Uncategorized — Page 4

7
Jan

Garnet’s Bone Graft Surgery Eve

January 7, 2013

Here we are again. Surgery time for Garnet.

He was scheduled for this one back in October but it was cancelled due to his catching a cold.

I’ve ~~almost~~ hesitated to post anything at all about it for ~~fear~~ hope it would be cancelled yet again.

You see, I’m chicken.

B-GAWWWWWK!

Yep. I hate all of the poking and prodding and procedures that my kids have to go through. But I think I may have mentioned that a time or two. Let’s just say that I don’t go into these things lightly for any of them.

Oh my heart!

Tonight I’ll simply post some photos of him on his Bone Graft Surgery Eve. They tell so much about Garnet right now.

I think he’s adorable with his long shaggy hair and tired eyes. Dad took him out late to get a “last supper” of McDonald’s before he is restricted to a soft diet for the next while.

Dad let him play with his iPhone too. What’s not to love about being the patient?

This is the one that made our hearts melt.

He packed his own bag for the hospital.

(Don’t worry, we tucked some clothes in another bag – but hey, who needs clean clothes, right?!)

Included in the bag was:

1. His stuffed monkey that we bought for him while we waited to travel to meet him.

2. His “Froggy” that James gave him.

3. His beloved hat that was passed down to him from his cousin Lane.

4. His Illusion-ology book about Magic.

5. His Pokemon guidebook.

6. His Outdoors guidebook that his Dad reads to him nightly when he is home.

And last, but not least…

7. Every possible electronic device he could get his hands on, including chargers and extra game cartridges.

That’s our Garnet in a nutshell!

He’s so delighted that he gets some time off school and smoothies for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

He’s obviously going to feel bit different tomorrow, but he’s a pretty upbeat guy and I know he’ll get through this alright. The one regret he has is the fact that he won’t be able to make those “oh so popular with the young boys” noises through the hole in his gum line anymore.

(Don’t tell him, but I might just miss that a little bit too!)

It’s all just so Garnet!

Surgery tomorrow (Samuel)

May 24, 2012

Back to blogging and yet going to keep this super brief.

We are at Shriners Hospital in Portland with Samuel tonight. Early in the a.m. We’ll get him up and bathed for the second time in anti-infection solution. He will be having a couple of procedures that will hopefully increase his mobility and decrease the discomfort he has been having in his left leg.

Just wanted to jot down two big blessings that we experienced during pre op today.

First, he knows how to put on such a happy brave face to anyone outside our family. One way God has seen to care for Sam has been to lead us to Shriners where it is standard procedure (we were told and saw on the intake forms) to have three options stated to gauge patient pain levels. One is verbal, one is facial and the third is by observer. Well considering we have had to explain his pain tolerance and brave face to mot of the medical professionals we’ve come across, this was an enormous answer to a need that Samuel has. We checked “observer”!

Second, the anasthesiologist has offered five levels of pain management (fifth covered by the surgeon post op): versed drink, gas, IV drip, and epidural-like freezing and finally oral pain medication. HUGE answer to prayer based on what we’ve been too by BTDT parents.

One day soon I will record more of the amazing ways we’ve seen God work these passed couple weeks. For now it’s enough to know He hasn’t forgotten about this little fellow that has travelled so far in such a short life. He’s in the details and I’m going to be watching for Him all throughout the day tomorrow.

3 Comments

7
Nov

Hide and Seek

November 7, 2011

When I can put on my Mama hat and take off my teacher hat, there is something so very cute about how Hide and Seek sounds in this house.

Yes, I said sounds.

As of today (November 7, 2011), Grace has been with us for almost 2 years, Garnet for almost 4 years and Samuel for almost 9 months.

On their own they have cute speech patterns that others discreetly chuckle over sometimes.

Together, they down right make me smile. And look for my ear plugs…

Grace: Okay. Now it’s my turn to count. 1-2-3…

Samuel: {loud shrieking giggles fading away as he races to follow Garnet to a good hiding spot}

Garnet: SAMUEL! (loud huffing sigh)

Grace: Samu-well, come here! You can’t make so much noise! (she yells)

Garnet: Wight! You can’t tell Jie jie where Ge ge is!

Samuel: Oh Tay!

Grace: (goes back to counting) 1-2-3

Samuel: (rather than hiding, begins to count too) 1-2-4-18

Grace: Samu-well!

Samuel: Huh? Whaaaaaaaaht?

