Raising money for our adoption expenses...enter our drawing.

 

We are currently having a drawing for an I-pad mini and another drawing for a Fitbit Flex. It took me a bit but I finally figured out how to get a donate button on the blog (the donate button is on the sidebar of this blog). If you would like to enter our drawing here are the specifics.

1- We will be drawing for both items on Memorial day.
2- We will notify you as quickly as possible who the winner is. (I will announce on the blog and on facebook.)
3- Each entry is $3. Or you can do 2 entries for $5. You can enter as many times as you want. We must receive your donation prior to your name being entered.
4- If you want to enter.(Please please enter) Please use the donate button on the sidebar of the blog. After you donate, please leave me a comment so that I can make sure I get your name entered into the drawing. Include in your comment how to best get a hold of you if you are the winner. Also include which drawing you want your name entered into.
5- Thank you in advance friends!


All donations will go directly towards our adoption expenses to bring Max home.

Happy Thursday friends!
-katie

The big announcement

Well....I am sure that you have all been waiting on pins and needles for this. ;-) We filled out the application for another adoption in mid January. We are using Holt again this time around. I have felt more of an urgency to get things done quickly this time around...even more so than our first adoption process. We found out why I have felt so urgent in the beginning of March. We were sent a file of the sweetest little boy to review. His special needs were something that was not even on my radar, so I took a little time researching and talking to doctors. I wanted to make sure that we made a decision that was best for this little guy and for the rest of our kids at home. My heart said yes, but my head was a little slower. My husband however, fell in love with him immediately. He was picking out names for him the day we received his file. :-) We finally decided together that no matter what his special needs may be....it doesn't change the fact that his biggest need is the need for a family. So after much prayer we have decided that this little guy will fit right into our crazy household. We are going to make this little guy a part of the our family, and we are thrilled!

So we officially sent LOI on March 18th. (....letter of intent for those not in the adoption community. This is the letter to the China officials that says we would like him to be our son.) We got our PA (approval from China) on 3/27. We are working as quickly as we can to get all our dossier paperwork (fancy name for our adoption paperwork) done. We are waiting on one last document from our government, and then we will have everything we need to send to China.

We are hoping to travel in the fall to bring him home....for this to happen all the stars need to align. We have several more steps that we will be waiting on Chinese government and our own government to process our papers....so it all depends on how quickly these steps take. (fingers crossed that things go extremely quick) I am praying that as our papers are shuffled, they are always put on the top of the pile instead of the bottom. ;-)

So here's the details...his name is going to be Max Emmet Werner. Our little guy will turn 2 on November 6. I am secretly hoping that we will be able to get him home prior to his 2nd birthday. (fingers crossed again) He is waiting for us in an orphanage in Beijing. And for the 2nd time in my life....I am head over heels for a child that is living on the other side of the world. It doesn't matter that I haven't met him....I am in love with this little guy! I just can't wait to get our little Max in my arms!

Much love to you all. Please keep our family and our new little man in your prayers. Pray for all our paperwork to be processed quickly so we can bring our little guy home.  Please pray for us to have all the finances fall into place for this adoption. Also, please pray that God is preparing our Max's heart for all the changes that are coming his way.

Happy Thursday!

-katie

I am back!

Well...it has been about a year and a half since I have updated this blog....poor forgotten blog. The kids are growing up much to quickly for their mother's liking. Cora is 3 now. She has had her palate repaired back in October of 2012. She is just a few days away from her 2nd forever family day. Owen is 5 now. He is in preschool this year and is really liking it. We weren't sure at first as he is a Mama's boy and wasn't real thrilled about going to school without mom. Ethan is 8 and a half. He is in 2nd grade this year. He is doing really great in school. He is playing baseball right now, and will be starting tackle football (it took a little convincing to get mom to agree to tackle instead of flag) this summer. Grace is 11 now. She is in 5th grade this year. School is going fairly smoothly for her this year. Grace discovered gymnastics last year, and she has really been enjoying it. She has several after school activities that she attends, and she manages to stay quite busy.

The whole purpose of this update is to let everyone in bloggy land that follows my blog (all 3 of you) that the Werners will be going to China again. I have felt for quite some time that we could make room for another little one, but TJ wasn't as sure. I had all but given up on the idea when we attended our church service several months back that was focused on adoption. God used another adoptive mama to speak to my husband's heart. It was after that church service that TJ got on board for another blessing through adoption. We have come to the conclusion that our family is not yet complete, and we are making room for another little blessing from China. We are hoping to travel yet this year for our new little person. :-)

There is much to share, but I will save that for another day.

