A new blog.

I am starting a new blog about adoption. There's not much there yet, but I will be working on it. I wanted a place to celebrate our adoption this summer (hopefully) of the kids. You can see it when you click on "view my complete profile".

Picture Day

Two weeks ago we made the trip to Sears to have pictures taken of all the kids. We are so long overdue that it's embarrassing. This summer I hope to have Nicole take pics of the whole family. So here is the story of what happened BEFORE the pics were taken: I was pushing Olivia in the single stroller because she couldn't walk very good yet after the stroke, Isaac had Savanna by the hand and they were walking in between us. Rick was last with Justin and Logan in the double stroller. Isaac was in such a rush to get in the door that he decided it would be faster to push Savanna rather than drag her by the hand. She fell of course and he fell on top of her. We were LITERALLY entering the building to get the pics done. Poor Savanna was hurt, her face was all cut up and she had blood on her shirt. Poor Isaac felt really bad and he skinned his elbow plus put a hole in his jeans. Rick and I were upset at the time because why couldn't it have happened on the way out; but we laugh now because we will always remember that day. Here is Savanna with her "owee chin" and the final picture.

Enjoying Spring

We had some fun this weekend enjoying the nice weather. Dad and Dannette gave us this nice picnic table that used to belong to them and then Ma Brown. The kids are loving having the ice cream shop closest to us open for the season. Each night they are dirty, dirty, dirty after playing outside. Just look at Justin's face.

We have two new daughters today.....

What great news today! Savanna and Olivia will be ours! Both biological dads have signed off their parental rights so that we can adopt them. It has been such a long process with months and months of sleepless nights and worrying. Now we only have Isaac left to deal with in court. After talking to the prosecuting attorney, we really feel like everything will work out in our favor. Praise God for his blessings on us today. Rick and I want to thank everyone for coming to court for us. We have a special group of family and friends for sure.

Is my cooking that bad??

Logan has fallen asleep today during lunch for the second time in two weeks. Is my food so bad that he'd rather sleep? Just kidding. Logan is my little eater, he eats everything on his plate and then some. Olivia is doing really well. Today her teacher stopped by to see her and said that she could return to school tomorrow. Yeah- she's so excited. She is nearly back to her normal baseline. She only complains of pain in her hand once in a while when she wakes up. Hopefully she will be worn out from school and sleep better at night. The kids had fun playing outside with dad today.

Monday...

Olivia continues to improve and is finally sleeping through the night at least until 5 AM. Her pain seems to be decreasing and she is getting bolder in what she is trying to do. Today I found her in the half bath by herself trying to get her diaper off while I was changing the kids pants in their bathroom. I just hope she doesn't get hurt. Holland Hospital never returned my call today so no news to report on therapy. Justin is pretending to take Logan's picture with his toy. Isaac is up north with Austin having a great time with grandma and pa.

Saturday ....

Olivia is improving each day. She is able to walk with assistance and can walk for a few feet by herself before falling. She is not safe to be walking but you know Olivia. At least her determination (read stubbornness) will help her to walk again. LOL. She is on neurontin now for nerve pain. Her biggest problem after getting home was that as the right side regenerates or returns to normal feeling she has had a lot of pain. She also feels like her arm is cold and that she is wet all the time. I have had a hard time convincing her sometimes that her clothes are not all wet because her brain is telling her that they are wet. Each day gets a little better for her. She continues to have small seizures and is quite twitchy still.

Thursday afternoon..

Here is the latest update: yesterday we were told that she did not have a stroke. Now after all of the neurologists got together and looked at her MRI, they have determined that she did have a metabolic stroke. Whatever mitochondrial disorder she has is causing a reaction in her brain. They think that the continued seizures may be residual from the stroke. The plan is to increase her seizure meds and send us home tonight. She will need out-patient therapy because she cannot walk and can hardly move her right hand. We have a lot of hard days ahead of us.

Thursday AM update...

The good news is that they do not feel she has had a stroke. The bad news is that she has continued to have seizures and vomiting. Olivia has been very agitated and restless. We're all ready to go home. I am not sure what the plan is going to be or how they plan to stop the seizures. We'll keep you updated.

Wednesday morning update...

We don't have any great news. The MRI showed an area of swelling in her brain. It may have been caused by the influenza we had or from dehydration from her vomiting. They told us yesterday morning after the MRI about the swelling and infection in the brain. The plan was to get a dose of steroids through the IV then go home with oral steroids. The neurologist came back while we were waiting for the IV med and told us even worse news which is that the radiologist felt like he could not rule out a stroke. They wanted to do another MRI that only takes 10 minutes to check the veins and arteries to determine if it really was a stroke and if so what type.