Sick Child

Hannah has been sick for four days now. She started with with a fever on Sunday night. Last night she was having trouble breathing so we took her to the ER. The doctor was Asian. I think he might be Chinese. His name looked like some Chinese names that I have seen before. He was very nice. He seemed very concerned about not knowing about her birth history. She has virus and conjunctivitis. It is so hard to put ointment in a little Chinese girls eyes when she is screaming and squeezing them shut. Today my Dad watched her while we went to work. I long for the day that I don't have to work outside of the home. Tonight she threw up but I think it was because she was screaming and fighting with us when we tried to give her medicine to her.

I love my little monkey. We are so blessed to have her in our lives. She seems to be feeling a little better. I think it is only because of the Ibuprofen. She was sitting beside me on the couch "typing" on her new laptop that her Aunt Sharon gave her for Christmas.

Well, It Finally Happened

Those of you who have adopted a child from China will understand this more than others. Remember, we brought Hannah home in April of 2005. She has been in the nursery at church most of this time. Now for the story. This morning while we were at church Hannah's nursery number was flashed up on the screen. I went out to check on her and the nursery coordinator stopped me and asked me to get Greg because they needed to ask us something. So, I went and got him then they took us back to a room. They started off the conversion saying that they loved us very much. Finally the question that we have been waiting for someone to ask us since we got back with Hannah. They told us that the nursery worker had noticed several "bruises" on Hannah's back that they were concerned about. I told them that they were birth marks called Mongolian spots. They were very happy when we told them this is what they are.

We always knew that the questions would come. We are thankful that our church cares about the children that are at our church. The children's minister told us that she will talk about this in our next children's worker meeting. She wants everyone to be aware of the issue. I will be in the meeting so I will probably be answering more questions. They also told us that they will be putting a note on her sheet about them so that if there are anymore questions they will have that on the sheet.

Favorite Photo Friday

This is one of my favorite photos of our trip to Charleston, SC back in May. Hannah liked the fountain. I was surprised that she actually would stand still for the picture. She usually doesn't like to pose.

Fingerprinting tomorrow

We have our typed home study now. We go tomorrow to downtown to get our fingerprints done. Our sw said that if we get our dossier done by the 3rd week of February we should be ok with getting our dossier to China before the new rules go into effect (of course they are not official rules yet). I pray that our government does not take too long in getting our I-171H back to us. We have all of our stuff ready to be authenticated. keep us in your prayers.

ABC tag

A is for Age.
I am 34.
B is for beer.
I have had it. It is not my favorite.
C is for career.
I work with medical claims.
D is for dog's name.
Her name is Zoe (life) and she is full of life.
E is for Essential item I use every day.
I'm not sure.
F is for favorite TV show.
Sci-fi- Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Battlestar Galatica, Dead Zone, Doctor Who, Eureka
G is for favorite game
Cranium
H is for hometown
Nashville, TN
I is for Instruments I play.
Took piano and play just a little bit. No one sign with me while I play or I'll mess up.
J is for favorite juice.
I just discovered Pomegranate
K is for whose butt I like to kick.
People in the mall that walks right in front of you with out saying excuse me.
L is for last place I ate.
Applebee
M is for marriage.
Yep, I'm for it! September was 8 years.
N is for my name.
Pam or Mommy
O is for overnight hospital stay.
No overnight stays.
P is for People I was with today.
Co-workers, Greg and Hannah
Q is for quote.
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." Jim Elliott
R is for biggest regret.
Not being on the mission field. I majored in missions in college.
S is for sport.
I like to watch, soccer, baseball, hockey tennis. I like to play golf although it has been a long time.
T is for time I woke up today.
7:00 am
U is for current underwear.
Fruit of the Loom.
V is for vegetable you love.
broccoli
W is for worst habit.
being critical
X is for x-rays I've had.
teeth, ankle, knees, back and lungs
Y is for Yummy food you ate today.
orange chicken and steamed rice
Z is for zodiac.
I am a Leo, although I don't follow all that junk.
Be a sport and play along. Leave me a comment if you do so I can check out YOUR ABC's.

