New PICS OF LUKE!!!

We received some new pics of Luke!!! We were SO SURPRISED to see how much WEIGHT he has gained. He is a CHUNK!!! And boy does he have a head of HAIR!!! AMAZING!!!! 2 traveling families gave the SWI asst. director a list of the kids who have waiting parents. The asst. director took pics of each of the kids and emailed them to one of the families here in the states. All of the kids look very healthy and the orphanage looks fantastic! The playroom has tons of toys!!! A family who traveled in July has reported that this specific orphanage currently cares for over 300 children, of which over 90% are considered special needs. Each room of babies had multiple caregivers hovering around. The caregivers seemed very loving and familiar with the kids. This is so comforting to this mama's heart!!!

It really is amazing to see these pictures! It really reminds us that our new son is literally… on the other side of the world. I mean, people use that terminology about things all the time. They say things like …"I've parked my car in the parking lot over there on the other side of the world". Etc. etc. etc. But in this case… it is true. When we are awake… he is asleep.

Some people have asked if it is harder going through the Non Special Needs process and NOT knowing who your daughter is while you wait…. Or going through the Special Needs process and knowing who are son is while we wait. I think waiting for Kiah was harder. You don't know who you are waiting for… your just waiting. You are spinning your wheels trying to make time go by just wondering. It is hard to know that Luke is over there… you wonder if he is being fed, taken care of, having his diaper changed, being played with and loved by someone. But we are getting pictures of him frequently. We sent a cake for his birthday in October, we send him care packages each month. I would have LOVED to do that for Kiah. We are very lucky that Kiah had such a loving foster family who was fulfilling her ever need.

We can't wait to hold our new boy in our arms and complete our family.
All praise goes to the LORD!!!

Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you.
1 Thessalonians 3:11

Cleft Video.

I wanted to post the above video created by Love Without Boundaries (LWB). Earlier this year, before we even knew about Luke, Katelyn and I did a cleft bottle fundraiser. We chose 20 families and Katelyn sent a letter out to each family explaining how cleft babies are unable to get proper nutrition from regular bottles due to their lip and palate issues. Cleft babies need special cleft bottles in order to get proper nutrition. Our fundraiser was very sucessful and we were able to purchase more than 2 cases of cleft bottles. LWB offered to ship these bottles to China for us and they then distributed the bottles to needy orphanages throughout China. Now that we are bringing Luke home, those cleft bottles mean even more to us. Luke was born in October 2005 and received surgery for his cleft lip in March 2006. When he arrived at the orphanage at the age of 4 days, we believe he had not been able to eat since his birth. He was jaundiced and crying uncontrollably. The orphanage was able to feed him with the help of special feeding equipment such as these cleft bottles. I truly THANK GOD for organizations such as LWB. They make such a difference in the lives of children in China.

Thanksgiving Pics.

Jake in his Thanksgiving "Best"

My sister Danielle

My brother Aaron jamming out in the "band" with Kiah on tamborine and Jake on accordian.

Kiah just up from her nap.

She's got that "where are we going???" look on her face!

Here are some pics from Thanksgiving Day!!!

CHAP STICK ALERT!!!

(April, I know you would be so proud of her!!!)

The Pirate Ship

Happy with the cookies

Today the kids felt like they had struck GOLD. First they get homemade cookies (NOTE: yes, I made these from a box mix... bad mom... but hey... I am a working mother!!!) Then we go out to pick up our pre-made turkey dinner at Giant Food (yes, that is correct, I get one of the pre-cooked turkey dinners with the side items. We really eat Thanksgiving at my parents. I just buy the dinner so I can cook it the next day so the house SMELLS like I actually cooked a real Thanksgiving dinner) and it comes in a huge box that Kiah and Jake decide to make into a pirate ship. All was fine and good until the doorbell rings. It was FEDEX. FEDEX and UPS deliveries ALWAYS sends the kids running to the door! They think... "what a nice guy for him to be delivering wonderful things to our house!" Anyway, he was delivering Jake's new BRITAX carseat! Now this box was truly HUGE! They immediately made it into a fort (after I throughly washed it down with a wet washcloth). I took a surprise picture of Kiah in the box and she was NOT happy. She has found her carefully hidden Chap Stick (the girl is already addicted) and sat there applying 59 layers of cherry flavored Chap Stick to her poor face. AHHH!!!

Pics from Sunday

Kiah was really sucking it in here!!! She looks REALLY SKINNY!!!

Empress Kiah looking beautiful for church

Pretending to splash in puddles.

Oh Lay!

Jake wearing Katelyn's sombrero from Mexico and holding her megaphone!

I liked this picture because Kiah was in mid-jump. Her hair looks very bouncy!!!

April's baby!!!

