Waiting to leave for SGK event

The girls all rode the bus together to the Secret Keeper Girls Tour.  The moms carpooled.  Faith was excited to get to ride in the church's people mover with the other girls.

Before we left, they met in the cafe at church and had a little ice breaker activity.  They had to sign each other's sheet.  Each girl was also instructed to make a card for her mom with the material they were given (paper, stickers, envelope, etc.)  Faith made a card for me and gave it to me this morning.  When I opened it up she had 2 coupons in it for a free small shake and a Route 44 drink from Sonic.  woohoo!  She was all smiley about giving it to me.  It was a really cute idea and I think she really liked being able to give me a gift.

I love my princess Faith!!!!  She's such a wonderful daughter!

Mom and Daughter night

Faith and I had a great time last night. We went to the Secret Keeper Girls event held in a nearby church. We had about 40 from our church go. It was geared for girls ages 8-12. Kind of those "tween" years. The girls loved it! It's all about modesty, purity,true beauty (inner beauty) and friendships. It was wonderful.

I bought a Bible Study for Faith called My Best Friend Jesus. It's about Meditation on God's Truth about True Friendship.

I also bought a book/kit called Secret Keeper Girl 8 Great Dates for you and Your Daughter. (A Secret Keeper Girl Has The Power of True Beauty and Modesty) It looks great. The idea is to have 8 "dates" with your daughter. There is info for mom to read and a journal for the daughters to keep. There's also info to discuss together and really fun activities. Faith is soooooooooo excited about it. One activity is getting a facial or manicure. Another is getting a new haircut or up-do. Woohoo! You know she's ALL for that!

The material looks fabulous and I think we're going to have a lot of fun together. Our first date will be to a tearoom for a tea party together. I can't wait! The kit came with a CD. It has music (by Rebecca St. James) and a stories for you to listen to on your way to and from the "dates". It's about 7-10 minutes each time. There is also Diary Girl Gab (about 15-25 minutes) to get you talking and discussing all kinds of neat topics that your daughter has put in her diary/journal based on the questions and prompts in it. Then of course there's the Challenge--- what you do at your special destination. (facials, tea parties, shopping, camp outs, bake goodies for neighbors, etc.)

They have another set with 8 dates but the topic of that material is on friendships. It is also very good. I'm going to get that one next. I really think we're going to like this time together and digging into God's word. It's a lot of fun now that Faith is getting old enough to do things with and have meaningful conversations.

I bought her a new dress and shoes to wear for our special night last night. I got a new blouse for myself too. She was really excited about it. Here's a photo we took on our way out the door for our first ever Mom and Faith night. I hope there are many more to come throughout the years!!!

Our adoption is on hold

I have not had the heart to update this blog or Carmen's blog with the latest news, but I know I must.

We have put our adoption on hold.  We felt we needed to release her to be available for another family to adopt because we will not be able to travel to go get her until at least after the first of the year some time.  We really hated to do that, yet felt it was only fair to her while we are letting John heal from the surgeries.  In a few months he will be great and we can pick right back up and go get the child (or children) God has chosen for us.

If Carmen is still available, we will pray about going to get her.  We do love her very much and it was a very hard decision to make, yet we felt a peace once we released her and know that we did the right thing.  She is a wonderful little girl.  We would love to be her mommy and daddy, but most of all we just want her to have a family--- even if it's not ours.

Reece's Rainbow will begin the annual Angel Tree fundraiser the first of November.  It is an amazing time to make a donation to the children listed on their site throughout the world with Down syndrome.  For 2 months (Nov and Dec) you can see everyone's photo and watch their individual grant amounts increase daily.  Last year I had the privilege of signing up for an hour of prayer for the kickoff.  What a neat time that was.  We sponsored 2 children last year.  They are both HOME now with their new families!  Wow!  We celebrated when we heard someone had committed to them and it brought tears of joy to my eyes to see their first photos with their new families once they were able to travel and adopt them.  For a $35 donation, you get a Christmas ornament with the picture of the child you are sponsoring on it.  I can't wait to put ours on the tree this year.  I'm really looking forward to it this year.  A lot of children got families last year because of the Angel Tree.  The grant $$ donations really help to offset the cost of adoption.  It's expensive, but when God calls you to do it, how can you say "no"???

Anyway, why did I mention that????  Well, Carmen will be featured on there (as "Cara") and there just may be a family who will commit to her.  It's hard to see her little photo listed again.  We're praying God will send her a family if it is not us.  Marisol, too.  We were (are) praying about bringing them both home.

It's kind of surreal now.  We put the home study on hold too.  We had everything ready except for that and were planning to schedule it and then we found out John needed surgery.  John and I have been talking about it though and we're ready to go ahead and do our home study.  We want to be "paper ready" for any opportunity God may put before us.  We really look forward to seeing how and when God will bring another child into our family.

One more......... Corinna

I know I've put 3 children on here in a row, but these girls really tug at my heart.  Would you also pray for Corinna?  She is precious!!!  It breaks my heart to know she has already been sent to a mental institution and spends her day in bed wasting away.  How sad.  I hope God will send someone to save her soon!

Here is her info from the older girls page of Reece's Rainbow.

, Born January 12, 2003

Corinna is a beautiful little girl who has spent the last 2 years of her life in a mental institution.  She has SO much potential, and is close to walking, but spends much of her days lying in bed for lack of anything else to do.    She was sent to this facility from another baby house we work in now, so it is imperative that she be saved! 

She does have some strabismus, but no heart condition.  She is able to stand on her own, but is not walking quite yet.   She is very much a baby, even at 6 years of age.   She is only 21 pounds at this time :(    But she will really blossom in the care of a loving family, and has every reason to be able to walk and run and really thrive.   There will be very little left of this "shell" once she gets home into her new life!     She has tremendous potential, and could be another amazing success story! 

The orphanage staff tell us she does like to play with toys, is interactive and affectionate, and has "potential to improve".

Praying for Anna

This is Anna. 

Last October, we signed up and committed to be prayer warriors for a child on the Reece's Rainbow site.  She is the little girl we were given.  We will be prayer warriors for her until she has a family and is home.  She lives in Eastern Europe and is already 5 years old.  She'll be 6 next May.  She is very blessed to still be at the baby house.  The children are transferred to the institutions once they turn 4 normally.  From there it's a very sad life.  They often don't live past the first year and it's a very difficult life for them.  Since she is past 4, she could be transferred any day.  It seems God has a different plan for her so far.  We pray He will send her a family soon!!!

Faith was very concerned about her tonight and asked me what would happen to her if no one went to go get her.  I told her the truth.  I heard a few sniffles as she fell asleep.  She loves this little girl and has prayed for her for a year now.

Would you pray with us for God to send a family to Anna and bring her home?

She has $1,409 in her grant fund already.  That is money that will go towards her adoption once a family commits to her.  Once she is 6 though, it will go into the general fund for "older girls".  (Isn't it sad to be an "older girl" at only 6???)  Let's pray she will get a family BEFORE she turns 6.  You can read about her here.  She has Down syndrome and is very high functioning.

Isn't she adorable!!!

Birthday present for Masha

This is Masha. She lives in an orphanage in Eastern Europe. Isn't she beautiful? I just love this little girl. Ever since I first saw her a year ago, she has captured my heart. She is turning 6 on Saturday. I'm praying she will get a family this year for her birthday. I am donating money to her adoption grant fund in honor of her birthday. Would you want to donate to help her find a family also? What a great birthday present that would be! Here is her info from Reece's Rainbow and the link:
http://www.reecesrainbow.com/newsite/angelolderchild.html

Masha
Girl, Born September 19, 2003

Treacher Collins Syndrome

This beautiful little girl is in need of a loving family and a promising chance at life! She has brown hair and giant blue yes! Masha was born with Treacher Collins Syndrome. http://children.webmd.com/treacher-collins-syndrome-10671 She is a very smart, happy, and social little girl. She does have some hearing loss, which is a common symptom of this syndrome. however she is not living in an orphanage specifically for deaf children.

