One Year ago Today

Can you believe that a year ago today Naomi was placed in our arms forever?

We went to the adoption agency in the morning had a short meeting with the social worker and her Foster Mother. We were given gifts by the director of the agency and then we were escorted out of the building with our daughter while her Foster Mother stayed behind. My heart was aching for her as she watched us leave with this little bundle that she had been taking care of for so long. I am so thankful for her and her love for Naomi. She gave our little girl a loving positive start to her life.

So much has changed in our lives in this one short year. Josiah became a big brother. He loves his little sister and plays with her so well - most days. We have only had one day recently when he told me he wished he didn't have a baby sister, but that was because he was mad at her and besides he didn't want a daddy or mommy that week either.

Greg and I have gone from having absolutely no sleep to having an occasional good night. I believe when my children are 18 years old or older I may get my rest. Until then we will continue to love on and comfort our kids in the middle of the night and play with them and teach them all we can about life during the day.

Naomi has grown in leaps and bounds. She loves to eat and that's the first thing she wants to do when she wakes up in the morning. She has gone from being a baby to our little girl. When she came home at 8 1/2 months she could not sit on her own or crawl. She is now running and climbing anything she can. The other day I waked into the kitchen and found her sitting in the middle of the table. She has gone from not saying anything to talking all the time. Greg jokes that there are only 2 people that understand what she is saying and that he is not one of them. Often when I am not in the room I hear Greg asking Josiah what she is saying. Josiah can pretty much tell him exactly what Naomi is saying every time. Naomi has shown that she is opinionated and fits in well with our family in that respect. She has learned the art of throwing a tantrum from her brother and she is very jealous of any time he spends with me. She is a Daddy's girl through and through. What a blessing we have.

Update on Anna

After surgery on Sunday and some very strong antibiotics Anna is doing much better. Yesterday she was taken off the respirator and has been awake and alert. She will still need to be in the hospital for several weeks since they have to wait for her infection to be cleared up before replacing her shunt that was taken out. Please continue to pray for Anna's healing and for her family. Thank you.

Please Pray for Anna

Our friend's Todd and Amy's little girl Anna has been in the hospital since Wednesday last week. She had surgery this afternoon after a week of high fevers and no real response to drugs. Anna has a shunt in her brain that treats her hydrocephalus. When the surgeon took the shunt out today they found an infection where the shunt enters her brain. She is being treated with major antibiotics right now. Later in the week when the infection clears up they will need to replace her shunt. Please pray for healing for Anna and for strength for Todd and Amy.

Pay It Forward

“Pay It Forward” is a book written by Catherine Ryan Hyde, released in 2000, but it's also an action plan within a work of fiction. Is it only fiction? I don't think so; it's a way of life.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine, Jan, did a Pay it Forward blog entry where she gave several things away on her blog to the first few people that responded in her comments. I receive a little something from her and in response to getting a little gift I need to also pay it forward to 3 people.
A week ago I did my first pay it forward. We were at Burger King getting lunch in the drive through. I paid for the people in the car behind me's food.
I also have two $5.00 Dairy Queen gift cards in my wallet. These will be sent to the first two people that respond with a story about an experience you have had Paying It Forward or recieving a Pay It Forward. You must also Pay It Forward to three other people. You must be willing to leave your story in the comments and then tell me what you plan to do to Pay It Forward.

Update on Chase - Please Continue to Pray

Chase came through surgery Thursday with a repaired valve and heart. His surgeons were cautiously optimistic. Later he spiked a very high fever and was packed in ice to reduce it. His family really have just relied on the Lord to bring them through this. His fever went down and as of yesterday he is doing better. He has been taken off the respirator and his pace maker and is holding his own. Please continue to pray for this little guy and his family.

URGENT*** Please Pray Fervently ***URGENT

This afternoon I got an e-mail from a friend of mine giving me an update on another friend's little boy, Chase.
"Chase is the Longeneckers eighth child (only adopted child) who is ten months old. He was born with Down's Syndrome and has been battling so many health issues since he was born. It has been a terribly long journey for the Longenecker family. They desperately need their church family to intercede for them as they face their most difficult and life-threatening moment thus far."
This is the update that Jan (Chase's Mom) sent to my friend.

"hey friend
I have a heavy heart as I type this. I am headed to st. louis in the morning to prepare for round two . Chase will be having open heart surgury thursday morning at 8am . I wish I could say the doctors were optimistic but they're not. As you know chases first surgery was completely a botched job, and we are really struggling with that, and what it has meant for our family. At this point we are on 146 days in the hospital and who knows what the future holds. The doctors have tried everything possible to avoid this surgery (and being so close to his last )but we can't put it off any longer. His mitral valve is simple shot. They are going in to attempt to widen it, but weve been told it's like working with tissue paper and tape, doesn't tend to be to successful. We are praying that a mechanical valve will work for chase, even though that brings with it significant chance of rejection and blood thinners for life and much more..... At this point we'll take anything to save our lil guy. Chase is in heart and kidney failure and the anesthesiologists aren't wanting to sedate but surgeon sees no possible turn around so it's now or not. Chase has shown to be a real fighter so we pray he still has this one in him .We believe in the power of prayer so please pray and ask anyone you know who is a prayer warrior to get on their knees. God is the great physician and we pray his wisdom on the doctors this time and if not then peace for our family. Will try to update asap but struggling to just keep up with my children right now .. "

Please pray for Chase and his family. Please send this info to anyone that you know will pray for him.

We are Making Progress

Last August we noticed that Naomi was not talking as well as she should for her age. We noticed that she made very few sounds and those that she did make did not include many consonants. She also would absolutely not repeat sounds or words that we would say to her. She did babble, but it was always to herself and with little variety. Because of my background in pediatric physical therapy, I wanted to have her evaluated right away. Many people told me that I was being overly concerned and that she would probably be just fine.

I called First Steps and got her into the system right away. A therapist came out and did a 5 area assessment on her and determined that indeed she did have a speech delay. She was then evaluated by our very good speech therapist Laura Mize. Laura determined that she was delayed in language comprehension and in speech. She did not make the appropriate sounds for her age and was not understanding language the way she should.

Naomi has been getting speech therapy with Laura twice a month for the last 6 months. I cannot even begin to explain the kind of progress she has made. One of the most valuable things Laura told me when we first started getting together for therapy was that Naomi can talk, but we are not recognising her attempts because we do not understand her attempts at language as words. We focused on really listening to what Naomi said any time she made sound and started reinforcing the words that we thought she was saying. We worked on sound effects more than actually word with her and just had fun with language. Naomi started responding, slowly at first, but in a way that just amazed me. We continued to do sign language with her and she was picking up new signs almost as soon as we would introduce a new one to her.

It has been 6 months and Naomi is now age appropriate for language and comprehension. She is still difficult to understand and she continues to have a problem putting words together, but she has made wonderful progress. She will continue with therapy to work on her motor planning (word combining) problem and her articulation. Naomi now has over 50 words that she uses consistently and many signs. She uses words more than her sign now, but will still sign things when we do not understand what she wants. Thank you so very much Laura for working so well with Naomi and us and for showing us how to work with her. Check out Laura's website at teachmetotalk.com