Sam vs. The Basketball Pole

Sam had a collision with a basketball pole on Monday during recess at school, and the basketball pole won!  He hit his forehead on the pole and then fell backwards and hit the back of his head on the ground. After watching him overnight and seeing that his dizziness, head pain, and fogginess did not subside, I decided to take him in to be evaluated.  He was diagnosed with a mild concussion and prescribed "Total Rest".  This means doing absolutely nothing for days.  He can't use any screens, can't read, can't play, can't listen to anything, NOTHING.  It is killing us all, but I don't want to risk his brain not healing.  This is what his week has looked like:

This is his favorite spot to sit

He has done a lot of sleeping

 Poor guy.  It is so hard to see him suffer

 His view from the couch

 He took a 4 hour nap yesterday

He has also taken A LOT of baths.  I figured it wouldn't be appropriate to take a picture of that!  He is the cleanest he has ever been.  As a 12 year old boy, being clean is not usually the priority.

Today he woke up feeling significantly better.  That has created a whole new set of challenges.  He feels better, but is not ready to do his normal things.  We are having some battles over his activities.  I just don't want him to have a setback.

Spring Break is next week.  We got an early start today because of a snow cancellation.  If he rests, like he should, we are hopeful that he can return to school after the break.

We would love your prayers for his recovery.  We do not want this to be the beginning of more issues for him.  He is very active and loves to play basketball.  We are hoping he can fully heal and jump back into his season.

Working Well = Clean Water

Most everyone that reads this blogpost has access to clean water each day.  Most of us don't even think about it unless for some reason, the water goes out or becomes unsafe to drink.  Then, all of a sudden, we are reminded how much we take for granted the clean water that we have.

Once again, I am participating and want to invite each one of you to join me in helping the people of Uganda have clean water, a necessity for life.

My friend, Mandy, who leads this movement toward clean water each year says it WAY better than I ever could.

"may this raffle be a sacrament, Lord. may you meet us here and use this space to somehow bring glimpses of heaven to our friends in Uganda.  we want the hope we have to trickle out everywhere and we trust you with that desire, knowing it's your desire, too. 

this year, the raffle of the adventure project aims to rally around World Water Day in an effort to rehabilitate the 3 broken down wells still remaining in water for people's pilot program in the Kamwenge district.  along with the wells' rehabilitation, this project will create 6 jobs (a care taker and mechanic for each rehabilitated well), providing economic growth and a sustainable way to ensure a clean water source that will last. 

basically, what i want you to read is this:

this year we are working toward bringing heaven to uganda.  that sums it up quite nicely. 
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.

the raffle will end on world water day, tuesday, march 22nd.  we will announce the winners around 8 pm mountain time."

As my contribution to this year's raffle, I am giving away 2 of my FAVORITE Young Living Essential Oils, Thieves and Frankincense(These two oils have a combined retail value of over $90).  Both of these oils have SO MANY uses that I feel confident that you will love them just as much as I do!  I wouldn't want to live without these, just like I don't want to live without clean water.

You can go here to bid on these oils or something else OR lots of things.  Have fun with it!  Bid Away!  Once you have bid on the items you want, go here to donate the money for those bids!

Learning to Grow

The doctor walked in and said, "I have never seen a growth chart like this, and I am very concerned." It was at that moment that I realized this appointment was not just a routine thing we needed to do in order to move on with our lives.  This was a big deal.  Isaiah and I spent the next hour answering or at least trying to answer, questions about every aspect of his body and how it functions.  Most of the questions, I didn't even know the answers to.  If he was younger, I would have known every answer, but I don't monitor my 9 year old's bodily functions, sleep patterns, energy levels, pain index, brain function, muscle tone, etc. on a daily basis.  I knew his growth was lacking, but we thought, "maybe he is just small."  

Well, the Pediatric Endocrinologist did not think it was just that.  He saw a plummet in his growth chart and his percentiles that were a huge concern for him.  I knew he hadn't grown any the year prior, but he had grown in the last year and that was encouraging.  The problem was that there was a point on his growth chart where the normal growth that he was experiencing stopped.  Instead of continuing on a steady growth pattern, he grew less and less and went from the 90% to the 3%.  As a 9 year old, his bone scan showed an age of 7 years.

Let me stop for a minute here and talk about adoption.  Many might be thinking, well, maybe his birthdate was wrong and he really is just 7.  That would be impossible.  We got him at the age of 2 and Laila was 9 months.  We are pretty confident about his birthdate being correct.  At the age of 2, he was talking A LOT.  There is no way he could have been two years younger than we were told.  He also had an actual government issued birth certificate with an actual birthdate of December 18, 2006.  Usually, if a birthdate is unknown in a case of international adoption, a child will be assigned the birthdate of Jan. 1.  The other factor that makes this tricky is that we have no genetic information other than Laila being his biological sister.  Laila is actually 18 months younger than him and 2-3 inches taller than him.  That is suspect for sure.  

