Fall festivites

Fake fall fire going

Halloween cuties

Sophia's pre-k class party

Mia's K character day party

Prefect weather for a play doh party

Post op update

Well, it has been 2 weeks and 3 days since Kira had her surgery.

She had her right ankle and foot amputated. The doctor was able to go a lot lower down her leg then originally thought, so this is great news for her. We also learned that she will have a much easier time with her prosthetic leg, given her knee and hip joint have full range of motion.

There were a few very tough days after surgery. She felt terrible from the pain meds, and was depressed about loosing her foot.

I was getting worried about her on the second evening. Thankfully we were given the ok to go home on the 3rd day. Bart came with the liile kids to bring us home.

Once home and back in the chaos, she perked up. And once she was done with the meds, she did a 180.

She has mastered her walker, and is actually back at school!

She had her first post op check today, and everything looks great. We will go back in 2 weeks to have one more pressure dressing applied and hopefully start the fitting process for her new lower leg!

Claire

Just a few weeks away!

In just a few weeks Kira will have surgery on her leg. And understandably so, she is really scared.

The doctor is going to amputate above her ankle area, then once that is healed, she will be fitted for her new leg and foot.

We are nervous for her, but much more then nervous...we are so excited.

We can not wait to see her walking straight and tall. She has suffered many ways for a birth defect that she had nothing to do with.

People can be cruel. But God is not. He is love.

He brought her home where she is loved no matter what the defect.

So, soon she will be running with the rest of the kids, and we can't wait to see where she ends up.

Claire

Just one more.....

Sweet little man..my baby boy!

Well, it seems that we are not completely "done" yet.

With the new special focus program China has going, and the new re-use your dossier program...we had some thinking and praying to do.

Do we take this opportunity to bring home one more child, or do we not.

So, after a few months of prayer and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with the 2 new ones...we have decided to throw all caution and sanity to the wind..and bring home our new son!

Please meet Levi Andrew Taylor. He will be 3 at the end of Sept. Such a sweet, sweet face.

We are cranking on some home study update paper work and hope to travel by the winter.

I can not wait to have another little boy! And a cleft lip one to boot!

God is so good. I am spoiled rotten.

First day of school

The only one home to rot in front of the TV

Summer creations by Logan and Hudson

Ready for School!

All day creation

BFF"S at the beach

Kira loving the surf!

Hudson and his new love. He is a total beach bum!

The kids went back to school this week.

1/2 of me misses them very much, and 1/2 of me is really ok with some time to get things done @ the house.

Guess I want my cake and to be able to eat it too.

Sweet ride!

It has a built in fire extinguisher!



The view from the back row.


The view from the driver's seat.


Sweet and sexy!

With room for a few more (:

Great start to July!

A much needed beach week-end.


Michael's first car!



Michael turned 18!



Can not believe that my first born is now 18. Crazy how fast time has gone! Could not be more proud of the wonderful young man he is becoming.

Thankfully I have another year until the dreaded C word...college.

Claire

A very good month

Sir Jackson



A nerf warrior


Jacob, Connor and Hudson chillin'


Charlene and I with the girls


Sweet princess..Sophia, Grace, Shoa, Mia and Kira

Kira's 1/2 birthday. We couldn't wait until Jan!


Sweet Logan's 8th Birthday!



Our sweet ride! With room to grow (:


It has been a month of firsts for us. Hudson's first birthday home, Mike's first car, Kira's first half birthday. Our first passenger van, and a visit from Auntie Charlene and the kids! Charlene got to meet Kira, Hudson and Sophia for the first time. And as always the kids took about 3 minutes to warm up and the rest of our visit was shrouded in nerf bullets and dress up clothes.

And finally, Bart and I are taking the states foster/adoption classes after a few years of Bart really feeling led to explore this option of adoption.

I won't lie, my heart is still in China. And I still want a little cleft lip boy. But, as I am SOOOO very slow at learning, it is not about what I want. It is about what God wants me to be willing to do.

Another first for us was that we were interviewed by our cities magazine about our family, and our adoption journey.

I was hesitant at first, just did not feel comfortable with being the focus of that type of attention. But, I had to realize what a great opportunity this would be to possibly encourage others to adopt.

Save Now

Hopefully God will use our story to do so.

Love,

Claire

SUMMER !!!

Hudson's 9th birthday!


1st official lake day of the summer!
tubing!


Hudson and Kira's 1st build-a-bear trip

Kira getting her ear pierced.


Sweet, sweet summer!

Finally, no 5:30 am alarms! No homework, no car line, big breakfasts, extended movie nights, first official lake day and beach time!

Well, keeping with a new tradition...we came home from China, rested a bit, then hit the road to see family. We drove to SC to see one of our niece's graduate from high school, and to introduce the new kids to Bart's side of the family.

