Late to school for the first time

In the last post, I shared that Caleb spilled his milk right when we were about to leave for school.  He deliberately disobey me and kept on going. So when he spilled, I felt like God was keeping me calm and giving me a teachable moment. I must cease it and take advantage of it. I need to teach him that there are consequences to his action. He chose to disobey and kept moving, so he made a mess, which causes him to be late for school. I know this is God because I am usually a mad woman/drill sergeant in the morning trying to get the kids fed and to school. I had Joshie change himself. I gave Caleb a roll of paper towel and had him clean the spill. It took him 15 mins, which made him late to school for the first time. After that, he gathered his things in the speed of light and dash for school. He had to get a tardy slip at the office before going to class. He usually looks forward to playing before the bell rings, but he didn't get to do that.  I hope he learned his lesson, but most likely it will take many more times for him to learn that there are consequences to his action.  I realized that when I am focused on teaching him and taking advantage of a teachable moment, then I am less angry at the action itself.

What would you do?

What a tough morning I had!  This is usually our morning routine to get the kids out the door and to school on time. 

6:50 am  Set out breakfast and get dress
7:00        Caleb and Joshie get up to dress and brush teeth
7:15        Feed Mui-mui milk
7:25        Help Joshie brush teeth
7:30        Boys eat breakfast and I change mui-mui's diaper
7:40        Pack lunch for everyone
7:55        Must leave the house to be on time to Caleb's school

As you can see, not much time to waste in the morning.  I don't have time to eat breakfast myself or feed mui-mui until after I drop the boys off.  25 mins for breakfast is short since they eat slow.  But that's the way things are in the morning.  The kids can't get up earlier than 7 am because they are tired.  But any later, they will be late for school.  Today, Caleb and Joshie fooled around at breakfast.  They didn't eat much and was being silly.  Moving around and laughing.  I told them to stop and warned them that they will spill their food.  At 7:55 am, when it's time to leave, Caleb spilled his entire cup of milk and got Joshie wet and it was all over the floor.  Of course I was upset.  I am curious, what would you do at this point? 

Blood work

Today Hebron brought Karissa to get her blood drawn.  This is the second attempt.  The first time the person at Quest Diagnostic lab in CV poked her three times and can't draw any blood.  I didn't want to go back to the same people, so we search around for a place that is more experienced with babies.  So finally went to Quest in San Ramon.  After poking her many times, they were able to draw blood.  Her right arm is literally filled with numerous red dots resulting from the lab work.  They took 5 tubes.  That is a lot for a baby.  Praise the Lord, that the ordeal is over and that Hebron took her.  I am not strong enough to go through it.  The doctor is testing her for AIDS, Syphilis, Hepatitus, lead, immunization, and a whole bunch of other things.  Please pray that the results will show that she is healthy.  After blood work, we have to take her to a pediatric cardiologist at Children's Hospital to check the condition of her heart.  She was diagnosed with Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), basically a hole in her heart.  The pediatrician said that her heart sounds fine and she didn't hear anything unusual. 

While Hebron is pinning Mui-mui down at the lab, I was at work.  This is my second week back.  Work is busy and hectic as my tax busy season is in full swing.  Hebron is on Paid Family Leave during the three days that I am at work.  We are so thankful to our friends and church friends that brought us food and will be bringing us food.  Since I am busy at work, Hebron is suppose to be a stay-at-home dad to take care of the kids, cook, and clean.  So he is very releaved that he is getting help with prepared food.  We have friends who can really cook.  So far meals have been lasagna, chicken pot pie, pasta with chicken, and baked chicken with sweet glaze.  Of course there were desserts such as banana muffins, brownies, and cookies.  Hmmmmm, everything was so delicious.  The kids loved it.  I even fed some pasta to Karissa and she swallowed it whole and wanted more.  We even had leftover so the kids can bring lunches to school.  They ate it all up at lunch too.  I should learn to be a better cook like my friends.  Thank you so much for your kindness to us.  If you need anything, please let us know.  We would jump for the opportunity to be a blessing to you and extend a helping hand.

Older Child

When we went to pick up Karissa in Yunnan province, it was just us and one other family: Brent & Kim. We spent a whole week with them doing many activities together: paperwork, meals, visit to the orphanage, excursions, etc.

After that week, when we went to Guangzhou, where we met up with 16 other families from the same adoption agency that we went through. It was great meeting up with so many families who were on the same life-changing trip as we were. There were a few families and stories that became very memorable for us.

One story is with Todd & Kristine (picture above). They have two biological girls and they are adopting five year Molly from Guizhou province. After they were matched but before they went to China to pick Molly up, they made a photo book for her with pictures of themselves as well as their two girls. On the day that they went to pick her up, Molly walked up happily to Todd, gave him a kiss, and called him, "Papa." Then she walked up to Kristine, gave her a kiss, and called her, "Momma." She was holding the photo book that they sent her. It was very worn by then, because she has been carrying it around with her at the orphanage, showing the pictures to everyone. Molly is such a sweet little girl with a very contagious smile. This little girl caused us to think for the first time that maybe one day, just maybe, God may want us to adopt an older child. It was just a thought, but seeing a precious girl who wanted to be loved and adopted so much just completely melted our hearts. Maybe... just maybe...

Sleeping in her own room

This is Karissa's room.  It's painted but not decorated.  She is able to sleep through the night, so we moved her into her own room last Friday.  Hebron slept in there for a few nights and she seemed fine.  So now she is sleeping by herself.  Everyone is sleeping better now with this arrangement. 

Her first time in a dress and Hebron's first time putting on a stocking for a girl.

The boys love feeding Mui-mui cheerios.  She loves it.

Almost back to normal

This week, the boys are back to school and Hebron is back to work. Karissa is over her jet lag and can sleep at night, though sometimes she still wakes up crying. Because Caleb has to be at school by 8 am, all the kids wake up by 7 am. This helps establish a routine for Mui-mui. This is her daily schedule now.

7:00 – Milk
9:00 – Breakfast
9:30 – Morning Nap
11:00 – Milk and/or snack
1:00 – Lunch
3:00 – Early Afternoon Nap
4:30 – Milk and snack
6:30 – Dinner
7:30 – Begin bedtime routine
8:30 – Milk and Bedtime

Mui-mui is eating, drinking, and sleeping much better now. She drinks about 24 oz of milk, eats three bowls of jook, eats some snacks, and drinks juice daily. This is how she eats in China. I am so glad she is eating the same way.

Hebron and I can get at least 6 hours of sleep. I feel like I am beginning to have more energy to tackle daily activities, except I still don’t feel like cooking. Life is almost getting back to normal. Thank you Lord for carrying us through our transition! Thank you for your prayers.

I brought mui mui to run errands and got her the head band.