Sunday, September 9, 2012

Drama Queen...


that would be me.  

Emily just refused to finish her dinner, laid around, and

threw up!

I can't tell you how that fills me with dread.  

Please, Lord, not again.  

I know YOUR GRACE IS SUFFICIENT

but wouldn't it be easier to save your grace for some other occasion?




Saturday, September 8, 2012

Should I Be Concerned...



that Emily's favorite toy is the cymbals?


Crash!


Thursday, September 6, 2012

Odds and Ends Around the Farm


 Emily continues to settle in.  We had our first of six post-placement visits today.  We REALLY like our  social worker.  She seemed very pleased with how well Emily is doing.  



Emily enjoying a gator ride and a Fiber One bar.  Looks pretty comfy there, eh?


The rest of the Clampitts enjoyed a gator ride, too.  


Emma and Lila were enjoying this little kitten at the farm.


Is that the most pathetically disgusting kitten you've ever seen?


I'm sure you've been worried because parlor pics have been few and far between.  Well, worry no longer, friends.  Gates are being made and installed.


What do you think?  Are those glass doors adequately protected from nosy and persistent cows?



This stove will need to be stoked twice daily once everything is up and running.  Kenton is still hoping to have start up next Tuesday.  Is planning a start-up for 9-11 a poor omen?


Kenton's pretty tickled with this soybean crop.  


He counted 84 pods of soybeans on one plant.  


I had help from some monkeys to pick my grape crop.  


I had help inside, also.  


Emily had tons of fun eating grapes, squashing grapes, and splashing water everywhere.  Kaitlyn was pretty happy to be able to scold and boss her meimei.


We got 42 quarts of grape juice made.
  

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

At the Park


 For my out of town family and friends I took a bunch of pictures trying to catch Emily with a bunch of her crazy faces.
This one is actually pretty routine.



I took a few pictures of the other kids, too.  


We have a post-placement visit happening tomorrow.  I think Emily is liking us pretty well.
What do you think?


Here's how Kaitlyn feels about her little sister.


Emily says it's great to be out of the hospital and "regular" again.  That "Go-Lightly" name is false advertising in her book.  Filling 60-some diapers in 48 hours is the pits.   However, the playroom rocked!


After a week back home I'm starting to feel a little less overwhelmed.  Two days ago I was ready to throw in the towel.  I was sure that kid #5 was going to be the end of me.  The house was a total wreck, the Mt. Everest of laundry was threatening an avalanche, the garden is bountifully productive with more than just weeds, and I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep...diaper changing and vomit around the clock will do that to a person.  


The kids hung out with Kenton's mom while Emily was busy emptying her gut and bowel ( and colon it turns out!)  


The doctors think it was an infection caused by the enteritis she had while we were in China.  She had tests, x-rays, feeding tubes, IVs, an upper GI, and all kinds of yucky, disgusting gross things.  The words, post, illious(sp?), and infection come to mind...but not necessarily in that order.  

Once your colon is no longer full of poop, you can smile again.  


I hope the doctors are right that this is all it was.  I'm ready for a break from puke and poop.


Our lives will be a little more sane if mom is around...even if most waking hours are spent wrangling the munchkin. 

And much as they LOVE being with Grandma...there is too much of a good thing. 


So here we are. 


We've done a Pike's Peak of laundry...a few peaks short of the existing mountain range.


Done a little cleaning.  My less than enthusiastic slaves would say their fingers have been worked to the bone...you know, I made them work a couple hours.  The social worker will only have to pogo stick over the mess when she's upstairs.


Canned some salsa, tomatoes, and grape juice.


AND CLEANED UP THE KITCHEN AFTERWARDS.

(What do you think of my upside-down zombies?)


Maybe we'll pick up school again on Friday.  


We did some school this summer so we aren't behind yet. 


Oh well, more canning is coming.  We'll be behind any time now.


This is a look I see all the time.  It usually is followed by her launching herself into my arms.


We are enjoying our little toddler.  She gives sweet kisses.  As a family we don't usually do the lip to lip kiss...but that's how Emily likes it so that's how she gets it, even though sometimes she slobbers.  Ewww!


This was some game the three big kids made up involving the merry-go-round and the soccer ball.  Makes me nauseous just thinking about it.


We can't wait for all of you to meet our little miracle.


Make sure you CALL FIRST if you want to visit AND see a semi-neat house.  


We're happy just to be home from the YUCKY hospital


And be a family of seven.  :D


Thursday, August 30, 2012

Home Again

It's been a rough week and a half.  There are fourteen messages on the answering machine, tons of emails to respond to, and the mess from the spaghetti sauce I made ten days ago to clean up.

BUT...

WE'RE HOME!

Emily got sick on the 21st.  She started throwing up around noon and by 8:00 p.m. she was throwing up every ten-fifteen minutes or so.  Our trip to the ER ended with her being admitted.  The local hospital transferred her to WVU on Monday and we're home today.  

Lots of tears, vomit, poop, and blessings later, we are home.  It looks like Em will be fine long term but it was an emotionally exhausting ten days.  More later.

In the meantime, if you're waiting for a response from us to something we'll probably need a few days to regroup. 

Thank you for the prayer and caring.  We have been blown away by the love we have been shown.    

We are SO BLESSED.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Hydrocephalus

That's Emily's special need.  It came with some unknowns.  Only time will tell if damage has been done and because it was in the frontal lobe of her brain the doctor was concerned that as she hit puberty she might have less control of her emotions.

We felt at peace to move forward.  Not that we had all the answers but that God was in it.  And, yes, I still worried about all the what if's.

When Emily was so sick in China I was aware that her symptoms were consistent with pressure building in that little brain.  The doctor in Guangzhou had the same concern so they ordered a CT scan.          The CT scan came back normal.  She just had some type of cold/flu.

This week I had Emily to the doctor.  He asked the radiologists at the hospital to look at her CT scan.

According to them, hydrocephalus was a misdiagnosis.  She NEVER had it.

It looks like Emily's special need was needing a family.





Friday, August 17, 2012

PICTURES


 Thanks to Kevin Maust I have PICTURES.  (Janelle, you can now stop wanting to punch my computer.  :P)

Emily MeiPan

Being the center of attention is always good, right?


Tianshui SWI staff and us.
The Director is behind Kenton, to Emily's right is the Assistant Director, accountant, and Emily's nanny. 


Emily and her nanny.  
Parting was hard on both of them.

I LOVE PIZZA!!!
See!  I'm already feeling better!



 


 Inspite of her crabby expression, Emily is loving the older kids.  


Thanks, Kevin (and CINDY!) for all your help.