It seems like February 29 should be worthy of a blog, just due to it only rolling around every 4 years. So, here we go… Random thoughts from a scattered brain.

My father fell on the ice in New Hampshire and broke his lower leg and ankle. He had surgery yesterday morning, so the girls and I made him a video. At the end, Lydia saw the option for rolling credits and insisted on putting them in. Starring Doug as Doug, Mary as Mary and so on. She was so tickled to see her name scrolling down the screen!

Fun news for us…. Sam has been approved for a wish with Make a Wish! Most likely we will be going to Orlando this coming winter, but we have to be careful about the weather. Sam doesn’t do well in cold or even cool weather. We need to go during a time when the evenings don’t get too cool.

Some interesting and thought-provoking articles:

This one, written by “child-free” author, Ronald Bailey, uses research done by Daniel Gilbert (author of Stumbling on Happiness) to prove that people are having smaller families because they really don’t like children.

…according to happiness researchers, people don’t really enjoy rearing children. “Economists have modeled the impact of many variables on people’s overall happiness and have consistently found that children have only a small impact. A small negative impact,” reports Harvard psychologist and happiness researcher Daniel Gilbert. In addition, the more children a person has the less happy they are. According to Gilbert, researchers have found that people derive more satisfaction from eating, exercising, shopping, napping, or watching television than taking care of their kids. “Indeed, looking after the kids appears to be only slightly more pleasant than doing housework,” asserts Gilbert…

And this article, by ABC News, suggests that the need to have a “large” family is an addiction, a response to depression.

In much happier news, Love Without Boundaries is opening a new Cleft Healing Home in Anhui, China. It seems like this work has been going on FOREVER, but it is finally opening!!! And this next week, 7 beautiful cleft babies will be moving into a loving caring home where they will receive personal attention necessary for them to thrive. If you would like to follow along on the opening of the home and these precious babies, you can go to www.lwbclefthome.blogspot.com.

Does it look like Phoebe is saying “YAY!”???

Because, after a very very long day at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital… a day filled with EKG’s:

And echocardiograms:

And lots and lots of little checks:

And TONS of waiting around, in which we did silly stuff, like decorating Phoebe:

And decorating Gwen:

And trying to make Phoebe happy:

Anyway….after ALL THAT, we have learned….

Drumroll please!

Sam does NOT need another open heart surgery!!!! In fact, he does not need another surgery!!!! His last surgery, the Fontan, WAS COMPLETED IN CHINA!!!! And why did we not know this? Because we weren’t told by his caregivers! Does this sound a little odd? To us too! But this is absolutely an answer to prayer! We have ourselves a very very healthy little boy, who, while he still does have heart disease, has such an amazing prognosis! You would never guess he was sick, except for the multiple scars on his chest, side and back.

We celebrated with a meal at Denny’s and a LONG trip home with the kids.

Have I mentioned that Phoebe is a cryer. A screamer, actually. She screams and screams and screams. Then she stops, and you take a breath of fresh air, thinking it’s all over. But it turns out the “stop” is actually a slight pause while she gears up for round 2 (or 2,000). The nights around here are lovely. I should wait to write this until after my sister visits in early March, lest she change her mind and leave me festering in a pool of self-pity during Spring Break week.

Doug and I joke sometimes about using the “virtue names” as middle names for our kids. Gwen’s middle name is Hope, Lydia’s is Honour, Phoebe’s is Joy, and Sam’s is Justice. Phoebe’s is Joy. Did I already say that? Joy. While waiting at the airport for Doug and Sam to arrive, I commented on the lack of joy that Phoebe seems to have, and then thought….”Oh my word….what if Sam turns out to have, like, NO justice whatsoever? And Lydia, no honour? And Gwen, no hope????”

The thoughts of a depressed mom? Doug must have thought so, because he sent me out of the house for some freedom the other day. What did I get to do? Go hiking!!! I put on some big tall boots and a warm sweatshirt and went out to see the full streams and ponds on our property. It’s been raining on and off for days, so things were very soggy and wet. The dogs enjoyed a few minutes to get out and run for all they were worth!

I didn’t even take time to make sure I looked pretty! I grabbed a bright orange sweatshirt and a totally non-matching hat, and RAN out of the house!

