Opthamology

Last year Rayanna saw the opthamologist for her clogged tear duct.  That was resolved with a quick surgery, but the doctor wanted to see her back in a year's time because she was far sighted and had astigmatism.  Well, we went back today, and it was determined that  . . .

 . . . she needs glasses!  All children are somewhat far sighted, but her vision is way more far sighted than normal.  So, she's supposed to get glasses right away and wear them all the time.  Oh joy...this should be fun.  Fortunately, stealing other people's glasses or sunglasses is one of her favorite pastimes, so she shouldn't object too much to having to wear them.

Jesse has an appointment next week too because he's been complaining that his eyes hurt when he reads.  (I think it's a ploy to get out of school work, since his eyes never bother him during video games.)  But, nonetheless, we're going to get his vision checked.  I'm also going to make an appointment for Tabitha because her eyes appear to be different sizes (more noticeably lately), and the opthamologist said it would be good to have that checked out.  Hopefully, J & T are fine, and we won't be getting three pairs of glasses!  Ethan's eyes were checked a couple years ago, and he doesn't have any problem, so at least we're safe there.  But you know . . . Heath and I are getting less and less young every day.  Maybe we'll be scheduling our own appointments in the near future . . .

Ai yi yi

Abba's Hands & Heart

Something exciting is happening at our church this Sunday!  We are unveiling a new ministry called "Abba's Hands & Heart."  It's purpose is:  sharing God's love through orphan care, adoption assistance, and foster care support.  

Back when Heath and I were in the adoption process (for Tabitha I think), I read a book called "Launching an Orphans Ministry in Your Church."  I thought it had some great ideas, and I daydreamed about how exciting it would be to have something like that at our church.  But, being in the midst of the adoption process, our efforts were focused on that.  I remember thinking that someday, once we were finished adopting, that would be a neat thing to do.

So, fast forward to last spring.  Rayanna had been home with us for several months, and we had no plans for more adoption.  (In other words, no excuses for why we couldn't start a ministry like this.)  I started talking to Heath about it, and he was excited about the idea and agreed we should take action!  We talked to two of our pastors about it last March.  Then, from May up until last week, we had a series of meetings with other interested people from our church.  

It's been amazing to see God put the group together.  We asked a big list of people we thought might be interested.  Some were adoptive parents; some were not.  And in a couple of the cases, they've shared how God had been stirring in their hearts to do something in this area, but they weren't sure what.  We had no idea what was going on in their hearts--we'd only asked them because they were people who loved God and loved children, and had helped us with our adoptions.  But to hear how God set up the timing, and led us to share with them, and to see how perfectly they fill a need in this planning group....it's all been amazing to see!  We had been expecting to get two or three interested families, but it turned out to be about 10!

After all these meetings and all the months of talking and praying and planning, we are ready to launch!  This Sunday (Orphan Sunday) will be the big day.  Our group will be sharing the ministry with the church body and inviting them to join us in helping orphans!  We'll be sharing some opportunities for right now, as well as some ideas we have for later.  Some of the opportunities we have right now are orphan sponsorships, hosting an orphan for a month, financial support for families who are hosting or in the adoption process, and encouragement to consider adoption or foster care.  We also want to be a strong support network for families who are adopting or doing foster care, helping them through the challenges and the adjustments.  

Please keep this ministry in prayer.  Pray that God uses our church to glorify Himself and do great things in the lives of His most vulnerable children.  And, on a very practical note, pray that our church building has power restored by Sunday!  

We hope to have a website for the ministry pretty soon, and I'll share that link once we have it.  Thanks for your support!

They're Coming Home!

Heath and Tabitha are on their way home!!!  This will be the 12th day they've been gone, and we're so ready to have them back!

Tabitha had a few rough days, but Heath said she's doing well today and able to walk around on her own for short periods of time.  They've got a long drive home, but when he called she was doing alright in the seat.  She'll have a few temporary tubes again, and we'll take her back in about a month to have those removed and make sure everything has healed well.

After that, things should be back to normal for her . . . only better!  There should be no more kidney reflux now, which will protect her kidneys from further damage.  She'll still need to use a catheter (most likely lifelong), and she'll still need to do enemas every day.  But she'll now be able to learn to do the enemas herself, and it should be a much easier process.

Thanks again for praying for her and for thinking of us over the last couple of weeks.  We appreciate it very much!

