Red Thread To China 2007

Happy forever Family day!!!

2009-10-13T06:01:00.002-07:00

One year ago today Jerry and I received the most precious gift ever, our son Levi. I can remember it like it was yesterday. I had a very hard time sleeping the night before wondering what the day would be like. We were very nervous and I couldn't eat that morning, then we got word that we would have to wait until the afternoon to go to the Social Welfare office. So we had to wait longer to get our first glimse of our son other than in the few pictures we had. We got to the office first and our guide started to process saying that they would be here any minute. And then there they were walking in the door. The Orphanage director, and 2 of the nannies. They sat down next to me and the next moments became a blur of paperwork and trying to get him to calm down. They were speakiing to him in Chinese, telling him that we were his mama and baba, that much I could understand. Our guide was helping them with paperwork as the nanny handed me this crying little boy. At first I was very nervous, but then it just clicked and I felt all the fear just leave me. This was our son, the child we had waited almost 2 years for. And we were his parents. We had to bribe him with food... he loves goldfish crackers!!! He calmed down, but when the nannies left he started to cry again. He cried so softly. I just wanted to hold him and take away all the grief he was feeling. He was the most beautiful little boy ever and continues to amaze us everyday! He has come a long way from the scared little boy that I first held in my arms because he could not walk to this strong , independent boy that is constantly running around everywhere. We love you little guy!!!! Happy forever family day!
Love mom and dad

A day at the park

2009-09-25T19:16:00.005-07:00

We met friends at the park yesterday and had a blast!!! Check out these photos.

3 Month check up at the hospital

2009-09-14T13:22:00.002-07:00

Well the check up went great and Levi doesn't need anything at this time. The surgeon said everything looks good and well healed. They were amazed at his progress and how well he is walking, running, and even jumping! We got some new prosthetic socks and suspension sleeves and were on our way. Of course I had to stop and get Levi nachos at Taco Bell, which is his favorite. We had a good mommy and son lunch and then headed home. Since it has been raining alot we haven't been out of the house much int he last week. Makes for a cranky little boy. I know we need the rain, but not all at the same time right? I haven't even been motivated to clean much lately bacause I have a cold coming on. I hate being sick!!

Daddy's little helper

2009-09-01T13:48:00.002-07:00

Look at daddy's little helper!!! He wanted to help his daddy carry this board over to the shed that he was building. He is such a helper when it comes to this kind of stuff. He just loves to take stuff apart and then try to put them back together. He loves playing with his tool set and bench. Enjoy the picture!

Oh boy!!! What a tantrum

2009-07-25T20:30:00.002-07:00

My goodness, Levi just threw the biggest fit!!! I think I am in for it. Wow does he have the worst temper!!! We walked up to Mimi's house to let Levi play with his cousin Laylyn. They play so good together and I thought that maybe just maybe Levi would sleep better tonight if he was just plain wore out. Well it was getting dark so we needed to get back to the house. I was telling Levi that we needed to go and to tell Laylyn bye and he started screaming and jumping up and down that he wanted to play. I couldn't even talk to him he was so crazy upset. SO I had to just grab his hand and start walking. He kept on about half way to the house before my daughter Charla could calm him down. Man some days he just wears me out!!!! But it does just the opposite to me, when I get so worked up I can't sleep. I am so glad this day is over!!!!

Day 2 without daddy

2009-07-22T20:57:00.002-07:00

Well Jerry has been gone only 2 days now and we already miss him so much. Levi had a really bad night. First I couldn't sleep last night, so when I finally did fall asleep he woke up crying and Marcus brought him downstairs... big mistake! I have learned that when he does this to never move him around or talk to him too much because it just makes it worse. So we went back upstairs and I laid down with him, but that didn't work to well, but eventually he started to fall asleep. so I went back to my room. Well by 3 am he was up again crying for his daddy. It took me about an hour to get him calmed down enough to go back to sleep. So needless to say I didn't get much sleep either. I hope tonight is much better. He usually is a very good sleeper. I think this deployment is going to be very rough on my little boy.

Guess what I found in the Sponge Bob DVD case?

2009-06-25T16:14:00.002-07:00

This has been one of those days for me. It started out with me waking up at 5:30am, already late.... and then going up stairs to find that Levi has barfed all over his bed and himself. So I take his clothes off and put him in the bath while I strip his bed and put the sheets in the washer. Call in to work and sound like I am just playing hooky because I only have until next week at me job anyway. Then get a call into the doctor, he can be seen at 9:50am. So I start to go get ready and put in the Sponge Movie for Levi. He really hasn't eaten much since yesterday afternoon so I give him a banana and some juice. Later in the day when I was cleaning up I was going to put the movie up and noticed that the case was awful heavy for it to be empty. Well guess what?...... I opened it up and a banana peel flew out onto the floor. My older son had this look on his face like what int he world, and we both just started laughing. SOme of the things that boy does.....go figure.

What's wrong with employers today???

2009-06-22T18:00:00.002-07:00

I am not sure what is going on with my job. This is the story...sorry it is so long.

When we adopted Levi we knew that I would have to use all my vacation and personal time for this year when Levi had his surgery and for his physical therapy and my employer was on board with that up until I gave my notice last month. Since finding out that Jerry would be deployed in Oct. and that he would need to go to 2 3 week trainings and a 2 week class starting July 6th, I have had to ask my employer to reduce my hours to part time so that I would be able to take Levi to daycare each morning since my hours ( 5am-1pm )do not permit me to do so. Well needless to say that they would not do that, so I had to give notice. Everything was fine until last week when HR informed me that I would be forced to pay back half of my vacation because I was quitting mid-year. That made me so mad. Under the circumstances my supervisor asked via e-mail that an exception be made due to why I had to take the vacation and Jerry being deployed, but I again got a big NO!! So I just casually suggested that I might have to go to the Dept of Labor because of that and another issue of being the only person on site not paid as punched. Well all of a sudden I am deemed a disgruntled employee and told they might have to let me go because I handle large sums of money at work. So now I am just waiting for the axe to fall and get fired. After 13 years at this job I will be getting FIRED!! Can you believe that? I have done everything asked of me by my supervisor, worked all kinds of crazy shifts, and even done the bosses job to cover his butt, and this is how I am treated. It justs makes me so angry!!! I guess my employer (a fortune 500 company) is not very patriotic after all.

Levi's first Pony ride

2009-06-13T15:38:00.002-07:00

Just look at him, he is a natural born cowboy!!! LOL We had so much fun on the pony ride, he didn't want to get off.

I can stand at my chalkboard!!!

2009-06-06T08:11:00.002-07:00

Look at me I can stand at my chalkboard and color!!! I am lovin' this foot. It's digital camo just like my daddy's Army uniform. It even has the United Stated Army Emblem on the front. I support our troops and that includes MY DADDY!!!!

Look at my boy...He can walk

2009-06-06T07:50:00.002-07:00

He is all over the place now!!!! I might just loose some weight WOOHOO!!!!!!!
Enjoy

Levi gets his foot

2009-06-03T15:46:00.003-07:00

Good news, Levi gets his prosthetic foot on Friday!! We have waited 3 months since his surgery for this day to come. And now it's here....WOO HOO!!! We are so excited for our little man to finally be able to do all the things he wants so desperately to do. Now if we can just get him potty trained before we bring his sissy home. He just seems so uniterested in it. You can talk to him until you are blue in the face and 5 minutes later he pees his pants. He just doesn't tell us he has to go until after the fact. Not sure what I am doing wrong. I haven't had to do this in such a long time, I can't remember how I handled it before. I am hoping that once he can walk he will learn to use the potty better.

Referral Day!!!!

2009-05-31T19:55:00.002-07:00

We received the referral of our daughter today. We will name her Mylie Jaide Desta Maxwell. We may delete Jaide, but are just not sure at this point. Desta is her Ethiopian name and it means happy or joy. We are already so in love with her. I keep looking at her referral picture and thinking is she really ours? Happy happy day for us at the Maxwell household.

Back at home

2009-05-30T20:22:00.003-07:00

They let us go home yesterday afternoon and Levi was just a little upset that he didn't get to take it home with him. They needed to do some adjustments and when we went to leave they took it off of him and he snatched it back and said "my leg". We had to explain to him that he would get it back in a week or so after they fixed it. He seemed ok with that. The only problem we saw with it is that the second leg has a tendency to fall off, I don't know if it's because his leg has shrunk or just the design, but the other prosthetist took a look at it and said he would talk to Mr. Dwight when he got back. He is supposed to call us on Monday with the date to come pick the finished product up, sometime at the end of next week. We are so excited because he really wants to walk and getting so very independent.

Day 3 -Not so good

2009-05-28T21:04:00.002-07:00

I guess little man woke up in a not so good mood this morning. He was a little uncooperative with the physical therapist and the prosthetist at the first session. I was hoping that after he ate lunch and had a nap he would be better but no such luck. He didn't want to stand still for them to measure the length of his leg to see if it was a bit longer than it needed to be. They let him wear the leg tonight, but we were to take it off and check every hour and a half or so to check for red marks or places where it was rubbing.
We decided to take him to the mall and try it out. He walked the whole time we were there and did so well. He now wants to do everything himself. He always says I do it, I do it. We have one more session tomorrow at 11am and then we are free to go. They will be calling us Monday with a date to come back for the finished product. The prosthetist said probably the end of next week.

We also thought that since we were in a bigger city we would try some Ethiopian food for dinner. The beef I ordered was wonderful, and there was a type of salsa that tasted like pico de gallo which was very good. But I really didn't care for the injera bread. I think the thing that got me was the spongy texture, that is something that I just can't handle. Levi loved it, and Jerry liked the beef that he got also. It was good, but I don't think that it will be something that we eat often. I will however be getting the injera for the girls if they would like it.

I can't wait to get home so I can get a good nights sleep. This hospital bed is not very comfortable.

Day 2

2009-05-27T19:19:00.002-07:00

Today started out good. We got a phone call at 8am saying that they forgot to tell us that the doctor would be on rounds and we needed to be down in physical therapy at 9am. So we rushed and got ready and were down there on time. He looked at his prosthetic and thought there needed to be some changes made so we had to take him to get re-casted and then at 11am it was back to physical therapy for more walking. He did well but seemed a bit more agitated today when we asked him to walk without the little shopping cart. He wanted to play more today. Yesterday they thought that he may not need to stay the whole 4 days, but I am not sure how this will affect us leaving us early. So as it stands we have 2 days to go. Levi's schedule is all out of wack and it is hard to get him to sleep. Not so fun for us!!

