MOONCAKES AND MUDPIES

Welcome 2012!!!

2012-01-06T19:00:00.004-05:00

Facelift, anyone????

Lucy, she's a beauty

The whole gang

Mia, playing Mary

Tyler, our little shephard

Ethan, our other shephard

Meisi, she played and angel, and she is one too!

Our Christmas tree.

A good blogger, I am not. Life just goes by and before I know it, it's been two months since my last post. Let's see, November was a nice month with Thanksgiving, both Chris and Kyle were home from college. Richie and Sandy came for dinner, but Ashley and Roberta went to her parent's house for dinner. December came and the kids started practicing for the Christmas Pageant at church. Mia played the part of Mary, she had the entire program memorized by the second Sunday school class, she never ceases to amaze us. Meisi played the Angel, and Ethan and Tyler were shephards. They had two performances, they all did so well, we were so proud! All the kids in the program did very well! Christmas Day came, it was a very peaceful time. The little ones were all very excited about Christmas, but prior to the holiday season we had talked to them about the Christmas gifts being much less this year (we've not gone overboard in previous years, but they needed even less this year). They were all fine with that, part of their Christmas is that we are going to help a child go to summer camp this summer where Meisi goes, with so many families suffering from loss due to the September flood, the ranch really needs help with scholarship money. Chris and Kyle both came home for the holiday season on December 16th, Chris went back to college today, and Kyle will go back on the 22nd. Big difference between Elmira College and a SUNY school in schedules. They both did very well their first semester, Chris had a 4.0 gpa, and while Kyle's is not that high, he still did well. The little ones have all been sick here and there, first Tyler, then the girls, and now Ethan is sick. Hopefully the antibiotic will kick in soon so he'll feel better.
We're looking forward to Chinese New Year at the end of the month, then our annual vacation in Florida in March. The weather has been so strange, quite warm, so maybe it will be a mild winter and we won't be that anxious for March to get here.
Hope all is well with everyone, Happy New Year!

PROGRESS!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-11-05T10:36:00.002-04:00

Wow, what a difference a little time will make! I cannot believe the progress Ethan has made in a few weeks, his reading has improved so much, and just today he did an entire four page assignment with very little help! He seems to be remembering better, once something has been explained to him. For example, one spelling word is gentle, I explained to him yesterday that it meant soft, while rubbing his head to show him gentle. Today he had to do the opposite of words. The word was "rough", he knew that the opposite was soft, which meant the spelling word he was looking for was gentle. That is huge progress. And he asked if he could read his Reading book this weekend! I also see progress in his relationship with Mia, and over all behavior. It has been, at times, a long up hill battle, but I feel like we are ready to reach the top!!! And I have to say that it makes for a very deep love and affection for him, to know how hard we have all worked (it takes a village!) to get to this point, two years after bringing Ethan home to his new family.

Halloween was fun, the kids had a great time, but I am happy to be in the Thanksgiving/Christmas season! Chris and Kyle will be home for Thanksgiving, Ashley and Richie are very happy in their homes with their families, I sleep well at night knowing that all is well with all the kids. It seems my entire peace depends on how our kids are doing, when one has troubles, it upsets me, no matter how old they are! And I suppose this is the way all moms feel, maybe dads too. I know that God is watching over all of them.

Meisi and I are watching the Waltons on this peaceful Saturday, all is well :-).

I'm reading a very good book, Kisses from Katie, even though I have cried through most of it so far. It really makes me think that I need to do more to help children that have nothing and nobody on this earth to take care of them, it is heartbreaking. I don't know why some of us have so much, and others in this world have nothing to eat for weeks, not a piece of clothing to wear, and not a roof over their heads, children living in the streets, it's so hard to understand. If I could snap my fingers and give at least one of those children a home and family, I would, but it's just not that easy. But, the thought is in my head and heart, and I just can't help that. I can only pray that it becomes clear to me what I am supposed to do with this information, and these feelings. I have seen prayers answered this week, moms making it home safely from the hospital with their child, a trip that takes an enormous amount of strength to make. A mom making it home safely from Unganda with a baby girl that was in desperate need of a family to care for her, and the promise of another girl that will soon have that same family to care for her.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Sherrie

FRUSTRATION!!!

2011-10-19T18:55:00.002-04:00

A teacher I am NOT!! For the love of all that is Holy, I may very well be BALD by the time the school year is over! And it's only just begun, Lord please help me! Mia and homework....no problem! Meisi and homework...no problem! Tyler and homework, not much of a problem! Ethan and homework.....PROBLEM!!! In the two years he has been here, he has learned in leaps and bounds, BUT, as he goes into higher grades, the work gets so much tougher, and he is not retaining information. He can read a story, and not have a clue about what he just read. He can't understand written directions, he guesses when he really doesn't need to, and he is NOT a good guesser! It is frustrating, but, lucky for me, I forget the frustration about 15 minutes after the work is done, which it takes us about 3 to 4 hours to get his homework done. I have talked to his teacher through a few emails and notes on his agenda, but the communication is not great. On a positive note, his teachers at homework club are wonderful and help a great deal, and are encouraging to me, so we'll get through it, and I'm very sure he will be fine, and do fine, in the long run. I am hearing that he needs to take tests that all third grade students take without any help. Hhhmmm, not so sure that a child that falls under the special education services category is held to the same standards as all other children in third grade that have been in school in the United States since pre K or Kindergarten, but what do I know, I'm just a parent. But, I am a parent that loves this child to pieces, no matter that I have to read the same thing to him twenty times, no matter that we spend hours upon hours doing homework every weeknight and we did homework ALL DAY SATURDAY this past weekend, no lie, from 8:30 to 4:30, we did Ethan's homework. I'll give it a few more weeks, and if things are still the same, then the principle and I will be having a little chat, and I expect things would change, because she is a no-nonsense, do what it takes kind of school administrator, and I have faith!

Thank you for *listening* to my rant.....I feel much better now :-).

Sherrie

CONVERSATION WITH MIA

2011-10-18T08:58:00.002-04:00

Lucy's little brother...sort of......

From time to time there is conversation about having another little girl in our family. We all know that I, Mommy, is the one that would bring another little girl home if I could, and we all know that Daddy thinks two little girls in our family is just perfect, no need to add to that.

And lately we found out that our furry girl Lucy has a little brother that was born about 7 weeks ago, not a puppy from the same litter as Lucy, but the litter before her, one of those puppies is now a mommy! And I have pictures of this cute puppy and think maybe Lucy would like a playmate! But there is a certain person in our house that thinks having Lucy is just perfect, no need to add to that.

So, this morning the conversation of the puppy came up at breakfast, and Mia said to her dad, "We can't have another little child in our family, and we can't have a puppy either." Now, we all know that having a child is a huge decision, and certainly not the same as adding a puppy to the family, getting a puppy is not such a huge decision, but a commitment none the less. So, her dad said to her "Mia, when you are grown up and have your own house, you can have as many children and as many puppies as you want." To which Mia quickly replied, without skipping a beat "Mommy is a grown up and SHE can't have as many children or puppies as she wants." OH MY GOODNESS!!! My husband had better hope that nothing happens to me, because at 8 years old, this child is already one step ahead of us, what will it be like when she is 14 or 16??? We will have our hands full, and he alone would be no match for this baby girl!!! Despite the fact that he has set some boundaries for our family, he is still a softie and when it comes to his kids, his girls especially, he will not stand a chance!!

And that's how it is today at our house today :-). Hope you all are enjoying this "lovely" fall weather.

Sherrie

Summer 2011

2011-09-04T14:00:00.010-04:00

Has drawn to an end. We were extremely busy this summer. The kids and I went to Maine for a week, which was so much fun. We were very lucky to have our friend, Miss Dale, along with us for the trip. We rented a lovely little house in Camden, we loved the house and the town as well. It was so nice to be able to walk down to the harbor, shop in all the little shops, and sit in the yard and relax. The house was an old house that reminded me of my Grandmother's house, it was so nice and neat and furnished so comfortably. August came and flew by, it was soon time for Kyle to leave for college, it's hard to believe that we have two boys in college, both doing SO WELL!!! Kyle loves college and all his classes, well, maybe not math and english, but all the other classes he really likes a lot. He has made a lot of new friends and seems to be having fun, but not TOO much fun ;-). Chris had a great summer, doing his internship at Trinity, working on campus and staying on campus for the entire summer. My mom and I went on our little adventure, taking a little cruise to the Bahamas, of course, we had our little friend Irene to contend with, but she didn't bother us too much. We had a small change in our itinerary, but not enough to make much of a difference. We have lots of other stuff going on with work and rentals and all that boring stuff, so that has kept us really busy as well. It seems different with Kyle gone now, but we welcome the change that means our boys are on their way to making their own life doing the things they want to do.

I wrote the above part of this post more than a week ago, I cannot even find time to finish a blog post!!! School started one week ago from today, the kids went the first day, then they did not have school for the last two days of the week due to the flooding in our area. Our hearts go out to the many people in our area that lost their homes, or their homes are ruined by mud, their possessions are either gone or ruined, it is so sad. It makes our troubles seem small, but sometimes it's hard to remember how blessed we really are.

Ethan has been home with us for more than two years now, that's so hard to believe. He is a happy, talkative, funny little boy that can drive us all a little crazy from time to time. He has been, by far, the most challenging of the four little ones, but when we see progress, it is so rewarding. And we do see progress. Some days his schoolwork is frustrating for him, but he's very bright and I know he will keep catching up and will exceed in leaps and bounds. So far, everyone else seems to be having an easy year, however, they've only been in school for a few weeks, so maybe I'm living in fantasy land :-).

I read the blogs of many adoptive families. I see them post about the celebration of "gotcha" days, which is what we call the day we met our child in China. I am just terrible at that stuff. I always remember the day, and I celebrate it in my mind, but we live life daily, with our routine as a family. Maybe next year at the first of the year I will mark each gotcha day on the calendar and have a little celebration, or maybe not...some times I feel fortunate that I can pull off a small birthday celebration for each child!!! I hope that my children know that I love them endlessly. I talk often about our time with each of them in China, so hopefully they won't some day wonder why we didn't make a bigger deal out of each significant date that made us a family.

Sherrie

One Month

2011-07-13T10:59:00.006-04:00

Has it really been one whole month since I last posted??? Summer has been going by quickly, it's been hot, but once it stopped raining, it seemed like we were in the full swing of summer. Meisi is at camp this week, she absolutely loves it, especially the horseback riding part of it all. We miss her so much, but Friday is only two days away, and she'll be back home. The week after next the kids and I, along with my VGF, are heading to Maine for our 2nd annual Thelma and Louise Maine vacation. It's such a fun time, one whole week with the kids, and we get to catch up and relax and read and relax and drink Starbucks Frappies! Going backward to June, it was a very busy month. After Tyler's birthday, we had Father's Day, and Kyle's graduation, and the day after that it was time to celebrate Chris' birthday! We're looking forward to the rest of the summer, hopefully it will not go by so quickly that we feel like we mised it! At the end of August we have Chris starting his junior year of college. He has been on campus this summer doing his internship, working, and taking two classes. Kyle will be heading to college at the end of August, and my mom and I are going on a little cruise, which I am so excited about! Can't wait for that! Hope everyone is having a great summer!
Love,
sherrie

Our lovely Meisi girl, she is growing up before our very eyes.

Oh the joy of giving Father's Day gifts made with loving little hands!

No words needed... Ethan is almost always happy (see photo below)

Mia at Kyle's Senior Banquet Kyle, the graduate :-)

Meisi and Grammie B. The cake for the senior banquet, made by the best baker in town, Kyle's Grammie K!

We are SO PROUD of Kyle!!!

Graduation!!! Kyle's cake

Mia's book she chose from the library

Remember how I said Ethan is almost always happy?? Well, this is when he is not happy, when he is made to sit close to or give a hug to his sister, Mia. We are not sure how to change this situation, or if we should even try. For some reason, and I have my theory about this, he is not so fond of Mia. He says he likes and loves her, but actions speak louder than words, so we have our doubts. Jealousy???? Maybe...The fact that Mia will speak loud and clear if Ethan is doing something she thinks he shouldn't be doing could have something to do with it. I'm sure when they are grown this will be changed, at least I hope so. I have a few things that I'm going to try to see if I can promote a little more closeness for them, I hope it works.

Nice big smiles, but notice the hand on the right, no way will be put his hand on her shoulder....

Tyler is 8 today!!!

2011-06-13T09:39:00.006-04:00

The card Tyler made for Daddy, hoping he feels better soon, because, after all, his birthday is soon!

I know Meisi's head is not in the picture, but loved this anyways.

My four littles, LOVE THEM!!! Why is there space on the left of them????? I ask you!!!!!

Mia loves her brother, they are very close.

And Ethan loves his sister, and she loves him too.

Have you ever seen two more beautiful smiles???

Meisi Faith.

The Birthday Boy.

Oh my. And that's all I've got to say about that.

Another Oh My.

This is perhaps, the happies little boy on earth when it's his birthday. He's my little sweetie boy.

Mia Linay.

Grandson Tate.

Grandson Jordon.

Happy Birthday to our sweet boy! Yesterday we had lunch at home, he got to choose anything he wanted to have us make to honor his birthday. This boy LOVES his food, more than any child I've ever known. His request was...steamed clams, salt potatos, and spinach. So, that is just what we had, along with pasta salad, baked beans and chicken for the non-clam eaters. All of our kids like clams, all eight of them! The weather was rainy in the morning, but turned out nice later so we could be outside and the kids were swimming most of the day. After showers and jammies were on we did the other thing that was Tyler's request..a pinata. That was a first, and it was so fun to watch all four of them get blindfolded and one by one try to bust open the pinata. It was a lovely day. Today is Tyler's actual birthday, so we'll have cake and ice cream and give him a few gifts, he is one that will enjoy this prolonged celebration! I'm putting pictures here of the card that Tyler made for Tom on Saturday night. Tom has not been feeling well, he has had a cold the last few days. He's actually not been feeling well since January, with different health issues. Yesterday I told him he was really pushing this "in sickness and in health" thing :-).

We have one more birthday this month, Chris will be turning 20, and the day before that is Kyle's graduation. It is a busy month, and July is looking to be busy as well. We'll have two in college this fall, but nine years to go before we have to think about graduation or going off to college again.

Hope everyone has a happy, healthy, peaceful summer!!!

Love,

Sherrie

The Best Mother's Day Ever!

2011-05-09T12:12:00.004-04:00

Mother's Day was such an awesome day! I knew it was going to be so much fun as I had one daughter that had a special gift for me MONTHS ago! She was just so darned excited to be able to FINALLY give me my gift! That was my Meisi, she is such a sweet, sweet girl and I could not love her more! First thing in the morning, about 6:00am, I heard my bedroom door opened, and whispering going on....I knew it had to be Mia, she had asked me what I wanted for breakfast the night before.....I was wrong though, after getting up a short while later and asking who was tiptoeing around in my room that morning, I found out it was Ethan and Tyler. Did they want to wish me a Happy Mother's Day that early, you ask??? Um, no. They wanted to know if they could watch tv. Boys.....So, Mia made me yummy yummy toast with raspberry jam made by the monks at Mount Savior Monestary, and Unwind tea with herbs, oh so good...then the gifts came..gifts made in school, flower baskets with coupons for all sorts of wonderful

services :-). And four beautiful hanging baskets of flowers for the porch, and to hang by the garage, one from each of my littles, and a beautiful tropical plant to put on the table under the pergola from Kyle. Also, a facebook message from my first born baby that brought tears to my eyes, and a visit from him and my soon to be daughter in law later in the day. They brought me the most beautiful hydrangea bush that I will be able to enjoy for years to come. Also, a facebook message from Chris, all the way from Italy, wishing me a Happy Mother's Day and an I love you :-). We had a wonderful lunch with my mom and my mom in law, that was such a nice thing, the sun was shining and it was just a lovely day. And all day long, throughout the day, I had my very best friend, and the love of my life treating me like I was the best thing sinced sliced bread :-). I am so blessed, blessed beyond measure, and I have to ask myself how in the world this happened, how did I end up with the best life ever. Even when there are little hurts that happen along the way, the good outweighs the bad by so far that I can't help but be so at peace with my life. I hope all the mom's I know and love had a most wonderful day too!

Because we are claiming an adoption tax credit for a few years on our income tax this year, I had to go through all the receipts from Tyler's adoption in 2006, and all the receipts from Ethan's adoption in 2009. It took me quite a while to organize, get copies of checks from the bank, etc. I have huge books that hold every single piece of paper related to each of the kids adoption process. After pulling out receipts and all the papers, the books for Tyler and Ethan are a mess, so today I decided that I could put all the papers back and organize the books, now that the receipts have all been copied and mailed off to the IRS. Little did I know how hard this was going to be. Not to get them all organized, but EMOTIONALLY. Tom came in for lunch, and I started to just SOB!!!! Why???? I think it is because of the emotion that I put into the journey to bring each child home, and the fact that I long for that journey again. I know that it will never be, but my heart will every now and then let me know that it is painful for me to realize the truth of it. I have not said anything about a situation that I have been dealing with for months, and that is probably part of this emotion, more letting go of the idea of bringing another child to our family. And not just any child, but a child that I felt was meant to be our daughter, it has been hard, extremely hard, and I don't think there is ANYONE that realizes how hard it has been. I am working on my Faith, and knowing that God knows what is right, it really is not in my control, praying continually for peace of mind.

So, summer is almost here, not that we would know that by the weather! June is a busy month for us, three of our six boys have birthdays in June, Kyle will be graduating from high school in June, and summer will begin. A trip to Maine in July for myself and the little ones, along with a girlie friend, and a little 4 day cruise in August for my mom and I, I am so looking forward to spending time relaxing in Maine with my babies, and spending time with my mom doing something I don't think she ever dreamed she would do.

I hope you all (is anyone still visiting my blog :-), have a wonderful summer planned!

Love,

Sherrie

What have we been up to???

