Let's catch up!

So much happened this week, which is why blogging got pushed to the back burner. Deborah Joy had her physical therapy evaluation at Children's Hospital, we made a trip to the aquarium, I've been on the phone non-stop making appointments with schools, doctors and dentist, finishing up school enrollment for Josiah (he's being homeschooled through the parent partnership program at the public school), throwing a couple of birthday parties, and to top it all off I made a freezer full of crockpot meals (with the help of my wonderful hubby); because as you can tell, we're going to be very busy the next couple of months!  (Boy, was that a long sentence or what?! I'm still trying to figure out if it was grammatically correct, but I digress...)

So, I know some of you follow this blog in order to keep up with the saga of our beautiful little Ethiopian princess. Deborah Joy is now 4 years old, which means I have a three, four, and five year old now! Can you say blessed?! I am seriously in love with my life right now!!! Challenged, yes, but every day brings more blessing than we could have imagined when we decided to start our family.
Anyway, we took Deborah Joy to the Physical Therapy department at Children's this week for her initial visit and assessment. The therapist adored her, and Deborah had a great time too! Boy did she enjoy showing off. Not only was she crawling (YES, crawling on her hands and knees), but pulling herself up, enjoying the toys, interacting and talking, and getting herself into a sitting position in record time. :-) The therapist recommended we start going to a nearby hospital for weekly therapy, and also seeing what the public school could do for us. Remember those phone calls I mentioned earlier? Sadly, both of those places I called were not scheduling this week, so I'm waiting to hear back from them. The therapist said in her opinion, Deborah seemed pretty on track mentally. There's no doubt she is delayed, but she thinks she will catch up in time. Physically, she think Deborah will need a walker to help her, and probably a wheel chair too. We're supposed to discuss equipment with our continuing care therapist. I am soooo anxious to get this child some motility. I think she will amaze everyone around her as she finds a way to get around more efficiently!

After the appointment at Children's it was time for some fun! The nice thing about having to travel into Seattle for her doctors is that we have a great excuse to tour around a bit afterwards! For Josiah and Deborah's birthday with year, our family went in together and bought us an aquarium pass! Here are a few pictures from the day:

This photo may not be the most flattering, but it makes me laugh so much!

Josiah and Noah had an assignment to ask someone at the aquarium a question about one of the sea creatures. Here they are asking about the beak of an octopus.

My favorite attraction is always the sea lions, seals, otters etc. So I had no idea my hubby even took this picture. I was busy watching the otter and her baby! SO CUTE! (The kids, and the otters.) ;-)

We walked a little bit of Seattle after our visit to the aquarium.

We have a new attraction in Seattle! This Ferris Wheel is huge!

As much as I'd love to continuing blogging tonight, I better get going and put the kiddos in bed. It was another long day of playing with cousins and splashin' in the pool! I'll try to remember to give you a recap of our Olympics Day.