So, on Jan. 5, we began a new journey.  We had many doctor's appointments and tests ahead of us to figure out what was going on in our little guy's body.  Lots of scary possibilities were mentioned along the way.  I was officially scared when I left that office and a bit in shock that we were walking this road.  I even felt guilty that maybe I had missed something and should have seen it sooner.  What if my lack of action resulted in something life threatening for him?  Now, here we are on March 12 with a plan in place and a daily regimen to get his body growing like it should.  

We left the doctor's office with an appointment the following week in Denver.  At this appointment, Isaiah would go through 4-5 hours of testing and blood work to basically investigate every possibility of why he wasn't growing like he should.  

Here we are very early that morning leaving for Denver

 He had to fast from midnight on.  I was really worried about how this would affect him emotionally. Because of his past, and having times where he didn't have food, he tends to freak out if he goes too long without food or feels like he is being denied food.  It is basically like Hangry on steroids.

 Because of all of the blood that had to be drawn, they used an IV for the testing

 He got the comfy seat, recliner with pillows and blankets.  He had my old iPhone to play and movies to watch.  He had to be injected with stuff and had blood drawn multiple times. 

 Over the course of 4 hours, he had about 20 vials of blood taken.

I had prepared him for the fast.  He basically went 14 hours without food.  He did really well with the fasting.  The last hour was hard, but I was hungry, too at that point, so I didn't blame him.  The testing felt long and exhausting.  When asked what he wanted as his first thing to eat after the testing, he said, "Cheetos Puffs."  I got him the biggest bag I could find, all ready to eat when we were done.

 We also got his favorite food for lunch, Panda Express

Then, we waited.  We were told it would be 10 days before we had results.  That was a LONG 10 days.  My mind ran through so many scenarios of what we might be facing.  I just wanted answers and a plan.  We actually got a call on day 8.  The doctor left me a voicemail message explaining that Isaiah was definitely Growth Hormone Deficient.  The results of 3 tests led to this conclusion.  Everything else that they tested came back normal.  Yay!  That ruled out lots of really serious conditions.  BUT, why was he Growth Hormone Deficient.  Once again, we were looking at some pretty scary scenarios.  Before we could begin any kind of growth hormone therapy, they had to do an MRI to rule out things like a tumor on his pituitary.  They needed to see the pituitary gland to see if there was an obvious reason why it was not functioning like it should.  Those results could overrule any growth hormone therapy needed if they revealed a more serious problem.  So, once again my mind went crazy with the possibilities.  Lots of prayers were lifted up asking for a clean MRI.

Can you see him smiling?

 I just have to brag a little now.  This boy is an MRI champ.  At his age, it is sometimes recommended that sedation be used to keep them still for the test.  I was hoping to avoid this for several reasons.  I prepped him over and over again about how important it would be to stay completely still.

 HE DID IT!  

 Even with an injection for contrast halfway through, he held it together "better than many adults"(the tech said).  It was absolutely pitiful holding his hand, watching tears stream down his face while they injected him.  I just wanted to make it all better and know that this was not the beginning of much worse for him medically.  

 3 days later, we got the MRI results.  It was completely NORMAL!!  That means that the only issue we were now dealing with was Growth Hormone Deficiency.  At the beginning, that sounded really overwhelming, but knowing what we could be facing, this diagnosis felt manageable.  The next step was to begin injections.  We discovered that he would need daily injections, 6 days a week, until he is at least 16 years old to give his body what it is not already producing.  WHOA!

We received this at our doorstep, and I suddenly felt overwhelmed again.  

A week ago, Rick, Isaiah, and I headed to Denver again.  This was our 8th doctor's/testing appointment over the last 2 months as we went through this whole process to get to this point.  The first thing the nurse said to him as we walked in was, "Isaiah, it is time for you to learn to grow!"  We have discovered that we may not ever know why his pituitary gland is not working like it should.  It may just be "lazy," but if we don't give his body what it needs, there are a whole slew of other health issues he could have as a result.  It is not just about his height.  It is truly a chronic health condition that needs to be addressed. This was our "Injection Training Day."  

Always the jokester, wearing the fake skin that we used to learn how to give injections with on his forehead.

 After an hour of training, I gave him his first injection.  

We were both a little nervous.

Once again, he did great!  We are now a week into this and he has handled it really well.  I feel like I have a whole new level of education to add to my resume after the last two months.  He is already asking if he has grown.  "I don't think it works that fast, buddy!"  He just wants to be taller than his younger sister. Laila is mourning the fact that it might actually happen!