2009-05-26T19:41:00.002-07:00

Hey look at our Levi!!! He's walking. They said he did so well today at his 2 sessions. We will be here for another 3 days and he will have 2 sessions on each day. We are going to try to go to the zoo and the aquarium while we are here, I hope Levi likes it. He seems to be doing very well with the whole prothesis thing, he always helps the prosthetist put it on and such. We did think he would walk out of here at the end of the week, but now found out that it will be another 2 weeks until he gets the finished foot. So he will be scooting for a little while longer. We are going to try to find a small walker for a toddlersomewhere to make it easier for him at home. I will post more tomorrow.

Tuesday is the big day!!!

2009-05-24T20:29:00.002-07:00

Wow only 1 more day to go before we go to the hospital for Levi's prosthesis. I can't wait to see him walking round the hospital on his new camo foot!! We are using the ACU material ( the same as Jerry's uniform )for his leg. We go in at 8am. He has physical therapy at 11am and 3pm for those 4 days and we should be out by Friday evening. And then we won't be able to keep up with him. Well I better get ready for nighty night because I do have to work tomorrow. I will try to post as we progress throughout the week.

Check out my Marcus

2009-05-24T20:12:00.003-07:00

These were taken Friday evening before the kids left for the Junior Prom. Marcus' date was Jessica and they looked so cute together!!!

picture of Levi walking

2009-05-17T17:55:00.004-07:00

Well they are not the best pictures but I will be recieving copies of all the pictures that the photographer has taken so I can post more later.....enjoy

MY BOY CAN WALK!!!!!!!

2009-05-15T20:48:00.002-07:00

We had our appointment today for a fitting for Levi's prosthesis. It was so great!!!! We got to see him take his first steps... can you believe it? We are so very proud of him. He was off to a rocky start, not knowing what to do with a foot sticking out in front on that leg but as soon as they gave him a little walker he walked up and down the hall a couple of times. I tried so hard not to cry, but I couldn't help it. I think I even saw a couple tears in his daddy's eyes. I think when they took it off he was a little disappointed that he didn't get to keep it. This is by far one of the happiest days of my life. I can't wait until we go back on the 26th of this month for his physical therapy and he can take it home with us. This is a miracle and I can't thank Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for giving our son the opportunity to just be a normal kid. We will keep everyone posted as he progresses. I will post a picture tomorrow of him standing all by himself, something he has never been able to do before today.

Court not hearing abandonment cases!!

2009-05-13T19:39:00.000-07:00

OH NO!!!!! This can't be good news. All abandonment cases from Addis Ababa are not being heard pending an investigation. This is scaring the you know what out of me! I feel like here we go again....just like right after we were LID for China the big slow down occured and adoptions were going at a snails pace and still are. Now this hurdle for all of the waiting families to go through. How many months will this add on to our wait? Will I still be able to bring our daughters home next year? I was hoping to since I will be a stay at home mommy when Jerry deploys. That way I would have time to bond with the girls before having to return to work when Jerry returns home late next year. I don't handle the unknowns to well and tend to worry a little too much about everything. This just tacks one more thing on my list to worry about.

The dates are set!!!

2009-05-11T18:32:00.002-07:00

Well we got a call today from Levi's prosthetist to set up his week in the hospital. So I called back and he wanted to set it up for the 26th,thru 29th of this month!! We are so excited that he will take his first steps on those days. We will stay at the hospital for those days and he will have 2 therapy sessions a day and then he will be released on Friday afternoon. I need to charge up the video camera so it will be ready to go. He still has his appointment this friday for the final fitting. We need to find him a good pair of tennis shoes for friday, so I guess I will be shopping tomorrow after work. I hope that all goes well and he will not have any issues with the prosthesis. The tip of his foot is very sensitive so I hope it doesn't hurt when he starts to walk on it. Wish us luck.

The Dentist

2009-05-06T19:13:00.002-07:00

Well Levi had his first dentist appointment on Monday. I was kind of dreading it because I didn't know how he was going to react, but it went very smoothly. He has NO cavities!!!!! Can you believe it, after all the stories of bad teeth of some of the other kids I was worried. The only thing is his front teeth are pushed out because he likes to suck his finger. So we are trying to slowly stop him from doing this. Now we just have to get his eyes checked and his new foot and he will be good to go. His next appointment for a fitting is the 15th of May, so we are very excited to see him stand up and maybe take a few steps on a prosthetic foot. Keep your fingers crossed that he gets his in the next few weeks.

Potty training.......

2009-04-29T19:22:00.002-07:00

Levi has been doing so good with telling us he has to go potty.... until the last few days. He now has regressed back to going potty in his diapers or pull ups. I hope that when he receives his new foot that it will be easier to help him with this issue. He still needs to master the idea that he has to use to potty and not just in the diaper. I don't remember it being quite this hard with the older 2 boys. We have been trying not to push him so hard since he has been through so much in the past couple of months, but we also want him to catch up to his peers in this aspect. So I guess when he gets his prosthetic we will try a little harder to get him potty trained. It might be a little easier when I have to quit my job in July, I will have more time to devote to him.

First fitting

2009-04-28T20:12:00.002-07:00

Well Levi had his first fitting yesterday. It went so well. He was very curious about what the prosthetist was doing with the mold he made of his leg. The prosthetic looks like it will be a sleeve that comes in right under the knee. The prosthetist was also approached by the hospital public relations office to do a story on a child under the age of 5 following the whole process of fitting the prosthetic to the finished product and he said he would like to use Levi, we of course said yes. So we were also interviewed and they took a ton of pictures of Levi and the doctor during the fitting. They will take pictures every time we come in until he has his final fitting and learns to walk. We think it is exciting and can't wait to see it in the news letter for the hospital. We go back for the 2nd fitting on May 15th. At this time they will actually have a foot attatched to a foam rubber socket that he will be able to stand on so that the doctor can tell if any adjustments need to be made or not. We also get to pick out his graphics for the foot, they somehow use fabric to put the design on the leg. Can't wait to see how it looks finished and see my boy walk for the first time on 2 feet.
It was also our 7th anniversary, so what a good day it was. Here are a couple of pictures for everyone to enjoy that we took in the Texas Bluebonnets earlier this month.

The cast is off!!

2009-04-10T18:51:00.002-07:00

Today was our appointment at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for the cast removal. We arrived there and really didn't have to wait very long at all to see the doctor. We had to get x-rays done so they could look at the bones to see how they were starting to fuse. He did real well only fussing a little when trying to get his left leg the right way for the x-ray. They needed 4 shots and we only had to redo one. The doctor said his bones were starting to fuse together, but still needed more time to heal. His scars look good and he has alot of dry skin that will come off as we give him baths. Wow we can actually give him a bath tonight, not just a sponge bath. I always felt like he wasn't totally clean that way so I am glad that we can put him in the tub tonight. His leg was also casted for the prosthesis today. His next appoiintment is on our anniversary the 27th of April. At that time they will see how it fits and then in another couple of weeks will have the final fitting and stay for a week for physical and occupational therapy, and also teaching him how to walk and teaching us how to take care of the prosthesis and such. Right now he won't even touch his leg to the floor or anything. He crawls around like he is hiking his leg like a dog. It is kinda funny. I know that later when he gets more comfortable and doesn't think everything is gonna hurt it he might get a little better. I will try to post pictures later tonight of his leg.

LOOK WHO TURNS 3 TODAY!!!!

2009-03-20T20:51:00.002-07:00

Hey all Levi turned 3 today. His mimi brought him a little puppy cake for his mini birthday since we aren't having his party until next Saturday. ( I have to work tomorrow, bummer )He really liked the cake. We sang Happy birthday to him and he blew out the candle! I don't quite think he gets the whole birthday thing yet, but he likes presents. Here are some pics of his little pup-cake and my little man, enjoy.

Sandi

Blog for our Ethiopian adoption

2009-03-17T18:57:00.002-07:00

Hi everyone. The blog for our new adoption is Ethiopiaorbust09.blogspot.com. Our Dossier is on its way to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!! Join us on this exciting journey to bring our daughters home.

One week down, 4 more to go!!

2009-03-15T13:02:00.002-07:00

Well Levi has managed to keep his cast on for almost a week now with the belt that they made him. So maybe this may not be as bad as I thought. We just have to make it until the 10th of April for the first fitting and then another 2 weeks until they have the prothesis done and can fit him and teach him how to walk on it.

I can't believe that it has been 5 months since we first met this scared little boy in a dark building in China. Sometimes when I look into his eyes I still get glimpses of that scared little boy, but he is just amazing and is adapting so well for only being with us for such a short time. We are all learning together.

This friday will be his 3rd birthday, his first birthday here in the US. I want it to be so special for him because I am sure he never experienced this in China. We originally wanted to have it at Chuck E Cheese but sincce he is in a leg cast it wouldn't be much fun. We will figure out something.

He is awake!!!!

2009-03-04T09:01:00.002-07:00

I think the anesthesia finally has worn off, he is awake and even dancing a little in his bed to the cartoon music. He has asked twice now where his foot is. The first time I really was at a loss for words, I just said they fixed it. He seemed to accept that answer so I let it go at that. He has been awake for about 3 hours now and is in no pain. He still has his epidural in and will have it in until tomorrow morning. He has tried to pull out his IV a couple of times also, he really doesn't like it much. He slept quite a bit last night, although I didn't much. I kept waking up to check on him and make sure he wasn't falling off the bed. He was able to eat some crackers this morning and have more water. So they said he could have some cherrios and toast. We'll see how that goes. We are still on for getting out tomorrow afternoon.

On another note I have to run my older son Marcus to the eye doctor this afternoon because he has a piece of metal in it. I hate to leave Levi for even a second, but I don't have much of a choice. It seems like when it rains it pours.

