Blessings

The last seven months have been such a busy time in our lives. Adjusting to life with two three year olds has had it's challenges but at the end of every day I feel totally blessed.

E is such a sensitive little guy. His feelings get hurt many times a day but in the end he puts a smile on his face and picks himself up. I admire his perseverence when the days get tough. I love how he tells me when we are laying down for the night that he missed me during the day and that he loves me. The love between a mother and her son is so different than I could have imagined.  He processes so much every day and you can see the hurts he carries around but he is working through it and I know it will be a work in progress for a long time to come.  He is really enjoying preschool and church and all the new people he meets.  I am very excited for him to learn more especially more about his Heavenly Father who keeps him in his love even before his mom could get there to hold her in his arms. 

M is a wonderful big sister.  She has her moments when she is a bit of a tyrant but overall she is very helpful and caring towards her brother.  It amazes many how much she thinks about her brother all the time and tries to protect him from others.  She is helping him learn and be active, introducing him to new things all the time.  She still talks about when we go to China to get her sister.  Although it won't be anytime soon, I pray that it is in our families future for us to make the journey to China again for a sister and maybe another brother.  If it is in our Makers plan then it will be and I know he has put adoption in all of our hearts.  M is very much daddy's girl.  She tells me daddy is her girl and she is daddy's girl, I am E's boy and E is mommy's boy.  It amazes me how her mind is always working and she is thinking things through.  Our old dog Aspen is showing his years and has had seizures lately.  Sunday it didn't look like he was going to make it.  Late on Sunday she asked if Aspen dies will he see her Jesus?  That was a really big concept for her to come up with and I am so happy that she is understanding more. 

These two are going to keep their parents hopping that is for sure but I couldn't feel more blessed to have been choosen to be their mother.  They are both mischievious and outgoing.  They show us the zest for life and how much we have to be grateful for every day.  I look foward every day to the new discoveries and the challenges they will encounter.  Thank you Father for the Blessings of our children.

How time flies by.....this is a long post

So much has happened this year. My mom and I left for China on January 27th to be united with E, leaving M home with daddy. We arrived home on February 12th, very tired and me sick with a cold. Thankfully, this trip was so different than the last trip, I didn't get sick until the day before we left. I really learned developed a love for China during this trip and can not wait to return again, whether for adoption or a heritage trip, I really miss it. Adjusting to life with a three year old and a nearly three year old has been an adventure and so much fun. We fall into bed each night exhausted but wouldn't trade it for anything. "Three" is turning out to be much harder than being two was with M, I actually came to the conclusion that it might be nice to get "three" done all at one time with both of them. Hopefully we will travel through the wondrous age of "three" with out sanity in tack.

We had our first injury trip to the ER on the Sunday after returning from China. M learned that it isn't a good idea to tap dance on the bar stool for your brother. She also learned that it is best not to pick glue off your chin after the doctor puts it on. On our second trip of the evening to the ER she ended getting stitches but the only thing that seemed to bother her was having her arms restrained for a second time. She managed over the next week to then pick out three out of six stitches before it was time to remove them. She has healed up quite well in spite of it all.

We took a trip to Salt Lake City to meet E's surgeon at the end of March and then E had surgery on April 21st. E has recovered very well from surgery and it appears at this time his correction was complete with one surgery. We couldn't have asked for more.

At the end of April daddy started having a sore back and ended up having emergency back surgery on Mother's Day weekend. He is now recovering with the help of a little physical therapy but overall doing really well. He had back surgery 11 years ago and I think he was amazed at how much different his recovery was this time.

Thankfully (knock on wood) M and mommy have been relatively healthy up to this point with some allergies and a couple colds. It really is quite amazing since we are the two with life long autoimmune disorders. M had one ITP treatment the day after I came home and has been doing very well since. Her platelets will drop for a short period of time but given a few days they seem to bounce up, higher than she has been since the diagnosis of ITP in May 2008. Another blessing is that it may be she is growing out of the ITP.

E and I took another trip to the ER today after he bonked his head at preschool. He scared his teacher pretty good when he passed out. We aren't sure if it was from the bonk or if was from crying so hard and holding his breath. Either way we were very concerned due to the possibility of malnutrition due to his very small size and the lack of a bump. I think my biggest worry was the missing goose egg so my fear was that he was getting one on the inside. The ER doctor said he was fine and that he could return to school so off we went but my cell phone didn't leave my side for the rest of the day. His teacher is worth gold, I don't know what we would do without her. She has been so loving and caring during his recovery from surgery and helping us through the complications when they came about. Now that he is nearly three he will be leaving her classroom to join M in the near future. M's teachers are great but I know he will miss her so much.

We still see a pile of specialists between the two of them so doctors appointments are a part of our daily life. The both seem to like the doctors so it has been nice that they are usually very agreeable to going. M gets a little upset these days when we see her hematologist for a quick check up and don't get to stay for some IVIG and lunch. Not too many people would love hospital food like she does. The know what a stethoscope is for as well as the otiscope. I have to wonder if we aren't raising two future doctors.

I know I have not been a good blogger but I hope to do better in the future, my blogger skills are non existent. Know that we seem to be getting a flow to life going I am looking forward to having some place to put my thoughts. I have never been one to journal but for whatever reason I feel the need now. Life is forever changing and my babies are growing up so I have so much to write about. Here are a few pictures of the last few months.

Time to start blogging

I started this blog shortly after returning from China. I put all the graphics in place, bookmarked my favorite blogs, etc. and then I stopped. Not because I didn't have something to say, I have two preschoolers so there is a lot to talk about but I was having trouble deciding what to blog about first. Today I have decided I need to get started.

"A Cup Quite Full" came to me after being home from China one week with our second child. It had been a busy week of doctors appointments and getting settled into family life. I was exhausted and was taking a break to read a short devotional and how fitting was it that it was about having a cup quite full. I sat and thought about my busy week and the wonderful blessings that I had been granted in my life; a marriage of over 15 years, two wonderful children brought to us through China adoption, a great job that I enjoy, an overall happy but hectic life. At that moment the busy week no longer mattered because I knew that my heart was full.