"Once our eyes are opened, we cannot pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12



“There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.”- William Butler Yeats





Saturday, November 10, 2007

One more day...we hope!


Last night feeling lousy with Woody & Buzz keeping him company


The world's best Daddy (and hubby) arrived this morning bearing gifts!

How cool is that? A Nascar pinball machine.
He loved the lights! Playing with little hotwheels.
And of course, a monster truck with lights, sounds and remote control!
And the hit of the day.........his very own medical kit!
Hmmm.....Buzz needs a shot! Ok, Daddy. I guess I'll have a few sips since you were so nice to me.
The nurse listens to Kai's lungs while Kai continues working on Buzz.

Hey! A real patient! Thank you, doctor!!

Now, they're lining up. Daddy, you need new glasses.


Well, after a pretty rough night of moans, groans and tears, we made it through. Poor baby woke up every 1/2 hour, just miserable and in lots of pain. Finally at 2 a.m., I pulled him out of the crib and layed him next to me in the small little cot I had. He then was able to rest with the exception that whenever he tossed or turned, the monitors would go off, and when they didn't go off, the nurses were coming in to check his vitals.

Finally, the sun rose and before we knew it, the surgeon was checking him out. His palate is still intact (thank you, Lord!), which is the important thing right now. Otherwise, we'll be heading back here again. The bad part is that Kai was hardly drinking anything. Although I continue to nudge for him to take in fluids, I sympathize with the poor little guy, it's painful to swallow. So, the doctor decided we needed to remain in ICU another day. There is still a decent chance that we could go home tomorrow, but he has to drink, drink, drink!

I am married to the most amazing man in the entire world. Scott has had just about as little amount of sleep as I have, with the exception that he went back to the RM House last nght at about 11:30 p.m. I knew I'd be in for a rough night so I told him to get a good night's sleep and even sleep in so he could stay with Kai for a couple of hours while I got in some sleep the next morning.

This morning, at about 7:30, I was going to call him but I remembered telling him to sleep in, so I expected him back at the hospital around 10 a.m. Well, at 8 a.m., in walks Daddy, with an armful of presents (that he even giftwrapped!) for Kai and a grande caramel machiato from Starbucks for me! YUM!!!!!! He had woken up at 6 a.m. and went to Walgreens and picked up lots of toys that he knew his little man would love. He also got me the sweetest card. I am so very blessed to be married to this wonderful man.

Kai's eyes were the size of dinner plates when he saw presents. He quickly forgot all his pain and wanted to see what was in them. Well, we took advantage of the fact that he had motivation and milked opening the presents throughout the day. He'd have to drink juice and eat some jello and some soup. He did!!!

Right now, they have removed the hookup to the IV, although the actual IV is still in his foot because they need to continue giving him antibiotics through it. They have also removed the heart monitor leads and he only remains on the airway/respiratory monitor. Again, praise God, he has had no respiratory issues at all. I feel we can now breathe a sigh of relief about that aspect, normally if sleep apnea has not occured by now, it won't! :)

So, it's been a quiet day of hanging out. I did get over to the RM House and took a much needed 2 hour nap, shower and change of clothes, while Daddy manned the helm. I came back to the two of them playing doctor. Scott also downloaded about 30 different Dora the Explorer shows for Kai, so we have been singing in our brain all day, "Backpack! Backpack!" But that's ok. Things are looking up. Our little guy is feeling better and we continue to pray that we can go home tomorrow.
Enjoy the pics!

Update:
Since I wrote this in spurts again, Kai has broken out in another rash. Apparently, an effect from the codeine in Tylenol 3. Poor kid is 2 for 2 on getting rashes with narcotics. So, we are stopping the Tylenol 3 and hoping that his pain has decreased enough that it could be controlled with Motrin alone.


Friday, November 9, 2007

Second try....

Well, I spent over two hours posting tons of pics and an update, and now it's gone. UGH!!!!

Some people have seen it, because a comment was posted and I received an email. I can't see it from the hospital. So, in case you do not see it, CLICK HERE.

Sorry for the inconvenience.


BEFORE SURGERY
Delivering the crew!
Our room at the Ronald McDonald House
Kai's amazing surgeon!
Doing pre-op blood tests....looking for a vein, even in his feet.
Found it!!! (Poor baby!)

Feeling better with a good "last" meal, since he'll be having pureed foods for 4 weeks now.

Fun with Disney characters in the Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital lobby.

