Thanks, Dave!

"Your priorities, passions, goals, and fears are shown clearly

in the flow of your money"-Dave Ramsey




I have never been a huge fan of Dave Ramsey.

Basically, because he tells me that I shouldn't spend money when I want to and that I "should SAVE for the things that are important".


"No credit cards"....Seriously..are you kidding me?


I was more excited about my first credit card than I was for my first bra, kiss, car....you name it..

NOOOOO COMPARISON.

Remember that first piece of plastic like it was yesterday-
Have no idea about that "first kiss" thing.

Recently, my Uber-Fine Husband suggested that if we were going to bring home 2 children this go round(which will be or LAST, btw) we had to curb our spending...OK.....make that my spending and put back enough to cover our expenses - so that we will not owe Americ*n Expr*ss a kidney when we get home.

My Question , at this point, was "Whose Kidney are we talking about? Yours or Mine?"...
Cause I have read that men can lead perfectly normal lives with one kidney... Not a problem.

Then he started spouting off phrases like " Fewer AMAZON deliveries" , "Less Thai Take-Out & Drive Thru" , " No -THE CHILDREN'S PLACE- Buy TWO get ONE FREE sales" and "FLY COACH".

In a huff to prove that these expenses were not a "major" drain on our finances, I broke out the credit card statement.

Apparently ,Stacy had called Americ*n Expr*ss ahead of time and had them pad the bill , because there were NUMEROUS charges from these places that added up to quite a hefty sum.

I was in shock. Honestly in shock. I am so caught up in the day to day rituals of RUNNING a large family that I have no idea what it COSTS to feed, clothe,transport, and house a large family.
That falls under the heading of "MAN BUSINESS" at my house...My Job is to....well...everything else that IS NOT Man Stuff.

My husband has been so gracious over the years.
Not that I am extravagant , by any means, but when we have made these adoption trips(3, so far) he has written out checks, made reservations, paid room service bills,China Hospital Bills, purchased pricey tickets so that I could get at least ONE good nights sleep on the plane, let me spend whatever I wanted on souvenirs for the kids at home( and the babies in their home province) and has NEVER once called me down...Not One Single Time.

The mere thought of it brings me to tears. Not a single word.... Just a smile.

When I woke up today,I was determined to do what I could to make things easier( 2 adoptions are around 40 grand..I think...am I close Connie?).
As I was reading from one of my favorite books,100 Verses Every Mom Needs to Know, I came across Dave Ramsey's quote(above).

Suddenly, I had a new respect for the man.

He is CORRECT- 100%.

Where are my PRIORITIES?

Are they in China with a Baby who needs a Mama or are they at the Best Buy- 1/2 off Blu-Ray sale?

Matthew 6:24 says " You cannot be slaves of God and of Money".

So I have decided to be a slave of "the image of a little one peering out from the bars of an orphanage crib"..maybe two little ones.... What ever God has in store.

We will see.

In the meantime, I have to go and cancel some Amazon orders............ Sucks....But I'm doin' it. :)

And The Academy Award Goes To......

So tonight , as we listened to one long drawn-out acceptance
speech after another(yes we ALL watched the OSCARS)
we all wondered what our own speech would sound like.

" Oh My Goodness! I am so excited right now!
O.K...This trophy is GREAT but I just ran up and licked Johnny Depp backstage and I have to tell ya...He is just as yummy as I imagined.

I'd like to thank God for everything that I have,
My husband for loving me,
My children for keeping me humble,
My Mother and Father for choosing attractive people to marry ,
SlimFast and Spanx for helping me get into this dress,
Nails R US for these custom claws,
Sandra Bullock for donating this dress to charity so that i could purchase it on Ebay,
My hair dresser for covering the skunk stripe handed down by my grandmother,
My makeup artist, Ramone' , for using the "brightening makeup" ..Hello makeup..Bye-Bye Wrinkles,
the young man at "stage left" who helped me up the stairs in these shoes,
John Malcovich and Robert Downey Jr. for letting me sit between them tonight,
the Academy for voting for me,
and last but not least...Meryl Streep- for not doing a movie this year....
'cause if she had..everyone would have voted for her.

Thank You and God Bless "


Of course you'll never hear one of those... :)

BLOOMING..............

right before our eyes.


Gone is the shy little one who was content to
stand behind the curtain and watch the show.



She has decided that she is ready to be SEEN & HEARD.

We are loving every minute of it!


Look Out World!

Mary Elizabeth has arrived!

Just for my records- We have a daughter from Nanchang

Government sign in Nanchang:
"For a prosperous, powerful nation and a happy family, please use birth planning."


