I know, I know, LONG OVERDUE!!

 Ok so Jax is doing great ( I wont even go into my LONG list of excuses of why I haven't blogged in forever..it's just that...oh yeah I am not going there).
 What have we been doing since Oct? Did I already post pumpkin patch? I am too lazy to look back and see. So he loved   liked the pumpkin patch. It was kinda hot and he just wanted to eat his pumpkin. Then he was kinda sad then I didn't make him pumpkin something. I mean pumpkin pie is the only thing I know to make with pumpkin and that is from a can.  So his pumpkin sat in the window sill with the other pumpkins until it turned moldy and green.
 Fall Festival- he loved that and all 5 of my kiddos dressed as clowns and I have NOT ONE STINKING picture of all of them together. No mom of the year award for me! ARGH  Cotton candy,snow cones, corn dogs and nachos, prizes..what is there NOT to love.
 He went ice skating at his cousin Makenzie's birthday and that he LOVED!!! He wants to go ice skating again very soon.
 He was able to be a part ( I mean not like at the hospital, just knowing they were preggo and then going and seeing the baby)of two of my dearest friends having babies, although the whole pregnancy/ have a baby thing caused a lot of questions and confusion and a lot of tears on my part trying to help him understand he was not in my tummy. That needs to be a WHOLE other post.
 Ok then he loved Thanksgiving but that may be b/c he thought it was Christmas. When I cam-corded the kids gettting in the van to go to grandma's I asked Jax what day it was and he said "Christmas!!"...so yeah he liked the turkey.
 He was jumping up and down with excitement as we decorated the tree. And then again I am found crying on the couch as he wonders and asks several times why all the kids have a lot of ornaments and he doesn't....he just does not get it sometimes and it totally breaks my heart. Of course Sophie helps out the situation by making sure he knows she has SEVERAL ornaments compared to his two. (one from last year while we were waiting.)  So that night he draws a picture of our family..(minus Sophie..imagine that and yes, I made him add her) pokes a hole in the top and hangs it on the tree. We then spend the next several days making homemade ornaments for him to hang on the tree.
 What does he want for Christmas? Well it depends on what toy catalog or store we are in. He wants everything.
  He had a minor surgery somewhere in all of this time between Oct 11(last post) and now to get something in his nose cauterized b/c of his frequent nose bleeds and that has helped tremendously.
 Still going to Chinese school and yes he can still read and write chinese although we rarely here him speak it anymore.  His English is A M A Z I N G!! He is reading some English now too..whoo hoo!
 The past two nights he and Sophie have been camping out in a tent in Sophie's room, they love sleeping in there!! see my facebook page for those pics.
 Oh I hope I haven't forgotten anything. Just ask me if you are wondering anything. I am sure I will post again sometime in January and I can answer then. ;)  
 Oh yeah, and it was exactly 6 months ago today that our sweet boy walked into that meeting room in the orphanage and became our son!  God is good.
 Oh yeah again, the rest of the family is doing great. Eg was in a play at our homeschool group, Emperors New Clothes, she did a fabulous job and the stage loved her!  Tyler is elusive from the camera but he is now wearing a size 14 shoe and 36 length pant and is thinking about going into Pathology as a career choice. He did not WANT to  go to the pumpkin patch this year and I was seriously heart broken, I mean he is almost 14.5 what's wrong with the pumpkin patch?!! Micah told me today he wants to go to Culinary school and is wondering if they will let him in before he graduates high school. He still has  the sweetest spirit and will soon be a teen, his younger siblings do tend to get on his nerves sometimes! Sophie is still loving 5k and is very busy and has decided she goes for Auburn instead of Alabama but she still loves us. ( for real that's what she said).

What have we been up to?

Oh wow, so behind once again!!  Let's see we will start with all Jax's firsts..

 Trip to the zoo, trip to the beach, putt-putt golf, can now ride his bike without training wheels, helped me make chicken and dumplings, actually outgrown some clothes, 42 lbs, attended his first wedding, opened up to Mama and Baba and told us about some of his life in the orphanage, looked at his pictures from the orphanage....

 Ok we have been BUSY...Jax has been busy. He is still doing awesome. English is improving everyday!! He and Sophie are still attending chinese school and so far he doesn't seem to have lost too much of his native language. As far as homeschooling we are more than half way through with the Abeka K Math and he knows all his letters and sounds and today read 3 words in English for me!! He reads great in Chinese. I truly think he could be farther along in his English reading but that is my fault. Some days it is all I can do to get the older 3 through school!!  I will go ahead and post some pictures although our really good beach pictures are on the laptop and I haven't transferred them over yet.

