Venting

Yesterday as I wrote about our daughter Makayla my thoughts were about suggestions from another mother on what she thought was best for my daughter.  Knowing her brain tumors are in operatorable tumors and trying to explain to her also there is not a lot we could do at this moment but wait.  As I mention radiation was to be our next step.  I am not a fond lover of radiation treatments and preventive therapy only when the time arises to where there is no other choice.  I mention in prior postings of my husband Tim who died of a terminal illness and his next following steps were radiation therapy which took his life sooner and he suffered during his treatments.  Radiation is not for all cases for tumors or diseases.  As you may notice through my blog I do not place in detail all medical on my children.  It is that I do not block their illness or medical problems it is that I have learn to accept their illness.  I also daily manage in their care and I also research and rely on our team of doctors on what steps to take.  Most people do not understand it is not good to pity or show pity for an illness. I try as a mother to let my children place trust in first our LORD then their DOCTORS.  Our Lord with his kindness and wisdom has planned a path for each of us.  Some times our paths are not meant to be easy steps and we must daily be thankful for everything even if it is a day of pain.  Should our Lord chose us to live a life in pain it is for us to accept and ask for strength.  I pray for my children that there be a miracle but so many miracles have occur for each of our children.  First in finding our children through adoption we were able to assist them with their medical, next make each of their lives more comfortable.  And most of all let them know they are loved.  When I first met Makayla I never once thought in my mind of her dying just her having a family and Gary and I her parents.  It is not easy for any parent to know that the outcome on their children's medical end in death.  But we must remember these children are GOD'S CHILDREN.  Even though we are their parents by birth or adoption we are their for their guidance and to give them love. 

Enough on illlness and diseases  for each day should be filled with love, faith and trust that everything will be in God's plan.  For I am blessed to be the mother of each of my children even on days I have to hide to cry.  Adopting both Braska and Zach is not because I feel I am saving these children. I feel inside that they need a mother and I am there mother. Choosing to raise a child with an illness is not a choice taken likely.  Nor am I trying to over load my  plate of responsibility.  Daily I have a routine and whether it goes as plan or not I some how manage to get everything done and with time left over to spare.  Growing up from a large family as a child I have the tools I learned to feed and manage time.  Most women my age are retired or grandmothers and chose not to be mother's of young children.  I have always enjoyed day to day spending tie with my children or completing myself as a person to care for a disable child for attention. Believe me I receive enough attention as it is from the children we have.  I am covered in kisses and hugs each day.  There is never a minute there is not some laughter or someone around that loves to express their dreams or happiness. Even when the children are ill they always seem to still smile and laugh.  I try to make sure my children do not fear the unknown for in our home unknown is just a challenge from the devil.  I have never been afraid of SATAN.  Or what SATAN may or may not do.  For there is our Lord who is more powerful than all the pain and suffering that the devil may deliver.  I daily stomp out the devil as he tries to enter into our home in prayer.  I pray knowing this through my faith things will smooth and life will continue.  But continue in a loving stable home.

On this beautiful Memorial Day I pray for everyone who has lost a family member and for the Veterans that fought for our Freedom.  May we all give thanks for those brave men and women who have given their life as our Lord as done for us. May we not forget just who gave us life and ay we cherish it to the last minute.

God Bless American
and may God Bless each country who leaders fight for their freedom.
May we all live in Peace and Love on this Memorial Day

Tumors and Tears

No parent wants to hear the words that their child has brain tumors.

Nor do they want their child to endure medical treatment after medical treatment.

When we adopted our daughter Makayla we were told with her medical diagnoises

she would not live till age 5 to 8 years old.

Makayla has a combination of two rare genetic disorders 

which causes tumors to form over her entire body.

Many of these tumors are on her optic nerves of the brain.

And also these tumors are inoperatable tumors.

Makayla had just had her 14 birthday this April

and now her brain tumors have increased to over 30 tumors.

So far they are non cancerous tumors and at any time they can grow into cancer.

Our next step will be radiation to reduce the size of these tumors.

