Life is Great

I know it has been several weeks since I posted a blog and I have gotten many emails asking how things are going. So here goes.....AMAZING, WONDERFUL AND INCREDIBLE all rolled up into one. I cannot even put words to what a joy and blessing Annabel has been for our family and our relationship with God. She is one of the greatest examples I know of in our life of how God takes each and every one of us in and loves us unconditionally. She has adjusted so well that it doesn't even feel as though she is adopted any more, other then the obvious (Mark and I are not Chinese). haha She fits in beautifully and the kids absolutely love her like crazy. The last few weeks have been some firsts for her. She now climbs stairs, has met Santa, attended her first dance class and eats food that is not broken up into microsize pieces. I am sure she could do that before now but I have been nervous about her choking (yes the new mommy in me again). Now I just hand her a cookie or a slice of cheese and she chows it down. She is no longer gorging her food and that was the main reason we didn't give her whole pieces before now. She now understands that we are here to stay and are going to keep feeding her. I believe before she was afraid each meal was her last. She sleeps all night at least 10 hours (PRAISE GOD!!!!) She naps during the day and last night she actually had her first babysitting experience. Mark had a command Christmas dinner so we left her with a friend and headed out. I will not say it was easy for me though. In fact one hour before dinner began I was suggesting different people he could take in my place because I didn't want to leave her with anyone. But I went and had a blast. They hired a hypnotist and he performed a show with several of Marks friends and coworkers. I don't think I have ever laughed that hard in my entire life. When they were asking for volunteers I wanted to go up there so bad but Mark wouldn't let me. He knew they would do things to embarrass me and he wanted to spare me of that. Thank God he did because they did some crazy things. Annabel is having her surgery in less then three weeks so please be praying she stays well. The last one was canceled due to a cold. So from now one I will do my best to keep her out of large crowds and other small children in order to help keep the spread of colds under control. Some of you have asked if we are still thinking of adopting again. ABSOLUTELY!!! I cannot imagine not adopting again. It has been an amazing experience. Now we just have to wait on God to tell us when to start the process again. The other day at bible study someone asked me how I personally am doing. I told her I don't think I have ever been happier in my life then I am right now. God has used Annabel to do amazing things in our family and in the lives of Amber and Joey as well. I feel we are all closer and better connected then we have ever been and I owe all of that to God. It has all become a reality because of His amazing way He allowed us the opportunity to step out on a leap of faith and follow His Will. I believe with all my heart that the inner peace , contentment and satisfaction are the gifts He gave us for stepping out on faith and trusting in Him.

Joey turns 12

It is unbelievable to me that my son is now 12 years old. This is a very important birthday for him because he now gets to argue with his sister over who is going to ride shot gun in the car. It's been fun watching that battle take place every time we leave the house. Let's just say we are getting out of the house faster because it is a race to the car. haha He celebrated his birthday twice. Once on Wednesday (his true birthday). I cooked his favorite dinner and baked a cake. He opened a few presents that night as well. His favorite being the big monster motorized truck his uncle Ed sent him. Annabel thought it was for her as you can see from the pictures. He then had a great birthday party on Saturday at the bowling alley followed by a trip to the movies. I would have to say he had a pretty great birthday this year.

