Update on Cole

After the blood draw on Tuesday, our doctor called this morning and asked to see him again. She is very puzzled by his results. She sent us back to the lab for more blood, a chest xray, urine sample and at home stool sample kits.

I had Lucy & Nate with me - again. 3 1/2 hours later, we finally got to leave! The chest xray had to be done twice and I wasn't allowed in there with him the first time since my other two kids weren't allowed to be left in the waiting room alone. The lady seemed very uncomfortable with him and initially just asked him to follow her to the room. I am sure the look on my face was pure ridiculousness at her. :) The second time, there was a nice young mom there who was packing up to leave with her kids and she offered to stay with Lucy and Nate so I got to attempt to comfort Cole as we held him down and waited for him to inhale to get the xray done right.

The blood draw was unsuccessful the first attempt so they sent us up to the pediatric unit (again, Lucy & Nate following along) where they strapped him down and were able to get 5 vials much easier. Every room we were sent to was at the opposite end of the hospital and each time we started the trek I could barely keep it together. 4 big winter jackets, diaper bag, a 1 year old, a 2 year old and a 6 year old. Thankfully, most of the nurses and techs were nicer at each stop which was good since I was so close to tears anyways!

Praying for some kind of easy solution! The terms malignancy, leukemia, bone marrow were thrown out there... Regardless, God is good and sovereign and in control of it all!

Watch Cole Grow - Month 6

Actually this post should be titled: Watch Cole attempt to grow but isn't really doing it and so we have to get blood drawn for the third time tomorrow to try and figure out why his white blood cell count is so high when he's not sick and why he's not gaining weight when he's eating huge amounts of food... but that wouldn't fit in the title box so we'll stick with the usual. :)

All that to say, Cole is doing well, is happy and appears healthy. He is 18 months old, weighs 18 lbs 15 oz and still drowns in 6-9 month clothes. The teeth are slowly coming in and the stranger anxiety is getting less. But our doctor is concerned at his slow weight gain which is understandable but more concerned as to why his white blood cell count is so high. We had to get blood drawn right before Christmas and it was a nightmare experience. I had all three kids and could only have Cole back in the room, leaving Lucy & Nate in the waiting room by themselves. The nurses were so unfriendly, blaming Cole and his small veins for the reason the needle kept coming out again and again. He was screaming non stop and now we have to go back again tomorrow and do it all again! Oh dear...

On a happier note, we had a wonderful Christmas. It was a joy to watch all three kids have fun, wear smiles, and interact with long distance family. We spent at least half our vacation time in the car driving across Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas but thankfully the kids did great! Praise God for in-car DVD player. :) We even got to experience a Texas white Christmas which was magical (although treacherous to drive home in the next day).






Happy now to be at home and look forward to 2010 with great expectations and trust in our sovereign God who remains faithful in all things. Hope all of you have a wonderful New Year's!

Finalization Pictures

Forever Family with Judge:


With our Missouri (church) family:


Proud to be an American:


Thanks to Jim for taking the pictures! We were so blessed to have the Younces and Elliotts come and support us since our family is in Texas. It was a special day!

P.S. Cole's pants are size 6 months and safety pinned on both sides! :)

Cole's video

We finalized Cole's adoption today. Pictures to come! In the meantime, my brother made this video for us highlighting our journey to Cole...

SIX

My big girl, Lucy, turned 6 recently. That. is. so. old. I can't believe how big she is! On her actual birthday, she had a friend over to play and also went to get her ears pierced! I always thought I'd wait until she was older to get this done but then realized I didn't have a good reason for that. They make lots of age appropriate cute little girl earrings!



She chose to eat out for her birthday dinner at the Emperor's Palace chinese buffet! Mostly because they have a yummy chocolate fountain that you can dip strawberries and marshmallows in!


No party for her this year because she & I got to fly down to Dallas for a girls trip to the American Girl Store!! It was amazing. Her best friend/cousin, Gracyn, was the honored guest. Also we were joined by Nan, Aunt Kalee and new baby cousin Lindsey. I really can't explain how magical it was - made me wish it was my 6 year old birthday so I could pick out such fun stuff!

All the girls after FOUR hours in the store:


We had the nicest waiter:


Best friends:



Six:

Watch Cole Grow - Month 5

We recently hit the 5 month mark of getting Cole and the 1 year mark of getting "the call" about him! The fastest and slowest time of my life all in one!

