Forever Family Day!!

It’s been six years!!

Six years since we flew half-way around the world to bring home our Eliza Claire!

It feels like yesterday and a million years ago all at once.

I don’t think I will ever forget the emotions, smells, sounds, feelings, heat, and excitement of that day!

We were taken to a steaming hot civil affairs office in the middle of the afternoon, and the children were already there waiting for us!

We got a glimpse of Eliza when we entered the room.

After some paperwork, and waiting on our turn, Eliza was brought to us!

I sat down on that tile floor, gathered Eliza into my arms, and it was like she had always, always been there.

God writes the best stories!!

We have made plans to celebrate Eliza’s Forever Family Day – at her choice – with Tate, since his Forever Family Day is just two weeks away!

Whether we have a meal, dessert, and gifts or not, I will ALWAYS celebrate this day in my heart and I know Blake will too!

When I look back over these last six years with Eliza, my faith seems SO small.

God is SO BIG!!

Thank you, Lord, for choosing us!!

Thank you, Lord, for trusting us with SO much!!

Happy Forever Family Day, Zhao He Jie – our Eliza Claire!!

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

Team Eliza On The Road Again

This past Thursday it was Eliza’s turn for a doctor’s appointment!

We had Eliza practice wearing a mask too, knowing it would be harder for our sweet sensory girl.

She did GREAT!

I pulled her mask away from her face often to allow her to take a deep breath.

For this appointment we were headed to the Twin Cities, a three hour drive.

Our appointment wasn’t until late in the afternoon on Thursday, but they called at 9:30 that morning asking us to come earlier.

Blake headed home from work and we got on the road!

It was a rainy day, but our drive was uneventful!

Thankful for a hubby who makes important stops, and for google maps to find important places, ha, ha!

Once we arrived at Shriner’s we were screened and then they told us only one parent was allowed.

They were allowing anyone else who traveled along that day to stay in the lobby since it was hot outside.

The lobby was about the size of our kitchen and dining area, and was FULL of people – makes perfect sense, huh?

No, it doesn’t really.

GOOD GRIEF.

Eliza and I went through the glass doors to register for her appointment – into a huge EMPTY (good grief again) area to wait for her turn.

The building is brand new and beautiful – they had only been there for over a week!

We took Spark the dog along for moral support!

First up Eliza had new images taken.

Only one view where she was lying down.

Easy peasy!

Then she and I waited to see the surgeon.

He came in, had Eliza walk up and down the hallway, and checked the rotation of her hips while she laid on the table.

Then he pulled up her new images and measured the degree of “gap” in her hip socket.

I think I saw him smile under that mask!

Next he pulled up Eliza’s images from last year and the year before and put them all side by side.

I KNEW.

Right then I could see the measurement “triangles” on those images – and they did NOT look the same!

The surgeon swung his stool around and said “Those are two NORMAL hip sockets today! Eliza’s hip dysplasia is GONE.”

Out of my mouth, with a huge breath of relief, came the word “HOW??!!”

Silly me! I know HOW! I love the Lord! HE’S HOW!!

The surgeon did ask Eliza “What do you like to do, Eliza?”

She replied, “I like to swim, and swing, and jump on my trampoline, and be outside.”

He said, “Keep doing all those things! And see you and your Mom in two years just to make sure there is no regression.”

While we waited for the nurse to bring our discharge papers I was texting Blake to tell him the news!!!

Then it was time to head home!

With a stop at Chipotle for dinner of course!

I AM BEAMING just typing this!!

Believe me, we would be praising the Lord EITHER way – good news or bad – but SERIOUSLY!!

It is hard to explain the emotions because they stem back to years ago when we first read Eliza’s (and Tate’s) file and the unknowns were terrifying.

SILLY US!!

What if we had let that fear stop us?!

What if.

Oh my goodness, I cannot imagine what if.

Well, there is crying in my eyes, as usual.

Our precious Eliza is healing, strong, thriving, smart, enthusiastic, and FULL of life.

I am SO BLESSED to be her Mama!!

We are so thankful!!

We are NOT worthy!!

Praise Jesus with us for this GREAT REPORT!

Eliza Claire, we love you SO, so, so much!!

You are precious and fearfully and wonderfully made!

Praise the Lord!!

A Recipe//Pineapple Bacon Salad

I have a great summer like salad recipe for you today!

We have had this recipe in our recipe box for years, have no idea where it is from, but I had forgotten about it!

We made it the other night and the bowl was licked clean.

It’s yummy!

And a great addition to a summer meal!

Here we had pork roast, roasted potatoes and roasted broccoli with this salad.

Let’s get to the recipe!

Pineapple Bacon Salad

Fill a bowl with desired amounts of:

Lettuce
Pineapple chunks
Shredded purple cabbage
Chopped red onion
Cut up cooked crispy bacon

Then make the dressing:

1/2 cup pineapple chunks
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 TBSP raw apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup cold pressed olive oil

Place the dressing ingredients in a large canning jar with a wide mouth. Use an immersion blender stick to blend. Or you can place the ingredients in a blender and blend, adding the olive oil last while the machine is running.

Drizzle the salad with some dressing. We like to lightly dress a salad, but the amount of dressing is up to you!

*We used canned, drained pineapple chunks for this salad, but you can use fresh pineapple too!

*The recipe calls for spinach as the base, but we used a mix of greens instead.

Enjoy!!

Happy 244th Birthday, America!

Did you celebrate the 4th of July in any way?

We filled Twin Oaks with family and good friends for a swim and a meal!

It was SUPER DUPER fun!

Blake grilled burgers for us, and Addie was in charge of dessert, of course!

David and Kayla brought some sparklers for the kiddos to light and enjoy!

Around 8 p.m. we headed to Viroqua to find a spot to watch the fireworks from the back of Grant’s truck!

It was a beautiful evening – not too hot and not too buggy!

Having all of the kiddos made watching the fireworks very special!

Clyde’s comments were my favorite!

He sat on top of the cab of Grant’s truck and would say things like “Addie, Addie, that one was my favorite!!”

They are growing up TOO fast!

Speaking of growing up too fast – just look at these two cute Americans!

Try as I might to stop them, they grow in their sleep every night!

It “felt” really good to do something “normal” like celebrating the 4th of July and going to watch the fireworks – just like we do every year!

It was a very full and fun weekend!

We have a lot to be thankful for, don’t we?

Hope you all enjoyed the 4th too!!

Happy 244th Birthday, America!!