Happy Birthday Darling "G"

"G" Lady turns 8 yrs old today. Wow where did the time go. Every day she gets more and more beautiful inside and out. When we adopted her at 9 months old it was so hard to picture her each year growing older and older.

They are in the news

Our 3 darlings were in the local paper for their Lunar New Year performance. The pics and articles are great. http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20110220/News01/102200310/1130 http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110220/News01/102200310/1130&template=ARTGALLERY

MiFan & LoMein

These are our 11 day old babies. They are doing amazing considering the rough start they had. LoMien's leg is healing well. We weren't sure if it would have to be amputated or not after the cord was removed. It took 7 days for the swelling to go down and he could get good use from it. Now we just have the wound and it looks wonderful.

Our "C" is quite the little mommy. She does so good with them. I guess it's easy when you can relate your life to theirs. BTW If I haven't said it lately, she is so amazing. The word survivor should be her name.

Bamboo ance

Bamboo ance

popcorn song (abm Hi Qui)

our latest additions

As usual with our life never a dull moment. Sunday afternoon we had babies born. The mommy cat was rescued from a hoarder the day before so she was still unknown to us, as to her attitude demeeaner and behavior. Well, the babies were born with umbilicail cords wrapped around the neck of the grey one, and one of the white ones had it wrapped around his leg. The leg had swollen to be the size of his head. I never knew how strong mommy instincts are and in some cases aren't. I say that beacuse mine kicked in and I knew what to do to handle it and cut umbilical cords and get the kitties cleaned up. I say arent present because this all was suppose to be done by the mommy kitty. She really wanted nothing to do with them. when I tried loving on her and setting her up with the babies she layed her claws into my face. I am on Cipro and doing well.

We had to take her back to the shelter and the babies are bottle feeders. We have lost 2. :>( The runt and the grey one who had the cord around his neck. The other 2 are thriving and doing well. The have been named Mi Fan and Lo Mein. They were born in the Lunar New Year and are going to be Siamese in color, what other names would work but Chinese Food. Our "C" has been amazing with them. She helped me remove the cords, massage them to life and take care of their needs. She helps with the bottles and stimulation to assist them in going to the bathroom. Except the 2 am and 4 am, those are mine. ;.)

I have had several requests and questions about disrupted adoptions. Here is a link to a website I found to be very useful. www.karensadoptionlinks.com. There was info and groups on there from people who have disrupted to people who are looking to disrupt and people who want to place a child.

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Lunar New Year ND 2011 044

granger dance company

Lunar New Year 2011

Genevieve says they look like jungle girls in these outfits. I just laugh, until I see the dance and then I kinda agreee.

The 3 girls posing for Mom.

What a real Beauty. This dance was one of my favorites.

Decorating for the Lunar New Year is one of our favorite things to do. What a blast. Each year we find things we forgot we had.

The entrance way promises good luck and fortune. Boy we could use some of that fortune :>)

This was one of the craft projects the girls did this year. Each year we do a new one.

The placemats were done a few years ago. I had no idea then why I made one, but I guess I know now. I had to have one for our 3rd daughter that would join us.

I will post some videos later from the performance. The crew has to approve which ones I post. :>)

What to do on a snowy cold Day

What to do, What to do. Living in the Midwest there is never a lack of snow or cold days. Then the dilemma begins on what to do. When we had a house full of boys it was very different. the boys would bust out the legos or cars and you wouldn't hear from them for hours. Girls on the other hand need to be entertained. That can prove to be a bit difficult. I'm glad they found the DS to be so entertaining. I think our oldest is turning out to be quite the photographer. Very Unique eye

These 2 photos made me smile. What great girls

She is learning to sew. Her first project of course a pillow is first. She did wonderful.

Then of course there is the picture mom needs of kids in snow. They really did not want to go out.

Sarah Update

Wow God is so amazing it blows my mind. Sarah is asking to eat right now and wanting to go pee.. She was taken into surgery on the 12th for clots. They took care of that. Now we have been praying for no excess swelling and infection. So Far , So Good. It looks as if it will be a full recovery. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell your kids, grand kids, neighbors and anyone else you know to wear helmets when they sled and stay away from the street. This is the 2nd person this year I know who has had an accident while sledding. Both have been very serious. Thank You to all how prayed and sent well wishes for our darling Sarah.

PLEASE PRAY

Our dear dear friends in North Carolina have had a major accident. Sarah, Genevieve's orphanage sister, was hit by a car yesterday as they were enjoying a snow day. She is in ICU with bleeding in the brain right now. We are waiting to hear more today. Please take just a few moments and ask God to reach down and touch little Sarah's body and heal her fractures and the stop the bleeding in her brain. She is an am zing Little girl with the biggest zeal for life you've ever seen. I will post more as I hear it and also what we did on our snow days.

The holidays are over

Here is the ear after surgery # 2 God has gifted our surgeons hands. She is an amazing person. Next surgery is scheduled for March.

The girls made dog biscuits for for Christmas presents this year. They had friends over to help out.

What a real beauty

Each of the girls have their own tree in there room. G's is purple A's is Pink and now Aurora's is blue. They each have their favorite color.

Aurora decided to wrap daddy's wallet in "multiple" boxes. She saw it on TV and thought it was hysterical. She used up 9 boxes each one individually wrapped. This is box #2 being opened.

