House Photos (Finally)

I've been having issues with Blogger when it comes to uploading pictures, so I decided to create a movie with house pictures instead.  But because I set it to music the movie isn't viewable on mobile devices on YouTube, which I know many of my friends use.  So, back to Blogger.  Here are some pictures of our home, furnished and clean (yeah, it's never clean).

All the rooms are a standard builder beige, even the ceilings.  I'd love to roll a little Benjamin Moore Ceiling White up there to brighten things up a little.  Yet I have no intention of painting anytime soon, much to the surprise of all my friends who know how much I love color.  Missing a dear friend, the late, great Carmen L who helped us with the paint colors in our first house in Illinois.  All the windows have white wood blinds, but eventually some hardware and curtains will be nice to bring in some colors and patterns.

Photo from the listing.  I'd like a cute bench on the front porch.

Living room.  Taken from the front door.

Living room taken from the front corner.  Still need to get a bracket and hang the TV on the wall.  

Living room taken from the garage entry door.  The living room was pre-wired with Sony speakers for surround sound, but we can't get it to work.  Not a necessity at this time.

Dining room.  I'd really like a buffet along that wall for my china and serving dishes.  Salvation Army had a really cute one when we first moved here but it wasn't priced well for a resale shop.

Room enough to expand my Ikea table when we entertain but we keep it small for day-to-day.  We do most of our home school at the dining room table.

Living and dining rooms as seen from the stairs.

Kitchen.

Enough space to eat in.  Doors lead to deck out back.

A small, narrow island would be really nice eventually.

Stairs, powder room and guest room down the small hall.

Powder room.  I could see myself painting this room eventually.

1st floor master bedroom is our guest room.  This room was my storage room for the longest time, holding all the items I couldn't find a place for.  Thus, the long wait for photos.

Door leads to the 1st floor master bath.  I put our ancient desktop computer down here so guests can watch something online since we're not doing cable right now.  Having the computer desk down here really opens up the loft too.

1st floor master bath.  Still builder beige, just photographed yellow with the flash.

Jetted tub is nice.  I regret getting rid of my old shower curtain and set from our first house in Chicago because now I need something here.

Opposite the tub/shower is a HUGE walk-in closet that stores all my china and serving dishes for now.

Upstairs master bedroom is at the top of the stairs to the left.  This is a dark picture but I still like it.

A brighter picture.  Door in the back leads to the 2nd floor master bath.

Another view.  Yes, I'll have my daughter's picture above the bed soon.  Door in the back leads to the closet.

Still need to re-string the mirror wire and get that on my wall.  I would have loved to hang my grandmother's mirror above my dresser like in Nebraska but it broke during the move.  :(

Huge upstairs master closet.  It's U-shaped.

2nd floor master bath.

Standard tub/shower up here.

And a little window overlooking the back yard.

Pretty upstairs hallway.  Master bedroom is behind me to my right.  Loft is next to me on my left.

Loft is our boy's playroom.

And Russell our guinea pig calls the loft his home.

One more view.

Jay's office.  Barely anything in there right now.

Jay's office.  Just a make-shift desk, a file cabinet (thanks Freecycle) and our printer.

Jay's office facing out.

L's room from the doorway.  My mom and I will paint my old doll cradle when she visits in a couple months.

Still have the zebra theme going on like in our house in Nebraska.

Upstairs laundry room.  Feels slightly wider than my Nebraska laundry room which is a blessing.

Kid's bathroom.

Same fish theme as we had in Nebraska.

Huge linen closet across from the kid's bathroom.

The boy's room at the very end of the hall.

Big enough for their old train table filled with Legos.

Boy's room looking out.

The deck.  Photo from listing.

The second level of the deck.  Photo from listing.  I have my black table where their picnic table was.

Back of the house.  Photo from listing.

From the far corner of the lot.

We are blessed and after not having a home for a year and living with different host families, I don't take it for granted.  It's a blessing and we hope to share it with all who come to visit!

So, How's the House?

Many have been asking how we like the new house and how things are going.  Now that I have the holiday decor down, the house is looking a bit more "normal."

We are very blessed and just so thrilled to be in a home of our own again after a year of living like nomads.  I am a home-body, so our year in California living with 3 host families was just really painfully hard on me and my boys to not have our own space.  Admittedly, I do have my homesick days as is the case when one moves someplace new, but when I think about "home" I don't even know where the heck "home" is anymore.  In my mind it will always be Chicago where I grew up or maybe even Minnesota where I was born and have family and many awesome friends.  But for now it's Texas.

