3 Word Sunday.

For the rules about 3WS go and visit Pug Mama or just believe me when I tell you that your photo or video needs to sum up your week in 3 words and it's gotta be truthful. Pretty easy!

This weeks photos for us are a no brainer since Lily started school this week.

But now that big sister is gone for most of the day Rosie walks around all day long with her head hung low and repeats over and over again, "where's mine big Lily?" It is so sad, so very, very sad. Sad that is for the first 500 times but after that it just really makes your brain itch.

Happy Adoption Day Lilipop.

The moment the world stood still.
All the years of waiting and heartache just melted away at this very second.



Daddy and daughter. Her face is covered in schnoog from crying so very hard. She has a big bruise on her head and a fresh scar on her nose where she had just had some stitches taken out...yet I see none of this just the most beautiful face in the world. ( I used to call her my little monkey cos she looks just like a little chimpanzee)



It was 6 years ago today that we became parents. In so many ways it seems like just yesterday because the memories of that day are all still so vivid and it doesn't seem possible that the tiny soul that was handed to us is now 7 years old and is our beautiful and outgoing Lily.

When I look at the photos of that day and think of all that she had gone through in her little life it hurts so much. So many people caring for her, so many abrupt changes in just the 48 hours leading up to that moment...gosh it makes me shudder. I am so thankful that she doesn't remember any of it.

She knows all about it, she loves that we were crying tears of joy and that she was crying too but her tears were scared tears because she was saying...help, who are these freaks, get them away from me! She laughs her head off when she tells it. (This is the way she tells her story for now. The way that she has constructed it with the information she has.) The information we have given her is all the truth and we will always give her the truth.

Lilipop. you were the first person to ever call by a name that I wanted to hear for so many years, you called me Mama. Thank you Lily for being my daughter. I love you.

Thank you, of course, to a couple who still keep a part of my heart, her birth parents, to both of you we will be eternally grateful. You gave us the greatest gift of all.

Harper Is Coming Home

The little girl that has been at the centre of so much media attention because her family was forced to leave her behind in China following their adoption is coming home!
Jay will hopefully be travelling next weekend back to China to bring Harper home. They haven't posted all the ins and outs of what happened yet on their website but will be doing so shortly.

I just have one thing to say: Don't mess with the Chinese Adoption Community, we are a force to be reckoned with! I am so proud to be able to say that my family stood up and fought for this little girl.

What an amazing homecoming this will be.........sigh.

Back To School

On Friday we received a phone call from the new principal of Lily's school stating that homeroom assignments and class lists would be posted outside of the school that afternoon. After our play date we hopped in to the car and drove to school to see which classroom she would be in but more importantly who her classmates would be.

The excitement was short lived. I started to read the list to Lily and her little face just got longer and longer. I didn't recognise the names but I thought she would. She didn't. As I neared the end of the list it was apparent that none and I mean NONE of her friends were in her class. As we walked back to the car I struggled to find the words to comfort her with. We decided later that night to go back in the morning and write all the names down and then cross check them in the year book to see who the kids were. We did and it made things worse. She still didn't know them and the ones she did she was not happy about.

Last night we dealt with tears. Not tantrum type tears but sad ears. Tears that come from deep within your heart because you are only 7 and you are starting 2nd grade and you don't have one best friend in your class. It killed me, it killed her daddy too. I rang a friend, Jenny and asked for advice. She is a teacher and I needed advice from an educator not from a friend or a parent. But Jenny is a parent first and a dear friend second so her advice was heartfelt. We threw some ideas around and I had a few suggestions to use this morning. I didn't sleep well, my stomach was in knots and my heart ached, it ached because Lily was hurting. This is an aspect of parenting I just don't like. I can guide her and help her through the rough stuff but watching her maneuver these waters hurts me because I want to stop her from ever, ever, feeling pain. I know if she never felt pain she would grow up to be a horrible human being but it hurts to see her hurt.

