A New Chinese Lesson with an Audio Link!

I read the following information from http://www.goodcharacters.com/:

Merry Christmas is Sheng Dan Kuai Le or Ye Dan Kuai Le in Chinese.

Ye is short for Ye Su, which is the transliterated name for Jesus.

The character ye (pronounced in the first tone as in the transliteration of Jesus) does not have a special meaning. It is a character used to imitate a sound, often used for transliteration of foreign names. In old Chinese literature, ye (pronounced in the second tone) is the same as father or used to indicate a question (old Chinese writing has no punctuation marks).
Su means to revive, to come to, or to rise again. (Isn't that cool!)

Just like people speak English with different accents in different parts of America, most Chinese don’t speak 100% Beijing Mandarin. Their speech has a hint of their particular accent. Many Chinese pronounce Ye1 Su1 as Ye2 Su1. In that pronunciation, the name Ye Su not only sounds close to the Latin pronunciation of Jesus, but also has a great meaning: Father who has risen again.



From the same website I found how to write in English and pronounce Happy New Year:

Xin Nian Kuai Le

Some Updated Pictures

Carlile was sleeping so peacefully in her carseat this afternoon so I took a few pictures. I don't know why, but I'm really into my kids's hands. It just amazes me how different they are and what they say about their personality. Ethan saw me taking pictures of Carlie and he wanted "Ethan pictures." He styled his own hair today with lotion, it normally doesn't look this way!

CANDY ROCKS!

This was a great year for getting candy from strangers! Ethan "got it" this year and had a ball. One lady thought he was really cute and kept giving him candy. The last thing she gave him was a packet of granola bites (who gives out granola bites?!) and Ethan handed them to me and said, "Here mom, I no want it!" Lyndal weighed their bags together and they weighed about 17 lbs. I usually let them have a few pieces of candy over about a week and then I hide the bags. They soon forget about them. Ethan calls his bag a "party bag." We had a lot fun!

Adoption Update

We met with our Dillon family the other day to see what our next step was as far as our adoption goes. When we first found out we were pregnant with Carlie we weren't sure what was going to happen with our baby Avery (the name we gave our baby girl in China). Were we going to have to pull out of the adoption completely? Were we going to have to just be on hold for a while? Or were we going to just keep everything the way it was? Obviously, our desires were for our adoption to not have any hold ups and for it to remain where it was. But, when we met with Dillon in March of 2007 to tell them we were pregnant we were told we needed to request that our dossier be put on hold with the CCAA. This was at least not having to pull out completely. Dillon told us that once our new baby was born we needed to come back and reevaluate where we were and see what our next step was. And that is where we are now . . .
Deniese and Julie said that their hopes were that we could send a new letter into the CCAA requesting that our dossier be reinstated. They felt that our dossier would either be put back with our original LID group or even a little earlier! We may not have lost any ground at all! God DOES know the desires of our hearts!

Carlie's First Bath

Carlie had her first bath tonight and she seemed to handle it just fine. She only fussed a little bit.

More Carlie Pictures

Carlie has my hands. Conner, Nicci, and Ethan all have Lyndal's hands, but Carlie has mine. I'll try to take pictures of the other kids's hands soon and post them.

New Pictures of Carlie

Here is baby Carlie at almost 1 week old. She's doing really well! Last night she slept most of the night, just got up to eat a couple of times and then went right back to sleep.

More Carlie Pictures . . .

Lyndal followed the nurses when they took Carlie back to give her her first bath. He said that she was screaming and all red when they were cleaning off her body, but when they scrubbed her head she completely relaxed - that is one sign of a true McMurphy! The other kids are adjusting great. Ethan walked by her a minute ago and said, "That my baby sister Carlie. Hers a good girl." He's very sweet to her and I am just believing that that is going to last forever!

CARLIE GRACE IS HERE!

Carlie Grace McMurphy was born on October 1, 2007 at 4:12pm. She weighed 6lbs. 11 oz. and was 19 inches long. She has strawberry blond hair, just like Nicci's. When she had first had her bath her hair came out curly, but it doesn't seem to be that way now. She looks similar to the other kids, but there is something different about her look. Time will tell. She is absolutely precious, and snuggly, and girly, and cute! We are so glad she is here.

We Have Lift Off!

She's going to be here by 2pm and weigh 6 lbs.10 oz. That's my guess. Any takers? Not that I'm a gamblin' woman at all!

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Psalm 118:24

Countdown . . .

. . . 1

Goodbye leg cramps! Goodbye swollen ankles!

Countdown

. . . 2

Good bye Tums! Good bye maternity clothes!

Countdown . . .

. . . 3

Countdown

. . . 4

Explanation of Countdown: I do not count the current day we are living, just the remaining days and the Birth Day. It's my countdown, I can do what I want.

Countdown . . .

. . . 5
(in honor of Kim H.!)

Countdown . . .

6

Yogurt

I ate some yogurt for lunch today that I could've waited to eat until after I got out of the hospital. Why, you ask? Because it wasn't due to expire until 10-05-07, that's why.

So, What's Going On In the Adoption World?

We have officially had our dossier pulled out of line. It is such a bittersweet thing to know, but I know it is all a part of God's plan. As Lyndal said, "We are not in charge here." Once our baby is born we have to do a Home Study Update, wait for approval, then send a letter requesting we be put back in line.

The CCAA website now says this: The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before June 30, 2006.
The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before November 25, 2005.

Some of our Dillon families now have pictures of their babies! I've seen a couple of them and they are so very cute - just perfect! These families waited over two years to receive their referrals, I can't imagine their emotions at FINALLY having that picture in their hands. I'm sure they are just praising God, and all those months of planning and waiting have just melted away! I think I read where the CCAA only covered three days of LIDs for this three month period. That is incredibly slow, but again, "We are not in charge here" and neither is the CCAA!

