Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Our Sweet Little Man…

I have to be honest…many of my thoughts are taken up each day with my son.  I will think of him and pray that God brings him to us SOON!  I wonder…what is he like?  Is he a happy baby?  Does he sleep well?  What are his favorite things to play with?  Is he eating baby food?  It is such a strange feeling as a Mommy to have a child on the other side of the world, but know so little about him.  I am SO thankful that he is being taken care of.  In fact, he is probably getting quite spoiled because he has a nanny that gives him lots of attention.  That makes me SO happy and thankful because I know there are many children in his situation that are not properly care for, and it breaks my heart.

I have so many people ask me where we are in the process.  All of our paperwork, which has been translated into Chinese, is in the court system in Taiwan.  We are waiting on a court date, which could come anytime between now and the next 8 weeks, if I understand correctly.  Of course, we are hoping it comes sooner!  There is a process of papers, or decrees, that are issued from the court subsequent to your court dates, but do be honest, I don’t know every detail of that.  We’ve been told that you “typically” travel around 3 months after your first court date.  I am hoping and praying that he will be home in April or before. 

The wait has been HARD.  We have been waiting now, in total, for about two years (we began our paperwork in Jan. 2011)…including our time in the Ethiopia program.  I am ready to have him home.  I am ready for him to meet his big sisters, who ask every day, “Is today the day we get Ramsey?” (Especially Selah!)  It’s like she misses him and wants him home so badly too!  I am ready for him to know that he has so many family members and friends that love him and have been praying for him.  I am ready for him to just be in our regular routine of life as our son/brother.  I am READY! 

Our agency is so good about getting us pictures!  I have so many pictures of him that I will treasure forever…even one from the day he was born!  He is growing, and I can’t believe how much he has changed in the past couple of months.  I pull them up on my phone many times a day to just look at him or show him off to someone!  I can’t post a full size picture until we go get him, but I can give you a glimpse…

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Can you tell form his eyes that he has a mouth-wide-open full grin!  It is the sweetest picture!  I cannot tell y’all how handsome he is!  OH.MY.HEART!  I cannot wait to get my hands on him!

God has been SO good to us through this process, and the things I have learned have truly changed me.  I am so thankful!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Holiday iPhone Pics…

Looking through the pictures on my phone are a great way to remember what we were up to over the holidays as well!  I’m just going to lump them all together rather than do individual posts, then I think I will finally be caught up! 

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Our Elf, Lucy, returned this year, and she was up to a lot of mischief.  I forgot to take pictures everyday, but the girls, especially Myla, loved looking for her each morning, and they were sad that she went back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve.  I, on the other hand, wasn’t sad to see her go so I didn’t have to think of something for her to do each day!

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Playing a game with friends!

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Playing in marshmallows because she missed the snow at the North Pole!

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Rolling our Christmas tree!

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One day we invited some friends over to bake, and Lucy didn’t want to be left out!

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In December, we also mailed a package to Ramsey!

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We also went to Daddy’s work party.  The party is at his bosses house, and Selah remembered this big Barney that was there last year.  She went right in and quickly found the big Barney again to play with!

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We had LOTS of lazy days over the Christmas break!  This day we all napped together in mommy and daddy’s bed, although I think I was the only one that actually napped!

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Another fun thing I did was go caroling with our church choir.  This was at the VA home where we visited a former pastor of FBC Oxford.  It was so special because he was SO thankful we had come.  He was overcome with emotion, which made all of us emotional too!

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Sae Sae came one day to play and take us to lunch!

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We made the trip over to Cotton Plant, MS, to see the inflatable display.  I’m sure many of you heard about this place.  It was featured on the TLC show, “My Crazy Obsession”.  These people are obsessed with inflatables, and they display over 500 of them as well as a light show!  The girls really enjoyed it!  Myla actually had her picture made with the grinch.  I think this is the first time she has ever had her picture voluntarily made with a character!  Funny Myla story…she had a crocheted hat on, but on her visit to the porta-potty, it fell in the toilet.  Needless to say, I was NOT getting it out!  She was so upset, poor thing!

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Selah loved the Mickey section!

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Little snowmen in Cotton Plant!

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Selah loves playing with all of her babies!

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On our way to the Christmas party day at MMO!

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Selah’s class sang a few songs on stage, and she loved every minute of it!

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The day we celebrated with the Meurrier’s, we ran over to see Granny and Papa (Macy parents) for a few minutes!  The girls love Granny!

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Michael and Papa always enjoy talking about the world’s problems, and as Macy said, “The conservativeness was flowing!”

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I loved my Christmas tree and decorations this year.  I was so sad to take them down!  I bought a new tree this year on sale, and I can’t wait to have 2 trees next year!

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A new addition to our decorations this year was new stockings.  My friend, Paula, made them, and I LOVE them. I told her I wanted to leave them up all year!

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Sweet girls after bath!

