Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

1. Doctors and nurses who take care of children - they have a special reward in heaven!
2. Marcia - she is breathing on her own and is up walking around. She is still in ICU but she is improving.
3. Claire - she is recovering from her surgery. The implant will be activated on March 9! Note in the picture that Claire has a black eye. This is from the surgery and she has also been fighting hives since Tuesday. We are trying to figure out the source of the hives. You can see them on her face and hand. They cover her entire body. The poor baby is so itchy.


4. Prayer warriors - what a ministry to pray for people in their time of need.
5. Friends - who visit us at home and bring a yummy dinner and special surprises for Claire! Thanks, Tina, Brogan and Teddi!




6. Hot showers - Nothing feels better after a long night in the hospital!
7. My own bed :)
8. Technology that gives Claire the opportunity to hear!
9. Big sisters that will take the time and paint her little sister's fingernails! Claire is blowing on her nails here!

10. Starbucks - Chocolate chip frappuccino! Yummy! I even enjoyed these in China!

We are home!!

Thank you everyone for your prayers for Claire's surgery. She did great, even with the 2 hour delay in her surgery time! That was definitely God taking away her hunger! She hadn't had anything to eat or drink since 9:00 the night before and not once did she ask for something to eat or drink. She did get on a gum kick where that is all she wanted was some gum. I couldn't blame her I'm sure her mouth was dry. The only time she really was upset is when we went into the pre-op holding area. I think she could just sense that something was going to happen. Plus everyone had scrubs on and I think that scared her. Soon after we got to pre-op they brought scrubs for me so I could go into the OR with her. As soon as I put the scrubs on she was a different child. She started laughing and jumping on the bed. I think she thought Ok, my mom is going with me so it will be ok. In the OR, I held her while they put the mask over her mouth and nose. She was asleep almost instantly! I couldn't believe it. They told me that most kids fight the mask. I was back in the pre-op area in less than a minute. Gary couldn't believe that she was asleep already! Her surgery lasted about 3 hours and it took her about an hour to wake up after the surgery. She was snoring when they brought us to her! She would occasionally open her eyes but she wasn't in any hurry to wake up! When she did finally wake up she just sat up and I asked her if she wanted a popsicle and that was it. She didn't fuss at all. She had 3 popsicles in the recovery room! We had precious friends from church that sat with us the entire time. They got there about 10:00 and didn't leave until Claire was in recovery. That was a blessing to us to have that support. We also had our sweet neighbor, Tina, meet our kids after school and bring them to the hospital. It is about a 30-40 minute drive so we appreciated her doing that for us. She also surprised us with balloons and a gift bag full of snacks waiting for us in Claire's hospital room. Thanks, Tina you are the best!

Claire did pretty good last night. There wasn't a whole lot of sleeping but she wasn't too fussy. She refused to sleep in the bed so we ended up sleeping together in the chair. She has to wear a protective pressure dressing over her ear and she didn't seem to mind it until about midnight. At that time, she was done and wanted it off. With the help of pain medicine and more popsicles she was back to sleep around 1:00. We had another round of wanting it off and more popsicle eating from 4:00 to 5:00. We got home around 11:30 and she is already asking to go outside and play basketball! However, we are trying to take a nap before the big kids get home from school! With that said, I need to wrap this up so I can sneak in a nap.

Thanks again for your prayers. We certainly could feel them!
Waiting with Mommy.


Waiting with Daddy.



While we were waiting they brought Claire a bear that had a cochlear implant on it's ear. She had fun playing with it and she kept trying to put it on her ear!



Claire was happy that her "adopted" grandparents were there. These are our friends from church.



Fun distractions while waiting for surgery.


Claire much happier seeing mommy in scrubs too!



Claire feeling safe in Mommy's arms.



Claire right after surgery.



I'm sure she would have woke up sooner if she knew popsicles were waiting!



Up in her room. She was interested in TV. She was watching Finding Nemo. The kids were happy to see her. Hunter kept asking "can I touch her?"


Middle of the night popsicles always bring a smile even if it is 4AM!

Claire enjoying her eggs for breakfast. One step closer to going home!


Claire fell asleep on the long ride home. She was ready to roll once the car stopped!




Update on Marcia. As of last night, she was still in ICU but was breathing on her own. She was supposed to have more tests run today. Her hemoglobin has dropped again. They are trying to figure out why. I'll try to update once we hear how today's tests went.

Claire's Surgery...

Hey everybody. It's me, Brianna. Claire came through with her surgry today with great success. The surgry was suppossed to start at 11:15 but instead didn't start until 1:30. Despite the late starting time, she never began to complain about being hungry until about 11:30 and then all she wanted was some gum. She was really happy about things when Mommy put her scrubs on. Mom got to go in with her until she fell asleep. It took her awhile to finally wake up after the surgry, but when she did there was no crying and she ate 3 popsicles. The Doctor said everything went well and we should be able to activate the implant in about a couple of weeks. She will be coming home tomorrow and is supossed to wear a foam like cup covering her left ear for the next 7 days. We are very blessed everything went great and can't wait to have the implant activated and see how it will impact her life.

