Christmas Eve 2008

Christmas Eve was spent with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Diana. The kids had fun visiting. We all went to Christmas Vigil mass and were excited to sit right up front where all the kids could see. That was a blessing. The priest who gave the homily called all the kids in front of the altar and talked directly with them. It was just wonderful.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for such a wonderful Christmas Eve !!

Praying for a Miracle !

The adoption paperwork is finally completed after the state had asked us for more. They "forgot" to tell us about paperwork we had to do. We asked for a waiver of the states $3K fee with the costs of Joseph's open heart surgeries. We wait to hear from them.

Please keep us in prayers and all the people that make the decision to waive the fees. With no budget in California, the current economic status, and IOU's expected for tax refunds, we are praying for a miracle !

Jennifer

Michael's Lego Christmas Tree !

Bye Sweet Dog

Over the holidays, this most gorgeous stray dog came up to the kids in the yard and jumped into Michael's lap. We walked up and down the street to each of the houses thinking he just got out of someone's house. She was clean, cute, friendly, clearly well-trained, and obviously recently fed and watered. We could not at all find the owners. We took this dog finally to the shelter in the hopes that the owner was looking for and missing this beautiful dog. It was very hard to do and all the kids were very sad to see this dog go. We pray the owners found her. With three dogs of our own, we just couldn't keep her anymore after several days of serious looking.

Christmas 2008

Joseph and Joshua in their new clothes !
Below, the table and train set that was very generously gifted to the boys !

Gift Exchange

For Christmas, all the adults in our family had a gift exchange. It was a lot of fun as last years was as well.

Gifts from the Lee's

I just loved all the little gingerbread men on the gifts, which were so cute.

Shawna looks so adorable in the new dresses and clothes !

Thank you so much for all the wonderful presents. It made Christmas day so special.

We all love you Kathy, Jeff, Ryan and Marisa.

the Richardsons

Christmas Gifts from the Lee's !

All the kids were so excited to receive gifts from Aunt Kathy, Uncle Jeff, Ryan and Marisa.

Joseph loved his book and clothes. The belt fits good too, and mom loves that ! No more droopy drawers.

Joshua loved his clothes, and the belt he received also was a blessing for keeping his pants up.

Michael was so excited about the music strings and music book. Michael started writing his own songs, and said he was going to put them into it.

Thank you Aunt Mary and Szolomayers !

Mary, Sharon, Jeff and all the kids:

Thank you so much for the Christmas gifts !

Shawna loved the writing paper, Strawberry Shortcake doll and feetsie pajamas. She has been very very into coloring lately and wanting to "write" like the big kids, so the paper was perfect. She also loves playing dollies, and really needed new pajamas bad. We loved the gifts.

Joshua loved his paper too and was glad to have his own paper to write with. Joshua's favorite thing at the moment is practicing writing his letters and that was the first thing he did with the art pencils Gabriela gave him for Christmas. The long sleeved shirt is just fabulous especially since he grew this year. Joshua was super excited to have his very own CD to play music too.

Joseph likes so much the little sketch pad with colored pencils that came in such a nice folder. He asked if he could bring it in the car next time we go somewhere. He also likes the small toy you use to draw with, like the etch a sketch kind of. I forgot what they are called, but the size is perfect. He also gave out a good squeal of delight when he opened the shirt.

Gabriela loves the beautiful red earrings and long sleeved blue shirt. She put on all blue everything this morning, so opening the gift with the blue shirt made her smile ! She said she loved it. She also really liked the pretty bracelet. Gabriela looks like a princess.

Michael was so excited to receive such a warm long sleeved gray shirt. It has been rather cold, so it looks very comfy. The book looks like very good reading, and Michael also appreciated so much the gameboy color and games he received for Christmas. After Michael had earlier received two gameboys for gifts, he gave them as gifts to make his brothers and sisters smile at Christmas. It was such a huge blessing, because now there are enough for the kids to all share and play with. It is so much easier than all of them wanting to play at once.

