Journey's hand surgery

Journey's next hand surgery is tomorrow! It should be her last hand surgery, but unfortunately she will be having another surgery in January to find and hopefully fix her sleep apnea. She is so excited for this surgery because it will give her 5 fingers on her right hand. She has noticed that there are 'two in there' and is excited at the idea of 5 fingers.

This surgery is also significant in that Jeb has started to understand what surgery means. He asked about how the doctor will give her 5 fingers, so I told him a very basic version. He shook his head and said "No, that would hurt her!" I told him about anesthesia, that it is a special medicine that makes her take a long nap and doesn't feel anything. He smiled at me like I was joking and said "no way!" I still don't think he believes me. But Journey's excitement has eased his mind a little. I can't wait to post the after pictures!!

Thanksgiving

Time to get back to posting! I was trying to leave the post about our big news up at the top for awhile so everyone would get a chance to see it, but now I'm behind on blogging :)

Thanksgiving morning we stayed in our pajamas all morning, which was very very funny to the kids. It was even more fun because they were wearing their favorite pajamas. Jeb and Vivi both needed new, bigger pajamas and both picked the same ones with construction trucks. So of course we got a matching one for Journey too. Truck pajama night is the best night of the week around here!

We watched the parade

Eric made a big breakfast and they got to eat while watching tv, which was very exciting

Then we made turkey crafts





Then after lunch and quiet rest time it was finally time to get dressed and go to Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt's house. They clean up good, don't they?



We got there just in time for me to carve the turkey, under Grandpa's close supervision

Jebby's first Thanksgiving, he gets the drumstick!




My cousin put paper on the wall with markers for everyone to write what they are thankful for. Vivi said she is thankful for a happy heart, Journey is thankful for Halloween and Thanksgivings (she kept getting confused and wishing people a Happy Halloween :) and Jeb is thankful for Aunt Janelle, Thanksgiving, and Halloween too!

Hanukkah

Lighting the candles on the first night


Jeb's first latke!

The Christmas Can, our new tradition

I had the idea to make this Christmas countdown calendar last year, and had it almost put together, but with the disappointment of Jeb not being home in time and the girls not really being old enough to appreciate it, I didn't end up finishing it.

This year, I finished it and got it all glued onto the frame I made. I used bean/vegetable cans and wrapped them in wrapping paper. Then I cut out a Christmas tree shape from cardboard and hot glued them on. It looked so cute! I even got a little star for the top.

It was so cute for a whole day, then the cats knocked it off the shelf and a bunch of the cans ripped off and scattered :( So now it's the horizontal Christmas countdown calendar, or as my kids have started calling it, the Christmas Cans.

I've been trying to be budget friendly, not spending a lot of money on it, so most of the countdown activities have been simple things like 'lets watch a Christmas movie and eat popcorn!' or 'lets make Christmas cookies!' or thoughtful, 'lets make cards to send to soldiers'. But other times have been more adventurous, like 'lets go to the Lego exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum', and the one Jeb is still talking about, the day we spent the day in Frankenmuth. The message in the Christmas can said 'go look under your pillow!' and we put $5 under each of their pillows to spend at Frankenmuth.



On Christmas Eve, the very last can contained the first clue for their treasure hunt, which is another post :)

It was a really fun tradition and one we plan on continuing. Next year I think I'd like to do more service project type things, like sending cards to soldiers that we did this year. The kids really enjoyed it, and in general enjoy doing things to help others. It will take a little more planning on my part, but it would be a great way to combine a fun tradition with helping others, and driving home the true meaning of Christmas.

Frankenmuth trip

Our big news

You may be coming to this blog because of the Christmas card you received from us that piqued your curiosity. If so, hi! I hope you'll continue following this blog as we document our daily lives as well as our newest adventure. If you're a regular reader and/or did not receive a Christmas card, our big news is that we are adopting again!

We have begun the process to adopt from Hong Kong. I'm going to try to answer all the questions we've already been asked, and would be happy to answer any other questions.

Where is Hong Kong?
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. So, part of China but the rules are a little different. We don't qualify to adopt from China because we are not 30, but Hong Kong only requires parents to be 25. Hong Kong is beautiful and bustling and is supposed to have some of the best food in the world.

How many kids are you bringing home this time?
Just one this time, unless we find a sibling group that is a good match. The agency we used for Jeb and Journey allowed us to adopt multiple unrelated kids from the special needs program, but we are using a different agency this time that doesn't allow this.

What will your child look like?
Our child will likely be of Chinese heritage, but people from other countries sometimes immigrate to Hong Kong, so some of the children may have a different background.

Hong Kong is a special needs only program. Because Hong Kong is not a very poor country like Ethiopia is, they have a well established domestic adoption program for the healthy children who need families. So, our child will have special needs. We don't know what that means right now, we have a long list of issues that we are open to, ranging from mild to correctable to moderately serious. Keep in mind that we adopted Jeb and Journey as special needs kids and they are both doing great. Special needs in adoption can mean a lot of things :)

When will your child come home?
That's a loaded question in the adoption world. According to our agency, from the time we accept our referral (meaning we have identified the child we hope to adopt) to travel is 8-10 months. Depending on how quickly we get our paperwork gathered and to Hong Kong, and how long it takes for us to find our child, it could be late next year, or any time in 2014.

How old will your child be?
We are saying at this point that we'd like our next child to be younger than Journey. But our hearts are open to whatever child God leads us to, so we may be surprised :)

Boy or girl?
We are open to either. The kids have different opinions every day. Jeb usually says he wants a lot of sisters, but he also wants a boy so he can share a room.

What language will he or she speak?
The official languages of Hong Kong are Cantonese and English.

Why Hong Kong?
Our hearts have been opened to special needs, so that was our first criteria. Hong Kong is a small, but steady program that has been that way for a long time. A part of our hearts are still in Ethiopia, but the program is a little bit unsteady right now. Hong Kong only requires one trip, which is easier on the budget, since our Ethiopian adoption ended up requiring 3 trips. We're also hoping to fall in love with another country the same way that we fell in love with Ethiopia.

Will you take the kids when you travel?
We would LOVE to go as a family, but it will depend on the money. With the adoption tax credit still being iffy, we may have to fund this completely by ourselves, without the tax credit refunding a part of it later. We'll be doing some fundraising and there are some grants we can apply for, and we'll be moving forward on faith!

That's about all I can think of! You're welcome to leave further questions in the comments section of the blog, or email me directly :) We appreciate your prayers as we venture out on another journey to expand our family :) 

Trimming the tree