For the most part, our furniture works really well in the house!  I desperately need a buffet for my dining room.  Right now, all my china, my grandmother's china and ALL my serving dishes are still in boxes in my guest room closet.  I'm really hoping to find a great deal at a Goodwill or Salvation Army Thrift Store, even Freecycle.  Jay's home office also needs furniture.  I've responded to numerous ads on Craig's List for really nice looking desks and of course, no one replies.  Bummer.    The loft isn't as big as I thought, so we don't have a home school area up there.  We just do all of our work throughout the house and that works just fine.

The pool is great!  Surprisingly, it gets cool here at night (even below freezing right after Christmas) and the pool isn't heated, so it's way too cold to go in it now despite a number of 80 degree days this winter.  As a matter of fact, I have it covered and have the filter pump unplugged and I service it myself once a month.  [I had it covered when I wrote this post a number of weeks ago.  A nice windy day blew it off and I've taken time to clear all the leaves from the bottom.]  This spring we'll pick up a solar cover and see when we can heat it enough to enjoy it.  For now, it's really easy to maintain and not expensive with the chemicals at all!  I'd like to invest in some sort of a pool vacuum this spring because we have a big oak tree in the backyard that loves to dump leaves in the pool.  The tree is great for shade, but if we have a windy day, the pool gets all the leaves.  Thankfully I haven't fallen in when trying to clean them out.  The dog on the other hand... yeah, he fell in.  Sigh.

What we love about the house:

• The pool!  Can't wait 'til summer!
• The 5 bedrooms.  Jay has his office, we have a guest room, the boys share a room, L has her own, and we have a master.  Lots of space!  The guest room is particularly big (it's a downstairs master) and could easily sleep one couple on the queen bed and multiple kids on air mattresses on the floor (hint, hint to all my friends with kids - come visit!!!)
• Love the 2 living spaces - main floor living room is small but nice.  Loft upstairs is our playroom for the boys.
• Eat-in kitchen and dining room.  Our house in Nebraska didn't have a dining room and the eating space was rather small when entertaining large crowds like I enjoy.  This house has both an eat-in kitchen and a small dining room with enough space to extend our table with leaves if needed.
• Jetted tub.  The downstairs master (we use it as our guest room) has a nice big tub.  The boys particularly enjoy it.
• Walk-in closets!  Both master bedrooms have HUGE walk-in closets.  Good for storage!  I only wish the kids' rooms had walk-ins.  The boys have the bigger bedroom since they share, but their closet is pretty tiny.  We'll have to resort to plastic, under-the-bed storage bins for extra clothing storage.

What I don't love about the house:

• Upstairs laundry.  I knew I wouldn't like this.  I still prefer a mudroom - a place to kennel the dogs at night and when we leave the house.  I feel like I have no "dumping ground" when I walk into the house after running errands.
• 2 car garage.  Man, it's tight out there.  Our camper is on one side and Jay gets the other side because our Escape is narrower than the minivan.  So, I park outside.  Not a big deal since we don't get snow.  Summer may be rough with the van really heating up out in the driveway.  But compared to all our neighbors who have 2 or 3 cars in their driveways, we're doing really well.  Most of our neighbors have both garage stalls filled with junk storage items and can't get a single vehicle inside!  But I miss my big 3 car garage that we had in Nebraska!
• Basement.  Texas ground is rock solid, so they don't dig basements here.  Gosh, I miss that extra storage space.  They definitely didn't create enough storage space in this house.  I'm guessing people here use their attics, but we haven't had the need to go up there yet.

As with any new house, we have our wish list for items that would really suit us well in this house.  The first things we are saving up for are ceiling fans for the living room, guest room and office.  We'll really need some extra air circulation once summer hits.  I also need to figure out some artwork or decor for my big kitchen wall that is completely bare.  I think I may try some fabric stretched over canvas or something to help muffle the sounds that currently echo off the tile floor and bare walls (don't want to put my rug in there now with a messy toddler eating at the table).

I'm working on photos to share, but with 3 kids (3 is so different than 2!!!!) and 2 dogs, I can never seem to get the entire house cleaned at one time, so I'm going from room to room as they are cleaned and snapping pictures.  But we're settled and ready for visitors, so start planning your vacations and please stop by and see us!

Prayer Vigil for Lily

I'm writing to inform my readers that we need your help!  A friend of mine from not only the adoption community, but also our years growing up in Chicago needs prayers and support.

