Temple Day

Sarah was sealed to our family on January 5th, it was an amazing special experience that re--enforced my faith in the lord and in his plan. Miss Sarah was always meant to be ours, and we are so glad she is here.

Christmas Day

Christmas Time
For Christmas Eve we drove up and spent the evening with Sarah's bio-grandparents. It was so much fun for the kids. They Just adore Lois & Rick, and they got spoiled for sure.
On Christmas Day we played them the nativity story, the kids were really into it except for Madi, who was really just mad she wasn't opening presents yet.

We decided to re-enact a Campbell family tradition of lining the kids up on the stairs for family pictures.

Playing catch up

And the days go by

November 20th, Christmas will be here before we know it. Things seem to be moving at such a fast pace. We have continued to struggle with Sarah, it seems as though her life has just been too stressful for one five year old to sort out. We had counseling session to get things started and our counselor believes that Sarah suffers from an attachment disorder. She mentioned one that I have been looking into because my gut feeling was leading me there. It seems as though our little Sarah is a RAD kid. RAD stands for reactive attachment disorder. It can happen from a child being taken from it's mother at birth and not having her basic needs met in the first two years of life, frequent changes in caregivers can compound the problem. All of which Sarah has had to endure. We are on a long hard road with her, but we are getting her help in time. Kids like Sarah who don't receive attachment therapy before they are 12 years old, tend to have a lot of problems with drugs and violence. Sarah has what the counselor called her "public face" which is the Sarah that is playful and fun loving and at most just seems to be a little hyper active. Then there is reactive Sarah who struggles for control of her surroundings as a form of self defense from her caregiver(s). Sarah has problems with self control and doesn't understand cause and effect, she is also prone to meltdowns like you have never seen before, and can harm herself and others when in meltdown mode. With therapy Sarah will be that fun loving happy girl but it will take work. For those of you who will be around Sarah I encourage you to research RAD, so that you can be part of our support team. In order for Sarah to make progress I need our friends and family to understand something, Sarah is NOT a normal 5 year old. Lying occasionally is something that kids do, Sarah does not lie occasionally she lies almost anytime you ask her a question. What you say and do can effect how she views her parents. If you say "I think you're being to hard on her" within earshot, you could be undoing a lot of counseling. However if you tell her that she is really lucky to have such great parents, that can boost her therapy sucess. It's hard to explain a mental disorder because people can't understand a disorder they see no evidence of, but trust me it isn't a big bowl of peaches.

Our court date to finalize the adoption is December 10th and I am so happy that Sarah will be able to be sealed to us in the temple not long after that. I know that I have complained but I can't thank heavenly father enough for leading our Sarah home to us, so that we can get her well and feel our family is finally whole again.

It's October!!

 Holy moly where does the time go? I swear it was just new years and now it is October.  Yesterday paper work was filed with the court to adopt Sarah, which means within 60 day her adoption will be final! Whew! The past 4 months have been a very bumpy road for us. Lots of meltdowns, feeling left out, learning and learning some more, lots of time outs and discoveries.  

We have learned:

1. Sarah spent the first month and a half throwing up 1-2 times a week. Due the the pink vomit and the fact that she was completely fine afterwards, I started searching online for a possible cause and found that one of the things that could cause that is Red dye, so we did an experiment and eliminated red dye from Sarah's diet, immediately we started seeing a change, no more upset tummy and a slight change in behavior. Success!  Except that now I have to explain to a 4 year old that she can't have anything with red dye in it. We have to explain that ketchup and Spaghetti are red naturally so she can have them still but that things like Doritos and red slushees are a no go. I have never had a kid with allergies so learning to read labels and shop alternatively is a new experience, but we are learning.

2. A decision to adopt a additional child is one that effects the whole family, every one of our kids have struggled and continue to struggle with this. They love Sarah, but Sarah is extremely active which makes her "annoying" to them. When she is bored I watch her as she will go from child to child bugging them until they scream or hit, which kid to punish? Usually all parties get punished, because I am so frustrated by that point.

3. L-Theanine is my best friend! When I have Sarah on it she is much easier to deal with, and way less anxious. L-theanin is an amino acid, primarily found in green tea. It helps calm nerves and is generally used for adults with anxiety. We began breaking tablets open in water (it's tasteless) But now I have found a chewable form and I am so excited about it!

4. I never thought I'd be using words like Bio-mom, or home study. But these terms are pretty common around here. We recently wrote a letter to Sarah's bio dad in jail and his response was awesome. He is so glad that Sarah is with us and happy. He was grateful for pictures and to know who is adopting her.

There have been many members of the family who have reached out to us via calls or emails, just to give us support but no one has been my rock as much as my sister Becca, I don't know what I would do with out her. She didn't just jump in at the beginning when everything was new and "fun" she has been here through the fun parts and through my breakdowns of wondering if and how I can do this. 

I love Sarah with all my heart, but she is a very hyperactive kid, with no attention span and MANY bad habbits. I have been able to vent or bounce ideas off Becca and she is always there texting or calling asking what she can do. Everyone should have someone like Becca cheering you on and reminding you that you can do it. Both my mom and my Mother in Law have been a great support as well. What would we do without family?

Also the week before last we got a chance to take a break from our lives and focus on helping our kids know that they are all loved and wanted and all important in our lives. While there has been much judgement going on with us going, getting to use grandma's time share and with our taking my mother in law with us. I feel that we deserve it just as much as anyone else and I won't feel guilty about it anymore! My mother in law had joked about how she wanted to stow away in our luggage and come with us, we told her we would have an extra space in the car if she wanted to come, and she did. Her mom lives out there and it was a great opportunity for them to spend some time together. 

For our vacation (since it was on a budget) we spent a lot of time at the beach, and pool. But we did go see an ocean life museum, and wild life sancuary. We also got the chance to see the space shuttle Endeavor fly over Anaheim. We went to parks and played at the play ground and just spent time being a family. It was amazing and I wouldn't change it for a moment.

On to the pics!