The Rest of the Story

So...you know our day went well.  Exceedingly well!

How great is our God?!?  I spent much of the two-hour trip to the hospital at 4 a.m. praising Him.  He is worthy.  Always!  We can pray with expectation and confidence.

Dr. Smith knew we have another surgery tomorrow, and he knew we hoped to recuperate at home.  But he also knew we were willing to do whatever was best for the girls' recovery.

The plan was to harvest cartilage from each of their ears for the rhinoplasty, and his greatest concern was swelling, blood accumulation and possible infection of the graft site.

For that reason he thought it best we stay overnight for observation. 

But these rock star patients did so well, and Kinley didn't even need a graft ...

 ...so he let us go home...JUST AS WE'D PRAYED!

That was an answer to prayer, and we thank you for joining us in that request.

And then as we were pulling away from the hospital, the phone rang with good news!  We have 

 (that's pre-approval from China to adopt our littlest Treasure!)  
Didn't expect that!

What I didn't tell you is at 2 a.m. we woke up to this...

 Our heat and air unit has crashed!  And if that weren't enough, it has ruined the ceiling.

Maybe you've heard the adage, "You might be adopting if things start breaking."

Well, we have a broken AC and a broken lawn mower so we're off to a great start :) 

But I choose to praise HIM!
He is worthy!
There is nothing too big for Him.  No costly heat and air unit, no fear of surgery and no obstacle to bringing our Treasure home.  Nothing!

Are you approaching the throne of grace with confidence?

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Heb 10:19-23

Are We There Yet?

To the end of this week, I mean!

Tomorrow morning at 4 a.m. we will head south for back-to-back surgeries, hopefully beginning at 8:30.  Kennah and Kinley are both having cleft-related revisions.  

Our hope and prayer is that we get to spend tomorrow night at home.  
*Would you join us in that prayer?*

The week gets a little crazy after tomorrow, but we continue to seek perspective from the Lord.  We are so in awe of His handiwork!  We face this week with peaceful hearts, even amid the chaotic events, praise be to Him!

We will keep you posted on the progress.

Thursday is the last shot at the Canon!!  We will be posting the winner by Thursday night.
Thank you to all who have given and shared, and may you be blessed 

And Then She Was Six!

I can't believe she's 6!

She's growing up so fast!

She's such a Treasure!  
She's a little mama to her baby sisters.
She has a giggle like no other.
She really wants to learn to read, and will probably be doing so before kindergarten.
She's endured 5 surgeries (2 without mama), and has another coming up in April.
We love you, sweet girl!!!

Whirlwind Week Recap

So many of you were praying for Kennah's surgery on Wednesday, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!  On Tuesday afternoon Dr. Smith's office asked us to arrived at 7 am in the event the big case ahead of us would cancel.  If it didn't cancel, we would sit and wait till 1 pm.  Our prayers were answered, and Kennah went into surgery at 8 am!

Dr. Smith and his team successfully performed the pharyngeal flap and z-plasty to her lip and nose.

The girl is a rock star!

We are staying ahead of her pain, but she rarely acts like it bothers her, and she doesn't complain about her liquid/soft diet.

We were discharged from ICU at 9:30 am Thursday, and she's recovering in the chaos that we call home.

I can hardly believe that Thanksgiving is around the corner!
We have so very much to be thankful for!

Happy Birthday, Kennah!!!

One year ago we had to celebrate from afar.

We sent you a cake and some goodies...

...including a picture of your family.
This year you turned 4 in the presence of your family! You are, indeed, a SISTER and a DAUGHTER!
Happy Birthday, precious one! We love you!!!

All Systems Go!

Kennah-bug will have surgery tomorrow (Wednesday)!!!!


She is healthy and good to go, finally!
Thank you so much for your comments and emails with nutritional information to help boost our Thin Mint. I appreciate them so much!
I just love the adoption community - ya'll rock!
Our prayer is that tomorrow her 'moderate hearing loss' will be reversed by the tubes which will remove the fluid. And no.more.ear.infections!!!!

