UPDATE

It has been awhile since I posted anything. The kiddos are keeping me busy. Greg is working a second job in the evenings at Wal-mart. That leaves me at home getting the kids fed, ready for bed and working on Ethan's speech.

Ethan's speech is slowly getting better. You are able to understand more of what he is saying. It is hard though not to get discouraged since the progress is slow. My sister Barbara had a friend advise me to video tape him every two months to see the progress that he is making. I have started that. Here are pictures of them both doing their homework. Ethan is getting pretty good at tracing his name.

I have a cousin who had a heart transplant the day before Thanksgiving. She is 19 years old. Her name is Amy Overton. Please keep her in your prayers as she is recovering. This was a wonderful Thanksgiving gift for her and the family. Also, pray for the family of the 18 year old male that she received the heart from.

Tubes in Ears

Ethan had his tubes put in his ears on October 2. He got sick from the anthestia afterwards. He was pitiful. He goes back on October 29 for his follow-up. It still seems like he doesn't always hear us all the time. We will see what they say on the 29th.

The New Hannah Montana

There is a video of Hannah and Ethan dancing and singing to "Fly On The Wall" by Miley Cirus on my sidebar. Take a look.

Parent Meeting

Greg and I went to our first parent meeting at Head Start last night. They were nominating people for the parent committee. Greg asked me if I was going to volunteer. I said no. It is too much with working full time and volunteering for three different ministries at church. I will help with things as I can.

After the meeting one of the coordinators came up to tell us that Ethan really enjoys his bus ride to speech therapy. I imaged that he did. He always gets excited when he sees a school bus. I think Hannah is a little jealous that she doesn't get to ride the bus.

When I picked them up the other day Hannah told me about her new friend Zy Quis. She said that he plays with her and dances with her. Poor thing said that the girls will not play with her. She wants to fit in. I know that it will just be a matter of time before she has several friends.

Ethan has an appointment with an ENT next Thursday so check for fluid on his ears. When he went for his hearing test they said it looks like he might have some on them. I know that he will not enjoy it. He does not like for anyone to mess with his ears.

See new video on my sidebar.

Labor Day Weekend Pictures

Labor Day and a New Start

We went to Gatlinburg, TN for our Labor Day weekend. I have a few pictures that I will post later. This was Ethan's first time going. He seemed to have fun. I don't think he liked all of the walking though. He had no potty accidents while we were there or traveling. Potty training is going really well.

Today was Ethan and Hannah's first day at Head Start. We got Ethan in the program so it would be easier to get him to his speech therapy sessions 3 times a week. He actually had his first session today. The pathologist called to let me know that he did really well for his first day. I was very happy to hear that. While I was at the meeting about his speech the teachers advised that we try to get Hannah into the Head Start program also. Thank God they had one opening left in Ethan's class. She was very excited about starting pre-school. She loves learning.

Ethan's English is picking up. He is usually imitating everything that we say. I understand a lot of what he says but most that are not around him all the time doesn't. I am very proud of his progress.

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Weekend Trip

We took a little overnight trip this past weekend to Kentucky. We originally started out just going to Mammoth Cave. Greg and I have been there several times. I forgot how rough it could be in the cave with the cave floor and all the stairs. We took the historic tour. It is a two hike and 2 mile walk. There are over 400 stairs in the cave that you have to go up and down. I of course had to carry Ethan on the stairs. My butt and thighs were killing me after we got out of there. Ethan and Hannah did pretty good while we were in there. There was one spot where they turn off all of the lights and it is pitch black. You cannot see your hand in front of your face. Hannah and Ethan did not cry at all in the dark. There were other children that were older than them that were crying. Those are my brave little buggers. Ethan loved it when I would pick him up to carry him on the steps. He would just giggle. It was funny, well maybe not at the time that I was out of breath and hurting all over from lugging around a 30 something pound little boy.

We had planned on staying over night and then leaving the next morning, but we decided to go to KY Down Under in Horse Cave, KY. It is a type of zoo that is geared toward all animals and culture from Australia. It is a really neat place. We got to feed birds, pet kangaroos, and watch a border collie herd sheep. Oh, we also saw a cave there. I liked this cave the best. It was lite more then Mammoth Cave so you could see the formations better. You could also see where you were stepping better. I hope you enjoy the pictures that I have posted. If you ever get a chance to go visit Mammoth Cave or KY Down Under you should. It is fun.

