Big girl panties and a $30 diary

I guess when you are ready you are ready. Ready she was. She went 1 week with no accidents and off we went to Target to buy big girl panties and a toy of choice. A little bribery. She chose Sophia the First panties in a size 2T which I must say hang off her tiny hiney! :) Next, she has been talking about getting a diary she saw at Target one day with Sam and Jaida, as her potty training bribe present. I thought, wow! cute idea and a little educational too as she can practice writing her name in it. And I am thinking under $10 for sure... maybe even under 5 bucks! She knew exactly where the diary was as she led me straight back to the aisle containing the much anticipated diary. She shrieked with delight as she saw it!!!! I shrieked with fear as I saw it! 30 DOLLARS!!!!!! Oh my word!!! I even tried to gently suggest something else. NOPE!!!! She was delighted! We came home and installed the batteries so that this wonderful diary could sing its annoying lovely song....EACH time you turn the key!!! She carries it around with her and reluctantly lets her sister play with it momentarily. She is also quite proud of her panties and shows anyone who wants to see them!!!! Love this kid! So proud of you Lulu-bug!!

The diary, the expensive diary! :)

This 5th Child of Mine

Lulu. Oh my! If you have enough kids sooner or later, odds have it, you will have a child do something or not do something you swore you would never have a child do or not do. Lulu is this child. This tiny, and I mean tiny, little ball of "stuff" makes our family laugh and fills our hearts with joy! 3 of the other 4 children of mine potty trained with ease or relative ease. Xin, fortunately came to us at 4 over this hurdle. I took great pride in this accomplishment of potty training my kids easily. Silly me... pride is usually not a good thing! Lulu will be 4 in April. She is NOT POTTY TRAINED! Now, this is partly my fault as sporting events spread out across the state of Georgia, PSAT tests and Chemistry finals, spelling tests and AR reading tests have pushed potty training of the littlest Hatcher to the back burner. And she truly wasn't ready. I am not sure what or why this milestone was met with such resistance, but it was. She would go ballistic when we sat her on the potty. We even purchased a cute little potty in the shape of a frog we named Francine to help with this "fear" of hers. Not having ANY part of Francine either. So......I talked up the "big day" for weeks. I told her we were going to start working on going on the potty after Christmas when all the kids went back to school. I made her pinky promise with me to try her best. Side note here...she has one sweet little pinky on her right hand that she uses for this. The day arrived and lo and behold she went twice on the first day! Tuesday and Wednesday we were back to square 1 and Thursday she never had an accident! She even went twice during "school", co-op. Now, granted she would not let her teachers help her so I had to excuse myself from teaching art class to assist with this  matter, but hey, she was GOING ON THE POTTY!!!!!! She is quite proud of herself and gets upset when she realizes she has gone in her pull-ups and the pretty design has faded, gotta love the Huggies crew for thinking up the fading design thingy! Yesterday we were frantically trying to get everyone out the door on time to watch Julia's basketball game. I just knew I had to have her go then or I would miss my oldest child's game by spending time in the lovely girls' bathroom at school. The conversation that ensued went like this:

Me: "Lulu, do you have to go potty? Let's try to go potty before we leave."
Lulu: "No. I no have to go."
Me: "Are you sure?"
Lulu: "No"
Me: "Do you want to just try."
Lulu: "Well, ok, fine."
She proceeds to head to the bathroom then stops....
Lulu: "Wait I have to check my eemo (mirror) to see if I look good." She opens her little pink sparkly box with the mirror inside and "checks" herself.
Lulu: "Yep. I look good."
Me: laughs a little...because I mean who wouldn't chuckle at this?
Lulu: Cuts her eyes at me..."Don't laugh! I a superstar!" said very firmly!

Oh my. My little superstar. You keep me on my toes. You keep me humble. You add so much joy and spirit to our home. I can't imagine our lives without you....potty trained or not!

