Cheri Kay in Haiti....where my life became meaningful.

Christmas this year was truly THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!! Every year gets better and better! This year we got to enjoy so much fun family time. I am so impressed that my two munchkins cherish their family already! Just an example, Jaryse was complaining the other day about being cold when getting out of the bathtub and I told him "that's what we get for moving to this crazy cold state!" He looked at me, stopped his little body from shaking and said " I don't care about the cold Momma, I just want grandma's and grandpa's". That makes my heart melt. If I've learned nothing from the last 5-6 years of my life (which I've learned a ton, but this is a big one!), I've learned that it's people and family that matter. It's our relationship with others that will make a difference in our lives and in the lives of others and make an impact on the world. I'm grateful that my kids got to experience this wonderful season with so m...

Merry Christmas from my little munchkins and me! We are so blessed! We have had the last few days off of school (and I off of work!) and we are loving our family time together! As I look back over this past year SO much has happened! We are now living in Michigan near my family (kids are loving the Grandma's and Grandpa's!), I have a new full time job with the blessings of full insurance for all of us, a school work day with school vacations, doing exactly what I love doing, Ecrissa has been hearing via the cochlear implant for 10.5 months and is using her voice, responding to her name and is progressing with pure AWESOMENESS, Jaryse has lost a WHOLE BUNCH of teeth, they are both doing awesome in school---what could I possibly be lacking???? The Answer........NOTHING! God has blessed us so much! He amazes me daily with His love for us. Merry Christmas to you all!!!!! Luvs and Hugs from Michigan!

MY TWO FRONT TEETH!!!!!! Yep, little man is losing teeth left and right!!!! He looks so cute with both top teeth gone!!!!! We have had a busy yet AWESOME month! The kids are doing awesome! School is going so great and both kids are advancing and learning faster and more than I ever knew they would! Of course, I sorta had it in my head that they would always be my BABIES!!!!!! WHY OH WHY WOULD THEY NEED TO LEARN TO DO ALL THIS STUFF BY THEMSELVES, THEY WILL ALWAYS NEED ME RIGHT????!!!!! Just kidding! I knew that my kids would grow and develop and become the awesome 6 and 7 year olds that they are and I know that they will continue to grow and become awesome adults too! We decorated Thanksgiving sugar cookies and had a blast!!!! We made all sorts of funny colors and had purple turkeys and yellow pilgrims and blue pumpkins! It was tons of fun!!! Ecrissa has had a sorta rough week this week, choosing to be a bit defiant, but I've learned with her that when she goes through ...

We are so lucky to be with family!!!!! I really didn't know how much we'd enjoy our time with family when I decided to move us to Michigan! It's starting to get cold (and I'm not happy about that) but the kids are having a BLAST with the FAM!!!!!! We went trick or treating with my step sister, her kids, and my dad and step-mom on Saturday! We had so much fun! I took Ecrissa through a haunted house and she LOVED it! It was too cute when she finished, she looked at me and signed "AGAIN" with a huge smile on her face! He communication skills are getting so much better! When she saw Grandma, she signed a whole story of what happened inside the haunted house! TOO CUTE!!!!! This is Grandma Sessions (Cookie Monster), Jaryse (Spider Man) and Ecrissa (Diva Bug)! The kids had their most recent pediatrician appointment and I am forever amazed at how well they are doing! I am so thankful for their health and their constant advances forward. Have a happy Hallowee...

....but I'll update you later. Right now I want to reflect and remember. October 8th 2004---The day I first landed in the nation that changed my life forever! A place that I had only planned on visiting for 10 days because the work in the orphanage would look good on my resume, the place I had never heard of before, the place that now holds a HUGE place in my heart. Just over 6 years ago I met the two people that would forever change me! I met Jaryse and Ecrissa on October 8th and 9th respectively. Jaryse was just over 2 weeks old and he stole my heart the minute I laid my eyes on him. Ecrissa was 17 months old and was developmentally seriously delayed. By the end of my brief 10 days in I knew that I was leaving that country a changed person. I was leaving as a Mother. Becoming a Momma changed me. I never knew that I could love this much. I never knew anyone could love me in this way. I never truly understood how my parents felt about me until I looked at the faces of my Daughter a...

LIFE. IS. GOOD!!!!!! We have moved into our apartment in Grand Rapids, started school, work, and are settling into our new routines! We still don't have internet, so I feel quite disconnected, but soon! Right now I'm at my Dad's house, so I decided that I'd do a quick blog update! This week was Jaryse's 6th birthday! I'm just so amazed that he is 6. This is the first birthday that we've been able to celebrate with family and it's been the MARATHON birthday week! He had a party at daycare on Thurs, a party in his school class on Thurs., Momma and Ecrissa took him out to eat, then Grandma and Grandpa Packer took him out and he spent the night with them, then we went to the Michigan State Game on Saturday (GO GREEN!), then to Chuck E Cheese's with the Sessions side to celebrate with his cousin Ethan and then today, my grandma is having a dinner party for him!!!!!! He is a blessed little man I must say! Grandpa Sessions, cousin Kyla, and Jarys...