Update on Ethan's speech therapy. Since Ethan did not cooperate at his initial evaluation they will be doing it again. This coming Monday they will be observing him at his daycare to see how he interacts. then the following Monday they will evaluate him again. They are waiting to see if he should just start therapy or be placed in a special ed pre-K class.

Christian the Lion

My sister had this on her blog. it is so sweet.

Speech Therapy

Well, Ethan had his speech evaluation last Friday. He would not cooperate with the therapist. She would ask him to point as body parts. He acted like he didn't know what she was saying. I told her that I knew that he understood her because he walks around house pointing at them all the time saying the names. I have started working with him at home with his English. He is even getting to where he will not do what I am asking him to do. He should start his actual therapy sessions in August.

Potty training is going really well. He doesn't really have that many accidents. He will tell us he has to go by holding himself and doing the dance. I am really proud of him.

People kept telling me that boys were so much different than girls. I never really understood that until we got Ethan. He is so much different than Hannah. Hannah is pretty calm. She will sit and watch the food network with me. Ethan is always moving. He needs to give me some of his energy.

Aw Grasshopper!!

Wow it has been a month since my last post. I have just not felt like getting on the computer after getting home. I had all most 300 emails to go through. Of course most of them were junk.

The fam is doing well. Ethan's mouth looks great. We hit a milestone about a week ago. He can now drink out of a straw. We were celebrating when he finally got the hang of it. He does make a sucking sound though that really gets on my nerves if it is too quite. He is trying to repeat everything that we say to him. He has his speech evaluation on July 25. I will be so happy to start therapy. I got to change my hours at work so that I can get home earlier. I know that I will have to work with him at home.

Here are pictures Hannah's 4th birthday. It was Hannah Montana of course. We bought her a guitar. I think we might get her into lessons in the future. There are pictures of her and Ethan playing in the water. Ethan likes drinking the water. Then there are pictures of our 4th celebration. Ethan was in awe of the fireworks. He was not scared of them at all. Finally there are pics of Ethan's new hair cut. Greg started cutting it with the razors and messed it up. The razor needed to be oiled. After he oiled them he shaved it all off. It makes me think about the old t.v. show "Kung Fu". I always remember the monk calling the little boy Grasshopper. So, Ethan's new nickname is Grasshopper.

Healing Going Well

Ethan is healing well. His rash is going away. I had to put a steroid cream on it. He is still eating like crazy. He gets to take his arm wraps off Tuesday. I know he will be happy as will I. I will not have to feed him anymore.

With his wraps coming off he will be able to go back to daycare. I'm not looking forward to that first morning.

Thank you all for your prayers.

Strawberry Festival & Ethan's Surgery

Hello everyone. Sorry it has been a while since I last updated. I have added a slide show of pictures from a Strawberry Festival that we went to on may 17 and Ethan's hospital stay.

We went to the festival the Saturday before his surgery. It was good to get out of the house before the 5 day stay at the hospital. We were hoping to buy some berries while we were there but they had sold out. We are blessed to have a berry farm about 15 minutes from our house. So, after we left the festival we went picking at the farm. Hannah and Ethan really enjoyed picking the berries. Ethan was my helper. He held the bucket for me while I picked. Greg said that he looked down and Hannah had started picking before he got to her. We picked two buckets full. I made some strawberry gelato with most of the berries and then froze the rest. We are just waiting for when we can go pick blackberries and blueberries.

Ethan's surgery went great. He had his cleft palate repaired and circumcision and hypospadias repair. It was on the 21st. He was in the PCCU the night after his surgery. They did this to monitor his breathing. It was so sad to see him hooked up to everything. He was so out of it when he would come to. They had him on morphine but it did not help him much. Every time that he urinated he woke up crying. The next day we were moved to a regular room about 6 pm. It was so good to be in a regular room. I had my own shower. Everyone at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital was great. They took such good care of him and me.

Greg and Hannah came everyday to visit us. Ethan and Hannah liked to sit in the floor by the door and watch everyone that walked by. Hannah had all the boys flirting with her and Ethan had all the girls flirting with him. Sunday we were told that he would probably be able to go home on Monday. Every other day they would come to make rounds about 6:30 or 7:00 am. Of course Monday was a holiday so they did not come until about 10:15 am. We left around 10:45 or 11:00. After we left we went to Logan's Steakhouse to eat then home for a nap.

