No Children were Injured in the Making of the Photos.
Click on each image to see them larger.
10
Jun
Jun
And We Have a Winner!
June 10, 2011
The winner of my little contest from yesterday was Cydil!
I used Random.org to choose our first winner.
First?
Why yes!
Once I chose, I happened to be going through my photos and realized that Kristi was more correct in her guess than I had even realized! So she wins one too!
Here’s the first photo:
Notice Samuel pointing and Stephen behind him with the girls?
Here’s what happened just prior to that:
Turns out I had forgotten that Samuel wasn’t just chattering and being adorable.
Nope.
He was tattling.
And the pair of girls?
They were sent inside for baths.
But, yes, in answer to your many comments, we do go through an obnoxious amount of {pants}.
God Bless my sister-in-law, Carmen, who has been perusing Value Village in order to keep us well stocked.
Cydil and Kristi, I’ll be e-mailing you both for your addresses.
9
Jun
Jun
Another {Pair} Bites the Dust
June 9, 2011
Let’s play a little game, and win a little prize!
Can anyone spot the one thing in this photo of Samuel, Stephen, Faith & Grace that prompted my post title?
I’ll hold a little draw for one of the “Picking Them Up With Both Hands” books that I blogged about in this post. Remember, the book whose proceeds will go towards helping the Rippee family complete their adoption?
It’s a great little book. I have one for myself, tucked one away for Samuel to show his kids one day and of course, the grandparents received one too.
So give a little guess and comment below!
7
Jun
Jun
A moment I don’t ever want to forget
June 7, 2011
{Psalm 31:22}
I had said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from Your sight.”
But You heard the voice of my pleas for mercy,
when I cried to You for help.
1
Jun
Jun
Shriners Update with a couple photos of today’s antics
June 1, 2011
To say we were amazed at the facilites and staff of Portland Shriners Hospital is an understatement. Everything was newly redone and the sheer number of staff that we saw during our hours there was just such a sharp contrast to any of our prior experiences with our children’s medical care. We were greeted by smiling receptionists, admission by informative admissions personnel and ushered into our examining room by a volunteer who grinned and giggled over Samuel’s antics and then served us tea and cookies, with a can of juice for Samuel. I mean, she even ran to the other area to find him a straw! Yeah, we were amazed.
Once we met with his surgeon and related staff, we really felt a sense of peace. Suddenly we had a description for Samuel’s legs, beside the term “malformed” that was on his referral papers. His left leg is described as PFFD (click on the link to read good old Wikipedia’s take on the term). His right leg has a shortened femur and it is called an above the knee congenital amputation. A bit of a misnomer in that it was never actually amputated, in utero or otherwise, but apparently this is the common term for a “missing” limb. Having these terms means I have now been able to do a more thorough info search and I am so pleased with the information I’ve now been able to find.
The surgeon and staff walked us through the options for surgically altering his left leg (yes, a Symes amputation (click to read the definition) is being talked about at this point). He will be receiving rods to reinforce a newly shaped knee and will, even further down the road, need a rebuilding of his left hip as well.
We were sitting there nodding our heads and still feeling a bit shell shocked, but it was different this time. This time there was a sense of peace and we could see the overall plan that was being put into place. A sharp contrast from our previous feelings. I count that as a huge blessing!
We still have some decisions to make regarding the what, when and how of his surgeries (they are projecting an early Fall surgery date), but feel comfortable in the knowledge that we have phone numbers and a coordinator to liaison with as questions arise.
And then for the surprise!
We were then told that we would be meeting with the rehab coordinator and the prosthetics team. Within an hour Samuel had an appointment for his first wheelchair and had already been casted for his first set of “stubby” prosthetics! It’s no wonder that it has felt like a lottery winner’s dream! We travel back to Portland very soon again. We will be there for the week of June 12th in order for his fittings and final delivery of his new “boots” as Steve calls them. 🙂 We’ll be choosing his new chair too.
God has been abundantly good to provide all of this for Samuel. We are so thrilled to be walking this journey with him. It is a stretching one and not something I would have ever imagined that I would be not only walking, but honoured to be a part of.
Just one more thing.
