A Family For Makayla

We will be celebrating Annabelle's 13th birthday this Sunday. Look how much she has grown!

She is my wonderful little helper who mimics my every move. We love her soooo much!!! She is an absolute blessing!

I have been loaded down with doctors appointments galore and I'm not looking forward to what might be coming our way.

Our sweetheart, Amanda, is having some serious problems. We have been working with an orthopedist for over two years now keeping an eye on Amanda's scoliosis. The doctor never felt surgery was 100% necessary and knowing the stress the surgery would cause Amanda...I let it go. Well, Amanda's scoliosis is now progressed to a 73 degree angle. Surgery now needs to be done.

But that's not the big problem. A pre-operative MRI revealed something that made our hearts sink. Amanda has a Chiari malformation with syringomyelia (check out asap.org). What those words mean is her brain is herniating out the back of her skull and fluid is building up in her spinal cord.

Tomorrow, Amanda is going to have another MRI done. Her neurosurgeon will then decide what needs to be done. I will update as I'm able. Please pray.

Annabelle is doing wonderfully!!! She is healthy and happy!!! Teletubbies are her favorite. :) She's a big girl who no longer needs diapers and is learning new things everyday. I'm absolutely convinced that if Annabelle would of grown up in a family from the very beginning she would be of normal to near normal intelligence.

Annabelle is now at a healthy weight for her size...41 pounds! We put about 13 pounds on her. She eats wonderfully so long as I make what she likes. :)

Right now I am making  between 6-8 different meals a day. One breakfast for Amanda, one for Annabelle, one for Keegan...repeat for lunchtime and dinner (I get help from Todd for dinner). I also have to sit down to feed Amanda and Annabelle six times a day. Needless to say, I spend most of my day in the kitchen.

Please pray for Annabelle. My sweetie keeps getting ear infections. Two since she's been home. Right now she has ear infections in both ears. The doctor seems to think her teeth might have something to do with it. She's taking antibiotics and is scheduled for next Thursday to have her teeth completely fixed. Praise God! We saw the dentist today and he couldn't really get a look inside her mouth but saw enough to know they are nasty.

Annabelle will go under general anesthesia to have all her dental work done. At the same time an ENT will look in her ears to determine the exact cause of her ear infections. If needed he will place tubes.

That's all for now. Thank you for your prayers.

When my husband and I committed to adopting Makayla from Reece's Rainbow, now our precious Annabelle, we were clueless of what we were actually doing. We thought we were simply adopting a little girl who needed a family and some medical help because her country did not have the means to help her.

When I read Annabelle's profile and it said she was 10 years old and weighed 22 pounds...I thought she had "failure to thrive". No big deal, my Amanda has a permanent g-tube because she has "failure to thrive". I know exactly how to handle "failure to thrive". I'm a pro. I have over 16 years of dealing with it.

Cataracts. Shoot, Amanda has cataracts too. Annabelle was right up my ally.

We never heard of P*even. We never knew about neglect in foreign orphanages. We never once saw anyone advocating for Makayla on their blog (though we now know people did).

We were a mom and dad who wanted to expand our family.

We committed to Annabelle and that was that.

Then the horror came to light. We learned about P*even, the orphanage she was at.

Annabelle didn't have "failure to thrive"...she was starved, starving. She was neglected. Placed in a room with very little light.

Night after night I stared at my ceiling in the dark praying to God. Please move this adoption along.

What began as a peaceful commitment to a little girl became a rescue mission to save a life from tyranny.

Left to right: Keegan 6yrs, Annabelle 11yrs, Jacob 4 yrs. Annabelle is slightly sitting on the couch.

As we watch our Annabelle thrive at home we also are seeing so much of past hurt surfacing and fading away.

When we first picked her up from the orphanage, she STUNK. It was horrible. I almost couldn't stand to be near her. (I have a sensitivity to smells)

The smell coming from her was the smell of neglect. She was dehydrated. Her tongue was completely dry. Her teeth caked with plaque. Her hair stunk, her body probably hadn't been bathed in who knows how long.

Today, she only has a very slight odor coming from her green rotten teeth that need to be fixed or extracted. Not sure which yet. She is receiving antibiotics for an ear infection she had and to help with her teeth. She smells like a sweet little girl.