On a side note......I visited the school restroom several times during the game with no results but a very in depth conversation about the workings of the toilet paper dispenser and the sliding door lock that just fascinated her! Thank goodness Julia's team beat their opponents by 40 points! I WILL be getting a babysitter for future games :)

Francine...wouldn't she make you want to sit awhile?

Our holiday in pictures

Christmas Eve getting ready to read "The Night Before Christmas"

Waiting to "attack" the gifts that await unsuspectingly at the bottom of the stairs and just around the corner!

Time for stockings

Blazen loved his new rope....it was shredded 2 minutes later!

This makes me laugh.....this headband was Sam's gift to Lulu...she wore it for hours this way....with the big blue Cherokee tag still on and sticking up! I laughed every time she ran by me!

Opening gifts from Nana and Poppy who always come and have lunch with us Christmas Day.

She was cracking herself up here....and everyone else!

My sweet Jaida just gets prettier and prettier! She asked for her 2 front teeth for Christmas but Santa did NOT deliver!

The girls got hats from my parents.

We celebrated on the 26th with Will's family. Some fun cousin time. Two peas in a pod..Anna and Jaida!

All the cousins on a cold southern day!

Ringing in the New Year with our awesome neighbors! Food, fun and fireworks...and we didn't have to go anywhere!

Hope your holidays were wonderful, warm and cozy and spent with those who bless your lives!

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours........

Oh my sweet Lulu.......

Lulu is quite the character. And Lulu plays very well by herself...imaginary friends with dialogue and all. It is quite entertaining to listen to. Today as I was putting tonite's dinner in the crock pot she was playing with the Fisher Price Little People. We have the van and when a button is pushed in the baby seat a baby "cries". She pushed the button and said, "Mommy did you hear that? Did you hear that baby cry?" To which I replied, "I sure did. Poor baby." She then proceeds to tell me this:

"Mommy that baby cry cause she live in Beijing. She need a family. We need to get her cause we no have any babies. I a sister now not a baby and she need a sister. Mommy, we need go get her. She so sad she not have a family. I have a family right Mommy? Mommy, you hear her cry? We need go get her now! What she name Mommy? We so sad too cause we have to wait long time for her and we no have any baby now."

Oh my

To which I replied: "Yes, sweetheart you do have a family forever and ever and 2 sisters and 2 brothers and a Mommy and a Daddy. Do you like your family?"

Lulu: "All peoples need family or they so sad. She in Beijing and we need go get her Mommy! That baby need sisters and brothers and Mommy and Daddy. We need go get her or she be so sad. I be her sister and Sissy and Mei Mei too. And Gu Gu and Xin be the brothers and you be the Mommy and Daddy be she Daddy."

Oh my...what goes on in that precious little head of hers? Makes me teary and hurts my heart. How I wish I could give all the babies a family sweet Lulu! Sigh...............

The Holiday Season

It is that time of year! How can it be? Weren't we just in costumes knocking on doors begging for candy???? Thanksgiving came and went. My favorite holiday. It is just so simple. Eating, thankful hearts and people you love. What could be better than that? Then Christmas comes fast on the heels of that simple holiday with all it's glitz. I feel like we as Americans rush through that simple lovely holiday to get to the next...we even had stores open Thursday, Thanksgiving day, this year! REALLY???? Weren't we supposed to be giving thanks for what we have instead of out shopping for more of what we really don't need? I tried hard to hold on to that 4 day weekend but alas with Thanksgiving being so late this year, I had to jump right into the hoopla. And I wasn't really in "the mood" if you want to know the truth. I drug all the boxes and bags out of the attic Saturday and began the decorating while removing any traces of fall decor still up. I was hoping that getting our favorite things up would lighten my mood. I just wasn't ready to dive in full force to all the Christmas "stuff" we have on our list. I was still eating turkey and gravy leftovers for crying out loud! I managed to get it all up. Then Sunday we rushed out to get a tree and decorate it as a family as it was THE ONLY DAY we all had together over the next few weeks....crazy!

