Nothing prepares you for parenthood

We are having a wonderful holiday season, but Dec. 23 we had to pause for a lip revision surgery and some rhinoplasty of Jake's nose.
Honestly this had been planned for months, but I think we were in denial it truly would happen, but it did, and Jake is working like a trooper to get better.
You can prepare for weeks, or years, knowing this is something he eventually will need to get better and have a brighter, healthier future. You can read all you can about what is best. You can seek second opinions and know you are doing what you have to do.
But when that little boy is sick and in pain and the alarms go off in the middle of the night on his monitors, it's one of the hardest things to go through in your life.
All you can do is your best and leave the rest up to the Father, who does see it all and know what is best for real.
Violet

"The Dark Lord of the Sith never had to put away his underwear!"

Jake dressed up in his Halloween costume this morning. He was Darth Vader from helmet to gloves to shoes, running around the house, causing terror in the hearts of the household. lol
One of the goals he made for karate class was to help out with household chores, so I gave him some of his clothes to put away upstairs — underwear in the top drawer, socks in the same and pajamas in your pajama drawer.
He quickly exclaimed that he couldn't do it with his gloves and helmet on, took them off and proceeded to accept his skivvies.
At which point Daddy loudly exclaims, "Hello, the Dark Lord of the Sith never had to put away his underwear!"
The really funny part is Jake looked at me with hesitation in his eyes like I was going to buy that one. I laughed and he headed upstairs!
It's these little things that I love about my life with my men!

Violet

The photo is him on Halloween.
I still have to get some of his birthday party up, which was Oct. 30.
A fun time was had by all!

The little stuff you forget

our-leap-of-faith.blogspot.com/2008/10/gotcha

The link above is to our blog post the day we pulled Jake into our arms.
I had not revisited that in a while, and it is amazing how you never forget the important stuff, but there was a lot about that day I had not remembered. I am so glad we blogged, and I wish we would do it more now. Darn Facebook! lol Makes me wonder about the little stuff we are living now we will forget tomorrow. :(

violet

3 years already?

It was 3 years ago today that Jake was carried into our hotel room in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China, and into our lives.

It's hard to believe it's been 3 years. Sometimes it seems like it was yesterday, but most of the time it's hard to remember what life was like without him. He wasn't quite 2 years old then, now he's coming up on his 5th birthday. He's blossomed so much, especially in the last few months. We have been so blessed.

He can do it!

Jake's been working on this for a while, and suddenly he can do it!



Here's one a little longer:

Out with the old and in with the new

I absolutely loved the header I created for blog to the point where I resisted changing it for nearly three years.
But with the advent of Jake entering "Big Boy School" and the fact he's almost 5 years old, I figured the photo on the header of the not-quite-2-year-old reaching out to his new Mom or Dad in China needed to be updated.
All good things must come to an end, but I decided to post the header here so it could live on in his blog. The beauty of closing one door is finding the wonderful things in store behind the next.
Can't wait to explore them with my ever-growing, ever-learning and ever-wonderful son and husband.
Our family.
Violet

Old header – Jake a few weeks shy of 2 years old:

First day of school

Today was Jake's first day of "Big Boy School." He's been going to school at daycare for a couple of years, but this is the big jump into our local 4-year-old program.
It was a big day with speech session, school, karate, and he handled it all like a trooper and was excited. He said he likes his teacher and his new school.
Here are some photos from Day 1:

Jake posing by his new school sign. Don't worry, the bird is potty-trained (nice positioning Mommy!):


Daddy and the Little Man on their way:


One of Jake's task every day is to hang up his backpack under his name all by himself:


Because he was quiet and criss-cross he was one of two selected to participate in the Pirate station, the popular place to be:


He was a little shell-shocked just because of the newness. Teacher told him to sit on the rug, and when he did he sat on the "J." Violet asked if did that on purpose, and he looked at her like, Wha??!!:


Waiting for the bus!:


Jake got on the bus with Mommy for his first ride and proclaimed, "This is the best bus ride ever, Mommy," just before he smiled this heart-stealer!: