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Showing posts from July, 2010

white mama, brown baby

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I have always found the phrase " being color blind" when referencing skin color a bit odd. How can you be blind to the beauty of humanity? I absolutely love all of the shades that God has painted his creation. Rather than being color blind I think we should celebrate the Creator and the fact that He is an artist who uniquely designs each individual. One month ago today we brought Faith home. It has brought my thoughts back to the day that we first met her. We walked into a room filled with beautiful Ethiopian children. My eyes immediately centered right on her, the little girl whose picture had been constantly on my mind since the moment we had opened that email. I couldn't believe it was reality, she was actually there right in front of me. The thing that captured me initially was her amazing big brown eyes. Many people never even notice the mass on her head because her eyes and her beautiful smile draw your attention. As I wrapped her up in my arms and held her there wa

The final say on the coconut

Today was our appointment with Dr. Myseros (the pediatric neurosurgeon). I just want to say one more time how much I love this doctor. Anyway, the appointment went very well. He viewed the pictures from the MRI with us and the mass is definitly NOT any form of spina bifida or anything else coming from the intracranial space!! It is for sure a dermoid cyst lying over the anterior fontanelle (her soft spot). She will have surgery on August 24th to remove it. Because the fontanelle is still open, and in fact has not been able to close at all due to this cyst, the surgery is a bit more complicated. However, Dr. Myseros still thinks the surgery will only take about 1 hour and she may even be able to come home the same day. To add even more to rejoice about, my baby girl has gained over a pound in 3 weeks and grown about an inch. Hooray for good nutrition and lots of attention! She has two new teeth that just popped through on the top of her mouth this week. Once those things come

Thank You from DFW

I wanted to share with you this Thank You note I received from Drawn From Water. Thank you again to all of you who donated all sorts of supplies for us to take to Ethiopia. There are many children now benefiting from your donations both at the drawn from water orphange and also the CHSFS care center where Faith was living. May God pour out blessings on each of your families! Letter from Jessie with Drawn from Water: Thank you, thank you. I cannot believe the amazing gift that you gave to Drawn from Water. We just got home a couple of days ago so that is why it has taken me so long to write a thank you. Seriously, you guys have no idea how blessed we feel and how perfect everything in the donation is. I know you said that you prayed over what to put in there and please know that you were right and hearing from God. I cannot wait to put good shoes on all the kids and the fun they will have with they playdough and chalk and all the practical stuff. The baby things are perfect. We have

MRI

I spent most of last night awake praying for today and then got up early to make sure my princess had her last cup of milk before she was not allowed to eat anything. So hopefully this post makes sense. I just wanted to let everyone know that the appointment today went great. Faith was in a wonderful mood this morning despite not having any breakfast and enjoyed playing with the toys in the waiting room. She then passed out for about an hour prior to the test in my arms. Once the anesthiologist came to get us, I started to feel the lump coming up in my throat. We were led into a room with tons of medical equipment and told to lay Faith down on the table. They placed a mask over her face and she very quickly feel asleep. We were thankful that the medication worked so quickly. She did great throughout the test. Kevin and I were so excited to see her when she got out of the procedure. When the nurse told us we could come and see her it felt just like when we got to see her for

My New Life

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For You, O LORD, have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands. ~ ps 92:4 These days the question to ask is, "So....how's it going with Faith and having three kids?" It's busy. There are moments of tears and moments of laughter from every member of the team. There are now three little people with needs to be met and sometimes they all need something at the same time. There are some sleepless nights where all three children can't seem to find a peaceful rest. Faith is a wonderful little girl but she also a normal baby who at times cries because she doesn't get her way, she wants to be held whenever I am making a meal and gets into everything she isn't supposed to. However it does truly feel like we are on the precipice of stepping into our new "normal" around here. And while things are busier, I really am loving every moment of it...honestly! I still have to pinch myself to believe that th

Week One Recap

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First I must say thanks to all the wonderful people who have showered us in love, phone calls, emails, gifts and especially meals. We are so thankful for the large family that we belong to...some through blood and some through friendship. Our transition home has been very smooth and that is due to many prayers and all the help we have received. I need to give some special recognition to my mother...we honestly do not know what we would have done without her this past week, I am so blessed! So a recap of week 1: Our pediatrician was amazed at the social skills of our little Faith. She is actually on the growth chart, 3%, but she made it on the chart. She has the development of about an 8 month old, but at this time we are waiting to start any type of therapy. Our doctor is very sure that within a few month she will begin to catch up. We really struggled at first to get her to eat any food. In the orphange she was eating what would be considered stage 2 foods all from a spoon. Sh