This & That

I still need to pick up a couple of car seats for the boys...
but every time I go down that aisle I start to cry cuz I'm so incredibly excited that soon I will look in my rear-view mirror and see two more faces looking back at me. 
.... Then I leave that aisle because people start giving me weird looks. Do you see now why I don't yet have car seats?
-sigh-

We are waiting to hear about the status of our Article 5.
Mailed out on the 5th, waiting to hear what day it was dropped off at the Consulate so that we know when that two week tick tock time frame started.

I thought I had a pretty clean house until I dusted the top of the fan blades in my living room and bedroom yesterday....
...that's all I'm gonna say about that... less someone calls the Health Dept on me.

I have lost my Elf soundtrack CD.
...I am distraught about this.

We finally decided to have the twins and Joey and Jacob share a room...
4 boys within a 2 year age span of one another in the same room....it's either going to be brilliant...or incredibly stupid.
I'll let you know.

Joey and Jacob's dresser is cleaned out and ready to go. It is so far stocked with some Star Wars undies and brand new socks....
...I love that.

My bedroom floor looks like Target threw up all over it.
So much for our trip is waiting and ready to be packed. Little toys, their clothes, toothbrushes, medicine, books. I need still need to pick up some gifts for the officials.Totally open to ideas for this!

Jason and Jordan and I started attending a Mandarin class offered on base a couple of months ago to help get us through those first few weeks together.
....It's so true what they say about kids picking up a language quickly.
They amaze me.

But most of all
I am positively aching to see these little faces in person.

My Grandstone.....the update

After a looonnngggg day at the local Children's Hospital on Friday it was determined that Jordan does in fact not have a kidney stone.
I have 2 things to say about that:
1. Yippee!
2. Then what on earth is wrong with him?

Apparently a CT scan is the best way to detect these...which he had done two weeks ago in the ER. To which they said, there is no stone.
The morning after that ER visit he had an ultrasound that blatantaly detected an 8mm stone in his left kidney. So sayeth the ultrasound tech, the radiologist that read the ultrasound, and his pediatrician.
An ultrasound 3 days later showed the same stone.
But alas what they were seeing was something else....of which I don't remember what he called it but apparently the kidney can do things like that which is why ultrasound is not the preferred method of detection...CT scan is. So the ER people that we all thought were wrong, were actually right.
Again....Yippee!....and....what the heck?

He is feeling MUCH better than he was a couple of weeks ago fo sure....but still having some lingering symptoms of which I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate me going into on the blog. ;)
So the mystery continues....though decidedly a much less painful mystery than it was previously.

I shoulda married a doctor....this AF pilot thing isn't doing me much good. ;)

Jacob LIVE!

Here is our 5th son....doing what no other son before him has been able to do.
Gracious I love this boy!

This video is from the talent show that was put on by the kiddos that were part of AAC's camp last spring.
AAC is not our agency but they did agree to transfer his file to our agency months ago when I found him again on their website. And for that, we are ever grateful.
His interview video from the camp was unfortunately damaged but they did say that during the interview one of the nannies walked by and pointed to his picture and remarked how handsome he is...
to which he replied,
"I know."
LOL
He is SO my son! Sassy as can be! Love it!

Christmas Jesus Style

You simply must go here and read my friend Tina's blog post today....and then after you do that pray that she feels better and then pray how He might lead you to do things a little bit different this year. 

A sweater he doesn't need or helping to drill a well to bring water to a community that has never seen running water before.
That toy they definitely don't need or a box of cleft bottles to help save the lives of babies like Jacob.
The choice is easy.
We're making that choice.

I think so often giving to organizations feels so abstract. I know it did for me, for years.
That the money that we give just sort of floats somewhere out there and may or may not actually help someone or make an impact somewhere.
And it has really taken this journey to Jacob and Joey to open my eyes to the fact that there are very real faces and very real lives on the other end of these programs.
That our giving really does have a direct impact on lives.
A trip or 12 to the local stuff mart to procure more useless gifts....or impacting a life for ever.
Wow.
This is the new tradition. 

It still makes me laugh

I have so many recent blog worthy events but alas we are on our way to the urologist in the never-ending saga of my grandstone so for now enjoy a post from our old-pre-adoption family blog....this is one of my favorites and it was entitled:

The Best Gift EVER

Okay, so that title is not entirely accurate. The best gift EVER would be God's gift to us, Jesus, a perfect man without blemish whom He sent to die for us as a way for us to live eternally with Him. So the Second Best Gift Ever would be this:

which on the flip side reads:

Which just frankly makes me laugh every time I walk into our bedroom. I purchased it as a joke for John, and boy oh boy the laughs just keep comin. I may at some point do a post about ulterior pillow worthy phrases that often pop into our heads and keep us laughing but for now I will let you think of your own.

Breathe.

Well, I was going to do a post tonight....
but then I was backing out of the driveway and ran up and over a basketball...
I still can't feel my legs and my heart has yet to descend back down where it belongs.
I thought it was one of my children
and the scream that came out of my mouth...
well, let's just say it wasn't pretty.

We'll return to regularly scheduled blogging tomorrow after I kiss and hug my kids no less than 1.6 million times tonight.

"Baby" Watch Day 14

This is Jordan

This is Jordan's kidney stone


Ok, just kidding.
This isn't Jordan's actual kidney stone...
that'd be weird.
This is some other unfortunate person's stone....that I found on Go*ogle.

