It's a girl!

 

Today, we are celebrating.  It is official!  Yesterday afternoon, we met with a beautiful young lady who has asked us to adopt her little girl, due the beginning of December.  V is from Togo, and she has not been in the states for long.  We had a wonderful visit, complete with a viewing of her brand new ultrasound pictures.  Baby girl was facing up, so they captured her precious little face, and a foot print, too! 

We have such a peace about this situation.  We were matched through friends, and it is very evident that God brought this young lady across our path for a reason.  We hope it is so we can adopt her little sweetie, and we have great hopes for a wonderful relationship with her, too. 

Such excitement around our house today.  The weather is changing, a baby is coming, and we can't wait to get ready for her.  We have so much to be thankful for. :)

Polka Dots (24 hours later)

  

Ah, the poor, suffering child. :)

Favorite natural remedies:
(not all at once, of course!)

• vitamin D3
• vitamin A
• vitamin C
• herbal remedy every 2 hours
• green juice with probiotics mixed in
• bath with oatmeal in a sock; don't rinse
• bath with a few drops peppermint oil and tea tree oil; don't rinse
• bath with epsom salt & baking soda; don't rinse
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda in 1 c. water; dab mixture on spots and let dry
• organic raw apple cider vinegar; dab on spots, let dry
• olive oil and vitamin E oil as an 'everywhere' moisturizer (optional: add 1 drop tea tree oil)
• chaparral healing salve on spots
• mixture of raw honey, cinnamon, & vitamin E on spots

We decided a long time ago, for a variety of reasons, that we did not want our children to have the chicken pox vaccine.  When a friend's children came down with chicken pox, we exposed all the kids and prepared ourselves for self-imposed quarantine and a good case of the itchies.  Two weeks later, Lucas & Destany had a little fever and a couple spots.  We exposed everyone again, and Keandre got a mild case (12 spots/all the classic symptoms).  What gives?

Finally, we figured it out.  Although I had told her we didn't want the vaccine, our former pediatrician (SO glad I can say 'former') gave the older three children an MMR/Varicella combination.  I didn't know such a thing existed, and I was not happy when I figured this out a few days ago.  Grrrr....  We decided that at least this was a good booster and will hopefully bring good immunity regardless.

Brooklyn was the last to get them, possibly because she is still nursing.  She is handling it wonderfully!

We know 9 or 10 families who have been taking this polka dotted journey with us, so we've had no lack of playtime with them.  But we are glad it is almost over, too!  We are ready to head back out to the park, the grocery store, and for playdates with friends who didn't feel like sharing the polka dots with us. :)

Our Day in Pictures

 

Andy has started biking Destany to school some days.

She loves it!

Brooklyn has the chicken pox.  Not too many spots so far.  We're doing lots of baths, which she loves!

While I was busy giving baths, Lucas decided to take the morning off school and dig a big hole in the backyard.

Before B's morning nap, we put a raw honey, cinnamon, and vitamin E mixture on her spots.  She was a sweet and sticky mess, but she slept great, and woke up happy!  Then into another oatmeal bath she went. :)

updating our adoption fund

I've been stalling on this, but it is time.  Our adoption fund took a hit with our failed adoption, and I finally updated it -- deducting the $3,100 we used.  Because we provided for all of this birthmom's needs for three weeks -- setting up 2+ months of room & board, and completing some of the legal work for the adoption, we needed to pay for those services.

This adoption loss was a painful experience for us, but thankfully, I can also say it was one without regrets.  After all, this baby is related to our sweet Keandre.  She deserves everything we could give her, and more.  We had an opportunity to be a part of her life, even if only for 3 weeks and before she was born, and we took it.  Regardless of how it turned out, Keandre and his birth family will always know that we believe God caused our paths to cross for a reason, and that we acted in faith when we were asked to be available for her, even though her birthmom later changed her mind.

We know through a relative that this precious baby will be four weeks old tomorrow.  We think of her often, and pray that she is healthy and in a loving family.  We know someday we will learn the rest of the story.  That is the blessing of an open adoption, and having continued contact with Keandre's first family.

Please know that your loving support has helped us to recover from this loss with our faith firmly intact. 

And yes, we still feel strongly that God would have us be available for another baby, and we can't wait for Him to show us what He would have us do next!

If you need some body/hair butter, please let me know.  If you need a babysitter for a date night, we'd love to help you out.  Just email us or give us a call. :)

Catching Up

I know, I know.  It's been *forever* since I posted.  I'm happy to be back in the swing of things!  We've been laying low for a while, busy with family, dealing with the adoption loss, and enjoying the start of the new school year.  A friend and I just started a multicultural home school group, and we're excited to be off to a great start.  (Fourteen families have joined already!)  And did I mention the weather just turned in Phoenix?!  Ahhhh, hope is in the air. :)

First things first.  I went back through my unfinished drafts and posted a few of them (post-dated, of course).  Enjoy!     

• a first for the CA side of the family
• a new AZ family picture
• a new AZ cousin picture
• a new Father's Day picture tradition