What we have been up to

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

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

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!

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

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

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!