Spring musical

Kendalan's spring musical was this week.    She bugged asked me for several weeks "Mom, what am I going to wear for my program?"   She had a couple of dresses in my closet picked out and I kept putting her off saying "There is no need to get in a hurry."   So three days before the program I let her try on one of the dresses she wanted to wear and she thought it was perfect!   I did too...that is until I ran a few errands the day before the musical.   I saw a dress on a sale rack that was screaming Kendalan!!

I sure wish I knew how to make my girls be more outgoing and less self conscious.   They are real goof balls at our house and with people who know us, but put them on a stage and they are shy and quiet

She tried to hide behind her teacher as they filed into the gym.   Even though she was trying to hide, it actually made her stand out more!   Then she stood on the bleachers making faces.  Ugh!   I was so proud of her because this year she actually sang...and I could hear her!   Last year she stood there and lip synched.  Now if we could get over stage fright!

She was pretty cute...even if I do say so myself!!

  

CNY, snow and more!

Chinese New Year we headed into town and ate with our friends at a new restaurant there.    Great friends, food and our fortunes were good too!

This week the "Winter Storm of 2013" hit our area.   Officially we received 11 inches of snow.   The girls were excited because they had two days off from school.   Jordis, Tessa and Kendalan spent some time shoveling snow and sledding.   RaeAnne went to a friends house and was snowed in for a couple of days and ZoraLin spent most of her time either in bed sleeping or in front of the computer.   These were lazy days for the girls as Mom was at work.   The forecast is for at least 8 to 12 more inches of snow in the next two days.   Mom and Dad are hoping that the meteorologists are wrong, but the girls are voting for more snow days!

Today was Bubby day!  We celebrate the anniversary of when each child's adoption was completed.   So 20 years ago today Nicholas officially became a member of the family.   His choice for dinner was Mr. Stirfry.   We all left with very full tummys.

We are all missing a certain little girl here, but we are very excited that she is doing great at her new home.   She has seen a few doctors and most have been hopeful.   They have pointed our friends in the right directions for help.   She has started Kindergarten in her new town and is excited to be back in school.   The great thing is that we call several times a week to see how things are going.   

Braces

RaeAnne had her braces adjusted for the first time Monday.   The poor girl has been hurting ever since.   I have offered her Tylenol or Ibuprofen, but she is trying to be stoic and do without.   She came home from school today and was starving.   She said that nothing was soft enough to chew without it making her mouth throb.   I finally convinced her to take some Tylenol.

Tessa also saw the orthodontist Monday.   She will be getting expanders put in the end of February.  She will also probably have braces on her front two teeth to move those where they should be.   They think that she will have expanders on both top and bottom for 9 to 12 months.   She is one unhappy girl!!

Decisions

Things have continued to be tough around here.   It has been stressful on everyone...even the cats and dog have felt the stress.   Linzi can not seem to learn that the cats will bite and/or scratch when they are constantly being messed with.   Eegan has claws and he will not only use those, he will bite.   Linzi has scratches on her face, hands and stomach.   Yet she just can't stay away from the poor cat.   We have noticed that she is getting tired of the scratches from the cat, but instead of staying away from him, now she seems determined to hurt him in any way she can.   She has tried to stand on him, kick him and smash him with heavy books, toys, you name it.  

Linzi knows that when she sits on the toilet, she needs to scoot back.   If she perches on the front of the toilet she pees all over the floor.   Simply scooting back a little bit and things work great.   One of us have to be in the bathroom all the time with her.   Same thing when she poops.   If you are not in the bathroom with her she will stand up just as the poop is dropping out and drop it on the floor.   I am not sure where this behavior is coming from?   If we are in there she will do it right.   

If we are not downstairs with her when she wants to play.   She will go into every one's bedroom and find things that she is not supposed to get into.   If someone goes downstairs with her she will play with the toys just like she is supposed to.

Lately she has decided to run around the house and OPEN doors.   Completely opposite of what she was doing.   Most of the doors she likes to open are the outside doors.   This is not such a great idea when it is freezing outside.   So again, we have to watch her 24/7 to see what she is doing.    She remains in our bed to keep her from wandering at night.   It was the only way we felt comfortable.   It is not conducive to our sleeping.

