100 Good Wishes Quilt

As most of you know, we are TRYING to put together a quilt for the baby. If you go to our website, you can read the full details. www.laxtonkids.com. Click on quilt. We have 50 squares, but still need 50 more to complete it. I have attached some of the pages of blessings and prayers that we have been sent. We love looking through this album and reading the sentiments from our family and friends. The plan is to have the quilt made, but that may wait even till after the baby is home. We REALLY want to get the squares though! It is not that hard! We have more squares from my online adoption friends, than i have from my family! Yes that is a subtle hint. So let me know if you have any questions, please email me. laxton@htc.net 50 more!!

Smile

Because I like to torture myself as much as possible, every song I listen to turns into an adoption song. I heard this one way back and just thought it was perfect. It is by Chris Rice and it is called Smile. He wrote it talking about the day he meets Jesus. Of course I long for that day also. But for now, I have changed the words just a bit for Sage.

How far are you? How close am I?
I know the words are true but I don't feel them inside.
Still I believe, you'll never leave
So where are you now?

Your all i want, you are all I know
Your breath is breathing in my soul
Still I am grasping, aching asking
Where are you now?

I just want to be with you
Just want this waiting to be over
I just want to be with you
and it helps to know that day is getting closer

Every minute takes an hour
Every inch feels like a mile
Till I won't have to imagine
And I finally get to see you Smile

My jouney's here, but my heart is there
So i dream and wait and keep the faith while your prepared
For our destiny, till you come home to me
Oh please make it soon

I just want to be with you
I just want this waiting to be over
I just want to be with you
And it helps to know the day is getting closer

Every minute takes an hour
Every inch feels like a mile
Till I wont' have to imagine
And I finally get to see you smile

Referral Dreams

I dreamed of Sage last night. This is rare, I don't normally, though I always want to! In my dream, we got the call for our referral, which was a shock, because it was way earlier than expected. So is that a sign? We did get a girl, and her birthday was October 30th. The weird thing about that was, I have been praying that God would reveal her birthday to me. Call me crazy, but I just want to know! So last week I REALLY prayed about that, and then I have this dream and this is the date. Which I kept saying all along, just watch, she is going to have an October birthday because that is when Makenna and Malaine have birthdays. So maybe it was becuase I have been thinking that, or maybe.... Also, in my dream she was from Chongquing, which is where my cousins daughter is from, and also a new "adoption" friend of mine just returned from there w/ her baby. And they both keep telling me they are hoping that Sage is from there, of course. I am not going to forget this, and if it comes true? Wow! It was so real and such a neat dream. Sage was beautiful of course! Then I woke up, but i woke up smiling! I just can't wait to see what God has in store for us.

Who Adopts?

We found out that referrals are on their way to the US from China. They go from April 25th to May 13th. I was excited today, because from May 13th , that is just around 5 weeks away from our LID of June 20th! So while it does not really mean anything such as we are next, it means we are getting closer!! This will happen! Mark says he is holding out for March. I still guess May, but maybe we will both be wrong and get April!! That would be a great birthday present won't it?
Lately I have been thinking about the reasons people adopt. Everyone of course has a reason. If you have been to our website www.laxtonkids.com you have probably read our story and why we chose to adopt. Obviously for us it was not about infertility. My heart aches for those who have gone down that road. We have been through loss, but we ended up with 3 children after and never had any difficulty w/ pregnancy those times. I don't have statistics, but if I had to guess, I would say that most people probably adopt because or due to infertility of some sort. From personal experience of people I know, that is the case. And so I just have to wonder, if there was no such thing as infertility, and everyone who wanted to could get pregnant, how many orphans would there be? In our Bible Study this week a verse from John made me think of this.. Jesus heals a blind man and Jesus is asked, who sinned more, this man or his parents, (as to why he was born blind). Jesus replyed, Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. John 9:3. It just made me think, does God want adoption? YES. Is it for His Glory? Oh yeah, i think so. Does he allow infertility? Hmmm? I don't know, but I do know that He uses it for his Glory in some way. Prayerfully it is through adoption. I believe the Bible commands us to adopt. If we can birth children, that is great. If we choose to adopt, that is great. If we choose or are able to do both, that is great! Not to say that I think I am doing something great. I am THANKFUL that God allowed me to go down this path. I thank Him every day for allowing me to know birth and adoption. But am I doing something great? There are what, some mllion orphans in the world and I am adopting one. That is not so great. People say they don't have the money? Really? Do you have a place to live? Hmm, that is more than an orphan. Do you have a tv? A car? Dinner out? Ok, off of my soapbox. If I can't adopt them all, I will be trying to convince everyone else to! So whatever the reason that God has called each of us to adoption, it is for His Glory. And what a blessing we get!

