"Cwazy Hair"

Thats how she says it....."Cwazy Hair." I was bathing Miss Addison last night and we made a crazy hairstyle. Addison loves cwazy hair! She insisted on being taken out of the tub so she could look in the mirror. As she looked in the mirror she started to laugh and said "Cwazy hair, like Mama's!"

Sheesh! tell me how you really feel Addison!lol! Yes I have curly hair, but apparently in her little world It is indeed Cwazy! So I guess that makes me her Cwazy haired Mama! :)

We're Still Here

Riley now has Addison's bug and is quite sick. So we are just trying to keep everyone comfortable and hang at home, which results in a truckload more housework for me :) We really haven't done anything that is interesting around here. Howard came home for 2 days and now he is gone again for 8 days. Nathan has been home with a "sore" femur. We have had some beautiful, exceptionally warm weather these past 5 days, so much so that I can see our grass in places. Although it is snowing as I type this. The big fluffy kind of snowflakes!

I am in the process of planning a trip to Orlando for our family, so that is helping this winter not seem so bad. We will be bringing Howard's mom with us, which will be really fun & certainly nice to have an extra adult. This will be our second trip to Orlando and this time we will be staying for 2 weeks. I have found a townhouse quite close to Disney and the boys are beyond excited to check out the Harry Potter theme park at Universal. We will be there over Riley's birthday and she is hoping to have lunch with Cinderella at the castle :)

So that is basically whats going on in our little world. Lots of just laying low. I'm still hoping the boys and I don't catch the bug the girls have. Hopefully my next post will be a little more exciting!

Moments when "it" hits you.

Miss Addy is very sick. She has a ridiculously high fever and is listless. I have been enjoying cuddling and rocking her in our rocking chair, she just snuggles right in and dozes off and on, I think these last couple days I will remember always. She keeps on saying "wo ai ni, Mama" with so much trust and love that it nearly breaks my heart.

I was talking to someone on the phone, and they asked "Is she always like this when she's sick?"

Well I couldn't answer that, could I? I honestly don't know! This is the first time she has been truly sick, since she has come home! We don't know how often she gets sick, or how sick she truly gets because we have only known her for 6 months! And as I think of that it breaks my heart. When she got sick in China, was she cuddled, loved on, had her temperature checked regularly and given her favorite juice to drink? Did she get sick often? Did she feel loved and nurtured when she was sick? Or did she feel scared and abandoned? As we have been home longer and longer I struggle with these "trivial" questions. Isn't a mom supposed to know these things about her child? I usually laugh it off and say something silly to hide my horror at not knowing what my sweet little girl likes when she is sick, scared, in a new situation etc. But its not funny, its tragic. I only hope that I can be who she needs me to be. And that Howard and I can teach her to turn to the Lord for her every need, when we fail.

So I guess in this odd weird way, I am treasuring the fact that she is sick, and I can be her mom and nurture her through this sickness. We can learn what helps her when she is sick and what doesn't. And we can teach her through our actions, not just our words that our family truly does love her! I am amazed and in awe of how all the other kids want to help her, play toys while she lays on my lap, bring her sippee with water, read her stories, give her hugs and nurture her as much as I do. I can see the love and compassion they have for their little sister and it makes my heart sing. Especially with Riley, she has hardly left Addison's side. I have to say their relationship has been extremely rocky lately, so to see this encourages me that a special bond will be forged with these two girls who God meant to be sisters.

Snowed In!!!!

I hope to post some pictures later, but the title says it all! We have been snowed it on and off since Sunday! I got stuck in our cul de sac trying to take the kids to school this morning, and was lucky enough to have neighbor push me back into my driveway!!! Needless to say we stayed home for the day :)

The best part of all of this snow (insert sarcasm) is that Howard is away, and will be away for almost another week. I think the snow piles on either side of our driveway are as tall as me! And I will have some wicked muscles from all the shovelling I have done in the last 5 days :)


My kids however think this is the best thing ever! Our temp even rose to +2!!! That never happens this time of the year! So they were out making snow forts and snowmen this morning before the wind really picked up. I need to remember to find the joy in all this white stuff. Its always so fun to watch as the kids scamper around and use their imaginations to build the biggest and best fort ever!

What do you all do?

I am putting a question out there to the other families who have adopted from China or are waiting to adopt. What do you all do to celebrate Chinese New Years? I am quite looking forward to it, and want to be as authentic as possible, I am just wondering what are your traditions? I hope you all can give me a few ideas :)

In Christ Alone (Cover) - Owl City [Download Link]

I am loving this cover of In Christ Alone! I could listen to it on repeat for hours :) Enjoy!

6 months today.

As you can see colouring is a very serious pass time in our home!

One of the many silly faces our girl makes :)

6 months ago today we saw this little face up close and personal for the first time, this was the first time I got to hold my baby girl and cuddle with her, the first time I got to wipe away her tears, and see her smile. My how far we all have come in just 6 months! When we met it was instant, I knew.....she was meant to be our little girl, however now its deeper than that, its like I can't even begin to imagine what our lives would be like without her now. Our sweet girl brings so much laughter, joy and curiosity into our house. She can cut a mean rug! She has the most hilarious facial expressions and is such a compliant child. Oh and loud, the girl is LOUD!!!

