Saffi Update...

Today we received the following update for Saffi:

"Le Xiao Ke, female, DOB 12/24/01. She is 104cm (41 Inches), 15kg (33 lbs), 53cm head, 52cm chest, 16cm foot, 24 teeth. She doesn't know any English yet. She only knows to say Bye-Bye. She knows a little about being adopted. She can write some simple Chinese and do some simple math. She is quiet. She is active with people she knows, but very shy with strangers. She likes to play with other children a lot."

Just to give you an idea about her height and weight, Sawyer and Saxton are 36 inches tall. Sawyer weighs 33 lbs and Saxton weighs 31 lbs. The difference is Sawyer is 3 yrs 9 months and Saxton is 3 years 1 month old. She is our little girl and we can not wait to get her home.

Here are some pictures we received with the update today, Saffi is in the white dress:

Saxton Has Surgery...

Saxton had his lip and nose revision yesterday. We are very happy with the results and Saxton is doing really well. Two hours after the surgery, he already drank a cup of apple juice, a slushy and a pint of cherry water ice. He will be coming home in just a couple of hours to recoup. Here is some pictures from yesterday:

Saxton just got his happy juice.
This happy juice is Grrreat!!
Just after surgery.
Sleeping while sitting ( I wish I could do that). ***Disclaimer: These pictures were taken with a camera phone, since I forgot to bring our regular camera.

A lot has happened over the last month...

Okay, so we have had a lot going over the last month. Over the Fourth of July weekend, we went to Colorado to see my family and friends. We had a great time traveling to all of my old haunts and seeing some things I have never seen or haven't seen for a long time.

Our first adventure was on the morning of the Fourth. My parent took us to Tiny Town, Colorado, a place I haven't been since I was really little. This is a town made up of solely tiny little models of well known houses and buildings of Colorado. The boys, of all ages, loved being larger than life in this little town. We all loved the little train that ran through the town. As the Conductor said, it was "nine minutes of freedom" from the boys pulling us in every direction. Saxton and I loved the ride so much, we went on it twice.

Scott' Dad Bill looking like a Giant Sawyer Ready For the Choo, Choo!! (He's doing the Choo, Choo sign). Saxton trying break into a little house.
Sawyer trying find a way into the Club.

The next day we went up to our friends' Kirk and Deb's Cabin, just North of Fairplay, Colorado in South Park. (If you are wondering, yes this is where the series South Park got it idea. One of the creators is from Fairplay; if I remember right). We had a very enjoyable time hanging out and talking about, well really, nothing. Just some good old conversation with some friend. The boys stayed pretty close to us, until... Saxton says, "What's that?" Ahh, Dune Buggy!! Can't wait to get one of these.Mommy would love to let us have one of these...It would be too much fun. (Not happening anytime soon).

On Sunday, we went to the Butterfly Pavilion with our friends Mike, Amy and their son Landon. The boys all loved the creepy bugs of course and chased the butterflies. It was a great energy burn off for everyone.

After our adventure with all the bugs, we back tot he hotel to get ready for an evening with the family. Mike, Amy and Landon joined us, along with my Mom, Dad, my Brother Russ, his wife Adriane, my Uncle Bob, and my cousins Larry and Deb for dinner at the White Fence Farm in Lakewood. We had a great time visiting with everyone (when we could). With two three year old running around like chickens with their heads cut off, sometimes it gets hard to talk. But everyone enjoyed their dinner, especially the corn fritters, which are these little balls of dough nut dough, sugar and corn. They are the best.

After a few hours at the White Fence Farm and a horse ride. It was time to chill out. We went up to the mountains the next day and tired out the boys even more. By the end of the trip they were gitty about going home.

