Garland Family of 5

Goodbye Summer

2011-09-07T17:21:00.000-04:00

As it was pointed out to me recently, I have not blogged in a VERY long time. So here is a quick re-cap of our awesome summer. My one goal for this summer was to have fun with the kids and we did!

My wonderful sister Janel came and lived with us and watched the kids on the days that I worked. She did an amazing job and the kids miss her so much now that she is back in school. They played, swam, went to the park and just had fun all summer long. Here are some pics from our summer ...

My sister Alyssa grauated from UC in Fashion Design. She is getting ready to move to Milwaukee to begin her careeer.

Keenan graduated from preschool in May. Here he is with his aunts, Alyssa and Janel.

For Mother's Day, my sisters and I took my mom to a fun new place, Paint by the Glass.

( Alyssa, Me, Tiffany, Mom, and Janel)

We took our annual trip to Hilton Head. Michael and Jeremy showing off their dinners.

Keenan and Bella in the ocean.

Beach beauties ... Addy and Bella

Keenan and Aidan getting ready for a dolphin cruise ... check out Keenan's face.

In July, we went on a long weekend trip to Chicago with our good friends, Kim and Tad. We had a blast and can't wait to go again next year!

Trip to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis.

Aidan, Bella and Keenan - they are quite the warriors, aren't they?

Another trip to Indy to visit with college friends. Nick, Michael, Brad and Chris

Alisha, Lisa, Me, Laura and baby Sawyer

The boys had another great birthday party with friends.

Good friends, Josie, Aidan, Shelby, Keenan and Bella

Golf outing - Benny, Aidan, Michael and Keenan

The crew getting ready to get on the bus.

(Trent, Abby, Troy and Aidan)

Back to school for all - Aidan (3rd), Keenan (Kindergarten) and Bella (pre-K)

Michael and Aidan on the field at the Reds game. Michael presented an award and was able to take Aidan. He got a lot of autographs, won a signed ball - all on his birthday!

The boys showing off their new hats (family birthday party).

Can you guess where we have been??

2011-05-15T20:31:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to Orlando for several days. This was our first trip there since Aidan was 2 and at that time we only visited Sea World. We felt the kids were at a good age to go and they were! We had a blast and hit all four Disney parks, spent time at Downtown Disney (especially at the Lego store ... Aidan was in heaven), ate at Rainforest Cafe and the T-Rex restaurants and came home exhausted!!! Here are several pics from our trip ...

Aidan and Keenan near the Indiana Jones Adventure at Hollywood Studios

Our favorite day was probably at Epcot. We spent the entire day there and enjoyed so, so many things there. Stitch greeted the kids and this was just the beginning of the many characters we got to see.

Keenan holding the world on his finger.

The highlight of the entire trip for Bella was getting to meet Tinkerbell. That is ALL we heard about for days before we got there. She was in awe!

The boys goofing around in Norway.

Bella with Mulan

Aidan holding the Epcot ball in his hands.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

We were at Epcot during the flower festival and it was gorgeous! Here is Bella with Tinkerbell.

Had to take a picture of this. Everest Expedition, the roller coaster at Animal Kingdom is in the background. This was Aidan's first roller coaster and he loved it!!

Bella passed out and lounging back in her stroller - check out the open mouth. She reminds me of how my grandma used to sleep.

All three with Rafiki

Bella posing in front of Rainforest Cafe

Aidan snapped this pic of Michael and I ... I think it is the only one of the 2 of us we got the entire trip.

Family pic at the Magic Kingdom

With my princess

Happy Easter!!

2011-04-26T20:30:00.000-04:00

Every time I post I swear I won't wait as long to post again, but then even more time passes by. So, I won't make any promises of when I will post again, but here is a snapshot of what has been happening in our lives so far this Spring!!!

Easter morning - my three blessings ...

Aidan showing off one of his Easter presents - I am not even sure if he knows who Michael Jordan is - ha!

Bella reaching for an egg ... how did it get up there?

Keenan is so proud of his new basketball - he says he has "moves" now.

Family pic

Everyone came to our house to celebrate Easter. The rain held off and we had a great afternoon enjoying fellowship, good food and one of the largest Easter eggs hunts around. Here are all of the kids (Bella, Addyson, Ashlynn, Aidan, Keenan and Hunter).

Keenan with his best buddy, Hunter (it was also his 5th birthday!)

We have also been back into sports this spring. Well, when it isn't raining. Keenan is playing T-ball again and would rather just hit the ball all day and not have to field it. Aidan is back into soccer and is learning what it is like to play on some cold and nasty days. We are all having fun and enjoying watch them when we can.

I also just completed my first 5K a couple of weeks ago. This is a HUGE deal for me because I have NEVER been a runner. I started the couch to 5K training program a few months ago and when I started couldn't run a lap (seriously). Anyway, I ran in the Race for the Cure with my wonderful family. We did it in honor of my precious grandma Alice, who passed away from breast cancer 14 years ago. There were 40,000 who participated. We had a blast and now I can't wait to do another one!

Here is the group (minus me). Janel, Thomas, Jeremy, my mom Natalie, Tom, Tiffany, Alyssa, Will and Addyson.

Part of my grandmother's legacy ... Janel, mom, me, Alyssa, Tiffany, Addyson.

Random Photos

2011-02-05T14:26:00.000-05:00

This blog for us is a way to capture what has been going on in our lives throughout the year. I haven't been able to keep up with it like I would like to, but here is a little bit about what we have been up to over the past month.

We have had so much snow this year! The kids have had snow day after snow day. They enjoy it, but I am ready for the snow to end and for Spring to appear! We have had a lot of fun and have taken advantage of some of the time off indoors and out.

Evening with friends - the kids were rockin' it out! (Btw, this is Bella's boyfriend, Bryson. They adore each other ... it is just too cute!)

Emy with all of the ladies of the house (Bella, Lily, Lola and Eva)

Michael gave me tickets to see the Blue Man Group for Christmas. They performed at IU last week and we ventured out in the ice storm to see the show. The show was amazing and we stayed in another beautiful Bed & Breakfast. We even got to visit our favorite winery and visit with my sister Janel who is a student there.

Here is the fountain outside the winery.

Michael and the boys have been skiing almost every weekend this winter. This is Aidan's 5th year skiing and Keenan's 2nd year. Keenan is now taking on the black diamond slopes along with his big brother and daddy. They LOVE going and can't wait to get back out on the slopes each weekend.

On MLK Day, we went to the Newport Aquarium with some of our new friends from our neighborhood. I did not get many pictures because the place was packed that day, but here are a couple of my three kiddos posing for me.

And as I was going through pics to post, I found this one that I took last February of Bella. My, how she has grown and changed! She is still as sweet and loving as ever, but she has become the boss of the house. She is little miss independent and tells us to "stop" and often does not want our help with things. She is proving just how much she can do on her own now. She can say so many words now, but we still are working on her putting multiple words together in sentences. She has a tendency to leave off the ending of words and rush through her speech. She is amazing at putting puzzles together; knows all her letters; is doing simple maze puzzles; and is starting to learn how to write the letters of her name (as well as others). I know I always say this, but when I look back, I really see how much she has changed in the last 6 months ... year ... and since she joined our family a year and a half ago!

What we have been up to

2011-01-04T18:17:00.000-05:00

We have had a wonderful few weeks and cannot believe our break is over already! But when I look back at all that we have done, I feel so blessed ... and tired. Wow, what a whirlwind it has been. We were able to spend time with friends and family; celebrate Christmas, New Year's and Bella's birthday; enjoy time off from work and school; and Michael and I were even able to get away for a night at a B&B (which was wonderful!). Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks ...

The college "gang" ... loved spending a great evening with them!

Just the girls ... and 2 babies on the way.

Another night, we met up with some friends for dinner and then went back to our friend's home so the kids could play and we could visit.

Bella, Eva and Josie. Josie was such a great sport and the girls are both such cuties.

With all of the snow, we actually had a white Christmas this year! The boys enjoyed some time outside sledding with our neighbors. We have lived in our new house for 5 months and feel so blessed to be surrounded by such great neighbors and new friends. We even had several of the kids over one day during break and decorated lots of cookies. The kids all had a blast and so did us mommies.

The Garland Family Christmas. One of the most awesome things about this picture is that 5 of these precious kiddos are adopted. And another one was missing - praying you are feeling better, Andrew!

I don't have any Christmas morning pics right now because we had to take pics with a different camera (we left our camera at my sister's house - perfect time to do that. Ugh!) Anyway, here are a couple of pics from Gram's house. The kids were all spoiled rotten as usual!

Aidan and Keenan and their new remote controlled vehicles.

Keean was so worn out that he passed out on Gram's lap. He LOVES to have his back rubbed and Grams loves holding him to do so.

Bella with Grandma and Grandpa ... playing her iXL, which she loves!

Bella also celebrated her birthday New Year's Eve. We had a low-key family party. Here she is with her cousin, Emy. Emy and Bella dressed up all day and truly pretended they were princesses.

Bella with her butterfly cake. The funny thing about this is that she sang "Happy Birthday" to herself.

Happy 2011! Praying it will be a great year for everyone!!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

2010-12-04T20:38:00.000-05:00

The Christmas tree is up, the lights are on the bushes outside, the manger scene is on the mantle and the wreath is on the front door. The Christmas cards have been ordered and most of the shopping is done. We even woke up to snow on the ground this morning. It is beautiful and has been snowing all day long. The snow came just in time for Keenan's Christmas program at preschool. He was so cute in it. He loves songs and music and he did great! We are so blessed to have found another amazing Christian preschool for both he and Bella since our move. Their teachers are wonderful!

We also went to my work today to attend breakfast with Santa. The kids had a blast!! They got to see a performance by the MadCap Puppets, play games, eat breakfast, get a "tattoo", make an ornament, decorate cookies and even have a visit with Santa. Santa had a great sense of humor today. He asked all three kiddos what they wanted for Christmas. Keenan told Santa he wanted a DS and Santa said, "Really, you just want the letters 'd' and 's" and no other letters?" It was cute, but Keenan is now a bit concerned that he is only going to get letters for Christmas.

Keenan decorating his cookie

Aidan and Keenan making their ornaments

Family pic

The kids with Santa

Part of the event this morning included a toy and food drive for local families and the kids each took a toy and we took a bag of food as well. As a family, we are always trying to find ways to show the kids how to share God's love with others by giving and helping out. We especially want them to know that Christmas is not just about them getting toys.

Here is a picture of Keenan's list for Christmas. I just have to share because it is such a cute story. Keenan is learning to write and read words right now. He can't spell, so when he and Aidan were writing their lists, he kept asking me how to spell the items he wanted to include on his list one letter at a time. Well, it got time for Bella to go to bed, so I told him that he could look at the pictures in the magazines and that under each picture the black bold letters spells what the item is. He continued with his list. Several days later I noticed that his list had things written on the front and back of it. One side had the few items that he wants and on the other side I saw this ... Michael and I just cracked up at this! What it is supposed to say is "Temporary Price Cut".

And here is a pic of Aidan's list ...

We have lots of plans this Christmas, including visiting the Creation Museum's Christmas Town, going to a local farm for a Christmas walk and live nativity, going downtown to see the trains and do our yearly ritual, and spending lots of time celebrating our Savior's birth with family and friends. I hope to post a couple more times this month, so stay tuned!

Bella posing in front of a Christmas tree

Gatlinburg 2010

2010-11-12T16:00:00.000-05:00

We did not get to go to Gatlinburg when we normally do. Since we moved to Ohio, the school schedules are a little different. Instead we went over Halloween weekend and stayed until the Tuesday following. It was the PERFECT time to go! Beautiful weather ... less of a crowd ...could get into places without a wait .... just perfect. Michael's parents were able to go with us this year and we again rented a cabin. The cabin was probably the least of the highlights because it was a haven for ladybugs! Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with ladybugs, BUT when there are hundreds of them all over the place (and I am not kidding!), it is a little much. I guess it was because of the warm weather, but seriously, we could have done without.

Here are some pics from our trip ...

We took a pretty lengthy hike to see this waterfall. The kids were are troopers because it took about 3 hours roundtrip (we had no idea when we started!).

Aidan and Keenan at the falls

We took the kids to a Halloween event in downtown Gatlinburg. They had a great time. Here they are ... Robin Hood, Little John and a beautiful butterfly.

Look how fierce ... the scarecrow does not even have a chance!

At the event, there were multiple characters dressed up and Bella wanted to love on them all! The event also had a Chinese acrobatic troop that did a short show. She just sat down and watched it all, enjoying every minute of it.

Our favorite place in the mountains. The boys, Michael and I loved jumping the bolders and successfully did not fall in.

Aidan

Bella's foster parents, Bobby and Julie, came and spent a night with us. They were in town for a conference the following week. We loved seeing them again and spending time with them.

My Keenster ... he kept posing and asking for me to take pictures. So cute!

We took the kids putt-putting a couple of times and they loved it.

Bella, Keenan and Aidan

We also spent time racing cars, riding some rides and doing a little shopping and a lot of eating! Aidan said it best, "This was the best trip ever!"

Happy Fall!

2010-10-23T18:16:00.000-04:00

We have had an amazing fall so far and I just wanted to share a few pics. We also are happy because Bella is doing great since her surgery and has also been released from the cardiologist's care. He did another EKG and they said everything looks perfect, so no further need to follow up on her heart. WooHoo! One less doctor to see and one less procedure for her to have to endure. She is such a little trooper and amazes me how much she has gone through. We have lived at doctor's offices this past year, so to have one less doctor to see is a huge thing for us right now.

As promised, here are some pics of our clan ...

Bella cheering her brothers on at soccer

Family from Texas came in for a weekend and we went to Michael's parents and had a hayride, camp-out and bonfire - so much fun! (Keenan, Aidan, Collin, Hunter, Bella and Abigail)

The boys ... Hunter, Keenan, Collin and Aidan

Mamaw and Bella riding the tractor

Keenan and Michael

Aidan and me ... I loved this time with the kids!

Me with my boys

Family pic

Keenan and I got to go along on a class field trip with Bella to Barn-N-Bunk. They got to through a corn maze, make a scarecrow and take a hayride. (Just look at how much Bella loves her brother)

We all went to Niederman Farm last weekend and had a blast. We went through the corn mazes, went on a hayride, picked out pumpkins, went on the giant swings, visited the farm animals, ate some yummy food (including homemade doughnuts) and the kids also got to jump on the gigantic air cushion and played on the enormous mound of dirt they made for the kids. Here is the trio smilin' it up.

Keenan found a keeper

Aidan showing off his strength

Bella just being so darn cute

Michael and I on the hayride

Silly faces ... there is not a day they don't crack me up!

Happy Fall Everyone ~ Love, The Garland's

Another Surgery

2010-09-26T13:46:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday morning Bella underwent another surgery, her sixth in all. She had her pharyngeal flap repaired which we hope will now allow her to produce many more sounds like "p" and "b". It will also stop her from sounding so nasal when she talks. We are hoping this will speed up her speech and that she will have the ability to take off.

She did amazing with the surgery and after a few LONG days in the hospital was released Friday afternoon. She was so ready to come home, but had to prove to the doctors that she could eat and drink. The surgery is very painful. The doctor essentially had to go in and cut the back of her throat to pull a flap forward and reattach it. She has been through so much and we know she has a high threshold for pain, but this one was hard for her. He hope this is it for a few years. She will eventually have to have a bone graft taken from her hip to create her top gum line. This probably won't happen until she is 8 or 9.

One big downside is that she now has severe sleep apnea ... at least until the swelling goes down. So this makes for some long nights and makes it difficult for her to sleep. She has been crying out a lot during the night. Please pray the swelling goes down soon so she can sleep better.