And off they go…

2 Comments

15
Mar

Pain and Hope

March 15, 2011

Have no fear – Samuel and all of our little (and big!) people are doing well. Life is returning to normal. If anything, this has been the easiest addtion we have ever weathered. As I said to a friend in an e-mail today, the toughest bits of Samuel’s adjustment have involved his silent refusal to eat at the odd meal (not a big deal as he tends to make up for it at the next one) and the fact that he cries himself to sleep clutching one of my hands for about 10 minutes at each nap and bedtime. I count that as amazing considering the upheaval in his young life!

No – Samuel giggles and sings and chatters through his days. Honestly, I don’t know how we survived without him in our lives. What a mischievious little treasure he is!

But that is where the title for this post comes in. Pain and Hope. Loss and Love. Devastation and Grace. That mingling of the two is what I am pondering as I go about my days since coming home. One seems to come with the other and it’s more than I can fathom. How can I say, “It is well with my soul.”, when it is not really the truth. Not yet.

Friends in pain. Illness, death, loss, questions like “Why?” and “What will the future bring?” My heart aches from the pain of the loved ones around me. And yet it is so full of joy in my ever growing family.

And again, I realize that those two things Pain and Hope go hand in hand. Without the Pain, would I look for the Hope? And as my Hope increases, aren’t I better able to withstand the Pain?

No absolute answers from me yet. But just a little glimpse into my thoughts.

Katie says it best on her blog Kisses from Katie. Her March 4th post was like having my thoughts burst open on the computer screen. She says it so much better than I ever could. And I would say from her writing, she is a fair bit farther down the path than I am.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still trying to wade through the over 10,000 photos I took and the hours and hours of video. If I owe you an update or some media, I’m sorry! Unfortunately, when naptime hits it is still school time and in the evenings I am still trying to catch up from the jet lag. I’ll tame this beast once and for all… but probably not tonight.

Good Night!

6 Comments

24
Feb

Yueyang County

February 24, 2011

The visit went so well!

The countryside was amazing. Red earth. Water Buffalo. Rice Paddies. Hillside Family Tombs.

We went straight to the orphanage which is now only used as offices. The foster Grandmother met us in the parking lot. She so badly just wanted to touch him. Her eyes were aboslutely saoking in every inch of him. He curled into me and his little legs clung to my trunk under the carrier I had him in.

The two staff ladies ushered us upstairs to the director’s office for tea and a short visit. We began sharing information back and forth through our guide.

She had given us 3 photos of him as an 8 and 12 month old. Bathing, feeding, holding him. Treasures! He was so delighted to see them. He kept kissing them and saying, “Beibei Xiao Ba!”.

We gave her a sheet of photos (our family, his referral photo – which we hear he was betweenb 5 and 6 months old in, and an update we received). We also gave the grandfather a gift.

Then we were invited to their home which was a short distance away. We were served snacks, tea and allowed to take photos around their home.

The child they described was absolutely our Samuel. LOVES peanuts, splashing in the bath tub, motor vehicles, very affectionate. The grandfather rides a motorcycle and Samuel always knew when he was on his way home and Samuel could tell it was him! They chuckled at how he splash es gets us soaked during bathtime. They shed some discreet tears. It was absolutely beautiful.

Then we were taken a short ways by foot to see some friends and they were delighted to see his growth and strength! We enjoyed our time threre. Samuel began warming up a bit, but Stephen held him out of the carrier.

ggngngnngggg (Samuel’s blogging help)

We then took everyone out for lunch (15 people fr $50 and a tonne left over). Samuel gets car sick and after 2.5 hr drive, snacks, stress, heat as we had him bundled Chinese style out of courtesy, and then a bit of spicy food that required lots of rice and water to douse, he promptly threw up what seemed to be 1/2 a litre. Poor baby. He was so ashamed. You could see it. We snuggled him and reassured him. We took him to the wash basin and cleaned him up. He began to feel better and really started to perk up.

We then said our thanks, again and he stayed in my arms, but gave hugs and kisses to his foster grandparents. We were able to share some of the care and possible prosthetics we hope to get him in Canada. We were worried about making it seem as though we thought their care was not good enough, but they seemed happy to hear about it all.

We then all got back on the bus and stopped at the finding spot. Photos and then I set Samuel down on the ground. I wanted him to show them how he could move, but I wasn’t sure what he would do. He bolted for the bus. Much shouts of joy and laughter. I was so glad. He was giggling a bit. I was a good moment to end on.

Many kisses were blown and they gathered around the bus door as we drove away.

What an incredible day. We all slept well last night! And the best part? Samuel clung to us, came to us, we could comfort him when he was sick, we took tonnes of photos and we saw and shared so much of what he was and still is.

God is good.

