The Fanning Four

It's been a pretty good year! Lots of changes and craziness but a fun adventure for sure! Little Miss turned 2, started talking up a storm, potty trained, fell in love with Peter Pan, went from baby to little girl, was diagnosed with asthma, went to the circus, rode a camel, saw sea lions in California, started preschool, transitioned out of her crib, and brought her parents so much joy. Hubby turned 33, was a lay director for Chrysalis, led a mission trip to Nicaragua, stood up for something he believed in at work and made a big difference, bought us a new house, joined a men's small group, and loved his family well. I turned 30, had a wonderful girls' weekend with friends, helped lead the Nica trip, moved us from one house to another, cried on B's 1st day of school, played in the PC Pops Orchestra, spent hundreds of hours on adoption paperwork, and loved her life. And somewhere thousands of miles away, a little boy was born and a family made the heartwrenching...

Our dossier passed the FL inspection and now has the Great Seal of FL on each document! Now its headed to Houston, TX to receive the official stamp of the Chinese Consulate. Folks, that's the last step before China!! So, in three weeks, guess where that dossier will be? CHINA!!!! So, we're looking at about three-four weeks from this point. Now, excuse me while I go throw up......er, uh, I mean jump up and down with excitement! What a mixture of emotions this journey is! We had a great Christmas with family and friends. Always a great time with my family and I met up with some college friends and laughed til I cried. Whole fam was sick but we're on the mend. Bethy's going to have adenoids out in January- I am relieved and hopeful! Here's some Christmas day highlights: Happy Birthday Jesus!!  Caleb got a blanket made by Grandma! "My bicycle, my bicycle", she exclaimed!

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Had our second ENT appointment today. The ENT got to see Bethy in full "sick mode". And based on B's medical history, we made the decision together to get those adenoids out of there. It's a quick and fairly painless surgery but does require general anestesia. We'll schedule it sometime after Christmas in the first few weeks of January. The ENT hopes this will make a huge difference in quality of life for Bethy and we hope so too. So, that's the news... And now on to enjoying Christmas with my family! Merry Christmas all!

If you are a church person and have ever even slightly thought about volunteering with youth, you should do it! Even if you haven't thought about it,  you should try it, just once, and you might be hooked! Teenagers in mass can be quite scary, but get to know them and they are a delight (most of them anyways). I have been blessed to work with hundreds of youth over the years and it remains one of my favorite things to do. And just to debunk some rumors about what makes you a good candidate to work with youth I will say that: 1. I am not cool. Not at all. Not even a little bit. I play the oboe for goodness sakes! 2. I don't dress cool. Not at all. Not even a little bit except for the scarf I got recently which my girls thought was cute. And even then, they probably were just being nice because I "tried" to look cool. 3. I am a Mom. End of story. 4. I don't have the Bible memorized. Yeah, I went to seminary but it was for counseling and I barely passed the Bi...

Yesterday in the car, Bethy says, "Momma, watch out, hurry, baby bear Mickey Mouse is coming to town. Faster, faster!" ENT appointment tomorrow. I'll update once we know more.  : )

Have I said enough times yet how much I love our new agency? They're so on top of things and they email me whenever they do something. It's really helpful to neurotic people.... Just saying... So, I got an email from our agency today that they shipped our dossier to Tallahassee today to receive the Great Seal of Florida. Again, this just menas that our notaries are legit. I hear through the grapevine that FL has a fast return rate on these things but it is Christmas time so we'll see. We did have the option to drive over and take them ourselves but we have enough other things going on that we passed on that option. So, Yay for progress! Today at Bethy's Christmas party she was done eating and starting to get tired so I told her it was time to clean up and leave. I did give her the option to keep eating but she chose not to. I said, "Do you want to take those Teddy Grams with you?" "No thanks", she replies. So we walked to the trash can and she du...

Saw the allergist yesterday for Bethy's asthma. Here's the bullet point list: Asthma/allergies still not under control- I'm getting tired of hearing that! Ear shows signs of chronic infections- membrane is white instead of clear Her lungs sounded good- Yay! She's getting sick again and this will keep happening until we aggressively treat her allergies Allergist wants 6 weeks of aggressive meds and breathing treatment to try and clear out her system. Then, we'll wean her off medicines to see if we can find the least amount of meds to keep her on while keeping her healthy. From there we would watch her for signs of allergies/asthma and up meds as needed. In a month we'll do the skin allergy test to see what she's allergic to. That's kind of the short run down of the appointment. I think I'm still in a bit of denial. Like I'm waiting for someone to say, "She doesn't really have asthma. This is just a cold that keeps lingering."...

