'm a pretty easy-going girl and this honestly threw me for a loop. I worried about Molly Kate being alone and in pain in an unfamiliar and cold hospital. It has taken me weeks and weeks of emails, phone calls and searching, but I finally got the news today that Molly Kate is still in Beijing and doing well. She had successful open heart surgery 10 or 11 days ago and the doctor believes that she will be able to live a long and full life. One day I will tell the story of how I finally came to get this information but that is for another day.

Molly Kate is well. She is not alone. Her heart is healed. Praise God!

It Happened Again

I don't know what the deal is but every, say, 365 days or so, my kids seem to get a little older. We had a bash at our house last night celebrating Piper's 11th birthday. I'm not too pleased with my sweetest angel growing up (and she is - by far - my sweetest kiddo.) I could keep her at 8 or 9 for the rest of my life and be happy as a clam. Unfortunately (and to her delight), I don't seem to have any control over her growth and maturation. Oh well, c'est la vie.

I took the girls (a total of 10 including me) to the Justin Beiber movie. I was dreading it and came ready to sit in the very back of the theater surfing the web and checking my email. Although I only watched about half of the film, Justin came across as a decent kid with a good bit of natural talent. As my sister said, I'd rather our kids look up to Justin Beiber than Eminem. Amen to that.

I love you Piper. You are an amazing young lady and I am so proud to be your mother.

Mercedes Kids Marathon

My 3 runners (David ran alongside Kai)

Victory pose (compliments of PapPa)

Piper after her run with Granny & PapPa

Isn't he cute?

The obligatory photo with mom

My running boys

I don't know if the "kids marathon" phenomenon is everywhere or just in our hometown. If it's not in your area of the country, it should be. Our kiddos have been participating in the marathon for many years now and they absolutely love it. This is how it works -the kids run 25 documented miles on their own (or at school) over the course of 3 months and then run the final 1.2 miles together at a big event downtown. The kids marathon is the day before the real the Mercedes Marathon so the run is very official and well organized. They even get medals (and not the cheap kind) if they complete the run. This year was Kai's first year to run. We know he has boundless energy but we weren't sure if he would hold up for a sustained 1.2 mile run against his peers (he is so tiny!) Kai proved that there was no reason for us to worry. He ran full out for the entire run and never once slowed down. Even better, he had a huge smile on his face the whole time. JD aged out of the race last year (it's for K-5th graders) so he ended up spending his Saturday taking the ACT instead (which he was not happy with.) Ash was also disappointed that we couldn't sneak his pre-K self into the race but we didn't try very hard since he couldn't have kept up with his big brother Kai anyway. Regardless, it was a wonderful day for us all and we have loads of pictures to prove it. Enjoy!

What a Pervert

I've been waiting to receive a very important adoption document from the government that was supposed to be mailed on Monday. I watched all day for our postman to arrive and ran outside as I saw his truck pull up. I told him I was expecting something very important in the mail today. He gave me a huge grin and said, "I bet it's here." Then he proceeded to hand me the 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition and drive off. What a perv.

I think I'll go and throw up now.