Update on Mom!

Hopefully you guys get the journal updates on my mom. If not, the great news is her scan looked good!! Everything looks the same, and if you know anything about metstatic cancer, you know that is GOOD. If you think you've never seen a miracle, well, I am thinking you haven't met my mom!! So woo-hoo! Thank you God.
Click here if you want to see her CaringBridge page.
She couldn't get chemo last week or today because of her low white count, but let's pray she can tomorrow. They are going to try again.

...in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us...Romans 8 somewhere

a few photos

The volcano cake and Landon with his new guinea pig "Stripes," who is quite cute for a rodent.

Where have I been? Landon is 8!

I'm sure the 2 people reading this have wondered. :-)
Well, homeschooling has cut my computer time a lot. Which is very likely a good thing. I find I can only pop on and off to check email or my yahoo groups really quick. No time for actual thoughtful output.
And since we got home from Disney, I have been sick and just as I was getting better I hurt my neck by doing absolutely nothing. Yesterday morning I was drying my face and heard a gristly sound come from the back of my neck and pain followed. BUT it feels better today, not worse, so I can rule out most really bad things I think. Yea for getting older!

But more importantly, Landon is 8 today! Just 8 years ago, we got to Northside and about 3 hours later had a baby! Jake was 20 months old at the time.

Here he is at 6 days old:


And here we are when Landon was 4 months old and right before Jake turned 2.


He got a bike and a guinea pig. Pictures later.

As for adoption news, there is nothing new. A lot has been going on behind the scenes, but it is so hard to know what to write about in a public place! Suffice it to say, we are still waiting. So our child is still out there and it would be great if anyone wants to pray for God to bring us together with her really soon! Lilla says very often, I need company! I want my sister NOW! We will definitely update when there's something to tell.

More Disney pics:







And I'll just add in a passage I love. It throws so much in there that I am thinking of--memories of childbirth, comparing it to all the painful groaning expectation we have here on earth sometimes, the hope of heaven, us being adopted by God...

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:22-25

Hey I'll just give a shout out for Romans 8. If you read nothing else in the Bible, it's worth a look.

US immigration approval! (and Disney!)

We had a great week at Disney last week, along with my parents, brother, sister-in-law and nephew. It was Lilla's first time there and it was so exciting to finally be able to do all the princess stuff! We had breakfast with princesses, Lilla got a princess makeover and we waited in line for princess autographs. We saw the Beauty and the Beast show and lilla got to introduce The Little Mermaid show. All fun things the boys would not be caught dead doing!

Also, Jake and Landon are old enough to ride the big rides now, so we rode Rock N Rollercoaster, Expedition Everest, and Space Mountain many times. I'll add more pictures once I find them! Not what I would call a relaxing vacation exactly, but very full of fun. Thanks Mom and Dad!

My mom is doing okay, trying to recover from a bad cold. She was a trooper in Disney. She will get a scan in February to see how the chemo is doing for her.

And big news! We received our I-797C in the mail today! We were approved in record time--56 days. The process is speeding up finally. A few months ago, people were waiting 120 days for approval. So, now we have everything we need to send our dossier to China. Hopefully we can get that done next week and be "DTC" as we say (Dossier to China). We are also reviewing files of some precious children. It is so heartbreaking to see so many children who, if they had been born somewhere else, would have had surgery as an infant and gone on to live a normal life. We are praying that God would lead us to the child he has planned for us and that we would KNOW His will for us.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1

words from the kids

Hi guys--this one is from Jake (age 9.5). We've been doing Ancient Egypt projects. We built a shaduf, which is a tool to bring water out of the river in Egypt. We built a model of the Nile. It is very fun being homeschooled because we have more science experiments. I don't like math.

From Lilla (age 4): I started doing gymnastics last week. I like when we did the bars because somebody helped us. I have a lot to tell. Who is reading this? One time we went to the Aquarium (in August-Katy). I got a Barbie for Christmas. I'm excited because because I will have gymnastics tomorrow. Next week we're adopting a baby (probably not next week! Katy) I can write my first and last name

From Landon (almost 8): I have already lost one tooth and another one is very loose. I have started gymnastics again. Legos are my favorite thing, and jumping on the trampoline, or tramping on the jumpoline. I think homeschooling is great because I get to be with my mom (awww...I didn't pay him, I swear-Katy).


We have to wrap this up because we want to go watch Man Vs. Wild, or Man Vs. Food. We like Men Vs. anything.

School, adoption and more

First of all, so far so good with our 3 days of homeschooling! I really have a lot less computer time, but that is probably a good thing! Here is a great post on someone's blog about "Me Time" that I think could have been me. I only had about 2 hours and 40 minutes of alone time most days, but it can get to be an idol if we let it, no matter how much time it is. I see already that I do much better when we are together for the whole day. Of course, they are still playing Legos, having TV time, playing outside and playing games, none of which involve me. But it feels like a much more natural shift between worlds.

