Our Halloween Fun

Here are some cute pictures of the kiddos in this year's costumes.  I love seeing what they will pick every year!  One year I will make awesome wheelchair decorations for the girls too, but it seems each year is just so crazy it doesn't happen.  There's always next year, right?!?!?

They had SO much fun trick-or-treating. Madi was very serious about collecting all her treats and I think she got the most.  She kept telling everyone she loved candy and it worked; she got a ton!  They can't eat a good amount of their candy because of food allergies, but we limit candy anyway, so they are just super excited they got a bunch for free!

Madi picked a pink Power Ranger, Ramya picked a purple Angry Bird, and Conner picked Tron.  Aren't they cute?!?!?!

So Much to Update!

Wow, life has been crazy!  I don't even know where I last left off!

Let's see...

Last I checked in we had just put our house on the market and ran away to California for our yearly vacation.  We had a blast!  Madi had an unexpected seizure on the beach so we got to tour Rady's Children's Hospital, but they were great and Madi was soon back to her normal self. We enjoyed pancakes at Richard Walker's Pancake house, spent lots of time at the beach, got to see both of my birth parents, and really enjoyed ourselves!

 

 

We also got a chance to Skype with Deena while we were in California, which was really amazing!  Ramya couldn't stop talking about how cool it was that she got to see her. 

 

 

When we got home life got crazy fast.  David left for Tucson to work more closely with his boss, we had appointments and therapies to catch up on from being gone, and of course we had to keep the house super spotless in case there was a showing.  Most of our days were (and still are) spent homeschooling at my parent's house, therapy at my parent's house, and then being gone the rest of the day as much as possible to keep our house spotless.  Our house still hasn't sold but we are trying to remain positive.  David and I both felt strongly that we should sell before Deena comes home and free up that equity, and we know just the right buyers will come along when the time is right.   Waiting is hard, but is teaching us a lot.

 

 

We got amazing news that our verbal orders were granted for our adoption.  What does that mean for us?  That means as soon as the written orders are received the orphanage can apply for Deena's passport.  That usually takes about 4 weeks.  Once the passport is received we are off to India!  So, basically, in about a month I will likely be in India bringing Deena home!  Madi's neurologist cleared Madi for travel to India but we still haven't decided what is the best thing to do.  It would be REALLY hard to bring all the kiddos to India, but they want to go so badly.  It's also REALLY expensive, and unless our house sells we do not have the money to take them.  For right now we wait, but we do need to decide soon as I need to apply for visas for whomever goes.  If we don't travel as a family, my friend Kariann will be traveling with me.

 

 

I think I also shared that after we had decided to list our house for sale David's boss asked us to relocate to Tucson, where he lives.  David has been there this month trying it out and it's going well.  They both feel like him being there will be important and helpful.  Not only will it help David get back in to the grove of trading, but he can also help his boss with projects and research.  David will also be able to work closely with his boss and will grow tremendously as a trader.  The plan right now is to move to Tucson for about 2 years and then re-evaluate. 

 

 

This weekend the kiddos and I trekked up to stay with David and look at rentals.  David is currently in a VRBO he rented for the month, but we need a long-term rental before Deena comes home.  This is proving to be quite difficult for us.  We need a place within about 10-15 minutes of his boss, just in case we have an emergency (aka Madi has a seizure) and I need him home quickly.  His boss lives in an area that is a lot more rugged than we are used to.  The homes are also quite a bit older and most have multiple steps up and steps down within the interior of the home.  When you add in the fact that we will soon have 4 kids, 3 wheelchairs, and I need an area to homeschool from, finding a home that is affordable is feeling next to impossible.  I was hoping I would leave feeling at peace, and instead I left feeling disappointed.  I truly believe in my heart that God is calling us to Tucson but the timing and the circumstances with Deena coming home soon and needing to get settled first are feeling quite overwhelming.  I keep telling myself that God has a plan and that all the details are already worked out so there is no reason to stress.  It's much easier said than done, but I am trying. 

 

 

I think those are all of our big updates for now.  We have some HUGE changes coming our way very, very quickly.  Please join us as we pray for buyers for our house, an affordable rental and Tucson that would work well for our family, safe travels to India, no seizures for Madi while I/we are gone, peace, and discernment.

 

 

Thank you for praying for our family and for walking our journey with us!

 

 



 

Great News Today!!!

