Birthdays and Other Daily Blessings

Kimberly's slumber party friends with the ugly

cake that I made. It tasted good...but it sure

looked terrible.

Moriah is Picasso in the making! She stuck

with this project for close to an hour.

Happy Third Birthday, Moriah!!

It has been such a long time since I have made time to post some pictures. We are all still alive...and thriving at that. December flew by in a blur. January is gone, too. On to February!!

Some recent highlights: we celebrated Moriah's Birthday on February 2nd. It was fun because she was so excited about everything this year. She had been talking about her Birthday for days. "Mei Mei presents?" "Mei Mei Balloons?" She loved being the center of attention. We made a simple flower cake and hung balloons. My parents came over to share the evening with us. The only bad part of the day was that Josiah was sick with a bad cold. He lay wrapped in a blanket on the couch through the whole evening. You know he is sick when he doesn't even want cake and ice cream! Due to his sickness, Andy's parents opted to celebrate with Moriah another day. We have decided to get a boquet of flowers each year to honor Moriah's birth parents and all of those who cared for her before she was ours. She doesn't really understand it now, but we hope someday that it will be meaningful to her.

Way back in December, we took a quick trip with Moriah to Shriner's hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. We wanted to get another opinion about her spine. The doctor we saw is world renowned for spine care for kids. He was kind, humble and gracious. He felt that we should stick with the surgeon in Denver and confirmed that it is ok to wait awhile for surgery if we keep careful track of her spine with frequent x-rays. After traveling in snow going to Salt Lake and coming home, the idea of staying in Denver for her care was quite appealing. We felt very good about our trip and the confirmation that it gave us. So, last week we returned to the surgeon in Denver for x-rays. It was good to talk with him again. He was glad that we went to Salt Lake and talked with us some more about the various specialists who have looked at Moriah's case and all of their opinions. The good news from the x-rays was that her spine is mostly unchanged since October. We are hopeful that it will continue to progress slowly (or not at all!) and that we can continue to postpone surgery. The physical therapists has been working so hard with her. She is using muscles in her back that have really improved her appearance and flexibility. Another area of growth this time was that she was absolutely silly while they were trying to take the x-rays. In the past, she has been very flat-faced and distant. It made it easy to take pictures, but showed me that she was anxious and uncomfortable. This time, she kept giggling and wiggling. The x-rays were more challenging, but it illustrates how much more comfortable she is becoming in all kinds of different situations. So we will press on with therapy and x-rays every 3-4 months for now.

Kimberly celebrated her twelfth birthday on December 28th. This year she decided to have a New Year's Eve slumber party to celebrate. We got lots of poppers and confetti and sparkling cider which the girls enjoyed at midnight. We had fun snack-type foods and the girl's did a craft and watched a movie. They all had a great time...though cleaning up the confetti from the yard the next morning wasn't so fun! Kimberly is blessed with really nice friends from church. They are always a delight to have around.

We are pressing on with school for the older kids. This is a hard time of year to stay motivated. We have been at it for a long time, but we still have a long way to go! The boys and I are enjoying our study of botany this year, but talking about flowers and trees sure makes me eager for spring! We have decided that Kimberly's current method of school (on-line school) is not the best fit for her. We are looking into other options for her for next year. She longs for more direct instruction from expert teachers and more time with peers. Currently, she is on the waiting list for a classical charter school.

The boys have become lego experts. They used to need Andy to help them with complicated creations...but not any more! They have recently built about 17 sets of legos between the two of them. (All of them gifts for Christmas). The challenge now is how to store these large creations without letting them get broken. We have a medieval village, a large crane, several star wars ships, a plane, a fire truck, a semi truck with a race car...perhaps we have some future engineers on our hands.

Even the monotony of the routine is a blessing when I remember that God is sovereign over all of our days. The discipline of staying positive and focused in the ordinary is a process of Spiritual growth for all of us. It's not that life is dull around here...four kids make that impossible! We are always laughing (or crying) about something! We are thankful for the good gifts the Lord gives us each day.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

This was a comment that was shared on www.aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com in response to an unkind comment that was made toward their newly-adopted daughter from China. I loved this response and thought it was worth sharing. We have received a few insensitive comments ourselves toward Moriah. I hope that I am able to prepare her to respond with wisdom in those situations.

The family who writes on a place called simplicity truly have an amazing story. We met the father at one of our adoption classes while we were waiting for Moriah. It is a wonderful story of God's faithfulness through very difficult trials.