Hoping all of you are having a blessed day.

-Katie

surgery day...or so we thought...

Cora went in for surgery on 10-16-12 to have her cleft palate closed. The plan was to look at her ear tubes, if they needed to be replaced, they would do that and then move on to the palate surgery. I was happy the the anesthesiologist offered to let me carry her to the OR and stay with her until she went to sleep. (I didn't even have to ask!) They told us it would take 4-4.5 hours until she was done....so TJ and I went and got something to eat and then settled into the waiting room for the long wait.

The ENT doctor came up to give us a report on how things looked with the tubes. One tube was completely out, the other tube was occluded with wax, and when they pulled it out there was actually some puss behind the tube. So both ear tubes were replaced. She told us that Dr. Coots was just getting started when she left so it would be 3-4 hours yet.

After about 30-40 minutes...we see Dr. Coots in the waiting room...we're instantly a bit confused. He had come to inform us that he couldn't do Cora's palate repair today....WHAT!!!???? Apparently, the perfectly healthy child we brought for surgery....was not as healthy as we thought. He got in there to get started and he noticed some pus in her sinuses, and she also had a little pus on her tonsils. He didn't feel like it was in Cora's best interest to continue with the repair in the presence of an infection. He said because her cleft is so wide he just couldn't chance it. We were not upset at all with his decision...just completely shocked that she had an infection....and we had no clue.

I still feel a little silly/stupid about the whole thing. She was a little crabby about 5 days before surgery, and I was a little concerned that she may be getting sick. The next day however...she acted fine, and I noticed a new tooth in her mouth...so I assumed that was what her problem was. She has acted like her happy little self since then. She had a CBC on Friday that was completely normal. She had no fever, no cough, no runny nose...so to say we were shocked about them finding an infection...is an understatement. I feel so bad that she has to go through all this again.

She is now home. She will be on an antibiotic for 10 days, and surgery is rescheduled for 2 weeks from today on the 31st...which means she will be in the hospital for her birthday....BUMMER! I guess we will just celebrate early. I think I am going to take her to the pediatrician the day before surgery...just to make sure they think everything looks good. ;-)

This girl even makes a hospital gown look cute!

Sorry about the poor picture quality...but her cute smile was just to cute not to share. I guess we'll get another chance for a better quality picture of her in her hospital gown in a couple weeks.

We were certainly shocked by how this played out, but everything happens for a reason. So whatever the reason, we accept that this is all in God's hands. So now we will continue to pray the infection goes away and that the surgery in 2 weeks will be successful and as pain free as possible.

Happy Wednesday friends!

-katie



Quick update

Just wanted to put a quick update on my completely ignored blog. The last 6 months have just flown by. Cora is doing great, and so are the other kids! We have had tons of doctor appointments between the 4 kids...
I got a call from the school nurse last week that Ethan had an accident on the playground, and she thought he needed stitches. We got to visit the lovely staff in the Mercy ER...and sure enough...it did need stitches. 2 layers of stitches in fact to get his forehead back together. He was really quite proud of his stitched up "battle wound," and was very excited the next day to go to school to show it off to all his friends. ;-) Other than the "battle wound," Ethan is doing well. He is excelling at all things 1st grade. He is such a fun and easy kid to be around!

Owen is now potty trained....yeah! It took about a week, and he had it down...we almost never have any accidents now. My baby boy is getting so big! Owen is still obsessed with all things Star Wars, and wants me to watch Star Wars with him on almost a daily basis...fun, fun! He definitely keeps me entertained during the day when the big kids are at school.

Grace is turning into a wonderfully entertaining young lady. She keeps us busy running her to eye therapy appointments (to get her eyes to work together like they should), soccer games and practices, awanas, and church choir. She can be quite sassy and the dramatics are increasing as she gets older. I am getting eyes rolled at me more and more often. And I am also getting that "mom you are so stupid" look from her more and more these days. She is definitely growing up! She is learning to become more responsible these days. I am proud of the young lady she is turning into.

Cora has made amazing progress in the last 6 months. We don't see any of the quirky "orphanage behaviors" anymore. She started walking in July, and is now running, climbing stairs, and getting into everything. She has made huge progress with her oral aversion issues. She finally started eating baby food off a spoon for us in late July. She is now eating small amounts of table food, and does fairly well with that. She is still cautious around some foods, but doesn't seem to have any fear of it anymore. She is still a bit hesitant to actually swallow some foods that have unfamiliar textures....but we are getting there! She is babbling a ton, but the only words we can understand at this point are Mama, and Hi.