They say this pain is much like or worse than childbirth....does that mean that he is about to give birth to my first grandchild?
Should I feel a little bit cheated that my first grand-baby is comprised of calcium oxalate crystals and uric acid?
Yes.
Yes I do feel cheated.

Little Mr. Baby Stone is still residing somewhere in his kidney though it seems to have floated up to higher ground as it has found quite a little happy place to be in there that is currently not causing Jordan any real pain. He has a kidney "spasm" every now and then but nothing like last week...
which begs the question....
what on earth are they going to do about it?

We go back tomorrow to the doctor for the plan and another ultrasound to see where my first grandstone is.
Ha
Grandstone....
I crack myself up.

For my Bible Study ladies

I posted this awhile ago but this is for my Bible studies ladies, we were discussing this a few weeks ago...
not to mention I could watch this clip 100 times and never tire of hearing this message.
It takes a minute to load, but trust me....it's so worth it 

12, 6, 7

12 months apart.



6 minutes apart.



7 months apart.


In Air Force kid life this is an amazing thing.
Your best friend goes everywhere you go
no matter where in the world they send us.

"Irish" twins
"Old School" twins
"Artificial" twins
everybody's got a buddy.
Love that.

LSC packet x 2 back to China!

Praise the Lord and a Hallelujah!

Now the wait for Article 5 has begun.
Oh.
My.
Goodness.

This is really starting to feel like we are really about to get on an airplane and fly halfway around the world to meet our sons.
Really?
Oh yes, really.
When words like "travel phase" start being mentioned by your totally rockin agency it becomes
very
very
real.

Oh.
My.
Goodness.
Wait....did I say that already?

In a matter of weeks these two chuckleheads will no longer be classified as "orphans"



they will be forever ours.
Safely in the arms of their forever family and man ohhhhhh man
I cannot wait!

Can't think...
too excited....
must.
go.
clean.
something.

The Mama Bear *Updated*

UPDATED*
Survey says: 
Kidney Stone. 
Who knew that a 12 year old could get a kidney stone?! Apparently they can so despite a CT scan in the ER that didn't show a stone it showed up on the ultrasound yesterday. So our kiddo is on some hefty meds until Monday and if it hasn't passed by then they are going to re-evaluate. 
I wish everyone could have seen the look on his sweet face when he was told how a kidney stone comes out...funny, funny stuff I tell ya. Poor little guy.

Kinda had my butt kicked by this past week.

It is all fun and games around here until someone gets sick and then
well,
and then it's not fun and games anymore.


Jordan has been having some kidney pain the last week and a half or so. Off and on, but ever increasing until it reached a breaking point a few days ago. Well, I won't bore you with the details but suffice it to say he was seen by and tested and poked and tested and poked and then the next day I was on hold and transferred and passed on to waaayyy to many people until finally I was told that they want him to have a renal ultrasound......and that I should call the base clinic and schedule that.

No problem....
until they said they could get him in...
in
2
weeks. 

Ummmmm...,
hold, on.....
what's the word I'm thinking of....
ummmmm....oh yeah, I know....
NO.

More phone calls, more transferred, more holding, more transfers and not being able to speak to the doctor's nurse, more holding, more holding
until this mama bear couldn't do it anymore.
And that was it. 

I loaded my sweet baby....ok, he's 12....but he's still my baby when he doesn't feel good....into the van and drove to his doctor's office.
I deposited him in a chair in the waiting room and then very politely walked up to the desk....looked at the receptionist who had been blowing me off for 2 days
and said,

"Someone
is
going
to
help
me."

Only I did it with a smile on my face.

Seriously, I am a very nice person darnit.....but when one of my babies doesn't feel good and I don't feel as though they are getting the care they need...
this mama bear is going nowhere until they help.
And I mean no where. 
Miraculously, they were able to fit him in for an ultrasound first thing and now we go back today for results.

Oh how I miss the days when they were little and sick and  you could send the husband to the couch and throw the baby in bed with you so that you could roll over and check on them compulsively throughout the night....
now I get up and out of bed 100 times and walk down the hallway, and climb halfway up a bunk bed to check on him.
So yes, I am the slightest bit sleep deprived, but I've still got a smile on my face....
a highly, highly caffeinated smile...
but a smile nonetheless.

Please pray for Jordan that they will figure out what on earth is going on with him and that he will begin to feel better! He has a big youth retreat this weekend that he is going to be so bummed to miss if we can't fix this by then.

I-800 Approval X 2!

Oh yeah baby.

Months ago we went to the United States Citizensh*p and Immigration Service and told them we would like to bring two orphans into the country....
they reviewed our home study and
every
single
thing
there is to know about us...
.....anybody else wanna know how many times I pee everyday....
no? Ok...just checkin....
They decided that we are indeed cool people who are capable of caring for two more children...
and they said yes.

Then China sent us our Letter Seeking Confirmation's asking if we do indeed still want to adopt them....
....to which we replied a big fat
DUH...of course we do...
now we had to then go back to the USC*IS and ask permission for these two specific orphans to come into the country.
And they said yes......again.

We recieved their official letter of yes in the mail today!
Can I get a woot-woot?!!

One more step down!
Just don't ask me what's next.....
it's all a little fuzzy to me.

All I know...is that
we
are
getting
so
soooo
close!

Praise you Lord!