Pre-Op appointment at Childrens Hospital

Today was Annabel's pre-op appointment at Children's Hospital. She was suppose to have her surgery this coming Friday....but it had to be postponed. She has a bit of a cold right now so they will not risk surgery. Her operation requires putting a breathing tube in her while she is being operated on. They cannot put the tube in if her throat is irritated in any way from coughing. So we will know more later in the week. We were told she needs at least 2 full weeks of being healthy before surgery so I think we will just wait until after Christmas for the next attempted date. I hope we don't spend all of winter scheduling and canceling surgery dates due to our winter crud. haha We spent about 6 hours at the hospital today being seen by so many different doctors and nurses. They were very thorough and extremely helpful. She is in such great hands. The last appointment was so funny. She was soooooo ready to leave that when the nurse opened the door she darted out and down the hall. We all just laughed and said "See ya, I am so out of here". Besides having a cold, she is doing amazing. I have her involved in a couple of children's groups now and she really enjoys the other kids. I purchased a sling this weekend and she absolutely loves me carrying her around in it. It has really helped my back too. I wish I had it in China. Since being home, Annabel has only gained a couple of ounces. She is only 2% on the weight chart so today we met with the nutritionist, along with many other specialists, and she gave us some great ideas on how to beef up her calorie intake. She has grown in height a little bit though and her head measurements have grown as well. They were very pleased about that. All in all it was a great day. We met a young woman with a new baby born just like Annabel with bilateral cleft lip and palate. She was so scared. But I really think that seeing Annabel and talking with us helped ease her mind. She couldn't believe that Annabel looked like her son just one year ago. Modern medicine is just amazing. His surgery is later this week. I pray is goes well for them.

Annabel's Toddler Shower

Today was Annabel's Toddler shower. I had a combined shower with a friend from my church named Jennifer who just had a baby girl. We had such a great time. It was a Mexican potluck and it was fabulous!!! I am so grateful for my mother-in-law for orchestrating the entire event. I know she worked herself to the bone to make sure we had a wonderful day...and we did. Thank you so much Jan. And thank you to those who helped her make it so perfect. It meant more to me then you will ever know. Annabel was a ham of course, especially when Mark played our adoption video. Annabel watches it all the time at home and knows the pictures by heart. Each time her picture came up she went nuts. She definitely knows herself in photos and on video. She loved the Mexican food and loved playing with all her new toys when she got home. As you can see she got more gifts then she knew what to do with. We have really been holding out on buying toys and clothes since we knew the baby shower was coming up. So thank you to everyone who attended and thank you for all the wonderful gifts. It meant so much to me that you came to celebrate with us. I also want to thank all my other dear friends who could not come today who have taken the time to mail or stop by with presents for Annabel over the past few weeks. You have all been so generous. It has been such a joy opening each and every gift and reading each card. You have all made Annabel feel so welcomed and warmed my heart with your kindness. She loved it all today and especially flocked to her new dolls. Which is so wonderful considering she was terrified of dolls when we first received her. She has been feeding her babies all evening. Thanks again for everything. I feel very blessed to have so many amazing women in my life. God Bless!!!!

Another fun filled week

Well have you ever watched the movie Ratatouille? Today was our first time watching it and I have to say Annabel really made me laugh. Our little friend, Kendra came over to play so I put the movie in to help entertain them. Annabel doesn't really like TV but I thought she might like the rats. Well the funniest thing happened. As soon as the rat started pulling on the boys hair to operate his arms, Annabel went nuts. She started squeeling at the top of her lungs and pulling her hair. Not hard enough to hurt, just enough to get her hands around what little hair she has. She then started hitting her self on her head. Kind of like you would if you thought there was a rat on top of it. It was probably one of the funniest things I have seen since she has been home. The only thing I can imagine is that she thought there really was a rat on her head. Eventually, she figured out it was just on TV and settled down and just laughed hysterically. You will notice that I also included a picture of Amber in uniform the night of her Pass in Review for ROTC. She refused to get in the picture with the boys but thanks to Chief Peterson (I bet you like the sound of that don't you Pete?) she finally smiled. I thought it was going to take a bulldozer to push her closer to David in the photo. Teenagers are so funny. It cracks me up because we have known Curtis (on the left in uniform) since he was 2 years old. That is my friend Tammie's son. Now they are in uniforms and towering over their parents. I can't believe how fast they grow up. The funny thing is that the high school TV station was there video taping. We were in the front row so if you get a chance to watch it on TV you will probably see me moving around aimlessly trying to get Annabel to sit still during the silent review. It was quite funny. She did really great though. The best though was when the drill team came out with their weapons and my friend Laura's 4 year old son told everyone not to talk or else they would shoot us. Kids say the funniest things. Annabel is doing great though. She had her first encounter with other children this week at preschool story time. She had a blast and I look forward to taking her back next time. As you can see, Annabel and Mark both operate on the same wavelength....go go go, then crash, crash, crash. I couldn't resist that picture. They both look like they are resting so peacefully.