Cole is doing great - super healthy although still super tiny - up to 18 pounds, 5 teeth and starting to get very curious and into stuff, like your typical 17 month old. The bond between him and Nate is amazingly strong. Cole is easily calmed down around Nate and Nate is constantly asking where "Tole" is if he's not in the same room at the moment.

He still is wary of strangers when we're out and I've felt like making him a shirt that either says "Don't Touch Me" or "It's not you, it's me" to try and avoid some of the negative reactions we get when someone approaches him and he begins to scream and cry. I certainly did not think we'd still be having this issue 5 months into his life here but there are so many other vast improvements, I can't complain!

One more post-placement visit to go and hopefully we'll be finalizing it all in December!

Goodbye October!

Farewell to the longest month e-v-e-r!! Goodbye rain, and more rain, and more rain! Goodbye winter-like temperatures! Goodbye soccer game and practice cancellations! Goodbye bad attitude and grumpy spirit o' mine!

November started off here in St. Louis absolutely beautiful. It was such a huge blessing to see the sun shining and to feel crisp, fall weather. It felt like a promise from God, good is yet to come.

We had a fantastic Halloween trick-or-treating with friends and are anxiously counting down to family time which we have been missing terribly. Major grandparent withdrawal around here. Lucy & I are flying to see my parents in order to celebrate her 6th birthday with her BFF/cousin (thanks, Southwest, for the free tickets!) in 2 weeks and then Mark's parents will be here for Thanksgiving.

We enter into the season of Thanksgiving with full and grateful hearts. If I were to list all our blessings, you'd be reading for days. Near the top of the list right now - good health!

My 3 Trick-or-Treaters:



My ferocious alligator:



My sweet kitty cat:



My curious monkey:



Thanks to our fabulous friends for the great Halloween photos!

Watch Cole Grow - Month 4

UPDATE: Cole went to a pediatric opthamalogist this week and will not require surgery or any other immediate action for his eyes. He is farsighted but not severe enough where it would be worth the trouble of glasses at his age. We'll go back around his 2nd birthday to re-evaulate. Praise God!

Can't believe we've had our peanut home for four months now! He is 16 months old today and continues to change quite a bit (for the better, mostly!). Still not quite 18 pounds and still unable to wear any kind of pants due to zero waist or behind. :) We love the one-piece outfits and overalls!

2 teeth now: one on the bottom and an upper molar. Our pediatrician said that was definitely the most interesting order of teeth to appear she has seen! Two more are on their way in. Eye doctor appointment next week - praying for an easy solution! Says Mama and Dada to us and can be rather L-O-U-D. Waves bye-bye but quickly stops to clap for himself. So thankful that he is eating so much now (working on learning the sign language for "please" instead of screaming impatiently in the high chair).

Can't believe we're coming up on a whole year when we first saw his little face!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

We ventured over to the local Pumpkin Patch this weekend even though it was chilly out and super muddy. Everyone had a fun time and it turned out to be a gorgeous, fall day!

Nate loved the tractors everywhere but not the signs that said Keep Off Tractors. Very disappointing for him.


Nate & Lucy got to ride the ponies


Nate says pumpkin "putt-in" :)


My new favorite picture of my almost 6 year old girl


These pumpkins are bigger than Cole!

Fall Dress

I made this dress for Lucy in literally less than 30 minutes using the tutorial over at a craft blog here. Probably would have gone even faster except 1)I couldn't find a safety pin and 2)two little boys were way too fascinated with my sewing machine.



It is made out of dishtowels, found in the Target dollar spot ($2.50 for both)! I hope they'll have Christmas ones next!

The One in the Middle

Poor Nate hasn't been featured on here in a while - must be that middle child syndrome. He is very noticable in our home though, constantly having us laughing or shaking our heads in wonder.

His latest adorableness comes out in the way he addresses his sister. He no longer calls her "C", which used to be his best version of "Lucy", but she is now just "Sweetie". 100% of the time. "Sweetie's at school" "Sweetie's school bus" "No, Sweetie, No!" He also stands in the driveway with arms outstretched when the bus comes after school. And with a mama's pride I watch as she faithfully runs off the bus into his arms for the first hug.