I think Rick's words sum up how I feel about all of this right now.  "This is just another reason we know why God brought him into our family."  There are so many children in Swaziland without the medical care they need.  Treatable issues go untreated and lead to devastating consequences.  There is no way this would have been discovered if he was still there, and there definitely wouldn't be the treatment he needed.  Just the fact that his growth hormone has to be refrigerated would not be practical when electricity is a luxury that many don't enjoy.

I still feel overwhelmed when I think about how this impacts our daily lives.  This has to become our new normal.  We have to travel with his medicine.  We have to mix it when he needs a new batch.  We have to do this for at least 7 years, maybe longer.  Learning to Grow is not easy, but we will figure this out just like we always do.  I am so thankful to God as we have seen His Hand through this whole process.  I also suspect we may all do some growing on this journey.  It just may be in different ways than our height.

To Blog or Not to Blog

Rick keeps telling me I need to start blogging again.  It is a great record for our family to look back on and see the highlights and even the struggles that we have experienced.  I like having our family's history recorded.  There is just so much good in looking back and remembering.  It gives us hope for the future and it preserves our family legacy.

Honestly,  I have been very resistant to picking it back up for a number of reasons.  First, my life has taken on a such a different feel in this stage of life.  My "go time" has greatly shifted.  With little ones I found my days began early in the morning and by 6:00 they were winding down.  Now, once I can get everyone out the door for school, I have about 7 hours of time to do with as I please.  I have struggled with managing that time well.  I so want to be a good steward of it.  I have been trying to learn to balance shopping/running errands, cleaning, cooking, and laundry, with some recharging time for me, as well as connecting with others.  At 3:00, my real "work day" begins.  From 3:00 - 10:00(sometimes even until midnight), is my new "go time" with the kids.  The minute I pick them up from school, there are activities to drive them around to, dinner, homework, showers, etc.  No longer are the evenings quiet.  3 of the kids decide their own bedtimes, and one works until 9:30-11:30 on some nights.  All of that to say, I haven't fully figured out a new rhythm that works for me.

Second, teenagers don't like their business shared.  I am always hearing, "Don't post that picture." "Don't blog about this."  I feel like if I blogged, I would have to only share half of the story.  It is not a true representation of what is going on.  If there is anything I value, it is truth and not candy coating.  I feel like if I blog appropriately for this stage of life, I will have to leave so much out.

Third, computer issues.  Since our home burglary when our computers were stolen, we have had ongoing computer issues.  Thankfully, we didn't lose everything because we did have a backup, but we lost some things and the computer we were blessed with is older, so that creates challenges.  I am also sharing my computer with 5 children that regularly need it.  This creates computer issues.  It seems like every time I get it back from one of them, there is a new problem to resolve with it.  If I am going to use it, it needs to be when they are at school.

It is only March and our life has had some pretty big turns this year so far.  I want to share those things with the people I love.  I also want to document them for my family.  After "going dark" for the last year, I think I am ready to do this thing again.  I feel so much more connected to my out-of-town family and friends when I do.  So, I would love for you to join me again on this journey.  I promise to be as honest and transparent as I can without compromising my kids' privacy.  I will share my journey and how this life that God has given me plays itself out. Hopefully, it will help us connect  along the way.

It may take a little time for me to fully get back into the swing of it, but I am going to give it a shot.  

Come and Dream With Us...

 2015 has been quite the year for our family.  As always, it has been full of adventure.  We have had some really high, highs and some really low, lows.  I can look back over the year with joy and peace seeing God's Hand through it all.  More than anything, I just feel really grateful.

As we end this year, I wanted to share an opportunity for you to be a part of the mission of Beyond Survival to create opportunities for others to thrive and be a conduit of hope. It's our dream and desire to connect real resources with real needs in Swaziland.  Our journey is coming up on 10 years now.  We couldn't have imagined how our lives would be changed.

We have two ministries in Swaziland that we have been developing relationships with that I want to highlight for you.  I'd love for you to prayerfully consider investing in them and see if God would have you meet one or more of their needs.  As you know, Beyond Survival exists to be an advocate and conduit of resources and blessings to those in need in Swaziland, Africa.

