Surgery

This spring we had tubes put in the boys ears...Luke's second set! The OSF Center for Health was an awesome experience. They were given these cars to play with and they were watching Cars the movie while they waited to go into surgery. Dr. Hertenstien is awesome and eveyone takes really great care of them!

The Beach Club

We visited Gulf Shores for Spring Break at the end of March and even though we have made this trip 8-9 times we haven't done it since Luke has been with us. We were all really excited to take the little boys to the beach! We traveled with the Zobrists and had the best weather we've ever had at the end of March.

Most of the days we spent playing in the sand, swimming, laying around and resting! It was beautiful! Luke and Mack are doing pretty well. It has been a really long winter of adjusting to life with 2 boys! They compete for everything and are pretty wild! They are precious in our eyes and we love them very much.

Lots to Celebrate!

The last few weeks have been filled with busy fun crazy days! We spent a few weeks driving all over while the 7th and 8th grade bball teams at Peoria Christian Middle School both went to state! We went to the games because Piper was cheering and they were a lot of fun!

On February 9th Mack turned 2! That night we went to a bball game for Piper and ate Chinese, then on the 13th we had all the family over for cake and ice cream. He is doing so well, talking and so happy all the time. I can't believe 6 months has passed. It has made a huge difference in his confidence and security.

Also Cole and Piper had their birthday this week. Cole's 18 and Piper's 14! Time flies. They are all doing great. We are getting ready to celebrate our first high school graduate. He is amazing and I am so proud of him. He is so smart and responsible. I Can't wait to see what his next step will be!

Four Months Home!

It seems ridiculous, even to me, that I have not posted anything in 4 months! Honestly where has the time gone - and yet it feels like an eternity since we've been home. I will just give a short recap. The first few weeks were a blur. When we came home my 89 yr old Grandmother was very ill and ended up passing on Sept. 28th. It was a very hard week. My parents were by her bedside in Iowa and we were at home, sleep deprived and jet lagged and wondering when and if we should visit. We did finally visit a few days before she died. I was able to let her know I got home safely and she met Mack. So did my dad who hadn't seen him yet. A week later I was with all my dad's family celebrating my Grandmother and enjoying each others company. The next few weeks consisted of earning Mack's trust and helping him and Luke get along. Mack is like a little tornado at age 22 months, it doesn't take much for him to destroy something. Helping him learn the boundaries at home took alot of time too. But, as the weeks went by everyday got better and better. Thank you so much to my friends who stepped up while my mom was gone and sent meals, gifts and took Luke! I really appreciated it!

Now it seems we've gotten over the hump! The boys are getting along so much better and the trust factor between Mack and each one of us has improved alot. He had surgery on Jan. 3 (circumcision and hydrolectmy) and unfortunately for him every time he goes through something hard it is a great bonding moment for us! We love him so much and have enjoyed his little personality emerging out from behind a very cautious little boy! He is loving and thinks Luke is so great. He mimicks everything he does. But, I must say the busyness has been difficult for me. I have had to really buck up and realize this is a temporary time in my life and God has blessed me with the chance to spend time with, and create a loving home for these little guys. I don't do it in my own strength though... the Lord has motivated me to put my own personal desires aside and spend time with them right now! Seriously they are fighting right now and I wonder why I haven't done this before now :) Ugh!

We had Mack dedicated on Christmas by my Uncle Tom. It was special to have my sister's family and cousins from out of town. His 2nd birthday is Feb. 9 so that will be the next milestone! We are so happy he his part of our family! Yea God!

Home Sweet Home!

It's Missy.. we have been home for 24 hours now and it's starting to feel "normal". I mean physically speaking. I was up at 3 and Mack was up at 4:30. We both took long naps. Hopefully tonight will go better. But, to back up a little this is how our trip home went.

Wednesday evening at 7 we boarded a mini-van and headed to Guangzhou airport. When we got there we checked in normally, but starting through security we got hung up in a large crowd of people at a total standstill. No one was moving through the "wellness check", yes they could check you for fever and one of our travel mates did get checked, but that wasn't the hold up. Apparently there was some kind of problem and they weren't letting anyone through. We stood there for 2 hours with military police and all sorts of other authority types going through the crowd. We could tell they were taking pictures because there were flashes of light on the othe side of the wall. You know me...I had all sorts of things going on in my head. Ultimately we got in, through customs/immigration, sweating and running to our gate literally the last people on the plane. We arrived in Hong Kong at 12 midnight checked into a hotel attached to the airport at 1 and slept til 8am. When we woke up everyone was texting us pictures from Pumpkin Fesstival and we were wishing our way home! We left Hong Kong at 12:35pm and arrived at 2:15 pm the same day Thursday, Sept. 16th. 15 hours in the air and only two passed in time from getting on the plane and getting off the plane. The trip was fine, we couldn't sleep and Mack climbed all over Dave, but his demenor was good. He didn't scream alot and he did sleep 5 hours. When we got to Chicago we had to go through immigration and for us this is special because it is the moment Mack becomes a US citizen. Dave said he will write about this later. He hasn't been feeling well since we left China. We once again barely made our connection but once in the air it felt so good to almost be home! We were greeted by our dearest family willing to miss the PF and greet our little guy!:) Luke came running with a balloon for Mack and the biggest hug that brought tears to my eyes saying, "I'm so happy mama."

Today has been more getting to know each other. Mack is very fond of the older kids. He was only with them a couple hours last night but when they left for school he cried at the slidding glass doors waving goodbye. He and Luke have done well...Mack knows no boundaries so this is something we will work on. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and encouraging words to us while we were gone. It was so hard for this mom to leave 4 kids behind. Because my extended family is going through a hard time a lot of people stepped up to help my kids and I can't say words that would express my gratitude. More importantly I want to thank Cole, Shelby and Piper for being strong when things felt very insecure and for persevering when things got tough. You are all very responsible young adults and I'm very proud of you. God called our whole family to bring in these two little Chinese boys and you have embraced this calling sometimes better than me. When I feel insecure you all encourage me in different ways! Thank you!
We will keep posting as we learn new things about this new addition to our family.
Missy