Video

My #1 cheerleader made this video to introduce their newest son....it is so inspiring!! She did such a great job. I cry each time I watch it. They are an amazing family. We met up with them over the summer and had a blast! This will be their 6th adoption!!! Check it out!! Let me know what you think!!

Carla



Adoption Changes Lives

We are home!!

Home, today....doesn't she look good??
The 5.5 inch incision.
2 days after surgery...still OUT!
Not long after surgery
With daddy not caring why she is at the hospital at 6:30 am.  Day of surgery!!

Those are the BEST three words I have written in a while! We are thrilled to be home with the rest of the kids. I stayed at the hospital the past 2 nights! John will go tonight...Kaylea has a sleep study at a different hospital. So, we basically begged them to let us leave this evening with Rubea so we could make the appointment with Kaylea. They wanted her to stay another day or two. We are here with no family to help out and we knew that we couldn't be a separate hospitals with 2 different kids and the other 5 kids at home...alone!! I'm thinking CPS doesn't like that!! We have been waiting for the appointment for Kaylea since April...see the dilemma??

Ok, back to Miss Rubea....she is doing well and squealed with delight over seeing her brothers and sisters today! She is sitting in her saucer chair listening to them all do homework and happy as can be.  Before the surgery, she would have been screaming to be held or to be entertained ;-) I measured her incision....5.5 inches long. She is only 32 inches long. YIKES!! Of course the great news is....we already see progress. She is close to being as *lose* as she was back in April.  When she went in for surgery last Wednesday, we couldn't bend her legs or move her feet!! She will definitely have to have her club foot repaired, again, though.  

We also talked with the nurse/coordinator for the Titanium Rib Program and they are up for placing Kaylea's and Rubea's ribs the first week of January!! Our hospital stay will be twice as long, but we'll get the two taken care of at the same time.  I think this will be easier than doing them one at a time with 2 week hospital stays, each!!  RIGHT??  Anyone have experience with this?? 

It is good to be home....

Thank you for all the prayers, comments, phone calls, emails and text messages!!

The TUBE comes out tonight

The nurses are allowed to take her tube out tonight after 6:00!!  Today they will level out her bed, it has been head down so the spinal fluid wouldn't leak. Then they will try putting her head up for a bit. Then they'll take her tube out and let her wake up.  She has been waking up several times a day, but then they give her more meds and out she goes. They took her catheter out last night!  So, we are making progress. We hope to be home Tuesday if she does well.  

We did take all the kids in to see her yesterday. They were so glad to see her!!!  They all begged on Friday and I told them no, but they wouldn't let up!  So, yesterday we let them in to see her.

They did really well. No one got upset.  They did ask lots of questions, but that is ok!  We were worried that it would scare Kaylea. She and Rubea have their *big* surgery the first week in January!!  

Off to do a few chores and get back for the surgery!!

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes!!

Rubea Update!!

I am home...I needed some rest.  I only got naps last  night.  In the PICU they come in every hour to give meds, check tubes, suction the mouth, take her temp, check her vitals, and everything else they do. Of course, this takes half an hour....so there was little sleep for mama. Oh yeah, plus the put in a NG tube, which didn't go well. Then they had to come in and x-ray to check the placement.  Then by 4:45 am they came in to get her ready for a CT scan.  She is doing ok. She needed a new IV placed and they tried in about 6 places. They couldn't get it. It broke my heart that she was so sedated, but had tears. I tear up just thinking about it :-(  She is with her daddy tonight, so I can sleep knowing she is in good hands!!  I was so tired and emotional that I needed to come home. They tried to get in a PICC line, but they couldn't get that in either. So they settled for an IJ, which is essentially an IV in her neck.

While we were waiting to see her yesterday, we were in the PICU waiting room. I heard an ambulance and then a few minutes later they brought in a child. I noticed the mom had on a top from a set of scrubs with an Air Force emblem on  it.  I have no idea what happened with the little boy, but he is in the room next to Rubea.  They were taking him off life support tonight. So, if you pray, please say a prayer for this boy and his family. There was a waiting room full of people there. They were having him Baptized when I left. The staff at the hospital were gracious enough to let the entire family in for the event. What a blessed little boy to have so many there to say good bye.

****** UPDATE*******  We found out this little boy drowned. Very sad.

Thank you for the prayers....Rubea is doing well....

Love,

Carla, John & Rubea

Rubea update!

Carla spent the night at the hospital with Rubea last night. Here's her update from this morning.

"Well. . . . she is resting. She has been running a fever around 102 with tylenol. They have put in an N.G. tube so they can start feeding her. One of her IV's was blown and they can't find a good vein . . . so they are thinking of putting in a central line today. The CT scan she had this a.m. looks good."