Levi is doing well

2009-03-03T20:34:00.003-07:00

Well the surgery went well, a little over the planned timeframe but just as we were going to go ask the nurse about him they paged us to come to recovery to see him. He wasn't too happy about all the tubes and wires attatched to him and he did cry for about 15 minutes before finally going abck to sleep. The kids came to see thier little brother along with a soldier that is in Jerry's unit and our social worker who is also a good friend of mine came by. Another friend of ours called and will try to come by to see him too. I am so glad to have all the support right now, I am not sure what I would do without it. It is one of the scariest things in the world to see your child in pain and not be able to comfort them. He did not do really well with the anesthesia and was a little cranky when he finally woke up. He is asleep again right now so I might just try to get a little nap in before he wakes up again. Jerry just left to go to the motel for the evening so it's just me and Levi. They are telling us he may be released on Thursday afternoon. I will try to post more later.

Sandi

The surgery is scheduled for 9:30am

2009-03-02T19:42:00.002-07:00

Well here we are in Dallas, the appointments today really wore us out. We had to go from place to place meeting everyone invilved in Levi's surgery. We found out that Levi will be put to sleep even before they put in his IV or epidural for pain, which makes me feel so much better. I was worried that they would put the IV in before. Everyone here at the hospital is so wonderful and very considerate of Levi's and our feelings. They answered all our questions as though they hadn't been asked it a thousand times before. I couldn't ask for a better place or people to take care of our son, I have all the confidence in thier ability to enable him to walk.
They let us choose to stay the night tonight or come in the morning at am. So here we are at the hotel.
I probably won't be able to sleep again tonight much, I am just so nervous. This is only the second surgery we have had to go through with one of the kids,and the last was just a tonsilectomy, nothing near this. Jerry told me I am not allowed to cry in front of Levi tomorrow, but I am not sure I can do that. I will try though because I don't want to scare him. The older ones are supposed to come out tomorrow evening to see thier little brother.
I will try to post more tomorrow after the surgery.

2 days to go and counting

2009-02-28T15:20:00.002-07:00

Time is getting short, surgery is 2 days away. We still don't know when he will go in, they will tell us when we check in Monday exactly when they will operate. The surgery will take about 1 1/2 to 2 hours and I know I will be a total wreck until we can see him afterwards. We are trying to keep busy this weekend doing projects around the house because we do not want to take him out anywhere for fear of him getting sick. That would be awful. We already have reservations at a hotel and I have already had my vacation cancelled once, not sure they would be too happy to cancel it a second time. And we have a temp worker all set to work for me for the 2 weeks that I am off. So I am hoping and praying that everything goes as planned and we get the best possible outcome. I will try to post while we are at the hospital so that everyone knows how things went.
Please pray for our son.

5 days until surgery

2009-02-25T20:24:00.002-07:00

Well all we only have 5 days left until surgery and we are getting very anxious here in the Maxwell household. I myself am getting just a little worried about how Levi will react to the surgery and the hospital stay. I have not been away from him at night since bringing him home, so it will be hard for me to leave him so that Jerry can stay with him a night or two. They only allow one parent to stay the night in the room so the other will have to either drive back and forth or we may rent a room for the week. I wish we both could stay, but it is just not possible. We are scheduled to check him in to the hospital at 10am on Monday the 2nd and that is when they will let us know when the surgery will start. I hope the older kids will come out to see him after the surgery. Marcus can't come with us in the morning because he has missed too many days already this semester.
Although I know the surgery is for the best, it still is a little hard to get used to the idea that his little foot will not be there anymore, I have gotten so used to it, I don't even think about it unless someone says something about it. It is just not an issue for us, but this will give Levi the ability to walk "normally" and be able to run, jump, play sports, and everything else that little boys do. He has actually started walking on his little foot since coming home from China, something I don't think he was allowed to do while in the orphanage. And he is just so proud when he shows us how he can walk to us, he just smiles the biggest smile I have ever seen. I can't wait to see his face when he walks for the first time on his new foot. I just know he will be grinning from ear to ear the whole time. Because they had to postpone his surgery date until next week we will have to miss a couple of family events, a wedding this weekend and a baby shower next weekend. We really wish we could go but we really need to try to limit taking him out much because I can't risk him getting sick again. That's why they cancelled it last time because he got sick, I don't want to take that chance again so we are trying to keep him away from crowds for right now.
I hope that God will guide the surgeons hands so that the operation will go as planned and with the best possible outcome.

New surgery date

2009-02-12T20:32:00.002-07:00

Sorry it has been awhile since I posted last. Levi and this new adoption has been keeping me busy. We received word that he is back on the books for March 3rd. Check in to the hospital is Monday the 2nd. Please pray that he stays well enough to have the surgery. I have been giving him dan active immunity booster, vitamin c and an immune booster vitamin trying to keep him from getting sick. One week down and 2 to go. He makes progress everyday, talking a little more, saying new words, he even is trying to walk on his short leg. He wants so badly to walk that it breaks my heart when he gets so frustrated when he can't go as fast as he would like. His newest thing to say is "I busy", he pronounces it like beezy. He started that after his daddy told him that he was busy helping mommy so he couldn't pick him up. It is so cute to hear him say some things.

And the verdict is.....

2009-01-29T13:47:00.003-07:00

The hospital cancelled the surgery. I am very frustrated right now. He is already getting so much better since he has been on the antibiotics and will be totally over it by the weekend. But I guess that they know what is best for Levi. I just can't beleive we were so close and then to get knocked back a month or two is very upsetting. We had everything planned out and everyones vacations taken and everything, now all that has to change. We were hoping that Levi would be walking by his 3rd birthday, but now it looks like he will be in a cast on his birthday, that's if we can keep him well enough to have the surgery.

Still no news

2009-01-27T18:58:00.002-07:00

Well Jerry called the hospital again today and the nurse said that all the anesthesiologists were in surgery and she hadn't spoken to them yet. Levi is getting better and will be over this by the 10th, but she still feels that they will postpone the surgery until March. I am so disapointed because this just gives me a longer period of time to worry about the surgery, I had talked myself into feeling that it was gonna be ok, but the longer I have to wait the worse it's gonna get. He has been so well since coming home until now. The weather here has been not so good. It has been sleeting on and off all day. I might just have to stay home from work tomorrow if it keeps it up. Lets everyone keep our fingers crossed that they go ahead and do the surgery on the 10th.

We are also coming along with our dossier for our Ethiopian princess. We have gathered several documents already and are waiting for our social worker to get the homestudy back to us. We still hope to have the dossier in by late March or early April. I am much more calm this time around maybe because I know what goes on and what has to happen. I will try to post some on her blog as we finish up her room.

Bad news---Maybe

2009-01-26T19:33:00.002-07:00

The hospital may postpone Levi's surgery. He had what we thought was just a slight cold. He only ran a fever for one day and has had this cough for a few days. He otherwise feels good, running around playing and such. But since surgery is only 2 weeks away we decided to take him to the doctor. She thought his chest had a little rattle in it so they sent him for an x-ray. Well it turns out that he has a touch of pneumonia, can you believe that!!! So I had to call the hospital right away to let them know and the nurse said that they would probably postpone his surgery for 4 to 6 weeks. He is on antibiotics now and he was already sounding better before we took him tot he doctor. So now I am waiting for a call back from the nurse after she talks to the anesthesiologist. The doctor seems to think that he will be much better by Wednesday so I am not sure why they can't proceed with the surgery. All we can do is wait and hope that if he is better by the 10th, they will go ahead as scheduled. I understand the reason for waiting, but I can't help but be upset because he will have to wait that much longer to have the ability to walk. And how are we going to keep him healthy enough until surgery while he is in daycare, that's almost impossible these days. I hope that everyone keeps Levi in thier thoughts and prayers that everything goes ok and he gets to keep his surgery date.

Application sent in!!!!

2009-01-23T21:17:00.002-07:00

Well yesterday I finally sent in the formal application to our agency. We decided to go with Hope Adoption Agency out of Missouri. We had a couple that we were considering that were willing to work with us so soon after briinging Levi home. After alot of discussion Hope won out. We are pleased with the decision. One step closer to our daughter!!! We already have many of the documents needed for our dossier and will only really have to wait on the USCIS clearance to be approved which is taking about 6 to 8 weeks. I hope we land on the shorter end of the wait. Not as much has to be gathered for Ethiopia as when we were doing the China adoption. I can't wait to get everything together to be sent to Ethiopia. I am getting very excited about our little girl. We still don't know if we are going to keep her name Mylie or not, the other name we have is Jaiden Emmory, but I don't think that Jerry really likes Emmory much. I would have to make more of the letters for her name on the wall if we do decide to change it. I just have always attatched Mylie to our Chinese daughter and now that she will not be chinese I think she needs a name that we picked out just for her. Oh what a full house we will have when she comes home.

Only 2 weeks until Levi's surgery. I am getting very nervous and anxious about it. I can't stand to see my babies in pain, that goes for the older ones too. But I know that after he heals and the surgery is a thing of the past he will be able to do so much more. I can't wait to see him take his first steps, hopefully before his first birthday. We love him so much and only want what is best for him.

More great news!!!!

2009-01-17T07:17:00.003-07:00

We past few weeks I have been researching agencies to start our second adoption for our daughter. We are NOT going back to China as we originally planned. We are going to bring her home from Ethiopia if everything goes well. We are starting to get all of our paperwork together and have our first homestudy visit on Monday. It was cancelled from a couple weeks ago. We are very excited and please to have found an agency that is willing to work with us so soon after bringing home Levi. We plan to have all the paperwork done and in Ethiopia by at least April if we receive our USCIS approval in a timely manner. After the paperwork is in country we will probably have a little bit of a wait, but maybe God willing we will have her home by early next year. Another bit of news is that she might possibly be under 1 yr old, which is great for us. I will probably have to travel without Jerry since he will be in Iraq at that time and not sure he will be allowed to leave. So I will be taking one of my older children with me. Probably Charla because Marcus will be in school. But if Marcus wants to go then we will try to work that out too. What an experience to tell your friends!!! And we may be changing her name too, we originally picked out Mylie Jaide, but that was for our Chinese daughter. But I think maybe she needs a different one picked out just for her. Well I better get my day going.

