Sweet Leighton

Just had to show off some cute pictures of Leighton I swapped off of Amys blog. Not only because she is wearing the outfit I got her, but isn't she just adorable? I swear at 2 weeks old she seems to smile half the time and holds her head up. I guess when you come out half grown you act older than your age! ;-)

Sage Referral Photo Shoot

3 years ago...

Referral Anniversary! June 26th, 2009

June 26th, 2008

June 26th, 2007

June 26th, 2006

Ahhh referral day! Kind of like the day your child is born, but you only get a glimpse of them and are told you can't hold them still. No matter that you have waited and waited and WAITED! You will wait some more. I thought once I had a picture, it would be ok. But I was wrong. It was worse because then I knew her face. Yet all that waiting and here we are. Sage has moved from that picture to our wild little spicy girl! The one who makes us laugh so hard we cry. The one I am certain would be a hippie child she has such a free spirit. The one who teaches us how to have fun no matter what. The one who taught us the heart of our Father and opened our eyes to what adoption really is. 3 years ago today, we got just a glimpse of those things to come. In my wildest dreams I could never have imagined how much that little girl in the picture would forever change me. My prayer come true.

Maverys Dedication & Fathers Day

The girls were helping daddy put in a new faucet!

Happy Fathers Day 2009!

Maverys new smile, CHEESY!


Happy Dedication Day!

Notice Mavery is trying to get down during the service, we were sweating by the time it was over worried what she might do!
Our pastor Jonathan, or as Sage calls him "Jonny"!

Today not only did we celebrate Fathers Day, we had Mavery dedicated at church. We started the day with serving Daddy breakfast in bed and giving gifts. The kids each painted a letter spelling out daddy to hang in his office. I am so thankful for my husband and the amazing father he is. I am also very blessed to have an amazing christian father and father in law. They both love the Lord and their families and I have never doubted that.

Having our children dedicated means that we are making a promise to raise our children to honor the Lord. Typically we have only taken "the" child up. But this time our kids asked if they could be a part and while I think Mark was not so sure about taking all 5 up, I am glad we did. Of course the only reason Sage really wanted up there was because she was certain she was going to be given the chance to sing on stage, and we had to take her out crying because she did not get to. But the others, they get it. It is not just OUR job to influence the kids, the olders have a job to. And I think Makenna took that very seriously after listening this morning. In the car today she was telling the little girls bible stories in such fun ways, and they were begging for more!

We are so thankful for our children, all 5 of them. And today, as we celebrate Mavery, and the gift she is from God, we are especially grateful. We know that God has big plans for her little life, and our prayer is that we will raise her to love Him, and love the plan He had for her. 2 verses we chose as part of her dedication were

Hebrews 11:1

Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.

Jeremiah 1:5

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.

And the prayer they read:

Our prayer is that Mavery will find her identity in Chirst. That she will be able to look at what God has already done and praise Him. We pray that Mavery will love the Lord above anything.

Leighton Aubrey is here!

Having a baby in our family is really a family affair! Here is a shot of one side of the waiting room today. Girls side.

Here is the boys side. Adley was not taking sides, she was on both. ;-)

We had to find ways to stay entertained. So, Malaine shows off her bridge.

And Jaylyn shows off her bridge. And Adley just showed off her cuteness!

But even Poppy can't stay awake.

Till TJ walks in w/ the news, Leighton has FINALLY arrived!

Another sweet girl in the family!

A BIG girl! Beautiful

We have a new cousin! Leighton Aubrey arrived today! Leighton is said like LAYton in case you wonder) She is my cousin TJ & Amys 3rd daughter. She beat her sister by an ounce weighing in at 9lbs 8ozs and was 22 inches long. Amy has some big babies! When I showed Mark the pictures he said "She looks like Sawyer" and that is because Sawyer was that size. She arrived via C-Section because she would not turn the right way. Which is a bummer for Amy who had to go 2 days over her due date and go through a full labor. But in the end all is well and Leighton is here. I love new blessings from God!

Disney Tips?