My friend Emily and her husband Jacques adopted TWO girls from China just 20 DAYS before I flew to China for our daughter L.  Their new daughter Lily is in the hospital struggling and fighting for her life over complication after complication after complication from her known heart defect.  The story is long and you can read their story by clicking here.

But before you click there, Emily and Jacques' small group have organized a prayer vigil outside their home tomorrow, Friday, January 18, 2013 at 6:30pm EST.

Emily's mom Karol (whom Jay and I worked with for many years at Willow Creek) is opening their Chicagoland home for prayer at the same time tomorrow night -- which is 5:30 CENTRAL time.

I don't have many friends here in Texas yet, but my home would be open as well -- also 5:30pm CST.

No matter where you are in the world, please STOP and PRAY for Lily.  Let's storm heaven for this tiny 3 year old girl who God brought home to these faithful parents who knew that challenges would lay ahead.  Pray as you feel led, but here are some suggestions:

• Pray for Lily's restored health.
• Pray for the doctors, nurses, specialists and the wisdom they need to proceed with Lily's care.
• Pray for the family's strength, and for Emily who has been at the hospital 24/7 for 8 weeks during this most recent hospital stay.
• Pray for Jacques and the 3 girls they have at home, LONGING for Lily to come home.
• Pray for Emily's strength as she pregnant during this stressful time.
• Pray for their mounting medical expenses (tax-free donations are accepted on their blog) 
• Pray for grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and all family members supporting the family.
• Pray for friends and neighbors and the church helping to support the family in their time of need.

Above all...

Pray for a miracle for Lily!

We are confident that we serve a Great God whose miracles have been documented over and over and over again.  We know He is the Mighty Healer, the Great Physician, the Almighty God who loves Lily and her family with more love than we can ever know on this earth.  We know that He is using her story for His glory.

Now all glory to God, who is able, 

through his mighty power at work within us, 

to accomplish infinitely more 

than we might ask or think.  

~ Ephesians 3:20 ~

We're praying for Lily!  Will you?

Reminders of Her Previous Life

Today was L's first visit to the dentist.  I thought I already knew a lot about teeth but I sure learned a lot more!

In a nutshell, after being propped in a crib with a bottle of super sweet Chinese formula (it smells like pudding it's so sweet!) for 2 years of her life, what we thought was decay is NOT decay!  That's a HUGE praise to God because I can't imagine what our bill would have been had she needed 8 fillings with no dental insurance, not to mention the stress that would put her under.

Of course we learned the reason why her teeth are so horribly yellow and that's because of 2 factors.  One is genetics, of course.  But since we have no birth parents' histories to compare, we didn't really discuss that.  Sadly, the biggest factor in L's poor teeth is a result of growing up in an institution - MALNUTRITION.

Due to what our dentist called "extensive malnutrition," L's teeth did not develop normally and she has no enamel on her teeth.  The yellowness we are seeing is dentin, the layer we all have underneath our enamel.

Our dentist told me that many professionals nowadays would tell me to put 8 crowns on her teeth immediately.  Yet he doesn't practice that way.  As long as she doesn't show much sensitivity to hot or cold foods (hot would be worse) we don't have much cause for concern.  I need to practice due diligence to make sure her teeth are brushed with a small amount of fluoride toothpaste twice a day and floss as well.  He told me that he has had plenty of child patients with no enamel have healthy mouths free of decay for years until their adult teeth grow in.

Since the adult teeth start forming at birth, we really won't know how her permanent teeth will look until they are in.  They could be equally affected.  We'll just have to wait and see.  I was told that braces will certainly be in L's future as her teeth are very crooked, but we'll take that when the time comes.

For now I will continue to do what I've been doing.  I will brush with a "smear coating" of fluoride toothpaste (as opposed to a pea-sized drop of toothpaste since she doesn't spit yet) and floss and I will keep limiting sweets for only very special occasions.  L will drink only tap water (with fluoride) and no juices.  Milk does not agree with her digestive system, so she will get her calcium via cheeses and yogurts.

In 6 months we will take her back for another round of fluoride in the dentist's office but she is very unapproachable right now and she screamed the entire time to the hygienist and the doctor.  So until she is 3 or 4 and can tolerate a visit more, she will not have her teeth cleaned and we will not attempt to repair her chipped front tooth.

It was such a bittersweet feeling leaving the dentist's office knowing that we don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on tooth repair.  But knowing that my daughter faced "extreme malnutrition" the first 22 months of her life is just so heartbreaking.  Just heartbreaking.

I'm so glad she's home and not facing those issues anymore!  So glad!

Please take a moment to pray for the millions of orphans worldwide who are facing sub-standard living arrangements and who lack basic care, like my daughter did.  As we like to say in the adoption world...