Shannon's Sage, More Pictures

Here are a few more shots of our Sage doll. in the top you can see her full body. The choice is to have a normal, "stuffed/cloth" body or to add this plate for a belly. The bottom is a shot of her hair, it looks and feels real! It is getting a little frizzy from being touched, but Julie told me just to wash it and blow it dry and it will straighten back out. the last picture is a shot of her tush. Isn't that just adorable! That is also added on top of the cloth body. Julie also wanted to make sure anyone looking at her knew that you could add on eyelashes and eyebrows. i chose to leave them off. But that is a personal preference. I am not sure of her weight, but i am guessing around 4-5 pounds, so she feels like a real baby! E-mail me at laxton@htc.net and i will pass on Julie's e-mail to you so you can have one of your own!

Let us Pray

This is what Malaine has done today. She wants to sit and hold "Sage". Isn't that sweet? To fun!
Today we found out that our documents have passed through the review room in China! This is VERY exciting because it means now we are going to the matching room! It is a relief to know that there were no questions in the review room, we are ok and approved. Now to think that soon, our name is going to be on our daughters paperwork. Wow!! In my heart, I do believe that my name has been on our child since before she was born. I know without a doubt, that God knew she was mine since forever. We are just waiting for it to all become official with the "officials". Today in the car we were listening to "choir songs" of course, and a song came on about prayer. "let us pray let us pray, every where in every way, Every moment of the Day it is the right time, For the Father above is looking down with love, And he wants to asnwer us, so let us pray" And Sawyer, our tenderheart, said, "We should be praying all the time that God would bring Sage home tomorrow, and then she will be here because He wants to answer us when we ask." This sweet boy of mine is 5, might I add. The things he says, just make my heart smile. How true is it? Sure we pray for Sage, every single day. But do we pray with out ceasing and ask for her to be home tomorrow? hmmmm. So we ask all our friends to join us in praying, for Sage to be home. Soon. Tomorrow would be nice, but we can settle for before summer! Our hope is a March referral. Thanks for going to the Father w/ us! "Let us pray without end and when we finish start again, Like breathing out and breathing in, let us pray"!

Shannon's Sage Doll

My friend Julie "delivered" this amazing baby to our house tonight. We are just in love! Well, me and the kids. Mark says, "I just don't get it"! Julie "makes" these dolls through a process called reborn. She looks so lifelike to me, I just can't believe it. The girls are going crazy changing her outfit, rocking her etc.. She is weighted so she feels like a newborn baby. I figured, if I can't hold the real Sage, we will have to make do until she is here. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I swear Makenna and I took a million pictures of her already, I will post more another day. Want one for your own? E-mail me and I will pass on the information.

LadyBug, LadyBug...

Isn't this cute? This was one of my finds at Kohls this week. It is a jewlery box, but has a handle so i suppose it is also a purse. Could not pass it up, especially since it was on clearance w/ 50% off plus another 10% for using your Kohls card. I might have paid $4.00. I love ladybugs!

Cooking my way to Referral!

