Marlie's school field trip... Milking synthetic udders and such!

The girls are dressing up London... It's hard to make the distinction when she actually does look like a doll. THAT is a cabbage patch head if i ever saw one.

vagloggering take two

i am not as embarrassed as i seem... i am really just that immature.  i can't get through it.

Annalee is growing out of all her clothes... We went to a consignment store and she picked out her whole outfit. she looks like she's in high school...

video chatbloggervid - take one. epic fail.

 this explains why i opted against the videoblogging efforts.  well.... that, and my lazy eye problem.  (don't look for it, please.)

harper drops some sick beats.

he is four.  i mean....

london: before & after blood transfusion

i came across this picture the other day when i was starting to put pictures together for the next adoption profile. i could. not. believe. how different london looked when she was sick.  looking back at pictures when she had transient erythroblastopenia of childhood (TEC), it is so obvious how sick (and even sad) she was.

after discovering this picture... i am praising the lord all over again for her improvement.  i have never been more thankful to live in a country where a blood transfusion is a relatively easy and common procedure.  it blows my mind that human blood is accessible to all people at any time in our country.  we are a rich people.
see for yourself what a dramatic difference a few, life-saving blood transfusions can make...

london before

london healthy

for the sake of awareness, here is a little info on transient erythroblastopenia of childhood.  it does not mention this, but TEC also seemed to be responsible the complete stoppage of london's growth.  while her development stayed remarkably ahead schedule, her height and weight completely dropped off for several months.  as you can see... she has more than made up for lost time, and has begun to look like something of a chubby cherub.

A bird in a bin.

When i looked in the bin being pushed from room to room, this is what i discovered.

Rookie mistake.

I told London to go get her shoes on. She went with the strappy stilettos that are a little too small.

how much love can you squoosh in one square foot?

after the recent break-up and make-up drama with a beautiful house we are trying to purchase, i am left feeling very drained and not just a little confused.  the most recent chapter of this saga?  well, we made another offer on the house, and it was accepted!  the offer was contingent upon the quick sale of our current home (which is a huge challenge in and of itself). the contract is also hinging on our comfort level with the results of an engineer's inspection we had done this morning.  

we knew that there was some trouble with the roof, because that was what caused the last buyer to bail out.  the sad truth is that we may have to walk away from this house because somebody put cedar shakes under the shingles, and that means the whole roof will need to be torn off.  i am looking into finding the guy that invented cedar shakes, and having him apologize to thousands of homeowners, publicly.  i am sure he will come and personally tear off every last bit of cedar from my roof, and will replace it with something very energy-efficient, and cutting edge, so that it is both maintenance-free and will never need replacing.  while he is at it, i am pretty sure he will offer to finish the basement.  and peel the wallpaper.  in the slim, outside chance that mr. miracle-cedar-remover-man does NOT show up, we will need to make some pretty hard decisions. 

as i was walking through the house today, i could not help but imagine the kids running through the house.  i was picturing where we would eat, and play, and hang our stockings.  i couldn't help but move in, emotionally.    i know that you are not supposed to do that when you are looking at a house.  but, it seems like if you can't NOT do that... then maybe you have found the house.

in other family news, we have recently learned that between fundraising, saving, and the generous gifts of others... we have officially raised enough money to move forward with the adoption.  we will submit our family profile and complete the home assessment as soon as we are certain as to which home our mistry baby will be brought! 

if we aren't able to afford this particular house (of my dreams), then we will wait on the Lord that provides more than i could dream up on my own.  the day that we get to bring our last baby home is drawing closer, and that fact is much more significant than to which building he or she will come.  it is a good reminder that no matter what house we end up in, we will pack every square foot of it with all sorts of love and babies.  

and if the Lord wills it, every square foot will also be recently refinished hardwood.