Today is the appointment with the pediactric allergist/pulmonary specialist. I never know what to expect at specialist appointments so it makes me a bit nervous. I'll update after the appointment. Bethany has been coughing a bit the past few days and had a runny nose yesterday. I so wanted her to just be better, so that made me very sad. Hopefully all these specialists can help us. Still in the waiting phase of adoption paperwork. But they have our papers and our money so it shouldn't be too long before they make their way to China. Here's some pics for you today: It's been cold here in FL. Bethy's play sink keeps freezing! I love it! Here's me about to send off our dossier. If it looks like I'm terrified, it's because I am: Here's a picture of my cutie all decked out for Christmas. We lit the advent candle at church that morning:

What a touching song.... Thinking of my sweet baby boy this morning. Hoping this will be the only Christmas we spend apart.

Our China dossier made it to the agency in Oregon bright and early Monday morning. It's warmer in Oregon than it is in Panama City right now. Go figure.... ANYWAYS, got a call from the social worker at Holt (our new agency, which we LOVE) to confirm reciept of the dossier and to tell me that it looked great. We still have some details to work out with the agency transfer process but we're getting there.  I'm just glad to hear that all our documents looked good. The social worker said, "Good job!" and "Congratulations!" And I know this may sound silly, but that made me feel really good. Ya'll, it was a lot of work. And having your homestudy and dossier complete is a HUGE milestone in the adoption process. And to hear someone that knows the effort it takes say to me basically, "Hey, girl, you did it and you did a good job!" was really nice. What's the fun in life if we never take time to celebrate the victories? Now the journey of our p...

Went to Fed Ex today to drop our China dossier . There's really no words to express what it felt like to leave my "baby" there. So, I won't try except to convey this real life interaction today that occured at Fed Ex. Me: Um, so, um, there's, um, a small hole in the top of the envelope here. Did I close it right? Do you think it could get water in there? Fed Ex lady: It'll be fine. I'm going to need you to put it back down on the scale so I can weigh it. Me (what I wished I could say): You wanna know how much it weighs? It weighs 15-20 pounds. It's 18 months or younger. It's a precious little boy who I'll call Caleb. Me (what I actually said): Ok.......sigh... Goodbye dossier, goodbye, I'll see you in China......

We had our ENT visit yesterday and I came armed with Daddy and Nana. I've tried taking her to difficult appointments before (like having blood taken) and have learned that Momma is not enough. That girl is strong! Plus, it's hard to listen to what the doctor tells you when you are wrangling a 2 year old. Thanks to the sleigh bell necklace Nana had and a general excitement that Daddy was home after being gone for almost four days, our waiting time was great. The doctor (who we saw before when B was a baby for a hearing test) was great too! Made everyone feel very at ease. So here's the basics: Her ear infection is gone- thank you antibiotics Her tonsils are a bit larger than average and looked a little irritated. We're being referred to a pediatric allergist who also is a lung doctor for further testing She didn't mention tubes but said surgery for anenoids would be last resort She sent us for xrays of B's adenoids She said if there's a problem with t...

Bethany was coloring this morning on some plain white paper. When I asked her to clean up the crayons she did a great job. She cleaned up all the crayons except for the white one. When I asked her why she left the white one on the floor she replied, "It's broken." By that she means she can't see it on the paper when she writes with it. : ) Made me smile! I have only heard Bethy cough a few times in the past few days and she doesn't have a runny nose either. And we've only had a few tantrums! Wooohooo for feeling better! ENT appointment still on for today- we'll see what they have to say. Happy December to you all!

Me: "Bethy, we need to go run some errands." Bethy: "I run there (points to backyard). Chase cat." Today while "running" and errand we were in the parking lot of the bank, Bethy says, "Run, Momma." Me. *Exasperated that the guy at Home Depot told us the wrong direction for the bathroom* "Aaaah, seriously?!?! Where's the bathroom?" Bethy: "It's fine Momma, it's fine." Who needs a therapist when you have a two year old to calm you down? Me: "Bethy, what did you sing at school today?" Bethy: "Kitty, poop, poop, poop." Me: "Sweetheart, I think you might be a little confused about the words of that song." If not, we're looking for a new preschool ASAP.

We had a wonderful time with our family over Thanksgiving and Bethany is feeling better! Haven't heard from the Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor yet but I will probably call today to try and set up an appointment. While my family was here, we put up the Christmas tree. I love that in our new house you can look from the outside and see the tree through the front window. I may or may not have driven around our neighborhood circle just to see it because it looked so pretty. But I DEFINITELY didn't drive around the circle twice just to look at the tree. Who would do something so silly?!?! Our official letter from US Customs and Immigrations came on Saturday while we were watching FSU devour the Gators. So, it's for real- the US says we can adopt from China! Like I've said before, the next step, is getting our paperwork to China. Tom and I got up bright an early (like we have a choice with our early riser) and went to the police department to try and get that last lette...

