Mother's Day 2009

Wow! For several days I have had a host of many emotions! I can't tell you how many times that I have thanked God for all my girls! They are each precious and they were brought into Paul and my life thru nothing short of a miracle. I'll start with my JOY! I have been blessed with Melia, Brienna, Meriah, Madissen and now our newest- Mikenna! Paul is really out numbered, not to mention all those hormones flying around! Anyway, God has entrusted us to raise these girls in a godly home and to love Him. The desire of our hearts is that each of our girls would love Him with all their hearts. We know that the 4 older girls have put their trust in God's love and we hope that Mikenna will someday know of Christ's love for her and want Jesus to be her Saviour.
Since Oct. when we received Mikenna's picture, I have had a sadness for her birth mother. She will never know what happened to her daughter. I praise her for giving her the best gift- the gift of life! She could have chosen many different options, but she ultimately saved her life. I can not even fathom that she felt she had no other option than to abandon her daughter. The best we can tell, Mikenna's birth mother took care of her for the first 3 weeks of her life. She loved her, fed her and took good care of her. Then she left her in a very safe place for someone to find her. My heart aches for the woman that gave Mikenna her life. She loved her more than she'll ever know. She has missed all of Mikenna's firsts- her first smile, her first tooth, her first step, that first slobbery kiss and hug... what a sacrifice this woman made for her daughter to have life.
Last week, we received pictures of Mikenna's foster mom and the place where she spent her first 2 years. To be honest with you, until then, I really didn't have a connection to this woman. Now that I see her face and know that she helped to raise Mikenna and gave her love, I now know she also must be mourning the loss of Mikenna. She got to see all those first because 3 days after Mikenna was brought to the orphanage, she was placed with this lady. She really taught Mikenna a lot and we are grateful that she opened her heart and loved Mikenna before she came into our family.
So as you can tell, it was a mix of emotions that I celebrated my first mother's day with Mikenna. She is with her forever family that loves her so much. She has opened up so much in the 5 1/2 weeks that we have been home. We look forward to many firsts that we get to share with Mikenna.
As I close, I want to pray for all of Mikenna's Moms-
Dear Lord- My heart is heavy with the loss that Mikenna's birth mom and foster mom must feel. My hope is that somehow these women would come to know you as their Lord . They have both loved Mikenna and for that I am so grateful. You protected her from harm. You made her perfect and I pray that she will grow up knowing and loving you. Thank you for allowing me to be Mikenna's forever mom- Amen! Amen!

Church shower for Mikenna

Pictures

First Month Home !

Where do I begin? It has been a month full of firsts for Mikenna. She has really bonded well with all the girls. She can say their names as best as a 2 year old can. It is really cute how she calls for them. I will try to highlight each item for you to get a glimpse into Mikenna's first month.
* We celebrated Easter. We started out by decorating Easter eggs. She didn't quite understand what we were doing. She watched her sisters. On Easter, we went to Lori's parents house in the afternoon. She really enjoyed herself among all of the family. She even showed us a silly side of herself. She was hamming it up for all to enjoy her show.
* That next week Mikenna decided to follow me downstairs to the basement and she somehow tripped and fell down the last 4 steps and landed in the kitty litter! YUK! Her mouth was filled with litter. I rushed her upstairs to rinse her mouth out. The rest of the day she smelled like kitty litter- gross.
*That 2nd week we also got all of Mikenna's blood tests back. She was low in iron so that is being taken care of with vitamins. The tests also showed that she had Hepatitis A. The Dr. was not really concerned about that.
* By the end of the 2nd week, I was really done with having her sleep with Paul and I. I started trying her bed at nap time. That did not go well. That night, she went to bed for about 4 hours and then cried for 3 hours in the early morning. She tried to sleep on the bed rail and every time she would start to doze, she would fall down to the mattress. Then she would pop right back up. She was not about to give in. She finally fell asleep sitting up in the corner of the bed and she eventually just slid down to sleep the rest of the night. We had some rough nights but she sleeps all night in the crib. Some night she still wakes up to hold my hand or just let me know that she is not happy about sleeping in her own bed.
* The following week-end (week 3) Mikenna made her first visit to the ER. We were walking out to a soccer field and she was holding hands with 2 girls and suddenly her arm went limp. They said that they were not swinging her so we were concerned. After 2 hours of not moving the arm, we took her in. As we waited to be seen by the Dr. she suddenly started using it again. We decided to stay and have the Dr. take a look at it. They called it Nurse-maids elbow. It dislocated but she was able to pop it back in. While they were checking her out they took her temperature and she had a 101 degree temp. By the next morning, it was up to 105. We were able to get it down with Tylenol and Ibuprofen and cool baths. On Monday, I noticed that she was getting a molar. Poor girl! She was miserable. She ended up that week with a cold and cough. Welcome to America and all these new germs!
* Mikenna is really understanding most everything we say. She repeats almost everything. Her most favorite words or phrases are: 'What's Up?', 'Peace Out!'. 'Have a good Day!', 'Yo Dog!' (Can you tell she has older sisters?)
* On April 26th, our church had a very lovely shower for us. Paul and Madissen brought Mikenna over to the shower when she had awaken from her nap. She did very well considering there was a house full of strangers. Lisa, a very seasoned adopted mother shared from God's Word as well as her own words of wisdom. She spoke from her heart! We opened presents, that were very cute and fellowshipped with one another along with some very tasty treats. It was a great day!
As you can see, she has been introduced to a lot of new things. She enjoys going to all the soccer games, playing with all the daycare kids, and learning the ABC's in English. She still is very reserved around Paul. She will play with him if we are all in the room. She even gives him kisses but only on her terms. I told him that I think we have gone from stage one of not liking him or making eye contact to stage 2- liking him from a distance. Our social worker was out here on Friday and she said that this behavior is very typical. Please continue to pray for their relationship.
I wanted to share something that I read from Steven Curtis Chapman- he was talking about adoption and he said," God was saying, I'm going to bring these children into my family, but I want to invite you to be a part of that. I'm going to glorify myself through this. That's why there are so many waiting children; those are opportunities for God to show up and reveal His glory. They are each an invitation from God's heart, saying, Come and know Me. And I will make myself known through you, members of my body, the church, as you experience the miracle of adoption." A truth to ponder is that adoption is the visible gospel. John 14:18 says,'I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you'. What a wonderful assurance! God is good. We could not have asked for a more perfect little girl for our family. We love her so much and we are being blessed each day with Mikenna! Our girls show her so much love and attention. Someday, Mikenna will realize how much this forever family loves her.
I will promise to update more. Many of you have asked me what is going on with Mikenna. Her world has been turned upside down. We think she is handling it pretty well. This is a process that she may have to work thru her whole life. Pray for her heart that she would come to understand that God created her just as He wanted her to be and she was meant for us so that she could have a good life and most importantly that she would hear of God's love for her.