Mamas, Can You Help?

This is my Kennah-bug, our little Thin Mint. Isn't she beautiful?!?

Some of you have stated in no uncertain terms you'd like to see more pictures of her ;-)

It's not that I don't want to post pictures. I have an entire array of excuses that would knock your socks off, I'm sure. But the truth is, I take a lot of pictures of all my kiddos, but Thin Mint has had 5 ear infections since she's been home and has grown 3 inches...and she looks so thin.

She's always going to be petite, but frankly I'm surprised she hasn't gained more weight in the 9 months she's been home.

We've seen all the doctors and done all the lab work to make sure there isn't a medical reason for her ultra-thin physique. She was scheduled to have tubes put in last Friday, but she had too much congestion to do the surgery. Once that's done she will undoubtedly feel better!

So here's where you can help me.

Do you have a child that's suffered from malnourishment?

A child who needs to gain weight?
Here are the things I do:

Prepare nutritious meals at home (the ramen noodle thing is a rare occurrence ;-)

1) Have her drink 1 C*rnation Instant Breakfast drink every day.

2) Keep plenty of fruit, popcorn and crackers and almonds around for snacks.

3) We drink water, not pop or juice.

4) She takes a multi-vitamin.

What else can I do? I welcome your comments of things that have worked for you, and even suggestions of things to try.

Mama and her Thin Mint would be so appreciative!

This girl!

She's come a long way! We've always seen the ornery side of her, and now we're seeing her silly side. She is blossoming...all 27.6 pounds of her!
Tomorrow morning she's having dental surgery, and I wonder if the Lord places our Kennah Janae on your heart, would you please pray for her?
Surgery is scheduled at 9 CST, for 1.5 hours, and the dentist will x-ray, fill five cavities..."and whatever else needs to be done."
She's had two prior surgeries for CL/CP, but I'm afraid there wasn't anybody there for her, so we pray she will know that her mama and daddy are waiting to comfort her.

Three and Counting!

3.6, to be exact! That's how many pounds Kennah has gained since she's been home.
She's as ornery as ever :)

8 Weeks Home!

There are just no words to describe the transition!

Thank You, Jesus!

My Wild Child

There's so much personality in this child of mine...

...all 25 pounds of her!

She's got spunk, style and an ornery streak a mile long!

They Came!

Our two newest citizens have the docs to prove it!!!!

Getting to Know You ~ Kennah

First, can I just say, ya'll are no help at all about the sleep issue :) I'm already a believer in co-sleeping, and every one of our Treasures (except Kooper) has spent their fair share of time in our bed from the first night. But two at the same time?!? In this tiny rock bed?!?

I was prepared to do whatever I needed to do. Clayton just happened to text me as I was putting the girls to bed and asked how we were doing. My reply ~ 'two crying babies.' He said he was praying.

The result ~ I gave Kasidi her bottle, then stood by her crib just holding her and whispering in her ear for a while, then I moved her crib next to my bed, put her down and she settled right in. I moved Kennah's crib next to hers...and she got ornery and started throwing blankets on Kasidi so I moved her back to her original spot, where she sang us all to sleep! Prayer works, folks! Than you, Jesus!!!!

Little Miss loves her glasses. And she loves sharing.

She would like to blow bubbles, but the blower is more like a vacuum :)

And we spend countless hours on the phone with Baba. After she's properly fitted me with glasses, which she insists we wear in order to see her photo album.
She also knows how to work a banana. I'm hoarding every healthy snack I can get my hands on. Just trying not to overdo any one food item since I don't know if she has a malabsorbtion or digestion issue.
I wish I had pictures of her twirling around the room. The girl loves to sing and dance. We keep one of our favorite Christian stations streaming when we're in the room, and she loves it. She's finally letting me scoop her up and love on her :) :) And when she wants something, she gets my attention with, "Mama," and then points to what she wants. She's also starting to repeat words! And have I mentioned how compassionate she is toward her mei mei?!? Her personality is priceless!

