New Picture of Jacob

I received a wonderful gift today. An updated photo of Jacob. He is so adorable.

We are home from Annabel's surgery

I wanted to post a quick note to let everyone know that we are home from Annabel's surgery. We came home about 2 hours ago. It went beautifully. Even better then expected. The surgeon was able to repair a small fistula that had developed in her palate. We were not sure if he was going to be able to but he was. Her two front teeth were removed, her lip revised(the major part of the surgery), all the muscles attached where they need to be and he was able to free up her upper gum line. She is swollen, bruised and looks like she got hit by a truck but her spirits are great. The best thing to happen in recovery was that they took away her crib and gave us a regular bed. I was able to lay in bed with her all night cuddling and therefore she slept most of the night. She has a few weeks of recovery here at home and has to remain in her arm restraints but the worst part is over. The doctor feels this will probably be her last surgery until approximately age 7. She will then have a bone graft done. Wow what am I going to do for the next 5 years to pass the time? haha Praise God and thank you for all your prayers. Tamara

Meet our son "Jacob"

I'd like to introduce you to the sweet little boy who we are waiting on pins and needles to meet face to face. We will be naming him Jacob and he is 3 1/2 years old. He lives in China with a foster family. We have waited 61 LONG days for our Pre Approval from China and it came today. Officially we had to wait for the PA before we could announce his adoption. Please keep Jacob in your prayers and pray that the rest of our adoption journey goes smoothly. We are praying for a travel date in July but with the Olympics we just aren't certain what that will look like. I praise God for this day and am so grateful for what God has done in our lives through the miracle of adoption.

6 months home with Annabel

It is so hard to believe that we have had Annabel home with us for 6 months now. It has gone so fast. I wish the wait went as fast. haha She has been such an incredible blessing to our family. She has changed so much and it seems she grows and comprehends a little more each day. The picture with her and Mark was taken about 15 minutes after we met for the first time. The second picture was taken just a few days ago. It's hard to believe that that scared shy little girl has grown into this confident fun loving child in just 6 months. It is amazing how well adopted children adapt with a lot of love and tender care. As you can see her hair has grown in quickly. She brings so much laughter to our home. I especially love her deep belly laugh. None of us could imagine life without her. Thank you Lord for this very special gift you have trusted us with.

Recoverd beautifully

Well it has been about 6 weeks since Annabel had her surgery. She is totally recovered and doing beautifully. I still cannot get over how wonderful her palate looks. God is amazing isn't He??? She is picking up new sounds and is understanding us more and more every day. In fact, there isn't much she doesn't understand. Yesterday I was able to finally put a couple of pigtails in her hair. She didn't enjoy the process but she thought it was fun after the fact. She played with them for quite some time before Amber finally took them out. I can't believe how fast her hair has grown. I have included some pictures of the last few weeks. One is from Chinese New year. We went to dinner with several other families who have adopted from China. It was a great time to get together and see how much our girls have grown. We thank God daily for our three children. I cannot imagine life without them.

One week later

Today is one week since Annabel had her surgery. Her palate looks so beautiful. She can slurp and drink from a cup normally and is starting to make some new noises. Today she said "no" and "on". As I have said for weeks she is trying to say things. She needed her palate closed to say it properly. It is soooo exciting for us to hear her talk. On a sad note...her recovery is so slow for her. She has been in a lot of pain. So much so that yesterday we took her to the Dr and he suggested we put her back on the Codeine. I hate to have her so doped up but it is the only way she can get any rest. Mark and I are grateful for the reprieve ourselves. After two full nights and two full days with out any sleep you start to feel like you are headed to the looney bin. Fortunately for us that is not on the agenda this week. We feel much more rested today then we have all week. She also has learned to wiggle her way out of her arm restraints. So we have her clothes in layers to help keep the restraints on and one of us are either holding or playing with her at all times. She is so sneeky and is learning new ways to get things into her mouth. Fortunately we have stopped her each time. I have to brag on my older kids a bit. They have been so helpful during this recovery time. Amber comes in from school each day and takes over for me without me even asking. She is loving that Annabel snuggles in the recliner and sleeps on her lap. Joey has helped in countless ways as well. I am so grateful to have their help. Thanks for your prayers, emails, phone calls and cards. We will keep you posted.

The ups and downs of healing

Annabel has been home from the hospital for three days now. Her palate is healing beautifully. She gave us a peak today and we were so impressed with how it is healing up. We had a few scares including a couple of fevers and yesterday morning when she spit two large pieces of packing out of her mouth. They were stitched in and were suppose to stay there for another two weeks. I called the Surgeon and he said it was not ideal but that it happens some times. It didn't seem to cause any damage, other then creating more pain for her in that area. We took her off of the Codeine because she was so loopy with it and didn't want to eat or drink. When she did drink a little she would throw it up. Once she threw up shortly after eating a few bites of cherry jello. We were so sleep deprived at the time that we both jumped and thought it was bright red blood. When we realized what it was and after we comforted Annabel we laughed so hard at ourselves. So today I started her on straight Tylenol. It took her about 10 hours to get settled in today. I don't know if she was having withdrawals from the codeine (is that possible?) or what, but she was pretty fussy. I am sure she was just in more pain then she was yesterday on a stronger medication. Today I talked to the pediatrician a couple of times and she said it was a good idea to take her off the codeine because she hasn't had a bowl movement since Wednesday. I guess that type of medication constipates you too. I am learning so much. haha So hopefully we might get a surprise tomorrow. She has actually eaten a little bit tonight. Everyone keeps asking me if I am going nuts at home. Not at all. I am really enjoying the bonding time that this recovery is allowing Annabel and I. Of course she favors her mom still. Yeah!!!! I love that. I did however get a break yesterday for a few hours. Mark stayed home with her while I attended church and then headed out of town with a friend for a funeral of a friend of ours, Jeff, who passed away last week of a sudden heart attack. It had to be the most beautiful memorial service I have ever been to. The purpose of the service was to honor Jeff's life and his incredible love for Christ. They told funny stories about him, sang praise and worship songs and we watched a wonderful family video that his sister put together. I felt so uplifted when I left there. Please keep my friend Danielle and her children in your prayers. We were so saddened to hear of their loss. They were married 16 years and had a great love for one another. They were truly best friends. They have a strong love for the Lord and that was very obvious in everything that took place yesterday. Praise God we have Him in our lives. How would we ever make it without Him???