Please check back soon for further info on her medical condition and her DOB.

Please contact Andrea directly for more information

I have $10 in my grant fund towards the cost of my adoption!

John's doing well

John is doing very well.  He's really sore, but that is to be expected.  Of course, falling the other night didn't help!  His leg gave out on him when he stood up Monday night around midnight.  He hit the ground hard.  I was afraid I would see broken bones or open incision sites, but God was good.  He's just sore from it.  It was the same leg that was numb after surgery.  It has been fine and then all of a sudden it just went numb when he stood up.  He does have feeling and use in it, but it's not 100% feeling like before surgery.  It will probably be back to normal with time.

Only 2 more weeks of Prednisone and then we're done with it for good!  woohoo!!!  yippee!!!!  I told John we'll have a party to celebrate. I think his face is already starting to go down a little from all of the swelling since they've cut it back so much already.  He had to wean off of it for a few weeks since he was still on a pretty significant dosage.

Snake skin

The neighbor found this in his yard.  I think it was in the area where the trees are between our houses.  Hmmmmm..........I guess the good news is that we might not have any mice problems with this thing out there somewhere.  The bad news................well, that's kind of obvious..................  lol

John came home---- barely

Well, he's in our room sleeping, but it almost didn't happen!

Saturday morning I went to the hospital around 8:30 a.m. so I could hear the doctor's instructions. He was going to take the drain out and send him home that morning. Instead, when I got there, John was knocked out on nausea medicine. He got very sick Friday evening and was vomiting and very nauseated. They're not sure what happened. So, they said he was not going home and was having an x-ray instead to look for blockages or anything wrong with his abdomen. He was in intense pain. I think it was probably from eating again, putting him on oral pain meds, and getting up and moving around, mixed with the reality of "finally" feeling the pain for real with the morphine drip and pump gone.

It was a long day. I didn't take anything to do with me that day because I thought we were leaving. So, I sat and watched him sleep and took care of him for 10-1/2 hours. I tried to leave several times, but he kept asking me to stay so he would have a "voice". (I did everything for him and made sure they took care of things when he needed them. Otherwise he would sit and wait a long time.)

I figured it would be Monday or Tuesday before he went home. His back was killing him because of the hospital bed though and his skin was getting a rash from not moving much, so we were both looking forward to getting him out of the hospital.

Yesterday, Sunday, I went up prepared---- I had my bag of goodies (magazine, book, Bible study, notebook, etc.) and his computer. I was thrilled to see him. He looked much better. Still weak and not as strong as he was on Friday, but 100% better than when I left him Saturday!!! He was sitting up and talking and coherent. (He was back on morpine, too.)

I checked his rash, took care of that, shaved his face, helped him brush his teeth and before we knew it, the surgeon came in. He asked if he wanted out of there. Of course John said yes, thinking it was for another day. He ended up sending in the physician assistant to take out the drain and got the paperwork done for him to go home that day! wow! I was very surprised. So were the nurses!

I had my doubts if it would happen as I tried to help him dress and get out of bed. I think his motto was "fake it 'til you make it" as he tried to move. He was in a LOT of pain. The ostomy care nurse came in and worked with us again and we were ready to go. He did great on the ride home and when we got to the house it seemed like a really long walk to the front door.

He sat in the recliner for several hours. He was so glad to have something comfy and not the hospital bed. I got him settled, then had to leave to go pick up his pain medicine from the pharmacy and a few supplies we would need to care for him here, as well as all of the stuff we were out of from the store. I was a little worried because I was gone a long time.

