Prayers Needed...

Things have been a little stressful since returning to work back in August. One of the reasons is because I know the company I work for hasn't been doing well. The writing was on the wall, so I was actively looking for a new job. Unfortunately, I didn't find one fast enough. I was laid off yesterday afternoon around 2:30. Like I said, the writing was on the wall, but it still came as a complete shock. I'm getting a months severance and can collect unemployment. I've never been laid off before and I've never had to collect unemployment. I don't know why the word "unemployment" feels like a dirty word to me, but it does. I guess the word scares me more! I've always had a new job lined up before leaving a company. Finances have already been tough because I was hit with a pay cut upon returning from China which basically took about 30% of my salary. The summer wasn't as fun as I had planned, but I did get to spend time with my kids. I was bitter about the pay cut, but I was thinking of my many blessings and thankful that I still had a job at this point. I knew that God would get us through this, but now my faith is truly being tested. I'm scared! I'm scared that I won't find something. I'm scared we could lose our house! I'm scared that I won't be able to provide for my children. I'm scared that I won't find a job! PLEASE pray for us! And if you are reading this and you know of a job posting that I may be interested in, please let me know. I would be happy to forward my resume which will outline 20+ years of experience.

I am thinking about how worse off things could be. We have many blessings to think about and hopefully I can keep them in mind as my mind wonders and my heart feels bitter. At least we all have our health, we have beautiful children and I have a great husband who is extremely supportive. Thank God Dave has a job! He's been able to work a little overtime, so we will have to stash that money away for a rainy day!

With all that being said, Jake and Rachel are doing great. Jake's been back to school for a couple of weeks now and he finally got to play in his first football game last Saturday. Poor thing! Jake is running for Student Council Representative and he had to give a speech in front of his class yesterday. You know, Jake is pretty unbelievable. Most kids would never get up in front of a class of peers to give a report, let alone a speech he wrote running for student council. I am so incredibly impressed by him! I believe he finds out on Thursday who won the election. He was running against another boy in his class who he believes everyone likes. Even if he doesn't win, he should be so proud of himself for trying. If he does win, this will be his second time. His first election was in third grade and he did win! YOU GO JAKE!

Rachel is progressing incredibly well. She had her well visit on Monday and even the doctor was truly amazed. Rachel is almost full walking now. Last night she walked from my dining room to the couch in the living room without falling! She probably took about 20+ steps without falling. She is now blowing kisses which absolutely melts my heart (see the video attached!) and she LOVES music. She loves to dance to music (see video!). Rachel had to have four shots on Monday and the poor thing didn't do so well later on in the day. She was becoming very cranky and when Jake went to pick her up, she screamed bloody murder! When I took her to comfort her, she screamed again in agony. Her legs were hot to touch and I could tell you had a fever. I gave her a bath and she shivered so badly that I thought she was having convulsions. Her fever got to 102.8. It took me about an hour and half to calm her down and she finally fell asleep in my arms. I was so annoyed because I called the pediatrician and it took them an hour to call me back. She woke a lot during the night and when I went in the first time around 12:15 AM or so, she was still burning up. I gave her some tylenol and I was comforting her to help her fall back to sleep. As I said good night, she smiled and waved at me. As I was walking out her door, she blew me two kisses! OMG, she's even pretty darn cute at 12:15 in the morning! She was extremely restless all night, but she was in a very good mood the next morning even still with a low grade fever. Rachel currently weighs 23 lbs and 12 ounces and is 31 1/2 inches long. She's in the 97 percentile for height and 85 percentile for weight. Go figure! Whoever thought we would get a big Chinese baby! LOL! She fits right into our family! Jake has always been off the charts with his height and weight.

Jake also had his well visit and he was 5 feet 3 1/4 inches tall and weighed 124 lbs. He has been consistently off the charts since he was 3 months old. He did loose 8 lbs since last year though! The doctor was surprised by that. I just pray that his size 11 feet slow down and he will be wearing shoe boxes to school! LOL!

Rachel is consistently learning new words. She can say baby which sounds like "ba baaaa (long a sound)" and the word hot which sounds like "haaaahhhh". She says this and points to the stove. So darn cute! Jake and I both heard her say "bye bye" the other day. That was funny because Jake and I both looked at each other with these stunned looks after she said it. I thought maybe I was hearing things. She loves to give kisses and hugs, even to dogs! LOL. We were at Jake's football game last Saturday and there was this adorable puppy and she kept leaning over going "mmmmm" which means she wants a kiss. The puppy was happy to oblige! She did it again to my sister, Debbie's dog, Tess, last night. I just can't stand when a dog licks you let alone lick you on the lips! Can you say YUCK!

Well, that's pretty much what is going on in our household. I'm loving being a mom to two kids! What tremendous blessings we were given.

Please pray that I will find a job. Please pray that it will be soon! Also, please pray for the Whitney Family who is in China getting their adorable little girl, Aidan. Their blog is http://www.whitneygang.blogspot.com/. You must go and read thier blog and follow their adoption journey.

Love you all!