little ladybug

our little ladybug had a great time on her first trick or treat outing...nattie said "mom everyone says how cute she is so when she goes in for the 2nd handful of candy they say awww, this is great more candy for me :)"...once again emmalael was was her HAPPY go lucky self.

one month HOME

hard for me to believe but we've been HOME now 4 weeks...it is as if she's been with us forever...she continues to amazes us everyday...her little antics are so adorable & goofy..."goofy" describes her personality the best...my grandma ruby nicknamed me goofy ;)when i was a toddler...we've been to all her doctors appointments and the conclusion is she will need one more open heart surgery eventually...for now she is doing very well...she's not to be treated like a "heart baby" fyi: i've not once treated her like a heart baby i let her run, jump, flip & flop like any other 3 year old...she had her first dentist appointment this week...the office takes a picture of every new patient at the office and gives it to the child...emmalael has carried that picture with her just about every place we've been these past couple days...i have garrett (who is now 18) and natalie (who is 15) pictures from the first time they went to the dentist (same dentist) i put all 3 of them on a frig to display...we have one more important appointment to go to that will be december 15 to the pediatric dermatologist...emmalael has a precancerous mole on her chest...we thought it was a birthmark prior to her adoption...i honestly don't have any idea what will be done with it...we will cross that bridge when it comes.

some of emmalael favorites:
YOGURT...

she likes to go in our closet and walk around in my size 9.5 shoes (her foot is 4.5" long)a very big difference

she loves to be outside we spent quit a bit of time outside the weather has been so nice which makes it even more fun
ruby, sisco, frosty & holly (our animals)

she talks NON stop the new day staff had told us how much she talks...OMG they were correct...amy says she speaks chinglish...we work on ABC & 123's daily i'd say she has 80% of the ABC memorized.

she loves when garrett comes home from college...he calls her almost every day to talk to her...her excitement goes to the moon when "ga ga" calls to say hello!

okay...after being home 4 weeks now...we've decided or should i be 100% honest and say "I" have decided we are to call her emmalael...it's not like that is a change it is at first we were all calling her emma...that is what she was called at new day...i thought to add lael at first could possibly confuse her...i love the name emmalael the meaning of lael is Belonging to God and with each day i'm with her i can see that she does belong to God...she doesn't belong to us she is God's daughter he has loaned her to us...how did we get so lucky...amy said today that an extraordinary little girl needs an extraordinary name and emmalael it will be.

emmalael received a very special gift today from her aunt melissa, uncle adam, cousins mia & asher...a fun & funky monogrammed pillow...it looks great on her bed!

V.V.I.P.

dr. ade & amy are two V.V.I.P.VERY VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE..both were instrumental in helping us bring emma lael home...dr. ade reviewed all of her medical files and recommended a wonderful cardiac physician...dr. ade is our ANGEL in scrubs ;)...amy hart met emma lael june 2009 while she and her family were on vacation in china..they visited new day foster home and all just feel in love with one little girl...you guessed it that little girl was emma lael...known at new day foster home at the time as addison... who would of thought that 15 months later we would end up adopting her...God has this planned forever ago...so happy He chose us to be her parents.
i've asked both dr. ade & amy to be emma lael's God parents...i couldn't image two more perfect people...they both hold a very special place in my heart a i LOVE them very much! emma lael loves her aunt amy!

i guess natalie thought it was easier to put emma lael "in" the laundry basket oppose to having her walk beside her...as you can see emma lael liked the ride! now when i take a picture of her i will say "smile" this is what i get a BIG CHEESY smile.

special delivery

all 17 stroller's have been delivered...now they will wait to be loaded on a container headed to china...emma lael and i brought kent lunch today it was so cool to see the boxes filled with strollers for new day...emma lael is so HAPPY that her friends will have these new strollers real soon...THANK YOU to everyone who bought a stroller...our goal was 12 and God provided 17 for ND...they will go to good use and the extra few will be stored for future use.

emma lael & ga ga big broter garrett..home for a visit from college.
coach katey and natalie at state tournament
amy & emma lael watching volleyball
natalie going for it
natalie & lynsey at the state vball tournament getting ready to warm up for the 1st game.

kent wears these reading glasses when he reads...emma lael today came up to me with kent's reading glasses saying "bah bah book" she had one of devotional books in hand...i had to get a photo of this...they told us she was smart but it is really amazing to us how many words she can say solo at this time:
duck quack quack
sheep
bah bah
jie jie nattie
mama
gaga
truck
airplane
ladybug
bye bye
how are you
hello
bird
puppy
meow..can't get her to say cat
i wuv ud
bah bah car
mama car
amy
amy house
volleyball
nattie school
gaga truck
bike
ruby
sisco
frosty
holly
emma house
night night
milk
open
lala
papa
close
pee pee
poo poo...all the words mentioned she will say alone now without me or someone else saying it first...we have nothing to compare her to but we are very proud of emma lael for all she's picked up in 3 weeks.
we have been working on the alphabet she knows A-H now...we have a bowl filled with all types of fruit on our table with every meal i will pull out certain fruits/veggies she can pick out and name...apple, banana, carrott, onion & grapes...working on pepper, orange, peach & watermelon...it is so fun to watch her learn so much and the coolest part she all smiles...during bath time we go over numbers...she has the foam numbers that stick to the tub...she can say 1-5 can't identify any yet...she doesn't pay as much attention in the bath because she is having so much fun playing in the water...being a mother to a 3 year old at age 46 really has been very joyful...i'm more laid back at this age...i don't sweat the small stuff like i did when garrett & natalie were this age...God knew i could handle it all along.

