Sunshine in the morning

Ella's eye surgery this week

Ella's eye surgery is scheduled for the morning of the 10th, which is Thursday of this week. She's been a little feverish today (Monday), please pray that she'll be well for her surgery!

Then two weeks after that, she's scheduled to have her tonsils and adenoids out and ear tubes put in at the hospital across the street from the one she's going to this week. Poor baby! Hopefully all of this will eventually help her see, breath and hear better!

Happy 5th Birthday Timmy!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Today was Timmy's birthday and now he is 5 years old! Here are pictures of him with his cake (brownies) and ice cream-- although he doesn't eat yet, he enjoyed playing in it. ;o) He loved the little Pooh Bear from Grammy and the new Cars PJs. We gave him a monkey puppet because he loves putting socks on his hands... and a small music box that you turn the crank to play "Happy Birthday to You".

Four of our kids have birthdays in July so you'll see more in upcoming posts!

The 4th of July 2008

Independence Day 2008! Mike and Gabe spent time working on our deck and in the garden. We enjoyed time with family and friends at Matt & Charma's house where they treated us with shishkebabs like those made in the Philippines!

The other small children pictured are our grandchildren by birth, foster care and adoption, a three-generation tradition. Those that you see besides Joel, Tim and Ella are Janina and Marty's children; Janina is in a red shirt, Marty is standing in the pool. We are truly blessed by each child!

Note the typical scenery in the background of the pool photos: corn fields.

You can click once on any photo to view it larger. If it doesn't work the first time, use your browser's "back" button to go back and try clicking on the photo again.

Note Timmy's G-button and the scars from our little boys' heart/abdominal surgeries. This is for the benefit of any of my readers who may be considering adopting a child that faces these challenges. You can do it!!!

Little blessings

One of the best blessings of having adopted more than one little child with Down syndrome is seeing them help each other learn. Granted, sometimes they argue like any other siblings, but there you go-- they are siblings!

For instance, sometimes Tim will be afraid to come down the stairs by himself and will stand at the top and yell. Joel goes upstairs and helps his younger brother by the hand, showing him to hold the railing with the other hand. When they get to the bottom Joel announces, "Look Mama! Timmy did it!"

The boys love each other and always look for the other when one of them gets home from school or day camp. And if one is crying, the other goes to his brother and gives him a hug. I can't think of anything better in this life for the positive development of a child than the love of a sibling... and the love of a forever family.

Photos from trip

Souvenirs

We're home, Lora's home, what a weekend! After traveling all night with no sleep and spending lots of time with a cute and busy little girl and her dear family, and then traveling all night again and meeting Lora (who had also traveled all night) at the airport, we're all very tired. But... we're possibly going to see "Wall-e" tonight with the kids.

Here's Timmy wearing Lora's souvenir from Taiwan. My souvenirs are mostly photographs, too many to share now but I may share a few later.

Mike and I enjoyed our anniversary and DID eat clam chowder in bread bowls as well as ice cream on the bay. We saw a lot of beautiful sights and it's good to be home!