He is also completely obsessed with friends from church: Sam, 4, and Paige, 6. I hear him listing all the time, "Mama, Daddy, Nate, Sweetie, Tole (Cole),Sammy, Paige." He was talking on the phone to my parents recently and was telling them that Daddy was at work and Paige was at school. I don't blame him for his obsession - they are great kids who are so kind to him!

We are well into the supposed terrible two's, yet he continues to be a laidback, mostly obedient sweetheart of a boy. We have had zero issues with any jealousy since Cole arrived and we thank God every day for this blessing of a child! (Me especially since I prayed and prayed he would be a girl. Isn't God good to give us what we need and not what we think we want? One of the many ways God shows me that, just as in the beginning of creation, He alone knows what is good.)

Watch Cole Grow - Month 3

Things are finally settling in around here and I have two words for that: Praise God! Mark likes to quote Pinocchio and say about Cole, "He's a real boy!" as he now seems to exhibit much more characterics of a child his age - contentment, joy, patience to go along with the screaming, whining and crying.

We had Mark's parents in for Labor Day weekend and Cole did so great with them. They even babysat, took the kids to McD's and survived! It was a true turning point as he continues to show more patience and acceptance of others. Being out for weekly soccer practice has helped as well as continual stays in the church nursery.

We went for his 15 month checkup today and here are his current stats:

17 lbs 9 oz
28 1/4 inches

We are going to the pediatric opthamologist next to see about his eyes - they don't always stay together as you can see in the picture (he is wearing Nate's halloween costume in an attempt to make Nate want to try it on)...

Soccer!

Lucy is playing soccer this year for the first time and she loves it! She has had practice for several weeks and her first game was this past Saturday. I was so impressed with the attitude and effort of the girls - it was a lot of running and endurance for these 5 & 6 year olds!

The best part was watching both teams and coaches gather in the middle of the field to pray before the game. I just know this is going to be a great experience for our girlie and am excited to watch her grow!

She started out in defense near the goal. Here she is viewing the action at the other end of the field:



Watching & waiting:



Still waiting...



Hooray! Finally some action!

Month 2

So I'm a month behind already! Anyways, here is a picture and update of Cole back around August 8 (our two month anniversary of receiving him). We have a doc appointment on Wednesday so I'll add the month 3 update after that...



Cole started walking, grew his first tooth (one loner on the bottom) and babbles "mama" and "dada" but not necessarily at his parents. :) He weighed around 17 pounds & had his first visit to the zoo.

Book Review

I just finished reading the book Going Public by David and Kelli Pritchard. If you're a believer and your child is in or will attend public school, you should definitely read this book!

It shares from their family's personal experience how to equip and walk beside your child as he/she attends public school and maintains the Christian morals and values taught to him/her in the home.

This book is full of practical tips and advice plus personal testimonials and has inspired me to have a better attitude about Lucy's kindergarten experience! It was written very recently, although before the presidential election of 2008.
You can read more about it here.

Meanwhile...

I really enjoy reading blogs. I love reading about adoption stories, catching up on friends from college & beyond, saving money from all those coupon sites and have now found my newest addiction - the craft/project blog! It's been so fun to go from one to another and to see so many cute and inexpensive ideas. My favorites so far are 320 Sycamore, MADE, and Creative Little Daisy.

It's been such great "therapy" for me to be making stuff, to feel productive when there is so much I just can't do right now. Just wanted to showcase a few things...

I saw on this blog the inspiration for our new Backpack station. This is our hall closet at the top of the stairs that used to be your typical hall closet. I should have taken a "before" picture but I'm sure you get the idea. Coats, vacuum cleaner, random stuff on the shelf. Now we have this organized, pretty station to keep all the "stuff"! (I've also ordered the kids' names in vinyl lettering that I'll put above their hooks.)



This is not something I've made but I have received lots of comments lately about the labels I use on Cole's bottles & cups. My friend Mary Ellen sells them and you can click the link for Stuck on You on the right side of my blog. I got a set of labels shortly after Lucy was born and they have lasted this whole time and we used them in the beginning for sippy cups, snack cups, etc and now put them on her lunchbox, backpack, etc. Such a great, great product!



Also, I found this super easy tutorial here to make reusable snack bags. I was going through ziploc bags like crazy needing to pack snacks for two boys any time we go out and it was getting excessive (especially since we're so housebound and I can't get to the store that often to buy more). Now Lucy takes a snack to kindergarten every day and they have been perfect for that as well!



