A quick update on Andrew...more later tonite

After the first few days on medicine for his h pyloria and having episodes of violent vomiting .. I can share that we have had 3 days of no violoent vomiting and 2 of them were actually vomit free...He did spit up a bit during his nap today but nothing like he was last week. He does seem calmer . His appetite is not much and I would not worry about it except that he takes all of his fluids in his food from a spoon so when he refuses to eat we force him to drink with a syring every so often to get some gatorade in him. He still has very soaking wet diapers 3 times a day at least so he is fine....He won't take a bottle or cup ( sippy or anything ) ... and as I have shared he is in control with this... nothing much we can do to get him to accept other ways of drinking. We have another week on the antibiotics and 5 more on the previcid. It is the antibiotics that have caused the problems we think.

Our friend,Rachel with CF- did have her double lung transplant on Saturday. She came thru surgery exceptionally well. She knows sign language and that evening was signing with her family ( she had a trach. )---Sun. am she was even walking. They took the trach out Sat. evening and she is now in a step down unit and her sweet hubby was able to s[end the nite with her in this room--This is totally amazing and we are praising God for this. She still has a long road to recovery and we have not heard any updates today... please continue to pray for her. Her family has a special place in our hearts.

Cate the Sushi chef

Cate enjoys cooking and a couple years ago we got a sushi kit for Ben for Christmas. Ben used to be the only sushi chef here until Cate decided to give it a try. Today she made us sushi and it was delicious. Check out her blog to get her recipe here http://livingjoyfullydaily.blogspot.com/

Key to Paw Paw's heart :)

Ava spent the nite last nite for Gracie's birthday. This am she went to Lowes with Paw Paw and came home with this Tinker Bell key. It is her " Key to Paw Paws Heart ". Can you believe that ?

Our birthday girl

Gracie turned 8 yesterday - woo hoo Gracie Jane ! She had a lovely day and you could just see the excitement in her face as we celebrated her precious life .

Another prayer request tonite....for Rachel Meroney Slick

If you remember our intern, Mary last summer. Her older sister, Rachel has cystic fibrosis just like Mary. Only Rachel is more ill at the moment and has been waiting for the call to get a double lung transplant since November. She married her sweetheart Jonny this summer and is a good friend of our daughter, Mary Kate. She got the call tonite and they are at Johns Hopkins for her double lung transplant....Please remember them tonite and I will update Sat.. She is a sweet and precious yg. lady who loves the Lord and has blessed us and been an inspiration to our family.

Andrew was able to keep down some gatorade and one of the antibiotics tonite. We kept him up late and now he is sleeping- thankfully.

Please pray .....

I just knew it would not be an easy fix...Andrew has been reacting to one of the antibiotics by violently throwing up...We are trying to manage how we dose him but so far it is not going so well :( So I am asking for prayers for Andrew tonite. We can't keep the medicine in him that will help him and now he is not even interested in eating ( which is his method of being hydrated) so you know where I am going with this.... We have spoken with the doctors and we are trying one more day... but -Just pray please.

Mady and Spaghetti.....

Mady has started eating table food. Her favorite is spaghetti. Can you tell ? It makes such a mess and she is so funny to watch and I did not have to clean her up... momma was here :)

In a few days he should have lots to be smiling about :)

Our GI specialist called this am to share Andrew was positive for H. Pyloria and some reflux as well. So we have 3 medicines for our little guy that should help him....We are excited to have a definitive diagnosis and we pray that these medicines do their stuff so our sweet little guy can return to his happy old self again.

A Pair of pups....

Emma and Sadie are 4 months plus now. When we first were looking for a puppy for the kids at Christmas... we really were only looking for 1 puppy. However when Paul , Mary Kate and I went to pick the pup out and we saw all of them. The owner shared that Emma was the runt. She was way smaller than the rest and half the size of Sadie who was the biggest puppy. There was such a difference in their size that at the first vet visit - he thought they were from seperate litters. We have seperated them at nite into diff. crates but other than that they are always a pair... and it is so cute to watch them. They still have the size diff. and Emma is darker in color than Sadie but personality wise they have such good ones. I just love a labs personality... They are so family and kid friendly... they absolutely love the kids and it is mutal love for sure. I am glad we decided to get a pair instead of just one :)

Playing Cards... even Gracie :)

We play alot of cards...As you can see Gracie ws watching and one day we found her with her own deck of cards spread out in front and she was "playing" her own game :)

Our little guy in recovery....

This was Andrew this am at the hospital. He had his endoscopic procedure done today. He was so sweet and was super great there. He is a very strong willed and we never know how he will be... I was very proud of him today though. This was taken when we came back to his room. He woke up and was so cuddly. The preliminary thought is no GERD but H. Pyloria. They did biopsies and lab work while he was sleeping. We will get all the results on Thursday. I am so glad this is over for him. They were wonderful with him and did nothing not even bp or made him wear his identification tag ( he kept yelling and taking it off ) until he was asleep. They let me go back to help with his mask . I just hate anything done that he won't understand is for his good... He has been through so much at his orphanage. I sang his favorite song... Shimmer marinki dink to him as he fell asleep.... Now he is doing fine and we wait for his diagnosis.... I just knew that something was not right since he started to show us by his vomiting back in August.... A momma has to trust her instinct sometime. Thankfully I have many times :)

Anyone else have their own personal experience with H. Pyloria and care to share ? I would appreciate anything you have to recommend .

Living Joyfully- Cate's blog

Please visit Cate's blog here. If you know Cate you know that she has lots to say. So visit her blog and I am sure you will be blessed by all that is in her heart. The top picture shows Cate in the back row all the way to the left. Naty is in the middle and we were there adopting Naty in 2004. We came back the next year to adopt Cate, Joseph and Leah . The next 3 pics are when we returned for them. The pic of Cate with the cake was taken on her b-day... We celebrated her 13th b-day when we were adopting her. She came home Dec. 5 and the group picture was our Christmas one for that year.

Remote controlled helicopter and spider....

We have had this spider for a few years and some of the grand kids ask to bring it out when they come... and then they want it put back right away. They are so funny. Caleb got this remote controll helicopter and the pups were not sure about it but they were even more funny to watch the spider.....At nite the spider has an errie glow and a red lazer like lite that makes it more strange to watch as it crawls towards you.

Our boys have had remote control cars too....but they don't last too long and are way over priced in my opinion....Now if I can only find out how to remote control some of my kids :)

Our Happy Little Guy Initiating a Desired Behavior

He loved when Leah would pounce him down and tickle him. He would slide his body back to her so she would get him. These little things are huge for Andrew. It shows that he can initiate a desired behavior from us and we love it when he does.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Puppy love or loves....

Willie loves the puppies and they love him...as you can see. The puppies also love sitting under Mady's high chair and catching the food she throws down or drops- She is still working on her pincher grasp.

It should be no surprise... I love flowers

These are some of the flowers I received from my husband and my sons... the single roses are from Paul to his daughters....I love flowers and these are special because of the meaning behind the givers heart....Thank you guys for loving the girls this Valentines Day.