Our Beach Babe!

Faith is such a cutie! She loves when the waves come rolling onto the sand. It is so adorable to watch her, as she tries to run from the waves. She cracks us up! It was funny to see the expression on her face when her little butt hit the sand as the tide came in. Her little fanny got soaked! She was shocked! It only took a couple of minutes and she was back at it.

Watching the joy on this sweet girl's face, reminded me of how blessed we are. I still am in awe when I think about the miracle of adoption, ours in particular. How did we end up with the cutest, funniest, most precious Chinese daughter in the whole entire world (not even a little biased lol)? Just in case you are wondering, it is definitely a God thing. I could not have picked any child that would have been more perfect for our family. God knew! We are a family! Faith is not of my flesh, but of my heart. My love for her is as deep and real, as that of my biological children. She is "my own" as people often ask or misstate.

I can't tell you how many people make statements like, so you have three of your own and one adopted?!? No folks, I have four wonderful, equally loved and deeply desired children. They all come with special unique qualities and challenges. They each are a gift from God.

Our Own Little Gidget!

Samantha is our little surfer girl! She has developed a true love for the ocean and everything related to surfing. Evan and I were very impressed with her ability to ride the waves. She was out there with the big boys (and girls)! Granted, this was one of the mildest beaches in Ventura County. It was nice to see her show so much determination and effort. Oh yeah, did I mention that million dollar smile? The one that causes her whole face to radiate..

More impressive than her surfing, was her desire and willingness to put her surfboard aside to help her brother. Noah can catch some waves, but needs some help getting out to the appropriate spot. Noah is getting close to be able to do it by himself, but he doesn't have that internal motivation. Just as he was about to ride a wave on this day, a boy crossed his path and he bailed. That was all the excuse he needed to hit the sand and drop the surf. I must admit, it was a little disappointing to see him gave up so quickly. I have to keep reminding myself that he is only 9 years old. Maybe, next time..........

Faith's First Official Trip to the Dentist

Faith had met Dr. Betsy before, but this was her first official appointment. Faith really liked Dr. Betsy. Going to the dentist is so much better now, them when I was a kid. The dentist office that our kids go to is designed like a spaceship. They even have movies above the dental chairs. Faith's teeth are not in optimal shape. Thankfully, she didn't need any dental work. We need to be more diligent about caring for her teeth. I also wonder if the thick formula/food bottles she use to get while in China had a negative impact on her teeth. I guess we'll never know for sure.

Married 15 Years!

Fifteen years ago I walked down the aisle in great anticipation. It was on this day in 1993 that I married my best friend and only love. We were youthful and I hesitate to say, but we looked pretty good too. The romance meter was off the chart! I had every confidence that we would have a wonderful live and a happily ever after.

During the past 15 years, we have had a beautiful live together. We have developed a deeper love and a greater friendship. We are not as googly eyed, but we see each other with a deeper understanding and trust. God has blessed us and has shown us much grace over the years. In 1993 we had more of a romantic, worldly and humanistic love. Looking back, we were the center of our world. I did believe in Jesus then, but I still married a non-christian. By God's grace, Evan became a Christian too. Our faith has sustained us and allowed us to grow closer.

Speaking of faith, I just was reminded that if Evan or I did not have a believe in Jesus Christ, we would not have our little Faith. Thanks God! You are much better and greater than we deserve or comprehend. Yes, I still fail miserably and am not always honoring to God, but this does not make him any less real.

Well, back to 15 years of wedded bliss. Generally, it has been a fairy tale of sorts. We started as two in a one bedroom apartment. We could not have been any happier in a palace. It wasn't long until we moved into our first house. Before we knew it, we were celebrating our 3rd anniversary with our first born as a centerpiece. Samantha was only two weeks old! Having a child together, brought an even deeper love. By our 5th anniversary, we were ecstatic to be expecting our second child. This time we were to have a baby boy, our sweet Noah. At the 10 year mark, we celebrated by going on a four day cruise! Little did we know that by our 12th anniversary God would stir our hearts towards a little girl in China. We adopted our little Faith in December of 2005. Just over a month before our 14th anniversary, we discovered that I was carrying identical twins. This was a shock and a dream come true, as I always wanted twins. Sadly, these babies were not meant for this world. Through the sadness of loss, Evan and I grew closer and sought God's will about having another child. Our little Luke was born just a couple months ago. All this in 15 years of marriage. It has been great fun, lots of work, rewarding,challenging at times and much more than I could have ever dreamed. There is no one else that I would rather share my life with.