We're having a lot of trouble getting Bethy's asthma under control. Despite treatment (breathing treatments, steroids, allergy medicines), she is still coughing, congested, and out of breath. I took her to the pediatrician yesterday. Turns out she has a double ear infection and the start of a sinus infection. The dr. said her lungs don't sound well- very congested and she's wheezing. So we came home with two weeks worth of antibiotics, a new bottle of allergy medicine, and instructions to continue breathing treatments every four hours for the next two days. Don't worry, we don't have to wake her up at night to do them. And then after that we'll go back to breathing treatments twice a day or more as needed. She's also referring us to an ear, nose, and throat specialist. I am guessing we'll be looking at options such as tubes or adenoid removal. She said we may also need to go see a pulmonary specialist. Meanwhile, Bethy laughs and plays all day lo...

Woooooo Hooooo! We were approved by US Customs and Immigrations to bring a child from China into the US to be part of our family! I was a little nervous because when we were fingerprinted last week, my right ring fingerprint screen said "Reject". I guess one bad fingerprint isn't enough to keep us from adopting so that's good! What this means is that the US has reviewed our homestudy (a novel about our lives), our proof of citizenship, and our background checks and has officially said, "These people are legit." Thanks US- we love you too! The official notice should arrive in the mail within a week. In the meantime we're working on our second novel so that China can say we're legit too. I am putting the finishing touches on the last chapter of that novel. It will go to our new agency this week and they take it from there and will send it to China for us. If all goes well, our dossier (the novel for China) should be in China in December. That mea...

A couple weeks ago, Bethy woke up too early from her nap, so I brought her into my bed and told her it was still nap time and to go back to sleep. "Bethy, it's nap time", I repeated several times. She was quiet for a few seconds so I closed my eyes and started to rest. Then I feel two tiny hands cupping my face. I open my eyes and my sweet Bethy, who is hovering over me says, "Momma, it's wake time."

Just got back from the cruise. I've heard people talk about needing a vacation from their vacation and now I understand it. We had a good time but taking a 2 year old on a cruise is a lot of work especially when said 2 year old has just been diagnosed with asthma and momma of 2 year old gets stomach bug that lasts for three days of the trip. But memories were made, fun was had, and we are back on land! And all in all Bethy was a GREAT cruiser. She even got praised several times for her behavior by others on the ship. Our floors look done- we need to talk to the flooring guy today to see if they're totally done- we may have a few touch ups to do but other than that it looks great and we're happy with them so far. Thanks to Carpet One and John Shepard for everything. They are stellar and if you live in Panama City and need flooring, look them up and tell them we sent you!  :) I'll post pics soon but we went with this stuff called Earthscapes in the living areas and kid...

I have a friend in town and we've been having a blast. And on top of that, I've been sleeping in the new house on my bed while my husband sleeps at the old house on a mattress. He's wonderful! Here's some bullet points of what's happening: Our floors are ordered and will be installed while we are on the cruise. Before we leave, we have to get everything off the floors and into the garage. I am overwhelmed beyond belief by that task. I worked my way up the chain of our adoption agency until I got answers. They may be cursing my name, but I got some of the answers I needed, so I don't really care. Curse away! We will know more by mid week and then I will scramble to pick a new agency in 24 hours before we leave on the cruise. Bethy's asthma treatment is going pretty well but she hasn't stopped coughing totally yet.  : ( But she is sleeping much better. Our fall festival for our church was this weekend and it was AMAZING. Over 4,000 people came to it...

I promised an update so here it is- We met with our pediatrician on Saturday and she was very helpful. Basically, Bethy will have no limits and can do anything any other child can do. As long as we keep it under control, it should never become an emergency situation.  We got all of our questions answered and figured out some more solutions for getting rid of this cough. She has since had several coughless nights and everyone is happier! We're still mostly staying at our old house but I'm at the new house now and Bethy is taking her nap here. We're waiting for a second measurment of our floors. We will have our floors installed while we are on vacation in a week and a half. We're happy with our choice and the cost and were fortunate that the store owner goes to our chuch. He has been very helpful and gave us a great deal. Next week we'll move everything from our house into the garage. It's good to reorganize everything in your house every few months right? : ...

