February has been a busy month for our family. On February 2nd Lemi became Gabriel Lema Maas a US Citizen and Yakob became Jacob Josiah Maas a US Citizen.

Hi Friends!

I really don’t even know where to begin. Today we saw the Neurologist and received the results from Jacob’s MRI. Let be begin by saying “not at all what we expected”! Apparently Jacob has several brain abnormalities due to brain malformations during pregnancy. I will do my best to try to explain what he has but to be honest I am clueless. I keep reading it over and over trying to make sense of it. First, Jacob does have some type of brain mass. These types of tumors are somewhat common and do not affect his brain development. He has three other abnormalities of the brain. He has extensive neuronal migrational anomalies, a large “open lip” schizencephalic cleft, and changes of septo-optic dysplasia with absence of the septum pellucidum.

OK, that is a lot to process so in layman terms here is how I understand it. Jacob has a large < shaped cleft(hole) in the left side of his brain. The Septum Pellucidum is a membrane between the left & right side and it is not there. The Neuronal Migrational Anomalies are basically areas all over the brain that just did not completely form.

So, here are some praises. Jacob is not blind, which is a possibility with these abnormalities. Jacob is also not having seizures. The DR said that it is a miracle he is not having seizures and continue to pray that he does not develop them. The prognosis is unclear. Because the brain is one of the coolest things God created it has the ability to compensate for some abnormalities and make connections elsewhere.

I keep playing the MRI over and over in my head. I have never seen anything like it. Parts of his brain were just not there and the parts that were are oddly shaped and not symmetrical.

Again, God continues to show us how awesome He is and what a little miracle we have with Jacob.

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME

Rebecca & Darren

Daily Schedule

Another mom whose blog I follow put out a challenge to post your daily schedule. Well I have come up with the best schedule I can come up with. But with five kids it is hard to have a regular schedule because something always happens to disrupt the schedule.

6:30 get up
6:30-7:00 kids get up (not by my choice)
7:00-8:30 eat & dress kids
8:30 (Mon, Tues & Wed) leave to take one to preschool
9:30-11:00 two little ones play together in room while I
home school oldest
Mon- 10:00-11:00 Speech Therapist comes
Wed - 10:00-11:00 Occupational Therapist comes
11:30 (Mon, Tues & Wed) leave to pick up from preschool
12:30 lunch
1:00- 2:30 if I am lucky the youngest three will nap/stay in their room while I
home school oldest & clean up before daddy gets home
3:00-5:00 kids play (usually chaos ensues)
4:00-5:00 every other Friday Physical Therapist comes
5:00-5:30 clean up for dinner
5:30 eat dinner
6:00-7:00 watch cartoons or play with daddy
7:00 get ready for bed
7:30 #1 & 2 goes to bed
8:00-8:30 #3 goes to bed
8:30-9:00 #4 & 5 go to bed
9:00- ??? Mommy time (I try to get into bed by 11:00)

We also have to squeeze in doctor appointments, playdates & other things that pop up. For example, next week we have three doctors appointments & a WIC appointment.

Darren & I were talking yesterday about the poverty and sense of helplessness we felt while in Ethiopia. We took with us packages of peanut butter crackers to give out while we were there. Every time we handed out a package of crackers we thought to ourselves, "will this really make a difference". That package of crackers seemed so inadequate and we felt helpless. I came across this video yesterday.