Merry Christmas to me!

Some of you may not know, but I am a Type I diabetic. Today I went on the latest and greatest technology available, a continuous glucose monitor (cgm). I am very excited about it taking me to the next level of staying healthy and in good control. Unfortunately insurance does not cover it, so it is my Christmas gift to myself. Actually, it's a Christmas gift to the whole family, because what's good for Momma is good for the whole family:)

Also, if you or someone you know is diabetic, check out tudiabetes.com. It is a fairly new online community (oc) just for diabetics and their families. There is a wealth of information and support on the site. You can click on the tudiabetes banner on the right side of my page to check it out.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Sorry, but this post is for the grandparents who did not get to see their grand-daughters singalong tonight. Enjoy the music videos!

CAUTION!!!

Just wanted to caution everyone in the PNW....it's official now, Kellen is on the road!

A worthy cause

Here's a quick way to make money for Operation Smile. If you're not familiar with the organization, they travel all over the world to do cleft lip/palate repairs for families in need. Although Kaia was repaired here in the states, this organization is very near and dear to us.

Hasbro will donate .25 to Operation Smile (up to $75,000) for everyone who pushes the "oxygen pump" on their website. It takes less than 30 seconds to do, and you can do it once a day; Operation Smile.

Naughty or nice???

Last night Josh called us down to take a look at the girls. Seems they thought it was a slumber party.

O Christmas Tree...

So the Crebbin Family trims the tree early. Mike doesn't have another Saturday off from wrestling until near Christmas, so if we don't do it now, who knows when it would get done. We had Kellen's friend Mikael with us, as he is like family to us too.

Jaelyn was once again scared of Santa, but Kaia loved him. Jaelyn didn't even want to get out of the car, because she knew he was there. We've been going to the same tree farm since Kellen was little, so it is the same Santa in the picture every year. If you look closely at the group Santa picture you can see Jaelyn in the background. We had Mikael walk way behind Santa so that Jaelyn could be in the picture too! It worked:)

We spent the evening decorating the tree. You can't imagine how difficult it is to get everyone in the photo smiling and not being silly at the same time. As you can see, we weren't successful!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a restful time, and are so Thankful for all the blessings we have.

Mom Humor

Okay all you moms, see if you see yourself in this video. I know I hear myself in a few words...

Chinese ornaments

One of the families who adopted on the same trip when we adopted Jaelyn is adopting again. They are wonderful people, so I want to do what I can to help them out with their finances. They are selling beautiful chinese ornaments as a fundraiser. They are leaving in just 3 weeks to bring home Sadie, so time is short. Check them out at http://holidayadoptionfundraiser.blogspot.com/

Each of these lovely glass ornaments is painted on the inside by talented Chinese artisans using tiny paint brushes. Each ornament comes in a beautiful silk box and includes a story card about how they were created. Peace, Love, Good Fortune and Double Happiness characters are available at $15 each. Or you can purchase a set of
all 4 for $50. $8 of every ornament sold will go towards Sadie's adoption fund to help us bring our sweet little girl home for Christmas! Orders will be placed at Thanksgiving time and if you order before then the ornament/s will be delivered to you the first week of December, just in time for Christmas!

***When placing your order, please state that your purchase is going
to benefit Sadie Reed's adoption.

Darn Him

Darn that Steven Curtis Chapman, he's done made me cry again! For those of you who aren't familiar with him, he and his family have had a huge impact on adoption across the Christian community. Seeing him in concert started the conversation at our house 4 years ago this month, and you know the rest of the story! Anyhow, he is a fantastic song writer and he always seems to know just how to bring tears to my eyes (& Mike's too). His latest song is called Cinderella, and below are the lyrics. This is an "unplugged" version from his blog.

She spins and she sways to whatever song plays
Without a care in the world
And I'm sitting wearing the weight of the world on my shoulders
It's been a long day and there's still work to do
She's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you!
There's a ball the castle and I've been invited and I need to practice my dancin'
Oh please, Daddy, please!"

Chorus:
So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

Verse 2:
She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says, "Dad the prom is just one week away
And I need to practice my dancin'
Oh please, Daddy, please!"

