Happy Birthday, Weilong

What a busy birthday Weilong had. All the kids had dental appointments so we spent the better part of the day at the dentists office. Then we stopped by the store to get cake ingredients. But I was pooped by then and talked Weilong into buying a birthday cake instead.

He was the perfect little host again this year. He made sure everyone got the piece of cake they wanted, and kept asking if anyone wanted more. He was very pleased that we all loved his cake. Such a sweet little gentleman!

Weilong got a "flying saucer" for his birthday and a new watch. He loves the saucer because it hovers and can be used indoors or out.

It has been a hard week, with Gary, Julia, and Weilong having coughs and colds. I'm concerned about Julia because she has had a fever off and on for several days and is sleeping a lot. She says her little tummy is upset and isn't eating well.

The cord to my computer needs replacing, so I will have to wait til I get a new one before uploading birthday pictures. Hopefully by then everyone will be well and feeling much better by then. For now I'm using my son's computer. Poor man, he has been kept busy working on all the Christmas electronics this week. I don't know what we'd do without him.

It's almost midnight and therefore 1/1/08 and all the children are asleep except Lisa. Happy New Year everyone!

Cake Recipe

Weilong's birthday is 12/27. He wants the same birthday cake that the girls had. All the children say this is their favorite cake. Thought I'd share it, I got it from tv. Please note that it is not low calorie, but then what cake is? My kids do not like nuts in the icing, so I omit them.

Chocolate Cake

Cake:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) can chocolate syrup (recommended: Hershey's)

Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan.

For the cake: Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in another bowl. Add to creamed mixture, continuing to beat. Add vanilla and chocolate syrup to batter and mix well. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Just before cake is done, prepare frosting.

For the frosting: Put butter, chocolate chips, sugar and evaporated milk in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Stirring ingredients together, boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and nuts. Pour over warm cake.

Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve 2

Just a couple of pictures of the children.

Wise Men Still Seek Him

Wise men still seek Him, as do shepherds and sweet young girls.

I'm so glad we were very busy on Christmas Eve. It helped the girls to keep busy. And things were very busy indeed as the time drew near for the candle light service at church. Since I had spent the better part of the day handling Ginger's affairs, everyone had to pitch in and help get ready for the big event. I would never have gotten supper ready to be eaten after the service if I had not had help.

Here are a few pictures of that service. You will note that Weilong was a wise man (he says he was a king), and Weifu was a shepherd. The boys both liked Weifu's simple costume much better than Weilong's. But they had a wonderful time getting ready for and participating in the service.

Christmas Eve 1

May I just say that life is NEVER boring when you have four young children? Especially around Christmas time. But I wish Christmas Eve had held a little less excitement this year.

We lost a beloved member of our family, one of the girls' cats. Ginger had been sick all day on the 23, vomiting even water. I was up very late, just to keep an eye on her. Early on Christmas Eve the girls and I put her into the little carrier and took her to the animal hospital. I just couldn't imagine what was wrong with her. She is an indoor cat and has never been outside. She only eat cat food, no human food or snacks. And all her shots are current.

It didn't take as long to see a vet as it did to see a doctor at the Children's emergency room. They decided to run some blood tests and xrays to try to find out why Ginger was so very sick. I reluctantly left Ginger in the tender care of the hospital to take the girls back home since we had not had breakfast yet and it was already lunch time.

Soon I received a very sad phone call. The xrays showed a two foot long piece of some kind of wire all kinked and wrapped up inside Ginger's intestines. It only took me a minute to know exactly what it was. First I will say that all the decorations on our tree are child and pet friendly, all crocheted angels or ones made from felt, cloth, or handkerchiefs. No icicles or fringe type things for children or pets to ingest.

But we had purchased a roll of tiny snowflakes threaded on a wire (I thought it was string) for a school project about 2 weeks ago. We used some and I put the rest back into the plastic package. I do not know how or when Ginger got hold of that roll of Christmas decorations. I am nearly always at home and never saw her with it. The cats must have gotten hold of it during the night, and there was never any of it in the floor or anywhere else, so they must have put it neatly away when she finished eating as much as she could fit into her little stomach.

So, the only humane thing to do was for the vet to give Ginger a shot to make her go to sleep, never to wake up. She was in a lot of pain and there just wasn't anything else to do. We cried most of the rest of the day. I don't know why I cry when one of the children's pets dies, but even a hamster's death ruins my day. And poor little Lisa cried more than I have ever seen her cry. She loves kitties and Ginger always slept with either the girls or me. We will miss her so much. But George, her kitty brother misses her most of all. He goes through the house crying and there is no Ginger to come running to play with him.