So now my house is adorned in all its Christmas finery. We have begun our traditions..the candy countdown chain, the advent calendar, Coco the elf has returned, the lights are twinkling, the candles are lit and the house smells wonderful, we are reading all of our favorite Christmas stories, the shopping is in full force, the parties, the events, and yes, the sports that stop for nothing. I do feel more festive. And I do like the way it looks and makes me feel when it is all up.I love looking at the "stuff" and all the memories it brings to mind. But I truly long for simplicity. Stillness. Reflection on the meaning of this great day. More family time, less distraction. I know I sound like a scrooge. But life is so chaotic and busy through out the year. Why do we add more to that during this time? Why don't we slow down and enjoy the simple pleasures? Sometimes I wish I were Laura Ingalls. Now that was a simple Christmas!

We had Thanksgiving at my brother's house this year in Atlanta

My Family

Our Thankful Tree Nov 1st

And our Thankful Tree at the end of the month! LOVE this tradition and each year I remove it all and put them in a bag labeled with the year. Maybe one day someone will go back and read them and reminisce and feel very blessed!

On to the next set of decorations......

 All my little elves

Lulu's unique style of decorating..."the clump"

All my "gifts"...crazy bunch that makes my heart smile!

Celebrating Life and a Red Thread

November 7th our sweet little Charlotte celebrated her 1st birthday! This precious child has had quite the life so far. She was given up at 6 months of age. No doubt her family felt they could not give her the much needed heart surgery she had to have to survive. So they left her at the orphanage. Maybe they thought the orphanage could help. I can't even imagine having that sweet baby in my arms for 6 months and then leaving her "in hopes" she might get surgery and might live. I pass no judgement here. I will never truly know the real "whys" of her story  but I do know God impressed upon my heart to fight for her, to be her voice, to give her a chance at life. I truly felt I owed it to her and her birth mother. Enter the Red Thread....there is a Chinese proverb that states:

 An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle but will never break.

So "our Red Thread" began when we decided to adopt again, God led us to Lulu at Chenzhou CWI, through Lulu we met the Team Chenzhou gang, through that we fell in love with this group and this orphanage, we then decided to go on a mission trip with them to Chenzhou, while there little Charlotte had been left just weeks before our arrival, Julia fell in love with her, another amazing team member, Megan, already had some "fight" in her and wanted to get help for "her baby" Sarah, Megan contacted some friends, said friends made some calls, God moved mountains, Charlotte and Sarah were sent to New Hope in Beijing for some much needed care and surgery, Charlotte had emergency heart surgery and is recovering and doing very well according to the doctor!

So we couldn't let this momentous occasion of turning 1 go by. I contacted New Hope and asked if we could send a birthday party. They said that they usually have 1 party a month for all the kids celebrating their birthdays in that month and they were due for one! So we got to help with this special day and they sent pictures for us to see.

 What a FABULOUS place! Praise be to God these girls are there! As I looked at Charlotte's non-blue face, tears welled up in my eyes. I don't know what the future holds for this beautiful child but she has a future now. The orphanage told us she had a " very bad heart" and it couldn't be repaired. They did the best they could for her but they had no hope. She would have died had she stayed there. But God had different plans for this child. He saw hope! My verse for the mission trip was Jer 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I had know idea just how appropriate this would be....but He did!

I pray daily for Charlotte. I pray she heals. I pray she gets a family. I do ask God if we are to pursue her...I haven't heard yet on that :) Wherever she ends up will be the perfect place for her because He has written her story and He has connected the Red Threads that make up her life. Happy 1st Birthday sweet Charlotte! We love you!

Our Charlotte

Sarah who celebrated her birthday a few weeks ago! She has made AMAZING progress!!!!

Their cake

They even had goody bags!!!

They had dress up play and face painting, parachute play and this tunnel too!! I love this place! And the staff seems amazing too! They seem to love their jobs and the kids. So thankful there are people and places like this!