I'm typing from my phone, sitting on an air mattress in our old house and I have a cold. So forgive me if this post has typos are is disjointed- wait, that's no different from normal so nevermind. I just wanted to update you on what's been going on with us this week. You may remember that Bethy has had a bad cough for about three months now. It started as a cold and just never went away. We've had our carpets steam cleaned twice and have even spent weeks trying to clean them again ourselves-so much so that we broke the trigger on the steam vac. We also had our a\c totally cleaned out. Bethy continued to cough and this week she got a cold again. When I took her to the doctor, Bethy was diagnosed with asthma. I was a little caught of guard and Bethy was not interested in staying long enough for me to ask questions. So in a few hours, Tom and I have an appointment with the doctor to ask some questions. We'll let you know what we learn. When Bethy and I got home from...

We have three clocks hanging over a world map in our den. The clock on the left is China time and I like to sit in the recliner and dream about what Caleb is doing on the other side of the world. Last night I pondered this aloud to my husband. He replied, "Probably crying until he realizes no one is going to pick him up." You can imagine my response to my sweet, realist husband. He said, "Well, it's true, isn't it?!' And he's right. It is true. There's a chance Caleb is in a foster home or in a really great orphanage. But the reality of a typical orphanage is that you have a nanny not a Momma and a Daddy. There are so many mouths to feed and cries to hush that babies wait too long to be held, if they get held at all. Don't let me give you the impression that my husband is not sensitive to my feelings- he's come a long way since we met (he is an engineer so feelings weren't his speciality) and provides constant support that has deeply enh...

The mailman came about three hours earlier than usual yesterday and he delivered our homestudy! So, I packaged it all up, loaded Bethy in the car and FedEx'd it to United States Customs and Immigrations (USCIS) office. With our homestudy is a cover letter, some proof of identity, our agency license and a big fat check. All in all .45 lbs of paperwork that took 2 months to complete. It will be delivered to the office in TX by 10:30 this morning. I felt sick to my stomach sending that package off. A combination of nervousness and excitement. I hope everything is ok with our paperwork. I hope the process goes quickly. I can't believe we're on to the next step already! We're getting closer to a referral! So, what now? Well, we wait for an appointment to get our fingerprints done and then get USCIS approval. In the meantime, we complete our dossier paperwork (I'm almost done) and submit our application to the agency for the "Child of Promise" program (meani...

Our Agency gave final approval of our homestudy on Friday and it was put in the mail that day. So either today or tomorrow, I should have it in my hands. From there it goes to the US Customs and Immigrations Office where they will give their approval for us to adopt. This will take at least a month and up the three months. It also requires a trip to Jacksonville for fingerprinting. What an exciting day for us!!!!!!!

The home has been reviewed by our agency's China Team and only needed two changes, one by our agency and one by us. Hopefully I can get our part figured out quickly so we can be on our way to the next step! Wanted to say that we our so over the moon for our friends who are adopting two girls in Nicaragua. Their journey began on our mission trip in 2009 and has taken them on quite the journey. Today, Nica's version of DCF approved them to be the guardians of the girls. I am not sure what the next step is but I do know this was a huge one and a real life miracle if you ask me! Living proof that you can't tell God what He can or can't do because he is bigger than even the red tape and bureaucracy of life! Their journey gives me strength and hope every day! News on the home front? We're spending a ton less money on diapers these days!!! Woohooo!!!!! I will be cleaning carpets for a VERY long time I am glad we're cleaning carpets instead of buying new floors! ...

As you approach my house today, you will be greeted by a carpet on the front sidewalk. It got soaking wet when the Hoover Vac leaked half a gallon of water in our front entryway. And if you can get in the front door (I did clear it last night to prevent a fire hazard) you will be greeted by a recliner, end table, and other random furniture placed there while we clean our carpets. And in our living room? Every toy from the playroom plus all the regular furniture. I could go on but I'll spare you. Just know that our house is in chaos. But it has to get worse before it gets better right? So keeping the above scene in mind, yesterday evening the doorbell rang. So, of course I ran out through the garage and scared the guy who was, of course expecting me to come to front door. Silly guy. It happened to be the ADT Security salesman (ironic that I scared the security guy?). "Blah, blah, blah"- he did his little sales pitch. My sweet daughter read my mind and began to loudly, bu...

