Merry Christmas

Well where should we start.

Jaryd: Tonsilectomy went perfectly and he is well on his way to being well most of the time. He also, had a little boy surgery done today. He is feeling fine and he will be better in a few days. School is going well. He does still have some concentration problems, but that is improving all the time. He really likes his teacher so that makes things a lot easier. He wants a bicycle for his birthday on Monday. I am sure that is what he is getting. He can't wait. We have been counting the days for weeks. He would like a remote control car for Christmas. I don't think they really understand what Christmas will be. His English is remarkable. He is taking on the role of big brother beautifully. He helped me last night when I took all four kids to Taco Cabana by myself. Kevin had aboard meeting and I tackled this alone. I wasn't sure, but Jaryd was a life saver. He loves responsibility.

Jacob: Our prefectly wonderful healthy child. He also had a little minor boy surgery today. Glad those are over with. He is a little aggressive at times. He is so quiet you would not expect it from him. We have to be careful not to overlook him sometimes because he is so quiet. He will start to school after the Christmas holidays. He is excited. He will go in the afternoons. Jacob is quite a charmer. Jacob and Alyssa are big buddies. Jacob is maturing quickly, but has a long way to go. Jacob is really into "Cars"

Alyssa: She loves being a sister. I think God had already prepared her to have these siblings in the house. She hasn't missed a beat. She is so unselfish with all the toys. She doesn't like any of the kids to be gone. She likes to have them all home with her at all times. She is into princesses at this time. All we have to do for her for Christmas is buy something with princesses on it.

Kailyn: Our little bundle of movement. She is never still. She can't concentrate on anything for very long. She seems to move constantly from one thing to another. Kailyn will start school after Christmas break also. We finished all the paperwork and got them enrolled yesterday. She is very interested in babies. She loves to play house. Her health seems to be perfectly normal. We are still doing some testing on her digestive system, but other than that she is doing great. She is still not gaining a lot of weight, but hopefully that will change soon. We are going to get some orthodics for her feet to help her fallen arches. The orthopaedists says nothing is wrong with her physically. Only her fallen arches.

We are going to do some traveling to see the grandparents at Christmas in the motorhome. We have made one trip without Jaryd in the motorhome, so he is anxious to go this time. It is the only way to travel with kids if you aren't flying.

Merry Christmas to all and hope that you all have such a wonderful time with all of your new children. What a different place our house will be this year. PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sasha and Ben, Thanks so much and Merry Christmas to your families also.

God Bless You All
Kevin, Tammy, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, Kailyn, Breanne, Shohn, and Randi

HELP

Okay all you bloggers I need your help. We have some friends who are trying to adopt domestically. They already have the children chosen. These children are in foster care. The state has told them that they will try to have them in their home by Christmas for the last four months. The new twist is that they are deciding that they need a background check from Colorado. Colorado is telling them it could take 8 weeks. That is unacceptable. This will dash their chances for having these children by Christmas. If there is anyone out there who lives in Colorado or has had a background check from there and can help us pull any strings to get this done sooner, I would appreciate you e-mailing me or just leave a comment so that we can get these two kids with their family for Christmas. I will say THANK YOU in advance because I know God already has the person that is going to help us with this problem.

Let me know.
Tammy

New Pictures

Thought you might like to see some new pictures of the kids. We took these outside this morning. Man have they changed.

Jaryd is still doing beautifully with his tonsil surgery.

I will try to post again soon. Thanksgiving was very special this year. Lots of new faces at our table. Praise the Lord!

The Huckabee's

Jaryd's surgery

Jaryd came through his tonsilectomy beautifully this morning. The doctor did not take out his adenoids only the tonsils. He is feeling pretty good and has not had any pain medicine since he got home. Just thought all you would like to know his status. So glad that is behind us. He did better at school this week. God is definately working in his life. He has made some wonderful progress this week.

Thanks for all the prayers.

All the other kids are doing great. Mom has had the flu this week and is a little worn out. Hope this is gone soon.

We go back to school for more testing on Monday for Jacob and Kailyn to go to Pre-k. Hopefully this will get settled in the next couple of weeks. Alyssa will sure miss them while their at school. She is so used to having someone around all the time now.

Kevin got a epidural on his back this week and he seems to be feeling better. He is really having a hard time keeping up. God definately has given him strength.

Love to all
Tammy

Finally a new update

It is has been busy since I last blogged. Let's see where to start.