My sister in law was telling me she got a stand mixer for Christmas and just loved it. So i had mixer envy, and a wad of cash from Christmas burning a hole in my pocket. I began interviewing all my friends, and it seems i was the only one w/ out one of these mixers! So kohls had a sale this week, and since i can't buy cute little tiny baby clothes for Sage, I decided to go for it. Isn't it lovely? This is the kitchen aide artisian blah blah blah. Sawyer and I baked cookies today and I have to admit, it was pretty impresive. Goes great in my kitchen w/ the stainless steel appliances, and you all know black is my favorite color. (makenna just finds that weird!) The only problem? Baking cookies and everything else that I am wanting to try out to make, does not equal low fat, healthy food. Oh well, it takes my mind off of waiting. Mark says, I can't believe you would spend that on a mixer! As if he has any room to talk. Have you seen what his i mean our christmas present to each other was? Hint: Hangs on the wall, and we watch it..... Men, I think i will go look for more recipes! :)

CatDog?

This is our "Bug", who thinks she is a cat. We often find her on top of tables. What is a bug? her mother was a pug, and her father a boston terrier. She got the face of the pug, but those ears!! she can run like a boston, but be as lazy and snuggly as a pug. She does not shed, much. When she is good, she is very very good, but when she is bad.... She came to our home last year on the first day of January. I gave in (makenna and mark were begging for a dog) because i wanted her grown and trained before baby. I should remind you that mark was still not going for a baby at that point! I was sure that God was going to change that, and He did! My plan might have backfired though, she is still not trained, and there is still no baby. Maybe both will come together at the same time.

Dancing Princess

Tonight Malaine and I were having our daily talk about how if she were a big girl she could do this and do that, and I mentioned that she could be in gymnastics w/ Makenna. So a few minutes later she came out in this, w/ "panties" on, might i add, ready to go to gymnastics. That lasted about 5 minutes and she was asking to put her diaper on again. I swear when she is potty-trained, we are having a party!
Sawyer has been up and down. Part of the day he will act fine, then all of a sudden he is crying, hurting just miserable. Today a scab came out of his throat. Thankfully i was out of the room for that one. I suppose that is normal?

Mark's Office

As most of you know, Mark works from home full time as of August. His office at the time is located in our bedroom closet. It is the most quiet spot in the home. His dad is building an office for him downstairs in our basement, and he is just flying along. He just started this right before the holidays. Isn't this exciting? Maybe not to you, but you obviously must not have someone sitting in your closet all day long!! Stay tuned for the finished project!

Sawyer Day 3

Well, after 2 days of being hyper and acting like he had never been through Surgery, Sawyer is having a tough day today. We took him off of the tylenol w/ codene and tried normal tylenol. Today we are going back to codene. He is so sweet, is not really a complainer. You can just tell he is miserable. This has been his meal of choice this week, chocolate shakes. He did finally sleep last night from 7pm to 7am, which he needed. Even Malaine stayed in her bed all night, we all needed that! Thanks again for your continued prayers.

Sawyer's Surgery

Sawyer did great today. In fact I think he is feeling better tonight than the rest of us. He was bouncing around the waiting room, excited for his surgery. Until his name was called, then he finally did get nervous. They made him drink medicine to relax him, but I don't think it worked. They had to carry him off kicking and screaming, which was horrible. He had tonsils and adnoids removed. The reason, they were overly large. He has a constant stuffy nose, swollen glands, etc.. The doctor is hopeful this will help him sleep better, eat better, possibly even help his speech. The surgery lasted 10 minutes maybe before the doctor came out to talk to us. This doctor is AMAZING. If you ever need an ENT in St Louis, call me. He is a christian for one. Just so positive. Everything went smoothly and said we could see him in a few minutes. Well a short time later, i could hear him SCREAMING. They said he was waking up and that we could see him in a minute. Talk about heartbreaking, i am listening to him scream, i want my mommy, i want to go home, and I can't go to him. They finished up w/ what they needed to do, and we were finally able to see him. I could not believe how much he was screaming, i figure his throat would hurt to do that. They made us wait about 2 hours to go home. During that time he watched cartoons, had juice to drink, played gameboy. He looked out of it. but would not give in to sleep. We were home about noon. He acts great. Bouncing around, YELLING. they sent me home w/ tylenol codene, which i expected would knock him out. Maybe tomorrow he will be more tired. Thankfully he said his throat does not hurt. Sawyers biggest worry is what kind of gifts he is getting from everyone. He remembers Makenna being in the hospital and coming home w/ a stash. Can you say my kids are spoiled?
I have not been able to sleep the last couple nights. I guess stress on top of my annoying sleep habits. I am exhausted so i hope to catch up tonight. My friend Laura brought us dinner tonight, which we were so thankful for. And my friend Sarah has promised enchiladas for tomorrow night. We have GREAT friends! Thanks for all your prayers.