Can I just say that I'm sorry? I am the one who really wanted carpet in our new house. I wanted the softness and the homey feel of it. And when we found this house, the carpets looked so nice. No stains or anything.  But now, two carpet cleanings later, we still have a coughing two year old. She's been on breathing treatments, steroids, allergy meds, and this week she'll go for allergy testing. And I've heard the dreaded "A" word more times that I feel comfortable with. "Asthma"...not usually diagnosed until 3 years of age, but still, it's been mentioned . UGH!!! So, is it the carpets? Is it the move away from the beach to a more wooded area? Is it preschool? Again, I say, I am SO sorry! My husband is so sweet that he hasn't even hinted at saying, "I told you so." But he would be justified, because he did tell me so. And I still wanted carpet. But I love him for not saying "I told you so." He's sweet like that. We...

I was having a bad day yesterday and throwing myself a pity party over the fact that our homestudy still isn't done. When I went to pick Bethy up at school, a ladybug landed on my arm. Ladybugs are a sign of "good luck" in the world of China adoptions. I don't believe in luck, but it was still a nice little reminder to be thankful for God's provision. Here's to you little ladybug!

Remember this conversation from the TV show Friends ? MONICA: "Hi, it's Monica. I'm just checking in 'cause I got this message from you and I didn't know if it was old or new or what. So, I'm just checkin'. So let me know, or don't, whatever. I'm breezy." JOEY: Hey, you can't say you're breezy, that totally negates the breezy. I am SO Monica. I was telling Tom today that I could just decide to be totally be calm and go with the flow about this adoption stuff. But who am I kidding? Is there anything breezy about Monica? Is there a chance I can be breezy about the adoption process? Not likely! So, if there's a Phoebe out there that wants to come help me chill out, I'm up for it!

She's beautiful and a joy and has captured my heart.

Update: As of Friday, Oct.8, we found out we have one more review by the China Team of our agency to make it through before our homestudy can go to USCIS for approval. Hopefully next week? We are hoping with every ounce of hope we can muster that our homestudy will receive final approval from our agency so that we can send it to the customs/immigration offices this week. There are no words I can say to express to you the extreme relief I will feel to have that done. And it will signify that we have actually accomplisehd something tangible in this adoption process. Horray!! We had a great weekend with my mom visiting and got to go to an aquarium and a fall festival. There's a crispness in the air and I am so thankful for that! Tom and I got to serve communion today for World Communion Sunday and now we're having a lazy afternoon at home and I am enjoying a quiet house for a few more minutes. Enjoy your day!

Hours and hours and hours of paperwork for these sweet words: " Mr. and Mrs. Fanning are approved to adopt one male child, between the ages of 0-3 years of age from The People’s Republic of China. It is my pleasure to recommend that The People’s Republic of China place such a child with the Fanning family." Now let's hope the US Customs and Immigration Office agrees! In other news.... Our last few days have involved being locked out of our house for three hours, missing our volunteer duties at church, a dead car, and a new round of breathing treatments for Miss Bethy. But God's grace abounds in it all and I am still smiling!

Today when I picked Bethy up from school, she wanted to give a friend a hug before we left. The teachers said she had been hugging everyone before I came and giving quite the tight hug. So, In the car I mentioned that she needed to be gentle in her hugs. I majorly hurt her feelings by telling her that. She covered up her face and started to cry. I almost cried because she was crying. I backtracked and told her she was a good friend and sweet for giving out hugs. She can learn appropriate hug squeeze strength another day.

I received our certified birth certificates two weeks ago from the FL Vital Stats office. But no certified marriage cert. which was ordered at the same time. I gave it another week and then emailed the office to ask about it. I received a quick response that it had been emailed a week ago. Hmmmm....before I could even figure out the best route to handle this I received another email saying that a new copy had been placed in the mail today. Prompt, efficient, helpful. Refreshing! Bravo FL! Remember how Bethany called me "daddy" for months and months and months? Even though we knew she knew I was "mommy" (proven by asking where is mommy and she could point to me), she continued to call me "daddy". Well now she thinks everything is blue. Well, she doesn't really think that because if you ask her to hand you the red block she will get it right most of the time- same with yellow, green, black, white. But if you say, "Hand me the red block", she ...

Hey there! Anybody out there? We've been busy unpacking, going to preschool, playing, swimming, fighting sickness, and filling out paperwork! How about you? Tonight is our last visit with our homestudy social worker (we love her!). This is the home inspection part of the visit and she'll also be meeting Bethy for the first time (at bedtime, help us sweet Jesus). If I did not yet have children, I am sure I would be home scrubbing toilets right now. But, I have a two year old. So, there's blocks under the couch, toys on the porch, a few more cluttered areas than I would like. And that's okay with me. All you have to do is see her give us kisses and hugs and say "Love you" and you'll look overlook the mess in the corner of the closet, and say, "Yup, they're going to do just fine." At least that's what I'm telling myself right now. I have a few more pieces of paper to send to the agency and I am waiting to hear if all of our backgro...

