If you’ve been reading any time at all, you know of my passion for Love Without Boundaries. This video is WELL-WORTH WATCHING.

Can you believe I’m posting something on time. November 1st. Halloween photos. I’m doing good.

Here is Rachel posing with our pumpkins. I think these are the first ones. Molly, Caleb’s golden retriever, kept chewing them to bits. NOTE the boots. I called my sister from Target and said, “She’s only six, and her taste in clothes is already driving me crazy!” Response from the mother of three girls, “Get used to it.”

Christy, I know, I know. Just get used to it. Just like when we were kids and my clothing choices drove you nuts.

Rachel/Little Mermaid and I at a fall festival last week. Rachel had been saying ever since September that she wanted to be Ariel for Halloween. When I saw a costume at Wal-Mart in September, I took her to buy it but told her that we had to put it up until Halloween. She tears all of her dress-up clothes up. She agreed until we were actually buying it. She kept asking if she could put it on when we got home. When I told her “no”. She turned on the pouty face and said, “You never let me do anything!” We had a talk. I did let her and Titus try on their costumes to show Dad before we put them away til the holiday.

There’s an amazing face painter who comes to this fall festival every year. Nice thing about girls: they like getting their faces painted.

Here is Ninja Titus. He would not wear his costume to the fall festival or to Granny’s office on Friday, but he did wear it Trick or Treating last night. Now he won’t take it off.

She wanted to pose like this. I don’t know why.

Caleb Tebow. He almost didn’t get candy at one house since Florida beat the Bulldogs here last weekend.

Eli and me before Trick or Treating last night. Eli wasn’t going to dress up this year. But he needs a costume for an event he’s going to at the library this week, so he changed his mind.

I bought more pumpkins after Molly chewed up the first ones. We kept her from chewing these up until a few days ago. Tommy and Caleb got creative with the one that had a hole chewed in it.

A few more photos from the month.

Titus, Rachel and I went to Nashville to visit my sister early in October. Rachel’s first visit there. Here Titus is introducing Rachel to one of our favorite stops on the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Rachel’s a city girl, and it showed when we were crossing the stream. She was a little scared. She’s learning though.

Notice their heights. Rachel has grown 3 1/2 inches since she came home! Must be all that meat she’s eating.

Rachel thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her girl cousins. We planned to go to a pumpkin patch, but it rained the whole weekend. We thought about taking the kids somewhere else fun. But they were having so much fun together that we just hung out at my sister’s house. She and I actually got to visit a little. Nice change.

Here you can get a pretty good look at what Rachel did to her hair. One of my cousins sent her a gift card and get well card. Granny took her to spend it. Rachel came home with Rapunzel Barbie. Rapunzel Barbie has hair extensions that snap on and plastic scissors that you can cut them off with. Next day, Rachel found some scissors laying in my room and proceeded to give herself bangs. She did a pretty good job, almost straight across.

She wants to let her hair grow out. We had just gotten the front the same length as the sides. When I asked her why she did it. She just said, “I didn’t mean to.” Her dad and brothers have nicknamed her “Haircut” until her hair grows out.

Here is Rachel having her first cup of hot cocoa which she likes.

Here she is having her first caramel apple.

She made herself a bed under the tv cabinet.

Remember this room a year ago? My friend Renee recently came over, and Rachel wanted her to come to her room. Renee commented, “I remember seeing photos of this room last year. It looked so perfect. Now it looks like a little girl lives here.” Yes, indeed, it does.

I am soooo behind. Life’ s a little too busy for blogging right now. We had such a fun summer though that I want to share for those few of you who are still reading.

Caleb had another awesomely fun year of baseball. It was a hard ending though. His team came in second in their league in the end-of-the-season tournament for the second year in row. So hard on my super competitive boy. He’s more competitive than your average boy, I promise. Just yesterday he was bawling in the floor like a two-year-old because his fantasy football team lost by 1 point!

Here’s the team in a huddle between last two games. Tommy coached his team.

Here’s Caleb with his trophy. First smile after final loss. Rest of team had moved on 30 minutes before and were enjoying their ice cream, but not my Caleb.

