Tuesday, March 8, 2016

You have seen my celebrations over the little things and you have done one of two things. You either celebrated with me or rolled your eyes. I understand either reaction. This is going to be another of those posts.

As a mom of a child with special needs I realize the importance of finding fun ways to provide therapy for a child. This can be a difficult and sometimes impossible task because of financing.

We have been looking at adaptive bikes to help Ciyana gain leg strength and improve her range of motion. Unfortunately the bike she needs is $7600. I don't know about you, but in our neck of the woods (or desert) that is a lot of money! Ciyana has been given the opportunity to win the bike she needs.

All we need from you are votes and donations to this amazing organization that is attempting to provide 600 special needs children with the bike that is adapted to their needs! Please visit the Great Bike Giveaway and give Ciyana a vote.

I can't wait to post pictures of her on her first bike ride, but that can only happen with your help!

God Bless

Here is the link a second time just in case the one above doesn't work and you need to copy and paste it. https://www.friendshipcircle.org/bikes/2016/02/ciyana-s/?s

Sunday, March 6, 2016

More doctors appointments have happened the last two weeks. Some had great news and some weren't quite what we are hoping for, but they aren't horrible. We have added another surgery to her growing list to repair eye muscles.

Our weekends have been spent outside enjoying the beautiful weather and trying to get some yard work done. We have watched Ciyana go from not being able to get her walker across the yard getting caught on lumps of dirt or grass patches to getting that walker to go where she wants it to. She is making great strides in her strength.

Today she had multiple successes. Her first being taking three steps all by herself. No walker and nobody holding her steady. Her legs aren't yet strong enough for more, but she is getting stronger everyday. She followed that with making it up the stairs. Up to this point she has only been able to go up one maybe two steps, but today she made it up from the basement!

Yep, I am being the crazy mom that is publicly celebrating every little accomplishment. But, if you understand where this amazing little girl has come from and that she has only been home since December you will understand my crazy momdem.

If it weren't for Reece's Rainbow my daughter could very well still be sitting in an orphanage continuing to loose strength. She may not have had the opportunity to be a blessing to this family and a wonderful, joyous, and loved daughter. We can sit and ponder the what ifs, but they are not reality! Praise God!

You have the opportunity to help these beautiful children by contributing to Reece's Rainbows 21 Days of Hope. There is a matching grant so for every $1000 given to 21 Days of Hope $1000 goes to a waiting child and bringing them that much closer to a family. If you feel God leading you to do so please consider helping Reece's Rainbow.

Until next time, God Bless!

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Oh me! Oh my! I can't believe it has already been 4 months since my last post. Yes, I can be the slacker blogger, but I am extremely busy being mom to four (FOUR!) beautiful children! On November 23rd we picked up our beautiful daughter. I can say it has not been an easy road, but it has been sooooo worth it. She is an amazing little girl that is making huge strides in her independence.

Since coming home our schedule has been full of doctors appointments, specialist appointments, therapy sessions, dentist appointments, eye doctor, and a ton more. I had my first week without three appointments and wasn't sure what to do with myself.

Ciyana has a walker now and she flat runs everywhere she goes. She is also feeding herself and dressing herself. Pretty amazing for someone they were just hoping she would eventually walk.

It is already hard to imagine a time she wasn't a part of our family. The love between us has grown from a frightened little girl that screamed if I got close to her to a trusting relationship. One where she knows that she can depend on me and that Mommy isn't going anywhere. She has continued to show us in her actions that she is believing that we are mom and dad and we are family.

I wouldn't trade this journey or its experiences for anything.

Monday, October 26, 2015

Excitement is really setting in with court TOMORROW!!! We hope to be picking up Sally to bring her home FOREVER in about a month. We are still a little short on the funds needed for travel. We have one last fundraiser to help cover what is left. Check out our auction on our adoption facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1625692801017402.1073741832.1544578859128797&type=1&l=bc36ddd90f
Check out some of these awesome items!



Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Well, another round of harvest is done. We had a pretty good millet harvest minus a few fields that were hailed on. We are now preparing for milo, corn, and pearl millet.

Towards the end of millet harvest we learned Jeremiah could not be in the fields. We thought he had a cold, sinus infection, or something of the sort but learned it was entirely allergies. He had a severe reaction to melons also. After a trip to an allergist we learned he is allergic to basically everything and has to be on a couple medicines to keep his symptoms under control.

We were beginning to wonder what was going on with getting a court date for our adoption. We were seeing people with timelines a couple weeks later than us with court and we still hadn't heard a thing. I already felt like I was being a pest emailing every couple weeks for an update but when I saw others with dates I amped it up. Today we got word that we have court October 27th. This means we should have our sweet girl home before Christmas if all goes well. She may even be home for her fourth birthday!

We are so excited to have the end in sight and be so close to bringing our daughter home. We are very close on our funding and believe we are less than $1000 from being fully funded. This number, however, may change depending on travel costs. The closer we get to the holidays the higher airline tickets get.

God Bless