WINNERS: Have A Heart Giveaway!

Aleshia's open heart surgery went very well.  She came home the Thursday after the procedure and has been recovering well.  They might have kept her a few more days, but she really does not do well in the hospital setting and was doing well enough that they thought she would recover better at home.  She really is an amazing child.  I'll do a whole update post on that later! 

For now here is a picture of her glowing smile to hold you over!

I needed to end this giveaway and post that we are FULLY FUNDED for the adoption as long as everything goes as planned and tickets don't end up being outrageous!!!!  That feels AMAZING!!  Now pray we get our court date and can go get them soon!!!

Here is the list of Gifts and WINNERS!

Gift #1 goes to Alex Anderson!

Gift #2 goes to Theresa Revilak

Gift #3 goes to Amanda Sutton

Gift #4 goes to the Bowden Family

Gift #5 goes to Darla Messenger

Gift #6 goes to Chelsea Claus

Gift #7 goes to Jennifer McCall

Gift #8 goes to Alex Anderson

Gift #9 goes to "birdiebabe522"

Gift #10 goes to Julia Nalle

Gift #11 goes to Jennifer McCall

Gift #12 goes to Chelsea Claus

Gift #13 goes to Lindsay Park

Gift #14 goes to Chelsea Claus

Gift #15 goes to Chelsea Claus

Gift #16 goes to Alex Anderson

Gift #17 goes Brook Kirk

Gift #18 goes to Amanda Sutton

Gift #19 goes to Darla Messenger

Gift #20 goes to Darla Messenger

Gift #21 goes to Lindsay Park

You can go see what you won by matching up your gift #to the pictures and descriptions on the first post about the giveaway at THIS LINK!  If you are one of the winner, please email me your address to abcunroe@yahoo.com so that I can get your Thank You Gift out to you soon!

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL WHO GAVE TO HELP US REACH THE POINT OF FULLY FUNDED!  I know there are some who didn't get "Thank You Gifts", but truly we are beyond thankful for the help of each one of you who have given, shared, and prayed.  Keep watching for updates as we get closer to bringing them home!!! 

Heart Surgery Take Two

Well we are leaving again for Aleshia's heart surgery. . . again. 

Please pray that it all goes well this time and that it happens the way it should and she does well.  Her emotional wounds from the orphanage and institutional life she lived before she came to us are so deep.  That makes this all SO much harder for her than even "normal". . .

Pray that we can all work together to keep her calm.  We are driving her up and arriving late tonight.  She is not suppose to have to have blood work or anything tonight.  She should just be given calming meds to keep her calm and then kept calm until the surgery in the morning. 

We were told we could just bring her up and have her there in the morning, but she is upset by getting in the van after the last trip.  We would have to leave the house about 4 or more hours before the surgery in order to arrive for the surgery.  She would be so worked up for the surgery that they would likely be unable to do it again.   This way we will get there in time for them to give her calming meds and get her calm again.  They are SUPPOSE to be prepared.  We are also able to stop and let her eat on the way up today and are planning to take her in places to make it seem less like a trip to the hospital.  PRAY THAT HELPS! 

I don't feel in the least bit "cheery", but I'm planning to fake it big time today.  I feel like I need to vomit.  I in no way shape or form know how I will be able to pull this off, but I have to do it.  She needs me to seem calm and happy today.  I'm NOT. 

Its a good thing that we've adopted so much. . . I've been faking being ok for a long time now.  I've not been ok while I wait for the kids to come home.  I've been faking it lots.  I've felt like I could go into a crying heap in the floor ever since I left my babies back in June.  I can't show that in front of my kids, because the 18 here deserve a mom who is happy and ready to enjoy life.  I'm THRILLED they are all here, so it is a balancing act of enjoying them and fighting back the tears for the 3 that have my heart on the other side of the ocean.  Poor Brent last night doesn't always get to have the "fake" though.  The poor man pulled out the Bible for our devotion together before bed and unknowingly opened to the "Love" Chapter.  The problem is that his version said "Charity" which sent me into sobs.  It was late and I had faked it as long as I could.  I miss them so much and I'd faked it all day, while preparing things to leave.  I kept thinking back to how hard it was while waiting to get Aleshia home and how I'd "faked" it for the 13 at home back then.  The things we do for our kids!!  But today is one of those days that the "practice" of faking it during all these adoptions will come in handy again I guess. 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray for Aleshia!!  Please pray for the medical teams working with her.  Her surgery will be early in the morning.  Remember the best place to keep up with updates on her will probably be on Facebook as long as my phone keeps allowing me to update because it is just easier, so you can check her Facebook page HERE.  Also please pray for Matthew, Johnathan, and Charity as they wait and the people who need to sign things and give court dates so we can get them home with us.  Not a day goes by that their names aren't mentioned 100 times here while I choke back tears. 

Here's a picture of Aleshia from Easter.