This morning we were up early and ready to leave the house on time. She was ready but not at all into it. We took photos like we always do and then she trudged into the car. The neighbourhood was a mad house so we parked a few blocks from school and walked in. Jacob or I would carry lily over the grass so that she wouldn't get her new shoes wet???

Once we arrived we passed many of her friends as we walked her into her class which of course just compounded the fact that she was alone. At this point I nearly cried. We entered her room and found her desk and I tried to find all sorts of positive things to point out but came up with nothing. Rosie at least kept things lively as she thought she was staying and tried to fit herself in the desk as well. Her teachers weren't very chatty which frankly pissed me off, aren't they meant to welcome the kids??? I thought a nice hello would have gone far.

We knew we couldn't stay forever so we started to make it clear we were leaving. She hugged me so tight and said she would miss me. I couldn't actually talk to her cos the lump in my throat was just to darned large and I feared if It tried to talk this god awful primal wail would escape. I hugged her and kissed her and managed to squeeze Rosie into the hug whilst yet again I composed myself. I told her I would miss her to and that everything WOULD be OK because daddy and I would always make things Ok and then we left.

I had to get to work so I dropped Jacob and Rosie back at the house and headed out. I needed a distraction and was glad of it.
Time seem to stand still today and my mind never left classroom 801c but eventually it was finally time to go and pick her up and Jacob and I jockeyed for a space in the crowd. After what seemed like hours in the humidity a happy, smiling, chirpy, bouncy, Lily skipped out of the crowd and dashed into my arms just gushing about her wonderful day. Are you #$%$# kidding me? I have been out of my brain all day worrying about you and you've been fine! Oh thank god, I wouldn't have had it any other way. That was the best ending I could have imagined. She loved it...loved it I tell you.

Me, I'm going to bed cos quite frankly 2nd grade is exhausting.

Getting ready to leave the house


Sitting at her desk.....her smile just isn't shining in this one.

3 Word Sunday.

It's that time again. Go here to visit Pug Mama and see all the official rules for 3 Word Sunday and then go back to see her tomorrow and see the amazing slide show that she puts together.

Everybody will tell that you that the people they meet through adoption are just the most incredible people that they have ever met. Our stories are no different. Most of the people we spend time with now are families that have children from China and our closest friends of all are Hollis and her girls. We just clicked, we love her, her girls and the feeling is mutual. Our girls play for hours and hours on end and just cannot get enough of each other.

This photo only captures 3 of the 5 girls but if you look behind the girls you can see more evidence of how hard they play by the sheer devastation left in their wake......

Hubby also had 3 words this week. He has been working an awful lot of over time and last night he just wanted to get home but mother nature had other plans. We had some really awful thunderstorms here yesterday afternoon which ended up closing Miami International Airport for a few hours. This meant that Hubby wasn't able to get home when he was supposed to and he finally crawled into the house at around 2.30am. He didn't get cheery welcome he deserved in fact we didn't even save him his side of the bed apparently. God I look awful when I'm sleeping.

Making Every Second Count

This is the last week of Lily's summer holiday. Bright and early on Monday morning she returns to the annals of learning....big groan. I started off the week by deciding we needed to start getting up at the time we need to get up in order to be ready for school but we failed miserably at it every single day this week so Monday is going to be thoroughly wretched, oh well.

We have made every second of every day this week count by having tonnes of fun. On Monday Jacob took the girls to the waterpark with a friend of his and suffice to say tonnes of fun was had.

Another highlight was going to visit our dear friend Jenny and her new baby daughter Danielle who was exactly one week old. Rosie just sort of stared at Danielle and didn't really know what to make of her. Is she a toy, is she real? Rosie wasn't to sure but Lily was absolutely awestruck and it was just beautiful. Her eyes got really big and her mouth fell open and she just stared in amazement whilst she gathered her thoughts and her words. When she was finally able to speak she just gushed. I must admit I have never been a real baby person, they scare me a bit cos they are so little but this little girl stole my heart hook line and sinker. I have never ever seen such a more beautiful child, she is perfect. She isn't even wrinkled. Jenny delivered her really really quickly so there wasn't much time to get squashed and wrinkled.

