New Haircuts call for New Photos

The girls & I got our hair cut today. I wanted a change. And I got it. I'm still not sure. It's short!  But I know I'll love it being short in this summer heat. 

So, with our new haircuts, I wanted to take some photos.  It's hard getting 4 kids to take good photos.  Here are a few.  Enjoy!

Tiff playing with her baby brother

Check out his new lip! 

A fun time!

Our new haircuts

We will be using this photo for our 6 month post-placement report to send to China.

I love how he loves me.

Being silly with daddy

Good Morning Sunshine!

The title of this post is what came to me as I was walking this morning.  We left a few minutes earlier, so the sun was not as high as other days.  We were able to watch it rise.  It is so beautiful!  I love walking around the lakes here and seeing the birds flying, and the steam coming off of the water.  It's just so beautiful.  It's also very quiet here.  People are still sleeping. The trails are quiet, with the occasional jogger.  The sun lights up and shows off all the beautiful colors around us.  It's just so beautiful.  Seeing the beauty does get my mind off of the fact that I am exercising and I am sweating!  LOL  Here are a couple of photos I took today on my phone.  I wish it could capture the real beauty. 

OH, in case you were wondering, Ethan & I took a different path today.  We "braved" the trail that runs behind our new house.  I prayed God would keep all the critters away, and He did.  LOL  We just kept walking. I could have gone farther, but I needed to get back home.  It's just so beautiful back here. All nature. 
Until next time.....

Nature Walking

Ethan & I have been going on early morning nature walks for the past 3 weeks or so.  When school was in, we would walk the girls to school and then keep walking.  Well now that it's summer vacation, I decided that I would not stop walking. Ethan wakes up by 6:30 every morning (sometimes earlier) so why not get him up and walk before the heat?  So, that's what we've been doing.  Every morning I would rather lay in bed and try to sleep.  But then I think about how good I do feel after the walk, like I have accomplished something for ME. 

We have been going to the new neighborhood.  I was walking through the trail until we were met by a snake one morning.  That made me take a detour.  Now we walk through the neighborhood.  There is construction going on, so it's fun seeing the progress.  We walk around a lake to the new neighborhood.  It's so peaceful.  Birds are getting their breakfast.  Today we saw a turtle peeking out at us from the water.  I have taken 2 photos of our walk around the lake.  Remember, it's about 7:00 am when we start our walk, so it's still "cool" out and not too sunny (but it's already very humid).

As we walk through around the lake, I'm reminded of all of the blessings I have.  My family, my home, my friends, my life.  I just thank God while we're walking. It's so peaceful.  Nobody is up yet.  Just the birds.  I'm so thankful for this time of quiet (even though it's so humid out).  :-)

But like I said earlier, we were detoured on our walk a few weeks ago due to a snake waiting for us.  If you know me, then  you know I do not like snakes.  They are just gross.  I'm terrified of them.  Well, the other day we were walking in the STREET and I saw this snake.  I froze, again.  I remember Bill telling be with the first snake, that I should have taken a photo for the girls to see.  So, I took out my phone to take a photo of this snake.  I could not get any closer.  LOL  I think it is dead.  And it still freaked me out.

And if snakes weren't enough, we came across a frog today.  I also think it's dead.  But it still grossed me out.  Why can't I see precious wildlife?  LOL  One day Ethan will think this is all so cool.  But right now he could care less.  I have a friend who is a little jealous of the wildlife we've seen around here. She's seen nothing.  We have also seen a small gator in 1 of the lakes.  I try not to walk by that lake. LOL

Ethan & I walk for about 35 minutes.  I feel so much better when we are done.  My goal this summer is to walk at least 5 mornings a week (if possible).  I'm not walking just for fun.  I'm also walking to get into shape.  I've been losing weight since last Sept.  I decided I needed to change how I eat.  I have given up Coke. I was an addict.  I would drink a 2 liter all by myself in a day.  Not good!  Since Sept, I have lost 24 pounds.  I feel so much better.  My goal now is to tone up and get healthy.  I hope to journal about my weight loss one day.  I told a friend how I do not see the change.  And then she sent me a photo from about 18 months ago. I could not believe it.  Yes, there is change! 

Until next time.....

