Introducing...Annie

I have been happy with having two dogs.  Very happy in fact.  But after losing Lulu, and bringing Pippa into the home we still had a very sad Rags.  While Pippa has done wonders for me, and she has helped me to still be sane she has not enjoyed Rags company, and I have felt bad for him.  We pet sit Willa sometimes, and he always perks up when she comes in the door.  He is so happy....but the last time Willa's family came to the door to collect her, his face fell.  It broke my heart.  He truly needed a friend.  I started looking for a friend for him, and thought I found the perfect one.  However, due to a strange turn of events, I was not able to adopt that dog, so my search continued.  There was one particular dog that I watched for a few weeks that was in Wedowee, AL.  I called and talked with the shelter staff about her, and after learning her story, I felt like she needed a chance.  I took Rags up to meet her, and they played so hard together.  They slammed into walls and had so much fun.  I could tell she would bond well with me, because she was extremely bonded to the kennel worker.  So, I brought her home on a trial basis....see, Annie had come from a sad situation.  She was owned by a man and his wife.  They had around 70 dogs, but for them, there was something special about Annie.  She got to live inside with them, and it was obvious she was well loved.  The wife died of cancer, and the man tried his hardest to take care of all the animals.  They were all fat, happy, fixed, and loved.  However, he was overwhelmed.  The county decided to step in and relieve him of the burden the animals had caused.  So off Annie went to a shelter to wait for someone to come.  Sure enough, a family did come for her.  They took her home, and left her outside.  They allowed children to take sticks and poke them at her.  After weeks of abuse, Annie had enough of it, and started cornering the children anytime she saw them.  She snarled and barked and let them know she didn't want to be abused.  So that family packed her up and took her back to the shelter.  So, there she sat again waiting.  Rags and I were her next hope of a home.  However, I knew that we had four children at home that Annie may not like considering what she had gone through in her previous home.  Annie settled right into our home and was so excited to see my bed.  She snuggled up right in the middle of it, and looked so content.  That of course was until I brought the four kiddos home from school.  She lost it.  There were times when I really wondered if it would all work out, but now she understands that my children at least will never hurt her.  They bribed her with treats and tons of affection, and now she loves each and every one of them.  Rags is happy again.  She is the most bonded dog I have ever had.  Paul and I often say that if we lived on the streets, you wouldn't have to worry, because Annie would be right there by our side.  She is a loyal little one, she is a quick learner and doing great with training.  She is proving herself to be our smartest dog ever.  She is 6 years old, weighs 24 pounds, and looks a lot like our favorite boy, Rags.

Halloween Has Gone to the Dogs

 For Halloween this year, we decided to go all out for the dogs, and that the kids would just wear things we already had around the house.  So, after some research, we decided that Pippa would be a Chia pet.  She made an adorable Chia pet, and we were quite confident she would do well in the costume contests. She entered two, and came in third in both of them.

 Then there was the famous Rags.  Hunter wanted to be Waldo again for Halloween because we already had the stuff, so I decided that maybe Rags could be Waldo's dog Woof.  I found a sweater at the local thrift store, and after about thirty minutes of cutting and sewing, we had a costume.

 We even used shrinky dinks to make a tag for the collar just like Woof has on in the Waldo books.

Rags took first place in our local contest, and second in the larger one in Columbus.  He looked amazing and played the character really well.  Everyone that saw him smiled and said he was the coolest costume they had seen.  The kids all had a great time with the dog costumes that they are already planning next years costumes.  The competitive side of me can really get into this.

Amidy and Little Z-All in one day!

While in Birmingham for the reunion, we decided to try and catch up with some of our favorite college students of the past.  We called both Amy and Lindsey (Amidy and Little Z, as nicknamed by the kids) when we left the reunion hoping to be able to catch up with at lease one of them while we were in town. Amy was studying for her social worker boards (which she passed) and Lindsey was sleeping since she is a night shift nurse.  So we didn't know how things would play out.  But we had a few errands to run, and while running our errands, Amy found us and we got to hang our for awhile.  She got to meet Hope, and we got to meet her fiance, Brandon.  I had already met and interviewed him online, so I already felt like I knew him, and I had already given Amy our approval.  In person he was just as great, and I am so thankful that Amy has found such a wonderful man to be a part of her life.

While out with Amy, Lindsey called, and hunted us down in the mall parking lot.  We were able to talk her into staying and eating with us at the Cheesecake Factory.  She ate breakfast while we ate dinner.

My the end of dinner, I had three girls that didn't want to let Little Z go.  I don't blame them though, the good byes are always hard.  I just feel blessed that we got to see both of them and hug their necks....now if only March would come, we will be able to hug Amy's neck again at her wedding.

Lifeline Reunion

For us, Lifeline is family.  Not only did they help us bring our latest two into the family, they have become our family.  So, when we have an opportunity to be with them, we are there.  It is so sweet to go to the reunion each year and fellowship with other families who have also answered God's call for adoption.  This year we were especially excited to meet a new Lifeline family.  They are the Bamberg's, and they are adopting Hope's friend from her orphanage.  I had the privilege of talking to them and asking Hope questions about their princess, and watching as God confirmed for them, that she was to be their child.  Hope took to their children quickly and declared to me that their Lilly was going to love her new family.

She also decided that Lilly would have a great new dad.  She tested him out for Lilly, and wore him out.  Luckily Hope didn't scare him away, she actually excited him even more to go and get his girl.

