Thankful Thursday

I know you all know how thankful I am this week for all of your support and prayers over the past few weeks, I am amazed how a special note or a card can speak volumes to my heart. During all of the major events taking place in our lives, the small stuff still had its own voice. And I need to devote this weeks Thankful Thursday to those "small but mighty" acts.

I am thankful for
-Mark, for using your days off for funeral leave to still hang drywall in the garage, in the 30 degree temps! For bringing home a bag filled with our favorite snacks last night! For being such a loving Grandson to Grandma, she loved you dearly!

-Dayton, for the beautiful report card, we are so proud of you, you have adjusted to Jr. High just fine. For all of the great comments from your teachers at conferences, they really wondered why I even came. For loving to cook and for loving to do laundry! Yeah mom!

-Myah, for loving your big girl room and telling me "wow" when you saw it for the first time. For telling me "Aunt Mel painted mommy" every time you see that wall! For being so good about being shuffled around this past week during the funeral. For bringing laughter and smiles to everyone this week, you are a breath of sunshine!

-For my parents for watching Myah for us, I know you had fun but you have no idea what a treat it was for me to not have to chase her around a funeral home!

-For Aunt Mel and Uncle Chris, for being the shuttle bus to my kiddos, and for the hospitality while we stayed with you. Also for putting on a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner.

-For Mel for making my favorite chocolate cake and punch just the way Grandma used to. It seriously deserved it's own thank you!
-For Annaetta, for watching the girls while we went to the funeral, it was so appreciated!

-For Phyllis, the necklace of Grandma's will be a family treasure forever!

-For everyone waiting on their pictures, thank you for your patience, you will see them very soon I promise!

-For ALL of my in-laws, Mark has THE nicest family, I am so thankful to be a part of such a special family! We miss you all so much!

-For the sweet cards from Sherry, Sheri, Lori and Heather, thank you for thinking of our family!

-For Maureen for compiling the scrapbook again this year to send to Myah's orphanage, this means more to me than you can imagine!

-For Oprah, I love her show, especially favorite things and the Nate home show! She is my favorite!

-For the DVR that Mark had installed on Tues. Now we will no longer miss our favorite shows! Life is good!

-For the call from sweet Kim today, I was on the phone when little Kate said "wuv you" for the first time! I know your mommy was thrilled to hear those sweet little words for the first time!

-For the heat in my house, the down blanket on my bed, and socks on my feet, it is 21 degrees people!

-For Aunt Ginger. She looks beautiful, had her first round of chemo and is tired but feeling pretty good. Her hubby Uncle Billy just had bypass surgery on his leg with a scar from his ankle to his upper leg, he is sore but bless his heart, he and Aunt Ginger made it to the funeral home and the funeral this week. We are praying for you both! Thank you so much for coming!!

-For Denise at Matilda for brightening my day!

-For the Christmas season, I love this time of year, such a time of reflection.

-For photographs. I have looked at so many old photos this week, they capture life as it was, they are like crystal balls into the past, they make us laugh, make us cry, make us lonesome for how things used to be and thankful for how life is today. They are priceless.

I am not worthy!

This little picture is what I gave Denise, it was Myah's adoption announcement. I know some of you still have yours on your refrigerator right? ha ha It was my first attempt at making something like this!

Ok, you ALL know how much I LOVE Matilda Jane Clothing, her hats alone make me drool, I think every little girl I take pictures of usually ends up wearing one of Myah's for at least one picture, (or at least the mom's try really reallly hard to). On Monday night after our long weekend/day at the funeral home and funeral I logged on to check my email. I was floored when I received an email with the subject that read: OMG I love Myah! From, you guessed it, Denise, the awsome creator of Matilda Jane! She seriously made my day! I have had the pleasure of meeting Denise at art fairs, she is so down to earth, I really can't be happier for her that she is becoming so successful. I had given her a picture of Myah's adoption announcement just a month after we had brought Myah home. She told me she has kept it in her cash drawer and shows it to everyone! I was floored! She asked if she could put a few of my pictures on her blog! Yikes, she has featured some photographers that are my idols, seriously people, I mean I don't even know how to begin taking pictures like they do. So I have to say when I received a comment today about Myah's bedroom from a sweet lady who said she found me on Matilda Jane's site, I just had to go look for myself, and yep, you guessed it, I squealed when I saw my pictures on there! I guess we all have our 5 seconds of fame and this was it for me. Thank you so much Denise, I will continue to sing your praises to everyone, you have more creativity in your pinky than I do in my whole body! Not only that but you are so passionate about what you do, you are very inspiring to me! Ok, you may all go now, hurry, to www.matildajaneclothing.com and check out her blog, I think you will recognize a few little girls!

