A Story Worth Telling - Part 2

(If you are just arriving here, this is a continuation of yesterday's story post.)

I didn't miss my calling as a nurse and just about had a panic attack each and every time I had to administer a shot. We got into a routine that allowed Tori to fall asleep on my bed, then I would give her the shot at 10:00 p.m.; she would wake and whimper a minute, then we would cart her off to her own bed. Alei helped me every single time and changed her mind about pursuing a career in nursing during the months of Tori's treatment. Throw in the simple fact that before we started this treatment, we also returned to Liberia for Ben and Julia. We assumed that Ben would carry the virus as well, and also require treatment, but were pleasantly surprised when his tests came back that he had fought it off on his own. This was also the same time that we were starting the build on our house, dealing with another child's trauma and I found out that I was pregnant with Elijah. It was a quite stressful on several levels.

During Tori's treatment, we had to monitor her progress with blood work every two weeks. It usually showed a decrease in antigens in her blood, which meant that the disease was slowing in the rate that it was damaging her liver. While this was good, we were always waiting and hoping for a "cure" and that by the end of the treatment, the damaging antigens would be reduced to zero. When we finished in June of '08, the antigens had reduced by 90%, which was obviously much better, but was not declared a cure of any sort. Since then, we have been monitoring her levels and traveling to Johns Hopkins once a year to remain a patient, thus allowing us to participate in any trial treatments that could surface in the future.

Towards the end of her treatment, the doctor also warned us that her levels could actually start to increase again after finishing the interferon; we just hoped for the reduction to permanently remain. Every year I have held my breath just to hear that her levels are still at only 10% and that she doesn't require an additional treatment that doesn't really offer much hope.

So, fast forward to Friday, the doctor told us that her levels had dropped a bit, then she stared at the paper and told us that in fact, the antigens were no longer present in her liver at all. At the examination, she marveled that her liver isn't enlarged and neither is her spleen, which normally remains enlarged after battling Malaria! So, at this point, 2 1/2 years after finishing her last treatment, her liver has cleared all the Hep B antigens. Now, due to information gleaned from recent clinical studies, her liver will even be able to start repairing any damage that is remaining from her early years. We honestly have prayed for her medical status every day since that day in 2006 when we were given the diagnosis, but we honestly didn't hope for a complete cure this late in the game.

My point in recording this story, beyond just giving God the glory for healing her liver, is to serve as a simple reminder that God has us in his hands. In reality, Tori probably would not have lived through the Malaria that she had if she had remained in Liberia. She definitely would not have lived a full and healthy life in Liberia without the Hep B treatment she received here. At the same time, with where we were at prior to our first trip to Africa, we would not have claimed a baby that had Hep B, neither would we have claimed Tori and Ben if they had appeared as a sibling group. God knew that they had to be temporarily separated AND her medical status hidden from us to place them in our home.

God has also used Ben and Tori to clear our fear to the place that we are praying and pursuing medically special needs siblings from Ethiopia! There is also a story on how God gave me a glimpse into our future children the day Tori was diagnosed. That will be part three for a later day.

"Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies." Mother Teresa

A Story Worth Telling - Part 1

I have a story to tell, after a trip to Johns Hopkins hospital yesterday, but I want to start at the beginning. When we chose the country of Liberia to adopt from back in 2006, we were fully aware that they didn't test the children for anything before completing their adoptions. It sounds ridiculous now, but I only had over-all healthy children and I just kind of assumed that the little girl we brought home would be the same. Once we arrived in Liberia in August of 2006 for Victoria, she was obviously very sick. We checked her into a hospital in Monrovia and they diagnosed her with Malaria and treated her via IV for a few days. Once we arrived home, we chose a pediatrician that was quite a drive, but specialized in internationally adopted children. She ran several blood tests and caught the fact that Tori had not really fought off the Malaria. We treated her once more in the U.S. and the Malaria has never been an issue again.

Other than the Malaria, one day the doctor called me and told me that she had bad news. She told me that Tori was positive for Hepatitis B. Since I virtually knew nothing about it, we had to learn quickly what it was and how to proceed caring for her. The reality is that Hep B is an incredibly minimal risk to anyone other than the person carrying it; in her case, she was born with the virus. Hepatitis doesn't live outside the body, therefore, in normal family situations the risk is inconsequential. Our concern was for our daughter; how serious her case was and what did we need to do for her.