Happy Halloween

Tonight was a great night for the kids. Amber and Joey both went trick or treating with their friends, even though they both claimed they were too old to put on a costume. haha I was impressed as they both put their costumes together at the last minute from what they had in Ambers closet. They had a great time with that. Annabel's costume on the other hand was purchased months ago from a garage sale. It's a small adoption world we live in. I was in Vancouver about 5 months ago and happened to stumble upon a garage sale. I saw the most adorable lady bug costume and had to have it. It was only $3. Who can pass that up???? As it turned out the women originally bought it for her brother who adopted two little girls from China. So she was thrilled to hear it would be worn by another China baby. And she looked adorable in it as you can see. Annabel and I went to three of my neighbors homes so she could see what trick or treating was all about. But I think she definitely preferred staying home and greeting the guests. The hardest part of the night was keeping Annabel from kissing the glass door. Why do kids love to do that?? YUCK!!! The kids came home on time with a ton of candy as usual and headed off to bed. All in all it was a great night for everyone.

Visit to Children's Hospital

Believe it or not, that is actually a great big ice cream grin on her face.....Well, things are going very well in our household these days. We feel as though we are almost settled back into some routines and the best news is....Annabel is sleeping all night long (well at least the last four nights) Praise God!!!! One of my dear friends, Diane, gave me a port-a-crib for my office and today I officially tested it out for the first time. I was able to get a few things done at my desk while she sat in there playing with her toys. She actually fell asleep for a few minutes too. Thanks Diane!!! Well, we had our first visit to Children's hospital this week. They treated us great as I knew they would. We met with the entire cranial facial team of doctors and nurses who will be taking care of all her needs in the upcoming months and years. Her first surgery is scheduled for November 23rd. Her palate will be repaired that day. To my surprise her plastic surgeon would like to do an additional surgery several months down the line to redo her lip too. I wasn't expecting to hear that because I felt she had a pretty good repair already. But he said he can do an even better job. I am so thrilled for her for that. So it will be an extra surgery but well worth it for her sake. Next week we have many appointments here in town...dentist, hearing, vision, speech eval...etc. But we wanted to get the ball rolling quickly so she has the best care possible. As many of you know we had a friend of ours from church pass away yesterday. His name is Duane and he has been battling cancer for almost a year now. Please pray for his family as they go through this terrible time of pain. Out of respect for the family we decided it was best to postpone Annabel's toddler shower to another weekend so that the church could be fully utilized for the funeral. So we moved it to November 10th. You are all welcomed to come. I know many of you have called to ask about our home in San Diego. Thank you so much for your concern. The latest is that they are evacuating some of the surrounding areas, but as of now it is our understanding that our neighborhood has not been evacuated. According to the evacuation map evacuation is only a few blocks down the road though. I continue to pray for that entire area. I was born and raised in San Diego so it is very sad watching the news and watching so much of it being destroyed in just a few days. Sadder even is hearing about families losing their homes and the injuries that have taken place as a result of the fires. God is good and through all of this devastation I know a lot of greatness will come. We have already seen so much of that in the way the people of San Diego have stepped up to help one another during this very difficult time. God is good...all the time.

Homecoming game and dance

This past weekend was Ambers first High School Homecoming game and dance. During the game she played in the band. The game was packed. Not a seat in the house. We were lucky to be able to find seats with our friends, Pete and Laura. Annabel loved the game. Everytime it got loud with cheers she started clapping right along with the crowd. It was so cute.
The next night was the Homecoming dance. Amber prepped with nail appointments for both her hands and feet as well as an updo hair style. She looked beautiful. We took Amber and some friends out for Mexican food and ice cream before the Homecoming dance. It was a great evening of enjoying their company and getting over the shock of them no longer being little girls.

