We have our hands full!

The girls are doing well. They have become best friends and are very protective of each other. They are also very 2. They want what each other has, they fight, blame each other and so on. They are so exhausting and fun at the same time.
I have my hands full most of the time with them. Eric and the older kids are priceless. Not sure what I would do without them. They are great help. We keep plugging away. We are now in the process of trying to figure out how to give the girls life skills. This means, how do we teach them to survive with one hand. How do they tie their shoe, get dressed, write, hold things, cut paper...
It is a little daunting and overwhelming. If you have any ideas on how to go about this, let us know.
Melody

Happy 13th Birthday Jordan

Jordan is 13 years old. OUCH!! She is a great kid who cares about others. She is smart, not sure where that came from. She has straight A's. She is in a honors club that tutors students once a week. She plays basketball, volleyball and beats on her brother. She is an excellent older sister. I don't know what I would do without her. She loves music, movies, art, knitting, scrap booking, computer stuff and so on. She loves math (WHAT?!).
She actually gets excited when the teacher gives more math work. (She must be the mail man's kid!) She loves God and is giving person. We are honored and proud to be her parents.
Jordan had a birthday party with 6 of her friends. 1 is not here yet. Cartier Couch, Sam, Jordan, Megan and Cousin Riley Couch.

Jordan opening presents.

The girls played Curses. A fun game that is not as bad as it sounds. SO FUNNY!

Cartier, Riley, Sam, Taylor, Megan and Jordon on the back of the couch.

In a strange twist of fate, Cartier (far left) and Riley are cousins. Jordan and Riley are cousins. Jordan and Cartier are not cousins there moms are just best friends. You figure that one out.

Kelli came to help Melody with the birthday party. Of course Kelli couldn't move much because she broke her ankle the week before. She was more moral support for Melody.

The girls played charades.

The party was at Melody's Mom's house. This helped keep boys and little Chinese girls out. :)

Sadly the girls stayed up until about 4 a.m.

Melody and Kelli went to bed about 11:00 p.m.

Jordan and Melody's Family Birthday Party

Melody is ___ years old and Jordan is 13.
The family party was after the Chinese New Year party. We have pained looks on our face because of the beautiful music coming out of Melody's families mouths. The goal in her family is that you sing happy birthday in the loudest, worst way possible. Nobody is really sure when the song truly ends. BAD!!!
Riley and Nyah. Nyah was tired but she likes to pretend that she is asleep. Not sure why but she thinks this is fun.

Jesse and Nyah playing with dominoes.

A bag that Melody got for her birthday. Thought it was great!

Chinese New Year 2009

Emma in her Chinese Outfit!
Chinese New Year is a big deal to the Chinese. Every year the families who have adopted from Small World Adoption agency get together on this occasion. Last year was a bigger year than this one but, there were still a lot of Chinese children running all over the place.
Nyah and Melody with Megan and Joy.
Joy was Nyah's foster sister in China. She was adopted by Jim and Megan Andrews who live in Spokane, Washington.
Kathleen is another little girl that was adopted from China. She was adopted by a family in our church.

Kathleen's family.

Jim and Megan with Joy. Joy didn't want to look at the camera so I put one of each on.

Nyah and Emma had fun running around like wild children. The more sugar they had the more they ran.

Joy, Nyah and Emma

Joy seems to remember Nyah better than Nyah remembers Joy. I am not sure if this is because Nyah is avoiding or what. Nyah still will not look at Joy. We are going to have more frequent get together';s to help them stay friends.

Joy Andrews (Rei Rei)

Nyah trying to put stickers on a paper.

Emma

stickers

Couch Family Comes to Visit!

Nyah and Ellie
Kelli Couch came to visit this last weekend. It was so fun to get all the kids together. It was even more fun to hang out with Kelli. We went to college together at BBC. We started the adoption of Emma and Ellie at the same time. We had a great weekend together. Just heard that Kelli fell down the steps and broke her foot. NICE!
Nyah

Emma and Ellie

Nyah, Emma and Ellie

Nyah, Ellie and Emma. Eating popcorn and watching a movie.

Nyah's Shriner's Visit

Well we had an interesting day. We picked Nyah up and left Emma at day care. Nyah did not like to leave Emma sleeping. She kept talking about her the whole afternoon. This is a picture of Nyah waiting to be seen by the doctors.

Nyah in the play area at Shriner's Hospital.

Well here we go. This is a picture of Nyahs arm. You can see that there is a definite curve. The problem is in the sharp curve of the arm. This is so tight that her skin in this area is very sore. Hard to keep dry. This area is the most pain to her.

Eric looking at the x-rays.

The doctor had her arm x-rayed to see what was going on. We were unsure if she had a break in the past.

The x-ray shows that Nyah does not have a break. She also does not have a wrist bone. For this reason her arm bone is curving. The doctor says that the wrist bone allows the bone to straighten up. When she does not have a wrist bone, she will not be able to move that part of the arm, thus it will not be straight.

The doctor that to try and straighten the arm, they would have to break it. At this point, it would loose some function and would probably continue to bend. With out the wrist bone that is a problem. The risk is not worth the possible loss of function.

Nyah's pain is probably from the sore on her arm. The doctor would like to wait 6 months to a year. This would allow us to determine if the sore is the actual problem or if she needs surgery.

Sadly, she will need to deal with this for life. A prosthetic arm is a possibility, but she will need to make that decision.

Eric and Nyah in the doctor's room.

Melody and Nyah

Eric trying to distract Nyah while waiting for the doctor.

Pray for Nyah!

Hello everyone,
Tomorrow January 20th, Nyah has her Shriners appointment. We will be there at 1:45. As you know, she is missing her right hand and has a severe curve in her arm. She also has a tight bend that is getting tighter as she grows. It is very painful and heart-breaking to see. We will find out tomorrow what we need to do and what kind of surgeries we will be doing.
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.