Busy Weekend

This past weekend was busy!  But we still had fun.
Tiff came home from youth camp on Saturday. She was tired.  But she said she had a great time. She loves going to camp.  I love hearing the stories she tells when she comes home.

For Father's Day we went to Outback after church.  This was Ethan's first time at a restaurant, we think.  Well at least here in the states.  He did better than expected.  I can't wait for him to be able to eat real food.  He will be happier.  We did have him taste a lemon.  And he liked it!  Yelled at me when I put it away. 

Last night the girls were in the VBS choir.  They put on a performance with this years VBS songs. They are so cute. I love watching them sing about Jesus.  My heart fills with joy watching them sing. Just realizing that if they had not been adopted, that they would not have had the opportunity to hear about Jesus.  I'm so glad they are here with us. And so glad to see them praising Jesus!

Abby & Jadyn planted seeds for me for Mother's Day at school. They made the flower pots too.  We've been watering them. We were not sure if Jadyn's were going to grow.  Well it has. And it keeps growing. We're not sure what kind of plant it is.  We told her we think it's a bean stalk.  LOL  Abby's just bloomed this week. She is so excited.

Unfortunately, we've had to teach Ethan what the time out corner is.  Yes, our precious little boy can be bad.  Today he did a lot of screaming at all of us.  So he found himself in the corner. He did not like it, but he stayed.  I wonder how long that will last.  :-)

Finally I'll leave you with a silly photo of Jadyn.  Tonight we had fettuccine alfredo for dinner. When I looked up, this is what I saw.  I told her not to touch her face.  I NEEDED to take a photo.

Until next time.......

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there, especially my dad and my hubby Bill. 

Our Handsome Little Man

I can't stand it.  He's SO cute!  Can you believe he's been our son for 5 months?  Wow!  We are so blessed to be called his parents. 

Before & After

Wow!  I'm just amazed at what the surgeon did!  Just amazed!

                                                                                  

First Week of Summer

So the first week of summer has been busy.  Tiffani has left for church youth camp.  I took her to church at 10 PM Sunday night. They quickly loaded up the buses and were pulling out by 11:15.  Camp snuck up on me. I still keep forgetting the kids are there.  I've only heard from her 2 times.  And both times they were still on the bus. 

Yesterday was an early morning.  We had to be back at the hospital at 8 AM so Ethan could get his stitches removed.  Ethan remembers this place now. This was his 4th visit in 2 months.  Thankfully they were early, and took Ethan 30 min early.  The surgeon said everything looked good. I told him how Ethan is going to take over his job because Ethan was pulling the stitches and the surgeon said "Man, why didn't you finish the job?  We could have all slept in today".  and then he (the doc) laughed.  We are very happy with how the surgery went.  We are still getting used to Ethan's new smile.  It's different, but also so beautiful.

Ethan in recovery, waiting to be discharged

Abby & Jadyn are already bored.  Wonderful, we are on the 3rd day of summer and they are bored.  They are in the pool now and instead of swimming, they are filling up a bucket.  When I looked up, this is what I saw:

Why do we have a pool?  When a bucket seems to be doing the trick.  :-)

This morning I wanted to try to get some photos of Ethan's new smile.  Well even at 9:30 am, it's miserably hot and humid here.  My camera lens was fogging up.  Finally I got a couple of shots. But it was also wet outside so I did not get too many. The girls cooperated better than Ethan.

Thank you for the prayers & comments concerning Ethan.  He's doing great!  He's back to his normal all boy self.  He still have to wear the no-no's and still has to eat from the syringe.  We see the surgeon next Tuesday. Hopefully after this visit, Ethan can go back to eating normally again. And the no-no's will be off, until his palate surgery (which has not been scheduled yet).
Until next time.....

So cute!

Welcome Summer!

Yesterday was the last day of school for our girls.  We now have a Sophomore in HS and 2 first graders. Hard to believe.  They enjoyed their last day.  Tiff had her band exam and then got out of school at 9:30.  The girls just watched a movie and enjoyed a few hours with their friends.  They got out at 11:45. 

After school Tiff had a few friends over for her annual last day of school pool party. They had fun. I have enjoyed watching these girls grow up.  They are all going to be sophomores in the fall.