Please keep sweet Rubea and her family surrounded by prayers! Will post more as I know it.

2:15 p.m.

Rubea is finished with surgery! She will be heading to the PICU where Mom and Dad can see her! They will keep her sedated with a tube in for the next couple of days. Will post more as we know it . . . . .

Wednesday morning, 10:55 a.m.

Rubea is in surgery! They took her off to surgery about 8:15 this morning - surgery actually began about 9:45 a.m. We will update as we hear anything! Thank you to all who are surrounding her with thoughts and prayers! The estimated time for the surgery is 5 hours . . .

Tomorrow it is....

So, hopefully tomorrow she will have her surgery!  They took care of the other emergency they had today, so they are able to get her in tomorrow!!  We will pray it happens!!  Thanks for all the encouragement and prayers.  I'll update when I can!! 

Maybe tomorrow...

The Doctor's office called a while ago about rescheduling the surgery date and said *maybe tomorrow*....they will call back!!  ugh....

Surgery--NOT!!!

It was CANCELLED!!  But not until 6:30 when we were arriving at the hospital.  It will be rescheduled.....  back to bed for a nap!!

Tomorrow morning is Rubea's tethered cord release.  The surgery is scheduled for 8:00 am. and should take about 5 hours.  We would appreciate prayers ;-)   ThatGirl will  update here for me!!

Thanks Shelly!!!

10!!!

Ethan turned 10 on Friday and he couldn't be happier!!!  He has told everyone that he talked to that it was his birthday and now he is 10!!!!  WOO HOO!!!  No longer a single digit!!  He was so excited to get a Nintendo DS with Guitar Hero!!  He has played all weekend.  He has even shared with his brothers and sisters.  We went to Peter Piper Pizza for dinner Friday night and then came home and had cake and ice cream!!  

Do you remember where you were.....

7 years ago, today??

I do, I was at home with my 3 children doing homework with them and wondering why John wasn't home from work yet and why he hadn't called?!  You see, we lived in Germany on a small air base southwest of Frankfurt at the time.  John finally called, and with a HUGE lump in his throat all he could say was *turn on the T.V., get the kids and start praying, I can't say anything else*  I'll never forget what I saw when I first turned on the television.  They were re-running the towers being hit and talking about a plane heading towards the Pentagon and one in PA.  I was in shock and didn't understand fully what I was seeing.  It had to let it sink in...

I got the kids and we sat on the floor in a circle in front of the T.V. holding hands and crying and praying.... Finally, we went outside in the court yard. NO ONE was out. EVERYTHING on base was closed and it was quiet!

People started coming out of their houses (apartments) into the hallways, but not outside.  I didn't know we weren't suppose to be out doors. It took John hours to come home.  They weren't allowed to leave the base he was on for a long time.  He was finally allowed to leave, but of course so was everyone else. Imagine 30,000 American's living in the area.  It took him hours to get through the gates on base where we lived, usually about five minutes at the gate is all it took. People were parking their cars in the fields and walking to the gates and walking home. They checked every car, thoroughly.  Schools were closed the next day, military personnel were not allowed to wear their uniforms off base. When the kids did go back to school, they had chaperones on the buses for months...... Our day to day lives were changed for months to come.....  I noticed people being kinder, more people attending our church,  deeper friendships and a greater sense of pride in being an American!

Do you remember where you were? How did your life change??

God Bless you and the U.S.A.

Emilea's homework

****UPDATE****

She got a 100 on this assignment!!

I am from 

 

I am from the Air Force

Moving all the time

But this was my favorite

5^th house in 5 years

 

I am from a big family

3 sisters, 4 brothers

2 sisters, 3 brothers from Asia

1 sister, 1 brother biological

I love every single one

 

I am from my Mother’s eyes

Wise and caring

Love and understanding

All that I need to know, I am blessed

 

I am from Jesus

Cross around my neck

Jesus in my heart

All that I’ll ever need

Surgery date is set

She is such a ham for the camera!!

Rubea will have her surgery on Sept 15th!  We hope this surgery will loosen her ankles and relax her feet and help to straighten the curve in her spine a little.  Her curve is significant, so any relief she can get with this surgery would be awesome!  She has 4 places where she is *tethered* so it will be a little more extensive, probably about 5 hours. They expect her/our stay to be about 5 days.  After she recuperates from this surgery we can schedule her *big* surgery. They will go into her back and attach Titanium Ribs to help straighten her back.  We are trying to schedule both Rubea and Kaylea for the same day!!  

Thanks in advance for prayers for Rubea on the 15th!!