Sarah Joy

I wanted to share an updated picture of Sarah. Can't wait to get the call saying we hve an appointment. Please pray that we will get it soon!

Introducing Selah Johannah

Isn't she beautiful?




So we've been advised to put our blog on private until we get home. At this point I would probably dance down the street naked if someone advised me to do it LOL if that was what it took to get them home LOL~ So if you are reading this, you are really my friend:) Since we are private, I felt I could share her picture.

We already love her and can picture her and Sarah playing happily in their room together. She has some delays and CP although she can walk. She may have some vision problems but it is probably not as bad as we thought at first. Sam's speech teacher is so excited to start to work with them. She is brain storming already the best way to start them. As soon as we get home and recover, we want to get them in all the therapies possible. And of course we will take Sarah in June/July for her eye surgery. It will also be time for Sam's yearly check up. Our doctor is very hopeful about Sarah's eye as it does not seem to have an overly thick or protruding cornea,from the pictures we have, which makes for an easier surgery. When Sam had the surgery, he went from barely mobile to walking all over the place and developmentally he progressed in huge ways in the months following the surgery. He will also examine Selah to see if she has any vision issues. Dr Aquavella is one of a kind, the best doctor you could imagine. He loves to give children sight! He is 79 years old and has been working on kids with Peter's Anomaly since the 1960's! He is now semi-retired but takes Peter's cases. He takes the hardest cases, the ones that other doctors have given up hope on and he gives these kids some sight! He is amazing! We totally trust his experience and you'd never know his age! He moves like a much younger man!

We have so many plans and hopes for these girls. PLEASE pray that we will get our appointment date on Monday and it will be soon! Pray that we will find favor and a quick (as possible trip) and pray that the girls' hearts will be opened to us. It was so easy with Shad, with him it's like he totally understood I was there to get him:) He was like "What took you so long?" He came right to me and was attached every since:) But some kids are more hesitant than that. I didn't know then that his behavior was a bit odd! He wouldn't even let go of me to take pictures with the orphanage staff. That was so sweet! I loved it but I know that doesn't always happen and these girls are older

Although it is hard on us to be gone for so long, in some ways it is good. We will visit the girls daily and that will give them time to get used to us. With them being older, it will be good for them to gradually get to know us. We do not want to upset them. I can't imagine how it was for Shad for some different looking tall blond lady to get him, put him in a taxi and leave the only place he'd ever known but bless his heart, he fell asleep on my lap and was happy when he woke up:) What a little adventurer he was (and still is) We would really be blessed if these girls reacted like that!!!!

So keep us in prayer that Monday is THE day!!

Thank you!

At the Doctor's

My husband is getting his 3rd epidural today for his back. He has 3 herniated discs and has been having these treatments and thankfully they are working. He is back to light exercising and walking. He hopes with this treatment that he can get back to jogging. He has no idea whythis problem started but he has had problems since this past summer. We are happy that he is much better and ready to go on our trip to get the girls!

We are excited about being the parents of two girls. This is going to be so different for us, we are used to boys and boy toys:) I bought them a Sunshine Family Dollhouse yesterday and had fun setting it up, the boys were laughing at me:) They said I had way too much fun setting it up! I can't help myself I've been buying them matching clothes and shoes! LOL they are going to be so cute. I can't wait to get these girls home! I hope we get the call on Monday!!!!!!!! Please pray!!!!! The only good thing is that the weather will be warmer there! We are from Florida and are already having temps in the 90's so we hope it won't be in the 20's there lOL~ We are more used to flip-flops than boots!!!!!

So we hope to hear that call on Monday morning:) I'll be posting as soon as I hear!!!!

Tuffy needs a home

Still waiting on a travel invitation and appointment....hopefully we will hear on Monday....

In other news, WAIT! That is our other news! WE feel like our lives are on hold until we know when we are leaving! Please pray that we will get our date on Monday and that it will be soon:)

Their room is completely done & so cute. I would take a picture but Mr Sam broke our camera! I bought a new one but don't understand it, it seems too complicated for us (even my 16 yr old didn't like it) so I have to take it back and get another one. But I will put some pictures up soon.

We are having beautiful weather!!!! I LOVE Florida in the spring, spring? It was 95 degrees yesterday! It's great!

A new dog came up, we named him Tuffy. I took him to the vet to get checked out and they think he was used as bait for fighting dogs! His face/neck is covered with cuts and he is on 3 antibiotics for the rips in his mouth. The swelling has gone down thank God. But he has the SWEETEST disposition! He doesn't even growl when I clean his face/mouth. We are looking for a home for this lover boy. HE is about 1 1/2 loves kids, is scared of cats and is great with our dogs. I love this tough little mutt and how sweet he is despite the hard life he has had.

Even if you could just foster him while we are gone to pick up the girls, that would be a blessing! He would need to be in a very good fenced in yard or I'm afraid he might try and come back here and he'd need lots of love. He wants to come inside but we haven't let him. He maybe housebroken, he doesn't lift his legs on much- he's not a peeing dog like our lab who pees every second it seems! He is the dearest little boy! He now has all his shots and he is getting fixed tomorrow.
Please contact me if you are interested!!!!

No date yet...

