We are home!!

Finally,
We are back home! Em was certainly happy to see her Daddy and sister and brother! We took it easy this evening and just hung out as a family once again! We are all so used to just hanging out with each other I think it will be very difficult when Tim and I are in China for 2 weeks! We all like nothing better than to just be home!

Em is good, IV's are out, pressure bandages off...not too much drama there and life is slowly becoming normal. I think Em got a bit spoiled with me waiting on her since she is now ordering her sister to get her a glass of water...and tonight she did it, but tomorrow is a different story :-)

I think Em and I both are exhausted so I am off to bed pretty early on a friday night (and I even took a nap when we got home) We are officially free from Riley for 1 year so Em is happy although she did give the cardiologist who did the cath a hug good bye (she knows just how to charm her docs doesnt she??) It is so nice not to have this hanging over our heads anymore. Oh...and btw Emily admitted "It wasnt THAT bad"!!! What a breakthrough for her..LOL

Thank you again for all of your prayers and support through all of this, we are so grateful to all of you!

Blessings

Drama Queen and sleepless nights

Well the make up and movies didnt really happen last night. She was all sorts of tired and out of sorts for the most part. We got up today and she didnt sleep well last night for whatever reason. She is pretty grumpy and oh so dramatic, but we got our ECHO and Xray done...finally!

We are just biding our time here until we can leave and as you can see she has monopolized my computer most of the morning playing webkins! I can tell you haveing access to wireless internet has been wonderful!

We have a bit of drama still to come since she still has to get that pesky IV out and she is not happy about it. She also has a large pressure bandage on her Cath site that she insisted I take off (it is in her groin area and we have a *boy* nurse!!)So I will do that at home. The *Boy* nurse that we have isnt so used to female drama I can tell you!

We did see our cardiologist in the ECHO suite and he talked with us a while. Seems like her pressures in her Pulmonary arteries are showing about the same as they did in the Echo we had in June. The cath pressure are showing as quite a bit less. This was one of the reasons we did this cath so we now know that although we can consider the echo pressures as baseline, they are in reality lower than what they appear! Which is what we were hoping for. Also the monocusp valve is leaking which we knew, but he is still hopeful it will last 7-10 years before needing replaced. Since we had surgery when she was nine...that means not until she is 15-18 years old! I will take that....not in too much of a hurry to go through surgery again!

So we are waiting...Again, but hopefully will be heading home before lunch! Thank you all so very much for the prayers and emails and comments! We have just felt so uplifted by everyone! God is so VERY GOOD to us!!

Finally...The princess is ready for her photo shoot..

She would NOT allow any photos until after she go off of her oxygen. No memories of that lovely nasal canula I suppose...She is currently off of Oxygen, But her O2 sat is 93%. A little low, but we will hope that it will pop up as she is able to sit up.
Right now she is on flat bedrest for another...20 minutes! We are currently counting the minutes since the princess has to use the potty because the bedpan just isnt an option in her mind!

She has managed to keep down water and popsicles and is now ready for food since she hasnt eaten since dinner last night. However, due to past experience...her and I are having a disagreement....she wants chix nug and french fries (which I would most definately "see" again :-( and I want her to try soup, bananas, applesauce ect....not her cup of tea... We will see what happens!!

I should be seeing cardiology later this afternoon or tomorrow am and hopefully he will tell us not to come back until next year :-) I think that alone would make Ems day.

Thank you all so very much for your prayers..We have gotten tons of emails of encouragement and I cannnot express how incredible that feels! We are so loved and so very Blessed! God has healed our little girl yet again!!

Will post more later...
Coming up...Make overs and movies!!

Love,

Amy

we are done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yipeee!!!!

she is in recovery and doing well. God has blessed us so very much! They didnt end up putting stents in but did some forms of angioplasty. she wont let go of my hand so i will post more later!
please continue to pray for her healing. her body is having a bit of a time recooping and her vital signs are still a bit wacky! she is so happy 2 be done!!

I was in the Word while waiting and this verse came up to me

Matthew 15:28
Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

I am so very thankful!

love
amy

Hmmmmm...