These are rapid growing tumors that effect nerve endings through out the body.

There is no one alive with this combination of genetic disorders for most children die before age 8 years.

Makayla has had tumors removed prior on her adernal gland and is being

monitor for tumors on her kidneys.

 The last couple of days I have been chatting with another mother adopting

about treatments and surgeries.

With surgery out of the question there is the first step of radiation therapy.

But with any treatment there are risks and side effects,

There are also disadvantages of being radiation and also surgeries.

With the position of Makayla's brain tumors she has developed

some vision lost and with a surgery there is possible total vision lost.

Should our doctors chose to start radiation to stop tumor growth

she will lost sight immediately.

With our daughter being 14 years old she is aware of what may occur 

with being a treatment and can not fully accept this.

During one conversation she had mention to us

she would rather slowing go blind that to have it taken away 

immediately.

Yes eventually these tumors will take over and being

on her optic nerves there will be vision lost either way.

Brain tumors can effect not only areas of the brain but other areas

of the body such as motor control of the other areas of the body.

It can cause one's mind to forget to breath

or arms or legs to move.

With Makayla's medical case there has been only 8 known people

in the world with these two genetic combinations.

NF1 and Beckweiderman Syndrome

Much like the Elephant Man

she can grow external tumors as well as internal tumors.

And so far she has been blessed 

the tumors on her adernal have been found early.

Our main worry is the ones that may develop on her kidneys

called WILMS TUMORS.

These tumors are fatal tumors.

So I ask for your prayers for a miracle for our daughter.

We adopted Makayla at age 3 years and knew of her medical condition.

Much like little Braska and Zach their medical is life threatening also.

No child should die alone or be alone ill.

Knowing that we are these children's last hope for adoption like

Makayla they deserve a family to love them.

No matter if they are very ill

they need a mother and father

and a family.

Again I ask for our children for your support and prayers.

God bless

 

As we wait :o00

As we wait for our final piece of paperwork we prepare for our trip to Baton Rouge to apostille each document. Getting the car and kids ready for a 10 plus hour trip.  We were fornuate to have a family traveling to Bulgaria that will hand courier our dossier package.  In this package is all the documents we have been collecting for over 7 months and running here and there to collect.  One large package holding the future of our little ones we love so much.  Praying that we receive a verbal and written acceptance quickly so we can next proceed for a court date.  By calculating we should be in Bulgaria late August or early September.  So it will not be hot nor to cold.  As I type my heart races with happiness in knowing it will not be much longer till we are able to hold them in our arms.  Seeing all through videos and photos we immediately fell in love. 

Today we had a garage sale which brought in $300 which we applied towards our agency fees. Still owing quite a bit to our agency and for both trips we will be fundraising and asking for sponsors. Daily I see where some families are fully funded for their adoption and praying that we just receive anything.  Any amount helps when trying to pay all the necessary fees involved.  I hate money sometimes not having it when you know two little lives depend on you.  This is these two children last hope for adoption as both will be transferred shortly if not adopted.  Both children have CF and need immediate medical care and daily treatments. Our social worker Don had told us many of these children suffer daily and their lives are filled with a lot of pain.  I could not imagine knowing a child is suffering but also knowing when they hurt they have no one to hold them, comfort them or love them.  To provide individual attention and care for their every need.  Care givers are few in orphanage about 30 kids per care giver.  These means to bath, fed and care for each child.   This means that when you divide one hour between 30 children this is two minutes per child. And if a child is in a diaper their diaper is changed about once to twice a day.  Many children stay in soiled diapers and eat with their bottles on pillows.  As I watched one child mouth move toward a bottle only to miss.  Then minutes later the bottle is removed and the child had not yet eaten anything.  This happens quite frequently and what can one care giver do with so many little ones to attend to.  Many of these children have been in the government's care since birth and many have not ever left the doors of the orphanage not even to visit a doctor.  Dental care is not available in most orphanage most or less any medical care.  Some children have not received any immunizations or check ups since birth.  Sad to say funding is a major issue for orphanages and also paying staff members.  Many times
orphanage directors are doctors and with orphanages of 100 or more children time is limited on how many children are able to be seen. So some children suffer or should I say most children.

