Family needing prayers

Room for at least one more is still in China and their daughter is still in the hospital.  Please keep praying, they are having to work within an established bureaucracy while fighting to do the best for their frightened daughter.  

I've put a link in the friends in blogland blogroll on the sidebar, you can check there for updates. Please let them know you're praying for them, at last count they had over 600 messages of support still to read.  These are helping bouy them up during this stressful time.

Heather BT

Happy Anniversary Sweetie!

Seven Years today we've been married, Eight years since our first date.  

The best eight years of my Life.  You've helped me realize dreams, You're my other half, my soul mate.  In so many ways it seems we've been together much longer, in so many others, like we've only just begun.  You blatantly humor me, let me snuggle with frozen, from working outside, butte and feet, and put up with my innumerable idiosyncrasies.  

Who knew that Mindy would be this right  when she said the 'You and Bowman would really get along' and blatantly stuck us together in  her wedding.  She's right and you are the most right part of my life.  

I love you rocks and rocks.

Heather

Urgent prayers need on behalf of a small child

There is a family in China right now whose child is desperately ill in the hospital.

Visit here to read the whole story, and join me in sending prayers up.

To Children's Hope Families

There's a new yahoo group CHI-families you can join.  I know all the others were shut down so this is a new one you can join.

Heather BT

Also, I've started a CHI SN one myself. go here to join.

Acer's Family day celebration

Okay, so I'm continuing in my quest for world photo domination.

I think I'm slowly getting better at this, and by the time Acer graduates from College,
The world will be mine..... Bwa Ha Ha Ha ha!!!!!!!

These are a couple pictures from my brother's phone that never got posted.
These are from back in May, when we celebrated Acer's Family Day.
We plan to always celebrate this as a bigger holiday than his December birthday (for a lot of reasons).
So.. here are a couple pictures of my favorite Little Man in one of the coolest t-shirt/hat combos ever!

Little Miss's ever shorter hair!

In the few months that we've been talking, Calliandra's hair has been getting shorter and shorter. Here I've ever been practicing with a Barbie Head doll so I could do cool straight hair things and now, it's getting so short I don't know what there will be left for me to braid. Oh well, she's just so dern cute whatever length her hair is. These are snapshots taken during some of our Skype conversations.


And, A Big HUGE whew of relief. Last week our agency said that they WERE allowed to turn in our dossier and we don't have to switch. Thank you all for your prayers. While I never doubted the other agency's competency, I knew that CHI had dealt with Bethel before and would let us go there to pick her up and to meet her existing 'family'. This is good for closure and also for us to understand her life before us.

The front Flower garden

Here's Acer next to my Hardy Hibiscus, Fireball. It's hardy throughout Michigan and can take it wet, even boggy wet.

Acer and my double daylilies

Acer and Plume Poppy leaves, Maclaya, smaller and more cut, and my Sea Kale leaves, Crambe, almost as large as his body.

Acer, Plume Poppy, and Herbstonne Rudbeckia

All my perennial plants in the front garden have to reach at least 4' tall. The Plume Poppy and Herbstonne reach at least 8'. On the other hand, my japanese maples and my evergreens are all dwarf ones, growing only an inch or so a year. I do like the unusual!

This is Acer after his second day of school last week. He fell asleep on the bus home, as usual. I carried him off, up the stairs and put him on the bed. He folded up like this, still sleeping and didn't want to be moved. A few minutes later he had tucked himself under the blanket, but he didn't want me to do it for him.

Kayla's First Birthday party

This was the First birthday party for our camping friend Kayla. It was at a local water park and Acer had a really good time, climbing all over everything, running through the sprinklers and playing drums with a couple yogurt cups. Acer is by no means the poster child for blind children, but Kayla's extended family now have a better idea of Kayla's potential. Some didn't even realize he was blind, I think this let them realize that she'll be a normal child, just one who can take out her eyes and hold them in her hand if she wants to! (no, Acer can't do that, he doesn't have any sort of artificial eyes but all the others in our camping group do).

We first met Kayla before Easter, when she and her two grandmothers were at the State Police Bomb Squad ticking egg presentation. She got the cutest onsie from them.

Here are our cuties on the way from Target to Kohls.
They both behaved really well the whole day as they played. Acer was so tired from the paying and no nap that he actually fell asleep in the double stroller/cart at Kohls.

This is our lovely old piano, with An acer and Jarvis duet in progress


Here are Acer and Jarvis just outside Target after lunch.

Thanks Loads Guys!

Just wanted to give a big shout out to Tammy and Monica who've been fundraising for us in different ways, between the two they've raised almost $200.  Huge Thank you's from the Adopt a kid bunch.

Acer & Jarvis Hanging out

More Day one

Pictures!