Shriners has asked us to apply for treatment for Garnet’s cleft too. We were surprised to learn that they can have empty spots available all because people are unaware that they are a specialty hospital offering treatments, surgeries and aftercare free of charge to applicants. It is not based on the financial standing of the family and their facilities are used as teaching and research hospitals and are staffed with highly trained and well recommended physicians and surgeons. Wow!
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And just in case you think I have my head stuck only in the medical realm, here is a bit of life from today.
This first photo just makes me smile. Garnet is our fourth is age order and man do I appreciate his attention to detail. What you can’t tell by looking at this picture is that all that Rock Band paraphernalia that you see in our front foyer? It’s been moved from the living room. Why? Well, because he was vacuuming the living room and wanted to get to the edges! Yeah. I’m blessed. He brings great skills to our family herd. Nevermind the smudges and fingerprints on the mirror. That’s my responsibility. Umm yeah. Moving right along…
This would be a common sight in our kitchen these days. Samuel loves to “break dance” and do tummy spins at a ferocious speed. He also does hand stands. And not just quick flips up and down. Stands (!) that last four to five seconds (counting with Mississippi’s) and sometimes longer. He loves to use his center of gravity to his advantage. And now that he has gained almost 4 pounds since coming home (!), he seems to be finding new ways to give his Mama a heart attack thrill and delight us each day.
30
May
May
Everyday Chatter
May 30, 2011
Click on the photos to see a larger version of the {Real} us.
I need to write about our trip to Portland Shriners. I really am very thankful for the prayer we have had on our behalf. We came back 100% confident in the team there, but I’ll need to save that for a day when I have a bit more energy to pour into an update. I came home and woke up the next morning with some king-sized stress knots in my back. Moving slowly and spending time flat on our hard as rock mattress has helped a lot.
Today I simply want to blog a long string of quotes from my very precious children. They are treasured things I’ve overheard them say over the past 2 months. I tend to scrawl things like this on post-it notes and every so often flip through them. With my latest foray into blogging, I figured why not post some of them?
From Faith to Grace, “Whine always leads to bad things!” Exclaimed by Faith when Grace was whining over a lesson. (Yes, my children do whine on occasion, but you can imagine which winemy mind leapt to! :))
Samuel, May 17/11: “I tsee you!”, in a sing song voice.
Samuel, April 9/11: I heard, “Smack! Smack!”, like someone smacking their lips together. I peeked around the corner and found Samuel using a purple glue stick like lip gloss.
Garnet: “Tell Dad I have a garbage can in my tummy.” (Too full after a snack.)
Samuel, May 21/11: Apparently undecided, “Yup! Nope! Why?”
James, April 22/11: James using a crayon resist effect on his Easter egg that is intended for his 87 year old great grandma {Granny}, “Eat Pork!” (She giggled herself silly and that’s why we love her.)
Samuel, May 12/11: Calling from his spot at breakfast, “Wake up!” “Samuel”, I say, “Are you calling for Gege James?” “Yeah!”, he nods, “Gege three!” (With fingers to show three.) (Gege= Big brother)
Grace, April 6/11: “…Because in this family everyone is special, right Mom?” (Said with an air of, “See! I told you guys!”)
Faith to Grace: “Just put the angel in the back with the extra toilet paper.” (Meaning that they had been in charge of building a replica tomb in which to entomb Jesus body over Easter Weekend. They needed to hide the angel until Sunday morning and apparently they decided that the way they clean their rooms is good enough for the burial site of the King of Kings too. :))
Garnet: Said extremely cheerfully, “I don’t really want to go, but thank you!”
Samuel, May 3/11: Loves to eat “‘Pie-see”, “Icy-team” & of course, “Choc-a-yee!” (Spicy Thai Chili Sauce, Ice Cream, Chocolate).
James, April 22/11: Again decorating an Easter Egg with craypn resist, “I shouldn’t have gone in the Hot Tub!” ( The colour of the egg? Well, let’s just say that they don’t call it potty humour for nothing!)
Garnet: Describing some thing’s size, “It was a boat as big as Jesus!”