God bless you all, and thank you for making our Christmas such a blessed one; you have no idea how grateful we all were !

Sorry I couldn't take pictures, my camera batteries died and our other camera broke.

Love you,
Jennifer

The Great San Bernadino Earthquake

Okay, it wasn't really that great. Actually, it was only a 4.5 on the richter scale. It was a large side by side type of jolt and some shaking last a few seconds. We also felt one aftershock. Everyone and everything is fine. A few crooked pictures, so no big deal. Shawna was very very scared though and was crying and clinging to mommy for dear life. We all used it as a wonderful opportunity to talk about Earthquake preparedness and practice our duck and cover skills with the kids.

Thank you to everyone who was so concerned for us.

Jennifer

Great News for Michael !

The DiGeorge genetic test on Michael came back negative. That was great news because it gives us more hope for healing. He is doing pretty good all in all. Michael says he hopes his experience with illness will help others. We are every watchful of his Evan's Syndrome. His platelets are a little low at 132, and he has some bruising. He is also a little anemic and still having headaches, but overall better now than he has been in months. His H Pylori also came back negative, so it seems the antibiotics did the trick to get rid of that nasty stomach illness. Michael says his tummy is feeling much better too.

Grateful Mom for the healing the Lord has given Michael !

A Year in Retrospect: 2008

January 1, 2009

A Year in Retrospect: 2008

Happy New Year dear friends and family:

It has been a very busy, often challenging and often exciting year. We had opportunities to grow and learn patience, and many opportunities to practice our faith.

Scott and I started a business and were excited to receive our DBA for Richardson Studios, our business to provide education and resources for children with special needs, and for our new school for special needs kids Academy of the Possible. Being officially in business was wonderful. We launched our website for Richardson Studios at www.richardsonstudios.com. We also launched our online store at www.shop.richardsonstudios.com. We have our website for Academy of the Possible in the works and will be launching it early 2009.

We were excited when all the kids grew. We were blessed with new clothes for all the kids from so many different people, even new belts and pajamas too !

At the beginning of the year, we had pulled out of adopting from Liberia with so many changes going on in the country. In retrospect, it was a wise choice. We had considered a child from Serbia until Serbia also began to have problems. In prayer through all of this, we asked the Lord to guide us as we felt strongly called to adopt. Indeed He did ! We were pleased to travel to Atlanta, Georgia to begin the adoption of two wonderful boys in March. Joseph and Joshua became the newest members of our family. The adoption has taken longer than expected due to all the medical complications with the children, and we eagerly anticipate finalizing the adoption hopefully this January 2009.

After losing our miniature pinscher Chocolate to a heart attack, we decided to adopt another dog. We adopted another male white poodle this time named Kojo. Kojo is full of spirit and fun to play with. All the children enjoy playing with all three of our dogs Apricot (female poodle), Chip (male rat terrier), and Kojo (male poodle). Shawna loves hugging "Chippy" as she tenderly calls him. All the dogs just eat up the attention.

Scott's dad was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer. We have all been praying for him and Scott's mom as well. Scott's parents live in the much colder weather of Indiana.

Because of the heavy rains we had last winter and then several burst pipes, our backyard flooded. After dealing with that, we took the jungle gym down. It was swaying quite a lot, and we decided it was not safe to use. We have since been able to bless several people with firewood to help them heat their homes through the coldest parts of this winter. Then we had pipes break in the front, and then the plumbing broke in the house. It has been a tough year all around and stretched all of us, especially financially. We all celebrated when the sinks got fixed after our most recent difficulty with our sinks.

