My daughter, the bravest person I know

I'm honest in saying that my 30 pound, 5 year old daughter is the bravest person I know. She has been through so much her five years on this planet. She has had many health issues and is never scared by the test they have to perform on her. She likes to be explained what each procedure will intell and what the purpose of the procedure is.
Yesterday her school called because she was having chest pains. Her wonderful cardiologist wanted to see her right away so within 45 minutes after the call she was already having test performed on her. He first thought the chest pains were not related to her heart, but brought on by acid reflux. Her sonogram revealed that the valve is still leaking quite a bitand will have to be replaced one day in the next year or so, but the hole in her heart (VSD) had closed up on it's own. So that was good news and we were very happy the chest pains weren't stemming from her heart. They sent us over to Kosair hospital for blood work and chest X-rays, standard stuff because she takes heart medication they have to monitor these things.
This morning the doctor called me and advised me that her potassium is dangerously low and we need to stop her heart medication ASAP and her diet this weekend should be high potassium foods. She will have to be rechecked on Tuesday and we will go from there on what needs to be done to help her. Her heart is also more enlarged then last year, so he has to recheck her in 6 months instead of 12 months. the had first hoped not to have do do surgery until she was closer to her teenage years ,but we the amount of leaking and the strain it is causing her heart, it looks like it will be in the  next year or two. 
She never complains about the blood drawn or procedures, she never crys. She smiles and enjoys her life.  We sure learn many lessons from this little girl and we know how blessed we are to have her.
We love you to China and back Jenna Leigh!      

A Helping Hand

A Helping Hand

We will never forget the moment at 11:23am

When we received our call from A Helping Hand

You have a beautiful daughter; the words were soft, but clear

Three years of emotions dropped with every tear

You supported and encouraged us, when the wait became so long

Picking you as our agency, God knew that’s where we belonged

Extended family, you each will always be

We spread the word of your hard work and how Jenna came to be

Our journey now begins to bring Leah Grace home

We put our trust in you and know we are never alone

Uniting families together, that is God’s great plan

Angels sent from heaven, work here at A Helping Hand

Written By

Kristie Olges

Leah's bedding

We have decided on Leah's bedding. We decided to go with something a little different this time. Jenna started out with Butterflies, then she switched to Ballerina. Leah's bedding is called Love and Nature, with her room theme being owls. The walls will be pink and green. Right before Christmas Scott and I were shopping at Target and we both fell in love with it. We bought the bedding and the lamp. My grandma bought the pictures for Leah's Christmas gift and my mom had a blanket made up with pink and brown owls, then had her name embroidered on it. I know it's hard to believe, but this is our first purchase we have made for her. With money being tight, I'm not buying clothes yet. I will wait until we know her age and size before I buy those matching sister outfits. Now we just need the baby to go in the room, oh and Scott has to paint the room! So really we aren't ready, but our hearts sure are.

We've been cleared!

The mail man showed up at our door this morning with registered mail. We were so happy to see the return address of the FBI. All three of our FBI clearances were there and we have all been cleared, what a relief! Ha-ha
Now our agency will mail off our I-800A form, we wait to be finger printed again and then they will mail us a I-171, then finally our paper work can be mailed to China and we can be matched with Leah! I'm still thinking it will be towards the end of March when we are matched. Hopefully everything goes smoothly and quickly.. Happy New Year everyone. 2011 will be the year we become a family of 6, how exciting and scary.

Come on FBI clearances

We hope everyone had a  Merry Christmas. We sure did, we spend it with our family and enjoyed some much needed down time at home with just the 5 of us. I've been having issues with one member of our extended family, but I didn't let her ruin my Christmas.  The kids enjoyed their new gifts and the time we spend together.  We thought about Leah Grace and how next Christmas she will be home with us, enjoying the gifts and holidays with us. Santa brought her a baby doll and bedding for her room, her sister Jenna bought her a toy cell phone and sippy cups and her Nana and Papa got her a blanket and piggy bank with her name on it.

We are still waiting on our FBI clearances to come back, I think they have been come about 8 weeks now, I asked Scott was he hiding anything from me that would cause the long delay, ha-ha. Once we get this back we will have a 30 day wait for the I-171H form, then we will have everything sent to China. We first hoped for a February match, but it's looking more like a March match. Still much faster then Jenna's adoption, so no complaints from me just yet!!  Happy New Year everyone...

Not much free time to write

Boy can I tell a big difference in the second adoption from the first. With Jenna's adoption, I had more free time to blog and write in my journal. These days I'm lucky to get a few free minutes each day to myself. I've been working so much overtime to try and pay off bills, save money for the adoption and buy Christmas gifts.  I feel guilty that I don't seem to devote as much time documenting Leah's journey as I did Jenna's journey. It's is every bit as important to me, I want her to have the same memory books as I made for Jenna. With Jenna's adoption I had 3 long years to document every step and thought in my head. Now with 3 kids and working full time, dance class, preparing one child's for college departure, I just don't have the time to keep up. I know it's really not an excuse and I
am really going to try and do a better job for her.

Since my last post, we have completed so many steps in the adoption process, we only have one home study left and that is scheduled for December 7th. Then we can mail off for our I800A form.  It will take around 45 days to get that back. Once that comes back we will be ready to ship it all to China and our wait for Leah will begin. Our family advocate Dana thinks we could possibly be matched with Leah as early as the end of February or March and travel hopefully August. Even though I don't write as much about the adoption, she is equally loved and wanted and we are so excited to see her beautiful little face soon. We pray each day Leah Grace is healthy, happy and safe and we will know who she is very soon.

Adam has been accepted into Western Kentucky college. This is a big weight off my shoulders, I hope he continues to be excited about it and doesn't let thing and people discourage him from his dreams. We are so proud of him and I know he will do great things with his life. Now if you could say some prayers for some scholarships and grants, we would  could really use them.

Alex and Jenna are doing great. They are both excited about Christmas coming and going to China with us in the summer.

It takes a quite moment to myself to reflect on all my life has been blessed with. I get so busy and stressed sometimes that I forget to slow down and say thanks. I'm so thankfully for my best friend and sole mate. Though I'm sure I drive him crazy at times, he sure can make me laugh and always make me feel better. Scott is a wonderful husband and father, he is my everything. And I'm truly blessed to be a mother of four beautiful children. I would never have imagined being a mom of four kids, but I'm thankful God has blessed me with this opportunity. I love you all very much, Adam, Alex, Jenna and Leah.

It's Official, Leah's Adoption has begun!

We have been so busy lately, I feel bad I haven't had the time to post the excited news that we have officially got the ball rolling now. On October 23rd, we mailed our application off to A Helping Hand. Jenna was so excited, she has been (helping) with Leah's paper work gathering for weeks and has been hounding for us to go mail it off. So on Saturday October23rd we drove up to the post office and she carried her sister's papers and placed them in the big mail box! She was so cute about it. Since then we have our first home study scheduled for November 15th and we have went to be finger printed for our FBI clearances. Most of my collecting of paper work in done already. I'm just waiting on new copies of our birth certificates, the FBI clearances to come back and our physicals our schedule for the first part of December. Anyone who knows me knows I like to be prepared and get things done, so I try to kill out most of that paper work in a few days. Jenna really enjoyed looking at her papers from her adoption, it helped her see how the process works, she has a excellent understanding of it all. We are hoping to be DTC (date to China) at the end of January, then our wait for Leah's picture will begin. Hopefully like other families we know it will only be a month or so after that when we see her beautiful face. The whole process will be much shorter then Jenna's adoption.