Twelve Months Ago

Remember when a year felt like an eternity? Well, it sure doesn't anymore. I am not exaggerating when I say that it is so hard to believe that exactly a year ago I was zipping around to the other side of the world, alone, to meet our daughter, Ivy. I remember so clearly leaving the house that dark, cold, January morning as Jordan drove me to the airport at 4:45 am. I had traveled to China three times before, but always with my husband, who did everything. You really learn to pay attention to details when you are all by yourself. I never imagined I could take care of the money exchange, make purchases in yuan in a blink of an eye, take a walk off the island in Guangzhou without a guide, hail a taxi in a city with millions of people, or communicate so effectively with a 7 year old Chinese daughter just by motions and smiles. It was such a wonderful experience, and I wish I could do it all over again. But, I am sure Mike would not want me to leave for another 2 weeks.



So, this is it. Our last post placement report with pictures to send to China. It is sort of sad to be putting it all behind. After all, we started the whole adoption journey back in 2005 before Eva was even born. Here we are 6 years later, 3 more children later. Our house and hearts are full. I never would have imagined that we would parent 6 children. I never would have imagined that there would be a day when I knew that our family was complete. But, that day has come.



Now, it does not mean that my heart is closed to adoption. Actually, my heart is very open to it. I just know that we are at a place of fullness. If God has other plans for us, I know that we would go where He leads. He may have to hit us upside the head a few times to get our attention, but I would follow. But, if that doesn't happen, I will enjoy following along on other blogs to see the beautiful journey of adoption take place, just as many of you have followed along on all 3 of our journeys.

Poor Eva

Eva has been home with us for over 4 years. She has been so amazing. Eva has never been very sick. Yes, she has had a cold here and there, and even a tummy bug once. Trust me when I say this girl's immune system is top notch! I have never given her medicine of any kind since the day I met her. She has never even ran a fever, and she has a gut of steel. That is until today.



She woke up complaining of a sore throat. By mid-morning she was on the sofa, falling asleep with a 103 fever. After some meds, she perked up to her usual self, but the fever returned right before bedtime. Now, she's snoozing at the foot of our bed for the night, the usual treatment for the sick children. This is a first for Eva.

Embarrassing Things

We've all done ridiculously weird things. Some we share, others we are too embarrassed to share. Every time I think of a few of these things, I can't help but giggle. Here is an example of some of our "embarrassing things":

*Back when I was a teenager living at home, we always kept Seabreeze on the sink. Remember that? The refreshing green face cleanser? Well, my dad thought it was mouthwash and gargled (briefly) with it.

*When Jack was being potty-trained, I kept a container of flushable baby wipes in the bathroom. One day, they were gone, so Seth went looking under the sink for more. Instead of baby wipes, he found Clorox wipes. Ummm, yep, he used them on his bottom when he was about 7 years old.

*A friend of ours (I won't post his name??) grabbed the Desitin to brush his teeth with instead of the toothpaste. Yuck!

*One of my sons came out of the bathroom twirling an applicator around his finger that he found in the hall bathroom trash. Care to guess what kind of applicator? I cringed because I knew it was not mine!

*When Jack was about 3 years old, we were out shopping for a sewing machine. He kept telling me he had to go to the bathroom. So, the kind owner showed us the way to an extremely small bathroom (barely big enough to turn around in). Being the good mama, I had Jack stand on my shoes to give him a lift so he could make it in the potty. Well, he did not have to do THAT kind of potty. His backside opened up and covered my shoes and filled his pants. I spent the next 30 minutes cleaning this woman's bathroom, my shoes, Jack's pants. (I have numerous similar stories, but one odorous story is enough for the day. It seems like I am a magnet for my children's bathroom woes.)


Back in the days of Embarrassing Things.

I'd love to hear some of your strange mishaps!

What's In A Name?

When we first got our puppy, Moxie, we named her Pele. You know..Pele, the famous soccer player. The first day, I had a hard time calling her that. Pele is a guy and our puppy was a girl. So, I googled good names for chocolate labs. I wanted something clever. Her mother's name was Godiva...a perfect name for a chocolate lab, right? I thought about naming her Java, Hershey, Mocha, and some other brown names, but nothing seemed to fit. So, I then googled dark brown things and came up with "Moxie". The definition is "a dark brown carbonated beverage created in 1884". And many of you know Moxie also means "The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage." I thought it was the perfect name. The difficult part came next; convincing the boys (huge soccer fans) to change her name from Pele to Moxie.
When I told them about the soft drink, they both quickly agreed.



We found a Moxie drink at the local market. It tasted quite good!


Eva and Ivy being goofy with Moxie.

Joyful Noise

I heard the raspy voice almost a year ago. Every now and then in the days after meeting our daughter, Ivy would speak in Chinese. As the days passed, she spoke more and more. I would put in her Chinese children songs for her to listen to. I loved to hear her voice. Fast forward 11 1/2 months. Ivy talks freely, sings freely. She loves to sing songs. I hear her in the shower. She tries singing to the music she plays on the piano. She cannot carry a tune. I'm not exaggerating a bit. She is all over the place. She would make a choir director cringe.



Tonight, she was singing in this echo microphone, trying to teach Eva a new song. Eva would pay no attention to Ivy's lessons. Finally, Ivy gave up and moved on to something new. Of course, I would never tell Ivy she cannot sing. As much as she hurts my ears, I love to hear her sing praises to her Savior.

She Is Reading!

In September, I tried starting school with Eva. She had just turned 5 years old. She knew all of her sounds, but just could not get the order right. M-A-P would be sounded out as pat. She would take the last letter, put it first with the right vowel, but completely added her own last sound. She did this repeatedly, frustrating herself and me. I just did not know what to do about it. I had never dealt with that with my other children. So, I just decided to wait, and try it again in another month. The next month was the same way. After that, I tried what a friend had suggested. I left off the 3rd letter, and we just focused on the sounding of the first consonant plus the short vowel. Over and over we did this. My dry erase board stayed covered with sounds. After just a few days, Eva was getting it. After she had it completely down, I added the 3rd consonant. Success! She was so excited!



Now, Eva sits around reading the K5 readers that Seth learned to read with. It is so cute to hear her sounding out her words. She feels so grown up...especially since Ivy is loving to read also.



I am so glad that Ivy and Eva love to read. Jordan and Seth were such big readers when they were younger. Jordan never got into a moving vehicle without a book. Seth would read the same books over and over. Jack, on the other hand, does not share this same love of reading. Any suggestions on how to change that? Jack has no problems reading, but he struggles with comprehension. Maybe that hinders the desire to read.