The Longest Day

I spent most of the day Saturday in the emergency room. But don't panic, everything is fine. Here's what happened.

Gary woke me up on Saturday morning with these words, "Better get up honey, I think Weifu has a concussion. He's in the bathroom now, throwing up".

I jumped out of bed and ran to check on him, trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes. He was indeed throwing up, and had a dazed look in his little eyes. He had fallen out of the top bunk onto his head. I panicked and called 911, slipping into my clothes while I talked with them. In just a few minutes I heard sirens blaring and I think there were 5 or 6 men in the house. A fire truck and an ambulance were parked out front with flashing lights. I'm sure my neighbors were thinking something terrible had happened.

Gary fled to the office because he's a wimp at dealing with any hurts the kids have and I was left floundering on my own to try to explain to these guys what happened. Weifu was sitting, a little bit dazed in the living room. Very quiet and subdued, much out of character for him. He is usually bouncing off the walls. He insisted that the felt fine, but his head was just hurting.

The paramedics took this vitals and said he was ok. And of course they were asking me all about the accident. I think they became suspicious when I didn't know anything so they asked to see the bunk beds. Luckily Weilong went with us and took over. He had seen the whole thing and explained it to us.

Weifu was making his bed. He perched on the foot of the bed and pulled the quilt very hard to get all the wrinkles out. And he lost his balance and fell backwards off the foot of the top bunk. Weilong said his head hit the closet door first and that he slid to the floor with his feet in the air.

The paramedics offered to take Weifu to the hospital for us, but he insisted he was fine and didn't need to go, and since there was no blood or anything we all decided he would be fine. And the medics left.

Weifu now told me he felt funny and his head was hurting real bad. And I learned that the accident had happened an hour before the started throwing up, and that he had laid curled up in a fetal position on the floor for that hour. WHY didn't they tell me this while the medics were in our house??

I tried to call our doctor, but the office was closed. So, I called 911 again, and they again offered to drive us to the hospital but could not give me any advice over the phone. I declined the ride in the ambulance and bundled Weifu quickly up and drive as quickly as possible to the hospital. He threw up at home before we left, and again as we entered the emergency room.

Would you believe it took 3 hours before we were seen by a doctor??? A nurse did check Weifu out and didn't see anything that alarmed her. And once again Weifu had to throw up. This time he was in the mens room so long that I went in after him. He was on his knees hugging the nasty old toilet in the mens room, and the vomit was just water since he had not eaten or drunk anything all day. I helped him wash up, and held my tongue about his putting his hands and face on the nasty toilet, not to mention his knees on the floor and his whole front in contact with the front of the toilet. Germ alerts were screaming in my head, but I just had to ignore them.

After this episode they moved us to an exam room and gave Weifu something to keep him from vomiting. It worked because he settled down and started feeling better. His head was still hurting, but the pain was subsiding. But this time about 5 hours has passed since the accident. I had given him an ibuprophen earlier, but he threw it up. Finally they did a CAT scan and said it looked normal, thank God. They gave him a popsicle and when he was able to keep that down they let us go home. The temperature had dropped outside and we almost froze as we hurried to the parking garage. The wind was sustained at 30 mph, with gusts to 40.

We were so glad to get back home where we could be comfortable. Weifu ate a bowl of chicken noodle soup and said he felt better. His head was sore as was his right shoulder, and he said he felt dizzy when he turned his head or shook it.

The doctor told me to keep Weifu quiet for a day or two, and no sports activities for 2 weeks. He did have a concussion, but they said he will be fine. I'm so thankful for that. I had horrible visions of spending the holidays with him in the hospital, and believe me that's not my idea of a Merry Christmas.

Gary and I left the kids with our oldest son and went out to do a last bit of shopping. I was very tired when we got home, and it was bedtime. I would have forgotten to give Weilong his shot if he hadn't reminded me.

Today we had a wonderful normal Sunday. Our church service was exceptional.

We're all looking forward to tomorrow. There will be last minute gift wrapping, and preparations will begin for Christmas dinner. The girls will love helping me. Then we'll all go to church for a beautiful candle light service. We always want to remember that Christmas is the birthday of our precious Savior, God's gift to us. The gifts we give to each other are nice, but the real gift is Jesus.

I'll have a big pot of Paula Deen's Chicken Poblano soup in my crock pot keeping hot, and we'll have a wonderful meal with all six of our children when we get home from Church. We'll talk and enjoy being together on this very special night. The kids will be so excited that they will have a hard time falling asleep. They'll stay up for hours and Gary and I will probably fall asleep before they do. But sometime during this special night, Santa will make his much anticipated delivery to our house.