And lastly, I made my first article of clothing. I love to sew, even had a sewing business for a while, but have always been intimidated by clothes. So I found this tutorial and made Lucy a skirt! It's not perfect but it will work and it wasn't easy but I did it! My next challenge is to use an actual pattern. The teacher of the tutorial recommends making things out of old sheets from Goodwill so I have a cute one covered in wildflowers that I got for $2 just waiting to be a cute sundress. We'll see how it goes! (Lucy's skirt is made from a pillow sham I got there as well.)



Of course, it's very important that the skirt twirls...



Then I made a matching hairclip using this tutorial.


So I don't think I'm going to turn into a craft blog but it has been fun making all these things! And it's easier to show my mom (who answers all my sewing questions for me) the finished products this way!

Back to School

Lucy started kindergarten this week! She LOVES it so much which makes it easier on this sad mama who can see the next 13 years of her life flying by!



She only has 15 kids in her class and a new teacher who seems very sweet and organized. We debated back and forth about letting her ride the bus and in the end, we decided to give it a try. With two little boys that take for-ev-er to get in and out of the car, we thought it would be much simpler (especially once winter comes) to take advantage of the bus! Of course the first day the bus was super early and we almost missed it but I'm sure we'll get the hang of it.





I've also struggled with what method of schooling is best for our family. We always felt like public school would be a wonderful ministry opportunity but now that we're here, it concerns me to let go of Lucy this way. So needless to say, we'll be doing a lot of monitoring and praying and trusting God will show us each school year what He desires for the growth and discipleship of our kids.

2 months

Cole came home with us two months ago and although I'm not ready to begin the regular happy days of blogging yet, I did want to document this day. Yes, it's the 2 month anniversary of when we stepped off that plane and began this new adventure as a family of 5 but today is also the first day we had no screaming (from either Cole or me!). The first day where we enjoyed ourselves from morning to night! And although he did start to whine when I stood up once to put away laundry, something in me handled it differently.

I confessed openly recently that I have been shown that so much of my struggles this summer were not about Cole after all. Not about a grumpy, whiny child who would not be happy but instead, these trials and intense moments of frustration have been about me! In my arrogance, my expectations for having a 3rd child were extremely inaccurate and having thought myself to be a good mother, capable and patient, I now see my weaknesses overwhelming what little strengths I have.

But I can rejoice in this! 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 shows me that in my repentance & submission, I am now in a place of victory, ready to move forward in service of this adorable little boy who gives nothing in return.

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

The difference in me today was submission to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to empower me to be the mother He has asked me to be! Now each day is going to be another opportunity to submit or to struggle and there may be days when I submit and still struggle. But I have hope again and that is power in itself.

Time for a break...

I'm going to take a little break from the blog world for a while - not that I post that often anyways! But it's become one more thing to "work" at, trying to think of something worthwhile to share and even more challenging, something that is positive.

I'm concluding our situation is unique in that Cole has been home 6 weeks and we're still struggling. Well, I'm still struggling. We did have a pretty good first post-placement visit though and were told it's "supposed" to get better!

Mark challenged me though with "What if it doesn't get better? What if this is how our life is from now on? How will you handle it? What will you do?" I can't wait it out, I've got to deal with it. So here goes!

Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the summer! I'm sure I'll post pictures of Lucy's first day of kindergarten which sadly, is only 3 weeks away. Sniff, sniff!

Hanging in there...kind of

If you're looking for an update on us, you could just go to Colleen's blog and read this post. Seriously, minus the sleep issues (thankfully) and the parties (unfortunately), this is our life, too!!!

The lice is GONE - hooray, hooray. Just as the celebrations were to begin and we were going to actually venture out of our house, Cole now has some mystery fever. The doctor is unsure about it and threw out all kinds of scary options that it could be, but for now we can do nothing but wait and watch. We are hoping to travel to Texas tomorrow to see family (most of whom have not met Cole) but are now hesitant to do so with the fever so we'll see... trying to focus on God's sovereignty and the big picture but it's a challenge when you've been trapped in your house for 5 weeks!

Meanwhile, Lucy is enjoying VBS at our church this week and Nate is entertaining us by yodeling along to the Sound of Music cd (the puppet show is the yodel song) and Cole, in his sickness, is sleeping a lot and enduring it all. Hopefully my next post will be full of pictures from the Texas heat and not more whining about how life isn't fair. :)

Watch Cole Grow!

