Tamara - Give Away for her!

I want to put this up here.  Little "Tamara" (Tamara on Reece's Rainbow) is once again available for adoption.  She was on the "My family found me" page for a bit but now she again needs a family.  One way we can help her family is to raise her adoption fund, donate to Reece's Rainbow and spread the word - tell people that this precious little girl needs a forever family.  How does raising her funds help her get a family?  Well, because some families have the room, the time, the finances to raise a child - but not the $25,000 on-hand that it will take to go through the entire international adoption process.  Click on the link below - there is a give-away happening especially to benefit little Tamara!  Please consider participating and/or donating to her adoption fund, even the smallest amount.

http://onelessbroken.com/2012/04/22/ugandan-pursenecklaces-giveaway/

Easter 2012

For Easter Arielle got to wear a beautiful little blue dress that someone gave her, brand new. She LOVES it! We started out the day before letting the two older kids color eggs. Then in the morning they all got their baskets, said bye to daddy (who had to work that day - meh!), and went with me, my mom and my aunt to another aunt and uncle's house. Here's Arielle about to eat a cupcake she decorated (they let all the kids decorate their own - how fun!).

Below: Coloring eggs.
Baskets:

Evie often gets this little look on her face. She was thrilled about her sucker - can't you tell? He, he!
Zeph was so excited to get a big chocolate bunny just like his siblings did!
To limit (ha!) sugar we also threw in bubbles and a little hotwheels car for him.
At my aunt and uncle's house doing an egg hunt: my younger cousin helping Zeph and my aunt helping Evie.
Nathanael's treasure - oh my.
They had a trampoline. I thought Zeph would HATE it. He LOOOOOVED it! This is HUGE for him! He has had a very difficult time with ANY MOTION so we only let on the other two very little ones with him and they all had a blast, happily running and bouncing around on it!
Zeph really liked the eggs - opening and closing them was very tricky but he just loves containers and things that open and close.

All about "Mr. Z"

This post is all about our little Zephaniah - LOTS of pictures. I took these pictures because I made a promise to a doctor in Zeph's orphanage to email photos. I have patiently waited 'til I could take these - pictures of him walking! These will be the FIRST pictures they receive! I also need pictures to include in his annual report. I really need to do new pictures of all our kids but first thing's first.

Baby and kiddo updates, April 4th

I'm an estimated 16 weeks along in my pregnancy. I traded in my nausea for sciatic nerve pain, it seems. It's not as bad as I've experienced before but it does slow me down a bit as it gets worse through the day.

My hubby just started working at his new location and it's actually a 1.5 hour drive there and back. So we aren't seeing much of him on his work days/nights. We are looking forward to spending time with him on his days off. And I'm looking forward to eventually living closer so he can spend those 3 hours with his family instead of driving!

Wanna see something amazing???? When you get to the bottom of the page you'll see a video of..........................................
Yes! Zeph is getting better and better at walking with his prosthetic. We're also seeing even less anger, frustration, head-banging, face-smacking, stimming. We had a few rough weeks where he hadn't been head banging as much but he had replaced it with throwing toys instead (to get his frustration out). This week I'm seeing less toy throwing as well. He's having an easier time transitioning from differing activities, including meals. We got rid of the high chair and he is sitting at the big table for family meals and at the little table outside with his siblings for occasional meals and snacks outside (as it's starting to warm up here). I think this has really helped him because it gives him some control - we are avoiding saying the phrase "all done" (which was upsetting him terribly) and instead it's pretty much just up to him to get down when he realizes that his plate is empty and nothing else is happening there - and what do you know - he actually gets down to do more "fun" things (like play) rather than sit and wait for more food that is not coming. We've been more consistent with food, trying to avoid second servings and desserts so as to not confuse him - one plate full of food and that is it. If we are having dessert it gets served WITH dinner on that plate. This way he knows WHAT TO EXPECT and can ACCEPT when his meal is over. We have also implemented a time-out chair for ALL our kids, Zeph included. If he threw a toy or hit someone or purposely defiantly disobeyed us then he sits on the time-out chair for 2 minutes. We weren't sure if this would be helpful to him (with his background) but it almost seems to have made him feel safer and calmer. He's relaxed a bit more. Go figure. We were previously just letting him "cool off" in the pack n play or for an early nap in his crib. Apparently this works better for him (at this point). There've been many more minor changes that all together seem to be really helping me and Zeph.

Our little Arielle is pretty much fully potty trained - using the BIG potty even! Yay! She's looking forward to wearing her pretty dress again for Easter. She wore it to the family gathering after my dad's funeral. A friend had given it to her, what a lovely surprise it was! I promise to take pictures!