We want to thank all of our family and friends who have helped us out this week and have prayed for little girl.

Here are some pics from our week ...

Bella with Daddy before surgery (she really wasn't this happy before surgery ... smiles were rare)

Keenan with Bella a couple of days after surgery

Family was able to visit this time ... Bella and her mamaw

Taking a stroll with Grandpa, Grandma and daddy ... she hated being all hooked up, but was excited to get out of the room

Bella with her Papaw and Gram

Last morning in the hospital ... Yay!

Bella's Family

2010-09-17T10:43:00.000-04:00

We had an amazing weekend this past weekend. Bella's foster family came to visit with us and stayed with us a few days. We were so excited to see them and be with them again. We have kept in close contact over the past year and could not wait for their visit. Bella loved being with them all again and picked up where she left off with her sissy, Cassie. Those two were so cute together. Best buddies forever. They are more the same height now and it was so cute to see them playing on the swingset, swimming and helping each other destroy the playroom together. We thought they would have fun sleeping together so we got them all snuggled in together and they just giggled with each other. We had to go back in there a couple of times to tell them to settle down. The second time I went in I saw Bella on her pillow jumping up and down and Cassie in the middle of the bed jumping up and down. Let's just say they were wired! I settled them back down and told them to go night night. Well, around 1:00 a.m. Bobby went in to check on them and they were still up!!! They had gotten into Bella's speech homework papers and were tearing them to pieces! Needless to say, after that their sleepover was over and we had to separate them. After the first time of going in there, Michael and Bobby rigged up a video camera so we have all of their little adventures on tape. Should be fun to watch in years to come.

We just enjoyed time together as a family and hanging out. We introduced them to some of Cincinnati's favorite places like Skyline Chili, Graeter's and Jungle Jim's. Jungle Jim's is an international market and Julie was able to get some foods and spices that she used to use in China. We also introduced them to Corn Hole, which they thought was something we made up. But I think we won them over!

I was able to learn more about Bella's time with them and her time in the orphanage. Some of it heartbreaking, but we know she is thriving now and are thankful for that. All in all we had a great time and know that God brought our families together to be one big family. We are forever grateful to them and for them. They are such a blessing to us all!

The boys with their aunt Janel ... couldn't pass posting this pic - so cute!

First Day of School, Birthdays and China

2010-09-05T16:06:00.000-04:00

The last couple of weeks have been full of activity ... getting back into the swing of things with Aidan going back to school and Bella and Keenan starting preschool. Aidan started 2nd grade at his new school and so far, so good. We feel blessed that we live across the street from a family that also has a couple of boys, one of which is in 2nd grade along with Aidan. I think that has helped with the transition of going to a new school this year. Keenan and Bella also started their new preschool and seem to be enjoying it also. Keenan usually always asks the teacher when I am coming to pick him up ... sometimes many times during the afternoon. His teacher told me Thursday that he did not ask one time! That is amazing, so I know he is having a great time! And Bella, she just loves being apart of things and eagerly goes to her class everyday.

Aidan's 1st Day of 2nd Grade!!

Aidan, Bella and Keenan going to school - 1st day of Preschool (I think the sun was in their eyes)

The boys also celebrated their birthdays this week. Aidan turned 8 and Keenan turned 5. Oh my, my boys are growing oh so fast! We have learned by now that birthdays are not celebrated for just one day, but are celebrated all week long! The boys had several friends come over Friday night for a party and sleepover. They had a blast, but it was crazy! They went swimming, played games, went on a treasure hunt that ended in a silly string battle, opened presents and had pizza and cupcakes. And a few hours after the friends left, our family party began. It was such a beautiful day outside and again, I think everyone had a good time. We are blessed to have a wonderful and loving family.

Bella, Aidan and Keenan

Keenan went to the skatepark for his birthday ... Tony Hawk watch out!

All the kids playing a game at the party ... check out some of the faces. Too funny!

Aidan, Keenan and their cousin Hunter

Aidan and Keenan waiting not so patiently for their presents

The trio took over our bed

We are so happy for our good friends, the Stanleys, who are in China right now adopting their precious Lily. We met Doug and Julie through mutual friends who knew we were both in the process of adopting from China. We met shortly after we both were logged into China and found out we had log in dates within a couple of weeks of each other. They have been so supportive and loving as we went through our adoption and we are blessed to have them as friends. If you would like to follow along their journey, go here. We CANNOT wait to see Lily in their arms forever! God has been so good and faithful to both of our families as we have walked with Him to bring our beautiful daughters home.

State Fair

2010-08-18T16:00:00.000-04:00

We went to Indianapolis to have our 1 year post adoption follow up visit with our social worker last Friday. A couple of the ladies that helped throughout the entire adoption process came out to meet Bella. It was bittersweet for us all. I can't imagine what their jobs are like. So wonderful to see so many children united with their forever families ... I would LOVE to be a part of that someday!

We decided that since we were Indy, we should make a weekend of it. We visited some dear friends we went to college with and had dinner with them. We enjoyed seeing them and are looking forward to another visit soon!

We spent the night with my sister and her family and headed out to the State Fair the next morning. We weren't sure we wanted to brave the tremendous heat, but there was a cloud cover and we got an early start. Let me tell you, we had a blast! Probably the best state fair experience ever! The kids loved it and enjoyed seeing all of the animals, playing the different games and doing the activities they had set up and just being farmers for the day. Michael and I both grew up in 4-H and it is sad for me to know that our kids probably won't get involved just because of the area we live in. It would be pretty hard to put a barn with cows and pigs in our backyard! But at least with the fair, they get a taste of the experience. The thing they haven't stopped talking about it the largest pig - wow, he was huge this year!

Here are some pics from our day...

Miss Bella loving up to the baby goat

Keenan is such a sweetie with the animals

Bella feeding a goat a carrot

My precious boys

Bella, Keenan and I doing some fishin'

Aidan ... a little too small to take on the combine

Keenan being a farmer for the day

What a cheeser!

My precious niece Addy ... the hat was a little too big, but gosh she is adorable!

What happens in One Year?

2010-08-10T22:02:00.000-04:00

This is a question I have been asking myself and thinking about for about a week now. Why? Because 1 year ago today, Bella joined our family forever. One year ago today I saw the most precious, beautiful little girl walk (almost hopped) into our lives forever. She was just so happy and thrilled to be apart of this new adventure although I don't think she had a clue what that meant ... leaving the only family she knew, leaving the only home she proabably remembers and leaving her home country.

We went out tonight and celebrated by eating some Chinese food. Even though PF Chang's is one of our favorite restaurants, the food there is nothing like the food we experienced in China. But nonetheless Bella devoured noodles and rice and even dessert. We then came home and the kids jumped into the pool. All in all it was a great night!

One year has flown by in so many ways and yet one year seems like forever. It seems like she has been part of our family forever and in a way she has, she has always been in our hearts, we just did not have a face to put with the little girl we knew God had planned for us.

I have been trying to think of all of the things she has experienced and done in one year. It is hard because I am with her everyday, sometimes I don't see the changes. It isn't until someone says something, or until we sit back and really think about it. Bella has grown so much! She has gained at least 5 or 6 pounds, which is a lot for such a little thing. She has also grown so much taller. I went through 3 pairs of shoes this past Sunday to find a pair to fit her. They seemed to fit her just days before!

She has been through 3 surgeries with another one scheduled for this fall. She has learned to speak a little and also use signs, but there is never a question of what she wants. She understands everything! She is very vocal and demanding and STUBBORN! She has such a little personality. She likes to test her boundaries and loves the word "NO!" She loves to sing and dance. Watch out American Idol! She loves to read books and she loves pandas. She enjoys playing with puzzles and could live in the water if we let her. She loves her brothers and they love her. She wants to be outside whenever possible riding her bike. She has learned to run and jump. She loves to be tucked into bed and gives great eskimo kisses. She squeals when she knows she is going to her grandparent's houses. She eats almost anything that is put in front of her, but her favorite things are cottage cheese, fruit, pudding and mac-n-cheese.

These are just some of the things we have learned about our little girl in the past year. She is fearfully and wonderfully made by our Lord and she is our precious gift. Happy Bella Day!

Then

Now

Settling In

2010-07-25T17:35:00.001-04:00

We have been moved into our new house for a little over a week. Everything is going really well. The kids have transitioned amazingly well and love their rooms, their new back yard and discovering all of the wonderful things they forgot they had. It is almost like Christmas in July. What is amazing is how much stuff we as a family have! The last time we moved we only had Aidan. Adding two more kids and all of their stuff ... well, let's just say we have way too much junk! But what a great time to go through things and either pitch it or give it away, right?

I know that once again it has been forever since I have posted, so I will try to catch up on the last month or so! (This is for you Debbie!)

My adorable niece, Ashlynn Marie, was born in June. She is such a sweetie and I have been getting my baby fix whenever I am around her.

We took the boys to a Red's game on one of the HOTTEST nights! It was Keenan's first professional game and we thought we would enjoy it, but he was scared they would get a homerun and there would be fireworks. He HATES fireworks, so he ended up asking to go home about every 5 minutes. Aidan had a blast though and thought it was cool that the Star Wars characters were at the game also.

It was hard to leave all of your wonderful neighbors and friends. We went to a cookout and fireworks show that everyone on our street had a week ago. So much fun! We know we will continue to see everyone and be apart of things, just not as often. Once the movers came, reality hit hard. We were excited to get into our new house, but sad to leave the only home that Keenan knew, that Aidan remembers and the one we brought Bella home to. I will say that once we moved everything into our new house, it automatically felt familiar and like home. Aidan asked me on our second day here, "Mommy, are you used to this house yet?" I said, "Yeah, I think I am getting there. How about you?" He said, "Yeah, I am used to it. I like it!" Whew, that coming from the one that gave us the most fight about moving. I don't have any pics yet of the outside of our new house, but here are a couple from our last day at our old house ...

The movers got us all packed up and loaded in 2 days... they were awesome!

Since we have been here, we have met some of the neighbors and everyone seems really nice. We have found an amazing faith based daycare/preschool for Bella and Keenan to attend in the fall. We are praying this is the right decision and trusting in God that it is. We went to a new church today to check it out. The kids really enjoyed it and the message was awesome! One of the things I hate about moving (and we have done it a couple of times before) is searching for the right church home. We ask for your prayers that God will lead us to where He wants us to be, where we can serve Him and where we will grow spiritually.

Bella before church

Taking a break from the boxes

We are soooooooooooo excited because Bella's foster family is in the states for several months and they are coming to visit us in September! We were hoping that they would be able to. We are anxious to see them and spend some quality time with them.

Here are some random photos from the last month ....

There is nothing like a head full of shaving cream

The kids in their new swimming hole ... water to come soon!

Bella enjoying a cupcake with blue icing - she was a mess!

Hilton Head 2010

2010-06-20T20:38:00.000-04:00

We just got back from a wonderful vacation to Hilton Head with our family. He had so much fun and the kids (all 3!!) LOVED the beach. As far as we know, this was Bella's first trip to the beach. Her first day experience was like any other kid, she ran from the waves as they came up on the beach. Before the end of the week, she was running into the ocean ... fearless of course! I know I have said this before, but I have never seen anyone love the water more than she does. She was constantly begging to go swimming. She uses a cute sign to tell us she wants to swim. And she did it from the moment she woke up every morning till time to go to bed at night. Hard to believe that 1 year ago we were waiting on our travel approval ... and now it is like she has always been with us.

We go to HHI every year with my mom, stepdad and all my sisters, brother in law and niece. We always rent a house on the lagoon and hardly get out of our swim suits while we are there. It is the total beach vacation! Here are some pics from our trip ... I think they tell the story better than anything else I can write.

The kids were so good on the long drive and so excited to be going!

Bella getting ready for her first day at the beach. Can you tell she is excited?

Bella and her cousin Addy ... let's just say they are friends and rivals depending on the hour of the day.

Daddy and Bella - so sweet!

Aidan and my sister, Janel, going on the kayak.

Michael, Bella and Keenan also taking a ride on the kayak.

One of our favorite restaurants (The Crazy Crab) and a place we always take a family pic.

Me and my girl!

Mom and my stepdad, Tom, with their grandkids - spoiled rotten!

Bella

Me and my hubby - love it here!

Keenan riding the waves - he got so much braver this year and started riding and jumping the waves!

Aidan "surfing" - he is growing up too fast!

Bella loving the water

Beach beauty

Me with my little guy, Keenan

Aidan

Floating around with my sisters Alyssa and Janel, Bella and Aidan

Aidan and Keenan (aka the devil)

Michael and his boys enjoying some golf - Keenan's first time going!

Cute Keenan

The Gang ... until next year!

Catching up ... pictures

2010-05-26T15:33:00.001-04:00

We have been super busy!!! Thought I would FINALLY blog about all that has been going on in the last couple of months. Here is a quick summary ... Baseball, T-Ball, Tae Kwon Do, trip to Hawaii (without the kids), selling house, house pending, buying a house, Mother/Daughter Banquet, end of school year, move details, etc. etc. etc.

In April, Michael and I took a trip to Hawaii without the kids. Needless to say, we had a fabulous time!! He surprised me when we got there because he had rented us a convertible mustang to drive in around the Big Island. What a fun way to explore! We went snorkeling, went to a Luau, went hiking to see amazing waterfalls, hung out at the beach, ate lots of delicious food, went to see the volcano, I swam with dolphins and the highlight of the trip for me was going ziplining through the rainforest on the northern end of the island. (Not the coolest look ever, but so awesome!) We had amazing guides who made it so much fun. If you know me at all, you are probably surprised I even tried it because I am a tad bit afraid of heights, but I took the plunge and LOVED IT!! Here are some pics from our trip.

In April, we also decided to try and sell the house. We already have buyers and should move into our new house the end of June/mid-July. We are moving about 40 minutes away to Liberty Township, Ohio, which will be closer to both of our jobs. We are excited, scared, nervous and everything in between. Aidan, obviously, has been the hardest to convince. He has not been able to go into our new house yet because he has always been in school while we were there, but we have driven him by the house and through the neighborhood. We have also driven him by his new school and I think that has helped a lot. Keenan is super excited because he is getting a skateboard room although he told me the other day he wanted a skateboard and a batman room. Not quite sure how that will look. Ha!

We have also been very busy with baseball and T-ball. It is Aidan's and Keenan's first year playing. At Aidan's age, it is already pretty intense, but he is doing great. He is my little perfectionist and really pays attention to the coach and what he is supposed to be doing. Keenan is enjoying T-ball also. So funny to watch because half the kids are barely taller than the grass and they would rather catch the leaves flying through the air than know where the ball is (Keenan included).

Aidan ready to catch the ball.

Aidan as catcher

Keenan on 3rd Base

Look at those cheeks ... just want to squeeze them all of the time!

We are wrapping up the school year. I cannot believe Aidan will be in the 2nd grade next year. And I cannot believe how much he has learned this year and GROWN! He has more missing teeth now and it is so funny to watch him try to eat corn on the cob. He says he and Bella now look alike (as you can see from this pic).

I had the privilege of speaking at my mom's church for their mother/daughter banquet this year. I shared our adoption journey and spoke about how amazing our God is and has been through our journey. Bella loved all of the attention and she looked BE-A-UT-I-FUL for the evening!

I will end it here and hope that not so much time passes between posts. Hope you enjoy the pics!

Love Without Boundaries

2010-05-14T17:08:00.000-04:00

I know it has been forever since I have posted, and I promise to post soon to let you know what has been going on ... and trust me, there has been a lot! BUT, I have to write about this now because I am just so amazed.