2011-04-01T19:22:00.002-04:00

Vacation!!! Every year we go to Florida for a spring fling, always driving, always staying with a family member, but this year we decided to rent a little place of our own, right across from the beach, and OH WHAT FUN!!! We loved it, and will probably always do the same thing, maybe even at the same house. The weather was absolutely beautiful, the beach was so nice, and just a short walk from our house and we were there. We would go to the beach during the day, then come back to the house and have dinner, then later in the day we would walk back over and watch the sun set. The last day of our stay, I actually stood there looking out at the water and I had tears in my eyes, I just wanted to stay there, enjoying the relaxation. But, that isn't reality, so we packed up and headed home very early the next day. We drove 14 hours to our hotel in Virginia, just in time for a winter weather alert! Now, this was just last week, at the end of March!!! Who would think that it would snow in Virginia at the end of March!! This has been a tough winter, weather wise, and it seems like it is just not going to end. So, to go back to my post in February and update about Ethan's friend, I did email our agency. They had files of two boys from Ethan's SWI, but they were both older and not the friend Ethan was talking about, although he did know who these boys were. I do feel bad that they still wait for a family, but it seems every day I see a post about a child that needs a family, and that is without even seeking out photos and files of children that are waiting. It is an impossible situation...we are a family that is complete, yet, all these children wait, it is so hard. When a new child comes home, it takes some time to get that balance back in the family, but eventually, it happens, and we settle in and feel that feeling of relaxation and harmony. As would be expected, with the older child coming home, it takes a little longer. I can honestly say that just recently I feel that harmony again, and it has been 18 months since Ethan came home. I hope that doesn't sound selfish, that I don't want to upset the balance by bringing another child into the family, there is more to it than that. Age, work, money, spousal reluctance :-), and did I mention age???? And, as always, I believe that it is beyond my power anyways, if it is meant to be, then it will be, my faith always tells me that! God knows what is meant to be, and I think the relaxed feeling I have is because I know that.

My heart breaks..

2011-02-18T08:44:00.002-05:00

Let me start out by saying how much I love Ethan Paul. He has a spirit that just radiates from his little teeny body. He has certainly been the most challenging of all our children that were born in China, but now that we are past those challenges (not huge challenges, more challenging for me to change how I think about things), for the most part, I can clearly see that he has been just what I needed at this time of my life. His language skills are finally getting to the point where we can really have in depth conversations about his life in China. I asked him last night if he missed China, he said yes, he misses his best friend. What??? What best friend?? He had me go get his big green book, and sure enough he went through several pages and then, there was the picture he was looking for, he and his best friend holding hands. He said, and I quote" I want him to come here with us, it's happy, no fighting, no yelling, and we swim." Okay, if that doesn't bring tears to this mama's eyes, then I don't know what would! Needless to say, looking for this child on adoption lists is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but if you know me, then you know I probably have already shot off an email to our agency to see if they have any children from Ethan's Province on their list, or on the shared list, um, yeah, I'm pretty sure I've probably done that already. If you see my husband, do not be alarmed by that deer in the headlights look he is now sporting :-). Honestly, I would be shocked, really shocked, if we found him, but then again, I'm shocked, really shocked, that God has blessed us with four babies that were born in China, and I know for sure that we have no idea what God's plan is for our lives in the future......

Super Saturday, Chinese New Year and the Mysteries of Life

2011-02-12T11:43:00.004-05:00

Photos from our Chinese New Year dinner at Beijing Garden. Dennis is our favorite person at the restaurant, every year he makes sure our kids have their red envelopes with their lucky money in them!!!

We had a very quiet, but very lovely, CNY celebration this year. We chose to go to dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant, and I also took goodies in to the little ones classrooms for them to share with their classmates. Typically we would go to an event held by the local Chinese Association, and we may do that again next year, but for this year it was bliss to just have a quiet, relaxing dinner. There is much debate about how much we, as parents of children born in China, are obligated to do to keep our kids connected to the culture and heritage they were born to. My own opinion is that we do have an obligation to celebrate their culture, to give them reasons to feel proud of the country they were born in and who they are and how they look. But I do not personally feel it is necessary to make it all China all the time. I'm sure that when our children are adults, one or more of them might wish we had done more, or some might wish we had done less, my hope is that they will know that we did what we felt was the best thing. No matter whether your children came to you biologically or through adoption, they, and us as parents, will have bumps and bruises along with way through life, no matter how old they become. For today, all our children are doing really well, they are all happy, healthy and life is peaceful for me, as their mom. Tomorrow may bring some new stress, because when one of my kids has a problem, I feel that stress for them. So, I'm thankful that today is a stressfree day.

We are tired of the long winter, waiting for our annual vacation in a warm, sunny climate, enjoying the long drive there, our family having fun together on the road. We look forward to coming back to warmer weather, the snow all melted away, the robins singing and the peepers chirping. I'm not even minding the thought of daylight savings time and losing an hour of sleep!

I hope anyone reading this is having a blessed day!

Sherrie

January 2011

2011-01-28T08:50:00.004-05:00

Such Joy!!!!

The happy birthday boy

Mia fell asleep in the chair right after dinner, she was not feeling well at all that week

And what do you suppose this photo is saying???? This is my crew right after dinner looking to see what they can make for dessert, because mommy doesn't bake. When you are constantly trying to watch what you eat because your blood pressure is high and the dr says you need to lose weight, baking is not what you want to think about :-).

We've had a month of good, not so good, and the in between. First, our oldest son's birthday early in the month, how is it possible that *I* have a child that is 33 years old?????????? Wasn't he just a baby yesterday??? Or in first grade??? In some ways it seems so long ago that he was a baby, much has changed in my life since those days, if I look back, I cannot even recognize the girl I was, so young, only 18 years old two days before my baby was born. Thank God for the blessings in my life today, and this son of mine is one of my biggest blessings. So, moving on through the beginning of Janary, that husband of mine gets sick. He is finally, after three weeks of being in so much pain and not feeling well, is recovering and getting back to normal.

Then a week ago was Ethan's birthday. We had so much fun, we took him to Chuck E. Cheese's, he, along with Meisi, Mia and Tyler all had such a great time! I have never seen such joy as I saw on Ethan's face when he was in the "ticket blaster", which is a clear round tube that the birthday kids can get it, the air blows tickets all around them and they try to catch them. I was so happy watching him, knowing that this was just the ultimate in fun for him. The bad thing was the memory card for my camera was at home, so I didn't get very good photos. Ethan is such a joyful child, we love him to pieces, but make no mistake that he is also the one that gets the most *talking to*. He has trouble grasping what is being said to him about always being in everybody's business, needing to tell the other kids what they need to do, how much cereal to put in their bowl, how much milk to pour, etc. We know where it comes from, but it is annoying just the same. Having said that, he has come such a long way, being on alert and looking out for number 1 for 7.5 years takes some time to work through, and so far he is working through it just fine. We know he will get to a point where he can be who he is, without annoying his brother and sisters. His bossiness will be at a level that is okay with them. I am so impressed with his learning this year, everything has clicked into place, the team of teachers working with him are excellent, and the foundation that he had last year with his teacher giving him a year of teaching him the social skills he needed, and some acadmics as well, has been the best education plan for him.

Chinese New Year is right around the corner, we are taking books, dragons, and red envelopes with lucky money in them to the kids classrooms to celebrate, then out for a family dinner at our favorite Chinese Restaurant.

I'm planning a mission trip in the next year or so to Uganda, I can't wait for that. It is scary, yet I have faith that it will all be okay, the kids will be fine at home, I will keep the illness away while I'm there, and be able to hopefully make a small difference in the life of some that do not have even one teeny tiny bit of the life we have that we sometimes take for granted. My prayer for myself is that I will remember not to take it all for granted, to thank God for my blessings, the nice life I have, and the people around me that I love so much.

Christmas 2010 Happy New Year 2011

2010-12-30T10:05:00.006-05:00

CHRISTMAS MORNING

FUN TIMES

LUCY THE RED EYED DOG

MOVIE NIGHT WITH BIG BROTHER

It is so amazing how quickly time goes by. It seems as though it was Thanksgiving yesterday, and now it is the New Year! We had a wonderful, quiet, relaxed, warm and fuzzy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Santa's bag was much lighter this year, the only time I noticed the impact of this was when Tyler sat looking around with an "is this all there is" look on his face. (I noticed in some of the photos that Tyler's jammies had HOLES in the knees, good grief, of all the tons of pairs of jammies the boys have, he chooses these that look so bad!)He was happy with the things he did get, but I think expected a bit more, although he would never say that. One of the best things Santa brought them was a smaller trampoline which accomplished two things...one, we were able to really clear the playroom out so the trampline could be set up in there, and two, the kids really have a lot of fun jumping. It's nice that it is small enough to fit in the house, yet large enough for all four to fit comfortably in the enclosure.

This Christmas was so much nicer than last year, all our kids were home, or close by and we were able to see everyone during the two days of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The only glitch was that Tom had to work on Christmas Eve day, but it turned out to be fine. He also worked New Year's Eve, and is working today, New Year's Day. Not nice for us, but we're thankful that he has so much work this year!

Looking back on 2010......there were good points, and not so good points. It seems that the stress of the not so good things has passed and we look forward to this year with great promise of happiness, relaxation, new beginnings and trying not to let the small annoying things overshadow the big picture of enjoying life. We have family vacations to look forward to, one of our kids taking a wonderful trip to Italy, one of our kids getting married, one of our kids starting college, and who knows what other great things are in store.

I think I have finally come to a place of peace with our family being complete. I stopped looking at lists of children that need families, but every once in a while that pull is there, the thought that we could do it, that maybe we should do it, but I have to respect what is in Tom's heart. God knows what the plan for our life is, so I've let it go, knowing that what will be will be.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, and a wish everyone a very blessed New Year!

Sherrie

Thanksgiving and tree trimming

2010-11-27T10:18:00.003-05:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving. Even though we've had some sickness going through the family, we still managed to have a nice meal, shared with Ashley, Roberta and the grandkiddies. After the little ones went to bed Thanksgiving night, we put the Christmas tree up so it would be waiting for the decorations Friday morning. Typically we would have decorated it Thanksgiving night, but since I didn't feel very well it just didn't get done til Friday. Friday I felt better, well enough to get to those spots in the house that need dusting, but don't always get it, so now the house is clean and decorated for Christmas, except for the family room downstairs, I plan to get that done some time this weekend. Tom and I were supposed to go away overnight for our anniversary, but with all that has been going on lately, my heart was just not in it, so we decided to go ahead and cancel our plans and go after the holidays are over. As it turned out, the next day Tom got a call that he had a burial on Monday, so we would not have been able to go anyways, so that worked out just fine. Today Chris has offered to watch the littles for us so we can go do a little shopping, have a dinner out and a little together time for Tom and I, which we so appreciate, thank you Chris :-). Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love,

Sherrie

Prayers

2010-11-22T20:34:00.002-05:00

If you stop by here, could you please remember me in your prayers, I sure would appreciate it. I am/have been overwhelmed lately, and especially this week, and most especially, today. Thanks so much!

Also, this family http://http://aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com/2010/11/dw-was-in-accident.html could use your prayers as well. They are a most awesome family.

Love,
Sherrie

Week of Giving Thanks

2010-11-21T07:58:00.002-05:00

Thursday, November 18th, I traveled to Syracuse for a work related training session. What a trip down memory lane that was for me. I go to Syracuse a few times a year for meetings, trainings, etc, but this day was different. Seven years ago from that very day, I was at work and Tom was there with me, waiting for the call that we were indeed parents of a baby girl. The call came early afternoon, our baby girl was in China, 8 months old, and the pictures of her were waiting for us in the office of our agency in Syracuse. We hurried home to drop off my car, then made the almost two hour trip to the agency, walked in, went into a room and then we were handed photos that made my jaw drop to the floor. Our baby was the most beautiful baby girl we had ever seen! To say we were happy is such an understatement. About four weeks later we were on a plane, heading to China to meet this baby of ours. Life changing, that is all I can think of to say about it. It changed the lives of many people, including the other three little ones that we are blessed to be the parents of. If we had not fallen in love with China, had not gone to Mia's orphanage to see the other little ones that deserved a family too, things could have been so different. I thank God EVERY day for the blessings we have been given, even when we have a day that we feel like we're going in twenty different directions, being parents to 8 children is something we would never ever change. I know that people with children that were adopted from China celebrate Gotcha Days. We don't really have big celebrations on those days in particular, but God knows I celebrate in my heart each day that has a special meaning for me. Like November 18th, and Thanksgiving Day, 2006, the day we left to fly to China to meet our newest son, Tyler.

We have so much to be thankful for, during this week of Thanks Giving. After being away for 18 months, our oldest is returning home to live close to us again, and his life future looks brighter than ever. Our next oldest, Ashley, is happy in his life, has two beautiful babies of his own, we couldn't ask for more for him. Chris is home from college for a break, happy to be here, but happy at school as well. This semester has been a struggle with his dorm situation, being in a room with someone that you don't want to be in a room with, makes it a little tough. Right before break he was given a room with no room mate, so he's thrilled and we're happy for him that it worked out so well. Kyle is doing well, working, hunting, doing very well in school and has been accepted to SUNY Delhi for the fall of 2011. The four little ones are all doing well in school, report cards came home and they ALL had excellent grades, Ethan as well, he is just learning in leaps and bounds and his teacher is so excited about his progress. How can we not feel so blessed! I hope you all have a very blessed Thanksgiving week as well.

Love,
Sherrie

Tyler's Foster Parents

2010-11-07T08:46:00.003-05:00

Exciting news for Tyler, with the help of a very wonderful woman, we have located Tyler's foster parents! I would not have thought it possible, as Hubei is such a large area, so many people, to me it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. We are so happy to have this connection for Tyler, and I'm so happy for these wonderful people to be able to know what happened to the little 3.5 year old boy that they raised since he was four months old, and they loved very much. I have been told that they miss him every day, and I believe that is true. In China the foster parents are the only parents these children have until they are adopted. When we were in the hotel room after we met Tyler and brought him with us, my heart was breaking for him, he cried for days at the window of the hotel for his mama. I really and truly would have taken him to her if I thought it would have worked, but I knew that if we did not bring him home, another family would, and I knew how much we would love him and give him the best life that we possibly could. By the time we left for Guangzhou, he was not crying, and started the bonding process with us. We are so THANKFUL for these wonderful parents he had before us, they are the ones that showed him how to be in a family, how to bond, how to love mama and baba. Tyler is so bonded to us, and is such a sweet, sweet child, we just love him so much. It has been almost four years since that day we met him in the civil affairs office, he was so sick, and so SAD. I hope to be able to have some communication with the foster family to ask questions about Tyler, and how it was for them when they brought him to the orphanage the day he was coming ot meet us. They also have given over the pictures that they have of Tyler as an infant, before and after his surgery, we are so excited to see them very soon. I plan to make copies of them and send them back to the family, along with an album of updated photos and a long letter telling that about what Tyler's life has been like since coming home with us. And now that we know who Tyler's foster parents are, we are more excited than ever to know that in just a few short years we will be returning to China so all the kids can see where they were born, and learn a little more about the good and the bad of the country of their birth. (The top photo was taken when our friend took the foster parents to dinner. They kept declining the invitation, until she told them that we, as Tyler's parents, would be honored if they would go to dinner) I think they are such humble, sweet, nice people, I cannot wait to meet them.

Life has been very busy, as usual. We are all looking forward to the Thanksgiving and Christmas season, we have so much to be thankful for this year. It seems to me that time is going by so much faster than it ever has, I guess that's what happen when we get older. The kids are all doing well, Ethan has really excelled after going back to second grade, he is learning to read, which is the key to so much of the other learning he is doing, and will continue to do. The only issue we have is that he still doesn't quite understand the importance of sitting down and being somewhat quiet on the bus. He and Mia seem to rub each other the wrong way on the bus, but I can also see where the two of them are becoming true siblings. At this very moment, the two of them are at the dining room table playing and talking together, while Meisi and Tyler are downstairs watching a cartoon.

Fundraising online: Erin Hunlock Missionary to Sarah's Covenant Homes, India

2010-10-28T20:24:00.000-04:00

Fundraising online: Erin Hunlock Missionary to Sarah's Covenant Homes, India

The Cold Hard Truth...

2010-10-06T18:36:00.002-04:00

Most of the time, most days, I feel so happy, so peaceful, so blessed to be the mom of four little ones.........but once in a while, I say to myself.....Holy Mother of God, what in the world was I thinking????????????????????? And, almost every single time, this thought happens during the *helping with homework* that occurs almost daily after school. It's not that we have children that aren't very bright, they are! But Tyler makes things so much harder than they really are. For a very long time he has known that 8 plus 1 equals 9. But this afternoon, when he had a problem that included those numbers, he just couldn't figure out that 8 plus 1 equals 9. I am NOT teacher material, never, never, never would I even consider being a teacher, I have patience for a time, but it doesn't last long enough. And Ethan is doing very, very well in second grade, and again, he is very bright and knows math, but just like Tyler, he wants to make it more difficult than it really is. Add that to the fact that all four of them don't feel all that well, poor Tyler has been coughing and coughing, Mia and Tyler have runny noses and a low fever, and Meisi is coughing and has a sore throat......so tonight, it was homework, dinner, showers, medicine for all, rubbed chests and backs with Vicks, plugged the vaporizers in for all of them in their rooms, turned a movie on in their rooms, put a book in their hands, and tucked them in for some rest time (yes, I know, rest for me as much as for them, no mother of the year award for me today). And as long as we're on the subject of dealing with frustration, do you know my husband's business is seasonal, and deals with digging dirt, not mud, that doesn't work well. And do you know it has been raining buckets here for weeks???? Let's just say that he's not a happy person right now, I'm praying for sunshine for a month for him! Having said all this about the frustration of homework, and sick kids, and all that goes along with that, it doesn't last long and then someone says something that just melts my heart and takes away all the homework blues. We've been trying to figure out new bedroom configurations for a while now. We have three bedrooms to divide between the four little ones. One larger room downstairs next to Kyle, and two smaller bedrooms upstairs on the same floor as our bedroom. Right now Meisi and Mia share one of the upstairs bedrooms and Tyler and Ethan share the other upstairs bedroom. Two kids are going to move downstairs to the bigger bedroom. Then one will go in one bedroom upstairs, and one in the other bedroom upstairs. The plan has been for Tyler and Ethan to go downstairs in the bigger bedroom, and the girls will each have their own room upstairs. Meisi wants her own room very badly. Mia really doesn't want to sleep alone, but would like to have her own room to decorate like a castle. Tyler doesn't care if he's sharing a room, and Ethan wants to share a room. Today I realized that Ethan really needs to be in a room by himself, only because I think he needs to have responsibility for his own space. So, tonight I asked Tyler if he wanted to share a room with Ethan or Mia. He said "Mia, because I don't want her to be alone." Oh My Goodness, that boy is just the sweetest child I've ever met. And Mia wants to share with Tyler, for the same reason, so he's not by himself. That's what makes it a good day, and a good life.

