Bark Park

Sera with Bitzi- a tiny Yorkie Poo with a wild overbite!
Andy with Bitzi's sister, Lucy
BaoBao checking every single dog out that entered the park! He is so friendly and social! I guess he must have got it from the kids, because they had to pet every dog that came in the park too!


Races! Kids and dogs! Everyone wins! BTW....Check out how much Sera's running has improved!

We are home now and everyone is TIRED!! BaoBao is happily napping on my lap and the kids are snoozing away too!

I figure that besides my having fun watching them, it was well worth the effort to enjoy some peace and quiet too!

Who is afraid of the big scary dinosaur?

NOT Sera!!

It was a nice day and we wanted to be out having fun, but my leg was so swollen that standing and sitting without my leg up was not an option, so the movies became a great choice! I had a coupon I had been keeping for a special time to use it and decided that this was the time!

All of us loved the Journey to the Center of the Earth. Amazingly, so did Sera! The 3D effects were really a lot of fun and the movie moved at such a pace that it kept even my Andy tuned in. There is a piece where the huge T Rex chases the characters and it appears as if the dinosaur is actually going to eat the audience as well. The roar in surround sound paired with the visuals really was quite grabbing, and Andy and Aubri huddled together. Sera got up to come to me and I really expected to be cuddling her and covering her eyes. NOPE!!!

My little one stood in front of me a raised her arms and growled right back at the dinosaur!!!!! She was very insistent that the dino BACK OFF! I had to laugh and hug her, so you can imagine the roars that have been heard since, in the car coming home and around the house from all my baby dinos!

'Truly a good family time event!

Today, we are heading out to the bark park, with cold drinks and balls to chase. I am bringing my own lounger and it will even be free fun! They have really improved the park, I hear and The kids are psyched to have some fun with their four legged friends. I will post photos later.

We are so blessed to be able to laugh and enjoy our life, no matter what obstacles ( like a floppy leg, or short traveling/entertainment funds) get in the way!

We hope you are all also able to find some enjoyable things to do and laugh and enjoy this three day weekend!

When oh when???

People have been often asking me when Sera's lip will finally be repaired..... I wonder myself! She had the new CAT scan requested by Shriner's done and the CD fed Exed back to them last week and we are just waiting to hear a date. The OR is closed for November and December and they did promise me that they will try to get it done in September or October, so that her speech can progress. They were actually more concerned about the soft palate than the lip, and have not yet sent me the team report telling me which they are repairing first.

I am honestly hoping that the nurse practitioner was right in guessing the first part of October, since I am really not too steady on my feet yet. Learning to walk with a foot with no feeling in it on a new knee with no knee cap has tested my abilities to compensate. I am finally figuring out when to push it and when to ice it, so there is progress, but I want to be steady enough to be able to help my baby and carry her when she is hurting! Thankfully her big sister is ready and willing to share her arms, but I am really working hard to make sure that mine are not always used to stabilize me !

I promise that I will post something as soon as I know!

In the mean time, we are hanging out and trying to enjoy every moment we can. The kids love school. Andy loves gymnastics too! This past week they had a school skating party and they all love to skate for 2 hours and go home to fall into bed. They come with me to PT often after school, and seem to even enjoy all the hoopla there, especially watching mom wince and grimace :-) The park and pool call to them daily, to boot, so they definitely are not bored at all :-)

See Ya Mom!

Sera started preschool! We had thought that she would attend a special preschool across town, but miraculously, a special ed preschool was added to the school I teach in, where Aubri and Andy both also attend. Sera came to my school everyday after school last year, so she was very familiar with it and many of the staff there. My baby happily marched into her classroom without even a nervous glance back at me and happily told me good bye..... I know it is good for her to feel so safe leaving me and that she knows I would see her when school was over, but for some reason I wanted her to miss me just a little bit :-) She said that she missed me when the day was over and was thrilled to tell me all about her day. She was also thrilled to go back to school the next day :-)

Milestone accomplished!

BTW, Aubri and Andy also love school there and it is so nice to have the kids eager to go there to learn! Andy sees Sera at lunch time and plays with her at the noon recess. He is apparently quite the proud big brother and will even stand and push her on the swings. Aubri seems to enjoy being the big sister and collecting them both at the end of the day. I cannot wait until I can return to work to see it all for myself!

