How are they doing?

Sophia has been doing fantastic school. Her conferences were nothing short of an outstanding report on her. She continues to amaze us with her art, constantly drawing on a daily basis. Decorating all her papers at school and making cards for classmates and her teacher. She is learning Spanish and recites many stories she has learned from the Bible to anyone that will listen. She leads the prayer at our dinner table and actually said the entire Lords Prayer alone before our Thanksgiving dinner. (and yes, my eyes were full of tears) She still sings non-stop and I believe she has a musical gift. Here ear for music and pitch is very good. As far as Fia's health, she is the healthiest out of the 3 little ones. However, I do have an appointment with an ENT. Her tonsils are HUGE and we are going to decide when the best time to take them out would be. Fia was quite emotional the months of August and September. She misses my sister Ingrid terribly. She is also learning what it is like to have two younger brothers. Last week she came to me and told me it was hard having two brothers that always get into her stuff and that there are 2 of them and only 1 of her. I got down on my knees and looked her straight in the eyes and asked what I could do for her. Her response, "I need a sister from China to play with and that looks like me". I think my heart stopped for a brief moment and I tried to not let her see my eyes filling with tears as I hugged her and told that everything would be ok. Oh how I love this girl.

Daniel seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. He is totally into trucks and can play with them all day. He is still my sensitive little guy and we really try to avoid the meltdowns when we can. He also got a good report in school. The teacher told me that that she can see that Daniel really likes coming to school. That he is happy and does a pretty good job sharing and getting along with his classmates. Daniel also got very attached to Daddy this past fall when they were doing all the outside chores. I still have my baby, but I have to admit that I have lost him to Daddy. Daniel worships the ground that his Daddy walks on. So much in fact, that he finally realized that unless he woke up earlier in the morning, he would not see Daddy before he took the girls to school. For the past two weeks, Daniel has been waking up at 6:00AM so he can go in and snuggle with Daddy for 30 minutes. I don't know how he does it, but he is consistent with it. The down side is that he really needs to be in bed by 7-7:30 because he is so tired. We have been struggling with Daniels health these last few months. First pneumonia with an ER visit, followed by two ear infections less than 3 weeks apart. He has an awful cough and I am just praying he does not get croup and need to go on a steroid treatment as well. Daniel will also be seeing an ENT for his ears. He has always had "some fluid" on them, so at this point we are going to have them checked out and have his speech evaluated as well. I think he is fine, but I am just going to see what the ENT says. Daniel is my little man.

Emmie just finished up her Segment 1 in drivers training. That is enough to freak me right out! My first baby, driving. Is that even possible? lol Emmie was sick this past fall too, but her one antibiotic treatment seemed to be enough to keep her fairly healthy to this point. She has a great group of girlfriends that she is hanging out with right now. They seem to be able to blow off a lot of the drama that goes on around them and I am just so happy she has branched out to other girls. They spend quite a bit of time at our house out in the new family room and she told me the other day that she was in a good place right now. I can't tell you how happy that made me. She still suffers from the migraines. Some days are worse then others. We just recently began her Bio Feedback program, but it is too early for either one of us to say if it is working. She still has dreams of working in an orphanage and at this point says right after high school, that is what she is going to do. That she knows that is what God is calling her to do. She thinks she is being called to Africa. We told her that before her senior year, that we would take her there to see if that was really where she wants to go. She says she understands her purpose here on earth and her role model is Mother Teresa. What can I say to that? While she is still a typical teenager, I believe that once she graduates and can "really" start life, we will see her blossom into the young, beautiful woman God intended her to be. I keep telling her to hold on to her dreams and her faith. She has looked up seminaries online and has several applications out to various places. I am so proud of her and I know she will accomplish great things with her faith.

Little Andrew. ;) Our little Budda that tries so hard to please and is learning and soaking things up like a sponge. He also loves playing with trucks and boats but is much more interested in how they are all put together. He pays attention to detail on nearly everything he looks at. Turning it over, upside down or inside out to figure out how it works. I was the most surprised by his school conference. His teacher told me that he is learning at a very rapid speed. Taking in everything and expressing himself with no trouble. The language is coming very quickly and she told me that she will be looking forward to watching his progress the rest of the year and that there is a possibility that he may indeed be ready for Kindergarten next fall. As far as Andrew's health, he has been having a hard time. Many of you know of our recent trip to the ER because he awoke from sleeping, gasping for air. The diagnosis was Croup. I worry extra about Andrew because of his un-repaired heart. He clearly has issues with being in a hospital. He becomes very withdrawn and will hardly make any eye contact with anyone. He was sitting on the end of the bed in the ER and I got down on my knees to be at his eye level. I had to ask him to look at me and I repeated over and over that everything would be ok, that I would not leave him and that I loved him very much. I then climbed right up on the bed and held/snuggled him while we had to be there. I believe this is stress from being in hospitals in China. I will never know unless one day he can tell me. We have not pressured him to talk about China at all. When and if he is ready, we'll listen. Until then, we just want him to feel safe, secure and loved. And for the most part, I truly believe he does. He really is a sweet, funny little boy. He amazes us on a daily basis. We are truly blessed and we are looking forward to seeing his little eyes light up Christmas morning. ;)