Here’s a picture of our house and barns from one of the ponds on our property. It looks kind of bleak right now….no leaves on the trees, gray sky. But it is absolutely beautiful in the spring!

And now, Phoebe Fussy….erm, Phoebe Joy and Sam and I have to head to the school to pick up the girls! More updates soon!

Happy New Year! Last night we spent the evening with a few other families with children from China. We celebrated Chinese New Year with a game of basketball and a dragon dance, as well as Papa John’s pizza, cashew chicken and steamed buns.

Gwen under the dragon head

Sam, trying to decide whether or not to join the dragon dance

Lydia playing basketball

And a short video….Sam finally chose to join in the dragon dance

And lastly, a picture of Sam dressed to go out and help Papa with the chores. All boy!

As you all know, Doug came home on Sunday evening with Sam. We had a wonderful time meeting him in Springfield and were SO glad to see the families that came to welcome him home! Several people have asked me where Phoebe was in the video and, well, she’s the baby you hear screaming in the background through most of it. She started fussing about 2 minutes before the plane landed and Stefi very kindly held her for me so we could welcome Doug.

Here’s our first “Family of Six” picture:

We went to Cracker Barrel to eat after the plane landed and Samuel started to open up a bit more. By the end of the meal, he was happily sitting in my lap and calling me “Mama”. After Cracker Barrel, we loaded back in the car and drove home. It didn’t take long before Sam was fast asleep!

That evening we didn’t get to bed until after midnight. But everyone slept until almost 8:30 the next morning! Sam woke up a bit sober with no smiles, and we thought it was just that he had had a bit of an overload. But, he was really sick! Monday was filled…FILLED…with vomiting. Vomiting after the slightest thing went in his mouth, after a small car trip, after everything. We tried to go on base to enroll Sam in DEERS but the wait was almost 4 hours, so after a vomit scare there, we picked up everything and went home. After school was out for the girls, Doug took Gwen to Walmart to get Pedialyte and I sat with Sam and Phoebe while Lydia got her speech evaluation at school.

When we finally got home, Sam was dragging and looked absolutely miserable. Finally, he went to bed and slept for almost 12 hours.

Tuesday was a much better day! Doug left early in the morning to go back on base and enroll Sam in DEERS and TriCare, and Sam wasn’t vomiting. Mid-morning, we got a phone call from the head pediatrician on base asking if we could come see him in the afternoon to do Sam’s screening.

When we got there, and the examination got underway, we found out that Sam’s heart actually sounds quite good. There is a tiny little squeak in the heartbeat, a little regurgitation of the tricuspid “valve”….he actually has no tricuspid valve (yet), but the blood is flowing quite well through his heart. His pulse oxygen level is at 97%, which is WONDERFUL! The pediatrician called Dr Fiore, at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St Louis (a HUGE answer to prayer as this is the doctor we would have chosen to do Sam’s next surgery) and Dr Fiore was very pleased with everything. Sometime next month, Sam will have an ultrasound of the heart and an EKG done and we’ll know a lot more about what the immediate future holds for us.

Sam had a great time playing with the pediatric nurse at Ft Wood:

When we got home from the doctor’s appointment, Sam was ready to eat, for the first time in almost 48 hours. We made him some noodles, which he wolfed down and then he and the girls settled in to play for a while.

We are so excited that Sam’s heart appears to be in fairly good shape….much better than it COULD be, and that his previous surgery (the Glenn procedure) was successful! His next surgery (the Fontan) is quite involved and will require quite a recovery period. About 3 weeks in the hospital and then quite some time following at home. I can’t wait until we know more!

Here’s a picture taken on Monday, before the vomiting started:

Here are some pictures from the trip home:

Waking up at 5:00 to start the trip home

On the plane

YouTube is not working right now, so I don’t have the video, but I do have some pictures for you!

Gwen, Lydia and Ashlyn waiting for Doug’s plane to arrive

Meeting Sam for the first time

Sam’s welcoming party: the Millers, the Tuckers, Sheryl & Gracyn Holle, and the Koonces

Getting Sam in his carseat. Turns out, he was under the impression that Doug was just leaving him with me. Once Doug got in the car and Sam saw him, he settled right down and started playing with the trucks we brought him.

