{soon}

Today we got an e-mail from His Hands.  It was a "get your home study done because you will get your referral soon" e-mail!  WhooHoo!  Each day brings our closer to our baby!!

November

Today I took the kids to {try to} get some good pictures of them.  After bribes of candy if they cooperated and did well, I got several good ones.  :)

 {one of my favorites}

Adoption Workshop

Today we completed an all day workshop for our Home Study.  Whew!  This was our second time to sit through this same workshop.  We thought we'd be bored to tears, but we found that going through it a second time AFTER we have already adopted a child was beneficial.  We picked up on a lot of things that we missed the first time.  My sister watched the kids for us {THANK YOU, Melissa}.  Today was not as boring as we expected, but we were glad to have it behind us too.  :)

Adoption Yard Sale

So, we cleaned our house out from top to bottom.  We found lots of things we didn't need and could sell to raise money for our adoption!  LOTS of people in our small town came.  We did donations only.  I think there were 2 big things that we put a price on, but the rest we just accepted donations for it.  Whatever people wanted to give was fine with us.  People couldn't believe it.  They bought stuff, went home and told their friends, and then came back and bought MORE stuff!!  When it was all over we raised $1,280.11 for our adoption fund.  WhooHoo!  Praising God for His blessings!!

18 months

Miss Mia is 18 months old!  Time goes by SO quickly!

Here's a little bit about her now:

-She wears mostly 6-9 month clothes.

-Size 4 shoes
-size 2 diapers
        (she's still wearing Pampers Swaddlers--
        my other 2 outgrew the swaddlers by the time they were 4 months or so!)

-She hardly ever walks, she RUNS!

-She is a skilled, fearless climber.

-She LOVES her Daddy and calls his name {loudly} when he's not easily visible to her.

-She still doesn't say a lot of recognizable words,

        but that doesn't stop her from talking {a lot}!

-She is ALWAYS GOING!  We have to stay on our toes to keep up with her!

-She still takes 2 good naps a day {usually totaling 4-5 hours--which is good

        because we need the break!}

-She is very loving and gives out hugs and kisses freely!

-WE LOVE HER SO MUCH!!

One year ago....

Pigtails

I put my baby girl's hair in pigtails for the first time yesterday.

Doesn't she look like a big girl?

I dislike "baby mullets",

so I've kept her hair trimmed before now.

But I think it's time to let it grow out.

Here's all my sweeties.

Maddy gets her cast off today!

YAY!!!

She has been so sweet

about wearing a cast.

Even though it's one of the

hottest summers ever,

she hasn't complained at all

about it the cast being hot.

They are all excited about going

swimming

tomorrow!!

And here's one more of Miss Mia.

Just because she's cute.

17 months

Today Miss Mia is 17 months old.

Here's what she's been up to:

-Most of her clothes are 6-9 months.

-She wears size 2 diapers.

-She has kinda big feet--size 4.

-She still takes 2 naps a day (usually 4-5 hours total).

-Loves to play with her Bubby and Sissy.

-Climbs on EVERYTHING.

-She is SO BUSY!  It's hard for her to sit still (especially in her highchair or at church).

-She can go up and down stairs with no problem.

-She talks a LOT--but we still can't understand most of it.
-We are all SO in love with her!!

Video

So, for months now, I've been working on a video of our trip to Taiwan to get Miss Mia.

I'm hoping to have it done in time for the one year anniversary of when we got her!

That's in just a couple of weeks!

In the meantime, enjoy this video of Mia chatting on her phone.

It's my all-time favorite!

It'll make you smile.

GUARANTEED!

Have a great weekend!

It's OFFICIAL

{I'll try to go back some and catch up some on the big spaces of bloglessness in between posts.}

As of today, my youngest daughter is officially and legally Mia Ryanne!  WhooHoo!

Who wants to celebrate?

Anyone?

I still have some things to do:

-Certificate of Citizenship in her American name

-Social Security Card in her American name

But that's it!

Then I'll finally be done with the paperwork from Mia's adoption!

Just in time to start the next adoption!

