Introducing...our new son!!

Surprise!!  Or not.  I think for most people it doesn't really come as a surprise that we are adopting again!  I know, we (or I should say David) keeps saying that we are done, and then low and behold we announce that we are going back for another child.  This particular child, our agency's coordinator emailed us his file when it was sent to the agency's individual waiting child list.  That was back in July.  At that time, we were not ready to make a decision to adopt anyone.  We prayed that he would find a family, and I even advocated for him on a limb differences site.  He continued to wait on the list, and we continued to think and pray about him.  Finally towards the end of September, we decided to ask for an update and asked a few clarifying questions about him.  On my birthday, we received several pictures and a video of him.  While I was watching the video, Jayden was sitting on my lap.  He said "Look!!  He has no arms, just like me!!"  That was the clincher for us that we were supposed to bring this precious child home.  We had an amazing social worker that was willing to complete the home study quickly, and now we are two weeks into our wait for the preliminary immigration approval.  We are estimating travel in July, but it could be sooner (or later) depending on lots of variables.

Here he is!!!

He is living at a great foster home called Swallow's Nest in Henan Province.  We are so happy that he will be in such great care and is being loved while we are waiting to go get him.

Another Jayden video

Many people are often asking how Jayden is doing. Here is a video showing him doing one of his favorite things. He is doing great, talking more every day, and getting super adept with his feet. Enjoy!

Beach trip and more

This summer has just blown right on by. Today is the last day of freedom for the kids. All except for Jayden start school tomorrow. Joel is in 5th grade, his last year of elementary school. Hannah is in 3rd. Olivia starts Kindergarden - on her birthday!! I can't believe she will be 6 already! Josiah starts preschool, and Jayden will start his preschool next week. I will have one morning each week (about 2 1/2 hours total) with no kids at home, and am really looking forward to being able to spend that time volunteering in the classrooms. I haven't been able to volunteer much at the schools because I always have little ones in tow.

We went on our annual beach camping trip a week ago. We tried out a new place for us, Tillicum Beach. Our campsite was overlooking the ocean and it was just a beautiful time. We were blessed with great weather too, which is rare for the Oregon coast. We also got to spend some time at Honeyman (the Oregon dunes) with David's side of the family. Joel and Hannah started this mammoth blaze:

Enjoying the gorgeous tide pools at Cape Perpetua:

Even Jayden got buried in the sand this year!

I just couldn't resist this picture. This was taken right after Josiah got knocked over by a wave and rolled a few times in the wave. Turns out he wasn't upset about rolling in the freezing cold Pacific Ocean, he was mad that the wave took away the stick he was holding!! If you look closely in the background, you will see me laughing at him. Hee hee.

Josiah is becoming Daddy's helper with setting up the camper, and Jayden sure is taking notes for next year!

A week and a half ago, we lost a great man, David's grandpa. This past weekend, David had the privilege of leading the memorial service and it was a really healing time to share all the wonderful memories of him. Here is a picture of the last time we visited with Grandpa, about two months ago.

Joel and Hannah's Got Talent!

Joel and Hannah were in their school talent show on Friday.  Joel playing the violin, he has been playing for about 3 months and amazes us at how good he is already getting.  Hannah doing her ballet thing, she has been in ballet for 4 years now.  I makes me so happy that these two love each other so much and love doing things together.  I hope they will stay best friends their entire lives!

Jayden's blocks

What's new?

I've been neglecting this blog lately, I know. We've been busy with ... life. School, therapy, ballet, gymnastics, awana, church, homework, more homework...then repeat. You get the idea.

Jayden has been doing great. He is now eating a lot more with his feet or with his mouth, depending on the food or his mood. In September, he spent 2 nights in the hospital due to severe asthma. Now he is on a preventative inhaler and doing a lot better, thankfully.

Josiah has been enjoying going to speech school once a week and loves riding the bus. He also loves making Jayden scream, which he does a lot.

Olivia's been going to gymnastics, which seems to be the perfect activity for her. She is quite the energetic monkey girl. She got hearing aids this fall and is enjoying being able to hear now.

Joel and Hannah were in their annual Nutcracker performance a couple weeks ago. Joel played the part of Fritz' friend and clown. Hannah loved having ringlets when she was Clara's friend, and also got to play the part of a clown.

Lovin' Fall

Having too much fun this Fall to take time to post pictures. Here's an overview of what we've been up to the past few weeks.