Q and A!

You ask and I answer! If you have a question please leave a comment and I will answer them in my next post!

Blessings to you!

Jean

Girl Time

This past week we had a SPECIAL treat. A very sweet friend from my church youth group days came to visit. I love this special gal. We super close buddies during our teenage years, then we went our separate ways but we have always kept up our friendship. It seems so easy and natural to pick up where we left off in a past visit. She is a loyal friend that I count as a true blessing to me. I am SO grateful that she came to see us. I anticipated her visit from the moment I found out she was coming.

The girls adored her. She totally loved on them too.

I also got to see my BFF this past Friday too. She was in a nearby city and we met for lunch. It was a great blessing to steal away some moments with her. She has just finished her surgery rotation in medical school. She is an amazing woman. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. After she headed home, the girls and I headed out to do some shopping. Our first stop was Trader Joe's. I have been hearing all about this awesome grocery store but hadn't been able to get to one until Friday! I am in love. I will definitely be swinging by anytime I am near one. I super impressed with the prices and the quality of ingredients in most of the foods that I looked at. I didn't see any high fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated oils on any ingredient lists. Impressive!

I also took the girls to toy Heaven...Toys 'R Us. Peanut had a ball telling me what she wanted and did very well when I reminded her we were not there to buy just to look. I was able to sneak a couple of things in the cart for her birthday. We also visited a mall and had fun window shopping before heading home. It was a fun day with my girls. I love spending time with them like that.

Now...are you having a bad day? Do you need to smile or maybe even chuckle? Well I have a picture that may help. To see it in real life brings a giggle out of me every time she does it. Hope it brightens your day.

-Mama

Dr Appts, Playgroup and Church!

We had our playgroup today (FCC- families with children from China) and the girls had a great time! It was so nice for all of us to be with these wonderful families! It was interesting that the girls did so much better with other adoptive families than at a park with children playing. They just fit right in regardless of the language barrier and played! Some of the kids knew some Chinese and they tried it out on Emma and Ellie! One of the families will be traveling in September for their baby- they waited 4.5 years for her. We are so excited to welcome our youngest member to the group soon!! Another family will travel in August for their 13 yr old daughter! I love that our group is still growing!

The girls received a few gifts and they even had a princess cake made for them (thank you Michelle and Zhou)! It was delicious! They were thrilled and it was obvious how much they enjoyed the afternoon!

After that we went to Emma and Ellie's Dr appt. Early this week they went with Anna and Sarah to their appt, so they could see what it was like. They had blood drawn and did surprisingly well. They also had the left hand x-rayed for bone age. I am interested in what the results are and this next week we go to the dentist- I am looking forward to her input, too.

I think the girls are 7 and 8 yrs old. Ellie thinks she is 7 and Emma thinks she is 10. Then 5 minutes later Emma said she was 9? I know 10 is not right- we will see if it is going to be 8 or 9 for little Emma. When we figure it all out we will let you know when their birthdays will be!

We are going to have Emma do physical therapy. She has weaker muscle tone and she is more rigid. There is a chance she may have a tethered cord (I have no experience with that )- so we are going to a specialist to check it out. Nothing was in her medical report but she has something at the base of her spine that is questionable.

I need to remember to keep my expectations low and give the girls time to adjust. I tend to want to jump right into life! The girls have so many things they are adjusting to- we just need to take our time. We have only been home one week now.

We went to church with all 4 girls- a first. Arrived late, sat in the back ready to leave if needed. The only one that had a hard time was Anna (not a surprise)! Emma and Ellie sat perfectly and quietly, we were shocked! I have already scheduled their baptism for mid August- I want them to be familiar with our church so it's not a complete shocker. They are doing it after the service- whew! I am tired of audiences so we're glad it will be kind of private. We were stared at every moment in China. Now tonight we ate at our favorite Chinese restaurant and had an audience their too. They mean well and are so nice to us but we hoping for a quiet dinner as a family. They talked to girls and gave them some instructions from us- like don't wake your sisters up in the morning, don't pick your scab, chew your food before you put more in your mouth, don't pick food up off the floor and put it in your mouth - you know all that really important stuff that mom's want to tell their kids!

Feeling Blessed and Thankful!!

Home for 5 days!

This pic was taken before the accident. After this we told her to put her helmet on and then tried to help her get it on. I had to post it because she looks so cute on her bike and has worked so hard to pedal!

Everyone loves big bro Mark! He is tons of fun- he's just like Grandpa Boppa!

Mark was going to trim his hair he didn't realize it was set at the shortest setting- he ended up needing to redo his whole head! Oh well- at his age it will all grow back!!

More fun outside!

Big girl little bike!

Anna decided to wash her toys in the doggies water dish. She was so cute about it I decided to take a pic! You know how slimy doggy water dishes can be - yuck honey!

One of the toys from China got stuck on the ceiling! Big bro Johnny to the rescue!

The girls love playing with their dolls!! I love seeing them play with their dolls!

We lost our internet connection for a little while- oh my- I could hardly stand it! Thank goodness it is up and running now!

Ellie is doing great. Her bump has turned into a bruise but is healing nicely!

I am happy to say everything is moving along just fine! The girls are adjusting well and getting comfortable in their new home! Emma particularly likes being home. She loves playing with dolls and doll accessories. It is really quite cute! She is so much more peaceful at home. She is responding well to love and positive reinforcement. We still occasionally have to tell her NO but she is listening to it now- PTL!! I can tell by the look on her face she want to be a good girl and doesn't like to have no said to her. When we first got her the expressions on her face did not match her feelings- now they do. It actually concerned us in China so it is so good to see them correlate now!

I think it even surprises Ellie that Emma is behaving. She was always the favored child so this is a change for her, too. It will take her a while to get used to it and to understand both can be good- there doesn't have to be a bad and a good.

Today we actually got up before the girls!! This was a minor victory! Usually they pounce on us early in the morning. It feels so good to have baby steps in the right direction!

Ellie is not so happy with her new Momma's cooking or lack there of! Emma is eating up the American food but Ellie is not so fond of it. We try to have Chinese every other night (yea, take out) and order extra rice for another meal but other than that they are being fully immersed in our way of life. All in all it is going well and I think they are happy and settling in nicely!

The language is coming slowly- slower than I remember with Sarah but it is happening. We are working on the colors, the siblings names, counting to 10, please, thank you and okay Mom!

I had signed the girls up for a park playgroup when we thought they would be home in early June. We went to it this week and gave it a try. It was a challenging environment for Emma and Ellie. They were unable to follow the directions due to the language issue. Most of the equipment is new to them and they just don't have the muscle development to do what the other kids can do. Soon they will grow in coordination and ability but they just don't have it yet. That is one of the many aspects of adopting older that we love- the transformation!! More on that topic at a later date!

Just in case you are interested- I had my hair highlighted today- no bugs- I'm in the clear- thank goodness!

Thank You Jesus for each day as a family of 11!!