Adoption Video with 'One Less'

Ten Years Ago Today...

our precious little girl was born. We're so thankful for the time we had.

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Who's Two?

Shiloh is 2 today!  We've been working on the proper answer to "How old are you?"  So far we get a thumb and her pointer finger in the air and the answer "three"--I guess she's got part of it down.  Here are a few pictures from the past year...

"Cup up top"

Shiloh has graduated to a restaurant style booster chair in our booth rather than her baby chair strapped to a chair at the end of the table. I am enjoying the extra room in our small kitchen and I can get into the cereal cabinet without moving her chair all the time!

She has also started using a regular cup and we remind her to put her "cup up top" (translation: at the top of her plate so it doesn't get knocked over by an errant elbow). Shiloh likes to follow the rule so she has become the "cup up top" cop at our house. This is some video from a few nights ago.

A Barak Retrospective

Barak is 6 today!!! I can hardly believe it. Just yesterday he was my baby...

Family Camp Fun

For the past 9 years we have been attending Family Camp with a group of friends. It's our Labor Day tradition. We've only missed one year (the year Barak was due) in that time. I don't think our summer would be complete if we didn't get to spend some time relaxing and hanging out before all the fall chaos started. We always take a group picture. This year our picture included the chair we made for camp, a new member (Andrew who married Rachel), and a special photo appearance by Kyle who left for college last week. We missed you Kyle but we're glad you're enjoying school!

This year Celia and Barak decided to try Mountain Boarding. It's like skateboarding down a hill but with bigger tread wheels. I was going to try it but apparently I'm too old (actually much too old since the insurance company won't insure anyone over 25:)! They both had several great runs. At the end of run you are supposed to fall on your butt to stop. Barak stopped a little too late at the bottom of a hill and smashed his cheek into a wooden gun rack. We were very thankful for the helmet, wrist guards, elbow pads, and knee pads which protected the rest of him! It was scary to watch but other than some bruises he's okay and he tried again the next day. I think we're going to have to get them a snowboard this winter!

VCBC in Summer

The kids and I had the opportunity to spend a week at Village Creek Bible Camp in NE Iowa at the beginning of August. The week got off to a bit of a rough start since we had all been sick the week before and were TIRED! But I'm happy to report the week steadily improved and we had a great time! Celia and Barak participated in a day camp, I worked in the kitchen, and Shiloh "hung out". There wasn't time to take many pictures but these were a few...

Both kids went down the long black slide on the hillside pictured here.

Shiloh being amazingly flexible--how does she do that???

Blooming

A couple years ago I saw a scrapbook page entitled "Bloom where you are (trans)planted" and it really struck me. One year ago Tuesday (7/13/2009), Shiloh was transplanted. She was uprooted from every sight, sound and caretaker she knew at the orphanage and handed to us. When I look at those first photos I can see the sadness/loss in her eyes. But over the last year she has demonstrated amazing resiliency. She has truely bloomed and I can't imagine our life without her. We have been so blessed.

July 13, 2009

July 13, 2010

How can that be restful?

(Just have to mention this is the 1 year anniversary of Shiloh's "Gotcha Day". I will post more later when she's up and I can take pictures:)

We were in Bismarck, ND this past weekend with Todd's extended family. We were there to visit his Grandma who is 97 years old! We had lots of fun at the parade in Turtle Lake, ND where Grandma Sharon grew up and the kids hauled in a lot of candy--especially Shiloh who realized they would throw candy when she waved.

We also stayed in a hotel which brings us to the funniest pictures of the weekend. We picked Celia up from a sleepover on our way out of town and her friends mom told me that somehow she ended up on the floor across the room sleeping. I wasn't too surprised because Celia is a wild sleeper. She is on the top bunk and has a railing which is the only thing that keeps her in bed. At the hotel, she and Barak shared a queen-sized bed. We figured that would be enough room. Apparently we were wrong.

Saturday night...

and Sunday night....

amazingly Barak slept through it all!

Fr-------------oast

I went in to work early this morning but went home to enjoy breakfast with the family. This is the conversation I walked in on as Barak was trying to remember what his breakfast food (which we eat on a fairly regular basis) was called.

Todd: "It starts with "fr" and ends with "oast"."

Barak: "Ah.......(long pause)........waffles?"

Todd: "No. Try again. It ends with "toast"."

Barak: "(Another very long pause).....cooked toast? (Another pause) I have no idea!"

I think he has it down now but then again it's only recently that he quit calling grilled cheese sandwiches "macaroni and cheese sandwiches".

Eh Matey?

Today is a cereal day at our house. Shiloh chose Marshmallow Mateys (cheap Lucky Charms). After a few minutes of eating she was asking for more. I looked at her bowl and it was still mostly full--except that all the marshmallow shapes were gone! Ah...a girl after my own heart!

Congratulations Andrew & Rachel!

The "Gang" is a special group of friends we've been hanging out with for years. Our kids call them aunts and uncles. Dave and Cindy's daughter Rachel got married this weekend. It was a beautiful, God-focused wedding and we are so thrilled to have Andrew join "the Gang".

Celia and Barak were the flower girl and ring bearer. I was one nervous mommy but they did awesome.

Sprinkler Fun!

It was in the mid-70's on Sunday (which felt extremely warm compared to last weeks cold and rainy weather). While I was working on the garden Todd broke out the sprinkler and swimsuits.