Look out, Daddy, there's another princess in the Kastle!!!

2nd Coolest Thing of Yesterday

Kennah called me MAMA! Oh yes, she did!

We brought a bucket o' chicken in for supper, and the girl loves her some chicken... and corn... and chicken. She's learning that although she's apparently been taking care of most of her own needs at the ripe age of barely 3, she now has a mama to do things for her. So if Mama doesn't feed her fast enough, she taps my arm and says, "Mama," and points to what she wants.

Oh, glory be!

And baby girl loves mashed taters.
This is the precious outfit she was decked out in on Gotcha. 3 layers of lace and pearls.

Surprises! $5,000 Matching Grant and new pix!!!!

These two Treasures are the reason we must cast our pride aside and ask for help.

***Updated with new pix on Monday!!!!***

I had planned to write a post today with this title...and right after church the Lord changed the surprise!

We launched the "Xoom to the Finish" fundraiser on Friday, admitting we still need $17,000 to bring Kasidi and Kennah home.

We have been praising God that He will fully fund this journey. We have no idea how...but if we knew, there would be no need for faith.

And if this journey had a title, that title would be "Faith."

Faith that this precious little girl who is in need of surgery will come home...

(Kennah in April ~ look at those pink hightops!)

...faith that this precious little girl with a potentially frightening and unknown medical need will come home...

(Kasidi in April)

...and faith that God would provide everything to get them here!

So what's the surprise?

After church today a family wishing to remain anonymous told us the Lord has led them to give a $5,000 matching grant to help bring our Treasures home! $5,000! Do you know what that means? Any gift of $10 turns into $20, a gift of $50 turns into $100 and so on! We will keep the ChipIn up until May 15th.

We never know how the Lord chooses to provide, and we have been constantly blown away throughout the course of this journey! We can never forget that He loves our girls even more than we do!

If you wish to participate in the matching grant, please see the ChipIn on the top of our side bar .

Father, we praise You for your boundless provision and for those who are sensitive to Your Spirit.

With Confidence, I Say... (UPDATE!)

...Monday we will be one step closer to this angel! ****TODAY**** WE ARE ONE STEP CLOSER TO THIS ANGEL (and Kasidi Joy)! We received provisional approval this afternoon - WOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

I'm thrilled to report, we are now only $18,000 away from all the fees we need! And I just happen to have a way you can help with that if you like these 2 tees! We purchased 40 tees for a women's luncheon in GA (thank you, Kristie!!!!!), and I have 11 on hand that I can ship to you today!

***I'm updating the quantities as the shirts are sold, and they are moving!****

They are $30 each plus S&H ($5.15 priority with track #). I have the following sizes:

Transform, black

Quantity: 5, Fitted, Large

Redeemed, Grey

Quantity: 2 Fitted Large

Both shirts are beautiful. Just leave a comment or email me if you'd like one.

Happy Birthday ~ Long Distance Style!

Thanks to Ladybugs N Love, we have new pictures of our girl! Be still, my heart! She has grown!

Look at that ~ even her new name for the party!
Honey child, your mommy wears that same expression most of the time ;-) Happy birthday, sweet girl. It's the last one you'll celebrate without your family. We love you!!!
God, You are so good!

Inquiring Minds Want to Know ~ Why Increased Costs?

Here she is!

I want to share the whole story with you...all the amazing things God has done and continues to do. And I will. But today I know you'd just go straight to the pictures :)

KENNAH JANAE

...whose orphanage bed will soon be empty - oh, praise you Jesus!

Those eyes!

She is not in the same orphanage as Kasidi Joy, but she is in the same province! And she turns 3 next month, which will be the last birthday without her family.

And this Mama will never again refer to her as 'the reason for increased costs.'

My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.

Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.

Psalm 145:21