In a box

Ah thank you, we got emails and comments from y'all with all kinds of suggetions for the car sickness. I did them ALL! I went to CVS and bought the sea bands for Ian, I put my iPad on the back of the seat so they would look forward, I fed them an hour earlier, turned the vent toward them and kept the car cool, I gave them a small dosage of Benadryl and I took a longer way to school to avoid a curvy route. Whew! And it proved to work, no puke to or from school... and Ian wasn't so upset either! 

I don't know which one of the many tips worked for us, but I am a happy momma if this continues to help them!! Thank you to all who shared your tips! Ian and Jovie thank you too!

So while Mae was in school I took Ian and Jovie to the grocery store to stock up on essentials - we are supposed to get a bad wintery storm here! And when we got home I made us all lunch and sat at the table between them. 

Ian and Jovie were having a little conversation among themselves and as it continued I found myself saying, "hey guys, what are y'all talking about?" I sat there quietly realizing I'm the third wheel here! Jovie and Ian are talking and laughing and I have NO idea what they are going on about! Bet that's never happened to you before! 

 I am glad they have each other. (: 

I want to give my thanks to Amazon for providing my kids with priceless entertainment. A very large box was delivered today, I guess I've found the perk to having 2 in different size diapers.  

They all wanted in and loved it! Every kid loves boxes, right? My 3 were enthralled and I realized the treasure I had too! Look all 3 are being contained and don't even know it (; So I made it my goal to see how long I could make this last... 

For a long time the box itself was fun. They'd all sit down and then all stand up over and over. I think they love being together. 

Next, I gave them crayons to color the box. The little ones liked the sound it made to color over the corrugated cardboard. They were trying to make it sound as loud as they could. 

When crayons were old I fed them snacks.

I got a full hour of *free* box babysitting! I actually got to CLEAN my house up for the first time in ages. Anyone got any other ideas for next time? 

We're leaving next week!!!

Today we got word back from CCAI that we got our Consulate appt on the 28th!!! Which means we will have our GOTCHA DAY ON THE 20th!!!! I'm soaring with joy and counting the minutes until we have our family together!! We will need to leave for China next week! We are booking our tickets today! Yahooooo!!! It's still unbelievable!! This is happening!!!!! 

Love at First Sight

 I took these pictures of Mae last year and I love seeing how she's grown!

Today marks the day that we first got a glimpse of Mae.  It was 3 years ago today that we very excitedly called our agency about a little girl that had captured our hearts and first got to lay eyes on the one that we now call ours forever.

The night before this day I remember very well. We had been looking at the CCAI waiting children that they would post on their website...  They normally had around 20 children posted and would add new ones every week or so.  When I looked at the website July 29, 2010, they had put up a few new children and Mae was one of them.  Almost always they would have pictures and a few paragraphs about each child describing their special need. With Mae's they did not add any pictures... They said her special need was epilepsy and anemia and just a few details about her personality and beginnings.

I remember being at our print shop and reading her profile to Cody. (We used to print late at night after work.) That night I remember calling my mom and my sister around 11pm (waking them up) wanting to read to them about this precious little girl. I know her epilepsy scared us a little bit but I also know I did not get any sleep that night. The next morning I started refreshing the CCAI website every few minutes, hoping that they would add her pictures.  I might be a little crazy, but I know I refreshed their page on my phone a thousand times... and every time I talked to Cody he would ask if they had any pictures of her yet.

Finally, late in the afternoon they added her picture and I have never experienced love at first sight because I truly believe I loved her even before this.  I texted Cody immediately with her pictures and we both knew she was meant for us. We called our agency and requested her full file.  (They send you the children's full file with more medical details so that you can meet with your doctor or specialist to make sure you are comfortable with the child's special need.)

So, for those of you that didn't know, our Mae had many, many seizures in China. She got very sick and would get very high fevers... but her seizures were not epilepsy.  When we got home from China she was completely cleared with a perfect bill of health. And today she is the healthiest kid we know. Thank you, Jesus!