Here’s the team. They were AWESOME! So proud of them!

Here’s Rachel and Grandpa at the ball field.

Here’s my cutie pie again!

Titus had a great first year of t-ball. He’s so much fun to watch! He imitates Caleb because he’s watched him play so much and played with him in the backyard.

Here he is with his trophy given to him by his daddy. Yes, Tommy coached both Caleb and Titus’ teams this year. It was crazy.

I think I posted this before, but I LOVE this photo of Titus and Rachel! These two are always having some kind of adventure.

In July we celebrated Titus’ 6th birthday!

I don’t know what these two would do without each other.

Titus enjoying his Chronicles of Narnia cake

Titus enjoying the pool

Caleb and Robert eating popsicles

Best Friends!

Yes, I am a bad, bad blogger! Moving on.

Caleb wanted to have a sleepover this fall. Reason: In the spring whenever he has his birthday sleepover, it’s baseball season. So he needs to have a fall sleepover so that he and his buddies can play football.

He had three friends sleepover a few weeks ago. (I had some friends sleepover, too! We had a blast!) Friday night it was pouring rain and lightning. So when they asked if they could play football, the answer was “NO.” They found plenty to do inside with the Nerf guns and game systems.

In the morning Caleb awakened me to ask if they could play football. I told him to take a bunch of towels out with them and they could. They spent several hours in the mud and at one time pouring rain and had the time of their lives! Here are the photos.

At this point they are playing football on their knees. And, yes, some of them are playing in their socks. Why? I do not know.

Be sure to wash all the mud out of your hair!

That’s what friends are for!

We MADE them get muddy again for a group photo. You can tell they had a rotten time doing it!

Here is Caleb and his best friend, Robert. They have an unusual bond for nine-year-old boys. They were born 9 days apart. Linda, Robert’s mom who is also one of my dearest friends, and I think that they were best friends before they were even born. BUT there is still that competitive male nature.

Here Robert is trying to flip Caleb.

I LOVE THIS NEXT PHOTO! Just look at the sheer determination and the muscles at work in Robert’s left and Caleb’s right leg. Robert is determined to take Caleb down, and Caleb is determined that his foot is not leaving the ground! LOVE IT!

Just had to put this one of Caleb

And, finally, a group photo

I’ve shared about Love Without Boundaries before. I LOVE this organization and what they are doing in China! They have programs ranging from providing nutrition assistance to orphanages to foster care sponsorship to healing homes for cleft lip/palate children and children with health problems that need extra attention in order for them to thrive. We sponsor a precious little girl in foster care in China through LWB.

In 2004 they published the book Love’s Journey: A Collage of the China Adoption Experience. Any of you adoptive families who are interested, right now they are giving away copies of their book Love’s Journey 2: The Red Thread. All you have to do is mention the lovewithoutboudaries.com website on your blog or facebook page and send the link to them along with $5 S&H. I have already received my book because Love Without Boundaries was my Facebook birthday wish. It is a nearly 300 page, lovely coffee-table book filled with photos and adoption stories. Here is the link with steps to getting your own book.

I mentioned that I posted Love Without Boundaries on Facebook as my birthday wish. I cannot find the link to this, but I think this is also an awesome way to help people. Most of us do not need one single thing for our birthdays. Not really. This is a great way to help others by using your birthday wish to raise funds for your favorite charity.

Whew! What a busy and fun summer we had, two birthdays, a trip to the beach, lots of friends over to swim! I’m trying to catch up on all that we’ve done this summer, but it may take awhile.

Here is Rachel ready for church complete with animals and purse.

Rachel turned six on June 1st. That was on a Monday. First thing that morning and repeatedly throughout the day she asked me, “Where my cake?” Later she said, “I want my presents.” We asked her if she ever had a birthday cake or birthday presents in China. She said “no”. But it sure hasn’t taken her long to learn about birthdays!

We went out to eat with Granny that evening. Then we had to go to the ball field for Titus’ t-ball game. Grandpa met us at the ball field and gave Rachel a birthday present after the game. Rachel and I went to Wal-Mart to get a small cake. She had been asking for a princess cake for weeks, but I told her that we were going to get that for her party. She saw a cute puppy cake made out of cupcakes and that’s what she wanted.