Little League Opening Day

Celia had her first Little League game on Saturday. Not only is she the only girl on the team but she was the first up to bat for the first game. I have to admit, I thought she would be pretty shy and embarassed at the first game (let alone the first at bat) but she did AMAZING! On the way home she and Todd made plans to play on a co-ed team when she's old enough (11 years from now:).

This is it--the first "at bat" of the first game.

Fu Manchu Frosting

A friend came over and spent the morning with Barak (and Shiloh) making cupcakes from his Warthogs in the Kitchen book. A great, semi-quiet, activity. I couldn't resist taking this picture of Shiloh enjoying the end product.

Popsicles, Presents, and oh yeah...Ear Surgery

Barak had a many syllable ear surgery yesterday but he is doing great today! A little over a year ago he was diagnosed with cholesteatoma in his middle ear. Some people call it a tumor but more accurately it's a soft tissue growth that is incredibly destructive. By the time it was removed it had "eaten" 2 1/2 of his 3 hearing bones in his right ear. It was also pushing up to his skull which it can "eat through" as well--FREAKY! Anyway, we are so thankful that it was removed and his subsequent surgeries have showed no more cholesteatoma.

Yesterday, they removed a lot of scar tissue and replaced a prosthetic device with a slightly smaller one that will hopefully stay in place since his ear drum graft has now shifted and settled a bit. If the TORP (prosthetic) stays in place he probably won't need a hearing aid. If it shifts we should be able to get him fitted for one before he starts Kindergarten this fall.

And Barak? His view of surgery (aside from the masks and meds and iv) is presents and popsicles. I'm happy to report he is enjoying both at the moment. Please continue to pray that we are able to keep him quiet and slow. No jumping/wrestling/contact stuff for 4 weeks! I realized over the last week that we have had to try and keep a very active boy, who feels pretty good, inactive for 3 of the last 13 months. No easy task!

All in all, it was a very successful day and we are so thankful for God's provision.

Thank You Mom!

Well apparently I saved this as a draft and then didn't publish it--so I'm publishing it now and I'm not as behind in my two posts a month as I thought.

Fess Parker died yesterday. If you aren't sure who that is you're probably my age or younger. No, I didn't grow up in the 50's when his show was on but I did have a mom who loved those old shows and movies. She also loves history. Anyway, when we were young we watched that movie time and time again and she taught us The Ballad of Davy Crocket among other things. I can't remember all the verses to that or to Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride or other songs and poems we learned. but I did learn to memorize well and that is a gift that has served me very well! So thank you mom for making learning/memorizing fun. It's served me well in school and life

Giving a little something back

We had a beautiful weekend! It was so warm (51 degrees) that Sunday as we were driving home from church Celia asked if they could have popsicles outside since it was "just like summer". Once we got home they all spent much of the afternoon outside. We still had a bit (a very little bit) of snow that Barak was chipping away at and building something. This conversation ensued:

Me: Barak what are you doing?

Barak: I'm building a house for the ants.

Me: Why are you doing that?

Barak: Because they clean up for us so I wanted to give something back to them.

Gotta love that!

And the kids finally did get those popsicles outside after dinner (because it was still light!). Note how they are both trying to get Shiloh to look and smile and also note that her popsicle is green--apparently as they were trying so hard to get her to look Barak's popsicle was just to tempting to pass up!

Shredder who???

Tonight we had the AWANA Grand Prix and Soup Off at church. It ended up being an earlier night than usual so we came home to have some ice cream. Before the ice cream was scooped out Barak asked Todd to help him cut some straws--not really sure where the straws came from. Anyway, we asked why and he said because he wanted to be Shredder. Now if you're asking who Shredder is so was I...apparently he's from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...he watches that with Dad!

Still Some Snow

Today after church we went to a broomball tournament. Some friends built an ice rink in their backyard (their small Minneapolis backyard) and about 40 adults and 15 or so kids gathered for some good MN fun. Both Todd and I played--neither of us won the whole shooting match but it was fun and something we haven't done in quite a while.

We've had gorgeous 35 degree weather all weekend so I don't think the snow will be here much longer. (Of course we still have another 1-2 months of good snow possibilities:) Last weekend we spent quite a bit of time on Saturday outside so I thought I'd post some of our snow pics for the end of February.

Best Intentions...

I need to pick up the pace a bit to meet my goal of posting twice a month. Only one post in January so I need three posts this week to keep my average up--we'll see...

Chinese New Year was the weekend of Valentines Day and we (minus Todd who was sick all weekend) had a lot of fun with two parties! The MN Red Thread Group that I'm a part of online had a very fun celebration on Saturday evening. It was great to see people in person.

On Monday, we celebrated with my college roommate Keisha, whose family has also adopted from China, and a couple other families from their travel group. We learned to make egg rolls and brought those to share.

And last but not least, we attempted a little photo shoot on Sunday after church. Shiloh had worn her silk dress from China and she has recently learned to "smile" for the camera. Great pictures right???? Well, she smiles for the camera but doesn't have much interest in sitting with Celia and Barak for the picture. Celia gave up quickly but Barak was determined. He managed to lure her with his Bat Copter and then tackle her. Not quite the happy family Chinese New Year picture we were going for but definitely CUTE!