A Christmas Miracle!

Look what Jonathan did today!!!!

To think....when Jonathan came home in July, he still had some head control problems.  He couldn't sit up on his own. He couldn't push up on all fours, or even push his tummy off the ground. He would NOT bear any weight on his legs.AT.ALL. They were complete jello. HERE is a post shortly after we met him. Oh, and he's gained like 6 pounds too! :-)

This, my friends, is the picture of what love can do for a child (and some PT too). I fully believe that if he were still in that crummy old orphange, he would still be spending his days laying flat on his back in a hard wooden prison playpen staring at the ceiling - or worse...

This, my friends, is (one of the reasons) why we chose to be obedient to the Lord's calling to adopt Jonathan to be our 7th child, our 2nd child with special needs. Most people thought we were (are) crazy. So be it. An orphanage is NO place for ANY child. Please pray about what your place is in helping with the orphan crisis, especially those with special needs.

His Gospel is Peace

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His Gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave in our brother

And in His Name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy and grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise his holy Name!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born

O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Merry Christmas to all of you!!!

If you would like, you can view our 2011 Year in Review page. 

We have been so very, very blessed this year. The Lord has been so very good to us this year. My God is LORD!

The 2nd out of over 3000 (Jonathan update)

The good news from today is that Jonathan did really, really well. His procedure was almost 3 hours late, but he hardly fussed at all due to his empty stomach. He (we) napped for a bit and then they gave him some Versed, so he was a bit out of it by the time they took him to the OR.  He came out of the anesthesia well too. Thanks for praying!

Now, the title of this post...when we saw the ENT doctor last month, we were discussing J's small ear canals. Dr P said he has placed over 3000 ear tubes and only ONE time was he not able to get the tubes in due the child's small ear canals. This child also had Ds. Well, J's right ear canal was too small. It was just not formed properly. The tube was 1 mm, but so was his canal. So, Dr P was able to get most of the sticky fluid out of the eardrum, but most likely it will return. There is a chance that as he grows, it will widen enough to allow for a tube insertion. However, he did get the tube in the left eardrum (also full of sticky fluid), so that's good news! The other good news is the audiologist did not find any real hearing loss. If his ears are fluid and wax free, he should be able to hear just fine! Praise God! Both boys go back in about 4 weeks for a check-up.

It was a long day (didn't get home until about 4:30pm), but overall a pretty good one with some helpful answers to Jonathan's hearing situation. Thanks again to all those who prayed. Jonathan is a real champ!

Update, Prayer Request, and Another "One Year Ago Today"

Update: Elijah's ear tube surgery last Wednesday went very well. He was in and out of OR in less than 15 minutes, woke up fine, and we were on our way home by 8:30am.  The next day he seemed a little less frustrated, so I'll take that as a good sign! He'll have his hearing tested again at the 4-week post-op check up.

Prayer Request for Jonathan: Jonathan will have his ear tubes placed at about 10:30 tomorrow (Wed) AM. The ear tube part of the procedure should be quick, but they are conducting a sedated hearing test. This may take up to 2 hours. Please pray for him to handle the anesthesia ok. He did get a clearance letter from the cardiologist, but a little extra prayer never hurt. :-) Also, he won't be able to have a bottle after 4:30AM.  I have a feeling he won't be a happy camper...so prayers for contentment and peace (for both of us) would be appreciated too.

One Year Ago Today:  "Auntie Debbie" FINALLY made it to Elijah's city after a nightmarish trip to Ukraine through snowstorms across Europe in which she "visited" France, Italy, Germany and finally Ukraine, including a night in the Milan airport, as well as a night on the lovely Ukrainian train. I was never so glad to hear someone's voice when she called from Max's phone. But whatta friend, huh? I'm SOO grateful for Max as well. He gave up a few days of his very, very busy schedule to pick up Debbie in Kiev and then guided and protected her on the 15-hr train ride. I chronicled her journey a bit HERE, HERE, HERE (which also includes an update about sweet Shea. I'll tell ya, there is nothing like shouting about a child that you've met and then seeing a family commit to him while I was still in country! What a joy!!!) and HERE.   I'm forever grateful to Debbie for willingly giving up her Christmas with her family to spend it with me and Elijah. I can't even begin to tell you how much more difficult it would have been to be away by myself over Christmas. As I'm hearing Christmas songs this year and finding myself getting weepy, I'm realizing those emotions from last year are still pretty fresh. Having Debbie with me on the way home was a HUGE help too of course. After coming home alone with Jonathan, it made me realize how much more difficult the trip home with Elijah could have been.

So, thank you, Debbie, aka "Auntie Crackers", for giving of your time, friendship and all that you gave up physically, mentally, and emotionally to travel half way across the world to be with Elijah and me. You and your family will always have a very special place in my heart. :-) Debbie did a guest post for me last year while in country. You can read it HERE. Maybe I'll ask her to do a follow-up post in the next couple of weeks...the Lord has done AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING things in her family over the past year!!!

One Year Ago Today - We Met Elijah's Parents!

(Don't worry, I won't do this all month. :-) Just for the really important days.)  Sarah is doing a "Days of Elijah" series all about her little brother on her blog this month. Hop on over and check it out. Also check out her new blog design. I love it! She is so talented.

