One Day Until Surgery

We are here!  Today was pre op and tomorrow morning she will have surgery.

I created a new blog to share Ruthie's surgery.
Please come visit at www.ruthiescourage.blogspot.com

13,000 + Feet!

"Ain't No Mountain High Enough!"

Olivia and her friend Jane in Colorado after their mile plus hike.  Amazing!!!!  Look at that incredible face of accomplishment ~ surrounded by such an amazing landscape.  Truly Beautiful!

Happy 4th of July

Icepack for Grant after a tumble down the stairs

9 Days Until Ruthie's Surgery

It is Sunday morning and Ruthie and I are hanging out while Skip is at church with Quinn, Amelia and Grant. Ruthie and I stayed home to avoid any germs. She is has struggled with ear infections since she came home in February and she has to be infection free on the 10th for surgery. The lazy days of summer have arrived !!!! We are down to only four children and tomorrow we will only have three. Olivia is in Colorado, Annabel and Grace are in Tenessee and Amelia will be headed to Granddaddy and Grandmama's tomorrow. I really miss my girls and will have a hardtime saying goodbye to sweet Amelia. (STOP READING MY SWEET GIRLS) We are planning on spoiling these boys! Their love tanks will be full by the time they reunite with their sisters. I am working on my packing lists for the hospital stay Decided to start training for the Soilder 1/2 Marathon on November 10th. Working on Beth Moore's The Partariachs (perfect for this season) Continuing to read Give Them Grace and journal real live parenting examples of success And "need grace and much improvement" examples.

Neglected Blog/Busy Mama

Oh my this blog is neglected.  If anyone other than Skip is reading, I have been spending a lot of time mothering.  I love that summer is here!!!!!

Olivia and Annabel will horseback ride through the summer and other than that, we have shut down and are spending a lot of time at home.  We will have some camps.

Skip and I went to my brother's graduation from high school ~ yes that makes me very young or . . . very old when my parents adopted ;).  We have 24 years between us.  He was the brother I prayed for when I did not know God even existed.  My parents once again will experience and empty nest.  I have reassured them that there is A LOT going on here and they are more than welcome to come ANYTIME.  Although the love their grandchildren, there is a reason they bought a retirement home 5 hours away.  The great thing about Skip and me is that we do not mind driving 5 hours to bless them with a little energy and excitement.

We are preparing for Ruthie's surgery next month.  I have been thinking about what it will really be like to have a child with a visible handicap.  I am struggling to admit that I struggled when we first came home with people seeing Ruthie's feet.  I made sure they were always covered and when someone would see them I watched their reaction.  I believe I was trying to protect her and never wanted attention drawn to us.

So what will it be like with a visible handicap?  I know Ruthie will be fine missing feet and walking on only her heels or in her prosthetics.  But in defending my precious little girl, how will i handle the stares? or pointing? I am examining my heart and hoping that the words that come from my mouth or the expression on my face is always pleasing to the Lord.  Especially when I am in my protective mother bear mode.

How can I prepare her for her surgery.  Will she understand when we cut off her Blablas'(stuffed animal) feet and bandage them up?  At two can she be reassured that the pain will go away?  How on earth will she get around with casts up to her thighs?

And I am very sad for the loss of her twinkle toes.

We are preparing.

Cleft Feet or Ectrodactyly

Ruthie's second opinion and huge blessings.

The first amazing blessing is the trip only took 1 hour and 15 minutes because of a huge gift from a dear friend. He insisted on us flying in his plane to Greenville, ordinarily a 5 hour drive. I felt like we were floating on the clouds. The peace of the Lord was with us!  It was such a clear day and the sun and clouds were beautiful. I really want a plane now. Unfortunately the size plane we would need for our family would be very large and very expensive not to mention we could not afford the smallest plane, perhaps a glider ~ Anyway, my fear of flying is gone. YIPEEEE

We met with the surgeon I was hoping we would see. He recommended a bilateral Boyd amputation. We knew her right foot needed to be amputated, but thought her left would be okay. Because this dr. has worked with many different lower extremity deformities he was able to tell us the left foot would soon have issues. The strangest thing happened when he told us what he thought should be done - PEACE. It all became so clear and we both knew that this was the answer and that he was the dr.

Ten years ago I would have crumbled at the words or mentioning of amputation for one of my children. It is drastic and once her feet are gone she will be labeled by the world as "disabled". My heart breaks at the thought of her little twinkle toes being gone. I have cherished every night her little toes as she falls asleep. Something about me rubbing her little toes is soothing ~ she loves her toes. It will not be easy when they are gone, but I am so absolutely grateful that once they are gone she will run. I fully understand the gift of walking and running and precious Ruthie will do both.