Abby & Jadyn also had 2 friends over. They had fun. They had a lot of treats and just played. 

And then there's Ethan. We thought we were doing well.  We tried having him sleep in his pack-n-play last night and he slept so much better. And so did we.  Well then this morning, he decided to flip over his little foam couch and he landed right on his face.  YEP!  Blood!  I panicked.  Thankfully Bill did not.  He cleaned it up and we noticed a stitch broke.  We called the surgeon.  We took photos and emailed it to him. We are waiting to hear back.  Since he fell, the blood has scabbed over and it does not look as bad. I'm praying it's okay.  We get the stitches out on Monday.  Now if my son can just calm down and stop trying to climb & jump off of everything, then I'll be okay.  I don't think that will happen.  It's going to be a long 3 days. 

Until next time....

Ethan is back to "normal"

Today is day 3.  And Ethan is back to himself.  He wants to play, and run, and climb.  Things that make me so nervous right now.  I'm trying to be cautious when he plays.  He's happy.  He gets tired quickly though.  Still a little weak.  But he's not sleeping.  Yesterday he took 2 30 min naps.  And he is on pain meds with codine, I would have thought we would be getting better sleep out of him. 

The swelling has gone down. We can now see how his smile is going to be.  And it's going to be cute!  Dr. Soler did a really good job on his nose too.  We can't wait for the stitches to come out on Monday.

Ethan has a new appliance in his mouth.  The orthodontist said it's going to be in for a while.  I have not been able to see it yet.  But I believe it covers his whole palate. 

Ethan wants to eat. It was so sad. He was standing in the kitchen looking up at where his food is, just waiting.  I want to feed him food.  But they said no. Only liquids.  I hope by Monday he can eat again. 

We saw his first smile yesterday.  It's so cute. 

Well, I don't have much time to update.  Thanks for your prayers.  He's doing well.  And he's healing nicely.
Until next time......

This is how we feed Ethan. 

We are supposed to use this to tighten the appliance in his mouth.

Smile

Another smile

Last night

Sleeping

Thank You!

Thank you for your prayers.  Ethan did great.  Surgery was about 2 1/2 hours long.  Ethan woke up fighting (no surprise there).  Thankfully he calmed down as soon as I held him (made me feel really good). 

We sat in recovery for about 3-4 hours.  Ethan is on a liquid diet and they needed to see if he would drink from a syringe.  He did drink about 1 oz of milk and did fine.  Since he did so well, they allowed us to come home.

Now Ethan is sitting with Bill.  He has not wanted anyone but me. I'm so thankful for the break. 

Ethan is in pain.  He's swollen.  We're praying the pain meds they gave us will help him.  We're still not sure how we're going to sleep. 

Here are a couple of photos from this morning.  Thanks again for everything.  Ethan goes back in a week to get the stitches out. Then we do the palate surgery, in a few months.

Until next time.....

Ethan wants to escape.

Dr. Soler, his surgeon

Ethan after surgery

Just 12 hours away

Ethan is just 12 hours away from surgery. I can't believe the day is finally here.  We've tried to love on him a lot this weekend.  I think he's over it. LOL  He's so tired today.  He went to bed at 6:30.  He's sleeping soundly. 

The girls are spending the night at a friends house. We have to leave our house around 4:45 AM to get to the hospital by 6.  We are so thankful and grateful for our friends who are helping us out. 

I wanted to get some photos this weekend of Ethan before his surgery.  Well it's just too hot here in FL.  So I just grabbed the camera and took what I could inside.  He's so silly.  And he's learned that he can see himself on the digital camera, and that is more fun than mommy taking his photo.  He likes to move too, so we get a lot of blurry photos or photos with eyes closed.  Here are a few that I loved.  He's being silly in a few.

In this photo, you can really see his cleft.  Before the Latham was put in, his top gum was separated.  The Latham did an amazing job and moving it together.

I don't know what he's doing here.  Definitely being silly.

OK, this expression is a little scary, and funny at the same time.

I will leave you with a precious photo.
Thank you for praying.  Tomorrow is going to be a difficult day for all of us.  We will get through it knowing we have friends & family who are praying for us and supporting us.  I will update the blog as soon as I can with updated photos from the hospital.
Until next time......