a wonderful life

We got our REFERRAL!

After 1 year & 1 week.....372 days.....of waiting.....and waiting some more.....we found out.....

It's a GIRL!

.....an absolutely beautiful, precious little 3-4 year old girl.

We have a daughter.....in ETHIOPIA!

I have the sweetest picture of her.....that I cannot stop looking at. She is wearing a cute pink dress and sandals and has a bracelet on. Her hair is all shaved off. She has the cutest little features. She is so petite. Her eyes are a gorgeous chocolate brown. Her complexion is beautiful. She is just perfect.

She melts my heart. I am already so in love.

I can't wait to hold her in my arms and kiss those sweet lips.

We will soon be a family of SIX.

Wow.....2 sons & 2 daughters.

God is SO good and His timing IS perfect!

This is a very HAPPY week at our house. Praise God!

The Eye Accident.

(I wanted to get this journaled for my own records, plus share some more pictures.)

September 21st was a very scary night at our house. We were having a wonderful time with friends. Enjoying a BBQ, bonfire, & s'mores. The kids were playing outside and practicing their golf swing. Right before putting their clubs away, Brady went to pick up his whiffle ball and just as he looked up, his friend swung the club and hit a solid hard plastic ball smack on Brady's eyeball. He was only about 15ft. away. It was a total accident and a scary moment for us all.

Brady instantly started screaming and his iris filled with blood. The bottom part was solid red. We tried to calm him down, but he was in lots of pain. I knew it must have been pretty bad because he is a tough little kid and usually doesn't cry much when he gets hurt. Keith and I both remained pretty calm and decided to call our friend who is a pediatric surgeon. He suggested calling our eye doctor and taking him in right away. About an hour after the accident I met our eye doctor at his office. After he started examining Brady, I realized the seriousness of this. He could not see anything out of his eye. Poor little guy. I could tell he was embarrassed and scared. He didn't know what to think, but he was in such good spirits.

The optometrist started telling me how bad this could be. I called Keith and he immediately joined us at the office. We were definitely more concerned by this point. We just began to pray to ask God to heal our little guy.

We were sent home and ordered to have Brady on bed rest.....only if we could make sure he would abide by the rules. Oftentimes kids are hospitalized for this condition. He had to sleep elevated. Let's just say the first night was a very long night. None of us got much sleep. He slept in my arm in the recliner with Keith on the couch next to us. Keith set his alarm for every hour to wake up and make sure Brady was still elevated. He woke up at 3 am in lots of pain. A little motrin helped him to fall back asleep.

After returning from the eye doctor that night my mom suggested we take him to an ophthalmologist. In describing my eye doctor's response, I was made aware that there is a difference between an optometrist and an ophthalmologist. I had taken him to an optometrist. We called our friend back and he gave us a referral to a great doctor in town. We called first thing in the morning and they got us right in. She was wonderful. She was so loving and informative. She described to us the seriousness of this injury and what some of the long term effects could be. A detached retina, glaucoma, vision loss, cataract, etc. He was put on strict bed rest for 5 days. He was only supposed to get up to use the restroom. He started taking 4 different medications. I have to say, he was such a trooper. She was quite amazed at his response to all of this. 

The next several days consisted of lots of couch time with my boy. Games, movies, books, talking, resting, and lots of eye drops. We saw the doctor everyday that week.

I kept people updated on Facebook throughout the process. Here are my entries.....

Facebook entry on 9/21:

Please, please, please pray for Brady! He was hit in the eye with a ball tonight. We took him to the eye doctor right away, but he could not tell what the damage is because his eye is filled with blood right now. He will be rechecked in the morning. As of right now, he can't see out of his eye. Poor little guy. It hurts me so much to see my baby go through this. We are asking that God will completely heal him and we have the faith that He can do exactly that! Thank you so much for your prayers!

 

Facebook entry on 9/22:

We just saw the ophthalmologist this morning and she was great! Brady's eye injury is called a traumatic hyphema. It can be very serious so he is on strict bed rest for the next 5 days. He has to wear an eye shield at all times. The biggest concern right now is that his eye pressure is extremely high. Eye pressure above 30 is considered really high and his is at 48 (to give you an idea, his good eye is at 12). She was amazed at how tough Brady is. She couldn't believe he was just sitting there so still and calm. She said having eye pressure that high is extremely painful. That's my tough little guy for ya. He is on several eye drops for the inflammation, pressure, & to keep his eye dilated. He will be rechecked everyday over the next several days. She could not tell me any long term effects at this time because she could not see his retina due to the blood. She said basically it is a waiting game. However, his vision has increased since last night so that is good. She seemed very positive which helped this momma's heart. I appreciate all the comments, support, & prayers so much!!!