First, ABC(Abandoned Babies for Christ) is a ministry that Rick was exposed to on his very first trip in 2006.  Since that time, our hearts have fully connected to the Richter family and the work they are doing.  We have watched their faithfulness over the last 9 years through many ups and downs in their ministry.  We are fully confident in their integrity and want to share opportunities with you to join in the work they are doing.  We created this Summary of their ministry and needs.  Check out this information: 

 Secondly, on Rick's trip last summer, he visited El Shaddai for the first time.  He was very impressed by their ministry and made aware of the many needs that they have.  Charmain and her daughter are in the trenches of orphan care and ministry.  They literally live out their lives loving on orphans and vulnerable children.  We believe in them and want to help their ministry.  You can read about the work they are doing and the needs that they have:

As 2015 comes to a close, we look forward to next year and celebrating the 10th year of Beyond Survival.  We so appreciate all of you who have been a part of the last 10 years.  ABC Ministry and El Shaddai are just two of the places we are investing in the country of Swaziland.  If you are looking for a place for your year-end giving, we would love to take your investment and pour it into the lives of these ministries and the other opportunities that God opens up to Beyond Survival in 2016.  Follow this link to donate online:  Beyond Survival Year-End Giving

If you would like  for me to send these executive summaries to you,  or you would like to donate directly to these ministries, please message me.  We are looking forward to what God will do in 2016.  We can't believe it's been 10 years since that first trip.  Our lives and family are forever transformed from that first trip.  If you want to join us on Beyond Survival's 10-year anniversary trip, mark your calendars for June 11th to 22nd, 2016! :-)

Invested - Don't Miss This Opportunity

A few years ago, I was feeling very "spent" (actually, most days I still feel spent, but that is beside the point.)  Then, I heard a sermon by Rick Warren.  In it, he talked about not "spending our lives, but investing them."  He explained that once we spend ourselves or our money, that it is gone.  There is nothing to really show for it long term.  BUT, when you invest yourself or your money, there is a return.  I really try to live by that principle of investing myself, my time, and my money rather than just spending it.  As you can tell by my parenthetical statement in the first sentence, I am not always successful at the investing thing.  When I take the time to see my life as an investment, it really makes all the difference.

I have an opportunity to share with you where you can invest in the lives of people, not just spend your money.  Over the last few years, my friend Mandy Houle has been leading others by investing and calling us to invest in clean water.  God had done amazing things through the "fishes and loaves" that she has offered.  I have had the opportunity to be a part through donating items for the raffle and even winning a couple of times.  Let me tell you, her enchiladas and guacamole and Sassy Sweet's cupcakes are AMAZING!!

This year, I have taken one of my new passions, essential oils, and am sharing those as a part of the raffle.  I have donated a bottle of Thieves Oil and Lemon Oil from Young Living.  I LOVE these oils and think you will, too.  More than that, I love investing.  God can take all of our small investments and bring a BIG RETURN in the lives of His people.

So, pretty please, will you go here and join us with your own investment.  Hey, and you may even win a cool prize.  BUT, even if you don't, you are investing in clean water.  You are investing in the lives of people.  You are investing in sustainability.  What better return could you get for you money!!

11 Years of Sam

My little Sammy Jo Jo turned 11 on Jan. 30.  This boy has been sick on literally every Birthday except his 10th Birthday.  This year, was no different.  He was sick and missed going to school that day.  He also did not get to do our fun activity that we had planned, going to Sky Zone.  I was so sad for him.  We still tried to make the day special with some special meals.  

He started off his day with mini donuts

He had Panda Express for lunch

We ended the day with the meal of his choosing

He wanted me to make Pioneer Woman Mac n' cheese, green beans and Cheesy biscuits.  I added in some pork chops for our meat.

I can tell from this pic that he is sick.  Look at those eyes.

He chose root beer floats for dessert.  Unfortunately this is the only pic I got of that.

 He got a "new to him" iPod

(Laila was a photobomber)

 and some Disney Infinity Marvel guys

along with some cash and candy from his siblings and grandparents.  

Just last week, we finally made it to Sky Zone for some jumping fun!!

Sam, 

Even at 11 years old, you still have a smile that can light up a room.  I love that you still have that tender hearted, loving spirit about you.  As your song says, that I have sung to you since you were born, "You bring me so much joy!"  Your sensitivity to the Spirit of God in your life is such a deep thing.  Not many boys your age have that sensitivity.  I pray that you always lean into that and the things of God.  He has something very big for you, Sam.  Your life is a testimony to His Work.  Your 11th year was a big one from your emergency surgery to your African travels.  You had a lot of opportunities to grow into a stronger man.  On this side of it all, I see that growth in you.  With that strength that you have also comes challenges.  I pray for truth over your life in every way.  That you believe the truth that you are valuable and that you matter to us and to God.  That you speak the truth in every word.  That you defend the truth in and for others.  You have a wisdom beyond your years.  Use that to the glory of God!  

I love your sense of humor.  I love your hugs.  I love watching you play basketball and baseball.  I love that no matter the outcome of the game, you come out smiling and always say, "I had so much fun!"  I love that you care for others and are sensitive to the feelings of others.  I am amazed at your Lego creations.  You are such an important part of our family.  Don't ever doubt that!  I pray blessing over your next year of life!

Love,

Mom