Ok,
So here is what I have so far....

Eat a sausage egg mcmuffin (Mcdonalds is the fare of Riley hospital)
Blogged
People watched
texted my coworkers since why should they be working
read my email....twice!!


Oops gotta go...
She is done!!!

Waiting....

This is pretty much her idea of my picture taking this morning.....



Here you can make out a smile for ruining moms pictures...



Just a second too late for a full picture but you see some eyes LOL

Anyway, we are here, it took almost 3 hours but we made it safe and sound. Em actually did pretty well. She was whimpery but still able to joke with the doctors.

God is so very good. Thank you so much for all your prayers. I really have a feeling of peace now. Emily and I prayed for her protection and a quick recovery (she has a bday party she wants to go to on Fri :-) and I told her all of you reading are praying for her. What an awsome encouragement that is! I feel so very blessed and calm right now.

I am comfortable with the doctor who is performing the surgery and confident of him....(He is the head of the dept after all....) Emily even told me that she was scared but she knew she needed this. What a breakthrough for her! Now I am just in waiting mode. I have have my phone for txt, my ipod and my computer, various books to help pass the time. I am currently reading the Shack....Incredible book so far! I have been able to eat breakfast(which some of you know that is not likely to happen when we are here for surgeries!) It should take around 3-4 hours...give or take...
Please keep up your prayers and know that we are so grateful for them!

Blessings

tough day

We will be leaving tomorrow for Riley Hospital for Children.
As many of you know our daughter Emily has multiple congenital heart defects. She is scheduled for a cardiac catherization tomorrow am and is not a happy camper about it. We have done caths many times as well as 5 open heart surgeries from the times she was just days old. I am not sure that it is getting any easier with her age. She is able to understand more, but that is precisely the problem. She does know what is going to happen and isnt happy about it in the slightest! When we first talked about it several weeks ago she said "I dont want to do this, I have rights and you cant make me...I will just tell the doctors I wont let them do it and then I can go home" Talk about attitude. That is certainly what has helped her through this, but I am nervous about it now. We have talked about it and about how God gave her a "special heart" and we dont know why but how it is important to trust in Him. We have talked about how unfair it may be and how much she doesnt want to do it..(neither does Mommy) We have talked and talked and cried and talked and she says that she understands why she has to have it done now, and will do it but she is NOT happy about it. A coworker was sweet enough to bring us lots of samples of makeup (she is a mary kay consultant as well) so that we can do each others make up after the cath...she is excited about that...I am a bit scared :-) I rented her the new movie that she wants City of Ember. My mom brought over a new stuffed animal and candy. She got to pick pizza for dinner tonight. It is so hard to do this even though we have done it 14 times. Feel free to comment with any ideas to make it more fun for her

1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

This is really a struggle for me tonight. I would ask that any of you who are reading this pray for Emily as she undergoes her heart cath tomorrow, for The Lords protection over her and that He gives us both peace in our hearts about it.

I know that really she is His child and He has entrusted me to care for her for as long as she is on this earth. I just need help remembering it sometimes! :-)

Enough melancholy....Here is a pic of my girl just so you can have a face with your prayers.....


we will be posting updates here as tomorrow progresses!! We are scheduled to arrive at 7 am and we are first case barring any emergencies!
Thanks in advance for your prayers

retail therapy

I had lots of fun having a little retail therapy this past weekend! I had gotten an email from Oshkosh about a huge clearance sale and since Taylor and I didnt have anything going on.....

There were a lot of deals to be had at both Oshkosh as well as Carters outlet. Shirts for 2.99 and an additional 20% off! My kind of sale. The best part was that they have no time limit on their return policy as long as I keep the reciept. So Sammy now has some 2T, 3T and 4T clothes hanging in my closet! We will see which ones fit when we get to china :-)

The picture above I fell in love with for our special boy! It is a Gund Dragon backpack and I just thought it was adorable! His tummy has a zipper for a "secret" compartment. We are planning on taking it with us when we meet him and filling it with little goodies so maybe he wont be so scared!

