Don't Forget

The Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree. Every child deserves a family. Every family deserves a child. Now, I don't believe every person needs to have children. That's something only you can decide. I will say these kids have been through a lot. In many of the Eastern European countries, the kids age out of the baby houses (orphanages) and are placed in mental institutions. Many will not be allowed out of their beds. Many, Many will die within their first year of being placed in the institution.

So many folks are working to change that scenario but until that happens, these kids will suffer. To be perfectly honest, while the US is light years ahead of Eastern Europe, it hasn't been that long since children with disabilities were 'hidden away'. Now, there is a waiting list of people who would adopt a child born with Down Syndrome here in the US. Those same people might just adopt a child internationally if they could afford the cost. Your donation may just sway their decision.

These are tough economic times, so I would not want anyone to donate who is on a tight budget. But there are many who have the means. I want to make a pitch for these little ones. They are all so beautiful and in need. Check out their pictures. You just may find a little one who touches your heart. A couple of families have already found their child in the faces of these kids. Spread the word too. You never know who might want to donate or even adopt one of these sweet children. Check out Miss Liza with a "Z" at the bottom or Mr. Harry with the tux on. Let me tell you about Samson. He's high functioning. (Not sure if he's been moved to the institution or not) You can tell from many of the photos, he is a pistol! All are precious!

Don't You Believe It

I've heard it a million times, "Oh you home school? Are you worried your kids won't be 'socialized' enough?" I usually just laugh. I think about the years I spent in public school. P.E. and lunch time were the only time I was NOT sitting in a chair listening to lectures. My most social time was either at family gatherings with all my cousins or after school playing with the neighbors' kids. Sadly, this day and age do not lend themselves to allowing your child carte blanche to go play with the kids down the road. Things need to be more 'arranged'. All is not lost though. There are tons of things to do that cost little or no money.

Take Ansley and her 'Dumplings'. What an awesome experience and it cost nothing. She loves hanging out with the older girls, especially if Daddy takes her. (Mom, eh, not so much. Let's just say she has Dad wrapped around her little finger) There are also some dance and gymnastic classes we hope to get her into in the near future. Not to mention swim classes.

Judson and his Dad take karate classes together twice a week. Very cheap because it's through a church but very nice for he and his dad to do it together. This is one time Mom wishes she could do it too. I LOVE LOVE LOVE martial arts. However, my back and knees say NO NO NO. It is our hope the the other kids will join in as they get older. "The family that kicks together sticks together" In addition, Judson is playing basketball this year too. (Stay tuned for pics. Sure to be fun.) On top of that, living in an urban area makes it even more easy to access things. Like yesterday, Judson took a cooking class with his friend Luyushu. They had a good time. (notice the home made oreo cookie crumbs and kool aid on their mouths)


Not to mention, everywhere I go, they go too. Doctor's appointments, grocery, shopping, visiting, even voting. You name it, they do it. It's not like you can schedule appointments while they are in school. They are learning how to act not only with their same age peers but with people older and younger than they are. Let's face it when they grow up, they won't be interacting ONLY with people born their same year but people of all ages. In addition, my kids have great insight into interacting with people of differing abilities. They come with us to appointments where Sawyer is evaluated. They are exposed to medical facilities and treatments that are out of the norm. To them, it's just another day.

So don't believe that kids who are home schooled are not socialized. Parents I know who home school go out of their way to make sure their kids have ample opportunity to socialize with their peer group.

Keeping It Real

So you say to yourself, how does she manage? How does she handle 4 children ages 6 and under? She's amazing! She's wonder woman! You never said that? Hmmm.....Okay, you weaseled it out of me. I admit it. I'm a fruad. I employ tricks such as this one with Judson. "Yes, Judson you can fly your kite in the backyard. You just have to run fast enough and the kite will fly despite the fact there is no wind." Cruel? Dishonest? Maybe. Either way, he ran and ran until he finally said the words no 6 year old likes to say, "Can we stop. I'm tired." (This is the kite we made at the Asian festival so many years ago. Judson and I read the story The Kite Fighter, so flying kites has new meaning.) Or perhaps you have to let somethings go. Such as the laundry piled up in the hall way. Or the books you have to step over or puzzle pieces. Perhaps you even have to dress your 4 year old SON in pink footy pj's belonging to his sister because you have no clean pjs for him. (Maybe they were in the pile of laundry) BTW, Ansley was reading the 'babies' a story because she's a Happy Helper!

An Adoption Story

So, I cannot get this video to upload. (shhh, don't tell anyone I was once a computer programmer in a former life) Ineptitude aside, click on the highlighted button and view this video. It's a good story and worth watching. (Thanks Shelley for reminding me of the story)

Click Here

Do Something/Something to Do

Ok. My cyber friend Lucia is one of the best bloggers. I love reading her stories. She can weave the most interesting story out of everyday things.

