Mr. Monkey has a new sign! Watch the video to find out what it is!
*For those of you viewing this in your email, you need to click "My God is Lord" below this post to be taken to the blog, then you can watch the video from the blog. The video does not come through emails.
(Has it really been a week since I blogged? Oops! A huge thank you to Sarah for uploading this photos for me, even starting the blog post for me. Without her, you would probably never see pictures of my kids! Thanks Sarah!)
My beautiful two youngest daughters celebrate their birthdays just two days apart. Rachel came home from the hospital on Rebekah's 3rd birthday. She still believes it's the best birthday present she'll ever have. :-)
We invited family and a few friends over on Sunday for cake. Sarah and her BFF, Rachel, made the awesome birthday cake on Saturday afternoon. It was FOUR layers with homemade butter cream frosting. Yum!!!
Rachel is 3 and Rebekah is 6!
We lit half of the cake first and sang to Rebekah, then did the other half for Rachel. I love Elijah's reaction when we sign "Happy Birthday". As soon as we are done, he claps and blows as hard as he can, whether he is near any candles or not! :-)
The beautiful 4 layer cake!!! It almost didn't fit on the plates.
The girls' brothers got in on the fun too of course!
Rebekah was very excited to have her own duct tape so she can make creations just like her big sister, Anna.
$6 for 6 years old from Gma and Gpa
A new bike! She learned to ride w/o training wheels this summer. She's very excited!
After the guests left, the training wheels came off and the kick stand went on - outside of course.
I'm shamelessly copying this from Sarah's post the other day. She's a MUCH better blogger than me! Here is a little bit of info on heart defects found in children with Down syndrome. I had never seen this before, so it was interesting to me. Please check out the rest of Sarah's post too! SO many children with heart problems need families!!!!!!
Ds Fact - (source) The overall incidence of congenital heart disease in the general population is 0.8 percent. The incidence of congenital heart disease in children with Down syndrome is up to 50 percent.
The types of heart defects in children with Down syndrome can be broken down into three broad categories:
Atrioventricular septal defects (AV Canal) is greatly over-represented in these children, making up approximately 60 percent of the congenital heart disease found in Trisomy 21. For comparison, AV canals account for only 2.9 percent of the congenital heart defects in the general population.
Ventricular septal defects, atrial septal defects, and patent ductus arteriosus comprise another 20 percent of the congenital heart disease associated with Down syndrome, although these defects are much more common in the general population compared to AV canals.
In addition to the heart defects associated with Down Syndrome, isolated elevated blood pressure in the lungs (pulmonary hypertension) is seen with higher frequency in patients with Down syndrome. This high pressure may be related to malformation of the lung tissue, although the exact cause is not known.
The higher pressures may limit the amount of blood flow to the lungs and therefore decrease the likelihood of symptoms of congestive heart failure seen in babies with complete AV canals or large ventricular septal defects.
However, since the pulmonary hypertension can become irreversible, particularly if these large holes are not surgically corrected by a year of age, children with Down syndrome and AV canals or large ventricular septal defects are often referred for surgery earlier than a non-Down syndrome child with the same heart defect.
If the baby does have evidence of high pressures in the lungs, it may complicate postoperative management and hence prolong the recovery time.
If you are local, please mark your calendars for Saturday, October 27th at 6:30pm! Please join us at our new church facility for the James 1:27 Music Night Adoption Benefit. Our good friends, Mike and Lisa Ott, are adopting a boy, Jimmy, from Ghana. Jimmy's story is a long and wonderful one that only the Lord could have orchestrated. His story actually intertwines with Jonathan's story, but that is a post for another day. :-)
Mike and Lisa also lead worship at our church on occasion. On Mother's Day (well before the Otts knew they were adopting Jimmy - I knew it, but they didn't LOL), they sang "Always Enough" by Casting Crowns. The words were put to a slideshow. The slideshow moved me deeply...(yes, I was crying - hard). :-) Sarah put the slideshow into a video w/ the song. As always she did a great job. I hope you take time to watch it. You will recognize a few familiar faces (Tabitha - Jonathan's twin and daughter of my heart, Maxim, and Lilly). All of the photos from Africa are from Mike's mission trip to Ghana to help build churches. Jimmy is the boy lying on the ground next to the van, as well as sitting on Mike's lap. To some, it may seem a bit odd to put photos of Ghana and waiting orphans w/ Ds together in a slideshow, but in our church, they go together perfectly!