The flight home was very uneventful. Both boys slept for most of the four hour flight. But when we got back to Philly, all the real fun started. We went to the baggage carousel to find that they airlines forgot to put our car seats on the plane. So they gave us two loaner seat where one of them smelled like puke (which we didn't notice until they were strapped in the car). We get back to the valet parking lot to get our Jeep only to find that the Manager of the lot backed into our Jeep.
So we fill out our paperwork and we are on our way home. We take the Jeep in the next day to get it fixed and they give us a rental car. That Friday at noon, my knee feels like it is burning up. By six that evening, my knee was the size of a softball. So, off we go to the hospital. After about three hours in the ER, they send me home with Bactrim and tell me I have Bursitis in the knee and this should help bring it back down with in 24 hours. 24 hours later, I was back in the hospital, this time for four days. During my stay at the St. Mary's Hilton, I received IV antibiotics and they drained my knee. That seemed to help, until that following Monday. My knee was again the size of a softball and feeling like it was going to explode. So this time, they didn't mess around. They went in and surgically removed the infection from my knee. All is better now. BTW-we got the Jeep backa nd they still didn't fix everything. So, back it went to the body shop.

On July 18th, we celebrated Saxton's Third Birthday. We just had a small party with a few of our friends and Shelby made this awesome homemade cake. MMMM, so good.
While all this was going on, we got the boys started in Therapeutic Horse Back Riding. They both love being on the horses and the instructors are great with the boys. During all of our other adventures, we are in a legal battle with the Intermediate Unit to get Sawyer the services that he needs because of his Autism. This has been going on for over a month now. Not fun for us or Sawyer or us.

So all we can do is just sit back in our laundry hamper chairs and enjoy life.

Ever Wonder What it Would Be Like To Grow Up In China With Autism?

Shelby and I often wonder what Sawyer's life would be like if he was to grow up in China. Well, Shelby found this eye opening article on Autismvox. Check out this little boy's story.

All I have to say about this is Thank God Sawyer is home with us. We, as Americans, take a lot of things for granted, but we as a family are very grateful for the services that Sawyer is receiving and for the programs we have available in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Sawyer after a water fight with his brother

We Have A LID!!!!!

Let the waiting begin for Saffi to come home!!! We are LID as of June 23, 2008. Now we will be counting every day, getting anxious to get things done around the house and just going out right crazy. Have a great week and we will update you all soon.

We Are DTC as of June 4th!!

We are happy to announce that we are officially DTC as of June 4th. Let the waiting game begin.

A couple of pictures...

We went to the Philadephia Zoo (the first oo in the United States) a couple of weeks agao. The boys love looking at the animals, especially the ones they can get close to behind glass. Here is a couple of pictures I took from that day.

Stay tuned, we may have exciting news in the near future.

Wow, two updates in a row...

Close to our house is this wonderful amusement park that is specifically made for children. Many of you might know this place as Sesame Place. Today, out of their wonderful generosity, Sesame Place opened it doors to those children who have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Here are some pictures from today:

Sawyer getting ready for a fun day.

Saxton Says "Hi" from Sesame Place Sawyer riding his first Carousel. He was laughing his head off once we got going. Unfortunately, they did not allow cameras on the ride. Saxton can not wait to get going.
A show with the well-known characters of Sesame Street

Both the boys loved watching the Sesame Street play and clapped along with the music.
And after a long day, they both passed out within five minutes of getting into the truck.

For those of you who do not know, Sawyer was diagnosed with the Autism Spectrum Disorder in June of 2007. Since then, we have been in continuous therapy to help Sawyer communicate with his teachers, peers and his parents. Yea see, while Sawyer is considered to be on the high functioning side of the spectrum, he is non-verbal and has trouble communicating his needs to his teachers and his parents. Furthermore, he obsesses with different items, such as lights and musical toys. It has been a long hard struggle in many different ways, but trust me when I say, we would not of had it any other way.

We first noticed that there was something going on in that little mind of our wonderful little man the first day we met Sawyer in Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China. We noticed that he would be obsessed with his reflection in the mirror.

The first time I saw him do this I thought, "if I were him, I would be looking at perfection too." We also noticed that he was obsessed with spinning, lights, rocking and he would never make any type of eye contact; all signs of a Neurological Disorder. We immediately started Googling Neurological Disorders and Autism while still in China. I have seen many people disrupt their adoptions in China for these same symptoms. I have very deep emotional issues with this. My only questions is, if this child was born to you in a hospital and you found out two years later that your child has Autism, would you give him/her up? And please don't tell me it's different because we adopted. It's not!! Your child is your child. Take the responsibility for your decisions to adopt or to have a baby through natural child birth! Don't look for the easy way out. I am now off my soap box.

