Shad's 9 year "Gotcha Day"

Shad has been our son now for nine years.  His actual "gotcha day" was on Thursday and we celebrated it by going out to eat today and he got two video games on Friday. 

Shad is a very unique kid/old soul.  Everyone that meets him loves him.  He is very outgoing and involved in life.  When I first met him in China, he was interested and agreeable to go with me.  There was another little boy meeting his new family for the first time who was freaking out.  Shad looked at the other kid like he was crazy! 

I went on my own to get him as Sam was not quite two and was very sickly.   Also at that time, one of those Asian flus was making it rounds so I didn't want to risk the kids getting sick.  I flew out on a Friday and got to Chengdu China late on Saturday night.  Sunday I got some sightseeing in and on Monday morning we were off to the orphanage to get the kids.

 

We drove and drove to the outskirts of Chengdu to get to it.  When we finally pulled in, my heart was just bursting!!!   They escorted us into a small conference room.  No one seemed to really know what was going to happen next and THEN the nannies came in with Shad and the other little boy.  Shad was very interested in everything that was going on.

 

 

 

This picture was our first one together.  Shad looks a little questioning in it LOL.   He got over it quickly and we started playing together.  We had been told that he was totally blind and delayed....NOT!  I was busy trying to keep him out of things within minutes.

 

 

After we signed some papers and made arrangements to meet the next day at the Adoption Office, we all left.  Shad immediately fell asleep on my lap.  The other kid, screamed!   At the time I was feeling pretty superior to the other family now I know that he falls asleep as soon he gets in a car LOL!!

 

When we got back to the hotel, I took him up and gave him a bath.   He had on FIVE layers of clothes.  At first I had thought he was a chunky two year old but as I got the clothes off, I was sicken to see marks all over his little skinny body.  It looked like insect bites or welts.  His back near his waist was bleeding from this skin condition.  He only weighed 19 pounds once we did the medical exam the next week in Guangzhou.  I thought Shad was skinny weighing only 19 pounds at 2.5 years old until we got Sarah who weighed that at 5.5 years old!

 

 

This picture was after his bath.  He seemed dehydrated.  Luckily I'd brought some Pedilyte and a bottle

 

 

 

This is a picture the next morning of us signing the adoption paperwork.  Even the taxi driver got included somehow LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are pictures of us at the Chengdu Panda Rescue as we sightsee waiting for all his paperwork to be done so we could head off to Guangzhou to get the America stuff done. 

 

 

 

 

This is a picture in Guangzhou of Shad on our balcony. 

 

You know I absolutely HATE to fly....well to get Shad I had to fly to Newark NJ, then OVER the North Pole into Beijing, then from there to Chengdu which is like flying from NYC to Phoenix Arizona and that was on a China airlines!  I was by myself till I got to Chengdu which is as far from Florida as you can get on the globe-literally on the other side of the world!!!!

From Chengdu we had to fly to  Guangzhou which is like flying from Phoenix to Miami FL, again on a Chinese air line.  It was a cultural experience.

 

So the family I traveled with, the mom cried all the time.  She had her mom, her husband and teenaged son and she cried.  I was all by myself with a little guy who was pooping raw hamburger looking stools.  I felt like slapping her  (geez I hope she is not reading this but she annoyed the heck out of me!)  Once we got to Guangzhou, we met up with some other families who were adopting through our agency but most of them were first time parents and very serious.  The other kids were younger and all seem to cry a lot.  I was very thankful for Shad!!!  All the men loved Shad who would eat anything and eat them all under the table.  More than once I had to stop them from feeding him extra food.  Shad was rather obsessed with food.  No one could believe how much food he could eat. 

