Merry Christmas!

Well, for a child that has never seen Christmas, Thomas caught right on! He was a pro from the start! He brought over present after present asking which ones were his. He imitated all of Will’s shouts of joy when seeing what the packages contained. No one would have ever known this was his first Christmas!

Cookies and milk for Santa. (I really did make chocolate chip cookies from scratch, but my family ate them all! Rich had to go buy a box of cookies from Walgreens for Santa!)



This is my attempt to get 3 very excited children to all sit with their hands in their laps for a Christmas Eve picture with the cookies and milk for Santa.

The result! Not bad for this group!!

We went through the same “hand up, hands down” show to get this photo too! Savannah protested about being in the picture because she was the only female member of the family on the sofa.

And they’re up!

“Momma, is this one for me?”

Thomas’ favorite present is a little kitchen with pots and food. He’s been “cooking” for us all morning! Even Will plays along and pretends to eat what he has cooked.

Birthday Wishes

Today is my Grandmother’s birthday. She passed away 15 years ago when I was 7 months pregnant with her first great grandson. Although she never got to meet Jack, she seemed pleased we were naming him after my Dad. I think of her often and especially on her birthday.

Today is also baby Abraham’s (picture above) birthday. He would have been 2 years old today, but he passed away a few days ago. He was a Chinese orphan.

Little Abraham’s birth mother kept him for 10 months. She most likely abandoned him because he was blind and she knew his future in China would be bleak due to this disability.

Little Abraham ended up on a waiting child list available for adoption by a foreign family. But even though this little guy had the face of an angel, he was not chosen. Not a single family even asked to review his file. Abraham died in China without anyone to claim him. What an incredible blessing this child could have been to a family! What lessons he could have taught them! Abraham’s death is such a tragic loss. He mattered.

I know that every year when I think of my grandmother on her birthday, I will also think of Abraham. He had no family, but at least he will be remembered.

There are always Chinese special needs children waiting for a family to claim them.....waiting for families to enjoy all the blessings they have to offer. Email Stefani at stefani@infowest.com to see the waiting children available through Children’s House International (the agency we used to adopt Thomas). Children’s House has a very good waiting child program and receives large lists of waiting children every 3 months. You just might find your son or daughter there!

Florida, Birthday and Home Again

We went to Florida for a few days to celebrate my sister’s birthday and Christmas with my parents. Thomas LOVES his Aunt Barbara! We all had a wonderful trip!


Thomas loves to floss his teeth. So, we had a tooth flossing party while we were in Florida!


Thomas and Will enjoyed blowing out the birthday candle over and over again. It’s a Darth Vader candle. Yes, my sister had a Star Wars themed birthday.


When we got back home after our Florida visit, we received a ginger bread house kit in the mail from Rich’s sister. It was a really nice kit. Given time and the absence of small children, I think one could create a very impressive house from it. I don’t think ours will win any awards, but the boys sure had a good time decorating it.


What’s this? Well, let me give you a little background. We have a cat and a dog. Let me be more specific. We have a very small dog and a very large cat. When it’s dinner time for the animals, the cat gets to eat first. When the cat leaves the kitchen, the dog will come in to eat. Well, Will decided that it just wasn’t fair that the cat always got to eat first. He enlisted his brother’s help to build a barricade across the door so the dog could eat first. I love the choice of the items they put on top of the Diet Cokes. Also note that they have put a straw into one of the chocolate milks. I guess building that wall was harder than it looked and they worked up a thirst.

Three Months with Thomas!

When we began our adoption journey we were told that the first 3 months would be challenging. I heard more than one adoptive family say, “You just have to survive the first 3 months, and then things will start to fall into place.” We were ready! We took all the classes and read all the books. We were ready to deal with adjustment and bonding issues.

Well, we’ve made it to the 3 month mark and I can honestly say that Thomas has blended seamlessly into our family! We haven’t experienced any of the problems we expected. He is a delightful and engaging child. He is loving, sweet, smart, and funny.

His English is coming along so fast. The other day I took Will and Thomas to the dentist. The boys were playing in the waiting room and a lady commented how great his language was and asked me his age. I told her he was 3. She said he had a great vocabulary and that she was very impressed by his language skills. I told her that he was a smart little cookie and had picked up English very quickly. She said, “Oh, didn’t you get him when he was a baby?” When I told her we had just gotten him 3 months ago she almost fainted. She thought his language was good for ANY 3 year old, not one that first heard English 3 months ago. His language acquisition has truly been amazing.

He and Will continue to be best friends and play great together 99% of the time. Every once in while they will have a moment, but it’s usually short and they are buddies again as soon as the problem is resolved.

Thomas’ favorite toy is ...... whatever Will happens to be holding. His favorite activity is ....... whatever Will happens to be doing. His favorite food is ......... yep, you guessed it, whatever Will happens to be eating.

Overall, Will has been a great sport about having this little guy walk in and basically claim half of his territory. I think the boys are spaced perfectly in age. Thomas is young enough that Will considers him the baby and so he is willing to cut him a little slack. At the same time, Thomas is old enough to be a fun playmate. They are a great team!!

Thomas has been very healthy. He ran a fever for about 24 hours a couple of weeks ago. Of course, it happened over a weekend, so I didn’t even get the opportunity to take him to the doctor as it was completely gone by Monday morning.

He gives great hugs and kisses. He says, “Momma, I love you.” He lets me snuggle and rock him and call him my baby. I am in love, love, love!

I can’t wait to see what the next 3 months bring!

I wanted to post a picture that really represented him at the 3 month mark. It HAD to be a “naked ninja” shot. What is it with 3 year olds not wanting to wear clothes? It’s a never ending battle. I put the clothes on him, he takes them off. Clothes on, clothes off, clothes on, clothes off. You only get the upper body, but the child is wearing his birthday suit and proudly declaring, “I’m a naked ninja!!!”

Christmas Tree and Stuff

The cable to move pictures from the camera to the computer had been missing in action, but Jack found it!!!! So now I have an assortment of pics to post!
Here is Thomas in his monkey jammas. He loves these. They were a gift from our dear friend Debbie. Thomas says, "Miss Debbie nice. Miss Debbie give me money jammas."

"I strong!"

Jack and Thomas Christmas tree shopping with their serious faces.

Thomas was VERY excited about the notion of bringing the tree into the house!

Popcorn buddies!

I love how Thomas has on his winter hat and you can see Will in the background wearing shorts and flip flops! It really wasn’t that cold. Thomas just liked wearing the hat!

Nanny Pics Developed

When we received Thomas in Xian, his nannies returned all of the things we had sent him while he was at the CWI. There were two disposable cameras. Thomas just LOVED playing with those cameras in China and when we returned home. The flashes still worked and he thought he was taking pictures. The cameras had his Chinese name and his picture on them. He loved that they were “his” cameras. Although I really wanted to see the pics the nannies had taken, I wanted my boy to have those cameras that he obviously remembered from the CWI. Well, fast forward a couple of months and the cameras have been forgotten. I was cleaning out a toy box and found one of them. The pictures are so sweet and my boy looks happy. It does my heart good to see him smiling at his CWI!!

Now I’m hoping the other one turns up soon!!!!