Dinner for a TWO Year Old

We are learning to LOVE Chinese food! There's a place called Chopsticks in T-town that serves it Chinese style where you order 2-3 dishes, bowls of rice or noodles, and it's served on a giant lazy susan. It was wonderful! Most of us ate with chopsticks the whole time (Ethan and Carlie would just stab their food with the stick to eat it - smart kids). Conner gave up REAL quick and grabbed a fork. Did we have birthday cake? Nope, not yet, we had Moon Cakes! DELICIOUS!!! Wait, I can't lie. They are not good at all. What the Chinese call a dessert we might call sand molded into a pretty shape??? But, hey, it's worth a shot, right?

Party on Saturday!

She's TWO!

I love my blog, I really do! But, well, with 5 kids and a husband who travels a lot, there's just not much time. Well, today, I AM MAKING TIME! I brought the little kitchen play set and the play food and dishes downstairs so the little girls could play and get caught up on Blue's Clues and Ni-Hao! Kai Lan. They thought I had bought them a whole new toy! The squeals from them were so cute! Now, back to blogging . . .

Avery turned TWO (AR in Chinese:) on Tuesday. We are making a week of it because, well, she got to spend her first birthday with her nannys and friends back in Baotou - and not with us! So, Monday I took the girls (and later Ethan, because he pouted and because he's so darn cute) to Build-a-Bear. Avery still gets scared at some new places, especially where there's loud sounds, and this was one of those places. I mostly had to hold her while her bear was being made for her, but once we moved away from the stuffing machine she was OK (but still clung to me). Carlie had never been either and she was all about it! She's such a little princess/girlie girl. She named her bear Trinida :). Nicole was an old pro at this and I had to limit her on the glamorous outfits she wanted for her kitty cat. I said "T-shirt only sweetheart. You have other clothes at home that you can dress her in, right?"

It's REALLY Official This Time!

I had a fun time telling everyone in a sad voice that I had to go to court. When they would ask why, I would smile and tell them that our adoption was being recognized by the state where the wind comes sweeping down the plain. The secretary at school made a copy of the court appearance because "this isn't the usual reason a kid leaves school to go to court." Anyway, Avery slept through most of it because it was scheduled during her nap time (could you blame her? If I wasn't an adult I would have slept through it, too.) The judge was very nice, asked us all sorts of official questions: "do you promise to take care of this child, providing her with education, health care, love, etc.?" Yes. Yes. Yes. And YES! He asked the other kids if they approved of this and they all gave a thumbs up (even Ethan, who at one time wanted to "send that screaming baby back to China!")

We are one big happy family! Glory to God!!

Heavy On My Heart

You see this little girl on the right? I know, it's kind of hard to tell, but, yes, she is a precious little girl. She's in this picture with her very proud foster parents and foster aunt. She's lived through a lot and there is no doubt in my mind that God has BIG plans for her. Will you please pray that she finds her forever family very soon??? She was one of Avery's orphanage sisters in Inner Mongolia. She really needs a mommy and a daddy to love on her. It would do wonders.

Hey MOM! I Like it!

Ebear started Kindergarten this year! Our youngest baby boy is now getting to be a big boy. He loves his teacher, she's so sweet! And if you could have your dream Kindergarten teacher wouldn't she look something like that?? When I picked him up he said he had gotten lost or separated from his teacher when they were outside waiting to go home. Thankfully Nicci found him and took care of him until I could get there. He reminded me of it a little bit all weekend, but he's good now! He says that Kindergarten takes a long time. I love this boy!

The Big Boy

He's at the 8th Grade Center this year. He is taking Spanish. So, every day he gets in the van and tells me the new phrase he learned. Visions of my high school Spanish Class with Sra. Dickerson come flying back to me! He says he's got nice teachers and he really likes it! YAY!

School is IN!