The one-child policy (simplified Chinese: 计划生育政策; traditional Chinese: 計劃生育政策; pinyin: jìhuà shēngyù zhèngcè; literally "policy of birth planning") refers to the one-child limitation on most families in the population control policy of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
The Chinese government refers to it under the official translation of family planning policy.
[1] It officially restricts the number of children married urban couples can have to one, although it allows exemptions for several cases, including rural couples, ethnic minorities, and parents without any siblings themselves.
[2] A spokesperson of the Committee on the One-Child Policy has said that approximately 35.9% of China's population is currently subject to the one-child restriction.
[3] The Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau are completely exempted from the policy.
The policy was introduced in 1978 and initially applied to first-born children in the year of 1979. It was created by the Chinese government to alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems in China,[4] and authorities claim that the policy has prevented between 250 and 300 million births from its implementation until 2000,[2] and 400 million births from 1979 to 2010. The policy is controversial both within and outside China because of the manner in which the policy has been implemented, and because of concerns about negative social consequences.
[5] The policy has been implicated in an increase in forced abortions,[6] female infanticide, and underreporting[7] of female births, and has been suggested as a possible cause behind China's gender imbalance.
Nonetheless, a 2008 survey undertaken by the Pew Research Center reported that 76% of the Chinese population supports the policy.[8]
The policy is enforced at the provincial level through fines that are imposed based on the income of the family and other factors. Population and Family Planning Commissions (Chinese: 计划生育委员会) exist at every level of government to raise awareness about the issue and carry out registration and inspection work. Despite this policy, there are still many citizens that continue to have more than one child.[9]
In 2008, China's National Population and Family Planning Commission said that the policy will remain in place for at least another decade.
[10] In 2010, it was announced that the majority of the citizens first subject to the policy are no longer of reproductive age and it has been speculated that many citizens simply disregard or violate the policy in more recent years. Still, the deputy director of the Commission stated that the policy would remain unaltered until at least 2015.[11]

Couldn't YOU give me something else to do?

"I just do not think YOU have the right girl."

This is what I was thinking yesterday...oh let's say around 9 a.m.

Adam's oral surgery was scheduled for 6 a.m. at UMC- Jackson.

No problem, Jackson is an hour and a half away..we get up at 3, dress Adam and Rebekah- leave by 4- get there at 5:30 and have 30 minutes to spare.
Caleb keeps the older kids for the day and we are all good.
Perfect Plan..unless your husband hears the alarm , turns it off, goes back to sleep and wakes up again at 5:15 a.m...then , not so much.

Stacy calls U*M*C- they say "come on anyway and we'll work him in"...One of the perks of being "Dr. ?" when you have to make such calls.

We wake the kids, get loaded up, and we are off.

We get to U*M*C and I drop off Stacy and Adam.
Rebekah and I are hungry and I have not had coffee, so we leave them to get checked in .

Rebekah is crying and angry(so I think) because she cannot get out with Adam.
I listen to her wail for about 3 blocks ,until we pull into the Crack*r Barr*ll parking lot.

I turn off the car and turn to look at Rebekah.
"We are here", I say..right before Rebekah does her best EX0RCIST impression and proceeds to throw up all over the backseat, the floor, her car seat, and herself- before I can get out and get around to the back of the car to get to her.

We were in such a rush this morning that I had neglected to pack extra clothes for her and she was soaked and smelled pretty dang rank......I might add.

I took a box of wipes , took off all of her clothes and her NOW nasty shoes, and wiped her down from head to toe.

I take of my zipped hoodie and wrap her in it, cover her head with the hood, and go into Crack*r Barr*ll- where the welcome was " Good Morning! Welcome to..Oh My Goodness What Happened?"

As I explained the events of the last ten minutes, the employee helped us find a cute little outfit in a size 3 for our little wet ,smelly, princess.

We go to the bathroom and I clean Rebekah off( a little more) and dress her.

Rebekah was still saying that she was hungry , so we asked for a table.
My breakfast(and coffee, PTL) came and Rebekah took my plate (hers didn't look as good)and cleaned it off.

While she was eating, I called my husband and told him what was going on.
We agreed that I would go to Target, buy Rebekah some warmer clothes(Crack*r Barr*ll had only the spring clothes available),some shoes,something to clean the car seats and carpet with , some Febreeze, gas up, buy him some breakfast, and come to the hospital.
Adam should be in surgery by then and we could wait together.

So I do all of the above.
Car now smells like vomit and Febreeze... Nasty!..but It Looks Good.
Rebekah smells Good(thank you , Huggi*s Wipes) and Looks Good.
Car is gassed up and I have food for Stacy-so we are good.

I get back to the hospital and Adam has been in surgery for an hour...then 2 hours...then 2 and a half hours.

Rebekah is ill because she isn't at home and still feels pretty lousy.
Stacy is working hard to keep her occupied so that the other people in the waiting room will give us a break and NOT call security.

Finally ,the surgeon comes out to explain the hold up.
Adam has a very small mouth and his teeth are very tight.
They are dark and weak from the meds before his heart surgery and probably after his heart surgery..but even with that..he only had 5 cavities.
They capped his back teeth so that he doesn't have to go through this again and his front teeth had caps placed on the back to take care of the cavity between them and to make them stronger until they fall out...WHEW!
A lot of work for such a little man.

