Easter Weekend

For the longest time, I've been wanting to do some long catch-up kind of post here and then resume normal blogging.  That's just not going to happen.  So, I'm going to just start up today and move forward.  I hope you're all having a blessed Easter weekend!  Today I'm sharing these photos.  Below I'll tell you about each one.

1.  Thomas (11), Naomi Ruth (10), Rebekah (8), and Hannah (6) enjoying Uno - I love how they've finally gotten old enough that they can play games together without needing Aaron or me to play, too.

2.  Rebekah (8)

3.  Stephen (10)

4.  Hannah (6) holding Benjamin (6mo)  This picture was taken yesterday shortly before she got diagnosed with both strep throat and severe tonsilitis.  She's now on antibiotics and steroids and is slowly improving.

5.  Rebekah (8) reading Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss  This is SO exciting as she has dyslexia and has been struggling for years to learn to read.  She's finally figured it out and is so delighted to be able to sound out words and actually read books.  I am SO proud of her!

6.  Susanna (3) and Hannah (6)  Susanna is recovering from surgery that she had on Monday.  She has her tonsils and adnoids removed, plus an endoscopy with biopsies.  She'd been recovering well, but took a turn for the worse today and is at the Emergency Room with Aaron getting checked out right now.

7.  Sarah (10) holding Benjamin (6mo)

8.  Naomi Ruth (10)

9.  Benjamin (6mo) with his Occupational Therapist  He was born with Visual Maturation Delay.  He initially could not see at all, but God has mercifully given him vision.  He is just developing it at a slow rate.  As a result, he got behind on his gross motor and fine motor skills.  He's now having both Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy weekly to catch up.

10.  Thomas (11) with Benjamin (6mo)  I think they look a lot alike!

11.  Samuel (6) and Susanna (3) Our adopted children have been here for 13 months now and Samuel has stayed within 2lb of Susanna's weight the entire time.  Too funny!

12.  Benjamin (6mo)  He's getting SO big!  He's over 17lb now.  Naomi Ruth was only about a pound more when she turned a year!  He's such a little snuggler.  I call him Buddy Bear.  :-)

13.  Susanna (3) and Miriam (5)  Miriam just celebrated her birthday this month.  I can hardly believe she's 5!  She LOVES Dora the Explorer, so that was definitely the theme this year.  :-)

14.  Susanna (3) looking a little grubby, but very happy

15.  Miriam (5) and Samuel (6)  Those two are quite the handful.  Either they're best friends and therefore getting into all kinds of trouble together OR they're at each other non stop.  I haven't quite figured out which one I prefer.  ;-)

Love, Dawn

Back home

Just wanted to send in a quick update that we made it back home and are trying to get back into our normal swing here.  I'll try to post a bigger update soon.  In the meantime, if you're interested in following our family's journey in eating totally raw for one month, check out my other blog at www.rawmommyto10.blogspot.com.

Love, Dawn

On our way to Texas!

Relax!

This afternoon I was getting super stressed as I thought about all that I still had to do before flying out Friday morning.  Then, I made a really good choice.  I set aside my entire to-do list and baked chocolate chip cookies with the children.  I think we're all happier now!  :-D  The house smells fantastic, too!  :-)

This morning I took Rebekah and Thomas to the Pediatric Podiatrist for the removal of their plantar warts.  I'm glad we got that taken care of before the trip.  They were hurting them when they walked.  It really went much smoother than I had imagined.  I was happy when the doctor told me that they were really worried when I came in with 10 children but how they were all very pleasantly surprised at how good the children were being in the waiting room without me!  I had Benjamin with me, so it was Stephen, Sarah, Naomi Ruth, Rebekah, Hannah, Samuel, Miriam, and Susanna out there.

Today I finally gave up on the whole idea of getting up Christmas decorations.  This is my first year to miss that.  I'm mostly relieved, but a little bit sad.  Good thing that we're going to a place that has up Christmas decorations.  :-)  This has definitely NOT been a normal year and I'm overwhelmed even trying to just do the most basic of the basics.  I feel much better after giving myself permission to just let it go this year.

Love, Dawn

Update on Benjamin's appointment

There are 3 parts to vision.  I'm sure this is really simplified, by the way.  Anyway, there are the eyes which take the picture, the electric signals that sends the picture to the brain, and the brain which receives the picture.  What we found out today is that Benjamin's eyes are anatomically/structurally great.  That's certainly a huge relief!  For right now they are saying he has Visual Maturation Delay.  Just like some children walk later than others or talk later than others, some children see later.  He can see a tiny bit at this point.  He was able to track the light.  I'm very happy about that.  He's scheduled to go in for another appointment on March 16th.  The hope is that his vision will be great by that point and they will basically check him over and say all is fine and we'll be done with that.  If that is not the case, they will need to do further testing to check if there is a problem with the electrical impulses or with the brain reception of the information.  Please keep us in your prayers that this is just a delay and he will be seeing great soon.  Thanks!

Love, Dawn

Opthamology

Thanks for that tip, Judy!

Today is the big day with Benjamin's Opthamology appointment.  I'm really nervous.  Please pray that it goes well.  Also, the area where the appointment is at is under a severe winter storm warning.  Please also pray that I don't have any trouble on the roads.  I will update with the results of the appointment when I am back home.

I got a lot done yesterday.  In the morning, we picked up our co-op order.  We are steadily storing food away in preparation for these very uncertain economic times.  Right now we've got enough food for about 4 months for all of us, although that would be quite heavy on the bean consumption.  I'd like for us to have a 6 month stock.  In the afternoon, I took all the children to our mechanic to look over the van in preparation for the trip.  Nothing like being with 10 young children in a tiny waiting room with 2 chairs and not much else for over an hour.  WHEW!!!  The mechanic told me I'm one brave mom.  I told him that driving to Texas and back without having the van looked over beforehand sounded worse than that waiting room experience.  Turns out that it just needs one small repair.  Thank God!  We'll get that done on Thursday.  Yesterday evening I headed down to the library and did an exchange of books and videos.  This week the children will be able to watch 2 different performances of The Nutcracker ballet.  We watch it every year at Christmas time and the tradition is well loved by the children.  It will be the first time for our Liberian children to see any ballet.  Unless someone is napping, we usually give our children free reign with our stereo.  I'm sure this year will be like past years where for weeks after watching the ballet, we'll have our Nutcracker CD cranked loud and children dancing to the music.  :-)

Love, Dawn

Chuck E Cheese Photos

These photos were all taken at Chuck E Cheese while there celebrating Susanna's 3rd birthday.