Friday we celebrated the end of the summer by going to Michigans Adventure! The kids had a ball!!!! They loved it! I loved hearing their giggles as they rode the smaller roller coasters, drove the mini go-carts and the water rides. They were both very excited when they saw Charlie Brown and Snoopy! Jaryse said that this was better than Disneyland!!!!! He is just loving life right now and is exploding with love and laughter and joy! Ecrissa has had awesome days and she is doing great as well. She has become more and more "chattery" and uses her voice alot. She is not yet saying any words, but she does have a few different sounds that she uses consistently for specific words..such as "uma" for "help me" and "naaaauuuu" for "NO" and "mmmmmm" for "more". She is definetly making lots of progress and I'm super thrilled for her! I will start my new job on Monday and the kids will meet their teachers at the o...

The kids have been having a blast! After being home from Haiti for 17 months, I figured most of our "firsts" have been met....I was wrong!!!!! These past couple of weeks the kids have had their first pony ride, their first ride on a lawn mower, first ride on a tractor, first time "helping grandpa fix the bike", first "camp-out in the living room with grandpa" and even time helping feed the cows at my Aunt and Uncles!!!!!! I'm slightly worried that my kids are turning "country bumpkin-ish" but it's been tons of fun!!! jk!!!! They've loved every minute of it! We went to the zoo the other day and had a blast! The kids love the petting zoo and feeding the goats and giraffe's. Ecrissa enjoyed all of the sounds that she heard. She smiled when she heard the bald eagle make it's sound, the train whistle, and various other "zoo" sounds! What a great day of learning and fun! Jaryse is loving being with Grandpa's (...

YAY!!!!! It has been too long since I've taken pics of my sweeties!!!!! This week has been super fun so far! We love spending time with family and hanging out! On Tuesday we went to Grand Haven again and spent a few hours hanging with some friends from Haiti! IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! Mrs. D has meant so much to me and Ecrissa and spending time with her was such a blessing. The kids had a blast swimming, playing in the sand and eating ice cream! Thank you Lord for awesome friends, their love, support and prayers!!!!!!

So, we packed up my apartment, drove across the USA and landed in Nashville Michigan! It took a lot of day, little sleep and a bunch of my dad's teasing!!!!! We are staying at my dad's for about 1 month when we will then move into our apartment in Grand Rapids. I was able to find a nice apartment near the school that I will work at and the school the kids will go to. My stuff is currently housed in my grandparent's rec room safely, but not so organized! I am not looking forward to loading all that stuff up again when we can finally move into our apartment in the beginning of September! Oh well, it's been nice staying with my dad for now! I helped my dad with his big pole vault event and had a blast! We've had a small family dinner and that was fun! We went to a Haitian Adoption reunion and saw some friends from Haiti and met some new friends! That was AWESOME! The kids got to swim in the lake and have gone swimming in my cousins pool also! So, needless to...

In 2 weeks from today, my dad and step-mom will be flying to Cali to help us move back to Michigan. I have accepted a physical therapy position in Grand Rapids MI and we are moving to Michigan at the end of July. Jaryse is super excited, Ecrissa seems to be beginning to understand and Momma is nervous, excited, and has a list 3 pages long of things to do in the next 2 weeks. I do believe that this will be a good move for us. My family is there and the kids will get to be part of our family gatherings, birthdays, Thanksgiving, Easter and other holiday celebrations. I think that it's all going to be great...other than the cold and snow of course. We'll keep ya' posted on our newest adventure as we prepare to drive across the United States from California to Michigan!

This week, the kids and I went through their toys and books and picked out the ones that they no longer play with or want. I asked them if they'd like to give them to the hospital Child Life Center. This way, the kids in the hospital have toys to play with and books to read. They agreed. I almost put them in my car on the day that I worked at the hospital to take them to my co-worker, and then I realized that this would be a good experience for the kids. So, on Friday after we finished school and work, we went up to the hospital and gave our toys to the Child Life Center. I was all excited to have the kids participate in this and have them really understand what they were doing and get that wonderful feeling that you get when you help others. Am I crazy??? We walked in and they were immediately interested in all the other toys...you know...the ones that they don't have and all the people that they had never met before. They forgot why they were there and played with t...

"Um, sure.....I think" was my response! My son has been asking for 2 weeks for me to build him a Lab in our house. I spent the last 2 weeks trying to figure out how to do such a thing! I mean...where do I begin? ....What does this 5 year old friendly lab need to contain?.....Where am I going to "build" it? Well, yesterday I went and got a few things from the sale rack including a small globe, a cheap telescope, a super on-sale chemistry set (complete with test tubes), a planting set in which you learn all about plants growing, and a super cheap magnet set, then we grabbed a few things that he already had including his toy laptop (every Lab has a computer right??), his desk, a magnifiying glass, and his goggles and I built the boy a Lab in his bedroom! The far corner of the room is sorta contained and all his "science" things are in there. He is so happy! I'm glad I didn't fail him in my attempt to build this Lab. I did not truly know what he ...

Saturday was Ecrissa's ballet recital! It was so super duper cute! She is involved with a group that holds classes for children with special needs. She gets to do a hip hop class and a ballet class with this group. The recital was just for the ballet class and they were so awesome! It was FORBIDDEN to take any type of picture during the actual recital so the pics I have are of the rehearsal night and after the recital itself. Ecrissa looked so pretty and had so much fun being dressed up in her princess dress and performing on stage! She was so cute! She loved being the center of attention (surprise surprise) and she did a really good job with her dance moves. Of course, it wouldn't be any fun if there wasn't any excitement....and so......One of the little boys in her class pulled the fire alarm as they exited the stage! He didn't realize what he was doing, but they had to evacuate the entire Royce Hall Auditorium (probably over 1000 people) and have the fire...