It may be difficult for others to understand why we are rejoicing ~ we just know this is the plan for Ruthie and are believing that this in no way will hold her back from all He has planned for her life.

Her surgery will be in July in Greenville, SC at Shriners. They will remove her feet and then take her heel and attach it to her main bone in her shin with pins. She will be able to walk on her heels! Isn't that amazing! She will have casts for one month and then return for another surgery to remove the pins. The cast will be removed, she will have one month of healing and then she will be fitted for her prosthetics.

This fall will be such an amazing season in Ruthie's life.  We are all blessed beyond words for the light she is in our lives.  She is a JOY!

Literary Tea

Olivia, Annabel and Grace had a literary tea at their school. They go to a Classical Christian home schooling school one day a week where they are taught their humanities.

You can imagine my excitement when I got the call asking if I had any tea sets. Oh yes, I have many.

It became quite humorous in China when something absolutely crazy came over me and I became obsessed with tea sets and squeeky shoes. I bought a lot of both. The last day we were packing up I purchased my last tea set ~ much to Skip's dismay. I kept telling him that each tea set would go to one of the girls as a wedding present, he'd say okay that is only five. The justification that they were for their wedding offered no comfort to him, the thought of five weddings sends the precious man into prayer. Suitcases bulging we were able to get home with all! AND now I had a chance to use them!

amelia's excitement

quinn has just learned to be content having been the only boy for so long

this only captures one second of grant's enjoyment

annabel the literary and ruthie

ashley, recently engaged and about to graduate from nursing school, standing next to quinn who was certain one day he would marry his favorite babysitter (he is hiding his disappointment)

olivia the tiny literary

grace the literary

the third fourth and fifth grade class

I am so proud of my girls and am very impressed by how they were able to memorize such long poems ~ I have a hard time reciting my home phone number and I have had the same number for over 10 years. They did a great job!

Big Boy

Grant is growing up, some days reluctantly.

Good-bye Crib

All tucked in for the night . .

in his big boy bed.

VICTORY ~Shouting from the Roof Tops!!!!

The laundry has finally been defeated! For the first time since we arrived home with Ruthie the clothes hampers are EMPTY! I had to record this because it is such a huge mountain. Yesterday I did 9 very full loads. I have been reading big family blogs about laundry and the last big family blog I read was a dear friend of mine and she summed it up referring to her own family, so I am just going to steal it because it fits: we are a big family but we still think we are small.

I am thankful for spring break which has allowed me to focus on all the things I neglected from spending HOURS on Rumor Queen waiting for TA.

I am thankful for clean closets and the discovery that each child used the back of their closets as a dirty hamper OR a place to stash clean clothes.

I am thankful for clean closets, the proper season of clothes hanging in them AND the 7 bags of clothes we are getting rid of and hope they will bless someone else.

I am especially thankful that I am able to do many things with a baby on my hip. And I look forward to the healing that I will have of my shoulder (feels like a rotator cuff tear PAIN) from carrying around the empress.

I love having a large family and I am absolutely overwhelmed. This has been a big jump from 6 to 7, but I am believing that in time I will realize we are a big family and that doing laundry 2 times a week will not cut it!

Some of My First Steps

I love the expression on her face as she is walking towards me. She is so excited to be walking.

She is amazing! I wish I could have taken a picture of how she dives into my arms after she has walked from the chairs to me. Because she cannot help but smile so big and with her mouth wide open, smiling and giggling in delight she gives me the most precious kiss. I love every second with this little girl.

Life With Ruthie

I LOVE BEING HOME!!!!!!

We came home to some sweet hugs and a great celebration. The next morning our oven died and our washer would not spin. Our ceiling was leaking by the chimney and the furnace upstairs was out! It was a good thing we only had the energy to fight off a nap and sit and play on the living room floor otherwise I would have fallen apart. It is all such a blur now.

Oh my and how wonderful it is to be over jet lag and be in a routine. The girls and I are really enjoying have a baby in the house, Ruthie spends very little time outside of someone's arms. Slowly she is warming up to daddy and it will not be long until she get his number. She is such a delight and has stepped into the role of number seven with spirit. I am so crazy about this precious little girl.

I am thrilled she likes us! However, She is a bit leery of her brother, Grant.? I think I know why, but have not seen the evidence yet or should I say I have not caught him in action. I think he may be pinching her and taking toys. A time or two she has blessed him out in her sweet little voice and a language we do not understand - it is not hard to mistake her point! Grant is having a hard time and I will continue to spread the attention, which is much more difficult than I thought. It has been awhile since I felt like we had a lot of children ~ now is one of those times where I am challenged, the house is slowly becoming more and more disorganized, laundry is piled waiting to be folded . . . . I am trying to put my head down and focus only on what needs to be done. The days are amazingly short and packed full. I continue to rejoice that Ruthie was loved and well cared for. She is able to receive love in a healthy way and cannot get enough of all that we love showering over her.