She has something that everyone can do. (Hats for newborns made out of tshirts) Go over and read and see if it is something you might be interested in.

Check it out here.

Who's Jesus?

So, my 6 year old asked his Pop-Pop, who Jesus was. Pop's answer was very age appropriate. He said Jesus was God's son. Then last night, Judson asked his Dad, what/who are Christians? His answer, People who follow Christ. The retort to that was, "you can't follow Christ, he is not here!"

His dad responded by saying, Christians follow Christ's teachings: Don't hurt people, Treat people nicely, don't lie, etc. Judson pondered this and decided he was about 50% christian because he fought with his sister. Of course, his sister is only 48% Christian because she fights AND she lies!

Only from the mouth of a child.

This is a child who is rooting for Obama. (not because of who his parents are voting for because we have made it a point of not talking politics in our house) He's seen the commercials for both candidates and sees the polls. He doesn't see color or gender or age. Mostly he roots for Obama because the polls say Obama is going to win and he always sides with the 'winner'. (If the polls said McCain was going to win, then his allegence would likely change) There are several candidates we are not allowed to vote for because of their negative campaigning. Their commercials almost make him cry because of the negativity. He will always say "Why do they say that about this person. That's not nice" His innocence lets him see past the things that stop adults. I love that about him. I hope he never sees through the eyes of hatred and fear. I hope he can always see past the lies. I love the world he sees!

National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month. Adoption has touched my life since I was a little girl. It's something that I always knew I wanted to do. I was lucky to get to grow up in a family with a loving mom and dad and brothers and sister and cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. Not everyone has that opportunity. It's not fair. Plain and Simple. Sure life is not fair. That doesn't make it right for a child to go to bed (if they are lucky enough to have a bed) without someone to tuck them in and kiss them good night. It's not right that they have no one to hold them and rock them when they are sick and scared. It's not fair that they have no one to share the happy times with either.

That's why I tell you about Reece's Rainbow. That's why I tell you our story. And that's why I share with you this story/observation. That's why I point out posts like this one, too. Nothing extraordinary. Just what goes on in the world around us.

Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree

From Andrea at Reece's Rainbow:

Our Angel Tree is the perfect gift opportunity for your friends and family, and the GIFT OF A FAMILY for an orphaned child with Down syndrome this Christmas. From today until December 31, you have a very special opportunity to view all of our waiting children and offer them gifts in the form of adoption grants, so families can afford the high cost of rescuing them!

With your sponsorship gift of $35 or more, you will recieve a beautiful porcelain ornament with your child's photo on the back. This is a very meaningful and personal gift, and life-saving at the same time! We have almost (100) children on our Angel Tree this year, all waiting for families and eligible for grant donations.

OK. So my heart is rooting for Francesca from China. And that is where our donation will go this year. Check out the pictures. (Click on one of the highlighted phrases and it'll take you to the site) I'm sure one (or more) kids will tug at your heart strings. If you'd like to read more, click on Emma's button to the right and read what Meredith has to say.

Trick or Treat

The kids have looked forward to this day for a week. The neighborhood party and trick or treating were all they'd talk about. This morning they woke up ready to put on their costumes. I took Sawyer to school, only to be called to come back and get him. He was sick. He came home and took a nap along with Ansley and Turner. When it came time to get ready he refused to dress up. You could tell he felt miserable. I dosed him up with Motrin to see if that would help. He was going as Phil Fulmer (I mean, The Great Pumpkin). He began to feel a bit better but still refused to put on the costume. So the best I could do with him, was to get half of a cow costume on. Once he got to the party, he perked up and had a good time. All the kids did! Then Ansley and Judson went to a few houses on the way home and trick or treated. They were ready to come home. Alas, Dad was not ready. So he took them to several more houses while I brought Turner and Sawyer home. They still are not home at the writing of this post.


After
before



**Special note on the Cat and The Hat**
Judson was scared when we went to get him a costume. He, literally, would not go down the aisle. So I asked what he'd like to be and I'd make him a costume. He said he wanted to be a bunny. I told Randy and his response was, "Absolutely not! Haven't you ever seen The Christmas Story". So Judson and I got online and looked around and finally decided we liked the Cat and The Hat. I think he's quite the handsome Cat with his Hat.

