Duke TIP, Autumn Moon Festival and Care Package

I sent Liam another care package last Thursday, Sept. 22. I will probably send him another one before Christmas and then that will be it. Still hoping to travel in January! Still waiting on LOA!!
Morgan was invited to be a part of the Duke TIP http://www.tip.duke.edu/ ! She is so excited. For those of you who don't know what this is, TIP stands for Talent Identification Program. It is an honor to be chosen to perform in this, as you have to score 95% or higher on your grade level testing. So, what does this mean? She will be taking the ACT or SAT (our chose) in December or January. This test is designed for eleventh and twelfth graders, but she will be allowed to take it in 7th grade. We are so proud of her!
Last but not least. We celebrated Autumn Moon Festival with our local chinese playgroup on Sunday. The rain held out for the most part and we had a great time. Here are some pictures from the party.

Nerds vs. Sports

So you gotta love spirit week at school, especially when your children wear uniforms every day! This is probably the day they were looking forward to the most. They both couldn't wait to be "NERDS". Everytime I look at these pictures I laugh. Take a look at Mason with the fake, rotten teeth. I am still laughing. He plays the part so well! Before he got on the bus this morning he said, "I am going to the BEST nerd at school". Too funny. Morgan...well, she just think she looks too darn cute in those glasses. I would have to agree.

And we move up one spot!!!!!

I know there hasn't been much posting about Miles, but that is because there has been nothing to post, unfortunately. But, today I am able to happily say we have moved up one spot. Finally there has been a referral made to a family for a 3 year old little boy! That family waited 3 months and 5 days for a referral from the time they were wait listed. So for us that is good news! That places us at #8 on the "unoffical list" and # 10 on the "offical list" because of the 2 families on hold currently that don't loose their spot if they decide to rejoin the waiting list before we get a referral. We were wait listed on July 14, so if we follow anywhere close to the family above we should receive a referral around October or November. I am not very hopeful about this as this has been the first referral for a boy in our age group since we were wait listed....2 months ago yesterday. But either way, I will choose to stay optimistic because I know it is all in God's perfect timing! Come on Miles, I want put a face with that name!!!

Gift

I was so surprised when Morgan came home from her riding lesson with this...

It is just beautiful. The picture above doesn't do it justice because I had to take a picture of a painting....but it is just beautiful. I was beyond surprised and got all teary. She has the most amazing riding teacher who has such a huge heart for this kids she teaches. Her mom painted this for Morgan. It is a pricless gift that we will treasure forever! Thank you Lori from the bottom of my heart.

An Update, A Party & Cupcakes...Oh My!

So, lets start with the update. We received an update on Liam on Friday afternoon from our agency. I am so glad that we did because I had no idea what size he is and it so hard to tell from pictures sometimes. I have compared his size to Lily's current size so I could get an idea of where he is at. Now remember, Lily is 11 months OLDER than Liam.

............Height.......Weight........Head......Foot
Liam........33.1"........28.4 lbs......48 cm.....13.5 cm
Lily........36.5"........27.4 lbs......45 cm.....14 cm

Assuming these measurements are correct he is going to be a big boy. Here is some other information that we received as well.

Medical/Development:
His current health is good.
His development is on target of his age.
He can go up/down stairs holding onto handrail.
He can not say, but can understand what is said to him.
He is not potty trained.
Due to his hypodevelopment of kidney, he needs to drink much water and eat lite foods. He has bowel movement one time every two days.

Personality:
They call him Bao Quan.
He is active.

General:
His sleeping and diet schedule:
sleeping time: 8:00pm-6:00am
eating tiime: 6:00am 200ml formula, 8:00am congee and cake, 9:30am water, 10:30am noodle or congee. 2:30pm 200ml formula, 3:30pm steamed eggs
5:00 pm congee, noodle,
5:30pm fruits
He is not picky eater, but does not likes eating salt food.


And an updated picture...

Next....
We had Morgan's 13th birthday party on Friday night. We headed to the Great Wolf Lodge once again since after all they are a great place for a party. I had a friend of mine stay with me and help me out with 10 teenage girls...yikes! Fred stayed home with Lily and Mason and hung out at our pool. The girls had a blast! Pool, Arcade, Pizza, Cake and lots of talking and laughing. I would say it was a great time!

And finally, we will end on a sweet note....
After an afternoon spent with a great friend and some much needed catching up, we switched kids and Mason went to her house and her daughter came to our house. So, after pool time, sushi, and a grocery store trip they came home and made cupcakes. This has been long overdue for Morgan, but she hasnt't lost her touch. Check them out. I think they turned out spectacular...and taste good too!

I Love Waking Up To This Little Face!!!