9 Comments

28
Jan

Catching up

January 28, 2011

So I think I am over my general feeling of malaise. Now I am onto Full Speed Ahead. Haha

Thank you to everyone who commented and e-mailed to check in on me. I really REALLY appreciate every word. It’s so good to know I’m not the only one…

In the meantime, we made a quick trip to Grace’s specialist at the closest Children’s Hospital. She’s doing really fantastic and somehow those words always put me at ease. We visit that particular specialist twice per year and it’s easy to forget that there is even a need for the visit until just beforehand and then suddenly I get to wondering how things are beneath the surface. As usual, those thoughts were for nothing. And for that I am truly thankful!

We also celebrated a really big milestone birthday as James turned 15 this week. Everbody says this about their kids, but How On Earth did He Get this BIG? And how come every year we enjoy him more and more? We are really thrilled with our young man and we had an absolute hoot the other night on our birthday date with him. Accoring to a certain arcade game, we are Ace shots at killing giant spiders and leeches, but are not really all that compatible as mates. Uh ,yeauuuuh?! Lame plot line, but too funny laughing with our teenager. 🙂

I’ve been polling friends for tips on which size diapers or pull ups to bring with us. Samuel is trained duirng the day, but we expect a regression (you know, hope for the best, prepare for the worst and all that…). He’s about 20 lb.s and will be 3 (!) next Tuesday. factoring in his limb difference, but knowing he’s a little guy has made me go a bit crazy. Input welcome. 🙂

The realization also dawned that while we way over pack every time we travel, we also like to bring a lot of donate-able items. But, on this trip, we will be flying into Beijing and then taking a bunch of domestic flights followed by an international departure via Hong Kong. That means less than half our usual luggage allowance. Not sure if our arrival into each city will allow enough time to shop for items to bring to each orphanage. We’ll have to see… Any tips (Americans!) on what you do when you fly into Beijing and exit via GZ or HK?

We received our last monthly update on Samuel (which I will post separately) and it said something that made us curious. Guess we’ll understand more once we meet him.

We were able to Skype last Sunday night. He is a total monkey boy (and we LOVE monkeys in this house). He loves to climb all over the desk, point the web cam around, show us his belly button, flex his muscles, play peek-a-boo (his favourite), and accost the pig shaped light on the desk. hehe We notice that his rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” is getting clearer and clearer each week. His new haircut is often styled by his nanny into a very manly swoop across his forehead and he is often dressed to chat with us in a sharp little sweater. Very adorable handsome. 🙂 We have played with him this way for so many months now. What a tremendous blessing – one we never dreamed of.

I am ignoring the second half of my Chinese New Year cleaning by writing this post. We are beginning CNY early this year as our church group is coming over tonight and treating us to some very yummy sounding homemade Chinese food. Our contribution will be a little more western in that it will need to be picked up from our local restaurant shortly before the party. 🙂 Grace has told me that my version is just not quite right and so we jokingly order what we call Fake-Chinese food and don’t even try and pretend its the real thing. I’m even serving Chocolate dipped fortune cookies from this site. She has amazing ideas – totally worth the look!

I think I have just about come to the end of my catching up, but before I go finish catching dust bunnies (Hey, it’s the Year of the Rabbit – aren’t I clever?!), I want to make a quick mention about a very special little girl by the name of Sharaya. Our friends the Berzenji Family is raising funds in order to bring their newest child home. We travelled with them on our journey to Miss Grace and their daughter Jade Ping is Grace’s orphanage sister.

Anway, back to Sharaya (don’t you just love her name? Brings back memories of a certain Amy Grant song – and yes, I am that old.) Sharaya is a young friend of the Berzenji family. She has decided to raise money for their adoption fund and the Canadian Cancer Society by cutting off her beautiful, long tresses and not only donating the hair to make a wig to bless a person fighting their cancer, but is also taking pledges in order to give financially to this special family trying to bring home their child from China. Who says kids don’t have great big hearts? In addition, both she and Adrian (Baba Berzenji) are taking part in a Congee fast right now! You can read all about it and all of these fantastic people on their blogs: Sharaya & Adrian’s. And please, do more than read. Won’t you encourage them with a donation?

Off to herd up those bunnies….

And don’t forget to weigh in on the great diaper debate & luggage fiasco of 2011. I could really use the advice. 😉

3 Comments

22
Sep

Protected: Prayer Request

September 22, 2010

1 Comment

22
Sep

Prayer Request – once again

September 22, 2010

I will be posting separately under a private post with more details, but I wanted to ask specifically for you all to pray for our process once again. I know that God knows specifically not only what the hiccough is, but also what will come of it. Please pray for us to say and do all that we need to do and yet not ever get in the way of what God is doing either.

Thank you!

Just because I’m feeling the need to gaze into those eyes…

September 2, 2010

8 Comments

(Don’t tell him, but I might just miss that a little bit too!)

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