New Post (catchy title, huh?)

Long overdue for a post. Lots of great stuff happening here in Mari-Land. Grab a snack and get comfortable, this may be a long post!

This story starts last year when we had a couple really bad storms...I lost a few shingles here and there, no big deal. Then, very shortly after coming home from Ethiopia, we had a REALLY bad wind storm. I can't quite remember when it was...sometime during that foggy period after first getting home...I just remember running around the yard, picking up shingles, freezing cold, more shingles flying off the roof and hoping I didn't get killed by one while Mari was napping in her crib. The end-result was large patches of missing shingles, lots of tar paper showing, also lots of wood showing. The weeks after were filled with roofers knocking on my door or leaving cards in my mailbox offering "great deals." But between new motherhood, going back to work, and being ill for most of March...I just never got it done.

Fast forward to one week ago Sunday. My doorbell rings in the evening, I peek out and see a very tall man standing on my doorstep and I thought, "oh dear, another roofer looking for work or another preacher telling me the world is ending." (Sorry Essen!). But since there was also a woman(Kathy) standing on the porch and a baby stroller, I decided to open the door. In the stroller was Lydia (who celebrated her 2nd birthday 3 days before Mari's 1st) was adopted last summer from China. They live just a few doors down from me and had heard from another neighbor that I was adopting and were checking to see if we were home yet (they kind of picked up on all the baby-related trash at the road!). We had a great time catching up on each other's stories and they hooked me up with some local resources so I'll be able to meet other adoptive families around here. They also have 3 other kids, the oldest girl will probably be babysitting for me soon (yea!) and the twin 10-year-olds had a great time playing with Ollie-dog, so I have some pet-sitters close by! What a great doorbell ring! But it gets even better. Essen is the pastor of a local church (I was right about a preacher being on my doorstep!) and their deacon's group has a ministry where they help out folks in the community and, thanks to a post-Katrina missions trip, they just happen to be very good at roofing (see, I was right about a roofer on my doorstep too!). On Tuesday, one of the deacons stopped by with Essen and they checked out the roof. On Thursday, a bunch of men came over and climbed on my roof and in just a couple hours, my roof was whole again; watertight, seamless, even matching (they did a great job matching the shingles).

So a BIG THANK YOU to the guys at Tabernacle Pres in Waynesboro. Mari and I greatly appreciate all your hard work to help us stay dry!

Here are the guys up on the roof. Someone is hiding behind a ridge I think...there were 7 of them.

Mari watching the action from below.
Our new friend, Lydia!

Here are some more random pix. Enjoy!

Happy 5th Birthday Oliver!!

Here is our new daily routine. Mari spent a couple hours at the doctor's office on Sunday (yes, they have Sunday hours!). I took her because her face swelled up like a Cabbage Patch Kid but she ended up having both ears badly infected again, she was wheezing more, and she was just plain tired. She was barely awake all day Sunday. So she got an injection of antibiotics and we are now on a 6-week-course of antibiotics (Bactrim), if that doesn't work then we will explore the "plumbing" option (tubes!). She is back on steroids (Orapred) and we added in an allergy medicine (Claritin) to try to combat the ever-present sniffles. She is now on a twice-daily nebulizer (Pulmicort) that is a preventative med, in addition to her albuterol nebs that she still gets when she is coughing and wheezing. In the mornings, she needs both and, since they can't be mixed, that is almost 30 minutes of just breathing treatments (yes, that means I get up at 4:45 for work instead of 5:15). All this is on top of her 6-week course of the oral ringworm med.

Top to bottom. Griseofulvin for ringworm, Bactrim for ears, Claritin for allergies, Orapred for reactive airway, and to the right is the Pulmicort and the albuterol. Aren't you glad you got your medical lesson in for the day?! Luckily, Mari is very good at taking meds. Mari's new sleeping position. Face down, butt up!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE those feet!
Mari's first day in shorts. What a cute little butt! BTW, the onesie is 9 months, the shorts are 18 months. She is so short that she is still in 9-12 month clothes but her little belly and rear-end are well-rounded enough that we have to watch waist sizes!