Sunday Snapshot: A Second Look

I took the girls out to the front pastures earlier this year (around April, to be exact) just after they had finished mowing and baling.  The large round hay bales look so graphic and yet also bring about patriotic feelings for me.  Simple mid-America, hometown, hardworking, down to earth patriotic American feelings.


Problem was, I didn't like any of the over 500 shots I took.


But then I was scrolling over my iPhoto events the other day and a few popped up under my cursor that looked interesting.  


So I decided to take a second look.

And I found some I really liked.

I'm not head over heels for all of these shots...

...but I was surprised what a second look could do...

I think this one needs to go in a frame somewhere in my house.

Or maybe this one...since this is what the girls are doing most of the time...laughing and playing around.

Although I do think that very soon, it will be strange to look at a picture like this and see just two of my girls.

By themselves, it's not so apparent...

Because, after all,

They are still awfully cute on their own.

But when they're together, it's suddenly apparent that someone is missing.  And we want her here in our pictures with us soon!

Head over to NiHao Y'all for more fun Sunday Snapshots!

New PIctures of Audrey

I've been hanging on to these new pictures of Audrey because we received them just a day or two after we received the birthday pictures!  

Our little girl is getting bigger!  I feel like whomever is taking these pictures is making a concentrated effort to always (or mostly) show her in an active pose - like in the picture above, she is climbing...and here...

...she is going down the stairs on this playground.  This encourages me.  And I am glad the staff seem to be trying to communicate more in these pictures than just standing her in front of a wall and snapping a few ;-)


On a troubling note, there was a 6.3 earthquake that struck Audrey's province of Xinjiang yesterday.  It was centered about 2 hours east of where she lives in Urumqi.


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iYS1583VR6wA6kV-YF8_db20P1fg?docId=N0193971341029353476A 


Reports indicate it was strongly felt in the city and that it toppled several buildings there.  While I'm sure she is okay (no deaths have been reported) it is yet another reminder to be praying for her daily; for her safety and well being, and that God would be preparing her heart and mind for the big changes about to come her way!

Speaking of coming her way, some other exciting news is that I think we will be traveling sooner than expected!  We had been aiming for mid to late August but it may turn out that we travel closer to the end of July!  We are awaiting confirmation that our Article 5 (part of the Hauge and immigration process) was picked up from the consulate in Guangzhou and delivered to the CCCWA on June 26th.  If that is the case, then I would expect to receive our Travel Approval sometime around the second week of July.  If that is true, then it is entirely possible we will be traveling end of July!  


I will post any exciting updates here... 

Our Tiny Dancer

To all our surprise this last year, Ava decided to take a year off from ballet and focus on her horseback riding.  And Amelia decided to join ballet and focus on coming out of her shell!  Well, maybe that last part was my focus for Amelia...

But you know what?!  She's done WONDERFULLY!!  Not that I'm surprised as I knew she could; but what I'm most surprised at is that she never complained about going to ballet practice, that she didn't retreat into her shell and refuse to participate, but instead, jumped in with enthusiasm!!  

She practiced hard all year and I truly believe that participating in ballet has helped her become more outspoken and has in a way, helped her find her voice!

I've heard consistently from her ballet teacher, Mother's Day Out teachers and Sunday School teachers, that Amelia has become more outspoken and gregarious in class.  For the first half of the year, her Mother's Day Out teachers didn't even know what her voice sounded like because Amelia would never talk!  Just nod and obey instruction ;-)  

But now this girl is finding that it's okay to speak her mind sometimes!  This has also resulted in some disruption at home.  You see, she's not just going along with every single thing Ava tells her to do anymore.  But this is a good disruption for Amelia.  It may be creating some friction between the two sisters, but they still love each other and get along very well; it's just that Ava is having to learn to share and do some giving instead of just taking.  Ahem.

So now we come to the end of the year ballet performance.  This year the show was "Alice in Wonderland."  Amelia was a green parrot.  I know, you're thinking, "I don't remember any green parrots in that movie..." but Amelia's ballet teacher has always taken the classical interpretation of whatever ballet they are performing and little details in the original works become vivid characters onstage.  It's always a beautiful, professional performance!

We are only allowed to take pictures or video on dress rehearsal night so that everyone can enjoy the actual show and you don't have parents popping up every second to snap pictures.  And what did this mother of a green parrot do?  I forgot her cute little cap!  So all pictures of her on stage are sans cap but she's still cute!  And she LOVED being out on stage, performing to applause and hoots and hollering!

I don't know what my problem was this week but I was forgetting things left and right.  I even forgot her ballet shoes on the Saturday evening performance!

 

But I did remember her hat!  And her Dad was following shortly so he brought her ballet shoes.  Here's a picture of her before her first performance, in full parrot regalia:

I have to admit that when I saw her on stage, dancing so freely without a care in the world...

I couldn't help but think back to the scared, deeply grieving, sad little girl we first met almost 3 years ago (to the day)...

...and tear up when I thought of where and who she is now...who God is shaping her to be...