I have left a ton out...but that is a very brief update on what we have been up to. Happy Sunday friends!

-katie

6 months

10-11-12...was exactly 6 months since I got to hold my baby girl for the first time.

She has brought so much joy to our family. We are completely overjoyed that she is our daughter! We are SO BLESSED!

Cora (and Grace) now....

Cora Marie we all love you more than words can say!

-katie

WHOOOOOSH....that's the sound of our summer flying by

Well, I am not so great about keeping this blog up to date. Our summer is literally flying by....3 weeks from yesterday the 2 "big" kids will be back in school. I will have a 4th grader and a 1st grader this year. How did that happen?!?! They are getting so big, so fast!

We bought the kids a big pool this summer. Well big for us...it is an above ground pool that is 4 foot deep....my kids think it is huge ;-) It has kept them so busy, and has been so nice to have something fun to do outside in the 100 degree temps that we have been having this summer. Everyone loves it...even Cora.

Speaking of Cora....she is doing amazing. She's sleeping well, she's been walking for about 3 weeks and getting better every day (I'm sure she'll be running to keep up with her siblings soon), she's adjusting to our family amazingly. Her siblings have also adjusted amazingly to having a little sister. I thought for sure that Owen would go through some jealousy, but he has done so well. They all continue to love her to pieces, and I swear they think she hung the moon. I know they wouldn't use these words, but I think they feel as blessed as TJ and I do that she is part of our family. We are so lucky to have her! Adoption rocks!

Cora has really adjusted easily to being part of our family. Our only real struggle with her...is with eating. While we were in China, she refused to eat anything but a bottle for us. The orphanage indicated that she was eating soft foods so while in China, I honestly thought it would all be better once we got home. We gave her a few weeks at home to adjust before we pushed the issue with food. When I decided to push the issue with her....it did NOT go well. It was like we were torturing her by simply putting a bite of baby food in her mouth. She was literally covered in sweat because she was screaming so much. Even giving her a sippy cup instead of her bottle would send her into hysterics....I decided that maybe we were in over our head and we could use a little help.

We were lucky to be in China with a couple that lives about 10 miles from us....and lucky again that 1/2 of that lovely couple happened to be a speech pathologist. She has given us many helpful hints for helping Cora and her eating, and she also helped us find a wonderful speech pathologist that specializes in eating issues in children. We are learning it is not necessarily a control issue for Cora like we thought, but a sensory issue. For example, she hates having food on her hands, and is very hesitant and fearful of new textures. (You should see her barefoot in the grass....not pretty) I noticed right away in China that she wouldn't put toys in her mouth when she was playing. This is one thing we have really encourage her to do here at home while she's playing. As she is exploring her world more by putting toys and other things in her mouth...her willingness to eat is also improving.

About a month and a half ago Cora was finally starting to let us put very small tastes of food in her mouth, but then she would refuse to swallow anything. She has made amazing progress in the last few weeks....she is now eating stage 2 baby food off a spoon and she is actually swallowing it! We have to make a few modifications for her like reclining her highchair....but SHE IS EATING! We have a long way to go before she is eating like a normal 20 month old, but we are making progress....praise the lord! Please pray that we continue to make steady progress in the eating department.

Cora had tubes put in both ears last month. She can very obviously hear much better now. She interacts with everyone so much better now that she is hearing us better. She is babbling much more now also. She has another appointment with the cleft team in IA city in mid August. We will be scheduling her palate surgery after that. We are thinking sooner than later for the surgery since she will only eat pureed foods at this point anyway. We are working to get rid of the bottles since she can't have them after surgery. I am hoping to have her down to maybe just one a day by the time we do surgery. (She gets 3 bottles a day right now.) I'm a little nervous that we are going to majorly regress with everything after the surgery.

I am sure that I have left out tons of our goings ons in the last couple months, but I know all of you would rather look at pictures that read my ramblings.....so here you go

This is one of Cora's favorite spots to play.

(Please ignore the dirty bib that she is wearing)

 This is Grace on the fourth of July...not looking so happy in the heat....but I love how you can see her cute freckles in this photo.

She is so stinkin cute!

This guy had a birthday and is now my big 7 year old (Please be kind and ignore the filthy         smeared patio door behind him...I find it impossible to keep it clean for longer than 5 minutes) ;-)

Owen and Cora are only 20 months apart in age.....I find their size difference hysterical.

He's near the top of his growth chart (yes folks, he is only 3), and she is barely on the growth chart.



Happy Friday everyone!

-katie