Thank You Everyone

I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone for all of your support over the past few weeks. We don't really live a very "normal" life but it seems like lately our life has taken a few dramatic turns, even by our standards. The very next night after we learned about Mark's shooting lawsuit being over, he had a horrific murder in his jurisdiction. He was very involved as he is the head of the evidence unit, he was awake for 36 hours straight. It was a crazy week, and then Grandma passed away. Everything else was put on the back burner of course. We sent Dayton to school today for the first time in a week, Mark is off today and I ran a bunch of errands today that have been piling up! I even managed to check a few things off of Santa's list. I just want to say thank you all for wrapping us in your prayers throughout all of our ordeals. We never feel alone knowing you are all there. We had a very nice turnout for Grandma's visitation, I wish Mark could have been there, he missed so much of it. It was so nice catching up with friends and family that we haven't seen in a long time. I was honored to learn that so many of you still enjoy reading about our lives! The last night we had with Grandma even she made the comment to me that she enjoyed so much reading our blog! Thank you so much to Marty and Elaine for sharing your computer and skills with Grandma when we were in China and since we have been home. Bless you both!

We had a beautiful celebration of Grandma's life yesterday. Her church was beautiful, she was a member since the ground breaking in 1940. She had grown up in Lisbon, North Dakota and moved to Michigan with Grandpa. She looked beautiful, just still can't believe that she is gone. My sister gave us a beautiful glass box to fill with momentos of Grandma and it was just so thoughtful of her. We drove home last night in the SNOW! We arrived home to see the road plowed, yikes! It was the huge fluffly flake kind of snow, it was gorgeous.

We both would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to everyone who sent a card, an email, visited the funeral home/funeral, called or posted a sweet comment. We are so blessed beyond words!

The past few days.......

Thankful for:

Margaret's health, so thankful she is healthy enough to be home and with her family
Myah cheering up Grandma
The little girls in my life, constantly breathing laughter into my world.
Our first real tree!

The first snowfall on Thanksgiving morning

Our perfect tree and our special angel

Yesterday we decided to go and pick out our Christmas tree. We have never had a real tree before and I had said last year that I wanted to start that tradition for our family. This week has been so crazy, lots of riding in the car going back home (2 hour drive), busy helping with things for Grandma's funeral, and Thanksgiving. Also it has been such an emotional draining week for us. I suspect it will get worse come tomorrow when we have visitation. I really needed to get out of the house and so did the rest of my family. I usually have our tree up before Thanksgiving so we can enjoy the whole season and not have to worry about decorating. Dayton was really excited about picking out the perfect tree, we even had snow on the ground and it was very cold, very Christmas-ish weather. We went back to the same place that we bought our pumpkins at and were there the first day they opened for trees. They were so nice and helpful, the place was adorable, we were so glad that we chose this place, Mark and I both agreed that it will be our new family tradition to go there every year. They have a huge barn on the property and in the upstairs they have it all decked out for Santa. We missed him but still took a peak. We found a gorgeous Frasier Fir that was 8 feet tall, it was just what I had always imagined. I have never had a real tree my whole life because my sister Melanie was always allergic to them and would end up in the ER on Christmas due to not being able to breathe. We enjoyed putting the tree up in the house, Myah kept calling it the Christmas Treat. Big surprise there! Our hearts are in a different place right now but it felt good to be together as a family. Mark's funeral leave ran out today so he had to go back to work, he is training a new Lt and can't take the time off. He is able to get off at 3 tomorrow so he will join us up north around 5pm and then his normal day off is Monday so we won't have to worry about the schedule conflict the day of the funeral. Nothing can ever be simple for us. A few years ago Grandma bought us an angel for our tree, it was definately a "moment" for us as we placed her on top of our perfect tree last night. We can't help but think about Grandma every time we look at the tree. I spent the day today getting all of my ducks in a row, when I am upset or stressed, I clean, rearrange and organinze. I finished decorating the house so that when we come home from up north all of that will be done and we don't have to rush around trying to do it. Especially when we are exhausted. We managed to have a decent Thanksgiving, it was very evident that Grandma was missing this year, we sure missed her. We had a nice dinner at Phyllis and Lon's and then ate at my sister's later on. We were so blessed this year to have her mother in law Margaret with us. Last year she spent the majority of the year in the hosptial, she missed all of the holidays with us. For me that was the best part of the holiday, seeing her smile again while watching her little grandbabies dance around. Life does go on, through all of the ups and downs, God still shines his light and guides us through our days. He shows us miracles every day. Sometimes we just aren't looking for them. I am very grateful to all of you for your love and support, I can't tell you how much your messages meant to Mark and I, tears were streaming down both of our faces. I cried when I read his comment to me, his heart is breaking so badly right now. I hate seeing him in pain. He no longer has any living grandparents. Please continue to pray for us this week as we travel to pay our last respects to Grandma.
I also want to wish our brother in law Chris a Happy Birthday today!!! We love you!