Gummy Bear English Long

This video and song is the hit of our home at the moment! I hear it all the time! Amazingly, it has grown on me some and can make me smile as I watch my kids all bounce around, being gummi bears :-)

School has started for Andy and Aubri and the days have been quiet with them in class. They both have great teachers and have come home happy and excited about school this year! I love hearing this and could not be happier!! Sera will start preschool on the 20th and is so excited to get to be a big girl.

I have to share our backpack story, though. While Sera appears to have adjusted and blended in so seamlessly lately, that I often cannot remember what life was like before she came home, we recently saw that she can clearly still remember what life was like in China. A good friend had given Sera a beautiful backpack and I had purchased Aubri and Andy new backpacks for school. I was honestly thrilled to buy Aubri a Tinkerbell backpack, and let her enjoy being a little girl a while longer. Sera absolutely loved the backpack she was given, but did not wear it often, because it was so big that she fell over while trying to wear it. I didn't think much of this since I figured that the adults would be carrying it for her anyway. She drug it around the house with her filling it with whatever she thought was treasure worthy. Well... when Aubri and Andy's backpacks arrived ( I have to shop online right now) Sera was very taken by them and would take the backpacks to them and tell them to tell me thank you for the pretty backpacks! A few weeks later, I found a Minnie Mouse backpack for her on an even better sale and decided to get it for her, in case it was a bit smaller and she could actually be able to wear it without toppling over. When it arrived, she truly was so ecstatic that she bounced all over the house ALL DAY, while constantly telling me "thank you" for her "Ninni Now" :-) Never had she asked me for a backpack, or complained about falling over wearing hers, but the pure joy of seeing her prance around wearing the smaller backpack truly overwhelmed BOTH of us :-)

Sera doesn't really understand why my leg isn't working, but she has been such a helper! She will find my cane for me and hand it to me without my even asking for it and gives me the best hugs when she knows I am hurting. Aubri and Andy too! It amazes me how much they can really do for themselves and for others.

Andy has had a tough few weeks, however, being able to be an only child while at Grandpa's and is struggling right now with sharing with his sisters again. It seems to have to caused him to backslide a bit, with our trip to Chicago and my being incapacitated. He is so sweet and willing to help me, but WOW, can he ever get upset with his sisters if they even look at a toy he might want to play with later next week..... I so hope that this regression will recoup it self quickly with school starting. I am not loving being the lion tamer right now!

I have been going to my physical terrorism ( therapy) appts. faithfully and have kept the days full. It is amazing how long it takes me to do the simplest of things right now.
I am progressing, one step at a time, however and someday I know I will be glad that I chose to do this. In the mean time, I am just thankful that it is giving me some time to enjoy my kids and to learn to allow them to help me for a change.

My growing girls!

It has always been a struggle to keep Aubri in clothing that fits. She has typically outgrown clothing each season and thinking of re wearing something from fall to fall is unthinkable! For example, last fall I was buying size 10-12 for her and they were a bit loose to allow for growth. As I have tried to buy her school clothes for this fall over the internet, rather than in person as I would prefer, I have discovered that she has basically skipped size 14....Returns are not my favorite thing to do , but I am becoming a pro! She is wearing size 6 in womens shoes and is a 16-18 in gilrs clothes and 1-3 in juniors... My little girl is no longer little... She is on her way to quickly being as tall as me, and probably taller. It is so hard for me to imagine this. Her little feet should still be little, soft and chubby and able to fit in the palm of my hand! After all, she is still my baby :-) I never realized how difficult this is for mothers to accept until it started happening to me too!

I knew when Sera was measured at Shriner's that she had really grown! She has gained 5 lbs and grown 4.5 inches since first coming home to our house! Of course, she has worn little sun dresses and shorts and thinking of putting her in more fitting clothes was not necessary. As I try to figure out her fall wardrobe, I am truly shocked! She basically skipped wearing size 3T! She can wear the 3Tpants, but the shirts are a bit too snug. They fit, but will not fit for long, especially since she seems to be taking after her sister! As tiny as she was ( height wise) when she first came home, I truly thought I was going to have a petite little girl. Nope. While she was significantly delayed in height, as well as other areas, when she came home, she has truly caught up! It really amazes me that she has made so many HUGE gains physically, emotionally, communicatively, and cognitively.

Now if I could only figure out a way to encourage Andy to sit still long enough to eat and put on some weight!! He is growing taller, but honestly, I worry when he dresses up as the skeleton pirate he wants to be for Halloween, it will be way too close to the truth! :-)

Angels among us...

The past few weeks have been very busy with preparing to go to Chicago and preparing for me to be laid up after having my knee replaced. So many people have stepped in and helped at times I least expected it, but appreciate it beyond words!