The girls also got to visit with Lily, our guide in China.  She has become a friend over the years, and is such a blessing to adoptive families.  I adore her, and how hard she works for the kids.  The other lady in the picture was part of the Chinese delegation that came.  She works for the CCWAA.

Chinese Festival

 Our local art museum, held their annual birthday celebration.  This year it was China related, so we jumped at the chance to go.  The kids learned how to do traditional Chinese calligraphy.

Hunter really got into this, and was the only one who attempted to do the Chinese characters.  His sisters roots are someone seeping in.

 Hope cracked me up, because when she finished she looked at me with all sincerity, and said, "Look, I wrote Hope just like in Chinese!"  And of course my response was, "Well of course you did baby, and it looks just perfect.  I'm so proud."  And at those words of confirmation, she beamed....Have I mentioned that I love her?

Noelle got into the pottery making.  She made a penguin, which had nothing to do with Chinese culture, but it had everything to do with her interests.  She is so serious.

We finished out our day by having tea with the Chinese emperor, and listening to him tell us about what life is like in China.  Hope looked at him when he finished and said, "That is not the same China I am from."  I guess the China he described is very different from the China an orphan knows.  It makes me anxious to take her back one day and introduce her to her homeland in a different light.  The land that I have fallen so in love with.

One Year With our Hopey

It is hard to imagine that it really has been a year since they walked in with Hope in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.  She ran into our lives with a smile on her face.  She was ready...ready for a family, ready to have fun, ready to have someone pay attention to her, and most importantly, she was ready to be loved.  Our sweet girl ran in that day and ran straight into the arms of her father.  She had arrived, she had a earthly father who scooped her up and made her feel secure and safe.  She just kept staring at him wondering if he was real, or if the idea of a daddy was still just a dream for her.  The expressions and smiles on her face that day is one of the things that will forever be retained in my own memory.  It is almost as if I can hit rewind and watch the scene unfold again and again in my head.  Isn't it such a lovely picture, and picture of how we should all be?  We should all run straight into the arms of our heavenly father realizing that we were chosen, chosen to be adopted by him.  I am so thankful that everyday I get to replay this real life example of Hope's forever family day in my head, so I can be reminded of where to run to....and boy do I need to run there so often.

Surprisingly, adopting an older child has been such a blessing for us.  Hope's adjustment over the last year has been easier than we ever expected it to be.  I kept wondering, when is this all going to fall apart, but it hasn't yet.  She just fits in so perfectly.  She somehow seemed to be our missing link.  She still is everyone's best friend in the house, and with her here, there is just more peace and harmony.  Now, it is definitely louder with Hope around.  I was once watching a video series where a man mentioned that loud children were a good thing because it meant they had life, and to a mom who had lost her children, noise would be something she longed to hear.  So, I try my best to rejoice in all the noise....after all, they are all full of life.  Now that Hope has been home for a year, and is in school, we are starting to see where she struggles.  She is an amazing auditory learner.  She picks up language quickly.  She also figures things out quickly, and remains the tattle tale that her orphanage described her to be.  She also likes to fuss.  It is funny, because after living with our sweet Emily for a year, I got used to the fussing.  When Hope starts it, we call her our mini-Emmy.  Emily of course says she doesn't remember fussing, but the two of them are very similar.  I think God prepared us for Hope by giving us Emily first.  Hope appears to struggle with academic learning.  At this point, she just doesn't see a need, so we are working to point out why she needs to learn.  She still struggles with her fine motor skills because of the mild cerebral palsy, so her writing skills are still lacking, but are improving.  

To us, Hope is, well...PERFECT!  I know she isn't perfect on pen and paper, but she is perfect for us.  I think she has taught me much more than I have taught her.  What a blessing she is to us, and what a blessing she will be to us for many more years to come. I love you my sweet girl...I am glad that you found your way to us....my only regret is that we didn't find each other sooner. 

Little Blessings

The greatest rewards are sometimes the smallest!  A few weeks ago, on a hurried Sunday morning, Paul went out to dump the bacon grease, he came in and got me and showed me a helpless little baby squirrel laying on the ground.  We decided to leave it there while we ate breakfast in hopes that the mom would come to fetch it and put it safely back in the nest which was 40 feet up in the tree.  After breakfast, there it still was, so I scooped it up and warmed up some almond milk for it since that was all I had.  It ate and I put it in a nice warm shoe box while we headed off to church.  At church I told my sweet friend Kim about it, and she texted a friend of hers who has raised them before.  When we got home from church Kim's friend Leigh was already waiting for us.  She took the pitiful baby we had named Squirmy, and vowed to try her hardest.  I really wish I had taken a picture of Squirmy then.  She had little to no hair, and her eyes were still closed.  Two days later, two more baby squirrels came falling from the nest.  By this time, I had located the dead mother in the road, so I drove these two to Leigh too.  We named those Squealy and Scaredy.  Scaredy ended up going to be with Jesus, but the other two are doing great.  So, I promised the kids we would go up to the vet school for a visit if everyone had a good week.  They were so excited for Friday to come so they could go visit the babies.

We were shocked to see that Squealy was this big and climbing all over us!

Hunter took to Squirmy, he had Squirmy curled up in a little ball in his hands for half an hour or so.  Squirmy looks so good and so healthy.

LeeLee enjoyed Squealy.  She loved on her.  Noelle and Hope went on an adventure and found a three legged dog to play with.  I eventually had to drag them and myself out of that place.  It warmed our hearts to see how precious and how well our babies were doing, it was a great reward for a long week!