I look so nervous!

Lily had her riding lesson which was great fun and she was a true superstar but I failed to take any photos but if I get one more horse picture on this blog I swear I will barf!

And to make sure we ended the summer holiday on a high note we had a big playdate with Hollis and the girls yesterday. Apparently they had fun. I know this because at one point I looked at my phone and had 4 missed calls and 3 voicemails and nobody had even heard it ring. The noise level in here must have risen by a few thousand decibels. We hadn't noticed we were having just as much fun ourselves.

We had fruit with melted chocolate for desert and the girls loved it. Once they were done Rosie went back and started cleaning up their plates but I busted her! It was odd cos she didn't want any chocolate on her fruit during dinner nor did she eat any pound cake but after everyone was done she was eating all their left overs. Such a classy kid!

One of the calls was Lilys schools saying that they had posted their class lists outside the school for next year so after everyone left we drove over to the school to see what class she would be in. Since she had such a crappy teacher last year we couldn't wait to see who she had this year because it certainly couldn't be any worse than last year...ha ha ha never say never!!!!!

My poor little munchkin, for the first time ever, is in a class with none of her friends, not one. She is so sad! Yes, she has a better teacher, we think, but no friends. Urgghh, she cannot catch a break at this school. Thank god she is a good student. Since last night we have been in a constant pep talk with her. She will be fine, she always is and she is very sociable, actually we wonder if this has something to do with the decision.

Tomorrow we have one more fun filled day and then it is back to school for us. Lots of people are glad when their kids go back to school, I am not one of them. I will miss her, we have had so much fun, I love having my girls with me.

3 Word Sunday

For the full rules of 3 word Sunday go here and visit with Pug Mama.

Life With Lily

It would appear that Rosie has been stealing the spotlight here of late so I am dedicating this post to Lily.

She had her 7 year check up at the pediatrician the other day and now weighs 49.5lbs and is 47 inches tall. Smack dab in the middle of the growth charts and as the doctor put it a little power house of solid muscle. Her visit was very uneventful as she was up to date on all her shots and had nothing to report. Her vision and hearing are fine and Barbara is thrilled with her, me too. Of course the Dr. immediately noticed the scar on her face and wanted to know what happened and Lily wasted no time showing her the rest of the collage of scars from the same day and telling her hair raising story. We are now using Meder*ma 4 times a day in addition to not leaving the house without sunscreen and there is already a noticeable improvement so I highly recommend it.

My little girl is getting so big! She really is. She still only wants to wear dresses and I swear if riding horses side saddle were an option she would even wear dresses for that.

Even though she is very much a girly girl in many aspects of her life she is very adventurous and loves to try all sorts of things and once again appears to have no fear whatsoever....oh deary me.

She has finally found her patience with her little sister and life is alot more harmonious. She knows how to work things out with her rather than just scream, "MUMMY," at the top of her lungs when Rosie barges in to whatever Lily is doing.

She has graduated from beginners riding lessons to intermediate lessons and I no longer enjoy being a spectator. The horses are not as calm and don't just meander through the motions. These horses are highly strung and react to the slightest touch. Before her last lesson started she was told she couldn't even take her hands off of the reins to scratch and was not to fidget. By the time the sermon was over I had almost fainted. Lily is a fidget! She was the youngest kid in the class and the only one who wasn't a beginner. Again...oh deary me. At one point they were riding without stirrups and when she put her feet back in them her foot managed to get tangled in the reins and the fricking horse went nuts! She stayed on...I don't know how. I had to turn away, which probably isn't the best thing to do but I can't watch. I wish she would take up knitting instead.

Here is a few seconds of a talk Hema had with Lily at the end of her lesson......

......she lasted more than 3 seconds, 90 minutes to be exact. She is very determined.

That is one thing about Lily that never changes...her true grit.

She let a lizard into my car today and thought it was cute. Me not so much. She catches the horrid little creatures in her bare hands. Of course then I make her wash them...her hands not the lizards, she would probably love to wash a lizard.