A distant relative sent money to help us with travel costs, since I had arranged my own travel before knowing that Shriner's would do that for me as well. I had booked a roomette on the train, since I knew that my knee would never make the airplane ride in tight quarters. I am so immensely grateful for her help! Our travel was very much more comfortable for me and even somewhat enjoyable and I think the kids really enjoyed it as an "adventure" :-)

Aubri was super helpful at the Shriner's apt. She would let them examine her and then Sera would agree to allow them to examine her. Without Aubri, she would have never willingly participated. She wanted nothing to do with sitting in any medical type chair, let alone have someone touch her :-) Shriner's was amazing! They managed to very completely evaluate her in one morning! Standardized educational testing additional to medical exams too! We discovered that additional to the facial clefting, she also has a submucosal cleft palate, which will also need surgery. We have to get a CT scan of that and then surgery will be scheduled. Sadly, Shriner's is having their ORs redone and there are no surgeries going to be done in November or December. We are really hoping that she will have surgery in September or at the latest October. Evidently she should have been having speech services all along and if school will not provide them until her lip is repaired, I will have to have it done privately. It really explains why she is not able to make so many sounds which the closure of her lips have nothing to do with. Poor baby! She really tries though! She talks up a storm all of the time!

Three days after we came home from Chicago, I went in to have my knee replaced. Since I do not have a knee cap, and have lots of scar tissue which caused a nerve to be stretched and I fell on Saturday, I am not progressing as fast as I had hoped. For some reason I had dreamed that I would be walking better after the surgery than I did before.... Dumb, dumb, dumb...... Oh well, at least my kids are really pulling together and Aubri is old enough to be a real help to me. I hate having to ask her to help, but I know in the long run it will be good for her to have learned this kind of responsibility. I am also paying her (our visit to the American Girl place and money to use to spend on things she wanted while there), so she doesn't feel totally put upon and can enjoy the benefits of her hard work. Both girls enjoyed the American Girl Place and I was so proud of both of them for not asking for everything they saw! Aubri just got her doll's hair done and an outfit and she actually insisted that I get Sera a Bitty Twin, rather than spend more on her. I know it is hard for her to give up being waited on and have to do the care taking. She has done it with a smile most of the time, though, and I am so very proud of her! I know I am predjudiced, but I am so happy to know that she is growing up into such an amazing, caring and responsible young girl!

I will not be going back to work tomorrow, so that I can ice and bend this nasty thing pictured above. I am really hoping that it will eventually work better than my kneecap free arthritic knee, did. It still doesn't have a kneecap, so lifting it is a pain... literally :-) Please hope for me that I will be able to heal quickly and return to being abe to chase after my little ones and baby and wait on my bigger one a few more years :-)

It can't be July!!!!

This summer has just flown by and I have not accomplished much of anything I had wanted to get done! Instead, we have been coping with medical issues. Andy has had some complications with his past surgery, done in November 2006, and has been in the hospital and ER in Kansas City, I am needing two major surgeries along with having to have many tests done and Sera finally gets to go to Shriner's on the 24th, which is just 5 days before I get my knee replaced. Summer school is out now since the 27th and we are just now starting to get bedrooms cleaned and a few little projects tackled.

Aubri did a marvelous job in her summer music classes. I am so proud of her. She has become such an amazing young lady! Andy was so sad to see summer school end. He is really catching on to rhyming and is loving to try to read words now. I am very proud of him! It has been a lot of hard work for him, but he is really getting it now and I am so thrilled for him!

We have taken some time to go to the movies and go swimming in between our medical appts. Summer cannot be all torture! :-) Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E are super! We really enjoyed both of them!



Today we enjoyed the day at home and with grandpa. He grilled hot dogs outside and we enjoyed going over to eat with him. Aubri decided that we should eat outside and boy was it HOT! We were all wilting and all took a nap before going back to eat a traditional apple pie and share some of our dayworks with Grandpa. He decided to stay in this evening, since the heat had worn him out. We enjoyed the larger displays our neighbors shot up and had fun lighting our own little show. Sera was initially so upset that she was not allowed to light the fireworks, like Aubri, but when she got her sparkler, she was THRILLED! She is addicted, just like Andy and Aubri :-)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I hope all is well with everyone reading this. We think of our friends often, even though we don't get to communicate as often as we should.

New meaning for "Trouble is a brewing"!