Love Without Boundaries (LWB) is a wonderful organization that helps orphans in China. They sponsored Bella's heart surgery while she was still living in the orphanage. We know that she was flown to another province for the surgery, but that is about all we know.

While looking at the web site for LWB the other night, I noticed a link where you could fill out a form and request information if LWB had helped your child in any way. I really didn't think there would be a chance that I would get anything back because she is literally 1 of so many kids they have helped. That was 2 days ago. Today, I opened my email to find 7 pictures of our little girl before and after her surgery! Pictures we have never seen before.

There is so much we will never know about her first 2 years, but this is just amazing. I feel like we have another piece of the puzzle. I love getting pictures of her before we knew her. And I am so thankful for all that LWB did for Bella and does for other kids. LWB is truly doing God's work!

Here are a couple of the pictures they sent to me ...

And here she is today ...

Blessed Easter

2010-04-06T22:03:00.000-04:00

Spring is here and some days it even feels like summer! We have been loving the warmer weather, green grass and flowers blooming. Every day a new discovery is made. This morning more flowers were blooming and Aidan was so excited to see them and tell me about them before getting on the bus.

We had an awesome weekend. Aidan and Keenan tested for their next belts in Tao Kwon Do. Keenan was nervous about having to break a board for the first time, but he did great and broke it on the first try. Unfortunately, I don't have a good picture of his break. He passed and received his yellow belt. Aidan tested and passed his test receiving his brown belt. Here is a picture of his break ...

And one of the boys with their new belts ...

Bella had a field trip with her school last week. She came home painted like a kitty. Part of the paint had been rubbed off, but I had to take a picture. The teacher said she had a fantastic time. Here is a picture of her after the field trip and one of her in a pretty spring dress ...

We had a wonderful first Easter with Bella. She absolutely LOVED finding eggs. She enjoyed opening and closing the eggs even if there wasn't anything in them. We are so blessed that we can freely worship our Lord and Saviour. The ultimate sacrifice was given for us, one that I don't think any of us can ever fully grasp. But I know that I am so grateful.

Easter morning the kids woke to find their baskets filled and a clue left by the Easter bunny. That clue led to another one, which led to another one and so on and so on. They found goodies along the way and had so much fun! They were squealing with delight. Their laughter and joy was such a blessing and a wonderful way to start our celebration of Christ's resurrection.

Every year we have both sides of our family at our house for Easter dinner after church. I'm not sure how many people were here, but there were a lot! The kids just soaked up all of the attention! We had an Easter egg hunt outside and the kids (including my nephew, Hunter), had a blast. Here are some pics from our day ...

Bella "helping" me make the food for Easter.

Hunter, Aidan, Keenan and Isabella - after their egg hunt

Family picture

Missing Tooth and God's Phone Number

2010-03-28T18:32:00.000-04:00

The fun stuff always happens while Michael is working and the last couple of Wednesdays have been interesting.

Last week while Aidan was taking a shower he somehow slipped and fell in the shower and hit his face, knocking out the very loose top tooth and busting his lip. All I heard was crying and screaming. I ran in there to find him bleeding all over the place, holding his face and noticing his tooth was gone. He got out of the shower and we tried to stop the bleeding over the sink. Just about the time I think I am getting him calmed down he starts freaking out on me. I asked him (more calmly now) what the matter is. He said he lost his tooth and was so upset it was gone. Evidentaly he had been holding it in his mouth, but when I told him to spit the blood out, the tooth came out also and went down the drain. He was more horrified with the fact of losing his tooth down the drain than all of the blood pouring out of his mouth!! Once he got all cleaned up, he wrote the tooth fairy a note explaining that he fell in the shower, busted his lip and lost his tooth. It was so cute. He was so worried she would not come, but so excited when he woke up in the morning to find money under his pillow.

The same night Keenan asked me what God's phone number is. I explained that God did not need a phone number, that we only had to talk to him in prayer. He said, "Yeah, but what is his number?" I again explained that we can pray to God at anytime of the day, and that he doesn't need a phone. Don't know if that appeased his curriosity or not, but it seemed to satisfy his daily faith question/challenge for the day. (He has been asking a lot of faith questions lately ... wish there was a manual on how to respond!)

Also the other night when we were eating dinner (I made Chinese). We asked Keenan if he wanted to try some Chinese. He said, "No, I don't like Chinese. They have dirty water." I guess of all of the things we told him about our trip to China and of all of the great pictures and stories we have, the thing he most remembers is that the water in China is dirty. We may have to work on that a bit.

Bella has been talking so much more. A lot of what she says we know what she is saying, although others would not because it does not sound like it should. But she is trying and words are coming more readily all of the time. While reading a book last night where you slide the page to reveal a sea creature that is being described, she started saying, "It's me!" because the page always starts out with "It's me! I'm a starfish." or "It's me! I'm a dolphin." It cracked us up. She was so excited and so clear in her speech. She is also saying "Help me" "Watch Me" "nana" (for banana) "moon" "hi mama" and our favorites are still "no" and "mine". We are excited that she has started to put multiple words together in sentences and also point things out when she sees them. We were driving home the other night and she pointed out the window and exclaimed "moon!" She was so proud of herself and we are too.

Celebrating Life

2010-03-15T21:20:00.000-04:00

This past weekend turned out to be a weekend to celebrate life, both young and old. Our beloved neighbor Pete, went to meet his heavenly father last week. Pete was 82 years old and such a wonderful person. The boys adored Pete and he adored them. He did not get to spend too much time with Bella because he went to live in a nursing home in November, but he was always so happy to see her.

Here is a picture of the kids with Pete this past Halloween ...

I also went to my sister in law's baby shower this weekend. Bella will not be the only little girl in the family for too much longer. Jessie is due to have a girl in June!

We then celebrated our niece, Addyson's, 1st Birthday. She was so much fun to watch eat her birthday cake. Such a precious little gift from God!

Addyson loving her cake!

Look at that precious face!

We ended our celebration weekend by having a surprise 50th birthday party for my stepdad, Tom. We had the party at a Mexican restaurant and I think he was genuinely surprised. Here are some pics from the day ...

Happy Birthday Tom!

Papaw and Bella

Keenan enjoying some tunes while at the party

Mr Blue Eyes Aidan, also having some fun.

Bella and me ... enjoying the party!

Skiing With My Boys

2010-03-12T17:13:00.000-05:00

Michael takes the boys skiing usually once a week. Even though we do not live near the mountains, we do live near some very nice man-made slopes. I have not been able to go this year because I stay home with Bella, but this past Saturday, I got to get out and go with them.

Aidan has been skiing since he was 4 and Keenan just started this year. And let me tell you ... the little guy is amazing! I had a hard time keeping up with him at times and he is fearless!! And Aidan keeps surprising me as well. He has been better at skiing than me for a couple of years now, but seriously ... I won't even attempt some of the hills he does. We took him to Colorado a couple of years ago and I remember he got me on this one mountain that was nothing but moguls. I am surprised I am still not up on that mountain! I was terrified, but not him!

The season is probably over now. I think Spring has finally arrived (at least I hope it is here to stay). We have been able to get outside quite a bit this week and all of the kids and their momma are so much happier because of it!

Here are some pics from my day skiing with the boys. The weather was gorgeous and in the 50's ...

Michael and Keenan - check out those cheeks!

All 4 of us ...

The boys ran into one of their friends and he went skiing with us.

Small Victories

2010-02-28T15:04:00.000-05:00

Most things tend to not go the way I picture them or plan them to go. And usually I can sit back days, weeks or months later and say, "Oh, so that is why!" God's perfect plan is that, just perfect! In November and leading up to that time I thought that once Bella had her palate surgery, she would just take off talking ... that that was the only thing hindering her speech. Well, it did not happen. We have learned more about Bella medically and some things that we did not expect have been revealed. But it is ok. We are working through everything and we are learning right along with Bella. There are days I think we are taking two steps back, but most days we are leaping forward. Sometimes it is hard for me to see because I am with Bella every day. But I have had some clarity and there have been small victories more and more every day.

Last night we were at a Chinese New Year celebration. (More to come on that in a moment.) Bella was playing with a toy and wanted it opened. She looked at me and said "omen" and I could have shouted in celebration. Bella normally will attempt to say words but only when asked to say them, but recently she has been speaking on her own and in the right circumstances. Also the other day when it was snowing, she came running in the living room pointing outside saying, "no, mama, no" (translation: snow, mama, snow) She has also learned to say "no" and does so very often. She is very opinionated, so we hear "no" a lot! She is also saying "all done", "hi" "my-my" (for bye bye), "nana" (for dada), mama, "Ainan" (for Aidan), various animal noises, "uh-oh", "i love you", "amen" to name a few. I want to try to track what she is saying when so I can really see how she is doing.

I also was reading through her occupational therapy goals the other day. They were written the beginning of December. I could not believe it, but she has accomplished all of the goals in less than three months! We have learned that she knows a lot and is a quick learner. Once she is shown how to do something, she tends to pick it right up. She is dressing herself (other than her shirt). She is putting her shoes on. She can do puzzles and shape sorters. She is pretend playing. She can draw lines and circles. These are all huge accomplishments for her! So all of these things are small vicotories!

Like I said before, we went to a Chinese New Year celebration that was sponsored by GE, where I work. It was fantastic! There were booths for the kids to do activities, yummy Chinese food, and also performaces. The kids especially liked the dragon parade, the lion dance and the acrobatic show. Bella acted like she just loved being there. I sometimes wonder what she remembers, what she misses, what she knows. Once the drums started playing, she got so excited and just started jumping up and down clapping.

Here are the kids in front of the dragon before the show.

Me and Bella

My three blessings!

Dragon Parade

Dish balancing

Lion Dance

Something else we did this weekend was to take the boys to an indoor skateboard park. Friends of ours introduced us to this place and let me tell you, the boys had a blast! Keenan was so excited to go. It was like Christmas morning for him. Now I know there is an indoor park and I won't have to worry about shoveling a path at the outdoor park anymore (see previous post for that story)!

Keenan and Aidan at their new favorite place

Dedication

2010-02-24T11:55:00.000-05:00

After being home 6 months ... going through three surgeries ... we finally had Isabella's dedication this past Sunday. Our entire immediate family came, which was awesome! She really soaked up all of the attention and enjoyed the day. She wore a Chinese dress that we bought while in China. She looked adorable!

We are truly blessed to live in a country where we can worship God freely. I really did not get the full impact of that until we traveled to China. One Sunday night while we were there we gathered with a few other families and praised God in a hotel room. It was an experience we will never forget.

We are thankful that Bella will be able to freely choose to follow the Lord. As parents, we will guide her and help her along her journey.

And here are some pics from the dedication. As you can see, she really hammed it up for the entire church.

Making the Best of It

2010-02-16T20:30:00.000-05:00

We have been snowed in now for a couple of days so far this week and were snowed in a couple of days last week. We have more snow on the ground than I can ever remember having. The first big snow was so pretty, but now we are getting really tired of it. Aidan has missed 6 days of school (with being called off tomorrow already) in the last 8. So that means I have stayed home and worked from home with all 3 kids running around the house. Challenging ... but they have been so good and I have been able to get a lot of work done amazingly. They have wanted to stay in their jammies, watch videos, play legos and play the wii. Believe it or not, the only request I have gotten to go out in the cold is to go to the skateboard park. What?! Keenan seems to think that we can dig a path through the snow so he can skateboard. Sure ... I'll get right on that.

Aidan even read his brother and sister a book today without being asked. It was so precious to hear him reading while they cackled at the funny story.

Here are some pictures from our fun this past week ...

Making cookies for Valentine's Day!

Enjoying her cookie ... look at that face!

Really, really enjoying the cookies.

Our decorator ... he loves sprinkles on cookies (they were everywhere!).

Jackson's birthday party (a friend of Aidan and Keenan's)

Bella got to go bowling for the first time - she was so funny to watch "try" to throw the ball down the lane.

Last night, this is how Bella came upstairs after playing downstairs with her brothers. Check out her "weapon".

Aidan and Bella rockin' it out.

Six Months Ago Today

2010-02-10T20:08:00.000-05:00

I know I just posted yesterday and to post again is amazing for me, but ... believe it or not (and I am leaning towards the "not") ... we held Isabella in our arms for the first time 6 months ago today. Thought I would share with you the first picture we saw of Bella ...

And one from the first day we held her in our arms ...

And another recent one of all of us making homemade pizza before the Superbowl ...

He love you Isabella and thank God each and every day that He has blessed us with you!

Winter Wonderland

2010-02-09T17:57:00.000-05:00

It seems like forever since I have done a "what is going on in our family" post, so I thought I would since it seems like it has been snowing for days.

On Friday, we got somewhere around 9 inches of snow. It was probably one of the prettiest snows we have ever had. It was like God took a snow blower to the trees and hills and made everything picture perfect. It was absolutely beautiful! These pictures really don't do it justice ...

We took the kids tubing and all three loved it. It was Bella's second time going. We had to be covered head to toe because it was very cold and the new fallen snow was flying in our faces as we raced down the lanes. We were going so fast ... probably the fastest I have ever gone! Bella at one point turned around in her tube to look at us to make sure we were still all behind her because our tubes got turned around while going down the hill and she became the leader. Once she saw we were all behind her she just squealed with excitement and started bobbing up and down.

Today we woke up to more snow and probably have another 6 inches on the ground, with 1-3 more expected tonight. No school today and I will be very surprised if they have it tomorrow. Aidan was so sure that he was not going to have school and would have been crushed if he had to go. Michael and I both worked from home today and the kids just had a blast running around playing, watching movies and eating.

Bella continues with speech and occupational therapy. She is doing awesome at OT and is learning so much. Speech has been VERY slow. We think she will probably have to have another surgery for her soft palate later this year. Her speech therapist is wondering if her velum (the back of her palate) is closing properly because she seems unable to get sounds out that she should like "B" and "P". She has learned to say "No". She says it for when she means "no" and also when she is trying to say "snow". Snow is one of her favorite things right now. She loves to watch it fall.

Earlier this month we celebrated my sister Alyssa's birthday at Bucca di Beppo. We all had a great time and enjoyed lots of wonderful food, inlcuding the cupcake Alyssa got and shared with the kids.

Bella has healed up from her surgery. The only thing that remains as a reminder are the sores around her mouth from having to have it open for so long.

We are looking forward to spring and warmer weather, but are enjoying being snowed in as well.

GO COLTS!!

2010-02-07T17:52:00.000-05:00

Third Surgery in less than 4 months

2010-02-03T14:10:00.000-05:00

We have just gotten home with Bella. She had her third surgery today in less than 4 months. We thought this was a minor one and really did not get too worked up about it, but it has been a little more than we expected. She had tubes put in her ears and also underwent some dental surgery. The tubes weren't a problem. The doctor said she did have a lot of fluid in both of her ears. We are hoping and praying that this will help her hear better and help her speech. We have been told that even though she seems like she can hear just fine, it may sound like she is under water. So what she may think is normal, really may not be.

She also had dental surgery. We weren't really sure what was going on in her mouth with her teeth. The dentist performed his surgery right after the tubes were inserted. The dentist fixed around a dozen cavitites, placed a crown on one of her teeth, sealed others and then pulled her lone top tooth in the middle of her mouth. He said he tried to save it, but it was just too far gone and needed to be removed to prevent disease. The dental part was supposed to take an hour, but because things were a little worse than he expected, it took 2 and 1/2 hours. And because her mouth is so tiny, she is once again very swollen and sore. Not as bad as when she had her palate repair, but still worse than what we expected. I think she is about to trade us in as parents. She has had enough! We think this is last surgery until sometime this summer. (hopefully)

Once again, Children's Hospital has been amazing. Because they had to remove a tooth, they sent her home with a little tooth care package and a note for the tooth fairy that said ...