When I got home he was just getting up and was definitely ready for the pain medicine. I helped him get a shower and into fresh clothes and he went to bed. I was exhausted. He slept very well. We'll have to get up through the night about once from now on, but it's better than all night like we were up before! : )

The dogs are a little stressed. They know something is wrong. I was gone all week, John was gone, Grandma was here, they were in their kennel a lot and when I got home wtih John I did not even play with them or pet them. I was so busy with him and I had them put into their kennel. So, they barked and howled all night. aghhhhhhhhhh! They're better this morning, but I think they're a little depressed. They'll be ok in a day or two.

It feels so good to be home! I have a huge list of things to do around here. Now I can get busy. I think John will actually rest here. He didn't at the hospital. Our bed and chairs are comfortable, he can shower, have a quiet room, get up when he feels like it, etc. It's wonderful to have him home! The kids are really happy.

update on John

John had a great day yesterday!!!

The doctor took him off of the morphine pump and put him on oral pain meds. He also allowed him to switch to a regular diet by dinner last night. We'll see how he does today after a few meals. He was very glad. The poor man was so hungry --- and that broth, soup and jello just wasn't cutting it. lol

PT came in and showed him a couple of things to do to strenghten the quadricep and he walked the halls twice. He did great. The right leg is still a little weak, but much better and he can use it. I think PT is going to work on stairs with him today.

I think he's still on target to go home this weekend. Today will probably be the crucial day--- how does he tolerate food, how does he tolerate the oral pain meds, how does he do walking and getting out of bed, etc. Hopefully he'll be home in the next couple of days. I know the kids are ready to see him! I may take Ike with me today. The others are too young to go.

Thanks for the prayer!

I'm trying to find a baby monitor to borrow for a couple of weeks. When we're downstairs doing school work, we won't be able to hear him up here if he needs us (maybe that's a good thing?!?!).
I thought it would be helpful to put it in the room he's in and then we can hear him if he calls.

His color looks great and he is doing remarkably well. I'm amazed.

1st day after surgery

John had a rough morning and early afternoon yesterday.
When I arrived in the morning, he was sitting in his chair----- and had been for over 2 hours. He was beyond ready to get back in bed. As I got to his floor, the surgeon saw me and said he was looking for me. John was very nauseated and light headed so they were adjusting his meds some. (I think some of it had to do with the 2 hours in the chair. lol) He also could not use his right leg. When they tried to get him up, he couldn't feel the leg and it gave out on him. That's why he was sitting so long while they tried to figure out what was going on and get other doctors involved, etc.

The called in a neurologist and ordered a cat scan. The surgeon says the nerve wasn't cut, but he thinks it was badly bruised and stretched from moving it during surgery. PT came in to get a baseline to assess the function in that leg. He could feel it from the knee down, but the quadricep area was numb. He couldn't lift it, adduct or abduct it. They wanted a cat scan to make sure it wasn't a blood clot or something.

So, the poor guy had to sit in that chair a long time, then they finally got him back in bed and radiology showed up to take him down for the scan. Once he got back, PT came in. Then the ostomy nurse to work with us, then the regular nurse to do some more stuff, then.............. you get the idea.

He was exhausted and in a lot of discomfort.
By evening he felt much better and was able to rest.
He also had feeling back in the leg by about 4:30 or 5. The neurologist came in and checked it shortly after that. It still wasn't 100% but it was a huge improvement over that morning. Hopefully today it will be even better.

I'll head up there in a little while and hope to hear a good report. His roommate left in the afternoon, so he got a quiet room for the evening. That helped a lot. Today he should have a new roommate. It's a very busy surgical floor.

His color looks great and he is doing amazingly well. I thought he would really be in a lot more pain yesterday. He is in pain, but I guess I just expected a horrible first day out. They want to get him up some, but couldn't with his leg. I guess he'll be walking today if he has full function.

Before I left, he was able to talk to the kids on the phone and even checked his email on his phone. The kids were really glad to hear from him and it made them feel much more secure about daddy getting well.

