Life is happening!!!

I can not believe it has been so long since our last posting. For those of you keeping up with us, sorry!!! Life seems to have just been "happening" lately. By that I mean we seem to have fallen into a daily life routine. Work and school and of course ALL the extra-curricular activities going on lately. Between school, gymnastics for Hannah, a mommy & me class with Emily, basketball for Hannah, and extra hours at work, I am starting to understand why they invented all those agenda calendars for moms. Life is busy and at times hectic, but I would not change any part of it!!!

We have completed our 6 month review for Emily and China insisted on having a family picture. We have not scheduled time yet for a formal picture. We actually had one taken at a funeral dinner so we could email it to our social worker at our adoption agency. Not the best picture-but our first picture. Memories!!!

Emily updates-Language continues to be our biggest problem at this time. We are usually able to understand her but most others are not able to get the words she is saying which seems to frustrate her at times. She has started to act out what she is trying to say now. We were at the point we were going to call the doctor to see if we could re-evaluate her weight for the surgery then she got hit by some sort of intestinal virus and she lost about 2 1/2 pounds. This diarrhea "issue" seems to keep coming back. Remember, last time we thought maybe it was milk-but then we found no difference without the milk. If it returns, I think we will ask for a "test" as she is high risk for Giardia (from drinking contaminated water in Asia). Anyways, she is slowly gaining her weight back. Her surgery evaluation date is set for December 17. Help us pray she will be ready.

I have to tell you something cute though-tonight she was playing with her "chinese" doll and she was saying "nee ha" "nee ha" (ni hao). I asked her what she was saying. She said she was talking "chinee" (chinese). I asked her what that meant and she replied "hawoo" (Hello).

Her first Halloween proved to be somewhat exciting. She dressed up as a lady bug. She wore a sweatshirt OVER her winter coat as it was so incredibly cold. When Emily would see a scary mask, she would just stop walking and watch that person as they walked passed her. One time she was watching them so closely, she fell off the curb into a pile of leaves. And she refused to walk up to some of the houses as they were decorated in scarey items. After about 45 minutes, she had enough of the cold and the scariness.

Hannah updates-Hannah has been busy with school, gymnastics and basketball. Tonight she asked me if she can sign up for "BOXING". Hmmmmmm-don;t think so, sorry. She is growing up so fast. She has had her first friend over to spend the night and she has been calling the same friend in the evening to talk about "their day". We limit the phone conversations now as the first few lasted so long, the phone went dead. I have been catching her looking at herself in the mirror more and putting her hair in different styles. Pretty soon she will want to be taking showers every morning and wearing make-up. UGH!!!

Hannah's doctor says she most likely had the H1N1 virus last week. she missed alot of school. Her first symptom (looking back) was a very bad headache that lasted about 4 days before the fever hit. Then the fever would go down at night but go high during the day. The fever lasted 4 days like this. She is back to school now but we just got a letter stating there are 33% out with flu-like symptoms. We are now waiting for the incubation period to see if Emily will get it.

Hannah was Cleopatra for her halloween. She was so excited about this constume. She keeps calling it "Cleopatrick-Queen of Egypt"

6 Months

Today marks 6 months since we brought Emily to the United States. It seems like a dream since going to China. She is so totally amazing and fits in our family perfectly. She is developing into such a wonderful little girl. For those keeping track, Emily has grown almost 3 inches and gained nearly 4 pounds since coming home. What a miracle she is!!!

We wanted to show a current picture of Emily, however, we must have taken 100 pictures tonight with her eyes closed in all of them. Who ever invented the digital camera gets a huge pat on the back from us though. It would have cost a fortune to develop all these pictures with her eyes closed. Check back soon for updated pictures on Emily. Here is a picture of the Emily with her big sister, Hannah. It is hard to believe they have only been sisters for 6 months. They look like each other and they act lke each other. I think they are true soul sisters.

Hannah's 7th Birthday Party

Hannah's birthday was August 20, however, we celebrated on Saturday, September 5, with our family and friends. Hannah even had her special favorite friend from school come over for the day. She received alot of very nice gifts and some money that she is putting with her already saved money to get an expensive item she has been eyeing for a few months. Thanks to all who helped us to make this party a success. I was not sure it would be as nice as it was as I was mandated to work 16 hour days the week of the party and was working on very little sleep. Here are a few pictures of our day:

Hannah contemplating exactly what to wish for;

Hannah blowing out all the candles to make sure that wish comes true.

(Mom and Dad hoping that wish was not for a puppy)

All the kids had a blast in the sand box. Emily was not sure about getting in there.

Once all the kids left to watch Hannah open presents-she took off her shoes/socks and dug in!!!

