Seabrook - 2011

Our dear friends, the Wileys, joined us for our week at Seabrook. With Ryan needed at work aka no more vacation and Mr. Wiley doing missions in Africa, a little beach respite was just what the doctor ordered for our crew. Very, very relaxing. The children played for hours on the beach and when they weren't playing on the beach, they were sleeping....low maintenance and we all enjoyed our "Wiley time."

Following dinner one evening, we wanted to take a "few" pics of the children....it turned into a full blown photo shoot. The children were posing, building human pyramids, jumping....and then my camera died mid-shoot, agh.

People were catching sharks and crabs not too far down from our spot on the beach....these guys had no fear!

From tallest to shortest.....not necessarily oldest to youngest.

Sand burying....

From the oldest Drafts to the youngest.....Maddox's first footsteps on the beach were some of the most precious ones we have seen her take! She squealed in delight as the small waves approached her little feet. And her little sandy hands. She spent some time trying to figure out just what to do with her sand covered hands - first she wanted me to wash them, then she wanted me to at least wipe them and finally she took it upon herself to brush it off, a process indeed for someone her age. In typical Maddox style, she took every bit of our time at Seabrook as it came....if she was hungry, she ate; if she was tired, she went to sleep - be it in the car, the pool, or the beach; if there were toys, she played; if there were no toys, she found other things to play with....she just took it all in stride and her siblings, friends and I were so happy with her easy-going self.

What a sweet, sweet addition she is!

MK continues to take on her charge as the big sister.....she loved showing Maddox the ropes to Seabrook.

We applied in 2006 for one healthy baby girl from China. Now, almost 5 years later, we are home with TWO "healthy" baby girls from China (via the Waiting Child Program).

Happy girl....

I love this pic....she was so in love with the seagulls on the beach....here she is showing the flock to me.

And those little hands, what to do when they are full of sand???

Her very first steps at Seabrook - and she looks like a pro!

14 Less

There are an estimated 147 million orphans in the world. Or make that 147 million minus 14. Our adoption group met Saturday evening and I cannot even begin to say how special every member of this group is to our family! We LOVE the times when everyone gathers together in our home to celebrate something so close to our hearts - the gift of adoption!

Girls Will Be Girls

From the painted toes to the most beautiful bows, girls will be girls. Maddox got her toes painted for the very first time on Sunday. She sat very still, she watched every brush stroke and then stood up to walk, all the while staring down at her pretty little pink toes.

"I found my Prince, his name is DADDY!"

And all beautiful little girls need their beauty rest, no matter the location.

We began our week with laundry. Maddox's new thing is climbing in and out of the laundry baskets, just another obstacle for her to enjoy. She has also taken to climbing the bannister on our stairs - thankfully our bannister only goes up a few stairs!

So proud of our little Mason-Kate! She swam in her very first swim meet and did wonderfully! I would love to say that there were absolutely no tears involved, but alas, tears were had due to the cheering that comes with excited parents - to include myself - wanting their children to swim their very best. (MK is not one for loud noise in excess!)

MK and her teammate discussing their events prior to their first race....so cute, these girls are both only four years old, the youngest on our team!

And MK is off! This is the part where I cried - she is growing up way too fast these days!

Almost to the other side of the pool....

On to Pryce - Pryce was quite the racer too! He was on top of his game, adrenaline pumping the entire evening.

Pryce - almost there.....

And, last but certainly not least, Colin. Colin moved up a level in swimming which means each heat he is swimming in is longer. His first race, backstroke, just about did him in - he did extremely well yet was extremely out of breath when he finished up. The above expression was one that we saw a lot of during the remainder of the race! A slight smile and his look as if to say, "Really?!"

Though the first race was a shock for C, he had a very exciting night and was boasting with confidence by the end of the meet.

On Wednesday we had the pleasure of visiting with one of our fav families, the Gruskins! The Gruskin family brings adoption full circle for us. Going back a bit, when Ryan and I were renewing our fingerprints for the adoption of MK, we met the Gruskin parents. We were just weeks away from meeting MK and they were finishing up their paperwork for the adoption of a non-special needs little girl in China. That was in January, 2008. We traveled to China, got MK, all the while, the Gruskins were watching and waiting and wondering when their turn would come that they would be united with their own baby girl. They met MK. We talked, we visited, we talked about switching to special needs, and they waited, all the while watching MK grow and thrive in her new home. In the early months of 2010, the Gruskins pondered the special needs program more seriously and in March, 2010, they saw a beautiful baby girl staring back at them, needing a mommy, a daddy and three wonderful big brothers! This baby girl was their little Junie, born with cleft lip and palate just like our MK.

The truth is, we knew we would adopt again and we knew we would go the special needs route in China. The part we thought long and hard about were the needs our family would be open to. Cleft lip and palate, for our family, has been mostly a non-issue. The need does not define MK in any way, she has excelled in speech, she is developmentally on target, she is healthy, happy and very well adjusted. The need, cleft lip and palate, was not/is not scary for us. However, the part that concerned us with cleft lip and palate a second time around were the costs associated with the need. I am often asked about surgeries. Both of our girls will have at least three surgeries throughout their lives. Both have had their palate's repaired, both will have a bone graft surgery around the age of 6 and both will have a revision surgery at the age of 12ish. In the midst of all of the surgeries, both girls will have orthodontic work galore, braces will be the least of the orthodontic process. The costs were/are scary to us....couple the above costs with college expenses that no doubt will occur during the midst of the girls' repairs and that is what we were discouraged about when choosing the need cleft lip and palate.

And then there was Junie's referral picture. This beautiful baby girl - I was one of the first to see her - and, though she was not my child, she was the child that was confirmation to me, to us. Junie was the little one that we looked at and said, "How could we NOT do cleft lip and palate again?" The full circle - MK, to Junie, to Maddox - one month after the Gruskins traveled to China and met little Junie, we received the phone call for Maddox, our second daughter born with cleft lip and palate, and we were elated!