Changes and Toys 4 Us.....

2010-09-26T15:14:00.003-04:00

Time........where does it go??????????? School started weeks ago and everyone is doing well, but, we do have some changes that are being made as of tomorrow. A week ago I met with Ethan's teacher and his ESL teacher for this year. They are both concerned about where he fits into a third grade class. When he came home one year ago, we chose to put him in the age appropriate class of second grade. He didn't make great strides academically, but just adjusting to this whole new world he was thrust into was happening and I think things went along nicely. I had hoped that this summer would bring more learning for him, but for reasons that are no fault of Ethan's, that didn't happen. This year we decided to not have Meisi and Ethan in the same class, give Meisi her space and let Ethan find his place in his class with his classsmates and new teacher. When I met with his teachers last week, we discussed ways to work with him that would help all of us to give Ethan the best chance to move forward academically, and socially in third grade. I know that it will take him years to catch up to his classmates, that only makes sense knowing that he has had no formal education and started learning English only one year ago. Three days after my meeting with his teachers, I received a phone call from the principle of the school telling me that she has been advised by Ethan's teachers that he should go back to second grade. She did not necessarily agree with this, and she knows that it is not something that has to be done if we do not agree, but she was passing along this information so we would know that the teachers were voicing their concerns. We decided that going back to second grade may be the best thing for Ethan, we cannot think of anything about that decision that would hurt him in any way. First of all, I think that it is best for any child in his situation to have a teacher that feels that they can successfully move this child forward in their education. Second, Ethan is very small for his age, so it's not like a child that is big for their age, going to a grade level that is two or three ages below their age. He will fit in with the second grade students just fine, both physically and socially. Honestly, he isn't up to the level of second grade any more than he is up to the level of third grade, but it does afford him more time to catch up, which takes the pressure off of everyone, especially Ethan. I do not believe that I would change anything about where we placed him in school last year. I know he is very, very bright, and if need be, he can skip ahead a grade in the future, but for the time being, we will have one college sophmore, one high school senior, one third grade, and three second grade students! It could be a very interesting year in 2021 if we have three graduates that year, and three going off to college in the fall!!! I really think that the trauma of having a totally empty nest at that point will be too much for me to handle, it would be much better if I had just one more left at home after that, at least for one or two more years :-). (By the way, I just mentioned this to Tom, I can't hear myself think from all the WOO HOOING that is going on across the room!)

And on a cute note, Tyler is finding things that he wants Santa to bring him from the store....Toys 4 Us.....how cute is that, it's not Toys "R" Us, it's Toys "4" Us. He's just too darned cute!

Enjoy the pics of our picnic at our friend's cabin in the woods, it was a beautiful day....

No Words Needed

2010-09-19T16:54:00.002-04:00

Remembering

2010-09-12T08:52:00.003-04:00

Last night I watched the History Channel as they replayed the events of 9/11/01. I started thinking about how it changed our country, the people of our country seemed to care much more about life than they did about things. And don't get me wrong, I love things too and I am as guilty as the next person when I say I think we've forgotten what it felt like that day and the days/weeks/months that followed. We have once again gotten back to *normal*, which is not a good thing, in my opinion. As I watched last night I thought about the trip to NYC that Chris and I took this past July, the people in the city that served us our lunch and our dinner, that took our tickets at the theater, that were walking, and talking and hanging out, seemed to be just ordinary people. But how could they be ordinary after living through 9/11, I would think the post traumatic stress syndrome would be an affliction that each and every person living through that horrible event would be suffering. As much as I wish we all could feel that sense of purpose in life that we had after that day, I hope we never, ever witness anything like that again.

Sally--thanks so much for your comment. Yes, the adjustments that our family have made after Ethan came home are much different than when it was a younger child, for sure. Here are the things I know for sure.....We love Ethan to pieces, but he drives us crazy sometimes. For example...last night we went to do some shopping at Toys R Us, which you would think might be a disaster with two 7 and two 8 year olds. Not so. They looked at everything, picked up a few things, but put them down, followed along, no troubles at all. Then we went to Starbucks for lattes for mommy and daddy, then on to DD for drinks for the little ones and a rare treat of donuts for Sunday morning breakfast, then finished the night at the furniture store, dreaming of a new living room sofa. They have a little playhouse there that amused the kids for a long time, but then we had them pick everything up and come with us through the store. All the other kids can walk through the store and talk about what they like (they loved the loft bedroom sets for kids), what sofas they liked, etc. Ethan has to touch everything, and say mommy a million times, and run off out of sight, nothing earth shattering, but just enough that I have to watch him. This is what I'm talking about when I say that I have to adjust myself to him, he just can't help it, this is him, and I don't want to break his spirit of who he is, I just want to find a happy place for both of us. In our day to day life, we don't go shopping much at all, as a family, I do most of the shopping after work, rather than drive home and then back. For the one thing that he might do that drives me crazy, he does ten or more things that are so sweet. I can see how it is more work to adopt an older child, bringing them into a family that already has three others, all around the same age. It's been our experience that our three that were here first are strongly bonded to each other, and Ethan is slowly finding his place with them. It is interesting to see how they interact with each other, and it seems that Mia is a central figure, she and Meisi are sisters that are tightly bonded together, and Mia and Tyler are brother and sister that share a classroom, are the same age, and are very tightly bonded. Mia and Ethan are alike in some ways and they are the two that I hear the most noise out of if the four of them are playing together. Often times I will find Ethan in the room that he shares with Tyler, playing, watching a dvd, or coloring, and the other three are in another room doing something. Then again, I might come and find Tyler doing the same thing and Ethan is in the other room with the girls. What I do see is progress in Ethan in the things that he really needs to change to be a "caring about someone other than myself" adult in this world. I don't fault him for being like that, it is all he has known and I'm glad he was able to survive and have the spirit that he has, but I know that he will have a better life if he realizes that it's okay if he's not first now. Sometimes it's hard to talk about the things that are not all happy happy things, because I don't want people to think that Ethan is a bad child, that we don't love him with all our hearts, or to think that adopting an older child is a bad thing, it's a good thing, it's just different. Sorry this became such a long post!!! The bottom line is that I would bring home another 7.5 year old quicker than you could say, "has your husband changed his mind :-)"! Preferably a little girl! HA! Dream on.........

Blessings to all,

Sherrie

One Year Ago....

2010-09-10T19:13:00.002-04:00

Oh My Goodness! Is it really possible that one year ago from right now I was anxiously, nervously, happily doing last minute packing, making sure I had everything I needed for the big trip to China the next day????? It seems like it was only a few months ago, not an entire year ago. It has been a year of happiness, sadness, frustration, love, loss, and gain, peacefulness, and chaos. I'm not sure if it has been different than any other year, but feels different for some reason. It is amazing to me how much a child like Ethan can leave all that they know and love, and have total and complete trust in a strange woman that he has been told is his new mama. I remember that I was so excited to meet Ethan, but in the back of my mind was the possibility that he would come to us with some issues that could really change the dynamics of our family. I knew in my heart that we could and would try very hard to work through any issues that might come up with Ethan, but the truth is that sometimes there are issues that a family just cannot get through, it is just too hard on all the other family members. I am thankful that we are once again seemingly the family that Ethan needed, and he is the child that we needed. Has it been a warm and fuzzy feeling every single day?? NO. And I'm sure more than once Ethan has felt less than warm and fuzzy about us and wondered when the next flight back to China was leaving! But we've grown together and bonded and taken a look at our expectations, and adjusted them, and shown Ethan what he has to change to be happy and successful in his life here, not to accomodate us, but to spare him from being left behind, or out of things that I know he would love to do and be. I have a really good feeling about how he will do in school this year. Last year was more of an introduction into American school life. He did learn a lot, but not in the academic sense. I expect more academic accomplishments this year and can't wait to see his progress.
As I said in my earlier post, I went back and read all the things I wrote, and I could feel my stomach getting nervous, thinking about the whole airport fiasco, and arriving in Haikou, the first room we were in, Meisi gently reminding me that "I thought we weren't going to do this" when I was sobbing about missing being home, missing daddy, feeling terrible....the pep talk I gave her before we left, thinking that SHE would be the one that would be crying because she was homesick. Most of it was just being exhausted, and no food, just overwhelmed with the whole responsibility of getting Meisi and myself to China to meet Ethan on time. Oh, and reading the post about "home sweet home", and meaning Guangzhou, I can still remember how that felt. Like a warm hug from a favorite grandparent. If I could transport myself right this minute to any place in the world, it would be on Shamian Island, at the Victory Hotel. I miss China so much. When I"m there, I miss home so much. I hope that we can all go for a visit in the next few years, if that is what the kids want to do. Of course, no secret that if I could hold the hand of a little girl that needs a mommy, well, that would be the perfect trip, but that part will not be, only in my dreams :-).

And today is our only grand daughter's 2nd birthday, Happy Birthday to my Evie girl, she is a doll, and I love her.

Love,
Sherrie

Trip to Knoebels

2010-09-05T08:36:00.004-04:00

whatta face...

Wednesday we took the kids to Knoebles Amusement Park, which is always so much fun. The best thing is no admission price, just walk in and buy tickets or arm bands for all day riding, which is what we opted to do. What a great choice! First of all, because it is in PA and the kids in PA are already back to school, the park was practically empty, no waiting in line for the kids to ride the rides, and if they found a particular ride that they liked, they could ride, get off the ride, and turn right around and ride again. And with the arm bands, there was no figuring out how many tickets they needed, they could just go. It was a hot day, but since the park is mostly shaded in the woods, it wasn't too bad. We've decided this should be an annual event, something fun to do right before school starts.

Last night I sat and read over all the posts I made a year ago, one week before leaving to go to China to bring Ethan home. I also read the posts I made while in China, I could easily go back in my mind an remember it all like it was yesterday. A lot has changed in one year, some good, some sad. In Ethan's case, he is pretty much the same as he was a year ago, just speaks English now, although still in shortened sentences at times, he is quite a bit calmer, listens better on most days, and is still smiling much of the time. He has bonded to all of us, I cannot imagine our lives without him. He's not perfect 100 percent of the time, but who is?? I always try to remember where he's been for the first 7.5 years of his life, and cut him some slack when he's running to be first in line, or not doing well at picking up the toys all over the playroom floor. But he really has made adjustments in those areas and I am anxious to see how he does in school this year. He will be in a class without Meisi this year. I thought it would be better for Meisi to have her own time just to be a 3rd grader without worrying about what Ethan is doing every minute of the school day. And good for me as I won't hear every single day all the things Ethan did wrong that day :-). Meisi is the little mother of the four, she is mature beyond her 8 years and watches out for everyone.

We're looking forward to cooler weather and the changes that will be coming over the next year. Kyle is a senior in high school, getting ready to apply to the college that he wants to go to. Our oldest son will be returning home after being away for almost two years. Time goes by so quickly that before I know it I'll be making a post about the end of the school year already.

Summer Winding Down...

2010-08-23T14:31:00.008-04:00

Our cottage at Bay Leaf in Maine

My Ethan, always in motion

Look at that face, I love this child, and he loves his lobster!

Mia

Ethan, doesn't he look very serious here??

Meisi and her lobster

I LOVE this photo of my Meisi girl and my friend Dale

My girls, and boys in the background

Tyler Joe

Mia, isn't the beach beautiful!!

Love this photo of Ethan on the beach in Lincolnville, Maine

Mia and Ethan playing in the sand

Meisi with Ethan in the background

Mia Linay, sweet girl

Meisi and Ethan on the playground, it was made for smaller children I think, but my four played there just fine

Ethan on the playground at Bay Leaf

Mia and Tyler

Our lovely little cottage

View from the porch of the cottage, main house and Bay Leaf office on the other side of the bridge

Meisi making a necklace

So hard to believe! 6 more days til Chris heads back to college, 15 more days til every one else goes back to school. Kyle will be a senior this year, then he's hoping to go to Delhi for landscape design. Meisi and Ethan are both in third grade, they will be in different classes this year, I think it will be good for Meisi to have her own space, and good for Ethan that Meisi won't be able to come home and tell me every time Ethan did something wrong in school :-). Ethan is a good boy, just a tad of stinker in him though, I know it will help him get very far in life to have the spirit that he has. Mia and Tyler will most likely be in the same 2nd grade class if all goes as planned, they do well in the same class, they each have their own friends and do their own thing, but they're there to watch out for each other. Mia can tell the teacher if she doesn't understand something that Tyler is saying, and Tyler can help Mia get her coat and boots on and off in the winter, such a good brother to help his sister.

The month of August has been very busy. At the beginning of the month I took the four little ones, picked up my good friend on the way and off to Maine we went to

http://bayleafcottages.com/index.html for four days of culture camp. It was so much fun, we all had a wonderful time and plan to go again next year. If you have children that were born in China, this is a great place to go, Jane has different events planned thoughout the year, depending on your interests and the age of your children. We learned A LOT of Chinese language in a very short time, made homemade dumplings, OH SO YUMMY! Jenny, from Beijing, was there to show us how to make them, and was so great with the kids to see that they all got right in there and made their own dumplings. We had very cheap lobster dinners! Awesome! The staff is wonderful, I just can't say enough good about it. I am so thankful that my friend agreed to go with me, it was so good to have the time to talk, laugh, drink coffee or Starbucks Mocha Frappuccinos, read, watch the kids play, enjoy the scenery and the lovely weather, and just relax. The trip up and back went well, the kids always travel well, so we had a nice time on the road as well.

After we came home it was time for me to really concentrate on my work. A very important reveiw of my work was coming up, thankfully it went well and is over and done with.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and looking forward to fall. We're ready. We absolutely love summer, but we look forward to the changes that fall and winter will bring for us, moving forward with life, giving up old ideas and embracing ideas that aren't really new, but just haven't been around in a while....

Love to all.

Sherrie

Tyler's Referral Photo

2010-07-20T21:50:00.002-04:00

Just in case anyone stops by to check out how much Tyler looks like Elvin on Madison Adoption Agency's Camp Tiger list, here is the first photo I saw of Tyler. So sweet....

Lilacs in July.....Really????

2010-07-19T21:58:00.005-04:00

The birthday cake

Happy swimming kids

Ethan, happy to be back in the pool after his time out of the pool

Ethan, not so happy sitting out of the pool for a little time out

Pretending that I'm not right in front of him taking his picture while he's out of the pool for not listening like he should

My amazing July blooming lilacs

Yes, really!!! I took this photo yesterday. This is a top-grafted lilac tree that blooms like crazy in the spring, and then again in mid-summer, amazing. Love the smell of lilacs, so this is such a bonus to have them in July, when it's so warm and the smell of them floats in the air around the swimming pool.

And speaking of swimming...above are photos of some pool time. Ethan, out of the pool because he sometimes does NOT listen to mommy :-). Then in the pool with a big smile and all is well. Meisi swims like a fish, she is an amazing swimmer and diver. Ethan learned how to swim a few weeks ago, and can swim underwater really well, and on top of the water quite well. This weekend Mia learned how to swim in one day, and Tyler, my little Tyler that doesn't like to get water on his face, or up his nose, learned to swim in ONE HALF HOUR! Seriously, that is all it took for him to learn, once I showed him how to hold on the to the side and practice kicking with his feet, he took right off. I am SO PROUD of all of them, but especially proud of Mia and Tyler for learning so quickly, and they both have issues with getting their face too wet.

We've had a busy summer, and lots more to come. Time is ticking away and I feel the warmth of summer so very slowly drifting by..and before we know it we will be sending the kiddies off to school, and getting ready to carve pumpkins shortly after that. Time goes by too quickly, and so true that the older you get, the faster it goes!

Oh yes, and the photo of the birthday cake is the cake that my very talented mom in law made for her baby boy...okay, so he's a little older than a baby, but still, her baby boy...notice the numbers, that was a must do for Mia, just in case her daddy forgot how old he was! Not a chance with me reminding him that he's catching up to me as each day passes! Notice the dirt dumping from the truck, and in case anyone reading this doesn't know that he has an excavating business, I probably should mention that so it's not thought that he's a bit simple and likes to play with toy trucks! HA!

Enjoy the summer heat!

Sherrie

A Lesson I Learned About Myself Today

2010-07-10T18:51:00.002-04:00

This morning we had to drop Chris off early for a class he needed to take today, so we decided to do some shopping, not very often at all that Tom and I go shopping, alone, just the two of us. After a quick loaded down trip to Sam's, we stopped in to Lowe's to buy new screening for the screen doors, and to look at shelving for organizing the playroom better. (I have pictures of Pottery Barn Kids stuff in my head, but we ended up in the industrial shelving aisle :-). So, as we were walking through Lowe's I saw a sale on curtains, I don't really need curtains, but decided to look anyways. There was a woman with a cart looking as well, and after she and I switched spots to look, I noticed a little girl sitting in her cart, a very cute and what appeared to be Chinese little girl....uh oh....I looked at Tom, (picture deer in the headlights look on his face)....but we were both ooohing and aaahhing over her and smiling, she was just too cute with her little shoes on the wrong feet, seriously too cute. I was kidding Tom about being a sign, JUST KIDDING, really!!! We left that aisle, and headed towards the shelving aisle....and what should come around the corner and heading towards us??? ANOTHER family with a little Asian girl sitting in the cart, and another little boy walking with them. Now, you might say, sooooo, what's the big deal, I see this all the time in stores where I shop, but, truth is, we don't. Hardly ever do we see this.....we looked at the shelving, and Tom decided that he can make what I want this winter, he has all the tools, does beautiful work, so that's fine with me.

I had a very funny feeling in m stomach as we got in our van and headed for home. I was quietly riding along, and I think Tom took my quietness as disappointment that we didn't get the stuff for the playroom. He said "You know.....I can do that playroom sooner than this winter, it will only take a weekend", such a sweetheart he is. I assured him that I was fine with waiting, but whenever he was ready would be good. Then I told him that I was thinking about the little girls we saw, then I started CRYING......my heart hurt. I *know* all the things we talked about, we already have four little ones, I want to some day retire from working, etc. BUT, my heart still hurt. I had to think about it....what if someone offered to have a baby for me and give me that baby, that is not what I want, AT ALL, but knowing there are so many Motherless children in the world, in China, makes my heart hurt. So, I learned today that even though my head tells me that it is impossible to bring another child to our home and family, my heart tells me differently. Tom told me that God was testing me.........I wonder if I passed or failed......

Sherrie

Tick Tock

2010-07-02T16:45:00.006-04:00

All of the above photos were taken in a field close to home, the four little ones enjoying the summer day.