Dear Tooth Fairy,
I was at the Dentist today and had to have a tooth wiggled out because it was sick. I was not allowed to keep it. Please accept this note in its place (the dentist said you would).

Signed by the Dentist

Isn't that cute? They seem to think of everything.

She is pretty irritable right now. Please pray she rests and heals quickly!

Bella's Birthday

2010-01-07T20:11:00.000-05:00

Bella's birthday was New Year's Eve. We celebreated with our family the following day and she had a great time. I think she thinks she gets new toys every week of the year now. She will have a rude awakening this next week when nothing new comes.
She had a Dora birthday party because she loves Dora. She loves to dance and sing with her. Bella enjoyed her cake and enjoyed all of the attention!! Ever heard the saying, "too much birthday"? Well, I think we are living through the aftermath right now. Haha. She has been a little stinker the past couple of days.
Here are some pictures from her special day. You would not know that she smiles all of the time. It seems to be getting harder and harder to catch her smiling with the camera. Will try harder for the next post.

Christmas Pics

2009-12-30T22:10:00.000-05:00

Sassy girl showing off her new outfit and purse.

Yes, I think Santa is crazy sometimes, but they love it!

Modeling their new hats.

Christmas Eve night with their cousin, Hunter at Mamaw's house. Can you tell Bella is exhausted?

Christmas morning. The boys are ready to attack the presents, but Bella is not so sure.

Cutie Pie!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T09:21:00.000-05:00

Christmas picture.

Spoons full of icing ... their reward for a job well done on their gingerbread house.

Silly Faces

Bella decorating her gingerbread man.

Our Christmas Letter:

Merry Christmas! We hope this letter finds everyone healthy and doing well. We have had a very blessed 2009 and pray 2010 will be just as wonderful.

Keenan started to learn to ski this last January and February. We think he will really take off this winter. He can’t wait to hit the slopes this year. Aidan continues to be more daring taking on black diamond slopes that his mommy won’t even touch. This will be his 4th year skiing.

Michael and I celebrated our 10th year anniversary in May. Ten years already? Really? Doesn’t seem possible. They have been 10 wonderful years and we look forward to spending many many more decades together.

In March of this year we got the phone call we did not expect to receive for a couple more years. We were matched with a beautiful 3 year old girl in China. We learned her name and saw her precious face for the first time on March 30th. We could not believe we had been matched. Last fall we completed paperwork stating we would accept a special needs child. In February we increased the age of the child we would accept to be 3 ½, so she would be younger than Keenan. So this year has been very busy. We prepared our home and traveled to meet Isabella and brought her home in August. Our journey to China and to Isabella was an experience of a lifetime. God made it very clear to us that he had hand picked her for our family. We are so thankful.

Isabella was born with a cleft lip/palate and a heart defect. Her heart and lip were repaired in China and her palate was recently repaired here at Cincinnati Children’s hospital. Aidan adores Bella and Keenan and her have become a lot closer, although there is still quite a bit of competition between them.

God provided Bella with a wonderful foster family to live with for 20 months prior to us meeting her. We are so thankful and believe they saved her life and gave her a chance. She was not thriving in the orphanage and had been quite ill when they got her.

Aidan celebrated his 7th birthday and Keenan celebrated his 4th birthday this year. Aidan is in first grade and is doing very well. He is enjoying reading and loves art, music and gym. Keenan and Bella started a new preschool in November and they both love it so far. The preschool has a gym and that seems to be Keenan’s highlight of the day. Bella enjoys painting and singing songs.

After a one year temporary period, Michael was given his permanent contract with State Farm in October. He continues to love working with and helping people with their needs.

Aidan has tested and received his red belt in Tae Kwon Do. To our surprise, Keenan decided he wanted to join class one day and has also been taking Tae Kwon Do. Aidan and Keenan also played Upwards soccer this fall. Keenan did a great job running up and down the field. We really aren’t sure if he knew he was supposed to try to kick the ball, but very funny to watch.

Isabella has been doing great since she has been home. She has been through a lot of medical appointments (which she hates!) and she is starting occupational and speech therapy. She loves Dora, loves wrestling with her brothers, loves musical toys, loves swimming in our pool and loves to go places.

May you and your family enjoy time together this Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our lord and savior.

Wordless Wednesday ... almost

2009-12-02T16:07:00.003-05:00

Bella playing peek-a-boo with her cousin Megan.
Serious little Indian.

The guys ... posing while hanging Christmas lights.

Keenan trying to escape the cold

Aidan doing his job testing the lights.

At Home

2009-11-12T17:36:00.002-05:00

We just got home a short while ago. Ice cream finally won Bella over and once we got her to eat that she was allowed to come home. Above are some of the better pictures we took during our stay at the hospital. The last one is from this morning. She is starting to look back to normal. She was so swollen, but this morning we saw a huge difference. She is still in pain and is very careful about drinking or eating anything, but little by little she is letting us give her sips to drink and things to eat like pudding and jello.

Today was the hardest day to be at the hospital because physically she was feeling more like herself, but she couldn't get out of bed and walk around because the IV was her in her foot. We took her to the playroom and that made her happy for awhile. All day she pointed to the door and waved bye bye. She wanted to leave so bad, but she did not understand she needed to drink before she was allowed to leave.

As long as we have been by her side, we have let her keep the arm cuffs off. One reason is that she does not put her hands in her mouth normally and two because she HATES them. We make her sleep with them on and will make her have them on while she is playing on her own and running around with the boys. The trick right now is keeping snacks and food out of her reach because she wants to eat normal food, but is not allowed.

Our experience with Children's Hospital was amazing and we know she was in great hands. We also know that she has been lifted up in prayer all along and we are very grateful.

Recovering

2009-11-10T16:15:00.003-05:00

Bella is out of surgery and resting. She has slept most of the day, which has been good. She was in surgery a little over 2 hours. The doctor met with us while Bella was moved to the recovery room. He said her cleft was one of the widest separations he has ever seen and that it was a difficult surgery. He said her palate is only 1/8 of an inch thick in some places and in others it is only 1/32 of an inch thick. We have to be very careful about how she eats or drinks for 2 weeks. She also has to wear arm cuffs for 1 week while she recovers. Because there was not much material, the palate does not reach completely to the sides of her mouth. The doctor explained that the gaps will fill in over time.
I don't want to go into all of the details, but right now Bella's tongue is stitched and pulled to the side of her mouth which is making it hard for her to swallow. They will pull the stitches out tomorrow morning.
When she got to the hospital this morning, she tried to put her jacket back on and started waving bye to all of the nurses. She remembered and did not want to stay.
She may or may not go home tomorrow. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes. Will post updates soon.

Surgery Tomorrow

2009-11-09T16:53:00.003-05:00

Please pray for Bella tomorrow. After waiting almost 4 years, she is finally going to have a palate. We have heard only wonderful things about the doctor and team that will be operating on her. We have to be at the hospital very early and know that she will spend at least one night there. We expect it to be a rough go for a few days and we expect her to fight the arm cuffs that she will have to keep on her arms for a week, but we know it will be worth it in the end.

We will post updates when we can!

October Wrap Up

2009-11-01T15:50:00.007-05:00

During Aidan's fall break a couple of weeks ago, we went to the Smoky Mountains for a long weekend and rented a cabin with Michael's parents. We had a fabulous time and the mountains were just beautiful. God had painted the trees with a million different beautiful colors. This was our first vacation as a family of 5 and Bella loved every minute of it. We introduced her to all of our favorite places to go and eat. One thing we have learned about Bella is that she LOVES syrup. She will dip anything into syrup. If you ever have seen the movie "Elf", that is who she reminds us of. She had sausage, potatoes and green beans the other night. Everything got dipped. We figure we can get her to eat anything as long as syrup is on her plate. Sooo, she loved the pancake house in Gatlinburg and ate 2 HUGE pancakes.

Here are some pictures from our trip ...

We hiked, went on the alpine slide, raced cars and ate lots of yummy food. We got to see three bear cubs up in a tree. Bella loves to ride rides. She squeeled continuously while on them. The boys raced cars by themselves for the first time this year. They are both very competitive ... not sure where they get that (wink wink).

We have also had some fun days at home. Keenan, Bella and I got to play in the leaves in our backyard the other day. Keenan was all about jumping into the pile, but Bella looked at him like he was crazy. I ended up lifting her up and putting her in them. She cooperated for a couple of pictures, but then she was done with them.

I have also found out I have 3 painters. This was the first time I let Bella paint and by the time she was finished, she was a mess! I ended up taking her clothes off and at some point, she had her whole body in the paint. Needless to say, she got to take a bath - another favorite activity for her.

And last night she got to experience trick or treating. Let's just say she was not a happy bumblebee at first, but then got into the hang of it. Aidan was Indiana Jones. Keenan was the new and improved G.I. Joe. They had a great time. After trick or treating was over, we went to some friends for a little party. Everyone slept in this morning since we had an extra hour before church- yay!

Please pray for me this week. I have been working from home since we returned from China, but I go back to my regular schedule at the office this week. This is going to be not only a transition for Bella, but for me and Keenan as well. Bella and Keenan will be starting a new preschool/daycare for the 3 days that I work this week. We had to say goodbye to the preschool that Keenan has gone to for the last 2 years and that Aidan went to before that. It was such a hard decision to make because we loved it there, but feel that this new school along with some state run programs that Bella should be able to receive will be best for her. So please pray for all of the transitions and changes that we will be facing this week.

Post Hernia Surgery

2009-10-21T10:13:00.003-04:00

Bella did great during and after her surgery yesterday. She is groggy and kind of out of it still today, but she does not seem to be uncomfortable or sore. The dr was able to do the surgery laproscopically and went it through her belly button. She only has 2 other little incisions. Thank you for all of your prayers and support!!

Parade of Pictures

2009-10-19T11:50:00.004-04:00

All 3 kiddos on a beautiful fall day!

The sun was in their eyes, but I still think it is a cute picture.Getting ready to get her first haircut since being home. She really didn't care for it too much.

Afterwards ... can see her beautiful eyes again.

Bella brushing her hair after I curled it.

Bella let me curl her hair before we went for a girl's night - jewelry party.

Please pray for Bella tomorrow. She is having her hernia surgery. We are told the recovery should be fast, so we are hoping they are right.

A Good Week

2009-10-13T20:46:00.003-04:00

It is amazing how short my memory is ... good thing I take pictures to help remind me what we have done! Isabella had her echocardiogram on Friday. They had to sedate her and when she came to, she was NOT happy! Michael got to spend some quality one on one time with her (haha). We think everything went fine and Michael said he could see where they had put sutures in her heart. We will talk to the cardiologist about the results sometime this week. The funniest thing about the experience for us is that the entire day she was like a drunk monkey. She would try to stand up, only to wobble around and fall. She thought it was funny too ... and it was!

I went with Keenan's preschool class on Wednesday to the zoo. He has needed some much one on one time with mommy and I have needed the same with him. Bella went and spent the day with Mamaw and had a great time. Keenan and I had a great time also and he thought it was so much fun that I got to sit with him on the bus. The Cincinnati Zoo is really beautiful and it was a chilly fall day, which meant the animals were more active.

One of Bella's favorite things to do is to take her clothes off. She loves to be nude. She squeals with delight. So as the weather gets cooler, it should be interesting to try to keep her clothes on. Here is a picture of my ninjas ... all three of them. Bella just loves doing whatever her brothers are doing and as you can see, she is wearing as little as possible.

I am having trouble finding pants that fit her. If they fit her waist, then they are too short. If they are the right length, then they fall down around her ankles. So we are trying everything from pinning the waistband to doubling the waistband over. Here is a picture of her in the only pair of jeans that sort of fit her and her new girly pink boots.

We had a church picnic on Sunday. It was fun and the kids had a ball. We went on a hayride and the kids played in a big jump house. Bella passed out as soon as she was in her carseat. The boys never did fall asleep and I am not sure how they didn't. I get tired just watching them play.

As I re-read this post, I see that I really don't have any updates about Aidan. So here it goes ... If you don't know, Aidan is very sensitive and does not like to get in trouble (except he doesn't even seem to notice when I am getting after him - selective hearing I guess). Well, as I met the bus on Friday, I could tell something was wrong immediately. You see, Aidan got off the bus looking as if he just lost his best friend ... head down, shoulders slumped, only looked up at me when he needed to with huge sad eyes. I asked him what was wrong. He told me his folder had got written in because he was playing with a toy during class when he wasn't supposed to. I didn't get upset, I didn't even raise my voice. I just told him that if it happens again, that he would not be allowed to take toys to school anymore to play with at recess. I thought that was it, no big deal. Well, as soon as he came in the house and saw Michael, he just burst into tears. Such a sweet little guy who is growing up so fast right before my eyes. Can't believe he only weighed 4 lbs 10 ounces when he was born and now is in 1st grade.

Surgeries Scheduled!!!

2009-10-06T18:15:00.007-04:00

Bella had her apppointment with the cranio-facial team this past Friday. We thought it would be an evaluation by multiple doctors (and it was!), but what we did not expect is to walk out of the appointment with a date for her palate surgery! She will finally have her palate repair surgery on November 10th! This is so quick and we fully expected to have to wait until after the first of the year. We know this surgery will be very difficult, but we also know that she needs it and don't want to wait any longer. She will also have some dental surgery done during this time. The funny thing (at least we think it is funny since she has had so many other issues) is that she will not need ear tubes put in. The ENT said in about 98% of palate kids, tubes are needed. Wouldn't you know ... she is in the 2% for that area. He said her ears look perfect.

She is still scheduled for her hernia repair surgery for October 20th. We are currently going through all of the pre-op appointments for that. She also had her 1 month follow up appointment with the International Adoption Clinic. She has gained 1 pound and grown 1 cm. That is a lot for such a little thing!

Moving on past medical news ... We went to the local fair this past week. Aidan and Keenan loved the rides and Bella loved going on the Merry-Go-Round. Here is a picture of her with my mom.

There was a little rollercoaster there that Keenan just had to go on. As soon as it took off his eyes got as big as saucers. We was so ready to get off! Here he is looking happier on one of those spin rides.

Here is another one of the boys looking pretty darn cute.

The Budweiser Clydesdale horses were also there. They are so big and beautiful! God really knew what he was doing when he made them. Keenan looked so small next to them.

Here is Bella and Papaw. She is happy, but it is probably because she can't see the Bengals hat that is on her. You know, since she is a Colts fan and all (ha-ha).

Aidan also tested for his red belt in Tae Kwon Do on Friday. He did great on all of his forms and broke the board with a roundhouse kick (his favorite kick).

Here you can see the board is broken.

Please continue to pray for Bella and us as we prepare for a couple of surgeries within a short amount of time between each other.

Trying to remember

2009-09-28T18:42:00.004-04:00

As I go to write this every week I try to remember all that has happened or gone on over the last several days. So I will do my best to recap the last week.

We have had some hard times this past week. Bella's strong will has sure been shining through this week. She knows what she wants and she wants it NOW! It is hard because her main way of communicating right now is grunting and pointing. And that wears on a mommy. Don't get me wrong, we have had a lot of great improvements, but there are times of the day that are struggles for us right now.

She has eaten great for us ever since we have been home, but this week she has been extremely picky and holding food in her mouth for a long time. I go back and forth wondering if she isn't feeling well. We have several doctor appointments this week, so we will see if there is anything going on. This also just may be her time where she is going to test her boundaries a little more.

She had an audiology appointment this past week and her hearing is normal. This is a relief because with cleft palate kids they normally have a lot of fluid in their ears which can lead to hearing loss. She does, but it does not seem to have affected her hearing so far.