Whoo hoo

Ken's family found him! Whoot whoot!  I am so excited.  You know this is the same way we found Jax. Someone advocated for him, we inquired..and then 10 months later he is home!!!


 I have a ton of catching up to do as we just got home from a 9 day vacation to the beach. I have awesome pics and we had so much fun relaxing and enjoying life together. I will blog about it soon.  

Praising God again for all His mighty works!!!

How cute is he???

Ok here is another ADORABLE little boy with VERY minor special needs (already corrected). He is only 3.5 years old and cute as a button. Believe me I am going to be praying for God to tug on my hubby's heart strings. This little one needs a family! Will you pray one comes forward for him?  please contact me sh0ptildr@aol.com or xqcai@comcast.net for more information on darling Ken.

For Esmerelda

Esmerelda thanks for getting in touch with me via my comments. I don't have your email so here is mine.
sh0ptildr@aol.com  I would love to see the picture you have of Jax.

Thanks
Tina

Sweet 4 year old needs a family.

Has God been tugging at your heart? Do you want to adopt but don't know who, how or when? Are you in the process and just waiting on the Lord to direct you to your new child? Maybe you haven't even started the process but you want to.
 How about sweet Gang Gang.   He is from Chengdu which is the same orphanage as Jax and Sophie.  In fact Jax recognized him when he saw these pictures.

Gang Gang has a repaired cleft lip and palate and will be 5 this Oct 11. He is in the Half the Sky foundation's little sister program.  Please prayerfully consider adding this little one to your family or please pray that a family will come forward for him.
 He is also on the individual list of the same agency we worked with, BAAS.  They are awesome and will help you bring him home as soon as possible. Their SN coordinator is very nice to work with and seems to answer your emails 24/7.  Please contact me for more info at sh0ptildr@aol.com, I would be happy to help you anyway I can.

A little more info:

He has normal motor
development. He runs and jumps freely and he is nimble
and quick to react. In terms of his language ability, he
understand what is said to him and he can accurately express
himself. Because he is postoperative cleft lip and palate, the
pronunciation of some words are not completely accurate but
it has no effect on the communication.

Gang Gang is very self-sufficient. He feeds and dresses
himself, goes potty on his own and cooperate when taking a
shower. He is very capable. He makes his bed every morning.
Before going to bed at night, he helps to put the shoes of
other children in order. Gang Gang is studying in the program
provided by the CWI. He is bright, lively and loves to play with
other children.He likes to eat sweets and fruit. He is not a
picky eater He likes to watch T. V. especially watch cartoons.

Love this boy!!

K5

Sophie had her first day at K5 yesterday and told me she didn't like her teacher she LOVED her!! lol. She came home very bubbly and excited about her great day.  I was able to get a lot of school accomplished with Jax without their constant competition and fighting over who is going to get the biggest sticker on their worksheets.

Did you feel it..

or smell it?? FALL is in the air!!   EG ran into the house Saturday morning, "MOM, me and Micah smell fall!!" We spent the whole and I do mean WHOLE day outside. We just couldn't bring ourselves in, then we decided to celebrate falls arrival with a bon-fire so we cooked hotdogs and s'mores and had a great time around the fire with our great friends!!

                                                

                                               This is how Tyler spent the majority of his day

                                                              Coffee time with mom

                                                                Watching Baba

                                                     He liked burning the marshmallows

                                                                 rednecks at heart

                                                                   goofy girls..

My friend made this for me..

Happy Birthday Jax

Thank you Sis. Hagadorn!!

Ever had one of those

Nights?  Oh I had great plans all right. I told all the kids bed by 9:00 lights out by 9:30.  Sophie was even asleep by 8:30, fever and headache, bless her heart.  I even talked my mom into spending the night with me! So mom and I are laying up in the bed talking, enjoying a little rare mother daughter time...at 9:45 I hear little footsteps..it is Jax....using the bathroom then sneaking his way into my bed. So, ok he can sleep in here, how can I say no to that adorable impish grin.  I hear more footsteps about 10 minutes later, EG's finger hurts and I know she wants to sleep with me and grandma but NO.  Then mom and I turn the lights out and continue to talk...it is now 11:00pm and I hear something else.
"Mom, do you hear that?"
"No"
"It's me" says the deep manly voice of my 14 year old who can't sleep. He decides to get a glass of milk and head back to bed.
 Fast forward to 4am and it really gets fun.
 I hear little feet again. This time it is Sophie. She stands at the side of my bed.
"Who's in there with you?"
"grandma and Jax"
"dang-it"  lol she really said dang-it! I mean EVERYTHING is a competition between she and Jax and obviously he won this one!!  So I told her it was ok to crawl up in the bed and I would get her some Tylenol b/c her mean old fever is back.  So, as I am getting the Tylenol Jax wakes up and realizes Sophie is in the bed....and...he. is. not. happy.  I get back in the bed. At this point I am hanging off the edge trying to cover up with a blanket the size of a piece of toilet paper b/c my mom and the kids are hogging it all. I have to keep my back to Sophie because she has already told me at least 5 times  how BAD my breath stinks.  Well she keeps hollering out b/c Jax touches her, Jax is all scared b/c Grandma is snoring/humming...(my mom thinks she hums instead of snores..but believe me she snores) and he thinks she is gonna eat him or something.  Finally, Sophie decided she needs to go potty and tells Jax to "save her spot" and actually slaps her spot to save it.   Well, the minute she gets out of the bed Jax rolls right to her spot, I see this as my opportunity to get more blankets so I scoot him over and decide to sleep between to the two to reduce further friction. Sophie gets back in the bed, tells me one more time how bad my breath stinks and then finally falls back to sleep.
 Ever had one of those nights?