Nathanael is plugging away at school (except he's on break at the moment). He is so very excited about all the hard-broiled eggs coming his way in the near future - he LOVES eating them! He doesn't realize he's about to have so much fun decorating them first! (pictures to follow here, too!)

Evie, our little "face maker". Boy she can throw "mean" little scowls and then smile and give mama a kiss. It's hilarious. She's added a few words to her vocabulary but mostly still says "eh" and points. She's also quite the gymnast here, climbing everything she can. She and Zeph are both wearing onesies due to a little habit they both have of trying to play in their diapers. I found her a sweet onesie dress:



The "contraption" (triple stroller, thankful for Craigslist!) we use to take walks - we plan to start walking to church even! (There's one real close). It's going to get too hot to drive 45 min. to church in the heat with no a/c in our family vehicle and the diesel prices are killer. But I think God is blessing us literally "where we are at" with this nearby church being so close that we literally CAN walk. All this time I didn't even know that a couple we've known since high school are the youth group leaders there and also participate on the worship team. They've been so loving and welcoming! We miss our other church family but right now we have to do what is safe and affordable for our family.

Celebrated my Grandmother's 75th birthday in March - her with my niece Layla and our Arielle.

I leave you with this:

Re-cap of March. Saying goodbye, for now.

As you can see I haven't updated in over a month. On March 7th I had to say "goodbye for now" to my beloved daddy, as he went home to be with Jesus. I had been trying to visit him in the hospital and then when he passed the following days were full of planning final arrangements, mourning, comforting other family. We know he is in heaven where there is no more pain, sickness, death, tears, darkness, sorrow. But we will miss him so very much until we are all in that wonderful place together someday.

Picture above and below: Me (Rachel) when I was a babe with my daddy.
Below: My dad and our little Zeph at Christmas this last year.

Below: Our oldest Nathanael with "Papi" a few years ago.


Below: My dad celebrating his 50th birthday just a few years ago. He had a funny sense of humor - loved him so much!

By the way.... our new baby is due right around what would have been my dad's 55th birthday. It will be so bitter-sweet. We thank God for the blessing that my dad was here, for his presence with the Lord now. And we are thankful for this beautiful little life forming in me. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away....Blessed be the Name of The Lord.

Always something new happening

With all the illness and craziness going on in and around our family we asked for prayer at church this Sunday by the elders. They asked, "What's new?" Well, they ASKED for it! And we TOLD them! Scott has a big work change coming up in March - it's a good thing but it does bring a lot of change - as in a 1 hour drive to work change. We will likely move but we are hoping to put it off as long as possible for several reasons. Next, we informed them about little Zeph having up-coming surgery on his left hand to separate two fingers and at the same time another surgeon will shave the sharp bone spur from his leg that is bothering him when we put on his prosthetic foot. We reported the good news that Zeph tested at a 9 month old speech level in December and just recently tested at 13 months! Big progress! Zeph also has been biting less and less - actually, he hasn't bit (not hard) for a long time. He is also banging his head less. He's switched most often to hitting the ground with his hands or clapping them hard. Occasionally he will still head-bang or hit his face if he is very upset but it's becoming less and less. Today I was given even further instructions and therapies (by PT and OT) to do with Zeph to help him get the sensory he needs in a healthier way than banging and smacking himself. It seems very promising. Back to our greeting with the elders: we shared some BIG happy news with them:

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This is our youngest little one - our 5th child! See his/her little hands, fingers, face, feet? Heartbeat strong and due to be born sometime aprox. in September of this year! What a happy surprise! No wonder my immune system has been struggling so much! It's trying to stay just weak enough to allow a "foreign" (not really) little person to grow and thrive! So I'm changing tactics and just trying to rest (ya right - with 4 kids!) and eat healthy (healthy = whatever I can keep down). I also have bruised ribs with inflamed tissue and muscle around it, which is getting a little better each day but making it very difficult to lift the kids at present. This is likely from all the coughing I did a few weeks back. I am SO thankful that my AMAZING husband is feeling better (or at least is not complaining) and helping to pick up the slack that my nausea is leaving behind in this house (amazing the messes you actually SEE at the end of the day if your wife hasn't chased all 4 little people around all day cleaning up after them - let's just say I feel "needed"). I couldn't have married a more caring man. I love you, hubby!

Good news!

