PINK!!!

Introducing…..

STELLA ROSE 

Wednesday, August 20, 2:00am I got the phone call to come and get Jet.  

Kim and Wesley left for the hospital as soon as I pulled up to their house.  After getting the car seat into my car and packing a few clothes for Jet I quietly wrapped him up, grabbed his puppy he won't sleep without and carried him to the car.  He was awake the whole ride back to my house and didn't make a peep until he saw us pull into the garage and then he uttered a few excited words.

I quickly and quietly brought him in and put him into his bed.  He was asleep in 15 minutes.  

I am so thankful he is happy and comfortable to be whisked away in the middle of the night to come stay at Grandma's house.  He is my sweet boy.

Late the next afternoon I took him to the hospital to meet his little sister where he was quiet and disinterested in her.  He touched her nose a couple of times and then pushed her away. 

Yep!  He's all boy!!!  Balls….not babies!!

Sophie was over 12 and the only one able to go to the hospital to meet Stella.

Since Trey was at Basketball practice last night, he and the other two got to meet Stella today when Kim and Wesley brought her over after they were discharged from the hospital.  

Catching Up

New news coming soon so I am updating the last 8 months in the lives of the Richmond's!  

Amazing how fast the days, weeks and months fly by.  I don't see that changing any time soon, either.

Our summer has been fun and full for sure!

• Trey played on a traveling basketball team and has great friends through that.
• In March my sister, Jennifer, my niece, Johnnye and Kim and I went to see Wicked.                    It was WICKED AWESOME!
• Jet turned ONE!!  I haven't even blogged about that SWEET boy!!!      
• The boys have been making money by working a few days a week for our neighbor.  
• We purchased an RV and LOVE it!!!  We've made two long trips back to Kansas and I don't think I could travel any other way now.  No more dirty public restrooms.  No more greasy fast food.  No more hotel rooms.  No more leaving Jack (our yellow Lab) home alone.  We love the RV!!!!
• We've decided to homeschool three of the kids this year.
• Now we are waiting for the most exciting part of all……Stella!!!  A new grandbaby!!!  She is due any day now and the phone is always charged and nearby waiting for the call to come.  

Jen, Johnnye, Me & Kim off to see Wicked!!

My sweet boy turns ONE!!!!

LOVES his Grandpa!!

Loves his Great Grandma, too!!

Boys are off to work!!

The only way to travel!
Lori McCary…..here I come!!!!

The end.

My Sweet Izzy

Four years ago today.  January 26, 2011
Gotcha Day.
THE most special day of my life.
Not the most important.
The most special.  By far.

She is the funniest, sweetest, bravest, most disciplined child of mine.
She is also bossy.  Irritating at times because of her ability to talk non-stop.
Other than that- she is my pure joy.  I am in complete love with this girl.

She loves "her" China.  I love "her" China.
More and more I think of her birth mother-whereas before it wasn't anything I put much thought into.  After our trip back with Lori and visiting her orphanage I think about her quite a bit.  After learning new information from her file at the orphanage, there is without a doubt in my mind she was loved very much.  And because of a difficult decision by her birth parents I am blessed abundantly.


As you can see she was trying her best to be brave about this whole thing.  She said the words, "Mama.  Baba."  And then she changed her mind.  She wasn't having any of it.  Poor girl.

We decided since it was so traumatic for her we would leave and do the paperwork later.  She literally thought she was going home.  Her orphanage home.  That's why you see no tears in the next two photos.  She agreed to let me hold her hand, carry her and sit on my lap.  I was the nice lady who gave her food and toys.  But in her mind- she didn't have to keep me.

But….as soon as we hit the hotel lobby she knew it was not where she was supposed to be.  A meltdown occurred.  We quickly made it to our hotel room where she cried hard for a good 20 minutes.  It was the turning point for her.  She had decided to go with it.  While Trey was a fun GeGe and BaBa was pretty much the pack mule (per her orders), I was her lifeboat.  I happily carried around that bossy, 33 pound, 5 1/2 year old.  And after waiting 4 1/2 years for a healthy 2 year old, then deciding to switch to an older special needs child…..I shudder to think that I could have missed out on this.  God definitely chose her for our family.  She was meant to be mine.  She is my mini me.

All of these were taken just a few hours later.

Us together in her beloved China.  November 2013

Happy Gotcha Day, my sweet Izzy!

Flat Out Discontent

Many friends have requested to be Lori McCary's travel companion to China since Doug was unable to make the journey with her.  Some bribery was even reported by certain friends in order to be considered as top choice for traveling mate.  But after considering the pros and cons of each applicant (such as maturity level, cultural sensitivities, fearlessness of flying, the ability to display a reasonable level of maturity and such), it was decided that me and my daughter, Isabella would be first choice.  

This sadly created much discontent among several of the applicants not chosen for this special privilege.  But unfortunately, only one adult could join Lori on the journey and I was the obvious choice after much deliberate consideration.  

Yet, one particular friend refused to take no for an answer and somehow, beyond comprehension she continually popped up in the most unexpected ways and unexpected of places.  At first, we found this quite humorous.  But honestly, became somewhat alarmed and irritated by her relentlessly showing up at very inconvenient times.  As the trips photographer, I decided that I should begin to document these strange appearances through photos.  Following is all the evidence we need to prove her presence in the great land of China.  

To preserve her dignity we will not disclose her identity, but simply refer to her here as Flat Sonia.

Flat Sonia is flat out FUNNY!