WE HAVE A DATE TO BE INDUCED!!

YAY!! We are being induced on October 1. That is about 10 days before my due date. I've been induced with all of my other 10 million pregnancies (careful what I wish for) and I really like it, probably because I don't know any better :)!
Anyone with any name suggestions?

Minky Dot

 

 

We are thinking of naming our new baby girl Minky Dot. What do you think? It's sort of a family name . . .

Just kidding! That's the name of the fabric her bedding is made out of. It is so soft! She's going to think that sleeping on plain cotton sheets is like sandpaper. She will be the Princess and the Pea.

Now, come on October 10th or a few days before!

Ethan's Big Boy Bed

 

 

 

 

Ethan got a big boy bed a couple of days ago. He's doing really well in it once he settles down. He even went cold turkey on his 'uh-oh' which is his blankie he had and only sucked his thumb when he had the blankie - no more blankie and no more "suck ya thumb!"

 

 

 

1. Conner and Nicci on their first day of school.
2. Jasmine loved the sprinkler!
3. Ethan in the summer

Almost There!

We are about 5 1/2 weeks away from having our baby girl. Today we spent the day rearranging rooms a little bit. Ethan has been climbing out of his crib, so we had to get the boys new beds. This freed up the crib to be put in Nicci's room. We hadn't wanted to transition Ethan yet, I thought it would be better to have him still in his crib in a controlled environment :)! But, since he's been climbing in and out to get toys or whatever we decided it was time. Now, he'll probably want to be potty trained before the new baby comes! I definitely don't want to cross that bridge for a while longer, but it is coming!
Conner and Nicci started school a few weeks ago and even though I was sad to have the lazy days of summer behind us, I do appreciate the routine that school brings. Nicci is in the 2nd grade. Her teacher is Mandy Anderson who went to Piedmont! Her dad was Coach Anderson - he taught history, driver's ed., and coached wrestling. She is so sweet and Nicci is really enjoying it! Conner is BMOC this year (Big Man On Campus). He's a 5th grader. His teacher is Mrs. Rutz, she is very nice even though Conner is not happy about all the 5th grade teachers "laying down the law." He says, "Those 4th grade teachers were right! They are much more strict in the 5th grade!" He is on Safety Patrol in the afternoons. It's so funny to pull up to him in the line because he just smiles at me then goes and tries to find Nicci to put her in the van.
Ethan starts Mother's Day Out next week at the same place as Peyton (my cousin Keri's little girl). Every day he says, "I go precool?" He's got a Buzz Lightyear backpack and lunch box and he is so cute! This will be good for him to be around other 2 year olds for a while, but I sure will miss him. He's really a momma's boy.

We Know Now!

I have really let this thing get away from me. Sorry for such a long lapse in postings. I will try to do better!
We ended up paying for a gender check at the ultrasound studio here in Tulsa. They have a guarantee that after week 17 they will be able to tell you the sex of the baby. So, Lyndal and I went in one day and the umbilical chord was in the way so she couldn't tell us for sure what we were having, but she said, "I don't see any boy parts." I went back the next day (had a little caffeine on the way there to see if that would get her moving around any - hadn't had caffeine in almost 3 years!) and low and behold it's a girl! YAY! Nicci said that it's a dream come true. We are very excited to have a cute, little, pink, prissy bundle around here again. We're thinking it might mellow Ethan out a little bit? We'll have to wait and see on that one. Currently he's yelling at Conner to "STOP! GO AWAY! GO SIT IN TIME-OUT!" I'm sure Conner is completely innocent in all of this.
As far as a name for this baby girl we are totally stumped. We do know that her middle name will be Grace after Lyndal's paternal grandmother. Anything I suggest just doesn't seem to sound like the right one. With the other kids it was the night before when we made a final decision, so we still have time to finalize names. I'm not to worried about that one.
I got my glucose test results back today and I am below the cutoff! YAY! I do not have gestational diabetes with this one!! WOO HOO!! Thank you God!

It's A . . . .

I had an ultrasound about a week and a half ago. And for the first time we weren't able to tell what gender the baby is! I don't know if we will try to stick it out and wait for the dr. to say, "It's a _________!" Or if we will get another ultrasound via the dr.'s office or pay for a "Gender Check" at this ultra sound studio in Tulsa. We are going to think about it.

My First Dr.'s Appointment

Yesterday was my first OB appointment. He estimates that my due date is Oct. 18 which puts me at about 16 weeks pregnant. The heartbeat was really strong and very easy to find - it was 160. I have an ultrasound scheduled for May 11 to confirm the due date. Since we weren't expecting this I wasn't keeping track, that's why there's a question. We always hope to find out the gender of the little baby at the ultrasound. I'm guessing boy. Any takers?

Funny Kid Story

A few weeks ago we were heading to Angie and Sean's (my sister and BIL) in Katy, TX for Spring Break. We got an hour away from home and Lyndal realized he had forgotten his hang-up clothes. He was going to drive over to San Antonio and work while we stayed at Angie's for a few days, so his hang-up clothes were his nice work clothes - we had to go back! Lyndal leaned over and whispered, "Don't tell the kids, and lets see how long it takes them to notice." Conner and Nicci were watching a movie while we traveled. So, we turned around to head back home, neither of the kids said a word. We pulled into our neighborhood and Nicci says, "I better get my shoes on cuz we are almost there." Conner says, "HEY! What are we doing back home?!" Pretty sad huh?

Our Oldest Child, Conner

Our Oldest Daughter, Nicole

A Few Pictures of the Kids . . .

Ethan age 2

Conner and his bird dog, Jim. Jim stays at my dad's house :)!

Nicci, Ethan, and Conner Christmas 2006