PS. I have started a new blog just for her adoption, the address is www.ethiopiaorbust09.blogspot.com

Texas Scottish Rite Hospital

2009-01-14T21:12:00.002-07:00

This is the MOST awesome hospital I have ever been in! Everything is geared to children and the staff is so great. First Levi has what is called fibular hemimelia. Just means his fibula is not fully developed. They said it was a very common condition. The doctor explained exactly what they were going to do for him and then the nurse explained what would happen at each visit. He will be having what is called a Symes amputation. We will go to the hospital the day before surgery to be admitted. The surgery will take approx. 1-2 hours. What they are going to do is remove the foot and fuse the fibula and tibia together to form a post to attach the prothesis. After that he will be in a cast for about a month. Then if the swelling is down they will take that off and fit him for his prosthesis. And about 2 weeks after that they will have us come back for the final fittings and teach him how to walk with his new foot. And that is basically it. He will need to be fitted every year for a new foot as he grows. I am scared but I know my little boy is in good hands and will be fine. And this is what is best for our son to acomplish all his dreams. Doesn't make it any easier though. Please pray for our little boy as we go through this very tough time of adjustment.

Stay tuned for more updates as we get the date the surgery will be preformed.

We have had Levi 3 months now

2009-01-13T15:28:00.002-07:00

Well today marks the 3 month anniversary that we have had Levi and his first full day of daycare. I hate to leave him to go to work, but he has done so well. Jerry said this morning he dropped him off and Levi just kinda looked at him when he walked out. I of course called later on and asked them how he was doing. They said he was doing absolutely awesome, playing, watching TV, and learning some colors. When I went in to pick him up he came around the corner and smiled the biggest smile ever and said there's momma. It really makes me feel so much better to know that he isn't just sitting there crying all day for momma or daddy.

We have our first appointment with Texas Scottish Rite Hospital tomorrow, everyone wish us luck. I am so nervous, but know that I shouldn't be. Everyone I have talked to has given them rave reviews. It will be a relief to know that his treatment plan will be in place, and will know what will happen.

My little boy is growing up.....

2009-01-08T21:46:00.002-07:00

Marcus turned 17 today. I remember the day he was born just like it was yesterday. After 3 days of labor I finally gave up any chance of having him naturally and told the doctor lets just get this over with. So in to the operating room we went and at 12 minutes after midnight on a Wednesday morning Marcus Wade Miller came into the world. He was so cute and had a head full of black hair. I can remember asking in my drugged condition who's baby is that? The nurse well he's yours of course!!! I said wow my other 2 didn't have any hair when they were born. He was such an easy baby, hardly ever any trouble, and boy was he spoiled!! He got whatever he wanted even from his brother and sister. He has grown into such a wonderful young man and makes me proud to call him my son.

Levi's re-adoption day

2009-01-08T21:29:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was Levi's re-adoption day. We had to get up at 5am to be ready to leave by 6am so that we could get to Dallas by 8am. We ended up getting there a little early, we were lucky there was not too much traffic. We met our attorney at the Juvenile Justice Center and not too long after that we were before the judge with our right hands raised taking the oath that we were indeed Levi's parents. I was the one who had to answer all the questions that the attorney asked, and boy was I nervous! I always get tongue tied when I get nervous so I messed up our zipcode......yes you read that right our ZIPCODE!!! How dumb do you think I felt? What an idiot. Levi did so well the whole time and we were out in no time! Now we have a document that recognizes the foreign adoption and after we send in the paperwork we will receive a Texas birth certificate..... woohoo!!! I will post a picture tommorrow of our family in fornt of the judge.

Christmas Eve is here

2008-12-24T20:07:00.002-07:00

I am so glad we have Levi here to put some fun back into Christmas. You see my older kids just want money these days, which is no fun. I love to shop and this takes all the fun out of Christmas for me. My daughter is the only one who I can shop for. She loves the anticipation of opening the gift just like me. But this year I decided not to give money, I shopped for the boys too. They probably won't be too happy but oh well. Levi still doesn't get the whole Christmas or Santa thing yet, and he hasn't really been too interested in the tree either. Maybe next year. I am a little sad still because our daughter Mylie is still out there somewhere waiting for us to bring her home. When we started the whole adoption thing we knew we wanted to adopt a boy and a girl, we just had the idea that the girl would be first. Well God must have had a different plan for us because he brought Levi into our lives first. We had been thinking girl so much so that we had her room almost all ready when we found Levi. I am so thankful that we have Levi and he is such a blessing to us and the whole family. He has brought so much joy and happiness to our home. But I can't help but feel sad that my little girl is not with us to enjoy the Christmas season with her brothers and sister. Someday little one, someday.

I hope everyone has the best Christmas ever and the happiest New Year. And to all those still waiting for your little ones, hang in there it will happen.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

Re-adoption Day!!!!

2008-12-22T22:26:00.002-07:00

We have filed the re-adoption paperwork for Levi and have received our court date of January 7th at 8:30am. It will be in Dallas at the courthouse downtown. I wish that all my kids could be there, but I am not sure that Kyle or Charla can get off work for just about a 15 minute ceremony. Levi's Mimi is going to come with us. I am thinking about having a little party for him after all this is a very special day for him. We will receive a Texas Birth Certificate after going through the re-adoption with our names on it as the parents. Wow that's only 2 weeks away. I can't believe that this year has flown by and it is almost 2009. I know that when this time next year comes around I won't be saying that because time will seem to stand still while Jerry is in Iraq, just like it did last time. I thought that year would never end.

Aren't they cute???

2008-12-22T08:07:00.003-07:00

I took this picture the other day of 2 of my boys in front of the Christmas tree. aren't they just cute?? Levi loves his big brother Marcus and waits for him to come home from school everyday. When he gets up in the morning he always looks in Marcus's room and says his name over and over until I say Marcus is at school. He doesn't get to see the older 2 that much since they live about 30 miles away so he is still kinda iffy about them. He has come so far in just a couple short months and I am begining to relax a little. His bonding with me has gotten so much better and he will actually come to me when his daddy is in the room now....sometimes. He still has a few minor temper tantrums, but they are very minor. I better be getting ready to go now, take care.

More Tests and broken pipes

2008-12-17T20:03:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I had to take Levi back to the hospital to get more blood drawn. It seems they lost the second page of the prescription for half of the tests. So I had to put him through that again, he was good though, he only cried a little. He got two sesame street stickers and all was good. We already got 2 of the test results back. Everyting so far is negative. We are waiting on the lead and melamine testing to come back.

Today Levi and I were going to go shopping to get the rest of our Christmas shopping done when I started to pull out of the driveway I notced that there was water running from the shed. When I got up there the whole thing was flooded and water was running out of the shed. We have water run to it and it had frozen and burst, the portion where the crack was happened to be in the wall. I had to find where to turn the water off and call Jerry to come home to fix it. What a day we had. It is all fixed now and now we have water back to the house now.

I really need to get the rest of the shopping done so I guess Levi and I will head out tommorrow after his PT appointment in the morning. They are going to bring him a tricycle that he can pedal with his hands. Should be really neat.

Until later.....

Today makes 2 months that we have had Levi

2008-12-13T21:56:00.002-07:00

Well just 2 short months ago we were waiting in a small office in Zhengzhou, China waiting for them to bring Levi to us. When they brought him in he was very scared and so shy. He has come a long way but still has some issues. Mostly with me. It is hard not to take it personally when he pushes me away or does this growl type scream at me when he doesn't get what he wants or things don't go his way. He seems to do great some days, but then others are bad. Today was one of the bad days. I guess that was why I was in such a mood today. On the way to the family Christmas get together he was in one of his moods where I coundn't do anything right for him. I was in the back seat with him and he was pinching me and would not even let me look at him much less touch him. At one point he actually made me cry. I know I shouldn't be taking it personally, but boy is it hard not to. Sometimes I just wonder if maybe I am doing something wrong to make him act like this to me. Just when I start to feel like he is starting to bond with me, we have one of these days. Everyone says wow he looks like a normal kid to me, and he is in some ways. But in others he is not.

I know we must have looked like some sort of over protective crazy parents to his family, but since he is not 100 percent bonded to me, we decided that it was best not to let everyone hold him like all the books that I have read suggested. I just hope everyone understands how hard it is on us also to have to keep everyone including family at a distance at first. It would be wonderful to be able to treat him as I did my older kids, but we have to do what we think is best to give Levi the foundation that he has missed for the past 3 years. I know sometimes these things take some time, and I have to stop and remind myself of this when he has one of these days. The good thing is his good days outnumber his bad days by a long shot. And eveyday he makes more progress. By this time next year we can just let him jump right in with the other kids, and all will be good.

Appointment at Texas Scottish Rite

2008-12-12T20:47:00.002-07:00

Well I decided to call TSR today after talking with the lady that comes for Early childhood intervention. I had no idea that I could call to check on te status of our application. I got to talk to the nurse and she asked some questions about Levi's disability. She then told me that the earliest appointment they had was January 14th. Wow, that is 2 days after I go back to work, and it is at 1:30pm. I really was hoping that we could at least get the consultation in before I had to go back to work, but no such luck. Anyway we will do what we have to do. I am very anxious to hear what they have to say. We did get the x-rays back from the hospital and Levi is missing half of one of the bones in his lower leg, and only has the bones for his big toe in his foot. So our ped. said that since there was only half a bone he would not be a candidate for limb lenghtening. So now we have to be prepared for them to tell us that he will need to have his foot amputated and then be fitted for a prosthetic. It is something that we had discussed before we accepted his referral as a possibility, but was really hopeful that they would be able to do something for him so that he would be able to keep it. I am still holding out some hope but I am also preparing for a different outcome. Bottom line is, I just want my little boy to be able to walk one way or another. We feel fortunate to have him in our life and are ready to go back for his sister soon.

Take care and have a great weekend everyone,
Sandi

Still no word

2008-12-06T06:25:00.002-07:00

Well we still have no word on the application for Texas Scottish Rite Hospital. I was hoping to hear from them since they called earlier this week to inquire if we had sent in the info they needed, which we did. Maybe today we will get something in the mail. I surely would like to get at least the consultation done before I have to return to work in January. It might be a little hard to commute back and forth to Dallas once I go back, but we will do what it takes. Otherwise everything else looks good so far. We haven't gotten the bloodwork results yet, but his other tests were normal.
On the other hand Marcus has one heck of a case of pink eye. The doctor was a little worried about it so he sent him to an Opthamologist in Denton. So we had to rush from Bridgeport to Denton to get there by 11am. We did just in time. He said that yes it was pink eye, but it was a pretty bad case and he needed 3 types of eyedrops. So from there it was off to Walmart, and boy is that a joke. Waiting for a prescription there is like waiting for pigs to fly, but it was late and the other Pharmacy was closing. So I was gone from 8:30am until about 7:30pm yesterday with a 16 yr old with dilated eyes and a toddler that didn't get his nap out. WOW was I one tired momma yesterday.
Today is the Christmas get together at the National Guard at 5pm. I will try to remember the camera because they had Santa last year and maybe Levi will sit in his lap for a photo. Thats if they do that this year. Friends of our also had a large plaque made for all the soldiers that will deploy next year. And they will present it to the unit today. What an awesome gesture.
Thats all for now, Levi is waking up and I must go.

