It's A Wonderful Life

Wow, I had no idea how easy I had it before these new children came home.  I had a 5 year old as my youngest and didn't realize that I had some freedom.  I could choose to clean the house or do laundry.  I could make my bed in the morning.  I could even shower before 1:00pm.  I have been thrown back into the land of the young mother.  This brings back so many memories and a new understanding of what I have been through in the past.  I remember the days that dragged into months of holding a child and another one needing me so I picked them up with one hand and held two children at once. The times of sitting in the rocking chair with two children on my lap and the neighbor showing up.  Of course my house was a disaster just like now.  The times when there were toys strewn all over the house and dishes on the table from breakfast long after lunch was served.  The days of dirty faces and sticky hands all over the place.  Mirrors slimmed with soap from children playing on the counter

While we were waiting for our last flight in LA from China, with some very tired children, Bria began to cry and couldn't be consoled.  Doug started walking around with her but it didn't help so we picked up our stuff and tried to find a new location that would distract her.  We went down the elevator and as I was getting our things situated Doug felt something warm on his stomach.  I looked around and saw something dripping from the bottom of the front pack. Yep, Bria wet his pants!  Ressa came home for the weekend and we pulled out the ice cream.  It takes a special occasion to have ice cream at our house. She served up a very small portion for Hyrum and a good sized one for herself.  They sat down to eat and Ressa tried to give Hyrum a bite.  He didn't want it.  He wanted a bite out of her bowl.  It didn't take too long for him to make it clear that he wanted her bowl not his. Thinking it was the color of the bowl that was the problem I took Ressa's ice cream

Names have been changed to protect the innocent, or not so innocent.   This story had to be saved and enjoyed. One day when they are 18 they will laugh and laugh at this and so will we. Any mother of a child of significant age will know the joys of a tantrum.  Well, it's been quite a while since we have had one because of the ages of children we have, until recently.  Since being home from China we have been able to enjoy many a tantrum from the newest additions.  Today we had some backtracking by one of the older kids, no it was not Ressa.  We got the best tantrum, EVER! One of the children was having a hard time with something another child was doing. They decided to take action and began hitting and being mean to the second child.  Second child came to me to let me know of the injustice.  Well, of course I want to know about this kind of behavior. Child 2 "Mom they are hitting me and being mean because, (who knows, I didn't get that far)." Me to child 1 &qu

I hadn't planned on posting today but after seeing a story on the Internet I just couldn't hold it in. Go to this link and read. http://www.ksl.com/?nid=235&sid=17754365&title=chinese-toddler-ignored-after-hit-and-run-dies For those that don't have time to read this the story is about a toddler in Foshan City, China that wandered out into the street and got hit not just once but twice by cars.  Neither driver stopped and 18 people passed by a bleeding 2 year old either not noticing or not caring, one of the two.  This story was very disturbing because we were just there and it would have happened about the same time we left.  Our Hyrum was cared for in that city for the first 4 years of his life.  While in China I was unsettled by some things.  It was bothersome that people in general didn't take turns, wait in lines, follow traffic lights or even smile at someone that smiles at them.  While in China, we as westerners were always the last one on the train,

This is Sereen again. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how amazing my mom is and convince you why she's not only a hero to me but to many people around her. That's why I will just ask you to do me a favor. Wednesday night my mom's cousin Alice nominated her to be Allstate's "Hero Mom." The winner will receive $2,500. To win my mom would have to receive the most votes. Which means we need as many people as possible to visit this link   and select "vote" next to the story posted by Alice of "I'm so funny (sometimes)" about DeAnne. You can vote once a day until November 4th. My mom is currently in second place but needs about 300 more votes to catch up with the first place. Your vote will count! you can also spread the word by inviting your friends to this facebook group . Thanks for all of your support I know it means a lot to me and my mom. Just to illustrate how big of a heart my mom has: Alice nominated her thinking my f