Tyler in the van, on the way to visit biggest brother, Richie.

Richie and Meisi, a special bond.

Mia at the park, she give new meaning to the word cute!

Mia and Tyler doing some school pages they brought home for the summer.

Lucy, in non chewing mode...

Does this pose say *king of the land* or what!

Whatta face!

Ethan, he wakes up smiling.

No caption needed......

I was thinking that I just wrote a post on here, only to look and see it has been an entire month! Everyone has been doing well, school is out, the weather has been beautiful and the forecast is promising more nice weather, more hot weather too. Everyone did well in school this year, Chris made the Dean's List, Kyle had a very good report card and passed that pesky Global Studies Regents Exam that he was having so much trouble with for the past few years. He is now a senior in high school! By this time next year we will have two boys in college! Meisi, Mia and Tyler were all *promoted* to the next grade, and Ethan was *assigned* to the next grade. He has made such steady progress in all areas, I expect by this time next year he will be caught up with everyone, and even passing some of his classmates by. I know lots of people feel that homeschooling a child for the first year after coming home is the way to go, but honestly, I can attest to the fact that Ethan has benefited so much from the ELL teacher and being around the kids in his class. No regrets in putting him in the second grade, which is where he should be for his age, he's a smart boy. Is there a difference in adopting a 7.5 year old child than bringing home a 3.5 year old? Absolutely. As anyone would expect, a 7.5 year old has had a lot more time to learn how to survive, Ethan has had a *me first* attitude, and I wouldn't expect anything else. If I were living in that situation, I would have a me first attitude as well. In fact, I haven't lived where he's lived and I can still find myself having a me first attitude, but I know better. He is a loving, funny, loud, smart, cute, sweet child that has to sometimes be reminded to lower his voice, not to push in front of his siblings, and all the things an 8 year old boy has to be told from time to time. Some days my heart yearns for another child, and some days my heart is just right. For now, life is so good, and fun, with lots going on. Meisi will be going to overnight camp for five days at the end of July. Her friend Faith will be going to the same camp, so I have no doubt that Meisi will love it and do well and have so much fun! Kyle is working and doing a really good job, being so responsible and plans to attend college next fall. Anyone that knows Kyle well knows that school hasn't been his favorite thing, but he's done really well, and knows that going to college for two years is a must. He's excited to find that he can go to school for landscape design and all the classes sound very interesting to him. Chris has lots of nice things planned for the summer as well, and babysitting his younger siblings when he is home. In August I'm taking the four little ones to a culture camp in Maine, I am so excited to be going, and having a good friend go with me, I can't wait! Two of our grandsons have been here to spend time already this summer, I'm hoping that our other grandson will come to stay overnight too, and maybe some day Miss Evie will love her Mimi too, but for now, she loves me as long as I keep my distance! Stinker girl :-). I guess that's about it, nothing very exciting, but I guess that can be a good thing..

Summertime.....

2010-06-02T12:39:00.005-04:00

My backyard, I love it, so peaceful!!!!

Isn't she so darned cute!!!

It's the official beginning of the summer, now that we have passed the Memorial Day holiday weekend. We had beautiful weather, lots of outdoor fun at home, and a day spent with Richie on Monday. Everyone is doing well, but I'm sure they are all ready for the summer school vacation to begin. Chris will be home tomorrow for the summer, Kyle will be starting a job the week after next, and the little ones will be done with school on June23. Lots of swimming, playing, and some reading and schoolwork to keep them in the routine is planned. Lucy is doing well, all the things that puppies are supposed to be doing She nips and chews on every thing, has a piddle accident in the house every once in a while, but not really very much at all.

I am including photos of the back yard from the weekend, and a few new photos of Lucy, photos of the kids will be posted in a few days. We have some fun summer family stuff planned, a trip to NYC to see Wicked for Chris and I, a visit from a friend and her four little ones that were born in China in mid July, we haven't seen each other since the last time we were both in China at the same time, which was in December 2006. Plus a few other friends will be stopping by to visit too, so lots of fun plnanned.

I'm sleepy today, I had my first colonoscopy this morning, everyone should do this at age 50 for a baseline screening! No big deal at all, but the stuff they give you to sleep during the procedure lingers on a bit I think........I'm heading outside to sit and rest this afternoon.

Have a wonderful summer!

Love,

Sherrie

Just Like High School......

2010-05-24T08:45:00.002-04:00

I belong to many adoption related yahoo groups, one being the ChinaBirthFamilySearch group. My feelings about searching for birth parents for our four children born in China are maybe different than most adoptive parents. I don't feel that it is my right to do this. If our kids grow up and tell me they want to find birth parents, then I will move heaven and earth to help them do that, but they may never want that! Once birth parents are found, that's something that can't be swept under the rug, and do you tell your children you found their birth parents, and if not, then what do you say to them when they are older and they find out that you knew and never told them??? What I do think is important is for me to find as much information about our kids past as I can, if we wait ten or fifteen years to try and gather information, it could very well be lost forever at the rate things are changing in China. So, with that in mind, I have belonged to a group called ChinaBirthFamilySearch for quite some time now, years I would say. They decided today that I am not a good candidate to be on their group because I am not *actively* searching for birth parents. You might say, "Well, the name of the group would imply that you do NEED to be actively searching for birth parents", but I would say that those of us that want to wait a while to search can gain very useful information from those that are searching now. I was booted from the group.........bringing up those old feelings of *not belonging*, not being one of the girls in the clique.......believe me, I was NEVER one of those. There are people who are members of the yahoo group "Special Needs Waiting Children in China", who have not adopted a child that is a waiting child with special needs. I don't think it hurts to have them on the group, maybe some day after reading about all the wonderful kids that are on those lists, just maybe they will decide they would love to bring one of those children into their family! If they all get booted from the group, then they will never be able to read about what a great thing it is to adopt a waiting child. Same goes for the birth family search group, maybe by seeing how it works, how it is a success story, then maybe I would be ready to actively search sooner than I thought. I'll never know.....So, I feel better now, so the two or three people that still read my blog....thanks for listening to my rambling this fine Monday morning :-). Good thing is, I'm already over it, I've moved on........
Sherrie

2010-05-14T09:29:00.002-04:00

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer, he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?" The young man paused, looked up and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I guess I should have asked, Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?"

"The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die."

"But young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"

The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves. "It made a difference for that one."

Introducing Lucy....

2010-04-24T10:15:00.002-04:00

So, I guess it would only stand to reason that when I post about a big decision, some might think it's all about adding another child to our family. That isn't the case, more on that later. We really hadn't made this big plan to find a puppy, but I saw an ad about Olde English Bulldogges in our local paper, along with an email address for the owner, so I wrote to see photos. As you can see, Lucy is as cute as it gets! We went to look at the puppies last Saturday, still not sure, but after seeing them, and talking to Becky and Vince about this breed of dog, and doing research online about the breed of dog, we just felt that we would love to have a dog like this. There were 12 puppies to choose from, all so cute it was hard to choose, but this little girl was just *the one*. We were supposed to go pick her up on May 1st, but Becky wrote and said they had their vet check and they were cleared to leave and go to their new homes. We picked her up last night, and as we expected, she did have some anxiety last night after leaving her siblings, her mama, and her former home and family. But, she did sleep through most of the night, and she's done all her business outside when we take her out.

About adopting again...........I don't think you will ever see an announcement from me that we're adopting again. Not because we wouldn't love another child, or that we feel that there aren't children out there that need a home and family, but we have to ask ourselves how much of us is there to go around. I know that so many people that I have come in contact with throughout our adoption journeys have as many children as we do, and they are finding it in their hearts to bring at least one more home. I admire them and think they are awesome parents. I just know my own limitations, and with four little ones and working four days a week away from home, I just feel that I have to give the children we do have at home all that we can at this point. I want to be able to take them places, do things with them, have the energy and money to do all that, and I guess I feel that I'm getting at the age where I don't have as much energy as I once did. Also, the financial aspect of it is daunting.....not so much the raising of them, but that initial chunk of money that is needed to complete the process to get to the adoption part......and not that it should be about money, but it is what it is. Ethan's adoption was greatly funded by the agency, and we had donations that helped, but there was still thousands of dollars to pay for travel expenses, homestudies, immigration paperwork etc. So while I've learned to never say never, my heart tells me this is as close to never as it's going to get. I have one disclaimer here....if there are little girls from Haiti that need homes, and not enough families, you'll see me righ there with open arms. After seeing a news report of what is happening to the little girls in Haiti since the earthquake, they are being raped, they are homeless with no one to care for them, well, all bets are off then. I would bring one of those children home in a heartbeat, and I would move heaven and earth to do so.

Not much else new here in our little corner of the world. Kyle passed his driver's test and now has his car on the road and putting in job applications at all the places that high school kids can work. Ethan's English is coming along so nicely, I have noticed him using quite large sentences. Meisi, Mia and Tyler are doing well, enjoying the last few days of their spring break. Chris has a 4.0 GPA!!! Go Chris!!!

Love to all.

A Big Decision

2010-04-13T08:50:00.002-04:00

I would love to be able to make a big announcement right now, but we need the upcoming weekend to discuss.........stay tuned....

Mia's Birthday and Our Vacation

2010-03-31T16:08:00.007-04:00

Yummy cupcakes from the Sweet Shoppe at the zoo...

My girls....

Meisi girl, cute with her cupcake face :-).

This is a perfect picture of Ethan, he never does anything halfway!

Having fun on the beach!

What my sweet boy loves most, potato chips!

Working hard, having fun...

We tried to get Kyle to dig a big hole in the sand like he did when he was much younger...no go.

Meisi Faith, concentrating....

A beautiful birthday cake

made by Grammie, for Grammie's girl.

Time continues to fly by.....for the handful of you that still check out blog, thanks. I'm not very good at blogging, I still struggle with what is the best use of a blog.
Anyways, we celebrated Mia's 7th birthday a few days early. We were leaving for our trip to Florida mid week, and her birthday was Friday of that week, we wouldn't be home, so we celebrated the night before we left. Her Grammie made her a beautiul cake and Mia was so excited with that and all the gifts she received, most of them having something to do with Barbie dolls.
The next day we left for a vacation in Florida, spent the days relaxing, playing on the beach, playing games in the yard, going to the zoo in Tampa, and going to Dairy Queen for ice cream on actual day that was Mia's birthday. We found an Asian market next door, so we did a little shopping and had a nice talk with the owner of the store.
On the way to Florida, driving right along in our van in South Carolina, the van just stopped, right there on I95, a nightmare come true! Thank goodness for the GPS and cell phone! We were able to locate the nearest service station, they sent a rollback truck to load our van on, and an SUV to carry the rest of us to the service station. If you are ever in need of service for your auto and you happen to be near Santee or Holly Hill, SC, you should only go to Austin's Auto Service! They not only got us off of I95 in a hurry, knowing that we had all the kids with us, but they fixed our van without overcharging us, they went out and bought lunch, GRILLED HOT DOGS for us, gave us chips and sodas, and then sent us on our way! What nice, nice people, true southern hospitality!!! We safely made it to our destination in Florida about 10:30 that night. Thankfully we had a very uneventful trip home. We came home a day early, the weather wasn't going to be any nicer in Florida than it was at home, work for Tom was starting up, so it seemed best to head home. When we were in Florida, Ethan asked when we were going home to *Grammie's house*! Apparently since his Grammie Beeman lives with us, and we were visiting Grampa Williams in Florida, Ethan seems to think that we just go from one Grandparent's house to another for our living arrangments :-). We explained as best we could, not sure but we think he understands. Next year we hope to be able to rent a place near the beach, if we can find something affordable, I think by then Ethan will understand enough to know that we are on a vacation, staying someplace that is not home.
Summer is just a blink of an eye away, can't wait and hoping for a hot dry summer!

Thinking Outloud....

2010-03-06T13:36:00.002-05:00

Why do people say when things are going the way they want them to that it's all God's work, but when things aren't going the way they want them to, then it's all the devil's work??????? Is it because they think that God only brings us things we think we should have in front of us????? Just wondering..........

Ethan's Birthday, Chinese New Year, and Naked Girls In A Toolbox....

2010-02-14T10:46:00.011-05:00

Now you have to love that title! Today is the beginning of Chinese New Year, Happy New Year! Last night was the annual celebration that we attend, and always have a fun time. Below are photos of our four all dressed and ready to go to the party.

And this photo below may be a glimpse into our future. This is a photo fo Mia and her friend Richard. Mia loves Richard.....and I think that Richard kind of likes Mia a little too. Mia isn't sure that she and Richard have a future though, because she doesn't know if he will want a large family, and she does.....oh my, amost 7 years old and she has her family all mapped out. She knows how many babies will be born from her tummy, and how many will be born from her heart, and brought home from China. Isn't Richard just the handsomest!!!

And below are photos of Ethan enjoying his birthday cake! He turned 8 on the 21st of January. I think he had a great birthday, he loved his cake, and his gifts! I know I keep saying this, but he just keeps on doing well. Although we don't see a change in him, like you might expect from someone that has had their entire world changed, the only thing we see is a bit less nervous energy. I noticed last night that when I was holding his hand and arm, that he was popping his joints in and out, he did that constantly when we were in China with him, but I don't notice it much now. So, maybe he was a bit nervous last night. I'm sure there has to be a little something in the back of his mind that tells him to wonder when we are in new situations like that. After all, he was living his life normally in China, when all of a sudden everything changed, he left everything he knew and how can he possibly know for sure right now that it will not happen again???? As time goes by he will become more and more sure that his life is set, the only time he will make a big move will be when he is grown and ready to make his own move.

And now for the part about naked girls in a toolbox.......last weekend I was picking up toys downstairs in the playroom. I picked Tyler's toolbox up and it was very heavy, heavier than normal, so I opened it to find every single barbie that Mia and Meisi own, stripped of all clothing and laying in a pile in the toolbox. Boys......Of course if I was a good blogger, I would have taken a photo of that.....

And speaking of being a good blogger, I have been thinking that I will start a new blog soon, but it will not be about kids or adoption. I had a friend mention the other day that my blog is always upbeat, almost like a marketing tool, maybe for adoption?? As we all know, life is not only about the things that make us smile, but also about the things that make us cry. I am not one to share everything....personal things that would be private for other family members, political views, my stance on abortion, etc. I enjoy reading the blogs of people that do give me their opinions, or reveal more of their life than the cutesy things about their kids, so I want to have a place to put all those thoughts down. So stay tuned and if you are interested you can check it out, if not, you can carry on as usual :-).

Love,

Sherrie

Update Long Overdue!

2010-01-18T16:04:00.004-05:00

So, Christmas has come and gone, once again. A New Year has begun, and we are hoping for a very good year. 2009 was a year of good and bad, some bad that we know is really for the good, and some good that has turned out even better, and some bad that we hope will eventually be good again. Such is life. I think the kids all enjoyed Christmas very much. Santa was good to each and every one of them, without having his sled so loaded down that he couldn't move! Two of our older kids were not home for Christmas and we missed them, I'm looking forward to Christmas 2010, hoping all our family will be together again. It was hard for me to believe that Ethan was here, and had asjusted so well. I see changes in him weekly, his English is improving all the time, but he still has a ways to go. I was remembering how quickly Meisi started using English, not realizing that there is a big difference between a 3.5 year old child and a 7.5 year old child! Ethan is very bright, so he's catching on quickly and I have no doubt that it won't be long before he is understanding everything that is said to him. He understands almost everything now, and I suspect even when he acts like he doesn't understand, he understands :-). We've had no behavior issues with him, other than the things that we would expect. For example, it has taken him a while to realize (not sure if he has it down yet) that kids really aren't supposed to slide down the railings in the school stairwells, teachers kind of frown on that :-). He doesn't cry much, but every once in a while when he feels like a great injustice has been done to him, in the form of someone taking something from him, he will cry. But really, he is a sweet, sweet boy, and funny, funny, funny. I have a photo that I am going to post of him in a pair of pjs that were a bit long on him. He pulled them up over his arms and walked around like a funny little man. He loves and audience! And I may have mentioned this before, but I have already raised one boy that loved an audience. I see a lot of visits and phone calls with the school principal in my future! I love how all the kids are so different. The older kids are all like day and night, with a few characteristics that are very much alike, and so it goes with the four little ones, very different, yet some things are very much the same.

My heart goes out to the people of Haiti, what a horrible nightmare they must feel like they are living through. I read today that there are 300 orphans that had adoptions in process before the earthquake that will now be rushed to their new families, and some have already arrived in the US. Prayers answered for those families, I can't even imagine having a child waiting to come home to our family and then having that happen, not knowing if the child was alive, or what was happening with the lack of food, water, caretakers alive to take care of them!

From our family to yours, a belated Happy New Year!

Love,

Sherrie

Our Christmas Tree

2009-12-02T19:25:00.003-05:00

So, a change of plans in the *traditional* Christmas tree cutting after Thanksgiving dinner. A few days before Thanksgiving the weather report started looking like it was going to be a very wet, cold afternoon, not very ideal for going to the tree farm to cut down a tree and drag it through the field, which would have meant dragging it through mud, and into the house after all that. So, we decided to just go ahead and put up the next best thing to a real tree. Is it a sign of old age when you opt for the simple, easy, no hassle Christmas tree??

Ethan update: He is speaking more and more English words, even putting words together now. And he can add very well, and some subtraction. I know he will catch up quickly, he seems like a natural for schoolwork. His penmanship is very, very nice. He is such a funny little boy, loves an audience! He lost his top front tooth this past weekend, and has another one ready to come out as well. Not sure if the tooth fairy comes to visit in China, but Ethan found $2 under his pillow, came out and kept saying something in Chinese that ended with Mama......HA! Smart boy, I'm tellin ya! He seems to be gaining weight, I haven't weighed him lately, but you can tell that his clothes are fitting better, and his face seems more filled out. He is a joy, his teacher says he just smiles all day long, and he's like that at home, always smiling. He gets himself into a little trouble once in a while, nothing serious, but when he does, he knows it and the smile disappears and is replaced by a *oh crap* look :-). All in all, I am so impressed with how he has adjusted. All our kids adjusted well, I think I am most surprised by him because of his age. We are counting our blessings.

