Ear Piercing!

I am taking a breather after a hectic week last week. We had a birthday, two orthodontist appointments (which took forever), and two kids had physicals on Friday. 

Selah insisted I take a photo of my flowers from Jeremy. They are beautiful!

In one year Micah grew 4 1/2 inches and gained 10 pounds! He is thirteen and a whopping 5' 6" tall. He is on target to be right around six feet tall. That is quite tall for our family! He just began his third phase of orthodontic treatment. He has had a palate expander and a set of traditional braces. This past week he began the final phase.

Ben also had his physical on Friday. He also grew beautifully! His growth hormone injections are working so well. He grew 4 inches since last year. We left the appointment only to get a phone call later. They are concerned about Ben's heart. He has a very unique murmur. We were made aware of this when Ben was a few months old. We are scheduled for an echocardiogram this week. I fully expect the results to be fine but they are not comfortable with not investigating further.

Mariah should have had speech this past Friday however, our speech therapist called and cancelled. It was a very difficult situation. The principal of our middle school passed away last weekend. The funeral for him was on Friday and our speech therapist was filling in for teachers who were attending his funeral. He was only 48 years old. My prayers go out to his wife and children. 

Our weeks here have fallen into a nice routine. I think we have figured out somewhat of a schedule for all six kiddos. As long as I can keep Mariah out of the glitter in our school room, we can manage.

Selah has begun school. I would love to tell you how thrilled she is but I'm not sure exactly how she feels. She breezes through math but is not thrilled to be learning botany or early American History. She is working with negative numbers right now in Pre-Algebra. I imagine she will breeze through the first several lessons easily.

I snapped a photo of the girls in their matching jammies. Sorry for the poor quality but I do not believe they would have volunteered on their own.

The night of the 12th we realized that Selah wanted something. She was hanging around when the other kids went to bed. But she just kept saying, "No! Nothing!" We just sent her to bed. The next night she was doing the same but finally came to me and gave me my goodnight hug and gave an extra squeeze. Then this was our chat.

Selah: "Goodnight, Mom."

Secretly I wanted to jump and scream but I did not. I smiled and made a big deal about it as she walked out of the room. I was on cloud nine!

I could not wait to tell Jeremy. Then I saw him come into the living room and he was smiling. I knew she also had done the same with him. But.....she called me "mom" before she called Jeremy "dad". This was very intentional on her part. She knew it made us so happy! She still mostly doesn't call us anything but she often refers to us as "mom" and "dad". I'll take it!

The next night the following was our conversation:


Selah: "Will you listen to me?" 

Me: "Well, of course I will! What is it honey?"

Selah: "I just needed to thank you for teaching me my math. I really need to thank you for things you do for me."

Me: "Selah, I love teaching you! You are such a smart girl and you make it easy. I love you."

Selah: "Okay! I go now!" 

Off she went to bed! I realized again that we have lived such a pampered life in comparison. I did have tears in my eyes as I realized the significance of what just happened. I keep telling Jeremy that it is all about the perspective.

Then on Saturday morning I stayed in bed just a little later than the rest of the family. I had a terribly sore muscle in my back. Specifically, the muscle that runs from my shoulder down around my right shoulder blade. Ugh! It was so sore. I texted Jeremy a simple, "I love you!" He replied the same.

Then I got a text from his iPad that sounded a little strange for Jeremy. I immediately recognized it was Selah.  Highlighted is Selah's text. Mine is the other.

I

Love

You

I love you too!

Thank you for your love

You and dad

Thank very much

I cannot begin to tell you how much this means and how huge this is! We definitely did not expect this from her. 

She has such a great disposition! She knows that this coming week is my mom's birthday and she felt that we needed to make a trip to Pittsburgh to visit mom for her birthday.

We had taken her the evening before to get her ears pierced.

Almost......

And go!

She seems to really like having them pierced. She chose a pair of star-shaped earrings. They sale was for 2 pair. The second pair she really wanted was a pair that was a cross. Obviously she understands what is important to us. Now she can admire her very own earrings!