Here’s the birthday girl out to eat at The Grill. She had chicken strips.

Here she is lounging on the bench in the restaurant.

We went home for cake, ice cream, and presents. The highlight was a dollhouse from Granny and Mom and Dad. I wondered if it would be worth the cost. I was afraid that she wouldn’t play with it much. Was I wrong! She loves her dollhouse and plays with it every single day. Sometimes she plays with it by herself. But frequently she and Titus play with it together for hours at a time. Of course, Titus has to use his Star Wars figures.

Here’s the puppy cake

“Happy Birthday to You” my beautiful birthday girl!

So happy!

Make a wish…

Our princess

I finally get my presents!

Eli bringing in the BIG present

Apparently, we should have bought a dollhouse for the boys a long time ago.

Rachel and brothers

Happy end to a GREAT birthday.

I LOVE MY MOMMY!

Our dear friends Celsie and Robert graciously allowed us to turn their luau which was already planned for the weekend following Rachel’s birthday into a luau/birthday party.

Here’s Rachel on the way to her party.

When we got to the party, there was a banner that said “Aloha” or something Hawaiian. Rachel stopped and pointed up to it and said, “Happy…Birthday…. Rachel” like she was reading it. I said, “That’s right.”

Rachel and her friend Natalie

Princess cake! Starring Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, Jasmine, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty and Princess Rachel.

Happy Birthday to you! Ms. Celsie even had a princess dress for Rachel to wear!

Rachel had a wonderful time at her princess/Hawaiian birthday party! Thank you so very much Robert and Celsie for making Rachel’s first birthday at home unforgetable!

Rachel and I went to Birmingham on Monday for a visit to her cardiologist, Dr. Johnson. He was very happy with how everything looks. He said that for now they will just monitor the narrowing going to her left lung from the previous surgery in China. If they begin to see reduced blood flow there, they will do a heart cath and try to widen it. We go back in two months.

I tried my best to prepare Rachel for having the stitches out. I told her that she needed to be brave that she would mostly feel pulling, that it should not hurt too bad, that it would not take but a few minutes, that she can squeeze my hand, that she can get a prize at Target if she was a brave girl. All to no avail. That’s the loudest I’ve ever heard her scream, and she’s a pretty loud kid. Took three of us to hold her down. Even Dr. Johnson who’s a kind, grandfatherly-type man said, “I think you’re being a little dramatic.” Everyone in the office knew that Rachel was not happy. She cried for quite a while after we left the office. She tends to do that after traumatic events. At least she cried until we came to a bakery in the hospital and stopped for Icees and cupcakes. And we did go to Target and get a prize anyway. I guess she was as brave as she could be.

Rachel is doing great! People who have seen her cannot believe that she had heart surgery a few weeks ago. She is running all over the place!

We rested the first couple of days home. Then last week began trying to get back into our school routine. Hey, didn’t we just do this a few weeks ago? Been busy, busy, busy.

We have an appointment tomorrow with Rachel’s cardiologist to get her stitches out. (Interestingly, she just had some sort of skin glue and steri-strips over her chest incision, but she has stitches where her chest tubes were.) It should be very traumatic. We had an appointment with her pediatrician this week just to see how she’s doing. I told Rachel ahead of time that Dr. Shirley just needed to look at her boo-boo’s, that she was not going to do anything to hurt her. Rachel went berserk. Of course, who can blame her after what she’s been through.

Here are some hospital photos that I couldn’t post in hospital because I forgot my camera cord.

August 31st: After admission, “We got the same room for the third time! This must be ‘Rachel’s Room’.”

EARLY Sept. 1st: Doing our 2 hour wait in pre-op holding

She was so sleepy. I finally lay down beside her, and she went to sleep. God is so very good. She slept as they rolled her away.

Hospital day 3: Moved to a room, and Granny and the boys came to visit. Granny spent the night. Notice Rachel’s look, or should I say glare, at me.

Hospital day 5: Sitting up in chair playing

Pink toenails!

Pink fingernails!