Chorus:
So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

She will be gone

Verse 3:
But she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowin' and tellin' us all they had planned
She says, "Dad the wedding's still six months away but I need to practice my dancin'
Oh please, Daddy, please!"

Chorus:
So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

Happy Halloween!

Wonderful Birthday, Wonderful Family

I have to say the older I get, the less I care about birthday presents, the more I enjoy some rare special moments when we're all together. And with Kellen being a junior now, who knows how many more birthdays I can enjoy being all together.

We started off the day watching Kellen run at his league championships. He really enjoyed his first season of cross country, and is looking forward to it again next year. Afterwards we took the kids to a pumpkin patch where we rode a train and dodged the puddles for the perfect pumpkins. Kaia and Jaelyn insisted on carrying their own. Boy, those pumpkins are pretty tough, as they never cracked after being dropped several times. As you can see from the pictures, everyone had a good time. I also posted a picture of Joshua in uniform. This is from last week's game. His season ends on Wednesday. He really learned a lot his first season of football.

As for my birthday, it's not like I don't enjoy presents at all anymore...I got some great gifts, but I especially like the gift the kids gave me. It's a great CD of a group called 12 Girls Band. They are from China, but not your typical Chinese musicians. They play authentic Chinese instruments, but in a modern way. Check them out and let me know what you think.

Evidently they like dance class....

The girls obviously enjoyed their dance class so much last week that they decided to sleep in some of their outfits! Last night they went to bed in their pajamas, but when we checked on them a bit later they had obviously changed! They have been practicing their first position every night so that they have it perfected by this week's class. It is so funny to see two 3 year olds concentrate so hard so they can get their heels together and toes apart.

The bottom two pictures are from their first class last week. Kaia seems to be the Michael Jordan of ballet, because in two of the pictures Mike took of her, she has her tongue out. They will be studying ballet, tap, and Chinese dance in class. Of course, we will post some videos, so check back often!

I'm still here...

Sorry it has taken so long to post again, but life gets hectic for the Crebbin family when school starts back up. All waking moments when we aren't at school, volleyball, Kellen's cross country meets, Josh's football games, grading papers, or folding clothes, are spent as a family. Thus, not much computer time.

Since I last posted, Kellen celebrated his 16th birthday (still not kissed!), Joshua his 13th birthday (eight 12/13 year olds spent the night the first weekend of school...what were two teachers thinking), and we got a new van. Yep, we're a two van family! We went without one for 2 1/2 weeks, and boy was it tough cramming us all in the Pathfinder (that is 16 years old). With Dodge offering 0% financing for 6 years, we just couldn't resist. Dad, the picture of the van is for you!

Well that is about it, as I have to get back to folding clothes! I will post more when life is not so mundane....

Photo Session

So a week ago we had family photos taken. We didn't have the typical posed pictures, but instead the photographer followed us along the beach and took pictures of us playing. Even the teenage boys had a blast! I also told the photographer about the Celebrating Adoption program that I blogged about a couple weeks ago, and today I found out she signed up to participate in the program! Also, she wrote the sweetest blog entry about our session and posted some adorable pictures. The proofs come in later this week, and I can't wait to view them all. You can see a few of them at http://momentsintimebylori.typepad.com
If these pictures are any indication, they will be hard to choose from! I might be spending more $$$ than I planned.

One funny thing....there's a darling picture of the girls squatting down and looking at something on the beach. They look so sweet and innocent....well Kaia was actually enjoying smashing the guts out of a dead crab as Jaelyn cheered her on!

Summer's Last Hurrah

Summer is quickly coming to a close. I start back to coaching volleyball on Monday, and Kellen is foregoing tennis this year to give cross country a try. Joshua is at church camp this week and begins football in a week.

The pictures are from our camping trip to Pearrygin Lake last week, near Winthrop. Aunt Julie and Ellie met up with us, and we had a wonderful time, despite the yellow jackets.

Celebrating Adoption

I came across this site through one of the yahoo groups I belong to (I keep telling my husband they're for educational purposes!), and some of you reading my blog may be interested. It is a great opportunity; I'm only sorry I didn't know about this earlier.

Photographers all across the country belong to this organization called Celebrating Adoption. If you have adopted within the last year, you qualify for a free portrait session. There is no sitting fee, and you get the set of proofs for free. Just find your state and call one of the photographers listed. Sounds simple to me. Check it out at http://www.celebratingadoption.org.

