family pictures

What a fun day getting pictures taken by someone else!

We were given a gift certificate to a portrait studio when we came home from China (thanks Preston's!!!!). We (I) took 3 changes of clothes like they told me to. It was great! For the most part everyone did as they were asked and the first 2-3 shot every pose were the best. Thankfully we only had to change clothes once. It went fast and we had a blast. Thad wasn't too sure about getting pictures taken when I made the appointment. After taking the pictures they reviewed them with use we both teared up! It was a great day celebrating our family together. I added some of the pictures to the page elements see them?

Not much else going on here. My mom came down to watch the kids and just hang out for a few days. It was so great having her here and I already miss her. Here is a picture of her with the kids. Thanks mom (and Lionel)!

It's been in the 90's for 3 days here and the kids are loving it! We put a small pool at the end of the slide and they think it's the best. Both of the kids have tan lines already started. I need to get the sunscreen on!

Have a great week and enjoy! -The Routson's

The little things in life...

We are working on enjoying the little things in life. Thad had several weekdays off this week. On those days off we had 5 Dr appointments between us all. So instead of grumbling about it we tried to make the best of it. 2 appointments were in Hood River so Thad said "let's go golfing with the kids" It was way cheep this time of year with the threat of snow still lurking so we went after the Dr appointments. We had a great time and the kids loved trying to hit the ball and ride in the cart. I think the older men on the course thought we were nuts with the 2 kids but everyone was laughing in the end. I'm not a golfer but even I got 1 shot over the water on the 1st try and one long straight tee shot out of 9. We all enjoyed it.

Other little things we did that made us smile:

1) had the kids use a bucket and hand pick all of the "little pretty flowers" (dandelions) out of the yard.

2) Took pictures of the kids down stairs in moms make shift "studio"

3) Everyday chores of weeding and "spring cleaning" while the kids made a lake in the sand box in the backyard one day and enjoyed blowing bubbles and just being silly another day.

So here's to enjoying/celebrating the little things in life. -Becky

surgery is done...we are so thankful

We are thankful to say that Sarah's surgery went well. She had 3 teeth taken out from decay that had gone to the nerve. She had 10 fillings and sealant put on her teeth also. She had tubes put in her ears. The ENT Dr said that she had fluid in her ears. The 4 times her ears have been checked since being home she has had fluid in her ears. She has low tone hearing loss so we hope this will help and that it will help with her speech therapy. We are thankful to have access to medical care here for her. All the staff were great and a friend of ours was working in the same day surgery area on an extra shift and we got to have her as our nurse. She was so wonderful with Sarah and treated me just like a "mom" and not a nurse; thank you Lord for providing that today.

Sarah did well during surgery and after. She was scared before surgery and actually threw up when we got there at 6:30am. We talked and sang and she calmed down. After surgery they brought me to the recovery room and the anesthesiologist said she did great. She wasn't a happy girl but she didn't throw up again and after 1-2hrs she was ready to go home. She ate when she got home and napped and now is ready to go at 1/2 speed.

Taylor is being "mommy" to her and I think she likes it.

Got to go. Have a great day.

Now that we are healthy we are trying surgery again.

Sarah will have surgery on the 17th. She will have tubes placed in her ears and her teeth worked on. Her teeth are awful. She has pitting cavities on most teeth. One tooth feel out in China and another is almost completely rotten. She doesn't complain much and loves cold things! I'm sure it hurts but she doesn't say anything and hasn't had food problems. One of her permanent teeth is having issues and another doesn't look promising. We are so glad we are here and can help her with these things. Thank you Lord. Also she starts speech therapy tomorrow and will go 2 days a week. Again we are thankful. She will be working on pressure sounds and be re-evaled in Oct to see if she will need her soft palate lengthened (most likely) and then surgery in Dec for that. It sounds like alot now that I type it but we are just thankful she is doing so well.

Not much else from us right now. Have a great week. -Becky

just another day.....

So we are just trying to recuperate from the flu and getting back to normal. Taylor is on spring break (preschool has spring break - smile) and he was excited about that. Taylor continues to grow in maturity. He is still whinny and reverts sometimes but he is starting to really act like a big brother. He's started helping Sarah with harder things and just looking out for her more. Thank you Lord!