The past month or so I have really struggled with pain management for my knee which needs to badly be replaced. Walking on it for long periods, of an hour or more just makes me physically ill sometimes and today I needed to take a nap with Sera when I got back from teaching ESY. We had gone on a field trip and had several students not wanting to cooperate... I was feeling like a dishrag and was in no way able to do much else but lie down to rest.

While I went to lie down, I left Andy with very specific instructions to sit in the kitchen and play his Nintendo 64 or watch a video. He was so excited to be able to do this, since I don't often allow him to spend much screen time. He had even told me on the way home that he wanted me to be able to go lie down and get off my leg and had promised me that he would be good while I rested.

I woke to a very strong aroma of Starbucks coffee! Sera was still in her toddler bed sleeping soundly ( her bed is in my room). I went out and the aroma got even stronger. As I walked into my kitchen I truly was shocked! A tornado could have hit the house and left the wake of chaos that I was greeted with! The cabinets were all open, the snack drawer open, the mixer was on the floor, hot chocolate packets were open and spilled on the counters and the floor, an new entire bag of Starbuck's coffee was all over the kitchen! There were coffee grounds all over the counter, in water under all the appliances, all over the floor, wiped on the bread maker, an entire roll of wet paper towels wadded up and stuffed in the top of the trash can, and my little one cup coffee maker was unplugged and sitting in the middle of the floor, covered in coffee grounds....

I am so glad that I sent him to his room while I cleaned up the mess and tried to figure out why he would be so disobedient and get into so much trouble after having promised me that he was going to be good. thankfully, I also called a friend and asked her to talk to me while I cleaned, because I was soooo upset with him.

When I was calm and able to talk to him without wanting to shout, I discovered something that was so worth all the mess I had just cleaned up!!

My sweet, loving, wonderful and very inquisitive son had tried to make me a cup of coffee!!!

Aubri had not heard any of his activities since her TV was son and so was his. She was devastated and so unhappy with him and herself that she had not heard him. Thankfully, I was able to keep from being outwardly angry with her and remembered to not yell !

He will lose his privileges to play games in a different room from his sister when I cannot supervise him and will have to help clean up the mess.... but someday he will hopefully still love me and want to help me when I am old and be able to make a good cup of coffee without making such a mess!

It is true that his middle name should have probably been trouble, but his kind of trouble is the best kind!!

Future gravedigger????

My Andy is certainly a special little boy! He is so inquisitive and has to take everything apart to see how it works. Recently he has dismantled a telephone, one of Sera's electronic toys and his remote switch for his bedroom lights. He wants to know about everything and how it works! He is loving summer school and has been very excited to be learning about dinosaurs. He talks about dinosaurs and dinosaur bones on every chance he can get lately!

This morning as we were driving to school, he was singing "Dem Bones", with very unusual connections, such as the ear bone is connected to the mouth bone and the tummy bone is connected to the butt bone.... I was smiling to myself as I listened to him signing and was totally shocked to hear what he asked me next! He very calmly asked, " Mommy, you know you said that you were going to take me to see my grandma some day." I replied that he had just seen Evelyn and and asked if he wanted to go see her today. He said, " No, Mommie, my grandma in the ground!" ( My mother is buried quite a distance north in a very small town cemetery and to save gas this year, we did not go up and just thought about her and talked about her) I was surprised, and asked him why he was asking me this. He said, very matter of factly, " I want to take a shovel with me and dig her up and open her box and see what is inside".

It was all I could do to keep a straight face and tell him we do not want to dig his grandma up or anyone else's grandma, grandpa, dad, mom , brother or sister up out of the ground. Their bodies are empty shells and they need to rest and we should respect that. We can think of their spirits and remember how much we love them and that is really all that is left of people here on earth after they die.

When he said, " But Mommie! They are dead, they won't care!" I truly was left speechless!

I finally managed to tell him that it was illegal for him to ever dig anyone up from a cemetery and that the police would not be very happy with us if he tried.

I wish I could say that I am not worried about what the police may actually show up on my doorstep someday to tell me that he has "explored"!

The miracle of time! 6 months!!

As I get ready to complete Sera's 6 month post placement and I look back at where this little girl has been, it just makes me so proud of her!! She is truly an amazing little soul and I am so very blessed to have been granted permission to be her mommy! I truly cannot imagine life without her spicy little attitude and gleeful squeals! Looking at her makes my heart hurt so deeply for the Chapman family, how recently lost their precious little 5 yr old. I am enjoying every moment I possibly can

Just 6 months ago, she hated me and wanted to stay away from me and now I find myself having to distract her with things to get out of my lap so that I can get things done. She is such a little snuggle bunny now! It is as if she is trying to catch up on all the snuggles she missed out on....

