Tru is 9 !

 
 
 

Tru is 9 today. He got just what he wanted. Noodles for dinner, cheesecake for dessert and for his gift - a dictionary! You would have thought we gave him a million dollars. He already got in trouble for reading it when he should have already had his bath and been in the bed for tuck-in. Oh, Tru! Happy Birthday Tru Tru!!! XOX

Letter Seeking Confirmation

We are one step closer to Crosse. We received our Letter Seeking Confirmation from Adopter today. This begins another round of paperwork - although much less intense than the beginning of this process. Finally we feel that we are making progress!

Do we accept?
Yes we do!











With this, we know we are approximately 2 1/2 months away from being a family of five!

Tru's New Leg (#8) !!

It's New Leg Day!

Tru received his 8th prosthetic leg today. If only his legs stayed so nice and shiny-new like this!

This is the line-up of legs 1-7 beginning with Baby Red Leg. Here's a link to our post when Tru received his first leg at two years old: Tru's First Steps

Keep growing Tru-Tru!

7th Grade & 3rd Grade

Back to school today!

 
 

Bad Horse!

Today, we were to have an exciting horse-back riding adventure to send summer out with a bang. Well... it was a little too exciting and someone got a little banged up!

Lin-Ley enjoyed the whole experience.

Dallas enjoyed it too.

Tru - not so much!! Just a few minutes into the trail ride, my horse ran over to Tru's horse to bite it. It missed! Instead, it bit Tru on the leg. Obviously, this was very traumatic. Tru was very upset and I had to hold it together so he would be brave enough to at least ride back to the barn.

My poor, poor baby. Tru and I agree that our horse riding days(day)are over!

So long summer!  

Dossier To China - Finally!

After many delays...
After having our paperwork denied at the Chinese Embassy last week...
Today... as we checked into our hotel for the 11th annual China Girl Reunion, we received the amazing news that our paperwork was finally approved, finalized and shipped to China today!  Now we wait. We cannot wait to write Crosse to let him know of our progress!

China Girls, we are ready to celebrate!!

7 Years Of Tru Love!

It was 7 years ago today that we held Tru for the first time. Time has flown and he has grown! We love you Tru-Tru!!!



Lin-Ley Is 12!

 





Happy Birthday and XOX to our big girl!!

Now, we enter the Year of the Unicorn - Part II.

Look out LA cousins - here we come! We will see you poolside.

Hello Summer!

We are all jumping for joy. Last day of 2nd grade and 6th grade. We are ready for summer!!

Lin-Ley was jumping so fast her limbs seem to be disappearing....

Dad Is A Grad

Dallas had completed his Associate's Degree in Criminal Justice prior to entering the Army. Now, after his retirement and many hours of classes, he has reached the next milestone. He has his Bachelor's Degree. Way to go Dad!!! We are very proud of you!!! Happy Father's Day too!

Happy 13th Birthday Crosse

Last night, just as we were leaving for American Sign Language class, we received an email from our adoption agency. What a wonderful surprise! They provided an updated report, a video of Crosse playing basketball with his friends, and several new photos. Here is one of my favorites. This is our 13 year old typical teenage boy.

We arranged to have a birthday cake and package delivered to him. We hope to received more photos soon. Happy Birthday Crosse!! xox

Happy Easter 2014

Happy Easter from our family to yours. He is Alive!!

The Easter Bunny made a visit as usual. It is interesting to watch the kids get older. I noticed at Christmas that things were changing. They were happy to see Santa from a distance and never asked to see him up close. They walk right by the Disney store without asking to go in. (I sometimes drag them in anyway.) Again, last week, they were happy to see the Easter Bunny (in the mall) from a distance.

However, it does a mom and dad's heart good to see that their babies are still ready and willing to hunt Easter eggs.

Happy Snow Patrick's Day

Surely, as Spring is only three days away, this is our last snow day. However, we LOVE Snow Mondays!

The Leprechauns left us icicles as well as several inches of fresh snow.

Taking a dive.

Tru remembered to wear his green.

And he takes his snow duties very seriously.

Good Bye Winter! Seriously... GOOD BYE!

11 Years Of Loving Lin-Ley

Take a look at this beauty! This is the first photo we received of Lin-Ley. It was 11 years ago yesterday that we first held her on Gotcha Day.

Yesterday, on her special day, she was just where she wanted to be. She and Five-O were snuggled up in front of a fire with a stack of books. Waiting on the snow. AGAIN.

Today, in celebration of adoption day, our plans were altered from our traditional dinner out to shoveling snow. AGAIN. We stayed home on our eighth snow day this school year and took it easy.

We love our baby girl!! XOX

Meet Crosse!

Meet Crosse! 

Crosse is soon to be the newest member of our family. 
Surprise! 
We are adopting again! 


(Let this be a reminder to us all: Never say never!) 



Crosse is currently living in an orphanage in China and he is 12 years old. It became official today that China pre-approved us to become his forever family. 

This decision all happened rather quickly in that we first saw his photograph only two weeks ago today. Dallas happened upon a website containing photos and bios of children waiting to be adopted. He called me over to take a look at some of the photos and I instantly wanted to adopt again. Within two days of discussions, we were all onboard. This was a true family decision and Lin-Ley and Tru are very excited about having a big brother. 

Crosse is deaf. That means our whole family will be learning a new language. American Sign Language. We know we can provide the best for him as the state school for the deaf is within 15 miles of our home. There is a well respected university for the deaf within 1 ½ hours. We have fantastic medical care. Above all, we have love to spare. Why not share all that we have?? 

As Tru said just yesterday, “God sure has given us a lot of blessings Mom.” So true. Now we have one more huge blessing coming our way.