Happy Thanksgiving

In Loving Memory

Grandma Dorothy passed away last night around 9:15 pm. She left us all with the most precious gifts that we have ever received, her words, her thoughts and her prayers for all of us. On Sunday we arrived in time for her to hear our final goodbyes, tell her how much we loved her, how much we will miss her and how we will see her again. She knew it was "her day". She was very much alert, joking in her fashion, she filled the room with laughter for the last time. She said the Lord's prayer for all of us, she prayed with her Priest, she sang songs that she used to sing to us and looked forward to seeing her family and loved ones in Heaven again. She told us we will all get through this. One of the most tender moments for me was when she started saying, "now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep....." she finished that sweet prayer that we have always said with our children every night. I knew in my heart that the part about "if I should die before I wake" really was about to happen and I knew the "Lord her soul would take". I will never forget that. She lost consciousness around 4 am on Monday morning and would not come out of it. We stayed with her all day and after many of us had left last night, she passed away. Peacefully. We said our goodbyes to her one last time before we left yesterday and as soon as Mark and I were done she became really restless, I felt as if she had heard us. She was the most special person to us and life will never be the same without her in it. We already miss her greatly. We are thankful that her suffering was for a very short period and that she was able to live quite independently up until last week. She was the funniest person that I knew. I look at Mark and he has so many of her qualities. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful memories with her. Phyllis asked myself and Stephanie if we could go shopping for an outfit for Grandma to wear, I was honored to do this and we found something that was just perfect for her that matched the necklace Mark and I had bought her last year. She will always be beautiful. Due to the holiday and the church's schedule her visitation will not be until Sunday and her funeral Mass will be on Monday at her church. We will truly celebrate her life and all that she has done for her family and her friends and community. Heaven is her home and we can't wait for that glorious reunion with her. Thank you for your continued prayers and messages, this will be a difficult week for sure but we will get through it just as Grandma said. On a side note, the first night that Myah slept in her big girl bed was the night that Grandma died, Grandma had given us her mattresses to use for Myah because she always slept in her chair where she was comfortable. The mattresses were like new. I never got to show her how beautiful Myah's bed looked when I was done with it.

Please Say A Prayer

I am writing this from the hospital waiting room, sorry it is so brief. Mark's Grandma is dying, we were called up here yesterday and we were able to say our goodbyes, she was alert and had us all laughing. Her priest read her her last rights and today will probably be "her day" as she told me last night. We love her more than words can say, she is our favorite everything! We are up north with the family and would appreciate all of your support and prayers as we all deal with this sad day in all of our lives. She is ready, she told us so. You can look back on my posts in September to see the celebration we had at her 90th birthday party.

