A better day.... but a bad night for Ryan

I am taking a 2 min. break from my packing to post an update to my awful day yesterday. Emotionally I am MUCH better today.....feeling more excitement than anxiety.

As far as Ryan's coughing the Dr. felt like it was allergies and it was triggering coughing spasms. Because of the constant coughing he was then taking short breaths of air...and hyperventilating a bit. He was complaining yesterday, before the Dr. appt., that he felt tingly in his hands, knees, and face. He's now back on allergy meds and a nasal spray.

Ryan had a bad night last night, he had a horrible bought of coughing for over an hour and was hyperventilating again. The Dr. said to try and relax him and have him take slow deep breaths. It seemed the more I told him to try and relax and tried to direct his breathing the more he worried :( He finally fell asleep around midnight. I am hoping and praying it improves aver the next few days. It will be a long plane ride for him and us if he is coughing non-stop. Plus it can't be good for him to be almost hyperventilating all the time. Poor guy! I felt so bad for him last night!

Megan is also starting a cold...I hope it stays"just a cold". She isn't very prone to ear infections so that is good.

So please continue to pray for everyone's overall health and especially for Megan and Ryan!!

Thanks so much!!

I am not going to loose it...instead I will pray!

Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Honestly..I AM ..on the verge of loosing it! I was out shopping this morning trying to pick up the last minute "things" we need. It was going slooow! Then got a call while I was at Target...from the boys school, to pick up Ryan who has an out of control , non-stop cough. He is going to the Dr. at 3:30. Which is also at the same time as my phone call appt. with my social worker to go over all our travel and adoption details, but it was the only appt. they had. Todd who is in a county board meeting right now is unable to be reached, but said earlier today he "should" be home around 3:15, but no way to know for sure. (trying to come up with plan B..if he is not here). On the way out from Target, rushing to pick up Ryan, I apparently almost hit a car. For the record I think it was his fault..I am not just covering myself...I would admit this ...as I have backed into car before:) I did not hit him thank goodness, but my window was down and he was not very nice to me. So ...what better to do in the car when under stress and after some stranger yells at you ...cry my eyes out!! So I did all the way to Ryan's school!

Anyways, I am concerned about Ryan's cough and hope it is related to allergies that they have said he has, but can't seem to find out what he is allergic too. He sounds like he is having trouble breathing right now! UUHHG. We had these issues before but we were hoping that having his adnoids removed would have helped. This is worse than it has ever been.

So, if you are reading this please pray that this all gets resolved quickly and we all are healthy when we leave. I was sick when I was in China the first time and had to see a hotel Dr. I wasn't a good experience and he gave me the wrong directions on my medication!! BAD!! Pray too, that God gives Todd and I patience, emotional and physical energy to get through this!!

Thank You!!

There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

So I am think I am completely loosing it here, posting pictures of my mess, but that's what happens after an exhausting day of organizing, getting things ready to pack, 6 loads of laundry(my dryer has been out of commission for 2 weeks...uuhhhgg...and was finally fixed today) with about 8 0r 9 to go, phone calls to Dr's and teachers, emails to social workers and travel agents, oh and then there is the other everyday activities like meals, dishes, and how about just getting dressed before the fix it guy gets here. Sorry, just needed to do a little venting! I feel much better now! Needless to say, I was feeling overwhelmed today. So I decided too keep me focused on why I am going through all of this, that before I go past this mess.............

or this mess....

I first must pass this picture on my fridge...

so I can remember there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that there is a purpose to this madness! I really can't wait!!

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We have most of our travel booked. There is a portion of the in-country travel our agency is booking that we do not have all the info. yet. We are traveling to 3 provinces. 2 of them are a must...one is Lauran's Provence, the other is the Provence where the U.S. consulate is located and we will finalize the adoption with the U.S. government there. Then we are also choosing to go to Beijing this time. Our trip ends up being 15 days rather than 17 like I had posted earlier. That is good news. Bad news is that our flight leaves at 5:00 am! Can anyone say coffee and lots of it!!!! (I am not a morning person)! I can't even bare to write at what time we will have to leave our house. Then we have a 7 hour lay over before we hop the next plane...then we stay put for 13 1/2 hours and land in Beijing! We shaved over $1000 off the cost or our families flights by taking this one...plus leaving China we are doing some 2 hr train ride to get to Hong Kong so we can fly out from there rather than the last Provence we visit...all of this saved us a ton of money. Please pray it all goes smoothly!! I am getting a little anxious about traveling with all the kids. We do have a family friend who has graciously volunteered to go along with us and be an extra hand. Thank you Merry!
Also, if you feel led to pray for us, please pray for Lauran's transition to go well, she has been through a lot for such a little girl!! I truly appreciate any of you who will be praying!! Thank You!

Let the mind spinning begin! Travel Approval...Check!!

We received or travel approval today, right on time (Thank you God)! We will have our confirmed dates by Monday, but tentatively we will NEED to be in China from the 17th -30th of April. Those dates would encompass going to Lauran's province and finalizing her adoption with that province. Then fly to another province and finalize the adoption with the U.S.A. Plus all the sightseeing and shopping in between. If any one is counting, that is 14 days in China. Hey, but that's not all. We were also hoping to see Beijing this time...Great Wall and all the cool sights(which I am not about to spell) that you normally think of when you think of China, are in Beijing. That would have us leaving on the 14th. Can anyone say 17 days in China. 17 days in a hotel with 3-4 kids :)

The province Lauran is from is Guangxi, and Guangdong province(which is on the direct right of Lauran's province) is where we go to finalize the adoption with the U.S. You should be able to see them on the above map. They are in southern China near Vietnam.