Today as I mail off a check to our agency and it leaves our hands I wish I could send more.  But as we save and raise we will send what we can.  As I ask once again for everyone's help in sharing our blog with others.
This children deserve a loving home and please I ask you keep them in your prayers..

God Bless

School's out and we are cleaning and a cleaning and ONE BIG SNEEZE

:O)))  Now that school is out we do not have to worry about getting up so early and we can relax without running with our eyes stuck shut.  Many a morning I walked myself into our home's walls getting each child prepared for their day. Making sure all homework has been completed, papers signed and returned.  And also making sure their school uniforms are the guidelines of the school's policies.  Hard to understand that the focus of a school is on the uniform and not on prayer.  Prayer has been removed from our schools and replaced with blue shirts and khaki pants.  Back when I was a child each day was started with a prayer and our pledge to our flag.  So sad our nation has forgotten just who gave us life and  this is now being taken away through our government. 

The other day a mother and a friend Linda I met off our Dreams Group wrote this in her post.  Linda like me and many other mothers understand the important of religion in our school.  And with Linda being so kind enough to share this story with me I am passing this one on to you.

THE SNEEZE

They walked in tandem, each of the ninety-two students filing into the
already crowded auditorium. With their rich maroon gowns flowing and the
traditional caps, they looked almost as grown up as they felt.


Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles, and Moms freely brushed away
tears.


This class would NOT pray during the commencements, not by choice, but
because of a recent court ruling prohibiting it.The principal and several
students were careful to stay within the guidelines allowed by the ruling.
They gave inspirational and challenging speeches, but no one mentioned
divine guidance and no one asked for blessings on the graduates or their
families.


The speeches were nice, but they were routine until the final speech
received a standing ovation.


A solitary student walked proudly to the microphone. He stood still and
silent for just a moment, and then, it happened.


All 92 students, every single one of them, suddenly SNEEZED !!!!



The student on stage simply looked at the audience and said,


'GOD BLESS YOU'

And he walked off the stage...
The audience exploded into applause. This graduating class had found a
unique way to invoke God's blessing on their future with or without the
court's approval.


What a story and just how sad it has came that our own country can not allow the words GOD BLESS
in our schools.  Yes there needs to be change in our country but not the change that is now taking place.
One Nation under God with Liberty and Justice for All.  
I think somewhere along the years these words have been lost..  


Well it is back to preparing and cleaning the rooms.  Trying to prep the walls for a mural I will be painting in the boys room.  With Patrick and Christian loving frogs, turtles and the wild ones of critters I decided to paint it into their room.  Gary has just completed making the boys a bunk bed and we are also placing in a small toddler bed in the room for little ZACK - "JAKE"..  During Christmas I found a comforter set for a toddler bed with Jungle animals and turtles on it.  After digging through all of the children's toys we found several small turtles and frogs to place on his bed.  Later in my posts I will attach photos of their rooms once I have them completed.

Again I ask from my heart that you say a big prayer for each of my children's health and also some sponsors for donations.  I know I add this in each of my posts for sponsors but during this preparation of our dossier it has taken much of our savings.  This next week we prepare to travel to Baton Rouge once we receive our final document from Immigrations giving us approval to set forward in our adoption.  I also ask for prayers that we receive this quickly so we may travel.  Also I pray our dossier arrives safely to Bulgaria and that the MOJ gives our written and verbal acceptance.   God bless Denise

Biometric Fingerprints Complete :O))

After a very long drive to Jackson Mississippi and back to Bossier City Louisiana our finger prints are complete.  Amazing how one machine can scan your fingers and search all data banks for any criminal record.
As the officer doing our printing laughed as I nervously laid my fingers on the scanner.  You think after international adoptions I would be used to being printed.  We have been ink printed several times and also printed through bio-metric.  Knowing now all we have to do is wait for our approval notice to be received.
We were told to expect it within 10 business days but with all of our adoptions we received it that same day or within three days tops.

