Beach Trip!

We had our one-day summer vacation this week! We drove to Fenwick Island (the beach just north of Ocean City), which is about 3 hours from our house. We spent several hours there and then drove home. We've never done a one-day trip like that before. It was a long day, but very worth it. The kids had a blast! Heath's mom came with us too, which was really nice (and made it easier to keep the kids from floating out to sea). The boys loved the waves and were fearless playing in the water.

Tabitha, on the other hand, was terrified of the sand, the water, the waves, the seagulls, and probably a few other things. But after awhile she did get brave enough to step off the blanket and play with a bucket of water and some sand toys. And I did hold her on my lap and sit down at the edge of the surf and make her at least touch the water. You can't go all the way to the ocean and not touch it! This was her first time at the beach, (if you don't count the 15 minutes we spent on the North Carolina beach last December when it was 40 degrees).

After getting nicely sunburned (Heath missed a big spot in the middle of his back when putting on sunscreen) we went out to dinner, took a short walk on the boardwalk at Bethany Beach, and came home. It was really a lot of fun, and I'm glad we got to go--even if it was only for a day.

Paper Chasing

That's what this stage of the adoption process is called. So far the chase is going fairly smoothly. The only glitch has been ordering our marriage license and birth certificate. The computer froze up just after I entered the credit card info, and I can't get ahold of anyone to see if it went through or not. So I'll give that a few more days and then try again. Here are the things we've completed so far:

-applications to placing agency and homestudy agency
-adoptive training
-reference letters
-driving records
-Erin's physical and blood work (no results yet, but I'm assuming everything's fine)
-kids' medical forms
-rabies vaccination proof (for Shadow, not us)
-application for child abuse clearances

Here's what we still need to do for our homestudy and dossier:
-Heath's physical and blood work
-employment letters
-financial records of various sorts
-written statement of our plan to provide space for the child
-write our adoption letter to China (why and who we want to adopt, promise of good care, etc.)
-get fingerprinted for criminal clearances
-have our homestudy interview
-get our completed homestudy
-do I-800A (and get fingerprinted again)
-get our newly certified marriage and birth certificates (just in case that info changed since we did this last time)
-get new passport photos for the dossier and travel

This list is shorter than last time. There are several things that we don't have to redo, which is quite nice. Once all of the above (and anything I might've forgotten) is done, we can submit our dossier and wait for a match to a child. I feel like we're making quick progress this time. It certainly is less overwhelming than before! The only downside about things going quickly is that it means we have to come up with the money quickly. Those of you who are praying for us, please pray that God provides that in a timely manner! It will be a little cheaper than the first time, but not much.

A Day at the Farm

Wednesday we took a field trip to the farm of one of the families in our homeschool co-op. It's a small, family-run farm, where they raise beef cattle. We also visited their neighbor's farm to see sheep, chickens, and emus.

The day was great...lots of fun, and we all learned a lot! Tabitha was terrified of the cows (as you can see in the corner of the picture when I dared to set her down on the seat so I could get my camera), but by the time we left she was yelling, "Bye Moo! Bye Moo!" Of course when we went to see the chickens and emus, she wouldn't let me set her down at all. You'd think the things were scorpions the way she clung to me! While she has no logical reason for her phobias, Jesse had good reason to be a little afraid for a moment. He was watching the chickens and walking among them, when all of a sudden an emu began to peck his head! He's just the right height for the giant bird to take an interest in, and I guess the emu was investigating this strange visitor. Jesse just kind of stood there, bent over, being careful not to drop his eggs, and too afraid to move. I didn't get any pictures of it unfortunately, but he did survive and got an emu feather and a funny story out of the deal.

I'd never want to run a farm myself. I don't know how farmers manage to keep up with all that hard work! I'm way too lazy for that job! But I love to visit farms, and this was a great day for all of us.

Training Complete!

Well, we are officially certified to become parents now. Good thing after 6 years of doing it un-certified! We finished all those online courses I complained about a few posts back. Now we should be getting our next steps from our agency and be able to start our homestudy. Fortunately, our homestudy agency said this will just be an update, rather than redoing the whole thing. It'll still require a lot of paperchasing and work, but it'll be less than the first time and cost less too. So, after a slow start, we can really get going now!

Medical Prayer Requests

We've always had such an easy life medically-speaking. We both grew up with parents who used common sense more than they used doctors, and we've never had any serious medical problems. As parents, we've had healthy children and never spent much time with doctors or gave much thought to medical problems. But lately that's all changed. Since Tabitha's arrival I feel like all we do is go to doctor appointments, call doctors, request medical records, figure out insurance issues, and research all her problems. Now add to the list . . . asthma! Not for Tabitha this time, but for Jesse. Supposedly they can't officially diagnose asthma in young children, but have to treat it as such if he has the symptoms. The symptoms are infrequent, but are there nonetheless.