Some of the things that I love about Evan...

• He accepts me for who I am.
• He still thinks I am beautiful
• He is a great father to my children
• He listens to me when I am irrational
• He understands how I feel (when nobody else does)
• He denies me nothing
• He works hard, so I can stay home

I look forward to sharing many more years together. I don't anticipate too many more kids, as the years passby. We hope to celebrate one more adoption by our 16th year of marriage, but it is all in God's time. Thanks Ev, it has been a great ride!

Could It Really Be 20 Years?

George, Marissa, Tracy and me
Julie, Michelle, Sylvia and me

It's hard to believe it, but I just had my 20th reunion. It was nice to see my old friends and acquaintances. I was glad to see that we weren't the only ones still having babies (he,he).

Luke Gets Sick!!

Our sweet little Luke spent four days in the hospital. He is a little trooper! Luke developed a fever and wasn't his happy smiley self, so I took him to the doctor. He was immediately sent to the ER for testing. At one point, we were told that he had a UTI, pneumonia, and a double ear infection. It got pretty scary! While he was in the ER, he had blood drawn, x-rays taken, three pokes to get an IV in place and three unsuccessful attempts for a spinal tap.

Luke was transferred to Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara. This was both mine and Luke's first trip in the ambulance. Luke seemed to enjoy it! We actually saw some smiles before he fell asleep. Upon arrival, we knew that we were in the right place. It makes a big difference when you are at a place that is use to dealing with babies. They continued with the IV antibiotics for the duration of our visit. A follow-up chest x-ray turned out to be clear and his ears also seemed fine. We are continuing with oral antibiotics for the UTI. While we were there Luke had 9 additional pokes to insert a new IV (including one in his head). Apparently, his veins were very difficult and blow out very easily. This was partly due to his age and fever. All of the nurses were super careful with the IV. I did learn that the best ones to start an IV or collect blood are the NICU nurses. On Friday, one of the doctors noticed a murmur and decided to have an Echo Cardiogram done mainly as a precaution. Thankfully, the results did not show any problems. The technician was so amazed and happy with Luke, he slept through the whole test, which allowed her to get lots of good pictures. I think he made her day!

One might ask, how does a two month old get an infection? Well, we took Luke in for a test that required catheterising and the nurse was less than skilled. She tried to use too large a catheter 4 separate times before inserting a smaller catheter. This test was done just a couple days before he came down with a fever. Every doctor we spoke to agreed that this was likely the cause. The ironic part of this is that the test came back clear, so in hindsight it was absolutely unnecessary. Yikes! I guess I learned the hard way to only deal with someone trained in pediatrics. I am sure it is a matter of experience, some know how to work with babies and others do not. I just thing professionals should know when to back off, if they are not up to the job.

Things I learned in the hospital......

• The chairs that make out into beds are really, really bad
• It is a bummer when your roommate wants to listen to Spanish TV
• Breastfed moms are provided with meals at Cottage Hospital
• Some nurses aides are sweet enough to help get your baby to sleep
• It is hard to breastfeed a baby with an IV and other cords attached to them

Thanks to all of our friends and family for praying. We appreciated your thoughts and support.

Noah is at Camp!

This morning I took Noah to meet the camp bus. He could not wait to hop on board! He had no reservations. He will miss his sisters and brother, but will have a blast.

I have to admit it was even harder to let Noah go. He is younger and we are just coming off a rough week. I just feel like I have hardly spent anytime with him in the last week (due to Luke being hospitalized). I actually shed a couple of tears as I watched the bus pull away.

Things that I have wondered about...

• How many articles of clothing will he loose?
• Will he wash his hair?
• Will he comb his hair?
• Will he drop his towel on the ground and never think twice about using it again and again?
• Will he be able to keep up with and ration his money?
• Most importantly, how will this impact his life?

Things that I know....

• He will make lots of friends!
• He will exert a lot of energy!
• I will be praying for the counselors (and him, of course)
• I will miss him like crazy.
• Faith will be sad at times, because she'll miss him so much.

That's it for now.