praise time and tagged again

First of all, the diuretics or change in chemo seem to be helping my mom get rid of some of her fluid, so that is a big praise!! My family had a great Thanksgiving together. We had my parents, aunt and uncle and my brother and his wife and their son over for dinner. Jake and Landon came up with some fun additions to our dinner. First, they made handprint turkeys for everyone's place card. Then on the back they put a Thanksgiving trivia question and stumped some of the adults with questions like "What was the Mayflower Compact?" (an agreement among the Pilgrims that they would vote on all decisions and the majority would rule basically) and "In what year did the first Thanksgiving take place?" (1621) Then, this month we have been gradually making a wreath with little paper leaves on which we write what we are thankful for. So they cut out extra leaves and everyone around the table wrote something they are thankful for. We put the leaves back into the turkey can (coffee can made into a turkey by Mr. Creative Jake) and then everyone chose a leaf from the turkey, read it out loud and tried to guess who wrote it.

In other thankful news, we sent our I800A form and homestudy to CIS and are now awaiting biometrics appointments and final approval so we can send our dossier to China. In English, or for those who don't speak adoption-ese, that means we have officially gotten the ball rolling over here in the US to get permission to adopt an orphan from overseas. They have to approve our homestudy and give us fingerprinting appointments. We need this fianl approval to get the last piece of paper we need for our huge pile of papers to be sent to China. This will be the third time we have been digitally fingerprinted by the FBI in the past 4 years. Seriously! Just know there is nothing hidden about us whatsoever, if you have ever wondered if we lead a secret life. We don't. We have also gotten everything off to our agency and are officially "waiting for a match" and we are thinking we will have a little picture in early 2009! Still likely won't travel until about fall of 2009 though.

And the tag (from Jen again)--
The Rules:
1. Grab the nearest book
2. Open it to page 56
3. Find the 5th sentence
4.Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with instructions
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book or the most intellectual - Pick the CLOSEST

Okay, The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease..."Any of Tory Hayden's powerful books about the psychologically damaged children she has worked with through the years..."

I tag Abbie, Sharla and Lovell.

Army of Women

Hi friends--
This is a new thing I have just heard about:
If you are a woman, please consider joining the Army of Women. It is a research initiative to get more women involved in breast cancer research. There is no obligation to participate in any studies but you will be emailed from time to time with study opportunities. Here is something concrete you can do to honor all the women (including my mom!) who have fought breast cancer and help keep our daughters and granddaughters from having to suffer.

Mom again and other randomness

So, my mom got her port put in yesterday and got her new chemo. It has the potential to burn going in, so a port will help protect the vein. She also had some fluid drained (not much) and doubled her old diuretic and added a new one. She will see her doctor Wednesday to chat about everything. The fact remains that she has now gained 30 pounds of fluid in a few months. I know she is so uncomfortable and I hate that. Lilla prays for "Mimi" as they call my mom, every night.

Here is a cute picture I caught of Jake and Lilla dancing to "The Sound of Music." He is such a good big brother! Don't tell him you saw this.



Jake and I are currently reading The Tale of Despereaux. Can't figure out italics or underlined, but it is a novel, in case you didn't know (and are annoyed at improper citation, as I am). Landon is reading it with his class right now. I am the kind of mom who makes the kids read the book before they are allowed to see the movie. That's the kind of reader I am--if you see the movie first, it ruins the book for me, plus they usually get it wrong and it messes up your ability to imagine on your own. Anyway, I am so glad we are reading it! I highly recommend the book to anyone. Here's my most recent favorite quote:

"Reader, you must know that an interesting fate...awaits almost everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform."

Happy Thanksgiving!

OOhhh, and I figured out how to add my song--you can play it to see where the name of the blog came from.

Quick mom update

So, my mom's scans and everything looked pretty good, no worse and possibly better! Great news! Also, the fluid they drained from her looks good, as far as the pathology goes. The bad news is she still has about 20 pounds of extra fluid in her body. And when you're 5'2 that's a lot. I should know. I'm 5'2 and if I gain 4 pounds my clothes don't fit. Keeps you on your toes if you can't afford a new wardrobe. So I can't imagine how bad that must feel. Her doctor friend thinks it could be one of her chemos that is causing the fluid, so they are going to stop that one and try a new one called Navelbine. They have to put a port in for that, so she will get the port and start the new chemo Monday. Please keep praying for this fluid to go away. None of the usual things (like compression garments) work because there is nowhere for it to go. I'll leave you with a few verses I read today--

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
2 Corinthians 4:7-9

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1:6-9

Bell's Palsy

Thanks for everyone who has been asking...I forgot to update that the Bell's Palsy is GONE. A little over a week ago, I started tasting everything and finally my eye has started blinking again! It doesn't feel 100% right yet but it is so so much better. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes!

I'll throw in a funny Lilla story:

Mark works from home so when Lilla is home for lunch a few days a week, we eat lunch together. Another aside is that Jake and Landon have been working on "hygiene charts" for Cub Scouts (thank you Cub Scouts for telling boys they NEED to take baths and showers!) Lilla made her own pretend chart too and has been randomly putting check marks on it. So, after lunch one day, I was cleaning up, doing dishes and stuff and Lilla and Mark were fooling around, being silly. And Lilla walked over to her "chart" and put a mark on it and said "Goofing around with Daddy, check!" We about died laughing.


