The goings on in Whoville

This week has been a full one. Starting it off with the news of a new Schloss on the way and heading full speed into a week full of appointments. On the new Schloss; I have all the symptoms of early pregnancy. That's what tipped me off to the matter. That has continued this week. Tiredness, hunger/fullness at the same time, with the pang of yuck in my gut. I think they are calling that nausea. Pressing on! We had an audiology and ENT appointment this week. Aggies hearing aid got sent to the shop for a good look over before the warranty is up. They replaced all the inner parts to make sure we had some good years with it. That was nice. The ENT said Aggies right eustachian tube is clogged. There isn't treatment for this, just wait for growth. We got the stopper taken out of Aggie's ankle braces. Which gives her a little more range of motion with them on. Sort of a weaning process I guess. She's been pulling up to her knees, which she couldn't do with the braces on b/c of the stopper. So the idea is she can pull up to knees with the stopper out, and we can work on pulling to standing from there. This will likely take much time. We saw the genetics doctor again in Birmingham. We have a new game plan. All the labs that were ordered last time didn't have any significant findings. So the plan is this.... We will see another general genetics Dr. soon. The one we've been seeing specializes in mitochondrial disease. She wants us to do this to make sure she's not missing something obvious. If noting turns up from that, then we will have the muscle biopsy repeated along with some more labs. As Aggie is still a candidate for a mitochondrial disease, her last muscle biopsy was not tested properly which we were told had ruled out the disease, but it in fact did not. On to other news. Our Haiti trip has been cancelled. It's not recommended for pregnant people to travel to underdeveloped countries. We do not know what the future holds for us in adoption, but it is still certainly on our hearts. Plan B..... since we had already bought tickets to Haiti, and had child care lined up (my parents), we paid a fee to get our destination changed and Mike and I are taking a vacation to Colorado for some much needed rest and relaxation. We are headed to a very remote cabin in the mountains. Then we can come back home and face the giants.

Adoption

As some of you may know, Mike and I have it in our heart to adopt. We originally planned on starting that process when our 3rd child was a year old, but the Lord sovereignly placed our little Aggie Rae in our lives and we've been taking a bit more time adjusting to the care she requires. But the desire is still there.

Mike's mother went to Haiti last summer on a mission trip with her church to help out at an orphanage for a week. She naturally fell in love with the children there, though they live in poverty, they are joy-filled. Two specific sisters have pulled on her heart, and she desires to adopt them. Her circumstances will not allow for that, but she wants to help us attempt to do so. I'm not 100% clear on their ages, I think 10 and 12. But after praying the talking together Mike and I have decided to check into adopting these 2 girls. I plan to go to Haiti this summer with Mike's mother and a small group to meet them. Mike may or may not join. After that we will decided whether or not to pursue adoption. We technically do not qualify for a Hatian adoption, as we are too young, have too many children, and haven't been married long enough, though we are told waivers can be obtained. We just ask that you pray for us through this process, that we would use wisdom and that our heart would be for the Lord and His good pleasure.