Remember this picture?

I used to be fascinated that she was playing with her fingers. She looked bored and wanting like the wheels in her head were turning. Well she was bored and wanting. She was harming herself from insanity. Her hands are covered in scars from her picking at herself. She has one last sore that she had given herself before we picked her up. That sore is healing and she has not given herself any new ones.

It took her four days before we had a poopy diaper from her. And when she finally did it was rock hard, black and I swear there was wood in it. Now she's pooping every half hour. Her poop looks normal finally but I think there is an issue here. She's going a little too much. I have to wait to hear from the doctor. We have another appointment with an international pediatrics doctor Feb 7th.

Annabelle was also unbelievably pale. Ghost like. Her skin is slowly gaining more and more color. What a beautiful child she is.

It's only been two weeks since we took her from that orphanage. The changes are huge in such a short time. She's learning English like a native. She's learning sign language like she's known it her whole life. She's learning what it means to be loved and she's giving that love back to us.

There's only one thing I wish I could make her understand. The fact that she will never, never go back to that orphanage or any orphanage. Every time we go out, even to Walmart, she rocks and cries. She's fearful. But as soon as we pull in the driveway to home, she goes crazy with happiness! Her legs are wiggling, her arms are going, she's screaming joy and laughing!

Annabelle is our precious daughter forever. Please pray that God will give her peace, that she will know we are her forever family.

Thank you everyone for your kind words. They have meant so much to us. God bless you all.

I'm sorry for the lack of pictures but Annabelle is slightly fearful of the camera so I haven't taken too many. I will post more as she becomes more comfortable with the sight of the camera.

I apologize for not posting sooner but I was suffering from extremely bad jet lag, then I got sick.

This is such a short, dinky post but I wanted to let everyone know we made it. We were very close to missing our flight in Germany but God was merciful.

Annabelle is is part of the gang now and is blending in. It's as if she's always been here.

Tomorrow, I will hopefully post a heartbreaking story about Annabelle that has a happy ending.

I will also try to get up some pictures...for now, it's time to craaaaaasssshhhh.....

I really don't know where to start. Annabelle is the sweetest, most amazing little girl and she has already adjusted to us perfectly.

She's daddy's little girl and though she doesn't speak, she mutters out "mama".

Annabelle has very strange sleeping habits. I woke up last night to check on her and found her sleeping while sitting up. She also folds over forward at the waist and sleeps.

I was shocked when I saw her completely naked. I can't say she's skinny because skinny is fat compared to her. From her backside, she has no butt and you can see her hip bones perfectly. Think about looking at a skeleton from behind.

We are having a little trouble feeding her. She won't drink from anything and will only eat baby food fruit. I have been mixing cereal in with some of the fruit and I water down other fruit. I have tried mixing baby food meat in with the fruit but even with just one spoonful added to 8oz of fruit, she will refuse it. She's been fully hydrated, thankfully, but we can't wait to get home. Our feeding options are very limited here. For now, she's only sustained. With that said, she has probably eaten more food with us in one day than she has eaten all week.

We need to pray for the new director. She's up against a crew of workers who want the old director back.

Annabelle is an absolute blessing and we can't stop thanking God for her.

I know I've been a little lame in the posting department but please forgive me. I have been going nuts with getting everything clean and just right in my house. It's my way of passing time that I so badly want to pass.

On Friday, this Friday, time will have finally passed and I will be boarding an airplane to cross the ocean to bring Annabelle home forever.

When my husband and I started the process of adopting Annabelle almost a year ago, we had doubts that we would be "allowed". Before anything could happen, we had to complete a home study. The home study is basically a judgement by a trained social worker as to whether or not your family can adequately provide for the child or children you want to adopt. They also make sure you're not crazy people. : P

Pardon my absence but I have been working on a "book" telling about our adoption story. It's just for personal use when we speak at churches and other functions.

I'm just a small voice in a big world but I want to speak out to anyone who might hear me.

Please someone rescue this little girl.
She's facing the horrible reality of being transferred to an adult institution.

I just got back from reading Adeye's post at NoGreaterJoyMom. Please go there and read her post.

Some of you may wonder how our adoption was funded. Some of you might not. :)