We still have awhile. 101 days to be exact but who is counting?! However, did I mention we get FREE dining? Have you heard all about that deal? We get a sit down meal (meaning character meals) a counter service meal AND a snack each day. Not to mention that our sit downs include drinks and dessert. (which is why someone needs to kick my rear in gear to get in shape!) I have a friend who is in the know on Disney and has been WONDERFUL and patient with me in helping me plan out my meals and days. Because as I am finding out there is a science to this schedule of dinners and being in what parks on what days, etc. And you can say, do not worry so much. But when you are dealing with 5 children, there is no option. Especially 5 children with personality. Add in that reservations have to be booked if you want certain things, you get the picture. So, just curious if you have been there, what was your very favorite place to eat, any secret tips about lines or rides, any tips on dealing w/ toddlers to tweens. I am a huge fan of the disney boards but I like details and I know many of you have been. Would love to hear from you. We can book our dining in just 11 days!

** Disney is offering this free dining August through October if you book a package through disney. Have to stay at a disney hotel. We are staying at the All Star Music. (has a family suite)

Recipes added

Because I feared if I did not do it tonight, I would not do it, I added the fondue recipes we used over at my sad, very sad recipe blog. I have a bunch I want to get on there. Anyways, if you want to have some FUN fondue, check them out here

FUN Fondue Friday!

We decided for our anniversary we would have a fondue party. Mark and I love to eat at the Melting Pot but do not attempt it at home. (nor can we afford the melting pot often) A few months back some friends had us over for a fondue party and we knew the kids would love it. And we were right. Was much easier than I thought it would be. We started with cheese, which they all thought was very yummy. For the meat instead of dipping it, we just had it cooking in a pot on the stove during our cheese fondue, then I just scooped it all in a bowl and let them eat from that. We even had some sparkling grape juice which means a TRUE party to the kids. the 3 little girls wanted to dress up and be "pretty". They are so sweet! While the cheese was yummy, steak delicious, oh the anticipation for the CHOCOLATE! Mark could not stir fast enough, they were all drooling!

Sage was hilarious. She was getting as much chocolate on her marshmallows and then shoving them in her mouth. One right after another. Can you tell in the one photo she is trying to figure out if she can shove another one in before she is done with what is in her mouth?

Yes, they were covered from head to toe, and thank goodness for my handy dandy new washing machine with its super stain remover button. It asks you what type of stain, you key it in and like magic, it got this dress back to white! Now, if I could just figure out how to get the chair cushion in there! All of our other chairs are covered in leather. I was sitting here, and oops! Guess it will be getting covered in leather soon!

I will post our fondue recipes over on my recipe blog and post a link when I get it done. Such a fun thing and we promised the kids we would have Fondue Fridays once a month from now on. Also, we had our first attempt at geocaching and failed so will post about that soon. 3 posts in one night is to much! :)

Therapy Fun

Mavery and I went again for occupational therapy today. I have to say, Mavery has really made much progress since we last met with the therapist. (and I am not doing a sensory diet or anything) And Sarah (therapist) said that many times her "adopted" kiddos graduate out quickly. Alot of it is simply adjustment, and I know that is true. However, there are still some things we have to work on. We will only be going in for therapy once a month and the point of therapy is for her to help us figure out how to keep Mavery "balanced". One thing she said today is that she can tell Mavery wants to be boss. "really, you think?"! So we are working on that. I asked how she thought she would do at Disney. She laughed and said she thought overall it was a perfect place for her to go but I better put her on a leash! ha! Lines will be our issue but she gave me some great tips for that. One is taking a water bottle half way full of water and a straw and letting her blow bubbles inside the bottle. I know she will love this as she does this EVERY day when she is sitting down to eat and gets a straw with her meal. One thing she said we would work on is that her back muscles are a little weak. Not horrible, but when she tries to get her on her belly, she does not pull herself up as far as she would like, or reach for things. She DOES do those things, I guess just not the way that is best. She was telling me how that is very normal for kids from an orphanage but that also alot of kids just have bad posture. Interesting note, she said that alot of kids sit in a position, kind of like on their knees, but w/ their booty flat on the floor, legs to their side. (called the W position if you do a google search) She said this is bad and if I catch Mavery doing that change her position. Said it affects their posture and while we might not think it a big deal, it can cause back issues down the road. (among other things) So, if your kid sits like that, might want to watch out. I googled it, very interesting. Sarah said this can be bad for Maverys sensory stuff for some reason about not getting good breathing through her trunk, blah blah blah. Typically Mavery does not sit like that, so her trunk control or lack of is obviously from her past and most likely because of her heart surgery as a baby. So, therapy went well. Of course, it is all about playtime for Mavery! She gets to swing, play on the big ball, fun fun! I have the Out of Sync Child and I am getting ready to read that. Anyone read it, any thoughts?

