Thank you so much for your prayers. Isabella seems to be doing a little better this week. She is starting to wake up several times at night crying but she goes right back to sleep. I just keep reassuring her that we love her and will always be here. It's so hard, but it's definitely getting better.

Yes, I'm way behind on getting some pictures on here.... my friends email me often to tell me that I'm slacking so here are some new pictures of our girl.

One of our dear sweet clients went on a cruise to Alaska and brought Izzy this hat. This is how she came to the table to eat breakfast yesterday.

And another friend of ours left this really cool tent/tunnel playhouse on our desk at Coldwell Banker. They left it anonymously... At first I thought it was because there were no instructions and they didn't want us calling them asking how to put this thing together. Rob eventually figured it out and Izzy loves it. So, thank you whoever you are !!!

Prayer Requests

Please pray for Izzy. She is having a hard time lately. Over the last couple of weeks she's been asking me over and over if we are going to leave her. She never cries when she asks me and it's mostly just at bed time, but it's been consistently for the last two weeks. It's just breaking my heart. Last night when I asked her what she wanted to pray about she told me that she wanted to pray for Mommy and Daddy to love her forever..... that did me in. These little ones are too wise from what they've been through. Today I spoke with the Family Education Coordinator at our agency. She was incredible, so encouraging. She thinks this is very normal behaivor for a toddler that has only been adopted for four months and maybe Izzy starting preschool and us evacuating for the Hurricane has just stirred some anxiety about the permanence of her situation. She said that we should just continue to reassure her that we love her and that we are her family forever. When we tell her that we love her and we will never leave her, she just smiles this huge smile and hugs us so tight. Boy, parenting is not for wimps !!!

On a lighter note, Rob went into her room the other night because we heard her on the monitor. He thought she wanted a sip of water or needed to go to the potty. When he went in there and asked her what she wanted she signed to him "Daddy and Mommy more baby". And Rob says " More babies, you mean more water." And she shook her head and signed again "Daddy and Mommy more baby." So I'm on my way into the room at this point because I her Rob exclaim over the monitor "More babies, you mean more water !!!" When I get in there he's telling her that she'd better get started praying about it if she wants a little sister. And Izzy got totally excited and started jibber jabbering about getting on her favorite plane (favorite plane ~ isn't that funny?) and going to China to get her sister. They sat there and totally carried on about names for her and how Izzy is going to do this with her and that with her. And I'm standing in the door way of her room marveling at how God takes you from "Don't leave me, Are you going to love me forever?" to "Let's get on my favorite plane and go get my sister in China". Notice there was no mention of a little brother in China.

It's like being on a roller coaster around here..... Keep us in your prayers.

Sweet and Sour and Sweet again.....

I could be a cat..... at least for a little while

Yes, I'm a cat person. I'm not really as weird as a normal cat person. Some of my friends would disagree, but I don't think I'm like the bizarre "cat lady" or anything like that. I love my cats though. Fiercely protective of them. Even though two of them weigh 23 and 25 lbs and need little protection.

The last time we evacuated prior to Gustav was for Katrina and we went to Lumberton, MS.. Well, that was not far enough. The roof blew off, so we ended up in Gatlinburg, TN. An eleven hour trek with two teenagers, Gunny, our Golden Retriever, Belle, our Black Lab, 3 Maine Coons (Ferrin, Crash and Sarah Leigh) and a stray cat from my office, Sunny D. Needless to say, in case you're not a cat person, they don't travel well. At least not without medication. I thought that trip would have done them in. When we got back home three weeks later, they all rallied and came back to life. Cats hate change, as do I.

So this time, I was worried. I'm down to three cats and 1 dog. They are all getting pretty old, so the ride even though just an hour this time was pretty traumatic for them. When we got to the farm they all hide under the bed for the two days while we were there. Then on Tuesday morning when we left, I traumatized them again by dragging them from under the bed ( ever try to put a 25 lb ticked off cat into a plastic box ??~ not easy!!!) and put them back in their kennels for the ride home. Imagine my car, Izzy crying and three cats completely tripping out when the car starts moving. Izzy is crying because the cats are crying. She says they are sad. Not so, they are really mad, but Izzy insists they are sad because they are in the kennels and she wants to let them out for the ride home. No way, Jose..... I tell her. So, for the hour ride home, everyone cried. Including me !!!!

We all got back home on Tuesday and I swear my cats have been sleeping since. No one has hardly moved. They are not dead !! Really, I keep checking on them. I just think they're exhausted. I would love to get 8 hours of sleep much less the 18 to 20 hours a day they've been getting. The electricity came back on Thursday evening and I've been cleaning ever since then. It's amazing how dirty your house can get while in the dark for three days. You can't see how bad it is.... It's terrible.

So, I could really stand to be a cat.... at least for a little while.

Major gratitude and Major whining all at the same time.

We've been back home since Tuesday morning. No water in the house, no trees on the house. My neighbor wasn't as fortunate though. Still no electricity and no running water but yet our Parish wasn't included in the Emergency Declaration by our President. Trees down, powerlines down, but no emergency ~ go figure !! ..... can you tell I'm a little over it?? Evacuating and returning under these circumstances are much more difficult with a toddler in tow even though Izzy has been so good. She's such a tough little girl. She just rolls with the punches. She's been sick, she's on breathing treatments and is a little confused about why there are no lights working in the house, but other than that she is just making the best of it. Me on the other hand; well, my whining is getting on my own nerves. I want electricity, I want to take a bath, I want to wash clothes..... Ahhhh, I'm just over it.

My husband and my son have handled the brunt of the work. I've not been much help this time, since I'm with Izzy every minute. There are power cords throughout the entire house coming from two generators. So, Izzy is walking over extension cords every few steps. I'm watching her like a hawk. Ryan has been such a huge help. I've actually seen the first glimpses of my son as a man through this experience. He's been incredible. No whining, just digging in, carrying generators, doing whatever was asked of him and doing it well. I'm really grateful that he was here to help us. My oldest daughter is coming home today from Florida. Her house in New Orleans did ok, so we're grateful for that too. I hope that everyone else did ok with the storm. Keeping you all in my prayers. Please pray for my sanity and for the lack of personal hygiene around here !!!!!