the whole fam

Carey's Dad (aka Papa) is here to visit with us for a week! We have been traveling around the area a little bit. Papa says he enjoys the toddler schedule.... eat, play, eat, sleep, play, eat, sleep. :) The kids are having a blast, and have so many things to tell him and show him!




Since this is the last week that the pool will be open for the year, we asked Emily if she wanted to try it. So she went swimming for the first time in her life! She loved it, and was playing in the shallow area where the water was only up to her chest. But she was jumping and moving quickly and lost her footing, so she went under. It scared her enough that she didn't realize that she could just stand up. And we've never taught her how to hold her breath or go underwater, since this was her first time in the water. But.... Papa was standing very close by, so he jumped in and saved her.



It was a good thing that Carey's dad was standing so close, and watching so carefully, because Emily did it twice... accidentally went underwater and then panicked. So Papa went in after her twice.... with his camera and wallet in his pocket both times! I guess I should have worn a swimsuit. Maybe that means I need to buy one before next summer.




She was fine though, and wanted to keep swimming. Lotsa fun with our neighbors there too!



Eliana loves to snuggle. She is happy Papa has come all this way to hold her for a little while! :)

I'm so lame!

This morning, after Aubrey's first night in her big girl bed, I carried her safely out the doorway of her bedroom. Everything cleared the doorway except for my pinky toe. There was pain, facial contorting, and I looked down to see it was sticking out in a funky direction that toes don't naturally stick. I tried to push it back where it is supposed to dwell, and realized I had my first broken bone in my 30 something years of existence!

I immediately called my mom. Thank you Skype. She and my dad both recently did horrible things to their pinky toes too. Theirs was worse than mine for sure! Then I thought I was going to throw up and/or faint (read wimp without breakfast), so I decided I better let Scott know. I interrupted his language lesson, and stole his tutor. She went with me to the bone hospital.

Although there's nothing to do for broken pinky toes (though a mini-cast would be super fun), we thought it best to get an x-ray just to make sure it wouldn't heal up too weird if left alone.

At the our city's Bone Hospital, it went like this....

1) Give your name, telephone number, and age at the front counter. Give them 86 cents and you take a number.

2) Go on to an open area where a dozen doctor's desks are lining 3 walls. Go get in whatever line seems shortest (like the grocery store). Wait til the people around and in front of you are done being treated.

3) While waiting your turn, watch dozens of people in this 1000 square foot area get bones set, dressings put on, get piggybacked around for lack of wheelchairs, get ossifiers prescribed, etc. There were patient beds lining the one wall that was not lined with doctors desks. Over there was a young person being held down by parents for a bone setting. One doc was standing on the bed pulling forcibly on the arm while other doctors pulled the other way from below. Lots of screaming, and lots of people gathering to look on. No such thing as privacy. Later, fellow patients were stopping by my station, reading the instructions on the medicine doc was giving me, and checking out my x-rays.

4) After poking and pulling on my toe, they told me to go pay for an x-ray. To the counter to pay $20.30, then take the receipt to the X-ray room and let them know what I need a shot of.

5) Wait for x-ray, then back to desk lined large room. Doc looks at x-ray and wraps foot up. Wrapping is first smeared with Chinese herb paste - I think - and slapped on. Told to not walk for 2 weeks. Told to come back every 3 days for the next 2 weeks. (Which ironically would involve a lot of walking in a land where people don't really use personal cars.)

6) Pay for medicine, also 20 bucks. Doc explains how to use medicine. Sign on dotted line.

We escaped out the side door just as a patient/customer lady was trying to chain the front doors shut to keep people from leaving. Someone had just stolen about $4,000 from her purse, and she was determined not to let anyone in or out without her searching them. People pay before any care is received here, and insurance is not really what it is in the west. So medical facilities are a great place to find people's purses full. And with all the bone setting, crying, holding/carrying people around..... it's a thief's dream come true I guess. I felt really bad for the lady.... but a security guard helped Scott's tutor and I hobble through the mob and push out the door.

Then down some stairs, up some stairs, back home. Foot up. Hoping I don't get bonked by toddlers. I asked Emily if I could sit in her HUGE toy bucket (with wheels) and she could push me wherever I needed to go around the apartment..... go get Ibuprofen, go get Coke Zero, go get granola bar, go see what the 2 year olds are doing to the one year old. But she declined. Probably cause we've done such a good job at teaching them that giving rides is NOT what the toy bucket is for, right? :)

2 more weeks of being lame. That's not long enough for a 2 year old to forget that she was almost potty trained, right?

Signs, just for fun.....

Summer fun

July, Parties & Nana

Wow, time flies! I guess it has been over a month since we last posted anything. So here are just a few pics in no particular order of the last month and all that has gone on. Em had her birthday and turned 4 already! Hard to believe where all the years have gone. Nana came over and stayed for a few weeks, so all the kids loved hanging out with their Nana again and are sad that she has gone home already. But they are looking forward to her return this winter. Nana was even brave enough to watch all the kids for a week while we went childless to Thailand for a week! That was quite refreshing! Although, it was nice to get back home and be with the family again!




Little A is excited about Zac's birthday gift, even if he is a little unsure!


Hard to believe our city has a Papa John's but no McDonald's! To celebrate Nana's arrival, we all went to PJ's!





















Playing London Bridge with Nana!



He looks like he is having fun, right?

She's TWO!

The b-day girl. She's sweet, funny, spunky, strong and smart! She loves books, baths, airplanes, rice, noodles, vegetables, flashlights, and shoes. One her favorite things to do is to make other people laugh. We love everything about her, and are so glad God entrusted her to us. :)










It can be hard (at times) for 4 siblings to share Daddy. But who says you have to?



So, now the kids are 3, 2, 2, and 1. And they are enjoying each other very much. Adopting 2 at once was really a great way to go for us.