What a privilege to witness this beautiful flower blooming; to know God has blessed and continues to bless us by allowing us to be a part of the miracle of adoption!  Soli Deo Gloria!!

Sad News...

I've been slow to post an update because it's not good news about Belle.  She most likely has some form of cancer in or around her liver.  The new bloodwork came back showing almost exactly the same terrible levels as last time.  


Despite what seemed like an improvement in her eating.


Despite what seemed like an improvement in her demeanor.


Despite what seemed like an improvement in her energy.


Despite everything...our old girl is dying.  And it's hard to watch.  And it's hard to think about...


But one thing that helped to perk her up about 2 weeks ago was the arrival of Aeriel, my cousin's 21 year old Quarterhorse mare.

They are like two kindred spirits, these two.  They bonded immediately.  And they don't go anywhere without the other one.

In fact, the other day, I had let them both out in front of the barn, to the pastures there and behind the house to graze, as the grass is more lush there than the current state of our moisture deprived horse pastures.  

Aeriel had wandered off a bit in exploration and lost sight of Belle.

She was trotting around, calling out for Belle.  Then suddenly,  she heard Belle's returning whinny and went RUNNING over to her ;-)

Both were so happy to be reunited again!

They then proceeded to graze again, being sure the other was not far away.

Until Belle decided it was time to head on back up to the barn.

And Aeriel dutifully obeyed.

But I fear for Aeriel and how she will handle Belle's passing.  You see, the reason she came down here to live was because her only pasture mate of many many years passed away a few months ago.  And she's been very lonely.  

Oh I know she'll be fine.  She'll bond with one of my other eight horses (in fact, I've already picked out who I think she'll like to spend her time with) but I think she might be sad for awhile.   I've started turning her and Aeriel out with the other horses but when I go to check on everyone, Belle and Aeriel are off by themselves, grazing contentedly.

It will be another transition for Aeriel.  For all of us, really. And one I'm not looking forward to.  

In the meantime, we'll keep Belle as comfortable as possible, under misters and fans during the hot daytime hours, and turnout at night under the cool stars and moon.  And we'll wait for Belle to tell us when it's time to say goodbye...

Sweet Belle

Well, I have certainly been absent for awhile!  Hope to keep this more up to date!  Much has been happening on many fronts here so I'll try to catch up a little at a time...starting with our sweet Belle.

Belle is 26 years old now.  That's ancient in horse years. The median age for a horse is 22 so Belle has lived long past that point.  And up to this point, she's been doing pretty well despite the expected joint issues.  Oh.  And there was that fracturing of her tibia a few years ago.  Twice.  That required over 6 months of stall rest.  

But we she recovered!  And she's been enjoying her twilight years well.  Until about a month ago when my vet, who was out to give spring vaccinations, noticed she felt warm.  Turns out, she had a pretty good fever going.

We hit her good with a few different antibiotics.  But it didn't help.  Blood work showed her liver was failing and her neutrophils were out of this galaxy (a normal "high" reading is 8500, Belle's were at 50,000!!)  So we kicked it into high gear and started her on a strong, 2x a day broad based antibiotic.  

And I started to see some positive changes.  She had really dropped off in her grain ration.  Normally she was getting about 6-8 scoops but had dropped down to 2 scoops a day, if I was lucky.  The girl lost weight.  I had written off the drop in grain to the heat of the summer picking up, being turned out 24/7 instead of putting her in her stall at night, and just plain old age catching up.  And we were busy.  Bad thing to overlook.  Because trying to kill this infection, get that weight back on and stimulate her appetite has been a bugger!  So now that she was on this new drug, she was up to her regular grain amounts and instead of hanging out on the fence line, napping, she was wanting to go out with Tommy and hang in the pasture.

She seemed to be a little more perky too.  But then on a different day, she'd eat just a few scoops of grain and be a little more low-key.  So, it's been hard to know if these changes will be long lasting.

Tommy would like to know too.  Because Belle's not looking so great and I think he's a little worried.  

The vet was out today and took some more blood from Belle so we can check her levels again.  We feel like surely they must come back a bit better.  He thought she looked much better than last time.  

And oh yes, there was a "little" addition to the herd last week that has helped perk Belle up...she's found a kindred spirit.  But more on that later...

And say a prayer for Belle, if you think of her.  We'd like her around as long as the Lord wills it...

Her American Name

The wait for her name and new pictures is finally over.  We decided on her name a few days ago but I was waiting for new pictures before I posted.  So without further ado, may I present Audrey YongLi!

We sent her a birthday care package for her 2nd birthday and just received these pictures today!!  I must say, she still looks a little bewildered and confused by the cake...

Or perhaps that's fear on her little face!  We included the cake, some toys, and this cute little dress she is wearing.  

I am happy to see that she is walking on her own (and actively taking steps) and even more, that she is climbing up and down stairs by herself!!  This is all good news and bodes for a good prognosis of her special need.

And I'm happy to see her cute little hair sprout is back too ;-)

Oh my little Audrey - we are so excited to get you home...