Settled In

Well things in our household are finally settled down and feeling "normal" again. I was so surprised it took us so long to recover from the jet lag. I am sure having a baby who didn't sleep through the night made it a little tougher. But I am thrilled to report that Annabel now sleeps through the night in her port-a-crib. She goes down around 10:30 and I usually have to wake her up in the morning. I have been able to get showered every morning. Yea!!!! So things from that end are looking great. She even let Mark put her to bed last night. We have also been able to get her to now go to bed without a bottle. It was difficult in the beginning because she was obviously use to that, but we knew we had to break that habit. She now has a bottle around 8pm, we brush her teeth afterwards, let her play a little and then she is ready for bed around 10:30. We are slowly moving that time frame up. I would like to see her in bed by 8pm within a week or so. Due to her cleft palate, it takes her over an hour and a half to drink 4 ounces of Milk/formula so we are getting a lot of cuddling time throughout the day and evening. She is such a sweet little girl. Bless her heart she had her first round of blood work today. It took four of us to hold her down. It was so sad to watch her cry so hard. They had a hard time finding her vein so that of course didn't help. It took two pokes and a lot of moving around of the needle to find the vein. But she seems to be doing fine tonight. Another issue we have been dealing with that we are praying is behind us are her night terrors. She didn't have them in China but once we got home she started. She had four of them last week on four different nights. They each lasted between 20-45 minutes and were pretty severe. Looking back they all seemed to occur on the nights she didn't have a bowel movement. She dealt with some constipation the first week home so we are hoping that was all it was. So far she has gone the last 3 nights without any terrors. Praise God!!! I want to let all of the families that we traveled to China with know how much we miss you and your little ones. I haven't had a lot of computer time since getting home and am very much looking forward to checking out your blog sites this weekend to see how things are going in your homes. Thank you for your posts and your emails. It has been great hearing from you. I pray that your little ones are starting to fall into some great routines and that you adults are all rested up from traveling. God has truly blessed each of our families and I know we are all forever changed because of it.

Everyday it feels more like home

Hello everyone. The last few days with Annabel have been so much fun. Our prayers are being answered in that two nights ago she slept for over 10 hours in her port-a-crib. Praise God!!! Now our prayer is a little more specific. Let's pray she does that more then one night in a row. haha Last night was not so easy. She ended up in bed with me again. Don't get me wrong...I love cuddling with her. But she reminds me of a 300 professional wrestler when you get her in bed with you. She kicks, squirms, twists and turns all night long. She might be getting sleep but believe me, Mark and I are not. haha I spend my whole night trying to keep her from flying off of the bed in her sleep. I know tonight will be better because she is worn out. She will sleep great tonight. I am crossing my fingers as I speak.
We had a great day yesterday. We went shopping at the mall to get Amber a formal gown for Homecoming. Her dress is so beautiful. I can't wait to take pictures of her and her friends all dressed up. I had to laugh while we were shopping thinking I cant believe we are buying formal attire for our oldest daughter and diapers for our youngest on the same day. Who knew two years ago we would be starting over. In the words of Stephen Curtis Chapman, things have never been more crazy and wonderful at the same time. Annabel has turned our quiet house upside down but I would not change it for anything. We love her so much. It is so hard for me to believe she hasnt been with us since day one. Yesterday she had her first taste of Mexican food and Crispy cream doughnuts. I wish I had my video camera for both. She was hysterical. We couldn't cut it up fast enough for her.
Today we attended Church for the first time since coming home. It was so great to see everyone and feel normal again. We were greeted with a lot of hugs and love. I appreciate that so much everyone. Thank you for reminding me of what a fabulous church family we have. I missed it so much while away. Even though we were only gone for two weeks, it felt like much longer because I was very homesick for my kids while we were gone. We had a great time at church and Annabel seemed to love the music. She loves to dance and sing at home. After church we went and spent some time at grandmas. They spent some time bonding as you can see in the photos.
Tonight Joey made a very difficult decision to give his beloved ferret to a wonderful woman to raise for him. He loves her so much but just doesn't have the time now that he is back in school to give her the attention she deserves. So she came and picked her up tonight. Joey thanked her several times for taking such good care of her for him. She also has Ambers ferret (she got her a few months back). So she felt very blessed to have them both together to play with one another. I am so proud of Joey for putting the ferrets needs above his own. He seems fine with his decision because he knew she has just not had the chance to play as much since school started. The women who has both of our ferrets gives them a lot more freedom then they had here so I know they will be very happy with her. Thank you Beverly.