Samuel, April 9/11: I hear, “No! No!”, said very sternly from the other room. It was Samuel looking into the mirrored closet door, telling himself under no circumstances to enter. hehe
Faith, May 23/11: “I don’t know why, but it makes the family feel really small when one person’s away.” {This one makes my heart sing!}
23
May
May
Facing Reality with a Capital “R”
May 23, 2011
That’s me.
Facing Reality.
We received a surprise recently which has us off to Portland, Oregon tomorrow.
When we returned from our visit to Children’s Hospital last month, we were so thrilled with what God had done in putting all the pieces together for Samuel. I mean, we were over the moon, couldn’t stop talking about it, absolutely in awe. I mean, we still are. And then, to top it off, I received a letter in the mail.
Months and months ago (like, in the early days of our paper chase for Samuel’s adoption), a fellow Mom of a New Day alumni contacted me. Her daughter had undergone surgery and been fitted with a prosthetic through Shriner’s hospital and she had great news for us. Low and behold, she had arranged for her daughter’s Shriner’s prosthetist (Brock) to see Samuel in Beijing when Brock was there on a medical service trip. New Day had arranged for Samuel to be brought to Brock and as a result of this fellow New Day Mom connecting us, I was able to speak with Brock over the phone and even receive the X-rays that he had taken of Samuel when he examined him in China. What a treat!
Well, that got us thinking. We decided to pursue an application for Samuel to be treated by Shriner’s once home. Forms were filled out. I developed a phone relationship with the provincial rep. And then we waited. I heard rumors that cut backs had made it harder to receive acceptance into treatment for Canadians and I was hopeful, but I kind of let it go.
So, here we were less than a week home from our mountaintop high and I received the letter we had been hoping for. Samuel was accepted into treatment. I keep equating it to winning a lottery, but essentially it will allow for his treatment and prosthetics to be covered for his entire childhood. In addition, we can even ride their “Care Cruiser” bus to appointments (many hours each way) and receive accommodations and food vouchers for our time away. I literally bawled when I heard. Like many families in the adoption world, our kids (& in our case, both adopted and bio) have needed a wide variety of therapies and tutors and extras to help them grow and learn and heal and blossom. And each of those come with a price tag. For once it felt so good to be told again and again in response to my tentative questioning, “No, don’t worry about anything, it’s covered.”
So off we go. And I should be singing and dancing with glee.
Instead I have a lump in my throat and Reality has hit the past few days. I would be lying if I said otherwise.
We need to once again have the conversation. And the “A” word will be used.
Amputation.
And yes, to all of you thinking it, I did know it was coming.
I did do my research before we committed to bringing him home to be our forever son.
And we do want the best for him. We want to give him every chance at a full, healthy, active life.
Yes, we do.
But it still stings.
We see him as perfect and active and healthy and as living a pretty full life right now.
And every time someone else asks us what the next step is we tell them.
We talk surgeries and aids and prosthetics.
We smile and nod and talk about his bright future.
But underneath there is a part of me that wants to run to him and pick him up and race away as fast as I can.
Can’t you hear him giggle and can’t you hear him tease? Don’t you see him climb and and dance and chase his sisters until they run giggling too?
But I guess that is the difference of perspective. And of parenting.
Parents have to love a child as they are and yet do the thing that is hardest for their child in order to help them sprout wings and not just crawl, but fly.
I have to fight down that urge to pick up my kids and run away at different times with each of them. And this week it’s Samuel.
So I pack the suitcases. Call my sister-in-law to borrow the play pen. Make sure the many bits and pieces we need to load into the van are ready. And I pray.
Will you pray for us too?
(Photos taken Mother’s Day 2011.)
19
May
May
Ahhh, to be 3
May 19, 2011
I have been unpacking school books and reorganizing the school shelves. Just now I gave Samuel a piece of the left over bubble wrap. I heard “pop, pop, pop”. Then I heard something a bit different. “Smooch, dwaybuchi (sorry), smooch, dwaybuchi (sorry)”.
Yes, he was kissing the bubble wrap all better. 🙂
All this from the same threee year old who had people (Adults, mind you) covering their ears from his piercing screams in the check out line at Costco yesterday. He had wanted down. Now!
{chuckle}