We have very good friends who adopted their first daughter when we adopted ours.   We have kept in touch and we get together every other year.    They had been praying about Linzi and our family.   He told them that they needed to help us.    She came out, spent a long weekend with us and took Linzi home with them.   She is going to work with Linzi one-on-one and home school her.   They also live less than 20 min. from a very large city with all the resources needed to get Linzi the help she needs.   We will be able to watch Linzi grow.    Linzi is still our child, but we are ecstatic about the great care she is receiving.   They are doing respite care.

Our home is quiet.   The girls have stopped fighting.   We have stopped fighting.   No one is yelling at anyone anymore.    It is almost tranquil.   We needed the break.   We miss her.   We call them everyday to see how Linzi is doing.   How they are doing.   Linzi has not stopped, she is keeping them busy, but there aren't as many in their home.   They have the element of youth on their side.   They only have two other daughters.  

Respite care....it has saved our sanity.    Will it remain just respite care?   We don't know.     Have we failed?  NO.   We do feel that her orphanage officials really stretched the truth about Linzi's condition on her referral reports.   We know that they wanted her to get out of the orphanage and get to the USA for help.   I know that it was because of Him that I was the one who arrived in Tianjin to meet Linzi.   If it had been someone who did not understand the Chinese process, they may have very well left her in China.....happens all the time.    Even though Linzi's needs were much more than our family could handle...I knew that I needed to bring her home to get the help she needs.   If not with our family, then with a family who has the time and is close to the resources she needs.     I don't know what she would have done in China after she aged out of the orphanage.  

It has been super tough.    I knew immediately that Linzi had more going on than what we were told.   I knew that we were not going to be able to do as much as she would need to become the person she deserves to be.    But I knew leaving her in China would not be any help to her.    We couldn't help but love her...she is so cute and cuddly at times.    She usually always has a smile on her face.    Our agency told us that they would be behind us 110% in what ever we chose to do.    They kept telling us to give it time.   And yes, we could see some progress, but in the mean time our family was slowly breaking apart.   You can't give 110% to one child when you have 5 other children.   It just doesn't work.   

This is one of the reasons that our blog is now private.   If those of you who stayed around are angry with what we have done...you are welcome to leave our blog.   I really don't need nasty comments about what we have done.    It is the best for Linzi and our family.   Not too long ago I would read something like this on someone's blog and think to myself.   "Why would they want to disrupt?"   Well, now I can say I have walked a mile in their shoes.   I completely understand!   Until you are in this position there is nothing that you know about what you are going to have to do.    It SUCKS!!

Cool shirts!

Zora and I wore one of these shirts in China and we have received so many positive comments about them.   You can go to this site to check them out:
http://www.gotloveadopt.com/

Chinese New Year

We traveled to Independence, Missouri Saturday to attend the Families Blessed with the Worlds Children Chinese New Year party.     The year of the Snake starts February 10th.  

The girls love to dress up in their "Chinese" clothes.   I think that they always look so beautiful in the  silks, but I don't like hand washing them.   The last few trips to China I have found that they have some really cute outfits that are more of a cotton material that doesn't unravel like the silk.    I really love these dresses too as the frog closures are just for looks and not to keep the dresses closed.   The dress zips up the back.   Black and white was the only colors they had in these dresses and I really think they look nice, but would have loved to get some other colors too.   And the girls dolls received new outfits for CNY too!    Yes, I am a couple of girls short.   They were busy doing their own thing!

Crafts are always fun.   Just wish that we had more time to work on them.  

They had all kinds of entertainment too.   Chinese musicians played, kids danced, played drums, danced some more, older girls danced, and the lions danced.   The one thing that I had really looked forward to seeing again was someone who did a demonstration with a Chinese yo-yo.   Unfortunately, he had to cancel last minute :(  

It was really fun and worth the 90 minute drive.   The most fun is seeing all the Chinese American kids having fun and dressed up!

Sledding

The girls were elated when we received enough snow for them to get their sleds out.   Even though it barely covered the ground and the temperature was 10 degrees they donned their coats and hit the slope.

Tessa was having a great time trying to get her sled to go backwards down the hill.

It always surprises me that they really go as far as they do!