Unfortunately, before we could even research our options for Tori's care, it leaked out at my homeschool group. While we weren't keeping the information a secret, neither were we shouting it from the roof-tops. Apparently one mom that I told felt the need to tell another mom, who told another mom, you get the idea. The end result confronting us was a mother who had never immunized her children and was furious that we allowed our daughter in the group setting. I would like to interject at this point that I have no issue with people who chose to not immunize nor do I have an issue with those who do. I think it is a personal opinion, but the fact that this particular mom thought that my child was the ONLY child in the county that was a carrier for a diagnosed disease remains incredibly naive. Although she immediately quit the group (and immunized her children since we still resided in the county), her husband still felt the need to approach JD at work and actually accused us of endangering the entire county! You have to realize that we were blind-sided with these attacks, because we were just trying to digest the information on our own level and figure out how to proceed caring for our new daughter.

We learned quickly that often people only view situations from the stand-point of what is best for them; we also learned quickly who our true friends were - they began falling along two sides very quickly. Often when I relate this to other parents of Hep B children, they are shocked because they never were subjected to what we went through. We ended up seeing a "liver doctor" outside of D.C. who followed Tori's liver levels with frequent blood tests. Within months, he ordered a liver biopsy. The liver biopsy showed significant liver scarring and we knew that she would need to have some kind of treatment in order for her liver to continue functioning for her life time.

The liver doctor in D.C. ended up referred us to Johns Hopkins. Fortunately, we live within driving distance of the renowned hospital, as it has one of, if not the best, pediatric Hep B centers in America. We have worked with a doctor that is personally renowned in research and treatment options. The difficult thing with Hep B is that it is a very personal disease. Some people respond great to some treatments, others the treatment doesn't work at all. Some people have horrible side-effects, others barely notice a difference. The decision wasn't difficult to chose to fight it as aggressively as possible, since any chance of a medical cure is usually before a child is 4 or 5. We agreed to start a six month interferon regimen. The worse part is that interferon involved shots three times a week administered by us. Even worse for me was that the starting date was right when JD got called on a serious work assignment to HI for six weeks and I had to go it alone.

To be continued tomorrow -

1/2 Birthday

Today is the day that Julia is officially 4 1/2 and Elijah is 2 1/2; we aren't doing anything remarkable for the occasion as I find it challenging enough to cover actual birthdays. We were blessed with some celebratory snow, however, and we called a snow day. One of the big bummers of homeschooling is that we don't take actual snow days off from school; we just play in the snow as long as we want, drink hot chocolate and then get to work. Snowy days are sometimes my most productive days since other events are usually cancelled.

This is the first time Elijah wanted to go out and play in the snow. He stayed out for over an hour and I used that time to tape my bathroom in anticipation of painting it on Saturday.

Later in the day Elijah was fortunate enough to go out again with Daddy on the tractor to move a tree that fell across the drive-way. A tractor ride ranks right at the top of Elijah's favorite thing to do, so it was perfect event for a 1/2 birthday!

As mentioned, we started school after lunch. Tori's new Math U See came in the mail yesterday, so we got to start on it. I was doing Saxon 1st grade with her, but she wasn't following numbers over 10 too well, so we backed up to work through Math U See's Primer book. At this point, I really love Math U See; it definately was the first thing that really worked for Ben. I have spent a small fortune on this curriculum the last two years, but we have to learn math one way or another. Thankfully most of it is non-consumable and can be used for multiple children and multiple children I do have!

The Waiting Wasn't So Bad

So, it turns out that the waiting wasn't as bad as the news - the bank will only do our close as a re-finance rather than a first mortgage. Amazing that you can re-finance something you've never officially financed! It's completely unrealistic to come up with the volume of money we'd need to close immediately.

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This morning I was working through a parenting Bible study that my sister bought me for Christmas. Today's portion was on Abraham and his blind faith following God even when it seemed so unreasonable. That's how a future adoption looks to me - completely foolish when I look at the financial situation of our current home and current family. However, I really think God is leading us in this direction, so He has our back; because again, it's not just a house - it's a home for our children AND orphans that we long to bring into our family. What I am praying and trying to figure out is now this: is this spiritual warfare and we need to fight spiritually OR is there just a window God is pushing us toward since the door keeps slamming in our faces OR are we supposed to just wait...that's the big question right now.