And Mark is now making breakfast for the kids every day so I can do my Bible study and exercise, which is a lovely thing.

We're together, doing things together, then they're alone and I do a chore or two. Then we get back together and read or do work, then we all do a chore. We go to Target together and talk the whole time then come back and do some math. I don't have this constant feeling of a list hanging over my head that I am trying frantically to accomplish while they're gone. Or heaven forbid, shopping for no reason, wasting 3 hours of my day to come up with one t-shirt I didn't really need.

And Lilla no longer takes a nap (as of about Sunday!), but that has been a good transition too. I got her a huge pile of dried beans that is so far apparently very fun to scoop and dig through. She doesn't play with actual toys, mind you, but a hill of beans, yes. Right now everyone including me is having a short alone time.

In case you are worried about me, don't. I am going out with friends tonight to a tapas bar :-)

When my books arrive (of course all the books I ordered to start this were backordered!) and we move to a longer school day, I will report back! So far we are reading lots of library books on Egypt, doing multiplication and science experiments and working on our chore routine.

Adoption news: None for us! But we did get successfully fingerprinted yesterday and hope to be approved by US immigration in March. A new big list of Waiting Children was realeased over the weekend, but our agency said none of the children matched our checklist! I heard it was a lot of kids over 4, and boys too. I pray that they match with other families.

My mom has set up a CaringBridge site in case you want to keep up with her there. She is doing quite well! Praise God!! Here it is. You can register to get emailed updates when she posts them. Scroll down to "Journal" and click the link that says "Subscribe to journal update notification."

documents back and fingerprints rescheduled and other big news

Well, I guess CIS didn't know they were closed December 26 when they sent us that notice! So our fingerprints are rescheduled for January 7. It doesn't set us back any because I am sure our homestudy is still in some pile on a shelf in someone's office. I am hoping it is a very efficient, merciful someone so that we will quickly know if we need no corrections to our homestudy or even none!

Also, the UPS woman brought all of our beautiful documents yesterday, authenticated by the Chinese Consulate in Houston. They came back!! I see great beauty in perfectly executed paperwork, in some weird way. So now we have everything ready for our dossier, except the paper from CIS.

Okay, so the big news is...we have decided to homeschool Jake and Landon next semester and hopefully beyond. Who knows what child #4 will bring, but I am hopeful it will work out even after she gets home. It has been a very long, God-led path to this journey. I can't call it a destination because I have come to realize that there is no destination in this life. We never arrive or get settled and I have made an effort to stop saying "well, maybe one day when..." All we have is today.

Basically, they were doing well in a really great school with lovely teachers and I still thought constantly about keeping them home. Even though when they first started school I was so happy to be alone for once! As they get older, I see that time is so short. I can't get these years back and we were in a cycle of get up at 6am, school, get home at 3pm, homework, piano practice (or lesson), soccer or gymnastics, chores, pehaps some free play or a friend over, dinner, bed. And by 3pm I'm tired anyway! We were missing the best of each other.

Maybe more later once we start. I am terrified and excited, but I know it will be okay. As I cleaned out their backpacks last week, I found these two things I had to share.



From Jake (age 9):
"Three Wishes"
1. Give poor people in China homes
2. For all kids in the world to have food.
3. That cancer had a cure.

From Landon (age 7):
"Thanksgiving"
I'm thankful for my friends, family, food and water, school. Grandparents too. My teachers, friends, Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holidays! I'm thankful for my house and classroom. I am thankful for shelter and you should be too.


Psalm 127:3-5
Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children are a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.

Logged in at CIS

So, we just found out this week that we are logged in at CIS, which is US immigration. We need their approval to adopt a child from another country. Our date is 12/5, and people have been waiting about 90 days for that approval. But the process is relatively new, and I have seen people waiting 150 days, or 59. This approval is the final piece of our paperwork! We are hoping to be matched between now and then, but that timing is another unknown piece of the puzzle. In this part of the process we also have to be fingerprinted by the FBI again, just in case we've done anything since October. It really pays to be an upstanding citizen since birth in this process. Our fingerprint appointments are at 9am on December 26. How CONVENIENT. I'm rolling my eyes as I type...

My mom got chemo yesterday, which is great, since last week her white count was so low she couldn't get it. Fluid still gone, which is great!!

FedEx woes

So got a call from FedEx. Yes, my heart was pounding...I'm thinking they will say, we are so sorry but our truck ran over your documents. No, not that bad. But the Houston Consulate no longer accepts FedEx deliveries. Huh?!! So they have to send all of our papers back to us and I have to re-send them via UPS. Have you seen Australia? (the very long Baz Luhrmann movie that is) I keep thinking of our papers saying "I sing you home to me" Please, please come back to me, papers.

My mom and I took Lilla to see the Nutcracker at the Fox Theater on Friday. She loved it (well, for about 30 minutes) and wants to know when she can be in it.




