beautiful addition : the ongoing story of Adah's fight against Leukemia

I've been following the Caringbridge site of Adah Morris since this summer. Six year old Adah was diagnosed with Leukemia while she and her family were home in the States from China during the summer. Reading the journals of Sara and Jason have been heartwarming and heart wrenching as they've experienced cancer treatment for their daughter. Now, Adah will begin a bone marrow transplant from Adah's little sister, Claire. Please pray with me that all will go well, especially now as she undergoes aggressive Chemo in preparation.

The Morrises now have a blog open to the public.

Read along here: http://beautifuladdition.wordpress.com/

1 month old!

So while some little miss was found exploring in the bathroom (of course, the door was shut when I was looking for her), another little guy was busy sleeping. I love that Asher is a laid back, relatively happy little chap. For the most part. And he's now over a month old! How did the time go by so fast? So far, he's packed on over 3 lbs since being born and seems to not be slowing down anytime soon. The kid can eat! And sleep. I guess that's a good combo for weight gain. His sister on the other hand... picky picky picky and up from 1 am till 6:30 am with her grandmother last night reading books. Hmmmm... What am I going to do when the reinforcements leave? Sleep training all over? Anyway, enjoy the pics.


And yes, that is the Evans nose

First snow

It snowed! It actually feels like winter here. And I'm getting spoiled by having yet another mother come and help with kiddos so that I can get some rest, and some things accomplished for this upcoming artisan fair. But of course, we had to make some time to play in the white stuff this morning. I forgot how having snow actually makes things feel festive!

There's a reason why I don't have lots of sibling photos

It's been three weeks now since our lives have been turned upside down once again and we've welcomed little Asher into our world

I would really like to have some cute sibling pictures to commemorate the growth of our little ones.
You know, the kinds where both kids are smiling, looking at the camera with eyes open and animated.
Well, so far, we've got the animated part down.

I talked myself into entering an Artisan fair in a month. Which means: gotta have the time to make some jewelry and hats to sell. It seemed doable when my mom was here and I lay on the couch making hats and nursing most of the day... Things are different now. Oh, and did I mention that we're moving in less than a month? We found out about that 2 days ago. At least, we found a place to move into 2 days ago. Actually, we've known we've had to move for a couple months now as our current place will be sold soon. So it's been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me, being pregnant, not knowing where we would live, having a baby, still waiting. I think God has been teaching me and re-teaching me to trust him. He must not want me to be complacent, especially when it comes to having a roof over my head. Maybe my time spent doing a master's degree mostly in the wilderness with a tent or no tent isn't all that coincidental!

Anyhow, we were given a place to live that is a 5 minute walk from where we currently live, that is on campus, and that is in our budget for the time being. All those things are such a blessing. I must say though, I've been especially spoiled the past 8 months with our living circumstances here so lets just say that living in China has prepared us well for the next place. A big bonus is not having to worry if my children put stains on the carpet or color the walls-- it's that kind of place:) And the entire area is all families with kiddos so we'll be in good company. Though it will be sad to leave this building and the friendships we've built here. My neighbor came over tonight and cleaned up our dinner dishes and then watched Josie while Dave was tutoring her grandson and I was busy with Asher. Very sweet. We'll definitely miss the convenience of having a free babysitter one flight up! But we'll still be close enough to come by when needed for sure.

So, my mom has been gone for a week now. Somehow I've survived. Sometimes barely. I'm definitely needing to get used to managing 2 crying children. Sometimes it's totally overwhelming, other times I feel like I'm much more able to block out the panic more easily. I'm still learning the juggling game. But if I'm going to get ANYTHING done in the next couple of weeks, I'm going to have to take lots of advantage of our upstairs help. Can I really make jewelry, hats and pack up the house? Hmmmm....

I snapped this of Josie yesterday.

This is a good example of my every minute. Keeping Asher safe from his elder crazy sister. She had just snatched off his hat and was going to tackle his little head when I put him, still in his car seat, out of reach. The only safe place I know, the crib. For now.

2 weeks!

Our little snuggle is growing so fast!

2 weeks old today and getting bigger by the second. All those night time feedings are helping fatten him up. He gained 1 lb 1 oz this past week!

Little happy

Josie used to be able to say "Asher", well it sounded more like "Aaaaa shhhah". She's now just resorted to saying "baby", though at times she calls him "Appy". I think she's saying "happy". Well, close enough-- at least his name means happy. That was a purposeful move, let me tell you! And for the most part, he's a happy little guy. Except in the night time hours. He sleeps and smiles though the day, but at 10, 11, 12, 2, 3, and 4 am he prefers to eat and make wimpering noises. Go figure. This makes mama not so "appy" in the wee hours, and more like a bear in the morning but I am thankful for my little Appy! The cuteness certainly makes up for the lack of sleep!

The impossible family photo

Now with 4 in the family, taking photos with everyone looking decent proves to be more of a challenge then it was before. But we do have some cute kids that despite goofy faces and removal of hats and kisses, are still cute.


Lets just see if we can get a good one of two.

not bad.