Ok..so we are so excited..but now the race to get everything together and ready to pack begins...with less than 2 weeks!!! A task I dread..but dread with excitement. Just like labor. You know the next step is going to be hard and painful but completely worth it!!

Lauran update and other misc. adoption thoughts!

We received an update on Lauran yesterday! We had asked back when we received our referral of her, if we could get more information on her medical condition. Unfortunately, we did not get any information on that, but were pleasantly surprised to have new pictures of our little cutie pie. I really wasn't anticipating that we would get much info regarding her medical status, but was hoping, just so I could be more prepared! Fortunately, I trust in a God who knows everything and already knows every intimate detail about Lauran and her needs. I know he will equip us with everything we need when the time is right!! I know he has gone before us and prepared in advance all the details of this adoption. So I rest in that, when I feel frustrated that I can't get all the info. so I can "perfectly" plan it all out!

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I was thrilled though, to see that they did give us an update on her height and weight. It looks like Megan will not be a "big sister" physically if the measurements we received are correct :) Lauran weighs the same as Megan and is only 2" shorter. This info helps a lot in packing for clothes to bring to China for Lauran though! Seeing the updated picture makes my heart ache even more. Who knew I could miss someone so much that I haven't even met! That, I guess, is one of the miracles of adoption! It was amazing to watch Megan, Nathan, and Ryan's' reaction to the new pictures! They were so happy and you could see the anticipation in their eyes! It is amazing to watch the adoption process through my children's eyes!

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As far as travel goes, we are still waiting for our travel approval! It is anticipated to come 4 weeks after our letter of approval. It will be 4 weeks this Thursday(not that I am keeping track or anything). So any day!!

Thank you Lord for putting Lauran in our family!!

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Psalm 68: 5-6

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families..


Click HERE to learn more about why orphans matter to God!

Lauran Joanna

We have decided on her complete name! We had to have her complete name to fill out paperwork that was needed after getting the LOA....so it was time to be decisive! As you can see Lauran is not spelled the traditional way.

The reason behind the spelling of Lauran's name has to do with my oldest, Nathan and his attention to detail! The cute story is that Nathan noticed when we were adopting Megan that his brother Ryan's name and his name both ended in 'an'. So he said that the baby's name should also end in 'an'. I just thought it was so cute he noticed that and since Megan was the only 'an' name already on the list we decided that was the one! We wanted to continue with that theme because I smile every time I think back to that conversation with Nathan. It is so "him" to notice a detail like that! I decided I wanted it to be spelled with the 'an' though, not just sound like it ended in the 'an'...even though Nathan said he was fine with it either way!

We decided on Joanna for two reasons. I was looking through names and Joanna means "gift of the Lord". Also, My moms name is Joan Ann...so it is sort of a version of her 2 names. Lauran will be my Mom and Dads 12th Grandchild! Holy Moly! Number 11 was born 2 days ago to my sister Keri.....Cutie Addison Mae! She is a little peanut at 6lbs 2 oz. I can't wait to see her next weekend!


Addison Mae

Happy St. Patrick's Day

If you are intersted in knowing more about St.Patrick and why he is honored each year, please read this post on a blog I follow! http://www.nihaoyall.com/2009/03/st-patricks-day.html

Megan's 3 year Gotcha Day ....and more:)

Thursday was Megan's 3 year Gotcha day! I can't believe it has been 3 years since adopting her...AND next month we will be adopting again! We celebrated by going out to dinner with the kids and going to Build-a-Bear. I wanted to make it a family day! The boys are not so much into the build-a bear thing so they opted out and decided to buy books at Barnes and Noble instead. My boys are too big for bears.....WHAT? How did that happen?

Anyways, this was Megan's 1st trip and she LOVED it! It was a fun day!

As we are getting closer to going to China part of me is freaking out a bit. I am feeling a little overwhelmed lately. Another way to say it is that I am feeling a little bit unequipped. There have been quite a few days lately I have felt over my head as a mom. Not just tired, but parenting challenges that just make me feel like I am clueless. I start to doubt God's plan, that maybe he mad a mistake in picking me to adopt or parent at all for that matter! Even though my head knows God didn't make a mistake and that he will equip me to do this, my heart has not been on board! Anyways...I prayed for God to help me not feel so overwhelmed and he used the following passage to remind me that He is my source of strength and I was trying to do it on my own....again :)
Isaiah 40:28-31

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

LOA...Check!

Thursday we received the great news from our agency that the LOA (letter of approvals)were here and it is now officially in our hands! This puts us one step closer to traveling. It came right when expected too, which is always good news! In 3-4 weeks we should have out Travel approvals (the next coveted piece of paper). Once we have that then our travel dates will be confirmed. We are still on target to traveling at the end of April!

Megan asks for a Bible...but not any bible will do :)

Megan came into my room the other day, after playing in her bedroom, and out of the blue said she wanted to buy a bible. She has several bible story books we read but I had not bought her an actual bible yet. (Something about the thin delicate pages and 3 and 4 year old hands). She didn't just want any bible either...she announced she wanted a princess bible. I was confused as to how she knew this existed. I, of course, have seen the girly pink ones with the princess crown and glitter but have not shown them to her( a bit over priced I thought)I asked her how she knew about the princess bible...if someone at church had one..but she seemed confused and started to talk in circles...so I dropped it. She kept asking though so I said we would go to the bible store and buy one. So I did...and yes I indulged her in the over priced princess themed bible. It was more glammed out than I even remembered...with a big rhinestone clasp and all. Of course we needed the pink, furry, bible purse to carry it in also! Now however, I need to drive home even more now, that she is a princess of the King Jesus, and not just a princess who can get what ever she wants...LOL