Snow Fun

We awoke to a beautiful snowfall on Saturday! It was quite a surprise to us but absolutely beautiful. Although we didnt have as much as the eastern states, we had plenty to have some fun in....















This was Sammys perferred way of climbing up the hill! Cracks me up. Zach and Em were awsome about sharing their turns with him and Sammy loved every second of it! It was snowing pretty hard out, but not overly frigid and perfect for sledding. We went to a local park and were the only only ones there..we had an awsome time sledding and snowball fighting. There are some larger sledding hills, but we werent sure how Sam would do and didnt want to be out overly long.

The kids are so excited about being home for Christmas break and we are thrilled to have them home! I so enjoy this time with no schedules and no worries about homework or extra activities. We tend to camp out at home, snuggling up and playing games and watching movies as a family. Tim and I still have to work but are looking forward to a couple of long weekends all together!

Things are winding up for Christmas around here. Christmas cards are mailed, as well as gifts...Presents are bought and wrapped and cooking baking is ongoing. The excitement on Sammys face as he looks at all the presents, sings the Christmas songs and listens all the stories of Jesus's birth is incredible! I cannot wait for him to experience the wonder of Christmas!!

Blessings

Amy

Tis the Season....

I will start with this....



This is how Emily picked to have her hair cut. After my inital response of my jaw falling to the floor, I have to admit is suits her. She loves it!! I wasnt expecting it, I had told the stylist that she could tell her how she wanted her hair, but I NEVER expected this!! The joys of parenting a preteen!

Christmas is overwhelming me this year more than usual! We are trying so hard to slow down and focus on what is important, but it just seems like we are busier than ever!! I created our Christmas cards, and had them ordered before December hit...but sadly they are still sitting on my counter! I suppose buying the stamps yesterday for them was progress right?

(Our Christmas card photo...obviously BEFORE the haircut!!)

The presents are all bought except for some random gift cards I need to pick up, but not a single one of my gifts are wrapped or even out of the shipping box :-) I think I forsee a busy weekend ahead of me!

I did manage to take the kiddos to see Santa though! Moms work had "Cookies with Santa" yesterday and the kids had a ton of fun! It was great for them to get to talk with Santa and not have to wait in the HUGE mall line :-) The cookies, juice and other kids to play with were just the icing on the cake...er cookie :-)



This year, as busy as it has been, has been such a joy for me! To watch Sammy as he experiences all the sights and sounds of christmas (gotta get him singing jingle bells recorded!) has been amazing! To show him all our little family traditions during the season, and watch his face light up with joy at the prospect of baking cookies, or seeing a wrapped gift under the tree has been such a blessing to me!

I remember very clearly last year was sad for us. We had a wonderful time with our family, but someone was very obviously missing. My heart breaks for all the orphans that are alone with no one to love them, no traditions to experience, no warm arms to hold them. My heart hurts for the 3 years Sam spent alone...I wish I could change that for him and all the other lonely orphans. This has been an incredible 3 months of 'firsts' with our Sam...but how many other kids out there wont have that this year, or next, or the year after??? It makes me so sad to think of all the little ones out there, just like Sammy was....alone. I know I cant adopt them all, but I will continue to pray that they find their forever families....soon

Blessings
Amy

First Haircut....

I took all the kids (except Taylor) and Tim to get their haircut over the weekend. It was really nice to get everyone done at once and since we went to the same place that did Taylors Updo for her dance it was CHEAP!! The students all did a great job, and Ems hair turned out especially cute!

Here are some pix of Sammys first haircut. He wasnt so thrilled at first but we needed to tame it just a bit!







He ended up doing a pretty good job..and looks SO cute as usual!!

Blessings
Amy

Ps...more on Ems haircut later ;-)

We got two D's and an A

So we are FINALLY home! Thank you for all your prayers for the car ride...it was about a thousand times better (could be cause he slept 75% of the time??) and only a couple of meltdowns and a entire box of fish crackers on the floor later we arrived home! Whew! Glad thats over!!

So the verdict? 2 Ds and an A is what Dr Levitt had to say. He took one look at Sams tummy and immediately said "well that needs fixed" Sam has a nice scar on his belly from one of the surgeries he had in China that looks like Frankenstien sewed him up.

The prolapse definately needs repaired (which we knew) and some centering needs done

Those are our two "D's" for China's surgery skills

But the most important part, where it really counted....China got an A!!! Surprising the Docs here, whoever did the surgery in China did a pretty good job. Nothing was done incorrectly or left behind!! Wooo HOOO

Sam also got a perfect score on all his other tests! God is SOOO good!

So what this all means is that Sam has no other problem except for his colorectal issue! That is a huge answer to prayer!

So the game plan going forward is to have the surgery that will repair the prolapse, fix the scar on his belly and do the circumscion in one big swoop! about a 5 hour surgery, we will have to be in the hospital for a while because he cant eat for 7+ days to give the colon time to heal.

The best news is that Dr Levitt feels that he wants us to have the surgery and then try to potty train! He feels that Sam has a great chance of fully being able to control his BM's without the need of enemas! This is so exciting for us because this isnt normally the case! We will try for about a year to potty train Sam and if sucessful we are DONE!