The Big Girl Room

After many months of searching, I have finally found the right bedding for Myah's room. I knew what I wanted but I just couldn't find it. I had a horrible time with the little bed I had bought her and ended up just using the headboard ( I still need to attach it). I also am still on the lookout for a dresser/mirror but can't find anything, I am sure in my travels that something will eventually be found. But for now, I think she can move back in. She has been sleeping in her pack and play until we made her bed "Myah friendly". She already told me she loves it! My most favorite part of the whole room ( I talk like it is a huge place) is the painting that my sister did over her bed. She came to visit yesterday and I told her to bring her paints, I have waited so long to have a little girls room for her to work her magic in. She did. She amazes me! I always knew I wanted her initial over her bed somehow. I knew I had to have something that Myah couldn't remove or reach so this was my only solution. When I walk up our stairs it is the first thing that I see, I just love it! So here is Myah's little dreamland...... shhhhh, I think I hear her sleeping. PS the pictures are a little dark because, well it is Michigan in November, need I say more?

Adoption Open House

Myah couldn't get enough of Karen and Lisa, our wonderful case workers who are now our friends
Myah standing by the table representing China
This little beauty Zoe from Ethiopia just turned 1!
Dayton reading to Myah and Ryan

We had a GREAT time on Tuesday night. It was so nice to visit the wonderful ladies who brought us together with our little girl. We truly love our caseworkers Karen and Lisa. So does Myah apparently! It was a nice turnout and we were able to talk to quite a few families. It was so fun to talk about our trip, the connection we have with all of the families in our group, and our life with Myah. There were a few people that I had recognized from other times that we had spoken, they seemed very ready to sign up for the China program despite the long wait. They enjoyed looking through our pictures but mostly I think they loved our living doll. She was in rare form. Two words, cookies and brownies. She found her way to the refreshments right away. I put her in a little silk dress that we bought in China. There was also a family from China who had a little boy Ryan, lets just say they got along so well that they kissed at the end of the night. It was so sweet. I can't tell you how much I love interacting with other adoptive families in any capacity whether they are potential parents, waiting for their child or seasoned veterans. It really is a group of very special people brought together for one reason, to give a child a loving home. I also ask you to say a special prayer for a local family who while in China adopting their little girl suffered an awful tragedy when the father died of a diabetic condition. Our congressman is trying to bring the mother and baby home however the Chinese government is making them stay another 2 weeks. Such a sad story. I had heard it on Rumor Queen and was surprised to find out it was a family who lives nearby. I just can't imagine.

November is Adoption Awareness Month

This picture was taken right before we lifted off in Guanzhou, the last time that Myah would be on Chinese soil. I had a caption saying "Bye Bye China, love you forever"

Tomorrow night we will be speaking at our adoption agency's open house. In celebration of Adoption Awarness month they are hosting a night for people who are potential adoptive parents to come and hear stories and gain information about adopting. We are representing the Chinese adoption families. We love helping out our agency any time we can, how can we ever repay them for completing our family. I know it will be hard to express to families that yes there is a long wait ahead of you but it is worth it. Hopefully just seeing how happy Myah is and how she interacts with us and the love we all share will be enough to convince them that 3 years isn't too long, yikes! I have decided to share the journal entry that I wrote on our baby jelly beans website when we started our process. I hope you are inspired!

