Luanna's Adoption Day- First Anniversary!!

Hello all!
Today is a special day for us, since it is the first anniversary of Luanna's Adoption Day! Often called "Gotcha Day", "Adoption Day", "Receiving Day"...this is the day that we first laid eyes on Luanna in China. December 20, 2006 will forever be a day that we celebrate and remember with Luanna. This was the day she was placed in our arms (screaming and kicking), and she was ours! I remember my first thoughts of her were that she was much bigger than we thought, she was very strong and healthy and that she was beautiful! I could not wait to get her out of that Guangxi City Hall office and take her home!

It is hard to believe that one year ago we were in China, feeling overwhelmingly nervous, excited and scared to greet our new daughter...and here we are...a year later with a very transformed little girl. Luanna came to us in China very scared, demanding, sad and often aggressive. We tore our hair out in China trying to control her, as she flew about destroying everything she would put her hands on, running away from us screaming and spitting at Ken. Today she is a very gentle, loving, obedient, kind and happy child. She has done a complete turn around in personality and we are very happy and proud to be called her parents.

I put together a little slide show with music of Luanna's first year with us. Enjoy!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

A Nutcracker Performance

Hello all,
I was just thinking that a year ago today (Dec 16) was the day Ken and I left for China. In a few short days we were to meet our daughter, Luanna, on December 20th. China was such an incredible experience. Soon, will be our 1 year Anniversary of her adoption.

Today, the girls performed the "Nutcracker" for me. It was very cute and the dogs and I enjoyed their performance. Here are some photos from their awesome dance show.

Ultrasound Updates

Well, we had our big ultrasound yesterday. We had thought about finding out the baby's gender, but decided against it. We just really find thrill in the surprise of it all, and it kind of makes the labor and delivery a little more manageable and exciting. Baby is 100% healthy...no problems at all! They checked everything and were super thorough with it all. The ultrasound probably took a good 45 minutes. These ultrasounds keep getting more and more technologically advanced and clearer. I did not have to drink any water...they can do it on an empty bladder now. They also had this 4-D effect where we could actually see real color photo/video of the baby. It was so cool. I am glad we brought all the kids to see it. It kept their attention the whole time. The baby kept putting his/her hands in front of his/her face, so we could not get a good view of the face. It was kind of funny that the baby kept doing that, as if to say..."Don't look at me now, I want to surprise you later!"

We also had a great view of the feet, which were so perfect and cute. They checked all the organs, the brain, spine, lips, nose, placenta, cord, fingers and toes...they seemed to check for everything imaginable. The technician said she could definitely tell the sex, but luckily we saw nothing and could not tell at all. Actually, after the ultrasound, I still had a feeling that the baby is a girl, but Ken said he thinks the baby is a boy...so we'll just have to wait and see. It's fun that way to imagine what could be.

On another note, the baby measures 2 weeks larger than its actual age...which is significant at this age, but I think the other kids were the same way (esp Jeremy). The doctors said they want to change my due date to April 15, instead of April 30. But, Ken and I know that my pregnancies just last 38 weeks, instead of the normal 40...and that our babies just grow bigger a couple weeks earlier. We know the exact conception date because of the NFP charting we did and the baby measured exactly correctly at 10 and 12 weeks (when we had the other ultrasounds). So, the baby just did some significant growing between 13-20 weeks (which my belly could tell!). If the baby does not come until April 30...he/she will be a whopper they say...maybe 10 lbs?? But, I don't think so. I've never made it to my due date yet, since they have all come 1-2 weeks early. The baby is measuring 22 weeks even though I am 20 weeks. Go figure. The due date does not really matter to me...the baby will come when the baby wants to come. All is very healthy, and that is all that matters. We are overjoyed at everything so far. This pregnancy is going very well, I am feeling great and everyone is looking forward to Christmas now.


Isaiah with his Science Fair project: Whose mouth is cleaner..dogs vs. humans? He tested the saliva of all 6 of our dogs and 6 humans. The dogs won.


The kids on the last day of Homeschool Co-op classes- Nov 27th. We break for the holidays and start classes again in mid-January.


I took the girls to the Nutcracker Ballet last week. Here are Kateri, Amy, Luanna and Emma. Their friends, Amy's and Emma's mothers also came with us. The girls LOVED the ballet. Kateri actually cried when it was over because she said she wanted it to go on longer.


This is Luanna's Chinese language class. We meet on Saturday mornings. Kateri often joins in on the class as well. Yesterday, we had our last class before the holidays, so we had a fun Christmas party for the girls.