Doctor's visit's and samples

2008-12-02T21:26:00.003-07:00

Today started out good, but turned out badly. Levi had another doctor's appointment today at the ENT's office. The only appt. I could get was at 2pm. Right in the middle of his nappy time, not good. First we were late getting started, then he started to get really squirmy and then down right mean. We had to stop by WalMart to get a humidifier that the ENT suggested and he kept trying to pull things off the shelf. I told him no probably 10 times, the last time a little firmer and he proceeded to hit me a couple times with his blanky. The blanky itself didn't hurt, but the little bear head that smacked me in the eye kinda did. He was like that the entire time we were in the store, the whole time whining. Wow I couldn't wait until bedtime. Lesson of the day.....No more appointments in the middle of nappy time!! Oh the life of a toddler.
On a lighter note. We have been working with his potty training a little and when he actually goes in the potty we always say good job!! Well today he walked into the bathroom, he can open doors now. When he heard me going potty he jumped up and yelled while clapping "Good JoB". How cute is that?

Levi's Dr appointment

2008-11-26T08:52:00.002-07:00

Well yesterday I took Levi in to the Dr. She was very thourough in her examination of him. She said that he was very healthy. His head is 19 inches, he weighs 31 lbs, and is tall. His head size and weight is on the charts, but his height is not, since he is pretty short. He has gained about 1 1/2 lbs since coming home. He received 6 immunizations, had x-rays, and blood drawn. He did very well during the first couple of shots but then he did start to cry a bit, but not for long. The x-ray techs were amazed how well he did with the x-rays. And he did so very good at the blood draw. He only flinched a bit when they inserted the needle, but watched the whole thing. Better than me because I couldn't watch it. The pictures are of all his boo-boos, poor baby. He is a little sore this morning, but not bad. The doctor did say that if we didn't hear from Scottish Rite that she could get me into Cook's to start the plan for his foot. He has appointments set up with an ENT and a pediatric opthamalogist. I still have to make one for the dentist too. SO it seems we will be very busy for awhile. Take care and Have a nice Thanksgiving everyone.

Dr. Appointment tommorrow

2008-11-24T21:04:00.002-07:00

Well we have another Dr. appointment for Levi tommorrow. Hopefully we will get some answers. It would be nice if they took some x-rays of his leg so that they can tell us exactly what his diagnosis is. We sent in our application for Scottish Rite hospital last week, so maybe we'll hear good news soon on when they can see Levi and start a plan for his treatment. We need everyone to pray that he gets accepted to be treated there. Levi continues to progress with his language and is saying more words everyday. He also seems to have gotten a bit bigger since we have been home. I think he is getting more comfortable with us now and starting to trust us. I will post more info after his appointment tommorow.

Better & better everyday

2008-11-18T08:00:00.002-07:00

Well everyone Levi seems to be getting more comfortable everyday. He is so silly at times he even cracks himself up. He is starting to pick up more words. The other day I was in a hurry to get somewhere and forgot that I parker really close to these boulders next to the driveway. Well I tried to cut the turn too close and I scraped my brand new car right under the rear door. Now I was so upset because it is new and now has a dent in it!!! I was practically in tears when I got out and shouted "Oh my goodness" and I could hear monkey (Levi) in the back seat repeating it. I couldn't help but laugh, it was so cute. Then last night Jerry loves to watch wrestling and some guy comes out and starts saying over and over money, money. Well Levi proceds to put his hand up to his mouth like a microphone and say money, money over and over again. He was so cute!! We all had such a good laugh. He is a ham when he is in the mood.

We have an appointment with Early Childhood Intervention today to fill out some forms and have Levi evauluated. We will see how that goes. And I will be sending off another application for Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas for treatment of his leg and foot. Everyone needs to keep thier fingers crossed that it works out for us and they are able to give us some good options for his foot. I would love to see my little boy take his first steps soon. We also have another doctors appointment scheduled for next Tuesday. Hopefully this doctor, who does have some international adoption experience will order and do all the testing necessary. I will keep everyone posted on the progress.

Take care and leave comments, I love reading them!

SO FAR SO GOOD

2008-11-08T07:46:00.002-07:00

You may be wondering what I am talking about. Well this will be the first time that Jerry will not be home with Levi and I for the weekend. Jerry had to leave yesterday for military duty this weekend down in Brownwood. He has SRP again. For those of you that don't know what that means it stands for Soldier Readiness Program. They do this when getting geared up for deployment. His unit received thier warning notice sometime last month that they will be deploying sometime next year. Not good news for the adoption front. If we wish to adopt a girl we need to get working on finding her and soon. I might be going to get her on my own with one of my older kids or MIL. Charla would really like to go and I think she would like it very much. But only time will tell how that all plays out. I have to leave it in God's hands now, but I still worry about my Mylie out there somewhere and when I will be able to bring her home.
Back to the subject of Levi and NO daddy. You see Levi is so very attatched to Jerry already that every time he walks out of the room or isn't right there by him he starts to freak out. So last night when he had to leave I made sure he was in his highchair eating dinner so maybe he would do better, since that is his 2nd favorite thing FOOD!! He did so well when daddy kissed him bye bye and never cried at all. Whew!!!!! I thought I was going to have WWII going on when he left. I am so glad because I have been worried that Levi hasn't been bonding to me, he prefers daddy to me at all times. He will tell me bye bye and not shed a tear but when daddy leaves he screams and carries on. Even just going to the bathroom he will sit at the door and bang on it until he comes out. When there are other family members around he just flat ignores me for the most part unless I have food or a snack. I have had to really hold my emotions in check about this and try not to take it personally. But it is so hard! I want him to love me so badly that the rejection is devastating to me. I love him so much. I know in my head that it will take time and Jerry lets me do more of the caregiving to promote the bonding process. It is just so different from my other kids, they couldn't be out of my sight for one second or they were crying for mommy. They were fine with others as well but prefered mom to anyone else. No one knows what happened to himin the past maybe a "mommy figure" hurt him in some way and since I am the mommy he takes it out on me and can't fully trust me yet. He is doing so well right now and hasn't either realized that daddy is gone or understands that he will be back. I have been teaching him Daddy be right back whenever he has left the room. SO maybe he is getting it. Well I better get ready for the day.

Take care all,
Sandi

First Haircut by Mommy

2008-11-05T09:01:00.004-07:00

We finally thought that maybe he wouldn't be too afraid of the clippers for a haircut. We sat him on Jerry's lap and he did great!!! He wiggled some but I was able to give him a decent cut. Here are the pictures afterwards, he had hair all over him so it was off to the bath he went. When we first got him he hated taking a bath, now he loves it. He would sit in there and play for hours until he was a prune if we let him. So enjoy the pictures.

Scrapbook photos of Levi

2008-11-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

First Pics at the studio

2008-10-31T20:37:00.002-07:00

Here are a couple of pictures we had made of Levi the other day. We were shopping and just decided to pop into the studio for a quick fall picture of him and they turned out so well I bought all of them. He was a big ham for the camera!!! Not crying at all. He is doing better and better each day. The sleep issues are getting better also. He has changed so much since we came home 1 week ago, coming out of his shell(the good part), starting to throw fits(the not so good part)when he doesn't get his way. But each day he shows us something new, or says something new that just amazes us. He is just the cutest and everyone adores him, everywhere we go. That's all for now.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

2008-10-24T23:29:00.002-07:00

The infamous red couch photo!! This is just a few of the children adopted by our group. The other half of the group took there own pictures. I would have liked for our whole travel group to have had a photo taken together but that didn't happen. I have another photo to download off the camera with one more of the kids in our group that we could not find that day, I will upload it tomorrow.

That's all for now.

Home at last!!

2008-10-24T22:59:00.002-07:00

We are home at last. The flight was not too bad if you don't mind sitting next to a chinese man who insisted on taking over your arm rest with your TV controls on it, so that every time you wanted to change the channel you had to say excuse me can i get to the controls or needed to turn on the light. And why do airlines insist on sitting the couple with a young child in the middle seats? Our plane from Beijing was huge and had 11 seats across 3 on one side 5 in the middle and then 3 on the opposite side. we were sitting right in the middle of the 5 seats, so every time we had to change Levi which was often we had to bother someone on the end. And believe me he did #2 alot on the ride home, not fun on a plane. But we are home and that's al that counts now. Not something I want to look forward to next time around when we bring home Mylie if that ever happens. It seems to get further out of reach with each month that goes by and life happens around us. Right before we left the engine in Jerry's truck blew up, so now we have to fix that too among other things. So where in the world are we going to get he money to bring her home? I so want to have another daughter and it hurts to think that may never happen now. Charla is all grown up and on her own and I miss the closeness that we shared when she was a little girl. We are still close, but not as much since she has her own life now and doesn't need her mommy that much anymore.

Levi has done so great since getting home. Way better than expected. We thought we would cry at the drop of a hat and be afraid of everything and everyone. But he has taken well to his brothers and sister and grandma. Granted he won't let them pick him up yet, but at least he isn't screaming every time they walk in the room, or come near him. Now bigger crowds that may take a while longer. He doesn't like things to be very loud or alot of people. He did well at the market today. We also thought he would not like the carseat, but he got in it like a champ and did not cry once. He even smiled. I know there will be bad days, but at least we are home.

Stay tuned for more photos of our trip.

It's so good to be back on US soil!!!!!

2008-10-23T18:11:00.001-07:00

Boy am I glad to be back on US soil. We are waiting on our plane to board and we will be back home in Texas. We are at O'Hare in Chicago right now. And they are starting to board right now so I really need to go. We will be back home around 11pm. Talk to you later.

