Want to go camping this weekend with a free spot?

I know that I have some campers that come here, so I thought I would pass this along. We can't go this weekend so we are going to be camping in the backyard to see what Norah thinks of it.




Army Corps of Engineers to waive
recreation fees August 1-9, 2009
WASHINGTON (July 1, 2009) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced today it
will waive all day use fees from Aug. 1-9, 2009 at its more than 2,400 Corps-operated
recreation sites nationwide.
The waiver applies to day use fees collected at boat launches and swimming beach
facilities. Fees for camping and camping related services and specialized facilities or
special events will not be waived.
“The Corps encourages Americans of all ages to take part in outdoor recreation. Our
hope is to encourage increased use during this traditionally low use period, which will help
individuals and local communities economically,” said Steve Stockton, the Corps’ Director
of Civil Works.
State and local agencies and private partners who manage recreation facilities on
Corps lands are encouraged but not required to comply with the fee waiver.
The Corps is the nation’s largest federal provider of outdoor and water-based
recreation, hosting more than 350 million visitors per year at more than 400 lakes and
river projects. Many of these sites are located close to major metropolitan areas and
provide 4,500 miles of trails, 90,000 campsites, and 33 percent of all U.S. freshwater
fishing.
To find the nearest Corps of Engineers recreation site, please visit
www.CorpsLakes.us.

-30-
News Release
For Release: July 1, 2009
Contact:
Doug Garman 202-761-1807
doug.m.garman@usace.army.mil
World Wide Web: www.usace.army.mil
News Release: www.usace.army.mil/CEPA/News/Pages/Home.aspx

China adoption through disruption?

I usually keep it light on the subjects but this is one that has been in the back of my mind for years now since the first year I was waiting for Norah to come home and I was looking into China adoption. The video I posted from LWB made me think about it more over the last couple of days. Because in the video they talk about parents thinking that they are adopting a NON- special needs child only to find out latter that that child has some special needs. Wile some parents would accept this as life same as if the child was born to them some don't see it that way. It is hard to find any information on adoptions from China that end in disruption. Is it 1 out of 100? or is it closer to 1 out of 1000 China adoption end in disruption.

Do you know anyone how has adopted a child that had come home from China, Vietnam, or Korea with a family and for various reasons the first adoptive family decided to disrupt the adoption because they decided they could no longer parent the child?
I say various because the reasons can be anything from the child having, serious Attachment disorders, to an unknown special needs that the parents ether aren't capable of dealing with, or don't want to because they thought they were getting a non-special needs child, or simply the parents don't think the child will ever fit into the family etc.

Although also rarely talked about, I know that disruptions happen in China before the kids come home with the families and some of those kids the CCAA places with a new family.

But with happens to the kids that come to the U.S. and (again it depends on the situation) ether soon after or after years of trying to make it work there parent's can't take it anymore and decide to disrupt the adoption?

If you have adopted from a disruption or are thinking of disrupting an adoption from China, Vietnam, Korea let me know.

To replie to me without posting a comment I'm at. Norahs_dad@yahoo.com
If you want to just post a comment I will see it I read every comment that is posted on this blog. If you are leaving a comment on the blog about a families situation that is not your own please leave out all names.

Norah the helper.

We went to Norahs Grandma's and Grandpa's house last night Grandma had gotten Norah a magnetic doll to dressup and it was a big hit. We had to take her right hearing aid out because it was ringing and I didne't have the cream with me to make it stop, Her right ear will be the one that is going to be inplanted so we will have a new ear mold poured for the left side soon.

Before we left Norah helped me get some paper towels off the rolls, she loves to Help.

She went into the pantry and shut the door, nuthing new but when she dident come back out after a minet I checked on her this was the view I got. After a long day at school sometimes you need to unwinded, Ha.

I dident want to waste them so I rolled them back up.

Heres anuther funny one she found this head band string and made a baby doll carier out of it, pretty ingenoius if you ask me, as long as the baby doll dident need to breath.

I know I am blessed every day by this child.

Adopting the Waiting Child

Video from Love Without Boundaries about Waiting Childern.