This is how Lilla and Landon play together--wrestling, jumping, hiding behind the playroom sofa and kicking each other in the face.

National Adoption Month, bronchitis and a smelly car

Wow, having sick kids really changes the days. Lilla finally went back to school today after 3 days home with bronchitis and conjunctivitis. Landon also stayed home with a cough Monday. And one day, my internet connection wasn't working and my tech support guy (aka Mark) was out of town. It was actually enjoyable to feel free of the computer and not be able to do anything since the kids were sick. I think there's a lesson in there somewhere and I'm trying to learn it!

I have been watching an Andy Stanley video series called Take it to the Limit. He talks about how so many of us are living life with no margins, rushing from one thing to the next and striving for money, lifestyle, position without really thinking why. He suggested starting each day by asking God what HE wants us to do with our day. Psalm 90:12 says: Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Also reminds me of an essay I read (and keep meaning to re-read, but hey, who has the time!?) by Charles Hummel called Tyranny of the Urgent. You can read it here
Anyway, he and Andy both say that we often choose what is urgent over what is important. Answering the phone, checking email as soon as we hear the ding, hurrying to a meeting are all urgent. My kids, my marriage, my health, time with God are all important, but often get squeezed by whatever is in front of my face. Thoughts to ponder.

Speaking of urgent, when we got in the car this morning to go to school, all the kids started yelling and accusing each other of making a bad smell. If you know what I mean. And I am yelling, oh stop it! Let's go! But then I get in the car and am knocked over by what appears to be the scent of a rotting corpse in my car. So as usual, I am thinking someone left a milk cup, but really this was beyond. We started looking for cups under the seats and in cupholders, kind of like an archaeological dig. You know your car gets bad too sometimes. Then I have a sinking feeling and go open the way back. And the smell gets worse. Guess what I found? A package of chicken that had been sitting in the car for 4 days. At least it isn't summer. Mark, FYI it was the cheap chicken from Target, not organic free range cruelty free $8/lb blissful life and then death chicken.

Now on to the IMPORTANT. This month is National Adoption Awareness Month. I am sure you are aware of adoption if you are reading this. Please don't forget to pray for orphans and abandoned children around the world. And if you feel so led, this is a good time to support adoption, either by adopting or supporting a cause that helps children who need it. I put a list of some of my favorites on the right.

Did you know that the Bible actually says a good bit about adoption and orphans? For one thing, to take care of them.
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.


But namely that we Gentiles were once orphans and God adopted us as sons and daughters. We got grafted into the old family tree.

After we adopted Lilla, I got the true meaning of that image. Our sons are amazing and having them was quite the bonding experience and I love them so much. But it just seemed normal and easy. My heart goes out to those who have had fertility problems and I know I am not as thankful as I should be. But when we adopted Lilla, that was something entirely different. It was very special, chosen, waited for, wished for and when it finally happened, I couldn't believe she was OURS. When I hear people ask if I love her the same, I think, well I definitely don't love her LESS if that's what the question means. But it is different because I am still so in awe that this child who was not born to us could fit into our family so perfectly and that I could love her and care for her and give her all the rights and priveledges we give our sons even though she came from somewhere else. Dare I say it is almost more special?

Same as how God looks at us. We were CHOSEN by him, not by anything we did or didn't do. Out of love for us and a desire to have relationship with us.

Ephesians 1:4-6
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Oh, PS-Our homestudy is done and very soon we'll be "in line" as waiting parents!

Update from my mom

Hi, I was very encouraged today after meeting with the doctor at Dana Farber Cancer Ctr. in Boston. She was wonderful and spent a long time talking with Dan and me. I was afraid she was going to tell me to "get my affairs in order." Instead she kept talking about how healthy I am except for cancer. She thinks the fluid in my abdomen may be due to toxicity caused by the Avastin. She says the side effect is rare, but they have seen it several times. She recommended I have new scans to see if the disease has progressed. If it has not, she recommends I continue on Taxol minus the Avastin. In the meantime, she says I should have paracentesis to drain the fluid and to do some pathology on the fluid. If the disease has progressed, she suggested exploring clinical trials at Emory or here at Dana Farber. Alternately she suggested a chemo, Navelbine which I am familiar with. I am very open to a clinical trial. Hope this isn't too confusing or too technical. Bottom line, there's still more we can do. We head home tomorrow. I have already e-mailed and heard back from the nurse at Emory who says she is busy scheduling what I need. I made Dan take me to the Museum of Fine Arts this a. m. before my appointment. It's a wonderful museum with some nice impressionist art (Van Gogh, Cezanne, Renoir, Degas, Monet, etc.), a large collection of art nouveau jewelry, and an exhibit of portrait photographs which Dan even liked (am drawing a blank on the photographer). Thanks to everyone for all your prayers, support, good vibes, etc. Talk to you soon! Love, Page

From Katy:
And she will be getting the paracentesis this Thursday. Great news! We are going to see Coldplay tomorrow night (me, mom, my brother and his wife). Should be fun.

from my Bible study this week:
(Jesus talking here)
He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you."
Luke 17:6

And um, yeah, here we are at the neighborhood Halloween party...2 pirates, a bride, a shark eating a kid and a zombie skeleton.