Meet Ainsley, Luke, and Aiden!! How tiny and precious are they?? AND because of the generous donations collected at our Halloween party, they will receive cleft surgery and loving care (from countless nanny's) for SIX months at the Anhui Cleft Healing Home!!! I seriously couldn't be more excited!!

Ainsley

Luke

Aiden

This is a note from Trish from LWB. She has assisted us with placing the donations where the babies could benefit the most at the Anhui Cleft Healing Home. Be sure to check in on our blog with updates on our sweet Anhui babes!

Wonderful Shanna—I am thrilled that you are happy with the sponsorship of these three precious babies at ACHH. Ainsley, Luke, and Aiden all arrived at ACHH in October. Their first updates will be emailed to you around the 20th of November. I have attached a photo of each of them for you here—hope you enjoy! Let me tell you just a little bit about each of them here, so you can get to know them! First, our little Luke: You will notice that he was recently in the hospital. He came to us in a very weak, sickened state and had to be taken immediately to the hospital and had been in ICU since October 20th for breathing difficulty. He was diagnosed with severe pneumonia and has since been receiving antibiotics, oxygen, and tube feedings. I am happy to report that he was discharged back to our home this past Wednesday and is doing very well. He is back to feeding by mouth and is beginning to gain weight! We are so happy he got to our home when he did, so we could get him the care he needed to survive!Ainsley: This little girl is about 6 weeks old now and is from Chuzhou, the same SWI as your son! She was about 7 pounds on arrival to ACHH and is settling in nicely.Aiden: This little boy is about 3.5 months old and is growing steadily in our home and receiving that individualized care and attention that he needs and deserves!Hope you enjoy the updates and photos of each of these babies. Your donation will provide for the care of these babies over the next 6 months and we thank you so much for your generosity! I too wish this cleft home would have been available for our Hefei, Anhui little girl when she was there, in fact, ACHH had just opened the exact same month we adopted her in March 2008! So glad we now have this home available for these frail babies and that they now have a hope for a bright future! Now, we have two cleft homes in China and hopefully a third one is in the works!! Thank you again Shanna and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

In Hope,Trish Gerber

ACHH CoordinatorLove Without Boundaries Foundation"Hope and Healing for Children in Need"http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/

Once again, I want to thank each of you for helping us give hope to cleft affected, Chinese orphans. Be sure to stay tuned for updates on these precious three. I can't wait to see what God has planned for His darling babies!

Let me tell you..... YOU ROCK THE PLANET!!!

Haunt With a Heart Party!!

Friday night's party was a huge success! It was so great seeing our friends and family. It was pure chaos for 5 hours straight with so many adults, teens, pre-teens, children and toddlers running around. Good chaos :)

Once again, I am so touched by the generosity of everyone that contributed to make this party so amazing. I am trilled to announce that together, we raised $900 in funds to send to Love Without Boundaries for the Anhui Cleft Healing Home. I am flooded with joy. You guys ROCK!

Here are a few pictures of the night~

Setting up for the party

Best Friends~ Chloe and Cassidy

Frank and Tiffany.....this party wouldn't be possible without all their help. THANK YOU!!

Kai and the scarecrow face painter

Chloe was a little scared of Mommy

Chrissy, Jake, Olivia and Chloe

I am hoping that someone else will send me pictures from their camera. Mine was left on so the batteries died early in the party and we only have a few shots. Darn!!! As soon I get more, I will be sure to post.

Coming soon~ a "trick or treat" post. I am still trying to recover from this very eventful weekend.

Disney with friends

We met up with the Kenward family at Disney this week. After two years of email and phone calls, we were finally meet them in person. What a wonderful family. Chloe and Josie hit it off instantly, and Kai had fun pestering the girls playing and with Chris. Halley and Emma were a little shy at first, but after a few scary roller coaster rides together, they were chatty and silly.

On our long drive home, we were thinking of future trips that would bring our two families together again. I like Scott's idea of meeting in Chicago. Yeh, I could totally go for that :)

See? I told you he pestered the girls! I guess that is just what big brothers are supposed to do.

Uncle Bob's Farm

We visited a local farm today to pick up bundles of corn stalk to decorate with around the house. While waiting for the stalks to be cut, we had a minute to check out the barns and take a quick hay ride.

It just made me want to expand my mini farm that much more. I want sheep, goats, turkey, peacock and a pumpkin garden next year. AND it isn't just me that longs for the farm life.... Scott was drooling over all of the tractors and their implements. What? it is fun to dream!

Anyway, the kiddos LOVE farm animals. In fact, I had to bribe them out of the goat/sheep pen by telling them I would buy them a "baby pumpkin". It worked..... I am NOT against bribery. Whatever it takes.

You know you are loved when....

your patient makes you a birthday cake that looks like this!!

My dear hubby really loves his patients (and Georgia Bulldogs) and takes such great care of them. Apparently, they love him back! I know this masterpiece must have taken FOREVER to create. It was pretty tasty too :) Happy Birthday Scott!

It's looking Halloweenie 'round here...

Getting ready for our Halloween party has been more difficult this year than I anticipated. All of the kids (one by one) have had the flu over the past two weeks. It seems that each weekend there has been something on the schedule. This weekend was my honey's birthday.... Happy Birthday Scott!!!

This afternoon, I did manage to get in a little decorating time between Chloe's fever episodes (thank you Motrin). Poor darling.. she insists on being held when she is feeling yucky. I knew that I had about 4 hours of Motrin bliss to get some decorating done. Once it kicked in and she started feeling better, I put my fanny in high gear. Extension cords were flying and GFI breakers were kicking...... however, I still pulled this off.

without the camera flash...

with the flash.....

I typically don't like "blow up" decorations, but I did add a ghost and black cat to our outdoor decorations this year..... I think they are really cute. Only the ghost made it out on the lawn. Hopefully the cat will find his spot tomorrow.

The Boney Bunch candles (purchased at Yankee Candle) and the potion bottles are among some of my favorite indoor Halloween displays. My amazingly gifted friend Kim made those super-cool bottles for me this year! I thought that a silver platter was the perfect way to show them off! Thanks Kim!

Three years ago...

Three years ago this month, we were preparing to meet our son in China. I will never forget the roller coaster of emotions we felt. My heart broke for the terrified, filthy, little boy that was handed to me in the civil affairs office that day.We had NO idea how this journey would change our lives!

The sun rises and sets on this little guy. Kai is amazing in every sense of the word. I am so grateful to God for allowing us to be his parents. My cup runneth over.

I am crazy about this kid!!!