Perspective!

This past weekend we had some great friends make jambalaya! They are originally from Louisana and make the best jambalaya. They knew that Selah likes spicy food. Oh this was yummy! Robert and Billie......Thank you!

We are blessed beyond what we could ever imagine!

She shared with us tonight that her last orphanage in China was home to 801 orphans. If we were independently wealthy........

Please pray for the Lord to reveal His will and for more people to step forward and commit to adopt. We cannot begin to express how blessed we are to be chosen twice now to go down this path.

 

Thirteen........really?

Monday officially marked the day that we now have three teenagers in the house.  Micah has reached that special day. He is so proud that he is almost as tall as Daddy! He sure is tall. Keep in mind this is coming from a 5' 2" tall mom. I am a little amazed at the difference in just one year. Check out last year's birthday picture below!

As is our tradition (credit given to my sister for the idea), Jeremy took Micah to his birthday breakfast while I took Mariah to the hospital for her routine labs. 

I left the house before 7am. I guess I do not understand why there was only one person to register everyone. I withheld Mariah's morning meds in order to get an accurate result. I almost had to leave before her labs were drawn. We had about 12 minutes left before I would have no choice but give her the meds. We waited for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Mariah never even cried. they drew four tubes of blood. They missed her vein and had to move the needle around and she was a trooper. She never cried and I only heard an ever so slight whimper.

We have spent a lot of time playing in the snow this winter. Well, not me but the kids. Mariah gets so excited at the prospect of going out.I love this photo that Jeremy shot of her. I wish I knew what she was thinking. So sweet!

More fun in the snow with a couple of new sleds.

Micah enjoys being outside as well. He would probably shovel driveways all day long. He truly loves to shovel.

Our sweet boy! My special name for him is Mikey. We all used to call him that but a few years ago he told everyone that I was the only one allowed to use that name. I love it!

Why can we not just press the slow motion button and live life that way sometimes? We are on our knees for our boys as they approach these difficult years. We pray that we seek God's face every single day and pray for wisdom.  We want to always be the parents that love unconditionally but with wisdom. We want to raise boys of courage with a God-fearing love for Him. When I jokingly told him he had to move next door when he gets married he smiled and said, "I don't know mom. I'll move wherever God wants me to go." Ahhhhh.....that is exactly what I pray for!

Micah has such a sweet heart. He loves to please. Micah certainly has a special place in his heart for Mommy and I am not ashamed to admit that. He is quick to give me a hug, or several, every single day. He loves that he is so much taller than me. He is a fierce competitor and hates to lose....ever!

While opening his gifts he had a little "helper".

We always take a photo of all of the kids together. You'll notice that our youngest was missing for this photo. She was having a tough time.

I love being mom to all of these kids and the one missing in this photo! 

We pretty much constitute a party with just our family alone. I told Jeremy that shopping at the grocery store is funny now. We buy the largest size of everything! It is good to know that Doritos come in a party size bag now! I am that lady at the grocery store that no one wants to stand behind in the check out. My cart is always overflowing and each week I find it a challenge to try and fit everything back into the same cart. Usually I amaze myself and make it work! I can pack a mean grocery cart and car trunk!

Micah was thrilled to get a new pair of snow bibs and two new pair of jeans since he will not stop growing! He got a Lego set and wallet as well.

I love sharing these special days with the kids. Each of the kids choose their birthday dinner. Micah chose my baked chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and rolls. Selah and Rebecca baked his cake. Selah and I made the frosting and iced it. It was a pretty great day together celebrating Micah's 13 years!


Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.  Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.  
Psalms 127:3

Joy Unspeakable!

It has been a couple of weeks since I blogged and I have desperately wanted to make the time but I simply have not.

We have had such a beautiful snowy winter. On Monday, February 3rd, we woke up to a very unexpected 9 inches of snow! It was beautiful but that makes our WV roads very dangerous. Jeremy braved the weather and went in to work. The kids earned a snow day and spent hours outside playing. Ben would live out there if we allowed.

