Adoption

We knew the process for international adoption was a long one, but our's has seemed to be a bit longer than we first anticipated.  However, we have found it to be God's perfect timing.  It feels a bit like we've been driving in 1st gear since we submitted our pre-application to begin the process in December 2010.  As of November of 2012, it feels as though we've moved into 6th gear and are rapidly approaching a finalized adoption.  In November we began pursing a boy with special needs in South Africa, and the organization there agreed to work with us, finding our family a good fit for him.  So we said goodbye to all our previous Ethiopia paperwork and started working on our South Africa paperwork.  It took about three months worth of nap-times for me to gather all of the stuff they required and get it all sealed the way they need it to be.

On February 26, 2013 we mailed our dossier to get in route to South Africa.  And as of this week our file has been submitted to the government there for approval. We'll wait another 6-8 weeks before getting an official referral for our little man (I would love to share a picture of him and tell you all about him, but we're not allowed to post this info since he's not ours yet).  Once we accept his referral and pay the remaining fees we've been told to expect to travel about 6-8 weeks later.  So, right now we're talking about September 2013!!

South Africa requires us to come and stay for several weeks to complete a bonding period, court date, health screening, passport and to finalize the adoption.  Until then we're going to continue to save our pennies and apply for grants (we've applied for several so far, so you can pray for those applications) among other things to get ready to add another one to the mix.

We're excited and blessed to be on this journey and can't wait to see how the Lord continues to work and make himself known for His Glory!

Journeying On,

Thankful Thursday

That I was able to write this post!!
(and she's still eating!!!!)

For sweet time with these ladies!

For sisters willing to watch his big game

for snugly friends

(ps-this pictures is so telling of their different personalities...serious vs. big goof)

for barefoot toes that love exploring

for generations of faith sharing

Journeying On,

Super Eaters

Before my kids had feeding tubes placed, I was totally ignorant and arrogant about eating.  My thought was simply to do whatever it took to get my kids home and out of the hospital.  I thought that after they were home, my momma instincts would kick in and I would be able to get them to eat.  Well, that just hasn't been the case.  It has been more complex, required more learning, more patience and more faith than I ever thought possible.  But let me tell you, His grace has been more than sufficient for all of these! I haven't always endured (yes, I mean we've often only 'survived') mealtimes, offering little grace to my frustrated eaters, but the Lord has been redeeming mealtime in our house and his works are spectacular!

  

He finished half of a waffle

Ate almost every sprinkle off his donut

(after wiping his fingers and every sprinkle clean)

1/4 cup of cheese and 1/4 of a banana

Bacon:)

peanut butter crackers

scrambled eggs and loads of potato sticks

and has been drinking milk!!

This is huge!! Until now he has only wanted water, which doesn't help much with his calorie intake

and so importantly...he is enjoying it!

A huge blessings and encouragement.

We have been able to cut his tube feedings a little bit, but because he isn't on the growth chart, he has little to spare if he looses weight during a tube wean.  We really need him to have a growth spurt before we can start a serious wean on him.  He is definitely getting there though.

Addison's eating has been....well....let's just say miraculously jump started by the stomach bug  a few weeks ago.  While she was sick, she couldn't tolerate any of her tube feedings, so we just did fluids.  When she got over the bug she started eating...like a lot!  And saying she was hungry (a first!!).  On March 28th she went her first whole day with no calories through her tube.  Since then, she's only had a few bolus feeds here and there to fill in for meals she hasn't done well on. And she's not had a tube feedings since Thursday (April 4th)!  She still doesn't drink nearly enough so we're using the tube to keep her hydrated, but she has needed no calories during this tube wean and has only lost about 6 ounces of weight.  When we can go about three months without using the tube for calories or hydration, we can talk about taking it out for good:)

PS-I'm also very aware that we will win the contest for "most pictures of kids eating" :)

But it was your own eyes that saw all of these great things the Lord has done...
-Duet 11:7

Journeying On,