In the world of adoption, they call this phase "paper pregnant". And we sure are up to our eyeballs in paperwork! We're getting ready to send a boatload of it to the adoption agency on Monday. Because it's finally here, it's time to start the adoption process! What we're submitting on Monday is our formal application for the agency along with the beginning of our homestudy documents. What's a home study? "Home Study: A home study is sometimes called an "adoption study," and is a written report containing the findings of the social worker who has met on several occasions with the prospective adoptive parents, has visited their home, and who has investigated the health, medical, criminal, family and home background of the adoptive parents. If there are other individuals that are also living in the home of the adoptive parents, they will be interviewed and investigated, if necessary, by the social worker and included as part of the home stu...

Here are some of the things are cute two year old has been doing lately- She has started "reading" books to us. She says, "dee, dee, dee, dee" with occasional actual words thrown in and then turns the page and starts again. She points to the words on the page as she reads and when she gets to the end she says, "The End!" It's SO cute! Bethany loves playing "Momma" with her baby doll. She feeds and changes the baby and will give the baby things and say "Here ya go." Bethy likes to pretend cook. And before the "meal" she grabs your hand and says "Pray". And she can repeat after us and say, "Dear God, Thank you for the food. Amen." Went to the doctor yesterday for her two year check up and she is 34 inches, 23. 2 pounds. Doctor says she is very healthy, just petite.  :) And she's a bundle of energy so I see gymnastics in her future! She is every bit a two year old complete with really great m...

Hey folks! I know it's been a while. To be honest, I've just had no energy for blogging. I have kind of gone into a survival shell and am just emerging out. In the past few weeks we closed on our house, moved into the new house, celebrated Bethy's second birthday, send Tom and the team to Nicaragua, and lost my step-grandfather. I had to take a deep breath after that sentence. We're doing so well though! Tom is having a blast in Nicaragua and although I wish I could be with him, I am enjoying time with my mom and Bethy. She's been teething and having a bit of trouble adapting to life in a new house and with daddy being gone. But I think with some rest, she'll be feeling better soon. Her language is really blossoming and it's fun to hear what she has to say. She said "love you" yesterday for the first time. It was prompted but still sweet. One week until we start the adoption process. Crazy right? So, please pray with us and for us. I have a b...

Can I just say something? Um.......it is HOT!!! Like 100 degrees hot in FL right now!!! I am not one of those that complains about the cold in the winter and the hot in the summer. I appreciate the cold. LOVE it- bring it on! But the summer heat- ugh!! I almost moved to Alaska after seminary- no really, I did consider it. Then I thought about moving to NY. Cold, I can handle. But hot is too hot for me. So..... summer with a toddler who LOVES to be outside is not always the picture of bliss! : ) Ok, it still is bliss, but bliss with a lot of sweat! I am not sure if you've heard or not but there's been an oil spill.....Oh, you've heard? Well, I'll spare you the details then. But, it's headed this way, and unless God decides to stop it before it gets to PCB, well, it will be here eventually. So, all us PCBers are trying to soak up the beach while we can. At this point I will refer you back to paragraph one for a reread. So, I decided to take Bethany to the beach to...

 22 Months old! Can you believe we're just 2 months from Bethany turning 2 years old?!?! CRAZY! What a delight she is! She is such a funny, strong, adorable, loving child. This month, she FINALLY started calling me momma. Praise Jesus! I think what helpes was that she would ask me to write "daddy" and I would always write "mommy" as well so she could see the difference in the letters and see that they were different words. And out of the blue one day, she said "momma" and she's been calling me that ever since. Occasionally she forgets and says "daddy" but that's ok. She says "What's that?" about 4,567 1/2 times a day She LOVES cats and talks about "kikky's" all the time. She says, "Kikky, here, sit" and pats on her lap. She always looks for cats when we go someplace she thinks she may see one. She naps from 11:30-1:30 every day. She goes to bed at 6:30 pm and wakes up by 6:30 am She loves ...

For the longest time, Bethany has been calling me "daddy". She calls both Tom and I "daddy". It's funny, annoying, cute, quirky. But yesterday and today I've been hearing my sweet little one call me "momma". Has she finally figured it out? I hope so- I love hearing "momma"!!

Tonight, China will release a new list of adoptable children and our adoption agency will pray about and match children with families. New families will be formed tonight! Not us quite yet but we still pray for the discernment of the adoption team that is making those decisions and the parents that have to make the decision to accept the referral. Prayers to them tonight!