He then was so happy to finally be Mariah's "favorite". She desperately wanted to go out and play. Ben was her ticket!

After all, he is so much fun!

Micah was playing then decided a few neighbors needed shoveled out.

And or course.....Kyle wanted to help as well.

We convinced Selah to go ahead out. We have to remind her that she will stay warm in her snow gear.

Becca also loves to be outside. And it suits her well.

Our past two weeks have consisted of more tests and labs for our Selah. I took her down to the hospital for her labs. She needed and EKG, several x-rays, and blood work. 

We started with the blood work.......and it stopped there. On the 15th tube of blood poor Selah passed out. She was out for quite some time. They actually asked me to call my husband in to help with her. Twenty-five minutes later she was awake and we headed out the door with only her blood work completed. Every ounce of color drained from her sweet face. She came home and slept for a good part of the day. We did return the next morning for the remaining tests.

As school began for the week I noticed Selah seemed bored. This is quite common for kids from orphanages. They are not used to "free-time". These kiddos enjoy a very busy schedule. I decided that we needed to have some schooling for her. It is pretty safe to say that she will do just fine. She is excellent in math. I did notice that the only things I have found so far that she is confused with is writing of a quotient as a remainder. She uses decimals. The other confusion is with some of the Roman Numerals. Other than that her addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are stellar!

She participates in Science as we are learning about Botany. We plan to dissect a flower this week after learning about germination, angiosperms, and gymnosperms. I love how she picks up on so much. We are not fooled! 

I went grocery shopping last Friday and Selah wanted to come. I think she does not like me going places alone. On the way there she began talking. She asked me if I remembered our conversation from the evening before. Of course I did! She said to me, "You remember last night? How we talked?" I said I did. She then said,"What can I call you?" 

Oh my! She is really trying to see what feels right. She still does not address us as anything. But I do believe it is coming soon! There is so much confusion in her little heart. I am on the edge of my seat waiting for her to call me "Mom" or "Momma". Rebecca also tries to get her to call me that. In fact, I guess Selah has called me that when speaking to Rebecca about me on three occasions. It has never been loud enough for me to even hear. But it is coming!

Our trip home from church this past Sunday also proved interesting. Once again we got unexpected snow. The roads were beyond horrible.

We made it home safely even though the road were not touched in many places. As I posted on Facebook this past week I am so thankful that my dad taught me to drive on bad roads. He took me out countless times and taught me when to put the car in neutral, D2, or to pump the brakes on vehicles without anti-lock brakes. He actually taught me to drive on my mom's Oldsmobile Omega, which was a stick shift. I drove that car for several years!

I have noticed something happening in our home. I believe that Jeremy does not like this at all. Take a look for yourselves!

 

This actually happened a few months ago. I don't believe Micah is far behind.

This, however, may take some time!

Life in our house is quite interesting. There is a very heavy male influence. Our poor Frozen Infinity figures are being attacked by some dinosaurs.

Selah seems to really enjoy cooking. She loves to watch Food Network. So I have decided to work with her in the kitchen. I love that she is like a sponge. Tonight I was reminded what her life has been like. As she was mixing the ingredients for our salmon rub, she asked me who taught me to cook. I felt sad yet honored that God chose me to be her mom. I get to teach her to cook and clean among many other things. She loves to help set the table. Tonight I watched her teach Mariah where the silverware goes and how to fold the napkins. It is humbling for sure.

She and Rebecca wanted to help bake some chocolate chip cookies. Again, this was the first time that Selah ever baked anything in the kitchen.

The cookies were yummy!

We have such an amazing new daughter. She seems to be loving life. She is opening up with us and sharing a little about her life. One interesting tidbit we learned is that her middle school in China was school to 3,000 students! She was in boarding school there and had 6 roommates. It seems that these girls liked to stay up past "lights out" and use a flashlight to complete their Chinese homework. She giggles about it.