I love that sweet little face....no, not the piggies!

Kai ADORES Mickey Mouse!

Too cute!Outside the hospitalGoing back to the house, right next to the hospital


Pushing the stroller down the hallways of the RM House.
Hanging out on the steps with Daddy.5 a.m. on surgery morning....giggly away with Daddy.
Playing outside the pre-op room before going in
Kai won over the anesthesiologist. Here he is listening to the Drs. heartbeat.
Giggling with Mama before being taken back to surgery
Hmm...does Daddy's elbow have a heartbeat?
Checking out the wiring.

Does the doctor want his stethoscope back? I hope not, I got lots to listen to!
Aaahhh, yes. The good stuff. His big 'ole dose of Versed to make him loopy before going back.
Whoa....who's moving the bed?
The hand off. Daddy had to do it because Mama was gonna cry.
Although, I was having a great time with my new toy.Off he goes. :sniff sniff::


AFTER SURGERY
Shortly after we first saw him
Do they have to touch me?
One of the few moments right after we held him, that he wasn't crying.


Watching Thomas the Train with Daddy....the Tylenol 3 already kicking in.



Well, it's over. It's been rough on our sweet angel, but he is such a trooper. He awoke with us at 5 a.m. and was his normal self, all laughs and giggles. We were at the hospital by 5:45 and in the pre-op room by 6 a.m.

We had taken some of Kai's favorite DVDs so he was entertained for quite a while with those, until the anesthesiologist came in. Kai immediately charmed him into giving him his stethoscope. Right after the doctor handed it to him, Kai (being a smart cookie) put it in his ears and starting to listen to the doctors heart. The doctor kept telling us how adorable Kai was and then pulled out his cellphone for Scott to take a picture of Kai listening to his heart. It really was cute and a great photo op for camera happy Mom.

Kai then proceeded to listen to whatever moved and didn't move (his pillow). Shortly afterwards, we met with the surgeon and Kai was given his much desired cocktail of happy juice. I LOVE seeing him on this stuff...heh. He gets so giddy and cute! Just hilarious. He had everyone cracking up.

About 10 minutes later was parting time. My heart began to race and I gave him to Daddy for the handoff. He quickly turned to me as if to see if I was following, and I just said, "Kai, the doctor is gonna show you something really neat!" He smiled and waved bye and the tears rolled down my cheeks. Scott and I then hung out in the hallway doing a rosary and praying.

The staff here has been wonderful. They called us twice during the surgery to let us know that all was well and that they would be finishing soon. From the time they took him to the time the doctor came out was exactly 2 hours. Much faster than what I anticipated.

I asked the doctor how he was, and he said, "As long as you don't touch him, he's fine." He then told us everything went great and he thinks there will be no issues or complications. I just know that it's because of the huge amount of prayers that have been said for our sweet baby boy. THANK YOU all for storming the heavens with prayers. They were heard. He's not even snoring, much less having breathing problems!!!!! Thank you, Lord for answering our prayers.

That said, he's in a lot of pain. As soon as the Tylenol 3 starts wearing out, the crying begins. At first, he wanted nothing to do with the crib, but after Mama holding him for 5 hours in the same position, I needed to get up since my back was killing me. He reluctantly let Daddy hold him while for about an hour and then I went back and held him again.

He was very uncomfortable and was literally exhausted between the pain and lack of rest. So, I finally decided that although I knew he'd cry a bit, he really needed to rest and wasn't doing that on me, so he had to go in the crib. I promised him I would hold his hand the entire time and not leave him. He pouted a bit, but layed down. Within two minutes, he was sound asleep and slept for about an hour before he awoke with pain.

So, for the most part, he's been in and out of sleep. When he's awake, he's been crying, which is to be expected, but is getting better. I've written this in spurts and am THRILLED to say that just a few minutes ago, I coaxed him into eating a little container of jello and three spoonfuls of chicken broth. Up to now it's only been a sip of water here and there! He's a tough little guy.

Please continue to hold him in your prayers that we don't have any complications, since we really aren't out of the woods yet. If possible, please pray specifically for his palate to remain intact. He will remain in ICU and we'll see how he does tomorrow.

Thank you and God bless,
Ohilda

To my little ones (and big ones) at home.....WE MISS YOU GUYS SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!! Can't wait to see you.

THANK YOU TO MY WONDERFUL, TECHIE HUBBY FOR SETTING ME UP WITH INTERNET SERVICE....AND PICTURES!!!!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

We're here and we're ready!

