Finally An Answer

Hunter and I trucked it in to the hospital for a quick set appointment with the CT scan people. Come to find out his appendix is fine, he does however have something called Mesentric Adenitis. MA is the swelling of the lymph nodes in the Mesentric area of the abdomen and mimics appendicitis to a T! MA has no real cure so we can only medicate Hunter for symptoms, but we cannot fix his problem. Most of the time MA sticks around for about 2-3 weeks, Hunter has been sick 1 week today, so we have a little bit to go.
Hunter's spirits were lifted when we got home and the school had dropped off Get Well Soon cards from his class...he felt sooooo loved!


Thank the good Lord we had a wonderful Pediatrician, Dr. Katie Copeland, and a wonderful hospital, St. Luke's Meridian, who would not give up with an easy answer and fit us in late on a Friday to get a CT Scan and get an answer!

Hunter's Guts

Well, we spent today from 8:30am until 2:30pm in the ER. Hunter has been having belly pain for the last few days so I tried to get him in to the Pediatrician. They had no room for him so I took him to a quick care clinic near the hospital. They took one look a this belly, his reactions to pain etc. and sent us to the ER with a suspected Appendicitis. After hours of IV tried (he was dehydrated so they had a hard time getting an IV) they checked his blood levels and gave him an x-ray only to give him a pain shot and send us home saying everything looked 'normal' and it might be an acidic stomach or acid reflux. well, I am not a DR....nor do I play one on TV, however I am not down with the acid reflux answer.
Anyway, the Ped. can see us tomorrow...thank goodness, and we will see what she has to say about it all. I am still leaning towards it being his appendix issue and will not give up without a fight.
Of course, Curtis being the more sane of us, doesn't believe that the hospital will remove Hunter's appendix just because that is what WE think it is. I will keep you posted!

Kindergarten

Thursday was a great day for Kai Ceus. He went to he school and got officially registered as a Kindergartner for this next year. Unfortunately, he wants to go to school TOMORROW, not next year. hehe
He did well on his E.L.L. test, but we will have to wait until he begins school to see where he falls in line as to if he will qualify for Extended Kdg. E.L.L. is English Language Learners...kids who do not speak English as their first language. Since Kai spent 5.5 years as a Creole speaker he had to take a test to see how well he comprehends. The teacher felt he would not have any issues and that he seemed to understand more than he could speak which I know is common for this stage of his being home. Once school starts, they see how all of the non-English as well as English first students fair on their tests. If he is 'low' enough, they will put him in all day Kdg. I can honestly say, I would be surprised if he made it and if he did, how long he would qualify...he is a pretty smart cookie.
Nikaya is considering starting Kdg as well, but they wouldn't take her...much to HER disbelief. hehe She got the papers and sat down and was coloring and told them "me ale coo bus" (me go school bus) they just laughed. I think she was a little ticked they didn't take her seriously.
I will enjoy my alone time with my last kidlet once the others are off to school again. YES, I said LAST KIDLET. Unless the good Lord drops some major change in the ole lap, we will be done....

Our Anniversary

Yesterday, April 20th, was my and Curt's 16 year Wedding Anniversary! We got to enjoy 3 hours of alone time!!! 3 of the kids went to a friends house (Tracey, one of the best buddies a person can have) and one went to Mammy and Pappy's house. The one that went to Mammy and Pappy's was grounded and not allowed to play with friends so that child had to spend a boring evening watching tv at the grandparents house. hehehe I know.....very evil and mean, but a lesson had to be learned. The kid that went to Mammy and Pappy's still got a little spoiled, what can you expect from grandparents anyway, but learned a good lesson anyway.
Kai was a little unsure of our leaving. I explained in English and Creole that they would play and eat and watch TV at Tracey's house and then mommy and daddy would be back....he was eventually bribed with hugs, kisses and a Popsicle. :-) About 9pm it got dark and Kai decided we had been gone long enough....thank goodness we got back shortly afterwards so he didn't panic to bad. Everyone had fun including Curt and I. We went to the Outback Steak House for dinner and went to Target to get a couple of movies we have wanted to buy and spent the rest of the night with the kids tucked in and watched the movies....very nice for a 16 year Anniversary if I do say so myself!
It was a big night, since we have never left the kids with anyone but one of us since they came home. Both did well and seemed perfectly attached still...whew...

Various Pictures Post

Demi Roo before cheerleading performance....Nikaya is honorary member! They are all glittered out!
















Kai Ceus.....he is so cool he MUST wear shades...even at night!





















Daddy on the trampoline with Kai, Nikaya and Demi Roo...who says white men can't jump??hehe


















Nikaya at Chuch-E-Cheese. Girl threw the ski ball and it went 1 foot. Tried again with the same result. She climbed up the machine, checked out the plasitc cover on the machine and figured out how to cheat....She got high score!!! Bells went off and tickets shot out hehehe
Kids that were standing nearby came and did the same thing...pure mayhem....I am so proud!!! ;-) Future criminal mastermind I see...










Fun with chalk. We chalked the driveway, the sidewalk and mommy, now lets chalk ourselves!!!

