Signs of Spring

The Tooth Fairy stops by at last.....

Last Sunday, Emma lost her first tooth. She will be 8 in July so she is the last one in her class to do so. The tooth fairy promises to leave singles next time and also to remember to take the tooth. (DARN! How could she have forgotten that!)

Emma's Scores from State

I am so behind on my posts. Sorry.



Emma got 3rd place on Vault with her best score of the year a 9.45. Both of her team mates are on the podium with her. Delaney in 4th place and Francis in 1st. Way to go girls.

Beam: 8.65, Bars: 8.85 and Floor 8.55. All around: 35.5. These are all her best scores of the season. She is now a level five gymnast and very proud of it.

Level Four State Meet

More later but let's just say that it was great today!

I am such a tease. :)

Sunny Day Pictures

We have waited a long time for these photos. Our fall was not great so it has really been since October since we have been outside to play. A great time was had by all and a good sleep that night. Yeah!

Happy 5th Birthday Evan

Evan turned five on Monday. I can hardly believe it. Evan has been working hard in his therapies and is really making great strides. I couldn't have done it without your prayers and Maude, his music therapist. She has really been a great advocate for Evan and praises every success.

Happy Birthday precious boy.

Do you just love the dinosaur party in the background? We had just brought up the crate from the basement and he was in dinosaur heaven.

Happy New Year! Year of the Tiger.

Have a growling good year. :)

Gotcha! Three years ago today.....

We were as scared as Evan on this first night.


Somewhere in all that winter wear is Evan. He loves going to the zoo.



Even with all of the challenges that Evan has brought in to our lives we couldn't love him more. Happy Gotcha Day Evan. We Love You!

We're going to STATE!

We're going to State!!! Emma's meet was wonderful. I am so proud of her!!! Here are her scores. Vault - 9.225 (got 4th place), Bars - 7.950, Beam - 8.30 (got 4th place) and Floor - 8.050. She finished 7th overall in the all-around. These are the best scores on every event. Yeah Emma!

No! No! No! No! more times than I can type

Evan just said no to me with the touch cue about 30 times. That's how long his silly Mommy took to figure out what he wanted. Who would ever believe you would be so happy to hear those words. Please pray that Evan's progress will continue that this rate for a while longer if not forever.

Blowing Bubbles

Yeah! Evan was able to blow bubbles tonight with his music therapist. They played like that for a half an hour. I am so proud of him. Sucking is the next task he needs to learn. I promise next week I will post about Emma's meet.

Sue

The whistle blower

We have a big moment to celebrate at our house. Evan can now blow a whistle. Yeah Evan!!! Now we will be working on getting him to suck and then the skies the limit.

Sue

It could be worse. It is in Quebec.

Good News at Shriner's

Yesterday Evan had an appointment at Shriner's to have his ears checked. He had surgery last month and it didn't go well. He had one severely ruptured ear drum and a tube placed in the other but there were concerns because there was so much scar tissue.

BUT, Evan could hear!!! He heard more than he has ever heard before. There is still a range that he is not hearing in but speech should be heard in all but the loudest places. Yeah Evan!

Deep in the Heart of Texas - Girl's Weekend

What an awesome weekend! I just got back from visiting my friend Jodi and her friend Karen in Dallas. They were going to work on scrapbooking and have some down time away from their kids and I went down to work on Evan's daily and weekly schedules and all his PECS pictures to help him communicate with us at home. I got a lot done but got a lot more. I relaxed, made a new friend and just learned that I am not alone with all of my struggles with Evan. That is the most valuable thing and I am grateful for that.

I also got to see Jodi's beautiful kids. Brady, Kenzie, Conner, Jailyn (we were with Jodi and Bryan in China when we adopted Evan) and Jorga. I got to sit in on Jodi's newly created Adoption Ministry meeting (the first) and most important thing I got to do was to laugh with friends at myself and all the silly things that happened while we were there. Thank you Jodi and Karen!

Oh, the pictures are of Jorga and Jailyn dressing up. Jodi, Karen and I and the hallway of our hotel after a pipe burst. Notice, Karen in the doorway and oh yes, our room is in the caution tape area. :) We were not notified. Something else that we laughed about.

Sue

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a healthy and happy new year!

Sue

Another Quilt, another gift finished just in time

I finished this quilt on 5pm the night before we would see Maude, Evan's music therapist right before Christmas. I didn't think I would make it. Maude is a very special person, always helping us fight to get the best for Evan. I wanted to make her something very special to show her how much she means to us. Thank you Maude for all that you do to help Evan.

Merry Christmas and fun in the snow

Merry Christmas to everyone. Emma and Evan had a really fun day. We wish you all a very Happy New Year too.

Evan's Surgery Today

Evan had surgery early this morning to cauterize his nose and also to clean his ears from wax that had decreased his hearing significantly. Well, things went well in the nose but the ears I think will always be a problem area.

Evan's right tube had to be replaced and the doctor noted that there was a great deal of scar tissue so he didn't know how much the tube would help to improve the hearing in that ear. Should I mention that this is his good ear! The left ear has a major perferation, or rupture. He did not replace the tube and is willing to give his eardrum upto a year to heal itself before he would do a skin graft to repair it with surgery. That just seems like such a long time for a non-verbal four/almost five year old to wait to hear better. The doctor wants to see us in a month to check how the hearing is. He thought hearing aides might be an option if it doesn't look good. UGH! I feel like we have just stepped back in time by two years since back then we thought he might need them.

Evan does seem to be in good spirits and is playing nicely after a long nap this afternoon.

Sue

PS, I forgot to mention that they drew blood to see if Evan has a clotting disorder with the severe nose bleeds and how much his ears bleed after surgey each time. Please pray that this is not the case. This poor little boy doesn't need any other issues.

Emma's Second Meet

Emma had her second gymnastics meet this past Friday. She did well but still did not qualify for State, but the third time will be the charm. We are so proud of her. One of the other mom's on our team is a professional photographer and took this cool shot of her and many more. Thanks Jennifer. I have tried several times to upload some of the short videos of her routines with out success. Maybe someday.

Emma's Scores:

Beam: 7.10
Vault: 8.80
Floor: 7.90
Bars: 8.05

Sue