It is no secret to our/the general population that we would love to go to China again. Just one more time. The boys want to. MK wants to. We want to. We talk about it as a family and pray about it even more. We shall see. Anyway, tonight I was putting MK to bed and she asked me if Ryan had to work tomorrow. I told her yes. She asked, "But, why? Why he have to go to work?" I said, "Well, he has to pay the bills." (I was thinking this would end our conversation because who would think a newly turned three year old would know what the word "bill" meant!) Of course, surprise again, she said, "Oh, he have to make money?" Clever, she is. "Yes," I said, "He has to make money so we can go get baby (insert name here)." (I thought for sure this would end the conversation) MK sweetly said, "I give baby (insert name here) my money so she come here." Of course I choked up and said, "You would. You are so sweet" and I gave her a kiss. Then she went on and said, "I give baby (insert name here) my money and I buy her a swing so she swing with me, okay?" To be three when all is so simple :) And, yes, we have a name for a child we don't know now and may never know, but we have a name and that gives us hope to hold onto. We shall see.

The Story

MK talks a lot. She will tell us stories, sing songs, ask a million questions - she is a girl and I honestly think she just likes to hear her voice :) In the past few months, she has started this thing where she will tell us her story about being in China, how her mommy and daddy and her boys and her Finley (the dog who did not go to China) came to get her on the big airplane and how she "cried, cried" waiting for us. She will tell us she missed us. The thing is, most of her story, the story she tells, is based on a book we read. The story is so cute to hear her tell, yet I know that she is basically telling me a story that we read together on Chinese adoption. Of course, MK makes it that much cuter to listen to because she adds in a poked out lip here and a big hug of happiness there. It's cute. Now imagine my surprise when I went in to get MK out of her bed the other morning and she began telling me the story of her baby whose mouth hurt in China. I walked into her room to find her sitting in her crib. MK was carefully swaddling her unclothed baby doll and gently touching the doll's face. Mason-Kate looked at me and said, "Mommy, my baby crying. She in China and her mouth hurts. She go to the office." I was stunned. Even though I knew the answer, I asked MK, "What office?" and she replied, "Mom, the doctor's office. Her mouth hurt and doctor need to fix it. She sad." (Add in the poked out lip here - she can be so dramatic which is cute at times!) We never read books about cleft lips/palates, we haven't been to the doctor nor have we talked about the doctor lately, this is totally a story she came up with and was playing out with a doll. Does she remember?

Minus a Tooth

Two weeks ago, Pryce announced that his front tooth was loose and he was going to pull it. He walked around all afternoon with a Kleenex inserted in his mouth to catch the minute amount of blood that was being produced from his constant wiggling of the tooth. Much to Pryce's dismay, the tooth did not come out as planned on that afternoon. Fast forward two weeks. After dinner, Ryan told Pryce it was time for the tooth to be pulled. Ryan tried, no luck. Pryce was a bit nervous and really was beginning to like the loose tooth just hanging there in his mouth. With a tad of coaxing, Pryce agreed to let me try to pull the tooth. I told him I knew a trick - I told a little lie really, I don't know tricks. My "trick" was a wet paper towel. I reached in and "crack" went the tooth. Just like that, it was out. The funny part was that Pryce didn't even know I had succeeded in pulling the tooth out. Colin, who was standing just beside me, said in a very excited tone, "Pryce, your tooth is OUT!" With a startled look on his face, Pryce immediately took off for the bathroom to get a tissue. His face was priceless. Then came the laughter. Following his shower, Pryce came down and asked for a piece of paper to write the Tooth Fairy a note. He wrote a sweet little note, tucked the tooth into a special box, placed them both beside his bed and he was off to sleep. Early. It was almost like Christmas Eve. He told me he wanted to be sure to go to sleep fast so that the tooth fairy would come. So cute.

Before and after.....

Adoption Gathering

Saturday night between birthday celebrations and anniversaries, we celebrated another very important part of our lives with many wonderful new and old friends - ADOPTION. We had eight families, one Chinese lady who is doing research at a local hospital, 13 bio children, and 7 internationally adopted children (plus two of our families have children waiting on them in China!). Altogether it equalled a house full of blessings, fun, great food and lots of activity! I love this group and I love that we have met so many wonderful families!

The infamous red couch photo - even in America it is hard to get them all to look at the camera.

Our newest three - Davis, home from Ethiopia; Colby from China; and little Peyton from China. Peyton is from MK's orphanage. Her older sister teaches MK ballet! Elizabeth is on the end and has, I believe, been home the longest!

My parents were high school sweethearts and have been married forever. When I was in high school, I thought I would meet "THE" one. Didn't happen. I graduated from high school and went to college where I just knew I would meet "THE" one. Didn't happen. I honestly remember moving out of my dorm after college graduation and thinking, "Now, what am I going to do?!" I knew from an early age what I wanted out of life. First, education. Education wasn't something that I necessarily wanted yet it was something that my parents said I would get. I did. Second, family. I wanted to be a mother. I was the one in high school that would rather babysit than go out with friends or boys. I was the one who couldn't wait to get home from school so I could go over to visit the neighbor's grandchildren and baby them. I was the one who always loved children. I. Loved. Children. Still do. I knew that having a family meant finding someone who I cared for and loved, someone to marry. Upon my college graduation, I was kind of just fed up with guys. I had dated some but I always found something wrong with them....their hair was funny or they made funny looks or whatever, they just weren't what I was looking for. Then, on an evening during the Thanksgiving holidays of 1995, I was introduced to a guy on a blind date. (This is the part of the story where Ryan and I don't agree, he says we met the weekend before Thanksgiving at a Clemson/Carolina game. I say we didn't!) The "guy" that I was introduced to on the blind date was Ryan. Trouble is, Ryan wasn't the one I was on the date with. Ryan was friends with the guy that I was set up with and he came over after our date to visit. Good thing :) By the end of the evening, I told my friend, who set me up on the blind date, that I actually liked the other guy, not the one I had been set up with. Got that? It was Ryan that I liked - there was just something about him. The next evening, I saw Ryan again and we exchanged phone numbers. As they say, the rest is history. Today, January 17, 2010, Ryan and I celebrate 12 years of marriage. And we celebrate our life together. We celebrate our family. I have everything I ever dreamed of. I have a husband to love and I have my children (and the dog, we mustn't forget Fin!). During one of our wedding showers, I told Ryan's mother that he was perfect. She laughed and said, "Oh no he isn't!" I still beg to differ. He IS perfect. He is perfect for me, for us and for our children. Happy Anniversary to us!