Update on Tabitha

I guess it's been awhile since I updated everyone on how Tabitha's doing.  Things are going pretty well.  She had a couple bad days after the surgery, where she couldn't keep anything down and was in pain.  But today's been much better.  Heath said they're hoping to come home on Monday.

She'll probably be coming home with a urine bag again for a few weeks, while things heal.  We'll go back again for a check-up and to have the extra parts removed (stints in her kidneys, tube in her belly button).  That should be a much quicker visit though.

Heath's holding up pretty well even though he hasn't gotten any good sleep there.  I remember all too well how horrible the nights were there.  Nurses and noisy machines waking you up every time you finally fall back to sleep...frustration...exhaustion...boredom.  After 5 nights of that, with probably 2 more to go....it's a little exhausting!  But when I talked to him this morning he'd just had a coffee and a diet coke and said he was feeling pretty good.  =)

Thanks again for your prayers and encouragement.  I'll post again once they're home!

Surgery Complete!

Tabitha's surgery went well today.  Thanks for praying!  It took longer than expected (8 hours instead of 6) because she was a "one of the hardest he's ever done," but things went well.  The urologist says her bladder is in good shape, so hopefully she won't need any further surgery.  She can't eat for a few days, until the bowels start working again (since they were messed with for the Malone part of the surgery).  Being able to eat is the biggest factor in how soon she can come home.  We were told she'll be there at least 4 days, maybe up to 7.  She's pretty puffy and out of it from surgery, but other than that things are going well.

Heath's hanging in there.  Sleeping at the hospital isn't much fun, that's for sure.  And he forgot his laptop, so boredom is quite an issue too.  But he's a good sport and hasn't begged me to come switch with him yet.  =)  Things are going well for us at home too.  Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers.  We appreciate it!

This is Tabitha attempting to smile with her very puffy face.  Poor thing!  But hey, at least she TRIED to smile.  That says something!

Hospital Day One

Well, the fun part of the trip is over.  Heath and Tabitha had a nice weekend relaxing and having lots of Daddy-Daughter time.  But today hasn't been so fun.  They checked into the hospital this morning.  She has to go a day early to do a bowel clean-out.  This involved putting a tube down her nose that sends medicine into her stomach to clear everything out of her digestive tract so that she'll be ready for surgery.  NOT FUN.  She does not like the tube (to say the least).  I know I wouldn't either.  

What's been even worse is the IV.  She's had problems in the past with veins not cooperating, and when Heath called me around 1:00, they were on the 3rd attempt.  The veins keep collapsing.  So they're trying to hydrate her more, which is supposed to help, and then try again.  They need to draw blood for some pre-op blood tests, and of course she needs the IV in for surgery.  So pray that things get better and the IV would work, so they could stop having to re-do it.  Heath said she's in a pretty nasty mood.  Today is hopefully the worst part of it all, because tomorrow she'll be out of it, and then she'll be on lots of medication during the recovery.  So just pray for an easier rest-of- the-day.  Thanks.

There is some fun news though.  Heath said Tabitha's picture is all over the hospital walls!  They have signs up about how the nurses need to check IV sites frequently, and Tabitha's picture is on the posters!  (This picture's blurry because it was taken with Heath's phone, but we're pretty sure it's her from her last visit to the hospital.)

Update on Tabitha

Heath and Tabitha left for Cincinnati Wednesday night.  She had a bunch of testing done yesterday with good results:  they'll be able to do the surgery as planned, not the bigger surgery that could have been necessary.  We're very thankful for that.  The surgery is called "ureter reimplantation."  They'll be reconnecting the ureters into the bladder in a way that will prevent the reflux (backflow) that she currently has.  They'll also be putting a valve, called a Malone, into her belly button to make her daily enema routine more convenient and independent.

The appointments are all over for now, so she and Heath will be relaxing this weekend in Cincinnati, and then she'll check into the hospital Monday morning for some pre-op procedures.  The surgery will be Tuesday morning (I don't know the exact time).  She'll have to stay in the hospital 4-7 days after surgery.

Meanwhile the other 3 kids and I have survived our first two days alone.  It feels weird to be missing 1/3 of our family!  The days are easier than normal with only 3 kids instead of 4, but the evenings and weekends will be harder with only 1 parent instead of 2.  The good part is if I serve PBJ or cereal for dinner, no one's going to complain.  =)  Heath definitely has the harder part of the bargain . . . "sleeping" in the hospital room, handling with all the medical stuff, dealing with Tabitha's "medicated moods," and stuff like that.  So I sure can't complain.  

I'll post again after her surgery.  Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.