And the only witnesses to this delivery will be the first grade class frogs that Weilong is babysitting for during the Christmas break, all settled into a very special place on a desk pulled up close to our Christmas tree, in their own little aquarium. These five frogs may be the only frogs in history to have such a privileged view of Santa at work. And the cats will be sitting beneath the tree, gazing longingly at the frogs in their safe aquarium haven. Talking about visions of sugar plums!

Catching up

I've been so busy the last couple of weeks. I forgot to update my blog with the results of Weilong's feet xrays.

The bones are not normal in Weilong's feet and ankles. We are not sure if anything can be done, but have an appointment in Feb to get a complete work up on his feet and legs. It takes so long to get appointments for things like this.

I believe this is the reason for Weilong's leg and feet pain. I think that is a good thing, because it is probably not the Chiari Malformation causing the pain. And the reason the pain has gotten worse over the past few weeks is that he is finally growing!

I got him some new shoes this week. And they are size 12. His old ones are size 9. We bought them just before school started. I actually bought him a size 10 to leave room for him to grow, but he was unhappy because they were too loose and made me return them for a smaller size. So he went from size 9 to size 12 since school started!!! I have heard that the feet are the first thing to grow, and now I believe it. He has only been taking growth hormone 2 weeks, not long enough to account for the growth. It must be that he pressure on his pituitary has been relieved (from the surgery) which is allowing it to function more normally.

Also, Weilong has grown a whole inch in height since the surgery. He is absolutely thrilled. All his pants are too short. I must get to the store and buy him more, but stores are so crowded right now. He only has one pair that will fasten, and they are too short. And he has gained 4 lbs. He weighed 39 lbs before surgery, now he weighs 43! Finally he will wear size 5, not 4t. We are so thankful he is growing, and he is so happy. He has stopped whining when he gets that daily shot, and tonight he hugged me over and over and gave me lots of kisses after the shot. He is just thrilled to be growing. He has promised Weifu that he will thrash him as soon as he is big enough! Weifu just laughs. He's not worried yet. But Weilong is busy planning all the jabs and punches he will bestow upon his brother as soon as he is big enough!

So, I believe that the quick growth spurt is causing Weilong's feet to hurt. The ankle bones are not level and he walks funny which puts a strain on his little legs. Also, there are some bones in the top of his feet that are fused, and the long bones leading to his toes are curved. All this makes him walk on the outside of his feet. I cannot imagine what they can do to fix this? But I know God has not brought us this far to let us down now.

The weather was too cold, damp, and windy for our annual visit to the live manger scene. This is twice in the last 9 years this has happened. But we couldn't risk everyone getting sick, so we didn't even try to go last weekend. The weather is so strange because it has been 70 degrees for the last couple of days. Wish it had been like that over the weekend. Too bad we can't control the weather, huh?

We are all looking forward to Christmas. Only a few more days now.

Julia's 11th Birthday

My precious little Julia turned 11 this week. It's hard to believe she's that old, seems like only yesterday she was that beautiful little two year old with the big shy eyes.

I added an old picture of Julia on her 3rd birthday. Isn't she cute?

Christmas Play

I didn't get any good shots of the kids at the Christmas play. The lighting wasn't right and my flash was too far away to work. But here they are all dressed and waiting to go. All the children did very well and we had a wonderful time. The play was called the Master's Symphony.

GH Shots

This is the look I get every night when it is time for Weilong's shot. It's hard for me to give him the shot knowing he dislikes it so. But both he and I know that it will be worth it when his growth really takes off.

A Present for Mom

OK, I have held off on putting this one into writing because I think people will think I'm exaggerating. But I'm not, I promise.

All the children are being allowed to choose their Christmas present this year. They have been poring over toy magazines and endlessly discussing the merits of many different toys and games. I think they are getting more joy out of the anticipation and choosing of the gift than they will get out of receiving it. All but Weilong.

Weilong insists that he only wants cold hard cash for Christmas. We agreed if that's really what he wants.

Then he came up to me one evening and asked me "Mom, how much does a ring cost?" He seemed kind of embarrassed and reluctant to ask me. He wanted to know if 100 dollars is enough. And he realized that he has no way to purchase it unless I take him to the store or help him order it online.

I told him that yes, he could get a ring for under a 100 dollars, that the price really depends on what kind of ring he is seeking. He said he wanted to buy a ring for a girl! And he wanted his Christmas money to make the purchase.

Well, of course I was reluctant to agree to this scheme. I told him that it just wasn't appropriate for him to give an expensive gift to one of his little friends, that her mom probably wouldn't let her keep it if he did.

