Parting is Sorrow; There is Little Sweet About It

On October 17, Scott travelled to Bulgaria to meet our newest girls.  What a delight they both are! 

 

Here is G during their first meeting.

                               And this is S.  I think she and her daddy look alike!

G. is a very independent young lady.  She uses a wheelchair but can walk with assistance.  She is a small group home that is very nice.  She has tutors work with her in the mornings and she is smart.  She loved the photobook of our family that Scott brought. 

 

S. is just the cutest thing!  She loved the ponies her nana sent.  She was shy at first, but she knew exactly why Scott was there and called him "daddy" from the beginning.  Scott says she really wants a family of her own. 

 

 

 

Leaving the girls this time was different from leaving Anna two years ago.  Anna didn't understand who Scott was or why he was there (Although I can assure you, she understands now.  Her daddy is her primary caregiver and she was a pouty girl they whole time he was gone :) 

 

Scott is very worried about how the girls are taking his being there and then being gone.  It must be so hard to understand why they have to wait again.  S especially seemed confused. 

 

We would appreciate prayers for their hearts, that God would place a peace there while they wait for us to come back.

 

We are working hard on getting our last remaining documents completed so that we can get a court date in Bulgaria.  I would also ask that you pray that God would allow us to return for them quickly!

 

If you feel so led, we would also appreciate any tax-deductible donations you would like to make to help us finish up our adoption.  No amount is too small.  It all adds up!  There is a donation link on the right or you can click here.  As you prepare to do Christmas shopping, you can also help us by entering amazon.com through our blog.  It costs you nothing but we get a commission on the sale.  The link is on the left!  Thanks!

 

 

We Got our Verbal Referral!

I promised in my last blog post (from June) to be a better blogger, but you can see that I lied.  But honestly, I haven't had a great deal to post until today.  We received our verbal referral for our two girls in Bulgaria!  That means that all we need is one more signature and our agency can issue us travel dates.  Scott will be going on the first trip to meet our two newest daughters.  Just a reminder, here they are: 

Stunning "S"

Gorgeous "G"

 

 

 

S turns 5 this month; G turns 9.  That means that next fall, we will celebrate 8 birthdays between August 19 and October 14.  That's a lot of cake!

 

 

Now that we are getting closer, it is time to fundraise a bit for the adoption.  S had an adoption grant already so that will help with first trip costs.  After that, we need to get to work.  So here are a couple of ways you can help!

 

 

We have an FSP with Reeces Rainbow.  This allows folks to donate towards our adoption and receive a tax deduction, just like you are donating to any other charity.  Here is the link:

 

Rosencrants FSP

 

 

Also, I have recently signed up to be a distributor with Young Living oils.  Ya'll, I am over the moon for essential oils!  I am going to have to do an entire blog post about all the healing we are experiencing since we started using them.  If you have been thinking about starting with the oils and need some help AND would like to help fund our adoption at the same time, now is your chance!  Just email me at eightisnotenough2012@gmail.com.

 

We also still have an Amazon link.  It is on the top left of the blog.  If you click through and then shop on Amazon, it doesn't cost you anything but we get a commission!  So easy!

 

I am hoping to do an auction like a did last year.  I will be needing donations.  More on that to come. 

 

Thank you all for being so supportive of our family over the past two years. 



Lucky 13

I have given myself a blogger award - the award for worst blogger of the year since I haven't actually blogged since last December!  I'm so sorry to have been so inconsistent and promise to try and do better.

First an update on Anna.  She has flourished since her surgery in November.  She continues to grow and now weighs about twice what she did when she arrived in the US last April.  She actually looks like five year old now.  She graduated from kindergarten a couple of weeks ago and received an award for "most cheerful!"  It is so true.  She is just the happiest little thing all the time. 

 

 

So now on to our news.  We are adopting again!  Two beautiful girls from the same country as Anna.  One first new daughter is four.  We will call her "S" until we can announce her name (after court).  Our second daughter is eight.  She will be "G" for now. 

 

Here is the beautiful "S".

 

 

 

And the stunning "G."

 

 

We are beyond excited that our family of 11 will soon be a family of 13.  What the world calls unlucky God deems blessed!

 

We have completed our paperwork except for our government approval and expect that any day.  Then one of us will travel on our first trip to meet the girls.  We can't wait!

 

I promise to do a better job of keeping everyone up to date on our progress.  We would sure appreciate your prayers as we wait to get our girls.

 

 





Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!  Anna enjoyed her first Christmas here with us and we were so happy to have her here.  First, let me show you the results of her head reduction surgery in November.  They are so amazing!  She has done well and has not had any complications. 

She starts school next week!  She will only be going for two days a week, two hours a day to start, but we are really excited. 