For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me what I ask of him. I Samuel 1:27
Once we decided to adopt, there was no looking back for us. Adding to our family was something that we had prayed about for years. After having Dayton in 1995 we struggled for many years trying to have another child. After much testing we learned that Dayton was our miracle baby. We have never felt slighted at all that he was our only child, he is such a blessing to us. As the years went by he never had any interest in a sibling, but that would change. In August of 2004 my sister Melanie and her husband Chris adopted a little baby girl from Florida , Annabelle Claire. Dayton fell completely in love with her and has such a special bond with her. I believe that Dayton really never knew what he was missing until she came into our family. He then decided that maybe a little sister might not be such a bad thing after all. This was our first sign that adoption might be for us. Then in December of 2004 we were in Traverse City over Christmas break and we happened to turn on the tv and see the coverage of the devastating Tsunami in Thailand . I was riveted and could not believe what I was seeing. That night I could not sleep, I literally tossed and turned thinking about all of those children who became orphans instantly. I kept thinking that we have a nice loving home and maybe we should look into saving one of those children. I could not get the thought out of my mind. We came home and I started searching on the internet for some information on these children and how could I help. My search ended when I learned that the officials were trying to locate family members first so that the children may go live with them. God wasn’t about to leave this one alone for me. That following Sunday we were in church and our new Pastor Kelly was giving his first sermon since being hired. He and his family had just arrived home on Christmas Eve with their adopted daughter from China, Whitney. As fate would have it, his sermon was about adoption. I sat there listening to his message and telling us about his journey to bring Whitney home. I started thinking about what adoption has brought to our family, the joy that Annabelle has given us, and also that Mark’s Grandpa S. had been adopted. How wonderful their lives were because of the love of others. I started to cry and I mean the ugly cry. I told Mark that I really needed to leave but I really wanted to hear the rest of the message. Pastor Kelly shared with us how Whitney was found in a park, and that thousands of little Chinese girls are abandoned every year due to their one child only policy. That would be perfect for us, we really would love a little girl! Then he turned on a music video by Steven Curtis Chapman, it was a song that he had wrote about his adoption of three Chinese daughters (this is the song playing). I had lost it at this point, I was so embarrassed! But I knew right there, this was the answer to my prayers! Now, I need to convince Mark!! I told Mark that afternoon that I would love to adopt a little girl too. I cried most of the day. Over the next few days everywhere and I mean everywhere I went I ran into Kelly, Linda and Whitney. At Target and baseball sign ups there they were, was God’s message getting through to me or what?! Then on Tuesday night Mark walked in the door after work, I could tell that he had been crying. He couldn’t even speak to me, I sat him down at the table and was worried that something bad had happened at work ( you never know!). He then looked up at me and said “I want a Whitney too”. I knew that right then and there that we had to do this!! God put this desire in our hearts and was going to fulfill it . Well, let me tell you, Kelly was at our house the next weekend answering our questions, we went to an information meeting at the adoption agency the next week and we were on our way to record speed of getting our documents together! How could we wait? We have already waited 10 years! You just know when something is right, and this truly felt right. This was our answer.

So there you have it! The rest is history! I just would also like to say thank you so much for all of the heartfelt comments and emails that you have sent regarding my previous post, Mark and I were both very touched by your love and support.

A Very Special Thankful Thursday, A Long One!

I know I missed last week and I almost missed this week. I received some news in the past hour that made me realize that I had better post my Thankful Thursday. I have to warn you that this post is extra sensitive, I hope no one is offended. I need to share this at this point because I can and I have waited almost 3 years for this day to come. So many of you are such dear family and friends and know about the situation that we have been dealing with and that is mainly why I am writing this tonight. For those of you who are wondering what the heck I am talking about I will give just a brief recap.
I'm pretty sure that many of you know that my husband Mark is a police Lieutenant. He is a very fine officer and a very fair boss. He has always loved his job and I can't imagine him doing anything else. He is not arrogant or cocky at all, he is respectful, courteous, and very knowledgeable. In Feb. of 2005 I received a call from him while I was up north visiting my sister saying that he had been involved in a shooting. I pray that I never hear those words come from him ever again. I wasn't sure what had happened and it became a very frantic drive home. I later found out that a man had led the police on a chase through several different communities, high on crack, he was smoking it as he was driving. I truly believe with all my heart that he had a death wish that day. Long story short, he ended up driving right at Mark (who was on foot) and nearly missed him, Mark shot his weapon at the man and the man was killed. There were several other agencies responding to the scene also. It was a miracle that no one else was injured or killed. I personally have seen the video of the man's driving, and also of the shooting. Believe me when I say it is a miracle that Mark is here with me today. It was so hard to see it all over the news, very weird when you know more than the news channels do. We had just started our adoption paperwork for Myah and I remember wondering why something so horrible could happen to us, we had waited 10 years for another child, why now? Our faith was never stronger than at that moment. We had no choice other that to place our trust in God.
Mark was placed on leave until the investigation was over. It is something that is a formality but still it felt like we were being punished. He knew that he did the right thing but it was still devastating to him. He was the first officer in the department to fatally shoot someone. Our friends and family were there for us every step of the way. After 4 months he was cleared of any criminal charges, it was very strange to see his name and "murder" in the same sentence let me tell you! Well, the wife started a lawsuit against the department and the other agencies that were involved. It was very hard for us to sit and wait to see how this would all play out. We tried to be dignified and graceful throughout all of this, it wasn't her fault that her husband was this way. We knew that the department would probably have to pay out something, it is just the way it is. Right or wrong. Mark has dealt with so much, I have tried to support him the best I know how. Tonight when I arrived home, he shared a letter from his boss stating that it is over, the department settled and the amount is much less than we thought she would get, which as bad as it sounds, is a relief to us. We want his children to be secure but we also didn't want this situation to be justified either. He was a major drug addict and his wife was serving him with divorce papers. He wasn't a very nice man, I have prayed for his family because I can't imagine living with someone like that. We are praising God tonight that it is ALL over!!! Mark is so relieved. I hope now that he can have some closure, he has such a tender heart and I know that this has just eaten away at him for almost 3 years now. The news just came out of nowhere, we didn't even know they were working on a settlement. We will continue to pray for his family, I pray that this money will go to good use. I cried tonight after Mark told me, I am not sure if it was because of relief or sadness, maybe both. I am so so so thankful that this part is behind us now and we can move on and I can help Mark deal with all of the emotions that this is churning up. Thank you to everyone who cared for us throughout this whole unfortunate event in our lives.