Sherrie

UPDATE; HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2009-11-20T17:25:00.002-05:00

Where or where does the time go???????????? I have even lost count of how many weeks Ethan has been home, let's see, I think it has been EIGHT weeks! The English to just about there for him, I think. We think he understand almost everything that we say to him, but he is not yet comfortable speaking English, except for the words that he uses every day, like good morning, I love you, night night, stuff like that. It will be exciting when he starts putting words together. He is doing so well, it's just unbelievable, really. The only trouble we have had is just a very little bit of getting in trouble in the classroom, not sitting down when he should, and on the bus a few times, not understanding the rules of the bus. But how can we possibly expect him to just know how things should be done when he has never had to do these things before!!! So, in my opinion, it's nothing at all to worry about. The couple of times these things have happened, it's written all over his face that he knows he's in trouble.......which to me is such a good thing, to know there are consequences, but at this point, it's just a talking to, explaining what is good and what is not. Ethan could certainly be the poster child for how well a 7.5 year old child that has lived in an orphanage in China his entire life can do adjusting to new surroundings and a new family.

We are all looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday, and our tradition of going to cut our Christmas tree after dinner on Thanksgiving Day. I think it will be so much fun for Ethan to see us go cut down a big tree, bring it home, and then bring it in the house! I don't know if this will surprise him, or not. They do have Christmas trees in China, I just don't know if there was ever one at the orphanage, or anyplace that he would have had a chance to see in China.

The kids were all sick a few weeks ago, poor Meisi had a 106.2 temp a couple of times over a two day period. It was very scary, and most likely they had the flu, but they were not tested, so we don't know for sure. Tyler was sick first, a few weeks before the other three all got sick the same week. Then a week later I was sick for a few days, and a few days ago Kyle was not feeling well. I hope that we don't have a winter of illness after illness.

We have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.....when we have a situation that makes us sad, I think about all the people in the world that are REALLY suffering, and our issues seem very small. I am thankful that the times we have things in our family that make us sad, only make us a stronger, closer family, appreciating each other more and more.

We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a very Blessed Holiday season..........
Love,
Sherrie

HALLOWEEN CUTENESS TIMES FOUR!!!!!!

2009-10-30T16:10:00.004-04:00

As you can imagine, we had a load of cuteness at our house, all getting ready for the big trick or treat night last night. Meisi was Wonder Woman, Ethan was a Ninja of sorts, Tyler was a firefighter, and Mia was a pink unicorn. It didn't take Ethan long to realize that all he had to do was go to the door of the house we were at and say trick or treat and they would put candy in his bag! He ALWAYS told them thank you and Meisi told everyone Happy Halloween! One man said "I've never had anyone tell me Happy Halloween before!!!" It was too cute. Then today was the school party and parade, it was so much fun, for them and for us! In the videos of today's parade, you will notice that Tyler and Ethan both have the hand of the teacher. Make no mistake, this is not because they are naughty, but because they are LOVED! I can't tell you how much Tyler's teacher loves him, and Mia too, but she could just eat Tyler up, and with good reason, he is the sweetest little guy! She loves Mia very much too, but I think she has a soft spot for boys, since she is the mother of one little boy :-) And Ethan's teacher has his hand, she loves him, no doubt, but she also takes very seriously her role in teaching him how to do things in the classroom, and outside the classroom at activities. Ethan is just the happiest boy, always smiling. We are so blessed to have teachers in our school that love all our kids. Ethan's ELL teacher reports that he is doing so well learning everything, and she and I both agree that he understands so much! Some times he acts like he doesn't understand, but we're very sure he does. We expect that very soon he will have a huge explosion of English, he does say some words on a regular basis. Today that very, very special yellow envelope from the USCIS arrived in our mailbox! Ethan's Certificate of Citizenship was in that envelope! It was so awesome that on September 24th, when we arrived at the airport in Newark from Beijing, that Ethan became a US citizen. Getting that certificate is another awesome day, in a way, it is the proof of all the very hard work getting the dossier done and sent to China, the long, long wait to go to China, the trip to China and all that it took to get there and back, this certificate is the final step in that long process. If you're still following along with us, we appreciate it. Sherrie

HAPPY HALLOWEEN (PAUSE MUSIC AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE)

2009-10-14T21:44:00.003-04:00

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2009-10-09T12:11:00.004-04:00

There isn't really much new to report. Ethan continues to do well. Not one issue yet, I'm not saying there won't be any issues, but we just haven't seen anything that causes any concern at all. He seems to be bonding in a very natural way, taking his time, but showing us that he is accepting us as his parents. Two days ago he gave me two unprompted kisses! That was a biggie! He would give me kisses if I asked, and sometimes I would play a game with him to get him to give me a kiss on the cheek. His handwriting is beautiful and I expect that he will be learning English quickly. He can say any word, any sentence that we say to him, he's not saying English words on his own, other than Good Morning, yet, but he will.

I have to take this time to say that if anyone has even a little teeny tiny idea in their head about adopting a boy Ethan's age, please email me so I can give you lots of encouragement!!!! I think about this little boy, actually all our babies born in China, and think about the possibility of them not being here. I really cannot even grasp that idea! There are so many boys and girls, just like ours, that are waiting for a family. Is it a pain in the rear to adopt with all the paperwork?? YES. Is there fear involved with the unknown of bringing home a toddler or older child?? YES. Do you have to spend some money to do it??? YES. Is it worth all that??? YES>YES>YES!!!! People ask me why we have adopted any/so many kids from China. In my head my question to them is Why haven't you???? And I don't mean that in a judgemental way, as I know they don't mean it in a judgemental way when they ask me why we have adopted, I just feel like people are really missing out on something great. So, that's my spiel for today.

The pictures I've included were from the other night and this morning at breakfast.
Love,
Sherrie

Home A Week and a Half Update......

2009-10-05T20:40:00.002-04:00

Wonderfully well, that is how Ethan is doing!!!! We all see lots of little signs that Ethan understands what we are saying to him, he repeats any word we ask him to, he can count and write his name perfectly. He can copy anything that is put in front of him, he has no fear, he is happy, funny, STRONG, a track star or gymnist in the making.......we all love him so much, and my mommy's heart just loves him. Are we bonding????? I would say yes, very much so! I know from experience that as much as I think we are bonding well now, in six months, and then a year from now, I'll look back and realize that we were only just beginning....

Last week was his check up with the pediatrician. We saw a new doctor because our doctor left a while ago. This new doctor was Chinese, I think that was actually a not so good thing. I thought at first it would be good, but seeing how he treated Ethan and how he poo poo'd my concerns, I was not impressed. One funny thing, every time the doctor would say something to Ethan in Chinese, Ethan would turn and look at me and not look at the doctor. The doctor was amazed that after such a short time, Ethan was looking to his mom to see if he should do what the doctor was telling him to do. This particular doctor will only be at our clinic for this month, he is filling in while two new docs get set up. We will go back for a follow up in a few months.....the bottom line is that Ethan seems to be very healthy, and no concern over the fact that he only weighs 32 pounds. I don't think he's gaining weight yet, he eats well, but he doesn't over eat, or have food issues, which is very good. Did I mention how strong he is???? Oh My Goodness, he is a little mass of muscle!

Everyone else is doing well. Happily looking forward to the fall months and a very special Thanksgiving this year, we have so many things to be thankful for!

Love,

Sherrie

Settling In & Ethan's First Day of School

2009-09-28T16:20:00.000-04:00

We are settling in so well, it amazes me. I always have a lot of Faith that everything will work out, but let's face it, with a 7.5 year old child that has spent his entire life in an orphanage, there are many things that could be found when meeting that child, and even more so when getting home. Once again we have been blessed. Ethan is a sweetheart, he has settled in and today was his first day of school. He went on the bus with all the other kids, but I met them at the school when they arrived. He walked in with Meisi, and we went up to his room. He looked a little bit like he wasn't sure where he was and what was happening, but when I went back to the room about a half hour after I left him, he was making his letters perfectly, I think his teach was very surprised! When they came home Meisi said he did very well, he told her when he had to use the bathroom and he has completed his homework. His writing is incredible, even though he doesn't really know what he's writing. I can see that he will be just fine in 2nd grade, as soon as he has the language down, I can see him doing really, really well.

I plan to return to work next week, instead of taking another two weeks off. The jet lag isn't too bad now, and given another week, I'll be ready to get back to my paycheck :-).

Sherrie

The Last Chapter

2009-09-26T13:49:00.002-04:00

First of all, WE ARE HOME!!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted to start from the beginning of our trip and tell the details of the troubles we had right from the beginning. We left Syracuse for our first flight about 20 minutes late. As we were getting near the Newark airport, the pilot reported that there were many delays in Newark, we would be getting in late, but at this point I was thinking it was no problem because all flights were dealyed, so our flight to Beijing would be delayed. We flew around over the Newark airport for about an hour without landing, finally we landed, right at the time that our flight to Beijing was scheduled to leave. Well, since the plane to Beijing was a large plane, that flight was not delayed, so it was leaving as we were landing. We were directed to the ticket counter where all issues like ours are handled. This is where things went downhill quickly. I was first told that we wouldn't be able to leave until the same flight the next day. That would have put me in China too late to make my connection to Haikou. I asked them for an alternative route. She starts working on it, tells me we can fly to Los Angeles and take the overnight flight to Guangzhou, which is where we would have ended up anyways, and could then make our flight to Haikou that same day we arrived. This was a good plan, but they could not figure out how to get me out of the seat on the flight from Beijing to Guangzhou that was originally booked. The lady that started working on this was due to leave so she handed me over to Alfonse......I cannot even describe how it all went from there, Alfonse was trying to communicate with someone in LA, China Southern Airlines were not open, so they couldn't get them to unseat me on the last leg of my flight, which would all Continental to reissue my ticket for a different fight. Alfonse kept telling me to go sit down and relax.....Alfonse doesn't know me, otherwise he would have saved his breath. There was no way I was going away, if I stood there looking at them, they had to do something. There was nother *lady* sitting there as well, she made the mistake of asking me how much time I had between flights, I told her an hour and ten minutes, oh, not enough time she says with a disgusted look and tone in her voice. I told her Continental was the one that booked my flight, if it wasn't enough time then why did they book it and furthermore she needs to stop talking to me at this point....then she mumbled something about people not wanting to wait for three hours in an airport. I pictured myself jumping across the counter to give her neck a *hug*, but knew that she would take it the wrong way and have me arrested, and I needed to get to China, so I just ignored her. I loudly prayed to Jesus to help me, Alfonse told me that he was trying to help me.....obviously not realizing that he is not Jesus......then in comes another man who sees that there is a situation, so he steps in, tells me no problem, he'll fix it. I felt like he was the answer to my prayers. Meanwhile, behind me are lines of people waiting to be rebooked due to the cancelled/delayed flights all around the Newark airport. It was chaos. I didn't budge, other than to go next door to McDonald's to buy Meisi a meal, which we brought back to the ticket counter where she sat and had her lunch, much to the dismay of Alfonse....the man that was there to save the day sent my luggage on to Guangzhou via the flight to LA, Meisi was booked all the way through to Guangzhou, it was my ticket that was the issue. Apparently what happened was the first lady cancelled me from the flight from Beijing to Guangzhou, but she failed to removed me from my seat before she did that, and once I was cancelled, there was no way to unseat me, until the flight was over with, which would have made it too late to get me on the plane to LA, which left at 5:30. At 4:30 Mr. Man gets an electric car and tells them to take us to the gate that we needed to be at to leave for the flight to LA. Off we went. They start boarding the flight before 5:00, I still don't have a ticket for the flight from LA to Guangzhou in my hand. At the very last minute, Mr. Man comes flying in, handed me a paper ticket, it was a family emergency ticket, tells me that I need to get boarded. I did not know if I could actually get on the plane to Guangzhou once in LA, but kept trying to reassure myself that this guy would not have given me this ticket if it wouldn't work. We got to LA, FINALLY found our way to the terminal we needed to be at, gave them my ticket, they all looked at it, and finally one girl takes it and starts punching numbers in and out comes my boarding pass. What a huge relief. I pictured myself stuck in LA with a ticket to nowhere. Next worry, was my luggage really on that flight with us??? After we landed, we went to baggage claim, sure enough, there it was. We then waited around the Guanzhou airport from 5:00am until 8 something to check in for our flight to Haikou. We checked in, checked our luggage, took our carryons and moved through security. We went to the gate to wait for our flight to Haikou. While we were waiting something strange happened that scared me to death. I was sitting in a row of chairs, Meisi was sitting in the row facing me, but she was turned looking out the window at the planes. A man and woman came and stood by me, he was taking photos or video of her. They then went over beside Meisi, the woman sat down next to Meisi and started talking to her in Chinese, and laughing. It seemed okay, but all of a sudden the woman picked Meisi up and put her on her lap. I immediately said NO, Meisi, come over here, which she did, and at the same time the woman from the ticket counter came over and said something to the woman, the woman looked very strange, then she started talking to the man, he just shrugged his shoulders, she kept saying something and I did understand the word "mama". They left shortly after that. The thought came to me that if this woman had just taken Meisi be the hand and started walking with her, or picked her up to carry her off, what would I have done???? No one spoke English, the woman could have told them anything and I wouldn't have known what she was telling them. It was very scary. I don't normally think the worst of people, but there was something just not right about this, and I read right after that about girls abducted and sold into slavery........very scary. I talked to Meisi about not leaving my side, telling her how hard it would be for me to get anyone to understand me if that woman had tried to take her away. So, with that situation over with, the next issue begins......there was no plane at the gate and it was boarding time. They announce things, people sitting there start talking amongst themselves, I have no idea what is being said. Finally, a plane arrives at the gate...it is now past boarding time, but we all get in line, I see people around me with tickets to Shanghai, I try to ask if they are going to Haikou or Shanghai....the flight was to Haikou, not sure why they were in line, the plane to Shanghai was not boarding yet I guess. We finally get on the plane and leave, we arrive in Haikou, I think I was almost in trouble because I didn't stop at the baggage area to let them check my numbers to make sure I had the right bags, I thought it was a person trying to get me to take a pamphlet or something. We see our driver with our name, we get in the van, we go to the hotel. They take us to the room. Oh. My. Word. It was terrible!!! So teeny, tiny small. And it smelled so bad, really, really bad. It was dirty, the furniture was old and awful looking. I was so tired, we had been traveling for 42 hours, I hadn't slept, I hadn't had much to eat at all. I really think I had a bit of a breakdown at that point. I felt like I was never leaving that place, like I was never going to come home, it was just awful. I knew everyone back home was really worried about us, and that didn't help. I felt like I had ruined our family.....it was just terrible. I laid down on the bed and slept for maybe a half hour at most when I started hearing a banging noise. I called housekeeping after an hour of this, they said it was the night crew. I asked if the noise would stop, she said yes. Hhhhmmm, it's the night crew, not sure they are going to stop working at night.....then, about 15 minutes later that assistant manager came knocking at the door, she wanted to move us to a new room on the other side of the hotel. I asked her if it was a larger room, she said yes, and she kept saying she was sorry. I was packed in five minutes and called her to tell her. Poor Meisi, she was sleeping and couldn't wake up. I took one arm, the assistant manager took the other arm and we walked her, while she was sleeping to the other room. What a huge relief, the room was very, very nice, very large and smelled so much better! It was newer, and nicer, there was a sitting area. I had posted on the yahoo group that has other parents on it that have adopted from this area, asking about places to eat, they said to eat on the second floor at the Chinese rest. They were right, it was very good food! We ate there almost every meal, had breakfast that was very good down in the other restaurant. Once I slept, and ate, and we were in our new room, things started to turn around. I think on top of the stress from the trip over, I also had in my mind the real possibility that Ethan would have huge issues. It happens with older kids, they have been in an orphange their entire lives and it isn't always a good situation. I knew I loved him and he was coming home with us and we would work out any issues, but the fear was still there that we would have a real problem to deal with. Thank God, these fears were not necessary, he was fine, a good little boy, and if he did have any issues I hadn't seen them, and they couldn't be that bad. Even now, after more than two weeks with us, I don't see any issues, that doesn't mean they won't show up, but for now we're not seeing them. Once we met Ethan and I knew it was okay, it was time to start worrying about the medical visit in Guangzhou. We were able to pick up his passport on time to leave for our scheduled flight on Friday morning, Saturday was the medical. As I stated in earlier posts, the medical went well, but there was a possibility that he would have been found to have a special need, even though minor, we would have needed a new homestudy, which would have meant more money to the INS, plus wait time for it to go through all the channels to finally end up in Guangzhou at the consulate. Thankfully, there weren't any issues, his TB test was done, rechecked and then the chest xray was done and there was no problem. When it was time to pack up and leave, I was again worried about the flights home. We met Sarah at the airport about 7 or so on Thursday morning, when we went to get our boarding passes, we were told that Meisi's seat had been cancelled. Sarah went to two different ticket counters, finally got her boarding pass and off to security we went. We made it through security, and went on to wait for our flight to Beijing. Once we landed in Beijing we were told to go upstairs to find the shuttle to terminal three (Sarah had mentioned that hopefully we wouldn't have to go to terminal 3 for our flight to Newark). We went upstairs, they said no, go downstairs, we did, they said, no upstairs, back up we went, Meisi and I started laughing at our up and down trips, one more time, they said no, downstairs, go outside and find the bus to the terminal 3. We finally found our way to the shuttle, I hefted ALL our luggage on the bus, it was a 20 minute ride to the terminal, we arrived, went in and found Continental, waited in a very long line to check in, checked in and left via tram to find our gate. Found our gate and waited only a half hour to start boarding. We left Beijing, China, it was a relief to be heading to the US, exciting to know that when we landed in Newark and handed the Immigration Officer Ethan's paperwork, he would automatically become a US citizen!!! The flight went well, I have to say that they do take good care of you on the Continental flights! The kids slept about 7 of the 13 hours we were flying. We got into Newark, went through immigration, found our luggage and headed to the shuttle to our next gate, which had been changed, so back to the original terminal we went. We sat and waited and finally we started boarding for Syracuse. The pilot said we would be in 30 minutes early. As it turned out, we eneded up landing about 10 minutes late due to an emergency landing of an aircraft that thought maybe their landing gear was not locked in place. It was so good to see Tom, the kids, my mom all waiting at the airport for us!

The kids are all doing well together, Ethan has settled in very nicely. He will start school on Monday, we'll have to see how that goes.

So, our adoption journey has ended. The story will continue, as we watch Ethan grow, both in language development and in finding his place in the family. It won't take him long to settle in and show us all just how quickly he is going to adapt and learn and grow.

This was my last adoption trip to China, we have eight children, four grandchildren and we are happy to move on with just living life. It is/will be SO NICE to not be waiiting for someone to come home. Our next trip to China will be to take all the kids back for a visit, maybe in 10 years or so.