Gymnastics!

All 4 girls started gymnastics this week. The older 2 have been begging to go back for a long time, but it costs $$. And time. Neither of which we have a lot of. However, we figured it out for summer and they were all excited to be back. Of course Sage and Mavery were not quite sure what to expect, though the promise of doing flips was enough to get them excited to! And the promise that all 4 could go on the floor while I sat and watched, made ME excited! Mavery cried at first and it took some coaxing before she joined in. That and the fact we were being extra cautious this week after her cath probably did not help. But she soon figured out how to follow directions and was joining in the fun. Hopefully next week we can be ready on time and I can get pictures of the other girls. (that and I won't be sitting on the floor w/ the little girls class!) Sage was not happy though that they did no flips this week, that was the first thing out of her mouth when we were leaving, "I did not get to flip!" We may have to look for a tumbling class after this!

Who Knew?

**Sorry for the picture quality. I just snapped a picture of the pictures, to lazy to scan them. ;-)

We had no idea 15 years ago that together we would have

12 addresses

13 vehicles

4 pregnancies

5 children

3 births

2 adoptions

7 surgeries

5 dogs

2 cats

built 2 houses

lived in 4 states

said goodbye to 6 grandparents

survived with a work from home job

survived homeschooling our children w/ the above job situation.

We have learned to listen, to love, to laugh and to live, together. 15 years ago we had no idea the adventure God would take us on. It has been a good one and I can't wait to see where the road continues on. I am blessed.

Cousin Fun!

Sage, look at the camera!

The camera is not that way, look HERE Sage!

Come on Sage, look at ME!

Oh Sage, even Mavery is looking!
It is hopeless with that child! ;-)

Cousins: Makenna, Adley, Jaylyn, Malaine, Dalayna, Mavery, Sage, Colby & Sawyer

My cousin is in this week from Indiana and we were so excited to get to let the kids play and visit today. It was a perfect park day! Trying to get 9 kids to look at the camera was not easy as you can see. Wonder who it is that if off in her own little world.. Hmm, yes that is my Sage. Any day now we will have one more cousin joining the bunch as Amy is due on Monday! (and ready to deliver 2 weeks ago!) Thanks Dawn for coming to visit, we miss you all!

Mavery Update

Excited about checking out from the hospital!
She loves her robe, and so do all the nurses!

Her morning nurse had just returned from Disney and told Mavery all about the Mickey Ice Cream, that sure got a smile!

Poor little foot. By the way, the nails are supposed to be painted like ladybugs compliments of Makenna, but that is why you see that black. Though the toes are really bruised & cut up. Not to mention the bruising on her legs from her cath.

Mavery is recovering well this time around. So much better than our last cath was. She is still not herself, but nothing like before. Today was spent outside the house and that seemed to help her mood, and mine considerably. The first few days she cried that her legs hurt and really just wanted us to sit on the couch and snuggle her. For some odd reason, I seem to bring out the whining much more. If I am not here, she does not cry for Mark. Surprise! ;-)

Yesterday she pulled a shelf off of the bookshelf and dropped it on her foot. She cried and I mean WAILED for a long time. It was cut, as you can see in the picture so I know it hurt. I figured if she took a nap she might be better but nope. She woke up wailing. So, off to the doctor we went for an xray. Thankfully there is no break and today she is not complaining so I think the combination of not feeling good from the hospital mixed with a sore foot was just enough to do her in.

We will see our heart doctor in 2 weeks for a follow up so I guess we will talk about the next cath then. Interested to see if he will want it done before Disney (late September) or have us wait. Part of me says lets get it over with, part of me thinks lets put it off. The surgeon had said in 3-6 months so we will see.

This friday Mavery goes back to "play "with the occupational therapist. We will get the final diagnosis on the sensory stuff and she was going to see what insurance covered. Praying it covers what we need.

Thanks again for all the prayers and well wishes for Mavery this week.