My good friend and co-worker April is having a BABY!!! She is due on 2/6 and she just had one of those cool 3-D ultrasounds done. IT'S A BOY!!! She is still deciding on a name so we lovingly call the baby: Baby Misitano. Isn't he beautiful!!!

PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO!!!

I urge EVERYONE with young children to take the time to watch this video. The link to this video was posted on one of my CCAI groups. I cried the whole time I watched it then I immediately went to EBAY to purchase a BRITAX REGENT 5-point car seat for my 4 yr old, 42 lb. son who we just moved to a Booster seat. I will be counting the days until this new carseat arrives.

Getting ready to leave the Baby Home # 12 in St. Petersburg

This picture was taken just a few minutes before we had to return Jake to his room and leave for the US to await our court date.

LOOK HOW HE'S GROWN!!!

Daddy and Jake... first night together.... April 8, 2003

Jake's VISA... WE'RE GOING HOME!!!

Jake and Daddy... first meeting in Feb 2003

Mommy and Jake... first time meeting 2/26/03

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!!!

Our 4 year old son Jacob was adopted from St. Petersburg, Russia at the age of 7 months old in April 2003. We met him in February 2003 when he was just 5 1/2 months old. He was the cutest little thing and I was in love with him from the moment I saw his referral picture. Holding him in my arms for the first time was the icing on the cake! He was truly the most beautiful little boy I had ever seen. We had to travel to Russia twice. Once to meet him and then once for the adoption proceedings. We had to wait 5 weeks between trips. It was a grueling wait and I cried from the moment the airplane took off for the US until the time my feet landed safely back in St. Petersburg 5 weeks later. His adoption process was a smooth as can be and we will forever be grateful to our faciliation team, stateside reps and the Lord for bringing this beautiful boy into our lives.

For all those who have asked questions about Brandon's job...

Bush's "ride"

The guys "ride"

Brandon's got a job he doesn't talk about much. If you ask him what he does he will sideskirt the question. As his wife I find it scary at times. But, I believe he has one of the most honorable jobs in the United States. He protects the Office AND the MAN that is the head of this country. It's hard long hours... he works lots of weekends, holidays, etc. Travels as well. But... he never complains. He puts on his uniform and his gear and he goes. I still get a shiver in my spine when he talks about being on the South Grounds of the White House the morning of 9/11. How he and his team mates watched people run from the White House as they stood their ground just waiting.... He briefly talks about feeling the bullet proof glass on the guardshacks reverberate with the sound and shock as the plane crashed into the Pentagon. He still mentions nightmares he has about plane attacks on the White House. He has a strict standing order that none of us go into DC while he is at work. He feels he would be unable to protect us if something were to happen as his job is to something and someone else. I am awed by his work ethic and loyalty to his team mates, his job and the Service. He sums it up by saying he's not paid for what he does... but for what he's EXPECTED to do. I am honered to be married to you baby.

Brandon's reunion

Wendy and Brandon



After we went to the travel group reunion we visited Wendy Meininger. Wendy is one of Brandon's best friends from high school. It was great luck that her family lived so close to Julie Orta's house. (Julie graciously opened her home to all of us for the reunion. Thanks again Julie!!!).

Wendy and her family were absolutely lovely! This was the first time I had met Wendy however we have been communicating via email for over a year now. It was so great to connect with her! Brandon enjoyed the time talking about the good ole days! Wendy's husband was wonderful as were their kids, Brooke and Ben. Wendy, thanks so much for having us over! It was great to meet you all! I will work on getting Brandon on email more!

More pics from the reunion!

Moms and babies!!!

The girls!!!

Pictures from Travel Group reunion!

Moira

Sabrina

Riley

Katie

Grace

This past weekend we traveled down to Atlanta for a small travel group reunion. We DROVE down (what was I thinking!!!). We had a safe blessed trip despite both Katelyn and Kiah being sick and Jake asking "are we there yet?" after 15 minutes in the car! We loved seeing the Ortas, the Bradshaws, the Pylants and the Miltons. The girls have grown SO SO MUCH! It was wonderful to reconnect again and in some ways it seems a year just hasn't passed!!! Love to you all!!! We miss you already!!!

Reposting of Kiah's dance video!!!

Turns out a specific teenager in our household "accidentally" deleted Kiah's video. So... back by popular demand....... ~Kiah dancing to Justin Timberlake SEXYBACK!!!~~~~~~~

Kiah and Jake

Are you taking ANOTHER picture of me???

I'm a chocolate face!!!

Catching up with pictures

Mamie Carol and Grandpa Chet

Brandon's parents

Kiah....with attitude!

Daddy and Kiah walking to Trunk-or-Treat

Now here's a little smile.

Getting ready to go trick-or-treating.