She did her own laundry. She is quite amazed that I fold all the laundry here. The kids sort and wash and dry laundry but I fold. She has asked many times why they don't take care of their own. She has grown up too fast.

Selah also does not understand why American women take their husband's last name as their own. In China the woman keeps her last name and the couple's children take the father's last name.

We have also learned that many words are difficult for her to differentiate. For instance shirt, short and shot all sound the same to her. Also, kids sounds like cats. And boss sounds like box. We laugh a lot! 

She is an amazing speller. When in trouble, we spell things out in English. Just today we were talking about the stars in the night sky. I had to spell it because she was unsure what I meant.

Mariah was promoted to her own bedroom this weekend. She now sleeps in a big bed. She had absolutely no trouble! I was a little hurt that she was so great about it. However, it really speaks volumes how far she has come. 

Here is just one more example of the heavy male influence in our home.

This photo was taken today. Mariah insisted on wearing that helmet outside over her tossle hat (notice my Pittsburgh influence in that word) in the snow!

I am amazed that God chose for us to parent each of our kids. Selah has brought a perspective to our home that was foreign to us. We are watching God work in Selah's heart.

Just last week we were studying about seeds in Science. Selah later asked me how a seed got everything it needed already inside. I simply told her that is how God created it. She looked at me strangely and asked again. I explained yet again how God created plants and seeds. She just took it all in. Honestly I think she was a bit annoyed with my answer.

Our sweet newest daughter truly is perfect for our family. She and Rebecca are best friends. It is so sweet to watch them together. We look at our life and are amazed to see how our obedience to God's direction has brought us such joy. It is pure joy! Joy unspeakable!!!!

Selah's First Snow!

This past week has been quite busy. I think I need to accept that it will be this way for a long time. We had an orthodontist appointment on Monday and that is when the snow began. By Tuesday morning there was a nice blanket of snow on the ground. I decided to brave the conditions and take Selah to her echo. Forgive the filter on this photo. Mariah confiscated my phone and I didn't realize the change until I tried to take a photo at this stop light.

It would be an understatement to say the roads were not clear. After I got off our hill I knew it would be silly to turn back. That hill is the worst part of my trip. 

Selah had her echo and the tech was so sweet. She realized how Selah has no "insulation" and she went and got her two blankets that had been warmed. She was in heaven!

The great news is they believe the suspicious murmur is nothing more than an extra tendon. I have since learned that yes, your heart has tendons. The valves operate using tendons. We still will have her EKG and other testing but it seems all is well.

We came home from this appointment after sliding all over the road and pulled in the garage. I watched Selah doing this.....

Writing her name in the snow! 

Enjoying the snow! 

Enjoying the cold!

I was thrilled that we convinced her to go out and sled ride. I think she also was happy with her decision.  

And a few more shots that we caught...

This just looks like trouble. 

We have some great neighbors. The house they are standing in front of has a pretty awesome hill in the back yard. This sweet neighbor told me that the kids never have to ask to sled ride in her yard. I still told them to ask but they had a blast!

While the kids were out sledding, I decided to decorate for Chinese New Year. I know Selah is fully aware of the date. So I surprised her with this....

She really did like it. She also laughed when I had to ask her if the banners were correct. I had no idea if they were right-side-up or not!

We have had a nice amount of snow this week. Personally I love it! Our neighborhood even still has snow covered roads even today. 

Mariah woke up Monday morning with a temp of 104.5......It certainly explained how she was acting for the past week. I let it go as she woke up Friday fever-free. However her disposition didn't change much.

I began to notice she was wheezing.

We got more snow then I decided she needed to go to urgent care on Sunday. She has bronchitis! I feel terrible and should have taken her sooner.

Saturday was my birthday. I removed it from Facebook but somehow people remembered and then it snowballed from there. Thank you all for your sweet words and wishes. I did have an awesome day!

Jeremy always makes this day special for me. He gets the kids all excited for me too.