Yes, all 9 of us in one vehicle for 8 hours. Not sure that is what adoption experts would say is text book family bonding, but what do "they" really know?

We had a great time. Hudson ate his way through 3 states, Kira loved watching Mulan (in Chinese) over and over and over..The other kids vegged out with their various electronic devices and I took a nap.

It was great to see family, and to celebrate Hudson's first birthday home. He turned 9 on June 2nd.

We have a few more birthdays this summer, Logan will be 8 on the 16th, and Michael will be 18 on July 3rd.

We also have a highly anticipated day of consultations at Shriners Hospital in Tampa tomorrow. we are so excited to see what can be done for Kira's leg and her hands.

She is amazing in all that she can do now, can not imagine what she will do with things corrected.

So, if you can't tell..I am really looking forward to having some down time with my man and the kids.

Love,

Claire

Home sweet home!

How sweet it is!

We are home safe and sound! Oh how I missed everything about home on this trip.

I have no idea why this trip was different. I usually love my time in China.

The kids were fantastic, and the weather was great. But I just wanted to get the kids and get home.

I think I'm getting old.

But, enough about me! I know the kids are what is most important, and most interesting.

They are all doing really well. Getting used to each others personalities, and where they all fit in.

Hudson is a sweet boy. Very independent and a man of few words, even Chinese. He and Kira speak the same language, so they chat often during the day.

Actually, she does most of the talking, he just listens and answers once and awhile.

He loves to swim and ride his bike. He is also loves to eat!

We went to the hematologist last week, and are waiting for the results of Hudson's blood work. There are some more tests we will need to do, seems he has some things we need to check out related to the way he was transfused before coming home.

He had his first transfusion on Friday, did great. Did not see any change in his energy level, he is full throttle, but there his coloring did look really good after.

Now we are waiting to hear from Shriners Hospital about Kira's appointment. Hoping to get her in as soon as possible and get her started. She is doing really well too. Loves to swim and color.

She also loves to take showers and pick out her outfit for the day. She has also made it clear that she wants her ears pierced, so we will do that this week.

The other kiddos are doing great, ready for summer vacation.

Me too! Slow mornings,beach time,dollar movies....

Flying out tomorrow!

Greetings from Hong Kong!
Thank you God! Hudson's chest x-ray for TB was clear, so we were allowed to leave China with him! If it had not been clear, he would have had to stay in China for another month. One of us could have stayed, or one of us could have come back to bring him home.

I couldn't wrap my head around either option. Thankfully we did not have to.

We rolled into to Hong Kong late Wednesday night our time. Got settled in our hotel and actually got some good sleep.

We woke up to the usual...Hudson opening the blinds and saying something over and over in Chinese. Pretty sure it was get up. Pretty sure this habit will meet with great resistance once we are home (:

Once the blinds were open, we realized what a gorgeous view we have. We are staying in a hotel on the Gold Coast here in Hong Kong. We are right here by a really nice beach on the South China Sea. Pretty stinkin cool.

So, as we got dressed for the day, Bart made a bkfast run and came back with some McD's. We had a delicious bkfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, some type of noodles in a bowl with a fried egg and ham slices. The kids loved it, I LOVED the diet coke..in a cup..with a lid and straw...and lots of ICE!

As usual, Hudson finished all left overs. This boy can eat!

We headed out to explore and played at the beach, hit the pool and then went exploring around a little shopping area for lunch. On our way back, we stopped at a great playground and let the kids wear themselves out.

It started to rain, so we headed back to the hotel and rotted in front of the tv.

Tomorrow we begin our trip home! We fly out of Hong Kong to Japan. There we have a 9 hour delay. Not enough time to clear customs and get a hotel room, then clear customs again and make the flight. So we will have our first camping trip in the air port.

After our lay over, we will fly to JFK and then onto home! We have enjoyed our trip, but we are all ready to get home. Except for Livy, she could keep traveling forever.

Can't wait to get home and into some great medical care. Hudson is doing great, he is a lot like Sophia...full of energy and always ready to try something new. He is rough and tumble, but the first one there if someone is hurt. We still have not figured out how he can be at your side in a flash..with a band aide!

He can mimic English perfectly, so we think he will pick up the language very quickly.

Sweet Kira is going to surpass all expectations that have been placed on her. We are amazed with how well she gets around and honestly a bit nervous to imagine her without her physical limitations! She is a sweet girl. And also a typical pre-teen. Finds her little siblings annoying at times, thinks she should be treated as an adult and does not always like the word no.

It cracks me up, not sure the girl realizes that Bart and I have been here before. But she does have a sweet side to her, very protective of everyone and does not like it when someone is lagging behind. She is smart as a whip too.

So, over 2 weeks of close quarter living has caused us to bond pretty well. As much as I love my kids...I am ready to be back home and have a little more living space and more then one bathroom.

Yes, I am spoiled. I admit it.

See ya'll soon!

Love,
Us