More friends pictures from PA.

Best Friends.

We arrived at the Raff's after a very long day of traveling. which, included a 45 minute ride to the airport at 5 am , 3 airplanes rides, and a 45 minute ride in the rent a car. Rieley was a real trooper, she only said on the third plane, "I am tired of airplanes", luckily we were ready to land in harrisburg, PA at this time.
You would have never known we had been gone 14 months and the girls haven't seen or talked to each other, bad mom's. They greeted each other and hugged and were off to play for 7 fun filled days, with only one meltdown the entire time, and that was due to pure exhaustion.

Enjoy the pictures of Olivia and Rieley, along with some of her other friends we saw during our visit.

Trip to PA.

Rieley and I had a great time in PA. We were there for 7 days, and it went way too fast. We did alot while there, and at times, it felt like we had never left. When we walked into the Raff's, after a long day of travel, the girls hugged and acted like they had seen each other yesterday. The played and played, it was so nice to see.
Some of our adventures included, eating some yummy food. We were excited about this, because here in Andrews, all you can get is fast food or Mexican. We went to Isaac's ( Rieley wanted to go here because of the ice cream sundae the kids get after their meals), Panera, Saladworks and Tropical Smoothie, plus yummy food at the Raff's. Mommy, just really enjoyed all of the salads she got to enjoy.
We went to Oregon dairies playground and met some friends there to play with, went to the Lampeter County Fair, visited with our social worker/friend Jessica, attended the autumn Moon Festival with all of our friends from the FCC group in Lancaster, went by to see our old neighbors the Rose's, saw Bailey's old softball friends and coaches, and got to see Jessica, Hunter's girlfriend and Rieley's bestfriend..
The girls played alot outside, the weather was beautiful while there. We even got to sleep with our bedroom windows open a few of the nights. The smell of manure couldn't even get me to shut them, only the rain and humidity managed to do that.
We had a fun filled week and were sad to see it come to an end. But, we have already scheduled a trip to Orlando, come January and big sister bailey will be joining us for this trip. Luckily, Jen was getting over her Mono and we were able to do all of this stuff. The adults in the house enjoyed tv and visiting in the evenings after the girls were all asleep for the night.

Autumn Moon Festival- Sept 22.

In China and throughout many Asian countries people celebrate the Harvest Moon on the 15th day of the eighth month of their lunar calendar. The date in the Western calendar changes annually. This year, the Mid-Autumn festival falls on Wednesday, September 22, 2010.
The Harvest Moon or Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhong Qiu Jie) is a day of family reunions much like a Western Thanksgiving. Chinese people believe that on that day, the moon is the roundest and brightest signaling a time of completeness and abundance. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, children are delighted to stay up past midnight, parading multi-colored lanterns into the wee hours as families take to the streets to moon-gaze.
It is also a romantic night for lovers, who sit holding hands on hilltops, riverbanks and park benches, captivated by the brightest moon of the year!
The festival dates back to the Tang dynasty in 618 A.D., and as with many celebrations in China there are ancient legends closely associated with it.

We celebrated the moom festival while in PA with our fellow FCC group from Lancaster PA. Rieley wasn't for sure about the bug slide and stayed close to mom the whole time and played on the swingset at the park and was very happy about that. The event was held at Stoner Park in Lancaster PA, don't know where it got its name from. It was good seeing all of the other families we used to have playgroup with and the many new families that have joined the group. I didn't know over half of the group, lots of new adoptees with their forever families.
Only took a few pics but here is what I have.

Golf tournament for church.

Tim, Kyle, Tanner and I played in a best ball 4 man scramble yesterday, trying to raise money for our church. We finished the round -2, the winners were -15. We didn't win, but had fun playing. It is amazing, I was able to play pretty good considering I hadn't played in 4 years. we actually used some of my shots. Kyle came away with a nice new driver, won out of a drawing and Tanner won a fairway wood in the same drawing. Any monetary wins were coming back to us, as we paid the entry fee. Rieley rodw along with us and seemed to have a good time. She was our club holder on the green. she didn't understand the rules of the green but did great.
The first picture of the warning for rattlesnakes, was posted several places on the course. Not an easy feeling, my rule if the ball went into deep grass, by the water or anywhere I felt they might be hididn, I just stayed in the cart with rieley and we played 3 shots instead of 4.

The battle of the rash continues.

Took Rieley back to the doctor in Midland yesterday. It had been 10 days of hives and no key item making itself stick out to any of us as to what she may be allergic too. He has started her on an allergy medicine for 3 weeks, for us to continue to have benadryl on hand 24 hours a day, to continue the food diary and to call when we return from  PA to see how she is doing.
She woke up yesterday, with her eyes swollen half shut and nothing else, well this didn't sit well with me, so we made the appointment. she got in that morning and the waiting room was a zoo, and then when we left, there wasn't a soul left but us. Kind of wierd, but noce knowing he spends time with his patients, especially after driving 45 minutes there one way.
Benadryl does work amazingly on her, but boy does it knock her out for long naps, which means late nights for mom.

As, of now, today, she has had no hives. Hoping it is the end but thinking there is still more to come.

The oldest and wierdest son.

Kyle broke his glasses, so until the new ones come in, I fixed the broken ones. He decided to be a funny guy and did the Erkel impression. Now, he has made the blog.