Got Armor!

My kids would answer the sky LOL!

Ok I have been remiss on updating where we are at as far as Griffen.

We are COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS!!

I am shocked we are here already but I THINK we are waiting on TA.

I say I think because our agency doesn't track the Article 5 like other agencies.

AND we again got smacked with another holiday (if you followed us last year we were constantly getting stuck by holidays!)

So, we were cabled on 9/21 (this is when we got our PDF from USCIS)

So we had all of the week of the 24th for our A5 to be worked on.
THen everything was shut down the week of the Oct 1st for Autumn Moon Festival.
Of course the consulate was also closed for Columbus day on Monday, Oct 8.

SO, were our papers dropped off on 24th and picked up on the 12th.

Or worst case dropped off 10/9 and will be picked up on 10/23.  Who knows 

CLEAR AS MUD LOL!  Basically, we are planning on Thanksgiving in China,

Tristan - my oldest is coming with me.  I really prayed for clarity in this decision since both kids have definite positives.  Now that we made this decision, I am so at peace.

We will probably be flying directly to Kunming and not sightseeing.

We are starting to get everything together for our trip and daddy staying home with the kids LOL!

BUT

Satan has been working overtime in our house.  It started with Chris's car accident and jsut has been coming left and right.  I feel like my Armor of God is constantly being pelted BUT you know I sure am glad I have that armor on.

The hardest part is our big boy also seems to be under attack.  Another proud moment when I explained Satan and adoptions - he said "MOM, I'm still going to China regardless."  I had once seen Armor of God coins and so wish I had bought them.  PLEASE, if you know where to get them can you please let me know.

So please pray a hedge of protection around our family,
Pray for Griffen's heart ~ and that he melds seamlessly into our family,
Pray for our Visa's which we still don't have,
Specifically, pray for Cav, who seems to be sensing the stress and has gone backwards significantly.


The Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

                                                                      Ephesians 6:10-18

We got ours. . . do you!

You know this girl has our heart!

You know we love sweet Ivy, her family is the sweetest people, I have never met.
But Ivy, she is just a couple weeks older than our sweet Griffen.
She is as teeny as him - a 2 year old  the size of a 9 month old.
She already has been through more in her life then most in their 90's  HECk, she has been through more than most families

Sweet little Ivy has only one chance at survival AND  so her family are taking her to the BEST!
All the way from Arizona to Boston.
BUT there are expenses, flights, copays and out of network.
Some amazing people have come together to create the cutest shirt EVER!
A very special shirt for Ivy Joy!

Would you please support Ivy's family TO SAVE HER LIFE!

Vote for Brahm

OK just call me pathetic, but if you love little people - especially our little man go vote HERE

for our little dukes up dude!

Boy/Girl Room transformation

We always just figured we would throw Griffen into the little boys room which conveniently has a bunk bed and trundle.  However, our little boys are also the worst sleepers.  Although Cav has come a VERY long way since getting home he still can be a light sleeper *  And Brahm - well Brahm slept in our room for way to many years, is the biggest dang negotiator and all around a pill when it comes to bed.  Also he wakes screaming with leg (joint) pain on occasion.  I really, really was having heartburn over three little boys all trying to sleep in the same room.

Next door to the little boys room is FeiFei's room.  They share a jack and jill bathroom which is super nice.  Anyhow, someone suggested having her and Griffen share a room for atleast a few years.  Besides, she is THE best sleeper EVER!

Luckily, we made this decision right at the end of summer which means SALE!!

So we changed FeiFei's darling sea room into

  (I mean we as in I and my husband would walk by an cluck at my nesting LOL)

Into a darling boy / girl room which coordinates,

 was all on sale

 and hopefully isn't insanely busy looking.

So the bedroom furniture FeiFei had was actually originally Brahm's until we got the bunks.

It is the pottery barn kids Kendall I think which they place on sale around Christmas time.

I was so thrilled that I found a matching toddler bed at Target - YES target!!

Curtains are the bane of my existance.  I took down her pink silk curtains but alas PBK didn't have any curtains on sale.  So I found some sheers at Kohls but I am still not sure.  Or how to do the curtains BUT

Don't you LOVE the woven fish valance!

Hopefully, it doesn't look stupid.

They were on super sale so you know I HAD to get them!

 Hopefully Griffen isn't scared to death of his giant woven shark

(cuz you know it was also on super sale LOL!!)