Our Little Houdini

Modeling her tank top
Showing you her technique of opening drawers with her feet!

I don't know how she does it, I really don't. Myah does magic. Many times we will find her and one of us will say to the others "come here, you have to see this". Her latest tricks must take some effort on her part. I will find her in her room with a new shirt on, pants on, diaper (swim diaper over her clothes). She gets down out of her bed, very quietly I might add, takes her clothes off and puts new ones on that she finds in her drawer. Perfectly, not inside out or backwards. In the dark. Sometimes I forget that I had laid her down wearing something different than what she wakes up in, it looks like I dressed her. She will also be wearing boots, you know how she loves her boots. I have cleared her room of all toys or anything that could harm her. The other night I found her asleep in her pillowcase (like a sleeping bag). Do you know how hard it is for me to put a twin pillowcase on a new fluffy pillow, imagine pulling it off with her strength in the dark! I first of all don't know how she can get in and out of her bed so easily, it is pretty far off the ground. The other day I saw her standing next to my desk and I thought she was pulling the drawer open with her hand until I looked and it was her foot! I had her model her technique for you today after she modeled her tank top that she put on by herself. I have to admit though, she is very good at hiding the evidence, I found the shirt that she removed in her drawer. This is just a sample of her mischief. My friend Sherry told me today, just wait she is going to sneak out of the house when she is older! Let's just pray she is older at this point!!! She makes us laugh, she manages to get in positions that I never would think were possible, especially because she is well, let's just say she isn't very petitie :)! Oh we love her! I told Mark the other day I don't know if she is keeping us young or making us old, we are always on guard with her. She finds a way to grab the keys off of the table and start honking the horn on our van, she was sitting in her booster seat, pulled away from the table. Mark says we are going to have to put a hidden video on her and see how she operates, we can't figure it out! She reminds me of those Chinese acrobats that we watched in Beijing!

I have been busy!

I have had the pleasure of taking some pictures for some special families lately. I just had to share a few of my favorites! My head has been buried in this laptop for 2 weeks now and I am almost completely caught up after it crashed! Yeah!!!!!! I seriously did not get out of my jammies for a day and a half, I get very determined and I won't stop until I am finished. Thanks to my hubby for supporting me!

The Winner Is..............

Congratulations to Lisa Osborn, her name was on the little piece of paper that Myah pulled out of her hat this morning! Please email me Lisa with your address and I will send your goodies out to you! That was fun, I love to give, I truly love to give much more than I love to receive! (Don't tell my hubby that with Christmas coming ha ha!) I am so excited that it is Lisa, I remember checking out her website before we went to get Myah, she went to China in April 06 to bring her little Lindy home. I am so glad that she found me and that we are connected now! She is waiting for Lindy's mei mei, ( little sister) and I continue to pray that the time will pass quickly for her family. I am so glad that my goodies are going to a good home! Yeah Lisa!!!

Happy Halloween !!

We had a fun Halloween, the weather started to turn very windy and cold but we were able to visit all of the neighbors before it started to rain. Daddy had to work but enjoyed the candy when he came home! Myah was Snow White or "Snow Wipe" as she called herself and Dayton re-used his costume from last year and it had got the same reaction this year as it did last year from Myah, "Dayton scary!!!" Myah has not left her candy out of her sight and keeps sorting it into little piles. Hope you all had a great night too!