Our cutiepie & an apology

2008-10-21T20:38:00.002-07:00

We are getting ready for our consulate appointment today and the adoption will be finally complete. Sorry to those of you who have been following the blog I have not been able to get on the computer. Every time we have been out we have forgotten the computer to get on the net. We can from our room but I am not sure how that works. We can go down to Starbucks and buy Jerry a latte and get on for free. So here we are the day before we leave and I am updating my blog. We have run out of minutes on our panda phone also and we haven't gotten with our guide to buy additional minutes either. Way to busy shopping and such, and now we really don't need to.

Here is a cute piture of the new member of the Maxwell family. Enjoy!! I will post more pictures of the whole trip at a later time maybe tonight. Tommorow we are headed to the airport early in the am for the very long trip home. We have plenty of snacks for Levi, so we should be ok.

Wish us luck.

Sightseeing day

2008-10-15T08:12:00.003-07:00

Today Levi woke up very happy and bubbly. After getting ready we went downstairs for breakfast. He eat great as usual, he loves noodles and steamed buns. He will also eat fruit and rice, he basically will eat anything you put in front of him. Behind the hotel is some sort of waterway with a walkway along it. There were some older people playing some type of musical instrument and alot of people just walking around. They have a exercise park along this same walkway with all types of equipment to use, there were alot of people there. We walked all the way down to the main street and back. Then we decided to walk around to see the hotel pool, it is very big and they had some ping pong tables in there also. Levi had fun watching mommy & daddy play ping pong, laughing loudly when mommy had to run for the ball so it wouldn't go into the pool.

After that we met our guide and driver downstairs to leave for the Peoples park. It is a very large park with all kinds of kids rides and such. Michelle tried to get Levi to ride some of the rides but he kept saying boo ya,which means no in english. He would not let me pick him up out of the stroller either, he was content to just look at the toys and watch all the other kids play on them. Michelle talked to him in Chinese but he still would not let her pick him up either. In the car going back to the hotel he feel asleep and we decided to put him down for a nap. He slept for about 3 hours and so did I. I was very tired. I guess the jet lag is finally catching up with me. We went to eat dinner at The Island Coffee House which is right next door to the hotel, they serve some american food also. Jerry got spaghetti with meat sauce and I got a spicy sausage pizza. It was very good. Levi had some french fries and some of my pizza. He loves french fries!! We came back to the hotel and gave Levi a bath, which he was not too happy about this time for some reason. And we think his tummy is a little upset, probably from the difference in food. I think tomorrow we will ask to go to the store and get something for upset tummy and we need more diapers and wipes also. The director at the orphanage said he only goes poopoo once a day, but he has been going 3 or 4 times a day with us. Again probably from the change in foods. Well I guess thats all for today. Tomorrow is another day of sightseeing.

Some pictures of the little guy

2008-10-15T07:35:00.003-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Levi from yesterday. He is getting used to us more and more each day. He still is very apprehensive of strangers. When we are in the hotel room he crawls around, laughs, plays with both of us, and opens up and shows his personality. But when we venture out it is a different story, he is shy and doesn't talk much. He doesn't do very well in crowds. And he definitely won't let anyone touch him except us. We will work with him through this issue and give him all the time he needs. He is a wonderful boy and I can't wait for him to meet the rest of the family after he has adjusted to us. We love him very much.

We have him!!!

2008-10-13T05:00:00.002-07:00

At 2:30pm our guide and driver were at the hotel to pick us up. In the lobby when we came down there was another couple there that had adopted a 6 year old little girl. She seemed very happy and already was attaching to her mom and dad. They were on there way to notarize their adoption papers. Our guide and the driver decided it was better if we walk to the Civil Affairs office because we would have to drive along way out of the way to get there because our hotel is on a one way street. On our way there we got alot of stares from the locals. We only had to wait a few minutes until the nanny's arrived with Levi. He looked so frightened. When they tried to hand him to me he started to cry. I felt so bad for him because I know that he feels something is different. I couldn't help but start to cry also, not because he is rejecting me but because I don't want him to hurt. I know that this is normal and I have prepared for this, but it still hurts to know that he is grieving the loss of his nanny. We brought some toys and snacks with us to try to comfort him, so we got out the goldfish. I started to give them to him, he would take them from me and eat them. He seemed to really like them. He ate a whole bag of them. While we were doing this Jerry and the guide, Michelle did some paperwork and tried to videotape as much as he could. When it was time for the nanny's to leave he again started to cry. I tried to console him and again gave him some of the goldfish crackers. After awhile he let me pick him up and put him on my lap. He has a teddy bear that he got to bring with him, he will not let go of it. They said he has to sleep with it. After a few more minutes we were off to get his passport picture taken. He did well, not crying much but still would not put the bear down. I must say that when he does cry it isn't very loud and is more like a whine than anything else. On the way back to the hotel I tried to let Jerry take him because he is very heavy!! I must say he is alot bigger than I originally thought. He is also very healthy other than his foot issue. He would not let me give him to Jerry and would cry out the name of his nanny. Our guide decided that since he was so big that buying a stroller would be a good idea. We had already planned on it, and it seemed like a good idea to me. The driver took us to a market where Michelle and I bought a lightweight stroller for 170 yuan. After coming back to the hotel we signed some more paperwork and Michelle translated his schedule for us. It says he likes cookies, cakes, and meat but that he would probably eat anything we did. Oh and I forgot to say that on the way back to the hotel Levi had an accident and peed on Jerry's leg. The babies here wear what is called split pants, although he did have a diaper on it was too small and it had shifted to the back. He told me not to tell anyone. I should say that the diapers here are not as absorbent as american diapers. And that was one of the things we forgot to pack along with a sippy cup. I can't believe of all things those were what we forgot. Luckily Michelle said that they should have some at the grocery store we are going to after we sign the final adoption decree tomorrow morning.
We tried to give Levi a bath but he didn't want any part of that, so I held him while Jerry used the wash cloth to wash him off. That seemed to work better for him. He ate some more and drank some water, which he still uses a bottle for. We could tell he was getting tired because he kept rubbing his eyes, so I laid him down on my chest and he resisted at first but finally fell asleep. That is what he is doing right now, sleeping. I am not too far behind him either. I should say that while waiting for Levi to fall asleep Jerry fell asleep too and is snoring very loudly right now. Boy I hope he doesn't wake Levi up. Thats all for now will try to post more later.

Our October Travel group

2008-10-12T19:57:00.002-07:00

We are in front of Tian'an men Square.

About 5 hours to go until we meet our son!

2008-10-12T18:46:00.002-07:00

We have about 5 hours to go until we meet our son. Emotions are very high, and a part of me still can't believe that it is finally happening. We slept in this morning because we stayed up until about 3am. I just can't seem to sleep much, partly because of the time change and partly because I am so excited and wound up about meeting our son. I will post pictures as soon as possible.

The hotel is very nice. Today I will ask Michelle if there are any places to shop. I want to buy some things for Levi from his province since we wil not be going to the orphanage. I think tonight we will just see how it goes with Levi and go from there. We may just end up ordering room service. I would also like to buy him some toys that he may be familiar with. I can't imagine how he must feel, being taken away from all the he knows to live with strangers. We will give him all the time he needs but at the same time show him that we do love him.

More to come......

In Zhengzhou now

2008-10-12T05:17:00.004-07:00

On the way to the hotel this morning our guide told us that she had spoken to the director of the orphanage where Levi is and that 10am is too early for them since they have to drive by bus or train for at least 4 hours and would have to get up way to early. While I am very disapointed, I do understand and want them to do what is best for everyone including Levi. So instead of geting him at 10am, we will get him around 3pm tomorrow. I am very nervous and scared of his reaction to us. Our guide also told us that he had been in foster care, which we were not aware of. He was returned to the orphanage prior to us getting here. I know he will miss his foster mom, and I am very grateful of all the love and care she has given our son. This area is very different from Beijing. We will keep everyone posted as things happen.

Take care,
Sandi

We are here

2008-10-12T05:17:00.001-07:00

We are here
We got here on Friday at around 3pm. We met our guide and then went to the hotel. Our panda phone was not waiting for us at the hotel so we could not call anyone to let them know we arrived safely. We got the phone yesterday but it does not work for some reason. It tells us to check the network. It is 2:15am, and I cannot sleep. We leave for the airport to fly to Zhengzhou at 5:30am. We fly out at 7:20 am and arrive at 8:40am. We met some other nice families here in Beijing that did the tour with us yesterday. The Great Wall was such an awesome thing to see. I will post pictures when I can. Tomorrow we will meet our son for the first time and we just couldn't be any happier. Our whole group are adopting older SN children, and each and every one of the families are very excited and can't wait to get back to Guangzhou to see all the children together. We are very blessed to have met such nice people here. Our guide Grace is great, she is very sweet. I guess that is all for now, I need to try to sleep for at least another hour or so. Wish us luck!!!

Sandi& Jerry

10 hours to go!!!

2008-10-08T19:43:00.002-07:00

We are at the hotel waiting to leave in the morning for China. We leave so early in the morning, around 4:30am that we decided to stay at a hotel in Irving. Our plane leaves at 7:30am. 3 hours early seems a bit much but that's what the airlines says so that's what we will do. I just thought I would send a little note to everyone that has given us good advice, great support, and help with this long journey to our son. We are truely thankful to all of you. This is the moment we have waited for since November 2006. We will try to post often, but with the internet in China were not sure how that will go. The internet here at the hotel is not the greatest either. As soon as we get to China we will post more. Take care and stay tuned for more.

Sandi & Jerry

2 days and counting.......

2008-10-06T16:54:00.002-07:00

Today was a day of running around getting last minute things done for the trip. Making sure we have everything. We also got a call from Great Wall today with a small surprise. The last day we are in Guangzhou, the 22nd the rate for the room at the White Swan changes because of the Trade Fair and they only charged us the regular price. So we have to pay the difference for that one night, which happens to be only $212.00. Making the total for that one night $354.00, ouch. But what can we do? All the hotels are booked because of the Trade Fair, so we are stuck. I hope everything else goes more smoothly for us from here on out.

We leave in 3 days!!!!