Ethan is recovering very well. He is having some diaper rash that looks nasty but other than that he is doing well. He has to wear his no no's for 3 weeks after his surgery. He is doing well with those on. He is very attached to me now. I don't mind it though. He is still his sweet little self. Now we are just waiting to hear back about an appointment for speech therapy evaluation. He is trying to repeat words that we say to him more now. We still have a ways to go but we will get there. Thank you all for your prayers.

My Two Sleepy Heads

The other night I went in to check on the children after putting them to bed. This picture is what I found. It was so cute I had to take the chance of waking them up and take the picture.

Hannah seems to like the new daycare. Ethan has a meltdown every morning when I drop them off. I called and spoke with his teacher today. She said that he does not cry too long. She said that once they go to his classroom in the morning he plays with the other children and does the curriculum that they have for the day. I have really been concerned about him since him and Hannah are not in the same class. She said that he does not have a problem with not being with her all day.

Ethan's surgery is next Wednesday. He will have tubes placed in his ears, palate corrected, and circumcised. I don't know what he will be like after he wakes up. I hate to say it but I hope he is medicated while in the hospital.

Oh, check out my little sisters blog. She is on my sidebar Barbs. She is still working on the look and learning on how to work things. She has been keeping up with most of your blogs that I have on my sidebar and has enjoyed it.

Oh my word. I'm watching CSI right now. I cannot believe how they got rid of Warrick. I knew that he was going to be off the show after this season but man, getting shot by the under sheriff. Wow. Oh, sorry about that. Now Lost is coming on.

Update and Gotcha Day Pictures

Here are the pictures that I took on Gotcha Day and some misc ones. I had to get one in there of Ethan on the potty. That seems to be so much of our days here trying to get him trained. He has really started trying to say English words. He can now say Hannah, mommy, Zoe (our dog), cow, dog, eye, ear, bye, mouth. His surgery is still on for May 21. The allergy meds seems to be helping him not be so congested.

The kiddos started their new daycare last week. Hannah seems to like it. They play outside a lot so they are usually tired by the end of the day.

My new job is going well. We have been out of training for two days now working on our own. It is going well so far. I am really enjoying the shorter drive every day. I will be glad when I can change my schedule to go in earlier and get off earlier.

My toe is feeling better. It still hurts if I put weight on it certain ways. I guess I shouldn't do it that way. :) The swelling has gone down and the color is going away. I just need to keep Ethan from stepping on it all the time.

Broken Toe?

We took the kids to a birthday party last night at "Pump It Up." I was trying to take Ethan on one of the blow ups. I went up and slid down and jammed my toe. I think I might have broken it. It is swollen really bad and bruised. I keep debating on whether or not to go to the er.

Late on Gotcha DAy

Monday was an exciting day for me in a couple of ways. I started my new job. I think that I will like it. I am having to learn a lot about Medicare. Mr. Brian, I think about you sometimes during our training when we start talking about Nursing Homes.

The second thing was celebrating our beautiful little girls Gotcha Day. I had told Greg that I wanted to take the kids to The Rainforest Cafe. He asked Hannah what where she wanted to go. Can you guess what her choice was? McDonald's. I told her absolutely not. I did not want to celebrate at a restaurant that we go to often. I think she was happy with our pick. Ethan got a little scared of all of the animals. I will post pictures later on.

I'm Here

Hello everyone. Sorry that I have been AWOL. I just have not wanted to get on the computer after coming home from work. I do have things to catch you all up with.

1. I have a new job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is still with the same company. It is just in a different building. It is actually going to cut my trip to work in half. This is something that I really need to help Ethan after his surgery with his speech. We found a new pre-school for Hannah and Ethan. It will be great for them to be in the school setting. I think it will help Ethan with his speech.

2. Ethan still has been battling ear infections. Greg took him to the doctor today for his second follow-up after his original appointment on March 5. He is starting his third antibiotic today. The doctor told Greg that he is going to have to have tubes put in his ears. she is suppose to call the surgeons that will be doing his palate surgery to see if they can do the tubes at the same time. Poor thing will have his ears worked on, palate, and penis.