I will post photos later, or tomorrow. Thanks again to everyone that followed our journey, prayed for us, donated to our fund to help bring Ethan home, and for all the comments while we were in China, it meant more than you know.

Love to all,
The Williams family

First day in Guangzhou

2009-09-21T02:44:00.000-04:00

Leaving Haikou

2009-09-21T02:41:00.001-04:00

The morning we were to leave Haikou

2009-09-21T02:39:00.001-04:00

TB test recheck

2009-09-21T02:34:00.000-04:00

This morning, Monday, was the time to have Ethan's tb test site checked for either a positive or negative result. It was red an a bit swollen yesterday, but looked much better this morning, so I was hopeful that maybe we would not have to have him get the chest xray. They measured it and said chest xray needed. My knees started to shake a bit, but within five minutes the xray was done and declared "no problem"! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! My prayers were answered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have now completed all the medical requirements and tomorrow morning is our consulate appointment. We do not need to go to that, just our guide. Tomorrow afternoon we will visit the place that Meisi lived when she lived here. Wednesday afternoon is when we all get on the bus and go to the consulate to take the oath, swearing that all we've said these past 15 months in our adoption paperwork has been true. Thursday morning early is our flight out to Beijing, then on to Newark, and finally to Syracuse. Please keep us in your prayers for safe and happy travels with no snags.

Today we went to the toy market after the medical visit. It is about 7 floors of stuff. We bought just a couple of cute things for the kids, Meisi has been wanting an umbrella, so we bought that, and one for Mia too. Ethan and Tyler have new outfits and a couple of power ranger toys.

That is about all for now. I will try to post a few photos, hopefully it will work better than it did the other day.

Love to all,
Sherrie, Meisi and Ethan

Photos

2009-09-19T08:04:00.001-04:00

I have tried several times to post photos but I keep gettng a mail delivery failure notice, so I'm giving up for now. Maybe tomorrow I will try again.

All is well here. Time to give Ethan his bath and get him into bed. I have found that at night he gets more *busy*, so best to get him headed to bed :-). He is a sweetheart though, and so far has not had any bad moments at all. I guess I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak, so far, everything is going really well.

Goodnight!
Love,
Sherrie, Meisi and Ethan

Medical exam.....done!!!!

2009-09-19T02:36:00.001-04:00

Yippee!!! We left at 9:30 this morning to go to the medical exam, with a stop at the photo shop first. We moved quite quickly through the exam part of it, there are three stations to visit, Ethan did great at all three. What a relief, our homestudy had approved us for a healthy child, and that is what they found him to be. Then it was time to wait for immunizations for him. Oh. My. Word. There was so many families waiting to get the shots for their kids, kids crying, it was chaos. Finally, after more than an hour of waiting, we went in and Ethan received four shots and the TB test. He didn't cry, didn't flinch, sat and watched. A little scary, but then another boy in our group was the same, so maybe the boys are taught not to fear shots???? On Monday we will go back for them to read his TB test site. If it looks like it's positive, it is most likely due to him having had the TB innoculation. They would then do a chest xray, which does not take long.

Tonight we are meeting with our travel group to have dinner at my favorite restaurant on Shamian Island, the Cow & Bridge. We've shopped just a very little bit. We aren't doing much shopping, I did buy Ethan and Tyler dress shoes, very, very cheap, $10 for both pair, they are really nice leather shoes.

It's very hot here, I think the forecast was for 99 degrees. I don't mind it so much though, and the room is very cool.

That's about all for now. I need to take a few more photos. Maybe at dinner :-).

Love to all,
Sherrie, Meisi and one healthy boy Ethan!

Home Sweet Home

2009-09-18T01:41:00.001-04:00

Okay, so not really *home*, but the next best thing! Guangzhou brings me such peace! It is like being with an old friend, does that sound sappy???? Sorry, I'm tired, but oh so happy! Ethan did wonderfully well on the way here, he held my hand without prompting, although Sarah did tell him yesterday, and again today, that he had to stick with Mama. We walked into the room at the Victory Hotel, and as my beloved grandma would say LAND SAKES! Oh, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I've stayed at the White Swan the last two trips, I wish I had tried this hotel before, the room is HUGE, and so comfortable, and the BEDS, OH THE SOFT BEDS. YYAAAAAHHOOOOOOOEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No more king sized board. Two very soft, comfy double beds. Yes, I am a happy camper :-). I'm not really high maintenance at all, just love a soft bed and a nice room and, well, I'm just going to leave it at that :-).

We dropped our laundry off to be done, went to Lucy's and had yummy noodles and cold coke and fruit juice for the kiddies. Ethan acted so sad, he looked like he was going to cry. He didn't eat a lot and I was worried that he was really feeling a great deal of loss......we came back to the room, I held him on my lap, he had tears in his eyes, again, my heart hurt for him. Then, all of a sudden he got up, went into the bathroom, and it became VERY CLEAR that he wasn't feeling sad, he had a stomach ache!!!! Ager he went potty, he came out, sat on the bed and started watching Tom & Jerry with Meisi and was giggling up a storm. That's my boy! :-)))))).

More later!

Thank you ALL so much for all the comments!!! I really, and truly, appreciate everyone that is praying for us, thinking good thoughts about us, and supporting us!

Shelley: Good idea about the camera, and I think you are probably right. I took a few photos outdoors at Lucy's and I think they'll be fine. Thanks!

Lin: Do you have good news about your adoption?? I cannot check your blog, but the last I knew you weren't sure what was going to happen, but it didn't look good. Please tell me that your TA is coming!

Love from Guangzhou!!!!!!!!!!!

Sherrie, Meisi and Ethan

Heading to Guangzhou

2009-09-17T05:56:00.001-04:00

Today was the final day of our stay here in Haikou. We now have all the documents that we need to go to Guangzhou in the early morning. As we rode through the city to go to the police station to pick up Ethan's passport, I was struck by how beautiful the city is. I think that it should easily be one of the places that a family visits if they get the chance to come to China and just tour. We went to the park today that is close to the hotel, I cannot describe how beautiful it is! And I can't show you photos because my camera will not take clear outdoor photos here. As soon as we step out into the humidity, the photos become hazy, as you can see from the few outdoor photos I did take! We were able to walk through the park all the way to the coastline. I'm sure that Haikou is one of the best kept vacation spot secrets in the world!

Ethan continues to do well. I just need to get him to stick with me through airports on the way home and he'll be fine. He is just so independant, he doesn't run far ahead, but just enough that in a busy airport it would not work out for us :-). So, if you hear of an Asian child that is duct taped to his mother with pink plaid duct tape, that would be Ethan and I :-).

We are getting ready to go and eat dinner, then we'll come back and get packed up. I'm trying to figure out how to pack the picture that Ethan made that has a bamboo frame so it will not get destroyed during the trip to GZ. He knows that we're leaving, he keeps packing and unpacking, rearranging his backpack. There is that time when an adoptive family is getting ready to take a child from their home province, and there are so many mixed emotions. I think even more so with a child that is older. I know that Ethan is going to have a great life, he will love his new home and new family, and I think he is truly a shining star in this world. I don't know what, if any, opportunities he would have had if he remained here in Haikou, I have a feeling for him it would have been a tough life. The good thing is that he now has a family that will support him no matter where he decides to live when he's grown, if his heart is in Haikou, then he will most likely have the opportunity to return here, or maybe he will be firmly planted in our area and that will always be his home in his heart, I don't know. I'm sure he is going to be so excited to get on the plane tomorrow, boys love planes, right, and every inch of him is little boy :-). I loved him from afar and I love him now that he is near. He has his little finger wrapped around my heart :-).

Love,
Sherrie, Meisi and Ethan

2009-09-16T01:41:00.001-04:00

Wednesday

2009-09-16T01:39:00.001-04:00

The rain has stopped..yeah!!! We took a ride to the Carrefour, wow, it makes Walmart look teeny tiny!!! Loved it! Love the prices too. The only thing that is a bit strange is that the floor is really slippery and the cart wheels go every which way. We put Ethan in the cart to make sure he didn't drift off :-). He was very happy riding around, especially when I started putting a few things in the cart! Water, juice, a pepsi for mommy, instant noodle bowls...good stuff! Then we went to the McDonalds right there, it was so good. Chicken nuggets with a great sauce! Now that we are back at the hotel we were going to go outside, but Meisi said she was too warm to go out, so they are playing with their happy meal toys.

The photos I have included are some taken in the lobby before going shopping, and outside the hotel entrance. This hotel is really nice, and the staff are so nice and friendly! Love the room too!

We have started calling Ethan by his American name. He turns around when I call his name, not sure if he realizes it's his new name or not. Sarah explained, but not sure if he really understands. I call him by his Chinese name as well, which is Xi Wang. Confused????? Probably. After we met Ethan we looked at the Lifebook he brought with him. On the binding of it, there was a name Fu Xi Wang. And when I had Sarah ask the SWI director what they called him, thinking it would be either Chun Hong, or Hong Hong, he said Xi Wang, pronounced She Wong. But Sarah did not yet notice the name of Fu Xi Wang on the book until we were already gone. She said how odd that they call him Xi Wang. So, the next day she asked why the name was different on the book and why they called him Xi Wang. He said that there was an original name of Han Chun Hong, but when he was brought to the SWI, as with all children entering there, they gave him a name of Fu Xi Wang. But when a child's information is submitted to the CCAA for the child to be adopted, they must use the original name, so that is why he was Han Chun Hong on all the agency information.

He really is a sweet little boy. He is energetic, and likes to climb and jump, but he has learned quickly that you don't jump from one piece of furniture to another, or climb on artwork in the hotel lobby :-). He will love the playground at home and all the yard to run and jump. He's very curious, and I love it when we go anyplace, he sits on one side of me, Meisi on the other, and both of their faces are glued to the windows. I have a feeling they are having completely different thoughts. I think Meisi is enjoying the trip, but something tells me she will be ready to go home. When we are home I hope to get her thoughts on being here.

Enjoy the photos!
Love,
Sherrie, Meisi & Ethan

Good Morning/Evening!

2009-09-15T18:53:00.001-04:00

Doesn't Meisi look just thrilled with her new hairdresser!! It was too funny, he came over to the desk, grabbed the brush and ponytail holder, jumped up on the bed and went to work on getting her hair done!

Thank you guys for all the comments!!! Even though blogger is blocked here I can read comments, they come in to my email inbox. The kids slept really well last night, and Ethan woke up and came to me to tell me he was going into the bathroom, then just a few minutes ago while I was sitting here at the computer he came over and climbed up on my lap. He is so sweet, and so cute, and I think he is doing so remarkably well, honestly, how scary for him this must be! He is trusting/hoping that he is in good hands with us! He talks a lot, which is a good thing!

The bad thing about blogger being blocked is that I can't read what I wrote in my other post! I have to go back to see what I wrote in my email! I'm sure it's not that my memory is getting bad to to my age! HA! It seems that the flight issues have been worked out, thanks to my brother Dave :-). He called Continental for me, not sure what the deal was, but the flights booked coming over where one class, and going back another. So when Sarah, our guide, called China Southern to confirm our return flights for me, they said they couldn't give us boarding passes due to the flights being booked two different classes. And the reason I even had Sarah call to begin with is because in the flight mess getting here, Continental told me that if they did not reissue my ticket using a different route to get here, that China Southern would cancel my return part of the ticket because I never got on the plane in Beijing. Meisi was booked through, but I was not. I will explain more in a different post that entire situation, I know what I'm saying now may not make sense because some of the parts of the story are missing, but I must run to shower, I have two kiddies here that are going to want breakfast soon. Anyways, we will reconfirm with China Southern again once in GZ to make sure all is well with the tickets.

I'll write more later. We have not done any touring because of the rains. I'm not sure if it will rain today or not, the forecast has been calling for it, but it is not raining right now. If nothing else, we may go to the Carre-Fourres today and take the kids to McDonald's for lunch. Then we have tomorrow to go out as well, maybe the storm has passed!

CAROLINE: Hope your are reading this...your package was delivered to the SWI director yesterday and he understood who the package was for.

Love to all,
Sherrie, Meisi and Ethan

Forever Family Day!!

2009-09-15T09:51:00.001-04:00

It is official, Ethan Paul ChunHong Williams is now our son!!! It was a very nice meeting with the officials and the SWI director, everything went smoothly. We were going to go shopping after the paperwork was done, but it was raining so hard so we decided to wait until another day. We have down time tomorrow and Thursday so we can go then. We just hung around the hotel for the rest of the morning and afteroon, we walked around inside and took a few photos, I'll try and include one or two.

I know I have not been giving many details, but I promise that I will at some point. There is just so much drama with flights, still, and questions about the medical visit in Guangzhou, tb testing etc., I just want all that behind me so I can really put my thoughts into words without the worry I'm feeling showing through. There are interesting things that I have found that I want to tell about and funny things too.

The best thing is that we arrived safely, we met Ethan and he is doing so well, and now we are family.

Right now Meisi and Ethan are sleeping soundly, and I'm heading that way soon.

Love from China,
Sherrie, Meisi and Ethan

Having trouble posting

2009-09-14T18:20:00.001-04:00

I've tried to post and send photos twice, but can't seem to get a message to go through. All is going well, Ethan is cuter than cute, and doing so well last night. He is still sleeping this morning. Not sure why my messages are not going through, but if this one is successful then I will try again with more photos later today.
Sherrie

Meeting Ethan at 3:00pm!

2009-09-14T00:07:00.001-04:00

We will be meeting Ethan today, Monday, at 3:00pm! It is 12:00 now, so Meisi and I are going to go get lunch, then meet our guide at 2:30. Tomorrow will be the official adoption day. I will post more later today to let you know how he is doing.

Meisi and I are doing well. We are in a very nice room now at the hotel. We've slept, had a very good breakfast, went for a walk, a very HOT walk, and now we're going to go to lunch.

Thanks for all the comments! It is amazing how a night's sleep can make the stress level go down!

Love from Sherrie and Meisi in Haikou

We Finally Made It

2009-09-13T02:27:00.001-04:00

I wish I had a pretty travel story to tell, but that's not the case. I'm not going to write much now, I think I'm too exhausted after two days with no sleep, and I've barely eaten in those two days as well. I am exhausted, mentally and physically, I am praying that tomorrow looks much brighter when I wake up, and I'm sure it will because it won't be too long and we will be going to meet Ethan, then whole reason for being here!

So, right now it's Sunday afternoon, we just checked into our hotel, Meisi is taking a much needed bath, and I'm going to shower and nap for a while. I'll post as soon as we get back to the hotel with Ethan, our MOnday, your Sunday night.

Love to all,
Sherrie and Meisi
PS: Meisi will get an entire post all her own telling about how she handled the series of events that took us from one day of travel to two.

We're on our way!!!

2009-09-11T07:48:00.002-04:00

Meisi and I are sitting in the airport in Syracuse, waiting for the first leg of our trip to begin. I was nervous before getting here, but not so much now, Meisi said she is nervous, I think the unknown maybe?? I think she's a little bored with just sitting and it's only been a half hour!! YIKES!!! The girl is in for a little shock when we're on the airplane to Beijing for 14 hours! Hopefully she'll be tired enough to sleep a little.

I did not get much sleep last night, I went to bed early to try and sleep, but I was too excited. 4 am came quickly after I did fall asleep.

Thank goodness for airport wireless, it's so nice to be able to communicate while waiting.

Have a great day and I'll try and update throughout our very long journey!

Love to everyone,
Sherrie & Meisi Faith

Fw: In 12 Hours...

2009-09-10T19:43:00.002-04:00

Can you imagine?????? I found this photo in my email box this morning! It was sent to a lady that delivers packages in China to children from their waiting parents. The photo was sent to her, she sent it on to us...it was made for us by our sweet little boy that is obviously waiting for his family! What a gift to us, especially on this day, the day before we leave to bring hime home!!!!! If you look closely, you will see our names on each of the fish! Amazing!!!

We will be at the airport waiting to begin the long journey to China. I think I have us all packed, with just a few last minute items to throw in. I am very excited that it is finally time to meet our son, although it is always sad to face the reality of leaving everyone else at home. We have our computers set up to be able to video chat, I think that is going to be so great, it will really help with the homesickness I think. There are so many thoughts running through my head, but I can't really find the words. I am so grateful to everyone that helped us get to this point, there are many people, family, friends, people who make it their life's work bringing family members together through adoption, I don't know if everyone realizes how much it has meant to me. Last night I went back through the blog posts, and I was amazed to realize that our kids had TWO first days of school while waiting for Ethan to come home.....that is a very long time! Too long, and I hope that things change in the future to speed the process up.

Your prayers and good thoughts while Meisi and I are winging our way to China, and back again with our newest family member, are so appreciated.

Much love,
sherrie

Leaving on Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-09-05T19:56:00.002-04:00

WOW! What a week it has been! We received our Consulate Appointment date on Wednesday, so Thursday I made flight arrangements. Sounds easy enough, but believe me, it was not. I don't know why, but this time was so much different! Maybe because I'm taking Meisi with me and feel so responsible to make good choices for her, and then coming home I'll have her and Ethan to consider! Some cheaper flights would have had me staying here and there, or 10/11 hour layovers during the day, can you imagine sitting in a airport for 11 hours with two 7 year olds! Um, yeah, no. Finally on Friday it all came together, the flights were all set. Then I thought I would have to wait until Tuesday to find out our in country details, but then Friday afternoon I received an email from our caseworker with all the details, talk about exciting!!!! To have it all set, and to know that in less than a week it will be time to go, what a good feeling that is. Hard to believe after 14 months of working at it, it's finally here. I have lots to do between now and then, packing, things to finish up, getting everything done at work that needs to be done before I leave for a month, and making sure the kids are all set to start school this Tuesday! I really went back and forth on whether to take Meisi with me or not, but my instincts just kept telling me that it was the right thing to do. And I really think that was the best choice. Of course my concern is the swine flu, so please keep us in your prayers this coming week and weekend that we will stay healthy and not be seated near anyone that has any kind of illness on the airplanes. I may get the masks to wear to prevent germs from spreading to our mouth and nose, it would be hard to wear that the entire plane trip, but if it would keep us healthy, then I think it would be worth it. Thanks for all good thoughts and prayers, we appreciate it! Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend!!!!!
Sherrie

TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-08-31T17:24:00.001-04:00

We received the call late this afternoon that we are the proud owners of an invitation to travel to China to bring our son home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are requesting a consulate date for us in September to avoid the October holiday and the Trade Fair, I am praying that they are successful in getting us in this month to avoid triple the normal costs. Needless to say, I am relieved, happy, thankful and did I mention HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!

