In the same place at the same time..

This was taken right after we arrived home from the Hair Cut Miracle of 2012. You can see Eden’s new bangs in this picture. I have no clue what she is doing but her little face makes me smile! And Noah IS the best big brother ever!

First Haircut!

So a Christmas miracle happened on October 20, 2012…Yaya got her hair cut, by an actual hair stylist.The same stylist who has given all my children their “first” hair cuts! Ms. Karen.  I had imagined screaming, arching, crying, gnashing of teeth and the sort and would you believe she just sat in my lap and let Karen cut her hair?!! Me and Mom could NOT believe it! Sweet Eden also got a hair cut…she had to stand up in the chair facing me and I had to hold on to her waist. I think Yaya was actually more relaxed than Eden. They both did great! Eden wouldn’t let us take a picture of her. But she just got her bangs trimmed off so you can see her darling face, nothing dramatic.

Palate Surgery Date

Well we finally got scheduled for Yaya’s second surgery to close her palate and reconnect the muscles in her soft palate that will allow her to talk. It will January 7, 2013. This is going to be hard surgery. It is a hard recovery and for two weeks they say that she will be miserable. But after that it slowly gets better. I am not looking forward to this surgery. However, I can’t wait till she can start speech therapy and learn how to talk. I know I should be careful what I ask for in that once she starts talking…she may never quit! But I’ll take it nonetheless. Her “pre-op” appointment is on December 13th. Ugh. I really don’t like the pre-op. It is required by law for insurance and it has us in the clinic for like 3 hours seeing a host of doctors that we really don’t need to see but that are required. I know we will of course see Dr. Grant our surgeon, an ENT again, Speech/path person, audiologist, and maybe and OT or PT person…then they send us to anesthesia who sends us home to call us later for information. And did I mention they ALL wear white coats and Yaya has a strong aversion to white coat people. C’est la vie. So keep us in your prayers,

• Please pray specifically that our attachment issues fade and that she gets closer and closer to us.
• Pray that she will not have to be in the arm restraints post op.
• Pray that she will not have any side effects to the new pain medicine she will be trying out (She can’t do Tylenol with Codeine we discovered from the first surgery.)
• Pray that her pain will super-naturally abate quickly.
• Pray that she will eat for us soon after surgery.
• Pray for her to be able to sleep.
• Pray that we will be able to sleep!
• Pray for Noah and Eden as they will once again have to take a back seat to their new sibling.
• Pray for those helping us take care of Eden and Noah, namely my parents.
• Pray for Eric and I, and pray protection on our marriage; Satan seems to like to attack during times such as these.
• Pray for quick and complete healing.

Thanks friends! Blessings!

SHEEP! SHEEP! SHEEP!

On October 13th, our dear friends who now own a sheep dairy farm had an “Octoberfest” of sorts on the farm. Yaya LOVED the sheep…sadly, I have no pictures of sheep to show you. Anyway, we had a hay ride, pumpkin hunt, and general fun an merriment on the farm. It was a great day! Yaya had the BEST time, as did the other two, but they have been to the farm before. It was cool to see Yaya experience it for the first time. When we first arrived she headed straight to the sheep emphatically and repeatedly signing the word “sheep”. If I was to interpret what she was saying it would be the title of this post…only add about 15 more sheeps to it….sheeps? We were a bit concerned on the drive up there because all three fell asleep but they perked right up when we arrived.

October Funnies…

So Yaya is getting over some of her tactile issues…as evidenced by the pictures below. Her current favorite thing to do is to find the pawn pieces to Noah’s board game “Trouble” and put them on all her fingers. They make perfect little caps for her tiny fingers. She also tried finger painting last night with Eden and loved it. She only likes the paint on her hands though, if she accidently gets it on her face or anywhere else she freaks out. She also spent some time digging around in a vanilla ice cream container getting all sticky (video to post later).  She picks up small pillows now to use on the couch and she can play or sit on a comforter on a bed. So she is exploring new textures and tactile experiences.It’s baby steps, but it is forward.

Here comes “Trouble” fingers…

ICE CREAM!!

How cute are my pig tails?!

Finger painting anyone?

Do You See Some Cool New Things…

Okay so I am trying to update my blog layout. As many of you know, I deleted my layout recently by accident and then well, let’s just be honest…this blog doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that Hope’s adoption blog did. No cool widgets, clocks, graphics, timelines, tabs…nothing, it barely has a title. So I am proud to showcase some of my new “bells and whistles.” Please note that they are all currently related to an AMAZING organization that Eric and I have partnered with for over the past 10 years…Compassion International. Back in October 2011, Eric and I were blessed by this amazing couple we know at church who brought us to Colorado Springs, CO, to attend Compassion’s 60th anniversary celebration weekend. (Well that was part of the conference not the purpose but I can’t remember the “theme'” right now. It was called, “One.” I digress) It was so inspiring and wonderful. We learned so many incredible things about this organization that we already loved. The weekend had such a profound affect on me that I applied to be a Compassion Advocate. I knew we were not in the position to take on another child sponsorship but I felt God was calling me to take our involvement with Compassion to a new, deeper, meaningful level. And well, since we had already cleared a federal level background check for the adoption…I didn’t fear the one Compassion would run on us…hee hee. Well, in May 2012, right before we left for China, I was contacted by Compassion to see if I was still interested in becoming a Compassion advocate. Ummmm….yeah!!!! So the week before we left for China I began, and was able to complete, my Advocate training. Yay me!

Now that the fog is lifting on our life, I am trying to pull myself together and remember that I actually have 7 children…not just 3. The other 4 depend on my care and love as much as the ones in my own home. Two of them actually consider us as their parents. I have been remiss in not introducing them to you all. I have a tab above that is empty currently but it is where you will be able meet our other 4 wonderful children. Three of them live in Kenya, and one lives in Ethiopia. I can’t wait to introduce you to them. Here is sneak peak of two of them, these pictures were taken 3 years ago when we got to visit them! I will put their current photos up in the tab later, but these are just so cute!

Above is sweet Ngina, she lives in a small village 3 hours drive south of Nairobi, Kenya, it’s called Kima Kiu.

This is our precious Philip! We have had the blessing of meeting him twice! He lives in Nairobi, Kenya in the 3rd largest slum called, Dandora.