Ethan is trying to say more words now. He tries to say Hannah but it sounds something like Lannah. He is very hard headed. He has started the whole throw the head down into the hands and start crying Crocodile tears. I cannot help but laugh at him sometimes. We are working on potty training. He is not at the point of telling us when he has to go but will usually stay dry most of the day. Daycare said that the first thing he does now when he wakes from nap is go to the bathroom without being told to go. That is one step forward. I will just be thankful when he is pooping in the potty.

So, this is my update. I will try to not stay gone too long again.

Look Who Greg Meet Today

Greg was out at work today on the base. He got to meet the President. He said that he was having a hard time getting his camera phone to work. The President turned around and as Greg said asked in his Texas accent, "Did you get it?"

Just Some Updates

Ethan and Hannah both are feeling better. He is not 100% yet but getting there. He is more of a mommy's boy now after being sick for almost a week. He is also bringing back memories of when Hannah just turned three. He is very whinny. Sometimes I wish I could read their minds to understand why they do that. I do believe I will get him a surgical mask to wear two weeks before the surgery in May. We have started working with him on potty training. He has been doing well with urinating but not too well with poop. He actual woke up one morning with a dry diaper. One thing that really gets to me is when he poops in his pull up and just runs up to me with a clean one and smiling really big. I then tell him that if he knows to get me a clean one then he knows that he should go on the potty. I am hoping that he will be fully trained before the surgery in May.

I do want to ask you all to pray for me personally. I am having some major issues at work that I will not go into detail about. I know though that Satan is attacking me. I have started looking for a job that is closer to home. Please keep that in your prayers as well as strength to make it on a daily basis at my present job.

SNOW DAY

Ethan was not too happy with the snow. We did not stay out to long since he was sick. Hannah and our dog Zoe enjoyed it though. The next day we were out flying kites. Crazy weather.

Ethan's Surgery

Ethan's surgery had to be rescheduled. He woke this morning with a fever and "barking" like a seal. When I called the surgeon's office they agreed that it should be rescheduled. It is now scheduled for May 21. Please keep him in your prayers that he will remain well.

We took him to the doctor's office this afternoon. He has an ear infection and she said the croup. The poor little thing looks so pitiful.

Something funny that happened today, well I guess it is funny. We were out this morning and had time to kill before his appointment. We went to Target to get some things. When we got there I took him into the restroom to change a dirty diaper. It was so bad that it came out of his diaper onto his pants. It was so bad that Greg and I both had to work on changing it. I just threw his pants away. Greg and I got a laugh out of it.

One Day to Go

Tomorrow is Ethan's surgery. Please be praying with us today. He threw up on the way to daycare. He is running a 100 degree temp. Please pray that this will pass before tomorrow. If they are not able to do the surgery tomorrow it will probably have to wait until May or June due to surgeon's schedule.

Also keep Hannah in your prayers. The sickness started with her. She started feeling bad on Saturday. She threw up once then. She seemed fine on Sunday except for a low grade fever. She was fine Monday morning but threw up at daycare and her temp went up again. This morning she still had a fever. She was complaining of her head hurting. I hate seeing her sick.

Please pray for God's healing for both of them today. I hate Satan trying to hinder Ethan's surgery.

One Week From Today

A week from today Ethan will be having his surgery. I am nervous about how he is going to be after the surgery. I have a feeling that it is not going to be a happy stay at the hospital. He has been very whiny lately. I know that it is part of him being three now. Hannah was the same way. I have a feeling that it will just be intensified after the surgery.

He has three different shots that he has to get that he did not get in China. I know that chicken pox and hep A are two of them. He has an appointment to get those tomorrow. I told Greg to ask if they can just do the hep A tomorrow and wait on the others until after his surgery. I do not want to take a chance at him having a negative reaction to the chicken pox vaccine. If he does and has not recovered by Wednesday they would probably reschedule the surgery. That would probably mean he would not have it done until June. He cannot wait that long. He should have already had this surgery done.

That makes me wonder. Why does China not go ahead and do the palate repairs while the children are over there. I mean come on the are a communist country that provides healthcare for their citizens don't they. Our plastic surgeon said that the surgery is usually done by the time they turn one year old here in the states. They don't want their speech to be affected. This makes me wish that I was able to have gone to med school and become a surgeon. then I would have been able to go over and do the surgeries for free. I have talked with Greg about donating to Operation Smiles so we can help some other children.

