Saturday, October 30, 2010

Guess who is.... ~ Sunday Snapshot ~












Celebrating their first birthday with her forever family tomorrow?? And not only that it will be her first Halloween.
Rachel has come a long way in four short months and continues to amaze us. As I write this I am crying, she is just so full of life and happy. I can not imagine a better attachment for her and I, especially considering I didn't travel. She means the world to me and I love her so much and feel blessed to be her mama.


She was very loved in her orphanage. We were lucky to have had many updates.

She had a party with friends back in November 2009 while waiting for us.



And now a year later, she is home with her forever family and we will celebrate, not only her birthday but Rachel herself. She is our little caboose, our miracle girl. And we are so very thankful to God for trusting us to raise such a beautiful, strong spirited girl.


Happy Birthday sweet baby!!





Ni Hao Y'all




Friday, October 29, 2010

An Unexpected Special Need ~





When we excepted Rachel's referral we knew without a doubt, she was ours. We knew no matter what a doctor told us she would be coming home to our family. I did take her medical in to our doctor to look over, but it was during an appointment for one of our other kids and I just had her glance at it, offhand.


It wouldn't have made a difference what she said. Rachel was our daughter.

Then our paper chase took forever and the LOA and so on. So she waited and we waited. We were blessed to be able to get updates on our sweet girl through traveling parents.

We knew through pictures and first hand stories that there was more going on than just a limb difference. And we were prepared....I had specialists lined up and everything. But being in DC area the wait to see them is horrendous.

I mean seriously, we came home in July and I have yet to see the geneticist. That won't be until March 2011!!


We have seen two orthopedics doctors and have gotten two very distinct opinions. So, we are waiting to see a third, in you guessed it February 2011...sigh

So I took it upon myself to beg and plead with the ped doc to order the blood work. Which after having begged and pleaded for the giardia meds and getting them she agreed.


I am either a good talker or she took pity on this very tired mama of six whose husband is always traveling.


The test results came back negative for dwarfism and for downs syndrome. But some were inconclusive, meaning I have to wait until we see the geneticist.


So back to my story, once home I noticed Rachel's eyes were a little crossed and she didn't use her right one much. I called one more specialist and they saw us yesterday.






The results were a bit unexpected.
They are hoping she has a muscle weakness that will be fixed with patching. She is near sighted in both eyes and when she only uses her left eye, well this is the hard part. She is completely blind in her right eye. If, I hadn't taken her to the specialist and we had let this go or she had waited longer in the orphanage, it wouldn't be fixable, she would have gone blind...completely.
How scary is that??
So, we are patching her eye for a month and then go back to the doctor. She will reevaluate at that time but most likely, surgery will be scheduled.
The other thing, this particular need is associated with other special needs, mostly limb differences and downs....so I am thinking we really need to see the specialist in March.
Maybe our test results weren't conclusive...
I feel so conflicted, I am very thankful we were able to see the eye doctor but I also feel sad for Rachel. Not only will she have a very noticeable limb difference that won't be addressed until she is older but she will also have glasses, probably strong ones. In addition to what ever else we find out at the appointment in March. This will be a tough road for her when she starts school.
The only thing I am sure of, is I am her mama and will fight for whatever she needs.








Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Wasatch's Waiting Kids ~




She is 13 years old and in Shanghai. She is an orphan living in an orphanage. Bella has six months to find a family. If this doesn't happen by February, she no longer be eligible for adoption. AT ALL, EVER.


Let's not let that happen. Let's spread the word, give her a chance at a mother, a father, siblings, and an education.
Could you be her parents?

Here are the rest of the special focus kids.

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Renee'
3/23/1999
Hep b+
Guangdong




Photobucket
Elizabeth 12/26/2000
Healthy
Guangdong



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Rose
3/12/2001
CHD
Beijing


Photobucket


Bree
1/4/2007
Limb Deformity
Guangdong
$1500 Grant



Photobucket

Alice (sibling to Angie)
10/13/2000
Hep b +
Heilongjiang


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Angie (sibling to Alice)
10/14/2004
healthy
Heilongjiang



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Edward
11/14/2004
Healthy
Beijing


For more info on any of these kids contact me hopeyfopey@yahoo.com
or Kathy at Kathy@wiaa.org

















Saturday, October 23, 2010

New Blog Business ~

If you would like to see some examples, here they are. Most are mine, I admit I change blog designs like they're going out of style....



I just really enjoy doing this and honestly, thought it would be a great opportunity to be able to give back and or have the money for anything that happens to come along :)

My new design business can be seen by clicking here.























Friday, October 22, 2010

Where not to spend Thursday....

when your husband isn't home and you can't get a hold of neighbors to help out with the other kids.....


It wasn't fun, the two Little's were pretty sick but now home and medicated. Rachel was up most of the night and we got maybe 4 hours of sleep.

Hopefully she will take a nice nap today, along with Hope who is also sick.



Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Just a thought....

but, I really enjoy doing blogs....

Is this something anyone would be interested in? Maybe say $25.00 for the whole redo?

I would love to be able to give back and this seems the perfect way to do it~ I can't do the fancy blogs, just the basic header and background color, maybe a few sidebar things and music, if you want that.

I can also make a blog button.....just a thought, what do y'all think?








Fall Fun ~

My style girl, always with a smile.



Not something you see everyday at a farm, especially in VA. !



Our painted pumpkins from the festival..



Listening to the music with big brother.





A sign of things to come?!?!


My sweet girly girl. She got her face painted for the second time this week.




Even Rachel got in on it this time.






Two of my beautiful babies.



Rachel is definately mama's girl. I was worried, having not traveled to China, but she is so easy going and loves her mama about as much as I love her.



Our first wagon ride of the season, to bad the whole family couldn't get in the picture


Monday, October 18, 2010

What?!?!

I am greatly saddened today...is that even a word? Not sure but it kind of explains how confused, conflicted and upset I am after reading a post on one of my favorite adoption blogs....

Which I will no longer read....

It's about the post here.

Now, I know we all have our different beliefs ect...but for some reason I have taken a distinct dislike to this particular poster, not from the blog she is posting on but from her own personal blog. I read it before she traveled to her daughter and during, even after she came home. But, what I read kind of left a sick feeling in my heart.

I don't know if she is writing for the shock value or not but I just didn't get a good feeling.....

So, a blog I liked reading and had some value will no longer be listed in my favorites. That saddens me. It was a valuable resource to those of us adopting special needs kids.

However I can't condone reading a blog that will post about there being no heaven and no after life with God.




Thursday, October 14, 2010

Bad Blogger ~



I know, I have been terrible at keeping up with the blog....it's not the six kids the laundry or the house up keep....



or that three of the six are toddlers. Nope not that, the little's are actually pretty easy going.


as are the bigs...



It's not even my sewing,



As you can see I have projects piled up everywhere....



Like a doll that needs clothing...





and a shelf in dire need of cleaning out. In addtion to a fall jacket cut out and half sewn for Hope.



Also, two new books I just got that I can't wait to try out. Along with a new sewing blog I need to get up and running.
But for now, I am just enjoying being a mom.