Adjusting

Today was a difficult day for me at church. We had guest missionaries from the Ukraine, and every picture they displayed took me back to my time in China. I keep wondering how the children and nannies are doing without us. I hope someone is protecting my two special kids!

I decided to post this video clip so you can share in the joy that working with the children brought me. I don't think this young boy gets out of his crib much. Just the simple task of bringing him downstairs seemed to bring him so much pleasure. My girls have asked to watch this video over and over. I am surprised they enjoy watching mommy play with another child, as usually they are so jealous of my attention, telling other children "my mommy!" It's as if they understand the importance of what is taking place.

Home, Sweet Home

Last night was my first sleep in my own bed, and boy, did it feel good! I did not get a chance to post while we were in Beijing, so I will fill you in on what went on.



On Friday we headed out early on the 4 1/2 hr. bus ride back to Shenyang. It was so much fun to spend 9,000 yuan shopping...every girls' dream! We actually split into teams to buy specific items. Tonyia and I had the pleasure of shopping for girls clothing. We bought clothing, medicines, toys, etc. for the orphanage. There was nowhere to shop in Chaoyang, so the orphanage director met us at Walmart in Shenyang. During our week at the orphanage, we noted all the items that they needed and tried to get those items.

We then headed to a Korean BBQ restaurant. Barbecue octopus, yum! We only had a 1/2 hr. to tour the local "Forbidden City." It was beautiful, but not enough time there, and I don't even remember the family name. We had to rush out for our flight back to Beijing. We were ready to crash when we finally got to our hotel.

Saturday we had to hit Beijing hard, as this was our last full day. We headed off for the Great Wall early, and that was a good thing since it was very hot and humid, and extremely crowded too. A few of us made it to the top, only to hit lots of traffic jams on the way back down. We then visited a jade market, followed by lots of bargain shopping and a Kung Fu show. Our last hurrah was a Peking Duck dinner.

Sunday started with a rush to the airport, only to find out our plane was 4 hours late! The actual flight was uneventful though, which was good. It was such a joy to be greeted at the airport by my whole family. I have been relishing the simple things since being home; drinking from a fountain, cold milk, real toilet paper! I also haven't forgotten the smiling faces, the reason for the trip. Those memories will forever be with me. Thanks for following my journey, and when you think about it, keep those faces in your prayers too.

Final Visit

Today was a very emotional day. It started off with our first day of actually seeing the sky. Yesterday's rain cleared off the smog, so it was a nice treat for the final day. We spent the morning playing with the kids and putting our handprints on the wall. It all came together beautifully. We worked through lunch again, so got to spend a lot of time with the kids.

We had a birthday party for the kids in the afternoon. We gave them gift bags and had the most beautiful cakes you have ever seen. Unfortunately they looked better than they tasted. Not that they were bad, but I think we were all hoping for a little taste of home. Just 3 more days!

I thought I was going to be able to hold it all together today when we left, until I saw the nannies crying. I didn't expect that at all, so I lost it. It was so difficult to leave them behind, but know that we shared many smiles and laughs together. Who knows, maybe I'll be back...

Tomorrow we have a 5 hour bus ride back to Shenyang and then we fly back to Beijing. We will do some touring there on Saturday, so I will try and post that night. So long from Chaoyang!

Day 4....

Sorry Mike, but I lost my heart today! I snuggled with the sweetest little guy today, and he just hangs on for dear life. He has an unrepaired palate, but just came out of the hospital for an ear infection. He whimpers in pain quite often and my motherly instincts kicked in. If I sat down at all he would cry loudly, so of course, I gave him what he wanted. My back is paying for it now!

Today we did not leave the orphanage at all, as we wanted to work on painting through lunch. You can see the progress we made from yesterday and it is beautiful. The nannies and director love it, and keep pointing out new places to paint. We were to have potatoes for lunch, but instead they fixed us a huge spread! They grow all their own veggies at the orphanage, as well as have chickens and pigs. Also, one of our team performed a magic show. They brought in some of the elderly from another building on the grounds and they thoroughly enjoyed it.