For Christmas she got a gift card for make up. She also was enrolled in Teen Glam Camp. It taught her how to properly put on makeup and take it off. She had such a great time. She is so beautiful without it, but WOW, look at the beauty come through

That's it for now. Onward and upward to life and all it has to offer. God Bless and have a great day.

Chicago for the Autumn Moon Festival

Halloween 2010

Abigail's ear after surgery # 2. It's amazing how once there was nothing there and now an ear.

I love this picture of the girls

My girl Riley. She hears Nana's voice and her head goes on a swivel trying to find me. She is so cool.

Dumpling Making. This is always so much fun in our house.

OK I guess it's time to blog again, considering the many mnay changes in our lives over the past 12 months.

1) Our grandchild count is now up to 12 kiddos.

2) We have 3 more coming in may and June. Owen, Keith and Timika are all due around the same time.

3) Abigail has had surgery #2 and doing amazing. #3 is scheduled for March 11th, 2011.

4) We have adopted again. This brings our total children to 8. In China 8 is the luckiest of all numbers. Who would have thought.

Our newest member of the Trawick fmaily came to us via disruption. Her name is Aurora and just turned 15 in November. She is bright, beautiful, a jokester, wonderful dancer, has amazing memory, great sister, snuggly, and just a great person.

She is desiring alot of hugs and snuggles right now so at times we are adjoined at the hip. :>) But I wouldn't have it any other way. I am going to be better at blogging so please follow along as the family grows some more. so for now enjoy the pictures.

Our Little Miss Abigail

www.microtia.us.com is an amizing website that walks a person through the whole process of all of her surgeries. It is Way Cool. We have taken the first steps to beginning Abigail's many surgeries. But before we can begin in April the plastic surgeon said we need to get her lungs as clear as possible for 8 weeks straight. Yea Right. This from a Reactive Airway Disease Patient. She has now come in with pneumonia. We have changed all of her medications around and are taking a VERY VERY VERY aggressive approach to keep her healthy. This includes no outside play under 50 degrees, a face mask when she goes from the house to the car or store or school, hooking to her breathing machine 2Xs a day instead of PRN, and active steroids to keep the lungs clear. Besides trying to do all this we need to prepare her for surgery the 23rd of this month. He wanted to do it earlier, but I begged him to let her perform, she has rehearsed so hard. Her last performance is the 21st. This surgery is for what we thought was the good ear. She is losing hearing in it now. They want to go in clean up what ever is wrong and repair what ever is necessary.

oooops

I was given the wrong information the baby weighs 4.2 lbs and is 17" long. She should be home in a few weeks. Kaila came home today.

introducing the newest member of the family

Owen and his wife had their baby yesterday. She weighs 2.4 lbs so she will be in the hospital for a couple months until she can learn to suckle. I have not gotten to see her yet. I do have a picture though via cell phone.

They named her Riley Elizabeth

www.GrangerDanceCompany.Blogspot.Com has the updated times and dates for all of their performances. We are very lucky Abigail will be performing this year. She has had hearing loss to the left ear and they need to operate. As most of you know she has right ear atresia/microtia so there is no hearing there. We found out about her left ear when we met with the surgeon to begin the process of correcting her right ear. That has all been put on hold for now until we get the left ear in shape and we get her reactive airway disease under control. Her lungs must remain clear for 8 weeks straight to able to handle the anesthetic for the first reconstructive surgery because she will be on the operating table for a great length of time. This is going to be a job considering she was at the hospital Sunday with pneumonia. If you can make the performances we'd love to have you.

Run Run Run - - - Getting ready for the Chinese New Year. Performances begin the 13th and go both Sat and Sun for the next couple weekends. http://www.grangerdancecompany.blogspot.com/ is sho they dance with.

Missing Ma

It's been 12 years ago today since you left our earthly family to be with our Blessed Father. As you walk with the angels and watch over us please know I miss you more then ever.

Yes we all make a difference

I recently wrote about the presentation I give in the girls school on acceptance, cultural diversity, adoption and fostering. Well, God is so good. The girls had their performance Tuesday night for Christmas. The family that sat behind us has a little girl in Genvieve's class. This is the 2nd year they have been together. She also is in foster care and has been for about 3 yrs now. There is her and 3 sisters. They have been very blessed to be with the same family and not have to be bounced around. I have know about this since last year. After my presentation in her class a couple of weeks ago, she came up to me and said, " Mrs. ... I am in foster care." I told her I knew. She said it doesn't matter does it? I told her no and gave my usual hug to her. I've always a had a soft spot for her anyway. Back to Tuesday. Her mother told me at the concert that A.... came up to her and told her all about the presentation and how good it made her feel. I smiled and told her how glad I was that it made her smile. The mom then went on to tell me that her and the dad have been going back and forth about whether they were capable financially to adopt all 4 girls. They decided to put it in God's hands and started the process. It should be complete by the end of January. The tears started to flow. I don't think I could have been any happier for that family if they told me I had won the lottery. What a great God we serve if we just follow his lead. So, yes everything we do makes a difference. Just pray every day it's a positive difference you make.

On Dec 6th, 2005 this scared little girl was given to us. What a difference 4 yrs can make. She is AMAZING, AWESOME, STRONG, ENERGETIC, FULL OF LIFE AND DRAMA, and All in All a Blessing in our life.