HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIRANDA & GRACE

This week we are celebrating the birthday's of my two big girls. Miranda turned "8" and Grace turned "10".

That's right Grace is "10". Our paperwork listed her at age "7" which we knew was not correct. Grace says that she is "9". The bone scan we had done says that she is between the ages of 10 and 11. So we are going to make her just turning "10" years old. We will be changing her birth year when we complete her US readoption.

HAPPY "8TH" BIRTHDAY MIRANDA

AND

HAPPY "10TH" BIRTHDAY GRACE

Prayer Request

We have come to a point in life where we need to make some BIG decisions. God has given us a heart for orphans and children with special health needs. My heart is aching right now. According to our home study agency we have outgrown our home. They will not be able to approve us to adopt more children until we have a larger home. Honestly, I have to agree with them but what's a girl to do on a fixed budget. My heart is big but my wallet is not.

So here is my prayer request . . .

We need a home with at least 5-6 bedrooms and at least 3 full bathrooms. We have a child in a wheelchair so the house needs to be handicap accessible. Our current home is not handicap accessible so when I first started thinking about handicap accessibility I just thought "no stairs". Then, when I started thinking about our son's future and his ability to participate with the family my viewpoint changed. NOW, handicap accessibility is much, much more. The hallways and doorways need to be wide enough for his wheelchair. The bathroom large enough to get his wheelchair in and turn around. The house needs no carpet so he can use his walker. These are just the basics and absolute necessities. I am sure there are more but I can't think of them right now. There are many other things that would make life easier BUT life is not able being easy so I won't go there. I don't want my own selfish desires to sneak in.

I am not sure how and when God will provide but I have confidence that he is not finished with our family. Thanks for your prayers. I can't wait to see the miracle God provides.

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME



We finally have a picture of all the kids KINDA looking all in the same direction!

What I Found In the Bathroom

Follow up post to "Dear Jesus, I Love You"

Grace continued to ask about being baptized and eating the “meal” at church. I had no doubt that she loved Jesus and that he was “in her heart”. I was concerned about her being baptized when she barely understood what anyone was saying. I did not want her to go through this very important moment not understanding what the person baptizing her was saying. I kept telling her that she would get baptized just not right now.

On Sunday, at the end of service, we had a baptism service. Of course Grace asked if she could be baptized. After the service I inquired about baptism for her and asked if anyone in the church spoke Amharic. To my surprise I received a phone call a short time later, and believe it or not, there was someone at church yesterday who spoke Amharic. Visiting our church this Sunday were missionaries with Food for the Hungry. The missionaries had been serving in Mozambique, Africa BUT one of them was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He was very happy to be able to baptize our daughter in their native language. So last night we loaded up the crew and met family and friends at the evening service where Grace was baptized. Only our HOLY GOD could orchestrate such a perfect moment.

It was amazing and probably the most emotional baptism I have ever attending. Thank You Jesus for allowing me to parent such an amazing young lady!

View From My Window

Welcome Home Pictures

Dear Jesus, I Love You

I just need to tell you how beautiful our newest daughter is. Not only is she beautiful on the outside but she is MOST beautiful on the inside. I have to be honest, I was a little nervous about adopting a girl who was older than our biological daughter. We have had little bumps here and there but overall I have to say it has been wonderful.

On Saturday we were watching the video, "The Jesus Story for Children". I walked out of the room for a minute and when I returned I noticed Grace was crying. I immediately turned to look at the video and realized they had just watched the part where Jesus died on the cross. Of course, my heart was breaking because I could not have a meaningful conversation because of the language barrier. My first thought was, "I wish she could watch this in Amharic". So I began searching the Internet and found the site Global Recordings Network which has "The Jesus Story for Children" in Amharic as well as other Biblical videos. The best part was you can watch the video online for FREE. Grace sat down and watched the entire video again in Amharic. She would call me over and tell me the names of the characters in the video and try to tell me the story in English. The best part is at the end of the video it walks you through a prayer to ask Jesus to be your Savior.

After the video she began trying to talk to us in broken English about communion. She said, "she wanted to eat the meal at church". It took us a few minutes but we figured out she was talking about communion. All day yesterday she kept saying this prayer, "Dear Jesus, I love you". She kept saying "Jesus" and pointing to her heart. We are not sure if she had previously asked Jesus into her heart. However, I am certain that she has Jesus in her heart NOW!

GOD IS SO GOOD!

Update #2 on Sera & Grace

Today I took both girls for their physicals. Grace did a great job. She was a bit shy at times and cried when they did the TB test. The doctor said that she is a very healthy looking girl. She is beginning to develop a little (she would kill me if she read that). They did a wrist x-ray which should give us a good indication of her actual age.

Sera did great, as well. She actually did not scream the entire time. The doctor referred us to a specialist for genetic testing to look for any type of syndrome connected to her birth defects. We also had a back x-ray done today to look for scoliosis. There are some indications that she may have some issues with her back. The rest of her exam went well with no surprises.

Well, it’s been too long! By the end of the day I have no energy left to blog, maybe I am getting old? Seriously, I have been going to bed by 9:00. Of course I still get up 4-5 times a night with various children but I used to be able to go with less sleep.

I know you are all wondering how our girls are doing so I will get right to it. THEY ARE GREAT!!!!!!!!!!! Really, we have not had any major issues, YET. We have been home four weeks now. Grace is beautiful inside and out! I love to see her loving on all the kids. She and Miranda have bonded very quickly. Yes, they have your regular sibling issues but all and all have become wonderful friends. Grace is taking it all in and picking up new words daily. She is a quick learner. One of my favorite things is listening to her pray, makes me cry every time. I take her on Wednesday to get a physical and hopefully get a better indication as to how old she is.

Sera is a funny little girl. She is laughing all the time, sometimes for unknown reasons. SIDE NOTE:(prime example as to way I have not taken time to update on our blog. I have been interrupted 6 times just while writing this short update) -Back to Sera. She and Jacob have really taken to each other. If I have him lying in the floor she will crawl over and give him and hug and kiss. Medically, there are still A LOT of unknowns for Sera. She has been to Shriner's Hospital to have her hands & feet looked at. They will correct both hands and feet at one time. It is a 4 hour surgery and she will be casted on both hands and feet for 2 weeks following. BUT, there is always a BUT. They WILL NOT do the surgery until we have had a complete work up done on her, which I totally agree with. Because of being born with birth defects affecting all limbs and eyes there is a good possibility that some internal organs were affected also, specifically heart, lungs & kidneys. Sera will also go on Wednesday for a complete physical and probably receive referrals to see specialist. Developmentally, she is about 9 months behind overall. First Steps (our early intervention program) will begin working with her soon. She will be receiving OT, PT and Speech therapies. I will update more on her health as we get new information.

The rest of the family is also doing well. Our kids, as always, have welcomed their new siblings with open arms. I will try to give a full update on the rest of the kids soon. Right now, 6 out of 7 are sick with some kind of sinus/cough thing. If they are all coughing at the same time it is REALLY LOUD in here. I need to buy stock in Lysol!

I leave you with a few pics . . .

This is the first time I have tried to do Grace's hair with some type of braid. I think I did pretty good but the braids are not very tight.



Also, first time trying to do something with Sera's hair. She does not like her head touched or being still so I think I did pretty good on a moving target.