She likes the dog!!!!

It has been so exciting to watch Annabel grow and learn to trust us this week. It has been such an incredible week and a fantastic two days. First of all she is in her Port-a-crib for the 4th time. Each time we have been able to get her to sleep in it for about an hour. She has still been in bed with me each night(we finally gave in two nights ago), but it is a start. I believe tonight might be the night she spends the entire night in the crib (or at least a good part of it) only because she is very tired tonight and is already asleep. It is only 8:39pm. Praise God!! That sure beats 4am. She has had her first car seat experience this week. She LOVES her car seat because she enjoys looking out while we are driving. Everything is so new to her. She also did great at Walmart in the shopping cart for the first time. As you can see from the pictures one of her greatest accomplishments is that she is finally NOT terrified of the dog. In fact she follows him around everywhere. It is just too cute. We have to stop her over and over from trying to kiss the dog as you can see in the picture. She just puckers up and is ready for kisses. Of course the dog thinks it is great. So she has heard the word "no" a lot today. This morning she attended her first Sales Director meeting away from home and welcomed a few more of my friends to the house. She is definitely proving herself to be a child who can handle change with stride and can very easily adjust to just about any situation.

Falling into some routines

Hello everyone, I know many of you have been keeping up with my blog and wondering why I haven't posted anything substantial yet since getting home. So here is an attempt to catch up. First of all Annabel is doing amazing considering all she has been through. She has been pulled away from everything she has ever known and taken to a foreign country with people she never knew before. Wow..that would be scary for me, I can't imagine what she is thinking. She is doing great during the day. She has taken to the whole family and is actually starting to pet the dog. She was terrified of him at first. Poor puppy. He couldn't figure out why each time he came near her she would scream bloody murder. haha She is eating great and babbling like crazy. We hear some American words mixed in there amongst the jibber jabber. We took her to urgent care yesterday so we could get some medication for her eye (the doctor thought it was the start of pink eye). But after getting her home we felt it was probably just a cold in her eye because she caught a cold after flying. We couldn't get in yet with her Doctor because her paperwork was still processing to be put on our insurance so it was very nice of them to see her considering she wasn't even covered yet. They worked it out with us though because they knew we had been through so much in the days prior with travel and all. We ventured out today to the bank, church and a couple of stops on the base. She did great. She absolutely LOVES her car seat which shocked me. She loves just sitting there looking out as we drive. Thank You Lord for that one. I do have a prayer request for you all and that is that Annabel would fall madly in love with her porta crib, or her crib or even a sleeping bag on the floor. Anything that doesn't involve sleeping on my stomach. I think I have an invisible umbilical cord growing out of me. She only sleeps if she is attached to me. In China she slept all night in her crib with no problems. In fact she didn't want to be in bed with me at all at night. Here she wont go in her crib awake and if we move her she automatically wakes up. So the first two nights I slept either on the floor or on the recliner in my room with her. Last night I gave in and put her into bed with me. But she wiggles too much and doesn't sleep sound. Which means we have been taking a lot of little cat naps on the recliner during the day. Our sleep is all messed up to say the least. haha But she is still very happy when she is awake. My travel group has been emailing back and forth and it sounds like another family is experiencing the same thing which is very normal for these children. I would imagine she is scared that if she gets in that crib and falls asleep that we wont be there in the morning. Bless her heart. Other then the sleep issues I could not ask for a better situation. She loves us so much as we do her and we feel so very blessed to have her. God did an amazing job of matching her to us. As for us, feel free to call now. I know many of you have been so kind as to email asking for permission to call as you didn't want to disturb us. We would love to catch up and are even up to visitors. I do thank you for the privacy you have all given us the last couple of days though and the emails checking in on us. We are so grateful to be home. God Bless, Mark and Tamara

We are HOME!!!!!!!

