20% Off Your First Purchase at 100percentpure.com

I love 100percentpure.com for their skin care line and have switched exclusively to them for all my facial cleansers and moisturizers.  They work amazingly but I also feel good about putting them on my skin.  For 20% off your first order please follow the link below.  Have fun shopping!!

http://prz.io/4X84 

Our Family Photos

My amazingly talented friend, Michelle (http://www.michellepraskins.com/) took family photos for us this weekend. She did an amazing job, like always, and I just love how they turned out!!  The kids did great, but Deena was especially proud and excited to get photos of our family.  I cannot wait to hang them on the wall and help her feel at home!

Our Family:

The Kiddos...

The Bird...

David and I....

Deena requested photos with just me...

And these were just for fun, though Ramya did not want to participate...

Thanks for taking a peek, I just love my beautiful family so much!!

Our Big Weekend

This weekend was a big one for us!  We trekked down to Phoenix so our families could finally meet Deena.  As an added bonus, we also got to have family photos taken by our amazing and talented friend, Michelle, and we celebrated our youngest nephew's birthday.

 

 

 

(Someone forgot the rule about not holding her until they had met her a few times and she understood he was family and not just another stranger ;).  Papas can get away with that kind of stuff I suppose!)

 

 

In other great news, our house sold and is currently in escrow.  Please pray that everything goes smoothly and for us as we try to finish packing it up and moving everything to Tucson.  If all goes as planned, the closing day will be the beginning of March!  We have a lot to do before then, especially since we are now living in Tucson and will have to travel back and forth while we get the house ready to sell. 

(A sneak peek at our photos)

Ramya's 3rd adoption day was on Sunday.  Since we were celebrating our nephew's birthday, though, we decided to wait until today to celebrate.  She chose Indian food out, and we also always watch her adoption video together and go through her scrap book.  She really enjoys having a special day!  She also wanted to watch Frozen so while the boys were at drum lessons, the girls watched it together.

 

 

 

 

 

We head back to Phoenix this weekend to begin packing up our house.  Please say a prayer that we can finish quickly and for safe travels back and forth.

 

 

3 years, 1 month, and a day

Today this picture popped up on my Facebook timeline from 3 years ago.

 

 

3 years ago, today, I was packing and preparing to travel across the globe to bring Ramya home.  Ramya, a child I though I wasn't ready for.  A child I knew very little about.  A child who, literally, fell in our laps and lived in a country I didn't even know you could adopt from.  Yet, here I was, preparing to bring my daughter home.  I am so thankful God brought her in to our lives and am blessed to be her mom.  Our journey isn't easy, but I truly believe that through those struggles we receive the greatest joy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 years ago I never would have guessed that I would be headed back to India, one more time, to bring home another daughter.  If you would have told me, I likely would have laughed.  Yet, God.   He had a plan that seemed overwhelming and hard at the time, but I can see now how he orchestrated each step to bring her home.  One month and one day ago, I walked out of the orphanage with Deena in my arms.  She is such a feisty, fun, and sweet little one.  She completes our family and I am so grateful she is in our lives. I can't imagine life without her!  In some ways it feels like it's just been a moment that she has been home, but in other ways it feels like she has always been here.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two beautiful daughters, brought home almost 3 years apart.  My heart couldn't be fuller!

 

 



 

Dreams Deferred

David and I have had a dream of building a fully accessible house for our girls.  Last year we found amazing lot and started working toward our dream of building.  We had plans drawn up and hoped that within five years or so, with the help of my dad, we would be able to build.  Plans changed, life changed, and we made the hard decision to sell the lot because our house still hasn't sold and we had adoption and medical bills to pay.  We didn't expect it to sell quickly, because land moves slowly lately, but did feel that God was telling us we needed to try.  It ended up selling very quickly and even closed early; this Friday.  We are sad to let it go, but have peace about the choice.  We know God has big plans for our family and there's always the possibility things will change again in the future. If not, though, we are thankful for the many, many blessings in our lives, and we know everything will work out just how it is supposed to.

 

Deena's Adoption Video

It was such a long wait to bring Deena home, and we are overjoyed that she is now in our arms!  Here is a video of our trip to India to bring her home. 

 

Deena's First Orthopedic Surgeon Appointment

Last week Deena had her first appointment with the orthopedic surgeon.  After she came home with a fracture, I realized how important it is going to be for us to have an orthopedic surgeon close by that was a good fit for her.  I called our orthopedic surgeon in Phoenix, Dr. Goggins, and asked who he recommended here in Tucson.  He recommended Dr. Vincent  and we saw him last week. I am happy to report that we loved him!  He was very pro-walking, had great bedside manner, took his time talking to us and answering questions, and has other kiddos he sees with osteogenisis imperfecta (OI).  I also talked to him a bit on his approach with kiddos that have spina bifida and liked his answers.  I think I will be switching all my girls to him.

(In the waiting room)

 



Dr. Vincent recommended removing Deena's cast (she had accidently peed on it so we were planning on getting a new one), x-raying her to see where she was at with bone healing, and then re-casting or splinting once we saw how she was doing.  The x-ray looked pretty good and there is quite a bit of new bone growth.  He said we could splint or even keep the cast off all together, depending on what I wanted.  Because we are all still getting used to how to handle Deena, I decided a splint was the way to go.  That way she would have the support, but also a little more freedom and movement.  So far it has worked out really well for her. 

(Deena "helping")

 

We spent some time talking about our long-term goals for Deena.  Right now the plan is to go in again in two weeks and check how her bone is healing.  We will also discuss a plan of action for rodding surgery at that time.  She had two femur rods inserted in India.  They had decided she was doing well, though, and removed one of the rods.  Apparently once you insert rods it changes the way the bone grows, so removing them is not a good option.  Basically once you are rodded, you are often rodded for life he said.  The other rod is not in quite right, but it's also not terrible, so he recommends leaving it for right now and then modifying it in the future.  She will also need tibia rods. He wants me to research a bit on the types of rods, how the surgery is typically performed, and decide how many bones we want to rod at once.  He does not recommend rodding the femur and tibias at the same time, because he said there is a settling period after surgery.  He said we could either do one tibia at a time, and then the femur, or go ahead and do both tibias at once, wait a bit, and then do at least the one femur if not both.  He explained to me how he performs the surgery, what the typical hospital stay looks like, what to expect, and all of that good stuff.  He also said he believes Deena has OI type 3. 


I can tell that Deena is already feeling better because she wants to be up walking constantly.  Right now I just hold her, but I would like to get a walker for her soon.  The walkers my other girls use are a little big and bulky for her, so I would like to get her something different.  I am still working on getting her approved for insurance, though, so it will be a little while.  Until then, our days look like this...

 

 

 

In other news, Deena has officially started homeschooling and is doing well.  She has a pretty good attention span and enjoys doing her work.  I am starting her off very slowly, but for now, it's nice to be in a routine again.

 

 

 

 

 

Deena is really sweet and keeps us laughing.  She has so much personality!  She loves singing and dancing, which Madi is really enjoying.  She is doing well expressing her needs and her emotions, which I am thankful for.  She loves snuggling and is a momma's girl for sure.  She is such a blessing!