Since no one wants to read a picture-less bad news post, I present Elijah's monogrammed bean-bag he got for Christmas.

Nice it's getting such good use. I should have monogrammed it "cats" instead of "Elijah."

Waiting

I'm really tired of waiting . . . I've been patient and hoped each day for word, but I'm really not enjoying this round of waiting. I want to storm the bank doors and beg to talk to whoever is holding up our closing loan. It's so ridiculous. We are far from a financial risk! We've never declared bankruptcy; we've never skipped out on a single bill in life. We aren't the problem with the housing crises in our area; that was caused by the banks that loaned so many people inflated prices for so long. Often banks loaned to people on a short term, reduced price, and knew they wouldn't be able to afford the house payment three years later. Now, those people have fore-closed in record numbers, causing a huge upset in the housing market. We are now reaping the disaster of the banks and private purchaser's irresponsiblity. We are not asking for any benefits or reductions, just a good old fashioned home loan on the home we are already living in!

You know who else is waiting? Waiting and hoping for someone to come for them, to hold them, to love them? 147 million orphans - children that are capable of doing wonderful things with their lives, only if given the opportunity. It puts my waiting in great perspective. I read the statistic that 35% of Christians have considered adopting, but less than %1 actually do. Can you imagine all the orphans waiting that would have homes if the other 34% moved forward to adopt?

Waiting is hard, but even worse is the children that wait and wait for years and are never chosen, never get a family. My waiting is frustrating but their waiting is heart-breaking!

Closing and Ceiling

We are still in the midst of trying to close on our home. It looked very promising initially when we got back our much higher appraisal than last year, but still have issues in underwriting. Since we have not actually closed on the home (we are paying on a building loan), we should be able to finance the entire appraised amount as a normal house closing. However, the underwriters came back and declared that they had to treat our closing as a re-finance since we have been living in the house. The big deal about that is that a re-fi can only be for 90% of the appraisal value, meaning that we have to come to the table with considerably more cash. That would be just fine if the amount that we had to have for closing wasn't already enormous.

As I was sinking into house-closing despair, the head under-writer decided that she didn't think it was fair for us and would adjust that judgment to allow it to be an initial closing again! So, we are again hopeful, but waiting. At this point, I will not assume anything until the last paper is signed and we are on our way to victory dinner! Once before it all fell apart the day before closing. So, we wait a bit more... but I'm waiting with hope.

Of course, this house closing is far bigger than just a house. It's the house that we already live in, that JD built much of with his own hands. It's also the finality we need to be able to begin our Ethiopian adoption. It's hard to believe that the lives of two orphans also hang in the balance of men in suits at a local bank, but that's the reality right now.

As for the adoption, I'm still talking to people and collecting information, but we aren't starting our home-study until closing is behind us.

And while we wait, JD continues to build. Here's ceiling phase two - the playroom. We've pretty much cleared the room to get ready for the new ceiling.

As for our little Bob the Builder? He went and got the little blue ladder to be able to climb up on the scaffolding. He was pretty pleased with himself too!

The good news is that he doesn't go off on his own to get into things. He likes to be with people, so generally doesn't attempt too many dangerous feats unless someone is fairly close by.

That's my boy.

Basment Progress

While I've been working upstairs, JD has made huge progress downstairs. Of course, none of it would have been possible without his little helper and the fine set of orange, plastic tools he got for Christmas!

This is all going to be future family room. The far end will house the TV and seating and the closer end will have additional seating around the wood-burning stove. I'm hoping a big round oak table that I've been storing in the barn will also fit for games and puzzles. It's a cozy thought to play board games by a roaring fire in the winter.

To prepare for phase two of the ceiling, the playroom, we moved the TV and couches over to their new home. It is rather cramped, since the left couch is sitting in front of huge carpet rolls instead of the wall, but that is only temporary.

For now the pool table will remain here; the game room isn't until phase three and it is currently filled with ceiling tile boxes, solar panels and lots and lots of tools.

Today I'm heading back to Ikea after church to swap the two little cubes that I bought; they were labeled black and were white upon opening. JD also left the racks on top of the van just in case there are treasures to be found in the scratch and dent section!

