Introducing~~~~~~Boots~~~~~~~~

Well it seems that everyone else around us now has a house dog. We felt like we must be missing out on something and boy or boy were we ever. We brought home the most amazing dog on Sunday from Indy. We had been looking on Craig's List for a little bit older house dog. One that was already house broke and good with kids. I kind of had it in my mind to find a pug, puggle or a schnauzer. I looked on CL between Ft. Wayne, Muncie, Lima, Dayton, Indy and Columbus. I emailed quite a few people about different dogs and seemed to keep missing the 'perfect dog.' Well on Saturday night I checked again and saw that a 1 yr. old miniature schnauzer was in need of a home because his family had to move into an apartment that didn't allow pets. I called them right away not wanting to miss out on this little guy. We were the 2nd family to call but the other family didn't commit to him and I said "We'll take him!!" On our drive to Indy I told the kids that Boots' might be scared and his current family might be sad because they didn't want to give him away at all!! When we walked into Boots' home he barked at us (schnauzers are very protective of their family but makes friends quickly if their family accepts the 'outsider') but quickly warmed up to us. He is a salt and pepper colored mini-schnauzer. I think he looks like a little old man with his gray eyebrows and bushy beard. The family said their good-byes and we promised to take extra good care of him!! He did fantastic on the 2 hour drive home. He took turns sitting on everyone's lap. He is an absolute joy...he only barks at Mulan (oh yeah, Mulan might not consider him much of a joy;o) and if somebody is at the door. If he gets too wound up we just say in a firm voice "Boots NO"....he sits downs and stops barking. I wish any of my 5 kids listened as well as Boots....hmmmm, maybe Ted and I should had 5 mini-schnauzers instead of 5 kids. Boots goes to the door when he needs to potty and lays down when it's bedtime and goes right to sleep until morning. I just can't believe how easy and loving he is. The picture of Boots with the lei is for our Hawiian friends...Roy and Tutu.

Okay...maybe I'm a bit biased but I think these are the two cutest Chinese girls in the world. On Feb. 28th we celebrated Audrey's 4th 'forever family day' and Rachel celebrated her 4th birthday. Kind of cool to think that 2-28-05 was very special for by my family and my brother's family. To read more about Rachel: http://raisingourgirls.blogspot.com

We had to readopt Rita for her to become a US citizen. Yes...Rita looks very but Ted and I have fake smiles thinking that if our guide in Armenia would have done things different Rita would have came to the USA on a different visa and we wouldn't have had to do this. All we could think about was $900 that we had to complete the adoption the same week as Ted's first week being laid-off (with no end in sight). Rita totally enjoyed her time in court and the judge made it fun for the kids. She let each kid set in her seat and pound the gavel....then she gave each kid their own mini-gavel...yeah!!

We went to a Chinese New Year party at a families' home in Berne. It was lots of fun. As you can see Paul is cheating at "pin the tail on the ox" in honor of the year of the ox. This is my zodiac year....yes it's true I'm only 24 (the zodiac goes in 12 year cycles...so maybe I am almost 36 but 24 sure sounds alot better).

Here's the group photo minus Audrey. That little stinker refused to get in the picture!! My niece Rachel is in the middle with the jean jumper and Paul is on the end. Ai Wen is 2nd from the left....our families traveled together to adopt Paul and AiWen.

Well, thankfully Ted has stayed busy with auto repairs while being laid off. Lots of people have been laid off behind him with the good possibility of more. So it could be quite a long time before he would get called back. He is job hunting but there just isn't much out there. Our family is very blessed that he has another skill to bring decent money in right now. Of course the "dirty teeth" business is always busy so no worries about my job. I did spend 4 hours in the ER with Audrey yesterday. We had went to the family doctor on Friday and she tested positive for influenza B. I'm sure that Rita and Andrew had the same thing but Audrey just couldn't pull out of it. She became so dehydrated that she was miserable. She was on an IV (aka arm medicine) for 1.5 hours and she perked right up. We went home and she ate 3 helping of spaghetti. She had barely ate anything over the last week. On Friday she was down to 28 pounds!!! With spring coming I'm hoping that we are about at the end of all of this sickness.

Birthday Girl

Audrey turns 5 years old tomorrow. Isn't she a beauty??!!
Here she is on her 2nd birthday (her first birthday at home). Look at those chubby cheeks. She was so tiny, but had the hugest cheeks.
Where has our baby gone?Well, Audrey's birthday celebration was a nice break from the winter blues. For those not living in the midwest, we were thrilled that it was 22 degrees today versus -14 degrees on Friday. OMG......it was freezing for a few days!!!!