 

Facebook entry on 9/23:

Saw the doc again this a.m. His eye pressure made a huge improvement. It's down to 17! Thanks to the power of prayer. His vision also improved a little from yesterday. Yeah, such happy news. We're still hanging out on the couch the next few days, but that's ok. It's great bonding time. I love this little boy! Makes me so grateful for our family's health. We are so blessed. Thanks a ton for all the continued prayers!

 

Facebook entry on 9/24:

Had our morning visit to the doc. B's eye pressure is down to 10. She's amazed at how fast the pressure has come down. It is rare for that to happen. She thinks B is a such great patient. The staff always comments on how well he has tolerated all of this. I'm so proud of him. She said he's going to come out of this injury pretty darn good, as far as she can tell. His pupil looks round, which is good. Sometimes it can become distorted. His vision is getting better everyday. Praise God! As far as long term effects, she is pretty optimistic. He is down to only 1 eye medication instead of the 4 he started with. He is sleeping good at night and following the doctor's and his mama's orders. I want to thank everyone SO MUCH for the support you have given our family through this scary & difficult time. We are extremely grateful! Thank you for all the PRAYER, phone calls, comments, support, gifts (to keep my boy entertained), & love. We are so blessed with amazing family & friends. God has been so good to us. We have witnessed His hand of protection through it all. Thank you God! Sounds like Hungry, Hungry Hippos is calling my name.....only 3 more days on the couch. :)

 

Facebook entry on 9/28:

Brady got off bed rest yesterday & is back at school today! Yeah! His eye is almost completely healed. Saw the doc on Fri & she said everything looks great. She feels that his vision is going to be fully restored. Praise God!!! Thanks again for all the prayers.

 

We are extremely grateful to God for healing Brady. His presence was so evident during this entire process. We received so much love and support from our family and friends. This was definitely a learning experience. We are thankful for each moment in life that God has given us and the amazing ways He blesses us, even in the little things. He is good!

Here are some pictures taken over the course of the week:

These first few are a couple days after the accident. His eye is looking much better at this point. I had a hard time narrowing them down, so you get to see several.

Hanging out with momma on the couch.

Such personality.

A memory indeed.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I love having kids.

They're so much fun.

Kiki was hollering at me downstairs to come look at her. I knew it was going to be a photo moment from the sound of her voice. I grabbed my camera and ran upstairs to find her like this.

Pure delight.

I think daddy put a few too many bubbles in the bath. Ha! She was lovin' it.
 

A little FALL around my house.

Holy cow, it's been forever since I've blogged. Lot's to catch up on!

While Keith & I were out of town, my mom (and dad) did a little fall decorating around my house. I absolutely LOVE it! My porch was a wonderful welcome home. It looks awesome. And my table display looks like it's straight out of the Pottery Barn catalog. I think my mom needs to go work for them. Just to brag on my mom for a minute...She really is an amazing decorator. The ideas she comes up with are so unique and fabulous. She just pulls things out of my seasonal cabinet in the garage and goes to work. The result is such a beautiful art. It makes my house so warm and cozy!

Here's some of her handy work.....

 

Amazing! Thank you mom. You make my heart happy.

My parents also took the kids to the pumpkin patch while they were here. They found some awesome pumpkins.....orange, white, red, & green. They each got a pumpkin to carve & a pumpkin to paint.

Here's the kids' artwork.....

 

So cute.

And.....I have to share this fabulous table that my mom made for me.

Here's the story behind it:

I saw a log side table this spring at Pottery Barn that I loved. Only it was $299. I don't think so. So after showing it to my mom, she got to thinking. One summer day while they were at the lake boating, she saw this huge log/tree trunk. She told the guys that she wanted to take it home. They looked at her like she was crazy, but they listened, and they loaded it up in the pouring rain. She brought it home and went to work.

And waa-laa, here is my AWESOME log table!

Perfect.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Happy Grandparents Day!

(yesterday)

To our fabulous Nana & Papa

.....from your 14 grandchildren. We love you bigger than the beach!

 

To our fantastic Nanna & Bobby

.....from your 8 grandchildren. We love you bigger than the farm!

