Another Red Thread....

We had a wonderful opportunity to get together again with a family from South Carolina last week. Their daughter, Emmy, is one month younger than Katie and from the same orphanage in Maoming City.

The girls really hit it off again and had a wonderful time playing.
They are both growing so much, it is amazing.

The first two photos are from Sept. 2007, the first time our families met.

A Smile to Brighten Your Day

This is Seth - when we first met him, he was quite blue from congenital heart disease and he couldn't walk at all.



Now, as you can see, he is active and pink and glowing. He had surgery for his heart defect last Spring/Summer and I had asked many to pray for him. It was touch and go but he did very well. We sponsor him at the Foster Home and get regular updates. This photo made my day!

He is apparently going to have another heart surgery in six months. It will be a dangerous one as well but I think God has special things in store for this little guy.

I love you, Seth!

One of My Favorite Authors...

I found the coolest quiz on a dear friend's blog. (Thanks, Crystal! It's scary how alike we are.)

Take the Quiz here!

I have been working my way through a book I bought in September (in KC at a medical conference)....the Complete Works of Jane Austen.
She has always been one of my top three favorite authors of all time but I hadn't read that many of her works.

Since January (or before even) on Masterpiece Classics on PBS they have been broadcasting all of Jane's novels adapted into movies. My husband has TiVo'd them all for me and he actually has watched over half of them with me! He was quite shocked that he enjoyed them. I own quite a few of the "old" adaptations of several of her movies but I hadn't seen most of these newer adaptations. They have been quite good. I'm behind in my viewing lately, though, so poor Eric gets to sit through "Emma" and "Sense and Sensibility" very soon.

I simply love "Pride and Prejudice" but honestly my favorite Austen heroine is Anne Elliot. Not surprisingly, we are apparently the most alike. If anyone has not seen or read "Persuasion," I highly recommend it.

Lori

Spring Break

It is Spring Break this week and there has been no school. Eric didn't have work either and managed to keep his sanity all week somehow. We took a trip to the zoo and the park on Thursday. It was a warm and lovely day. The big highlights were feeding the fish, goats, and giraffes!

Today we had Easter Egg hunts and Easter baskets after church.

Happy Spring!!

Field Trip to Wal-Mart

It has been the winter doldrums. When it finally warmed up a little bit, it rained too much to go outside for long. Ryan had a field trip with school that he and Daddy went on to Wonders of Wildlife. BOTH of them learned about the food chain and got to see and touch a frog, a snake, a rabbit and an owl (they didn't touch the owl but it pooped on the floor, which Ryan thought was even more cool). Yes, though I don't have photographic evidence yet, Daddy touched a live snake. He wasn't even drugged (Daddy, though I guess the snake wasn't either). We're all very proud.

Alex was really mad Friday morning because he couldn't go on a field trip. To calm things down, I took him and Katie on their own field trip - to McDonalds for breakfast then to Wal-mart! Very exciting. They picked out new sunglasses and found those awful plastic croc-type shoes with all kinds of characters on them. Alex had to have Spiderman and Katie got Dora.(To be fair we got a pair of Cars shoes for Ryan...)

Here they all are modeling the sunglasses on a 40 degree, rainy, windy day.




We have big plans for Spring and Summer - if they ever get here.

Katie Hui's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Katie Hui!!!!

On March 1, my baby girl turned three! I gave her a big kiss and hug that morning and said, "Happy Birthday, Katie!" She gave me a big hug and beamed and said, "Happy Birthday, Mama!" She is doing so well - I am amazed by her. She is quite a mimick and loves to get ready with me in the morning. When I brush my hair, Katie has to use the brush next. She wants to brush her teeth and put on deodorant and make-up too. She has learned a lot of English and communicates well. We are going to have her evaluated again and she will start speech therapy through Eric's workplace. She is so affectionate and loving. She is smart and charismatic. She loves Ryan and Alex and they all three play very well together MOST of the time. We are so blessed to be her parents.

We celebrated Katie's birthday by taking the whole gang to Chuck E Cheese. The boys had never been before and they were all excited. Aunt Leah and her boyfriend Derek were there as well and we had a blast. They loved the games and "rides." Daddy and Ryan played a couple of fierce matches of air hockey. Aunt Leah and Ryan spent some serious time putting out fires on a fire-fighting large screen video game. Katie and Alex liked the slides, the "bumblebee" game and "Whack-A-Mole."
They all got some presents and Alex loved collecting "tickets" from the games. He did not want to turn them in for prizes...he just wanted the tickets.

Eric and I had the opportunity this last weekend to attend a Marriage Retreat in Branson that our church/Sunday school class sponsors. Christy and Leah watched the kids for the weekend and we had a wonderful time reconnecting as spouses. In particular, I learned a lot about how to better respect Eric as my husband and how expectations can really present problems in a marriage. I am very glad that Eric is my companion and partner in this life. I am proud to be his wife.

Here's to SPRING around the corner!!!!
The Cohen Clan