 

Our Have A Heart Giveaway is still going on and I'll end it once we are back.

We are still not fully funded to for the last of the trip

BUT we are SO close!

 

ADOPTION VIDEO

Would you all like to see our ADOPTION VIDEO?  My wonderfully amazing friend Colleen put it together for us.  I am so unskilled at computer stuff that it is pitiful!  She did an amazing job though!  She is just starting her own amazing adoption journey to her son that she met while on my adoption trip and you can follow along with her HERE. 

Here is Our Adoption Journey to Matthew, Johnathan, and Charity 

MATCHING GRANT!

We have had a very generous matching grant offered to us.  When our FSP reads $20,411 then another $500 will be donated to our account!  This is a HUGE BLESSING! 

Here is a link to our FSP! 

Also HERE IS A LINK TO OUR GIVEAWAY with the lots of things we will be drawing for to thank people for helping by donating and sharing.

Right now I keep remembering that last bit of time with them and praying that they know I'm still on my way back to them.  They had gotten so comfortable with being loved.  I HATE THAT I HAD TO LEAVE AND IT FEELS LIKE THE BIGGEST FAILURE AS A MOTHER! 

 

 

They definitely weren't the kids that I had expected to meet or the kids that I first met at the beginning of the week even!  The were LOVING having the LOVE of a MOTHER! 

 

They are waiting!

 

WE ARE SO CLOSE!

 

In Two Weeks

(Edit on 9-4-13 at 12:03am:  Thank you to those sharing our need to get this adoption funded before her surgery.  We still need $3,742 at this moment to be fully funded.  I know God is bigger than that amount!  These kids were His before He ever set me on the path to go get them and He knew that this surgery was going to fall at this moment too!  Keep sharing, praying, and donating because every dollar adds up!  THANK YOU!)

Two Weeks from this  moment I will be sitting in a CICU (Cardiac Intensive Care Unit) with Aleshia. . . The thought of that makes me SICK.  I can't imagine seeing her hooked up to all those machines to keep her alive and with all those tubes draining fluids from her. 

Having an extra month because of the surgery being cancelled last time has only made me more scared and sick.  This time I know how she reacted last time.  I know how scared she is of the hospital and the scrubs.  I know how hard it is going to be to make this work.  I AM TERRIFIED FOR HER!  I HATE SEEING HER LIKE SHE WAS! 

We didn't even make it to the surgery and it was horrific!

I can't imagine how we are going to do this. . . how SHE is going to do this.

Her heart requires it, but her mind is terrified of that place.  It reminds her of the places she came from. . . OH HOW I WISH I COULD TAKE THIS FROM HER!

Please pray for her and for us!

One thing that would take some of the worry off of our family right now is to just have this adoption funded.  I would be so relieved to go into this heart surgery not having to worry about the last bit of adoption expenses.  We really just need the last bit of travel expenses.  We are needing to raise the last $3,761 of the money that will be required to purchase the plane tickets to get Matthew, Johnathan, and Charity home.  We have a HAVE A HEART GIVEAWAY GOING ON RIGHT HERE with 21 Thank You Gifts to thank everyone for helping us.  There are entries just for sharing too!  Could you help us with this last little bit!?! 

We can't stop worrying about Aleshia's surgery.  We can't stop worrying about Matthew, Johnathan, and Charity while they wait.  We can't stop the worry our kids here will have while they worry about Aleshia or while some of them don't understand why Aleshia is away from them. 

We would love to just not have to worry about that last bit of funding to get our kids home, to just KNOW that the ransom is complete and whenever we can pick them up the money is there for the tickets.  Can you help us?

You can donate at THIS LINK and really EVERY DOLLAR helps!  If everyone chips in to be the hands and feet of God then this mountain of worry will be moved!

Travel Challenges for Trip #2: White Food?

So I thought today that I'd ask for your help in a different way!  Our sweet Charity poses some interesting challenges for the pickup trip.  Charity ONLY eats WHITE FOOD.  Once home we will begin to work on this challenge over time slowly and we will have various things available to us in order to make sure that she is getting adequate nutrition (Thank God for vanilla Pediasure!  lol). 

Right now I'm compiling a list of things that I can take to feed her on the airplane ride home mostly.  The hotel we stay at will have fresh white yogurt and milk.  They will also have toast which she likes soaked in tea. 

Let me just remind that she is ADORABLE!  You can read more about her HERE.  I think she is hilarious and I love stubborn, so this is just a minor issue.  (wink)

So, Charity only eats VERY SOFT WHITE FOODS and our travel home will consist of approximately 24 hours of travel. 

I have some ideas, but would love to hear your ideas of food that will clear airport security for her! 

Don't forget our giveaway going on to help bring them home!  I have lots of gifts to draw for to thank some of you for helping us in this last leg of bringing them home!  CLICK HERE TO GO SEE MORE!