Yep...a little behind

Ok so I am not good at keeping up on posting.  Sorry but I am grateful to all of you who keep coming back to check on us!  Caleb is doing AMAZING and the kids are just loving him to pieces.  Nathan tells me at least once a day.....mom I'm so glad Caleb is home, aren't you???  How darn cute and sweet is that.

He and Ana are both potty training right now.  So how is that going you ask???  Well most days we are doing great!  They both stay dry and go each time I put them on.  Caleb is not yet telling me when he has to go but he always holds it until I put him which is about every 3 hrs.  So that is a huge success in my books.  Ana is finally telling me when she has to go which if we could just get it to be....Hey mom I need to go pee......instead of.......uh uh uh (cry) MOMMY (cry and deer in the headlights look).....well then I will say complete success with her too ;-)  I guess I should just be happy she doesn't do that after she pees.  Now the poop is a different story...sorry if this is too much info.....Ana HATES to go so it is usually a melt down with her looking at the poop backing away and screaming "icky!!!!".  Caleb has a different method.  He has decided to just hold it and go when he gets a diaper at night or nap time or go everytime he gets a bath.....seriously and it still freaks me out and I scream.  I think I scare him more then anything...lol.

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Today we had his first dentist appt.  I am so bummed that I didn't get a picture but he did so well.  They said his teeth look wonderful and just did a little polishing and a flouride treatment and we were done!  He thought it was so funny to swing his feet up and try to kick the hygentist.  It was one of those moments as a mom that you knew you should stop it but it was so funny you are trying not to laugh.  I did stop him for all those wondering ;-)

I'll leave you guys with some fun pictures!!!!

The kids were playing dress up and Caleb put this on and came over to show me..so funny



Love it.

So I need to just let you guys in on a secret.  If you have an iPad and small kids this is a must have!!!

It is a protector for the iPad and is easier to hold on to it and not drop it.  Last week at gymnastics I saw a lady with one.  When I asked her about it she said she was a teacher and her school district bought these.  She told me that when the guy came in to demo it he tossed it on the ground to show it works well when Ben got home he had to test it out.  He dropped it on the kitchen floor and it just bounced!!  Love this thing!  I was always worried that someone was going to break it and now problem solved :-)  We found it on amazon.com for $30 or $35.  It is the Big Grip iPad protector.

And then look who is out of a crib!  She loves it :-)

1st Easter!

We have a tradition of heading down to my sister's in St. Louis every Easter.  I LOVE it.  It is always better weather and a nice break from our long cold winters.  Although this year has been amazing weather and I can't complain it was still wonderful to get down there and spend time with family.  All the kids did such a good job on the 8 hr drive.  We hooked up the DVD players and handed back to Nathan and Katie the iPad and all was well.  I do keep begging Ben to let me drive one of these times.  Even though the kids do well I had to act like a pretzel more times then I care to count to try and pick something up they dropped or find that silly nuk that Ana will not give up or pass back a drink....well you get it.  We also decided that we definitely need a storage carrier on the top of the van.  Our stuff was so packed in that if you did drop anything good luck finding it!  My goal before our next travel is to make some type of holders to put on the back of the seats.  That way each kid can put the necessities in it and we can find things easier.  At least that is my plan :-)

Back to the weekend!

We always head to the zoo for a day.  It wonderful and fun and the best of all is it is free!!  During the day my sister, mom and I headed over to The Sports Authority to help out the easter bunny and shop for some goodies.  While there I saw a stroller that I love!  I told my mom that is exactly what I need.  Right now I have a sit and stand but Ana will not stand in back and sitting she feels the need to continually bother Caleb and it is very hard to push on walks.  My mom had saved some money for our trip to China that we did not need to use so she offered to use it for that!!!  How awesome!  Joni then also had a 25% off coupon which we used so it worked out great.  We used it at the zoo and I tell you I am so darn happy that we got it. I also already used it at home to walk the kids to the library and it was perfect!!

Saturday we celebrated Easter.  The kids woke up and searched for their baskets.  The silly easter bunny hid Katie's in the exact same spot as last year so it took about 30 sec to find her's...lol.

Yep that is Caleb puking at the end....starting to question reflux because he does this often!

I just realized I have no pictures only video.....I failed at capturing this Easter morning in pictures :-(

Wait found some picture!!!

After an awesome lunch/dinner we headed outside for an Easter egg hunt.  It was so fun to see the kids running around trying to find them.  I absolutely love the age they are at.  Caleb was not too sure of everything and needed to be coaxed into picking them up but he still had fun.