She also had her cardiologist appointment today. The doctor says everything sounds great and the murmur they heard before is normal for a child post-open heart surgery. He does want to do an echocardiogram during one of her upcoming sugeries just to make sure everything is ok.

I went with some friends to the flea market on Wednesday. They have everything there ... fresh fruit and vegetables, clothes, baked goods, flowers, junk, and animals. Keenan and Bella enjoyed seeing the animals and Keenan held a baby Chihuahua. The funny thing is that he can't say Chihuahua. Instead he says Chickawalla (chick-a-wall-a). So cute. I ask him to say it over and over again because he just sounds so cute when saying it.

We had a lot of rain this week, so we were stuck inside more than I like. Already felt a little like cabin fever for me. We were able to still have the boy's soccer games on Saturday though.

We decided to have a family day on Sunday and took a beautiful drive to Bloomington to see my youngest sister at IU. It was such a pretty day and all 3 kids had a great time! It was nice visiting with Janel. We were disappointed though because we had told Janel of a couple of great places to eat and go to and we were all psyched to take her there, but they were gone! We were so bummed. So instead of us showing her some great places to go, she showed us! Here are some pics from our day ...

Bella's cranio-facial appointment is Friday. Please pray for her and please pray we can get her surgery scheduled sooner than later. She has lived without a palate for long enough. She is trying to say more words all of the time, but they come out sounding the same way as everything else she says.

A couple of other tidbits ... Everytime we drive into our neighborhood, Bella sqeals with joy. She loves going places, but she also loves coming home.

We also try to take a walk everyday and she loves holding Nala's (our golden retriever) leash while sitting in the stroller.

Our boys are goofy all of the time. Here is a picture of them being nerdy with their pants. I just couldn't stop laughing at them!

Swimming with clothes, hypnotized, potty training and rock band

2009-09-19T20:59:00.005-04:00

The days seem to be flying by lately. I can't believe another week has already passed. Something I did not write about last time is that we started potty training Isabella a little over a week ago and you know what?! She is already wearing big girl panties! The girl is doing amazing and is even dry after she wakes up at night most nights. We taught her the sign for potty and she runs up to us and tells us when she needs to go. Don't get me wrong, this week has been LONG trying to get her there, but we focused primarily on that and she has gotten it!! She is smart and knows when she needs to go, so I think that is how and why she has done so well learning. Potty training is just one of those things that every parent dreads. Michael also taught her the sign for "all done". She is sooo cute when she does it.

We went to her speech evaluation at Children's Hospital and they were very encouraged by the sounds that she can say without her palate. They have high hopes for her and she is currently on the waiting list to get therapy. We will try to do speech therapy through Children's and also through the state program. They would like for her to get started even before her palate is repaired and we are all for that.

I took Keenan and Bella outside to play on Monday because it was a beautiful day. Once we were done playing on the swingset, I walked over to the pool to clean some leaves out of it. Bella wanted in but it is way too cold to swim. I told her she could sit on the edge and put her feet in. Well, I turned around to grab the net and when I looked back, this is how I found her ...

She did not think the water was cold at all I guess. Well because I made such a big deal about it, Keenan felt as if he needed to get in with his clothes as well. He didn't stay in as long as she did though because the water is just frigid.

Another funny story. The other night Aidan walked into the kitchen while I was making dinner and he said, "Mommy, my foot is asleep. I think it is hypnotized." I just couldn't help myself. I just busted out laughing because he was so serious about it.

The boys love playing rock band. Well, Bella got her first exposure to rock band and I think she is another Garland family rocker. Oh yeah, baby! She was playing with the little toy drumset alongside Michael on the drums, Aidan on the mic and Keenan with the guitar. She is a natural!

Some more good news that we received this week is that Michael is getting his contract!!!! Michael started his State Farm agency about a year ago. They gave him a one year contract at that point. If he proves himself, they then give him the permanent contract. He was told on Monday that he is being offered the contract. WooHoo! He has worked so hard and has done so well, that I didn't really think they could say no, but the uncertainty of it all has been rough. So we are thankful and blessed to finally know. God has always provided and I know Michael has been able to witness to clients and those that he works with. He leads a faithful business and I know that he feels that he has more opportunity to talk to people about his faith in this position than in any other that he has had. Please pray for his continued growth as both a business and a Christian.

This is Bella before church this morning. This little dress reminds me of my Great Aunt Evelyn. She used to wear dresses like this and like Bella, she was a little lady.

Have a great week everyone!

Week in review

2009-09-13T08:48:00.006-04:00

I can't believe another week has gone by. Bella started the week by visiting with a general surgeon who will operate on hernias that she has. We thought the operation would happen at the same time as when her palate is repaired, but the surgeon did not want to wait that long. So as long as her heart checks out ok with the cardiologist later this month, she will have her hernia surgery on October 20th.

We also had our first post-placement visit with our social worker this week. I can't believe we have had her for a month already. Sometimes it feels like yesterday and other days it feels as if she has always been with us.

Keenan and Bella have had some power struggles and jealousy issues this week. I know it is natural, but that doesn't make it easy on mommy.

Here is a picture of when Keenan was trying to be loving.

The boy's first soccer games were yesterday. I love watching them play. It is Keenan's first year and he is just so cute out there running around. His socks, shorts and shirt are so big on him that you can't even see any part of his legs because they are all completely covered. They play Upward soccer which is a faith-based program. Michael is one of the directors for the league for our church, so he is very involved in everything that goes on. He coaches Keenan's team, assist coaches Aidan's team, and refs 2 other hours of the day.

Keenan's team praying before their game.

Aidan's team praying ... melt's a mommy's heart.

Bella - their number 1 fan!

Funny story .... Keenan's favorite person right now is Tony Hawk, the skate-boarding legend. I have no idea if Tony Hawk plays soccer, but Keenan doesn't know that. I told Keenan that Tony Hawk runs super fast when he plays soccer. So Keenan ran circles back and forth down the field the entire game. I think he attempted or actually kicked the ball twice. After the game I told Keenan he did awesome. He looked at me and said, "I ran really fast, just like Tony Hawk!" I said, "You know what else Tony Hawk can do? He kicks the ball!!"

Keenan reaching for the sky.

Aidan after having a little too much sugar.

We also went to a birthday party yesterday. (Happy Birthday Kennedy!) All 3 kids enjoyed themselves and got lots of goodies.

We had a picnic with everyone that Michael works with last night. The kids had a great time playing at the park and climbing trees. Everyone at Michael's work gave Bella a beautiful jewelry box with her name painted on top. It is so special.

Here are some more pictures of our week ...

Keenan "working" on his computer just like daddy.

Bella sitting on her stool in her room. She has finally figured out how to get out of her bed. Not sure if that is a good thing or not - ha ha.

Bella cheesing it up in her pretty dress.

Great Weekend = Great Pictures

2009-09-07T15:18:00.006-04:00

I just had to post because we have so many great photos from this long holiday weekend.

Aidan had 5 of his friends come and spend the night Friday night. This was a first for us and wow what energy did they all have! Wish I had just a fraction of it! They swam, played on the swingset, made smores around the fire pit, played wii and watched a movie. Michael set up a tent downstairs made out of blankets. The boys all thought that was awesome and they all (including Keenan) slept under the tent.

Aidan and all of his friends in front of the tent

We made it through the night! The boys eating breakfast.

About the time that all the boys left on Saturday, family started to arrive for the boys family birthday party. Aidan and Keenan once again were very spoiled!

Keenan got his remote controlled 4-wheeler he has been wanting.

Aidan added to his Lego collection and his goal to owning every Lego in the world.

The boys also got these awesome pirate boats for the pool. Even the adults liked playing with these.

You would think the boys would have been too worn out to do anything else after all that, but no ... they went camping Saturday night at our neighbor's that live 2 houses down. Several of our neighbors got together and camped. Our neighbor Janis fried up doughnuts. There was a fire pit and the kids ran through the woods with flashlights and had a great time. Bella and I joined everyone for a short time until we realized her toddling around a fire pit may not be the best idea. Plus she was one tired girl after partying all day with her brothers and cousins. We had to pull her out of the pool after she was in there for a few hours. This girl LOVES the water!

I took this picture of the campsite from our deck the morning after.

We went to church, but relaxed on Sunday afternoon. It was much needed.

Monday morning we took off and went on a bike ride along the Ohio River. There is a very nice bike and walking trail. Keenan and Aidan rode their own bikes. I could not believe Keenan rode his the whole way! His little legs have never worked so hard. Bella rode in the bike trailer and took it all in. We took breaks along the way and got these great pics.

Here are some other random photos from the weekend ...

The last Colts preseason game. Since it was not on TV, we watched it online. Bella getting her first dose of being a Colts fan! (She will have a jersey next time!)

Bella loving her chocolate pudding.

Keenan rockin' out. (Bella in awe of her crazy brother.)

The parade of medical professionals

2009-09-03T16:36:00.007-04:00

Isabella had her first appoinment yesterday with Cincinnati Children's Hospital. The appointment lasted a little over 5 hours. We met with a social worker, several nurses, a nurse practitioner, Dr. Staat and an occupational therapist. Everyone was so helpful and gave us so much information. Her development was evaluated and they gauge her to be right around 2 years of age developmentally. This is exactly where we thought she was AND this is almost exactly how long she has been in a loving environment (with her foster family and now with us).

The social worker gave us a lot of information and helped make us aware of many government funded programs that Bella should be eligible for just because of her speech delays.

The doctor was excited to meet Bella and called her "our little mystery." Dr. Staat reviewed her medical records when we received her referral and the records were all over the place. Dr. Staat and the others are very encouraged by how far she has come and the advances she has made since she has been home.

The dr did hear a heart murmur and thinks it may be normal for after having open heart surgery a couple of years ago. The dr is also concerned about a bulge in a vein in her neck. She called the ENT and they said they would look at her when we brought her in for the cranio facial team appointment, so there does not seem to be any urgency there.

Bella also had to have another TB test and have several vials of blood drawn. She screamed her head off! Whew. Poor girl hated that. But as soon as they were done, she fell asleep on me and slept all way home. The appointment was exhausting for all of us and we know we have many many more to go through. I spent part of today scheduling appointments with radiology, surgery, cardiology, speech, hearing and for an eye check. Please keep her and us in your prayers. We also pray that we don't find out of anything else going on. This little girl has already been through so much!

On a different note, thought I would share some more pictures with you ...

All 3 playing in the sandbox.

Aidan helping Isabella ride on the bike.

I think the boys had every pillow in the house in the living room jumping on them.

Keenan (with Aidan somewhere in there!)

Bella sitting on the step and then showing off her cute outfit.

Showing off her sassy side.

First Full Week at Home

2009-08-30T22:09:00.005-04:00

In some ways I can't believe we have been home 1 week and in others, it seems like we have been home a lot longer. Bella continues to do amazingly well. She is still sleeping about 10 hours at night and is also taking a 2-3 hour nap each day. She doesn't exaclty want to take a nap, but she does. She is loving her new toys and has already worn the batteries out on one of her favorites (the gear toy). She is almost running and she is trying to jump. So cute because she squats all the way down to the ground and goes straight up with all her might, but only comes off the floor about a quarter of an inch. She is also eating like she is training for a food eating contest. She is really going to town. She is feeding herself with both a fork and spoon. I think this is fairly new for her, but she is going a great job at it. I know of some foods that she loved before we got her, but she LOVES Vitamin D milk, yogurt, pudding, sweet potatoes, watermelon, pancakes, corn, peas, ham, oatmeal, and noodles. The boys love eating dry cereal in the mornings. They usually leave the bowls somewhere in the living room unfinished. Bella enjoys stealing the bowls and finishing the cereal for them. She acts so proud to be carrying the bowl around the house. This morning for breakfast she ate a bowl of oatmeal and then ate 4-5 small pancakes with syrup. I did not think she was going to stop!

She has also enjoyed the pool this week. It was finally warm enough and she wants in it ALL the time. Good thing she can't get out of the house on her own. If we go in the back yard early in the morning, I have to divert her attention away from the pool because she goes straight for it. She wants to jump off the steps straight in the water, but the swimmies don't hold her above the water. Not sure why because she doesn't weigh anything. I am going to have to look for something else to keep her head above the water.

Bella has gotten to meet her wonderful church family as well. We have gone to church the last 2 weeks since we have been back and she has loved the worship time. She just claps and dances to the music. Sometimes I can't believe she is actually with us .... here.

We have also gotten into the full swing of school, preschool, soccer and Tae Kwon Do. Keenan got his stitches out yesterday and was once again a very brave little guy. Michael took him and Bella to the appointment and he said they were so good. He told Keenan if he was good, he would get him a prize. I guess the whole time the dr. was taking the stitches out Keenan never cried, but said "owe, owe, owe."

Today is Aidan's 7th birthday!!!! I can't believe my 4 lb. 10 oz. baby is 7! Their birthday party is not until next weekend, but they got the presents we got them. Keenan's 4th birthday is Tuesday, so we went ahead and gave him an early present also. They had a blast with their new remote controlled stunt cars (Thanks Emy for the suggestion!). Aidan told me this morning that he gets to do whatever he wants on his birthday. I told him I wasn't sure about that and he said, "Mommy, you got to do what you wanted on Mother's Day and daddy got to do what he wanted on Father's Day, so today is my day ... I get to do whatever I want." Can't argue about the logic of that.

One thing the boys still need is their space. They sometimes go hide in their room and close the door. Here is a picture of them hunkered down playing the DS.

This is just a cute picture of Bella in her jammies this morning. We got these in China at a store in Guangzhou that helps support operations for orphans. Doesn't she look cute?!

Wednesday we head to Children's Hospital for her evaluation by the International Adoption Clinic. Please pray for her and us as this is supposed to be a 4 hour appointment where she meets many many doctors. She won't have her appointment with the Cranio Facial team until October to see what the plan is about her palate repair. Let the doctor's visits begin!!

Home Alone with the kids and this happens ...

2009-08-25T21:08:00.003-04:00

Monday morning started out great. I took Aidan to school, met his teacher, came home, Michael had Keenan and Bella up and they were playing. All was well. Michael headed off to work, but wanted to stop and get his hair cut and get his cell phone fixed since it died in China. All was well. I got Bella and Keenan's teeth and hair brushed. I started to get them dressed so we could go on a walk. All was well. I walked into the bathroom to put something away and heard the most horrific crash ... bang ... I don't know what you want to call it. I came out and Keenan was laying on the floor, holding his head. He had tripped over a toy and hit his head on the corner of the banister. I quickly grabbed him up and was holding him, still not understanding what exactly happened. I talked him into removing his hand from his forehead and I noticed blood. Uh oh. I then lifted his bangs up and saw the gash and knew he needed stitches. Instead of remaining calm, all this mommy saw was blood and a deep enough gash that I completely freaked out. I tried to lift him and take him into the kitchen so I could get something cold and wet to press against his head. But I fell with him in my arms against the wood floor. So graceful too (not!). Anyway, after I got up with him the second time, I got him into the kitchen and laid him on the counter and put a wet towel to his forehead. He was crying, I was crying and constantly saying "I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do." At this point, my brain had pretty much taken a lunch break and I was not thinking straight at all. I tried calling several family members and could not get ahold of anyone. And since Michael's cell phone was not working, I had no way of reaching him. I finally reached my father in law and through my sobs, he understood what I said and told me to call 911. I called and they were here in no time. All the time while this is going on, Bella is just walking around, playing, not really knowing what is going on.