Favorite photo Friday

It is favorite photo Friday.

This is from our Gotcha Day, April 7, 2005. This was such a great day for us. I had so many emotions running through me. It is so hard now for me to think of my life before her. Hannah has been such a blessing to us. I love my little girl.

Favorite Things

Ok Stefanie here is my list of favorite things.

1. My Hannah Banana
2. Reading
3. warm weather
4. coffee
5. baking
6. learning about other cultures and meeting people from other countries
7. Sci-fi

Hannah's favorite things

1. Daddy and Mommy (and in that order)
2. ALL of her blankets
3. Dora, Little Einsteins, Lingo, Micky Mouse
4. Horses
5. Trains
6. Tomatoes
7. The extended family
8. singing
9. TALKING (boy do we have a talker.)
   

Baking cookies

Hannah and I baked peanut butter cookies tonight. I read Emmie's post about baking cookies and it made me want some.

This is the first time that I had Hannah help me bake anything. She did a good job until she started picking her nose. Well, that is a 2 year old for you. She enjoyed eating them also.

Mama's little helper

I was wrapping some of our gifts tonight. Hannah of course had to help me. I had her putting the gifts under the tree for me after I finished wrapping. Here is a picture of the gifts that she put under the tree.

Another thing happened tonight that I thought was so cute. We were watching mine and Hannah's favorite game show, Lingo. There was an Asian couple on the show. Hannah looks at the t.v. and tells me, "she from China like me." I was so surprised by this. It is the first time that she seemed to realize the different. She hasn't said anything about Greg or myself looking different from her. She just amazes me sometimes.

Oh Christmas Tree

We just finished putting up our Christmas tree. Hannah was right in the middle of it all. Of course she liked putting all the ornaments in the same spot. She had lots of fun. Here are a few pictures for you.

Our Hero

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. Things have been crazy around here. I have a picture of our little Home Front Hero. Greg's Guard outfit gave medals to the children of their Guard members who had been deployed during the past few years. Since Greg had been in Iraq Hannah was given a medal. Sorry about the quality of the picture. Our camera has been acting strange lately. After they put the medal on her chest she would keep telling us to not take it off. She also got to sit on Santa's lap.

Favorite Soup Recipe ****WARNING MUST BE MUSHROOM LOVER****

One of my friends posted a soup recipe on her blog. She asked us to post one on our blogs. Here is my favorite.

Tomato-Mushroom Soup
1 medium onion halved, thinly sliced, and separated into rings
1 clove of garlic minced
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil or cooking oil
4 cups of sliced fresh mushrooms
1 10 1/2 oz can of condensed chicken broth
1 1/4 cups of water
1/4 cup of cooking sherry
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp snipped parsley

In 2-quart saucepan cook onion and garlic in butter and oil about 5 minutes or till onion is tender. Add mushrooms. Cook, covered about 5 minutes or till mushrooms are tender. Stir in broth, water, sherry, tomato paste, and pepper. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, covered for 20 minutes. Sprinkle each serving with Parmesan cheese and parsley. makes 4 servings.

(from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine)

Dancing Penguins

Hannah and I had a Mother/Daughter day yesterday. Her daycare lady had a grand baby yesterday so I took the day off so she could be at the hospital with her daughter. Hannah and I had fun. We started out by stopping for brunch. From there we went to the mall and bought tickets to see Happy Feet. We had time to kill so we went to look at the fish and then do one of her favorite things at the mall, ride the carousal. Of course she has her favorite animal to ride. Every time Greg takes her to ride she has to get on the dolphin. She loves riding UP DOWN. I think she would ride all day long if we had the money.

We then went to watch the movie. She was being a wiggle worm. It didn't dawn on me that she was actually sleepy. She fell asleep with about 25 minutes left of the movie. She said that she liked the movie though. It was a cute movie. It bothers me though that just about every movie these days has to have some kind of political message in it. This one was about enviromential issues. I am all for being responsible with our earth but sometimes the just seem to go too far. Anyway, I leave that only. It was cute watching the penguins dance.