I have known of many people that get sick when they travel to pick up kids so I brought an arsenal of meds just in case. I didn't need any of them but as soon as we got home Bria started in with the flue. At first I wasn't sure that's what it was. She was cranky and sullen, wouldn't eat and started to have diarrhea. All signs of transition. One night she started to act like she was going to throw up. Soon after the fever came. We didn't get much sleep and she felt miserable. After 4 days of off and on symptoms she pulled out of it. Then I came down with it. Unlike children though moms can't just stop and lie around and cry when they want something. It would be nice though. Many others in the family have sore throats and are getting head colds. This too came from Bria. She has had a runny nose since we first got her. I thought it ran its course in China but we still are wiping her nose once or twice a day. Bria is showing signs of some progress and will willing

We finally made it home after being awake for 39 hours.  Doug and I didn't sleep more than an hour and the kids were going on 4 hours of sleep.  Bria was very emotional and cried at everything but Hyrum was his happy self and made friends with all the stewardesses and other waiting passengers. While in the LA airport waiting Bria fell asleep.  She woke up crying and Doug walked around trying to get her to calm down.  It didn't work so we decided to walk to the next terminal. All of a sudden Doug felt something warm on his belly.  Pretty soon he was wet all down the front of his pants and there was a puddle on the floor.  It was so funny.  He looked like he had wet his pants.  We had the suitcases at this point so he was able to change his pants. This morning when the kids woke up everyone was waiting at the door.  The four of us slept utill about 10:00am after getting to sleep at 3:00am.  It took no time at all for Bria and Hyrum to warm up to all the other children.  They

As unreal as it seemed that we were leaving for China a few weeks ago, it now seems unreal that we are actually coming home.  This has been quite a journey - geographically and emotionally.  For our last meal in China we opted for Pizza Hut.  Before coming to China, we were very anxious to try authentic Chinese quisine.  Now that we have been here, we are quite content with the Americanized Chinese quisine.  Monday we went to a restaurant called "O, La La".  Kind of funny since Chinese people can't pronounce "L" very well.  We asked our guide to tell us the name of the restaurant and she pronounced it very well.  Nothing like the O, Ra Ra we could have expected.  The menu was full of weird stuff - pig lung, turtle, chicken platters with everything but the cluck, eel, pigs feet, cow tongue, turtle, etc.  We wanted to buy a menu from them just to bring home.  After looking at the menu, Deanne and I both thought we would be stopping by McDonalds on the way back to

You ask how TB and shopping go together.  Well, in the adoption world passing the TB test is a must to immigrate to the US.  If you fail then a chest x-ray is done and medicine is administered. It just so happens that on the island where the test is given there is also some good shopping.  We went early this morning to read the results of the TB test on the children.  All is well and we will be coming home.  Yippeeee!! After we got done at the Medical Clinic we were taken to a government run store.  At these stores the guides get commission on all sales they generate.  Not only that the prices are very high.  We bought a couple of things and got out of there.  As stated by one of our group the sales people are worse than car salesmen.  They breath down your neck and insist on you buying things. When you say no they act as though you have just offended them.  They have many reasons why you must buy an item. It was ridiculous. We were very glad to get out of there. We then went back

Today was a quiet day.  The Branch here in Guangzhou had their conference weekend so we spent some time watching conference.  We tried last week but had a lot of problems with the streaming.  It took about 2 hours to watch 2 talks.  They were great talks but it loses some of the impact while you anxiously wait for the next 10 words.  Today was great.   We had a rough start but were able eventually to watch a whole session without any problems.  I can't say enough how much I love conference.  It is my boost and reminder of why I do what I do.  Today I was reminded again the importance of choosing the Lord's way and the happiness it will bring. We got a few very cute pictures of the kids.  We saw some very good progress with Bria.  She began to try and interact with me and teased me several times.  At bed time we had prayer and they both were very quite.  I think they know what it is and the importance of talking with our Father in Heaven.  We laid them both down and I kissed H