Lily I love you. ( but not the lizard that is now in my car and it doesn't matter how many times you and daddy tell me it it is more scared of me than I am of it, I can guarantee that is not the case.)

Outraged

I am sad, actually I am beyond sad. My heart is breaking for a family that I have never met. The Scruggs Family ( Click on the family name to link to their site) went to China and officially adopted their little girl Harper on June 4th and were told on june 5th that she had tested positeve for an active case of T.B. but had been treated and was now testing negative and had been doing so for 3 months. When they went to the obligatory medical exam for adoptive children in China she once again tested posiitve. The T.B. test is a new test that was implemented 30 days ago. The CDC (Center For Disease Control) working hand in hand with United States Immigration will not allow an adopted child to fly into this country with an active case of T.B. and will not allow the parents to mask Harper for the flight! The bottom line is this. Harper is now their daughter and has to stay in China for 42 more days until she can be re tested following a regimen of medications. Her parents cannot afford to stay with her for 42 more days and honestly who could? They have another child and both have to work so Harper is being forced to stay with a family that the Scruggs have found that are loving and kind and are willing to help them out. Do you have any idea of the ramifications this will have on her. Does the CDC even care. No, of course they don't.

The Scruggs are asking that you sign this petition

Click Here And so am I.
They are also asking that you call your senators and representatives and you can do that by clicking here and here

I have also emailed every local television station and newspaper everyday and each day I flood my facebook page with their story and I won't quit. Thankfully they are starting to get some coverage.

This is their Youtube Video of when Jay had to say good bye to his little girl....you will need tissues.
part one


Part two



What the hell is the matter with this country that it can treat adopted children differently than biological children? I am not a U.S. citizen and after the noise and fuss I am making about this I probably won't be invited to be one anytime soon.

3 Word Sunday

Pug Mama has revived, 3 Word Sunday. Go here to read the rules and see what it is all about.

Here is our very obvious contribution for this week.

Some Really Bad Videos

Rosie has decided that swimming is the best thing EVER and all she wants to do is swim. On Monday Jacob took the girls to the pool while I was at work and called me to say that Rosie was officially swimming. On Tuesday I was determined to get back in the pool with her as I didn't want her to lose momentum. She didn't and surprised the dickens out of me by leaping off the side right into the water and swimming back to the side. We have a waterproof camera for occasions such as this but when Jacob was using it on Monday it suddenly filled up with water and is now being repaired. I didn't want to miss out on Rosie's first few days of real swimming so I braved taking both kids and my camera into the pool today which explains the lame quality of the video and why my poor kid ended up choking...bad mama! I tried to tape some of her and asked Lily to help catch Rosie, which she did, really well but not wanting to ruin 2 cameras in one week and let Rosie drown was way to much of a challenge so if I sound a tad stressed that is why. Yes, of course Rosie comes first but you get the idea


Take one


Never a dull moment around these parts.


Swimming and choking
In this one Rosie decides to go further than usual and takes on water and comes up spluttering and choking so the video just ends, very abruptly, as I fish her out...sorry!


This one is of Lily later this afternoon after the swimming when she was riding. The instructor said that Lily rode extremely well and as a reward would let Lily lead the horse back to it's field after she had been cooled off and cleaned up. The kids are never allowed to do this so as you can imagine Lily was proud and really strutted her stuff. I however failed to turn the camera off, yet again, when I was done following her so you get a nice shot of the ground and the wood that is being used to repair the stables with. I am too lazy tonight to fiddle around and edit those 4 seconds out as that will take me an hour.



Here she is getting ready to lead Marquesa back to the field.


Just another day in our life and the best part is that the madness will start all over again in the morning.

Little Chicken

Rosie is a scared little chicken. Her own shadow has been known to make her jump out of her skin. That said she is getting much better but we still have a long way to go. Take a look at the video and you will see what I mean.



Excuse my appearance but i have just got out of the shower and haven't done my hair.