It's been a loooong day, so I will try and keep this short. (I know you all are laughing thinking...."sure you are!" :)

I brought my laptop and have taken adorable pictures of Kai and the surroundings, but unfortunately, we do not have internet access in our room. They do have a computer that is hardwired, but no USB ports or way for me to download pics. But, I'm glad I have the opportunity to at least post. Maybe things will be different at the hospital tomorrow.

So....here goes. Well, I want to first say THANK YOU.....THANK YOU....THANK YOU to all of you that have taken the time to write emails and comments and offering up prayers for our little man. You have no idea how much it means to us.

I awoke this morning at 4:30 am when the phone rang. It was a wrong number (after I walked to the kitchen to answer, half scared out of my mind!). I was pretty ticked. I went back to bed and about 2 minutes later, the phone rang again. You'd think I would have brought the phone to my room, but who the hec would think you'd get TWO phone calls at 4:30 a.m. It was the same wrong number. By that time, I couldn't go back to sleep, so by day began then. Needless to say, by now, I'm exhausted.

We got the kids ready, finished last minute packing, dropped everyone off with my sister and Mom and headed to Orlando. Before I continue, I just have to say to both my sister and Mom that both Scott and I are so incredibly grateful and blessed to have you. I don't know what we'd do without our amazing family and the support you give us. You are all priceless to us!!!!

Back to the journey. We arrived in Orlando about 45 minutes before Kai's scheduled pre-op appointment with the surgeon, so we headed straight to the Ronald McDonald house. I can't emphasize enough to you guys that when you have some spare change as you are at McDonald's, please drop it in that little plexiglass container they have by the registers or the drive-thru window. Not only has the amenities been AMAZING, but the support and lack of stressing about paying for hotels is something that we cannot thank them enough for. What a great organization!

After we settled in, we walked over to the doctor's office, which is only 1 block away from the hospital and the RM House. He was charming as ever and treated us as he usually does, like family. He spent over an hour with us going over all of the details of the surgery, including all of the scary complications I had discussed in this post.

When we were finished there, we walked over to the hospital to pre-register and for Kai to have some lab work done, which we weren't expecting. I have to say that this little guy asked me about 20 times today, "No shot?" every time I said we were going to the doctor. I kept reiterating, "No, Kai. No shot." Well, WRONG! When we arrived they sent us to draw blood. I guess technically it's not a shot, but tell him that. The screams made the floor tremble. The nurses were amazing with him though. We eventually got over it with the incentive of going by the "candy basket" that they have in the lobby of the RM House.

The nurses assured me that tomorrow morning when we arrive (6 a.m. for 7:30 surgery time), there will be no needles until AFTER he is asleep. We will be allowed to be with him until the Versed (relaxing cocktail) is given to him, along with some Tylenol and when he is relaxed and loopy enough, he will be taken to the operating room. The surgery should last approximately 2.5 hours.

Gosh, how I wish I could share pictures. If I find a way, you know I will....so don't give up hope. :)

Otherwise, we are doing great. Exhausted but great.

Anna Grace has spoken to me a few times today and her Ayi has reassured her that "Mommy comes back". I, too, have reminded her with each phone call. She was so darn cute when I left her. I knelt before her and told her that Mommy and Daddy are taking Kai to the doctor and that she was sleeping at Ayi's house, and to remember that Mommy always comes back.
Well, she'd repeated everything I said over and over, but I could tell that she had no clue of what I was saying.

AJ on the other hand was his happy-go-lucky self. He spent all of last night without a fever and feeling back to normal. Thank you, Jesus!!! That really had me so worried. I miss my babies already, but I know they are in great hands.

Kai is all tucked in and sound asleep now. Poor little guy has no clue what he's in for. Scott is bummed he has no internet in the room, but he's so tired that I don't think he'd make it too long on the computer anyways, and I am heading to bed.

Again, thank you ALL so much for your prayers, love and support!! You humble me and give me strength. God bless and I will try and post sometime tomorrow if I can get my laptop to work at the hospital.

PS. Since I really can't keep my eyes open much longer, there are a few emails/comments I want to respond to quickly.

Aus & Marie - Congrats on that TA! I can't wait to see Braelyn in your arms.

Charlotte - God speed my dear friend. Now you can start counting hours till you hold Rachael instead of days.

Sara W. - I received your last email. THANK YOU for the reminder about not letting Kai drink from a straw. I had forgotten! Oh! And I asked about giving him Tylenol w/codeine instead of the morphine, no problem!!

