Oh Christmas Tree.....

Two posts in one day. Made possible by my black lungs. I've been fighting bronchitis/pneumonia-depends on who you ask-I say bronchitis. Nurse practitioners are not the best patients. I gave up on Sunday, Jason took me to the walk in clinic in Charleston and I got more drugs. They were fabulous there by the way, Sarah Bush is just the best! Of course I may be biased, but their website shows wait times at both the Charleston and Mattoon walk in clinics. Impressive!
One of my patients walked in right behind me. We agreed he had made the right decision to come since there was no way I was making it in to the office on Monday.

Anywhoooo...

This weekend we did something completely new for the Fulton Family. We got a real Christmas tree!
We went to the Clark Family Tree Farm.

 The boys loved it! They ran up and down the rows of trees.

Brady was manning the tractor. I love a family business!

The impossible task of getting all 3 boys to stop long enough to look at the camera! 

Dex decided he needed a few selfies... 

The boys like this little Charlie Brown tree. 

The boys found a rock pile to play on.

A few races and karate chops later, the tree was found.

The decision was made so Brady comes to cut our tree down. Jason and I agreed that we couldn't imagine Gabe with a chainsaw. He's definitely a town kid.

We made it home with the tree

Getting the tree to stand up was another story. Jason spent the better part of an hour like this.

 He finally got it to stand up straightish...

The boys did a great job decorating the tree. Real Christmas tree needles are sharper and stickier than fake.. 

 Quincy showing off some moves.

 Tragedy struck as my Anna Maria Island ornament shattered. Boo.  

 The boys putting the star on the tree. I don't know why Jason didn't want to lift Gabe up there???

 

Multiple fruitless attempts at a good picture in front of the tree...

 Penelope Mei's ornaments. Can't wait for her to put them on next year! 

Jury is out on whether this is a new Fulton Family tradition. My money says next Christmas is spent somewhere warm and magical. Either way, this was a great way to start our last Christmas season as a family of five! 

Slow.....

Unfortunately, I have nothing to share about Zi Shu. We continue to wait on our LOA, the letter from China we need to move on to the next step. Our agency had predicted 1-2 months, we are currently on day 41.
                                         

I'm not gonna lie, waiting is tough. I thought once we sent our dossier to China it would be such a big relief because the paperwork was done. Turns out waiting is much, much worse. We are still completely  in the normal range of the LOA wait, but every day puts us another day from her.
Unfortunately the holidays will likely slow things down some more. We will get into Chinese New Year. China shuts everything down during that holiday.
We really need our LOA in the next week or two to have a chance for February travel.

It's hard to put into words how much I miss her. In some ways I know nothing about her, but in others I feel like I already know her so well.
Going into this adoption, I knew this would be hard, but it's much, much harder than I ever could have imagined. I truly feel like a piece of me is missing.

I am doing my best to stay positive and stay focused on all the great things around me every day.



 But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
                                                                                          Isaiah 40:31


                                                                           
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
                                                                 Psalm 27:13


In the mean time....
We had a great thanksgiving. Both of our families came to our house. The food was fabulous. Basically, I just provide the location and everyone brings everything so I can say how good the food was without bragging.

And, Gabe got glasses! Just for reading but I think he looks super cute and smart! 

Can You Call It A Birthday Party????

Question-Can you call it a birthday party if the birthday girl isn't there?
Answer-I can call it whatever I want :).

It didn't seem right to let Penelope's birthday pass without some sort of recognition so I decided we would celebrate for her. As much as I wish she would have been here in Illinois eating her cake instead of in Luoyang, I know she will never have another birthday without us, so we'll have some fun in her honor while we wait.

 The Red Thread Station.
Wear a red thread bracelet for Penelope Mei

 Quincy and I showing off our bracelets.

The Fingerprint Tree. We asked everyone to add their fingerprints. We're helping start Penelope's new Family Tree!

             

 I absolutely LOVE how this is turning out!

                                                                     

Instead of gifts, we asked for donations for Penelope's orphanage. Our tentative plan is to bring them in a carry on with us to China.  

       

 It may have been even more of a success than I was prepared for!

This is so awesome!!

Super Cute Cake!! 