I feel like I'm pregnant....... Except I have no heartburn, no trouble sleeping, no swollen feet, no waddle in my walk. What I'm feeling isn't physical but I feel the same emotionally as I did with Bethany. I remember thinking how weird it was to love someone I hadn't even met. How could I already love her so much? How could I care about her already? Well, I feel that way about my son. Based on our timeline calculations (which I fully realize could be totally wrong), there's a VERY strong possiblity that our son is already alive and living his life in China. Like the Bible says, I try not to boast about tomorrow, thinking I know where I will go or what will happen. But let's just pretend it all works out..... Then our son exists. And do you know that I feel fiercely protective of him even though I have no control over what happens to him right now? If I could, I would jump on a plane right now and scoop him up and bring him home with me. Cause right now he...

The next three months, phewwweeee, they exhaust me just to think about them. But it's a good exhaustion. A fun exhaustion! Here's what's going on: It's a busy busy time for Tom at work- but we're still running together in the mornings, training for a faster 5k! We're still waiting to hear about a house. If it goes our way, we'll be moving in two months! We are in the midst of major Nicaragua trip planning. Tom will be going in late July, early August as the team leader. I am the administrative planner for the trip. I am working a Chrysalis retreat next weekend. I have a few seminary friends coming to visit in a few weeks! Yahooo!!! We will be making a trip to Lakeland to see friends and family in early July and will attend a wedding while there. Some of my former youth which I now call friends will be visiting us in July. We have tons of birthdays and holidays to celebrate! Bethany will turn 2! 2, can you believe it?!?! We will finish up our adopt...

I definitely think I love my mom even more now that I'm a mom. Thanks mom for everything you've done for me!!! You're the best!! Thanks Bethany for 21 months of laughter, hugs, kisses, and fun! Thanks to my son for persevering in a tough situation. Even though we don't know each other yet, I love you and care about you. I wish we could be together today but we will be one day soon! Thanks to my husband for helping me be the best mom I can be. And to Jean who raised a wonderful man and is a wonderful Nana to Bethy.

Do you mind if I tell you some funny things Bethany does or says? Ok, good...... She says "mores" instead "more"- it always makes me think of S'mores. Yummy! She still calls me "daddy". You can even say, "Where's mommy?" and she will point to me and say "Daddy!" She waves to ants, says "hi" to them. Then she says, "ouch" and tries to kill them. Last week I painted her toenails pink. She now says hi to her toes and gives them kisses. After she gives you a kiss, she says "Bye, bye". She can weed as good as any adult I know. Seriously, she will sit in the yard, pull weeds, and put them in a nice neat pile. Thanks for indulging me. Have a great day!

Where are we at in the adoption process? Here....doing paperwork and online Hague training . Paper Pregnant!

Some days are like this: And some days are like this: But everyday, I love her!

Wow, what news we got today! I am a member of our adoption agency's online forum for parents waiting for special needs children from China. The agency's China Team also posts on that board to get news out for the agency. Anyways....... Their post today said they are desperately seeking families willing to adopt special needs boys from China. They would probably be matched immediately!!!! That's us!!!!!!! So, that means that once I turn 30 and submit our paper work we should recieve a match quickly. So we may have a new son by the end of 2011 if all continues on the same path. Of course there are MANY steps between here and there and many places for snags in the process. But I am very hopeful that the wait won't be as long as we first thought. Celebrate with us today for good news in a sometimes very tedious process! : )

I have started this post several times and it just seems like one of those posts where words can't do justice to the story. The story of our second child will be so different and complex, and simplifying to a blog post is difficult. When all is said and done, the plan is to adopt a boy from China who has medically correctible or minor special needs. That sentence sounds so simple, but arriving at that sentence is far from simple. This post may get long but I hope you'll stick with it. It's my heart and I'm sharing it with you. For those of you that are close to me, it will come as no surprise that we have decided to adopt an Asian child. One my friends recently said to me, "Anyone who talks to you for more than five minutes knows you want an Asian baby." And the truth is, this has been my heart's desire for a very long time. Before I knew Tom, before I had Bethany, I wished for this. I had even read books about adoption from China before I was married....

I decided to make this blog private and only let those of you who actually know us in some way into my blog thoughts. The world is still free to access my Panama City Playground Blog , although that also has been made more private (more anonymous pics, less specific detalis, etc,). I started noticing that many people from around the world were visiting my blogs and that's a bit scary. So, I wanted to scale down and know eaxctly who was reading this one. Tomorrow is the big meeting with our adoption agent. I am very excited and have already made a welcome to our house and lives strawberry cake (Bethany and I picked the strawberries fresh today). It's just an informational meeting, but for me it feels like saying "Okay, let's be parents" all over again. There's a person from an adoption agency coming to our house. She comes bearing answers and paperwork that will help us add another child to our family forever. That's HUGE! Thrilling and scary. I think it...

