Right now, as I writing this blog, keep in mind my two year old son is trying to bite the snap off my shirt...hhmmm, what is missing in HIS diet?

Here the three little ones are working on a project with their nanny! Looks like fun to me...

Anyway, in my household, here is a note about the laundry in a normal week...

There are seven of us - seven people will create the following dirty clothes:

49 pairs of pants/shorts/ or skirts

49 shirts

35 pairs of underwear (two are not potty trained) however, we have at least 70 changed diapers a week

21 pairs of socks - it is summer, the little ones and I don't wear socks in the summer - only three of us do

42 towels ( we try to use them more than once)

14 washclothes

6 sets of sheets

That is 216 pieces of laundry - per week - in a month that is 864 pieces - in a year it is 10,368 pieces of dirty laundry...of course there is probably more, as four of us will start to wear socks in the winter, we will wash coats, jackets, etc...and of course, don't forget we have a teenager. Yes, he is a boy, but there are days where he will wear two or three sets of clothing - depending on what he is doing, and we have uniforms, doll and Barbie clothes, stuffed animals that maybe has some thing unidentifiable on it...what else? I am sure there is something else!

What about toilet paper? When people think of big families and the expenses, usually they think about what goes into the body, not necessary what comes out of the body! Toilet paper seems to "run" out of house...no pun intended!

"

A catch up blog...

Kaycee had her first ENT visit yesterday. And all we had was wonderful news about her hearing and her ears. First of all, Leonard was the one who took her to Children's Hospital. This was something by itself...but dad did really well.

Anyway - back to Kaycee's ears...

As we knew, without hearing aids, she is profoundly deaf. She really does not hear anything at all. HOWEVER, with hearing aids, she has normal hearing. PRAISE GOD!!!! What a great gift!!!

So we are making an appointment to get her a hearing aid but more important, we are making an appointment to allow her to hear!

Next...three days ago, school started. Jacob is now a freshman, a 5'10", 140 pound FRESHMAN!!!!! Cannot believe that! In addition, Nathan is in 7th grade! Kylie will start preschool next week, and mom is feeling very sad!

AND, last but not least - I just turned in my final for my child development class - whew! Just in time to write another paper for my class that starts Wednesday and try to figure out what I am going to do in my second class that starts Monday!

Check out my next blog. So many people ask...how do you do it...read my next one and find out :)

The past...

We received a huge treasure yesterday. The lady that is over the foster care system in Kaycee's province sent us a cd with 5 photos of her as she was growing up. Included with these pictures were also the foster care write ups, which includes things like when she got teeth, etc.

I cried and cried...

In Kaycee's short little life before she was with us, she was...

abandoned at 1 month old, stayed in the orphange for about three months, went with one foster family for a little over a year and then with another foster family for about four months. I can't imagine what this little girl has gone through..my heart hurts so bad for her.

Also, she has two very deep scars on her upper arms. They should have been stitched. They are the same type of scar located at the same place on each arm. In one of the photos, the scar is somewhat fresh. It was when she was about 9 months old. I can't imagine what it was...it makes me sad.

I think that the reality of her before us has hit me. Here she was, all alone, can't hear and she is being shuttled around from house to house, bed to bed, etc.

I know God was with her, He was also by her side. I just wish I could have been there from the beginning also.

tales from the red couch

Today is the Consulate appointment. Actually we don't even go to the consulate, our facilitator does. She is there now. We have to stay in our room from 11:30 to 12:00. If we receive a call...that is not what we want. It means there is something potentially wrong with our paperwork.
Speaking of paperwork...our agency gave us the wrong paperwork so I had to go to the consulate yesterday to get it fixed. So the chances of us having a phone call are pretty good. In addition, our agency gave her the wrong Chinese name. They used the wrong character for her name. So all of the paperwork I filled out, has the wrong name on it...AAGGHH!!
BUT on the other hand, Kaycee is a bright little girl. She is full of laughter and life. She has learned a couple of new signs. No one can tell she is deaf. However, I watched her play with some other kids and she stood back away from everyone else. This could be because she was in foster care and was the only child or it could have something to do with her hearing, or maybe it is just her personality.
Anyway, everyone says she is a beautiful baby! We met one Chinese man on the plane flying here that was amazed we would adopt a baby that was deaf. "Did you know she was deaf when you adopted her?" It was a very sincere question, not meant to hurt. But it goes to show that she probably would not have had a very good life here...
We went shopping last night for minute and will try again today. When we left Fuzhou it was 101 degrees and about 49% humidity. Here it is only 93 degree with 47% humidity. But really, you can tell, it is much more bearable here than in Fuzhou...
We took pictures on the "red couch" last night. The little boy she is with is John Jones. He is absolutely adorable, Darla. He has cheeks you could pinch forever and this morning I waved to him and he just smiled and gave a huge wave back!
We miss everyone dearly and can't wait to get on the airplane back.

Independence Day

For some strange reason, the 4th just isn't the 4th in China! :) But we are all doing really well.
Kaycee is starting to show some signs of grieving. She cried a lot more last night when we were trying to go to sleep. In foster care, they have the kids sleep with them, so that is what she is used to. I am not ready to fight that battle yet, so that is where she is sleeping! Right beside me. But she is a good sleeper. She had a 3 hour nap yesterday afternoon and slept another 10 1/2 hours last night.
We went to a park on Tuesday and then shopping. That is what the pictures are from. Then yesterday, we went to her orphanage. All of the nannies were happy to see her again and happy to see her with her family. They all loved her, and talked to her. It was good to see that but very sad to see the other kids in the orphanage.
This orphanage is for special needs kids, some like Kaycee are only slightly special needs, while others are severe. There were only about 60 kids in the orphange, but most of the others are in foster care. It was clean and it was evident that the nannies loved the kids. They knew all of their stories! The picture of me, Kaycee and the orphange director is also included.
I am not sure of our plans today. I think we are going back to the park, with the other family that is here. I am homesick for my family.

We will be getting Kaycee's paperwork back tomorrow from the Chinese. That will be a really good feeling!

Introducing Kaycee Abigail Xi

It has been an incredible whirlwind since we left!!
We got to Beijing on Saturday and met up with some other adoptive parents there. On Sunday, we went to the Great Wall, the square and the forbidden city!
Then my mom and I were supposed to fly out on Sunday night, but after waiting for about 4 hours at the Beijing airport, the flight was cancelled!!! That is a complete story in itself!
HOWEVER!!!
WE HAVE KAYCEE!! She is beautiful, full of life, and very easy going! She has three words in her vocabulary and there is hearing there!!! The first word out of her mouth when she saw me on the road was MAMA!!!!
She is very happy, loves her stroller and slept for 11 hours last night! Of course, she went to sleep at 5 p.m. but oh well!
All of our paperwork was completed last night and it is a relief! As far as the Chinese government is concerned, Kaycee is ours!!!

a tad bit of a change

We found out that we will actually be leaving on Friday, June 29th. Our flight is out of Denver at 6:00 AM! We have to be there 2 hours early, and we live about 1 1/2 hours from the airport. When the travel agency called, the person actually chuckled at the times!!

But you know what? It didn't matter, it just means that we are SO close to getting Kaycee - it is a feeling that cannot be described!

The next time I post, I will be just hours from leaving! Just pray that I get everything done that needs to be done!!! :)