Anna's progress since coming home makes my heart ache even more for Giselle.  You may remember that she is another little girl, close in age to Anna, who is available for adoption from Eastern Europe.  I am her Guardian Angel.  Like Anna, she has a scary list of diagnoses.  Like Anna, she needs someone to see her for what she is:  a very special gift from God who has so much to offer the world!  She just needs a chance to get out of her crib.  Would you please share her picture and information any way you can?  Social media, word of mouth, church?  You could change her life!  I just know her mommy and daddy are out there and I believe that this is the year they will find her!

  Sweet Giselle

She has over $5,000 in grant money to help with her adoption!  Oh my goodness, I sure wish I could be the one to go get this beautiful child and watch God change her life.  Please pray for God to move mountains and bring her home!

I have one more prayer request.  Do you remember "Emmitt" who I posted on here several times?  He is home but is having some very serious medical and emotional problems.  Please pray for him and for his family.  You can read their blog here.

Surgery was Successful!

Thank you so much for all the prayers for Anna.  Surgery went very well and she is resting comfortably in the PICU.

The transformation in her head size is nothing short of miraculous. Basically, the doctors took off the majority of her skull, cut it, and reshaped it over her head.  Prior to surgery, her head circumference was 57 cm.  I don't know exactly what it will be once the swelling decreases, but it is obviously much smaller.  It should be so much easier for her to lift it and hold it up once she has healed.

She is not as swollen as we all expected, although she will probably continue to swell.  She can open her right eye, but seems to want to sleep, which is exactly what she needs.

Hopefully tomorrow she will be moved out of the PICU.  If all continues to go well, we hope to have her home by the end of the week. 

Anna's Upcoming Surgery

My last post addressed how well Anna is doing in so many ways.  Now I get to share even more praises!

Her recent lung CT looked good.  She is no longer on oxygen at all.

She now weighs 40 pounds, up for 22 pounds when we brought her home in April

She had a swallow study done and it showed that she swallows completely normally:  no aspiration!  This is such an answer to prayer.  This means we can began working with her on eating in earnest and that God led us to the right decision not to separate her stomach and esophagus (yes, the doctors wanted to do this to prevent reflux).  She is eating very well in speech therapy.  It will be a long road for her to make oral foods a major part of her diet, but we have loads of time!

Her neurosurgeon and plastic surgeon have determined that we should go forward with reducing the size of Anna's head.  This is called a cranial vault reconstruction.  They will remove a large portion of her skull and reshape her head.  It is major surgery, but it could make such a difference for her!  She might very well learn to sit up on her own and one day stand if she did not have to hold up her heavy head.  The surgery is this Friday, November 8, and we would so appreciate your prayers.  I promise to do a better job keeping the blog up to date!

Life with Anna is a million times more simple than I thought it would be.  Her health has improved so much!  I think more people would be willing to adopt children with special needs if they could experience our day to day with her.  Our church has even started a special needs class so that she has a place to go during worship.  What a blessing!

Some other families who adopted children from Anna's orphanage are struggling right now.  I ask for your prayers for them and their precious children.

I am also reminding everyone that sweet Giselle is still available and has a large grant to help with her adoption expenses.  I would sure love for her to have the same happy ending as Anna!



http://reecesrainbow.org/12884/giselle901

You Won't Believe Your Eyes

So I am officially the worst blogger of all time.  It has been so long since I posted!  I will simply claim busyness and my family definitely keeps me busy.

So onto Anna.  She is doing so well I don't even know where to start!  First of all she is now 36 pounds!  When she arrived in the US on April 5, she weighed 22 pounds.  That seems to me like an almost impossible gain, but it's true.  She looks much more like the almost five year old she is. 

You can easily see her gain here next to her two year old brother.  The first picture is when they met in May.  The second was taken a few weeks ago:

Her lungs are doing terrific.  She has not had any supplemental oxygen in over a month.  This too is miraculous.  Her lungs were very damaged by years of eating lying down. 

She now has a low profile g-tube which is such a blessing.  Her first one hung out a good ways and was easy to catch.  She tolerates her feeds mostly.  She has vomiting episodes probably three times a week.  Not really sure why, but it seems to be related to her having a lot of congestion.  I know from my other children that adjusting to an all new environment tends to cause allergies for a while.

She is also eating some by mouth!  Just a little, but it encourages us that one day she might be able to get some of her nutrition that way.

She is much stronger.  She can hold her head up to a certain extent.  Her core strength has really improved.  She does very well in her therapy sessions.

She is still a little delight, happy and smiling almost all the time.  We have gotten into a routine and caring for her seems almost easy now.  It is like having a big baby (I have to lift weights on a regular basis to stay strong enough to lift her rapidly increasing weight!) that has some medical needs.

Anna has not had to return to the hospital for any stays and her doctors appointments have become few and far between.  Her GI doc confided the other day that he thought for sure she would have been readmitted by now and is stunned by her good health.  God is so good and we are beyond grateful for his mercy.

Please feel free to ask any questions you might have about Anna or adopting a special needs child. I will do my best to answer!  Thank you for your continued prayers and continuing to follow our journey.