The EMTs showed up and while they were evaluating him, they get another call on their radio that says there is a fire at the elementary school! I asked what the radio said, hoping I did not hear that correctly. They repeated what I thought I heard and I said (emotionaly losing it again), "My other son is there!" The poor EMTs were so nice and said, "The kids are fine, they are being evacuated."

One of the EMT's carried Bella out to the ambulance and strapped her into a kid harness type of seat and I carried Keenan out. So we all got to take a ride to Children's Hospital. Poor Keenan was scared, but so brave. He got strapped onto the bed and all his vitals were fine. On the way to the hospital the EMTs told me no hoses were needed for the fire so it meant everything was already out. (I later found out there was a small fire in the electrical room. The kids were transported to another school because the school lost power, but classes were back to normal today.)

They took him to Children's and he got 6 stitches. He did not cry at all while stitches were put in ... such a big boy! I knew I couldn't watch, so I sat down away from the bed, but Michael thought he could watch. He turned around about 1 minute later white as a ghost (his lips were even white!) and said he had to sit down. So it turns out that Keenan is braver than his mommy AND daddy.

Bella got to spend some quality time with her papaw and mamaw who had come to the hospital after my frantic call. I am hoping she doesn't think this a regular outing in our household.

I can laugh about it now, but boy oh boy what a day we started our week with!

Keenan being silly and showing off his battle wound.

Pictures - Homecoming

2009-08-23T21:53:00.004-04:00

Our first family of 5 picture!

Some of my best friends waiting for us to arrive at the airport.

Bella waving HI to America!

The boys waiting for us to arrive! (Aren't they just precious!)

Eating some good ole' mac-n-cheese in Detroit. Bella and Keenan playing with Nala (she is not too crazy about the grass touching her toes).

The boys and their silly daddy (I think it is supposed to some sort of armor on his head) being the 3 Musketeers.

Trying to be one of the boys ... she picked up the foam sword and went at it.
My three cuties on the swingset (I think Bella was about to fall asleep in the swing).

HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-08-23T09:15:00.002-04:00

I hate it when I am following blogs and they don't update when they get home for what seems like forever. Sooooo, I thought I would get on here really quick to let everyone know that we have made it home safe and sound. We could not have asked for better travel with Isabella. She slept 10 of the 13 hours from Shanghai to Detroit and then napped briefly on the flight from Detroit to Cincinnati. Michael and I did not sleep much, but have been trying to catch up since we have been home. I don't have any pictures to post yet, but will post a bunch as soon as I can get them all together.
We were so surprised and so blessed to have so many family and friends to welcome us home at the airport. It was truly a blessing to have such a celebration. And it was SO GOOD to see our boys again!!!!!!!!! They have been awesome with Bella and she has loved exploring the house and getting to know her surroundings. We haven't made it in the pool yet because it was so cool yesterday, but she loves being outside on the deck and to also play on the swingset.
She slept in her own bed in her room by herself the first night from 9 pm until 6:45 am. We could not have asked for anything more and she slept in her bed all night again last night. We are soooo happy for this because that has meant sleep for us.
We are all feeling the jet lag, but at least we are getting some rest. We thank everyone for their prayers, love, gifts, and food as we have arrived home. We are so blessed to have her and so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.

Pictures coming soon!

On her way to becoming a United States Citizen

2009-08-19T08:45:00.004-04:00

Michael, Bella and now I am getting a very bad head cold. Michael is feeling a little better. I am starting to get the same symptoms and Bella’s fever is back. We are hoping and praying that we all get over the worst of it before we hop on the plane for the long flight home on Friday.
We got the rest of our shopping done today. There is a store here that sells items to benefit a specific orphanage and the items they sold were so unique and priceless. The store was started by an adoptive family and has sponsored many kids to get the medical procedures that they need. We met one of the families here that have adopted a child that this organization helped. We also went to a store that another family in our group told us about. The owner was such a blessing to meet. She asked us if we were Christians. We told her we were and the light went on in her eyes. She became so excited and showed me her Bible. Her Bible was in Chinese and has been read often (I could tell). She told us she had been a Christian for 5 years. China is a country whose official religion is atheism, but Maoism is probably the most practiced religion. She really helped me see how rare it is here. We take being a Christian, freely to be a Christian for granted. I can only hope that others will see the same light in my eyes as she has in hers.
This afternoon we did the famous Red Couch pictures with all of the new adopted kids and then with our whole group.

This is Bella in her silk dress.

These are all the kids from the provinces other than Beijing.

This is a picture of all the kids from the Beijing orphanage.

This is a picture of all the moms and their children in our group.

After the picture we went to the U.S. Consulate’s office to take the oath that the information we provided in our adoption paperwork is true. We received Isabella’s Visa to enter the United States. The director at the Consulate’s office was so sweet and she was truly thankful that we were all there adopting these children. We all raised our right hands and gave the oath … I became emotional, which I was not expecting. Isabella, on the other hand, slept through the whole thing. This was the last thing we had to do in China for Bella to be able to come home with us. Once we land in Detroit on U.S. soil and get her Visa stamped, Isabella will be a United States Citizen.
This will probably be the last post until after we are home. We leave for Shanghai tomorrow and then leave from there to Detroit early the next morning. We have several hours in Detroit and then will fly into Cincinnati shortly after 4 p.m. Friday afternoon. Family and friends are welcome to meet us at the airport. We are so excited and ready to be back home with our boys and for them to meet their sister. We are excited for family and friends to meet the newest Garland. There are other things we are excited for … sleeping together in our soft big bed (instead of sleeping in small twin beds), home cooked meals, to drink water out of the tap, to be able to brush our teeth using tap water, ice, salad, blue skies, fresh air and hugs from 2 little boys! We will miss all of our life long friends that we have met and shared this journey with, but we are so excited to come home. Thank you for all of your prayers and support while we have been on this journey. We have been truly blessed by all of the love from our family and friends. Please pray for safe travels, minimal jet lag, and health. USA … here we come!

Girl's Day

2009-08-18T09:23:00.003-04:00

Isabella is feeling so much better today. She is back to her spunky self. Michael, on the other hand, is sick. He started on the antibiotic we brought and seems to be doing better tonight after a lot of rest today. So today became a girl’s day out. I took Isabella swimming this morning and she stayed in the pool for a good hour and a half … maybe even 2 hours! She took another amazing nap. While she and Michael napped, I went shopping with another mom in our group. We hired Ann of Red Thread to take us to the markets. Oh my gosh was this fun! Ann knew exactly where to go, did all the negotiating and saved us so much money. We bought pearls and jade and other beads. The markets are so neat to see. I thought Bella would be awake when I got back, but she was still napping! I had to wake the sleepy head up. I hope she sleeps tonight!
The heat is still oppressive, but this has been the prettiest day yet. Blue skies all day. Beautiful!
Because Michael needed to rest, Bella and I hit the playroom here and played with her new friend Della (although they don’t know they are friends yet). Bella and I went and ate another amazing Italian dinner with Della and her parents.
Today was our consulate appointment. This is the day that our whole trip in planned around. The funny thing is that we did not have to go anywhere. I guess I thought we had to go to the consulate and do something, but our guide took care of everything. Tomorrow we go to take the oath and get her visa.

This is a photo of the outside of our hotel.

Please pray that Michael gets better and that I don't get whatever it is! We are almost at the end of our hotel living - yay!!!!

TB test is clear!

2009-08-17T10:43:00.003-04:00

We have had another rough day. Isabella still is not feeling well and we also think she may be mourning. Her fever usually reappears after she has been sleeping.
She seemed to be doing better this morning, which was good because we had to go back to the medical exam office to get her TB test checked. Instead of taking us to a different room from where they stuck her, they took us back to the same room. The buckin’ bronco made her return debut and she threw a fit. All they had to do was look at her arm, but she did not know that. She screamed and tried to claw her way off of me. They checked her arm and everything is fine. Whew!
We then walked around a bit and actually saw a peak of sunshine. I don’t think we have seen sun since we have been in China. If we have, it has been short lived.
Since the TB test was clear, we were finally able to enjoy the gorgeous pool here. We bought her a pair of swimmies and she enjoyed it, but could not figure out how to keep her mouth closed while in the water and ended up drinking some of it. She also enjoyed watching some of the other kids playing in the water, but did not like it when she got splashed.

We rested in the room a lot today and she took another great nap. Unfortunately, she has gone back to not wanting Michael at all except if she is in the mood to horse play. (So this mommy is tired!) Please pray for us. Today has just been trying from all angles.
We are missing Aidan’s first day of school today and are praying he is having a wonderful one! We can’t wait to hear all about it.
We did go on a boat cruise tonight. The boat was beautiful and it was nice to feel the breeze off the water.

Here is a picture of our hotel at night from the water.

This is a picture of one of the many parks on the island.

Bella showing off her pretty flower in her hair (the flower actually came with our lunch).

Good night ... more tomorrow!

Spicy girl not feeling so well

2009-08-16T08:30:00.005-04:00

Isabella did not sleep well last night and because she did not sleep well, neither did we. She woke up crying every 20 minutes or so. I kept checking her but she never felt warm. That is until around 6 a.m. when she woke up burning up with fever. We have given her medicine all day, but she still is not feeling well. Because of the rough night, we did not go to the Guangzhou Folk Art Museum as planned. We thought the heat and the touring might be too much for her. We hung out at the hotel instead and she took a very good and long nap.
We also have had our friends, Tim and Elise, visiting us today. They live in China and made the trip here to see us. It has been so nice hanging out with them. Michael took them to lunch at Lucy’s so they could get some good western food and they also went to dinner with us to an awesome Italian restaurant.
This island is known for weddings, so we got to see many many brides today. They all looked so beautiful. Most of them wore ivory dresses while some of them were in red, pink or burgundy dresses. (Alyssa – you would have loved seeing all the dresses.) We think so many weddings happened today because the Chinese believe that 8 (and therefore any multiples of 8) is a lucky number and today is August 16.

One funny thing that did happen today is that a Chinese man who could speak a little English approached us on the sidewalk. He asked Isabella if I (pointing to me) am her mother. She looked at him and shook her head no. When I got down beside her and told her yes, she smiled real big back at me. She does sometimes get yes and no head nods confused, but I think she was just being silly.
Another funny thing that keeps happening is that the locals who are very accustomed to seeing adoptive families ask us where she is from. When we tell them the Sichuan province, they always say, “Oh she a spicy girl!” That is because the Sichuan province is known for their very spicy food.
All in all we had a pretty low key day today because Bella has just not been feeling well. We all hope to get a good night’s sleep and feel better in the morning.

Here are just some other picures from our day.

A boat on the water in front of our hotel.

The waterfall in our hotel.

Medical exam – preview for many battles to come

2009-08-15T10:25:00.007-04:00

We started our day bright and early. We got to eat at the breakfast bar (“spread” is more like it) that we have heard so much about. It was great! We had a table right next to the fish, so Isabella was in heaven.
After breakfast we went to the dreaded medical exam. It was an interesting event to say the least. She was fine playing until we had to go and get her checked out. She can put up a fight just like her oldest brother! Great thing she only weighs about 22 pounds right now. She had to get all of the basic measurements and checks done. She also had to get a TB skin test. She saw the needle coming from a mile away and boy did she know what that meant. She became a buckin’ bronco! We have to go get the skin test read in a couple of days, but in the meantime, we can’t take her in the pool. I really don’t understand why, but we will abide by the rules because we do not want to be here longer than we have to be. After the medical visit, we went with some other families to get some groceries and diapers … also some more bibs. This child drools all of the time. I think it is because of her cleft. The malls are interesting here because the grocery stores are 1 level of the mall. So you will have your typical department store, but with a grocery store in it as well.

Michael thought this was an interesting picture. The scaffolding is made of bamboo. No safety harnesses on this man.

The staring and the popularity is still here in Guangzhou, but it is not as bad because people here are more used to seeing adoptive families. Thank goodness! We have tried to learn to ignore it, but sometimes it can be a bit much. For instance, last night we were with another family talking and looking at the fish and the whole time there were 3 women behind us video taping us.
After our shopping excursion, we came back to the hotel to rest. Bella fought her nap, but eventually gave in. During her nap, Michael went to meet with our guide to make sure all of our paperwork is complete and accurate. Our guides have taken such good care of us and have gone above and beyond to help us.
This evening we all went out to dinner to eat at Lucy’s. It is so much fun to see all of the parents and their children. It is so amazing to see how each child fits perfectly with their family. God is pretty amazing that way!

Michael snuck this outfit on her after her bath to tease me. This is her cheesy smile. I have to admit, it looks pretty cute on her.

We did a little shopping and bought the famous squeaky shoes (and yes you can remove the squeakers!). Little miss sassy loves stomping around in them. We also got some silk dresses. Everything is so cheap! The store owner wrote Isabella’s name out in Chinese characters for her – so neat to have.
We met with some other families in one of the rooms tonight and had some worship time. We are so blessed to be on this journey with so many wonderful and faithful families. I will end this by asking to please pray for a couple of the families that we are with who are having communication and attachment struggles with their children. Most of the children are doing amazingly well while a couple are still in mourning for the only way of life that they have ever known. I think we sometimes forget how hard this is not only for us as parents, but how difficult it is for these children.

Welcome to the Emotional Rollercoaster

2009-08-14T10:52:00.010-04:00

We did not post yesterday because we had a very busy and emotional day. Yesterday (Thursday) we started out at the Panda park. We got to see giant pandas and red pandas. The giant pandas were active climbing all over each other. It was sooo very hot and humid, so we were glad the park was not a big place.
Once we left the park, we went and spent the rest of the day with Bella’s foster family at their home. They had some friends over for a cookout, friends that have been a part of Bella’s life and who helped her be placed in foster care. We have learned so much about Bella’s life and we have forever family and friends. Bella spent the day with her foster siblings playing and just relishing in her time with them. It was a very emotional day and one of the hardest goodbye’s we have ever had to say. I can’t express how grateful we are to them and how much we love this family. As I have said before, they are angels on earth. They nursed Isabella back to life … they gave her a chance to live and thrive. When we left, Isabella cried and did not want to leave, but as soon as we got in the cab back to the hotel she cuddled up in my arms and fell asleep. We will never let her forget her first family and we hope to visit with them when they come to the States.
Today we had to pack up and get ready to go to Guangzhou. The Sichuan province (Chengdu is the capital of the province) is where Bella was born and has always lived, so leaving this place is significant even though she does not realize this. As far as we know this is the first flight she has taken since she had her heart surgery almost 2 years ago. She seemed a little apprehensive during takeoff, but as soon as we were in the air she laid down on my lap and fell asleep. She slept through the entire flight and even during the landing. The hotel had someone at the airport with our names on a poster waiting for us. We rode to the hotel with another adoptive family. Everyone has said that once they get to Guangzhou, everything seems to fall into place. And now I know what they mean! We are staying at the White Swan on Shamian Island and it is the prettiest place we have been since being in China. The island reminds me of Savannah, Georgia … big trees with some type of moss in them and palm trees, lots of green parks, beautiful sidewalks and water. We are staying right on the water and the hotel is just gorgeous! There is a big waterfall and huge fish (Bella LOVES the fish.!!! She goes right for them.) There is also 2 wonderful pools here. I wish the boys could see this place. They would love it.
Bella has really gotten close to her daddy tonight. So far she has not let me out of her sight without screaming. She won’t let daddy push her in the stroller without throwing a fit and she won’t let him carry her unless I am right beside her. BUT tonight they have wrestled (because she has to fit in with the boys you know) and played and went to see the fish. (If anyone wants a key to this little girl’s heart, buy her a real fish. Ha!) We figure she will love going to our neighbor’s to see the fish … although we may never get her away from them.
We went to eat at Lucy’s – a well known restaurant for adoptive families because it serves great Western food. Bella loved the sweet tea and spaghetti we got. She has really taken off eating for us and will try anything. (You hear that Aidan? She will try anything! HaHa)

We have been able to meet up with some of the families and their children now that we are all back in the same place. So neat to see how wonderfully God has matched these children with their parents. Can't wait to meet the rest tomorrow!