After we got home with our boys Joseph and Joshua in March, shortly thereafter Michael got very sick and spent time at Children's Hospital of Orange County. Through the year and 21 different all confirmed diagnoses later via various tests, the doctors are still trying to figure out why Michael keeps getting sick and having problems. Michael most recently was diagnosed with Juvenile Osteoporosis. With more follow ups to the doctors, we also just found out through MRI of Michael's brain that he has thinning of the myelin and white matter. With the multiple autoimmune processes going on, doctors are concered. Now we are waiting for results to rule out degenerative disease, Mitochondrial Disease and DiGeorge Syndrome, none of which would be good news. Neurology says with this new symptom, we will just have to rule things out one at a time.

Joseph had worsening chest pain, low heartrates, and tired easily. After several tests and visits and consults with cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, it became clear that his best hope would be surgery for his half enlarged and half atrophied heart. Finding out that the surgery he needed was complicated at best and would take several surgeries, we traveled up to Northern California to a specialist at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto. Joseph underwent open heart surgery and recovered in steller time. Now on New Year's, he is no longer on any activity restrictions and well healed. He received a pacemaker placed in his abdomen due to his unique physiology which has increased his comfort level quite a bit and the first banding. Having been through 3 open heart surgeries so far in his short little life, Joseph is a prime example of courage.

Joshua has just blossomed. He loves to color and build with legos and wants to learn to play guitar. Joshua enjoys singing along with the stars on TV as we have enjoyed the Christmas specials. Joshua has been very helpful with Michael and Joseph. We are so proud of how much he has grown and continues to open up. He also is beginning reading and loves learning about letters and words. Joshua is a bright quiet boy. Joshua grew quite a lot this year too, and was thrilled to sleep on the top bunk now that he is five years old.

Gabriela turned 10 this year and grew the most of all the kids. She is proud to say she is only five inches shorter than mom. Matching mom's shoe size, we expect Gabriela may be quite tall. She is growing into quite a young lady. Gabriela was blessed to be accepted into Camp Opehay for children with Bipolar Disorder. It was a huge blessing to help Gabriela learn she is not the only one, and was quite instrumental in some healing for her. Gabriela has always loved animals and cats (even the big ones). Santa was kind to give Gabriela a giant stuffed panther which she proudly has on her bed. Gabriela also has grown to love horses and colors pictures of them all the time. Gabriela wants to be an animal rescuer / trainer and an artist when she grows up. She is quite good at drawing horses freehand too.

Shawna has grown leaps and bounds. Her 7 to 8 word sentences and vocabulary grows every day. We are frequently surprised by the big words she has learned. She is slowly opening up to talking with others; and, we are also proud to say we are in the midst of potty training. Shawna is doing very well learning words, letters, numbers and colors etc. She enjoys playing dollies and Barbie with Gabriela. For the Christmas season, Shawna found a new favorite movie - Rudolph, which she has watched several times.

It has been one of the most challenging and most rewarding, most difficult and most growing years in all ways.

We look forward to a fresh new year in 2009.

Thank you all of you angels and saints who have made this journey possible and carried us through the best and worst times. You absolutely made a huge difference in our lives.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR to you !

Love from all of us,

The Richardsons

Scott, Jennifer, Michael, Gabriela, Joseph, Joshua and Shawna,

and our 3 dogs Apricot, Chip and Kojo,

and 3 fish.

Christ our Lord brings strength and hope and through Him all things are possible.

Our Sinks Are Fixed !!

Our plumbing broke down again, and so after Christmas we had the pleasure of hiring a plumber to fix the problem. After rotorooting the problem in all the sinks, everything drains wonderful. The Roto Rooter man was very professional. We are thrilled to have everything working again. What a pain for sure to have all the sinks backed up at once !! Uggh, and smelly too!

Well, the water is flowing and draining again, and so is life.

Jennifer

God works through the famous, the obscure and even the infamous in accomplishing His plan for our salvation. He continues to work out His plan through you and me.

