Roll Tide!

The boys went to their first Bama game this past weekend with Billy & his dad. (Major milestone!) They had a great time but everyone was exhausted by the end of the day. They left around 6:40 am and returned a few minutes after 10 pm on Saturday. I think Billy was more tired than they were!

Tailgating!


Looks like they wore the right uniform! I'm so glad one of them didn't get lost! Can you imagine telling an officer, "Well, he was wearing an Alabama jersey, shorts, and sneakers"??


William & Granddaddy


Ready for kick-off!


A football game is much better when you have cotton candy!


Henry & Big Al!

What a difference a week makes!

This has been a pretty uneventful week, thankfully! Everyone's been healthy and happy, for the most part. I passed my glucose tolerance test! This was huge since I had gestational diabetes with the boys. I also got my cast off and moved up to a comfortable walking boot that I'll wear for the next 3 weeks. Not too bad, since I can sleep more comfortably and take a shower without having to don a garbage bag on my leg.
Rebecca's lab work came back normal but we are going to have it repeated if/when she has another episode.
The weather has been absolutely gorgeous this week too. I just love this time of year!

One Year

September 3rd was the anniversary of Rebecca's "Gotcha Day." For those of you not as versed in Chinese adoptions, that is the day we first met Mei Xiao Mei, the day we saw her walk through that door in the Guangzhou Civil Affairs Office and into our lives and hearts forever. We were sort of her "foster" parents for the first night, and we had to come back the next day to the same location to sign all the paperwork. So, September 4th is her "official" adoption day.

Last Tuesday, on September 2nd, Rebecca had another one of her "episodes." I don't know what else to call them. She did have an obvious seizure back in April, but we haven't noticed any definite seizure-type activity except for that one day. She has had a total of four of these episodes (one in March--when at the time we thought she may have had a short-lived gastroenteritis, the aforementioned one in April, one in late May, and then another one last week). Back in the spring, she had a normal MRI and EEG, so we were even thinking along the lines that these episodes could have a psychological component to them. The one last week lasted the longest, about 9 hours. Usually, they are around 6 hours. She is very lethargic, hard to arouse, doesn't speak hardly AT ALL, and vomits off and on throughout the day. She is also extremely disoriented and confused. After talking to international adoption specialists in the late spring and summer, we were thinking less that these episodes were just psychological. But, she had not had any problem for over 3 months, so we had not thought much else about it, until, of course, it happened again. We took her to the pediatric neurologist this week but we still haven't got many answers. The neurologist doesn't feel that these episodes classify as seizures but she is very concerned given the history of severe developmental delay as well as the symptoms of vomiting and ataxia. She is suspicious of a metabolic disorder, and is going to consult with a geneticist and get back with us.
Please pray with us that we can get a diagnosis for Rebecca's problem quickly and that the treatment won't be too difficult. We also pray that she can somehow make up for her cognitive delays as quickly as possible.
After Rebecca finally "woke up" last Tuesday, we all went to the park and met my dad & stepmom and my brother and his family for an evening picnic. I got the girls a special "Family Day" cookie. (Vivian's official adoption day was August 29th, 2006!) Rebecca was still very tired and didn't eat much. Most of the time she just sat at the picnic table with her head on the table or in someone's lap. It was heartbreaking to watch her! I hope next year will be a more joyous celebration!


The next day, the 3rd, was met with Henry and Vivian suffering from stomach viruses. Then, I got the pleasure of having it over the weekend. I must say that this week has been free from MAJOR issues (except for that doctor's appointment and our one-year post-placement visit with the social worker), and that was a welcome change!

I want to thank my mom, sister-in-law, my church family, and my FCC family for all the support that they have given us over these past two trying weeks! I know we could not have gotten through the day-to-day struggles without you! We love you all so much!!

Happy Birthday to ME!

August 30th was my birthday, and the day of Alabama's first football game. Billy's dad carried us out to dinner the night before. It is no mistake that there isn't a photo of me anywhere in this post. I can't believe how FAT I am!


My maternal grandmother's family had a family reunion on that day in beautiful northwest Georgia. It was held on an estate of one of my 2nd cousins. I was up on my foot walking for most of the day, and I really paid for it the next few days!



These were just the stables!

My Right Foot

Just in case you haven't heard the crazy story...here goes. Two weeks ago (tomorrow), it was a rainy Tuesday morning. I thought it was a perfect day to clean out the kids' closests. Rebecca was in school, so the other three were upstairs with me playing while I worked. We were all in Henry's room. (Let me first explain that Henry's doorknob had been turned around several months ago because he kept locking himself in--on purpose. He has a traditional key lock on it, and we didn't have a key, so it became a real pain when he would storm up to his room and lock the door.) The boys were playing in Henry's room, and Miss Vivian starting playing with the door. Well, wouldn't you know, she locked me and the boys in the room. I tried for the longest trying to explain to her how to unlock it or at least to get her to keep playing with it so that she might "accidently" unlock it the same way she locked it. I had no phone in there with me and there was no room to pass one under the door. I searched that room for anything that could possibly unlock the door. I tried Darth Vader's tiny light saber (didn't fit), the metal spring in a clothes pin (not long enough), and a nail (didn't fit). There were only plastic hangers in his room too. Next, I tried to knock the door down, pry off the lock, or to take off the hinges. I got one bolt out of one of the hinges but couldn't get the other one.

Next, I yelled out the window for neighbors. No answer. By this time, I was getting a little panicked because Vivian was no longer out in the hallway and she wouldn't answer me. What else was there to do but to go out the window? Part of our deck in the back is covered, and the roof comes in under Henry's back window, so that seemed like the only option. I took everything soft that I could find: pillows, a sleeping bag, blankets, sheets, and threw them off onto the deck below. I was at the edge of the roof (probably about 9 feet off of a wood deck), and decided that I would go off facing out (because of my enlarging tummy). First, I said a prayer that the baby would not be harmed, and then I tested the gutter with all my strength. I started to inch my way off. Just before my "jump," my entire weight found itself on the aluminum gutter. It buckled under the weight, so I fell instead of jumped. I landed entirely on my right foot, and instantly I knew I had broken it. The pain was intense, and it bruised and swelled almost immediately. Luckily, the back door was unlocked, and I crawled into the house. I first called Billy and then I crawled upstairs to let the boys out and to close the window.

At the ER, the Xray showed that I broke the distal end of my right fibula (ankle) and my fifth metatarsal (on the outside of my foot). Being 24 weeks pregnant at the time with whopping extra 30 pounds on board didn't help anything! My OB actually admitted me for a few hours for monitoring. The baby is doing fine, thankfully! I'm in a walking cast for a total of three weeks, and then I'll get one of those removable boots for another three weeks. Oh, I know it could have been so much worse, and I am so thankful for that, but if life wasn't hard enough being pregnant and with four small children!

The Boys are 5!

Has it been three weeks already?? My baby boys turned 5 on August 19th. The day they were born feels like yesterday. Where did the time go? They were so tiny on that day in 2003, Henry weighing in at 5 lbs., 13 oz., and William, 5 lbs. 5 oz. And, of course, I thought they were the most beautiful babies I had ever laid eyes on!
Here are a few pictures from their party a few weeks ago. I counted 84 people in attendance, with over half of that being children! (We were only supposed to have 25-30 kids! Oops!)

Yes, I'm still here!

We've had computer problems (and other ones too)! I've a lot to post about to get you up to speed! I want to start with the boys' fifth birthday since I didn't get around to doing that before life started getting really hard!