Norah at Night.

After a long day at work being a four year old it is time for a snack. Norah has started to make noise with her voice all the time now. MOst of the time it is just the aahhh, aahhhh , aahhh sound, but she is also using her voice to talk, as well as sign. She is starting to say Mama and Dada frequently and when I call her name loudly she responds 50% of the time now. She has bye-bye down, and we are working on hi. We have also been working on her signing. She understands more things then she can sign. Like we had to teach her to sign want before she asks for something, because she would just sign milk or eat or up or down, instead of, I want down. So she now has "want down", "want more", ETC. We are going to add I this week so she can ask, I want down, I want more, etc. I am encouraged by the fact that she wants to sign and still wants to use her voice to get her point across. Even if she can only babel the fact that she is willing to try to speak to us is a good sign for her to learn some more speech after she can hear better with her implant.

Graying Shanghai encourages couples to have 2 kids

AP Story I found intersisting.

http://www.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090723/ap_on_re_as/as_china_second_child

We have been busy lately. We had three birthdays this month Brandon's, mine, and Annie's. Both Annie and Brandon turned 18 this month. We also had lots of doctors appointments to go to in preporations for Norah's cochlear implant that is now on for the 28th of August. Miss Norah had to have some shots before surgery. It was sad, when I got her out of the car at her primary care doctors office she kept signing "No,No,No, Pain, No Pain Daddy", on the way in. She has gotten a shot everytime we have gone to that office so she is not fond of going there at all.
It's to the point now that our doctors nurse is now refusing to give her any more shots. She is going to make someone else do it. Afterwards I got her an Ice Cream Sunday. Ice cream is Norah's achilles heel. We can't have it in our home anymore because she will ask for it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and refuse to eat anything else. I also got some cardbord from behind a shop and turned it into a play house for Norah. She will get alot of fun out of it and she helped me build it so that was fun for her to to see it start to take shape.

Deaf dancers find fame in China

Norah's day at Childrens

Norah's day at Children's was long. We got there at 10:00am and did not get out of there until 4:50pm. She did fine with the anesthesia and was a real trooper. She did better than we thought with such a long day without food. She was finally able to eat something at around 4:00 PM while we waited for our last appointment with the Cochlear Implant DR. It was killing us for her to sign over and over that she wanted to eat.

We had good news though, it will be a tricky surgery because of the location of Norah's facial nerve and her cochleas are a little malformed. Norah still is a good candidate for the surgery in one or both ears although we will be doing just one to start with to see how she does, and then decide what to do next.





This is her at 4:30 "Dad, I am done and I want to go home".

Long day for Norah

Today Miss Norah has to undergo sedation for an MRI and CT scan in preparations for a Cochlear Implant. We kept her up as long as we could last night so she would sleep late this morning because they won't start until 10:30am and we won't get to her last appointment until 2:30PM and she can't eat until she recovers from the sedation. I am nervous about it to say the least, so please keep our little girl in your thoughts today.
We have thought long and hard about this one because there is no going back to hearing aids with the ear you have implanted. But after we have worked with Norah in weekly speech and signing therapy we have observed what she can and can't hear and backed that up with hearing tests. We now know Norah can not hear any high tones, any soft sounds and any s or sh sounds, any deep sounds she is able to hear and she can hear me call her name more often then she can hear Lori because my voice is deeper. So to give Norah the opportunity to get a lot more sound we are going forward with this step.

Happy and Safe 4TH everyone!

We took Norah to her first Independence Day celebration last night. She got hyped up on cotton candy, hot dogs, Popsicles, and diet coke all which were provided free by the church and the city. I remember when we attended the celebration last year thinking that we would have Norah here with us to see this next year, it was wonderful to have that dream come true.

After her speech therapy appointment at Children's we hit the foutain again. The days are numbered for the watermelon swim suit. She got the purple sunglasses at her doctors appointment that she had on Tuesday for preparations for a Cochlear Implant and has had them with her the last two days.

I took Norah to the Fun Factory to play on the jumpers. It was a hit, she played for two hours on the slides and some of them were really steep. She has come a long way in a short time.