We visited an allergist last week, but I think we're going to look for a different one. I need someone who will take time to really understand Jesse individually and to educate me starting with the very basics, not just throw drugs at us. He's supposed to be taking 4 different medicines plus doing nasal irrigation 2x/day, and I still don't know why. We haven't been doing it all because I think the risks (not to mention the hassles and trauma to Jesse) are worse than his symptoms without it. Of course, what do I know--I'm not a doctor. But I have requested a big stack of books from the library to try to figure this out, and also research solutions besides drugs. I do NOT want to be giving Jesse dangerous medicines if he doesn't really need them. But of course I don't want to not give him something that he does need. So we could use prayer for wisdom in finding a doctor we like and in making decisions for his treament, and of course that he'd stay healthy and this would get better or at least not worse.

Tabitha had a high fever last night, which always worries us because of her potential for bladder infections. But today it's gone, and she's just cranky. Otherwise she's fine. She's scheduled for surgery to remove her extra thumb on June 9th. It's an outpatient surgery, so we should only be there for about 8 hours. Pray that everything goes well with that and that she tolerates the healing afterwards. With her back surgery at least the wound was out of sight...I'm afraid she'll be a wreck with this being right on her hand, always in sight and in her way!

And finally, we are still waiting for Tabitha's medical records from Hopkins. Once we have those we can forward them to the colorectal center in Cincinnati, and then find out about scheduling appointments with them. Pray for wisdom in all of that, and that my stress level would stay low. Having to suddenly deal with all this medical stuff, when it's never been a part of our lives before, has definitely stressed me out a bit.

But of course, we have so much to be thankful for medically. Heath's company (thanks to his dad and uncle) provides excellent insurance, which we have certainly put to good use these past several months! And overall we are all in good health. It could be so much worse. I just need to remember how much we do have to be thankful for and trust God for His wisdom in handling all the details. Thanks for praying with us.

Happy Birthday to Tabitha! (and me!)

Tomorrow Tabitha turns 3. It's hard to believe she can be that old already! It's a bit of mixed emotions for me because we're celebrating her 3 years of life, and yet we've only been a part of her life for the last 6 months. She's already on her 3rd birthday, and yet we're just getting to know her. I guess there will always be a part of me that grieves the loss of knowing her during her first 2 and 1/2 years, but then I remind myself of her birth parents and the grief they must feel. I know we are truly the blessed ones in this situation.

Yesterday we had her birthday party. (My mixer broke in the process of making the cake frosting. Heath's remedy is pictured above. I'm not sure whether to say "Necessity is the mother of invention" or "You might be a redneck if . . ." Anyway, it all worked out, and the cake was ready in plenty of time.) I'm not sure Tabitha really knew what "birthday party" means, but every time we mentioned it she'd get all excited and say "Yay!!" Ethan and Jesse helped decorate while Tabitha took her nap, and all 3 of the kids were quite wild waiting for the party to start! She did great opening her presents and blowing out her candles, and she really enjoyed all the festivities. We saved the presents from Heath and me to give her tomorrow on her actual birthday, and we'll probably sing again and have leftover cake. She's going to think every day's a party, especially since mine was today too!

Yes, today was both Mother's Day and my birthday. So it was doubly special! Heath and the kids showered me with gifts and kindness all day. I got a new mixer so I no longer have to use the drill, a photo album, a new alarm clock since mine broke, and framed drawings from Ethan. (He's becoming quite the artist!) Heath did pretty much everything all day, and I just relaxed! We also went over to his parents' house to see his mom. And my dear family left the Happy Birthday song on the answering machine, complete with cha-cha-cha's. (Thanks everybody.) =)

Yes, it was a very good day. It's official that I'm old now though. This morning the kids all came into our bed, and Heath said, "Mommy's older than Daddy now!" (which is true for about 33 days). And, very nonchalantly, good ol' Jesse commented, "Mom, you're going to die soon." He didn't seem especially worried about it...just stating the obvious facts since I'm old now. I guess he forgot my age within a couple hours though because the teachers had the kids make mother's day cards at church, and in answer to the question, "How old is Mommy?" his card said "12." So I guess I might last a few more years after all.

Jesse Again

Quoting Jesse is not going to be a daily blog event, but I had to share this additional story from last night.

I was waiting for the boys to finish getting their pajamas on so we could read a book. Jesse hands me the book, one of those thick board-books that's plastic coated. I get to the second page, and water starts dripping out, and I realize the entire book is a bit wet, and each page lets out a few more drips. I asked Jesse why the book was wet, and he says, "I took it to the bathroom with me." Disgusted, I said, "You mean you got pee on it?!?!" He says, quite matter of factly, "No. I dropped it in the toilet."

I guess he didn't think that was worthy of mentioning unless I asked.

Makes me wonder what other things have happened that he never told me about. . .