Friday, October 19, 2012

PRICELESS NEW PICTURES

Thank you all for such sweet words on facebook & our blog.  I just had to post these new pictures I just received of our Lexi Marie & according to the photos they were taken today!  Her precious little eyes seem to be longing for something.................maybe for her family that can hardly stand another minute without her.  Hold on sweet baby, we'll be there soon!  This is going to be a long several months!  Prayers for patience & peace in the between time.  I'm in tears right now.  Just priceless these pictures are!







Wednesday, October 17, 2012

THE CALL WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!

Who could ever imagine what 5 short days could hold for our family and how two phone calls could bring such fear & worry on one end and excitement & elation on the other.  Last Monday night, Bart got the call that his Mom had been life flighted to a hospital in Louisville KY due to bleeding & swelling on the brain.  Bart immediately got on a plane & spent the next 5 days at the hospital with his family.  Praise be to God that the doctors discovered her condition was caused by severe high blood pressure & were able to properly treat her with medications.  She is now on the road to 100% recovery.  In fact, she was released from the hospital today!  Thanks is not enough for all of you who prayed & sent words of encouragement!

Fast forward to Friday, Bart flys home just in time to go to our daughter Addison's teacher conference where she got rave reviews. Go Addie!! (had to give her some props for her awesomeness).  On the way out of the school, we got a call except this time it was THE CALL every adoptive family waits for from their agency.  The one where they say "we have a little girl we'd like to talk to you about, would you like to hear more about her."  FREAK OUT MODE.  WHAT?.......YES!!!


Of course that was a Friday at 5pm so all we could do all weekend was pray, stare at her adorable pictures, pray some more, & do lots of learning & researching online.  You see her special need is a cleft lip & palate.....a condition Bart & I had agreed we were open to considering but something we were not very educated on.  Well until now that is....I think I could almost write a book after all of my reading & studying...haha.  She is now 14 mos old (her bday was Aug 20th) & was actually blessed to have had her lip repaired through an organization called Love Without Boundaries at 5 mo. old. She stayed in one of their Foster Healing Homes for a few months in prep for surgery & to care for her until she healed then she went back to her orphanage.  There are more cool parts to that story but I will have to hold that for another post.  


So on Monday we sent her file to be reviewed by our International Adoption Specialist, Dr. Staat, in Cincinnati & to our surprise she called us back yesterday (a day earlier than scheduled) to discuss her review and answer all of our many questions.  She gave us the positive report we were hoping for and encouraged us in moving forward.  Once you learn more about her little story, you will understand even more why it's a miracle she is doing so great.  In fact, according to her medical file she is 50% in weight (& that's on our American charts) and is developmentally right on track (not usually the case for kiddos raised in orphanages).  She is one heck of a survivor & it's without any doubt that God has amazing plans for her life.


So last night we talked as a family and with 100% approval & absolute over the moon excitement from our kids made the decision to adopt this little girl & become her Forever Family.  She is our LEXI MARIE!  The 2nd China angel God ordained for our family long ago.  I know you're dying to see pics so below are a few we received.  And I'm sure questions are popping up in your heads.  Hopefully, in the coming posts I'll be able to answer most of them about travel, time frames, medical stuff, etc etc.  But for now I can tell you that the average time frame between now and going to get our Lexi Marie is 4-7 months.  I know, kind of a big span & that should get more narrow as we continue on but we're looking at traveling any time between end of February and end of May.  





DRUMROLL PLEASE..................HERE SHE IS MISS LEXI MARIE!


At 5 months old, right before she had her cleft lip surgery

This is right after her surgery at the Healing Home.


THOSE EYES!  I MEAN WHO COULD RESIST!


I LOVE THIS STARE LIKE "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I'M JUST TRYING TO MAKE A CALL HERE"