While I was folding a load of clothes Selah pops around the corner and sat diagonal from me. Not only was she the first one of our kids to wish me a happy birthday, she handed me a bracelet she made.

Now let me share the significance of this bracelet. Notice my ring on my finger? It is my Mother's Ring. It is outdated and missing two stones. Honestly we just haven't spent the money on a new one. Selah took an interest in that ring this past week and I sat down and explained birthstones to her. Evidently China does not recognize birthstones. She wrote our birthdays on the white board in the basement and I now know that she got to work. 

She explained to me that the colors of the bracelet alternate the entire circumference. She said, "You see.......Red! January. Purple! February. Pink! June. and Blue! December." Those cover the birthstones for all six kids. I really did get tears in my eyes. This sweet girl is working so hard at being a family. I love her heart! I reached over to hug her and she wrapped her arms around me and quickly jumped up and left the room. 

That evening, since we were snowed in, Jeremy got the stuffed shells out of the freezer that Becca and I made then froze it before we left for China. Selah baked her first cake with my help. 

I was taken into the living room to open my gifts and Selah grabbed the video camera. Normally we only tape the kids but we let her have fun. She went around the room while taping and asked each person to say Happy Birthday. Then she said, "To who?" and they would respond...."To Mommy." 

Jeremy grabbed the camera from her and asked her the same questions. When he asked, "Whose birthday?" Selah simply responded, "Mommy's"!  Again......I'll take it!

She is doing great. We notice she struggles with eye contact. She is getting a little better but it certainly is not something she is comfortable doing.

Her English is phenomenal! She loves photos. I did get copies of some recent photos made for her and she seemed to like that.

I think she was shocked to hear/see me play the piano this week too. She just stood and stared at me then got Jeremy's iPad and video taped me playing. I am so rusty!!!!! 

I am a blessed wife to Jeremy and mom to six great kids! None of this is easy and the transition to our family is far from complete. Selah struggles every single day. But we also know she comes from a very broken past. We are trying to mend that heart and build trust. Honestly we don't even know if she understands the concept of the word trust. 

We are building a relationship with her and also being the parents to her at the same time. It is a tricky balance. We are being very patient as she figures things out. 

Still it has been such a blessing and we desperately pray for her heart. We pray for her salvation. We ask that you pray for us as well. Adopting is not easy. We don't adopt because it is trendy. We adopt because God planted that seed in our hearts many years ago. It is hard to be obedient. It is hard to bring a 14 year old into your home and try to create a new family. But she is worth every single tear,heartache, and penny.

Thank you all for reading and following our journey. Stay tuned as I can only imagine what God has planned next for our lives!

First Week Home!

Our first family photo as a family of eight!

As I type these very words I am reminded that three weeks ago in the Civil Affairs Office in Guangzhou, China a scared 14 year old was introduced to her parents. Parents was a word that Selah could never even imagine prior to that very day. She had no idea what that even meant.

We looked at her tiny frame and those very sad eyes and for the first time we were met with the stark reality of her past. She was so tiny, so scared, so alone in this world. She was given to us with all of her worldly belongings. She wore two jackets. Her shirt she wore was a pajama top. Her pants were knit leggings with an attached skirt. She wore boots that we now know were too small for her feet.  She had in her possession one child-size backpack. The contents of the pink back pack were unknown to us. She came with nothing else. 

Selah has done beautifully with our family. It really is quite amazing to see how she has come to accept us. That is not to say she understands how a family works. She is learning and fitting in beautifully. She has never experienced a true family before. She had a foster family for 18 months but that was only on the weekends and school holidays. She has not spoken of that family. We have been told that this is the first time in her life she has experienced true acceptance.....true safety........true love.

Fourteen years is far too long to live as an orphan. Fourteen years where no one was there to hold you when you were sick. Fourteen years without having a mommy's and daddy's bed to run to when there is a thunderstorm. Fourteen years where you don't have a mom to prepare your meals. Fourteen years where you don't have a best friend/sister to share special secrets. 