2008-10-05T21:37:00.002-07:00

Can this really be happening? Are we really leaving in 3 days? I have been doing so well in the past couple of weeks as the time grew nearer, or at least that's what I thought. But today it has hit me full force! We will meet our son in about 7 days. I am starting to have more dreams of him. Last night was a crazy one. There we were in the hotel waiting for them to bring Levi to us and when they finally got there, they handed him to me and he turned to me and said "hi mommy, I love you" and then just put his head on my shoulder and snuggled in close. Then I turned to him and said "you can speak english?" He said to me "yes they have been teaching me" Then I woke up. I have no idea what this means, or why I would have such a dream. I know that this will not be the case, he probably will not be very happy and cry alot.

So today I have been worrying about everything. Do we have all the paperwork we need? Everything for Levi? For us? Before this is over I know I will be driving my husband crazy. I still need to pack, but I have everything ready to put in there. All Levi's clothes are washed and ready to go. These last 3 days will be so crazy with alot of running around and last minute craziness. Wish us luck.

We leave for China 2 weeks from today!

2008-09-25T20:59:00.002-07:00

Ever since we received our LSC and sent it back it has been a mad house around here. Trying to get everything done that we have been procrastinating on since the house was finished. We have had to realize that some things just aren't going to get done before we bring our beautiful son home from China. My last day at work is next Friday. I am training someone to do the accounting while I am gone. This has proved to be an exhausting week for me, and I am glad it is coming to an end. And I only have one more to go. The week before we go will be dedicated to packing and making sure Marcus has everything he needs while we are gone. I have enlisted everyone to check in on him. My MIL lives on the same property so it's not like he will be alone but I worry.

We have all our flights and intra China travel all taken care of. I have looked online at the hotels we will be staying at and they are very nice. I know we will have so much fun while we are there and it will be that much more special because we will be able to share it with our son.

Cake anyone?

2008-09-19T19:55:00.002-07:00

My niece Haleigh made this cake for me tonight. She said it was for bringing Levi home. How cute, they are really getting excited for thier cousin to come home. I just had to add this to the blog.

CYBERSHOWER GIFT!!

2008-09-19T19:52:00.001-07:00

When I got home yesterday there was a little slip of paper in my mailbox that the post office tried to deliver a package and that it could be picked up. THe problem being we live in a very small rural town and the post office closes at 4pm. It was well after that so I had to wait until today to pick it up. I couldn't wait until we got home so I made my husband open it right in the parking lot. Inside was the cutest baby quilt, made out of John Deere material. It will match his room so well. It is such an awesome gift and if my cybershower buddy checks out my blog I want to thank you so much. This is something that Levi will be able to cuddle up with and then pass it along to his children later on. And the books are awesome too, he will love the tractor too. Thank you so much!!!

Only 19 days until we leave to bring you home Levi!

Another bump in the road

2008-09-16T19:44:00.004-07:00

Well we have hit another bump in the road. We sent in the paperwork for our visa's on the 5th, they went out to the consulate on the 8th, but then the hurricane hit. They seem to be stuck in Houston and Houston has no power. I am worried that since this disaster hit we won't get them back in time to travel. Our agency said they are working on it so I guess I won't panic just yet. We have so much to do and so little time. Especially since Jerry has been called in for hurricane duty and has been gone since last Friday. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

CA!!!!! We leave on the 9th!!

2008-09-13T16:49:00.002-07:00

Well thank God we got everything done in time and our agency was able to secure our appointment at the american consulate in Guangzhou, so we leave on the 9th for China. And we get Levi on the 13th!!!! I can't believe it really is happening. We leave in about 3 weeks. Our intinerary is:

Oct. 9th leave for China
10th arrive in China
11-12 beijing tours
13th Gotcha day (we get Levi)
14th-20th shopping, visit orphanage, bond with our new son
21st Our adoption is final!!!! My Dad's birthday- I just wish he had lived long
enough to know my son.
22nd Back to Beijing
23rd leave for home

I may have left out something. My mind is in overdrive, there is still so much to do.

I will post more later as everything develops.

CA has been requested!

2008-09-11T20:09:00.002-07:00

Well here is the update.... We finally received our re-newed I171H and I immediately e-mailed a copy to our agency so they could request our CA. Boy was I surprised to get a message back that it had already been requested because USCIS was nice enough to honor our request to e-mail a copy to the agency. Maybe we will know by tomorrow, wouldn't that be great? I can hardly contain myself. It is such a relief to have that piece of paper in my hands and know that we will be traveling soon to bring Levi home. It won't be long now. We are doing the happy dance here in Paradise, Texas. Of course I had to go tell the good news to my MIL. She is very excited. We will be very busy from now on I'm sure.

Levi's Mommy & Daddy

Goodness what will come up next!!!

2008-09-09T15:29:00.002-07:00

Just a short update on the USCIS situation. We still have not heard anything from the USCIS office about our updated I171H. They said it was going back to the Orphan's officer's desk last Tuesday. And it has been another week now with no word. Today I decided to call our agency and ask if there was any word on TA's since I have been seeing that a few people with the same LOA as us have gotten thiers already and are getting thier consulate appointments. Well, I was shocked to discover that we do indeed have our TA, either yesterday or today. But since we don't have our re-newed I171H they can't request our consulate appointment yet. So now what????? I called our social worker (she is the greatest by the way) and she is going to see what she can do to speed it along so that we may travel the first part of October!!!! Can you believe it.... that's next month. I am very worried that we won't get it in time and that it will delay our travel. I have been so stressed out lately that it is taking it's toll on me. My hair is starting to fall out more than usual, and I won't be able to relax until we get this taken care of. And that piece of paper is in my hands. I would like to ask everyone to keep our family in your thoughts and prayers.

Sandi

Visa's

2008-09-05T16:26:00.002-07:00

Well today we sent off for our Visa's. One more step closer to bringing Levi home. Now if we can just get our re-newed I171H maybe I can relax just a little. We found out this week that it has been sitting on someone's desk since early August because they thought we needed to have our 2 older children fingerprinted again. But they moved out in July 2007 and are living on thier own. When we moved to our new house they didn't want to leave the town where we lived so they found houses there. We only live about 30 minutes from there so we can visit regularly. So I e-mailed them and told them to check the homestudy where it stated this and now it has been refered back to the Orphan's officer. Who knows how long it will take now to review? I hope not too long as nothing else has changed. We did ask them to expidite our case, and I hope they will do this since we plan to travel next month. Maybe we will get it next week, I am trying really hard not to go crazy about it, but it is so hard!!!!
Hope everyone has a great weekend!!
Sandi

Cool flower

2008-09-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

Isn't this one of the neatest flowers? We found this when we were down in Fredricksburg last month. I have never seen anything like this before so I had to buy it. It opens up in the morning and closes up a bit at night. Our yard is finally coming together. I can't wait for Levi to be running through the grass, playing in the sprinkler, playing with his puppy, and swinging in his new swing. I am so ready for him to be home.

Sandi

We have our LOA in hand!

2008-08-28T16:42:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pics of us signing the LOA. We almost didn't get it in time to send back to China for our agency's Friday mailing to China. It was a mad dash but we made it. It cost us around $70.00, but it was well worth it! I can't wait for TA, I want to go get that boy and bring him home. Our agency thinks we may travel around the 23rd of October, that would be awesome. The last picture is my MIL and close friends holding the LOA, she is very excited to be adding a new grandson to the family. She was leaving that day for her Alaskan cruise and we caught her just in time before she left. I hope everyone enjoys the pics and if anyone has any advice on what to pack that is a must have and what not to bring please shoot me an e-mail. At this point we could use all the tips that any of the BTDT parents have.

Take care

WE HAVE LOA/LSC!!!!!!!!

2008-08-20T20:39:00.002-07:00

Here he is in all his glory!!!!!

TA-DA (drum roll)

LEVI KENNEDY YONG MAXWELL
He is at the Nanyang City SWI in the Henan Province. His DOB is 3/20/2006 and he is 29 months old today!!!!! We hope to travel in late September, but our agency thinks October. Either way Mommy and Daddy are coming to bring you home Cookie face!!!!! Look at the pic and you will see why he has earned this nickname. I can't wait to hold him in my arms and tell him how much we love him!! This is by far the best day of this year!!!! That is until forever family day.

Will post more when I can think straight.

Sandi & Jerry

Levi's Lovey

2008-08-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

Isn't this a cool lovey for Levi? When I found it I knew that Levi had to have it and that I wanted to have his American and Chinese name embroidered on it. Of course we had to do it in John Deere colors too.

2008-08-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of some of the things we have been collecting and making for Levi. We have been really gearing up for him to come home. Now all we need is the LOA to come. HINT HINT!!!! Jerry's mom has been helping us add to the collection of decorations for Levi's room too... thanks mom.

Good news in the mail!!

2008-08-01T22:07:00.002-07:00

We received our fingerprint notice in the mail today for our I171H renewal....Yeah!!!! I wasn't even expecting it so soon. So we will be there on Tuesday to get them taken so we can have that taken care of. Our old one doesn't expire until September but we were afraid that we wouldn't get our LOA by then so we went ahead and renewed it. We are in Fredricksburg and are ready to shop for anything John Deere for Levi and something for my cybershower buddy too. This should be fun.
We have been here once before but this time we left from a different location. So Jerry printed off directions off the internet, but boy were they crazy. It took us done some gravel road that looked like it was right out of that movie Wrong turn. I kept thinking that at any time some crazy person who lives in the woods was going to pop out and get us. There were no signs on any of the roads around there. There were houses here and there but I wouldn't let Jerry stop at any. So we went back the way we came and happened across this man opening a gate. Jerry stopped and asked directions and he said what are you doing on a dirt road trying to get to Fredricksburg? We all laughed and he told us how to get back on the main road to Fredricksburg. We got here around 10:30pm and are all checked in. Ready for bed now. I hope to post pics of our trip later in the week maybe.

Fredricksburg for the weekend

2008-07-30T21:02:00.002-07:00

We will be in Fredricksburg for the weekend. We have been down there once before and loved it. All the shops and great german food. I especially loved going to the First Monday Trade days, they have such neat stuff. I am hoping to find something John Deere for Levi's room. Today I finished painting the letters for his name that will hang above the crib. They turned out nice. This will probably be our last romantic weekend alone for awhile. But that is a ok with me because that means we will have Levi with us. We both would rather do things as a family with our kids anyway. An occasional night out alone is ok, but our main focus will be on family. Each day that goes by I see Jerry getting more and more excited that this is going to become a reality and it is the best feeling. I love watching his face when he finds a cool toy in the store that he thinks Levi would like or when he talks about what he wants to teach him. He will be a great father. We actually bought him his first T-ball glove the other day and the look on his face was priceless. I know he can't wait to play every sport known to man with his son. We want so badly to just be able to scoop him up in our arms and tell him how long we have waited to be his mommy and daddy and how much we love him. The days seem to go on forever and each day I check my e-mail hoping that just maybe we will get the one telling us he is officially ours and we can share his pictures with everyone. I can't wait!!!!