 

Shad was and is such a unique boy.  I have to admit the first few months were not easy.  He was very independent and strong willed.  He threw a few crazy fits, where he would throw himself on the floor and bang his head.....no matter what kind of floor.  We managed to get those little fits STOPPED!  While we always knew he was our son, it was a new experience for us, as Steve was such an easy going child and Sam was still such a sickly child, we'd never dealt with a child like Shad.  There were a few times I thought we'd "bitten off more than we could chew" but within a few months, he really began understanding FAMILY and that he could come to us for his needs.  He was always funny and engaging so we'd have plenty of laughs when he was in a good mood.  At one point I talked to the social worker and explained to her how defiant he was and the social worker laughed at me and told me I had a two year old!  She did assure me that we'd see some big changes at the three month mark and we really did.  Things got easier and easier with him as the months past.  NOW looking back, I really feel his behavior was just a regular two year olds behavior.  At the time, it was so different than the other boys' behavior that it was a bit overwhelming.  Now when I hear people talk about their post adoption issues, I realize we really did not have many issues.

 

Shad has no memory of China but does want to go back and visit some day.  He has become such a fun kid.  Everyone loves Shad and he is enjoyable to be around.   I'm usually the one to pick him up from school and we do errands together.  I'm always glad for those times so we can talk, just the two of us.  He loves to read and his reading level is very high.  We are reading some of the same books right now and we discuss them together. 

 

He has a very Southern accent and loves ribs!  He is more like Jon and me as far as being social.  He is really like Jon in many ways, it is uncanny and we love it!  He is comfortable in social settings that make me uncomfortable LOL  He has no fear of people not liking him!  We kid him all the time and instead of the show "Everyone loves Raymond"...it should be "Everyone loves Shad". 

 

He's a great kid and I'm thankful that God gave him to us.  We would have missed out on so much if we were not the ones who got to be his parents. 

 

 

 

Shad meeting Jon!

This picture is priceless!!!!

 

And some pictures from today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Busy Week!

This has been a busy week for us.

Yesterday Jon had the day off and we all went by our new house.  We didn't realize that there would be a large group there but the folks from Wesley Chapel Toyota was working on the roof.  We got to meet and thank many of them and take some pictures.  They had a guy out with a drone taking pictures of the work.  It was a lot of fun.  We'd never seen a drone before so that was interesting. 

 

here is the drone

 

 

the back of the house, the roof is almost ready to be shingled.

 

 

The next two I borrowed from HH's site.  They are from earlier this week.  We are pictured with some of the RV workers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this is an adorable picture of Shad watching the roof go on earlier this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a good family day yesterday just going out to eat and then running a few errands together.  I was thinking that days like that make up the patchwork of our lives.....

 

I found Sarah's bed set yesterday and bought it.  She will go from a crib to a twin bed when we move and I found a beautiful quilt for her bed, the main color being PINK of course!   Even is she doesn't see her room, it's going to be a lovely, warm room, with a soft quilt and blanket for her. 

 

We stopped at our doctor's office and dropped off all kinds of paperwork for the poor man to fill out!  Literally have SIX different requests for each girl and a couple for Sam. 

 

Today we (as in me, Steve and Shad went through Sam's & Sarah's two toy boxes ( as in Sam's toy boxes- her tends to take her stuff) and got out every toy that didn't work, put I new batteries or threw it away.  I usually do that before Christmas but didn't have time this year, so now it's done.  I was afraid I was going to go into a seizure due to all the toys going off at the same time as we tested them LOL.  

 

Besides reading the Harry Potter series (I'm on book 5) I picked up some books at a thrift store.  One of them was "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" by Capt Ted Lawson.  What a great book about General Doolittle's daring bombing of Tokyo a few months after Pearl Harbor.   One of my father-in -law's close friend was on the Naval ship that the bomber flew off of and he was the one who pulled the things that hold the plane down, off of one of the planes.  He had some amazing World War Two stories to tell us.  I love WWII history.    I'd encourage all adults and teens to read it.  Good history from a personal aspect.   IF I believed in reincarnation and I do NOT....I'd think I lived during WWII as interested in it as I am!

