Cousins!!

Charlotte, McKenna, Carter, and Riley

I am so happy that my kids will grow up with their buddies, their cousins!

Survey for International Adoptive Parents-Please Help!!

In this picture you can see a connection/love. This picture is of Charlotte in China with Janie, the wonderful occupational therapist, who helped our baby girl learn to walk and so much more. Janie was doing an internship in the Summer of 2008 at Philip Hayden, where Charlotte lived. Charlotte was having trouble learning to walk so it was Janie's job to teach her. Janie worked with Charlotte everyday despite Charlotte's protests to standing and putting any weight on her legs. Janie persevered and not only taught Charlotte to walk, but more importantly to smile, laugh, and love another person wholeheartedly. We are forever grateful for everything Janie did for our precious little angel. Please see below Janie's research that she is doing regarding post adoption care for children adopted from international countries. Please if you have adopted internationally, please, please do this small thing for Janie and contact her to fill out her survey. She gave us a huge gift loving Charlotte!


Invitation to Families Who Have Completed An International Adoption:

Evidence-based research regarding the needs (post-adoption medical services, diagnoses, effects of institutionalization, etc.) of families and children who have been impacted by international adoption. This evidence is created through surveys, studies, and other analysis and is critical in the development of treatment options and awareness. Ultimately, evidence is very limited for this population, especially for occupational therapy treatment, which in turn limits the availability of medical resources and opportunities (and potentially insurance reimbursement) for the internationally adopted child and family. Currently, the majority of research is focused on orphans from Eastern Europe.

Therefore, I have developed a survey which I hope will reach the hands of adoptive families with children representing a variety of countries. This survey is the second part of a research project I am conducting as part of my Master's of Occupational Therapy degree. My intention is to use the results of this survey to advocate for the needs of this population and build awareness for your family's needs within the medical community. My goal is to receive at least 100 completed surveys by the end of November, as recommended by my professor, in order for this to be considered a "strong" survey and provide significant results. (Results will not be connected to your family and will be available to all participants.)

To request a survey, please contact Janie Miller Knight at withonelanguage@gmail.com.
A blog has also been established at http://www.withonelanguage.blogspot.com/

Six Months Ago She Was Placed in Our Arms....

Our referral picture, the moment we saw Charlotte's sweet face we knew she was ours.

Gotcha Day



Today

My sweet angel


I can't believe it has been six months since Charlotte was placed in our arms. We are so blessed to have her as our daughter and Carter as our son. Everyday I thank my lucky stars for my wonderful family. Since we have had our sweet baby:

• she asks "why?" for everything
• she can count to 10 (although she skips 6)
• she laughs and giggles all the time
• she can run
• she wants to do everything Carter does
• she is getting her first pair of glasses
• she lets Monty be her Daddy
• she loves shoes (we better watch out)
• she gives lots of kisses and says "luv you"
• she wants to go to Carter's school
• she has gained 8 pounds
• she loves puppies
• she can point out the letter "D"
• she does not like it when Carter and I do school
• she saw a fish yesterday in a tank and said num-nums
• loves geese
• and wants her "towel" (blanket) on her when she sleeps
• loves to dance and sing
• loves to play in the folded laundry
• has a huge heart

Let's talk Carter and what he can do since he has gotten his sister:

• he knows all his letters and almost all his letter sounds
• he can write his name
• he can share with Charlotte (okay most of the time)
• he is kind
• he wants to see Charlotte the minute he wakes up
• can build with Lego's for hours (built a complete car by himself, when I asked him how he did it he said, "I followed the directions" -duh
• loves to play night-night with Charlotte
• is a world class traveler
• wants to be an astronaut
• is a happy and bright boy
• can push my buttons
• loves to help Daddy
• ride a bike
• play a team sport, t-ball
• wants to have a hundred sisters from China (still working on this)
• loves to listen to stories
• loves to read to Charlotte
• is my sweet boy
• drove a loader
• is a great helper

My kids are so awesome and I am so thankful for both of them and my wonderful husband!!!

Is Anyone Out There???

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone (other than you Grandma) is still checking the blog? Just curious as I have not gotten very many comments all summer so I thought I would see if anyone is out there still?

Charlotte and Daddy Bonding

Priceless!!

Charlotte has had a harder time attaching with her daddy than me, so this picture is priceless. This picture tells our story, just how far Charlotte has come. Monty is overjoyed that Charlotte is finally letting him in completely.

A Great Weekend With Old Friends

DeAnn and Charlotte

Our buddy at the zoo!

Travis, Brock, and DeAnn

Fun times with Brock, Carter, and Brady

DeAnn and I

I can't believe that DeAnn and I have been best friends for the past 20 years. It was so awesome to have DeAnn and her family visit for the weekend. It was so nice to have our long talks (until 3am in the morning both nights) and some great family time together! We made memories to cherish!

Our Awesome Vacation in Door County, Wisconsin

Carter had so much fun fishing with Daddy and Papa, even though he did not catch anything. Papa bought Carter his own fishing pole, Spiderman of course! GO Papa!!

Can you say water baby?

On a rainy day we went to this awesome Art studio. It was so much fun, we all painted something, even little Charlotte who mostly painted herself.

Carter's Monster Truck

Charlotte's Doggie

Treasure Hunt with Daddy

Carter was so cute. Everyone kept giving Carter a dollar so he could buy something. He saved every single dollar despite going in several toy stores so he could buy a new Transformer when we got home. We were all shocked at his ability to save and delay gratification. In the end he came home with $40 dollars. We did go to Target and he bought 2 new Transformers. I was so proud. Maybe we have a little financial planner in our hands!!

Catching bugs if fun to do in Wisconsin, there was definitely NOT a shortage on bugs.

Aunt Catherine and Uncle Jay napping on a stone beach on Washington Island!
We took a ferry over to the island. We all had a blast throwing the perfectly rounded rocks in the water and playing at the beach. Both Carter and Charlotte LOVED the beach. I am so glad that Jay and Catherine were able to come for a few days, it was so awesome to see them!

Dad and I taking pictures of each other taking pictures!

We had a great time on our vacation in Door County. The house we rented was in the perfect forest right by Lake Michigan. The house had a firepit, where we had a couple campfires , a cool treehouse, and lot of forest to explore. Carter was in absolute heaven!! Both of the kids LOVED the beach. We went to several beaches and had so much fun!! One beach had shallow water for like 1/2 mile so we were able to go out really far. We made a couple small sand castles only to have Charlotte knock them right over. We had good wholesome fun and I have memories I will cherish forever.