That is no longer her story. She has her own bed. She has her own clothes. Neither of which has she ever possessed before. She now can experience the same joys as our other children. She saw snow flakes for the first time this week. Honestly I thought she would be so excited. She was not! She said, "It is very cold!"  

While the hugs still are not all that welcome, we will be patient and try to understand the circumstances surrounding her beginning. We still wait for her to call us "Mama" and "Baba". Just yesterday Jeremy saw her in the schoolroom. She was writing on the white board. She asked Jeremy when his birthday was. Then she asked, "Mother?" I'll take it! She referred to me as her mother! 

Selah seemed to enjoy helping us take down the Christmas decorations this week. She is meticulous with how she organizes things. She is happy to help in any way. She offered to watch Mariah the other morning in case Jeremy wanted to go back to bed. Mariah is a handful so Jeremy declined the offer.

Here are some photos of her special very first Christmas.

This is her American Girl doll from my parents.

My mom spent many hours sewing clothes for this doll.

Reaching in her stocking for her chocolate.

And her electric scooter to match Rebecca's and Ben's.

We also began doctor appointments this week. Selah's heart is concerning a few medical professionals. So this week we are scheduled for an echo, EKG, and chest x-ray. Then she has an eye doctor appointment as we were told she is near-sighted. She tagged along to Mariah's first dental exam in preparation for hers. We already know she has a lot of dental work ahead. She has many cavities.

Mariah never shed a tear. I'm not sure she loved it but she endured. No cavities and good to go!

School started up in an abbreviated fashion last week too. Selah helped grade some of the math papers. Then she told Rebecca, "You are very smart, Rebecca!" 

Selah attended our church for the first time today. It was such a blessing to see her beside me in the pew. We certainly fill the pew! I was shocked when I heard her singing. She really amazes me! Every time someone came over to meet her she stood to her feet and shook their hands, smiled, and said, "hello." I hope you understand how incredibly difficult that was for her.

I took the girls shopping on Saturday. Selah needed clothes. We went to Old Navy and Selah conspired with Rebecca for this photo.

We found some great deals! She got four pair of pants, several tops, three sweaters, a couple of dresses, socks, and a pair of tights. She did great!

Since we took down all of the Christmas decorations on Friday we also treated Selah to Chinese for lunch. She really enjoyed it. We got a chuckle out of her "fortune" from her cookie.

Saturday was spent shopping then completing the unpacking that began six days prior. Yes, I put that off for six days. But this is what I was up against.

Keep in mind, that was not everything.

I did want to share what we came home to a 3am Sunday after being gone for 17 days.........

I still cannot believe everything that was purchased for our family. We were given:

*2 gal milk                                 *jar of peanut butter
*4 boxes cereal                           *jar of jelly
*roll of paper towels                    *box of spaghetti
*package of toilet paper               *jar of pasta sauce
*10 lbs potatoes                          *large container of butter
*2 bags apples                            *celery
*1 bag oranges                            *2 bags baby carrots
*4 loaves bread                           *1 gallon of orange juice
*1/2 gallon orange juice                *2 pkg 18 count eggs
*24 bottles of water                      *cinnamon rolls
*several bunches of bananas          *large bag of frozen french fries
*4 boxes toaster strudel

I have a feeling I know who so graciously gave to our family. Please know how overwhelmed we were again. This was a life-saver for our family. The last thing I wanted to do was go shopping. This was better than perfect. Thank you so much. Please know that our family was so blessed by your huge hearts!

Then we had our sweet friends Caleb and Danae make dinner for us. All we had to do was pop it in the oven to bake the yummy pasta. 

Another friend, Karen, made us a delicious pot roast with potatoes and carrots. she included a cake, cookies, gallon of milk, fruit, and a few other goodies. 

We are so surprised at the sheer amount of people that are following our journey. This is an example of the numbers we have seen reading my blog.

Thank you all so much for your support. It may seem easy but it is not. We are living the reality of blindly following the leading of the Holy Spirit. 

Our hearts are full of joy!

I Peter 1:8     Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: