Tomorrow's Her Birthday!!

TOMORROW IS ESTY'S BIG DOUBLE DIGITS BIRTHDAY!!!!

And we are trying to get her HOME!!! As you may remember, I bought her a puzzle to work with her hands (Since she is in a wheelchair and loves to work with her hands, we won't be assembling it before she arrives...but we will give it to her as a gift! And bunny rabbits are her favorite!!)

How cool it is to have the dear people who are HELPING HER COME HOME have their names on the backs of these 300 pieces that she will work with her sweet hands!  (Progress report: we have 212 pieces left!!)
 Will you join us in celebrating Esty's 10th birthday by donating $10 to help bring her home from her orphanage? Each $10 gift will be celebrated by your name on the back of a piece of her bunny puzzle. If you choose to give more, you can just have your name on several pieces! We are hoping to close the gap on our remaining $14,500 we need to go and get her!  We are now waiting on our I-800 that will allow her to be approved for a visa to come to America! (we expect to go get her in 9-12 weeks!!!) If you choose to celebrate with us, you can use the donate button below or click here to give to our Adopt Together account. (Adopt Together donations will receive a tax deductible receipt.) Either place is wonderful! Let's let Esty know how much we want her home and how much we want her to have a HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY!!!!

Celebrating is What We Do!

October.
It's full of awesome reasons to celebrate!!
Not only are the leaves turning such gorgeous colors and the apple butter is scenting up the house so lovely...we have SO MANY REASONS TO CELEBRATE!!!

Our 17th anniversary!! (my how time is flying!!)

Zeb's 5th birthday!!

Toby's re-adoption! (and successful trip to get his name corrected on his social security card!)

Apple picking with family!

Puppy visiting!

Watching our girls act in the Little Mermaid!

Oliver's 8th birthday!! (you are SO right, that's not a picture of his birthday...because it's next week! BUT, we can celebrate that his passport is being applied for! Celebrate EVERYTHING!!)
Not to mention a special friend's birthday and a trip home to see our families!
Just wanted to share a few favorite pics of these recent days...
Hope you are busy celebrating the joys of autumn with your loved ones too!!

Double birthdays--Toby's FIRST in a Family!!

Crazy happy to have him HOME for our birthday!!!

What a joy it was to celebrate this year TOGETHER with Toby!!  As you probably know, we have the very same birthday, August 13th! That was one of the "God winks" that helped confirm that he was indeed our son. Last year, we did a fundraiser...an effort to find 42 people who might consider giving $42 in honor of my 40th and Toby's 2nd birthday. But guess what?!?!?! Instead of raising the hoped-for $1,764 that is 42 X $42...YOU AMAZING FRIENDS AND FAMILY gave over $8,000 for our birthdays!!!!  WOW!!!!!!!!!!! You guys are truly amazing. We even had gifts for our birthday from as far away as SINGAPORE!!!  Astonishing. And now, that precious orphan is now home. And he's our son. And it was his birthday. His first ever to be celebrated in a family. His first ever in a home. His first ever with cake and ice cream. His first ever presents.  And my my did he like it!!!

This is the cake I made him...with his beloved "Bu Ow" (pronounced BOO-ow) that he got from his very first emergency room trip. Yah, that IS kinda funny huh? 

With the actual stuffed dog toy that inspired the cake.

Opening gifts was especially fun!

This is the moment he realized what it was--AIRPLANE!!

Anneli steals a kiss with kitten Mitzi Moo.

Just being a teenager. ;)

With his new guitar!!! Happy boy!

 I ADORE the wonderful way that Zeb held back...not stealing his brother's new toys away and actually handed some of the pieces for him to play with...what a FABULOUS brother!!

Afterwards we were invited outside to watch the BIKE SHOW!!! :)

Lovely announcer Jensi presented each bike rider...

The amazing Darrah Kate!! (Note her standing UP riding trick!!)

Here comes....Zareb the maestro!