Nothing like crossing back over the bridge of the Mississippi River and knowing that these fingerprints are the final final fingerprints.  And with all  the time we have been waiting for to receive the  GOLDEN TICKET. The Golden Ticket is the opportunity for a family/parent to adopt a child internationally.  AND With this final document it will be added to our Dossier to be notarized and then off to Baton Rouge.  We will travel 5 hours to the Secretary of the State Of Louisiana's Commission Division for appostille seals.  Notarizing and appostilles for over 20 documents will cost around $400.00 plus driving to Baton Rouge should add on another $100 for gas.  Each step of our adoption we have saved and saved each dollar to complete our dossier.

Whether an adoption is domestic or international things add up quickly.
Once we return back to Bossier I will next send these documents with a traveling family that is adopting.
This will save us over $180 by not using FEDEX.  With our last adoption most of our savings were used
during shipping documents back and forward to Bulgaria.  This adoption we are having to ship when families
are preparing to leave to Bulgaria.

Our first trip we will be needing to pay  airline fees($2,500 to $3,000), Both children's Visas $230.00 each ($460.00), hotel in Sofia 2 nights $200.00 and lodgings for 5 nights in children's city ($125.00 per night) ** So about $5,000 for just first trip. Then there are the agency fees of $14,000 remaining. So please I ask for prayers and sponsors for donations.  I know this is a lot of money to raise and save but these two small children they are both priceless and very sweet children.

I wished there was some possible way we could be there in July for little Braska's birthday but I know it will be impossible and she will like Zack spend another one without parents. Another birthday without a cake or family around her.  Next year will be different  and both children will have birthdays with a family, a cake and all the holidays surrounded by family and friends.

Tonight I pray for both Braska and Zach for I can not wait to hold them both and bring them home. :O)))
Love their momma

Turtles and tears

What a weekend a sweet friend of my daughter Kimberly Cathey graduate from MLU college this weekend receiving her BA and is now a social worker for the state of Louisiana.  Gary and I am so proud of her and now she will be working for the state of Louisiana for one year as a social worker.  Watching Kim receive her certificate I had to cry as I remember when Samantha and her graduated from Kindergarten together. Kim comes from such a special family wonderful parents and a sister and brother. I love her family and I love this young woman like my own daughter. Again I can say how proud we are of Kim..  Kim will be doing futhering her eduation and a year for her masters.  My prayers are with Kim and may she complete her dream....

My daughter Samantha and I decided we needed a much needed get away also.  So we decided to stay in Monroe and just spent some mother and daughter time. We walked the malls and stores and talked and talked.
It is amazing as your children grow how you learn so much of how you parent them.  When I had my daughter Samantha shortly afterwards her father was diagnoise with cancer and then developed a terminal illness.  At age two years my children's father had died leaving me as a widow.  I never thought of myself as a single parent for during the years before I remarried I carried my husband Tim in my heart. Daily I would share my children's father with them so they knew that he was such a precious person. While sitting down for dinner we talked about how life can sometimes take turns in the wrong direction.  And that during these turns we must bend or break.  I have never been a person to break for I am a fighter.  When I set my mind to something I try and find away to make it happen. But with my daughter she takes so much at heart. She has such a tender heart and is so kind to everyone.  It was hard for her to understand things happen to us in life for a reason.  And this was a time when we all need to pray but pray for guidance.

As we finally headed back to our hotel we stay up eating popcorn and watching TV.  If I could I would do anything to take the hurt she is carrying inside but as a mother at this moment all I can do is to hold her and let her know no matter how old you are my daughter I will be there. At that one moment all I could think was that I wished my children would never grow up.  One by one they leave our nest but never my heart.

Taking one last stop to let her shop we went over to a country store. Down this old dirt road a fairly good size turtle was trying to make his way across.  Knowing his chance of getting hit were about 99 to 1 we had to stop.  I do not have the heart to see things get ran over by cars.  And when traveling the highways so many things on the side of the road.  Trying to look away not to see I still could not help but think about even a small animal trying to cross a highway of cars going 70 miles an hour is about the way my daughter's life seems to be going.