**Ok on the light sleeping.  This has to do with the seratonin levels (according to Dr Purvis) and Cav's hypervigilant state he must have been in, in the orphanage.  I have seen light sleepers but this was beyond ridiculous.  We had music playing, a white noise air purifier on high and any creak in the room he would be awake.  And not the sleepy awake of most kids but ready to duke it out awake.  9 months later he still sleeps with the purifier, and music but atleast I can walk past the room without him waking up.

Dwarfism awareness ~ size

Brahm is one of our 3 birth children.

His daddy is huge (as in 6'3" and 250 lbs (sorry honey!))

Brahm's big brother and sister are going to be big also!

As in his brother will be over 6 feet and his sister close to 6 feet LOL!

80% of children born with dwarfism

 are born to parents who are average height (AH)

which also makes me laugh because my husband is far from average height LOL!

This also means that FeiFei and Griffen's parents were also more than likely average height.

Now that our children have the gene mutation for dwarfism they will have a higher chance of having children with dwarfism, but they could also have children who are average height.

If they marry another person with dwarfism they will have 

25% chance of average height

50% chance of having a child with dwarfism

25% chance that their baby will die shortly after birth 

(due to receiving both dwarfism genes)

Also, there are varying sizes of people with dwarfism 

just like in the general population.

Because of his dad, Brahm will probably be a bigger dwarf then others with his type. 

FeiFei and Griffen may be smaller due to their Chinese genetics but we will see.

Dwarfism Awareness - Types

Did you know their are over 300 types of dwarfism!

However, the majority of all people with dwarfism have achondroplasia

This is what type of dwarfism FeiFei has.

Her arms and legs are short but her torso is actually about normal length. 

 So she is much smaller than her peers until she sits down, then she is right on level with them!!

We THINK (after so many genetic tests we have lost count) that Brahm has 

Multiple Epiphyseal Dysplasia

It means he is much more proportionate than FeiFei

Although his head is large from front to back.

On his growth charts, his head has always been 50% 

and his height and weight are way below 3% (the bottom line)

Also his hip and knee joints are different.

They are supposed to look like 1/2 a basketball

Brahm's are short and jagged which causes him his pain.

Griffen, well his type of dwarfism is still up in the air.

We think he looks like he has achondroplasia BUT he has his extra thumbs,

AND there is a type called EVC or six fingered dwarfism LOL!

So we will see when we get our hands on that darling little angel!

Dwarfism Awareness Month ~ never apologize

October is Dwarfism Awareness Month - 

I will be posting thoughts, information about dwarfism this month!

We WON!!  Ok I can't hardly contain myself, we won the Sunday snapshot here!!

To me this single picture reminds me so much of the face of dwarfism - tiny but mighty!

I kind have shared our story a little here, but I don't think I have shared how I felt.  I cried, in fact for months I would cry.  Everytime, I saw babies born at the same time, doing something normal I would cry.  I felt like we did something wrong to cause this.  This baby who we had 1/4 of 1% chance of getting pregnant with.  The baby who we prayed for, for years and were in the process of saving for IVF.  Our son who was a miracle in our eyes, conceived naturally against all odds.  Had I somehow caused our son to be born when God knew the heartache he would have?  What would his life be like, my poor disabled son - I say that very tongue in cheek because now I can absolutely laugh at it!

Somewhere along the way we went from protecting and sheltering him, to treating him like one of the kids.  We fell in love with his unique look, his big eyes and his happy disposition!

To us he was jsut our darling baby, but man when we went out it was a circus.  I don't fault people at all, especially when he began to walk.  I would jsut pray that we could get through the grocery store without being stopped.  But invariably, our trips would take twice as long.  I slowly learned to be an advocate and educater.  

Now imagine a perfectly miniature little boy running around amongst the shoppers.  And when I say miniature I mean miniature!  These are what he wore when he was potty trained!!

Do you recognize them?

Yep Build a Bear undies, (momma sewed the back shut LOL!)

I quickly learned who was actually interested in dwarfism, and who jsut wanted to exploit our family.  I learned that some people are jsut morons, I learned that others loved our son as he was.  BUT I also learned the biggest stab in my heart came from those that felt sorry.  The ones who profusely apologized for our son - really, he is the biggest blessing of our life!

If I could tell anyone anything - it is to NEVER apologize to a mother for her child!

Every child is beautiful, they are a gift from God and they are made in His image.  Please, I beg you to look at any child and find one beautiful thing about them.