We are also busy reaserching and trying to get answers about Ruthie's feet. They said she could not walk, but they were wrong! It appears to look painful, but she is determined!!!!! She is very pleased with her new accomplishment. Ruthie has a rare condition called cleft feet or Ectrodactyly. In addition, one foot is turned under and she is walking on the top of her foot. The other foot is very strong. We went to see an orthopedic surgeon in Birmingham and he is recommending we amputate her foot at the ankle. He had never seen a condition like hers but he felt strongly that her one foot would never fully function. We are going to Shriners in Greenville, South Carolina and Boston Children's Hospital the first two weeks of April. My hope is that after getting a second opinion at Shriners we will feel a peace. We are okay with amputating her foot which sounds strange to many people. We are confident Ruthie will have a full life with our without her foot. In making such a huge decision, we do want to be able to tell her that without a doubt this was the right decision. We continue to pray for direction.

please do not judge me by the pile of laundry in the background ~

wish I could say the pile is a result of a broken washer

From Ashley....

Ashley just emailed to say that they will be meeting Ruthie in 45 minutes! They are exhausted but so very excited. She is having all kinds of trouble with Internet access and asked me to pass along the shutterfly site they are using to document their journey. It is http://ruthiejoy.shutterfly.com/.

Hurry home Ruthie Joy! We can't wait to meet you!

Happy Birthday!

Precious Ruthie is waking up to celebrate her 2nd Birthday and her mama is a little sad. Wish I could have been there.

Happy Birthday my precious one!!!

Hopefully we will have birthday pictures soon from Adoption Help.

Please pray a special birthday prayer for Ruthie today.

Thank you!

Oh My!

Today as I drug my three youngest children, Grant, Amelia and Quinn through the Dixie in on a hyper focused mission to find stacking cups. We had been to FOUR stores looking to cross this item off my list. As we went down the isles looking for the baby section, an employee laughed and commented on the trail behind me. Wanted to say, this is nothing! Anyway, I FOUND THE STACKING CUPS!!! VICTORY! CHECK! As we were walking towards the check-out Quinn asked for the umteenth time if he could play the itouch. Over and over again I said no, finally his 5 year old sister piped in with great confidence and said, "start arguing with her, then you'll get it. IT ALWAYS WORKS FOR ME!"

Oh My! Do I even try to reign it all in before next week? I sure am going to be prepared to travel, in the meantime . . . Someone please come take these lists away!!!!

Lantern Festival ~ Travel Plans

On February 6th China will celebrate the Lantern Festival. The Lantern Festival celebrates the reunion of families. Isn't that just perfect! That is Ruthie Joy day!!!

We have our trip planned. The excitement will start in Beijing at New Day. This is a dream come true for me. For a very long time I have wanted to visit all of our friends and love on the precious children and babies being fostered there. In addition to being at my most favorite place in the world, Kari, our Chinese friend and her mother will join us at New Day. Kari is an amazing woman who lived with us last year. She left to return to China in May. Kari is like a daughter to us. I have never met Kari's mother so I am looking forward to spending time getting to know her.

We fly to Shanghai on Sunday and Monday morning is RUTHIE JOY DAY.

After spending five days in Shanghai, we will leave for Guangzhou. AND THEN, you are not going to believe this!!! we meet up with our dear friends here from our town. They started out on their adoption journey around the time we did. Their daughter, Willa, is waiting for them in Wuhan. Only God could have orchestrated such a perfect plan. We will spend the last week of our trip with our friends from here and friends I have met online who will also be traveling. I CANNOT WAIT I CANNOT WAIT I CANNOT WAIT!

I am busy packing and washing Ruthie Joy's clothes. Our weight limit is only 44lbs. When you are packing for two different climates that is very difficult. I know less is better, but it doesn't seem that way from here.

The other big job on my list is making a book for our sitter ~ an Instruction Manuel, because I am confident that I have all the answers. LOL!!!! I am so grateful she is willing to watch our children. I know they will be very well taken care of and loved. My mother will come and take over caring for the children the last part of the trip and welcome us home.

It's going to be a full week! I am so grateful to be on this journey and overwhelmed by God's precious gift to me.

What day is today?

Yesterday Skip had the day off to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King day. I loved having him home, but this means that all day long I will struggle to believe that today is Tuesday. This week I will have to follow my calendar very closely to avoid missing any routine activities. By Thursday, I will recognize the next day as being Friday and the week will have flown by.