 

 

 

We have a NEW thing that Sarah is doing that is not as fun as most things she does....she CRIES now....   Since we got her home (almost 3 years ago) she has seldom cried, maybe ten times.  Well that is changing!  She cried once on our NY trip and we think it was because the hotel bed was so high that it scared her.  We ended up making her a pallet on the floor as she was too upset to lay on the bed, even with me holding her.  Now this past week she has cried twice at the end of a meal when one of us has been slow to give her dessert -she loves her sweets.  Today she cried because she'd gotten her hands dirty in the back of her diaper, no one is sure how it happened.  she was in the living room and she most have noticed she needed changing and put her hands in it!  I was changing her to put her in the bath and she had so much poop on her hands that I told Steve to hold her hands so she didn't get poop on her face/eye area.  Oh she did not like having her arms restrained!!!  She threw a fit so I hurried up and got her in the tub and then she was all happy.  

 

It was nice having an angel girl who never cried but this is good.  When she cries, she finds it hard to stop and I feel it is because she had to keep quiet for all those years plus no one came to her cries.  Now I rush to her ( I can't stand to see her upset) and she is learning her needs are met when she cries, something that babies learn....    I am just glad I can be the one to go to her and give her comfort.  This is natural and a part of her emotional learning.  It makes my heart sad for all the orphans who have no one to care for them.....

 

Well just remembered I have to order some food for a luncheon after church tomorrow.  Hope you all have a good weekend!!!!

 

 

 

Winning Wednesday!

Titles are hard to come up with some days!

Yesterday I started classes at the Y.  I did Yoga and an aerobics class yesterday and today. Today I also met with a personal trainer and found that my BMI (Body Mass Index) is not where it should be!  She also taught me how to use some of the machines I'm not familiar with so between classes I did 30 minutes on the bike.  I'm just really thankful I am still able to walk! 

The classes I take are the "Silver Sneakers" class for older adults....let me just tell you, those classes will kick your butt if you do them just like the teachers tell you to do!  Of course there are folks who can't and there is no pressure but the classes are fat burning!  I thought the classes would be boring and slow......NOT!

Tomorrow I have to miss classes as Sarah has a wheelchair appointment.  Our PT felt it is best to get her a wheelchair that will fit her, instead of continuing to use a stroller.  Sarah will probably never walk long distances.  She still is not consistent with her walking skills and doesn't have a huge desire to walk.  However with me gone yesterday....she scooted all the way down the hall looking for me.  That made me happy/sad....I always worry what she is thinking if she can't find me!

Yesterday the trusses went up on the house and Shad and I watched some of it.
(oh boy my pictures came out normal!)

 

Shad standing in front of the swamp across the road.  He was hot in his sweatshirt, quite a warm day yesterday.

 

 

I love swamps....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well Steve got an email from the Department of Corrections and they are starting his background!  It had all the instructions and info.  He is really excited.  He also has a job interview tomorrow with Walmart for a part time job which is great because it will take a few months for all the paperwork to be processed.  He then has to wait his turn to get into a class, so it will be a while. 

 

 

This is a busy week for us!  This afternoon I made myself sit down and do paperwork.  So many different things to take care of for the kids.  We are putting Sarah and Selah on the Medi-wavier wait list and there is so much paperwork to do, I did get some done today so I feel a little lighter.  But I still have more to do.

 

Hope everyone is having a great week!  

Monday Morning!

Whew today was "one of those days"  Jon didn't think to wake me up so our physical therapist woke me up at 9:30!  Luckily Selah was ready for her (thanks to our nurse) and I stumbled around getting the kids all up. I meant to get up early as I had so many things to do.  But I did get some things done!

We Rejoined the YMCA.  Our Y has  dropped its' enrollment fee through the end of the month.  I think most  Y's have done that too.  IF you join your YMCA and give them my name, then I can get a month FREE! Then you can tell your friends and if they join you'll get a month free.  We've tried a few gyms over the years but the Y is the best for us.  Looking forward to Yoga tomorrow morning!

I went by the new house this morning as I had a question about a couple of things.  It's so fun to go by!  The main roof is going on our house tomorrow!!!! I'm planning to go watch it as they put it on with cranes....NOW things will really speed up! When  I was out there today and really enjoyed talking with some of the RV volunteers (they are retired folks who spend their time building HH homes.-they know what they are doing unlike some of us LOL) I'm not one to believe so much in "positive or negative energy" BUT there is so much positive energy going into that house! It will be even a happier home because of the folks who are building it!!!

