I Heart Faces Kids Entry

My sun-kissed girls on the beach last summer before Kate entered the family. As we head back to the coast this weekend for Kate's first look at the ocean, we are all excited to see her response. Please click on photo to see full size. (Hi to anyone viewing this photo the week of Sept 22 from I Heart Faces websight....this is not my correct entry for the candid photo competition. I put in the wrong permalink address on my first try (#50) which directs visitors to this July entry. No doubt you are all probably thinking ...this photo doesn't look very candid and you are right ...it wasn't. My entry for "candid photo" can be found on entry #74. Sorry! Still figuring out the system.)

http://www.iheartfaces.com/

Horsing Around at the Stable

Hunter and Kate spend time at the stables on a lazy, hazy summer afternoon.

3 Miracles!!!

I have had the honor and pleasure of seeing two church families head to China this week. They left to adopt two little girls who had no idea that their lives would soon be turning upside down. Two little girls have now transitioned from no hope to full opportunity, from the lowest rung on the ladder to celebrated heights , from lonely to loved, from accident to blessing, from lost to found, from burden to favored, from abandoned to cherished,... from orphans to treasured daughters. Each a full fledged miracle of our God who IS the Spirit of Adoption. Oh, the 3rd miracle? Another family from our church is expecting their referral call tomorrow. Another little girl begins her transition.....

On the Other Side...

Well...it is over for this year. No more visits to Duke. No more MRIs . No more surgeries. Kate had her baseline MRI (post-operative) today and everything looked great. Praise God! At one point the neurologist said "I see no spinal cord fluid buildup so that's great." All the while i am thinking "Spinal cord fluid buildup???" Was that a possibility??? I must say, for me anyway, ignorance IS bliss. I am strictly on a need-to -know basis. Do not tell me all the scarey scenarios. I do NOT want to know. Anyway, this MRI was long (again) but much smoother than the first. She was sedated interveinously.(NO more yucky tasting medicine to spit out all over mom this time.) So it was quick. The downside was having to find a vein. Kate is very petite and her veins are buried. Really! I warned the nurses and they whole-heartedly agreed with me. However, our nurse found one on the first try. Answer to prayer!!! The rest was pretty noneventful. I do have to say that i was amazed at Kate's reaction to even driiving up to Duke and parking in the deck. SHE KNEW!!! She hadn't forgotten a thing since her surgery. Poor baby. Thank you to all who prayed for her. It was a much better experience this time and we are so glad to be on the other side....

Prayer please....

Tomorrow Kate heads back to Duke for a post-op MRI. This MRI will provide her baseline from here forward. Please pray for an easy time for her. The last MRI(performed at a different hospital) was less than fun. Actually it was horrible. And it was L...O...N...G! We were there for 6 hours. Anything you can think to ask God for concerning this procedure and experience for Kate, please feel free. We follow up the MRI with an office visit with her neurologist. Please cover this in prayer too. Mainly that there are no surprises. I will post tomorrow night and let everyone know how it went. On another note, i have a huge praise! Kate was dry all day yesterday!!! Huge praise!!!

Caring for the least of these...

I wanted to take a moment to write of a friend of mine that i have never actually met. She is a dear Christian woman with a huge heart for the orphaned children of the world. Her name is Adeye and she is South African although she and her husband reside in Colorado . She has 3 biological sons and 2 Chinese daughters. Both daughters happen to have special needs. I met her through a mutual friend's blog last February and we have been corresponding ever since. This past week Adeye announced that she and her husband had decided to adopt again. They had come across a little girl in desperate need of a family. She is 4 years old and weighs only 15 pounds! She also has beautiful blue eyes and happens to have Down Syndrome. They are in a race against time for a myriad of reasons. They put a "chip in " on their blog in an attempt to raise money through anyone who wants to care for orphans but cannot adopt themselves. Her blog is " No Greater Joy Mom " and there is a link to it on my blog list. They have decided to name this child Hailee and there is a sweet photo of her on the blog. I wanted to write of this family because they amaze me. This couple willingly seeks out and embraces difficult situations with the same enthusiasm of a school boy jumping into the first day of summer.Even within the body of Christ, this capacity for servitude is rare. Not many people come across my blog, but i still felt compelled to post about this family. You never know what God has in mind. You never know who might want to be a part of this miracle. Please consider giving to bring Hailee home.

This Little Piggy....

Is there any part of the body sweeter than little toes? How great of God to give each child 10 of them to kiss and tickle: )

Dreamgirls...

Daddy took this photo of Olivia and Kate yesterday. Two, full of life and promise and dreams. Wonder what God has in store for them....