Prayer request..

Well, tomorrow is the big day. Claire is getting a cochlear implant. They will be implanting her right ear. We have to be at the hospital at 9:15 and the surgery should start about 11:15. The surgery should take about 3 hours. Please pray for a successful surgery and for her recovery. She will stay in the hospital overnight just for observation. The hard part tomorrow will be the fact that she can't eat or drink after midnight. She is not going to understand why we won't feed her and that is a long time to go without food! Gary and I have peace about the surgery but it is still hard to hand your child over to the surgeon and then wait and wait.

Also, could you please pray for Gary's sister, Marcia. She was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday. Her condition deteriorated and yesterday she was admitted to the ICU and put on a ventilator. For some reason, her body doesn't want to breathe. They are treating her like she has pneumonia but her CT scan of her lungs was clear. They are still unsure of what is going on. Her blood pressure has been dangerously low as well. All you prayer warriors out there, thanks for praying.

Brianna will try to post an update tomorrow night to let you know how the surgery went.

7 Months with Claire!!

I cannot believe that it has been 7 months already since our "gotcha day". Here is some reasons why we love Claire.

Cute - I mean come on, who doesn't love that face!
Loveable - She is a great snuggler. I just melt each time she wraps her arms around my neck.
Athletic - She is always doing gymnastics around the house and I've never seen a 3 year dribble a basketball like she does. WNBA??
Intelligent - Her memory is amazing. She has already mastered about 170 signs in sign language!
Rowdy - She is full of life and is a go-er. Oh, to have that much energy!
Entertaining - She is constantly making us laugh. She really has a funny sense of humor.


These pictures show some of her personality. Cute, Rowdy, and Entertaining for starters!!

Thankful Thursday

Ok, this is my first attempt at a Thankful Thursday post. I am inspired by a friend who started posting Thankful Thursday posts and continued to do so even after losing their home in a fire. I thought, if she can post about what she is thankful for after what she has been through then I can to. So here goes.

I am thankful for:
1. My relationship with Christ. I have been saved by grace and for that I am thankful and humbled.
2. My dear sweet husband, who is my best friend. I am so thankful that God gave him the same heart for orphans as I have.


3. My oldest daughter, Brianna. With her my dreams of being a mother came true. Growing up people always asked "what do you want to be when you grow up?" in the deep places of my heart I knew I just wanted to be a mom. What joy she has brought to me as a mom.


4. My oldest son, Nicholas. What a tender hearted child he is and not to mention super smart. I tease him that he is going to live with his mama forever. :)


5. My youngest son, Hunter. This is our miracle baby. He has undergone 3 surgeries and still lives with kidney disease. Doctors tell us all the time that kidneys that look like his shouldn't work but thanks to our miracle working God they do!


6. My youngest daughter, Claire. Another miracle brought to us from God. Only God could have orchestrated bringing her into our lives. She is a perfect fit for us and she brings so much laughter to our home.


Ok, this list is getting kind of heavy and making me weepy. Tears of thankfulness no doubt! Anyway, I will continue.
7. Chocolate - the perfect compliment to any meal!
8. My slippers - I wear my slippers all day long at home. I do not like to have cold feet!
9. My books - I love reading anything by Karen Kingsbury. I have read 3 of her books this month alone.
10. Sunshine - Sun is streaming in on me as I type and it makes me smile.

That is a portion of what I am thankful for. There is much, much more but they will have to wait for another post!

Thanks for visiting our new blog..

Yea, you found our new blog. We are so glad. Didn't Alexis do a great job designing it? Make sure you check out her blog, click on the link on the sidebar.

You may be wondering why the new blog. Well, we just felt it was time because our adoption journey to Claire is done but our new life as a family of 6 is just starting. We chose the new name because we truly feel that God has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams. Our 4 kids are just the beginning of our blessings. We have been blessed with health, employment, friends - near and far, family, and the list goes on and on but our greatest blessing is our relationship with the giver of all things, Jesus Christ. I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord (Phil 3:8).

Thanks for checking out our new blog. We consider you as one of our blessings! We hope you will continue to follow our life as a family of 6.

As the pictures indicate, we love you!

 

 

 

There is just nothing cuter than little hands signing! Unless it is at 2 or 3 in the morning and the little cutie wants to carry on a conversation!

 

New blog!!

I am currently having a new blog designed by a friend's very talented daughter. I am so excited and can't wait to reveal it soon. Check back later for the finished product!