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

UPDATE ON LITTLE ISAAC

thank you to all of you who prayed for him.

16 February 23, 2008 at 08:37 PM CST
Raise your hand if you're in remission! Dale and I heard back from the doctors late yesterday afternoon. The results from Isaac's bone marrow draw showed no Leukemia Cells. The doctor was hesitant to call it a complete remission because there were some abnormal cells present, but there were no leukemic cells...so he has to call it a remission. PRAISE THE LORD!!!!! Isaac will still go back into Vanderbilt Children's Hospital Monday morning for surgery and to begin his second round of chemo. Proceeding with his chemotherapy is essential in keeping Isaac in remission and getting his body ready for a transplant. Dale and I have many questions to ask the doctors on Monday, but for now we are rejoicing with our friends and family in this miracle! When the doctors diagnosed Isaac with AML M7, they told us he would never leave the hospital and remission wasn't likely. They also told us the chemo could potentially kill him. Well...so far they have been wrong about everything! We believe in the power of prayer! We believe that through Christ ALL things are possible! We are trusting God to take care of Isaac! Thank you so much for your prayers and support! Our family has been lavished with your love!!!!!! Take a look at Isaac's picture to the right of this update...Dale asked Isaac, "raise your hand if you're in remission" and he did! He's such a smart kid!

Update on Isaac

This is from Isaac's caring page.

February 19, 2008 at 03:25 PM CST
I talked to Mysty yesterday and Isaac is home! I know everyone is SO happy to have him there! He goes back tomorrow for another bone marrow test to see if the chemo worked. They'll have the results on Friday. On Monday he'll be re-admitted to the hospital. The doctors think the first round of chemo probably didn't put him into remission. So when he goes back on Monday they'll start another round. But we know that GOD has the final word on this one! So everyone is waiting until Friday to see if the first round worked. Mysty shaved Isaac's head yesterday. This was extremely hard for her. I haven't seen him yet but I'm sure he's SO cute bald!! We'll have to keep the girls away!! I'm watching God use this family in SO many ways; more than they will ever know. Please continue to pray for Isaac's healing and strength and peace for the whole family. Don't forget to use the prayer pager 615-816-0112, 7777#.

Recent storm and Ethan's 3rd Birthday Party

We recently had a bad storm come through our small town on Tuesday night. There were several homes that were completely destroyed and several lives lost. God had His angels surronding us. The tonado touched down about two miles from our home. We did not know this until the next morning. Hannah and Ethan feel asleep on the couch. When we got the warning we put them in the bathroom floor in case we had to take cover. I have a picture of this. Also, about 5 miles from our house a natural gas plant exploded. That is what two of the pictures are of. the night sky was glowing from the fire. I thought our neighbors back field was on fire.

We celebrated Chinese New Year and Ethan's 3rd birthday today. My sister, Barbara, and I made Chinese food. We had pork dumplings and sliced mushrooms and chicken. It turned out pretty well. Greg found this lady in a town near us that makes custom cakes. She made this Chinese dragon cake for us. We had seen one of her cakes that she made for a little boy's birthday on her website. It was a regular dragon on top of a sheet cake. We thought that our was going to be like that. We were very pleased after we picked it up. It was really great in looks and taste. We will be using her again.

Update on Isaac and video

Isaac is doing better. The doctors say that the chemo seems to be working. They will not know until closer to the end of the month. here is a video of him at the hospital. I wanted you all to be able to put a face with the prayers that you are sending up.
Isaac

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Our Meeting at Supper Tonight

We went to O'Charley's for supper tonight. There was an elderly couple that was sitting beside us. They watched us all during our supper. Greg was in his uniform since we had just come from work. When the couple got up they came over to the table to thank Greg for his service. The gentleman was a WWII vet, 86 years old. He had served with Gen. Patton. He was a gunner in a tank. He was also wounded in France. While we were talking with them he mentioned that he was at the inaugral of the USS Ronald Reagan. They then told us that he was a cousin of President Reagan's. Their mothers were sisters. I thought that was so neat. As a kid I admired President Reagan. To meet his cousin was special.