cheese...we think she looks a bit like stewart little ')

THANK YOU

emma lael would like to say THANK YOU for purchasing enough new strollers for her friends at new day foster home...in 48 hours our goal was met...God is amazing!!!

keep em stollin!

when we went to new day to adopt emma lael we saw a great need...strollers for the children...please help kent & i raise enough money to purchase 5-7 double strollers for the precious children of new day...we've purchased 7 ourselves to get things started please read below the details if you'd like to help!

for the last year, we have had an item on our needs list that just never really goes away...double strollers. our current double strollers are used nearly every day and are almost as old as NDFH! (ten years!) they are threadbare and broken, and we've patched them together as best we can, but it is time to get new ones. unfortunately we can't replace them in china, as the front/back double strollers model is simply unavailable here. because almost all families only have one child here in china, a double stroller doesn't have a huge market. we sometimes see side-by-side double strollers, but they are too wide for most walkways and are usually not high quality.

well, we finally have a way to meet this need, but we need your help to take advantage of it! the sisler family (that's us ;) ) a family that recently adopted emma lael from new day have a business that requires regular shipping to/from china, and they've offered to put strollers on one of their containers coming to china! that means the international shipping cost will be fully covered! (a very big deal when you consider the size and weight of a single stroller!) all we need is for people to buy a stroller and have it shipped to this family's address in the USA. they will take care of getting them to china.

we would like to get between 12-15 strollers (enabling us to set a few aside for future use.) seven of them have already been sponsored by the sisler family, which means we need 5-7 more to meet our goal!

we want them all to match, so we've selected the graco duoglider LX stroller in the brentwood pattern, and the cheapest online price we have found is through albee baby for $130.00...with no tax and no shipping/handling!

if you would like to sponsor a stroller, please email me at akgn1234@aol.com for the shipping address, oh, and the shipping container leaves in 3 weeks, so we need to have these purchased, shipped, and delivered by the end of october! i'll keep you posted on our progress.

bathtime fun

emma lael likes shampoo her own hair...i took this picture to show her what a good job she does shampooing her hair..when her picture is taken she immediately wants to see herself...ganlu her favorite person at new day took many photos of her...i remember when we were at new day when ganlu would take her picture she would show emma lael the picture she'd taken...emma lael has figured out after my picture is taken i can see it right away..she will rush over to see what the picture looks like immediately it is so funny.

griffin & carter "chillin"

darla's sidewalk artwork...creative & cool

haley working on her sidewalk chalk artwork

emma lael opening up a gift from the rae's...fun toys she can learn her ABC & 123

aunt darla helping emma lael with her gift...THANK YOU for my gifts

aunt darla & emma lael getting to know one another

good looking kiddos

griffin's cool trick

the rae's...darla is kent's sister

the Rae's came for a visit

haley with her beautiful sidewalk chalk artwork...

darla painting natalie's fingernails...i'm not sure what natalie was laughing at but it must of been something funny aunt darla said ;)

carter, griffin, natalie, emma lael & haley...sisler gene's make beautiful children

haley, natalie, emma lael & ruby

visiting garrett at college

emma lael was yelling "gaga come on" of course he couldn't of heard her if he wanted to we were half way across the campus. company "A" marching along with the rest of the NGCSU cadets...garrett is the cadet on the outside right...stone face...garrett took 2nd place in the "not to smile" contest...they showed all the freshman cadets utube funny videos the cadets were not to smile or laugh if you did you were pulled out...it got down to garrett and another kid...garrett said his nose itched and he moved his nose they counted that as a grin so he lost he said or got 2nd place and in garrett's mind 2nd place is losing.

emma lael enjoying one of her favorite things to eat whole wheat bagels...yummy...while waiting to see garrett march by in the parade.

kiss

emma lael LOVES our animals...here she is going in for a KISS...1st drinking her water as to not let frosty know she's wanting a kiss

2nd a nice pat as to say "hello frosty" she's set down her water ready to make the big move

gently grasped his head and goes in for the KISS...isn't she adorable????

lunch with the big girls

natalie is so happy to finally have a babysitter she's asked me EVERY day this week if i'd bring emma lael to have lunch with her at school...we went yesterday...as you can see emma lael loved it.

cardiologist appointment

emma lael had her cardiologist appointment today...it went very well...she will need another open heart surgery in the future...WHEN??? will all depend on how well her heart tolerates the back flow of blood from her previous surgery...the doctor said it could be at age 8 or 18 we will take a wait and see attitude...she'll be seen in 6 months for another ECHO, ultrasound & EKG...she was taken off all of her medications PRAISE God! we didn't hear anything we didn't expect...emma lael was so sweet and laid back like she always is...gosh, i hope that doesn't change...she laid on the table for her ECHO liked she'd had it done before...which she has...she wasn't afraid of anything they did to her...i'd say it is because she's had all these tests done on her before and she knew none of them caused her any discomfort or pain....the doctor said to treat her like a normal kid that we have...with nurse mommy i'm not one to baby my kids so she will jump, run, skip, scream be as active as any other 3 year old would be.

emma lael loves to help me swiffer...those of you who know me well know i do this once or twice a day plus vacuum...image my "glee" when she pointed to the extra swiffer to help...our floors are really clean now.

classic "W" sit...all i can say is ouch!!

i[ve learned that she love yogurt especially when she's given her own yogurt container to eat from that is really special for her