Anyone still out there?...

I have been a HORRIBLE blogger and I may have lost ALL of my readers, but Oct. was a BAD month for my family!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know you remember the fall from the Target basket in my last post... well, below is a picture of Bella taken as we were leaving the hospital that day. If you look real close at her forehead, you can see the knot. Her black eye did not appear until 2-3 days later and boy was it a shiner! She has fully recovered from the fall, knot and black eye. Her surgery to remove the SUPER LARGE adenoids was successful. She is snoring less, but is still snoring a little. That will only stop once we remove the enlarged tonsils. My ENT will not do it until next summer, unless the snoring and apneas become life-threatening. She is not at that point. She is recovering from a BAD bout of strep throat. She has lost some weight in the past couple of days because of the horrible sore throat. It has truly broken our hearts to watch her suffer with this. This is the first time that she has really been sick, other than a runny nose, since she has been home. It pretty much laid her flat for a few days, and those of you that know or have seen Isabella in action, know that takes ALOT to make happen! She is starting to feel better, though.
Well... enjoy the pics below. They are from our Fall Festival. Jake was a ninja, and a very cute one, I might add. I wasn't planning to dress Bella because every store costume I tried on her, she tried to take off immediately. Jake really wanted her to dress up, so I used the dress that my friend lent me this summer when we were supposed to go to Disney (before I scheduled bunion surgery!) and made a make-shift costume. She is in love with anything Minnie Mouse or Dora. So, this worked out perfect and I think she was the CUTEST Minnie Mouse evah! (Corynn was a pretty cute one, too!)
As the holidays approach, I am going to try to be a better blogger. We are starting some new family traditions this year and I want to document them here. So, if you are still with me, please stick around... I will do better! :)


Post accident pic

Minnie Mouse

When I showed her the pic after I took it and asked her who that was, she got so excited b/c she actually thought she was looking at Minnie Mouse!

twitching her nose.... you can still see her knot and black eye, if you look closely

Bella and her BFF Hannah

My little Ninja playing a game.

Jake and his BFF, Hunter, racing boats.



As you can see, Ninja boy was NOT happy to be stopped by Mom to take a picture.



I will post pics this week of our Forever Family Day (I still haven't come up with a name I like better). We took Bella out for pizza at her favorite pizza place with my mom, dad, sister, nephew, and Jeff's dad. It was fun and surreal. It seems like it was just yesterday that we flew into an airport full of 60 or more people waiting to meet her, but yet it also feels like she has been her forever! I had to stop and think the other day about something. I went to Guatemala last July for a week, by myself, to visit. It seems like forever ago. People used to tell me that I would forget the agony of the wait and the drama of it all. I did not see how that was possible because we had DRAMA and the agony was, well, AGONY. While I remember the events and facts, I seem to have left behind the hurt, sadness, and disappointment I thought I would carry forever. I used to think I would grieve what I missed with her and never get past it, but I think God has wiped that away. I have come to realize that it all happened the way He planned it.
I am reading a book by John Bevere called The Bait of Satan. It is about the sin of offense. In it, he talks about how carrying around an offense can lead you to your own destruction. I was very angry that our attorney used us for her own agenda and stole many months with our daughter from us. But, I have come to realize that she was not more powerful than my God and that our adoption of Isabella into our family unfolded according to HIS plan. That may upset some of you, but I truly believe that to be true. My God is in charge of my destiny... I gave Him control of my life and "He knows the plans He has for me... plans to prosper and not harm..." Was it hard? Yes. Was it fair? Not in my eyes, but His ways are higher and NO ONE can stop His plan for our lives.
If you would have told me this BEFORE my heart was ready to accept it (some of you did), I would have (and was) been very angry with you. But, I can truly say this is what I believe to be true and there is such FREEDOM that I feel now. I STRONGLY recommend that you read this book. It will CHANGE you life!


Also, I have added my blogroll. I recently changed from Internet Explorer to Firefox and lost some of my blog links. If you read my blog and have ever left a comment, I would like you to leave another comment so that I can add you to my blogroll. If you are not there, it is probably because I lost your blog address and would love to "find" it again! If you don't want to be added, just let me know and I won't do it. I want to use this to check my blogs by having them all right on my blog. It will be easier for me to keep up with them! THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!