Sherrie

Ethan Update!

2009-08-27T20:52:00.000-04:00

Imagine my surprise today when I opened my email to find updated photos of our sweet little guy that waits for us in China! My heart just melted, along with my eyes, when I saw the photo of him with the red neckerchief around his neck, the soccer ball under his arm, doesn't it look like he's posing for his mama and baba??? These photos came to us from the lady that we ordered the last package for him from, and that was a long time ago, so I never expected the photos!

No travel approval today, maybe soon, hopefully soon.....please let it be soon......

Testing a new posting procedure...

2009-08-27T10:09:00.001-04:00

Because it is very possible that blogger is blocked in China, I am testing this new way to post my messages to the blog so everyone will be updated as things happen while I am there. Hope it works!

There is buzz that travel approvals could be coming tomorrow or early next week, we are SO hoping that our TA will be in that group if they do come! Time is going by quickly, the October holiday and the Trade Fair in China are fast approaching, so getting there and back before all that would be nice, and less costly!

In the meantime, we are waiting for an update on Ethan. It may or may not come, these things are never for sure. It would be nice to have updated measurements, just to know if I need to take clothes for a child of his age, or according to the last update we had, clothes for a very teeny tiny little boy!

Sherrie

OFFICIALLY WAITING FOR TRAVEL APPROVAL!

2009-08-13T21:57:00.002-04:00

Finallly! Our paperwork has moved through all the stages of the INS, the last piece of paper has been picked up from the consulate in Guangzhou, China, and the agency rep will mail it to the CCAA tonight! I expect that travel approval will come somewhere between two to four weeks. The adoption process has changed so much, so many long steps to complete to get to this point. I would explain it all, but if you aren't in the process of adopting you will read a very little bit and your eyes will start to roll back in your head and I'll lose you, so I'll spare you....if you are adopting, then you are all too familiar with this grueling process.....I can tell you that we have had bumps in the road that seemed HUGE, but thank you Jesus, it seems that we are all set now. Of course, there is always a chance we will get caught up in the TB nightmare in China, but I won't even go there. If you haven't heard of this new issue, google it and you'll find all sorts of links to the trouble one family has had. I have faith that Ethan is going to be okay.
I will admit that the thought of leaving everyone behind and going off to China, well, I can't even really think about it. But, it will all be okay. The plan for now is to have Meisi go with me, and we have skype ready so we can see each other and talk via the computer, I think that will make a huge difference.
I'm actually going to start packing stuff this weekend, and making lists of things that I still need. I have everything I need, other than large sized ziploc bags, I pack everything in them, then I have them to put stuff in while there, and on the way back home. That's the good thing about this not being my first trip to China. By now I know what I'll really need and what I can leave home that I may have taken in the past, but never needed. My biggest worry is the size of clothing to take for Ethan. According to his measurements, he is teeny tiny. I hope to get another update soon, so maybe he's grown a bit.

Other than that, life is moving along........
Sherrie

The Days Go By

2009-07-29T19:51:00.005-04:00

It has been a busy summer! Everyone is doing well, having fun playing and swimming. Chris has everything he needs for his dorm, I'm sure he's packed and ready to go. Kyle has been building a log cabin, trying to keep the rest of his chickens from the fox, maybe more than one fox, tending his garden and planning a blog of his own.

We've made it through two of the three steps that the new Hague rules require while waiting to be waiting for Travel Approval. There was a bit of a problem in the very first step, but I'll write more about that after we have travel approval. The plan is that Meisi will go with me, unless there is a worsening of the swine flu. I have our visas, and I'm going to start packing Ethan's things, and I'm always packing for Meisi and I in my head. My travel folder is organized and ready to go, just needs that Travel Approval put in there. Once upon a time, in a faraway land of delusion, I thought I would travel in July, then reality set in and I thought August, but the real reality has set in and I'm thinking September now.

We're having a yard sale on August 8th, part of my *fundraising* efforts, which are not really my strong suit. As you could probably see, not one person was interested in the dresses I had to raffle, which surprised me as they are so beautiful and I know how much people love the Christian charity store on Shamian Island, but it's okay, I'll donate them to Love Without Boundaries for their annual auction, I'm sure they will have better luck than I did. That's what I was going to do with them to begin with, but then thought I would use them for our fund, guess that's what I get for being selfish :-). You know, it doesn't really matter in the end. Money is a very small part of life, we need it to survive, I guess, but in the end, those that have lots and lots of money accumulated at the end of their lives won't be any happier than we will be at the end of our life, maybe not having a penny saved and maybe debt up to our ears, but we'll know that we did what we thought was the right thing in our lives.

I recently had a family member say something that was not very nice about adopting another child. I had many things to say to that person (yeah, I'm sure he wasn't expecting a call from me asking about this statement which was made to one of our older kids). I had this post all written a few days ago and explained the entire thing, but then it hit me that it isn't all that big of a deal. Mostly every one I talk to about Ethan is excited for us, and happy for us, and if they think anything negative, they keep it to themselves. I do want to say that my husband is my hero. He is the best husband and father that I know, there are other great fathers and husbands out there for sure, but Tom is my one and only hero. For many reasons.

So, my hope is that I will soon be able to post that we are now officially waiting for travel approval. They say it takes about 8 weeks from LOA to TA, we are at week 5, but I think it will take a bit longer than 3 more weeks to receive our TA, but who knows, anything can happen.

I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Sherrie

WE INTERUPT THIS REGULARLY SCHEDULED POST.............

2009-06-26T22:19:00.003-04:00

Update: Now that we have our LOA we are allowed to post photos of our little guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, here he is, and I'm sure you will agree that he is one of the cutest, sweetest looking, most charming looking little 7 year olds that you have ever seen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, tonight was graduation, a nice post is planned for that, and all the other weeks festivities. We came home from graduation, we stood around talking about how great it was, and some of the things that could have been better, looking at some additional scholarships Chris received tonight, deciding if we wanted to have some cake and ice cream, or a snack, talking, talking, talking.....and then, I decide to go check the phone to see if our agency called after we left for the school. They are on the west coast, we are in the northeast, so they could have called, but they didn't. I then decide to check emails to see if there is anything interesting there...and lo and and behold......there is an email from our agency!

THEY RECEIVED OUR LOA/LOC THIS AFTERNOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!

This is just such an awesome thing, it means so much. For one, it means that they have reviewed our dossier and agree that we are the family for Han Chun Hong, soon to be known as Ethan Paul ChunHong. Also, it is a necessary step to get to the travel approval, which we hope will come in two months, or sooner. With the new Hauge rules in place, it takes some doing to get everything together for the CCAA to send the travel approval, but, they are getting the routine down some, so we hope that it comes sooner than the two month mark, but I'll keep two months in mind so I don't start whining too soon :-).

Have a wonderful weekend!
Sherrie

STAY TUNED.....

2009-06-26T16:27:00.002-04:00

For a nice post later about the week's graduation events, maybe photos too! But in the meantime, let me get this out of the way............

DAY 100 WAITING FOR LOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, day 100 today, it's our lucky day, very rarely do we have an event we're waiting for that we can declare we are now on day 100 of the wait!!! Basically, it stinks. I see people logged in much later than us getting their LOAs, and I see people logged in much before us that then decided to adopt a special needs child, which is great, however, they send in the Letter sof Intent much later than we did, and they have their LOA. And I am happy for them, thank goodness they're still not waiting, I just want mine too. I'm trying really hard not to be impatient, or whiney, or even worse while waiting, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. So, there you have it, still waiting.......

Now, get ready for a much better post about all the week's events!

Sherrie

DAY 93...

2009-06-19T21:07:00.006-04:00

DAY 93!!!! It wouldn't be so awfully bad, but another family with the same LID as ours, same agency, received their letter a few days ago. So, the only thing I am worried about is that there is a problem with our dossier since we did not receive the letter.....this is the part of the process that really stinks, the unknown. Today I saw someone that got the letter we are waiting for in LESS THAN 30 DAYS!! Happy for them, just don't get how the line forms at the adoption center in China. Tom reminded me that everything happens the way it is supposed to, yeah, yeah, yeah, no fair using my own words to comfort me :-). So it goes with adoption from China.

On a different note, the next week is graduation week! Lots to do, lots going on. Hard to believe it is here already, the summer will be going by so quickly. School is almost out for the three amigos, Chris and Kyle are done already.

I've included a few photos above that Chris took. Enjoy!

Sherrie

Many Thanks, Day 82 and I Need A Psychiatrist......

2009-06-07T19:13:00.002-04:00

Quite the heading right??? So, let's start with the Many Thanks......Words cannot express the gratitude that I felt all week long for the many people that donated to our fund to help bring Ethan home. People that do not know our family gave, people that know our family and are our good friends gave, other adoptive moms, a person that helped us with our dossier for both Meisi and Tyler's adoption, a best friend and a best friend's children all gave. I am so grateful to each and every one of you that care about a little boy in China, one of so very many little boys that have never known the love of a family. I have always had Faith and my Faith was uplifted, our family thanks you so very much.

Day 82..........So, we are fast approaching day 82 of waiting for our LOA, which is the next step in this long and twisty road of adoption. We expected to wait this many days, yet, I had hoped for a surprise and a shorter wait. While waiting our Office of Immigration has dropped another little surprise in our laps. As of July 1, every child over the age of 2 will be required to have a TB test. If you have had a TB skin test, then you know it takes 48-72 hours for a reaction, so the test spot must be viewed that amount of time after the test is given. If there is no positive reation, off you go, home sweet home, if there is a positive response, then a chest xray is in order. I don't know all the particulars after that point, but it is stated on the INS website for a different country that the INS has given this directive for, there is a possibility of an additional stay, up to 6 months! What adoptive parent can hang out in China for up to 6 months??? Not this adoptive parent, and yet, Ethan is our child, in our eyes, and at that point, in the eyes of the officials in China, so I would have to stay with him. I am praying that this gets worked out before we get our travel approval.

My uncle tells me I Need A Psychiatrist.....yeah, okay, tell me something I haven't heard before :-). I'll leave his name out to save him embarrassment, however, I have a feeling he wouldn't be all that embarrassed......Anyways, he called me to say he had some very, very nice clothing that someone gave him, and could one of my boys wear this certain size......I say no, our son wears a much longer pant size. I then decide to tell him that we are having a fundraiser rummage sale to help bring our little guy home from China. I think his response went something like this: "What?????? You're doing THAT again????? I think you need to see a psychiatrist!!!!!!!!!!" He then says, "But I'll keep my mouth shut". So, I wonder, do other people think this????? Do other family members and friends think that we're losing our minds, or have already lost them?????? I don't really think so....maybe some do, but , I don't think so. They know that we love our little ones, that we can't imagine them any place but right here with us, and we just know that we feel the same way about Ethan. Are we a little crazy??? Probably. But, we all have our own lives to live, and I've said this before and I'll say it again.....Life is short, and at the end of our lives, I really and truly feel that we will know that we did what we wanted/needed to do. And a little side note here, my uncle called the next day and asked me if I would like all those nice clothes that had been given to him for our sale........so thanks very much to my uncle :-), we really appreciate your help.

Have a wonderful week! I have new photos to add soon, so stay tuned.......
Sherrie

I'm a bad blogger...

2009-05-14T14:12:00.005-04:00

My Mother's Day roses from Chris!

Evie Lynn-what a cutie!

Kaden-same blue eyes as his sister

Evie Lynn-how cute is she???????

Grandson #2-Mr. Jordon

Grandson #1-Tate Michael and his Bob the Builder Birthday Card!

Can you tell which one is Chris????

Chris and Ashley-prom night

I know, I read other people's blogs and they keep up with things, but not me. So, what's new?? Chris went to his senior prom and had a wonderful time! We went to the Rotary Club Banquet for the top ten students, three local schools, awards were given and a nice dinner. Mother's Day is now past, nothing beats being handed a dozen red roses for Mother's Day from your son, or getting little plaques with handprints from your little ones that are in Kindergarten, or cards made by your little ones, or pens with big pretty flowers attached to the top of them to take to work and put in your pencil and pen holder. Or a candle holder made from flower pots by your first grader. The treasures that come from school, made by the little hands are things to be treasured for years and years. I still have some of those things made by my babies that now have babies of their own!

The trees finally have their leaves and the flowers are blooming. Kyle's peacocks have eggs in the nest, he'll have baby peas in about a month. We have had some very warm days, and some cooler days and the promise of more warmer days in the near future. We have so much going on with banquets, graduation, and hopefully a trip to China mid summer. We are sure that Ethan now knows about his family, we wonder what he's thinking. The adoption process is so unpredictable, we have no way of knowing when the next step will be complete, we hope it's soon. The Swine Flu seems to be slowing things down a bit, it seems like that happens each time we are waiting for paperwork to be processed to adopt a child. Since this is our last adoption, maybe there won't be any more of these slowdowns :-). I watched a video this morning of a little 11 year old girl in an orphanage in China being given a package for her birthday. In the package was the photo album and gifts from her new family, the video captured her response to hearing for the first time that she has a family, and the first time she is looking at the faces of her mama and baba. What an amazing thing to watch, I cried, but what I cried about were the many children of all ages gathered around her, so excited for her, and most likely not many of them will ever know the same excitement and amazement that this little girl must have felt at this news. It breaks my heart. So many people have so much, so much love to share, a nice home to share, and yet, so many children with no family. I know adoption isn't for everyone, but I wish just ONE person reading this would say to themselves that they think they have so much love to give and so much to share with a child that they've decided that an adoption IS for them. Just one is all it would take to make me feel like I made a differerence.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sherrie

49 days

2009-05-06T18:50:00.002-04:00

Wow, it doesn't seem possible that we are on the brink of having our dossier logged in for 50 days already, and yet, it seems like forever ago that our dossier was done and we were not so patiently waiting for it to be mailed to China. It left the USA on 02/28, and that does seem long ago. If it took 100 days for us to get to the next step, the average being between 90 and 120 days, then we would be halfway there. Or, of we were one of the really lucky ones that got to the next step of receiving our LOA at day 58, well then we would only be one week away. I know that we are not going to be one of the 58 day lucky ones, so no sense in even entertaining that idea. Our dossier is still in the *waiting to be processed* stage, our agency will let us know when that status changes to *being processed*. Our package to Ethan arrived in China a few weeks ago and we are sure that he now knows about us, we hope he is excited and staring at all our photos, dreaming of the day when he will be here in person. I know I'm dreaming of the day a good share of my days!

I am not really a very good blogger. Weeks and weeks go by and I don't have any new posts written. Life is busy, mostly happy fun things going on, and then there is work, medical appointments for the kids, college and graduation stuff for Chris, yard work now that the weather is nice, and then the very few *not so nice stuff* that life brings us that takes all our attention and emotional energy. I have read a few blogs that make me wish I was a better writer, my blog pales, and I mean really pales, in comparison to those, and the photos some people can take, why is it that some people are so talented at photo taking, and then there is me...........who's talents do not lie in the least little bit in photo taking.......if you've read this far, thanks for taking time to read my ramblings and I hope to have more exciting things to post in the near future......

54487-144-AA7DB87A86CFCE2C1EC13AE61A83BB4A

Update

2009-04-20T21:22:00.002-04:00

Tyler is doing very well, the soft diet thing is getting old already, but he was THRILLED to be able to take his beloved noodles to school today in his very own soup thermos. I have photos to post, but I have been so bogged down in completing adoption paperwork that I haven't put them on the computer yet, but I will soon.

And speaking of adoption paperwork, OH MY GOOD HEAVENS!!!!!!!!!! For all of you that adopted using the old I600 system, well, if you thought that was bad, you should try it now under the new I800 system. Remember the good old days where the dossier went to China and you had not much to do in the line of paperwork until you got to China and the guide helped you complete all that other paperwork??? Well, those days are llloooonnnnnggggggg gone, now, while waiting for that new step (new to me), the LOA, the I800 has to be completed, and if your spouse is not traveling with you, the I864, the I864A, and for good measure, the I864W, the DS230, I think that is it........And once that is all done, don't forget to make copies of tax returns, and make an extra one for the admissions office at the college for your high school senior that is heading off to college, if you get all the stuff done that needs to be done.......I think I'm all done, I need to get all the newly notarized statements, copies, copies, copies of stuff to the agency, and pray, pray, pray for that LOA to arrive sooner than later.......

And last, but certainly not least, I want to thank each and every one that asked about Tyler, emailed, commented here about our PA, and Tyler's surgery, and for the prayers that I know were being said on our behalf. Thanks so much for your support!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-13T17:11:00.002-04:00

Wow!!! Tyler did so well that the doctor let us come home this afternoon!!!!! YIPPEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy that he is doing so well, and that he gets to sleep in his bed tonight, and that I will get to sleep in my bed tonight! And, I can go to work tomorrow, I only had two vacation days that I could take off, so I'm happy to be able to save one! Yeah!!! So, prayers were answered and we are so happy! Tyler doesn't even look like he had surgery today. He was a happy camper when we came home and mommy fixed him *mashed potato soup*, yummy :-)

Tyler's Surgery

2009-04-12T20:13:00.002-04:00

Tyler will be having surgery Mondy morning at 8:00am to fix the holes in his palate, and the only *tooth* he has in the top front of his mouth will come out as well. The worst part of the surgery is the liquid diet nd then soft diet for two weeks following the surgery, but if mashed potatoes are considered soft diet, then it's all good. If you would say a little prayer that Tyler doesn't have too much pain after his surgery I would really appreciate it, and a quick hospital stay would be helpful too!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.

PRE APPROVAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-08T19:37:00.003-04:00

That's right, we have officially been granted pre approval from the CCAA in China to adopt Chun Hong!!! Our letter of intent was sent two weeks ago, so it was a quick pre approval, we are hoping for the rest of the approval process to go quickly, but as anyone that has ever done this before knows, nothing goes the way you think it might. The next step is taking between 90 and 120 days, then the next step after that is unknown because there are new steps to take now before the travel approval is granted. Along with having China tell us that they are giving their pre approval of us as Ethan's family, this also means that we can now send our package to him, it has been in the hands of our agency for quite some time now, so I'm hopeful that it will go out to him today or tomorrow. It does take a bit of time to get to China, I can't remember exactly how long, but I would think no more than two weeks. Finally, this little guy will finally know that HE has a family, he's been waiting seven long years, watching babies come, and babies go, and some babies growing up a bit and going, and he still remains, but not for much longer, very soon, it will he his turn............