Happy Birthday Ken!!

My husband, Ken, had his 40th birthday this past weekend (Nov 17th). We had a party with family and friends at the Boneyard (a sports bar/restaurant)...where we had a party room, and we watched the Browns beat the Ravens! They also have a game room there that the kids enjoyed. My mom baked an awesome chocolate cake and our friend, Beam, played some great tunes on his guitar for the party. Ken does not think much about his age and really had no concerns about turning the big 4-0...in fact, he was kind of excited about the whole thing. It's neat that Ken and I have known each other for more than half our lives. We met in high school and have been best friends ever since!
Happy 40th Ken!!

Photos

Here are some recent photos of the kids.


This is one of Isaiah and Jeremy's classes at our Homeschool Co-op...the Harry Potter class. Penitentionary Glen, a wildlife sanctuary, came in to talk to the kids and they brought 4 owls for the kids to see. It was really cool.


This is Jeremy, posing with grapefruits on his eyes. He is showing how big an owl's eyes are, if humans had eyes the same size in comparison to owls.

Below are the girls, Kateri and Luanna, in their dance class on Halloween. They put on little witch hats and made a big train all over the studio, dancing to fun songs. They had a blast.







Isaiah with his beloved Lola.



Oliver lost his first tooth on Sunday, November 4th!

Week 17

I am starting Week 17 of this pregnancy and all is going great. I am feeling fine and baby has been kicking me reliably every night. I see my OB/GYN tomorrow and then I see my midwife later this week. I will be scheduling my big ultrasound in the next couple weeks as well.

The kids are busy with lots of things this time of year. Isaiah is working on a science fair project comparing dog and human saliva. Yes...very gross, but that's what he wanted to do. He was convinced that dog saliva was cleaner, with less bacteria, so he set out to prove it. So far, his hypothesis is correct. Our petri dish examples show that dogs' saliva is much cleaner (we tested all 6 of our dogs)against 6 humans. Isaiah, Jeremy and Oliver are also preparing for their Xmas piano recital. They LOVE the piano and practice on it every day! It is so great that I do not have to pester them to practice. They sincerely love it and do it on their own. Isaiah can pick up a melody off the radio or TV, and will sit at the piano and figure it all out on his own. It may take him a day or two, but he does it. I can't wait to see what songs they choose to do for their recital. We will also be going on a lot of different field trips this month for homeschooling.

The girls are loving ballet and tap dance lessons every week. It helps that they are in the same class. They cling together for support and it's great to see that although, Kateri will not admit she needs or wants Luanna around, I can see it in many of her actions. They play all the time together and love to be together in dance class, Chinese language class and homeschool co-op classes too, often holding hands in class. Eventually, I think they will be the best of friends...and maybe even admit it. I am taking them to the Nutcracker on November 30th! We are going as a group with all the other girls and moms from their ballet class. Kateri asks me every day..."Are we going to the Nutcracker today??" She can't wait.

On another note, I took Luanna to her Hematologist a couple weeks ago. We are scheduled to see him every 6 months, because of Luanna's Thalassemia (genetic blood disorder). He was so impressed with Luanna's good health, he said he would not believe she even had Thalassemia if it were not in her original blood gene work. He looked at her spleen, eyes, and skin color and she was just perfect. Most Thalassemia patients with her kind of gene disorder (she has 3 out of 4 genes affected!) have anemia, issues with their spleens, jaundice and have to go through painful, monthly, blood transfusions and a lot of medical care. We've been so blessed with Luanna...she has been 100% healthy and Dr. Berman does not think she will ever need blood transfusions. This is really nothing short than miraculous! I do give a lot of credit to her diet as well (being a strict Vegan). He said we no longer have to come in every 6 months. He said to just make it a yearly appt now. We were very happy to hear she was healthy, although we already knew that!

Chinese Class

A few weeks ago I signed Luanna up for a Saturday morning Chinese class, right here in South Euclid. The class consists of about 12 other Chinese-born little girls, all between the ages of 2-6. All the girls have also been adopted from China by local families here in the area. So, it's been great for Luanna to meet other Chinese-born and adopted friends. We started the class on Oct 27th and each session goes for 6 weeks. Last weekend, I also took Kateri with me to class. So far, Luanna seems to really like the class. They've learned numbers, colors, fruits and some animals in Chinese. Each week, they are all expected to count to 10 in Chinese, and they use their Chinese names in class. Kateri was so excited to go to class with Luanna last Saturday. She said she wanted to see all the Chinese girls. Luanna seems very excited to also see girls that resemble her, although she did cling closely to sister Kateri last week. Kateri loved learning the word for pink (Fen Sei) and Luanna counts in Chinese very nicely. The teacher is named Pei and she was born and raised in China. She has lived in the USA for about 10 years and makes her living teaching Chinese to kids who want to learn and also teaching English to Chinese immigrants. She was an English teacher when she lived in China. It's nice to have her teach and explain all the different tones of the language (Chinese is complicated!) vs. reading it in a book. When you actually hear the language being spoken, it's much easier to pick up. Here are some photos from the class.

