Life around here

As winter continues to make itself known in full force here, we are staying busy with something for everyone! I am beyond excited to be leaving this Friday for the Adopting for Life conference in Kentucky. After a successful launch of our new orphan ministry to our church a few weeks ago, I am eager to learn more about increasing the awareness of adoption as evangelism and encouraging people to get involved, even if they aren't going to adopt themselves.

We have had such positive feedback regarding Sparrow Ministries . (Click on the link to see our video!) One family felt led to do something and after realizing adopting themselves was probably not realistic, they then chose to give a nice amount of money to help another family with their adoption. (And wouldn't you know it was the exact amount needed in order to be able to accept a referral?) We have had so many people want to help and you can see thoughts stirring in hearts and minds. Praise God! Of course, our immediate goal is to build a fund and we are doing that through our handmade goods sold here. We've added so many items and priced them low and are just having a blast!

Mark is still working hard and faithfully getting home at night in time to tuck the kids into bed (which the kids love). He is loving LOST and eagerly anticipating the arrival of baseball season. He and some friends are even going to be meeting in Arizona for spring training in March!

Lucy is really advancing in her reading ability and is also looking forward to being in a play at school about the three pigs. She is cast as a peddlar (aka crowd) and couldn't be more pleased. She is anxious to lose her first tooth although we haven't seen any signs of that happening soon. I am soaking up her half days at kindergarten, fearful that all day 1st grade will be here before we know it!

Nate is 100% potty trained - even at night. It feels like we have been given a raise, not having to buy diapers for him anymore. He is so proud of himself and absolutely adorable. He doesn't even tell me when he has to go now - just runs into the bathroom all by himself. We are still working on "It's not necessary to lock the door" though.

And Cole. Dear, sweet Cole who likes to keep things interesting. :) We have a program here in MO called Parents as Teachers. It's totally free and an early childhood expert comes to your home a few times during the school year to assess your preschoolers and help, etc. We love Miss Ann and she has been such a trooper since Cole arrived with a big bag of issues! In fact, it was her recent persistance that led us to get a second opinion on his eyes. She had brought along an OT and we were able to see how delayed developmentally he is in certain areas. (Around 6-12 months of age in fine motor skills). She felt like his eyesight may be a factor in the fact that he couldn't put a round disc through the opening or bang a specific block with a hammer, or even stack two blocks together.

So we went to another pediatric opthamologist this week and his assessment was so far from the first visit back in the fall. But we have checked his opinion with others and now feel confident in his decision. Cole will have strabismus eye surgery on April 2nd. He will also be treated with eye drops twice a week to strengthen his weak, or lazy, eye. (This produces the same results as using a patch.)

All in all, things are great and as I sit and write the ins and outs of my family, I can't help but realize how extremely blessed I am. Unbelievably, undeservedly blessed.

Watch Cole Grow - Month ??

Totally lost track of my good intentions to detail Cole's growth every month. I'll just blame that on life, I guess!

He obviously is comfortable in the new booster seat. Bye-bye highchair!

He is doing great, up to 20 pounds (hooray for facing front in the car seat) and just so busy! He is definitely more animated than my other two who are very laidback about most everything. In so many ways, I have felt like a first time mama with this one (I'm sure I've said that before) but I consider that a blessing (now) as I've learned and grown so much through my little peanut.

Mark and I took turns trying to keep up with him at Chuck E Cheese. This was a rare moment in which he paused!

Not many words but he does like to mimic sounds and has the best deep belly laugh ever. He is also the best snuggler and I treasure that time ususally right after he wakes up. He is getting picky about food but in your typical toddler way. He also loves hats and wears any hat he can find almost every waking moment.

He loves pizza, fruit, crackers and pasta.

It's hard to believe he is almost 20 months old and coming up on a 2nd birthday in a few months!

Hanging out in the toy box!

Orphan Ministry Fundraiser

We are working hard to get our new ministry off the ground! Our goal is to build a fund to help adoptive families within our church finance an adoption as well as help support orphans in need worldwide.

Our first fundraiser is handmade fabric keychains for only $5.00.





If you'd like to place an order, you can click on these google documents: Order Form and Keychain Choices or email me and I'll send you the forms. You can also see the keychains online here. Orders of 10+ keychains will receive free shipping! A great opportunity to pass these around the office or neighborhood and buy in bulk.


We appreciate the support! 100% of your payment goes directly to our ministry!

Thankful. Relief. Awe.

After more than a month of unknown, worry, fear, trust, prayer and hope, the final test has come in. Cole's white blood cell count came up completely normal this week. When his doctor called today, I braced myself and ashamedly, feared the worst. But she was practically giggly as she told me good news. She went on to say she had no explanation for it and felt like we could proceed as normal until she is scheduled to see him again on his 2nd birthday. (We will still visit the endocrinologist for his growth but not until May, as we were refused an earlier appointment.)
I immediately thought, but there is an explanation! So many people have been praying on this little boy's behalf and the good Lord saw fit to heal him. Of course, even if the call had been bad news and God thought it best for us to press on through more testing and more unknown, He is still worthy of our praise. Obviously, we are overjoyed at this point that His will was to bless Cole with good health for now.
I can not thank you enough for your prayers. I truly believe that has made a difference and can't wait for Cole to be old enough to understand how God and His people intervened on his behalf. Blessings to you...

Introducing Sparrow Ministries

We are so excited to announce our new ministry serving orphans worldwide and adoptive families here at home. We are hoping to launch this directly to our home church in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, you can see our fundraising website by clicking here: Made for Orphans.

The initial idea is to raise funds to help families in our church get over the "sticker shock" of adoption and pursue it with joy and obedience with financial help from the local body of Christ.

Our theology and understanding of adoption in the Church is wonderfully explained in Dr. Russell Moore's book, Adopted for Life. Southern Seminary is hosting an Adopting for Life conference February 26-27 in Louisville, Kentucky. (I will be attending and would love to see some of you there!)

A little news on Cole

A new "abnormal" has surfaced due to all Cole's tests. Still no answer for the high white blood cell count, but we now know he has an abnormally low growth hormone. Perhaps an answer for why our little guy is still so little?

We now will be sent to a pediatric endocrinologist to further investigate but unfortunately, the rather rude receptionist said he could not get an appointment until May and when I calmly told her it was a little more urgent than that, she said our pediatrician would have to call and vouch for that.

So we are waiting for our doctor to do just that and then we will hopefully start down a new path that will hopefully lead us to Cole's health and growth!

I can not stress enough how thankful we are that he isn't "sick" throughout all of this, that he continues to be a source of joy and energy as a normal 18 month old should be (even if he looks like a walking 6 month old!). :) He is signing "more" all the time for food and drink and is completely off bottles and formula. He likes Carnation Instant Breakfast in the morning, loves fruit, chicken nuggets and all sweets!

Thanks again for all the kind comments. We'll update again if we learn anything new!

No news is good news?

The first of the test results have come in and it all looks fine which is both good and bad! Good because those illnesses are eliminated but bad because we still don't know what is going on with our little man.

Our doctor spoke with a hematologist who reviewed his case and didn't feel an urgency to do a bone marrow biopsy or look for malignancy at this time. That is a huge relief and certainly assured our doctor as well.

More results should come in throughout the week. Thank you so much to those of you praying!