It's A Wonderful Life

This is Ressa, the eighteen year old daughter.  I have to know how to blog for a Technology Skills Assessment at BYU so I figured I could learn by doing a post for my mom.  She thought it was a great idea because she doesn't have to feel guilty for not updating!      People often ask us what Christmas is like at our house and today is your lucky day because you get to hear all about it.  Christmas weekend was crazy, but it was a blast!  Christmas Eve started off with getting ready for our new family picture.  This picture's the best we could get in the midst of a crazy day. Our family changes so often that doing occassional snapshots in our living room is much more reasonable than getting professionals done every year...or sometimes even twice a year.  After taking this picture, we ran last minute errands, ate a very yummy Christmas dinner, and opened new pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa.  We read Christmas stories and then everyone slept (or attempted to sleep) in our family r

Sitting in a restaurant after the finalization for Olivia, Clayson got Hot Chocolate.  Clayson, "Mom, this is still too hot!" Me, "Do you want some of my ice?" Clayson, "Is it warm ice or cold ice?" In the same restaurant, which happened to be all you can eat, so there were A LOT of gray haired people. Emma very loudly says. "Grandma Dead!" Her grandma died a year ago and still thinks about it. OK, Casey has had a couple of good ones lately but these two are the best. We were watching a special on some orphans in Uganda.  These kids were between 6 and 11 years old and cute as can be.  For those that don't know, Casey is black and so were these children. Close to the end of the program Casey says, "It's hard to tell them apart, they all look the same." I was getting ready to go pick up a friend about 30 minutes away.  I was looking forward to the drive down without children that could talk to me. Just my ow

I just came across this video yesterday and it helped to clear up some thoughts that I have had.  There are times when I have wondered if it wouldn't have been better for one of my children to have stayed in the orphanage.  This child has suffered so much and if they had stayed there these things would not have happened. I know it would not have been the ideal but maybe better than what they have been through.  I have to trust God that what He puts into place is always the best thing for each individual. So that means that no matter how difficult the challenge this chain of events will serve them best throughout their life. Watching this video has helped me to see that in the long run what all children need is love no matter the road to get there. A little background on the video: The girl in the video clip was adopted days before she turned 14 this past April. To know what she is talking about you need to know that she has severe scoliosis.  Her mother was preparing some thing

OK, today was one of those days for me.  At 3:30 I very calmly said "everyone needs to clean the kitchen and family room."  Then I walked out.  On the way to my room to lay down to pull myself together Bria wanted to be held. I just needed some time alone but that doesn't ever happen right now. I put her on the bed and laid down.  Bria sat and stared at me while I closed my eyes.  I finally told her she could go play and she took the bait. I just laid there for a while longer before I got up. I had a lot of things to do that didn't get done because of other circumstances today, including going shopping.  We have food but I had no idea how to put it together to make it tasty. I made pancakes and sat the kids down to eat while I finished cooking.  I usually try to finish cooking before feeding the kids but I just wanted it done.  While cooking Pierce got up and told me to go eat.  He is very in tune with my needs and thoughtful.  I was close to being done so I told hi

Hyrum was one of the lucky children in China to be supported by a fantastic group called Love Without Boundaries.  This organization does everything from medical intervention for orphans to supporting with food, clothes and supplying foster care.  Along with that support also comes advocating for the children that are available for adoption.  It is through their blog that I learned about Hyrum.  When we got back from China I requested any information or pictures they had of him as he grew.  Just a couple of weeks ago I was asked to write an update on Hyrum. I was happy to do whatever they asked of me.  I don't have a lot of time or brain power to write well but I figures someone would edit for me.  Thank heavens that a great lady Barbara is more talented than me because she cleaned up what I had sent her and published it on the LWB blog. It occurred to me yesterday that my little boy was going to be a star.  How cool is that?!  Here is the link to the LWB post if you are interest

We finally got a court date for Olivia's finalization!  It has felt like such a long wait.  We were hoping to have it done the end of October but that is not how people work.  The more people in a process the slower it goes.  But we finally conquered.  We meet the judge Friday December 9th at 9:00am.  We are going to take Olivia out and buy her a new outfit then the day of finalization we will go out to eat.  We gave her the choice of what she wanted to do to celebrate and she chose to go to Chuck-A-Rama.  She is so excited.  We get notes all the time about how much she loves us and how much she loves the family.  I am so grateful for this.  One day she will believe how wonderful she is and feel like she deserves happiness. The nightmares are coming very frequently now.  It is clear where her fears lie as she tells us her dreams. I hope that these will come to a stop fairly soon after all the legal work is done.  She deserves to feel safe and secure. We decorated the Christmas

It seems that most of the time I sit down to write a blog post these days I don't know where to start.  Life, or children, have got me going so many mental and emotional directions that I can't stop to organize my thoughts.  So I guess I will just ramble a little about the goings on in our home the last few weeks. We had our first post placement for Hyrum and Bria and the final post placement for our Olivia.  We sent all the paperwork in to China and got that off my plate.  I don't know who thought that there would be anything substantial to write in a post placement after being home for 30 days.  I can tell though that whoever it was had no idea what it is like to bring a new child into the family that doesn't know the culture, proper behaviors, language or have normal attachments.  If they did they would have asked for the first visit and paperwork to be done no earlier than 6 months.  I really thought that we were done with paperwork when we picked up our children.

OK, I realized it has been a while but I didn't realize how long it's been since we posted. Life around here has gotten extremely busy. We have had 7 doctor appointments in under two weeks with two more next week.  That will make 9 appointments or procedures in 15 days.  We already have one surgery scheduled for the beginning of January to separate Bria's little fingers and clean up one hand and foot.  Our next appointment we will get the results of both children's MRI's.  Hopefully we will get a full feel of what is going on and know where to start.  We found out that Hyrum has another special need.  Because of this the MRI was a great blessing in knowing where he stands physically. We owe so much to Shriner's Hospital. They got Bria in to see the doctor within a week and while there for Bria's club foot I mentioned the new info we found out about Hyrum.  I asked a couple of questions knowing they would have better info than I could get off the Internet

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