1 month since PA

2008-07-27T21:17:00.002-07:00

Well yesterday was 1 month since we received our PA, it seems that they are coming in around the 2 1/2 to 3 month mark for most of us. Our dossier was one of the next months to be in review so hopefully that will push us along a little faster. I can't wait to receive that phone call, we still have so much to do though.
We finally got the flooring in the kids bathroom today, we did a pretty good job. So now the bathroom is done. One more thing down a bunch more to go. I don't know how much I will get done since Jerry will be in classes most of the week, but I will try to get a few small things done this week. We also put more of the decorations up in Levi's room. I hope to have it finished by the end of this week and will post pictures when I am done. I painted this cute wooden table and chairs in John Deere colors, it turned out nice. I would like to find some kind of sticker to put on the top, if I can't I might just have to paint it on.

Thank you for all the comments to our blog, we really apreciate everyones support on this most important journey that we are on to bring home our son Levi. We are so blessed.

Happy Birthday to me!!

2008-07-21T20:53:00.002-07:00

Well today is my birthday. At the begining of this journey I thought that we would have one of our children home by now and working on bringing home the second. But I guess that just wasn't meant to be. It was my intention to have them both home by the time I was 45 so I wouldn't be so old. I really don't feel that old which is a good thing. As it is I will be in my 60's when the kids graduate High School. Wow now I do feel old!! Every day that goes by is another day that we are missing with them. I know that we are on the downhill slide with Levi and can't wait until they put that little wiggly toddler in my arms and tell me that I am his mommy and he is my son. I just have to be patient and wait my turn which I will do but I don't like it one bit.

I did get some cool gifts though. My wonderful husband got me a really beautiful watch, my MIL got me this great antique platter and vase. They actually match a set of glasses that were my grandmothers which is so cool. And a really neat western wooden scrapbook. I think I will use it for the kids pictures. It was a great birthday and I did just exactly as I pleased. I even got to sleep in until 9 am to the smell of bacon.... Yummy my hubby made me breakfast. It was great!!!!

Let me tell you about my day!!!

2008-07-16T20:00:00.002-07:00

It didn't start out so well because when I started to leave for work my jeep wouldn't start. I knew I probably needed a battery. So Jerry gives it a jump and off I go to work. When I go to leave work it won't start again. SO my co-worker gives it another jump. I head straight for the auto parts store. I can't turn it off because I am afraid it won't start again. So I leave it running and go inside the store, I am keeping my eye on my jeep and trying to talk to the guy at the counter. He looks it up and they don't carry one so he tells me to go to another auto parts store. To make a long story short I had to go to 6 different places before the last one told me that it was only available through the Jeep dealer. Needless to say almost 200.00 later I had a new battery and my car starts again. Boy do they have a racket going on or what? One more thing I learned you can only get a battery cable from Jeep too for a fee of 140.00. I guess I bought the wrong kind of vehicle. The batteries at the auto parts stores were around 80.00 so getting one from the dealer was double that. Crazy!!!! Don't buy a Jeep.

HAPPY 15 MONTH LID!!!!!!!

2008-07-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

Create your own glittery text at pYzam.com

Let's hope we only have to post this a couple more times.

Day 20 in the wait for LOA

2008-07-15T20:12:00.002-07:00

Well today is day 20 waiting for our LOA to bring home the newest member of our family. We are holding up well trying to get what we can done before traveling to get Levi. We still have quite a bit to do. We did receive 2 more photos of Levi today from a wonderful friend in China. And what a cutie he is, I wish I could share his photo with everyone. It is getting harder with each day that goes by not to be able to do this. I see some posts on the yahoo groups where they have pictures and info on thier children and are at the same stage of the process that we are at. I wonder why that is. We were told it was a CCAA rule others say it is a agency rule so who knows. Anyway one of the photos is of Levi making this oh so cute face because he was given a cookie. I guess he really liked it. We will wait until our agency says it's ok to post his pics even though I would like to do otherwise.

Meanwhile Marcus goes back to the doctor Thursday for his knee. I think they will go ahead and drain the fluid off the knee because it has not gotten much better with the medication in the last 2 weeks. I will be glad when that is over because he acts like a 16 year old trapped in a 10 year olds body, he is soooo whiny.

Take care everyone,
Sandi

USCIS Update and new pics of our son!!!!!

2008-07-09T20:47:00.003-07:00

Well, I finally got all our paperwork ready to send in for our free renewal of our I171H. I will get it in the mail tomorrow. That's a load off my shoulders. It has taken me longer to get it ready because last week my son's knee got really swollen and I had to take him to the doctor. They said it could be a number of things. But the most likely cause is torn cartilage. So he has been on crutches for a week now and I have to take him back to the doctor tomorrow to see if the medicine had helped. But he says that it still hurts. If it doesn't get better he will have to have surgery to fix or remove the torn piece.

On a happier note we received new pics of our son from a couple that are adopting from the same SWI that Levi is in. I am so grateful to her and her husband for these photos, I can't thank them enough. This was such a great treat for us. He is growing like a weed. I can't wait to share photos of him when we are able. Come on LOA we need to bring our son home. BTW his room is loking so cute and we are finding more and more John Deere stuff for it. I am going to try to make the curtains this weekend while Jerry is at Drill.

Good Night all,
Sandi

2008-07-05T20:50:00.002-07:00

We ordered Levi's furniture a little over a week ago. They said 7-10 business days so we were happy to find out that it was in, but when we went to pick it up only the crib had come in. So we decided that at least we could put that in Levi's room to get it started. The blanket in the picture is one that Levi's grandma bought for him. The border we put up is also John Deere. It looks crooked in the picture, I guess it's the angle that I took the picture from. Anyway I hope the rest of his furniture comes in next week sometime so we can finish his room. I have to get busy and make his crib set and curtains now. His room is finally coming together now all we need is Levi. Mommy and Daddy are coming Levi!!!!

We got PA!!!!!

2008-06-26T21:46:00.002-07:00

We got the call from the agency today that we received PA (Pre- Approval)for our son Levi. I waited for Jerry to get home to open the e-mail together, and if you know me that was soooo hard. We are so excited and can hardly wait to bring him home. We have so much to do to get ready for him. Jerry says we need to make a list!!! He is list crazy! The next step is to receive our LSC or letter seeking confirmation from the CCAA. After that it's on to CA & TA (consulate appointment and travel approval). We should travel about 2-4 weeks after LSC. I can't even begin to tell you how I am feeling. I couldn't help but cry, only happy tears though. I will post a picture as soon as we are allowed. He will steal your heart as he has ours. Stay tuned for more updates and pictures of his room as we decorate it in John Deere. Oh I almost forgot............. we bought his furniture last night and should come in sometime in the next two weeks. So I have plenty of time to make his crib set (hopefully). My sewing skills are a little rusty so I will have to get back into the swing of things.

That's all for now,
Sandi

Day # 18 since LOI

2008-06-24T20:08:00.002-07:00

Well today makes day 18 from LOI, I called the agency and they told me any day now we should get PA ( pre-approval). I sometimes find myself daydreaming about what it's going to be like having a toddler around the house again and it seems so unreal at times. We are actually going to be mommy and daddy to a little boy. I can't wait to hear the words mommy or daddy come out of his mouth for the first time. This will be such an experience for Jerry. I can't believe that this year we will be going to China to bring our son home to be with his family. My MIL can't wait to show off his picture, she asks everyday if we can give one to her yet. We have requested additional medical on him but are not sure we will get it. But it's worth a shot anyway. We are in the process now of getting his room together. We are using a John Deere theme. We already found the wallpaper border and will be putting it up soon. The furniture is the hard part. We bought cherry wood furniture for Mylie's room but Jerry would like a lighter colored wood for Levi's room. We could just use the cherrywood crib for a little while and then get his toddler bed and such later, but we just don't know. Well it's getting late and it's off to bed and sweet dreams of my little emperor waiting in China.

Love to all,
Sandi

2008-06-20T21:39:00.003-07:00

We hit the jackpot today. We went to Baby's R Us to look for a crib for Levi and we found so much more. They had so many clothes on sale, we bought him all kinds of clothes. We bought a few different sizes since we don't know for sure how big he is yet. The yahoo groups are so helpful in that respect. And we also found a convertible crib that we like and will go well with his room. I forgot how fun it is shopping for a little one. It has been awhile since we had a toddler running around that I have forgotten alot of things that are needed. Anyway we are having so much fun doing it and can't wait to go get him. Although flying always makes me sick to my stomach, this time I will be prepared. I am going to ask the doctor to prescribe me something for motion sickness, some heavy duty meds!!! Well I hope to post some pictures of the progress on Levi's room if the internet allows me to. We had some storms roll in and I guess it interferes with the sattelite signal. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Sandi
soon to be mommy to Levi Kennedy (Chinese name) Maxwell

Mr Levi's room

2008-06-16T21:20:00.002-07:00

Wow I did not know how hard it would be to find age appropriate John Deere stuff to put in Levi's room!!! They have alot online, but I am so impatient with things like that, I want it done now. I still have to clean out the rest of my craft stuff. You see, that room upstairs was to be my sewing/craft room. But I gladly give it up for him. So I am having to find places to put everything. Mylie's room is almost done too, we just have to paint half the wall and put up chair rail. I think it will look great. She has so many ladybugs in her room, there might not be any room for her once we bring her home.

I finally went shopping for Levi, and my MIL is the greatest, she has bought him some stuff also. And once my hubby gets home from military duty this week we will start looking for furniture for his room. I am not sure on weather he still needs a crib or he may be better in a toddler bed. At first he will sleep with us until he feels comfortable sleeping in his own room. I can't wait, come on PA, LSC, TA, & CA we need to bring our son home!!!!

Love to all