Post-Placement Stuffs

Just our luck. There's a new law (about 1 year old but just recently being implemented and randomly, at best) on the books stating that before our adoption can be finalized, we have to be fingerprinted and have another background check. Let's see, for Turner's adoption alone, we were fingerprinted at the local police station and those fingerprints were run through the FBI system. While at the local police station, we had a background check run via their system. Then, we had to be electronically fingerprinted with Homeland Security and have them run a security check on us prior to being given permission to bring a child into this country. Now, we have to have our fingerprints re-done and run one more time. So, that's what we did, as we didn't have another choice.

Today, Randy took off half a day from work. We had our 3 month post-placement visit. Come to find out, our home study agency(different from our adoption agency) is going out of business so this is the only visit our social worker will be doing. They are transitioning our case to another agency and someone new will do our next visit at 6 months. If you were following our last adoption, the adoption agency went out of business during the adoption process. They did finish all open cases though. I'm not saying we're the kiss of death to agencies but it would seem we tend to bring bad luck to the agencies we work with. Hopefully, our adoption agency can withstand the threat of having us as clients.

After the post-placement visit, we headed to the court house to get finger print cards. Then over to the police station of more prints. WITH ALL 4 KIDS! Exciting, no. Then, back to the court house to drop off the cards to be forwarded to the proper agency for evaluation.

After that, we thought, hey let's check and see if there is anyone at the local polling place so we can vote early. Just a few someones. A line out the building, into the parking lot and winding its way amongst the cars. Needless to say, we didn't get to vote today. Hopefully, it won't be that long on election day. I have to say, it's quite exciting that this many people are getting out to vote. I think that's wonderful!

So, long story short, we think we've jumped through the last hoops in order to finalize Turner's adoption. Time will tell.

All Craftsy-like

The kids made boxes out of old Christmas cards. I thought they turned out great!

Love this Post

My grandmother grew up in a large family of 11 kids. (7 brothers, 4 sisters) It was a norm when she was born in the early 1900's. You had a large family and they helped work the land and raise the animals, etc. No one thought is unusual. I have never seen a stronger bond between siblings than I have with my grandmother and her siblings.

These days, we raise eyebrows with our 4. Mostly by the look. In fact, on our way home on Sunday we stopped for a potty break. A lady asked me if we were a foster family. That is in fact what we appear to be to most people. However, even our 'largish small'/'mediumish' family draws comments by the fact that there are 4 kids. How can you afford it? Where do they all sleep? How do you have time for each of them? You must be tired a lot? Blah blah blah.

So, that's why I love THIS blog post. I think people tend to make judgments about others based on how they'd feel if they were in the situation. Just because it isn't right for you doesn't mean it isn't right for someone else.

Be On the Safe Side **EDITED**

I have a cyber friend whose son was adopted from Taiwan around the same time we adopted our daughter. She received an email from a friend about the melamine situation and what you should do if you adopted a child in 2005 or after and are concerned they may have been exposed to melamine. Even though her son was from Taiwan, she had him tested. His urinalysis showed some abnormalities. Her next step is to have a renal ultrasound to see if there is damage.

This is an excerpt from the email: "urinalysis and BUN/Creat on
all children adopted from China from 2005 onward and if abnormal, get
a renal ultrasound"

So, I called my pediatrician and asked if he thought we should test Ansley. He suggested calling poison control. Their answer to me was, yes run the BUN/Creat. If the numbers are abnormal, treat it symptomatically. (in other words, treat it as you would anytime your BUN/Creat numbers came back abnormal.) I asked if there was anything known about what happens to the melamine in the body. Will the body get rid of it? Her answer, "we don't know" They have a team of doctors going to China to study this very question in November.

So for those of you who've adopted from China/Taiwan 2005-2008, you might want to check with your pediatrician and see what they say.

** As of 10/28/09 ** After speaking with my pediatrician, we're going to do a urinalysis. If all comes back within normal limits, we won't do anymore testing. There is no test (as of today) to test for melamine exposure. In the children who died or got sick, it affected their kidneys. If there is a problem with the kidneys, hopefully it will show up in a urinalysis. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Weekend Trip

Just got back from a weekend trip. We had a wonderful time. Randy got to attend his class reunion festivities. The kids got to spend time with Nana and Pop. Only down side: Mom has a nice little rash from using dryer sheets that apparently she's allergic to. OUCH!

Class Reunion

Randy's class is one of the more unusual classes I've seen. They actually were close going through school and have remained that way after graduation. They get together and seem to have a wonderful time, even if they haven't seen each other since the last reunion. They were a small class of about 40 people. They went to the same school k-12. The school itself is amazing. In this day of cutting cost and combining schools, this school is still there serving the community. These are some pictures from Saturday night when the 'families' got together. Randy and I win the contest for most kids!!!!!

Time with Nana and Pop

Practicing our Lady Killing Moves
Just a practice run. He still doesn't keep the glasses on very long.


