This past week we went down to Lexington, KY, to the Shriner’s Hospital to pick up Leah’s new wheelchair.  We had gone down earlier in the year and they measured her for a new one.  At the time, she seemed a little unsure about replacing the wheelchair her orphanage gave her.  But once she got used to it, I think she liked the new one.  It is much better suited for her small frame and allows her to control it more easily than the big wheelchair we brought back from China.

That said, the kids have been looking forward to having TWO wheelchairs at the house so that they could have races with Leah.  Today was a beautiful spring day and it was the day that the festivities commenced.

The day began with a quick trip to the Cincinnati Zoo, a favorite of ours and a pretty economical place to take a family this large!  In fact, our membership was given to us by a wonderful lady who has been very generous with our family.  The girls took a little spin on the carousel and posed for Kelly. (Please note, this is the only iPhone picture in this post!  We are moving towards quality here…)

Once everyone returned home, the races began.  True to form, Brittany was the first to challenge Leah on the street.   She had her pit crew (Max) at the ready!

Thankfully, it was before (slightly) the 5:00 traffic in the neighborhood.  We were probably saved in that it was Good Friday and some people were off for the day.  The race began up hill with a turn at the top and then raced back down the hill.

I love the look of satisfaction on Leah’s face when she knows she is beating Brittany into the turn!

At the turn … well … rubbing IS racing…

The bystanders were mesmerized by the effort being put forth on the race track.

While some were irritated by the press that was covering the event.

Heet two was a head-to-head China event as Leah and Ali took to the course.

Ali used to be a little puny, but she has grown in muscle mass and gave Leah a good run for the money!

Ali is never one to shy away from a photo opportunity.

In the end, the victor of the day looked as if she had just stepped out of magazine shoot, as pretty as ever and not seeming to have broken a sweat.

Her family rejoiced in her victory!

While those who had to sit out because of previous mistakes they had made breaking rules could only look on in desire.

Nicholas took one of the losers on a consolation ride!!

Off to ice cream for everyone.  It was a good day. (One last iPhone photo.  Sometimes you can not beat convenience!)

Cameron

The past several weeks have gone by in a blur!  How quickly time flies when you are having fun, and we ARE having fun here!  All the kids, including the newest three girls, have been a lot of fun lately!  Riley, Jessie, and Leah continue to become more at home and accepting of their place in this family.  English comprehension is very good and most of the English speaking is getting better day-by-day.  One of our pastors continually comments on how much he sees them improve every week when he has them in class on Wednesday nights.

So, you may ask, where exactly is the pain coming in?  Well, we have had a few painful situations starting with this!

That is Jessie getting her ears pierced!  Throughout the day all three of the new girls were instant that they were going to go get their ears pierced after dinner.  But, as dinner approached, Riley and Leah both backed out.  To her credit, Jessie stayed strong, got up into the chair, and had her ears done all by her lonesome.  And, boy, was she mad at how much it hurt!  But she was so very brave and is doing well.

The second event wasn’t as joyous.

I am not a radiologist, nor have I even played on on TV, but that looks like a bone that is broken.  To make matters worse, that is Caleb’s 1/2-arm!  He was climbing on something that he shouldn’t and got that arm wedged between a cement wall and a large braided steel cable while he was falling.  Broke his humorous in two.  OUCH!  You can see in the next picture that he wasn’t feeling much pain.

On second thought, maybe he WAS in a lot of pain.  That was two weeks ago.  The big issue that we ran into was that this type of break is usually immobilized by putting on a cast all the way to the wrist and bending that cast at the elbow to support the upper arm and shoulder.  That is a problem when you don’t HAVE a lower arm to support!  He spent the weekend in a fair amount of pain, but now is doing much better.  He went back to the orthopod yesterday and they fitted him with a brace which seems to be doing well.

After a week had gone by and Jessie had not died and her ears had not fallen off, Riley and Leah were ready to get theirs done and they gamely headed to the mall with the family!  Leah went first…

… followed by Riley.

Then all three girls showed their newly acquired adornments!

We let the girls call their China mom’s the other night, which went off without a hitch.  Even Jessie, who tends to get a little emotional after those calls was an emotional rock!

Our niece who was with us when we picked up Ali found this picture in her files and sent it over to us:

How much that little Jessie has changed in a few short years!

It is sad to think about how much of her life, and the others kid’s lives, by not having them in our home.  But we are blessed to experience all the rest of their lives with them!  And that is very exciting!!

This morning, mid-April, we woke up to this:

THAT is unacceptable!

This blog was pretty lazy in that I used all iPhone pictures.  Sorry.  Not the greatest quality.  But it does continue to give you a little glimpse into our life.  Tomorrow is Nick’s 16th birthday (get out!) and tonight we went to dinner at Five Guys.  Toward the end of our meal, a lovely young la dycame over and told us how much she wants a family like ours.  I wasn’t sure if she meant big, loud and unruly or just happy, loud and smiling.  Either way, we were glad she stopped and said something.  We are all, everyone one of us, blessed to be a part of this family and we enjoy the time that we spend together.

I hope that you are staying warm on this cold April day!  I will post again soon, hopefully with better pictures!

Cameron