After the morphine started to wear off..Adam made it clear to the nurses that he was not happy- so they came to find me.
His face was swollen from the trauma, his jaw was swollen from the spacers, his lips were covered with blood and cracked, but he smiled as much as he could.

I sat there rocking him thinking about the days trials and I thought to myself "God...Really?
You have really put it on our hearts to bring home more children?!?! I am getting old, and I am getting tired,and these two aren't even potty trained yet, and we just got the last two adoptions paid off- with interest(thanks Ameri*n Expr*ss)bringing home two at a time will double what we spent last time, 2 more weeks away from our 7 other children..are you sure this is what you want us to do?"
I listened....
The only thing I heard was Adam's monitors beeping and a few other children crying in Post-op.

We move to a room and Adam comes around, has no problems, we are discharged ,and we are on our way home.

We stop at a drive-thru for a bite and as we are pulling out of BackY*ard Burg*ers, I look at Stacy and say"What a day, huh?"
Stacy laughs and says, "WooHoo!", smiles and kisses my hand. Totally un-phased.

On the drive back I think about our next adoption: the pros, the cons, the ins, the outs, the highs , and the lows.
I decide that I really need a sign...
It doesn't have to be a BILLBOARD..a small one will do...just something so that I will know that this is still what God has planned for our family and that we aren't screwing up BIG TIME.

A few hours later, we are pulling in the drive and Stacy stops to check the mail.
There is a bright mint green letter from Immigration.

"This is to inform you that you have been received , processed, and forwarded to......"

It was our I800 confirmation receipt letter.
It was in our mailbox 9 days after they received our application...2 of those days was a weekend

Anyone who knows the inner workings of our Immigration System will tell you that THIS IS A SIGN.............

Now instead of feeling anxious, I feel relieved.....and still a little old.

RACHEL QUOTE OF THE DAY

While walking through Disney World ( holding the hand of Hannah's friend , Morgan)-
Rachel offered Morgan this piece of advice-
" YOU BETTER NOT LOOSE ME
- I'M EXPENSIVE."

Day 5 Magic Kingdom

The boys saw this before we turned into the park.
Cool, Huh?



"The Happiest Place on Earth"



The Crew.




Main Street .
I love Main Street.
It makes me wish streets still looked like that....can you imagine?
I would have loved to have a "Drug Store Soda Shop" growing up.




We found a spot with a good view and had a little lunch.



As you can see, It was hard to get the little ones to concentrate
on the task at hand.

There isn't a grilled cheese sandwich big enough that can compete with
Captain Hook and a Dancing Princess.



Look how precious.
You can't look at this and tell that she is telling me "NO!"
because she got in trouble for throwing her juice box over the ledge.



Adam just saw Captain Hook!



Feeding time at the zoo!


Me and Ray Ray



"Goofy" runs DEEP in this family.
It is obvious from this picture who holds THAT gene....I'm just sayin'.
Sad part is..the boys makin' a face and he's still FINE.
MEN...



ADAM HAS SEEN THE BUZZ LIGHTYEAR RIDE
and NOW he's looking at STITCH and GOOFY!
SENSORY OVER-LOAD!


GOOFY in a Flight Suit.



Way past bedtime and still kickin'!



She's not growling..she's actually saying cheese.



FIREWORKS!



BEAUTIFUL, BRIGHT



COLORFUL and LOUD!

Adam and Caleb watching the parade.

Mary and Ben plug their ears during the fireworks.

If you have ever wondered if it is possible to eat a turkey leg, watch fireworks, and cover our ears at the same time... the answer is "yes"!

Where there is a will..........

AS you can plainly see, Colton and Hannah are more interested in the

Turkey Legs than in the Fireworks.

Prince Charming for RACHEL.

Colton enjoying the parade.

OK not REALLY enjoying it..but I told him to look like it while I took a picture.

It works. :)

This was the last shot of the evening-

Evidence of a day "well played".

DAY 4 EPCOT

The gangs all here!


Rachel and Mary spent yesterday with the little kids at the villa
so EPCOT was all about them.



Chip & Dale LOVE pigtails and RACHEL!



Rachel and Mary love trading pins and ICE CREAM!


MULAN in CHINA


SNOW WHITE in GERMANY


BELLE in FRANCE

MORGAN in MOUSEWORKS

CADE in MOUSEWORKS

Ben channels his Inner Captain Hook!

The Giant Golf Ball

During the day the kids were amazed to find that the Uber Famous and Fabulous

CASEY KEY was also at EPCOT.

Casey took a few seconds off from signing autographs and

allowed the boys to get a picture.

Mr. Key loves EPCOT.

7 Grammy Awards and 3 Oscars hasn't changed the fact that

Casey is REAL.

Here he is sharing lunch with his Number 1 Fan, Rachel.

Here they are giving the "Unicorn Club" Sign-

made famous by Caseys latest movie, RETURN TO UNICORN VALLEY-

While the big kids text all of their friends to tell them

WHO they have seen and what a great time they are having.