Clowning

Hospital day 6: Dad and brothers come to visit. Rachel and Dad playing paper dolls.  “I never thought I’d be playing paper dolls.”

Walking in the hall. I posted this one so that you can see how big Eli, my 13yo, is. He’s 5′5″, one inch shorter than me. :-0

Rachel discovers the Dora bike and does not want to quit riding. Mom has to follow along with all the chest tubes.

Titus and me catching up on missed cuddle time.

Rachel and her loving brothers. “Do we have to sit by her?”

Hospital day 7: Rachel doing her schoolwork. I brought it because I knew she’d ask to “do school”. She loves it!

Cousins, Mary Carsen, Eliza, and Nora Blayre, visit

A nurse on staff brought her this puppy.

Hospital day 8: Mom discovers, not only do I like turnip greens, but I like grits.

Helping Mom do laundry. I think she’s well enough to go home now.

Hospital day 9: Ready to go home!!!

Our self-portrait. Waiting for Dad.

Good-bye!

Boy, it feels good to get a real bath. And it feels even better to dress like a princess. Thanks Renee, Casey, and Caitlin!

Two days after coming home from the hospital, we celebrated my 39th birthday! Yes, September 11th is not only a day of mourning. It’s the day I came into the world. I just had to share this photo. That night we had Stromboli’s pizza and a Cold STONE ice cream cake, emphasis on “stone”, and watched movies. Here’s what happened when I tried to cut my cake:

Wonder if that’s a bad omen or something? Maybe, it just means it’s time for new knives.

Oops! Forgot to post yesterday–just another day in the hospital. Got her last chest tube out yesterday morning. Another traumatic moment. Before it was taken out, the doctor asked her if she was ready to go home or if she wanted to stay in the hospital a while longer; she shrugged her shoulders. But after the chest tube removal, she kept saying that she wanted to go home TODAY! But we ended up having a good day after that. She fully enjoyed being able to roam unencumbered. She climbed in and out of bed by herself and followed me all over the place even helping me do our laundry in the laundry room which I thankfully discovered. The playroom was re-opened, so we spent some time in there.

Then last night we had a DANCE PARTY since Rachel could twirl without getting tangled in any tubes! We had popcorn and Sprite, watched a movie, and DANCED. We had a blast!

Headed HOME TODAY!!!

Last night was the first rough night we’ve had. Rachel was very active and rode the bike a lot yesterday. I had to MAKE her stop and rest because I was afraid of her overdoing it. I don’t know if it was that or just the constant irritation of the chest tubes, but she did not sleep well. She was restless and kept waking up crying. When I asked her if she was hurting, she shook her head “no” and went back to sleep. At 2am when she awoke and I asked her if she was hurting, she nodded “yes” and pointed to the chest tube in her left side when I asked her where. So we got some Tylenol, and she slept great the rest of the night.

Today the doctor came by around noon. He took out one chest tube and the two pacemaker wires, and the nurse took out the central line in her neck. Rachel was NOT a happy camper! She screamed bloody murder. I was so busy trying to calm her that I didn’t talk to the doctor about the other chest tube and going home. So I asked the nurse later. She said that Rachel still had a little more drainage than they like coming from the remaining tube but that it will likely come out tomorrow. She also said that they occasionally let patients go home on the same day as removing the chest tube, but they usually like to watch them another day. Ugggh! Things here have really gone great here so far. I am so very grateful for that, but I am so ready to go home at this point. Rachel is fully enjoying having me all to herself and as her own personal servant 24 hours a day. I think she’s to the point of milking this for all it’s worth.

Two of Tommy’s cousins who live in Birmingham came by today. Then my sister and her three girls came by on their way home from visiting my dad. They stayed and played with Rachel for about an hour, but Rachel was still kind of upset over the whole removal-of-tubes experience that she didn’t seem to enjoy them very much. We took a nap after they left, and she woke up crying and not feeling good but wanting to ride the bike. I told her that she could not ride the bike while she’s crying and not feeling good. So a couple of hours and a meal later, we’re off to ride the bike!

Continue to pray for Rachel’s recovery and for my sanity.