 

(our newest addition...Parker, not pictured, but oh so cute.)

Our grandparents ROCK. Thanks for being so incredible. Hugs & Kisses to you!

09.09.09

Craziness.

Today is 09.09.09

Keith called me at 9:09:09 (to share this interesting information with me).

He's so thoughtful.

I was sitting at the computer, browsing facebook. Still in my pajamas. Eating a piece of really healthy, organic, whole grain peanut butter toast. Enjoying the smell of coffee in the air. The sun shining through the windows. My worship music playing in the background. A fall candle burning. My washing machine humming. 

It is a great morning! 

What were you doing at 9:09 on this special day?

Sum, Sum, Summertime.

 

We have spent a good majority of our summer out-of-town. I was determined however, to have some lazy summer days at home. One day this past week we soaked up the hot sun and enjoyed some swimming pool fun. We even bought bubble gum ice cream bars from the ice cream truck. What a sweet treat for the kids. It was a fun day. I will be sad to see our warm carefree days disappear. Oh the joys of being a stay-at-home mom. It is such a blessing. These three munchkins make me giggle everyday! 

Our 3 little cuties.

 

 

 

Brother & Sister.

 

The 2 crazy little boys.

  

   

Jakey.

 

Brady-B.

 

 

Kiki Shae

More on our Adoption: A rough couple of months.....

This post has been a long time coming.

I haven't posted anything about our adoption since the beginning of April. And quite frankly, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I had a couple of very emotional months. Even now this is very hard for me to type. We've had to make some very difficult decisions. I have experienced some extreme sadness, to say the least. 

This has by far been the hardest thing I have ever done. You see, when we first started the process, we prayed a lot about it and if it was the right timing for us. God confirmed in our hearts that it was exactly the right timing and it is exactly what He wanted us to do. We were thrilled to begin the process. He totally led us to Ethiopia and specifically to our agency.

Since the beginning we felt very open about age and gender of who we wanted adopt. We did not want to choose a child/children, we just wanted to get a referral. It is impossible for me to look at picture after picture of waiting children and say no to them. I really want them all. I had to learn that I have to be more realistic. Because of the fact that we already have three children, we have to first look at them and decide what is the best fit for our family. We have to look at our current family dynamic. I knew this beforehand, but I guess I didn't realize what all it entailed. In the end, we have realized that we have to choose. This is definitely not something we wanted to do, but this is the reality. It is just very tough for us.

As time passed, the emotional roller coaster began. I've experienced every emotion.....joy, excitement, happiness, anticipation, peace.....to stress and frustration,.....and then to fear, doubt, and lots of confusion. I have never been so confused in my life. I know that God is not the author of confusion, but I had to do some deep searching in my heart to find answers and the total peace that I needed. It took a long time to find it. Honestly, I don't know that I still completely have it. It is hard to understand why certain things happen. I know God has a reason and a plan for everything, but I wish I could just reach out and touch Him and that He would speak loud and clear to me. It's tough when He whispers or when He doesn't give an answer at all (or at least when I want it).

I believe that God has allowed this process to take longer than we expected for several reasons. Most importantly He has shown me that I wasn't ready, emotionally or spiritually. Well, maybe not being ready isn't the correct phrasing, but He had a lot of things to teach me throughout this process. I believe I am now closer to God than I have ever been. I have learned to depend solely on Him. I have learned how to have complete faith and trust in Him. Trust me, I have not completely arrived at this point, but I am working on it daily. He has given me the strength I need. I thought I was ready for what was headed my way, but I was surprised to find out that I was not. 

I believe God has allowed some very painful circumstances to take place throughout this journey for a very specific purpose. It makes my eyes well up with tears just writing this because it has just been hard. Harder than I ever imagined it being.

You see, two days after I wrote my last post about how we had been waiting 2 months for a referral, we received one. After much, much thought and prayer, we had to say no. It took us a couple of weeks to come to this decision, but we knew it wasn't the right match for our family. It was difficult, but God gave us the distraction of another sibling group. We were feeling led in a different way. We began to pursue them. After many weeks of thinking that was exactly what God wanted us to do, He led us a different way, again. It was heartbreaking. I can't even describe to you how bad I hurt. So bad that I couldn't even bring myself to call our agency director. I had to have Keith do it. I felt so attached to those children. I wanted to hug them, kiss them and love them. I doubted/questioned our decision for a long time. It is still hard to this day. But, I do know that God placed that sibling group in our lives for a reason. We pray for them daily. And as hard as it is, we find comfort in knowing that they have been matched with another family. I almost can't even get those words out of my mouth. It hurts.