Please pray for the Otts as they have taken a HUGE leap of faith to adopt Jimmy. (They are currently awaiting USCIS approval.) Thanks!
May I please ask you a favor??? Will you please pray for my two friends, both named Rochelle? Both are battling cancer and need prayers for healing.
Rochelle R. is a local friend I met through our monthly home school moms prayer night. She had surgery a week ago. Please visit her Caringbridge site at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/rochellesjourney and leave her an encouraging comment. She is doing pretty well, but I know she would appreciate continued prayers for healing, peace and endurance as she faces treatment in the next month or so. (I believe you need to make an account w/ Caringbridge to view the pages, but it is not a big deal.)
Rochelle C. is a friend I met in Ukraine. I've posted about her and Jason before and their beautiful daughter, Dariya, who was adopted the same time as Jonathan in the summer of 2011. Just like Rochelle R., she has 3 beautiful young children. Her Caringbridge site is http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/rochellecannon . Please stop by and leave her an encouraging comment as well.
Rochelle and Dariya on her Gotcha Day!
Thank you so much for praying for these beautiful Christian ladies!
Over the past year or so, we've learned a lot about sensory issues with both of the boys. I plan to post more on that later this month, but I thought I would share with you Elijah's 2nd favorite way he seeks sensory input....Dumping out the tub of Legos and "swimming" through it!
His favorite way is not picture worthy. It involves pulling the nearest child down (tackling them) and rolling over them. :-/ He's even started doing it to Jonathan now, which is NOT cool. But he is quickly corrected and usually can be redirected.
This type of sensory seeking seems to go in cycles. This cycle started late last week (noticed by the "slithering" on the church floor), but it had been a few months since he was craving input this badly. I do hope it is over soon, but more importantly, I hope I can learn more ways to help him. We do several things to give him more input, but I would love to hear more ideas. If you have a child that needs extra "input", what do you do to help him/her? I'd love to hear more ideas!! Please do tell!
Yes, I know Elijah has grown - a lot. But, since I see him everyday, sometimes it takes a visual for me to realize just how much. We've been doing the seasonal clothes swap and I came across this pair of bibs. They are size 24 mo. Elijah was super cooperative and posed for me like a champ.
This is Elijah in El Patio restaurant in Kiev on December 28, 2010. See what he is wearing???
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Definitely a good visual! I'm working on (in my head so far) a full update on Elijah's development and growth, but as you can see, he has grown - A LOT. At his 5 year well-child visit, he was on the typical chart. Woohoo!!!
Eighteen years ago today, I married my best friend, my soul mate, and the man that God had ordained since the beginning of time to be my husband. The Lord has truly, truly blessed me with a godly man that not only loves his wife and family, but loves and serves the Lord! I am so very grateful!!!
I have often wondered if the trees have been this brilliant since that year. :-) I think this year comes pretty close! I LOVE the reds in the trees this year.
Today, I remembered to pull out our wedding video to watch. It must have been awhile since Anna doesn't really remember seeing it. I gave them an assignment - it was a school day after all. I told them they needed to figure out how many hairs Daddy has lost and how many gray hairs Mommy has gained since we got married. LOL
Happy Anniversary, Pat. I love you dearly. I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for us the next 18 years!!!
We had a wonderful time today raising awareness for Down syndrome! It was a bit chilly but we were dressed for it and managed just fine. A huge KUDOS to the DSAW-Fox Cities board and volunteers. The walk gets better and better every year and they do a great job!!
I was humbled by all of the friends that came today to support our family and celebrate our children. Thank you so much!!!! We love you all!
Here are some great photos from Ashley. She is so talented. Thanks so much Ash for sending them so quickly!
Anna and "Big" Rebekah
Isaac
So cute! Isaac being a big brother to Carter.
Our whole "Triple Trouble Team" I think we ended up with over 40 people! Wow!! We are so blessed! These 3 boys have a lot of folks who love them. (You can click on the photo to enlarge it.)
Brothers!!!
Four handsome Ukrainian boys!!!
We thought it would be fun to get all of the Ukrainian kids together! From left to right: Lucas from Krivoy Rog, Carter from Kiev, Jonathan from Kramatorsk, Elijah from Simferopol, and Lilya from Kiev (her and Carter were in the same orphanage). Lilya is a true blooded Ukrainian and did not want to sit on the ground, so that's why Sarah is in the photo too. :-) Or maybe it's because she's a proper young lady. What an amazing blessing to have all five of these precious treasures in one place!!!!