Even cuter guests! 

We all said prayers and made our wishes for Penelope Mei. The Chinese wish lanterns were very cool!

You can not believe how high and how far they go! Pictures do not do it justice!

Dear Penelope,

Happy 2nd Birthday. 

You will not believe how many people love you!

Hurry Home.

Love,

Your Mama

Happy Birthday Penelope Mei and #RAKforher

Today Penelope Mei turns 2. 

I was completely prepared to be a hot mess today. It is physically painful to know that I missed her birthday. I hate it so much. I was sure I would mope and pout all day. 

To say the day turned out different than I thought was the understatement of the century!

I woke up to the best surprise I could possibly have besides getting my girl, new pictures! We were able to send Penelope a birthday cake. Today we got pictures of her birthday party!

Her cake looks super yummy!

Ok, how adorable is she? So, so beautiful.  

She got to share her cake with her friends! 

Love her barrettes, they're Minnie Mouse! Love this spunky little guy next to her. 

So they pictures would have been more than enough, but it got better. My fabulous sister Sarah decided we could do something good with today in Penelope's name. 

She started 24 hours of Random Acts of Kindness in Penelope's honor. #rakforher if you're part of the twitter world.

                                 

Personally I think what transpired today was kind of amazing. Sarah started it out last night with buying the polar pop of the next guy in line. From there, it has snow balled. I know I won't get everything, but I have to get this down. 

Penelope, today so much joy was spread in your name. I hope you could feel the love from the other side of the world!

~Rebekah gave 2 free casual passes to her coworkers. I assumed that meant she didn't call them out for a terrible outfit but maybe it's a real thing?

~I brought donuts for my office.

                                    

~Kelley made a donation to Make a Wish in Penelope's name

~Rebekah bought lunch for her coworkers

~Lisa made a donation to Planned Parenthood in Penelope's name. She also did this most amazing blog post, go check it out! She rules.

~Sarah paid for someone else's spin class

                                               

~I donated to CCAI's Henan Project supporting orphanages in Penelope's province in China.

 ~Monty bought lunch for his crew

~Rebekah's boss who we have never met donated to the Samaritan's Purse Christmas Drive in Penelope's name

~Dayna Lewis made chili for her neighbor

 ~Suzy Steber and Sarah both gave away lottery tickets


 ~Sarah sent Penelope flowers

~I donated to the Jeff Collins Suck It Cancer fund. Sarah said donations were up today!

~One of Rebekah's coworkers bought drinks for the people behind her in the drive through line

~Dora made a donation to the Oblong Christian Children's Home

~My friend Jill Michl took gift certificates for free ice cream cones to the entire Ste Marie School! She did it anonymously but I'm calling her out! 4 kindergarten classes, 2 pre k classes, and all the staff.

She has Penelope's initials on them :)

This is Dexter's class proudly holding their treasure!

I'm copying what fabulous Principal Kathy Johnson posted on the school's website and facebook page....

Today at approximately 1:00, an envelope with enough coupons for every Ste. Marie Elementary student and staff to get a free ice cream cone from The Freeze was delivered to SME.

When I delivered the coupons to each class, we talked about Random Acts of Kindness and what that meant.

One kindergarten student said, "If everyone did that, then the whole world would be nice to each other!" To the Random Acts of Kindness person: THANK YOU FOR BEING NICE!

 This turned out to be so much more than I ever could have imagined. The idea of well over 100 kids going home and telling their parents not just about their ice cream cone, but what it means. This is huge.

~Sarah rounded out #rakforher with one more polar pop give away

Please know, I'm not posting any of this to point anyone's good works, though there were a lot of them! I want you to have a chance to share in the joy that my family, friends, and perfect strangers brought me today. I can't imagine a better gift than joy. Today I received so much, my cup runneth over. I'm not sure words can do justice to what this represents to me. In short, Penelope matters. Not just to me. Today she mattered to so many people.
I know Penelope will read this some day. I'd like to think that this is one she reads a lot.

Thank You Thank You Thank You to everyone who participated in #rakforher. 

Sarah thank you so much for thinking of it. It was so much fun. It's not too late to pass it on! 

And to Penelope, I promise we will never miss another birthday again!!