Our daughter Abby has a physical disability since she had brain surgery at 3. We have had to teach her from the very beginning how to handle questions from people. I didn't realize how much we had prepared her until about a year after her surgery and we were on her make a wish trip to Disney. We were actually visiting Universal that day, and it was VERY hot, and being with a make a wish kid we got to skip the line and go to straight to the front of a ride. The people had obviously been waiting a long time, and the man who was first in line was none to pleased. You can't see her disability unless she is walking, etc. and she was 4 and in a stroller. He started cursing loudly and talking about how unfair it was that we got to cut because their was nothing wrong with anybody in our group. My tiny little 4 yo stood up, put her good hand on her hip and said (with speech difficulty - couldn't say r), "I am on my make a wish twip. I had bwain surgery and work real hard for my body to work. My bwain is bwoken, but yours is just mean and wude - and you shouldn't say those words." The rest of the line clapped, but that man turned bright red, and had to walk away. We saw him in the park later and he apologized.

Merry Christmas!

Just Pictures

Reformation Day costumes...two pink divas, a hunter, a German boy and cheerleader...the Reformers would be proud!

(The other Diva is my niece, Sophia)

Snow Fort!!

Moriah's first tea part with her big sister.
A "Madeline" outfit...She wore it a couple

of times last year, and we were so glad that

it still fits this year. She was very funny about

the hat...wanted it on ALL DAY!

The Next Step

We are all fully recovered from "the surgery that wasn't." It really did take us several days to readjust our minds and hearts to this change of plans. It wasn't that we were looking forward to the pain that Moriah would experience, but we were ready to be on the other side of it. We were really geared up. Andy took a few days off work since he had already planned to be out of the office. We just needed the time to regroup. After we had been home for a couple of days, as we were about to head out the door to get some Subway for dinner, our pediatrician called. He raised a lot of issues regarding the surgeon in Denver that we had not really considered. He was quite upset about the emotional roller coaster that this surgeon has treated us to over the past several months. He strongly suggested that we consider getting another opinion...out of state. We had considered this option previously, but we were really hoping to stay in Colorado if we could. So, our next step is an evaluation appointment at Shriner's Hospital in Salt Lake City. The date of our appointment is December 23rd. Crazy timing. But we are thankful for the opportunity for Moriah to be seen by a very experienced pediatric orthopedist. Shriner's Hospitals offer free care to their patients. They are even giving us some money to help us get to Salt Lake. God is faithful! We know He will continue to guide us through this process.

Meanwhile, we have received some funding for Moriah to be able to increase her therapy. Now she has PT twice a week and OT and speech each once a week. It makes our weeks extra busy, but it is a help to her growth and development. She is a hard worker. It is amazing to see her progress.

The older three have really been focused on school this fall. Most days it seems like that is about all that we do. And that is good. But we are all ready for a break. We had a piano recital with my brother's kids last Saturday. It was a really special time. I love living near grandparents at moments like that. Kimberly and Caleb each played several pieces. They did a great job.

Pictures to follow as soon as I get a chance to upload!

Thirty Years

Yesterday was the thirtieth anniversary of my mom's homegoing. She has spent the last thirty years in the face-to-face presence of the Lord. What a glorious time she has had praising Him without the weight of sin. It is easy to think of the things I wish we could have shared over these past thirty years: my wedding, births of my first three children, and Moriah's adoption. But how much more glorious it has been for her to be with the Lord. I rejoice that she has not had to deal with life in this fallen world. And I rejoice that we will be together for eternity.

How thankful I am for the seven years that the Lord gave me with her. She was a wonderful mother who loved me and cared for me very much. She made my early life joyful and secure. I have lots of precious memories of life in our happy home. She was a very friendly and outgoing person who always looked at the bright side of things. Some of her friends have shared stories with me through the years of her optimistic view and her faith in Christ. I remember many of the things she taught me and I find myself saying those same things to my kids. "A soft answer turns away wrath" and "let's talk about something pleasant instead." It's amazing that I can hear her saying those things even though I was so small when she died.

Now that I have my own husband and kids, I can imagine a little bit more the sacrifices that my Dad made for us. His career couldn't be his focus as it can be for many men. He always made sure that he was available for us. He kept our home and gave a wonderful home life, even though we didn't have our mom there with us. The Lord blessed us with many people who helped my Dad raise us, too. How faithfulHe has always been to us! And now we have our wonderful step-mom, too. Though none of us like that term : )

Someday, my children look forward to meeting their "grandma in heaven." They know that she is waiting there for them. That will be a great day! Meanwhile, we rejoice in all the good things the Lord is doing in our lives here and we eagerly await all that He has planned.

Calendar

Moriah is in print!! The foundation which is raising money to help in Moriah's home province has put together a calendar just in time for Christmas!! How fun to see that little face that we love so much on the pages!!

If you would like to see what the Henan Kids International Foundation is up to, or order a calendar, you can follow this link:

www.henankids.org

I am hoping to update more about Moriah's postponed surgery and where we are in the process of figuring out the next step for her. Maybe later today...