Becky N. - Lord knows I need a vacation and NYC sounds wonderful, especially at Christmas....but alas, I don't think it's happening. So, for now, I'll continue to dream about my "White Christmas".

Yvonne - I feel your prayers, my friend. I love you!

Again to everyone....THANK YOU so much for your love, support and prayers. I can't say it enough.

Ily & Mom, thank you for taking care of our babies. Please give them big kisses and remind them how much we love them and that "Mommy comes back!!!!!"

Amanda, Adam & Tito - I LOVE YOU GUYS AS MUCH AS THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD....AND BACK AGAIN!!! MMMWAAAHHH!!!! Remember to pray for your baby brother, especially tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

My baby is in Your hands, Lord.


As I finish packing up all the kids and ready ourselves to head out early tomorrow morning, I ask all prayer warriors to please, again, lift up our sweet boy to the Heavens and unify in prayer with us as his surgery approaches on Friday morning. If all goes well, we should be home on Sunday evening. I will try and post whenever possible, since we are taking the laptop for Kai to watch movies on. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all for your prayers and immense support. May God bless you all abundantly.



Heavenly Father,


I come to you today with a grateful heart that you are our redeemer. Our precious Kai was created perfectly by you and you alone love him like no one on earth ever could. He is your masterpiece. I humbly ask Lord, that you being the great healer, the miracle creator who raised Lazarus from the dead, who parted the seas, who turned water to wine, who fed thousands by multiplying a few loaves of bread and fish, to please guide the surgeon's hands on Friday and allow Kai's surgery to be a complete success.

As you healed the woman who touched your cloak, may your hands heal my little boy's palate so that he could speak clearly and be understood. Lord, may he be able to praise your name out loud for all to understand. May his recovery be quick and as painless as possible, without any complications.

Lord Jesus, you are our hope and our promise and you know that whatever the outcome, we desire your will to be done and continue to give you all the glory and honor that you are so worthy of. We walk by faith and trust your holy name and divine generosity that all will be well. We ask that you sustain us by your grace that our strength and courage may not fail.

We pray that your Blessed Mother be by our baby's side and ask her to protect Kai and wrap him in her mantle.

Sweet Mary, please cradle our little boy in your arms as you once cradled the baby Jesus. We plead that you lift our prayers up to your precious son and implore on our behalf a complete healing of his palate and all that is impeading him from speaking properly.

We ask this, as we do all things, in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.


“Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them. So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel” (Matthew 15: 30-31).

I think I'm gonna be a GIANT!

Yes, I'm coming to that conclusion. I think you all noticed that AJ was not a happy camper on Halloween night. Well, this week, I rushed him to the doctor with 104.9 fever. My sweet baby has an ear infection and swollen lymph nodes. This was Monday night.

Needless to say, there was not much sleep for him, nor I, on Monday and we all had to get up bright and early yesterday, so that Anna Grace and I could make the 6 hour roundtrip drive to Tampa for her first appointment at Shriners Hospital.

The alarm rang at 6 am and I felt like I had never gone to sleep. AJ was cranky, still running a high fever, Anna Grace and Kai joined in the crankiness, but had no choice to get up and get ready to each go to their corresponding place for that day. AJ to my sister/Mom to be watched while I went to Tampa, Kai and Amanda to school and Anna Grace and I on the road trip.

I took the kids to school and drove the hour to my sister's house to drop off AJ. Then hopped on the highway and started heading north. I never listen to talk radio of any sort just because my brain is usually in overload. I enjoy the silence sometimes, which doesn't come often, while I am driving. Anna Grace was playing with her toys in the carseat and I sat there driving in total silence. It was nice. Those of you that know me and my quiet time, it doesn't last long before thoughts start filling my mind.

I started thinking about AJ being sick, Anna Grace needing her hand surgery and what will now become frequent 6 hour schleps to and from Tampa for her medical care, Kai's upcoming surgery and the fact that his cleft surgeon is yet in another part of the state 4 hours away. I was really starting to go into how-am-I-going-to-do-this frenzy. I thought to myself, "You can't do this. It's just too much to have all of this going on at once." It really wasn't a pity-party because whenever I feel I'm doing something for my kids, regardless of the efforts, I will walk through fire to get them what they need. But, I was tired and with that came thoughts of why God would send these children to me, that evidently would be better off with a more "capable" person to handle their needs, someone with more experience.

