A day to Celebrate

Today was definetely a day to celebrate. Our I-171H form came in!!!! For those of you in the adoption world you know how important of a day this is for us. For those who have no idea what that means it is the last piece of paper we were waiting for from Immigration in order to send in our Dossier to China for Jacobs adoption. We were so thrilled. A few other things happened today as well that made for an exciting day. First of all we got up at oh-dark thirty (military term) to head to Children's hospital to have Annabels stitches removed. That was a wonderful experience if you enjoy watching your child be wrapped up in a blanket, held down by four people and have her stitches removed. All the while crying her little heart out. They did an amazing job though. They love kids so much and it is so obvious in how they treat them. I love that hospital. Then to top that off we decided to stop at Arby's for lunch. Since Annabel needs all soft foods right now we knew we couldnt go through drive through and give her fries to snack on. We had to go in. Every woman in there looked at us as though we had beaten the tar out of this little girl. I finally put her sunglasses on her just to help cover up her black eye from surgery. It was quite funny. We just kindof chuckled inside. There was one time I told two older ladies she had surgery because they wouldn't stop staring at us and they were right next to us. I thought it would make our meal a bit easier if they didn't think we abused her. haha All in all she is doing wonderful. Her lip looks beautiful. She had a fall in the bathtub yesterday and the inside of her lip bled and bled. But the doctor said it was fine. So it looks like we are surgery free for Annabel for several years. Praise God. Thanks for your prayers.

New Picture of Jacob

I received a wonderful gift today. An updated photo of Jacob. He is so adorable.

We are home from Annabel's surgery

I wanted to post a quick note to let everyone know that we are home from Annabel's surgery. We came home about 2 hours ago. It went beautifully. Even better then expected. The surgeon was able to repair a small fistula that had developed in her palate. We were not sure if he was going to be able to but he was. Her two front teeth were removed, her lip revised(the major part of the surgery), all the muscles attached where they need to be and he was able to free up her upper gum line. She is swollen, bruised and looks like she got hit by a truck but her spirits are great. The best thing to happen in recovery was that they took away her crib and gave us a regular bed. I was able to lay in bed with her all night cuddling and therefore she slept most of the night. She has a few weeks of recovery here at home and has to remain in her arm restraints but the worst part is over. The doctor feels this will probably be her last surgery until approximately age 7. She will then have a bone graft done. Wow what am I going to do for the next 5 years to pass the time? haha Praise God and thank you for all your prayers. Tamara

Meet our son "Jacob"

I'd like to introduce you to the sweet little boy who we are waiting on pins and needles to meet face to face. We will be naming him Jacob and he is 3 1/2 years old. He lives in China with a foster family. We have waited 61 LONG days for our Pre Approval from China and it came today. Officially we had to wait for the PA before we could announce his adoption. Please keep Jacob in your prayers and pray that the rest of our adoption journey goes smoothly. We are praying for a travel date in July but with the Olympics we just aren't certain what that will look like. I praise God for this day and am so grateful for what God has done in our lives through the miracle of adoption.

6 months home with Annabel

It is so hard to believe that we have had Annabel home with us for 6 months now. It has gone so fast. I wish the wait went as fast. haha She has been such an incredible blessing to our family. She has changed so much and it seems she grows and comprehends a little more each day. The picture with her and Mark was taken about 15 minutes after we met for the first time. The second picture was taken just a few days ago. It's hard to believe that that scared shy little girl has grown into this confident fun loving child in just 6 months. It is amazing how well adopted children adapt with a lot of love and tender care. As you can see her hair has grown in quickly. She brings so much laughter to our home. I especially love her deep belly laugh. None of us could imagine life without her. Thank you Lord for this very special gift you have trusted us with.

Recoverd beautifully

Well it has been about 6 weeks since Annabel had her surgery. She is totally recovered and doing beautifully. I still cannot get over how wonderful her palate looks. God is amazing isn't He??? She is picking up new sounds and is understanding us more and more every day. In fact, there isn't much she doesn't understand. Yesterday I was able to finally put a couple of pigtails in her hair. She didn't enjoy the process but she thought it was fun after the fact. She played with them for quite some time before Amber finally took them out. I can't believe how fast her hair has grown. I have included some pictures of the last few weeks. One is from Chinese New year. We went to dinner with several other families who have adopted from China. It was a great time to get together and see how much our girls have grown. We thank God daily for our three children. I cannot imagine life without them.

One week later

Today is one week since Annabel had her surgery. Her palate looks so beautiful. She can slurp and drink from a cup normally and is starting to make some new noises. Today she said "no" and "on". As I have said for weeks she is trying to say things. She needed her palate closed to say it properly. It is soooo exciting for us to hear her talk. On a sad note...her recovery is so slow for her. She has been in a lot of pain. So much so that yesterday we took her to the Dr and he suggested we put her back on the Codeine. I hate to have her so doped up but it is the only way she can get any rest. Mark and I are grateful for the reprieve ourselves. After two full nights and two full days with out any sleep you start to feel like you are headed to the looney bin. Fortunately for us that is not on the agenda this week. We feel much more rested today then we have all week. She also has learned to wiggle her way out of her arm restraints. So we have her clothes in layers to help keep the restraints on and one of us are either holding or playing with her at all times. She is so sneeky and is learning new ways to get things into her mouth. Fortunately we have stopped her each time. I have to brag on my older kids a bit. They have been so helpful during this recovery time. Amber comes in from school each day and takes over for me without me even asking. She is loving that Annabel snuggles in the recliner and sleeps on her lap. Joey has helped in countless ways as well. I am so grateful to have their help. Thanks for your prayers, emails, phone calls and cards. We will keep you posted.