Please pray that we will be issued an appointment date tomorrow! The country just started issuing dates for this year since their holiday close down. Three families of our group got appointments today and they are hoping the other families will get ones tomorrow. Please pray we do. Although this adoption has been very quick in some ways, it's been brutal on our emotions. We really want to get started on this part of the process, we've had our paperwork done since January & now it's been a full two months of waiting....hard on us but even harder on the children. They need their family.

So please pray for this for us! Thank you!!!!!

Peter's Anomaly- an explaination

I see I got lots of hits on my post about Peter's Anomaly so I wanted to add some more info.

As you know my son has Peter's. Peter's Anomaly is a condition that children are born with. Basically their corneas (the covering of the eye, the windshield of the eye) is cloudy. There are various degrees of cloudiness. Sam was born with very cloudy corneas but they were not real thick.

It is genetic chromosomal in many cases. In some cases, it seems to be just a random thing. Currently the University of Wisconsin is doing FREE research into PA. please contact me if you'd like the info.

Our son has been in the research study for about a year and they have yet to find the marker for PA in his DNA. Because he totally presents with PA as well as Peter's Plus Syndrome, all are convinced that there is a marker in him that maybe different than with other people.

Some kids are born with both eyes affected like Sam and then it is call bi-lateral PA. Some are born with just one eye affected and it's called uni-lateral PA.

Many times the child with present with one or both eyes smaller than normal. This is called Microphthalmia. Both of Sam's eyes are smaller than normal with his left eye being much smaller than normal.

Anophthalmia is when one or both eyes did not develop. We've met some children who have had that condition.

Another part of Peter's is the frequency that the child develops glaucoma. Sam's has been kept in check by eye drops but it something that can happen to a child even if the child is never treated (for example with a transplant or implant)

Treatments...

Some families do nothing....I will not even get into my ideas on that!!!

Our plan was to treat aggressively and we did from day one.

When Sam was just 8 weeks old (only 2 weeks after his real due date) he had his right cornea transplanted. Then a few months later, he had his left eye done. The left eye began rejection within 6 weeks and we fought it for months with extra eye drops & frequent trips to Miami for him to be put under and received steroid shots directly into the eye itself. Nothing worked and we just left it alone for awhile.

By the time he was three his right eye had totally rejected, turning just as cloudy as it was when he was born.

Then our doctors told us about corneal IMPLANTS! Made from thin plastic, the implant is not rejected! So we took Sam to Dr Aquevella in Rochester NY for the procedure in August 2007 and now going on FIVE years, his eye is clear & he ia doing great.

He will never have 20/20 sight but his sight is functional and he plays, watched tv, walks without much assitance, runs in places he is familiar with. The implant was the best thing we ever did!!!!!!!

So if you are reading this and you have a child with PA, feel free to contact me. We did both procedures and I can promise you the implant is so much better than the transplants. I'm so thankful for the technology and of Dr A's skill ( and he is the most kindest man in the world!!)

I know I've made this so simple without a lot of detail but I see my one other post about PA gets so many hits, I felt I needed to explain a bit more.

BTW, we feel that Sarah the little girl we are adopting has PA and Dr A will be seeing her this summer and he is hopeful to be able to help her. We also felt that Seth has PA and Dr A was willing to try to help him also. His case looks more complicated but we have friends who adopted a little girl from China whose eyes looked just like Seth's and Dr A was able to operate and give her some sight!!! We've passed on all of Dr A's info to this family and hope that he will get seen by Dr A!

Again the picture above is Before and after Sam's implant surgery...WOW what a difference for him!!

Bittersweet news

Another family adopted Seth. We had known about it for weeks but waited to see what would happen before we posted about it. In our children's country , a child is not held for a family, as families sometimes back out at the last moment and then the child has wasted months being held and has less of a chance for adoption. This is hard for adoptive parents but it really is in the child's best interest. So until you are in country after your appointment, is really the only time you can truly know that child is saved for you.

So while it was very sad for us, our family cried together because we love him and had imagined how it would be to have him in our family. But we rest in the assurance that god is in control of this situation. We pray for him and his family the very best.

Medically he is very fragile and perhaps he needed a family to be there quicker than we could come (still waiting on our travel date any day now) They have been there for some weeks giving him attention and love.

In the big scheme of things, isn't it wonderful that he has two families that loved him enough to do a paper chase and go halfway around the world to get him! God NEVER forgot Seth and has provided for him!!!!!!


So what about us? We are expecting our travel date any day and we can't wait to go and get Sarah! We were given some info on another little girl....TWO girls???? What a change for us! We are seriously considering this second girl who we will name Selah Johannah if she becomes our daughter

God has given us a peace about the whole situation. He is the One who led us to adopt and we are just walking in the path He has for us! We were heartbroken at first. the day I found out, I cried so much that my eyes were swollen the next day but in my heart I had such a peace. Believe me that did not come from me! But we've had some time to adjust to the whole thing

So please keep us in prayer that God will order our steps and pray for Seth that God is with them in their travels and gives him the most wonderful happy life! He deserves much happiness and love and we just pray he gets a ton of it:)

Also pray that we will know if we are to add this second girl to our family and that the path is clear. Pray for their health and their hearts that they are prepared for us. thank you all!