"Praying until they all come home!"

Determination

Well, my daughter is a one-handed-wonder!  Enjoy a few random tales.

When we were in province in China, L tried to get a toddler puff snack out of a bag about the size of an individual sized bag of Goldfish crackers.  She went to use her little hand and my guide immediately told her [in Chinese] not to use that hand but to use her full hand.  She pulled L's little hand away and put her full hand inside the bag of snacks.  L wasn't even my daughter for a week yet and the mama bear in me wanted to snap at my guide and tell her, "Let her figure it out on her own.  She can do it.  She'll find a way."  I kept my mouth shut out though.

Later in Guangzhou, my new guide there noticed L's hand as she was playing with a travel sized pouch of Kleenex (L loved things that crinkled and made sounds).  My guide said in a very sad voice, "Oh, that little hand doesn't work so well, does it?"  I wanted to say, "It works very well, thank you kindly."

When my mom visited us this summer, we watched L play with one of those Oriental Trading kids bracelets with the plastic clasp - the kind where one side of the clasp slides into the other side and clicks shut.  L tried and tried and tried to get the clasp together.  She sat way longer than any 2-handed 2 year old would with such a task.  She didn't get frustrated, she didn't get upset.  She was just determined to do it on her own.

In the new house while she was exploring new toys that came from our home in Nebraska, she somehow managed to get the battery compartment of a toy completely dismantled.  This would typically require the use of a small screwdriver.  I have no idea how she did it!  She just walked over to me with the battery compartment and 3 AA batteries, showing me what she had done.

And then on Thanksgiving, we were driving up to my mother-in-law's condo for a holiday dinner and I looked back at L in her carseat and I was horrified to see she had figured out how to get our of her 5-point car seatbelt harness.  Jay was driving, so at a red light I jumped back and re-buckled her and scolded her, "Danger!  Danger!"  for taking off her belt while the car was in motion.  Turns out that she pushes the chest clip down with "2 hands" and then wiggles her arms out of the shoulder straps.  The buckle is still clipped by her belly button.  I've caught her in the act of this since then and tightening the straps does not deter her in the slightest.

Her little hand doesn't slow her down in the slightest!  For Christmas Santa brought her a stuffed Nemo toy (thanks Lucky Fin friends for posting that on Facebook) that says, "I may have a little fin, but I swim just fine!"

Yes you do, sweet girl.  Yes you do!

And now, instead of getting a chuckle out of my daughter and her daily antics, let's turn the tables.  This time you get to laugh at ME!  I was trimming my kids' nails the other day, boys first and L last.  When it was L's turn, I did both sets of toes and the fingernails on her left hand.  Then I said to her, "Ok, let me see your other hand."  She gave me a funny little look and showed me her right hand.  I immediately laughed at myself for completely forgetting that she doesn't have a right hand and thus had no nails to trim on that hand!  DUH, mommy!!!

Thought you'd enjoy that one.  :)

I wonder what tales we'll have to tell in the future.  I'll be certain to continue posting as we have more to share.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

What comes to your mind when you think of "special needs?"  Do you feel sorry for those with special needs?  Do you avoid eye contact with someone in a wheelchair?  Do you pity the parent of an autistic child who is struggling in the department store?  Are you overwhelmed at the sight of someone with Cerebral Palsy?  Do you think God made a mistake when a child is born with Downs Syndrome?  Do you pity the soldier who lost a limb serving our country?

What do you think God thinks of special needs?  Well, I happen to know the answer to that question after an adoption friend pointed it out to me (thanks Annie, for sharing what you found in the Bible!).  And it has flooded books I've been recently too, so I want to share this with you.

John 9:2-3

His disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, 

this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

"Neither this man or his parents sinned," said Jesus, 

"but this happened so that the work of God 

might be displayed in his life."

This is how God sees those with special needs - a chance for Him to shine through their lives!

I'm so thankful for this verse!  I hope you don't feel sorry for my daughter, or your neighbor, or the guy wheeling down the sidewalk in his chair or the developmentally delayed gal bagging your groceries.  They are not broken.  They are not imperfect.  God created them just they way they are.   They are fearfully and wonderfully made so that God may work through them wherever they may go!

I can't wait to see how God uses our Quiet Tiger!  For more info on L's hands, here is a great website a friend posted (her son has a very similar hand).

10 fingers are overrated!

Could this hand be any cuter?  I love her little "fingers."
And when she waves this little hand "hello or goodbye" my heart just absolutely melts.