What happened to November???

I had to put the Thanksgiving crafts up that the girls had brought home from school. Aren't they cute? They did such a great job and they really look good on my kitchen walls!!

The last four weeks have just flown by. RaeAnne had her best friend from Lindsborg down over the Thanksgiving vacation. They have been BFF's since starting Kindergarten together. We try to get them together at least a couple of times a year. However with our trip to China this year, it kind of threw us off track. So Hollie was here Friday and Saturday of Thanksgiving week. As it was a spur of the moment decision, we really didn't have anything planned other than she would be here. Next time we will have to plan things better so that the girls can do something fun together besides just having a sleep-over.

The girls put on a "show" for us one evening. There was a $0.25 fee to watch the program :) Mom, Dad and the little sisters had to pay to see the performance! The girls did a couple of skits that they had planned themselves. Used the drum set to do drum rolls and we even had a flashlight spotlight! I don't think that they will be taking this show on the road soon until they have streamlined it a bit. But they had a great time performing for us!


I emailed Tessa's orphanage about a week ago. Another family had emailed after the returned home and asked for any baby photos of their child. They were surprised to receive back photos! So I decided to try too. Imagine our surprised to receive two photos of Tessa on the day that she was admitted to the orphanage!! These photos are priceless to us. She looks so frightened and almost shell shocked. I can't imagine what was going on in her little head.

This week Tessa had her appointment with a pediatric cardiologist. We were really impressed by the doctor and she ordered an echo cardiogram of Tessa's heart. After the echo we went back to speak to the physician. We were really not sure what kind of heart defect that Tessa had repaired in China. We thought it was some kind of fistula, but everyone here who has listened to her heart assured us that it did not sound like she has a murmur. We were shocked to find that she has an aneurysm of the valve that the blood travels through into the aorta. The doctor thinks that Tessa may have had two holes in her heart. One looks to have been patched during the surgery she had when she was four. However, they said it was hard to tell, but it looked like she had another hole that either they fixed or it healed on it's own. But because of the hole it looks like the valve in the aorta has ballooned out possibly from the pressure of blood moving through the hole. What ever the reason, she will have to have this aneurysm corrected soon before it bursts. The Dr. told us to make sure that Tessa does not wrestle with her sisters or play any kind of contact sports where she could get hit hard in the chest as that could also rupture the aneurysm. She plans to do the surgery late in December. We are just doing a wait and see right now until she can visit with her surgery staff.


And, last but not least, the girls visited with Santa tonight! RaeAnne and ZoraLin each had their list to give to Santa. The Santa is very good with the kids about making sure to find out that they want! I just hope that Santa has a very big sled to haul all the things on their lists!

Thanksgiving.....

Thanksgiving has always just been a regularly scheduled holiday for me. When I was real young, it was held at my maternal Grandpa and Grandma's house which was right across the street from our house. My Mom and I would go over early to help cook. Actually I went to keep Grandpa occupied playing checkers, my Dad would come in later after doing his chores and catch up on his TV time and my Mom would help her mother in the kitchen. Every few years my Mother's sister, her husband and their son would travel to Kansas from California for Thanksgiving. My half brother and his wife would come, always showing up late. We would gather around the table, eat until we were stuffed, then the women would clean up the kitchen and dining room while the rest of us plopped into chairs to watch TV and maybe catch a few zzzzz's. Then around 7 pm we would heat everything back up and stuff ourselves again. Eat, rest and repeat!

Most of those folks are gone now. Thanksgiving is now my responsibility to cook. It has just been a given that I would cook turkey with all the trimmings if I didn't have to work that day. I really never gave it a second thought about the meaning of Thanksgiving. It's a holiday....right?

No this year I look around and see all the people I am thankful for. I think of the family members who are no longer gracing our table and I am sad that my children do not get the chance to meet them. But I am thankful that our beautiful children ARE sitting here at home at our table. I can't imagine our lives without each and everyone of them here with us. I have so much to be thankful for. I will cook, clean, eat and be merry....but most of all, I will be Thankful for the very special life we have.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!!

Don't forget!!!

We are a Hip Mom Jewelry family for the month of November!! Please check out the Hip Mom Jewelry and click on Adoption. This link will take you to the page of beautiful necklaces that any Mom would treasure. Remember that we will get 30% of each necklace's sale for the month of November if you add VAN1110 when you check out.

Just follow this link: Hip Mom Jewelry and don't forget to put in VAN1110 when you check out. It's a win-win situation for all of us!

The holidays are coming up. These necklaces would be wonderful gifts for those who have adopted or who are waiting to adopt! This is the perfect time of year to purchase these!! Also tell your husband, boyfriend, and or your significant others about these cool necklaces!! Put them on your wish list for Valentine's Day or any upcoming celebration. Don't forget that November is National Adoption Awareness Month!! Proudly wear your Hip Mom Jewelry to show that you care about orphans!

And after you place your order for Hip Mom Jewelry...check out this link for 30 Days of Giveaways!!

Ni Hao Y'all

November weather

We keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. It is November in Kansas and we have yet to have freezing temperatures for more than a few hours over night! It is not supposed to be in the 70's in November! I just drug the winter coats out of the closet a few days ago. The girls wore them to school and then drug them on the ground to the house from the bus!






So Sunday to enjoy the weather we drove around Shawnee Lake and stopped for the girls to run some energy off on the playground. It was a little windy, but we can handle a little wind. The girls discovered an Acorn tree and were very busy breaking open the acorns for the squirrels...until I told them that the squirrels probably prefer their acorns uncracked! So then they started lining up the acorns in a row. Seems they thought that maybe they could lure the squirrels to "follow" their trail. For what I don't know, but they thought it was a wonderful idea.
I wanted them to swing, climb, slide and run some energy off.





Hope the squirrels appreciated all their hard work!!