After much arm-twisting on my part I was shocked to learn that the girl he wanted to buy the ring for was me! He said "I don't need anything, mom. I have a home and a family and clothes and food. I really really want to buy something for you because I love you."

I didn't know what to say, and the tears were so near the surface that I couldn't really say much at all. I told him that I love him and want him to choose a gift for himself that he will enjoy playing with.

So, for days we discussed this. Finally, we agreed that Gary would give each of the kids some money to buy a gift for me and that they can put it together and buy a ring if they wish. Weilong insisted that he wants to pay for it all by himself. But I told him the ring would mean more if all the children had a part in choosing and purchasing it. So, he reluctantly agreed.

So, we had a wonderful time choosing the ring. It has a stone for each of my six children. And their names are engraved on a little gold ribbon running around each stone. Instead of their birthstones, the four younger ones each chose the birthstone they liked best! I thought this was a great idea and I will treasure it all the more for the hours they spent trying to decide which stone was prettier.

Today the ring came in. All the kids took turns holding it and trying it on and exclaiming over its beauty. They were all so excited and happy and proud of their gift. Here's a picture of Weilong proudly holding it. Can you see the love in his little eyes? They all had that love-light shining as they gathered around to admire the ring and exclaim over how beautiful it would look on my aging hand. The girls are going to wrap it and it will be the first gift under our Christmas tree when we finally get it put up! I will be sure to get a picture of all 4 of them on Christmas morning when I open my very special gift.

Oh, I am so blessed to have a family like this. It makes all my trials worthwhile. The endless homework, squabbles, doctor visits, laundry, cooking and cleaning seem like labors of love instead of drudgery.

Weilong really knows how to give a gift doesn't he?? It makes me wish I had something to give Jesus on his birthday that would make him as happy as this lovely ring from my precious children makes me. It represents love and the unselfish giving of their resources to show their love for me. They are so proud of that ring, and I would rather have it than the most costly ring on the planet.

Weilong Resumes All Normal Activities

YES! We visited the neurosurgeon today and Weilong can have PE and recess at school! He's so excited. He cannot wait for school tomorrow. He can even ride his bike if he wears his helmet.

We have an MRI scheduled for 3/12 and our next neuro appt is 3/18. We are praying that the syrinx has shrunk. The surgeon is a bit concerned about the continued pain in Weilongs legs and feet, but I believe he is much better. So, I will just leave this one in God's mighty hands and not worry over it for 3 months.

Tomorrow a nurse is finally coming to the house to bring Weilong's growth hormone and show me how to give him his daily injection. Both Weilong and I are looking forward to this because it means he will finally begin to grow. Even a shot a day will be bearable if he can only grow out of his size 4 clothes.

Chinese Cooking

I got the most wonderful early Christmas present. An electric Wok (Breville EW30XL Electric Gourmet Wok)and a good beginning Chinese cookbook "Wok Fast". We have an electric cooktop so I have not been able to cook Chinese food at home. Well, I could, but it is always soggy. Plus I lack the knowledge to make those great marinades and sauces that are so essential to good Chinese food.

So we (the kids and I) spent 2 hours in the Hong Kong Market today, trying to find all the stuff needed to make those sauces. Wok Fast is a good book because it actually tells you the name brands that are good. Hopefully I won't have to spend that much time shopping again. I have never seen so many different kinds of soy sauce or chili sauce.

We decided to try a simple dish, Ma Po Tofu. It is spicy! The kids loved it and I even liked it myself. I decided to serve some fresh rice noodles with it instead of rice. That was a mistake. The directions for cooking the noodles, if there were any, were in Chinese. So I boiled the noodles. I think I should only have poured boiling water over them because they cooked way too mushy. Oh, well. I'll know better next time.

Weilong was so thrilled over my cooking that he nearly cried. I think it must have brought back memories of his Chinese family.

You have never seen four children more thrilled over something. They cheered for me and praised me over and over til I was a bit ashamed of not trying to cook more food like this for them. I have tried, but it just looked like soup before.

One thing that shocked me is the relative low cost of cooking fresh Chinese food. I used 1/2 lb of ground beef, 1 block of tofu, and a tablespoon or two of the different spices/sauces. The recipe didn't call for veggies, but I added some bean sprouts and a couple of zuchini. Also lots of garlic and some green onions. This was a very inexpensive meal for 6 people!

The kids are looking at Wok Fast, deciding what they want me to cook tomorrow. And I'm wondering how I'm going to get that garlic-y, hot peppery smell out of my house. It has permeated every nook and cranny.

Santa's Helpers?

Happy Birthday, Hannah