We have now been waiting 2 months since the decision to release the second sibling group was made. We have no idea of when we may get another referral. God continues to teach me a lot in the waiting time. Faith and patience have been two huge ones. I know in my heart that He has the perfect child/children for our family and it will all happen in His perfect time.   

My prayer is that we will have patience in the waiting time. That we will have peace in our hearts. That we will have understanding. That we will have comfort and strength. That we will continue to learn about God as we journey through this together.

My heart is happy about our future. I dream of someday having our little ethiopians in our family. I can't wait for that day. My heart will be singing so loud. I'm ecstatic about experiencing the miracle of adoption. It is a true miracle. Just think, somewhere half way around the world from me, I have a child or two. Now that is miraculous!

Thanks for listening. Sorry that you just read a lot of rambling. I'm not even sure that it all makes sense. I have a difficult time formulating my thoughts about our journey. When we began our process 9 months and 7 days ago, I made a promise to myself that I would consistently journal about our adoption journey. Even though I feel like I have somewhat failed in this area, I know it is just part of our story. It's definitely not been exactly what I imagined it to be. It has been a very unique journey. Our story that we will one day look back on and see how God worked in amazing ways to bring our forever family together.

Thanks for praying. Thanks for being so supportive. You all truly are the best.

the girls.

We had the privilege of having little miss Sydney (well not so little anymore, actually preteen) stay with us for the past week. We had a blast!

Some things we did.....

Bowling.

Movie night w/ Milkshakes.

Kids Camp.

$1 Movies (Night @ the Museum 2).

Girls Night (Red Robin & Claire's).

And of course some picture taking (the night before she left). The girls were modeling their new Claire's purchases.

 

These girls are crack ups.

  

and my favorite.....

 

Kiki adores her cousin, Sydney. And Jake & Brady think she's mighty cool too.

Syd stays with us every summer. It's tradition. And yes, we are going to keep that tradition going, but I have a feeling we'll be adding some more cousins into the mix in the future. That is, if their mommas can part with them for a week. Thanks Sara and Dusty for letting Syd come to Boise. We love our time with her! It's precious.

   

Camping '09.

We took our annual camping trip with the Connelly's again this year (july12-13). And...we had a blast as always. When we looked at the weather it said there was a 30% chance of rain. Not thinking too much about it, we hit the road. As we pulled into our camp site the wind picked up a little and the skies were looking a little questionable. We figured we might as well hurry and set up the tents so we would have a dry place to hang out if the rain came. The kids wanted to go to the hot springs so we ventured out and the kids played long enough in the water for the storm clouds to roll in. We quickly grabbed our things and began our 10-15 minute hike back to our tents. The rain came pouring down. It was pretty hysterical. Heather and I had towels over our heads and we were moving as fast as possible for cover. I couldn't help but laugh. We must have looked ridiculous. All 10 of us, drenched, hiking uphill through the mud. We made it back safely to camp and hung out in the tents for about 45 minutes. Then the rain completely stopped...for 2 hours. Long enough to cook dinner and eat this.....

 

d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s.

Why do fresh veggies and meat taste soooo good when you're camping?

We had enough time to enjoy our food, clean up, and watch the kids play for a bit before the rain started in again. We were all huddled around the campfire, under umbrellas (thanks to Doug), roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores by the light of a lantern. Another comical sight to see. The kids then crawled into their beds and us adults talked around the campfire for, hmm, a few more hours.

Once morning came, the sun was out and the air was dry. And the rain cover on our tents actually worked because we were dry. It was a beautiful day. 

We ate, 

played, 

 

relaxed, the girls picked lots of "wildflowers,"

hiked,

 

 

 

napped,

relaxed some more, talked, played some more,

 

(I think Brady took this next picture. I found it when I downloaded all my photos to my computer. Totally makes me laugh.)

 

 

and stopped at the hot springs on the way home. So refreshing.

It was awesome. Even with the rain. It just made things more exciting.

I seriously love camping. There is just something about getting away in the mountains, away from all of life's distractions, and just truly enjoying each other and God's creation. You can't get much better than that.

Loving life. 

 

And loving watching these girls being goofballs. They are quite the pair.

 

Thanks Connelly's for another memorable camping trip!