We are getting her Vitamin D levels checked again and are hoping they are higher than the last time. She originally was at 7 and needed to be at 60 or above... She was at 36 two months ago and hopefully she is at 60 or above now!! Her surgery to repair her lip is supposed to happen this summer. I need to get back with Shriner's and double check. I haven't heard from them for about a month.

She is running and climbing and singing and talking up a storm! If her brother does it, so will she! There is never a quiet moment in our house, since Andy is a chatterbox and must always interrupt Aubri when she talks. Sera cannot stand to have any one talk with out her talking either and sometimes I do find myself wanting earplugs, but I am so happy to hear them all chattering away! Now if I could figure out a way to actually understand them all at the same time, or get them to wait and take turns it would be so much easier, but for now, I am happy to have the chatter going on!




Sera' at about 6-9 months, referral photos. I love her bright eyed, inquisitive look!


Sera at 2 yrs Update photos sent at the time she was give a dx of mental retardation and cerebral hemiplegia. She looks so lost.... I do not like this photo, but it is good to look at occasionally to remember how far she has come! I can only guess why she lost that bright eyed look. It could have been the rickets and the pain, lack of interaction with staff, malnutrition in general... who knows... I just wish it hadn't been that way, but then, I might not have ever had the chance for her to steal my heart and the joy of being able to parent her!


Sera at 2 . 5 yrs when she was taken to the IAAP foster home. Her vacant look just makes me cry to look at now. She must have been in great pain with her rickets , at that point. also, since she made no attempts to stand or walk then. They were so sweet to her, but she truly had no idea how to accept their affection yet, at that point.



Sera at almost 3.5years on her way back to Datong, October 1007, one month before we came to bring her home. She was talking, walking and quite demanding of her ayi to buy her the snack foods she saw everyone else eating! Her spunk was showing up more and more daily!


Sera at almost 4 yrs old!! Nothing is going to hold this child back! She has the most spunk I could ever have prayed for her to have! In this photo, she was so proud of herself for having slid down the pole ( with me holding on to her of course)! Just like GeGe did!


I cannot wait to see what the next 6 months bring!! She has truly blessed our family and everyone who has been able to get to know her!

Nice day and an introduction

Today we worked some in the house and then decided to go spend some time at the park. It was a really nice day and the kids enjoyed themselves on the toys and I loved the breeze! We then went out to eat at Jason's and are home now, tired and happy. It was a great way to spend the day. Aubri has bad allergies to all the trees right now and Sera has a horrible cough, but they really enjoyed themselves and are now showered and have gone happily off to bed without a complaint. Fresh air is truly good for our bodies and our souls!

We had to leave the house in a bit of stress though, since Timmy was refusing to eat and I was worried about him. I am sad to be parting with my little Timmy, our 18, almost 19 yr old toy poodle. He is so thin now and just prefers to lie and sleep. He is so far, not appearing to be in any pain, just wearing out. He did eat once we got home and was happy to curl up on his pillow. I am praying that he will be able to leave us peacefully.

Oh, BTW, we need to introduce a new member of the family, Bao Bao Stitch, a poodle papillion mix. We got him way back in March,when I was so worried that Timmy would be leaving us soon and I would not know what to do without a little dog sleeping on my shoulder. He is not Timmy, and is very different in personality, except that he is also not a barker and is pretty laid back like Timmy always has been. He will hold a very different space in my heart, but he has been wonderful with the kids and is a sweetheart in his own way. In fact he has quite the fan club, who would all take him off my hands at any time, because he is so cute and seems to be an old soul.... It is so unusual for a tiny dog to be this docile and I am very blessed to now own two special little dogs. I just realized I hadn't posted anything with Bao Bao in it. He is a very laid back little dog. I have taken him to school with me and he is able to work magic with my students and has also stolen our hearts at home as well. Sera named him BaoBao and Andy added the Stich as his middle name. It was hard to get used to at first, since I thought he looked more like a Panda, but now it fits well!

I hope you enjoy the photos. Sera has made so many changes these past 6 months..... Today she ran with the others and climbed every ladder all on her own. Just six months ago walking across a room would cause her to fall and she wobbled so much that she looked like a baby just learning to walk. Now she actually fits in with the other 3 yr olds! She is a bit tinier, but she is determined to do whatever she sees Andy and Aubri do. They love to climb, so I am sure she will be climbing to the tops of everything soon!