HOME!!

This morning the Drs decided to unhook Anna's IV in hopes that she would get thirsty and drink.

She seemed to have a bounce to her step and had much more energy after a good night sleep!

(okay... fessing up time... hubby let her have the TV on ALL night the first night... I love him, I truly do, BUT this Momma caboshed the TV on all night, instantly!)

SOOOOOooooo, Anna and the Daddy of Anna had a good night sleep last night!

Praise GOD!!

And

ALL your prayers were heard!

Praise GOD!!

(again)

ANNA did get thirsty and drank!

Then she took walks and pooped!

So our sweet girl was ready to come home!!

Praise God!

And thank you for your prayers!!

They were heard!

k

She is doing pretty good right now.

She will sleeping with her Momma and Daddy (with NO tv on!)

So so so thankful!!

Praying for a restful night!

I told her IF she needs more pain meds to just tap her Momma and I will give them to her!

(no crying, no elevated blood pressure, no gushing blood is necessary... just a gentle tap and pain meds will appear!)

THANK YOU!!

AND

THANK YOU JESUS!!

More Nights in the Hospital

Anna's surgery was a bit more involved than I thought it would be.

She is doing fine but she still is unable to drink any fluids.

There is still a lot of bloody drainage. 

We tried to get her to drink apple juice, water and spr*te.

They are allowing her to take it slowly so she does not throw up(because of the blood that drained into her stomach). 

So one night has turned into two nights and will probably turn into 3-4 nights.

She liked having her big brother and sister there but she was unable to do much of anything.

We tried a walk, a wagon ride, a puzzle, a barbie doll, a bath and watched a movie together cuddled in her bed.

She is so precious to us. It's hard to see her down and out.

Everyone misses her at home.

Praying for big changes tomorrow!

(Meaning desiring to drink fluids, actually swallowing them and NOT throwing up! And decreased bloody drainage!)

Thank you for praying for our little treasure!

Anna's surgery... a hitch

Anna went in for her surgery today.

She was unusually excited.

After seeing the other children have surgeries and procedures- it was finally her turn.

I think she wanted to private time with us and she had heard of the fun things the other kids were able to do and the movies they watched and the play doh, the puzzles, the balloons and stuffed animals and more...

I don't think she completely understood all that is involved with a hospital stay...

such as 

pain

complications

and

blood

She had a palate lengthening and tightening.

and

A columnar lengthening (nose bumped up).

They did not do a P-flap, I was wrong.

Hopefully this surgery will help her with her speech

(or beach as Luke calls it- which is so cute, I have no desire to correct him)

The surgery went well and they called me into recovery. 

Anna was getting more and more agitated and crying.

As this was happening she was beginning to bleed more and more and more.

They called the Dr back to check on her.

I was getting concerned.

It was like a little faucet of dark red blood coming out her nose.

Our sitter had gotten sick so Hubby had returned home to be with the other children.

I called him back to the hospital and big brother Mark stepped in to take care of the children.

I didn't even realize it but I guess I said to the nurses...

"Okay ladies, we need to do something here... let's call the DR."

I know I thought it but I didn't realize that I had said it!

The Dr came back again.

Blood was in her mouth now.

He checked her repair inside her mouth. We (I mean they, oops I am in nurse mode again) decided to wait a little longer... before taking her back to the OR.

I texted to Linny and Sally to pray for Anna.

-half hour later-

The Doctor came back again.

The bleeding began to slow down.

Hubby arrived.

The bleeding had now slowed down significantly.

They checked her hemoglobin- it was okay.

The OR was cancelled.

Praise God!! He heard our prayers! So so thankful!

Everyone was wonderful!

She is spending the night in the PICU with her Daddy!

When I left she was comfortably resting with the TV on because ya know that's half the fun! 

TV on at all times of day and night!

Hopefully she can have something to drink tomorrow.

Popsicles, jello, juice!

She will hopefully come home on Saturday!

Praising God and so thankful for praying friends!

Flower Ball Tutorial

I don't really do all that much seasonal decorating in the house and since we don't have a real mantel, there's not a whole lot to decorate around. However, the Jewish holiday of Sukkot is coming up next week and it is a tradition to decorate the sukkah with produce, flowers and all things from nature. This is a great and easy autumn or Thanksgiving craft for anyone and it can modified to any season or color scheme.

This is all you need:

Supplies: foam ball (I used 6") • assortment of faux flowers, leaves, fruit, etc. in coordinating colors • 1 yard of ribbon (optional) •  hot glue

(I don't normally decorate with faux flowers, but since this is going to end up outside, real flowers were not an option since it has to be able to hold up against the elements.)

This first thing to do is wrap the ribbon around the ball and use your hot glue gun to glue it to the bottom and sides of the ball. If you will not be hanging it, you can skip this step.

Then use a wire cutter to cut all the flowers off their stems, leaving about an inch remaining.

You can get rid of the stems and you'll be left with a bunch of flowers like so:

Then comes the fun part! Just stick all the flowers in the ball with any random pattern that you choose. Try to space out the flowers and colors so you don't have a big spot of flowers that are the same type or color. Keep sticking them in until you can't see any of the white ball through.

