Our family's life journey: Knock knock, anyone still there?

I can't believe it has been almost 3 months since my last post! So, if anyone is still there, sorry for the HUGE delay! Guess life with 6 kids is just plain too busy to find time to post on here.

So I will try to give a little update on all of us. Well, at least the kids. Nothing big has changed for David or I. Oh, except for that little thing called turning 40!

I'll start with Joel. Joel is now in 7th grade. He is getting dangerously close to passing me up in height and his feet are already bigger than mine. For a while there, I could steal his shoes to wear when my shoes were in my room with a sleeping kid. No such luck anymore. Joel was planning on running in Cross Country this Fall, but conveniently sprained his ankle right before school started. There's always Track in the Spring! He is enjoying being in two orchestras (school and the Central Oregon Junior Symphony) playing his violin. He also is taking an online German class, much to the JOY of my dad!

Hannah is the big kid at her school, in 5th grade. All of her grade is going to outdoor school this week. This will be her first time at a camp away from family for 2 nights. We decided to pull her out of gymnastics and now she is doing soccer. Fortunately, Hannah is one to love whatever she is doing so the change was not a big deal. She also has been taking cello lessons and is her teacher's star pupil, wowing everyone at how quickly she is picking it up.

Olivia is now in 2nd grade, and fortunately in a 2/3 blend class so she can do a lot of the 3rd grade work to keep her challenged. She is also in soccer and will start Basketball for the first time in November. That will be our first child to play basketball. She is actually average to tall for her age, not at all fitting the stereotype of a short Chinese person.

Josiah is now in the 1st grade. He has a great teacher who has taught two of my other kids in the past. Josiah tends to be a little distractable, but when he focuses he can do amazing things. He can tell you word for word a story that he listened to, and this is usually what he does when re-telling the story. Word - For - Word, no paraphrasing for this kid. You should see the looks on the other kid's faces while he is telling a story at dinner and everyone else has to wait their turn to talk! Josiah also loves to sing and his voice will likely be his instrument of choice. Oh and he is also playing soccer this Fall.

Jayden started Kindergarten this year. We went back and forth trying to decide whether to hold him back or send him to school. He started out going half days, but after two days of school really wanted to stay all day. He is doing better than I expected. He whispers to one of the teacher aides and even made a friend. This is a huge step for someone with Selective Mutism! Jayden is also loving going to Therapeutic Riding lessons every week. And he is also in soccer (if you are counting, that is 4 kids in soccer! That means 4 soccer games every Saturday, in 3 separate parks spread out all over the city!) Yep, I am a glutton for punishment.

And then that leaves Jacob. Jacob, Jacob, Jacob. He really is quite the character. He was the only one of my adopted kids that came to me already speaking Chinese. And he picked up English very quickly. He is speaking pretty much non-stop. Literally, like all the time when he is awake. He loves his brothers and sisters, especially Hannah. We brought him to Shriner's last week for the first time. We got a few new surprises when they looked at his x-rays. He has bilateral fibular hemimelia, meaning that he is missing both his fibula bones in his legs. Usually the condition results in so bent lower legs that they amputate the leg from below the knee down. Jacob's legs are straight so God really protected him, because he needs his toes!! We are still trying to figure out what if anything this means for his future, but for now the doctors are just planning on watching him.