John's surgery went very well

I'm very happy to report that John's surgery went very well. The surgeon was able to do the ileostomy part of the surgery with a laparascopic procedure. That means less pain for him and a quicker healing time. Possible less infection, too. Of course, having said "less pain" it doesn't mean no pain. And John is in a LOT of pain. Poor guy!!!

I'm sure today will be a very rough day at the hospital.
He'll finally be awake and a little more conscious of what's going on.
He did not even get out of recovery and into a room until 5:45 last night. I got to see him at 6.
He was still pretty out of it and thrashing a bit on the pillow when he felt the pain. It didn't help that he had a loud roommate with a lot of visitors and the tv blaring. (aggggggghhhh!)
It kept waking him up and it was annoying him. I don't blame him. He just wanted quiet and rest.

I only stayed until 7:45. I am heading back up this morning. I figured he needed the rest and if he saw me he would try to talk to me.

The nurses specializing in ostomy care will be coming in today to begin our education and get us ready for when we go home. He will also have home health at first. (yeah) There's nothing like going home and knowing you're "on your own" that first time or two. It will be nice to have someone checking the site for infection for us and overseeing us as we change everything to make sure we're doing it correctly.

Well, off to get ready................
Thank you for the prayer!!!

The doctor was very pleased with how it went.
It's cute--- I told John, "You did great!" "The doctor said you did very well."
John's answer: "Thank you, but I don't really remember it." (like he did some great and noble thing for someone and he didn't remember what he did. I laughed at that one.)

more updates tonight

Surgery today

It's been a whirlwind since Friday, so I didn't have time to update our blog yet.
John is having surgery today!!! Yes, you read that right. It surprised us too! We just found out on Friday. We didn't even know there was a surgical option until about a week ago.

Let me back up............
John can't take most of the meds for Ulcerative Colitis bc of a sulfa drug allergy. So, he's been on Prednisone for about 14 months. (!!!!) He went on a new medicine that was supposed to replace the Prednisone, but they had to overlap for about 2 months until the new one would kick in. Well, after about 3 months, it still never kicked in and he had a bad flare-up. There's no way he should be having flareups on that much medicine. So, they sent off some blood work to the Mayo clinic about 2 weeks ago. It came back and showed that the medicine was NOT working at all for him and any more would be toxic.

The doctor mentioned that there was one more medicine they could try or he could talk to a surgeon and see what his options were there, if he was a candidate, etc. John did not want to deal with anymore meds and live on them for life.

We got in with the surgeon on Friday and they have the surgery scheduled for just 4 days later!!! Today!! Can you believe it? Wow! I guess it's better that way. Just do it and get it over wtih.

It is major surgery and we could use prayer. The biggest concern is infection. Especially since he's been on steroids for so long. (They suppress the immunity.)

The doctor will be removing his entire colon and creating a J-pouch out of the lower part of his small intestine to hook back up to the lrectal muscles to replace the colon. Then they will give him a temporary ileostomy to use while that heals. (external bag) He'll have the ileostomy for about 8 weeks. After it heals, they will go back in and reconnect everything to run through the small intestine normally and will close off the ileostomy site. Today's surgery is about 4 hours long and the 2nd one is only about 40 minutes.

The good news is that this is a CURE for Ulcerative Colitis and once it's healed he can do anything physical he wants to do with no concerns. He'll be like the old John again. lol He can play sports all he wants. I can't wait! The kids are really excited to have their daddy back too. Faith is taking it pretty hard and was emotional last night about him leaving for the hospital. She was also concerned if he would be able to do things with her again. It's really taken a toll on them, I think. They've been troopers and haven't said much, but now that they know it might be back to normal, I think it's kind of overwhelming to realize how different it's been for the past 14 months. They love him so much and are so used to him playing with them and just having fun together all the time. It hasn't been so fun for a while. : )

We're getting ready to leave for the hospital in about an hour, but I wanted to update the blog.
If you think of us, we would appreciate prayer for no infection and a smooth surgery and recovery.

I'll keep you posted.......