You only need to use the glue for the leaves, fruit or anything else that doesn't have a real stem.

Here it is from another angle:

This is another one that I made last year.

And here it is hanging in our sukkah last year.

This is a pretty inexpensive project to replicate because you can get the flowers and foam from almost any dollar store. This can also become a beautiful Thanksgiving centerpiece. You can make a large one for the center of the table, or a few smaller ones to line up down the middle of the table. Just place the ball in a candlestick holder or rest it on a small clear plate.

Happy Fall!

Linking up:
DIY Showoff | House of Hepworths | Thrifty Decor Chick | At the Picket Fence | Craftionary | Serenity Now | Creative Jewish Mom | It's Overflowing | DIY Showoff | The Chicken Chick | 320 Sycamore

What's happening with us...

In August we went to the school store to get our college gear for the soccer games!

The manager of the shop took a few pics of the kids in their Tommie gear!

Big brother Johnny is going to college at a local Catholic University and we want to be there to support him!!

AND

a new shirt is always fun to get!

Of course, if the new shirt is in the laundry anything with purple will do!!

Including a cozy blanket!

Ellie got braces on a week ago!! She's finally back to eating regular food.

We lay blankets out, have a snack or picnic lunch between the trees, fence and field.

And constantly count to eight to make sure they are all there while trying to watch the game!

Last time Hubby said I'm only counting to 7, we're missing one?

It was Ava!

She was behind the tree and out of view.

Emma and Sam where trying to carry Sarah...

it didn't work but it made for lots of laughter!

And then Emma and Ellie tried...

That didn't work either!

Anna is having surgery on Thursday. Please keep her in your prayers if you can!!

She is having a P flap, another nose bump up, another lip revision, re-repairing of her palate and closing the fistula in the roof of her mouth.

She should be in the hospital for 2 nights, 3 days... I think?

Even the little guys got in on the action!!

And so did the really, really big guys!!

(that would be me)

Johnny is #22!

Big brothers Mark and Billy come to the games too!

He really likes that we are all able to come to the games!

The older children and younger children have really bonded over the last year!

That has been to beneficial to both set of kids!

They all truly enjoy the fun of each other!

Go Tommies!!

We also found out that our dossier came out of translation on September 20th. The rumor going around is that after the dossier is out of translation, LOA should come in 3-4 weeks. Our agency can not confirm IF the rumor is true- so I'll get back to you on that one!
If October comes and goes... we will know it is NOT true!
Praying it's true and that we will be one step closer to bringing home our trio!!

It's Katie's Birthday today! She is spending it in Germany with new friends. But we are missing her here.   

Please keep them in your prayers for safety and for peace!

Thank you!

Chalk Bin Solution

Ever since putting up this removable chalkboard, it has been covered with all sorts of drawings, doodles and messages.

The whole family enjoys writing notes and drawing pictures for each other. There was only one problem: no place to put the chalk and eraser. The kids could never find the chalk and I ended up just using a napkin to erase what was there. It was a pain and not a good solution. I started searching for a small, light container that I could use, but was coming up empty handed.

Finally on Friday I found the perfect solution. I was at Office Depot looking for something else, and I saw the school supplies was on clearance. Enter this little beauty for $1!

I know it's bright pink, but I did what any other self-respecting blogger would do and pulled out the good old spray paint.

A few hours later it was good to go! I used some command strips to hang it on the wall.

It's the perfect size for the eraser and chalk and now everyone can find what they want easily.

Here's a zoomed-out view. It sits in this little nook right when you enter the kitchen so I don't have to worry about anyone bumping into it. Now to swap out the light switches and plate for some white ones...

p.s. Besides Office Depot, Target was also having 70% off school supplies, so now's a great time to stock up on essentials for next year.

Linking up:
Hi Surgarplum |

More Gifts Sent to our Girls and Updates (kind of)!

We got an update our our sweet Maddie!

Only one pic came with it- Oh how I would LOVE more BUT I will be happy with whatever I can get!!

We have new measurements and she is also a peanut! Maddie is only 33 lbs and 3 ft 5.5 inches tall at almost 6 years old.

Her birthday is in October and we will send a cake and gift then. (hoping we will once again get a pic!)

They have moved her to a foster center in Guangzhou. She is happy, active, smart and independent. She is in preschool and learning how to read and write (smile).
She gets along well with the other children!

She speaks clearly (yay, no speech for this one!). She speaks Mandarin but understands Cantonese! Which makes me very happy because Sarah and the other children only know "some" mandarin (no cantonese). I was a little concerned she would be all cantonese since she is from Guangdong Province.

We also sent a gift to our darling Melissa but we were unable to get new pics of her. ;-(

We did get her height but that was it...
She is 3ft 9 inches.

Her birthday is November 10th- hoping... rather praying, for some new pics then!

Either way, I know we are just going to LOVE her!
Excited for the two little girls to get their gifts!!

God is so GOOD!

Thank you Jesus!!