It's A Wonderful Life

It seems that life continues to get busier and busier. Just when I think I can't fit anything more in my life something or things come up. I'm not complaining. Our life is filled with good things but even good things take time. The miracle of it all is that we seem to be staying on top of most things and getting more accomplished than expected. I take no credit for the ability to get more done. I know we are experiencing miracles and receiving help in our efforts. God is so good and when he asks us to do things he always gives us the ability to accomplish His work. Doug and I felt prompted last fall to reduce and simplify our lives. Funny that the act of reducing and simplifying actually complicates life for a while but it is so freeing to let go of things of this world. I got a small start cleaning out the house and sorting through things when our schedule for practices and performances for the production Savior of the World combined with the holidays took my extra time. Wh

Well......Where do I start after more than a month of not blogging. At a different phase of our life I would have been hard pressed to come up with something to write about but what we pack in over a months period of time some days feels like a years worth of life. I'll start with a quick recap of Simon and his heart. Simon went in for an MRI and 3D echo. The poor child was completely traumatized by just putting the hospital gown on! We waited quite a while to be brought down for the MRI so it became quite a trick keeping him occupied and not in hysterics. I mistakenly thought I could handle this procedure on my own and had Doug go to work. The panic set in as I watched Simon scream just before he went to sleep. I had to walk out of the hospital and called Doug. He answered and I said "You need to talk to me!".  With tears streaming down my face I began shaking so bad that I had to get off the phone. I had no idea I would react that way. The trauma of losing Gideon is

We took Simon into the Pediatrician and Cardiologist. They both had similar things to say about Simon's overall health. "He looks really good." I can't tell you how nice it is to hear that about your new child and especially one that could follow in the footsteps of two of his brothers and have a very short life. The Pediatrician did an overall check and ran some blood tests. We still don't have any news on the blood work but I would assume this doctor would call if there was an issue. Simon is in the 3rd percentile in weight and 10th in height. We haven't seen any weight gain in the 5 weeks we've had him despite offering high fat junk food. If he eats, it's just a couple bites or some kind of cookie or candy. Slow growth and weight issues with no appetite are part of the heart problem so we aren't surprised at Simon's eating habits. Our Cardiologist is awesome! He isn't just a good doctor but he is a good friend and encourages and sup

Our 16 year old son, Pierce, has been getting into photography - inspired by our oldest son, Tyler, who is a very talented shutter bug and is good enough that he is starting to get paid gigs.  Anyway, about 10:00 PM a few nights ago, Pierce grabbed the camera and tripod and headed outside.   We had just been discussing increasing our efforts to get the kids in bed earlier, so this late night photo activity seemed to be a violation of our newly determined bed time.  With a little bit of frustration in my voice and probably on my face,  I questioned Pierce about what he was doing.  He just gave me his big "can't say no to me" grin and said, "It just rained and I wanted to get some good shots."  In photography, timing is everything, so I let him proceed.  He didn't tell us what he was planning to get "good shots" of.  So of course when he came back in and posted these photos of Gideon's tree on his facebook page, I had a generous helping of dad&

We've been home for a day now. Simon really likes playing with his big brothers and sisters. He has his own entourage at his beck and call. I had to seek him out a few times so he knew I was still here. Not that he cared but it's necessary for his adjustment. I laid on the floor by him while he played with the trains and he laid down on me. I was shocked!! It lasted about 15 seconds and abruptly ended. I would love to say that he wants to accept me and love me but that's not where he is at yet. He is still angry at me because I am trying to replace his nannies at the orphanage. Simon spent the day wandering the house and discovering new things. He played trains quite a bit of the time and played outside. He is going to love the bikes. He was intrigued by the trampoline but didn't last too long. Niya was on the tramp with him and noticed that after just a couple of minutes he was breathing hard and climbed down. He is fairly good at slowing down when needed but not

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty busy days. Wednesday started early so we could get everything in that Hannah wanted to do. We didn't end up accomplishing as much as we would have liked.  We spent some time on Beijing Road. It is a shopping area that also historical value. In the middle of the road are large rectangles in the ground covered with glass. You can see different layers of the road that date back as far as 900 BC. It is very interesting to see the types of road used and to recognize how old and continuous this civilization is. We didn't get any pictures at Beijing road. We were a little preoccupied at the time. Later that evening we went on a riverboat cruise down the Pearl River. We haven't heard great things about the cruises especially the food served so we have never done it. Doug really wanted to go on our other trips but because of finances, a stingy wife and a sick child we hadn't done it yet. Our guide isn't a fan of the cruises either

We had an early morning appointment at the consulate last Tuesday in Guangzhou.  That is when we take the oath to confirm that all the information in our adoption paperwork is true and accurate.  Then there is an interview and a discussion to make sure we are aware of the special needs of the child so there are no surprises.   We had just heard the previous afternoon from some friends, the Whickers, at the safari park that the government computers were down and no appointments happened for the families who were scheduled for their consulate appointments on Monday.   We then bumped into our guide a little later and he told us the same news.  It looked grim for us to have our appointment the next morning, but he said we would go anyway and hope for the best. So the rest of the afternoon and evening we were contemplating all the options to change our airline tickets, extend our stay, let our older children know so they could arrange their schedules to continue watching the child