Halloween. What a great experience. Our church has trunk or treat and this year a cake walk. That was so much fun. I don't think the kids knew exactly what to expect. They all got lots of candy. We are still working on eating all of it. Jaryd won three cakes at the cake walk. Alyssa won one. Jacob walked forever and never won a cake. He tried hard though. He never got discouraged just had a good time. Kailyn walked too, but didn't win one either. She mainly stayed in the strolled and just watched the people. She is hard to keep up with if you don't have her in the stroller. She just takes off. There are some pictures of them at the event. Alyssa and Jaryd went with Nana to her church a little later in the evening and played games and had their faces painted. Jacob and Kailyn stayed with mom and dad. It can be overwhelming to take all four of them at once.

Then my dad found out that he had to go to Lubbock for an angioplasty. He received two stints. One of them was in the artery they call the widowmaker. He had a 90% blockage in that one. The other one was in the RCA. He had a 99% blockage in that one. The doctor said he was just about a month away from a fatal heart attack. God really blessed us in catching this before anything major happened. Thanks for all the prayers.

Next we took Kailyn to the doctor for another evaluation. They are going to do some more blood work to see why she is still not gaining. She eats all the time and more than anyone else. I have to take her for fasting blood work. I haven't done that yet. I hope to do that on Monday. Kailyn is coming along on her language. She doesn't speak well in any language. I know that Early Childhood will help her in this area. Hopefully she and Jacob will start school in the next couple of weeks.

Jacob had his birthday yesterday. He wanted a bicycle. So that is what he got. He was so excited. He didn't take his helmet off all day yesterday. We had his party at Chuck-E-Cheese. That was a new adventure. His eyes were as big as saucers. But, he was ready to come home and play with his new toys. Jacob is still trying to connect better with the English language, but has come leaps and bounds since Jaryd went to school. He is having a few problems with aggression. We are working on that. He is doing much better in the past few days.

Jaryd is doing great at school. We are having some discipline issues, but that is to be expected. He is a boy, right. I say with him this morining on Starfall.com and he read a book to me and sounded out all the words. Wow!!!! I was amazed. We are going to use this website more and more for Alyssa and Jacob and Kailyn. Jaryd tried to tell something to Jacob last night in Ukraninan and he had a hard time trying to speak the words to him. He was amazed that he couldn't remember.

Alyssa is still doing wonderfully becoming a big and little sister to more siblings. I am just amazed at how well she has adjusted. She is doing lots of homework with Jaryd. School is fun for her. We do extra work with her because she likes learning so much.

Mom and Dad are still learning to have more children in the house. It has seemed to calm down a little. I did get to sit down yesterday for a little while. Dad even got a nap two days this week. That is a blessing.

Love to all. Keep us in your prayers.

The Huckabee clan

This was a busy weekend. Saturday morning we had our 6 week home Home Study update. That went really well. The Social Worker was very impressed with how well they have adapted. Glad that is behind us. Now we will be ready for the next one in six months. Saturday afternoon we had a pumpkin carving at the church. Here are some pictures of the kids participating in that. We then on Sunday had a party that a group from Keystone Heritage Park planned for the children. They got to see butterflies in the butterfly house, play in a maze, play in a wigwam, and have cake and ice cream. The party attendees also brought gifts for all the children. It was a wonderful celebration.

Oh, we did receive our citizenship papers this last week. So about 4 weeks was the norm.

Pictures

1. Opening gifts

2. Eating Cake and Ice Cream

3. Playing in the wigwam

4. Watching the butterflies

5. Carving Pumpkins

6. Carving Pumpkins

Enjoy. Have a great week.

Kevin, Tammy, Breanne, Shohn, Randi, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, and Kailyn

First Day of School

Jaryd absolutely loved going to school today. We decided to put him in first grade because there was a class with only 15 students. All the second grade classes had 20+ students. He will get more one on one this way. He did great. Mom and Dad bought school supplies while he was in at school and got him ready for tomorrow. He can't wait. Jaryd's first words to Jacob after he got in the car today was "English Jacob, English." I think he now understand the importance of learning English. Thank you God for you eye opening experiences.

Alyssa was mad that she wasn't going to school. Jacob didn't seem fazed. We had to submit paperwork for Jacob to be approved for PRE-K. We hope that he will be able to go in the next couple of weeks. Here are a few pictures from this morning. Alyssa wouldn't let me take her picture. Enjoy.

School is from 7:30 to 2:25. That is a long day. Jaryd is not used to going quite that early. But, he will adjust.

There are also two pictures of Jacob getting his first haircut.

Love to all

Kevin, Tammy, Breanne, Shohn, Randi, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, and Kailyn