Counting my blessings daily...

2009-09-17T22:40:00.002-04:00

We are back to school! Co op started three weeks ago, but we just started homeschooling this week. Brooke was so sick that she had to be in ICU for 6 of the 8 days she was hospitalized. Thank the Lord she is on the mend, and the baby is fine.

Leni's Hospital Adventure

2008-12-21T11:41:00.002-05:00

I will be as brief as possible

(But it will still be a book)
and try to explain what happened:
This really has no bearing on the story,
but you need to know why we thought she might have had something in her throat.
On Thursday, we had a Christmas party

for our local homeschooler's group
and we made Christmas ornaments

to give out to the Meals on Wheels recipients.
The table was full of glitter, tinsel, beads, sequins, etc.
This party was from 12-2.
Selena was fine, and I asked ALL of the other moms
and older children to help me watch her

because she has a tendency to put things in her mouth.
Selena did great and I did not see her eat anything (nonfood)

nor did I have to take anything away from her.
Okay... fast forward to Thursday night.

We had already eaten supper, had baths, etc,
when out of nowhere Selena started coughing really frantically about 8:55.
She grabbed her throat several times and said "OW!"
I got her calmed down, and she was breathing, but kind of not herself.
So I offered her water, and she still acted as if something was in her throat.
Promptly at 9 pm, I put her in the car and drove to the ER in Union.
They examined her there and she appeared to be fine.

Whatever it was seemed to have been coughed up.
Great!
"We just wanna take a quick peek with an xray to make sure..."

So they did an xray.
When they came out to us, they informed me that Selena "had aspirated a SPRING!!!"
What?!?!?!
Okay... now what do we do?

so they put us in an ambulance, and sent us to Spartanburg.
In Spartanburg, they reviewed the documents

and determined it would be best to go in with a scope and retrieve the item.
So, they put her to sleep in the middle of the night and took her to surgery.
They worked on her for over an hour and finally came out and told me they could not see anything at all in her bronchial tubes, lungs, etc.
However, the xray showed something for sure.
What they did was gas her while she was sleeping first,

to make her groggy, then IV sedation, to total unconsciousness.
so she was out for all of this.

She woke up with very little obvious discomfort

and recovered very well each time.
The meds they gave her not only anesthetized

her but also had an amnesia effect so it made her forget the whole thing!
That was an answered prayer right there.
I asked how bad it would be for her for us to just leave it alone

and the doctor informed me she could die, or lose her lung.

He said it had to come out.
OKAY- I get it- Leaving it in is NOT an option!!!!
The doctor said we needed to get up to Greenville hospital,
but he wanted us to rest and go the next day

since the surgeons would have to be called in, etc,

and Selena was calm and not in pain, etc.
So, on Friday, we got up and were put in ANOTHER ambulance and taken to Greenville.
The doctor told us from the xrays, it would be straight forward.
We would get this thing out.
He would be ready to do plan A, B, C.
A: Being the least invasive which is just the tube down the throat.
B: Being a flexible tube inside a rigid tube to go even deeper into the lungs.
C worst case scenario, Open chest surgery to cut it out from the exterior.
Again, he did not want to do this late in the day or middle of the night,

so they scheduled Selena for 8 am Saturday.
After about 30-45 minutes of being in the OR,

one of the surgeons came out to me

and questioned me to try to remember if she could have possibly

at any time prior to this coughing episode

ingested something else that was actually embedded in the lining of her lung.
I told him about the party,

and they thought maybe it wa a sequin,

and that would explain the difficulty in seeing it in there.

The doctor could see it on x ray plain as day,

but inside with the scope, it was not there.
They did this 3 times, with x rays, and a (sp?) flouroscope as well.
I tried to explain how we do arts and crafts,

we have a busy and active, AKA messy family,
so it could have been anytime, really,

but I knew there was not a choking incident

that I was aware of anytime before Thursday at almost 9 pm...
They went back into surgery

and after what seemed an eternity

(when in actuality was only 30-45 more minutes)
the Doc came back out and told us.....

they did not cut on her.

They did scope her , but called in other specialists before operating and...

The "Spring" was actually a medical device in her heart,
placed as an infant so no one knew it
and no one told us about it and it was supposed to be there,
and NOTHING is wrong with her now- Praise the Lord!

