Spoiled....

My sweet husband and kids surprised me with an early Christmas present yesterday. I am so excited about the greenhouse and have planted all the heirloom veggies I got for free on Listia. I can't wait to see what comes up and eat the delicious fresh veggies. The kids also planted tons of flowers in my little love heart garden in the very front of our house yesterday and it looks so pretty. I LOVE our autumns and winters here and am looking forward to getting out potato and onion crops in soon and trying out some sweet potato this year too! I will post pictures soon!!!!! To top off my holiday weekend, we are waiting on Princess Laya to deliver our first bunnies of the breeding season, she has built a nest of hay and fur and is probably waiting for the cover of night for the arrival.

Small things, big miracles.

When Ethan was born and suffered a severe Hypoxic Ischemic insult (HIE) we never would have dreamed where we would be at today. His life was destined to be very short and probably spent in a vegetative state. I don't know that we fully understood the gravity of the situation at the time. I was getting my dream come true to be a mom and I wasn't going to let a little brain damage get in the way. It is only now after all the struggles and fights and ups and downs, unknowns and clear test results that we have a better picture. There was only one thing that mattered back then, and that was that I was going to cherish every moment I had with my son and do what a mom is suppose to do.....love, nurture and teach. You have to take what doctors tell you with a grain of salt and realize that ONLY Heavenly Father knows what is in store for this precious life and rely on him to give you the strength to face what ever may come. I have been incredibly blessed that Ethan was not in a vegetative state, and his life was not ever meant to be as short as doctors anticipated. I have been given this amazing child who despite many challenges is very determined and goal oriented. That said there are a great many things Ethan has accomplished in his 10 years, but just recently, the he has gone through a huge developmental growth spurt. These may seem like very small things to the parents of a typical child, but they are miracles to us. Ethan's latest accomplishments are things that I certainly did not expect to happen....he is completely out of diapers, and today marks 5 weeks without a tube feeding. It has been a tremendous amount of effort but with our help Ethan has met two of his goals....I can say he met them because I know how stubborn my son is and I know that after his effort he will never go back to tube feeding as he really wants it out for his eleventh birthday and I will do all I can to help him make that happen.

Hand made Christmas, progress

Almost done with this one, but the kids will be home soon so I need to put it away until tomorrow. I also made another head and am working on yarn hair for her. More pictures tomorrow!

How about...

A Home Made Christmas Challenge instead????? Trying out some cloth dolls and thinking I might make some for the kids for christmas, as well as to use as adoption fund raising items. The first one is turning out super cute so far! I will post pictures maybe tomorrow!

Isn't it about time for a Kids Clothes Week Challenge?

I think next week I will do my kids clothes week challenge....since it is a little late to think about doing it for this week!

Funny things kids say....

Well, my youngest daughter, Chloe age 6, got strep throat after the first week of school and had to spend the last two days at home. This morning she exclaims as she throws open the front door to wait for the bus, "HELLO FREEDOM!" at the top of her lungs!

Thought for the day....

If you BELIEVE in something, you shouldn't be afraid to stand up and say it.

A couple days ago a good friend of mine posted a joke that not only was a bit offensive but went against religious fundamentals I believe (my friend is of the same church). I gently stated that I found the idea of it distasteful because of my principles and morals. I was then attacked verbally for my beliefs by another individual. I don't have any problem hearing other views as long as there are truthful and rational explanations that support their views, it is never as simple as just saying this is what I think, there is always a WHY, if there is not a why, it really has no value. I try to look and things and circumstances from many perspectives before developing my own conclusions. I find it very disturbing when a person says they believe in something, that it means so much to them, but then they will speak out against the fundamentals of what they say they believe in. Relative to the situation mentioned above, I believe that we have leaders, (political, religious, community and family) for a reason, and that country, church, community and family require a level of support from citizens and members in order for them to function. I may not always agree with everything the leader says or does, but I support them and pray for their guidance. I believe that failure to do so would contribute to the degradation and decay and ultimately the demise of the said organization. I believe these institutions were designed for a divine purpose and are vital and neccessary for an eternal plan of salvation. I believe the laws and commandments of my Heavenly Father are the same are still the same from the time of creation and have not changed to comply with man's idea of what is right and acceptable. I strongly believe that genocide, no matter the circumstances is ethically and morally wrong. A persons ethnicity and beliefs are owned unto himself, and while they might be different than mine they are not justification for ritual execution because I don't agree with them. I believe that in the end, God will hold man accountable for what he knows and how he acted on that knowledge in deed and in thought. I believe that every man has amazing potential for good as well as ill, we also have an incredible capacity to discover for ourselves the path we would like to take and are not blindly lead by any other choice than our own. I encourage you to KNOW and OWN what you believe and think long on ideas before you take them to heart.

Our Adoption Journey!: Back to School 2011

Our Adoption Journey!: Back to School 2011:
Newest pictures of the kids are on our adoption blog!

Our Adoption Journey!: Holding my Breath....

Our Adoption Journey!: Holding my Breath....: "....hoping that the certification comes back from the court this week. The weekend away did help some....but I had a stomach bug while we we..."