Happy Birthday Jax!!

We celebrated Jax's birthday on Saturday and it was FUN!!  He loved getting so many gifts!! He now is the proud owner of 6 remote controlled cars, he has been using his siblings like crazy and is so happy to have his own. We also bought him a train table and we ALL love playing with that. And he finally got his own Leapster he and Sophie have been sharing(against her better judgement)

                                                               Cool pirate cake

                                                                   The happy pirate!!

                                                                    The happy couple

                                                                    Sweet Baby "O"

                                                                     think he's happy??

                                        The much coveted and longed for remote control boat.

                                           Sophie was only too happy to help him open gifts.

                                                            checking out the train table

                                                      The big kids played in the rain

                                                 I think they were ready for this picture..

 Thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate Jax's special day!!!
                                

I need a blog makeover..

Bushel and a peck  Go to this site and you might win one!!! If you don't win there is still a great deal on a makeover and 30% of the profit's goes to Amazima Ministries!!!

Out of the mouth of babes...

As I sat on the porch swing drinking my coffee, watching my son ride his scooter, and Sophie leaning against me...I hear a whisper..

"Mom?"

"Yes, Sophie?"

"Your boobs are going "tick-tock, tick-tock"

hmmmmmmmm

Sweet baby O

My greedy sister-in-law FINALLY gave in and let me babysit my new niece! Talk about eat her up, "baby O" is the sweetest thing ever! I so loved getting to keep her but between Bert and Sophie hogging, I mean holding her I barely got a chance to hold her! Sophie loved playing the babysitter part, she fed her, and read to her and talked to her!! So sweet!

Auntie Fran this post is for you!

I had a very important message from my Auntie Fran via my mom that my most important priority right now should be my blog!!So forget this messy house, Mount WASHmore and cooking, I have a blog to update!! By the way for those of you that don't know her my Auntie Fran is ONE of the sweetest, kindest, gentlest people you will ever meet. I have so many fond memories of visiting her, my Uncle Tom and my cousins over the years! You will always leave their house with a full belly and a jar of her wonderfully canned pickles in your hand!

Where to start? Well, Micah went fishing and caught a 17 lb striper and he was SO stoked!! Bert and the boys joined a hunting club so I see a lot of free weekends in my future.

We had to make a trip to the Eye Foundation ER because Sophie got poked in the eye when one of her brothers was playing with her in the pool. She got a really nice shiner but all is well.

Jax went to the adoption clinic for a check-up and gained 2 pounds..whoo hoo! I think I gained 4.
They are very pleased with the progress he is making thus far.

My friends have come over with their kids and they swam in the pool and then played in the mud in the pond. They love catching tadpoles and squishing mud in their toes.

Jax and Sophie started Chinese school this past Saturday. Sophie absolutely LOVED it!! Jax was more reserved and shy but they both did great!

We started school last week. The kids are doing great so far. I am doing Abeka Kindergarten math with Jax and we do several pages a day, I hope to finish the book in the next few weeks and move on to the first grade. For language we are just doing alphabet flash cards and the sounds. And of course a lot of reading, the kids take turns reading to him everyday. Sophie does counting, workbooks and flashcards and she will start 5k in September. Tyler and Micah are both going to CORE which takes a load off of me and they really enjoy it. And EG has her schedule full here at home. So far we are off to a great start! Have some pretty cool things
planned for this year.

I forgot to add on my past post about things Jax says. Well, we are Pentecostal and our church is very loud and exuberant. When it is time for church I tell Jax, "It's time for church..hallelujah". He says, (in the most hilarious accent) NO HALLELUJAH! He likes Sunday School but he is still getting used to the church service part!