What a year!

2013 has held more change for us than the previous 35 years combined!  In January we were still caring for our beautiful foster daughter, Bella.  We didn’t know who would adopt her; we just knew we couldn’t.  At the end of February, we were graced with the incredible gift and knowledge that Bella’s forever family is a loving Christian family who desires continued communication with us.  In May, we experienced loss like we never had before when we had to say goodbye to her, but also gained dear friends in the family that adopted her. 

In January we were still agonizing through the red tape of our adoption process, delays in paperwork, denied referrals, still no idea who God would provide to be our daughters.  At the end of February we accepted Emma’s referral and by the end of May, she was in our arms.  At the end of March we accepted Elsie’s referral, but because of delays in her paperwork and our major move back to the US, it was early September before we brought her home to us.  We began the year with so many unknowns and lots of hurt and heart ache.  We are ending the year as a family of four on the road to health. 

I am most grateful for our two little sweethearts, Emma and Elsie.  These two little darlings are the answers to years and years and years of prayer.  We have been waiting for and longing for and hoping for them for a very long time.  And now they’re here.  They are ours.  They are growing not only in my heart, but also before my eyes.  At the beginning of the year, they were living in orphanages, various ladies caring for them, surviving, but in no way thriving.  Whether they knew it or not, they too were waiting and longing and hoping, maybe not for us specifically, but for a mommy and daddy, for a family and friends to love them and delight in them and provide them with an environment where they could thrive.  Now, they’ve been given the gift of a forever family.  They are learning and laughing and loving having a mommy and a daddy. 

Don’t get me wrong, this kind of major transition has NOT been easy on the four of us.  We are still adjusting and there are times it’s been really, really hard.  But as I reflect on our family’s recent history, how God is writing His story in our lives, I am overwhelmed.  Most days I’m too overwhelmed with the here and now of managing our home and caring for these two munchkins to see it.  But the past few days as I’ve taken time to stop and to think, I’m overwhelmed with God’s goodness and grace and faithfulness to me, His undeserving child.  That’s the kind of overwhelming I’d like to continue into 2014.

Happy New Year, dear friends.

Our little Christmas blessings

Holiday Snapshots

Cousin fun!

Right around Thanksgiving, Elsie decided she'd eat meat.  And she has ever since.  

Erika's grandma came to visit us!

She made homemade spaghetti sauce and Emma loved it!

This train ride is like the pace of life right now...constant motion, but not too fast.

The Christmas season isn't complete without decorating cookies with these friends.

Merry Christmas, dear friends.

I am thankful!!!

Snow is so fun!!!

She's flying again!

They both love it!

Five Weeks

Five weeks from yesterday was Emma's surgery.  And she's already healed!  That is NOT a long time.

The doctor made an incision from her neck to her tailbone.  He didn't just cut skin and muscle, he cut bone.  This was a MAJOR surgery.  And a couple weeks later she had complications... leaking spinal fluid, another hospital stay.  That's not minor.  Yet today, we went back to the surgeon's office.  The same office where it felt like just yesterday that he said, "your daughter needs to have major surgery soon."  We left that day with a pit in our stomachs and just a little anxiety.  And today, five weeks after the surgery, he says, "She looks great.  You can go back to life as if the surgery hasn't happened."  The swelling is completely gone.  The scarring of the incision looks fine.  She's even telling us when she has to go potty.  (Loss of bladder and bowel control is one of the first indications that something is wrong in her lower spine.)  Today nothing is wrong.  Today we left with very happy hearts.  In fact, Emma did a little happy dance in the doctor's office.

Join us in praising and thanking the Lord!  His protection, His provision, His complete healing.

"This one...Emma...sad."

Emma was looking at her photo album of friends and pictures from her orphanage.  She’d spent a little time asking questions and talking about her friends.  Then she was looking at pictures of just herself in various rooms in the orphanage.  She stopped and pointed and said, “This one Emma sad.”  “Why were you sad, Honey?”  I inquired with my full attention.  “Emma no mommy, no daddy.”  Wow.  She gets it.  Amazing.  I scooped her up, kissed her cheek, and said, “You have a mommy and daddy now, sweet girl.”  

Emma really is doing wonderfully.  She is healing.  The swelling is going down.  She is back to her spunky, joyful, expressive self.  However, she is just skinny, especially in her legs.  Through the surgery process she lost a little weight, which she didn’t have to lose, and so now we’re trying to fatten her up.  She has her “special drink” (Pediasure).  I searched the yogurt aisle for full cream yogurt.  Do you know how many of them say “low fat” and “fat free”?  And I’m trying to think through how to cram as many calories as possible into her meals, while keeping them out of ours…not an easy task.  Keep praying for full healing and clearance from the doctor to completely go back to life as before.  

Elsie… The results of the MRI are that she has delayed myelination.  This means that the protective covering around the electrical impulses in her brain is not as fully formed as it should be at her age.  It’s likely a cause and effect of her seizures.  It is possible that the lack of stimulation and nutrition in her early years have played a part in this.  And if that’s the case, we should see some improvement when we do another MRI in 6 months or so.  In the meantime, she’s started medication for her seizures.  I am hopeful that this will control them and that we’ll be seeing less and less of them.  She’s also been approved to receive in-home therapies to aid in her development.  So an early intervention specialist as well as an occupational therapist will each start showing up for an hour a week.  I’m very happy about this because I need more help and support to know how to best care for this little one.  She’s a handful, an adorable, eager, in-constant-motion little handful. 

We’re already seeing progress in Elsie.  When we first got her, she wouldn’t let me hold her chest to chest.  She’d try to spin right around.  Now she reaches up asking to be held regularly.  And when I give her kisses and sing to her, she leans in as if to say “I like this and I want more.”  Ahh, the beauty of adoption.  Lives changing before my eyes.  I am thankful.

It's November!