4 years ago today..

we welcomed our second child into this world! Another beautiful healthy baby boy. Like the birth of my first child, it was a day I will never forget. I elected to have a repeat C-Section this time bringing both our camera and camcorder. My husband got some amazing shots of our new little man. I especially love the one of my son and I as the nurse brought him over for me to see him. I have it framed on a shelf in his room in fact.

I can't believe four years has passed. My baby isn't so much a baby anymore! He's in preschool with only 2 more years until he starts Kindergarten. He is such a handsome little guy with an amazing personality. He loves trains and cars and has a great imagination. He loves to play by himself and always includes his own sound effects. He loves trains so much that we had a repeat Thomas the Train birthday party at a near by park that has rides for the kids including a train! Unfortunately the train ride broke down an hour before his party, but he still had a great time. It truly amazes me how much my baby has grown and changed over the years! Where do the years go?

Happy 4th Birthday Cameron. Mommy and Daddy love you!!!

Sick no more!!

At least we hope. Our oldest son has had recurrent infections since April of this year. After being told it was "just a virus" the second and third time that the child became ill with the exact same symptoms, I was not satisfied with the diagnosis. I felt that his body was fighting itself, but for what reason I did not know. After several rounds of blood work, we were first told that he may have an Autoimmune issue! Fortunately my son was referred to an ENT for further exam and he discovered that he tonsils were the root of his problems! Thank you Jesus!! We were so relieved to know that it was something that could be treated with minor surgery and not something that needed ongoing treatment.

So, today our brave little boy underwent a Tonsillectomy and did great! The ENT said the procedure went very well and that he should recover just fine. We are very thankful and hope that he is healed of these infections once and for all.

Doesn't he look so cute all dressed in his little surgical pajamas? Especially with both of those front teeth missing! Please forgive the poor quality of the photos. We ended up having to use my husband's cell phone since my media card for my digital camera was corrupted by our computer!!

Loving your neighbor

Growing up in a christian home we always heard the phrase, "love your neighbor as yourself". Well, on Friday afternoon, I did just that. Every Friday, my youngest son and I go to my oldest son's school to eat lunch with him. Actually for me it's more of a brunch because he eats at 10:45 in the morning! When a child has a guest to come and eat with them, they get to choose one friend to sit with them and their guest. When lunch is over, I always walk my son back to his class. This is my youngest son's favorite part as he gets to walk in line with his older brother back to his classroom. He looks so cute walking with the other children!

This time on my way back from walking my son to class, I pass by a woman and her little boy who was probably about 2 years old. As I proceeded with checking myself out in the front office, I stopped for a few minutes and talked with the lady at the front desk. During this time, the woman and her son made their way out of the building. I eventually convinced my son that it's time to leave and we headed outside to our car. As I'm walking to my car, I pass by the woman a second time and as I do I hear her son screaming at the top of his lungs as she is struggling to get him in his car seat. I look over to offer the mother a sympathetic smile and I see that she is trying to strap this child into an infant carrier that has been turned facing FORWARD! I paused a minute wondering if I should say something as car seat safety is a pet peeve of mine, but I wasn't sure if she would understand me or why I was asking because English was probably a second language to her. I decided that I felt like God was telling me to ask this woman if she needed a toddler seat. To my surprise the woman said, " yes, that would be great." I explained to her that I had an extra one in my car and that it was more appropriate than the one she was trying to put her son into.

I walked to my car and unhooked the seat and brought it to the woman and even installed it for her. I showed her how to properly use the straps and told the little boy that this was his big boy seat now! The little boy was very curious to try it out and ended up letting us strap him in without a fight! I'm sure he enjoyed being able to actually sit up and see out as opposed to practically lying on his back as he had done in the infant carrier. The woman thanked me over and over and said, "have a blessed day" before getting in to her car and driving away. I felt very honored to be able to help her out and I hope that she does the same for someone else one day.

A Call To Love

Deep in my heart, I've always wondered how God chose who he wanted to go forth and to adopt, whether it was to build their family or to add to it. To love one that was not your own. I truly feel that there are those that have this desire from day one and for others, this desire comes in time.

After two years had passed since trying to complete our family, my husband and I began to wonder if God had other plans for us. We knew that we very much wanted to complete our family with a baby girl, but how would this be possible if we couldn't conceive. After having had many tests and trying several methods, we felt like it was not meant for us to round out our family like we had done 2 times before.

We started talking about adoption on our anniversary. Shortly there after, we met with an agency to discuss our options and to find out all that we could about the process. Many months went by and we changed directions several times. But eventually God brought us onto the same page! Ultimately we knew that it didn't matter where our child came from, but that she was a part of our family. We were originally set to start our adoption process (domestic) at the beginning of this coming year. Then one day, a couple of months ago, my husband out of the blue says that he just didn't have peace about adopting domestically. He wanted to go internationally. So immediately I began my research, once again, looking for the right agency and the right country for us. After hours of searching on the internet, I came across an agency that seemed like a good fit for us. There were 3 countries that we were interested in and this agency worked with all three. After much discussion with the agency and my husband we felt like China was perfect for us.

We hesitated in going with China after knowing the continued increase in time for referrals for the NSN program. The agency explained to us that they had a great SN/Waiting child program that is separate from their regular China program. Because of this, our wait time is greatly decreased. We were told that from start to finish the process should take us about 9 months depending on how quickly we accept a referral.

Unfortunately for us, our greatest enemy right now is my age! I'm not quite "old enough" in China's eyes to adopt from their country. So, we have a ways to go before our journey begins. But, we are very excited and look forward to starting our process very soon. This time next year we can begin working with our agency and starting on the paper work. I can't wait to start working on her room and preparing for her arrival. Our oldest son is especially excited and may accompany us on our trip to bring her home. Oh, and by the way, "her" name is Lauren. Our son named her almost 3 years ago!! He has called her by name since day one and prays for her often. It just melts my heart to see the love he has for her already!