We went to the park the other day to meet some friends of ours who have 3 little ones from New Day...it was kind of a "mini" New Day Reunion.  We are hoping to make the big New Day reunion in Texas...Laine seems to think we can do it, just us mama's (Daddy has no vacation time left after our China trip)...Laine is a brave, brave woman. :-)

 Wow.  These kids look happy :-)  They actually really were happy, they just didn't want to stop for a photo.

 Maggie couldn't be happier...

 Here is our birthday girl TODAY - she is EIGHT!!!  Where does time go?  She is such a joy and a delight to us all.  She is Mommy's helper and can't wait to be a Mommy herself.  We love you so much, Emily!!  You are a blessing to us all!!

 Landon and CJ got to experience Ice Cream Sandwiches.  Landon LOVED them, until....

 he realized that he got messy.

 CJ didn't mind getting messy at all.

 Here is our boy who cries during EVERY bath time, but seems to love the hose (maybe we should bathe him with the hose??  Hm...)

And here is our little guy who USED to cry with every bath.  He loves the hose, too, but he also loves bath time now! :-)

From the E.R....to doin' yard work - what a trooper!

Yesterday morning started out rough...Abby decided that she has had enough of not being the center of attention.  Landon and I had a small (large) battle of the wills....we just had a hard time gettin' it together.  But, I was not going to be daunted.  I said, "Kids, we are not going to let this stop us.  We are going to Publix for 4 things.  We can do this."  Then, I went to change CJ's diaper.  Nope.  We can't do this.  I have to call the doctor.

CJ and Landon both have Spina Bifida, but CJ has a Foley catheter.  So, there shouldn't be a wet diaper.  His diaper was soaked, and there were other indicators which made me realize, we needed care quickly.  

I called the pediatrician, and they said to bring him in.  We went in, and after much talkin' and no action...they said, "We cannot touch this here.  You need to be at the ER at the Children's Hospital downtown."  Okee Dokee.

So, CJ and I headed down to Children's.  I walked in and briefly explained our situation, and they didn't even have me sit down to fill out the paperwork...right on back we went.  Now, I was thinking, "Well, this is good that we don't have to wait, but a little disconcerting that they want us seen so quickly."  Yep.  And within about 10 or 15 minutes we had seen 2 doctors, 4 nurses, and they had called urology.  I absolutely LOVE our Children's Hospital here - they are amazing, but bless their hearts - it is hard to decide a path to take for treatment when they have very little medical history on the child.  We got good information from New Day, but I was jet-lagged and getting info on 2 kiddos with Spina Bifida.  Also, New Day is in Ch*na...and Ch*na treats things a bit differently than we do here in the States.  The doctors here said that our Spina Bifida Clinic (which is seeing both boys on May 23rd) will be able to help the boys lots, but for now, we are treating a doozy of a UTI for CJ, and they replaced his Foley (he and I both cried on that one.)

Today he is doing great...

 Okay, this is cool.

 Hm....I think I am understanding.

Yep.  I got it.

CJ is doing so well with his bonding...that has to be the Lord.

 A very wise friend told me that getting outside and getting lots of sunshine helps with jet lag.  Well, let me tell ya, we need help getting over this jet lag - it is brutal.  So, we decided to introduce the boys to the Barbie Car.  CJ didn't like it so much...he wanted to stick with the broken Barbie Jeep.  Landon was a little timid at first, but then...

 he loved it!  Until....

Maggie had a little accident running over the dump truck and ending up on 2 wheels. :-)  He got over it pretty fast though, and now he just pitches a fit when it is time to get out of the Barbie Car.

All-in-all, every one is adjusting remarkably well.  Now, if we could just get some sleep....

Travel Dates!

Details are still being worked on, but as it stands, we depart Birmingham on Thursday, April 12th (yep, next week - YIKES), and return home on Saturday, April 28th. The link to our travel site is http://hisgiftsfromchina.shutterfly.com/ We are so excited, a little nervous, and beyond thrilled that we will be holding our little guys in less than 2 weeks!

Just a little note to say...

TA!!!!!!!! We got TA on Friday...amongst a little bit o' excitement across the board. As a friend of mine so wisely said, "The Enemy would love to steal your joy." But he just isn't going to do that this time. We should hear whether or not we got our Consulate request by Monday morning. If we do, I will post the link to our travel blog, which is on Shutterfly, and I will post our travel dates.

Right now, we are just enjoying a sweet visit from Grammy and Grandpa from Florida, and eagerly anticipating our upcoming trip to bring our 2 precious additions home! More soon! Thanks, dear praying friends for ALL of your support and encouragement!!

A little bit o' cute and a little bit o' crazy...

This weekend we went to a birthday party for a sweet friend of ours, Jonathan....his family just brought him home from Ch*na last year with his brother, Josiah. Well, little Maggie and Josiah just really hit it off. They love playing together. I captured a really cute picture of them as they paused in their play for some cake (you can always get Maggie to pause for cake :-)

Maggie and Josiah

Abby really enjoyed checking out the chicks.

Now, for the crazy. Drew has always wanted a mohawk. I don't know what it is with boys and mohawks? Since we have moved to Alabama, he has been sportin' the 'Bama do...flippin' the extra hair in the front. Well, it is getting much warmer these days, so Dad and Luke convinced Drew that he should just buzz his hair for the summer. It broke my heart, but I am learning to keep my mouth shut. Daddy is bald, but somehow he still thinks that he is the "hair specialist" of our family :-) Again, I have learned to keep my mouth shut. The guys decided that before buzzing the hair all together, I needed to give him a mohawk...so, for about 15 minutes, he got to live his dream...a mohawk.

Don't worry, Grammy. We didn't leave it this way.

Whoo Hoo!! Waitin' for TA!

I cannot believe that we are this close! Our Article 5 was picked up last night (as far as we know...). Our agency basically said that they aren't normally informed unless there is a problem. So, here we are...waiting for Travel Approval.

I will not be able to access our blog while we are in Ch*na unless I do a VPN, which we aren't going to attempt. So, I have set up a privatized Shutterfly site. I will post the link as we get closer to travel, and if you guys want to follow along, please email me at symasekfab5@aol.com - I will be happy to send you the password!! We want tons of people following along - I just am not going to make it an open blog. And for all my bloggy friends out there who I don't really "know" - please don't hesitate to email me for the password...this isn't any attempt to be exclusive, this is so that we can post what we would like to post in a sensitive area of the world. :-)