Happy Valentines Day(you may need to pause music at bottom of screen)

Video

Many thanks to my cyber/Down Syndrome/ET adoption friend,

Randi.

I asked many folks for ideas but YOU came to my rescue.

You helped me find new ways to reach him.

For that, I thank you.

You Rock.

Fabulous Friday Fotos

 Love Our Dentist!

It's Friday.

Or as we call it

"DonutCokeDay"

What Do You Do

When your husband comes in carrying your daughter

And says

We need to get her to the ER.

First you Thank God she was wearing her helmet 

when she lost control of her bicycle

Then you call the dentist.

The one you just visited 3 days prior.

The one who said, 

she needs a mouth guard if she is doing contact sports.

Because if she gets hit in the mouth,

her tooth is likely to break.

(It is positioned in such a way....)

Indeed it did break.

Then you head to the ER.

Because her chin is laid open in such a way it looks like she has a 2nd mouth.

 

 

Beyond the pain that was so obvious.

The thing that hurt me most was she said,

"will you stop loving me because I'm broken".

You go through so much.

You think you've made great strides.

Then you realize how precarious your foundation is.

Finished Product

Ansley has been busy since Christmas.

She has sewn 3 pillow cases and 1 apron.

She has also learned to bake a cream cheese pound cake,

for which she won her troop bake off.

Watch out world!

She is going places!

For Posterity (Turn songs off at bottom of page)

Sometimes when you are in the trenches,

It's hard to see progress.

So I wanted to film Sawyer reading and doing his math.

Because he IS making progress.

To some it may be slow

To me, it's pretty darn awesome.

We are making progress.

Slow.Incremental.Progress.

What is everyone else doing?
Anybody else home schooling?

Sad

It's funny.

Everyone in the adoption world seems to know everyone else.

Friends of Friends sort of thing.

(Same holds true for the Down syndrome world too)

Anyway,

I met a lady via the cyber world.

She made wonderful little dresses and skirts that Ansley loved.

They were simple dresses made of  lovely material.

This lady made them in order to raise money to bring her son home from Ethiopia.

I followed this lady through the whole adoption process.

Buying dresses when I could.

Even won one.

Loved her story.

Felt like I knew her.

She died.

Makes me sad.

Here is her story

http://www.ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-beautiful-life-of-sallee-couch.html

Turn Around and You're a Young Girl

Time is flying.

Seems like yesterday,

I was pushing her in a stroller.

Now, she is 8.

She made the cake.

Pink is her signature color!

Not only did she get her favorite breakfast this morning.

Cheese Omelet

She also got to eat lunch at her favorite Mexican restaurant.

And if that was not enough,

Her Girl Scout Father-Daughter dance was tonight!

Happy Birthday, Pooh!

We love you!!!!!

More Holiday Madness

We had an awesome and crazy Christmas.

How about you?

Nana and Pop came to visit.

Sadly, we were all sick. 

We still enjoyed visiting, just didn't have a lot of energy.

Visited with True

Who is my Dad's dog.

He (my Dad the dog) didn't quite know what to do with all those people.

Visited with more Family

 That's not all, just my Mom, Sister, Brothers, Me and our kids, grandkids, great-grands

(Missing are my Aunt, Uncle and their families who were in other parts of the house)

Love, Love, Love Christmas in Tennessee!

It's the only time we all get together and visit and catch up.

Santa came by

Just to say HI

Then he came again, 

I think everyone was happy with what Santa left.

We even got a bit of snow before we left Tennessee

I hope everyone had a great holiday (whatever holiday you celebrate)!

Now let's talk New Year's resolutions.....

It's the Holiday Season

And Busyness Abounds!

The Nutcracker

They both liked the Mouse King best

An Oral Report for School

He was wonderful (of course)

It's a castle from The Castle Diary book.

A wee bit of leaf raking

A trip to The World of Coca Cola

(love the 4D theater and the tasting room)

Finally, a dinner date with our favorite friend (and his mom),
eating our favorite food.
Tonight, we discovered fish tibs!
A new favorite.

Christmas Parade

Love this time of year!

So many fun things to do.

Saturday it was the local Christmas Parade.

Got there early to get primo seats!

Judson and Randy marched with their scout troop.

Ansley's scout troop.

And the most important parade float!

Ho Ho Ho

Today, we go see The Nutcracker!

Thanksgiving Vacation

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go.

We had a great time, as usual.

Horses, 4-wheelers, fishing, gardening

All with Nana and Pop.

Love it!

 The first thing to greet us when we drove up.

A powerful reminder NOT to eat too much.

If  I can still see my feet, I didn't eat too much, right?

 4-wheeling!

Loving on Sadie!

Sierpinski's Triangle out of candy corn.

Fishing with Pop.

Hanging of the Green with Nana.

Last but not least, a nice creepy black widow.

(RIP)

Clay-Mation

Judson's First Attempt at Claymation

(just because)

Girlapalooza

Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta descended upon Six Flags today.

Randy took Ansley as a father-daughter thing.

All I can say,

A great time was had by all.

Smiles abound.

Happy National Adoption Month

Did you know that?

It is.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/11/01/presidential-proclamation-national-adoption-month-2012

Obviously, my family is pro-adoption.

But you might be surprised to know that we support efforts to keep families intact.

Because we believe children should be able to be raised by their birth families whenever possible.

Yes, even if the families are poor.

Yes, even if they will not be raised Christian.

Yes, even if....

But there are times when that is not possible....

Do you know the numbers?

In America, there are approximately 500,000 children in foster care.

Of those, about 1/4 are available for adoption.

According to the latest UNICEF numbers I can find,

there are 163 million children worldwide who have lost 1 parent.

18+ million have lost both parents.

Many more children have been placed in orphanages due to poverty or sickness or societal norms.

We, personally, believe everyone should help orphans.

 

No, we don't believe everyone should adopt.

 

But some can foster.

Some can offer respite to those who do foster or adopt, 

especially in situations where the children are medically fragile 

or have other special needs.

 

Some can offer financial support.

Organizations like:

Reece's Rainbow

Help raise awareness of kids worldwide with special needs

Many other wonderful organizations also help with this

EAFS

Help orphans in Ethiopia and also help families in danger of breaking up stay intact.

Connected in Hope

Helps women to have a source of income.

This helps in so many ways.

AWESOME!

 

There are hundreds of wonderful organizations,

here and abroad that could use your help.

Find a cause 

Get involved.

 

Yes, if you want to adopt.

I encourage  you to.

Soul search and figure out what you and your family can realistically manage.

Find out facts.

Search the internet for good agencies.

BUT 

I BEG BEG BEG YOU.

Do not go to an agency and say:
"we want a little girl, as young as possible and healthy"

If your agency does not run from that,

you should run from that agency.

You will be the reason one more country's adoption program is shut down due to corruption.

So Happy Adoption Month. 

Blessings of adoption have been flowing through our family
Long before we adopted our two.