Today we got to chat with our sweet gal in India.  It was so wonderful to get to see her smile and beautiful face!  We had already put the kiddos to bed before they called/skyped, but Conner and Ramya weren't quite asleep so we brought them out to say "hi".  Madi on the other hand was totally out and is a challenge to wake up, so she will have to chat with her next time.  This was the first time Conner and David got to see Deena, other than in pictures, and also the first time Ramya has gotten to see her and chat with her since we brought her home.  We were all very excited!!!

Mary, the director of the orphanage, also had great news for us.  She said that our adoption is complete and they are just waiting on written orders.  After they get written orders, they will apply for her passport.  It takes about a month for passport so it looks like we/I will likely travel in November!!  AH!  I'm so excited!

Please start praying for a safe trip, wisdom about who should go, and a smooth transition bringing her home. 

 

Our Disney Day....

Yesterday was Disneyland and the kids had a BLAST!  Unfortunately we thought we would beat the crowd by going in September, but apparently we went on "Dapper Day" and it was crazy busy!  People had amazing costumes on and that was fun to see, but the crowd and waiting times, well, that part wasn't so fun.  We still got in most of our favorite rides, though, so I'm not complaining!

 

The girls had to start the day with the castle and princesses, of course.  Just after walking in to the castle area we were nabbed by a cast member.  They took us in a special side entrance and we got to see all of the princesses right away.  The girls were seriously in Heaven and it made the day so memorable for them.  They couldn't stop talking about it! 

 



 

Princess Mulan and Princess Tiana

 

 

Just look at those smiles....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At some point in time, Madi put down the pink fan you see above and lost it.  She was so upset.  We went to lost and found but they couldn't find it.  We filled out a report, though, because she was very concerned about it.  I called today and it had been turned in!  She was SO happy!  I really didn't think we would see it again and I'm so glad it showed up.

 

 

 

Conner's favorite part of Disneyland was, of course, the rides.  The girls went on quite a few, but their favorites are still it's a small world and teacups.  Conner, on the other hand, rode all the big rides and kept going back for more!

 

 

Why yes we did get matching Star Wars shirts....

 



 

Don't let her face fool you, she really did love the ride....

 

 

 

We met up with my Aunt and her granddaughter (my second cousin???).  Conner hit it off with her immediately and they were ride buddies the rest of the day. 

 

 

 

 

 

The girls loved the parades.  They were all new and the girls got so excited.  Madi blew kisses to all of the characters and they both danced throughout the performances.  The fireworks were, of course, amazing too.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning we woke up and ended our trip with a character breakfast at Storyteller's Café.  They were amazing about accommodating the kiddo's food allergies and they had so much fun getting to see the characters.  There was, of course, lots of dancing too.  Not a day goes by that we don't dance!  Even Conner was happy to see the characters, so I count that a success!

 

 

 

They brought the girls autographed photos from two princesses and told them the princesses had made them a special dessert.  They were super excited!  Conner was also very excited because they gave him their strawberries.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Disneyland can be a bit tricky to navigate when you have extra things to consider, but there are a few things that make it so much easier for us that we are very thankful for.

1. There are bathrooms with cots in the nurses office to help with potty stuff and clothing changes.  They will even give you a disposable chuck if you ask for it.
2. Each dining area offers gluten free options and will accommodate other allergies as well.  All you have to do is request to talk to a chef. 
3. Although there have been many policy changes due to the misuse of accessibility lines and the such, the staff really does go out of their way to help assist you and make your park experience enjoyable. 

We had so much fun and cannot wait to go back next year as a family of 6!!

Our House is On the Market and We Ran Away

This past month has been crazy with multiple curve balls and working crazy hard to get our house ready to list. 

As I previously posted, we decided to sell our house and free up the equity to help pay for a big van, travel fees to bring Deena home, medical bills once she's home, and to help take financial strain off David.  After making that decision, David's boss asked us to relocate to Tucson so that they can work more closely together.  We do not know what we are doing yet and been praying like mad for wisdom and discernment about the possible move.  David will be spending October in Tucson to see how it goes but the kiddos and I plan to stay here in Phoenix.  We recently learned Deena will likely be coming home in November, though, so we need to decide soon.  It is very important that we are settled either in Phoenix or Tucson in a rental before she comes home. 

We already had a California vacation planned before all of these "extras" were in the works.  We had decided the best thing to do would be to work our booties off to get the house ready and then list it the day we left on vacation. 

