No Hands But Ours

Ryan and I made the decision to switch from the Non Special Needs China adoption program to the Waiting Child program about 5 weeks before our referral for Mason-Kate. What a huge yet easy, peaceful decision that was for us to make. Some families really struggle with whether or not a special needs child is right for their family. Recently there has been a blog created to share special needs adoption stories. Please visit www.nohandsbutours.blogspot.com and read these incredible journeys (have a tissue available). What a great resource this site is for those contemplating a special needs adoption!

Update

• Pryce spent Friday evening with his friend Molly and her family. They had a basketball game and with Molly's help, he scored 10 points....go Pryce! Afterwards they dined at McDonalds and then made their way to our house. During the car ride home, Sarah (Molly's sister) said to Pryce that Molly had 10 boyfriends! Pryce shrugged that off and responded, "she had 9 until she met me!"....and that was the end of that conversation.
• During our morning prayer, Pryce thanked God for "making Mason-Kate beautiful"....so sweet.
• At dinner, Pryce said, "Mom, I think there are two Chinese people at our school." I said, "Great"....he said, "yeah, they look kinda China-ish so I think they are from China"....turns out, they are from Japan!
• Our daily routine for MK's nap has turned into reading two books and then she gets her bunny blanket and I rock her. I used to put her in her bed awake. For several weeks now, she has been wanting me to sing songs from school, Wheels on the Bus or Itsy Bitsy Spider or whatever. So, I have been singing her to sleep. We start with the usual and it has turned into ending with a made-up lullaby by me. Today she fell asleep in my arms, I knew she was asleep as she was twitching about like you do when you are asleep. As I was standing up to put her down in her crib, she opened her eyes, big and round, smiled and said "YAY"....not sure if she was happy I was finally going to stop singing my made-up song or if she was dreaming!
• In other news, we are trying to obtain a social security number for Mason-Kate. Frustrating. It looks easy to do on paper but apparently looks are not always what they seem. We are finding that to be the case. Any suggestions?

Chinese New Year

Friday evening, we had four families over to celebrate Chinese New Year. Great time! Everyone brought their favorite Chinese food, homemade or bought :) Mason-Kate was in heaven as she ate fried rice, lo mein, sesame chicken and topped it all off with chocolate cake - not sure that the Chinese eat chocolate cake but they would if they tasted the one we had! One reminder of how much Mason-Kate has grown came when I tried to put her in her traditional Chinese outfit for the party. It was way short and snug around the waist - we ended up in a red dress. The excitement is growing around town. One of the families celebrating with us is going to travel in a few months to be united with their baby boy. This is their first adoption and we all had advice for them on what to pack, meds to take, what to eat, what to buy, where to stay, what to see, etc., etc., etc....I am sure they are in recovery now!

For Christmas, I gave the boys of the house tickets to see a Monster Truck show in January. The big day came on Saturday for them to attend the show and they had a blast. They spent a few hours in the "pits" getting autographs, meeting the drivers and seeing the trucks up close. Needless to say, their latest game together is Monster Truck show....they have created their own course in the gameroom complete with ramps and cars to crush!