Well Steve has decided not to go back to college this semester.  He did fine last semester with all B's but he wants to work.  He's applied to the prison but that takes some time so in the meanwhile he has applied to Wal-mart and they've called him for an interview.  He is excited and is looking forward to working there if hired.  He is planning on keeping it even after he gets hired at the prison, just working maybe one day or so a week.  We've let him make his own decision on this but I'm glad he gave college a try and saw that he could do it.   When you have adult children.....it's different!  LOL  He is such a joy (most of the time) I just want to see him happy and fulfilled.  Since he was a kid, he's wanted to work in the prison.  I think he'll be happy doing it. 

We've never ever ever pushed any career on him or even on Shad.  I had so many friends in Bible college who were going into ministry because their parents expected it of the.  We swore we'd never do that to our kids and we haven't!  We go out of the way NOT to encourage them to go into ministry....if God calls them, let Him do it not us!   None of our friends who were "encouraged' to go into ministry still are in ministry.....   So if working as an officer is what he wants to do and is happy, we are happy for him.  The state still is a good place to work for the long run (retirement and benefits)  Prisons are soooooooooooo  different from what you see on TV!  My husband works behind the fence as a chaplain and has for 17 years, he's never had many issues.  Of course being an officer is different but Steve respects people and will treat the inmates as men.  As long as he does that, he will be fine.  Steve grew up living at a prison (we did for about 3 years) he's been allowed to go in the prison a few times and he's met plenty of ex-prisoners over the years.  He is looking forward to a career and in the meanwhile getting experience  working- he hopes he'll get hired as a loss prevention person at Walmart but I told him they probably want him for his muscles and skills unloading trucks LOL!

I'll have some cool pictures to post tomorrow!  Can't wait to see the roof go on!

Surprise 9th anniversay surprise at Grace church

Today was our 9th anniversary at our church.  To be honest, I'd thought about it a few weeks ago and then forgot with all that has been going on with us.  Our church folks didn't forget though!  We were completely surprised after the service ended and our music minister asked to share something....then each family of our church shared and I was bawling!  Sometimes in the busyness of ministry, you can't help but wonder if anyone cares....well we found out today that they do!

They did a great job in surprising us!  Several things could have alerted us but I was so busy this morning I didn't pick up on anything until each person started sharing.  It was so sweet and thoughtful!

These past nine years have been challenging and have caused us to grow.  Being a pastor is not easy-if anyone says it is, they are lying LOL!   Since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a pastor's wife.  When I married Jon, he was in ministry but not a traditional church.  He was the director of a homeless shelter.  We went from there to working for some years in a ministry called Teen Challenge in NYC.  Then he became a chaplain over 17 years ago.  When he was offered the chance to pastor this church, we thought we'd only be here a few years to "help out"  It wasn't like some big burning desire BUT God has caused it to become that to us.  It's funny.....we never saw ourselves pastoring in a rural church BUT we found that was just where we were supposed to be. 

Tonight I can help but think of all the things we have accomplished with the Lord's help and plenty of help from others.....  all three buildings on the campus are re modeled, we have a strong volunteer prison ministry in the church, we have a couple heavily involved in leadership of the Christian Motorcycle group,  we have a Spanish church meeting here weekly, we have no debt, our church giving to missions has tripled and we support adoptive and special needs families and orphan ministry.  We are a unique church, our folks are unique and have a lot of love for each other and for others, especially for the ones that no one else cares for.....

It's funny how God can put you in the right place.....

Nine years ago for the first Sunday here, Jon was alone with Sam and Steve.  I was in China picking up Shad!  That was probably a very unique start for a pastor and his family......Who knew then all that was ahead of us personally and with this church!  Glad we don't know the future but glad I know WHO does and that He walks with us through every trail!


Here's some pictures from today....including some pictures from our walk tonight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry the pictures are "off"  It must be our internet.  It was fine when we were away!!!!

 

Staycation

My husband has dubbed the last few days as our "staycation" rather than vacation!  He's had some time off, the weather's been great and we are just glad to be home together, especially when we see what the weather is doing in the Northeast!  Glad we were up when it was calm!