The film crew and newspaper journalists were here again today. We actually each received a newspaper from the day before where we were on the front page. The headlines read "Blue eyes help, black eyes smile." We had to chuckle, as only about 6 of the 21 of us actually have blue eyes. But hey, the message was great. The article mentions how we play like big kids! We were also on the 10:00 news last night and received quite a bit of coverage.

Speaking of last night, we went back to the folk dance and joined in this time. We bought fans from the gentleman from the night before and just jumped in with the group. The local people loved it and we gathered quite a crowd afterwards. So along with my sore back, my calves are feeling it.

Check out this picture of the baby diapers. They are made out of a thin cotton that they tie around the waist. It makes for a quick change, but not much barrier for when you're holding the babies!


We were thankful for the rain today as it cleared the air up a bit. Just one more day left here and our time is done. At least for now....

Day 3 at the orphanage

What a busy day we had today. We started off by meeting the kids at a local amusement park. Definitely not Disneyland! I found out the older child I've been hanging out with is not a boy afterall, but a girl. Oops! She found me as soon as I got off the bus and she grabbed my hand, dragging me towards all of the rides. She had such a good time. We were also quite the show there for the locals, gathering a lot of attention (not to mention the news crew there). The nannies brought snacks of leechy nuts, bananas and mangoes. Hmmm....

We spent the afternoon at the orphanage, again, followed by news cameras. We the afternoon doing crafts and playing with the kids. The teens are doing some wonderful artwork on the walls to brighten the place up. Late in the afternoon I spent time in the nurseries with the children who don't seem to get much time out of their cribs. It was tough, but such a blessing to be able to bring a smile to their faces of hear them laugh out loud. I got video of each child so that I never forget them.

Last night we had a wonderful experience on the streets watching a local folk dance. There were probably 50 dancers ranging from 50-70+ dancing to live music for about an hour. Afterwards we clapped enthusiastically for them, so then they gathered around us for quite some time asking our guide questions. It was wonderful to interact with the locals like that. When we complimented the horn player, he went and got his horn and played an encore just for us while an elderly man and woman danced. They went on for around another 10 minutes. Not easily done in this heat and humidity, thrown in with a bit of smog.

This was an exhausting but exhilerating day. Hopefully my high energy level lasts a couple more days!

Orphanage Day Two

We were unable to post yesterday, so I will try and get you up to date. Also, there are two links on this page that you can view pictures on. Click on the Chaoyang trip link and the other Crebbin family link to read other entries and photos.

Yesterday was a great visit. We were greeted by the kids anxiously awaiting our arrival outside. We spent the morning on the grounds playing with the parachute and on some playground equipment. This boy of around 8 grabbed my hand and had the biggest grin on his face. We had played together the previous day. He seems to have CP and also gets picked on by some of the other children. From his enthusiasm I am thinking he doesn't spend much time outside. Despite the heat and humidity, everyone had a lot of fun. The newspaper was there too taking pictures, so we might be in the local paper today. Tomorrow, when the air conditioners we bought are delivered, the local TV station is supposed to be here. Wow, we'll be famous!

Yesterday afternoon I spent snuggling with a boy who is probably around 2 and spends most of his time in the crib. He also seems to have CP. I would hold him and make these kissing noises which would make him crack up laughing. I will try and post some pictures of me with these boys, but I'm using someone else's photos since mine aren't downloaded to this computer.

To those that have asked, yes, we are standing in the bathroom stalls in the previous photos. We were cracking up laughing and the Chinese women didn't know what to think of us!

First Day Orphanage

Hey all, we made it to Chaoyang safely, but tiredly. We are unable to view the blog, but can post, so forgive me if it doesn't look right on your end.

Today was our first visit to the orphanage. In the morning we mainly got a tour of the building and hung out with the kids. I won't go into detail now, but at times it was tough to hold the tears back. We left for a lunch break and rest, then came back for an afternoon visit. This felt better because we were able to have more access to the kids, out of their cribs and rooms. We spent around 3 hours just playing with them. It was such a joy to see them laugh and smile. They especially liked to have pictures taken of them.

I am going to try and post a couple pictures, so hopefully it works. I appreciate all the prayers that have been going out. Please keep it up!
From China with love,
Toni