CHANGE THE WORLD FOR ONE

Whether it is a child in Taiwan, China, Africa, on the other side of the world, in a homeless shelter, or foster care system here in America, there is no difference. These children in need {through no fault of their own} need the ORDINARY people in this world {like me and you} to give them help to change their world for the better. We can't change the whole world by helping just one, but the whole world for that one...CHANGES.

What are the ways you help others??

So, the kids and I all needed new shoes. Yep. All of us. I was tempted to just run to Target or Wal-Mart. But I was inspired by my friend, Jennifer Chase and her blog post. Why not make my purchase count for something? MEAN something to someone. I LOVE knowing that 4 children who didn't have shoes before now have shoes covering their precious feet. What are the ways you help others??

Today is the day...

...that Mia has been with us longer than she was away from us!  YAY!!!  I feel like celebrating!  The wait seemed SO LONG while we were waiting to go get her.  Now, she's been home one day longer than that and the time has FLOWN by!  She is doing SO well.  Here's a little bit about her and what she's doing now:

-She will be 11 months on February 1st.
-She weighs around 16 pounds.
-She wears size 3-6 month clothes.
-She wears size 2 diapers.
-She likes to tease.  When I try to get her to say "Momma", she says "Daddy"!
-She started walking a few days ago, but refuses to do it again!  She does take a few steps from one thing to another, and walks around the edges of things all the time.
-She can clap and say "Yay" while standing.
-She's a VERY busy girl!  She never stops!
-She tries to eat things off of the floor when I'm not looking.
-She thinks Mason is hilarious!
-She has never really cared for baby food.
-She loves pizza! {who doesn't?!?}
-She can climb stairs---we have to watch her closely {and shut the gate}!
-She has REALLY wild, crazy hair when she wakes up!!
-She's pretty good about letting other people hold her--as long as I'm pretty close by.
-She says "Daddy" ALL the time.
-She's a Momma's girl.
-We love her more than you can imagine.

Hi!

Mia WALKS!!!

So, Miss Mia has taken a step or two here and there without help the last few days.  But today, SHE WALKED!!!  At 10 1/2 months!  WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!?  She's too little to be doing stuff like this, right??  She's in SUCH a big hurry!  But yet, she's still so tiny (she still wears 3-6 month clothes).  Mia, slow down!!!  You're doing too much--too fast, baby!

Begging for Bananas

Mia LOVES bananas. So if anyone eats one, they MUST share with her!!

Sleep Tight

So, Miss Mia is an amazing sleeper now! She ALWAYS sleeps exactly in this spot-exactly like this. She likes to have all of her "friends" in there with her. And she MUST have this stripey blanket with the satiny edges to sleep good. Another blanket with satiny edges won't do. Don't ask me how I know! :)

9 years ago...

Yesterday, nine years ago, I was 24 weeks pregnant with our 2nd son, Jayden. We had lost our first son, Jay, 8 months earlier. Jayden had always been very active in my belly. It was actually a comfort to me to feel him move constantly. It was reassuring to me. Well, on this day, he didn't move. Not once. I hadn't felt him move for hours. I called my doctor. The nurse said to drink a Coke, lay down, and concentrate on his movements for an hour. She was not concerned. So, I did this. I waited. Still no movements. My doctor said to come in and he would check everything out. He listened to Jayden's heartbeat, etc and said everything seemed fine. But Jason & I were not convinced. We were a teensy bit paranoid after Jay's death. So, my doctor sent us to the neonatologist in Dallas at Baylor that we had gone to with Jay. When we got there, he did a sonogram and immediately asked me if I was in pain. I wasn't. He said I was in the early stages of labor. They admitted me immediately into the hospital. They gave Jayden steroids to make his lungs mature. They gave me medicines to slow down the labor. But there was no stopping it. Jayden was born just a few hours later. He lived for 10 short hours--this 2nd son of mine. So, today is the day--nine years ago--that he died. God had blessed us richly since then. And, looking back, even in those incredibly rough times of our lives, He was blessing us. So today, I remember with much love, my son.

Catching up...

So, I've been TERRIBLE about blogging since we brought Mia home.  Actually, that's an understatement.  I've done NO blogging since we brought Mia home!  So, I'll try to do better.  I also plan on going back and blogging (at least a little) about what has happened with us in the last few months!  So....wish me luck!!