If not, we will go through bowel management and he will have daily enemas to help encourage him to have control.

If that fails as well we will have the Malone procedure, but that isnt very likely at this point!

This is the best news we could have recieved Praise God!!!

The question is now when to have the surgery? With Tim's job uncertainty and me having used up all my FMLA we are going to see just how to figure it all out..but I am not gonna worry about it until AFTER the holidays!!

Blessings

Amy

Day 2 of testing and lots of playtime

So yesterday by the time the day was over I was EXHAUSTED!!!! We were SOOOO busy, but things went as well as could be expected.

Sam did great during the kidney ultrasound. Between the Elmo Dvd and the interpreter, we had no issues. The xray went fairly well....However the contrast enema...not so much. Lets just say it was slightly traumatic for all involved, but it was mercifully short! Sam was quite proud of himself for going on the big potty too :-)

After we left the hospital we went on to the childrens museum..it was awsome!











We had a great time, and a yummy lunch and then headed back to the RMH to have nap time that didnt happen. So we headed off to the Newport Aquarium and it was tons of fun too! We petted sharks, fed lorikeets and saw all the fishies...



see the alligator under foot?





Whew...what a fun day! Today we are off for our final test (an xray) and then our meeting with Dr Levitt. I am so excited to find out our testing results, and the game plan for Sammys SN!

Then off to the LONG ride home!!

Blessings
Amy

testing day 1...and some surprise visits!

So......

Can I just say that I spent the best 4 dollars of my life when I paid to download those videos of Mickey and Diego to my ipod? at 25 minutes each..they bought me a lot of peace in the car for the LONG ride!! I have a feeling a couple new episodes will be arriving for the ride home!

Really the car ride was about as bad as I expected. Waking up at 6 with nothing but apple juice doesnt make for a happy toddler. We arrived in Cincy with no problem (Thanks Gary and Angie for the loan of the GPS...it has been a lifesaver!!) and found where we needed to go and were about 30 minutes early. Cincy is a HUGE hospital with lots of different sections, so this was pretty impressive! We hung out in Radiology a while and met our interpreter. She was GREAT! It was the best advice from the IA adoption yahoo group! She will be with us the whole time! Although Sammy doesnt speak to her..at least not yet....she has been invaluable for explaining the medical procedures that he has had to do. The testing today went well. The MRI machine crashed so we were about an hour behind, but Sammy went under anesthesia with no problem and came out of it about 4:00. HE WAS STARVED! I managed to get registered at the RMH while I was waiting for the procedure (2.5 hours!!) and it is a darn good thing. He consumed 3 pks of graham crkrs and 2 cups of juice before we left the recovery room. 2 more pks of graham crkrs in the car and a juice box and then 2 things of yougurt at the RMH house and some brownies. About an hour later he ate a full dinner of spagetti and meatballs! Poor guy. I was amazed he didnt puke! No problem with the anesthetic, but when we got to the RMH he was determined to walk by himself and fell flat on his face. Ouch! Needless to say he let me carry him from then on.

After dinner we scored some free tix to the festival of lights at the Zoo here. It was raining, but not overly cold so we braved the elements and had a blast! The place was empty, so we had Santa, the reindeer, frosty, gingerbread men, Mrs claus, and the Nativity to ourselves! We watched a segment of the Polar Express in 4D (by ourselves) and had just a lovely time seeing all the gorgeos lights. It is amazing!! Sammy is certainly getting into the Christmas spirit and so am I!

Tommorow is lots more testing so we are off to bed now!!

He likes mommys ipod.

Playin in the toyroom at the RMH


the entrance to the Zoo







Private story from Mrs Claus



Blessings
Amy

and we're off....

Tommorrow...bright and early Sammy and I leave for a 3 day stint of poking, prodding and testing! I am just certain it will be such a fun trip...NOT! Actually it is great that we are going, we will find out for certain the extent of Sammys SN as well as what the "game plan" is. We are praying for good results from all the effort.

I am going solo for this, as Tim not only doesnt have the vacay time, but that our other kiddos need Mom or Dad (perferably both) around for a while after our long trip to China. It will be an adventure to say the least on all of our parts! We were blessed enough to get into the Ronald McDonald house for our stay which is in walking distance of the hospital (although I was strongly encouraged NOT to walk...evidently they dont live in the nicest area?!?!) We were blessed to be able to stay at the RMH many times when we were in Indy with Em so I am thrilled we got in!

Another cool thing is that Guest Services has all these free/heavily discounted tickets for area attractions. We are hoping to squeeze a little fun in between testing! I have new toys bought and hidden away, mickey mouse and Diego videos and songs loaded onto my ipod, lots of special treats hidden away as well. I think we are set...Now if only someone could explain to me how to convince my 3 year old he really DOESNT need to eat on the trip??? Unfortunately he is NPO before his first test and I am really thinking it is gonna be a LONG 3.5 hours with no snacking from my snack monster!

I will be trying to update from the hospital if I am able...


(Guess who was in town for the Holidays???)


(Meeting Auntie Ellen)


(Auntie Ellen always takes us out for ice cream...Sammy too!)




Random cuteness!


Blessings
Amy