Potty Party!

Today Makenna and I were reading about Dr Phils potty training in one day. Malaine is 3(october 11th)and has no interest in going on the potty. So after reading this one day training, Makenna decided to "help" by taking action. She found a doll and helped Malaine to take the doll potty. So then she insisted we have a Potty Tea party to celebrate. Mark was thrilled to be included in this! We had chocolate milk and chocolate cookies(remember, we love chocolate here) to celebrate the baby doll. Will this work? i don't think I will hold my my breath. Although eventually she
does have to use the potty right? And get rid of the pacifier, and sleep in her own bed all night? Oh well, some day all of a sudden she is going to be in highschool and these will be the least of my worries. Although this one, she is a handful. If you look closely, you can see her "uneven" hair. That would be because she cut it last week, right before Christmas. She is the sneaky handful!! Cute though, have to admit that!
Please pray for Sawyer, tomorrow he is having his adnoids, and tonsils removed. He is excited! Since Makenna was in the hospital for a week last year w/ an emergency appendectomy, he thinks this will make the score even. Kids. I think he is going to be singing a different tune tomorrow. Makes me nervous sending my baby in! I know though this is for the best. They say among many things, he might sleep better! Yippee for that one!

Attack of the Red Blanket

today I tried to wash a king size blanket we have. It is one of those really soft chenille type blankets, in king size let me add again. Well, now that i looked up the directions online, you are supposed to handwash these. Obviously I did not get that. This is a small part of the mess that I have been dealing w/ all day. It is everywhere. I finally threw the blanket away. I had also thrown another sheet and pillowcases in w/ it. Bad idea. They were covered and i had to wash them 3 times to get rid of the mess. i have a feeling i will be cleaning this mess up for a long while to come.

Taco Soup

At our party this week, I served this yummy taco soup. Mark and I both love this. Some of you asked for the recipe, so here you go! Recipe is compliments of my friend Gail.

1 pound ground beef
small onion
1 Can of Corn with Juice
1 Can of Red Kidney Beans with Juice
1 Can of 28 oz diced tomatoes
1 Can of Tomato Soup
1 Package of Taco Seasoning
1 Package of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
2 Cups of Water

Cook ground beef with onions. Add all remaining ingredients and simmer. Works great in a crock pot and can cook on low as long as you need to. We had tortilla chips, and mexican cheese on the side to be added.(could also add sour cream, black olives if you like) I doubled the recipe and it took a large crockpot and part of a small one. That fed a TON of people. Enjoy!

The Year of SAGE!!

A friend wished me Happy New Year and that is what she said. The year of Sage! How true that is. Can you see her in the picture? I just love this. We saw it back when we first started our adoption process and we have it hanging on our refrigerator. There is no doubt in my mind that our daughter is out there. Not just any baby, but the baby that God chose for our family. Long before we chose adoption, He chose her to complete our family. Isn't that just an amazing thought! And no matter how long I wait, God will place our daughter in my arms at just the right time that He had written. So though my prayer is that we would hold her NOW, I continue to trust in His time. Happy 2006, and for us The year of Sage!!