Angels on Earth, Documents, and a Rat

2009-08-12T11:04:00.009-04:00

We were able to talk to the boys and family on Skype this morning. The boys seem to be having a ball and enjoying themselves. Just hope that grandparents are having just as much fun having them (ha!).
We took Bella swimming for the first time today. She loved it!!!

We did not bring floaties, but if we had them, I think she would have taken off. You have to wear a swim cap while swimming here, so we had to buy one. I think I will sport one every time I go swimming from now on.
We had to go back to the Civil Affairs Office today to sign more paperwork. We are not exactly sure which day she became a Garland officially (either yesterday or today), but we know she became Isabella Garland the first moment we saw her.
We have told some people a little more about her story before, but I just thought we would post about it now. Even though Isabella is 3 ½, she is much more like 2 years old right now. For a child who is adopted, being delayed is quite common. We have learned that at the age of 2 years when the foster family brought Bella into their home, she could not hold her head up, sit up or roll over. She only weighed 12 pounds. She was very much like a newborn at the age of 2. From the point the foster family brought her into their home, loved her and gave her the care she needed, she has progressed wonderfully. It is almost like she was really born on the day they got her. So right now, she is your typical toddler exploring, testing her boundaries, trying to figure out how things work. If we show her something, she will try to do it herself. She has even tried saying some new words. So, the question is, “Do we think she will catch up to her actual age?” We aren’t sure. But do we think she will progress right on track as if she were currently 2? Yes, we do. She is very smart. And we think once we get her palate repaired, she will take off with eating and talking. Our prayer is that we can provide the love and care for her, just like her foster family has given her unselfishly for the past 20 months.

Tonight we went to Jin Li Street which is a really neat historical street. It has been restored with lots of shops and street food.

We met up with Bella’s foster family there. It has been a wonderful experience getting to know them and spend time with them while in Chengdu. They are angels on earth. God has completely orchestrated us getting to know them and placing our daughter with them until He was ready to bring us together. They are family and will be part of our family forever. We are so blessed to have them in our lives.
Jin Li Street was beautiful all lit up at night. We saw a lot of beautifully made Chinese souvineers. Michael tried some fried squid on a stick. It was very good.

I can't figure out how to turn the picture and it is late, so I am just going to go with this (turn your head to get the full picture). We also could have had our ears cleaned out with these extremely long swabs on a stick. We passed on that; pretty gross. We went to eat at a nice Chinese restaurant. It was on the second floor of a building and had all of the windows open. Excellent food. However, while we were sitting there eating, a rat (yes, I said a rat!!) came up on the seat behind my head. I was immediately warned and we moved very quickly out of the restaurant. I never saw the rat, but then again, I did not try to stick around to see the rat. Yuck!!!
Tomorrow is a busy day, so am not sure if I will get to post or not. Going to the Panda reserve. Will post again as soon as I can. Love to everyone!

Exploring Chengdu With Bella!

2009-08-11T09:56:00.014-04:00

Before we get started with our post, just want to point out to those of you following that there is a new link on the left side of the page that will take you to more photos. The blog will only let us post so many, so I'll be dumping more photos onto our flickr website and you can access that by clicking the "MORE PHOTOS" link.

AIN'T SHE CUTE!!!

Isabella had a hard time at bed time last night. She cried for a while and finally settled down after we sang to her and kept reassuring her over and over. It was heartbreaking for me especially. But I know it is a good thing because it just shows that she has bonded so much with the family that has been so good and loving to her. She slept like a champ and did not wake up until about 8 or 8:30 this morning. When she did, she cried again. I think she had forgotten where she was and who she was with. She calmed down pretty fast though and has been a happy little girl ever since.

We took our time getting ready this morning and just played in the room for awhile. We then walked around the city a bit and did some shopping. Chengdu is China’s 4th largest city, about 12 million people. Largest being by the number of people, not area. So think about shoving about 100 people in an elevator. That is what it is like here. I think Chengdu is a prettier city than Beijing. The area around Chengdu is very green with a lot of rice fields. We were able to see it from the airplane as we landed in Chengdu. While out shopping, people gawked and stared at us. And we thought we were being stared at in Beijing … it is nothing like being here with a Chinese child! Some people try to talk to us, but we have no idea what they are saying. Others just stop, stare and talk about us with the people they are with.
We went back to the Civil Affairs office this afternoon where we completed the adoption registration. We were asked questions to make sure we would care for and never abandon Isabella.
We ventured out for dinner tonight and tried an Italian restaurant on the other side of the city that was recommended to us. Really, “ventured” is not the word for it. It was more like risking our lives because we had to take a cab. I know I have said this before, but I have never seen anything like it. Michael sat in the front of the cab and Bella and I hung on for lives in the backseat. Oh, and no seatbelts in the back, so I was holding on to her very tightly.

The restaurant was good and everyone was very nice there, but a couple of the workers stood at the counter several feet away from us and just watched us eat. A little uncomfortable, but I think they were just curious about our situation.

We have just put Bella down for the night and she was not happy to go to bed. She was tired but did not want to give in, especially when she can see us in the bed next to hers. She finally fell asleep while holding my hand. So precious.
Thanks everyone for all of the prayers and encouraging comments!!! We enjoy reading them everyday!

Introducing Isabella Xin Hope

2009-08-10T09:12:00.006-04:00

We left Beijing early this morning and flew to Chengdu. We checked into the hotel and our guide took us to the Civil Affairs office where we waited only a few minutes for Isabella to arrive with her foster parents. The office was kind of like a courthouse office. The whole experience has been surreal and one that could only have been orchestrated by our heavenly father.
We met Isabella as she toddled toward us. Talk about heart thumping out of our chests! She is the most beautiful little girl!!! She is so tiny and petite (which we have learned is very customary for the town she is from). She toddled toward us and took a little toy that I brought for her. No tears, just checking us out and the environment around her. We asked her if she could give us a hug and after a few minutes, she did … and gave us kisses!!! Because she has been so blessed to be with an amazing American foster family, she understands EVERYTHING we say. She can’t talk much because of her missing palate, but we know exactly what she wants. She is an imitator. If we dance, she dances. If we clap, she claps. I also just snapped my fingers to music and she tried snapping her fingers. She is also very obedient. After we finished some paperwork at the Civil Affairs office, our guide took us to a grocery store. Whenever I would tell her no, or tell her to hold my hand, she did. She is also very independent. She wants to walk everywhere and climb and just explore. She still has not cried one tear, but every once in a while we see her look around as if she is looking for her foster mommy and daddy. That is when I tear up. They have loved her so much and haven taken such good care of her and also have given this little blessing hope. This family will always be part of ours and we will be forever grateful.
Today has been so natural and it seems like she has always been with us. I know this may be the “honeymoon” stage so to speak, but we pray it continues.
She loves the toys that we brought her, especially the little Arial cell phone and magna doodle. When she smiles, she looks like she is gritting her teeth as hard as she can … so funny.
There were other families either waiting to receive their child or receiving their children at the same office we were at. They were all from Spain. We chatted with them and it is so neat to hear about the children, their ages and if they are a waiting for a boy or girl. We have seen many boys find their forever families during this trip as well as many older girls.
It has been a long, emotional day. More updates tomorrow. We have her and we are truly blessed. We can’t wait for her brothers to meet her. We miss them so much right now and wish they were here to meet Isabella. Thanks to all of you who have been lifting us up in prayer. We can truly feel his presence all around us throughout this entire experience. Bella is a miracle and is truly a gift from God. We love you all!

Tiananmen Square and Hutong

2009-08-09T07:15:00.006-04:00

At the end of each day I sit down and try to recap what we did, what we saw and try to share these experiences with you. There truly is so much to share and talk about and I know I can’t possibly begin to explain the scenery, the people, the looks, the language or the smells, but I will try.
Each morning the hotel has a buffet that offers a western style breakfast. This is probably the best meal of the day because we know what we are eating is ok. Our guide also lets us know of other restaurants in the area where we can eat and should not get sick. We cannot drink the water or get drinks with ice in them unless we are told it is ok. We also cannot eat a lot of the local foods because our stomachs can’t handle it. And believe me, after the way we felt after our long trip and trying to adjust to the time change, we are not going to risk it.
We started today by going to Tiananmen Square. This area is kind of like their Washington monument. This is the tourist season and people are everywhere. I have never been anywhere and been around so many people. When walking you just get lost in a sea of people and you better keep going and pushing along. There was a huge long line at the Red Square with people to pay their respects to the last president. We did not do this, but we were able to take pictures of the buildings and statues.
Today we got to experience a bit of what a celebrity must feel like. People stared, smiled, tried their English out on us and we were also the subject of many pictures and videos. One little boy approached me and asked me if I spoke Chinese. I said no and he then said, “Picture?” I asked, “You want me to take a picture with you?” He nodded and smiled a big smile. I turned around and took a picture with him and his mother acted so happy. He thanked me and then tried to get pictures with others in our group.
We also visited the Forbidden City. This place is huge and we walked and walked and walked. This is where the emperor lived during the different dynasties. Again, so many, many people. By the time we reached the center of the city, we were all very hot and tired. The humidity is so oppressive at times. And because of the crowds, the smells are sometimes nauseating.
We then went on a Hutong tour. Hutong is a village with alleys that wrap around. The best way to get around the village is on a rickshaw. This was the highlight of the day. We rode on rickshaws through the streets of Hutong and it was so much fun. We got to see how the people live and work. Kids played in the alleys with anything they could find. Merchants sold anything and everything. We also got to go inside of a family’s home and learn about their life and home. Mr. Cricket also came and talked to us. He is a local legend of sorts. He trains crickets (the insect) to fight. I know, sounds silly, but it is a very serious matter here. The winner of a cricket fight can win up to 850,000 Yuan (a little over $100,000). Losers have been known to lose the house they live in. He is so proud of what he has been able to accomplish and he showed us articles and books where his story has appeared.
Once we got on the bus, our guide told each of when we needed to be ready for check out in the morning, what would happen when we got to our child’s province and when we would meet our child. At times throughout this trip, we find ourselves sitting back and realizing why we are here. Up to this point, it seems like we are vacation touring, learning the local culture and then it hits us … oh yeah, we are receiving our child tomorrow!!!
We leave very early tomorrow morning to fly to Chengdu. We think we will meet Isabella at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon. Please pray for all of us tomorrow … Isabella, Michael and I, Bella’s precious foster family, and everyone who is part of this journey to her. Next post will be after we have her in our arms!!!!!!!!!!

The Great Wall of China

2009-08-08T10:30:00.012-04:00

What a day! We started early and headed out by bus to the Cloisonne Factory and got to see some beautiful pieces being made.

On the way there we got to see more of Beijing. This is the biggest city I have ever been in. I know we drove at least an hour before we came to the end of skyscrapers and tall apartment buildings. Once we did leave Beijing we were in the mountains and got our first glance of the Great Wall of China.

Absolutely amazing! The Great Wall was breathtaking. It is the rainy season here and we have not seen the sun, so it made it difficult to see how far the Great Wall expands over the mountains. We took a lift up to the Great Wall and then hiked the rest of the way to the top. There were so many people that we learned the Chinese way of getting around. Just push! No manners, just keep pushing your way through or you will never get anywhere.

We have really become close with some of the couples in our travel group and it has just been so awesome to be here with all of them.

The children that have already joined their families have been such a joy to be around. They have bonded and adapted so well. We got into major traffic issues and got back to the hotel 3 hours later than anticipated. The kids all did awesome. The adults on the other hand, were ready for rest!

On the way back to the hotel, we drove through the Olympic village. It was so neat to see. There was a soccer game going on at the Bird’s Nest tonight so the area was very busy. We did not stop, but did take some pictures from the bus. (The Bird's Nest and The Aquatic Cube ...)
We finally were able to connect and talk to the boys on Skype tonight. They are having a ball and even though they say they miss us, we really don’t believe them.
Well, we are heading to bed soon. We have another day here of sightseeing before we fly to Isabella’s province. We have to keep pinching ourselves … can’t believe we are only a day and a half away from meeting our daughter. Thank you all for your prayers and support. God has blessed us with such supportive family and friends.

Beijing - Day 2

2009-08-07T09:49:00.005-04:00

This was our first full day in Beijing. We met a lot of the other families in our group. We have been emailing and keeping in touch with some of these families so it was nice to finally see them in person. We have such a neat group. We are not all here yet, but there are 16 families in our group. All of the families are adopting children with special needs. How cool is that?! The families that arrived in Beijing on Monday received their children then. It has been awesome seeing these families together with their children and how well their children are doing adapting to their new life. There is one family that got here that we did not get to meet. They had their child for a couple of days and decided her needs were much more severe than had been described. They made the very hard decision to take their child back to the orphanage and I believe they have gone home. Please pray for this family and this child. I can’t even imagine. Just heart wrenching.
After breakfast and a short meeting this morning with our group, we headed across the street to the bank. We found out that Isabella’s province would accept a wire transfer for the adoption “donation”. What a relief – no more carrying around a ton of money worrying something might happen to it. Our guide took care of everything and the money has been wired to Sichuan province.
I tell you what, just walking across the street here is more dangerous than anything I have done in a very long time. Green, red … doesn’t matter. And pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way. Just crazy!
When we got back to the hotel we took a short nap to try to catch up and feel a little more human. Our stomachs have been doing some somersaults, so it was needed. When we woke up there was a note under our door stating that we needed to have our temperature checked twice a day in the lobby while we are here. A few of the other families received the same notice, so we are assuming someone on the plane (although we were all on different planes) has the flu. It is another infrared camera that took our temp. Fine today for both of us. Please keep praying that we stay well. This time change has done a number on us.
We went to the acrobatic show this afternoon. That was really amazing to see. I did not know it at the time, but they scanned all of us for fevers prior to going in there also. We are the minority here and they do not want this flu here and since it originated in North America, they are very careful around us (at least that is the way it seems). And since we are the minority, even though we are here checking everything out, we are also the object of stares and pictures as well.
Tomorrow is the Great Wall and Cloisonne Factory. Please feel free to leave any comments to the blog or send us an email. Facebook is blocked, but we are able to update status on Michael's phone. We also can't text since it is expensive here. This building is in downtown Beijing and the locals call it the "Big Pants" building. This picture really does not do it justice because it is a HUGE building.

A picture of us before going into the acrobatic show.

Downtown Beijing
This is the little grocery store down the road from our hotel. Michael thought it was funny that it is an IGA ... not quite Tandy's (if you are from Rising Sun). The smells were interesting to say the least.

More updates tomorrow!!

Beijing - Day One

2009-08-07T09:22:00.004-04:00

Ni Hao China!

What a long day this was! We left our house at 8:30 Wednesday morning and did not arrive to our hotel in Beijing until 11:00 Thursday evening (Beijing time). All flights were good, just very long. We have never been on a plane as big as the one from Detroit to Tokyo – it was huge! We each got very little sleep on the plane. We were told we could not site together because there were no more 2 seats together, but once we boarded and they closed the gate there were empty seats by me, so Michael was able to move. So glad for this because that was the longest flight ever. Can’t say I am looking forward to that 14 hour flight back with Isabella.
Once we arrived in Beijing, we expected our temperatures to be taken before we got off the plane, but they weren’t. Instead once we got off there were people with masks on and we were directed through check in and our temperatures were taken with infrared cameras. There was a family that was a few people ahead of us in line that got sent to the quarantine booth, but we did not sit near them on the plane. We got through all of that and I stopped at the restroom and saw my first squatty potty. I just couldn’t do it yet … I know I am going to have to at some point in this trip, but will wait until absolutely necessary. (Ha!)
We checked into our hotel, It is nice and in the center of downtown. Downtown Beijing is huge and we got to see it all lit up last night on our way in. We were able to finally sleep once we checked in last night. We are heading down to breakfast and then off to our introduction meeting with our travel group. Some families in our group have been here a few days. Others arrived yesterday (like us) and still others will come in a few days. We are also going to an acrobatic show this afternoon.
Thanks everyone for your prayers!