A plug in the throat

They moved Mavery onto the heart floor from the cath lab at 7pm. That is when the cath lab closes. So they waited till she was in her room to turn off the good drugs, and really they are good! So she is in her new room, still asleep. The doctor comes in and is messing with her, the nurse turns the medicine off and she begins to cough. And choke. And the nurse and doc both start calling help, pull out the big breathing thing (she was already on oxygen through the day) you know the scene in ER w/ the parents standing there crying while choas seems to be going on? Yep, that was what it was like. They were not asking us to leave, so I kept thinking if it was really bad they would ask us to leave, right? Mavery then begins to scream and the doctor cheered and things calmed down. They ordered a chest xray to make sure there was not a blockage in her lungs. Thankfully that came back clear and he said it was most likely just a plug in her throat and that sometimes happens from surgery and then being under. Since you are not swallowing as normal, the "junk" in your throat can get stuck. Not long after this excitement she began to wake up and while she did come up swinging at one point, overall she woke up pretty well. As soon as she was awake they took her off the oxygen, let her drink some apple juice and finally let me hold her. Thankfully the nurse put a blanket on me and just as I was asking what the weird sound was she was making, because we figured it out. I thought she was not breathing well again but really she was trying not to puke which she then did all over us! ;-)
She is SOOO much better than the last time and while groggy is really in a pretty decent mood. She is eating vanilla wafers and just being cute. She is asking for Sagey and she was able to talk on the phone to a few people. Not looking all that tired so hopefully we will get some sleep. Thanks for all the prayers! We are supposed to get out of here about 10 or 11 in the morning.
Sorry the pictures are out of order, I am to tired to mess with them. She is enjoying a back rub from daddy in the ones, her very favorite thing! Notice the bow stayed in through surgery, and then we had some fun bed head later! She is calling me for bedtime prayers, so night night!

Mavery is out

So far Mavery is sleeping soundly. They are doing a echo on her now in our room and she has not moved. A miracle as you know!
They did place 2 stints, one on the left and the right side. The blockage was down into the lung. Those stints are very interesting. He showed us the video of during the surgery and how they balloon the artery and then place this chicken wire in there. The good news, is they got those in. The bad news? There is alot more blockage so we will most likely need more stinting done in the next 3-6 months. Trying to make sense of it all because you know that whole dr talk but here are some of the details..

• They did not do a stint during her first cath in January because they saw the aneurysm and knew open heart surgery was needed. They do not like to stint knowing they are going in and they hoped they could fix that during surgery.
  
• During surgery they did try to fix part of the artery, but the focus was the large aneurysm which they did remove and today he said that looked good.
  
• He also said that they are just not really able to fix alot of the arteries into the lungs w/ open heart surgery, they are only able to do that with a cath. So that is why it was not done at that time.
• They did not stint all of the arteries at this time because you can't do everything at once. Basically it has to do with time and not being able to shoot all that contrast in there. Can hurt her kidneys.
  
• As for her lungs (which was a big concern that one was not forming well because no blood flow) he said that your lungs develop until you are 8. Since she is young and they are aggressively trying to fix things now, the lung SHOULD develop better. Will she be a long distance runner? He said probably not but she might. She might get winded easier than most but not a huge noticeable thing. Right now we think it is noticeable.

So, overall things are better, they got the stints in, and he felt very positive about it.

We felt better, and though we hate to hear she has to endure more, we just feel relieved for now. After last time hearing that she had an aneurysm and needed open heart surgery, this felt like a relief. You know we knew going into adopt Mavery that she MIGHT need some things done. Really, this is not a surprise. Of course we prayed that she would be healed and healthy, but we know that God has a plan with our girl. If it involves bringing us to Childrens every few months, so be it. Above all we know that Mavery is home, right where she should be, getting the best medical care she could and surrounded in the love of family and friends.

Mavery is back

Mavery did really well this morning with no food. She had an initial meltdown but then really was not bad. She did ask about 1000 times in the car when she gets to eat but overall she did great and I know that she was being prayed for!

They gave her the happy juice. The last 2 times she left me with no issues and we were laughing so hard when they took her. This time she was screaming for mama when they took her. ;-( Hope that is not a sign of things to come for the rest of the day. They promise this new drug WILL work!

They said the surgery will be about 3 hours. They will do some exploring and he almost made it seem that both sides are questionable. We will see.

Thanks for the prayers. We are supposed to hear something about 1:30.