Thoughts on Pregnancy & Homeschooling

It is officially starting to feel like winter here in Cleveland. Well, at least today it did. It was freezing and we actually had some hail and snow falling, with freezing winds. I am already looking forward to spring and summer. I can't believe I am heading into my 16th week of pregnancy. I sometimes feel guilty because I often forget I am pregnant still. I just have too many things going on...I just don't have time to focus on this pregnancy. I'm sure Baby T will make sure I focus on her/him when she/he gets here though! Babies are good at that! I am not into maternity clothes yet, although things have been feeling tighter lately. I'm sure I will start to pop out soon. I have been very busy homeschooling the boys and trying to make sure they get enough work done to finish early in the spring. We want to be done with the school year by the time Baby T arrives, so we can all relax for a bit. I have started thinking about next school year and how I am going to homeschool 4 kids next year and take care of a new baby and preschooler too. I am going to have to get more organized and scheduled! And, the older boys are going to need to pitch in more than they do now. I've actually considered putting the older ones in school next year, but the more Ken and I talk about it, the more we think about how much we'd miss homeschooling and all the awesome things that the kids are able to do with it. There are pros and cons to everything though. School is still in the discussion, although I think at this point we are sticking with the homeschooling option. I need to pray for strength though! We've met so many big families who homeschool. In many ways, it seems harder to do it with lots of kids, so it's weird that many homeschoolers have lots of kids. It must work out well in the long run I guess. I think one of my favorite things about homeschooling is that my kids are so closely bonded. The boys are truly the best of friends and look out for each other. I don't think it would be that way, to this degree, if they had gone to school, spending many hours away from each other. Just one of the good things I notice about homeschooling.

Next week I have another dr appt and midwife appt, and in a couple weeks I will have the big ultrasound! We've talked about it with the kids and I think we have decided not to find out the baby's gender. The kids, surprisingly, want to be surprised. We've never found out before, but Ken and I really were open to finding out if the kids wanted to. We were open to either option. Since the kids want to keep it a secret...I guess we are not finding out. Happily, Ken and I (I think!) have decided on names for the baby. I had decided on a girls name almost immediately after I found out I was pregnant, and luckily Ken liked the name too. So now, we have both the girl and boy first and middle names set, although I don't think we have full approval from the kids, but hey...it's not their decision, it's ours.

Put on a winter coat and gloves...it's cold outside!!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween celebrations to you all! We always have a great time in this season. The kids love to dress up, and we try to get out to a bunch of Halloween gatherings with their costumes. It's also fun to paint and carve pumpkins, visit local farms for "Fall Festivals", jump in the leaves and trick or treat. Here are the kids last night, as we went trick-or-treating at John Carroll University.

Vacation Photos

We are back from our 5 day vacation...came back last night. We were gone from Wed, Oct 10th, through Sunday, October 14th. Ken and I celebrated our 15th year Wedding Anniversary on October 10th! From Wed through Friday, we stayed in Niagara Falls, Canada. We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge (indoor water park) and took the kids to see the Falls on Thursday afternoon. On friday, we left Canada and drove to Watkins Glen, NY, where we stayed in a cabin/bed & breakfast at the Farm Sanctuary. We have stayed at the Farm Sanctuary about 6 times over the past 9 years. We love that place! It is a 200 acre farm, dedicated to rescuing abused farm animals. They live out their natural lives there, in peace. They are ambassadors to the world's billions of farm animals that are cruelly treated and slaughtered every year...these guys are the few lucky ones! This farm is a haven for vegans and anyone who loves animals. Ken, Isaiah and Jeremy worked on the farm one of the mornings we were there. The boys got to collect eggs from chickens and turkeys, clean out old hay and put down new hay. They also had to deal with some aggressive, but hilarious pigs, who stubbornly would not leave their pen to have new hay put in. Jeremy was able to lure them out with apples.
I took hundreds of photos, but chose these as my favorites of our trip.
Enjoy the photos!