Amazing...

We have been contacted several times over the past 2 months concerning some children being disrupted and families needing respite care.

One of the families disrupting has 3 children they were looking to place. The children are 15, 13 & 11. Not the easiest age group to place. We had just agreed to adopt another little boy through a disruption, so we decided to adovocate for the sibling group.

My friend and fellow adoptive mom of many and her family have taken in and fallen in love with the 15 year old girl!! YAY!!! So, on to finding a home or homes for the 13 & 11 year olds.

A few different families considered one or both of the children, but in the end decided not to move forward at this time.

Knowing the situation that they were in was really taking a toll on my heart! I prayed daily, sometimes much more often, to find a family for these kids. I knew they needed to be with a family or families that would love them uncondtionally and provide them with the love & respect that they deserve.

John and I had already said we would take one or the other if we could just find a home for the other one.

Finally, last week after much prayer, we decided we were just going to take both children. Their home life was detiorating and they needed a new family NOW! So we started preparing to bring these precious children into our home. After all, what is 2 more when you have 8 at home, right?? :-)

Friday while talking to my dear & precious friend she said to me, *Carla, don't you have enough on your plate right now? What about you? Are you taking care of yourself?*

Of course, I started explaining to her that we would all be fine, these children need a home!

Then she says to me *We will take them. I'm serious!*

In all my searching I had never thought to ask THEM!! Though I should have realized when she asked me a thousand questions about adoption and was reasearching adoption on the internet and sending me links and information.

I had been focusing on families who had already adopted. The whole situation makes sense to me now.....this was God's plan all along. I love when he surprises me like that!! My friend and her husband are amazing parents! I am over the moon excited that I get to go with them next weekend to meet their new son and daughter!! I get to watch this miricale unfold!!!

We have been in constant contact all weekend....John and I have loved every minute of listening to them as they plan what they will do to rearrange their home, what clothes they will buy them, which kids will share rooms, etc.... It has been as much fun sharing their excitement as it was each time we have adopted!!!!

Congratulations Coupland Family!!!! You are truly BLESSED!!!!!

CNY, Tet, Valentine's Day.....

Johnathan, handsome!!

Emilea, pretty girl!!

Jackson, looks so shy!

Ethan, just being himself!

Kaylea, cute as ever!!

Owen, look at those beautiful eyes!!

Rylea and her cute little mouth!!

Rubea, what a sweet smile!!

We did not do much on Sunday to celebrate all the holidays of the weekend....Rubea just had surgery on Wednesday and was not feeling well. The kids did get dressed in their outfits and let me snap a few pics of them though! It is funny, to me, that very few of them can smile naturally for the camera! Bless their hearts, they tried! I managed to get one of them all together, too!!

Or, should I say...I am posting the one that is the BEST of all of them together :-)

I cooked a huge meal with dishes from China, Thailand and Vietnam. They ALL ate like they hadn't eaten in a week. We made fried rice, Vietnamese stir fry, Thai lemon grass chicken and a chicken soup along with jasmine rice!!

Oh, and yes I realize my boys need hair cuts...they are letting their hair *grow out* Ethan looks like he is straight out of the 80's.

Hope all of you had a wonderful weekend!!!

Neglect...

Well, not really neglect....just busy! Since December, things here have been crazy! Let's see....

In December:

Rubea turned 4!! She has become very expressive when talking and playing, she is kinda bossy, she is very giggly, and she has learned so much this past year! She is doing great in school, she is closer to being "on target" for a 4 year old and she has learned that Rylea is here to stay! As much as she acts like she doesn't like Rylea, I'm told she gets upset at school if Rylea isn't there!

Then of course my sister graduated from Texas Christian University with her BSN!! We are very proud of you Karen!!

Next was Christmas....we had a beautiful and wonderful Christmas here at home! We have learned to enjoy being alone for Christmas and making our own traditions. We open some gifts Christmas Eve...all the ones from our extended families. Then, on Christmas day we open from each other and of course, Santa and their stockings!!

