Fall Fun!

The highlight of Fall...the leaves that God paints all sorts of colors!  We have enjoyed soaking up the Fall scenery and enjoying the outdoors.  Of course, there may have been some costumes and candy thrown in there, too!

Hiking at Matthiessen State Park with Auntie Car Car, cousin Lainey and cousin Lilliana

Hiking at Forest Park Nature Center

Halloween Fun

Backyard Leaf Clean-up

Pumpkin Picking

The kids are excited every year to head to the local pumpkin patch and pick the best pumpkin off the vine.  This year was no exception.  Hannah couldn't wait to get her very own "punkin."  On our way back from meeting Micah's China buddies, we stopped at Curtis Orchard in Champaign, IL.  The kids loved trekking through the fields and exploring the farm.  We had a great time on a beautiful Fall day.

Shanghai Sweeties Reunite!

Facebook gets a bad reputation for many reasons.  With that being said, I am so grateful for facebook.  Through facebook, we have connected with so many adoptive families.  We also have connected with the families of children from Micah and Hannah's orphanages.  For Micah in particular, we have very little information from the orphanage. In fact, we received two pictures from them.  That is all!  With facebook, we have obtained many pictures from families and advocates that visited Micah's orphanage.  There memories are priceless and we are so grateful!

This past weekend we were invited to the birthday party of one of Micah's orphanage buddies.  Although it was over two hours drive away, we knew it was God orchestrating this wonderful reunion.  We were able to meet the birthday boy, Hudson, along with Liberty, one of Micah's best friends.  The meeting went great and we pray that these friendships will continue to grow.

Happy Birthday!

Fall is full of birthdays for our family.
First up, Nathan is 8!  His birthday was at the end of September and this weekend we celebrated with friends and family.  He is a kid who loves history, video games, sports, and Star Wars.  He likes to keep his toys in order and cuddle with a book in bed.  He is our first born and a great blessing to our family.  Happy Birthday Nathan!  May the force be with you!

Baba Matt celebrated his birthday after Nathan.  We are so grateful for our God-loving leader.  He provides for our family in so many ways.  He loves to play with the kids and have a lot of fun!  We love you Daddy!

This weekend our family traveled to Peoria and celebrated the three men of the house.  Nathan, Micah and Matt!  Micah's birthday is in November, so his celebration was a bit early.  We decided that we would have one big celebration to keep the travel to a minimum.  It was a great time with family!  We love you all!

3 weeks post-op

Hannah is 3 weeks post-op and doing very well.  We love to see her personality shine each day.  She has been able to get out of the house a few times, although we are still limiting her activity.  She still gets caught picking her head incision, but it is looking much better since taking the antibiotics.  We are praying it continues to heal well.  She will have a follow-up MRI in November and then we will see what the plan of care will be.

Praise!  We have received the official pathology results of the tissue and bone that was removed during surgery.  All tissue came back benign.  The tumor came back with cells that are found in stomach lining.  The thought is that it was the result of improper development in utero.  We will mostly likely see genetics since Hannah has a couple mid-line birth defects.  We are unsure at this point if there is any concern for gastrointestinal abnormalities.  Hannah does not have any symptoms to indicate any GI issues.  We trust that God knows all the details!

As of Sunday, Hannah has officially been our daughter for 5 months!  Whoa!  So much has happened in that amount of time.  We love to see her dance and play.  She enjoys hearing her favorite songs "Twinkle" and "ABC".  She is learning many words.  She loves to point out and say words she knows.  She loves Minnie Mouse, Kai Lan and My Little Ponies.  She is a spicy girl that brings great joy to our family.

Thank you for your continued prayers!

Hannah is happy!

Hannah is two weeks post-op and that means she can suck her finger.  She is one happy girl!  

Her head incision is improving with the antibiotics.  She continues to pick at her incision and pull out stitches.  We are doing our best to keep her hands off her head.  She is 3!  She seems to pick at it in her sleep.  Please pray that she will continue to heal without set backs.  Thank you!