For Lucy & Nate's first year of life, I would take a picture each month on the date of their birth showing their growth and change. I was so happy when we got Cole's baby book that it had pages to do that for his first year at home since obviously his first year of life wasn't with us. So here is the Month One picture and stats:



16 lbs 6 oz
27 inches
Crawling, Pulling Up, Standing alone for a few seconds
No hair due to the everlasting lice issue

Also, he is eating better and on a great sleeping schedule - 2 naps a day, 2 hours each, 10-12 hours at night with no wakings! We haven't been out of the house too much and I'm okay with that (though I miss church desperately!).

We went to Children's Hospital yesterday here in St Louis where they have a monthly International Adoption Clinic. If you have something like that in your area, I highly recommend it. We were in one room and 3 out of 4 different doctors came to us to evaulate and screen Cole. (We had to go to an audiology lab for his hearing but that was no big deal since it was just upstairs!)

We're still waiting on lab results but overall things look good! And of course everyone that met him commented on his huge eyes.

So I hope to update with a new picture every month on the day we got him. This is a day late but you get the idea. :)

Counseling

Mark and his friend, Jason, are co-teaching a Biblical Counseling class at our church this summer. Mark is a certified Biblical Counselor and is using this class to teach other believers how to effectively counsel others using Scripture alone.

You can click here to listen to the lectures and also see a list of books and other helpful resources.

The basis is that Scripture claims to be sufficient to meet every spiritual need and a lot of issues people deal with today are spiritual at the root; whether it is depression, marital trouble, sin issues, etc. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

It's been such a blessing to watch Mark minister to others using God's words and not man's. I'm so proud of him and his obedience to the Lord!

One Step Forward...

...a million steps back! No, things aren't too bad. We were doing so well and I even managed to take all three kids by myself on a quick errand but we've had a major setback. That nasty lice has returned and it's been a huge pain!! I found it in Lucy's hair earlier this week and was so worried it would have to be cut. She was very patient though as I spent 4 hours combing through every last strand. Thankfully, the boys took great naps that day so I could devote myself to that unpleasant task.

And yuk of all yuk, it showed up in my hair as well. Trying to treat yourself for lice is almost impossible so I have a lot of doubt that I was successful. So I've been doing tons of laundry, bagging up all the stuffed animals, etc and warning those we have seen recently to watch out. Meanwhile, there is a beautiful summer passing us by while we stay home and wait out this nastiness.

But even in all of that...there is purpose and an opportunity to glorify God. It's not the way I would have chosen to spend my time but I can choose to obey and do what He's asked me to do. In this instance, caring for my children requires gross lice shampoo, tedious combing, staying home alone and tons of laundry. Whew.

Meanwhile, we are eager because next week we take Cole to Children's Hospital for their monthly International Adoption Clinic. He has not been to the doctor since we've been home so I'm anxious to hear some professional opinions and advice on his development and growth. I finally found a pair of shorts to fit my little guy and they are size 0-3 months! I keep telling him at mealtime that he needs to eat because there are starving children in the world and he was one of them! He's not convinced though. :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July!

Progress!

We had a great visit with my mom and dad last week and they were such a huge help to us. We have so much to praise God for and it's hard to believe the huge changes we've seen in just 2 weeks! Cole is doing so well with sleeping now and I can't tell you enough how it warms my heart to hear my two boys on the baby monitor "talking" back and forth at night before they fall asleep. We feel so blessed to have him taking good naps and sleeping all night!
We have discovered his love for sweet potatoes baby food so everything else gets hidden in it for now. He also has come such a long way with self-feeding and is very good at getting small things like cheerios and puffs in his mouth.
One thing I'm so thankful for God's timing in bringing us Cole in the summer time where we have a more flexible schedule and don't have to worry about 10 million layers of clothing just to get out the door. My mom was a great help since I had to take Lucy to Vacation Bible School every day last week but now we have a couple of weeks with nowhere to be and that is going to be great. Still trying to figure out running errands. He & Nate are just not happy shoppers!
Here he is enjoying our little pool and being outside! He is still so little bitty that I put his bath seat in the pool so he could splash around. His tiny 3-6 month bathing suit was barely staying on his waist!