The day started with the birthday party and then ended up into the viewing of the opening home game for Notre Dame and if anyone knows us-that is also a party in itself. We "tailgate" in the garage to a large screen TV and yummy food.

This was a very special day for me as Emily fell asleep in my arms tonight. This is only the second night this has happened and boy-oh-boy, did this feel so good. The first time I had to "force" her to stay in my arms while rocking her. This time she sought me out to pick her up. I sang to her and rocked her from side to side and she closed those little eyes of hers and gave in to the safety of her mama's arms. (Then work called and I ended up going in until 1am.) But all in all-it was a wonderful day!!!

Happy Birthday, China Sisters

Happy 7th Birthday to Hannah and her China sisters!!!

150 days!!!!!

It is so hard to believe that Emily has been with us for 150 days. On one hand it seems like it has been longer because she fits in with our family so well-on the other hand, it seems like just yesterday I was feeding her with that bottle of thick Chinese formula and congee. We had our follow along appointment for our homestudy last weekend, which got me to looking at the pictures we took while in China. I was amazed at how Emily has changed in this 150 days. She has so quickly changed from a "baby":

to a "toddler":

to a "little "big" girl".

What a gift God has given us with this child.

Summer Days

I know this is not my best picture but I had to show off this picture as it is the very FIRST time Emily snuggled up and fell asleep in my arms. Boy-did I soak up that moment!!!

So let me ask you-What do you do when it is 98 degrees outside? We decided to stay in the air conditioning and can 52 quarts of green beans!!! Thanks to Mom and Bob (my big brother) for picking and bringing us the nice beans-we will think of you whenever we "pop" a jar open this winter. And thanks to Marie (my wonderful neighbor friend) for helping me snap the beans and teaching me to use her pressure canner to get the beans done this weekend. All I have to say is-BRING ON THE TOMATOS!!!

Hannah was helping snap beans while watching the Hannah Montana marathon on Disney channel. She snapped a couple, ate a couple, snapped a couple, ate a couple.... You get the idea. No lunch for Hannah that day.

Emily also was "helping" by sorting out the jar rings.

Emily saw the stack of jars and said "ewwwwwwwwww" !!!! I think we may be a future canner.

Our tribute to Elvis!!! Actually this is how Emily woke up after her nap. I think this may be a picture to show her boyfrriend when she is 16!!!

More Updates

*It has been 2300 days since we held Hannah for the first time!!!

-HANNAH finished her first session of pre-team (gymnastics). She continues to really love it so we signed her up for another session. Her coaches say she is doing very well and should be ready to compete next summer if she continues to work hard.

-We started an email address for her to help with her reading and spelling. I am not sure that was such a great idea as now she wants a mini-laptop for her birthday!!! But she is really loving reading the emails coming to her-it just takes a long time to answer and return them, so be patient, she is getting to you!!!

-She is getting one of her permanent teeth in-and she has not lost one of her baby teeth yet. We were waiting to see if the permanent tooth loosens the baby tooth, but it does not look good.

-She starts school August 12 so she is enjoying what is left of summer. She did find out her best friend, Sydney, is in her class this year so she is very excited about that. 2nd grade, can you believe it?

Hannah wanted her pictures taken of her in her bedroom to show off her comforter she bought from saving up her allowance. At least it was not another Nintendo DS game or Barbie doll!!!

It has been 130 days since we held Emily the first time!!!

-EMILY has learned a couple words this week. "Why" and "Hey". What fun the week has been with these words!!!

-She is holding still with her weight at this time. We think she is cutting some new teeth as she has been having a low fever, diarhea, and not eating much. Oh yeah, and drooling. So this is not helping with gaining weight. We are not real sure how many pounds the doctor wants her to gain for her surgery but we are sure we are not close yet.

-We all went to the Firefighters' Blues Festival and I wish I had taken the camera because Emily was so dog-gone cute. She was dancing to every song there was. She was really enjoying herself. Snuffy held her up on his shoulders and she just danced away up there for everyone to see. Words can not describe how totally adorable she was. Next time I will have a camera, I promise!!!

-We took Emily to the beauty shop for her first official haircut but she had an absolute 2-year old fit. I do not know how else to put it, really. She was screaming and refused to sit down. She was crying so hard she hair was wet. So, we gave up on that. I did manage to get her bangs trimmed at home after her bath tonight. I do not guarantee that they are straight but the hair is out of her eyes. It seems like all of a sudden I am cutting her fingernails and toenails every week and her hair is growing very fast as well. It must be from the good food/nutrition she is eating instead of the bottle she was receiving in China.

This next picture is for those of you who are amazed by Hannah's triple jointed body. The picture looks like she is just holding herself up on the couch and keeping her behind off the floor, but after looking at it closer, Hannah's arms/elbows are backwards with her bottom in the air.

Take a look at this next picture