We are finally home!!!! It felt like we were never going to make it. It took us 34 hours of traveling from the time we left our hotel until the moment we hit home. I have never been so tired in all my life but at the same time so happy and relieved. I will post later with some pictures and more details but I wanted everyone to know we were home safe and sound. Annabel is doing great and did amazing on our long journey here. She totally excepted Amber, Joey and Grandma. Praise God!!!! She is having so much fun with the kids. Our biggest issue right now is the time difference from here to China. We will have to work really hard the next few days to wean her onto our time schedule. We wanted so badly to go to church today but since she finally went to sleep at 4 am this morning, church just wasnt going to happen. But we will be there next week for sure. Thanks for all your prayers and emails while we were gone. Believe me we felt the prayers all the way in China. God bless and I can't wait to introduce you all to Annabel.

Our last post from China

Well this will probably be our last post from China as we head to the airport first thing in the morning. We have had a great last couple of days as a family. Most of our time has been spent shopping and exploring the area. We went out to dinner with our group last night for some very much welcomed Italian food. It was a great change from Chinese food. haha We bought an extra suitcase because we have had soooo much fun shopping. I can't wait to get home and see what I really ended up with. Annabel will have some great things to remind her of her culture and Joey and Amber, yes there are some great things for you as well. We have really enjoyed ourselves over the last 2 weeks. We have learned a great deal about Annabel's Province and Country that I hope we can pass on to her as she grows older. I know we will be back again someday and hopefully we will have done a great job in helping her to gain a respect and pride for where she came from. The Chinese people vary just as much as the Americans do in attitude and kindness. We have met some very wonderful people that I am sure Annabel would feel proud to call friends. The desire for these children to be adopted and loved by foreigners such as ourselves is very apparent. I am looking forward to getting home and putting together all the hours and hours of video clips we have on our camera. So be checking into the blog site periodically for those clips. It is just too hard to do it from over here because the connections are so much slower. While we have enjoyed ourselves so much here, I am so ready and excited to come home. Most of you know that I am a serious homebody. I love being home with my family and am so looking forward to watching how Annabel fits right into that. I am so proud of you Amber and Joey for sticking it out the last 2 weeks. You have been real troopers. I know it is very hard to go from having your parents there on a daily basis to all of a sudden not having them around. I promise once you meet Annabel it will have all been worth it. Please pray for our trip home tomorrow. From start to finish is 30 hours of airport and travel time for us. We have a lot of layover time in Beijing. I pray Annabel makes it through without too many meltdowns. I am sure we will be circling the plane many times on the long trip back to the states. Thank you for following our journey. It is not over yet. Now we head home and readjust again. I am sure we will see some set backs as we move into new routines. But I can tell you we could not have asked for a sweeter little girl then God gave us. She loves us so much as we do her. She loves to hug and kiss and you can tell she is just in heaven having a mommy and daddy. From day one God layed it upon our hearts to add two children to our home. I cannot wait to see who God has in store for us next. What's funny is that even the families who intended on only adopting once are talking about coming back again. There is something very contagious about seeing these kids grow and learn to love in such a short period of time. I wish there was a way to rescue each and every one of these lonely children. I know I don't have the power to do that. But I do ask you to pray for these children. Pray that men and women all over the world would open up their hearts and homes to a child who desperately needs a mommy and daddy. The blessing you will receive is greater then anything you could ever imagine. I have never seen God's love as much as I have in the past 7 days watching these children learn to trust and love their new parents. The miracle of love that God has for us and his orphan children is forever etched on my heart.