….while the video is uploading to YouTube.

From Doug:

Ok last email from China…and to think we spent all his time in Guangzhou and didn’t once eat at Lucy’s…what is wrong with us? This one is going to be short. I need to go get Samuel up and dressed and our bags downstairs.

Oh I’m so proud of Doug!!!! Not just because he didn’t eat at Lucy’s (which was the only place that gave us food poisoning on our 19 day trip last year), but because he has carried this all off without a hitch! What a good man!

Several hours later:

Whoops, I meant to publish this, but only saved it as a draft! Sorry! Anyway, Doug just called! His plane touched down in Detroit and they were cleaning up Sam’s vomit. Lovely. But they are safe and glad to be back in the U.S.!

From Doug:

YAY!!!! We are finished!! It was as uneventful as the last time except there were a lot more families in there this time. There was one family from Springfield but I didn’t get a chance to talk to them. Anyway, we drove by the bus station and there were loads of people waiting in large groups in this huge park down the street from it. I tried to get a picture but the bus was going too fast and they all came out too blurry.

Samuel and I ordered room service again tonight. It came with broccoli and I asked him if he wanted it. He shook both hands and his head and let me know he DID NOT!!! So, I think he doesn’t like broccoli.

Mary’s note: I guess it would be too much to ask for….having THREE children who like broccoli?

I can’t believe it’s almost over. It seems like I just arrived in China. To think all I’ve been through…the worst snow storm in 50 years…airport closures…flight “delays”…and yet everything has still worked out perfectly according to God’s plan. In fact, we have been on schedule the whole time. Amazing!!! This whole time since the day Samuel became a part of our family it’s as if he and I are on an international father/son trip. I’m beginning to not remember what it was like without Samuel.

Samuel on the way to the Consulate

After the swearing-in ceremony, outside the consulate (since electronic devices are not allowed inside)

Soldiers marching through Guangzhou

Shan Shan growling at Papa

IKEA is everywhere!

Three pictures by Shan Shan

Last night while Doug and I were instant messaging back and forth, he got a phone call from his guide. All the paperwork was accepted by the consulate and Sam’s visa is approved! Today, Doug will attend the “swearing in” ceremony at the US Consulate and will be free to leave China.

Here are some pictures sent from Doug.

For those of you who followed Lydia’s adoption, here is a picture that might be familiar!

Just 13 months ago….

I remember looking all over Shamian Island for this bulldog that other families had taken pictures of. For months, I had seen blogs with pictures of cute babies sitting on the back of this bulldog…. an adopting family’s tradition. NO ONE ever mentioned the large, scantily-clad woman walking behind the bulldog!!!

Sam is now an American boy!

Squeaky shoes for Phoebe! (25RMB per pair….about $3)

Here are some additional notes from Doug:

You know how when you tell Gwen to stop doing something or to stop touching something how she ALWAYS has to try and get that one last touch in no matter how little it is? Yeah, that’s exactly what Samuel does!

I have to admit I do like having a boy. I secretly always really only wanted girls, but being here with Samuel has changed my mind. He tries to emulate everything I do. If I sit my soda down on the table after he sits his drink down, he will move his to be right by mine. At breakfast, every time I take a drink, he takes a drink. Every time I take a bit, he takes a bite.

Doug & Sam arrive home at 4:40 PM in Springfield, MO on Sunday. If you live near us, you are welcome to come to the airport to welcome them home. Please understand, however, that Sam has 3 sisters and a mother that need to welcome him home first.

Next week is a very busy one for us! On Monday, we will take Sam on base to enroll him in DEERS and TriCare (military system and insurance). This can be a very long wait, with the possibility of finding out that some bit of paperwork is just not acceptable and needs to be translated and notarized before it is accepted. Tuesday we will take Sam to the hospital, where he will have blood drawn, have an EKG done, and get lots and lots of evaluations done by many different doctors. Wednesday we go to Social Security and register Sam for his green card. Thursday and Friday are reserved for getting Doug ready to go back to work and packing us up so we can go spend an unknown amount of time with him right away.