This trick is called, "Super high wheelie!"

AND NOW....the STAR of our show:

OLIVER!!!

Look at that balance, folks!! 

(Anneli's role was to cue kids for their parts from the garage)

Seriously?!? I never knew he could do this!!! (and i love his tongue out!)

Not to be outdone by her older brother, DQ is riding with her left hand OFF the handle!!!

It was a really wonderful celebration!!! And if all this wasn't enough...Brian got a picture of the kids with me!! (...and the miracle was that only ONE shot was snapped!! They actually ALL SMILED IN ONE FRAME!!!)

Thanks for sharing my birthday, Toby. You absolutely bless my life so much. Rock on!!

Travel Approval!!!

It's the loooong awaited (most painful) travel approval!!!

In other words: MY WATER JUST BROKE!!!!

Instead of packing bags and running to the hospital...

                         ...we are packing bags and buying flights and going to CHINA!!!

WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!

Celebrating 45 years!!!

December 2, 1967.

It was a very special day.

Special indeed!

Two wonderful people joined their lives together and pledged to be true to one another til death would they part.

And they've been good on that vow.

...45 years today!!!

Not many people have such a beautiful legacy to carry--but I do.

These two people?

I call them Mom and Dad.

I am so blessed to have spent 40 of my years (okay, that's all of my years!) loving and being loved by them. They are the real deal. Faithfully loving, full of wisdom, humor, creativity--no one could ask for a better set of parents.

I recently asked my parents, separately, what were some of the biggest life moments they ever experienced.

My mom cited her own parents and how they raised her.

My dad's immediate answer was that the habit of daily Bible reading had shaped him more than anything.

Wow.

I am so blessed to come from such amazingly strong people.

Here's to my fabulous parents who have weathered SO.MUCH.LIFE. together and come out stronger and more in love than ever!

CHEERS!!!!

Marblehead, Ohio     Summer 2012

GREAT NEWS about TOBY!!!!

There are days of celebration, and then there are

DAYS OF CELEBRATION!!!!

Today is one, my friends!!!!

This morning we got an UPDATE on our Toby!!

Now let me explain a few things so you can REALLY celebrate with us...

Toby has something called Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita or "AMC." This means that his joints and muscles have been contracted and frozen before his birth. He is unable to bend his elbows (they are fixed straight) and his wrists are severely bent backwards and is unable to use his hands in the proper way. This is a permanent condition that does not progress. It was present at birth but CAN be helped with multiple surgeries.

What we DID NOT KNOW was whether Toby's other joints were involved. You see, if his hips, knees, ankles were affected...this would mean he could not walk. At least he would not be able to walk until multiple surgeries were performed over a long stretch of time. I have been told to anticipate upwards of 20 surgeries if all 4 limbs are affected. In every picture, we could see one of his knees bend, but the other remained perfectly straight.

We have been planning and operating as if Toby will not walk.

Wheelchairs.

Specialty van.

Ramps around our home.

Needing to carry him up and down stairs...

...you get the picture.

When we were praying about adopting Toby, it was clear to us that HE WAS OUR SON. After that, it didn't matter what the extent of his issues were. He was ours and we were going to embark on this journey of special needs, come what may.

But we truly didn't know how BIG this might be for us. (and really, we still don't!)

A friend of mine has also adopted a son from China with AMC. All four of his limbs are affected. She says that parenting him is very labor intensive as she must do so much for him: feed, dress, potty, carry, etc. We heard what she said, and since God made it clear that Toby was ours...we knew Toby was worth it.

We moved forward.

After we were given Pre-Approval (PA) from China to be his family, we were able to request an update. We submitted 10 questions that were translated into Chinese and we waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

And today...we heard back!

There were 3 glorious pictures of him!!!

BUT THE BEST NEWS:

TOBY CAN WALK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES!!!

Both of his knees bend and in response to our question, "Can he walk, is he learning to walk?" The response was translated:

He walks freely.