His wife was telling me that they have I believe grandchildren that are trying to adopt from the Ukranine. They have been in the process for two years. They told us that they admire us for adopting Hannah and Ethan. They gave us a business card with their names and email address and told us to stay in touch. they were a very sweet couple.

New look and Update on Isaac

thank you Becky for my new look. I really like it.

This is from a caring page site that was set up for the family. Thank you all for lifting the family up in your prayers. The fact that he is playing is great.

Now an Isaac update... His color is looking really good and he's been playing. Which is an answered prayer in and of it's self. He hasn't been eating much so they have inserted a G-Tube. BUT last night he ate 4 pieces of bread and an M&M. PRAISE GOD! The next 5 chemo treatments he has will not be as severe as the first round. After these are completed there's a 10 day waiting period. Then test begin to see if the leukemia has gone into remission. If it has then the bone marrow search begins. Please continue to lift Dale, Mysty, Noah, Maria and Isaac up in prayer. It's amazing to see the miracles God has already done. How exciting to anticipate what he has in store next.

PRAYER FOR A FOREVER FAMILY

I had the privilege to meet a lady named Mysty shorty after bringing Hannah home. We have a mutual friend that introduced us. Mysty and her husband were in the process of adopting a sibling group from Guatemala when I met her. They also had a biological son. During this wait they adopted a new born baby domestically. they named him Isaac. I believe he is close to two years old now. The sibling group adoption did not happen. A few months ago they did bring home a little girl from Guatemala, Maria. Mysty is a very sweet lady.

I am writing this to ask you all to please pray for their son Isaac. Earlier this week he was diagnose with a rare form of leukemia. The doctors gave him two weeks to live without treatment and with treatment two years at the most. They had to make the decision whether or not to put him through the painful treatment of chemo. They did start the treatment Friday afternoon. He will have 10 straight days of the treatment. They will not know for 29 days whether or not he is in remission. Please pray that this cancer will be defeated. Our God is bigger than this cancer. I know that He does not want Isaac or this family to have to go through this. The God I know and love does not want His people to suffer. I pray that this will be defeated and that God will be glorified. I respect the doctors but only God knows how much time we all have here on this Earth.

New Car

We went car shopping this weekend. Here is a picture of the car we got. Shopping with a soon to be three year old and a 3 1/2 year old is not fun. They did fine at first but soon got rowdy. It was hard to listen to the finance lady and wrangle them in. We got at the dealership at 4:00 and left after 7:00. It is a nice car. We got a new car to try and get our payments down some and for better gas mileage. It came with standard 1 year of On Star safety feature and 6 months of XM radio. God has blessed us with this car.

Ours is a deep blue color. Oh, it is a Saturn Aura.

To All the Heros

This is for all of those heros out there: all of my sisters that have adopted from China or any other country, Mr Brian who works with the elderly, and any others that I might not be aware of. You will need to pause my music on the side bar.

Prayer Request

Thank you all for your prayer request. As of this morning at work there were only enough accounts for everyone to have their normal work load for the week. There was not enough for overtime. We should have it all cleaned up by Wednesday.

I will ask you to continue to keep me in your prayers. Something happened at work on Friday. When I told Greg about it he told me to start looking for a new job. I will need to wait until after Ethan has his surgery on March 5 before I do this. I hope I can find something closer to home.

PRAYER REQUEST

I really do not want my blog to be about all my problems. Here lately I fell like that is all I seem to write about. I do have a prayer request. I work for a hospital company. This time last year we received more hospitals as our work loads. We have been responsible for cleaning up the accounts that were outstanding when we received these hospitals. We have had a hard time getting them cleaned up for several different reasons that I will not go into all of them. Back in December our audit department came into the office. We were told yesterday that we scored very badly because of our backlog of accounts. We have until March 1 to get it cleaned up. If it is not cleaned up by then the management team will probably lose their jobs. Here is the request. I am a team lead which is considered part of the management team. My job could be on the line. I don't know if I would be fired or just demoted. I do not think this is the right thing for them to do but I cannot do anything about it. Please pray that we will be able to get this task accomplished and two for me to know if God is trying to lead me into a different direction. I know that there are prayer warriors out there. thank you all for praying with me on this.

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

We went to see the movie today. This was Ethan's first time to go to the movies. He did a really good job. The movie was really cute. I liked it.