As fast and hard as she has tried she seem to be stop with as sudden hard blow. As we pull over her on one side and me on the other we tried to rush the turtle to one side or the other and save it from being hit.  Even life for everyone we have the hits and during this time we must pray.  Well not a turtle expert here so I tried to pick up the poor turtle and needless to say it was a snapper turtle.  Trying to remember was it the turtle that had a red neck a snapper or not and I now remember it was the red neck and boy turtles have heads that bend failry quickly.. As I ran with a turtle in my hands yelling and running.  Never knew I could run this fast..  As this turtle wiggled free and then under my car we had to then wait to coast the darn turtle out.  As cars passed by with my flashers now on finally one car stopped and we finally got the turtle carried to a ditch.  Off this turtle swam and to where till finally his small head when under the water to safety.  Wondering if turtles also have 9 lives???

With the turtle safely in the water and back in our car we laughed and laughed my daughter is going be okay.
Oh how I love to see her happy and what a beautiful smile she has.  I think this is why I love being a mother so much  the smiles, the laughter and some days even when there are tears seeing a turtle can make such a difference,.

Each night before I sleep I ask our Lord to please watch over my children, my family and my friends.

I know not all days will be filled with happiness but I thank our Lord for his love having my children and for all the small turtles.
 

AMOST THERE ON REECES RAINBOW FAMILY SPONSOR PAGE

 :O))) So happy to tell everyone we are almost there and our dossier is presently this next week being appostilled and will prepared for shipment.  Please keep our family in your prayers and also foward our blog to others so we may bring home our little ones soon.  There will be two trips and we need to pay the remaining payments to our agency to travel.  Trying to work with our airline miles for our travels but we still need hotel and travel espenses to raise and save.  So we should hear some good news  in a few weeks to come for a verbal and written decision for travel.  I will keep everyone updated on all news and our preparation for trip one.  We are very excited to announce that we have reached the $500.00 mark on Reeces Rainbow. :O))))Wo-Who;O))))))). I can not express in words how happy I was today to see our Family Sponosr page to rise.  Do you know every dollar is needed to bring not one but two children home.  So this means double the cost for visas, children's medical and airline tickets.  These children are priceless and they are our babies.

As each day passes I can not tell you how excited we are about meeting them.  Honestly I can not tell you just how I feel in words.  For there are no words that can express my  love I have for these two.  Also I can not thank our agency About A Child and their founder and owner Victoria Kats for her guidance and love.  And especially my sweet and loving sister Toni.  For everyone who does not know Toni she is not just an attorney-friend-or the founder of Dreams Adoption but my sweet sister.  I love her dearly and I can not thank her enough for helping all of these orphanage children.  Do you know Toni places her children before her own health and needs for she is a true saint and a follower of our Lord.  As I try and tell her how special she is she does not seem to know she is saving these children horrible life of HELL.

As precious as life can be we often to take for granted how the love of a child.
Showed is my friend and sweet sister Toni.
In Toni's arms she is holding little Katie before she heads home to her new family.
Katie is one of the lucky children now she will be loved and cherished.
This little girl as fragile as a china doll struggles and fights to live.
What you might think at first that this is a baby but Katie is 9 nine years
and also weighs less than 10 pounds.
How could this happen?
And why did it happen?
Often orphan children even with food give up the fight to live.
Katie was one of the lucky children that did not perish and now loved by parents.
Many children each day like Katie will die if not adopted.
And yes our little ones Braska & Zack will also perish if not adopted.
   Most of all they both deserve not only to stay together as brother and sister but die alone.
 It is up to everyone on this earth to help these orphan children.
I am  begging from my heart as a mother for you to help
 not just our two children
but also the ones that remain in these conditions.
 It is your choice whether to read and do nothing
or to help advocate and support adoption.
Please share our blog with others
www.nachalaadopt.blogspot.com
and support adoption.
God Bless

Please donate
and save
a life.