So, I began to pray. I first prayed a rosary, since I have one hanging from my rear-view mirror, and then I just began talking to God. Pretty much just asking him what would make him think that I could do all this, when at times, I have a hard time keeping up with myself. All throughout my prayer time, I felt peace. I felt peace that AJ was going to be ok, that Anna Grace's trips/surgery/treatment would all work out, and that Kai's surgery will also be well. God was in control.

This leads me back to the talk radio comment. Since we had driven outside of the radio airwave ranges for our local station, I started pushing the SEEK button on the radio. The more I pushed the button, the more garbage music I heard. So, I shut it off. Anna Grace continued playing. Suddenly, I had the thought to find a Christian talk radio show. So, I switch to AM radio and sure enough, I found one. What stopped me was that when I switched stations, the words I heard were, "How are YOU serving God?" Hmmm....well, since I have 3 kids at home, I no longer have the time to contribute to the ministries at church. I guess I'm not serving Him, which I am embarassed to even say.

The radio announcer continued on to say that we make excuses not to serve God because we are lazy, because of fear and mostly because we feel inadequate and not worthy of serving a God so big. Ahhh, yes. That's my excuse. I really try and be a huge advocate for my kids, between Anna Grace's hand issues and Kai's speech, throw in some AJ mania and Amanda's teenage hormones, and you have a perfect recipe for a potential disaster. How could I handle it all? Well, the next thing I hear is, "God equips those He calls." This next part stuck to me so much that when I got home at 9:00 p.m., after an incredibly long day, I had to look this up.

"Moses stuttered. David's armor didn't fit. John Mark was rejected by Paul. Hosea's wife was a prostitute. Amos's only training was in the school of fig-tree pruning. Jacob was a liar. David had an affair. Solomon was too rich. Abraham was too old. David was too young. Timothy had ulcers. Peter denied Jesus 3 times and was afraid of death. Lazarus was dead. John was self-righteous. Naomi was a widow. Paul was a murderer. Magdalene was a prostitute. Jonah ran from God. Miriam was a gossip. Gideon and Thomas both doubted. Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal. Elijah was burned out. John the Baptist was a loudmouth. Martha was a worry-wart. Samson had long hair. Noah was a drunk, and Peter and Paul both had short fuses."

Wow! Yet, God used every single one of these people. The announcer continued on to say, "Do you know why God used them? Because each and every one was willing to serve." That's all God needs, your willingness. The rest He takes care of.

At that point, I felt like a ton of bricks were lifted off of me. Can I handle all of what is going on? Yes, and it's because of two simple reasons. 1) "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Philippians 4:13 and 2) because I am willing to serve Him always. I just want to reiterate the "through Christ" because I know for a fact that I could not do it alone.

I felt I was being spoken to directly. So, I continued to drive and listen intently to radio's message. Finally, as I approached our destination, the announcer says, "when God puts trials and difficulties in our path, is when we most grow spiritually." Hence, the title of this post, "I think I'm gonna be a GIANT!" It been a tough road these past few months. But as I told a friend the other day, before we went to bring home Anna Grace, I felt like my well was drying out. It took realizing the drought that I was going through for me to surrender it all and let the rain pour down upon me. I no longer thirst. The Lord has quenched that, therefore I have grown in faith immensely during this time. I am so thankful to our Lord for my hardships.

(Ok. I know this post is long, but again, it's my journaling and I need to be able to back and remind myself of these incidences where God clearly speaks to my heart and allows me to see the whys of where I am in my life.)

Finally, we arrive at Shriners. I have to say that I was so very moved when I walked in and saw easily 30-40 children, from babies to teens, with limb differences and orthopedic issues, all there being treated at no cost. For those of you not familiar with Shriners, the Shrine of North America is an international fraternity of approximately 500,000 members throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada and Panama. The Shrine's official philanthropy is Shriner's Hospitals for Children, a network of 22 hospitals that provide expert, no-cost orthopedic and burn care to children under 18.

I digress. I sign in Anna Grace and shortly afterwards we are registered and sent to x-rays. They x-ray her hand and we are told that we will be called shortly. About 20 minutes later, a nurse calls her name and we head into the examining room.

The "greeting nurse" comes in and explains to me a little about Shriners, speaks to Anna Grace for a bit and then informs me that the nurse practioner that works with the hand surgeon will be in shortly.

