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! 

Article 5! and GIVEAWAY UPDATE

Our Article 5 Interview occurred and our attorney is getting everything ready to submit.  We are praying that they will honor Matthew's medical expedite and process the paperwork quickly for a signature at the government level to get it ready for submission to court.  We need to get him home and get him some much needed medical care.  We are praying hard and we ask that you would too!

We have the Have a Heart Giveaway going on right now to thank everyone who is helping us so wonderfully with raising the last of the funds to get the kids home.  We appreciate the help so very much!  Aleshia's heart surgery is really at the worst possible time, because it is just before we will need to travel to pick them up.  It is still much better than it needing to be done after they get home though!  God has provided wonderfully for us all along and we know that everything will fall into place.  This is just a wonderful opportunity for others to get to be a part of their homecoming story!

You can click here to see all the wonderful "Thank You" Gifts that are awaiting at the end! 

Not listed on that post is $5 donations!  Every $5 donation will also receive one entry, so please email me your receipt to abcunroe@yahoo.com  Every amount is bringing us so much closer to bringing them home!!  THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!!


Every dollar brings us closer to the goal amount of bringing them home!  I'm sure this post will make the "troll roll".  lol  Yes, there are the wonderful trolls who go around talking about how much better off kids are in orphanages.  I've even heard that our family is large and that the caregiver ratio might be better in an orphanage. See, the thing is that "caregivers" don't "care" the same as a Mommy.  I go to bed each night begging God to keep them safe till I can get there and knowing that Matthew is in misery without medical care.  I'm a Mommy.  I hurt for my kids.  I don't leave them lay ever.  I don't have apathy or think that any of them are not worth my time.  I feel what they feel.  I hurt when they hurt, even if they are on the other side of the ocean.  I sit up all night if they are awake.  I stay up too late and get too little sleep just because a little one decides that they aren't sleepy and I know that they spent too many years in a crib and I'm VERY glad for the opportunity to give them those extra kisses.  So I'm going to leave those trolls he may link back to my "fundraising" post with a little picture. 

This is what the love of a "Mommy" does:

 

We are working hard to bring Matthew, Johnathan, and Charity home so that they can have a "Mommy" instead of a "caregiver" too.  Every child deserves a "FAMILY", not just a caregiver.  We just happen to have more people here to do the loving.  Yes, the sites that like to bash large families can bash away.  The fact is that the picture above shows the truth.  The child on the left was Keith the night I brought him home at age 5 and the picture on the left was Keith one year later at age 6.  He went from couldn't hold his head up, to didn't want to be laid back!  He grew when he was loved and cared for by a FAMILY!  He came from the same place that my three children are now and they need to come home.  The place they are in now is trying hard, but orphanages cannot replace families.  They suffered severe neglect in that facility for years and the only way they are going to heal and thrive is to come home.  So the trolls can troll away.  There is the proof that what we do is making a HUGE difference and will continue to do so. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOW WHO WANTS TO BE A PART!?!  

Trip to Meet the Three Part 2: Meeting Charity

I've decided to not go through day by day as I just don't think I can relive each moment.  I'm aching to hold them so very badly.  This is pure torture having to hold them and then leave them there.  It honestly feels like the biggest parenting FAIL in the world. 

I'm going to go child by child and then maybe a post or two that tell other things about them all three.  It may be scatter brained, because when I start to think about it all I feel scatter brained.  I just want them safe and home and in my arms. 

As soon as I went into the visitation play area, there was CHARITY!  She was sitting in the bottom of the play structure on the mat.  She was not at all what I had expected at throughout the week she just continued to change. 

I was told that she was the size of an 8 month old and that she was unresponsive and didn't like to be bothered.  It said she could be aggressive and was very autistic.  Her report had made me SO MAD because it said that stimulation wouldn't help because of her Autism and as the mother of several children on all aspects of the very broad Autism spectrum, I knew that was NOT true. 

 

I arrived to find a little girl who now had a Baba and had grown considerably.  She was interactive and warmed up to me very well.  She can be quite snuggly once she realizes that she is loved!!  She loved being loved and she was thriving by the end of that week!!!  She loves music and is very smart.  Once home, she will be a whole other child in a very short period of time.  She is SO close to walking and really just needs to gain strength and have a lot of opportunity.  Her Autism is going to be so minor once she is exposed to the world!! 

She has some medical concerns that we didn't initially know about and we'll address as soon as she is home.  She has a cyst in her brain that is hopefully no big deal, but we just can't know until we get it checked out.  She also has a "mega colon", which we will need to figure out once she is home as well. 

She is very quirky.  She only eats "white" foods.  She has had the staff there trying to trick her by holding the bowl above her head.  I can't help that I love the quirkiness of Autism.  We'll conquer the food part and get her eating a fully nutritious diet once she is home though. 

She is also one VERY smart cookie!!  She loved to play with my iphone and listen to songs on it.  She is so STUBBORN (I appreciate and relate to this quality as well lol).  She very quickly learned how to get from the "songs" to other apps.  On my way home from one of the visits I got a call from a friend from church.  She had gotten calls from my phone!  My tiny princess had made international calls while scrolling!!  I caught her at once point and tried to get it turned off, but evidently not fast enough.  lol    The next visit she wanted to do the same and was not happy when I wouldn't let her get to other apps.  I called "Daddy" even though it was in the middle of his night.  He was very pleased to get to say "Hi" to her, but she was only pleased for a moment and then she wanted control of the iphone again.  We ended up having to lock it into ipod mode for her.  She was NOT pleased. . .

When I say she is smart I'm not kidding!

Please pray for her.  Pray for her health while she waits.  Pray for her and how hard the trip home will be for her.  Travel will be very out of routine for her, but once home she is going to THRIVE!!! 

If you'd like to help her and our other two children get home, there are links on the right side that take you to fundraisers.  We will also have a GIVEAWAY starting on here soon that while run while our daughter Aleshia is in the hospital for her open heart surgery, so stay tuned for that as well.