This and That...and Logged in Date for our Dossier

2009-03-26T20:53:00.002-04:00

Finally, a logged in date for our dossier. So, what that means is that our agency has confirmed that our collection of paperwork required to adopt a child from China has been received by the powers that be in China. As soon as our agency confirmed this today, they sent our Letter of Intent to adopt Chun Hong. Now we wait for pre approval, this can take from two to four weeks to receive. As soon as we receive this our agency will send the package to Ethan that we sent to WACAP more than a month ago, this will be the first that he will know he has a family. In case anyone is interested our logged in date was 03/18. This date becomes important, more or less, when we start to see others with a date right before ours getting through the next step, it lets us know that we are getting closer. There are SO MANY more steps, new procedures, etc., that make this a much more complicated process than we have experienced before. In the end, of course it is all worth it, and really nothing to complain about compared to being a little guy waiting for seven years for a family.....so, onward we march.....

Another post and photos coming soon.....

Happy Birthdy Mia Linay WenJia

2009-03-13T19:49:00.004-04:00

I can hardly believe that our baby girl is six years old!!!!!! I looked at all the photos of our trip to China to bring her home, it brought tears to my eyes. That beautiful baby has turned into a beautiful little girl. She is so smart, so funny, so girly and we all just love her like there is no tomorrow. I could go on and on about her and how much we love her, but no matter how many words I write, it will never do justice to what she means to us. Happy Birthday Baby Girl.............

DOSSIER TO CHINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-27T18:24:00.002-05:00

We just received the call from Linda at WACAP, our dossier is on it's way to China today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!! Once our agency has the date that our dossier was logged in, they will send our Letter of Intent to the CCAA telling them that we want to be the parents of Chun Hong. Once the CCAA sends back a pre-approval, we can then send a package and a letter to our boy letting him know that he too has a family! Then the wait for the Letter of Acceptance, and then the Travel Approval begins......

I think I am a little bit in shock.........with each adoption the process of doing the paperwork to bring a child home is a little different. I am finding it a little unbelievable that before July I thought this would never be a possibility, and now here we are, officially waiting for China to give us the go ahead to travel.

I have to admit that if anyone had told me prior to a few years ago that in the near future we would be waiting to bring a 7 year old boy home, I would have thought they were a bit crazy. I know there are so many unknowns with how a child will adjust and bond, and we absolutely must be prepared for issues, but I just know in my heart that God is preparing Ethan Paul Chun Hong's heart for us, He has already prepared my heart for him. I would appreciate prayers for our son, that he finds a peace in his heart with all the changes that are about to occur in his life, and for us that we know how to make these huge changes for him as easy as possible.

SERIOUS, AND I MEAN SERIOUS............BRAG ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-21T21:30:00.003-05:00

Last week I received a call from the guidance counselor. He was calling to give parents the news about student ranking for the graduating class of 2009. He was pleased to inform us that our son Chris is the number one student, he is in fact the Valedictorian of his class!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There really are no words to express how proud we are of Chris. He has worked so very hard to become as successful as he has in school. I really have never seen anyone put in as many hours as he has doing homework and required projects as he has. I know he has made sacrifices. I also know those sacrifices are going to pay off for him in a big way in the future. We are so anxious for him to have the opportunity to go to the college of his choice, and that college will now be a four year full tuition scholarship, meet many new friends and create a life for himself that is full of rewards and accomplishments, both personally and professionally. Chris is one of the nicest kids I have ever known, and I'm not just saying that because he is our son, he really is an amazing person. So, CONGRATULATIONS Chris!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We love you to pieces!

Chinese New Year

2009-02-04T19:19:00.006-05:00

This past Saturday night was the annual Chinese New Year celebration that the Corning Chinese Association has each year. This year some of the children from our local FCC group had dance classes and learned a Chinese dance so they could perform. I have a video I'm going to try to put on this site, and some still photos. In the video, Mia is on the far left, then Tyler is third, and Meisi is the fourth from the left. About halfway through you'll see them all move to different spots. The video is much better on our movie maker software, but when I moved it to a place where it can be copied, it lost some of it's quality, but you'll be able to get the drift of the dance. Their outfits were made by some of the moms in the group, and the dance instructor and they were so cute, even though at first I was a little confused because the top looked like a halter top to me and I didn't think it was meant for Tyler. I was assured it was a Chinese traditional costume worn by both boys and girls, and I have to admit, Tyler did look quite cute :-). Make sure you go to the bottom of the page and pause the music player so you can hear the music in the video.......Oh, in the video, at the end the kids have a Chinese phrase to say, but someone starts the music over again, you'll see Meisi giving them the "cut the music" sign with her arms...too cute, and Tyler is the one hopping off the stage at the end. I know ever mom thinks this, but I think my babies are just the cutest!!!!

BBBBBIIIIIIIGGGGGGGG NNNNNEEEEWWWWWSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

2009-02-02T18:44:00.002-05:00

Oh My Goodness!!!!!!!!! I came home today to find we are the proud recipients of one I797C Approval from the USCIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am still in shock, we are on day 47 of what we thought would be a 90 day wait. I heard last week that the time to wait had gone to 70 to 75 days, then come home and there it is. Did I mention I am in TOTAL SHOCK!!! We could possibly be DTC by mid February or shortly after!!! One month ahead of what I had dared hope for.

So, once our dossier goes to China, we will have our Letter of Intent ready to send after China lets our agency know our logged in date. Then we hope for a quick pre-approval, and THEN we can finally send our little guy a package and he will know that HE has a family, after 7 years of no mommy and no daddy, he will know he will be going home with his family. After the Pre Approval, then we wait for the Letter of Acceptance, which we need to sign and send back saying that we accept Chun Hong as our son. Then, about a month later we will receive Travel Approval. WE are so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stuff....

2009-01-18T20:08:00.003-05:00

Mia's face is looking much better, still a few brush burn looking marks on her nose, under her eye and a little bit on her forehead. I'm hoping she is all healed by the end of the month when they are dancing at the Chinese New Year celebration.

We did end up making only one trip to Syracuse at the end of last week, they fingerprinted all three of us, so we did not have to reschedule our appointments. So now we just sit and wait for two more months for our approval, we HOPE and PRAY it is only two more months. If everything is okay with our homestudy, then it will only be two more months, if something needs to be changed or corrected, then it could be longer.

Please go to http://aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com/ scroll down to URGENT IMMEDIATE PRAYER NEEDED to begin reading what has been happening to this wonderful family in the past few days. If you feel you're having a bad day, or a bad week, you'll count your many blessings! I know I have been doing just that!

Last Night....Tonight

2009-01-13T16:24:00.004-05:00

This was Mia in her doctor/nurse outfit that was one of her Christmas gifts. Wouldn't she make the cutest doctor or nurse????

And this is how Mia looks tonight after falling on the sidewalk going to the bus this afternoon to come home from school. I was at work and received a call from the school nurse that Mia had fallen, had abrasions and cuts on her face and her eye would likely swell up. She and Tyler were in the nurse's office so I ran from work to go pick them up. To top it all off, Mia has a cold so her eyes are a bit runny too, poor baby girl!

I just thought this was quite the contrast, last night she was the doctor, tonight she is the patient!

Kyle's Newest Artwork

2009-01-11T09:39:00.002-05:00

Here is a painting that Kyle did after Christmas. We gave him a lot of art supplies for Christmas, as you can see he has put them to good use already! I think this is very impressive!

I Love My Husband!

2009-01-11T09:17:00.002-05:00

As we were sitting have our morning coffee for him, cappuccino for me, he started telling me about something someone said to him recently, and his response. First, let me say, once again because I know I've said this many times before, he LOVES all our kids, however, he would not be the one to start a conversation with the words.....*I think we should bring another child home*. Finances are one of the things we talk about when deciding to bring one more child to our family. So, he told me this morning about this conversation he had with someone.....The person asked him how the family was, how the little ones were doing, and now, how many little ones do you have? He told them they are all doing great, we have three little ones, and soon to have four little ones. I am guessing this person was a little shocked and questioned him about how we intend to put them all through college. His response, and this is one of the MANY reasons why I just love him, was that we can't really afford to put any of our children through college entirely, but they all have the opportunity to go if they want to, and (this is the part I really loved) the little ones would not have had any opportunities if they remained where they were, but now they have all the opportunities to do whatever they want to do here, if they want to do it badly enough, they'll find a way, and we can help. I thought that was such a great answer.
And here is one more thing that was said to Tom that was just so funny. The other day he was at the store and ran into a guy he went to school with, they had not seen each other in many years. So, the guy is asking Tom about how he was, he noticed that he was wearing a wedding ring, so he must be married. Tom proceeds to tell him that yes, happily married with seven, soon to be eight kids, five kids still at home, one going to college, and another little one coming home. They guys says "Wow, you must drink a lot of beer!" Okay, now that is the funniest thing I've heard in a long time! Tom said, Um, no, I don't drink a lot of beer. Too funny!

Jeepers Creepers Where'd Ya Get Those Peepers....

2009-01-10T19:16:00.006-05:00

Have you ever seen eyes that big on such a little baby girl???? Sorry to brag, but isn't our grandbaby the most beautifullest baby ever???? Did I mention she has her meme's temper???? Oh, yeah, it's not like it skipped a generation either, her daddy has been known to throw a tantrum or two in his lifetime :-).

When did this happen???? When did my first baby get old enough to be 31 years old????? Wasn't *I* just 31 myself?????? I remember so well the day this son of mine was born. I had waited very impatiently for this baby, I wanted to hold him and never let him go. I was young and had no idea what being a mom was all about. Some things I did well, others have been a learning process since then. I guess that's true of many of us as parents. Despite my shortcomings as a parent, my grown children have become the men that I wished them to be. I could go on and on about all the things that I think are just great about them, but I guess that would be embarrassing for them. The thing I have learned is that no matter how old my boys become, they are and will always be my babies. So, Happy Birthday Richie!!!!!

Important Dates....

2009-01-05T18:36:00.005-05:00

When you have seven, soon to be eight, children, a daughter in law, four grandchildren, moms, dads, etc., it gets a little hard to remember all the important dates!!! Especially when three of those seven children are adopted, and there are referral days to celebrate, gotcha days to celebrate, and adoption days to celebrate. It's a little different than birth children, we celebrate the day they were born, and that's it. We don't celebrate the day they were conceived, or the day they went home from the hospital. It's not that those dates aren't just as important, but in the adoption world, it's known that all those days that go along with adopting a child, are reason to acknowledge and celebrate. We don't celebrate those referral anniversaries, or gotcha day anniversaries, or adoption day anniversaries in our family. It's too much when it's times three...but, don't think I don't remember and talk about each of those days when they roll around on the calendar, and feel the amazement of how blessed we are. Just like I remember important dates in the lives of our birth children. And when the children are grown and have families and homes of their own, I don't mention when it is their birthday, but maybe I should, just not sure about that. So, in thinking about all this, maybe I should be wishing my grown children happy birthday right here on this blog, so they know that they mean just as much to me as any of my children, even though they are grown. So, on December 23rd, I would have said.......Happy Birthday Ashley!!!!! It's hard to believe that 28 years ago you were my baby boy!!!! I could say that you were a well-behaved, calm, easy little boy that never caused me one moment of stress, but then, why tell fibs......HA! Even though you are probably responsible for at least half of any gray hair I might have, I love you to pieces, and I'm very proud of you and the man/husband/father you have become. (We all know who is responsible for the other half of the gray hair, and his big day is coming soon :-)

So, that brings me to the other special day that had me deep in thought and remembrance a few weeks ago. The day we met our first baby girl. Oh my, what a day it was! It was a long wait, with many uncertainties since it was our first adoption, but in the end, it was all worth the wait and stress of waiting. For a very long, long time, I would have never dreamed that *I* would be blessed with a daughter, especially not *this* daughter. Mia is our princess, she can't help it, she just is. She can occupy herself for hours, playing with the tiniest of a toy, using her great imagination to make this little toy something to talk to for hours. She is sensitive, quick to get her feelings hurt, and just as quick to smile her huge beautiful smile and tell those around her that she loves them. Watching her daddy love her brings me such joy and can bring tears to my eyes, making some of the hurt fade from not having that special father/daughter bond myself. So, November 18th, 2003, referral day, December 16th, 2003, gotcha day and adoption day, will forever be etched in our memories. We love you baby girl.

Happy New Year and 2 More Fingerprint Appointments

2009-01-04T18:49:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!! We are all looking forward to this new year, which promises to bring many changes in our lives. We are hoping that the economy makes a great turnaround so people will not be worrying about losing jobs and losing homes.......I am hoping that people find a new Faith in God, or have their Faith renewed and strengthened.......We look forward to having our paperwork sent to China so our new son can come home, and we look forward to spending time with all our children and grandchildren this coming year. We have a son graduating high school and heading off to college, at the same time we will have a son attending his first year of school in the United States. I am excited about this New Year!

We did get our other two fingerprint appointment cards the day after the first one came. They were scheduled for the next day, so we are all going to go at the same time, take our letters and hope they will do all three the same day instead of having us make the two hour drive two days in a row.

I am not one to make New Year resolutions, but I have been thinking about goals I would like to set, and meet, this New Year....I'll let you know next year how I did :-).

Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday and ONE fingerprint appointment!!!

2008-12-27T11:08:00.006-05:00

It was a Very Merry Christmas!!!! I think Tyler was up at 6:30 or so, then one by one the rest of the kids appeared to have breakfast. Everyone enjoyed opening gifts, and having less gifts to open this year didn't seem to be an issue.

A few days before Christmas Kyle went out to build a snowman, I'll post a picture of it, just keep in mind that Kyle is almost 6 feet tall, so you can see this is a giant snowman!

The day after Christmas our Meisi girl turned 7 years old!!!! It's hard to believe that it's been more than three years since I met our beautiful little girl in China, she was a little more than three and a half years old. She is such a happy, bright, funny, smart, beautiful, artistic girl and we feel so blessed to have her as our child. She loves horses and as soon as she is old enough to take care of one, we have promised her a real horse, but until then, she is happy to have a big stuffed horse and all the riding gear to go with it! As you can see, she is a big fan of Tom and Jerry and her Grammie made her cake with her two favorite characters. Happy Birthday Meisi!!!!!

Oh yes, one last thing, we received ONE fingerprint appointment notice from the INS yesterday! Where in the world are the other two??? I hope they do not send us three seperate appointments, it is a two hour drive to get them done, so I'm hoping that we can all go together. I was surprised to get the fingerprint appointment letter so soon, I was not expecting it for a few more weeks. The appointment is for January 15th, so that is about four weeks after they received our application. I have been praying for things to speed up at the INS, it would be nice to have a surprise approval!

Tis the Season.....

2008-12-19T17:02:00.011-05:00

To be sick and grumpy :-). But, that's all behind us now, I hope. Time certainly does fly, I thought I just posted on here, then look and see it's been two weeks! So, a little catch up here.....a good thing to report is that we received the receipt from INS! The next step is to wait for the letter to come giving us a fingerprint appointment, probably in about a month or so, we will then drive to Syracuse to the INS office to be fingerprinted. After that, about two more months to wait and then we hopefully will receive our approval. I did receive new photos of Ethan, but I cannot share them here until we have our pre approval. I can tell you that he is so darned cute, what a smile. We also were given updated measurements for him, he is 42.1 inches tall and weighs 30.8 pounds, and he is almost seven years old! He is teeny tiny! I
CANNOT wait to be able to send him a photo album so he knows that it is HIS turn, HE has a family of his OWN!!!!!

Another thing that has been going on is my husband has been hard at work on projects around the house. A year ago he installed a fireplace in our livingroom, and intended to put stone around it this year. But, I knew this was not the time to invest a ton of money, and time, into a big stone fireplace surround, so I decided to look on the internet to see if I could find something I liked that was not too expensive. I did find something that I really liked, and Tom said he could do that for me. So, instead of going away for our anniversary, he went to buy the lumber and a granite hearth and did the fireplace in about a weekend! Here is the finished product:

This past week was not the best week for me. I had to make a two hour drive each way to go to a new program training Monday through Thursday. I could have stayed close by in a hotel, but due to the fact that it is the week before Christmas I opted to commute instead. Tuesday night was the Christmas Concert for Meisi, Mia and Tyler at school and I didn't want to miss that. I am not a person that enjoys driving a lot, especially through rush hour bumper to bumper traffic through three small cities! And, the weather was not the best, freezing rain, snow, rain, darkness......and I can't believe I'm admitting this, but I don't like to drive after dark....Yes, I have turned into an elderly person, if I need to go incognito, I can just put my big sunglasses on we older people get when we have our cataracs removed....are you picturing it????? Anyways, back to my week, it made for a grumpy, grouchy, cry at the drop of a hat week for me, but like I said, it's all behind me now! Smooth sailing into Christmas week, and a White Christmas it will be as we have about 8 or 9 inches of new snow today with more on the way for Sunday, Monday and again Christmas Eve.

Here are photos of our Christmas tree, and our little elves after their Christmas concert....

Good Nerws Times Two....

2008-12-05T19:32:00.003-05:00

Can I get a Halleluja!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our application was sent to the INS yesterday, with approved homestudy in tow!!!!!!!!! We have officially been moved to the China program with our agency, the on hold documents are in the mail to us, which means that Ethan's file will be removed from WACAP's waiting child list. What happens from this point forward is that we will receive an appointment to be fingerprinted at the INS office in Syracuse, hopefully in about a month, sometime in the next few months we will be assigned a worker at the National Benefits Center and then some time later we will receive the approval we need from the INS to bring Ethan home. Once we have that approval our agency will get the document processed, add it to our completed dossier and send it off to the CCAA in China. Once they have a logged in date, we will send a Letter of Intent to adopt Chun Hong, then hopefully receive pre approval, then Letter of Confirmation to sign and return to the CCAA, then Travel Approval. All sounds simple enough, right??? All this will take a very long time, travel will be some time next year, maybe mid summer, we hope. Well, we hope for sooner, but I don't think so.

And now for the second part of the good news.........Chris has been accepted at Elmira College with a Salutatorian Scholarship, which amounts to 3/4 of the tuition being paid for four years!!!!!!!!!!!! To say we are proud of him is an understatement!!! He has worked so hard, he is a very gifted student, but he does put A LOT of time and effort into getting the grades he receives. Elmira College is a very good private college, and it is only 25 miles away from home, and work in Elmira, so he won't be too far away, but yet on his own. He has one other school to hear back from, so no final decision made yet, but I think Elmira is in first place right now!