Remember little Anastasia and Tamara on Reece's Rainbow? They are both on the "My Family Found Me" page!! http://reecesrainbow.org/category/rescued

Remember how there were 2 other little boys there that we wanted to take home with us but they were not yet old enough (special needs were not on the list that qualifies a child in that country for adoption if under age 5)? Well they are both turning 5 in a few months so they are back up on Reece's Rainbow and little "Sargent" is already on the "My Family Found Me" page! We just LOVE seeing these (and so many other precious) kids come home to their families! It's just a miracle! But... there is one little guy who's been on my heart this whole journey who is not on the "MFFM" page.... "Emerson".

Take a look at his page on Reece's Rainbow: http://reecesrainbow.org/3148/emerson404

Here's some of the new treatments available to kids with tuberous sclerosis (that is severe enough to affect their everyday life - Emerson's is listed as "incomplete" so I am not sure how often he may or may not even be having seizures, or if it's controlled well with medication. I know sometimes children develop autism with tuberous sclerosis but, again, from his smiling pictures and description of his personality I am just guessing and hoping he may not be affected in that way).

Um - don't watch the video if you are squeamish easily - it does show a bit of ground-breaking brain surgery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYHbyajzcXw

I'm showing you this because - what the little boy may or may not be dealing with in his life can seem - and be - scary to adoptive parents. But no child should ever have to go through this alone, with no family. If we could go back we'd bring him home. But right now it doesn't seem possible. So all I can do is pray and share about him and hope someone somewhere is his mama or papa. Someone out there will be brave enough - someone will see him, not just the medical issues he has. Someone will simply see a little boy who needs a home, a family, love. Is it you? Do you know them? Who's praying about adopting a little boy like this? Of course, consider his condition(s) (in the decision process) but mostly - consider him. Consider praying for him? Consider donating $1 or $5 or $10 or... you get it - to his fund. Help me share about him 'til he's got a family coming for him too! One by one (and sometimes two by two!) these kids on Reece's Rainbow are coming home! Amazing! I can't wait to see "Emerson" on "MFFM" page!

Little update

It's been pretty busy around here. The cold/flu season just doesn't seem to go away lately. I realized it's been a little while since I posted something so today I had taken some cute pictures of the kids and some with Zeph particularly turned out funny and cute. He was practicing this morning taking steps to me - he can get a step or two in before he needs mama to help him a little, study his balance and try again. We need to figure out how to get his leg in tighter so it won't turn (prosthetic). Right now putting a thicker sock on (as directed by the Orthopedic Dr.) simply makes it so his leg won't click down far enough, making it too tall for him. So for today...

He's a climber! Yes, he is! He even let me swing him gently in the baby swing and did not cry. He played with cars in the swing (a distraction I came up with) and smiled and giggled! I hate to make this so short but gotta go!

Real Life and LIFE

Hello and "Happy New Year!" - um, a bit late, huh? Well, I assure you there is a reason (several, actually) I haven't posted since Christmas! Not meaning this to be complaining post - but it has been a rough patch lately. It's normally pretty busy around here (not like we have 4 kids or anything, right?) to start with. Toss in the fact that our washing machine broke and we have had the repair men out 10 times in the past couple weeks, ordered 3 different parts for 2 different problems... it "should" be fixed now (they came today, again) - we'll see - I haven't had the guts to try a laundry load! Praying it actually works this time! There is laundry piled up all over the place from over 6 weeks of laundry.

The great news is that, because I'm not doing any laundry, I've kept up pretty good on the dishes! Except, um, our garbage disposal broke. So did my blender.
We were all still trying to get over this weird cough/cold thing from Christmas time when the flu hit our family last week. Not...fun...at...all. Arielle and Zeph were spared from the "epidemic" but Nathanael had a light case and Scott, myself and baby Evie got it the worst. Nothing worse than seeing your baby miserably sick and weak. We're all better from the flu now... back to recovering from the other thing we had before and apparently still have. Oh, how I miss church and friends!

Scott and I have been trying each night to get some time alone just to watch a movie or something but by the time we get the kids in bed and walk around in a daze like zombies around the house wondering where we were going and what we got up to do... we end up saying, "it's too late to start a movie. Let's go to bed" (yes, we are now officially "old people" because we actually like to sleep! And by "old people" I mean it to also = "parents of several children"). So I begged my busy mama to come around 9pm and just stay here while the kids (except for our night owl baby) sleep so we can go get dessert or something - anything - just OUT.... together! And she said YES! So I am super-duper excited that we are going to actually have time together! And if we're not too tired we may actually do more than sit and eat and stare at each other 'til we giggle. Yes..believe it or not,

people... we may actually have a conversation that does not involve boogers, therapy, homeschooling, cloth diapers, broken appliances or bills and we might have more to say than, "so what you wanna do?"... "I don't know - what you wanna do?"