There is so much to report but I'm not sure that I'm in the blogging mood. The biggest thing going on around here is Ted's pending layoff. His last day of work is Jan. 30th, with no clue of a possible call back date. The factory that both he and my brother and Ted's brother work at is suffering the same decline in sales that most manufacturing companies are facing right now. If we were in the middle of an adoption or hadn't sold our house or had just bought a new van (like I would really, really like to do) I would be alot more worried. Our biggest concern is insurance coverage. Ted is thinking that a cobra plan will cost around $900/month. He called around getting quotes on private insurance but the few that he talked to told him that nobody would cover me (being an insulin dependent diabetic). We are trying to get every medical 'thing' done before the 30th. Paul is having tubes put in his ears and his adenoids removed, I'm going to the doctor tomorrow for that lovely yearly visit (that I'm 4 years over due) to the ob-gyn, Andrew will visit his doctor 2 weeks earlier than originally scheduled and everyone is getting their teeth cleaned whenever I can work them into the schedule. Ted joked with his brother that all of the kids were getting tubes in their ears and braces on their teeth before the 30th. Ted has made a few contacts with two places that are or maybe hiring soon BUT there just isn't much out there right now. I'm thankful for my job and Ted's mechanical skills (he works on cars on the side), so our bills will get paid....but there won't be much beyond that if he doesn't find another job. Great, now I'm depressed and don't feel like typing anymore. Don't worry I'll snap out of it soon and be back to my normal-cheerful self (yes, I can lie about my normal cheerful self to all of you, just don't tell my husband and kids because they know the truth :o)

Baby Rita

Shortly after school started Rita's class was asked to bring in a baby picture of themselves. The youngest photo we had of Rita she was probably 5 yrs old. The teacher made copies of all of the baby photos and then the kids had to guess who the babies where. Rita was sad when she came home because "Mom everybody know Rita...Rita big girl" (her English is so much better now). So I emailed the adoption agency to see if the Armenian facilitator could try to come up with some baby pictures. I didn't hear anything until one day a few snapshots showed up in our mail box. I knew that my scanner wasn't good enough to be able to zoom in and still keep the clarity, so I took the snapshots to a photo restoration guy. I just got the pictures back today. Rita was absolutely thrilled!!!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I am most excited for Rita. She can't believe all of the presents under the tree. Today she even got a gift from our baby sitter and then from her best friend at school (Anna is still her orphanage best friend/sister). Megan gave Rita the cutest shirt that says "I'm the Best Friend". Rita may drive us bonkers from time to time but we love her dearly. I wish I could be in her little head when she comes down those stairs on Christmas morning. I always remember the excitement that I felt on Christmas morning......just imagine being 7 years old and celebrating your very first Christmas with your new family. Rita's favorite tree on display at our library the "Bling Bling" tree.


Rita was so proud of her gingerbread house.

Rita and Natalie making paperchains to decorate the tree in the 1910 school house at Sauder Village.

Merry Christmas Everyone.... May God Bless You and Your Family!!

The Last Man Standing

Paul is the only one in the family who wasn't touched by the stomach flu (well, not yet). We celebrated his 2 year "Gotcha Day" with frosted brownies...yum, yum. Yes...I'm a little late with Halloween pictures but I still had to share my cute kids.

Audrey was an absolute wreck, with the flu and a broken collar bone she could still give mom a smile though.

Rita loved decorating the tree. Remember it's her first Christmas with our family. Things were going great until the tree fell over while she was putting an ornament on. I save you from all of the horrible details.

Natalie had a great 8th birthday. Wasn't she just my little baby?

Good grief...it has been almost 2 months since my last post. What can I say, I am quickly becoming the world's worst blogger. It's not that life hasn't been interesting around here I just haven't taken the time to sit down and post. Enough things happened this last week itself has been enough to write a book. Monday morning Andrew woke up saying that it felt like somebody had kicked him in the stomach. About 15 minutes later he was barfing all over the place (he has yet to master graceful barfing :o( The babysitter had called this same morning saying that her kids had been puking all weekend, so I still went to work to see my first patient and then quickly headed back home after they got somebody to replace me. The rest of the day was fairly peaceful. Ted had to go into work early, even though he's pretty sure he'll be laid-off in the near future. Not 15 minutes after he left I hear Audrey screaming. Here, Rita was trying to give her a piggy-back ride. Audrey must have slipped off of Rita's little arm side and they both went crashing to the floor. Audrey couldn't move her left arm at all (yes...she's left handed). So, we left Andrew passed out on the couch and headed to Coldwater's hospital. I dropped of Natalie, Rita and Paul at our friend's house. By the time we got to the hospital Audrey was all smiles and moving her left arm up and down and all around (I had given her Tylenol before we left the house). I could tell the doctor thought I was crazy!! Four x-rays later though he confirmed a broken clavicle...collar bone. So we headed back home not realizing the real storm was still coming. Within the next 12 hours EVERYONE except Paul had come down with the stomach flu. So 6 out of the 7 of us we're down...I have never seen so much barf in all of my life!!! Poor Audrey couldn't take any pain medicine because of the stomach bug so we had to have her Tylenol3 made into suppositories.....need I say more. Try to put a suppository into to squirming 4 yr. old while trying not to barf because your sick too!!! NOT FUN!! The best thing about this bug is that it didn't last for long. Everyone was back to work and school by Wed. Then I get home from work last night and I ask Ted "Don't you think it's chilly in here?" He looks at the thermostat and it says 63. YES...the furnace was dead. Oh common!!! So, I called my mom and got her extra space heaters. Paul and Audrey slept with me and the other kids slept together upstairs so we didn't freeze to death last night. Thankfully, Ted has a brother who is an electrician and he helped Ted diagnose the problem so Ted should be able to fix it today. I'm almost afraid to see what today brings...oh, I forgot I had a flat tire during all of this too.