Things are very quiet on the adoption front in regards to approvals coming in. It is amazing to Skip the bond I have with other mothers from the different adoption groups. He calls them my "cyber friends". I'll never forget the sea of adopting parents in the Chicago airport waiting to travel to Beijing. Across the room I saw someone I had met on the adoption sites. I told him we needed to go speak and he began to plead with me about approaching strangers. I drug him over and it did happen to be my friend Rebekah and her husband and daughter! I loved having the opportunity to meet her face to face and travel together. We ended up spending time together in Guangzhou and infact, we celebrated Skip's 40 Birthday with them.

Again, I (we) have friends who are looking for their travel approvals very soon in hopes of traveling the week we travel, some cyber and non-cyber (LOL). I would love to continue to share the journey and celebrate together in China. I am praying we will see some shouting, "TA!!!!!!" very soon.

We Have A Due Date

On February 1st we will have known she is our girl for 9 months. On February 1st we will depart to China and on February 6th I will have the honor and privilege to hold her in my arms. I have prayed for this day to hold my daughter for four years.

Upon the announcement of TA, life feels like it has been turned upside down. My concentration level is shot and my children are taking full advantage and loving it! I wish I could say I have lists, but I do not, and I really would not have anything to cross off if I did have a list except perhaps that my visa paperwork has been sent.


The Lord has met us at every single step and I trust He has done the same for sweet Ruthie Joy. Our older girls, Olivia and Annabel will be traveling with us and I look forward to seeing China through their eyes.

January 26th Ruthie will celebrate her 2nd birthday and the ocean between us seems to be getting smaller every minute. Her life is such a precious gift.

So we begin the countdown with great anticipation and I continue to pray that she will know the depth of my love for her. This journey has been such a sweet reminder to me that God is in the details and JOY comes in the morning.

Happy New Years!

We received our last update of Ruthie Joy. I cannot wait to have her in my arms and see her cuteness in person. This update was by far the most difficult one to receive. We are so close, but I feel like our departure date will take forever to get here. I was also sad to see the little sores and bruises on her head. I am ready to leave today.

Beautiful

Precious Smile

We are looking for our TA any day now. OUR plans are to travel February 1st. Please pray for sweet Ruthie this last leg of the journey.

This New Year is going to be so very big! Happy New Year my sweet Ruthie Joy!

Terrible Blogger!

Okay I INTENDED to complete the Christmas countdown. I INTENDED to journal leading up to Christmas. I INTENDED to post the fun and exciting pictures of the children leading up to Christmas ~ but I didn't. I am sure that does not surprise anyone who reads this blog ;)

This Christmas was truly one of my fondest memories with my family. We celebrated Jesus' birthday and the blessing of my stepfather's full recover from just a few weeks post brain surgery. We met my parents and brother in Tennessee at the cabin on the Cumberland Plateau. I left on the Monday before Christmas and Skip came up the following Wednesday with a packed sleigh.

The air was crisp and cold, so perfect for Christmas. We all (including my stepfather!) walked through the woods, rode four wheelers and fished. At night we all sat by the fire and enjoyed the exhaustion and just being together. This little town has stopped in time and the cabin does not have internet, so for Christmas our lives slowed down enough for us to just be together. It was such a sweet time.

The last Christmas we spent together was 12 years ago, Olivia was 1 and Annabel was on her way. Five children later, we had all the chaos and laughter I remembered dreaming of wanting as an only child. My brother, who is 24 years younger, has also grown up basically an only child. I am still not sure if he also dreams of a lively Christmas, but that is exactly what he got!

My mother has set up a room for Skip and me in the cabin. This is the first time since I got married that Skip and I did not use the guestroom. The room has a beautiful very tall heart of pine bed and the most beautiful quilt. The linens are so comfy and the room is sweetly decorated with pictures of our precious little ones. The room is a perfect gift!

Santa found us! Thanks to the luminaries we set up on Christmas Eve. Christmas day was alive and full ~ Just like Jesus.

Joy to the world! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Countdown!

13!

The number of years this precious girl has been my daughter.

13 years ago you entered the world at 9 lbs and 22.5 inches long and our lives have never been the same.
Olivia you are a treasure. You have such an ability to touch lives in a powerful way. Your love for Christ continues to point every one in your path towards Him. Many time I have heard people call you an angel and I must agree. You are very smart and have such clear vision of right and wrong. You are very tiny and at the same time extremely strong minded and determined. I know how powerfully He has used you in 13 short years and I cannot wait to see how your passion for Christ will continue to make a big impact. Your name means olive branch, which represents peace. It is the perfect name for you. I have loved the last 13 years as your mother! You are growing into such an amazing girl. You bless me more than you will ever know.
I love you!