For a short while,(maybe an hour or so) I was furious with the social workers
who blatantly lied to me about her health condition.
They did not only leave out that she had this repair done,
they pointedly told me "SHE is fortunate that she did NOT have the congenital heart defect most downs kids have".

When I called the caseworker, she apologized profusely,

but she herself did not know.

So, really, it was not her fault.

I still feel like I should have been told this!

But after talking to a friend, who reminded me that

"All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord,"
I realized that if I had known about this heart defect

I may not have pursued her adoption.
I am ashamed to admit it, even to myself,

but selfishly, we did not want a lot of issues

that would take away from the kids we already had.
So knowingly adopting a child in a medically fragile state we felt would be unwise.

It does not matter now; when I saw her, I knew she was mine.
God kept that secret for me

when I did not need to know it,

and then with this episode He allowed it to be revealed to me at the perfect time.

Thank you for your prayers.
Please continue rejoicing with me in Selena's perfect healing and in our recognition of God's perfect will for our lives...
I never cease to be amazed with how He plans things.
Goodnight,
Allison

Christmas Parade 2008

2008-12-14T19:00:00.000-05:00

This is Carlos, Joshua, and Leni on Mrs. Elaine's Polar Express Christmas float.

The day was very cold and the children were told to wear pajamas and take off their coats.

Then, the day turned even colder and it started to rain!

At that point, Joshua climbed into the train.

(mind you, this was just a painted cardboard box with cutouts)

But he did not want to sit in the rain.

Leni was thrilled and yelled loudly the whole trip up the street.

She tried to say Merry Christmas over and over.

They all waved the perfect parade wave and best of all, they stayed on the float! Success!

Halloween 2008 Dance for the girls

2008-11-02T22:01:00.003-05:00

Here are the girls as they went off to the dance at Union Christian Day School.

Sarah was a Dark Fairy (sporting her inner goth), Kayla (my niece) was Punk Rock Vampire wanna be (but her teeth would not stay on- LOL), and Rebekah was a Fairy Princess.

Halloween 2008- the rest of the kids- lol

2008-11-02T21:54:00.002-05:00

Here are Spiderman- Joseph, Darth Vader- Joshua, and Green Power Ranger- Carlos dressed up for Trunk or Treat. (We don't usually do anything Halloweenish, so this was fun for them) We actually went to Home Depot Halloween night and took all the kids shopping for toilets and bath tubs- woo hoo! What fun!

Halloween 2008

2008-11-02T21:48:00.003-05:00

Here is Snow White, twirling and dancing in the yard. I made her dress a little too long, and did not have time to hem it. Sooo, she wore it more like a ball gown, which actually worked out alright as it was very cold Wednesday night when we went to Trunk or Treat at church.

Apple Orchard

2008-10-13T23:08:00.001-04:00

Here we are at Windy Hill Apple Orchard in York, SC with our homeschool group. We listened to the story of Johnny Appleseed, then stuffed a scarecrow, and finally rode the huge tractor full of hay. We also enjoyed some fresh apple cider before heading home.

Picking Pumpkins

2008-10-12T00:28:00.002-04:00

The children got their own pumpkin to take home. Joshua refused to believe Mama's warning to hold it from the bottom...that the stem would break. He learned his lesson the hard way.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-11T22:21:00.001-04:00

This was our group at Strawberry Hill Pumpkin Patch in Chesnee, SC. The weather was beautiful. The tractor was broken down that would normally be used for the hayride, so we hitched a ride on a peach truck after taking a break to get an ice cream.
:)

Myrtle Beach 2008

2008-09-29T21:37:00.000-04:00

Myrtle Beach 2008

2008-09-29T21:22:00.000-04:00

Well, we have had a great few days at Myrtle Beach!
Two of my favorite teenage girls in the world (S & R) have been having some low tech days with minimal cellphone time and maximum together time. Three little rambunctious boys (C, J, and J) and a sweet little girl (L) have enjoyed digging for crabs, shark teeth, and fancy shells. They have also mastered putt putt and the lazy river. The place we are staying has many pools and hot tubs and they love jumping in and out at whim. Poppy actually got into a couple of the hot tubs, and got a lot of attention.

Here we are!

2008-09-22T23:04:00.000-04:00

I just had to join the blogging world!

I needed to find something to do with my spare time- lol!

Anyway, I have been on blogger over a year so that I could read other people's blogs, but never set up my own. So here it is finally~ smile~