A Birthday Celebration......Again!

December held three birthdays, Christmas, and our anniversary. Wow! Our poor bank account! Combine that with the expense of a recent international adoption, a surgery out of town and living in a hotel and hospital for a week, and finally two January birthdays.......we need a little break. We did not think too much about the planning of things. Now what if I shared with you that we still have a February birthday in two weeks from today? What in the world were we thinking?

That being said, we love our winter babies! Our sweet oldest son turned fourteen just three days after my birthday. He was the best birthday present that year! 

As you can see in the picture, Kyle is now several inches taller than me. He has really grown this past year. For any of you that know him, you can vouch for me when I say how sweet he is. Kyle has a heart of gold. He has such a compassionate heart. Let me share a few more pictures before I elaborate on my sweet Kyle.

Mariah pulled Kyle's gifts right up and propped her feet right up on the gifts! She really thought they were for her. Kyle did not want us to move her away.

Mariah evidently thought that if she offered Kyle some sweet kisses, it would all work out to her benefit.

And it worked! She got to open more gifts. My sweet Kyle allowed her to open his gifts. She did have to be reminded a few times that this was not her birthday and not her gifts. 

She just loves him! So I had to snap a picture. I have to say that Kyle really loves her too. 

I joked with Kyle and told him this is how it all started. Just the three of us! We didn't know much about raising a baby. I worked full-time and got home from work late. It was pretty normal for Kyle to stay up until I got home around 10pm. When I was called out on alarm calls, Jeremy, Kyle, and I would pile in the car at 3am and drive to Montgomery Wards for me to walk through the store with the Parkersburg police. Only to find that someone left a fan on and the fan triggered the alarm system. 

As I already said, Kyle is really a great kid. He is a great student, loves to read, loves to play his trumpet, loves everything Star Wars, loves Lord of the Rings, loves C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, loves to help, and loves video games. That would probably be his downfall. He LOVES video games. We really limit the time he is allowed though, and he is okay with that. 

Kyle stands at an easy five feet, six inches tall. That is a full four and a half inches taller than mom! He is as skinny as Jeremy was at that age. He is not a huge eater (we save that title for Micah). 

This past year was a year of a lot of changes for him. Kyle got a new little sister. Kyle now sports multi-color braces and glasses. We all notice how Kyle's voice cracks without warning. He is growing up too fast.

Why are we so blessed to be the parents to such a great kid? We really count it a privilege to raise a new generation of boys. What a responsibility we have been entrusted! We do not take this lightly. We work hard to teach our boys about the Lord, right from wrong, to treat all people with respect, to look into the eyes of those they speak with, to treat females with respect, that chivalry is not dead, that it is very important to work hard to earn a living, and that the career they pursue truly only matters to the Lord. Because if they are not doing what the Lord wants, they will not be truly happy. It is not an easy job but our boys have sweet spirits. 

Mariah is doing well. She still is recovering from her recent surgery. We are able to keep her pain mostly under control with Tylenol and Motrin. We have difficult times but we expect that considering her surgery.

One of the unknowns with her surgery has nothing to do with the surgery itself. Jeremy and I were very concerned how the surgery would take a toll on Mariah emotionally. I was torn over waiting or moving ahead. Emotionally, Mariah (as many orphans) has been fragile. Her transition to our family has been tough. The orphanage behaviors sometimes seem to come out of nowhere. 

She has come a very long way but with surgery often means....regression. I was not sure my heart was able to handle that rejection. I have poured my heart into her emotional well-being. She needed it. She still needs it. To regress would be devastating to me. There, I put it in words. I admit that my motives are purely selfish. I knew that this was the best thing for her, so we had to trust that the Lord would protect her little heart and hold it for us. I pleaded with God to just hold her little heart and comfort her in a way that I was not able. And guess what......He did!

We have both seen an even bigger difference in Mariah's disposition. I believe during those relentless visits from nurses, doctors, and hospital staff when I jumped to her bedside in a clumsy attempt to comfort her, she realized this crazy lady is not going anywhere......I was permanent. I have no way of knowing what is going through her head but she runs to me countless times to protect her from her siblings as they chase her. She searches for me constantly. She maybe even prefers me to do a few things for her. I get many, many hugs, kisses, and clear preferential treatment to many things. Sorry Jeremy but don't worry, she still loves you and often times prefers you. After all, you are a lot more fun than me. So, why did I worry? Because I am human and weak. She is doing great and we have seen very little regression.

One of my adoption friends also sent me a special package this week. There was no name on the card but Annette revealed the secret on my Facebook page. How sweet was that? She sent a package with chocolates and specialty tea with a brewer. Oh how I have enjoyed that already! Thank you Annette!!!

You may remember me requesting prayer for the Tucker family. Well, the Tuckers traveled to China in August with the intention of bringing home their son Ethan. He happened to live in Mariah's orphanage. We were able to sneak and get a few pictures of him during our visit in June. Unfortunately, Ethan got very sick and the Tuckers left China without their sweet boy. 

While it was heartbreaking for them, they pursued Ethan. He had heart surgery in China and was recovering when they received their referral for their next child (they had been waiting over 5 years for this referral). Tim and Kristen were blessed to travel to China to get both children. Ethan and Reese came home just a couple of weeks ago. Both of their children were from Mariah's province.

Kristen saw a comment I made that I wished I had picked up a tea pot from that province. Jiangsu is known for their clay teapots. Well, Kristen picked up a teapot for Mariah and sent it to us this past weekend. Thank you Kristen!

I have a "China" shelf in the hutch in my dining room. The doll behind the tea pot to the right is the Jiangsu doll. This was a doll that represents her province.

Here is another peak at the "China" shelf. The tea set is one that my mom got for me. She made the purchase at a store in Nanjing. I think she was watching and noticed that I was not buying anything. As usual, I was concerned about money. We still had another week to spend in China and I didn't want to spend the money. Sure enough, I never picked one up. Mom gave this to me a couple of months ago! 

Jeremy and I have the most giving, unselfish parents I know. They would all give us the shirts off their backs with out question. I pray that Jeremy and I can be such a blessing to our children. Thank you for the examples you have set before Jeremy and me, Mom and Dad Bash and Mom and Dad Kaminski!