CCAA is closed right now for Chinese New Year so things are at a standstill adoption wise, but I have been busy with applying for grants. We are praying for guidance for the ones who have the difficult job of making those decisions. How to choose who to help bring an orphan home would be so very difficult!

Taylor had a bit of good news this week

You might notice something different about her picture.....



After 2 1/2 years Taylor FINALLY got her braces off today! She was so very excited! She got all of her top braces off, but her bottom brackets are still on until next week! She is so happy to finally be done. I would be in massive amounts of trouble if I posted "before braces" pictures so I wont :-)

Blessings

Wordless Wednesday

Not Me Monday

Ok, This is a post of all of the things I didnt do...not me, no way! There is no way that I let my kids clean up the house while I got consumed by adoption blogs (AGAIN) Nope, not me....I also didnt tell Emily that if she cried again and she wasnt dying or bleeding she was grounded...That would be a horrible Mom of a drama queen. I didn't start cleaning out the basement and getting rid of all the little girl toys that my daughter has outgrown but wasn't willing to give up while she was away at a friends. I also didn't feed our rather large dog (aka jabba dog) scraps from the table because he definately didnt need them..No way. There was no way that I would have even thought of resusing the spoon that dropped on the floor that would be dirty right???

I didnt didnt stay up until 3am chatting with my husband then end up cranky the next morning since I needed more sleep. I didnt do any of those things Nope, not me... There is no way I went out with my sister in laws to a movie and dinner instead of making sure my son did his homework...which of course he didnt. I also didnt not spend my time catching up on my DVR shows instead of catching up on my laundry. There is no way I did all those things and no way I am going to do more of the same next week:-)

Chinese New Year

a>>China 101
Thought I would give everyone (myself included) a little lesson on the upcoming Chinese holiday..... Chinese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese Calendar The Chinese year 4707 begins on Jan. 26, 2009.
Chinese months are reckoned by the lunar calendar, with each month beginning on the darkest day. New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest. In China, people may take weeks of holiday from work to prepare for and celebrate the New Year.

An Obstinate Year
Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality. Those born in ox years tend to be painters, engineers, and architects. They are stable, fearless, obstinate, hard-working and friendly. Jack Nicholson, Jane Fonda, Walt Disney, and Anthony Hopkins were all born in the year of the ox.

Fireworks and Family Feasts
At Chinese New Year celebrations people wear red clothes, decorate with poems on red paper, and give children "lucky money" in red envelopes. Red symbolizes fire, which according to legend can drive away bad luck. The fireworks that shower the festivities are rooted in a similar ancient custom. Long ago, people in China lit bamboo stalks, believing that the crackling flames would frighten evil spirits.

The Lantern Festival
In China, the New Year is a time of family reunion. Family members gather at each other's homes for visits and shared meals, most significantly a feast on New Year's Eve. In the United States, however, many early Chinese immigrants arrived without their families, and found a sense of community through neighborhood associations instead. Today, many Chinese-American neighborhood associations host banquets and other New Year events.
The lantern festival is held on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Some of the lanterns may be works of art, painted with birds, animals, flowers, zodiac signs, and scenes from legend and history. People hang glowing lanterns in temples, and carry lanterns to an evening parade under the light of the full moon.

In many areas the highlight of the lantern festival is the dragon dance. The dragon—which might stretch a hundred feet long—is typically made of silk, paper, and bamboo. Traditionally the dragon is held aloft by young men who dance as they guide the colorful beast through the streets. In the United States, where the New Year is celebrated with a shortened schedule, the dragon dance always takes place on a weekend. In addition, many Chinese-American communities have added American parade elements such as marching bands and floats.
Information from: http://www.infoplease.com/

Wordless Wednesday

What a WICKED weekend

Over the hills and through a snowstorm to grandfathers house Emily goes.....

Emily recieved a different kind of birthday prestent this year. She got a playbill in her card for the broadway play Wicked. She got to go to Chicago and see this wonderful play this weekend. She was so very excited to have Grandmom and Granddad all too herself, not to mention the play. It has been weird not to have her home this weekend, but she is having a ball!


