Oh, the People We Meet

One of the things that I have enjoyed most about our adoption journey has been the people that we have met along the way. It is amazing to me how circumstances will bring people together. That has happened to us countless times since we began our process two years ago. One such encounter happened in January just prior to our travel to China. We had to get refingerprinted in Atlanta and it was there that we met a couple who was just beginning their "paperchase" phase for international adoption. Ryan and I spent sometime talking to them in between our fingerprint sessions and we all just hit it off. They sent MK the cutest dress once we arrived back home....today she proudly wore it to church and then proceeded to do a little photo session when we arrived back home. She is very fond of the camera as long as it is focused on her! So, Ashley, this post is for you so that you can see a smiling face when you are feeling discouraged about the "wait". It is well worth it! And, oh the people you will meet along the way....for us, it has come full circle. In the beginning, we sought out people who had already adopted from China. We loved to hear their stories. It provided us with the hope that we needed to continue forward. Now, we have our beautiful baby girl and we hope to provide that "hope" and encouragement to families who are out there waiting.

"Air Passage"

I am writing this particular post so that I won't forget the conversation that I had with Colin last night. Colin is 8. He has never been one to fall down and get right back up....especially when there is blood involved. He can be somewhat dramatic (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree). Last week Colin fell not so gracefully off of his bike at a friend's house....several bandaids later, he decided that he could walk well enough to get home. During the week, the wounds have done their best to heal forming pretty scabs over his knee and elbow. Last night at Pryce's baseball game, Colin fell not so gracefully again, this time taking the pretty little scabs off and leaving two fresh wounds on his body once again. Now, I was not there when this occured....I was off having some "me" time playing Bunco with friends. During one of our transitions, someone said "a phone is ringing, whose is this?"....mine, of course. The caller had hung up but they had left me a message....it was Colin and the only word I could understand was "sorry" through all of his tears. Given our recent history of shaky phone calls (Ryan's wreck call) and the fact that Colin was crying hard in his message, I panicked and started dialing frantically to see what was going on....of course, no answers on either the cell phone or the home phone! Unbelievable! So, I begin to dial again....then the phone rings in the process and it is home calling me. I practically yell "hello" in the phone in my own panic.....then, I hear the pitiful sobs. It is Colin calling to tell me how horrible his summer is going. In between sobs he explains to me about his fall and how he is bleeding profusely and how he doesn't want anymore bandaids or any medicine and he doesn't want to take a bath because the water will sting.....then he says "the two worst things in my life happened today....one, my 'air passage' got blocked at the pool and two, I fell...." At this, I had to smile.....the whole "air passage" comment was just too much for me. Colin has such a serious, old mannish side to him....how many 8 year olds would state that their "air passage" was blocked?! He makes us laugh without even trying and that is one thing that we love most about him! So, I had to write this post for me....so that I will remember that serious little boy who was convinced the world was crashing one day when he reopened old wounds and got his "air passage" blocked at the pool.

***Note: Colin swallowed water too fast at the pool today while playing ball with some others. He came to me and told me he was choking....he was talking, breathing was happening and he went on to play after I assured him it was all good.

School's Out For Summer!

Next week my mother will walk down the halls of her middle school for one last goodbye. She is retiring after 30+ years of teaching. I honestly never thought I would see the day but it is coming fast and she is not looking back. Summer for her will be all the time now. She deserves a good, long break doing everything that she wants to do....of course, we are all a little selfishly excited to have her all to ourselves....with seven grandchildren to account for, she will be kept very busy! Congratulations Mom!
In other news, my good friend Sandi and her sister, Tammy, were able to visit us over the long weekend. Sandi is a friend for life. I have not visited with Sandi in 5 years yet we sat and talked like we had seen each other just last week! She had a huge impact on my life growing up.... Sandi was the friend who always made sure I kept both feet on the ground, she always knew what to say and when to say it, and she always listened before giving advice. The boys were so excited to meet a friend of mine that knew me when I had brown hair! The children all got along well and we hated to see the visit go by so quickly! We also made a trip to visit the grandparents. The faculty and staff at my mother's school held a reception in honor of her retirement. The highlight of the party was visiting Gran's schoolroom. On Wednesday, the boys and I visited a little water park. My niece and sister joined us and the children had a grand time welcoming in summer with a little splash party.....the pictures tell the story. On Thursday, an early intervention speech therapist came to do an evaluation on Mason-Kate. To my surprise, the speech therapist told me that Mason-Kate is really not delayed at this point. She says many of the appropriate sounds, she points to objects when asked where they are on a page, and she will try (sometimes) to mimick what we say. However, Mason-Kate does qualify (thank goodness) for speech therapy services due to her cleft. So, they will begin services in a few weeks and hopefully come every week. Mason-Kate continues to make us laugh. I think the funniest, yet saddest, thing she has done this week was pretend like she was eating pretzels out of a bag I was holding....she would pretend to put her hand in, pull it out, open her mouth, pretend to put something in, chew and then just laugh at me because I was laughing at her. One day we noticed that the house was a little too quiet and we discovered that MK was no longer playing in the spot we had last seen her in....we went straight to the stairs thinking that she was on those for sure....nope....we turned around and there she sat with Finley....they were both beside the back door, MK had Finley's leash and she was trying her best to get it on him. It is funny....many people are just now meeting Mason-Kate for the first time. People continue to comment on how lucky she is or how they admire us for taking on the challenge of a special needs child. She is lucky....she has parents who love her and will do anything possible to care for her....she also has two brothers who adore her....and she has a dog who can't get enough of her attention. BUT, we are the luckiest of all.....by having the opportunity to adopt her, she has given us the joy of becoming parents all over again, she has given us the opportunity to have another child, she has given the boys a sister, we now have two more arms to wrap around us for a hug, we have another sweet little face to kiss goodnight, but mostly, we now have another child to love and she is the one we have dreamed about for years,....it is truly a win-win situation.