They had a blast playing in the sink today. I was making dinner. Taylor started cleaning the sink (his job. He likes to do it) Sarah puts the dishes away for her "job" but there weren't any. She said "helper" with a sad face and looked at me. I gave them both a side of the sink to clean. A minute later they were laughing and had both sides half filled with water and bubbles up to the top. Taylor took his shirt off because he got it wet (imagine that) and Sarah pleaded with me to take hers off. They played for 30-45 minutes like that. Laughing, talking and playing together. It was so good to see.

Usually I have to take them to a room and tell Sarah to play with Taylor and she reluctantly does. As soon as I am out of the room she does much better. She would much rather be a "big sister" than a "mei mei" translated "little sister". I do tell her she is not a mama alot and she cries. She is really bossy if I am in the room and she looks at me and smiles every time she tells Taylor what to do. He tries not to let it bother him but his acting out moments later makes me think he is frustrated with her bossing him. Taylor can be ruff and she just wont have it; I understand where she is coming from. We are still trying to work with him to help him be gentle and not tackle her all the time. It's like he thinks she is going to like to play "tackle" and every time he comes wondering why she doesn't get it. Someday maybe????

Have a great week. -Becky

We have a visitor!

knock on the door.

who is it?

The flu

Sarah shut the door! No mama!

Sarah you are in for it!

Yep you guessed. Sarah has shared the Flu type A with us. Poor thing. She had 2 nights of 105 degree fevers and got the "cool bath" experience she wont forget. She now likes the Tylenol and Mortin she stuck her tongue out to before. I just checked her and for the first time in 6 days she does not have a fever.

Please pray that Taylor's lungs do well with it. He always get pneumonia with a cold so I can't imagine how it will hit him. He started the fevers 2 days ago.

We went to the Last Days of Jesus play tonight with the kids! Thad really wanted them to go. Atleast they were lethargic enough to go. I did have to explain about 10 times why Taylor couldn't take communion. He just kept saying mom I'm so hungry! It was a good conversation and I'm sure it's starting to sink into his heart. Sarah just looked at me with the can we go home look.

Taylor wasn't sure about why the disciple cut off the guards ear and why Jesus would tell him not to. Mom why would He put the ear back on! Again a good conversation for a 4 1/2 year old!

Have a great day. Please pray for Thad's cousin Jessie. She is having a horrible time with the flu and other struggles. Please pray for wisdom and grace for her. Thank you. She is like a sister to me.
-Becky

this is not how dental appointments usually go!

Hi there everyone.
I Just want to let you know about Sarah's appointment today. She went to the pediatric dentist in Hood River. We are not doing her tube surgery tomorrow but waiting until not this Thursday but next to do the tubes and dental surgery together. She will have at least one tooth pulled since it is "rotten" and eating at the permanent tooth. Then she will get her tubes. Great one less time "under the knife" by putting the surgeries together! I appreciate the Dr's working together since one works mostly out of The Dalles and the other is only in Hood River and they said they are not really doing this "team" stuff as much. So the surgery will be in Hood River. The pediatric dentist used to be apart of a cleft palate team: Praise the Lord! He was able to exam her and has done work like this quiet a bit; yeah!
So here is the thing that really shocked me today. The dentist asked "so how old is she?". I said 3yr 4months; why? So anyway he asked me "Who told us how old she was?" and long story short he said by looking at the x-rays of her teeth she is in her 4th year of life! He thinks she is 4yrs 4months old! It took me awhile to put it together. I did call our adoption agency and they did say they have seen it happen before with kids that are adopted after infancy. The agency asked several questions and they said, "Well, get her growth plates evaled at some point but it does sound that way (that she is older)". She does act like a 3yr old but that is actually more normal for a 4yr old that has been in an orphanage. She was evaled a couple of weeks ago and they scored her in the 3-4yr old range for skill development for kids here in the US so it makes more sense that she is 4 not 3. I was not expecting that today. (I had asked several people in China and some people when we got home if they had seen a 3yr old Chinese girl who was so tall - guess my assumption was right!)
What does it mean? not much. We will keep her birthday the same for now. It does mean that we will be looking at her bone grafting when she is "9" rather than 10. We will visit school age issues if they come up. We have some great people in our adoption group and there is a couple that has had the same age difference issues but theirs was more drastic (2yrs age difference) and we will chat with them to see if they have any advice. We are so grateful for the support we have here with the adoption group. We will chat on whether or not to get a second opinion.

So hope you have had a good day and we'll chat again soon, Becky