In order to get our house ready we needed to get down to a minimal amount of things in the house (and get them moved out in to a storage unit), get new paint and carpet, fix some landscaping, and re-do our travertine floors.  We also had to temporarily re-home our pets so that our house showed better.  We had to move out of our house and in to my parent's house temporarily due to paint and carpet fumes.  We moved back in when those faded, but then had to move back out due to the fumes of re-finishing the floor.  I homeschooled at my parent's house and the therapists came there for consistency for the kids.  When we weren't in therapy, at appointments, or homeschooling we were at our house working like crazy.  Many nights after I put the kids to bed my mom would watch them on the monitor for me so I could go back and work at our house.  It was nuts, we didn't sleep much, and we were beat, but we did it.  Our house looks amazing and went on the market Wednesday.  We've had a few showings and are hopeful it will sell quickly.  It would be amazing if it sold within 30 days so that it sells before we need the funds to travel and bring Deena home.  It would also help us avoid multiple house payments, since we need to be settled in a rental before she comes home.

Yesterday we ran away and headed for California.  We already had a week booked in Carlsbad, but needed a few nights in Anaheim for Disney/ California Adventure.  We considered skipping the parks to save money, but wanted to get one last "hurrah" in before life got even more crazy when Deena comes home.  I was so crazy busy, though, I hadn't spent much time looking for a hotel.  By the time I could, all of the Disney hotels were booked and many others were pretty full.  We decided to look on VRBO.com for a place we could share with my parents, since they were also heading to Disney, and found a great little place 6 miles away for cheaper than we could have gotten two hotel rooms for, which worked out great!
 
Today we spent the day at California Adventure.  It was, sadly, pretty busy, so we didn't get to ride as many rides as normal, but the kids had a blast!  Here are some photos from today....

Madi wanted to sit this one out...

 

 

Poor Conner was starrrrrving, even though he had already eaten  multiple times that morning, so he decided to make funky faces in all the photos....

 

David's face here is amazing....

 

72 pounds?  Eh, piece of cake ;)

Tomorrow we head to Disney and then we head to Carlsbad to rest up and relax.  We have a lot of sleep to catch up on and are looking forward to some down time.

Please join us in prayer that our house sells and closes before our Deena comes home.  Thank you!

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Some Big News and Big Prayers

First off, I am typing this update on my phone because my computer is not working so please excuse the extra errors.


I got great news today.  Apparently they got a judge in the hall that does adoptions in India and the judge saw/ruled on our case.  It seems our next court date was set for September 16th, and it seems that will finalize our adoption.  Usually there are three dates but it seems that ours will get finalized in two!!!  Amazing!!  After that date we will wait for the paperwork to go to the orphanage.  At that point in time they will apply for her passport, which should take about 30 days.  Once that is complete I/we (not sure who yet....  The kids want to go but we worry about Madi's seizures
and I need to talk to her neurologist first) can bring her home.  It looks like it could be October or at least by November.  I'm so so thankful we are in the final stretch!

Please join us in praying for wisdom and discernment as far as who goes to bring her home and also for safe travels, and no seizures for Madi while I am gone or while we are there together.

The other big part of what we need prayers about we haven't shared with many people yet.  David's boss has asked us to relocate to Tucson, where he is.  Tucson is about two hours away from where we live.  David had already been planning to spend October and November in Tucson, but I had planned to stay here in Phoenix with the kiddos and he would travel home on the weekends.  Then he would come back here and stay in Phoenix after those two months.  When they asked us to move we decided the kids and I would  still stay here and he would still go for those two months.  We planned to pray like crazy and then decide at that point if it was beneficial/important for him to be there or not.  If it was, we would move there in December after homeschool co-op ended and I got through this current round of doctor's appointments.  That's not a possibility now because we need to be settled either here or there before Deena comes home.  So that means we sell our house (we had already planned to do this...  Read the last post for details on why) and move in to a rental to be settled before she comes home.  We just don't know where to settle.  We have our friends, family, church, doctors, therapists, and co-op we love here.  I also strongly dislike Tucson and said I would never live there (I'm learning to never say never).  On the other hand, though, I'm seeing God open doors for us to go there, and I want to go if that is what we are supposed to do.  I've done some research and they have great doctors and hospitals so I could confidently transfer care.  We are also thankful it's only a two hour drive.  The idea of not being close to our family and friends is really hard though.    I'm not even sure how we would go on dates because I don't know how I would be able to trust someone to watch the kiddos with their medical needs.  On the other hand it would give David some emotional support and his boss would be able to teach him so much.   There's just so much to consider.

I will keep everyone updated and really appreciate your prayers during this time of transition for us!

This Girl Cracks Me Up!

Madi is such a little performer.  She loves putting on "shows".  Today she dressed up like an angel and sang "Hark the Harold Angels Sing".  I think we need to work on the lyrics, though, because she said, "God and sin, restaurant style", ha!!