Fishing with Pop

Celebrating Sawyer's Birthday


Feeding the Horses

Dancing. (sorry..don't know how to rotate the video)

Update on Glasses

Sawyer will now wear his glasses 10-15 minutes at a time without balking. We are now trying to find the right accessory to help keep them on his head. Andrea (Reece's Mom, from Reece's Rainbow) gave me a suggestion of what works for Reece. As soon as I can get back to the mall, I'll pick one up and see how it works for Sawyer. I've also ordered something else to see if it works.

No pictures right now as I've packed the camera for a trip and haven't been able to get a pic yet. Soon.

It Ain't Pretty

So, Sawyer has needed something to help his eyes for almost a year. Finally, they determined glasses were the ticket. This is what happens when an almost 4 year old gets new glasses. I did manage to get him to keep them on for about 10 minutes. Fingers crossed we can get him to keep them on more with practice.

A video


After the video, he agreed to let me put them on for the picture and then he yanked them back off.

Picture It! Sicily 2008

Ok. It wasn't Sicily.(That's for my old friend Jeff who loved the Golden Girls) Even so, the day was pretty good.

First, Judson went with Randy to work.
Then, I dropped Sawyer off at school.
So it was Mom, with only 2 babies. What is a mom to do with all this 'freedom'? I scooted around town like a free woman. I dropped papers off at the doctors office. I picked up meds from the vets office. Then I headed to the mall for some 'important' shopping.

On the way over, Ansley informed me she had the ba-hiccups. She said she needed Tylenol to help get rid of them. I informed her that would not help. Later, she said the ba-hiccups were gone. I told her I was glad. She said, if they came back, she'd ba-hiccup again. My reply, "yes, I guess you will".

So at the mall:
Picture it, Me (old caucasian woman) being followed by a very talkative Asian girl pushing an equally vocal African boy in a stroller. Oh yeah. First stop, food court for biscuits. I saunter up to the register to place my order. Out of Ansley's mouth, "Hi. I'm Ansley. This is my brother, Turner Mesfin. Isn't that right, Mom?" Alas, all questions running through everyone's head were answered. (Typically, when I'm out with all 4, I'm pegged as running a daycare)

Then we head off looking for open stores. (not many as we were there early) I mistakenly head up stairs bumping Turner in his stroller behind me, thinking I can get outside and into the lone open store. Alas, there was no outside door. BUT, as I was going up a gentleman asked if he could help by carrying the other end of the stroller. I tell him Yes, Thank you. Ansley informs him her name is Ansley and that he's my brother. Again, I see a relief in the man's face. As if to say, "Ahhhh, that explains it".

Before anyone thinks Ansley is overly friendly to strangers, let me clear that one up. She is very quiet around strangers unless Mom (or Dad) is talking to them. That seems to make it okay.

So that was my day. Fun, Fun, Fun. Oh, and for my sister whose daughter used to have to hit the bathroom everytime we'd go somewhere, Ansley is now familiar with 3 bathrooms in the mall.

Too Funny

We had our friends Evie and Doug over for lunch today. So good to visit and catch up with the haps in their lives. So, I made this bean dip to eat with lunch. Nothing special, just 'okay'. Sawyer and Turner DEMANDED that I give them some right after I made it. They didn't want it with chips, just wanted to eat it with a spoon. Sawyer went on and on about it being 'licious'. SO much so, that Ansley and Judson decided they'd try it. So, I gave them a microscopic bite. They both gagged it up. It was hilarious. T and S ate seconds. A and J will never understand why.

Poor kids. Don't have any furniture to sit on. They have to sit on cases of cokes.

Meet Connor Gifford The Author

From his BIO: CONNOR GIFFORD lives a full life in Nantucket where he works and volunteers for many organizations. He is a Board member of STAR, an innovative provider of services to children with special needs. He loves going to films and the theatre, collecting videos, and reading history. Right now,I am living on the island of Nantucket. My parents are Julie and Chuck Gifford. I have two brothers: Cameron who is 23 and Hunter who is 22. I am 26, the oldest, and I love my life!

During my growing up years, we lived in Perrysburg, Ohio where I graduated from high school in 2002. Some subjects I did poorly in, like math and science. But, I succeeded in English, and my favorite of all, history.

He has written a book: America according to Connor Gifford

Go read his blog here. Go see pictures of him here. Make sure you click on the "Excerpts" button and read from the book. Extremely interesting.

'Splain Me This

Why is it, my daughter chooses THIS 3-piece fleece ensemble to wear on this 85 degree day.

Yet tonight, she chooses to sleep in this when she doesn't sleep with any covers.