Ok, one year ago today, we met Elijah's parents! I posted about it HERE and HERE (this 2nd post has a video of Elijah walking with his "toddler stomp").  I think this was the most emotional part of the entire trip. We first found out that Elijah's parents had been visiting him when we met with the director of the orphanage that first crazy day. I was very surprised as everything we had heard up to this point was how "all" parents abandon babies born with special needs at birth and walk away - forever. While this is the case for most children (like Jonathan :-( ), but it was NOT the case for Elijah. Elijah's parents, Mama Tanya and Papa Igor LOVE Elijah very, very much. They visited them often at the orphanage, even though their home town was 30+ miles away. Anyway, our meeting was VERY emotional as you can imagine. I still can't imagine the depths of their pain and loss, but I am SOOO thankful they gave him LIFE!!! I love being able to stay in contact with them and I love that Elijah will grow up knowing he has 2 sets of parents that love him very, very much.

I really do think their presence in his life benefited Elijah greatly. I don't know how the orphanage decided which kids with Ds went into which "grouppa" but Elijah was in a fairly good grouppa. Maybe his parents played a part in that. I don't know. Also, Elijah came home with VERY few "institutional" behaviors. He has never rocked himself to sleep like so many kids do. Besides the thwapping Rachel on the head the first few weeks (and that one time at home school group), the behaviors have been pretty minimal. He has also had minimal sensory issues, was able to feed himself, and has practically zero "stimming" behaviors.  I credit his parents, the Lord's mercy and grace, and his prayer warrior family that had been lifting him up in prayer from the very beginning for 3+ years. Your prayers were answered Celia! Thank you SO much!!!

(However, I just have to add this so you don't think life is all roses here (sharing my heart here)...Elijah has some difficult behaviors, especially lately. Some meals (usually breakfast) are a battle some days. He definitely has a need to be in control - can't blame him. He was never in control of anything before, but it still needs to be addressed. And thanks to my Ds mentor for this tip :-), Michelle whom we visited yesterday, I think his thought processes are ahead of his expressive language and it is frustrating him.  For example, yesterday at Michelle's, I told him to come out of playing in her vertical blinds. He didn't listen, so I removed him from the blinds. He wanted to return to them, so I held him back. I can't remember that exact order, but it involved trying to hit me, trying to take my hand to his mouth to bite it, and then trying to pinch my cheek. Sigh...Michelle learned this summer that every behavior is communication.  Definitely food for thought. How could I have handled this differently? Probably getting down at his level, getting his attention, telling/signing "all done", and redirecting him to a different place to play. This boy is teaching me SO much! Of course, this behavior is not acceptable and I'm not condoning it or making excuses, but some things I can change too to help him understand and communicate. Was this a control issue? Probably. Was he frustrated? Most definitely. All this to say I believe most of his behavior problems right now are more related to his age and Ds than post-institutional behaviors. I did mention that he can say "NO" now, right??? :-) I just this morning I saw a link to a free webinar on Ds behavior. I SOO have to watch it. I can post the link if anyone is interested.)

We are so incredibly blessed to have Tanya and Igor in our lives. I'm looking forward to a life-long relationship with them.  I have been especially touched by the gifts Tanya has given us. Too many have been given to name, but these two stick out to me the most. I especially appreciate the hand-made items. Thank you Tanya!

Hand knit sweater vest he wore on Gotcha Day

And this BEAUTIFUL hand-knit sweater for his 4th birthday! I know it will wrap him in warmth and love this winter when the temperatures dip well below freezing.

One Year Ago Today - We Met Elijah!

You can read the posts about that meeting HERE and HERE if you like.

I remember how incredibly light he was when I held him. I remember how quick he was to embrace me. I remember his smell too. :-( (I was so happy to finally give him a bath after Gotcha Day.) I remember recognizing that BENCH when we first walked in. I remember how all the emotions just came flooding - and lots of tears too. I remember how surprised we were to see him walking - doing that "toddler stomp" - and how proud the nannies were of him for walking (he was the only one in the grouppa walking.) I remember falling in love! :-)

Pouty look! :-)

The transformation speaks for itself.

But we sure do still get that pouty look!!!

Ear tube surgery scheduled 2x - check!

Yep, both Jonathan and Elijah need to have tubes placed in their ears to help drain any fluid that may be built up behind their eardrums. Elijah's will be a very quick procedure on Dec. 14th, but Jonathan's will take a bit longer on the 21st as they want to do a sedated ABR hearing test (which stands for auditory brainstem response). This test can take up to 2 hours.

The ENT doctor did not see any signs of infection in either of the boys' ears, so we are being aggressive with the tubes and that's fine by me. They need every chance they can get to help develop normal speech, and hearing is an important part of that. Yesterday, the audiologist did a very quick tympanogram (measurement of the energy passing through the middle ear) on Elijah, and both ears were "flat", unlike his test a couple of weeks ago where his left ear showed some movement. (This might explain his increase in behavior problems as of late? We'll see.)

This procedure is VERY common in kids with Down syndrome. The doctor explained to me that usually their ear canals are smaller and also shaped differently. This allows fluid to build up in the eardrum even without an infection. See, I'm learning all sorts of new things these days!

Speaking of which, (admitting my lack of knowledge here) I never knew where the "tubes" went in the ear. I had heard about it of course, but never really knew. Click HERE and go to the 11th slide on the slide show. This photo shows the tube in the eardrum. The doctor showed me an actual "tube" in the office and it is of course super tiny. It looks like a microscopic spool. They operate under a microscope. Who knew? :-)

Bottom line - Elijah and Jonathan are getting a GREAT Christmas gift this year! The GIFT OF HEARING! (Lord willing the tubes will return their hearing to normal.)

Oh, one last thing I don't think I posted about. Elijah passed his vision test too. He's a tad far-sighted, but not enough for the doctor to treat him. We'll follow up in a year.