This is our last family of 4 picture! The next one be all 5 of us!

This was our plane from Detroit to Tokyo. We just had to take a picture once we landed because it is the biggest thing we have ever been on.

Next Stop ... China!

2009-08-04T21:44:00.002-04:00

We are leaving bright and early tomorrow. Thank you to everyone that has supported us, prayed for us and helped us get to this point. Please continue to pray!!! The next post will be from Beijing ... stay tuned.

Our Itinerary

2009-07-31T11:45:00.001-04:00

August 6th ... Arrive in Beijing
August 7th ... Acrobatic show
August 8th ... Visit Great Wall and the Cloisonne Factory
August 9th ... Visit Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and Hutong Tour
August 10th ... Fly to Chengdu ... GET ISABELLA!!!
August 11th ... Free day
August 12th ... Adoption registration and notarization
August 13th ... Visit Giant Panda Reservation Center
August 14th ... Fly to Guangzhou
August 15th ... Medical exam for Isabella. Prepare consulate documents
August 16th ... Visit Guangzhou Folk Art Museum
August 17th ... Go back to medical clinic to check TB skin test results
August 18th ... Visa appointment
August 19th ... Go to consulate to take oath
August 20th ... Fly to Shanghai
August 21st ... COME HOME (Delta/Northwest ... arrive in Cincinnati 4:19 p.m.)

We are almost there! We ask for prayers for safe travels, for Bella's transition and bonding, for our boys while we are gone and for us being away from our boys and finally meeting our daughter!

New Pictures!!!

2009-07-23T21:27:00.010-04:00

Can we say attitude? Well she would not be our daughter if she didn't have one!

Such a sweetie!

All I can say is PRECIOUS!

Special Needs

2009-07-21T22:14:00.004-04:00

Special needs is a term that honestly I did not like to hear. It is a term that I struggled with for a long time. How can a child with a birth mark be special needs? How can a child who is older than 6 years of age be special needs? How can a boy be special needs? How can I be open to special needs? What special needs?
When we first started on this adoption journey, we requested a healthy, young as possible, baby girl. That was almost 2 1/2 years ago. God has worked on us and worked on us. I keep thinking that if we would have seen Isabella's file 2 1/2 years ago, would we have said yes? The truth is, probably not. That is not what we had pictured. Funny how God does that. He has of course known all along that Isabella is ours, that she was born to be our daughter and that we needed some time. God has worked on our hearts through following other blogs, meeting families who have adopted "special needs" children and also reviewing other files of children with special needs. In the fall, we filled out our paperwork ... the special needs paperwork. One of the documents we had to complete was the special needs form. It had 3 columns. One for minor needs, one for moderate needs and one for severe needs. We went through and checked (after much research and prayer) all of the needs we thought we could handle. While filling out that paperwork, I just knew that our daughter would have cleft lip/palate. Don't ask me why, but I just knew. This is something I only told a couple of people about and honestly we did not tell many people that we had filled out the "special needs" paperwork.
Also at the time we completed the paperwork, we requested the age range be increased up to 2 years of age. And once again, God worked on us. We felt it important to keep the birth order (that was Aidan's only request throughout all of this ... that he remain the oldest ... and who can blame him?). So again, we updated our paperwork in February to say we would accept a little girl with the special needs listed on the form up to 3 1/2 years old as long as she was born after Keenan. In March, we received our referral! I keep thinking, "What if we did not change the age we were willing to accept?" But I know that it was all part of God's plan all along. We just needed to come around to it.
For anyone considering adopting, but may be hesitant to the label "special needs" take 10 minutes and watch this video made by Love Without Boundaries. This is the organization that sponsored and paid for Isabella's heart surgery. All of these special needs children are just that, they have needs and they are SPECIAL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aa3ZN8Tyzc

Travel Dates

2009-07-14T22:00:00.002-04:00

We are leaving August 5th for China!!!! We will leave Cincinnati on August 5th, go through Detroit, Tokyo and then finally arrive in Beijing on August 6th. We will tour Beijing for a few days. (We are still waiting on our complete itinerary.) After Beijing, we fly to Chengdu. We will meet Bella probably on the 9th or 10th, stay in Chengdu for a few days and then fly to Guangzhou where the U.S. consulate is. We will be there for probably a week and then fly to Shanghai on the 20th. Spend the night in Shanghai and then leave for the U.S. We will be home Friday, August 21st.
We have decided not to take Aidan with us. This was such a hard decision to make. We are going to miss our boys sooooo much, but are so excited to finally meet our little girl.
Now we are getting all of the last minute things done like making her doctor appointments at Children's hospital for evaluations, getting antibiotics to take with us (for the "just in case"), getting back to school things ready since we will miss Aidan's first week of school as a 1st grader, etc., etc., etc.
God has been so faithful (as always) through this entire journey. We pray for safe travels and that he watches over our boys while we are gone.
Will update everyone with the full itinerary once we get it. Can't believe this is actually happening!

Oh Happy Day ... We Have TA!!!

2009-07-07T22:38:00.002-04:00

We found out this evening that we have received our TA (travel approval)!!!! Our agency is still working on obtaining the consulate appointment, but told us to expect to travel early August. Oh we are so ready to go and bring our little girl home!
Please continue to pray that all of our appointments and travel arrangements are made and that we are able to travel in early August. Please also pray that we make the best decision on whether or not to take Aidan with us. We have heard that the quarantines are being lightened and that the officials are now seeing H1N1 not as serious as originally thought.
Thanks everyone for your love, encouragement and prayers! More updates soon I hope!

Rainy 4th of July Weekend

2009-07-05T15:27:00.013-04:00

What do you do on a rainy, chilly 4th of July weekend? Lots of great things! We were able to go spend Friday evening with friends (before the rain) and enjoyed great food, time with friends and some awesome fireworks.

Then the rain started ... We met our friends at the airport to welcome Lola Joy home from Ethiopia. What a day to come home to America - the 4th of July!! She is just so precious and a true blessing and answered prayer.

Have to say that I got teary eyed when we pulled up to the airport ... just praying we are back there soon boarding our jet plane to China to bring Bella home.

The Stanleys - all 5 of them!

Heather, Julie and Emy

I got to hold Lola - she is so beautiful and such a good baby!

This morning Keenan "made" french toast for all of us. Normally that is Michael's special breakfast to make, but Keenan decided he wanted to not only watch, but to make it himself (with a lot of parent supervision, I might add).

And Aidan, he is finally learning to ride his bike without training wheels. He has always been a little stubborn (not sure where he gets that!) so the promise of some new legos if he learns is part of the deal.

We also have gone out to dinner, played some Wii (and boy do I stink at Mario Kart) and just had some good family time.

Happy Freedom day everyone and May God Bless America!

Blessing in Ethiopia

2009-06-27T14:10:00.004-04:00

We have been blessed to meet and become friends with the Stanley family. We met through mutual dear friends because we were both adopting from China. Their log in date with China is a week or so before ours, so we have been on this journey together from the beginning. They have been a source of support and comfort because they know all too well what the adoption journey is like and what it is like to WAIT.
The Stanleys began a concurrent adoption with Ethiopia several months ago and TODAY they met their little blessing, Lola Joy. If you would like to follow their journey and see pictures of their precious little girl, click this link http://journeytochinadoll.blogspot.com/. I know they appreciate all prayers and well wishes.
We love you Stanley family - all FIVE of you!

Oh Where Oh Where is our TA ... Oh Where Oh Where Can it be?

2009-06-24T17:47:00.002-04:00

Well this is the question of every minute of every day that is running through my mind. Everytime the phone rings I wonder, "Is this the call?" I know it sounds crazy, but that is just how I am feeling right now. We are just waiting on our TA and then we can travel to meet our little sweetheart. We are soooo ready! Her room is ready, we have all of the paperwork ready, we have bought most of the gifts to take, and we have a good start on the little things that we need to buy to take with us. Don't get me wrong, I am sure that we will be scrambling when that call comes, but bring it on, I am ready!
We have thought all along that we would be taking Aidan with us. Well, we are not so sure now. China is placing people in quarantine if they are in close proximity to someone who test positive for the flu. We are not nervous about the potential to be quarantined. We are nervous though that if one of us comes down with the flu, that Aidan will be separated from us. Officials are taking this VERY seriously there and even though we see this as just the flu, they do not. At this point, we don't want to take the risk of him being separated from us. This breaks my heart and his because he has been so excited to go. But ... things could change before we travel and we may change our minds again.
Please pray that we get our TA soon. Please pray that everything related to the flu calms down. Please pray for peace for us while we wait. And please pray that God continues to wrap his loving arms around Isabella and her wonderful foster family.
We KNOW God's time is perfect and we trust in that. This is the verse that spoke to me while we were trying to decide whether or not to say yes to Isabella's referral and the one that has given me hope and peace throughout this journey. Proverbs 3: 5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T11:38:00.004-04:00

Happy Father's Day! May God bless each and every one of you today.

I wanted to place a post today to honor Michael ... he is just the best daddy in the world to the boys and I know Bella will feel the same way. Aidan and Keenan loved having so much time with daddy while we were in Hilton Head. While we were there, they built sand castles, rode bikes, "surfed" the waves, went on a sailboat ride, and kayaked. It was a great week! We are happy to be home and spend a relaxing day before we get back into the routine of things tomorrow.

We love you Michael! Happy Father's Day!

Krispy Kreme and Hilton Head

2009-06-14T22:03:00.004-04:00

That's right! We stopped by the most awesome Krispy Kreme on the way to Hilton Head. The boys loved to watch the doughnuts bake and come off the belt. They were yummy! We also spent the day at the beach today and hung out at the house we are renting. Fun Fun! We are having a great time and can't wait for Isabella to join us at the beach next year! Enjoy the photos!

Pictures Pictures Pictures - All 3 of our Blessings

2009-06-03T08:16:00.004-04:00

Here are some cute pictures of all 3 of our little blessings. The one of Isabella is an updated photo we have received. Isn't she just adorable! The picture of Aidan's Kindergarten graduation just shows that he loves to make his buddies laugh. I am sure that he will provide all of us entertainment while in China. Also love this picture of Keenan riding his bike early one morning in his pajamas and boots. Check out the hair. This is how he looks every time after he wakes up.

Isabella's Room

2009-05-25T15:02:00.008-04:00

As our heads spin around with all of the things that need to be done and all of the paperwork that now needs to be completed, I thought I would take a break and post a few pictures of Isabella's room. For those of you that know me, you will not be surprised that it is lavendar. We still plan on getting some shelves and artwork, but the essentials are complete.

I am also posting a picture of our letter of acceptance. We have signed and sent it back. Our agency should receive it tomorrow morning and then off to China it goes!

LOA! LOA!

2009-05-21T19:32:00.005-04:00

I am shouting from the rooftops ... we got our LOA today!! I cannot believe it! This means that China has approved us to be Isabella's parents! HUGE step. It also means that we can post pics. I will post a couple now and post more later.

Now we wait to receive our travel approval, which can take another month or two.

Praise God!

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

2009-05-20T11:41:00.003-04:00

We continue to wait for our letter of acceptance. As far as we know, there have not been any LOA's sent in quite some time. Rumors are flying around regarding the swine flu, BUT we do know that China has just recently given some families their Travel Approvals. Yeah! Good news! In our hearts, we were hoping to receive our LOA by the end of May, but know that it will probably take longer.
Always thought that once we got our referral, I would be content in knowing that our daughter is there waiting and that we would be bringing her home soon. Wrong! I am even more anxious now that I have seen her precious little face and learned her story. I have grown to love her more than I could even imagine without even holding her in my arms.
Please pray that we are given peace and strength to wait. We have waited this long ... what is another few months??

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T20:58:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to post a quick message to say Happy Mother's Day to all of the mommies out there. Whether you are a mom, about to be a mom, are a birth mom, foster mom, grandma, or have a mom ... this is a day for us to stop and reflect and say thank-you to all moms.
This is an especially wonderful mother's day for me as I now know who our daughter is and that we will be able to spend next mother's day with her. I am so blessed to now have three precious children from God.
Aidan and Keenan gave me three ferns today to hang on the deck around the pool. One for Aidan, one for Keenan and one for Isabella. How thoughtful! They think of her, talk about her, and pray for her like she has always been part of our family.
We are so blessed that Isabella is with a foster family. We just know that she is being loved and cared for and we are so grateful.

Welcome!

2009-04-18T15:56:00.003-04:00

We are setting up this blog so that friends and family can follow along on our journey to become the Garland Family of 5! We are excited and so blessed to be on this journey.
To give you some background, we started the adoption journey 2 years ago, although it has been a life-journey. Adoption has always been close to our hearts and we openly discussed it since we were dating. We felt led by God to adopt a little girl from China. When we submitted our paperwork to China (after about 6 months of gathering and obtaining all of the proper approvals) we were logged into China on October 25, 2007 (Log in Date or "LID"). The wait that we thought was 2 years quickly began to increase and the current wait time to adopt a healthy baby girl is over 3 years and growing. Through waiting, following other families journeys and feeling the "tug" by God, we changed from a healthy baby girl request to being open to a "special needs" little girl up to 3 1/2 (as long as she is younger than Keenan). Special needs can mean anything from a minor correctable surgery or condition to spina bifida to deaf, blind etc. We filled out our "special needs" paperwork last fall stating we were open to a number of the needs listed on the form. On March 30, 2009 while at work, we got THE CALL! Well, we both missed THE CALL so we both got THE VOICEMAIL. We were shocked, amazed, scared, excited and every emotion in between. Our social worker told us we had been matched the previous evening to a 3 year old little girl with post-op CHD (congenital heart defect) and cleft lip/palate (unrepaired) and asked if we would like to receive her file. We had about 4 hours to review her file and make a decision to lock her file in for 2 weeks or to "release" her file back onto the portal for another agency to lock her file in. We looked over everything and her precious pictures and called our social worker back that afternoon and said yes! We then took 2 weeks to review the file with medical professionals and to also request additional information from the orphanage. We were again shocked when we received additional photos and information because she had had her lip repair and looked so much older. All we can say is that she is the most beautiful little girl! She is with a foster family and has been for the past year. We can see that she has made great progress since being with her foster family and we are grateful for the love and care they are giving her. She is behind developmentaly and she seems quite small, but we are praying she will catch up once we get to bring her home. She still needs to have palate repair surgery which we will do once we get her home.
We submitted our acceptance paperwork on Wednesday and it should be on its way to China. We have to wait to share her pictures with you all until we receive our letter of acceptance (LOA) from China, which will probably take 1-2 months. BUT if we see you, we are proudly showing Isabella Xin (pronounced "shin") Hope Garland's pictures. We expect to travel in 3-6 months to bring Isabella home. Her brothers are already preparing for her arrival and talk about her all of the time.
We ask that you keep Isabella, her foster family and us in your prayers as there will be a lot of transition and unknowns for us all. Thank you for your love and support!

This is a work in progress as we learn how to use this site, but stay tuned as we get this up and running.

Love,
The Garland's