When we got home to Washington State, it was very difficult to get any doctor or therapist to even say they think he has Autism. We went six months in Washington without any type of diagnosis. While the rocking diminished, other obsessions came to the forefront.

It was not until we moved to Pennsylvania that Sawyer was finally diagnosed with the disorder that we have been telling doctors and therapists he had from the beginning. I have overhead some people say that when their child was diagnosed with Autism, it was the end of their world. We, on the other hand, felt a huge weight lifted off of our shoulder because we knew that now Sawyer can receive the proper therapy he deserved.

Over the past year, we have seen Sawyer overcome some of his obstacles. While he is still non-verbal, he is making great eye contact on a regular basis, he does not obsess with lights as much, but he now points at them as to ask what they are, he is beginning to use sign language and he is attempting to make make noises to get our attention. We could not be any happier.We love our boys very much. They are our world. I can not wait to share our love with their new sister Saffi.

A Picture Update...

Saxton had his palate surgery on March 24th. As you can see, he is doing just fine.

Playing teeball in the living room (I hope his mother doesn't see this picture)...

Finding some left over Easter candy...

Sawyer was very happy to see that his little brother was feeling better...

Four is about to become FIVE!!!!

I have a couple of announcements to make!! First, we have decided on the name Saffi for our first beautiful little girl.

Next, WE HAVE OUR PA!!!!!! We are so excited to be one step closer to bringing Saffi home.

And to round out our day of amazing news, we have more updated pictures of Saffi.

Doesn't she look so cute. I just wish we could go through the Internet and bring her home, now. But we now have to finish all the Dossier paperwork and get it sent in hopefully in the very near future. HOLD ON SAFFI, MOMMY, DADDY, SAWYWR AND SAXTON ARE COMING FOR YOU!!!

A Long, Long Overdue Update...

Please forgive us, we have been really busy the last month. First of all, we had a nightmare of a time with our upstairs bathroom. Long story short, we basically had it done twice. One tile job was really bad, so we had to hire another person to come in and completely tear out the tile and replace it with new tile. This all started the day after Thanksgiving and we finally were able to use the bathroom two days after Christmas. Thank God we had two bathrooms or else I would have gone nuts.

While this fiasco was going on, my parents came in from Denver over Christmas. We did not get to do as much as we wanted to do because of the bathroom situation, but we did get to go down the Philly to see the Liberty Bell and the outside of Independence Hall.
The boys had a great time at Christmas. They got every Thomas the Tank Engine known to mankind from their Bupshi, Papa and Uncle Steven, they even got the train table. This is now officially their favorite toy to play with.
We were also blessed with a phone call from Verizon, a couple days after Christmas, with a job offer. Of course I accepted and I just started last week as a Sales Consultant. It looks like it will be a very exciting change from the Telephone Engineering I did at Qwest back in Seattle. I am very excited about this opportunity.

Finally, we received an update picture of our beautiful daughter.
Here is where you all can help us out. We are stuck on trying to pick out her name. We have come up with three names that we really like, but we can not use all three. The names are: Soleil (pronounced Solay), Samara, or Saffi. Please let us know which name you all like the best by leaving a comment or sending us an email.

What a Wonderful Christmas This Will Be...

Last weekend, we went out to a tree farm somewhat not so close to our house and found our Christmas Tree. We searched near and far, high and low, through two feet of mud (at least that is what the farmer told us it was)for this special tree. Ya see, we wanted a specific type of tree called a Scotch Pine which is a little bit bushy, or in other words, it look like a giant green feather duster. When our boys finally found the tree, they hopped up in excitement.

I soon made my way over to the elusive tree and ended it's life as it had come to know, sitting in a field with other trees that would soon suffer the same fate.


We then took this fine specimen of timber home and decorated in the traditional Christmas (or is it Holiday) fashion. Yes, it has been watered.

Then yesterday, Santa's Helpers who work for our agency sent us a little present. This was totally unexpected, but our agency is very good at what they do. They told us that this present could not wait to be opened on Christmas Morning. It needed to be opened right away. We were wondering why we had to opened it so urgently, we could of waited until Christmas Eve at least. They said 'No,' you must open it now. When all was said and done....

We are very happy to announce the newest member of our family!!