Birthday, Hair, Hair and Hair

Tori had a enjoyable birthday with her family. The high-light was that she got her long-awaited Nerf gun. It was the only gift she requested and she eagerly opened each other gift in great hope; ornery Moriah held it off until the end.

Tori chose a "pink, heart cake in a large rectangle" over a circle cake.

Since Elijah had a doctor appointment first thing this morning, we were forced to deal with the hair cut that Julia provided for him earlier in the day. Here's the front, but there was a great deal of trauma in the back as well.

The problem was that it was 9:00 p.m. by this point and poor Bud was tired. His least favorite thing in life is hair-cuts, with baths following a close second, and he was forced to have both.

He cried his way through most of the hair-cut and all of the bath. His little eyes were red and swollen and only improved after I pulled out a new bag of candy. (Thanks Ms. Wendy.)

While I was on a hair roll, there was no denying that the girls were looking severely over-due for a new hair-do. I had to face the reality that they both needed their hair re-done before church on Sunday. I then decided that I really didn't want to spend the entire week-end doing hair and I was going to try and get them both done today. I started taking Julia's out at 9:30 this morning and finished up Tori's at 6:30 p.m. I was actually thrilled that I finished before dinner, even though we ate late, instead of 10:00 p.m. I saved about two hours by saving their current parts; I actually banded each section and washed a section, then banded it again. I don't plan on doing that next time, since it's good for their hair to have different parts, but it sure helped today!

After standing on the kitchen floor all day, my legs ache. It was so worth is, however, to not have to repeat this hair scenario tomorrow. The exciting part of today is that tomorrow I get to do more exciting things - like organize down-stairs or tape the bathroom in preparation to paint!

What was a nice bonus today was the simple fact that Julia endured the hair process with no crying and only a tad of whining at the end. Sometimes I listen to hours of whining and crying - (and feel like joining her.)

Underway Birthday

Today is Tori's 6th birthday. We started the day with her and I heading to the grocery store together to choose her cake supplies. I then took her to pick up her choice of a special lunch - Chinese food.

Upon arrival home, I was distributing the Chinese food when Elijah took off his hat to reveal his butchered hair. I gasped that someone had cut Elijah's hair. It only took a nano-second before we all looked at Julia. Julia very sincerely explained that she asked him and he said it was okay! Elijah calming said, "Dee-Dee (Julia) cut my hair three times!" Sure enough, there is also some trimming in the back. Elijah is asleep right now, but he's going to get the shortest hair cut he's ever had tonight; I will post some before and after pictures. As for the guilty scissors? They are all collected and going to live in a box on top of the school room cube instead of the junk drawer. I'm really just very thankful that Julia didn't cut her own hair, as Elijah's is much more forgiving AND I'm very thankful that she didn't poke him in the eye with the scissors!

I was going to take an organizing break today, but can't since Aunt Deb is coming to spend the night and her new bed in in pieces all over the sun-room. About two weeks ago, I moved the big queen bed that was in there to Moriah's room to allow us to use the room for more than a guest room. About a week later, a friend offered me a twin, so it can be Aunt Deb's guest bed for now and Elijah's bed later. The organizing continues, like it or not.

School Room and Lunch Tip

Today was a very hectic day, but I did finish up the school room organization. All I really had left was this shelf and bins. I would like to replace this shelf with a darker, matching model, but I didn't see one at Ikea that would accommodate the bins I've relied on for several years. I bought this shelf with five slots and five, fabric bins way back when I had five kids. Each child, obviously, had a shelf and a fabric bin for their daily work and books. Now, Tori and Julia have smaller bins so that the crayon, marker and colored pencil bins can fit on their shelves as well, and James and Ben share the bottom bin. The whole thing isn't the prettiest, but it functions well to hide the notebooks and papers of daily school work.

Here's my lunch tip of the day - Since I've quit buying hot-dogs and lunch-meat due to nitrates, I buy the big split chicken breasts and cook them in the roaster. I then shred the meat and keep it in the refrigerator. We make straight sandwiches with it, mix it with mayo and seasonings for chicken salad and often eat it on salads. It's quick, versatile and much healthier than the processed counter-parts. Two big breasts seem to feed a lot of us several lunches each week.

Here's a cuter picture than shelves in the school room or shredded chicken; it's Julia and Gus hanging out under the table.

I think I'm going to have to take an organizing break tomorrow, in order to make a cake and wrap presents for a certain princess that is turning six!