Also, here's a cute picture from our 3rd annual Garage Nativity Play. We had about 20 neighborhood kids. So cute! It was very nice to focus on God coming to earth so early in the season, as opposed to trying to just squeeze him in the last Sunday of advent.



Check out this verse that I have been pondering.

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you." John 15:9 Whoa. That is Jesus talking there. I think that means he loves us as much as God loves him. Jesus loves us as much as God loves him, his one and only son, a very part of him. Well, himself actually. THAT is what Christmas is about. God's love for us. Jesus loving us so much that he humbled himself and became a helpless baby, confined to a human body for a time so that we might know him.

Yea for mom

I'm sure my mom is so thrilled with me sharing all about her weight gains and losses but I have to share again--she has lost about 25 pounds of fluid in the past week or so! Praise God! FINALLY something worked. Lilla has been praying and praying about this and sometimes it is really nice to have a clear answer--and the one you wanted too.

Adoption news: All of our documents (except the one we are waiting for from US immigration) are at the Chinese Consulate in Houston getting their final stamps! It was very hard to seal them in the FedEx envelope and send them. Like mailing a child. Well, maybe more like a pet. But still, I labored long on them and they are precious and irreplacable! FedEx, don't lose them.

I just read this "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Luke 4:18 Jesus reading from Isaiah

Do you ever think of yourself as a poor, blind, oppressed prisoner? I don't usually, since I have a great house, I can see and I live in a free country. But I realized today as I read that, I sometimes am. Maybe more on that later.


Do you like the snowflakes?

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.

Pumpkin Carving

We started Halloween celebrations this weekend. I really love Halloween! Some Christians don't (which is fine, not that there's anything wrong with that...just sayin') I try not to think too much about the un-dead, vampire/werewolf element and focus on the fun. Even though Landon will be a zombie skeleton this year... We actually let the boys carve their own pumkins this year, which thankfully only resulted in one minor band aid level casualty. The top picture is mummy crackers (Club Sticks with white chocolate) and the bottom photo is matchstick carrot spider web with black olive spiders. We also had mummy dogs (hot dogs wrapped in crescent roll strips) and swamp (green Ramen noodles). Yes, maybe that meal was a little low on nutrition. Yum!

No adoption news as of yet...our homestudy is being written and we have collected all of our documents for our dossier, just need to now take them to the county courthouse, Secretary of State and then send them to the Chinese Consulate to get all the proper stamps and seals on everything. Once our homestudy is done, we will be officially "waiting" for a match.

As for the lovely Bell's Palsy...I really look okay (unless you catch me laughing really hard in which case I look lopsided) except that I can't wear eye make up because it is irritating. Which I normally like to wear, even to the grocery store. Yes, pride goes before destruction and all that. Having an eye that doesn't blink is very bad though as it is so dry that I have to put these baby oil like drops in, which make everything look a tad cloudy. And I am so tired I can't stand myself. I normally like to bustle around being busy (or wasting time, depending on the task) and I have enjoyed quite a bit of daytime TV lately, which is depressing. I would work on my digital scrapbooking but I have found that being on the computer makes me nauseous! Ah, joy. I have no Bible verses of wisdom this week. Maybe someone could send me one :-).

As for my mom, she had chemo today. She and my dad leave for Boston this weekend for her visit to get a second opinion on what to do about her liver, which is suffering from all the tumors. Please keep praying for that!

Ahhhh...my face!!

So who knows if anyone is reading :-) but I mentioned yesterday I think that I couldn't taste anything sweet, which was a total bummer...that progressed to a numb feeling on my face and mouth, a twitching lip and finally today my right eye doesn't close! Needless to say, I was getting a little worried and my wise friend said I should go to the doctor. I was thinking I should ignore it, but that got kind of hard. Of course, I am thinking the worst and imagining that we will have to put our adoption on hold. But thankfully, it is something not very serious, despite the scary symptoms. It is called Bell's Palsy and it should go away within a month or so. I don't really look too bad so far, just the disconcerting non blinking eye. Taking steroids and hoping it doesn't progress!

Landon's tooth

Landon finally lost his first tooth at age 7!

We had our final homestudy visit today and the social worker will start writing our homestudy soon. Just waiting for our FBI fingerprints to clear (the Georgia ones--the immigration ones will be in a few months). Feeling pretty confident we will be okayed there.

I am having a very weird day. Suddenly I can't taste anything sweet. It has really cut down on snacking though. I realized I pretty much eat because things taste good. When they don't taste good, why bother? Landon asked if I can still taste umami. lol.

More important news, my mom saw her doctor today and had chemo. The doctor gave her Lasix today for the fluid so let's pray that helps. Their trip to Hawaii sounded great and she was particularly thrilled to see lava! It has been a much thwarted quest of hers. And I know I joked about it before, but you really can bike down the volcano! They didn't this time.