Ethan would have loved to wear those knee high Sp*ngeb*b socks, but I just couldn't let it happen on the very FIRST day of school. Maybe for crazy sock day. Bless his heart, he does like crazy socks! So, we all made it out the door on time and ready to go excited about another year! I've got one in the 8th grade, one in 5th, one in K, and two at home who will start preschool after Labor Day. Ethan was not too excited to go. He kept saying, with tears, "But Mom I don't want to go." And Carlie would pipe up, excitedly and say, "CAN I GO! CAN I GO!!" The kids have great teachers at two great schools. Gonna be a good year!!!

AND We're Back!

Oh my goodness. This summer has been so busy and crazy with all five kids at home (except for a couple of church camps and a mission trip) but it's almost over and WE MADE IT! I have SOOOOOO much to blog about, not just every day stuff, but also all the things I learned at China Camp. For now, I will just share a little about China Camp, not the heavy stuff. That will have to wait until I have more time and can sit here and type to my heart's content. Too many interruptions during the day to get all that down and out of my system.

Every year our agency holds a heritage camp for each country they support adoptions with. Obviously, we go to China Heritage Camp. This was our first year to go WITH our baby girl from China. She was only in the nursery, but she was there with other children born in China (except for her big sister Carlie:). So, Carlie got to learn a little bit about being the minority and Avery wasn't the only black headed beauty in the room! Nicole was with other fifth graders and Ethan was a camper for the first time. He was so nervous, but found a new friend pretty quick and loved it after that. It was three days of going, going, going. So much fun meeting new faces and catching up with ones that are not so new.

Until I can jump into the meaty stuff I will just tell you this: it is truly the hand of God working to bring these children home. We adoptive parents and our support systems (family and friends who provide prayers, financial support, help while we travel, etc.) do our best to meet Him half way. It is a battle to bring them home, but so very much worth it. One of the things I learned was that not all children who are found have their 'finding ad' placed in the newspaper. The 'finding ad' is a little picture and brief description of a child that was found, and where they were found. This is the CC*A's way of making an effort to find their birth parents. The 'finding ad' is a requirement of the U.S. so that the child can be declared, ugh, abandoned and then adopted by someone in the U.S. (other countries may have this requirement, I don't know). Obviously, Avery had her finding ad placed in the newspaper and her birth parents or birth family did not come forward. Some children do not have a finding ad placed in the paper. I'm not sure who gets to decide who does and does not get a finding ad placed, but I would not want to be that person. My hopes are that those children are then adopted domestically.

My head was spinning after our parent session on Saturday of China Camp. More later . . .

Oh My Heart

See these three boys? They have been GREAT friends since birth. And now, here they are leaving with our church to go on their first mission trip together. They are precious to us and I am glad they are growing up together and doing lots of really cool things. We are so proud of them and can't wait to see what happens next. Funny boys.

FREEDOM

Hope everyone had a great 4th 'IN' July (as Nicole calls it and I'm not changing it:). We had lots of fun, with friends, food, and fireworks. It was Avery's very first 4th and although she loved the food and friends, she wasn't too crazy about the fireworks. The big boys had lots of fun putting firecrackers inside of different things and seeing what what would happen. I now have hot dog splattered all over the side of my van and my friend has watermelon all over hers - GROSS.

CUTE Bracelets!!!

These are just delicious! They come in mommy sizes and little girl sizes, too! Daleea is trying to raise funds to bring Isabella home and these bracelets are being sold so you can help!

Chevy

Nicole takes horseback riding lessons. We haven't been able to go in a while because of the weather or illnesses or just stuff getting in the way. But I LOVE to go to the barn. It's just such a different environment for the kids - ya know, us city slickers. It gives me a little taste of growing up and being around a big red barn and farm animals with horses, cats, birds. My Grandpa Stambaugh raised and raced horses as a hobby. My friends, sister's and I spent lots of time riding in buckets on a horse walker. There's nothing like the smell of being at the barn, even the yucky stuff smells good to me! Nicci loves to ride the horses. She usually rides a 20 year old horse named Chief, but today she rode Buddy. Chief was busy roaming around enjoying the grass and taking the day off. Buddy tends to have a mind of his own, but it was good for Nicole to have a bit of a challenge this morning.