Suddenly all the wheelchairs, ramps, specialty van and surgeries melted away.

He walks freely!!!!

I rejoice!

I feel like what a mother of a cripple back in the days of Jesus must have felt like! WOW!!!!!

There were some other amazing descriptions of our little man too...so much fun!

"He is bright, he interacts well with other children and adults, he gets along very well with them."

"He laughs easily."

"He loves to be held and cuddled."

"He has a sweet temper, occasionally he is bossy, he does not cry a lot."(...and Lord knows he is gonna need to hold his own with a DQ around here...!!!)

In response to some specific questions about how he uses his hands:
"He waves his hands and says goodbye, he will use his hands when he wants to catch something. Although he cannot play with toys freely, he can catch up his toys."

And in response to my asking if he can sit up on his own (he could not at 18 months):
"Because of his toes missing, he will be a little afraid of sitting up, but he can sit up slowly by himself."

My little conqueror is already mastering the sit-up!! AND DID I MENTION THAT HE IS WALKING!?!??!?!? Hahahahhahahaha!!! BURSTING WITH JOY!!!

And of course, some NEW PICTURES!!! Just in time for our birthday!

Feast your eyes on our little man:

Oh! I'm giggling like crazy! Do you see that sweet smile? Do you see that sideways glance? He's getting READY for some SIBLINGS!!! OH YEAH!!!! :) :) :)

Officially Ours!!

Today our local probate judge signed our finalization papers to declare once and for all:

Zareb is OURS!!!

We are so happy! What a "Good Friday" it is indeed!!

We DOUBLY rejoice today!

This adoption of a former orphan now is our son FOREVER

...and

Jesus Christ gave His life on the cross and rose from the dead all so we might be adopted as children of God!!

He has not left us as orphans! He has come!

Happy Easter to everyone!

Owliver's Birthday Celebration!

Cousin Henry, in attendance!

October is packed full of happy fun times for our family! Our first son, Oliver was born 6 years ago. (HOW does time fly so fast!?!?!?) We celebrated that marvelous birth with family and a most important cousin Henry! Henry and Oliver have made a pact to attend each other's birthday parties for life! :) This is a bit of a feat since they do not live near each other!

Being in school now, I wanted to send a special birthday treat that he would remember. I still remember my own Kindergarten birthday cupcakes! I got the idea online for these cute owl cupcakes:

It was fun to figure out which candies to use for the eyes and beaks! I used Oreos and Junior Mints for the eyes, Mike and Ikes for the beaks and piped the ears and feathers on with a chocolate buttercream icing.

So then on his actual birthday cake for his party:

What fun it is to celebrate this precious boy!

“Children are a heritage from the Lord,”

                                                                             Psalm 127:3

Let's PARTY...small style!

Party time!!!

(Although our original plans to have a huge celebration in our home town with family and friends had to be cancelled due to illness, we delighted in having the seven of us together for a little soiree of our own!)

For whom you may ask???

For...
This child we have loved on for 6 weeks in our home.

This child who a year ago had a much much bleaker outlook on life.

This child who went dazed and confused into an orphanage with 49 other lost children...relearning life and wondering what would be next.

This child whom God matched to our family.

This child for whom we did a heroic paper chase and YOU joined in the effort to help us bring him home.

This child whom we've fallen head over heels for.
(and you will too when you meet him!)

The monkey cake (he is always telling me he is my little monkey!) and the pizza, the ice cream and the laughter around the table were priceless.

These boys are just loving their BROTHERHOOD!!!

All the party-goers had a great time! (If you know Zora, you note the location of her red ball!) ;)

The singing...

The candle blowing...

The cheering!!!

The cake cutting... (I LOVE that he requested the monkey's smile...right in the MIDDLE! :))

The dancing!

The presents... (Wait, what are presents??? LEARNING QUICKLY that presents are FUN!!!!!)

                                                   The happy hugs...


And the one final question....

When can we do this again????