Although the rest of us stayed close to home this weekend, Taylor and Zach were able to experience abit of culture themselves tonight. After church tonight Tim and I were going to go out to eat at a local Thai resturant. Knowing the kiddos and their very bland tastes, we had planned on Taylor watching Zach and going alone. The kids had other plans however...They begged and promised to be good so we took them along! I wish I would have had my camera to capture their faces when we walked in. They had no idea what this was. They did great however, We ordered Pad Thai with no spice for them to share as well as fried wontons and they actually ate them! Tay was not overly fond of the Pad Thai, but loved the rice and wontons and Zach ate it all. They had such fun with the chopsticks and loved the carryout containers :-)


We did receive our "hard" copy of our 1800A approval this week as well. It was so very nice to get the coveted piece of paper in our hands! Now the agency sent off their copy to the Secretary of State to get it authenticated and then next week all of our papers will be going to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. It will take a week or 2 and then our huge file of papers will be on a jet plane to China! Our "paperchase" will finally be over and we can sit back and wait not so patiently for our Logged in Date and then our approval.

Chinese New Year is fast approaching so I am anxious to do some research and share it with you. We celebrated the Autumn Moon Festival in honor of Sammy and we will be doing something for Chinese New Year as well I am sure.

Stay warm this week!!

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy 2009 to everyone! We are thrilled to tell everyone that even thought we did not recieve a Christmas miracle, we did in fact receive one on New Years Eve!! I call every week to see what the status of our I800A is with immigration and every week I get the same response, a very nice polite..."your case has not been assigned yet, but your 90 day mark is January 20th so it will be closer to that date." Ok..just checking every week just incase.

This week I was no different but at the end of the conversation I was joking around with her a bit about how I am never lucky anyway and should never play the lottery or anything like this. Ok, no big deal. Still 3 weeks to go anyway. Well then I get a call AT WORK a couple of hours later (I called from work originally..must have caller id) and it is the same agent I talked with earlier and she says that she went ahead and pulled my file and she would take my case. YIPEE!!!! I was so excited. She said there were people ahead of me, but she had paged through my file and thought it looked good so far.... I was so darn thrilled. She said she thought we would have our acceptance by next week or so. YEAH!! My new best friend for sure!

I was floating along on my cloud nine when I got to work the next day and there was a message from my new best friend!! I leave work at 2:30 and she left a message at 3:30. I anxiously paced my office until it was finally late enough to call her back (they open at 6:30 central time which is an hour later than when I heart the msg) and she called me back around ten. There was one simple of clarification that needed to be emailed to her and it would be done!!!!!!!!!!!!! I called Vickie at Hand in Hand and at 2:29 on New Years Eve she left me a message that said that my I800A had been approved and she was dropping it into the mail as she left for the day!

WOOOOHOOOO I was approved 3 weeks earlier than expected. In a process where everything takes longer than you think this was such a BLESSING for us. I had been praying for reassurance for the last couple of weeks because I have been very melancholy with the holidays. This just really clarified that no matter what this is Gods plan and His timing!

What this all means is now that we have our immigration approval, our dossier can go to China. Our "paperchase" is over! Once our Dossier is in China (probably a couple of weeks) and logged in (LID) it will be 90-120 days until we get our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) then another 3-4 weeks for our travel approval to get our little boy! So in 4-5 months our son will be home!

We were also blessed so much financially this week from friends and family! We recieved a few totally unexpected monetary blessings for our adoption. We are so grateful for our wonderful friends and family...THANK YOU! You all support us so much in so many ways!

We are so very excited for God has in store for us in 2009. We have so many challenges and adventures ahead of us in bringing our son home and changing our family life completely! We have a huge journey and a wild ride coming but we are so excited. We are also thrilled to be weloming new family members this year along with Sammy. My sister and her hubby are expecting their first child in June and my niece is going to be getting married to her fiance in August! Wow what a busy year for us!

We wish for all of you a wonderful 2009
Blessings