This morning we had a treat.

A 5 day old baby colt!! His name is Chevy and I got to pet him, then shortly after the momma tried to nip at me :). It's OK, she was just protecting her baby boy. Isn't he just the sweetest! I wanted to take him home.

It's An Anniversary!

It was six months ago today in a hotel meeting room in Inner Mongolia that we met Avery Lan face to face. Since then she has learned a new language (although I'm pretty sure she still remembers some Chinese), gained about 5 pounds, grown about 3 inches, gone from a 12 month size (barely) to a 2t, learned to like new food, gained 2 brothers, 2 sisters, a mom, a dad, and a whole slew of family and friends that love her.

The day we landed in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia on December 13, 2009 was incredible. We were told that we would meet her at 2:30 that afternoon. This would give us enough time to get settled into our hotel and for Lyndal to exchange some $$. When we got to the hotel the guide told us to go to our room and she would call us, and told Lyndal where to go to exchange the money. So, he walked out of our hotel room and not 5 minutes later our guide called and said that the baby was here! I had to find Lyndal! I wanted to catch him before he got to the bank, but I also didn't want to accidentally run into her and the orphanage staff before I found Lyndal. I wanted us to be there together to see her at the same time. Do I take the elevator or the stairs??? I was trying not to make eye contact with anyone so I wouldn't accidentally find Avery and her entourage first. Finally we found each other in the lobby and I told him that she was here and that we were to go to the hotel meeting room on the 2nd floor. We walked in and she was standing at the coffee table holding this wood block sign thing. She looked at us with her eyes wide. Then she looked at her nanny. Her nanny pointed to us and said, "Momma, Ba Ba." Avery looked at us again then looked at the nanny. I moved slowly and didn't want to scare her at all, or any more than she already was. I REALLY wanted to pick her up immediately, but knew that might not be the best thing. There was a chair behind her and I sat in that. She was definitely aware that something very serious was up and began to cry. I knew that if I were to burst into tears that that might also scare her, but my eyes were definitely wet. Then the nanny started to cry which made me start to cry. Avery was sobbing by now. I finally picked her up and she arched her back and fought me. They had to take a picture of her by herself. So, she was taken from me, sat on the floor, photographed and then I was able to pick her back up. By this time, the nanny is sobbing, I'm crying, and Avery is NOT happy. By that evening she was playing with both of us on the bed in the hotel room. It was one of the most amazing days.

The first time we met Avery was a lot like the days I met my children I physically gave birth to, but still very different. It's hard to describe. But this is a wonderful ride we are on, and I'm having a lot of fun!

Rotating Beds

It's time. Carlie got promoted. Avery got promoted. Carlie is now in a big girl bed and Avery is out of our room and in a crib upstairs. It's nice to have my own room back where I can read at night before going to bed without holding a giant flashlight under my chin. What do the girls think? Well, Carlie gets out of bed just a couple of times for a kiss or a drink of water or to go potty (liar) or to tell me something. And Avery fusses for about 2 minutes then she's out. Ethan inherited Conner's gently used bed and he's just fine except for all those girls in his room. Sleeping in peace at the McMurphy house!

See, We Got This One Kid

We got one of 'those.' A teenager. And he's grown and is still growing a lot this year. I had to buy him his FOURTH pair of shoes since August the other day - FOURTH! He is 5'10" and wears a size 11 shoe. He outgrew his twin bed so we had to go to a full. Don't get me wrong, if he's gonna grow then grow nice and tall son! But, it's the sleeping thing . . .

I know he needs a lot of sleep . . .

you know, so he can grow some more . . .

But how late is too late on a lazy summer morning?