So I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to get a good picture of all of them so I just picked one that at least one of them was looking and had a nice smile :-)

Sunday we celebrated Ana's birthday since Auntie JoJo and Uncle Brett can't make it up this weekend.  Joni's friend just started her own business out of her home making these cakes on a stick.  Ana loves Minnie Mouse and the cakes turned out so darn cute.  Best of all is they are the BEST cakes I have ever tasted.  They are so moist and remind me of oreo balls but chocolate or vanilla.  Yummy!!!

It was a wonderful, amazing weekend and to be able to celebrate with family always makes it that much more special!

Giving Back....

I have gone over this post so many times in the last 2 days.  Nothing seems to explain how I feel.  Nothing seems to say thank you enough.  Nothing seems to explain the need.

I know I have said it before but I need to say it again.  Caleb is doing amazing.  Is has no stimming.  He does not have any poor chooses in self soothing.  He LOVES to be held and cuddled.  He comes to initiate hugs or will walk up and smile and then plant a big old kiss on you followed by a hug.  He laughs.  He plays with toys.  He has no issues with food texture.  This doesn't happen with a child who is left in a crib 22-23 hrs a day. 

This is what you get when a child is loved, held and interacted with.  Unfortunately only a few out of hundreds are blessed enough to be raised in foster homes in Ch*na.  These foster homes are saving lives everyday.  They are not only getting children the food, clothes and surgeries they need for their physical growth but they are feeding the souls.  They love those children.  They feed so much more then just their physical hunger.  They give them the drive to live when they are so frail that they want to give up.  They give others the reason to smile when they wake up to sun shining in a bedroom.  They are plain and simple saving one child at a time.

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”  (mother Teresa)
 
“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” (mother Teresa)
 
“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”   (mother Teresa)

So where am I going with this you ask????  Well Caleb's first foster home was Swallow's Nest.  He went there after he was found abandoned instead of the city's orphanage.  I can say that if Swallow's Nest was not there or if they did not have room to take him, there is a great chance that he may not be running around our house right now.  I have heard stories of his orphanage.  I have read things that no mom should ever have to read about how her child might be treated.  I know that the orphanage he would have been placed in is very poor and as one mom put it before I knew he was in foster care.....

" I have adopted 2 children out of that orphanage.  I have nothing good to say about it except please do your paperwork as fast as you can and get that little boy out of there!!!"

So to say he was blessed to not have to enter that place until 2 weeks before we came is an understatement.   Pam and Clay Williams started Swallow's Nest and continue to run it.  At this time they have 5 homes for the children they foster and 30 kids within the different homes.  These homes are COMPLETELY run from donations and Pam's salary as a professor.  Did you catch that????  Unlike the US foster homes, in Ch*na they get no help from the gov't or the orphanage that the child came from.  Pam worked as a professor to help pay the caregiver's salary.  What an amazing act of love for these children to work for them.  Not to buy the next gadget or item of clothes or save for their own wants.  She worked for these children.

Recently Pam had to return to the US to help a family member and in doing this had to resign her position, which means they no longer have the extra income to pay the caregivers.  They have started a program called, adopt a nanny.  By giving each month you are keeping those consistent, gentle, loving caregivers with the children who know and adore them.  By giving you are allowing those 5 homes to stay open and not close.  By giving you are keeping those 30 children is a safe haven until their families can find them and get them truly home!

So today I am asking you to please dig deep and see if you can give up $25 or more a month.  What is our goal???  36 people at $25 a month.   Really that is all they need!  I know I have more then 36 people who read this.  I know that to some $25 is a stretch.  Again please dig deep.  You would be helping me give back to a family who gave so selflessly to keep our son safe until we got there.  You would be giving a child another day without the fear of having no food or the fear of what person will walk through those doors and be in charge of me today..... will they be nice or will I wish that night will come soon??

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”(mother Teresa)  

“It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” (mother Teresa)

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” (mother Teresa)

Please don't wait.  Please go now and give.  Please spread the info.  Would your bible study group sponsor a nanny together?  Would your family of aunts, grandparents, cousins be willing to each give something to help?  How about your daughter's girl scout group?  Or you and some of your life long friends?  Maybe those 2 friends at work you sit with each lunch?  No one can give unless they know the need. 



"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' (NIV Matthew 25:40)

36 people that is all......36......could you sacrifice the $25/month to help these children.  If the answer is yes go to http://www.swallowsnestzz.org/nannies/nannies.php and learn more!  Any questions at all please email myself of Pam of Swallow's Nest at swallowsnestzz AT gmail DOT com