Our Adoption Journey!: Being a MOM

Our Adoption Journey!: Being a MOM: "While sitting in the movie theater today with my children I was reflecting on the value of being a stay at home mom. We go to a kid friendly..."

Our Adoption Journey!: So touched....

Our Adoption Journey!: So touched....: "I guess it is because I don't see what I do day in day out as extraordinary or special I was shocked and humbled when I read my husband's no..."

Yummy!

Fresh potatoes from our garden. I can't believe how well the yukon golds did this year....not to mention the zucchini which always does well and the egg plant! Helen is learning to peel potatoes so she can help with dinner tonight ;0)

Our Adoption Journey!: Keeping busy....

Our Adoption Journey!: Keeping busy....: "For my birthday, I picked out this beautiful fabric and over the last few days I made a Mei Tai Carrier and a beautiful one of a kind diaper..."

Giving Back....

Giving Back....

I know this story is not related to our adoption, but it is so very important that I am posting it to all of my blogs. One of my longest friends growing up, Kym, is friends with a woman who's husband was killed recently in Afghanistan. She is the mother of an 18 month old little boy and is expecting their second child in just a few months. I can't even imagine what this mother is going through at the moment, losing a husband and provider and facing raising these two small children without a dad. I know if it was me, I would be pretty destroyed and lost at the moment and would be in need of a lot of community support. My friend came to me because of our own recent fundraising efforts and we talked about some ideas to help this woman and her babies. One of the ideas we came up with was to do a diaper drive. We did talk about cloth and alternatives, but neither of us are sure how easy this would be for this mom and we are trying to make her life a little easier. So I contacted major diaper manufacturers and sellers, well I got something promising back from diapers.com, offering to set up an account for the woman so that donations could be made to the account and she could purchase what she needed from the donations they received. I liked this idea because diapers.com sells a lot more than just disposable diapers like formula, clothes and other diapering options. I am sad to say that both Luvs and Pampers were very disappointing saying they only donate on the national level and found myself thinking that if it was not for women in her situation, who's husbands have fought for our country and way of life over the last couple hundred years, there wouldn't be a "national level". I was a little annoyed to say the least, BUT I know there are a lot of individuals out there with very giving hearts that would be more than happy to donate....I know that even small donations help because when a dozen or more small donations come in they really add up. I will post links to the diapers.com account as soon as it is set up. In the mean time, here is a link to Staff Sergent Apolinar's story, and as always, we appreciate all of your love and support. You have given so much to us, and it is time we all give back:

http://www.kvoa.com/news/brewer-statement-on-glendale-soldier-killed-in-afghanistan/

Been a little lax.....

on getting updates to the blog on what is going on with here....if you want to know what we have been up to it is on our adoption blog and you can see that by clicking on the picture of the gorgeous baby boy over on this side ----->

Precious!

In the last few weeks the kids have been "collecting" caterpillars. They live in little jars and feast on leaves from the passion flower vine. This weekend they have built their chrysalis and the kids are excited to watch the butterflies emerge. Helen insists they are "swallow tail" butterflies, but I have no idea. It is so much fun to experience all the wonders of life again through the eyes of my children!

Chicks!

Chloe's kindergarten class had a science project of hatching eggs. We have been wanting some more chickens for a while, so we organized to donate 22 eggs earlier this month and on Tuesday they began hatching....we are up to 11 so far....so along with getting everything ready for our home study and possible adoption I am also getting everything ready for the chicks to come home too!!!!! Keeping fingers crossed that we get at least 50% hens ;0)

A new blog just for our journey to adoption

Please follow our new blog as we go through the process of getting ready to adopt a very special child:
http://babyboybright.blogspot.com/

How time flies!

Can't believe this cute kid is 7 years old already!!!

Daddy got him his very own 22 rifle for his birthday. It is a little big but the Junior one like Chloe's is too small so he will just have to grow into it....he is already very good about gun safety but I would like him to take a class with the game and fish department just to reinforce it all, and I know he would love it anyway. Reluctantly I got him a skateboard...and helmet and elbow, wrist and knee pads....I feel he is safer with the gun :0) I am hoping that the teff and amaranth grains in our diet with their very high calcium content will increase his bone density enough that he doesn't experience a broken arm learning to ride it. He is thrilled though!!!!

Retro baby knit

Preemie Prim Rose Layette

Knitting is soooo relaxing....

and just lately I have needed to de-stress this way. I have made a couple of really beautiful sets and here is a picture of one of the sets on a beautiful baby doll!

Bronchitis, Pnemonia and Asthma, Oh My!

It has been a difficult month....since before Christmas we have had illness in our home and it is really taking it's tole. Ethan and Chloe have had a lot of lung issues this fall and winter. The last few days have been particularly hard on Chloe, who had low blood oxygen saturation (92%, and they want to see it at 98% minimum) at the doctor's office this morning and fluid building in her lungs. I knew her asthma was acting up as she was having long coughing spells despite being on controller/preventative medicine, and requiring albuteral. We go back in two weeks when she turns 6 and talk about expanding treatment for her asthma, maybe adding a rescue inhaler....I am considering that an environmental change might be the best option that the air quality here is probably playing a major role in her lung problems.