There are days where children scream, and hit, and won't eat, and are very difficult to handle. But that was last Wednesday. This Wednesday was full of laughter, tickles, requests to "eat", calling mommy's oboe a "bobo", sliding, swinging, bubbles, smiles, and those days are joyful!! Can I just freeze time and stay here a bit longer? Can I keep smelling those blonde curls, kissing those tiny toes, tickling that buddah belly? "You're going to miss this You're going to want this back You're going to wish these days Hadn't gone by so fast These are some good times So take a good look around You may not know it now But you're going to miss this"

I hope you all had as wonderful of an Easter as we did. We had a great time worshiping at WUMC in the morning and then a great time with family in the afternoon. I continue to bask in the joy of the risen Lord as we enjoy the outdoors and spring! : ) We spend much of our days outside, saying "hi" to roly polies, blowing bubbles, using sidewalk chalk, sliding, splashing, listening to birds, pointing at planes, laughing, and enjoying life. What a wonderful life it is! Next Saturday is our appointment with our adoption worker! To say I am excited would be an understatement! I need her to answer a few questions and then I think we'll be ready to dive in. I've read ALOT so I am hoping there will be no surprises in what she has to say. I am hoping for confirmation of what I already know. I am hoping that next weekend, we can fully share our hearts and our path with you. There's a lot of hope going on isn't there? We continue to search for a house. We are looki...

Today is actually good Friday and we're reflecting on the sacrifice Jesus gave for us and anticipating the celebration of our risen Lord! We're excited to host Tom's parents, sister, brother-in-law, and our twin nieces on Sunday (complete with Easter egg hunt). And of course, we'll skype or talk to my family down in Lakeland. I had a stomach bug yesterday- I lost about four pounds. Not quite the weight loss boost I was looking for. Bethany turned 20 months Wednesday. Here's the latest bear picture: I was saying "aaah-choo" to try and get her to smile so this is her saying "choo" in response. She's still working on lots of teeth. Not so fun for her or us. And she has the sniffles. But she's on antibiotics so that should ward off an ear infection. Why is she on antibiotics? Well, she got an ant bite that got infected and it resulted in a trip to the doctor and this: She's also showing lots of interest in potty training. I need to...

Bethany does not like to share. Plain and simple, just doesn't like it. But she knows  if she doesn't share, she either loses the toy or she goes to her room. So this morning, she came up with her own solution. She was on daddy's lap playing with a toy and she did not want daddy to touch the toy. We asked her to share and warned her that she would not be able to keep playing with the toy if she did not share. So, she got up, grabbed the toy and her beloved elephant stuffed animal and whimpered and sulked her way down the dark hallway of my parents' house. It was down the hall that she could be free to play with the toy all by herself- no sharing. But my little extrovert couldn't handle it. Her need to be around people outweighed her need to have the toy all to herself so she came bounding back to daddy, toy in hand, ready to share.

We measured Bethany this morning and she has grown. She is 32 inches which puts her in the 50% for her age. This is the girl that has been below the 10% for a very long time. And she weighs 22 pounds which is also a big jump for her! I also got to change out her clothes from 12 month size to 18 month size. I guess those Ensures are doing the job. Plus she seems to be eating better these days. Yay for a growing girl!!! We've also been keeping a list of words she says and here's what we have written down so far: whale, duck, hi, bye, daddy, momma (rarely says this), color, car, ball, go, out, up, down, eat, juice, bath, eye, ear, hat, cup, belly, TV, diaper, no, uh-oh, bear, kitty, hot, water, rock, bubble, please, more, clock, amen, cheese (when she hears the camera turn on), flower, "what's this?" 19 months bear picture In other news, we have to postpone our adoption agency meeting for Monday- I'll let you know when we reschedule.

This coming Monday, we'll be attending an informational meeting with an adoption agency. My hope is that this will be the last step before making a final decision about what avenue to pursue for adoption. Once we make the final decision I'll tell you more about the process of how we got there. But for now, just know that there is a lot of praying, thinking, talking, reading, listening, crying, hoping and trusting going on in the Fanning household as we make this big decision. In case you're curious (I know some of you are because some have already asked), Tom and I knew we would pursue adoption before we even got married. For me personally, I've had a desire to adopt for many, many years. And there wasn't any convincing necessary for Tom to share that desire. Eventually, we'll write more about this and why we chose adoption but feel free to talk to us if you have any questions about it. We would love to share our heart on this matter. In other news: Next ...