TJ - 12 and 2

I am FINALLY finding some time to post about TJ's second anniversary with us - and his 12th birthday!  Unfortunately, since he doesn't like his picture taken, this is what you get to see of him.

(I think I'll nickname him "Wilson")

You're stuck with pictures of the rest of us.

Celebrating as usual with our donuts

Tim actually wrote out a lengthy list of items that he wanted for his birthday - in English!  He got a couple of his wishes - money, a new MP3 player and a trip to see the Oklahoma City Thunder play the Orlando Magic.  

As for his second anniversary with us, he has become very thoughtful lately about this anniversary.  He is truly processing a lot of issues related to his adoption and to being a part of our family.  As is characteristic of an older child adoption, some parts are easy and some parts are difficult.  Overall, though, TJ is adjusting very well.  He is doing great in school.  He played basketball with one of our local Christian schools and did very well.  He also is reading his Bible a lot and recently asked to start attending the Chinese Bible study again.  He still struggles with the boundaries/limits placed on him since he had so much freedom in China, but he is learning.  Many of the sibling struggles we had early on are rarely seen now.  TJ even asks a lot about when JA and AT will be home when they are gone somewhere.  

I'm so glad we ventured into the unknown territory of older child adoption.  I encourage everyone to at least consider it and see if it is right for your family.

Brave Man

When we lost Hambone a little over a week ago, we expected it to be a while before we started to even consider another dog.  However, by Friday, a few of the kids were already asking when we were going to get another dog.

So, we started looking around a little to see what dogs were available.  CP is allergic to animal dander, so our choices were limited.  And the kids really wanted a puppy since Hambone was nearly 5 before any of the kids were born.

We checked Craigslist for poodle puppies and saw a few listed.  We sent e-mails out, but didn't get any responses.  We checked the local Animal Shelter but didn't expect to find any puppies.  However, we did see one dog that was listed as approximately 2 yrs old that was a  poodle mix.  So, we went to visit him.  However, we found out when we got to the shelter that he had heart worms and that the treatment required him to be still and quiet for 4-6 weeks.  NOT happening at our house.

So, we checked our local poodle rescue group, but didn't expect to find much.  We had checked out their site before when we first heard about them and they rarely had young dogs and many of their dogs are rescues from the local animal shelters.  However, much to our surprise, they had a puppy listed!  He was less than a year old and black.

 We called to see if he was even available for adoption and much to our surprise - he was.  We also were curious as to where he was located since this rescue group actually fosters the dogs all up and down the East Coast of Florida and sometimes over on the West Coast.  The lady I spoke to said that he was actually located in our county and had been recently surrendered by a family that couldn't take care of him any more.

We had to put in an application for the dog.  They wanted us to meet him (since he was actually a poodle mix) to make sure he would be a good match for us - mainly due to CPs allergies.  So, Friday night they brought him to us to see how CP would react.

CP did his best to trigger his allergies;  he rubbed his face in him, petted him, rubbed him, held him close.  For a LONG time. 

While CP did feel his allergies kick up, it was never more than he could handle.  After about 30 min, the ladies that brought the dog by, asked us what we wanted to do.  We took a vote from the kids and they all voted YES!  

Even Grandpa voted YES!

 So, without further adieu,  meet the newest member of our family - Farley.  

While he is still somewhat scared, he is warming up to all of us slowly.  And we really do think he is a 

Brave Man (or puppy)