Through all of this - and so much more I won't bore you with - God is Faithful and Good! We are frail, sick, sinful, ugly, broken. He is our Strength, Healer, Perfect Lamb of God, giving Beauty for ashes and making all things new, the potter who can take broken clay, add living water and make a new pot! Just when things seem so gloomy He gives hope because He is the Hope of the world!

I'll give a little update on the kids and then I'm getting ready to get outta here!

Photo: Zeph after playing with markers, glue (art projects with teacher), and playing in the dirt like a real boy!

Zephaniah had a meeting a couple weeks ago (likely where we got our flu from) with a physical therapist. It didn't go so great. Okay it was an absolute nightmare. He was fussing in the waiting room and once we got into the therapy room he was fighting tooth and nail, screaming, crying, banging his head, hitting his face... did I mention screaming? She did a quick assessment of his spasticity (tightness) on his right side, which he was terrified about. He was NOT letting her touch him...period. She couldn't do anything else with him. He wouldn't calm down. She did give me some suggestions, thou

gh. She said wherever his crib was in the orphanage it was in such a place that he had to look to his left to see anything he wanted to see. Thus the tightness on his right side and misshapen head. At her suggestion we are now: moving his car seat to the other side so he has to look to his right to see Arielle or anything else. We moved his crib so he has to look to the right to see out of the crib (covered the other part with blanket). I'm feeding him so he has to turn his head to the right to get his bite. I'm also feeding him by hand now - only. For finger foods I only give him one bite. One little piece at a time. Over time he'll get used to not having so much at a time in his mouth (we hope). This is at the suggestion of other adoptive parents. Zeph is able to take steps now when supported! He hates it. Really. If he sees his prosthetic coming he fusses and whines like we are killing him to put it on. He just doesn't want to deal with it. It's a cumbersome thing that "slows him down" in his eyes, you know? I'm so excited for the day he realizes what a good thing it is! He has also added one very special favorite word to his English (and only) vocabulary: "No!" "Hey, Mr. Zeph - wanna do some walking?"... "no, no, no, no, no, no!" He's learning. He's adapting. Slowly, slowly. But it is happening :) You see all these cute pictures, his sweet little face. Well, bonding is coming slower than I expected. You would think with how cute he is that I would bond to him like glue! Nope. I'm just not sticky! It's going to be a process and though it's an emotional roller-coaster of sorts I believe it will happen one day at a time.

Nathanael: Just a few days after turning 6 he got a lose tooth and I am happy to report that he did eventually lose it! Not a wiggling tooth type of kid. He just let it happen on it's own. He's started school again, something else that's keeping me on my toes (homeschooling).

Arielle and Evie: Are up to the same stuff: dollies, dresses, and let's just call this "learning how to get along with each other and Zeph" ;)

Now - you all enjoy your day/night/whatever. I'm going on a hot date!

Our Christmas 2011

I was singing several days in a row this year over the weekend and even on Christmas morning. Thankfully Scott had the next day off so we did "Christmas morning" traditions together on Monday morning, day after Christmas. So on Christmas night (our "Christmas Eve") my amazing husband got in the garage, sanded down and painted the old mantle he had taken down the year before (to put tile on our fireplace instead of brick sticking up and being a hazard to our babies) and he put it up! While he was doing that I was setting other stuff up and cleaning and watching our late-nighter baby Evie. I set down a soft blanket and had brought out some extra Christmas decor not already out including a stuffed reindeer that Scott's little sister made us YEARS ago. Evie LOVED it! It was like giving catnip to a cat! She rolled around with it and practically "purred" over it!


Stockings all hung up on the newly painted, made-over mantle.

The whole fireplace set up (below). - Finally finished!!!

The next morning our two oldest woke up excited. Evie... didn't want to wake up yet. We brought her out but she still didn't want to wake up so we let her take a short nap on the blanket while the other kids started in on stockings.



There was an apple and snack bar in each stocking. This was Zephaniah's favorite part (and almost Nathanael's favorite - okay and the girls liked it too!).
Did I mention that my grandmother hand-knitt each stocking as each member of the family has joined? Yep. She just gave us Zeph's a little after he came home.
Evie and Arielle both got ride-on/bike toys from Craigslist (used). Evie's was in perfect condition and Arielle's was spray-painted by her daddy... the night before (yes, last minute!). It looked almost new after the new paint (special paint just for plastics).

Eventually Evie woke up and realized all the fun was going on and she was very happy to have "pre-breakfast" immediately.
What Evie did with this present at first.....

My Auntie got Zeph this little "punny" pj set.
That evening my parents came over. Here's my daddy:
Arielle in her new pjs and headband.