Easter

This was the kids first Easter at home. They were surprised to received outfits from Hawaii from Mammy and Pappy and candy as well (gotta love the chocolate!!!). We didn't get to have an egg hunt due to bad weather...wind and rain....I guess that good Lord is washing and blowing away all the sin. :-)

We visited Curt's family and had dinner. Great to see his Grandma Nolan alive and doing well at the wonderful age of 94...she is going strong and it seems that she will have another 94 years ahead of her.

All the kids played and got along fine. No real big fights over toys (nothing more than a toddler squabble every now and again). The Mommy and Daddy Easter Bunny got the kids an outfit each as well, along with a chocolate candy bar. The kids want to wear the outfits that they got from us and mammy and pappy right now, but they are short outfits and it hasn't been nice enough.

Kai is excited to go to the store and get a pair of sandals. With tax money in, we plan on clothes shopping a little for the kids and ourselves...something we do only if needed because they have clothes that don't fit anymore or something is worn out. Clothes for Curt and I have been a long time coming!!! Kai keeps asking me about going to the shoe store
"ok mama....ale go shoes now?"
"Soon Kai Ceus, soon."
"No, now mama, now...."
You would think the kids is related to Emelda Marcos or something. hehe

Tonight we get the task of setting up a new stand and turtle tank for Rocco. His digs are going from 10 gallon to 20 gallon, plenty of space for him to sun and swim....I KNOW Rocco is excited...

I need to do Demi Roo's hair tonight since she has a game to cheer for tomorrow at 9am. I HATE having to be somewhere BY 9am.....I even hate having to be functioning that early in the morning. At least with the kids up and around, I can at least be in jammies and fohawk hair and they don't care. hehe

Well, off to get things done.

Nothing Much Here But A Flower In The Wall

Nothing really new to report on our front.

I do ask for prayers for a couple of friends though. My friend Amy is leaving Saturday to pick up her daughter Kerline. Kerline is almost 15 and will be flying and coming to the US for the first time ever....pray for Amy's safety in Haiti and for Kerline's calmness in the storm of adopted life and coming home. Kerline has lived at the Orphanage since the age of 4 years old. She is leaving everyone she has ever known to go with her new 'mama blanc' (white mother) to live in this vast place called America. I know for a fact that she will experience fear, happiness, immense grief and an overwhelming feeling of lack of control. I pray that the Lord Will be with her as she begins her much anticipated journey home.

Also pray for my friend Angela. Angela is traveling to Haiti for the first time ever to meet the 5...YES, I SAID 5, kids she will be adopting. Angela needs prayers for safety, to be free from medical issues and to enjoy meeting her kids in Haiti.

Haiti can be a VERY overwhelming place. I have had families land and get back on an airplane to go home before ever leaving the airport. I have had families go to Haiti and call me in tears because they are so overwhelmed by the poverty and violence they see. I have had families tell me that they will make one trip and NEVER return to the island again....they cannot do it. Then you have people like myself, Amy, Ange, Abby and a few others, who will go back until they throw us out. (OK...they would only throw ME out and tried that once already...I returned..nice try. :-P )

I was very excited when we went to Haiti to get Kai and Nikaya. Curtis had never been to Haiti and was anxious, excited, frightened, worried all rolled into one person. I know the first little bit of our trip he would shake his head at night in sheer desperation to return home to Hunter and Demi Roo, but to not leave me Kai and Nikaya there without him. He saw the UN tanks, the machine gun toting police, the gunshots that put you to sleep at night, the poverty and the sadness...he also saw the beauty.

One night we were at the guest house playing volleyball with Dr. Bernard and staff. During a water break I noticed Curtis taking a picture of the wall that surrounds the guest house. I know that this is something everyone takes a picture of, I did it, I have seen photos from other families, it is just a presence to be seen and photographed. You see, the wall is about 10 feet high and the top has about 2 feet of razor wire on top of it. I know this fence well, and see many like it all over Haiti. What I did not see is what my hubby saw. Out of that big menacing fence was a little plant with a flower growing out of it....in the MIDDLE of the cement fence.
When Curtis showed me he said something I found very profound "this flower reminds me of Haiti...all the difficulties yet this beautiful living thing is growing from it."
He saw the beauty that I have seen, the strength, the desire for more, the desire to live in spite of the situation and death all around them....they are stronger than many I know and I would hope for their strength had I been born 600 miles from the US with no where to go. Curtis said he would go back with me someday, and for that I am soooo thankful!!!

Once again, I ask for prayers for Amy, Kerline and Angela as their Easter is one of happiness, sadness and a feeling of overwhelming loss and joy.

Before They Call I Will Answer...

I have always adored the story below....enjoy

Isaiah 65:24 "Before they call, I will answer"
This story was written by a doctor who worked in South Africa ..One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive, as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator).We also had no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool tha t the baby would be wrapped in.Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates). "And it is our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways."All right," I said, "put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm."The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.During prayer time, one ten-year old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. "Please, God" she prayed, "send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon."While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, "And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?"As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say,"Amen". I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything, the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there? The o nly way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from homeland. I had been in Africa for almost fo ur years at that time, and I had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator! Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door.By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the veranda, was a large twenty-two pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children.Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out bri ghtly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the.....could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out - yes, a brand-new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly too!" Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted!Looking up at me, she asked: "Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?"That parcel had been on the way for five whole months. Packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "that afternoon."