New Year's Eve day was gorgeous so we decided to head out to Fiesta Texas....the cold hit about the time we got out of the van. Surprisingly, all the kids held out for about 6 hours on the rides... with the help of lots of hot chocolate and apple cider! We made it home in time to warm up and have some sparkling apple juice at midnight!! Bring on 2010!

Marissa and Brent came New Year's Day to have Christmas with us. We bribed them into coming down by getting Alamo Bowl tickets for them since Brent's favorite college team is Texas Tech and they were playing! We had a blast just hanging out with them. The kids LOVE when Rissa comes to visit.

We also celebrated Rylea's 1 year gotcha!! She was so excited to have a cake of her own!! This girl loves cake! She has learned so much in the last year. She is talking in English, the best she can. She has learned many colors, shapes, numbers and especially the letter "R". Which happens to be her favorite letter :-) She and Rubea are in a half day program at the elementary school and she couldn't be happier! Rylea Joy is definitely the "Joy" in our day!! She always gives me kisses, she works hard at whatever she is doing and does not give up! She LOVES to fold clothes and will get upset if she isn't given something to fold if there is laundry to be folded. She does better 1 handed than the other kids using 2 hands. She will unload the kid's dishes from the bottom rack of the dish washer and she dotes on Rubea endlessly!!

The day she came home 1/2009

January 2010...1 year later....what a difference a year makes.... look at her hair!!

Then in January John and I celebrated or should I say "marked" 18 years of marriage! Rylea and Ethan both had surgery on our anniversary, so it was spent in the hospital! Hey, you book them together when you can and January 11th was the day! They both had surgery on their feet, so between them they have 3 casts. Ethan can walk on his now, thankfully!!

Rylea's feet 1/11/2010

Then we celebrated Jackson's 13th birthday! He was excited to score an iP0d and a Ninetind0 DS this year!! We also went to Peter Piper Pizza for some games, food and fun!! He especially liked the "basketball" cake that I made for him this year.

Kaylea ended up in the hospital with pneumonia for 5 days!!! She was very sick there for a while. They contemplated putting her in the PICU, but I asked them to just put her on the regular peds floor. We have spent way too much time in the PICU in the past 12 months. She is home and doing MUCH better! We are hoping to get her titanium ribs placed the spring so that she can breathe better. She has one lung compromised due to her scoliosis. Once the rib surgery is complete, we will have her trach taken out!!!

Because Kaylea has a trach, we have nursing services to assist with her trach care and of course her g-tube feedings. Our insurance will not pay for the nurse to go to school with her! So, we opted to home school her for the rest of the year. Since Jack is not getting the services he needs at school we pulled him out, too. Then decided to pull Ethan out. So, I am home schooling the 3 of them and they are doing great!! Kaylea is much happier now and I think it is because the boys are home. She is still making herself vomit, but not nearly as much as she was even 2 weeks ago. I am hopeful that his arrangement is positive for all of them and that Kaylea continues her progress. She is currently weighing 34 lbs, again. She lost 3 lbs when she was sick, but has now gained that back and is looking great!!

Now, on to Feburary:

Marissa had a birthday earlier this week!! She would be mortified if I told you she is 23, so don't tell her I told!! She won't read this anyway! She stays busy working, shopping, volunteering for her local Fire Department, and spending time with Brent and her puppy Halli!!

So, next week Rubea is due to have an expansion on her titanium ribs. They will go in an lengthen each side like they did in July. It should be just an over night in the hospital.

Then we will celebrate Chinese New Year along with Valentine's Day then on the 15th Rylea will turn 5!!! Looks like we have a busy week ahead.

Thanks for the prayers...still unsure at this point what is going to happen here. What I will say is that we were asked to adopt through a disruption, but we are still trying to work out the details....so stay tuned!!

Love,