Addison has had to learn and overcome so much in these 2.5yrs of life, yet she is still full of joy and songs. One of my favourite moments of the day is when I catch her singing along with Chris Tomlin to the song "Our God." She and Riley are still learning what it means to be a sister and have a sister. Its an everyday battle for who will "rule the roost" for these two girls! However I see glimpses of the love and compassion they have for each other, and trust it will take time for them to come to terms with their new roles in the family.

This 6 months have flown by and I can hardly believe she has been in our arms for that long! We feel beyond blessed to have her in our lives, and can't wait to see what the next 6 months bring for her and our family.

Snow.....Yep we've got it!

We woke up to quite a dump of snow this morning. Riley she was in her glory! She loves the outdoors and is a huge help, she was the one that got our butts moving to go shovel our driveway after breakfast. The snow is still coming down so I expect she'll be really happy to go out again around 3PM and shovel for the second time today. I can't remember the last time we had a dump of snow like this, all at once. Its not so bad when its the weekend and you can just hunker down play games stay warm and keep the driveway clear. Addison likes being outside, however she gets mighty frustrated with the deep snow! Its cute to watch her.....trudge two steps, fall down, take 5 minutes to stand up, trudge two steps, fall down.....well you get the picture :) All I'm saying is Florida sounds mighty fine right now :)

What a week!

This has been a week of getting back into the routine of regular life. We are back to clean eating and schedules, early to bed and early to rise.

Our big news for this week is that Howard is in the process of starting a business. I am so excited for him and what it will eventually mean for our family! He will still be doing the same thing (industrial electrician) however now he will sub contracting to the company he works for. The nature of the industry is that when its busy its crazy busy and that will remain the same, however we hope that within the next couple years that once summer hits Howard will be able to stay home for the whole time the kids are off school. That would allow us to travel to see our families and camp etc. So needless to say this was a week on the phone with our accountant, bank, insurance company, car dealership etc. It also mean I will be doing the book keeping and paperwork for our company. I look forward to the challenge and learning a new skill. Howard hopes to have his new truck up and running by the first of February.

The boys are falling back into the school routine fairly easily. Riley is struggling immensely! Almost everyday I leave her at Kindergarten she cries and we have to pry her hands off of my jacket, hand, neck etc. I thought we would be past this by now, however it has gotten worse since the holidays. For me as a mom it is heartbreaking to watch. Funny enough she loves school! She is fine seconds after I leave. I am not sure what to do with her... we have tried everything I can think of! This week we started a prayer box that she decorated herself, anytime she has a worry, she comes to us and we help her write a prayer on a piece of paper, she puts it in the box and the idea is she now has to let it go and give it to God. I am hoping maybe this will help. I have never met a child with such anxiety at such a young age. She tries to control everything....its so sad to watch. So if any of you have any ideas on how to help her I am open to suggestions!

Addison is doing well she seems to be happy as a clam, although she has certainly missed her brothers and sister this week. Addy also had another first this week......the first time swimming in a swimming pool! I know how lame that we are finally going swimming! She was quite apprehensive for the hour we were there, but you could tell she really wanted to let loose and have fun, and just wasn't sure if it was safe to do so. By the end of our session she didn't want to leave so we will certainly have to head back to the pool soon.

Happy New Year!

2010 was a year that will go down in the history books of our family. It was a year our family grew from being a family of 5 to a family of 6. This was the year we met our precious daughter Addison face to face, and brought her home forever. It was a year of great adventure, for Howard and I. We travelled across the world, we learned to lean and trust in the Lord more than we ever had to in our lives. We learned the power of a whisper and the rewards in obeying His call far outweigh the "what ifs" and also that God has a incredible plan for ourlives, a role for each of us to play, and that He isn't finished with us yet! It was Riley's first year of Kindergarten, and we watched the boys grow and mature in leaps and bounds. My sister had her first baby a sweet little girl named Sydney. On the whole we had a year that was blessed beyond compare.

As we head into 2011, I look forward to it with excitement and hope. I was trying to plan out what the year would look like, and then I started thinking are these plans mine or Gods? I wonder what it is that God would have our family do this year? So this year I really have no clue what it will look like! We have some career paths that may change soon for Howard, and hopefully some family holiday's, but what else? I guess we can only wait and see!

I put together a little video of pictures of some of our favourite moments of 2010.....its LONG! So I don't feel bad if your not into watching it :) When I look at these pictures most of them leave a huge grin on my face, and it leaves me feeling thankful for all our family has been blessed with.

And because I love you friends, family, blogger friends and "lurkers" I pray the Lord will use you this year, may He write fantastic words in your story words that may terrify you if spoken to you today, words that He and only He would be powerful enough to speak into existence and faithful enough to see to fruition. I pray that you will be brave enough to obey His whispers and walk in the path He has made for you. I pray He blesses you and your family beyond your wildest dreams. This is also what I am praying for our family.