Hurray!
I actually loaded these pictures myself.
Look out world, there's no stopping me now!
except, hmm, they aren't all there. I'll have to put my plans for world photo domination on hold for now. Sigh. Well, some are better than none. Enjoy.

A day of firsts, first day of school by himself, first bus ride

Today we all rolled out of bed extra early to make sure Acer was ready for school in time.  Yes, this night owl set of parents were up at 6 AM to get Acer fed, cleaned and dressed by 7:30.  Acer's morning routine is a mix of the both of us, I get up and do what I need to do and leave, Bill gets up and putters around for a while and then gets ready.  Acer gets up and gets down to business, it's just that he does it so slowly that it takes at least half an hour to eat half a cup of cereal.

So we were ready extremely early, 7:30 was no problem; the down side was that the bus which we'd originally been told was to arrive at 7:30 and then been told 7:45, didn't actually arrive until just after 8:00.  He's supposed to start school at 8:30 and it takes me 35 minutes in non rush hour traffic to get there.  Add in the fact that there were three middle school kids on the bus, all being dropped off at a different school along the way, means he arrived VERY late.  Oh well, it'll get straightened out soon enough.  The bus driver actually asked if he talked.  I sort of laughed and replied 'Lord yes, '  because the little man is not known for his silence!

Acer wanted Bill to hold him while we waited and then agreed that he was 'worried' about school, which translated into needing more holding time to reassure him.  We told him he was going to have a good day (we know how many toys are in that room, and playing is how little ones learn)

When the bus pulled up to drop him off, it was a different number than the bus number I'd been given.  I'm not sure what happened to that original bus, but he came home alright on the other, sleeping while belted into place.  Yes, the excitement of the day, plus playing on the 'curly' slide at school wore the little guy right out and he slept.  Interestingly enough he said HE took the teacher to the slide.  Not sure how his brain worked that out.  The teacher wrote a note and said he'd had a good day and that they'd worked on a calendar and he'd enjoyed feeling the dots.

Now, he's down for a nap, stomach filled with lovely grilled cheese bagel, happy with the thought of going outside to play after nap.  In the world of the Little Man, life is Good!

Bill will add pictures later

Extra prayers needed now please

Due to the confusion surrounding switching agencies, caused by China's decision not to accept dossiers from non-Hague accredited agencies, and the earlier decision not to allow people to switch agencies, we're now in a sort of limbo.  I believe we'll be sort of a test case, but our PA to adopt Little Miss has now expired.  Also, most of the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has been on vacation this month because of the Olympics thus adding to the confusion and slowing answers down.  

I'm not sure what's really going on, we're just still waiting for our final piece of paperwork.  I just pray once we get it that China accepts it.  I cannot believe that God would bring us this far, allow us to fund raise so much money, and then have us lose our child.  So, keep us in your prayers, that everything goes smoothly, according to His will.

Heather

Busing blues

As we approach the start of Acer's first year of pre-school, I came to the realization that none of the empty buses practicing their routes I saw were going down our street.  This was very concerning because he needs to take the bus to school.  I also received a letter saying that he was enrolled in SECOND GRADE (lol) so I called his school and talked with the principal.  

Thus started my 12 phone call, five day saga to make sure he had a bus to ride in.  I made phone calls to the district he's attending, the district we live in and the county wide special needs district.  Then I asked if he needed a booster, this gave the head of our district, who will be busing him, pause.  After telling her that he was just a little guy, 38" and 34 pounds, she agreed he needed a booster and agreed to get him one even though 'It isn't on his IEP'  Errgh, I just told her it wasn't surprising because there was no one there from the district, just from the other two districts!

Today we're going to an ice cream social - meet the teacher event at his school.  I'm hoping the excitement of going to school will help him be a little less grumpy in the morning as we get up early to practice our before school routine.  He naturally wakes up about 8 AM and he'll have to be clean, fed, clothed and in front of the house by 7:30!

A funny moment shared half a world apart

Calliandra and I have started a tradition, we sing songs to each other at the end of our call.  I sing, she sings back and this continues for a while until we decide it's time to say good bye.

So, last Thursday night I taught her the church song from my childhood that goes, ' Allelu, allelu, allelu, allelujah, praise ye the Lord'.  She learned it very quickly and each of us took a part, either the allelu's or the praises.  Then I introduced her to the concept that when you sang your part, you stood up and sat back down when the other sang their part.

And that's how we ended, both of us singing away and bouncing up and down in and out of our seats.  

It felt really good to laugh with her in our moment of joy and song.

Dresses

Little Miss is really a dress girl. She'll wear the other stuff, but dresses and skirts are really her favorite. I will admit that these are the most fun to shop for and I think I've gotten a good range of ones to get her started.

Don't forget to comment and let us know which is your favorite!