Award

I have been given an award from Ashley. Thank you, Ashley. This is the first award that I have received. I started blogging just to stay in touch with our China family. I have met many new people through blogland.

1. Awarded parties must nominate five people who have not received the award.
2. The blogs that receive the award must serve some purpose.
3. In their post about the award they need to link back to the original entry.
4. Awarded parties must post the award banner on their site. The banner must remain linked to Eric Novak's site.

Am not sure I have five people that have not received the reward, but here goes.

1. Nikki I enjoy reading of her daily adventures in raising this beautiful Asian ballerina. I am usually laughing when I read her blog.

2. Verna (Blog Fairy) I like to think of her as the unofficial fundraising Queen. She usually has a new post where either she herself is helping someone raise money for their adoption or letting us know of others who are doing their own fundraising. You're great Verna.

3. Chrissie who keeps us updated on the work that is being done the Good Samaritan Children's Home in Malawi. It is great to be able to read about this work and know how to pray for them.

4. Mr Brian who lightens up our days with stories of his work at the nursing home.

Doctor Update

Early Friday morning Greg headed out to his mother's to drop Hannah off. Poor thing was up almost all night. He eyes were all red. She would wake about every hour complaining of them hurting. You can kind of see them in the picture. They look much better though. Ethan and I headed to downtown to the children's hospital.

We met with the urologist. He was very nice. His surgery schedule came in to the tell me that he did not have any openings until May. I knew that the plastic surgeon really wanted to get his palate fixed sooner than that.

After leaving there we headed over to the in-laws to get Hannah. While I was on my way Greg called to tell me that she had been crying most of the morning because of her eyes hurting. Thankfully we already had an appointment with the Peds for Ethan so I called so see if they would check her out also. I knew they would if they saw her when I took her in with us. I have worked at doctors offices though and wanted to be nice and call first.

So, we get to the Peds. I'm thinking Hannah must have pink eye and we will leave with meds for her. I was wrong. She has a virus and it has to run its course. Her eyes are like this because of her fever.

Ethan was going for another vaccination visit and for his blood work to be done. I remembered how hard it was for them to find a vein on Hannah because she had not drank much before the appointment. I made sure that Ethan drank lots of water before we went. It worked. They got the vein on the first try. He was such a trooper. He did not cry one bit while they were drawing four vials of blood. Now his flu shot and TB test were a different story.

Since Hannah was sick they made sure to check Ethan's ears and throat also. I also told them that he had some green nasal discharge. We left the office with a Rx for a sinus infection. You would not have thought it was him who was sick.

While we were at the Peds the urologist office called. They called the plastic surgeon and were able to make an appointment for the surgery on March 5 at 12:00 noon. So, Ethan will be getting cut at both ends that day. Please keep him in your prayers that he will stay well so that they will be able to perform the surgery this day. The sooner this is done the sooner we can work on his speech.

Saturday morning, Hannah seems to be feeling a little better. She is much more chipper. Oh, how do you like Ethan's new do?

Update on Ethan

Thank you all for praying for our little guy. The breathing treatments helped him. He is feeling much better now. We go tomorrow for the urology consult. I will let you all know also when he gets scheduled for his surgery.

This morning Hannah woke up with 101+ temp. The two of us are home today. I'm concerned about what will happen at work. We are only allowed 6 unscheduled occurrences a year. I think this will make my sixth. I will probably be written up when I get back. But my children come first. Greg and I also have to take turns and he was out of work yesterday sick so it was my turn. You would think that a hospital company would be more understanding.

Anyway, I'm hoping that we will be able to take the rugrats to go see the new Veggie Tales movie this weekend. I think Ethan might like to see it.

Sick Little Boy

Ethan has had some congestion the past few days. Thursday night he started wheezing some. Greg took him to the doctor. This was only a week after we took him for the impetigo. He has bronchitis. We had to do breathing treatments every four hours for the first 24 hours. Now we are down to every six hours. I took a picture of him during one of the treatments. This morning I could tell that he was not feeling well at all. He was just sitting beside me being very still and quite. He has gotten used to having to do the treatments. He will actually sit in the chair by himself now and leave the mask on. I have a feeling this will not be the last of these.

The other picture is of Greg shaving his hair. Ethan did not like this at all as you can tell by the picture. The outcome was cute though. I will try to get a picture of it and post later.