The family at mom's retirement party; Future teachers at work

MK showing off her pretty dress, then saying "Enough, Already!"

Pryce and Katie Beth; MK and Emerson

Fun at the water park with Emma

No-Nos

The no-nos needed a little makeover so this morning we took them off and added a little pink to them :) The blue was so distracting. Enjoy the pictures....

.....It'll Be Alright

Monday came and Mason-Kate was still having trouble sleeping at night...so off to the doctor's office we went. I am sure at this point our pediatrician thinks I have a crush on him as we have been in there weekly since our arrival back from China. I felt like the first time mother who was desperate for sleep as I sat there and explained to this man how she just cried out every hour on the hour and how she practically was doing flips all night long in an attempt to get comfortable....he graciously listened. Then he said, as most drs. do to first time mothers, that this too shall pass....he pointed out to me that she still has a mouth full of stitches and how uncomfortable that must be....well, of course, why didn't I think of that??!! The visit did not go unwarranted though....she still has an ear infection despite the tubes so we will continue to treat that with yet another antibiotic and hope for the best. Monday night came and Mason-Kate slept beautifully even waking up with her smile ready to go on Tuesday. Tuesday is the official day that we got our happy, jovial girl back....she has been so happy since. She has charmed everyone in sight by her waves and smiles and her kisses....she loves to give and receive kisses, the sloppier the better for her. Her screams in the car have turned into sounds of her singing the "la, la, ma, ma, ma" song....so sweet. And she continues to walk....she is funny though making sure not to step on anything that might cause her to lose balance. The boys have been busy this week as well. Colin spent his week at school having fun....they had game day, pj day, party day, and a cookout....Pryce spent his week preparing for his program that was held last night in honor of the half day Kindergarten class but they were able to take a break for some water game fun on Wednesday. Summer vacation for the boys started officially today. Wow, it was so nice to have them home and to not have any big plans! We did go for MK's one week post op appt. We heard pretty much what we expected....she has a hole, probably won't close on its own but time will tell. He wants her to continue on the liquid diet until he sees her in 6 weeks....good thing we are enjoying the bottle feeding time together. Lastly, we found out that Ryan's car is totaled. Gone is our beloved V70. Ryan has since taken to drinking coffee during the morning commute to work. All in all, we have had a great week and we are all 5 looking forward to a relaxing, long weekend. On a funny note, after Pryce's ceremony last night, we told the boys to go wash their feet off, wash hands, brush teeth, get their pjs on and pick out books for storytime before bed....we came in, they went upstairs and it was quiet....never good when two boys are quiet....so, I went upstairs only to find them in their bathroom, still dressed and standing in sinks filled to the rim with soapy water.....of course, they were washing their feet just like they were told to do :) Until next week....

Pryce's big day...his pre-school graduation

Pryce and Mason-Kate in our backyard pool

The boys "washing their feet".

Come Monday....

I am having to divert myself back to an old classic choice of songs to get me through today....Jimmy Buffet hopefully knows what he is talking about when he says that "come Monday it will be alright...." There is an old wives tale out there that states that bad things normally happen in threes....for us, we hope it stops at three! Actually our first "bad" event was the surgery....we expected this to be rough and it was. Second, the car accident....not expected and quite depressing. Third, we have come to the conclusion that MK has a hole, or fistula, in her repair. UGHHH!!! Very disappointing! We haven't been able to see it but we know it is there....too much evidence. So, yes, MK will be going through surgery this time next year to repair the repair....dreadful. Alas, though, tomorrow is Monday and it will be alright. I keep reminding myself that it could be a whole lot worse....Mason-Kate is going to be alright and so are we. We celebrated our 2 month Gotcha Day anniverary yesterday and I can't imagine what life was like without her. She is a cutie and through all of the tears that have been shed this week, she has grown so much more attached to us and trusting to us as well. Now, on a funny note to end, Colin never ceases to amaze us with what he has to say.....for those of you who don't know Colin, he is a very intelligent child and extremely literal. Ryan took the boys to church this morning while Mason-Kate slept and I caught up on things around the house. Our church is a contemporary church service and very casual....no suits, or not many. Well, after church Ryan had to make a stop by Lowes (imagine). There was a man dressed in a dark suit checking out in front of them. Colin motioned to Ryan to put his ear down so he could talk to him....Colin whispered "Hey Dad, is that the President?" Oddly enough, Ryan said that our sermon today was about generational differences :)


Hey, let me see.....




Unlike mom and dad, MK has had no problems catching up on sleep!

The Unsolicited Wake-Up Call

Literally speaking we received a wake up call this morning around 5:40ish....Ryan had left for work and as I did my normal computer stuff in the morning, the phone rang....it was Ryan. I knew it could not be good as he never calls me before 9:30am unless there is something really important he needs to tell me. So, I answered the phone and heard Ryan's voice cracking as he told me he had fallen asleep on his way to work, ran into the median on I-20 and "rode the cable" to a stop....thank God for the cable! Ryan, thankfully, is fine...not a bruise, scratch or anything in between. The car, however, is done. I do not have to say that this could not have come at a worse time. Then again, when does anything bad happen at a good time? A big thank you to our friends, the Coopers! They came to the rescue once again without batting an eye. My advice to others who are going to endure any surgery with your child, get some sleep....we realized when it was too late that we should of had a plan on how to make sure we each got rest....To end this post on a positive note, Mason-Kate is walking more and more each day! Yippee (I think) for that!