Maverys Heart Cath on Thursday

Today we went to Childrens for pre-op testing. Funny how comfortable we now feel at the hospital. Amazing how far Mavery has come and how great she did today really. Mark was not able to go so I took Makenna along for an extra hand. Trying to talk to doctors over screaming Mavery is not easy so Makenna was willing to come along to distract her! But there was no screaming and for that I am thankful. (Thanks Amber for watching the kids, Sage is still talking about "sherman" coming to play with her!) ;-)
Nurse Becky remembered our girl quite well and was so excited to see her again. She was amazed at how much she has changed since January. I forget to stand back sometimes and look at the change. First thing out of her mouth was "Don't you worry, we have some GOOD drugs for tomorrow!". I am trying not to remember that they told me that before and praying that these drugs really ARE good. If you don't remember last time, it was bad. REALLY really bad. I am tempted to write on Mavery with a sharpie " I WAKE UP EASILY".
Mavery lay on the table alone during her echo which is a big step! My biggest complaint there is, they schedule us for 11:30. Meaning we had to leave our house at 10:30. Then they were running behind. So they have her in this echo during lunch time. And yes I had snacks but if you know Mavery, she needs a schedule and she needs her food. Thankfully we made it through the echo, the xrays and were on our way through McDonalds in no time. So funny during the xray they let her stand on a stool and she has this big cheesy grin and keeps saying SMILE! She knows the camera now!
We have to be there at 10:30 tomorrow and they HOPE to get started at 11:30. We are 2nd on the list so that could mean we are bumped later. Good news, no getting up at the crack of dawn to get out of here. The bad news, Mavery can not eat in the morning. So, if you think of her early tomorrow, please pray that she will not flip out over the food, or lack of. She likes to eat, RIGHT when she wakes up. We plan to do a morning drive, a bath, a spa session of nail painting, till time to leave. And hopefully drugs as soon as we get to the hospital! ;-)
The plan is to balloon the artery and place a stent in it. (which is basically chicken wire they told me) We will be staying the night, and you know I am once again praying for that private room for our little diva. Becky said today the heart floor is very quiet so hopefully she will not have to torture a room mate all night. Quiet, for now. Those poor people when we get there! Then we just have one week of laying low and we are good to go. We hope.
Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. I feel much more peaceful this time and more comfortable. I guess after open heart sugery this seems so simple. Still scary though any time you have to take your child in. Every day I pray over Mavery and with my hands on her chest just ask that her heart would be healed. She now prays the same thing with her little hands folded and her eyes scrunched closed "Dear Jesus, please make my heart all better". Yes Jesus, please do.
**Mavery was having fun when I cleaned out our winter basket trying on all the hats!

B & B Weekend

TV in our living room. They had a ton of DVDs to watch.
They brought dinner into our room which was so nice!

Bedroom/bed

I just thought this was so clever, they had a board sitting there and I finally figured out it was to use for your makeup while getting ready! ;-)

Whirlpool Tub in bedroom.

Living Room, Comfy Couch!

The grounds are beautiful

Firepit in the middle of the chairs and under the awning is a hottub!

Entrance into our room

Front of House

Mark & I had a great time in Arcadia, Mo this weekend. Our 15th anniversary is not until 6/11 but with Maverys heart cath this week we wanted to celebrate early. If you live in the area, it is worth the drive. You know I was hesitant to visit a Bed & Breakfast. Just the whole idea of being in someones home seemed odd to me. But my fears were quickly put to rest. Our room was on the first floor and very private. We actually had our own entrance which was nice. We also had a sitting room and bedroom. I was nervous about eating with "strangers" which is just a stupid thing for me to be nervous about. I have always enjoyed meeting new people and so not sure why I worried. It was fun meeting other couples and conversation was interesting. The owners are christians and we spent hours out by the fire one evening talking to them. They felt like old friends by the time we left.

The food was AMAZING. You can order dinner made by them and they set it up in your room for you. We had steak and it was the BEST I have ever had! The breakfasts were also delicious.

The Inn is located not far from Elephant Rock State Park and Johnsons Shut In. There are also lots of little antique shops around. The drive was just a little under 2 hours from St Louis. If you need a weekend get away with your hubby, GO! Thanks to our parents for staying with all the kids! I was a little worried how Mavery would do but she did fine and I think loved being spoiled by grandparents all weekend!