Fundraiser for "Tamara"!!!

So many things going on over here but we finally got this fundraiser ready to go!  It started out as a fundraiser for our son's adoption but we were racing for time to get our little boy home so there just wasn't enough time to get it done before we went to get him.  So now we've still got this song and we want to help another little orphan to get home who is still in the same orphanage that little Zeph was in.  In fact, we met her (and have blogged about her previously).  We just love her!  We want her HOME!  She is "Tamara" on Reece's Rainbow (www.reecesrainbow.org).

link to the Reece's Rainbow sponsorship page for Tamara:  http://reecesrainbow.org/37399/sponsorguille
 
So here is the fund-raiser.  It's simple.  It's a song that I wrote and recorded for the orphaned, the fatherless, the lonely and broken-hearted.  Inspired by Zephaniah 3:17 "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."  Thank you to our friend Bjorn Fleuren who produced and mixed the music on this track!  I'm trying this out to just see how it goes so... from 6/20/12 through the entire month of July 50% of all proceeds will be donated towards Tamara's adoption!

All you do is click on the itunes link (button) and purchase the song!  You can listen to a preview there too before you purchase to see if you like it.

   

Finally - if you like the song or if you just simply want to help with this little girl's adoption - please share!  This is the type of "little" thing that will take high numbers to really get some moola into Tamara's adoption fund so spread the word about the fund-raiser!

Zephaniah's 3rd cast

Zephaniah had another post-op appointment today, this time to see the surgeon who had removed the bone spur from his leg.  The leg looks good but we told them how much trouble it was since the cast would NOT stay on his leg.  So they re-casted his leg again today, this time attaching a loop for a special belt, made especially for this purpose (we KNEW there had to be such an invention!).  Here's hoping it will stay on... it needs to until he sees this doctor again... June 1st.  Don't be fooled by the picture - Zephaniah was NOT happy to be re-casted (again) - but his big brother did a good job trying to distract him a little bit in the casting room.  

20 week ultra-sound

April 30th, 2012 - 20 week ultra-sound appointment.  This was the first time my husband was not able to accompany me - he, instead, watched the children.  But I made sure to get some nice pictures of our little one and Scott was happy to see them.  We are keeping the gender a surprise.  Isn't his/her little smile just precious already?  Girl or boy, will be such a JOY!

Cast on, cast off!

On March 26th I took Zephaniah to have surgery.  Some children come home and have to have it so much sooner for more urgent medical reasons.  I was glad we were able to wait 'til Zeph had been home for 6 months and at least adjusted a little and trusted us a little more.  But the time had come.  He had a bone spur (sharp piece of bone) growing on his left leg, threatening to poke through his skin at any time.  On Easter little Zeph made it quite clear that, until after surgery, he would NOT be even wearing his prosthetic.  It was just too painful.  In fact, just a week before the surgery his body was trying to cushion it, forming a bubble-like covering over it and it turned purple.  It was literally perfect timing to have this done.  While he was under a second surgeon operated also on his hand to separate two of his shortened fingers on his left hand.  They could not separate the middle two because of some common possible complications - they typically start with the two outward fingers and then do a separate surgery for the remaining two.  The surgeon also repaired with a "Z-plasty" the back of Zeph's right ankle and took some skin from the top of his right foot (where there was extra skin) to graph into the sides of his newly freed fingers.

I had to have him there by 5:30am, he was the first surgery scheduled for their day.  But I sat with him and sat with him, tired, scared, unsure.  Finally I changed and dressed him in his gown and they took him to the O.R.  around 9am.  Nearly 3 hours later I met with the surgeons - all had gone according to plan.  Then they took me to see him.  I could hear him crying and fussing and as I approached I could see him fighting the nurse, flailing and confused and screaming, "Mama, mama!"  I took him from the nurse -whoah - heavy!  They had casted his left arm and leg, full casts.  He looked up at me, closed his eyes and relaxed completely in my arms.  I was so glad to see that he was able to be comforted by me - that by now I have, indeed, earned his trust.  A 1/2 hour later they sent us home.

The next night Scott went to pick him up to give him a kiss goodbye (he was leaving for work) and "thunk" his leg cast just fell right off!  Ah!  My husband bandaged his leg.  My mom came over.  I called the advise nurse who should have told me to go to the casting clinic at the SAME building as the surgery was at.  Instead she told me to go to urgent care or ER.  I took him in and waited and waited and waited.... only to have the say they didn't DO re-casting!  We were out 'til super early in the morning - all for nothing!  Then I had to get up really early the next day and take him to see a pediatrician who then ordered the re-casting.  Then I took him to get re-casted.  He did much better than I thought he would.  Still, it was not exactly "fun" for him!  The next day.... you'll just NEVER guess... yep.  Cast fell off again!!!  Ah!  My ingenious husband has rigged up the cast so it won't fall off again but it would be nice if it had been done in a way that it wouldn't' fall off in the first place!

On May 3rd I took Zeph and the other three kiddos to his post-op with his main surgeon.  He took the top of the arm cast off to see how the skin graphs were doing, how he was healing.  Ouch, ouch, ouch!  Oh it looks just terrible!  I even just had to make sure and ask if it really was typical for the "little" fingers to be that swollen, blue and even black - 7 days after surgery.  I was assured it was all typical and looked "good".  Yikes.  I also noticed how even the smallest air brush against his delicate fingers sent him screaming and shaking in pain.  I had been slowly lowering his pain med dose.  Not after that appointment!  He does seem to be doing a bit better now.  He is now very strong on his left side, LOL.  He can now actually LIFT his left arm, casted!  It's huge!  I'm impressed.

His recent days are spent mostly on the couch (occasionally out for a ride or on the floor on some pillows for a change).  We got him some neat little puzzles and of course his favorite blocks and nesting bowls keep him busy.  He isn't all that interested in movies but he does enjoy music so we put on children's musical videos a few times a day.  I'm sure he will be thrilled when he is "free" of the casts and once again more able to painlessly move about like the active little 2 year old that he is!

Please keep him in prayer as he continues to heal - especially for his fingers to heal and the graphs to take well.

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!