I can't wait to see what it all looks like in the end. I imagine it is like sewing a magnificant quilt of many colors, but only seeing the back side with all the hanging threads and knots. It looks rather messy, but the other side is would be awesome to see. The darker colors are the tough and difficult times of our lives, while the lighter brighter colors are the times of joy. All are important in the final masterpiece. I can't wait.

Christ's genealogy is recounted in Matthew chapter 1 which is proof of how God's plan for our salvation was set from the beginning of time. That is reason to rejoice !

Ps 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19

Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.

Family News

It has been a while since I really last posted. We finally posted pictures of the kids from Halloween and Thanksgiving on our blog. We found out the day before Thanksgiving that Michael also has Juvenile Osteoporosis among the 14 other things he has. It was very disappointing news. Michael is now on Calcium and Vitamin D supplements. We will changing to a new rheumatologist; his current rheumatologist did not even call us herself with the news. Michael deserves the best care. Juvenile Osteoporosis increases Michael's risk of fracture, so we have to be careful. Weight-bearing exercise that does not aggravate Michael's joints also has become very important. At least we have a better understanding of the bone pain that Michael struggles with. He is doing really well on his thyroid medication though and is not so tired. It also seems to have helped him not feel so hot and so cold.

All the other kids are healthy, meaning no colds. Yeah !! Joseph's heart is doing okay, and his pacemaker is such a good thing. He no longer complains of chest pain except for once in a blue moon. We hope that means his heart is growing stronger with the pulmonary band since the last surgery. Joseph says he wants to be a drummer. Joshua loves playing Clifford on the computer, and sings to the Christmas music. Shawna loves playing dollies. Gabriela is enjoying Barbies a great deal. Michael wants his own room.

Joseph and Shawna play so well together. They like to play the Mozart on the leap pad and dance together to it again and again. They also both enjoy watching Word World, which has a part in it where they jump on the beds. Of course, Joseph was jumping on his bed. Before we could get to him to stop, there was a big crack ! Nope, it wasn't Joseph. He was fine. The bed broke. We are so thankful we had an extra one (of two) in the garage. Joseph now has a very sturdy bed to sleep in. The other one is in the scrap pile and unfortunately could not be repaired. Ah well. No more monkeys jumpin' on the bed. Smile.

Scott's dad was in the hospital for a week and then in a nursing home. We continue to pray for him and as he battles Stage 4 Brain Cancer and Scott's mom through all of this.

In retrospect, this has been one of the hardest years in many ways. I am thankful to have become so much stronger through all of it. It has also had its great rewards as Joseph and Joshua joined our family. We praise the Lord for such great great gifts. I thank the Lord for His great faithfulness and strength in keeping us going. I thank all of our family, old friends, and new friends we have made for your support and helping us endure through everything.

God bless and hold each of you close to His heart of enduring love this most special Christmas season,

Jennifer Richardson

Thanksgiving 112708

Thanksgiving was fun. Joshua enjoyed playing with the Little People Airport.

Shawna snuggled with Gabriela watching movies. Shawna liked the snacks the best, especially the carrots and onion dip.

Nobody wanted to cook on Thanksgiving day, so I cooked the turkey ahead of time and brought. Everyone enjoyed eating an already to eat traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Michael liked the leg the best. Gabriela enjoyed the other leg. Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Diana enjoyed less cleanup. Scott liked the ham. I'm taking the picture.

Joseph snuggled with Grandma !

We were all thankful to be together !

More Halloween Pictures

Michael was dashing as Walker Texas Ranger !

Dad went as the Mountain Man, long hair and all !

Joshua, who is 5 years old, went as Spiderman !

Shawna, who is 2 and 1/2 years old, went as a Princess in her pretty dress !

Halloween Pics

Pictures from Halloween: Everyone had lots of fun trick or treating and getting candy.

Joseph, who is 7 years old, was Tigger this year. He enjoyed pressing the button in the hand the most to make Tigger talk and grrr.

Gabriela, who is 10 years old, was a princess. She enjoyed wearing make-up at Halloween !