A few minutes later, in she walks. The kindness in this woman's face beamed even before she said a word. She told me she had read Anna Grace's file (I took her Chiina medical info along with records from her pediatrician here) and that she was so moved by her. Anna Grace was, as usual, her charming self, yet maintained her distance. Mama had whispered to her about 10x during the visit that "no one carries Anna Grace". The "greeter" nurse came back in with gifts for Anna Grace, which included a Barney CD. Well, Anna Grace is a huge Barney lover and in a cute, hard-to-understand, way will sing (hugs and kisses included) the I LOVE YOU song from Barney. She was so happy with her CD that she broke into song when it was handed to her. I must admit, she's an adorable ham. We all clapped at the end and I turn back to the nurse practioner who was literally wiping streams of tears from her eyes. She apologized and said that she so wished that Anna Grace's birthmom could know how happy and well cared for she is. My sentiments exactly.

Anyways, she was examined by the NP and we were told the surgeon would be in shortly. For those that are not aware of Anna Grace's hand issue, she has syndactily of 3 fingers on her right hand, which basically means 3 fingers are fused together. The surgeon came in and although I admit I was not thrilled with his bedside manner, only because he was so rushed, he seemed to be very knowlegable in his field. He informed me that the surgical correction involves cutting the tissue that connects the fingers, then grafting skin from the forearm around each finger. This will have to be done in stages and we will be begin with her pinky/ring finger. Because the hand has so many nerves, it is a very painful procedure. Gosh! Is there ever a procedure these babies go thru that is NOT painful?! Her hand will remain in a cast for 2 weeks and we will be doing the Tampa road trips approximately 1-2x per week for the first 4 weeks. That was the good news.

The bad news, and this is where I am so thankful that I prayed and was reminded about God being in control, is that they don't feel that she will have much mobility with those fingers after the surgery, even with therapy. This is because one of the most common defects of Poland syndrome is that the affected hand is usually underdeveloped. She has missing bones in 2 of the 3 fingers that are fused and the other 2 fingers are very small. That said, I will not quit before trying, so she will continue before and after the surgery with occupational therapy. If we see that in fact, her mobility (and she has great use of her hand now) is limited, than that is God's will, but I can't in all good conscience, accept the fact that it isn't going to happen without even trying.

The second bad news is that because Shriners is based on donations and will not accept any monies for treatment, they have a huge number of patients. Therefore, we will have to wait approximately 8 months for her surgery. The surgeon who will be handling Anna Grace's case is the only hand surgeon there. Yesterday morning he had 5 surgeries and then saw 35 patients between 1 - 5 p.m. That answered my question of why he was so rushed when he saw us.

I was asked if I wanted to be put on a "short notice" list, which means that at any given moment we could get a phone call saying that there was a cancellation for surgery and that she could be taken. I, of course, agreed. I left there very much at peace that God is in control. His timing is always perfect and whether it's 8 months or 8 weeks from now, whenever her time for surgery comes, is when the Lord had it planned for her.

Afterwards, the nurse practitioner answered my page-full of questions and we headed back home, only to pick up AJ at my Mom's with 104 temp and having to put him in a cold tub to bring the fever down. I eventually made it home at 9 p.m, after leaving the house at 8 a.m., I am so thankful that we have accomplished one more step in handling their medical issues and that along the way, God nudged me again into trusting him and believing that He is in control. What a relief!

PS - I will try and post one last time before we head to Orlando tomorrow morning for Kai's surgery. Please remember to keep him in your prayers. THANK YOU and GOD BLESS!

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

More Halloween Cuteness!


AJ just refused to have his face painted!

Hence the strange looking whiskers.

But still sooooooooooo cute!!!!!
My beautiful doll
Doesn't she make an adorable red head?
Cuteness abounds!
Mama's sweet little dragon!
I loved how he wobbled!
"ROAR"....Baby Seth joining in on the Halloween fun. Adorable!!!
AJ (he really wasn't feeling well) just wanted to end the picture taking session.
The whole crew before hitting the streets.
" Mama, I'm not scared. I know that's my big brother, Adam, under there! KISSES!"
"Adam, brush your teeth!!"
The stroller brigade!
I can only take one candy?
Proud Mama and Daddy having fun with the kids!

Drive thru trick or treating!
Yep, nothing like a big brother to hang on.
It wasa long night for these little guys. Sweet dreams!
Anna Grace & Kai with their loot!
Pleeeeease, just one piece more??? My big girl.

Wooohooo! My own stash!

Blog Widget by LinkWithin