Friends, Food, Fun, and A Fawn!!!

We had an action packed weekend last weekend filled with beloved friends! I have had plans for several weeks to have Hally's best friend, Maggie, over as she has recently moved to Colorado and was visiting this week to see her grandparents. Her grandparents could not get her until Saturday, so we got to STEAL her for one evening. Hally, Maggie, and Emmy were so happy to see each other and they had a BALL with one another. The Haggos family also came Friday to spend the weekend with us. The kids had a great time playing while Coni braided all the girls' hair and she even taught me how to make beef tibs (?). They also brought injera, dora wat, and a lentil stew. It was entirely and completely YUMMY!!! I am hoping to be able to both braid and cook Ethiopian in the near future!!! On Saturday when Maggie's grandpa came to get her, he brought over an abandoned baby deer that he had taken in. It was so adorable and definitely a highlight for the kids' weekend!!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Rahel Scout!!!

Two years ago our sweet baby Rae was born. I cannot tell you how blessed and fortunate I feel to be this child's mom. She is amazingly charming, smart, bubbly, and just a FUN little girl. When we were preparing ourselves for Rae's arrival, I had no idea of what a blessing we would receive. Thank you LORD for this wonderful BLESSING called Rahel Scout!!!!

God Wants to Bless Someone in Norman, Oklahoma!!!!

I am pasting an excerpt from Jamie's blog...

Okay, adoption blogging community. . .I have a wonderful opportunity!!! Andy spoke to our staff during our staff training week and he talked about adoption at one point and how you can help without being an adoptive parent. Anyway, to make a long story short, one of our staff girls got inspired! She is head of something in her sorority at OU and she gets to decide where their "charity" money goes this year from this certain fund raiser she is putting together. Last year they raised $9000 and this year her goal is ten. Well, she has gotten permission to raise the money for an adoptive family in Norman, Oklahoma. NOW SHE JUST NEEDS THE FAMILY!!!!

So, if you or anyone you know is from Norman and are adopting and need financial help, please let me know and I can get you hooked up with this sorority. They will pick one family to help.


Click on the link above for more info!!!

Summer Is Here!!!

It has been such a long time from my last post! Hally, Brady, and I made it through another school year, and it was a great one for all of us. Brady actually cried the night of the last day of school as he was proclaiming that he would miss his teacher. We were so blessed by the quality of our kids' teachers this year!!! It feels so great to be on break. I love spending time with my family and being able to have the energy to do "things" around the house. We also have great plans this summer which include building a tree house, painting the living room, building organizational shelves and cabinets in our closet (can you say hallelujah), and possibly doing some "fixing up" in the kitchen. We are also surprising the kids with a trip to K Kauai on the 19th. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this. We went last year and had the time of our lives!!!! So far, we have been to the pool twice and Rae really loves it. Thankfully she got her cast off last week, so she is good to go for WATER summer fun!!!

3 Month Post Placement Visit

Last week Shanon, our fab social worker, came over to do our 3 month post placement visit. Can you believe it? It actually hasn't been quite three months, but I wanted to make sure we got the ball rolling. Our visit was very revealing for me to realize just how much has happened in just a little amount of time. When Rae first came home, she ate a lot (I mean packed it down), wouldn't make good eye contact when she was upset, and liked to run up to strangers and be held. These are all signs of a child who isn't attached to someone or possibly a child who is grieving a loss of some sort. Well, Rae is now a picky eater, will make eye contact with me when she is upset and is just a little more discriminant about who she lets pick her up... I count this to her just being a very friendly child by nature. I know we aren't out of the woods yet concerning adjustment and attachment, but boy we are off to a good start!!!!

Our Weekend

On Saturday morning, Rae and I were coming around opposite corners at the same time and slightly bumped into one another. Rae fell back on her bottom in a way that was very common for her or any typical 22 month old. She surprised me when she started to cry (she's typically pretty tough). Hally helped her up and I was shocked to see her wobbling and not putting weight on her right leg. Kevin and I looked her leg over. She didn't have swelling and was able to move her toes and knee around. Kevin, who sees lots of sport injuries, thought she pulled a muscle, so I decide I wouldn't panic. All that day, she refused to try to walk, but seemed otherwise in a pretty good mood (as long as I was holding her). The next day, Hally's 9th birthday, when she still wasn't walking I began to get concerned. I stayed home from church and called the doctor just after Kevin left. Our pediatrician thought I should take her to urgent care to get her checked out. I grabbed Rae and my purse and headed out the door. Noticing an empty garage and no keys to my husband's truck, I realized that I was stranded until Kevin got home. Finally at 1:00, I packed up Rae in our car and set off for urgent care. Three hours and a box of tissues later (and during Hally's party), I got the report that Rae had indeed fractured her tibia. The next day we took Rae to an orthopedic doctor, and he explained that she had a "toddler fracture". My nerves slowly start to even out as he explained that this type of fracture is very common for her age even though she didn't have much of an impact to seemingly cause a fracture, and that he puts casts on toddlers and young kids for this about once a week. Rae is now sporting a grass green cast for the next 4 weeks. On the brighter side, she will just be ready for the pool by then. On the funny side (kind of), we have our first social worker visit since Rae has been home tonight!!! On the sad side (again), Brady has been home the last two days recovering from strep.... ugh!!

I promise my next post will be a lot happier. We have so much to be happy about!!!!

You're Invited, So Please Come!

On May 9th, I am helping with an America World Adoption Seminar that will be held at my church in Ozark, James River Assembly, from 10-12. If you are reading this, and you would like more information about adoption from Ethiopia, Rwanda, China, India, Russia, Ukraine, or Kazakhatstan, then please come. You can register by calling 888-one-child.