This morning I just sat with Sam on my lap for an hour, rubbing his back and watching tv.  Times like that are so sweet.  I do not take it for granted.  After he'd decided he'd had enough, I got a shower and went thrifting!  I had some stuff to drop off and I found some nice longer shorts for Sarah in both thrift stores I went to:)  Woo hoo!  Plus they were only 50 cents in one place and $1 in the other.  I like longer shorts for my girls.  I also found Shad a brand new pair of tan shorts for school...for $1!  They are a brand I'd buy in the mall and look brand new!  I love going out and spending $7 in two stores and coming home with 5 pairs of shorts and a skirt (for Selah) and a few books too.  Can't do that too often. 

So the guys went to see the last Hobbit movie or Lord of the Rings-whatever it is called.  I just can't get into those movies at all.  They enjoyed it but were sad since it is last of the series.  I sat it out as I do not like those movies. 

Recently for the first time I watched all of the Harry Potter movies & discovered I like them!  They seem to be the "Disney" or kid version of Lord of the Rings.  Much less violent and much more sweeter.  I got a "smack down" for saying I watched/liked the movies but I thought it was a good series about good vs evil, with good winning!  Years ago when they first came out, we did not watch them as we "heard" from others that the movies were evil.  We never researched it nor really cared one way or another. I happened to see some of one of the movies on tv when I was on bedrest with Sam but I didn't understand it since I did not watch all of it but it seemed ok.  Then I found the set on sale and bought it.  I figured if it was bad I'd just throw them away but found they were nothing like I'd been told they were.  I really enjoyed the movies and now am reading the book series. 

My son is a Hobbit fan to the max so over the years I've seen parts of the movies while I usually read because they didn't interest me.  After watching HP with the family, they all said that Hobbit/Lord of the Rings was like HP but more "adult".  So I decided to watch Hobbit/LOR and found I still did not like it!  It's more of a man/boy movie to me. 

What is interesting  to me......is that in the Christian community we deem one movie good and one bad....  they both had wizards/witches   good and bad magic....  I could not tell a difference EXCEPT for HP was so much more innocent and much less violent....   I'll probably get in trouble for this blog but whatever.....

Then last night me and the boys went to see "Night at the Museum 3" which was Robin Williams last movie.  It was a ok movie.  I like going to the movies for the experience, something about a movie theater that I just LOVE.   We'd seen the other two so we had to see this one.

Today we got Chinese food....it's not REALLY "fast food" since we could eat it in a restaurant  right?


Don't forget the 21 day no junk food challenge...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1566327706947446/
You can add yourself if you'd like:)

Yesterday Jon and I went walking to start off the challenge.....we took Sarah with us.  We went out in the woods on a nicely marked trail....as we got to one point, we got ATTACKED by mosquitoes.  We tried running and that didn't help.  We were smacking them off of Sarah as gently as possible and she got so upset and started crying!!  Luckily a hunter came by in his truck-very unusual- I stopped him and asked for a ride for me and Sarah.  He was able to load the stroller and Jon into the back of the truck.  We got safely back to our car and Sarah finally calmed down.  Poor girl!   I'm not one to jump in trucks with old men who have no shirts on but this was an emergency and we were about 20 minutes from our van.   Jon, at first, was a little shocked that I asked and jumped in but I've never had such a swarm of mosquitoes attacking me  and Sarah was so upset.   Hope your exercise plans go smoother than ours did yesterday!

Hope you are enjoying your first week of 2015!

Happy New Year!

2015

 

Is it possible that we are fifteen years into this century?

 

Hope you all had a great time ringing in the new year and I hope that each of you have a wonderful year.

 

 

Yesterday I got to go and eat lunch with one of my besties

Last night we had some friends over and rang in the new year (weakly by the sleepy parents LOL)

Today one of my closest college bestie came over for awhile

I'm feeling very content and full of love:)  And rather full of food also!

 

Don't forget TOMORROW  starts our 21 day No Junk Food Challenge!

I'm so ready for it!