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Myla has become a little domino player.  She loves to play and would play 25 games in a row if she has someone to play with!

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Sis Sis getting fixed up by two little beauticians!

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I decided to paint stripes on the walls around our dining room table to create an accent wall.  This is before…

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During…my friend Molly helped me tape and paint!

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It took over 4 hours to tape and about 15 minutes to paint!

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And after…I’m a little obsessed with the way it turned out!  I love it!

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I was one happy girl when our paperwork was delivered in Taiwan on Monday!  I’ll do a separate adoption update post soon!

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And it’s been SOO cold the past day or two, so the girls requested coffee mid afternoon yesterday!

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day…

I’m slowing, but surely catching up on the blog from Christmas…

LOTS of PICS, so hang in there!

On Christmas Eve we went to the service at our church, and it was such a blessing.  It’s always a great time to remember that even in the craziness of the season, Jesus is why we celebrate it.  Taking the Lord’s supper on Christmas Eve is always so special to me because I think even though at Christmas, we celebrate Christ’s birth, his death on the cross was the REAL reason He came.

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Pretty girls ready for the service.  The Christmas Eve service is for the entire family to attend, so there is no nursery. Selah enjoyed being in “big” church with everyone!  She did great except for when she got her candle at the end and she kept blowing it out and getting wax all over me.  Ha!

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We came home from the Christmas Eve service and got ready for bed so Santa could come!  Doesn’t Selah look SO different without her glasses?

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We left chocolate candy for Santa since that is all we had fixed.  I don’t think he/she minded that at all!

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Santa did stop by!

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Myla’s stash from Santa

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And Selah’s stash.

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All the girls asked for was a doll house and a doctors’ kit.  Thankfully “Santa” got a dollhouse last January at Goodwill that was still in the box!  Daddy had fun putting that together while we went to the Bellevue Singing Christmas Tree!  His words, after putting it together, were, “I REALLY hope they enjoy this!”

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Happy girl #1!!!!!!!!

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Happy girl #2!!!!!!!!

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Selah checking out her doctor’s kit accessories!

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I think stockings are Myla’s favorite part of Christmas!  She was so excited to start digging into hers!

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Selah had lots of treasures in her stocking too!

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Still searching for more!

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Everything can be so nice and neat, and then…

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The doc is in!

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I would trust her as my doctor, wouldn’t you?

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After enjoying their Santa stuff for awhile, it was time to open presents!  All Selah asked for for several weeks before Christmas was the big Minnie that she had seen at WalMart.  So, Myla gave her that! 

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Myla was excited to get a VReader, and she has enjoyed playing with it so much!  She loves electronics!!

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Selah opening her Baby Alive doll.  They have both played and played with this doll!

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Selah’s first board game!

In true form, my camera battery died about 15 minutes into Christmas morning, so I had to resort to my phone!  Not the greatest picture quality, but at least it’s documented!

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Princess dress for a princess!

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Love this picture!!!  Myla had seen some house slippers at a store here in Oxford and wanted them so badly.  SO, Selah saved the day and gave them to her!

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Aren’t they cute?

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Love this face too!  Papaw, Macy and Maggie sent Myla a cosmetologist dress up kit!  She had seen it when Maggie was here in Square Books, Jr., and Aunt Maggie took note and got it for her!

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Selah LOVES her big Elmo pillow from Papaw, Macy and Maggie.  He sleeps by her every night!

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After all the presents were opened, it was time for breakfast.  The new baby had to join us and have her breakfast too!

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Such a good little mommy!

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Doesn’t that green mush look appetizing?  And yes, she does have a dirty diaper after she eats.  Ha!

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Myla quickly put her cosmetologist kit to work!

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Something we had not planned to do on Christmas day was spend several hours on the roof because it was leaking.  Our families were good sports about it and helped out!

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Poor guys!

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Mimi got her hair done as well!

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Both of our families came over Christmas day for lunch, and later in the afternoon it was time to open gifts from Mimi, Bodie and Sis Sis!  It was chaos!!

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Selah LOVES all of her new babies!

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Myla asked my mom for “mommy” dresses and high heels.  She was so excited to get her first pair of high heels to dress up in!

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Henry like his magician kit from us!

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Myla with one of her “mommy” dresses!

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Organized chaos!

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Bodie loved his NY Giants car floor mats from Mimi!

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Myla and Henry…Henry came in his pajamas and my girls changed clothes about 10 times on Christmas Day. I had cute, matching outfits laid out for them to wear, but we just went with the flow and wore whatever they wanted to!

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Selah was getting a little tired and out of the mood for pictures!!

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How about this pose!!  LOVE ti!

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She loves having a baby in her hands all the time!

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Doesn’t she look like a little “mommy” in her dress and high heels!!

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Playing with toys and dressing up…happy kids!

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Mimi and Bodie gave the girls a karaoke machine, so Myla put on  a little performance for Henry, Selah, and Minnie Mouse!