Okay enough depressing news..on to some good news. Last week we celebrated our 2 year anniversary with Paul. My brother and his family also celebrated their 1 year anniversary with their daughter, Rachel, from China too. Natalie turned 8 also. She had friends over after school last Friday and then had the grandparents over on Saturday. All in all she had a great birthday. This week she is the 'star student' so today Ted, Paul, Audrey and myself will go eat lunch with her. Rita is so excited that we'll be at school....she promises to wave at us!! Rita is still amazing us with all of her abilities. She has mastered tying her shoes and zipping her coat..she'll show anyone who will watch. She got glasses this week and is most definitely the cutest kid in glasses I have ever seen. She had went to the opthamologist two weeks ago. He felt that her muscles were still too tight, not bad enough to do surgery again. These glasses are just supposed to 'relax' her muscles. She is learning to read and is just as proud of herself as we are.

During all of this I have started back at my favorite hobby....reading!! (maybe that's why I haven't had time to blog). The last 3 books that I have read have all been fantastic.. "The Things I Want My Daughters to Know" by Elizabeth Noble... "Can't Wait to Get to Heaven" by Fannie Flagg (anything by Fannie Flagg is sweet and funny)..."The Last Promise" by Richard Paul Evans (I love anything that takes place in Italy) I'm always looking for a good book....so any suggestions are welcome.

You know, I'm sure many other great things have happened around here since October but I need to run. Even after a crazy week like this, I still thank God everyday for my beautiful family. I am so blessed and I don't want to ever forget.

Gorgeous Quilt fund raiser

http://moyeradoptionraffles.blogspot.com/ My friend Cynthia is still trying to raise money the adoption of their 5 year old son from China. Her son has a limb difference too.....so their family has a special place in my heart. You've got to check this quilt out!!

Renee's Visit and the 2nd Grade Field Trip

We celebrated Aunt Renee's 29th birthday while she was out."Can you believe I used to change this kid's diaper??"
Aunt Renee took the little kids to the park......she's the best!!!!!

Inspecting fuzzy seeds during our nature walk with our guide Nicole.
Natalie's class.....what beautiful fall day!!

I'm so glad that Natalie begged me to be a chaperon for her field trip. We went to a nature center around Dayton. We had the most perfect weather that day. I had 10 kids in my group, we all agreed that we got the BEST guide. Nicole took us through the woods and got the kids really excited about our nature walk. After chaperoning Andrew's first grade trip to the zoo I vowed that I would NEVER again chaperon.....but I have changed my mind. I really need to remember to appreciate this time in my kids' lives where they think I am the greatest person ever.

Good news......our St. Anthony house is under contract. YEAH!!!! I really do miss our old house but am not going to miss making double mortgage payments. We are happy with the price that we are getting for the house especially with the way the housing market is. We're just a few thousand dollars below what we hoped to get but $25,000 over our rock-bottom price. We should close within the month. Thankfully the couple is pre-approved with a local bank so we're hoping that this process should go smoothly. Now we just need to finish moving all of our junk.

Andrew's last football game was today. We lost so we're out of the tournament. Andrew had been all pumped up to go the "pee wee super bowl" where the last two teams get to play under the lights on a Saturday night. That would have been really cool, but I'm sure Andrew has a long football career ahead of him so we'll seem him under the lights someday. Andrew had a great season. He really got into "crushing" his opponents.

Aunt Renee came for a visit last week from Arizona. It's always fun having her around and sad when she leaves. Why does Arizona have to be so far away???

Celebrating 100 Years!!!

Don't the girls and I look fabulous with our vintage hats?? We belong to Ft. Recovery's Church of the Nazarene. The Nazarene church, as a whole, celebrated it's 100th anniversary this weekend all over the entire world. Our local church was also celebrating it's 80th anniversary. We were encouraged to wear vintage clothing. Life has been too crazy to even begin to try to find vintage clothes for 7 people, so instead I bought a lot of hats from eBay for $20. Oh by the way, I am NOT 5 months pregnant. The way Audrey's leg is stuck to me and Rita's little arm is resting up against me I do look like I have a bun in the oven!! NO buns here!!!

I added my absolute favorite Steven Curtis Chapman song to my playlist. I hope you all enjoy it. Of course I like the beat but the words are what I love the most. "So sink or swim I'm diving in!!" This is how I want to live my life until the very end. I want to always do what God calls me to do with an enthusiastic attitude. Sure some days between work and five kids and the constant reminder that there are children all over the world that need loving families I really feel like I'm "sinking." But, thankfully, most days "I'm lost in the flow" knowing that God has blessed me with these 5 amazing kids, a terrific husband, a modest home (that would be considered a mansion by most of the worlds standards) and even, a great job. When I think of the kids who don't have homes I like to read through other blogs and read stories of families similar to ours, where innocent children have made their way 'home'. "But we will never know the awesome power of the grace of God until we let ourselves get swept away into this holy flood........."