Update on Us

OK so here is the run down at our home:
On Nov 14th we went to court to step in as Temporary Shelter Caregivers for our 3 day old niece, due to some health concerns she remained in the NICU until her 1 week birthday when she came home to live with us.


Then 4 days after bringing Little One home from the hospital we got another call from DCF, another sibling of ours was having their children removed from the home and so again we found ourselves faced with stepping in as Temporary Shelter Caregivers.


The day before Thanksgiving I sat again in Family Court, this time going home with a 4 and 9-year-old.


Our home a year ago consisted of 5 of us- today we have leveled out at 9.


We have a lot of love to give and we certainly love our nieces and nephews.


It is so interesting how God has changed hearts and minds around here in the past few years to land us right where we are.


We're learning to love more each day.
Learning to love beyond what's comfortable.


We're embracing life closer to home once again and looking seriously at adding on the addition we've talked about for years.


I am blessed and thankful for this season of life,
I've learned to embrace each turn in the journey with a smile on my face and eyes focused on Christ.


Hoping to sleep through the night one day soon,

Chapters in a Book

Phew!
What a busy 6 days it's been.
Little One came home on Friday, her 1 week of life day!!
Our current title in her life is "Shelter Caregivers", only the future will tell what lies ahead for her and for us.


A whole new chapter of our life was opened up today, just like when Illana Belle flips the pages of a book, this page was flipped fast and hard; as much as I want to share about this I just can't. Too many people involved who live outside our home, privacy is important on this pages of this chapter.


So just think of us in your prayers as the headcount in our home grows and the love we have is multiplied.


I also hope to update you all on the latest Vintage Sheet creativeness happening- I really thank my friend Amanda for her consistency in showing up to sew, she keeps my creative juices flowing.


Happy day to all,
hold your loved ones close,
live for something bigger than yourself.


Peace, love, Jesus,

Baby Update

Little One is doing good.

She successfully made it through day 4 on Tuesday and as of 5 pm yesterday she was morphine free.

Basically every few hours she gets scored. Her behaviors are recorded:

sleep, eat, muscle tone, sneezes, etc. 

Each behavior has a point value, the lower the score the better she is.

A combined score of 16 or higher would flag her withdrawals as "too much" for her little body and therefore morphine would be considered/given.     

Again so far, no morphine!

Since you've been asking, here are some of the details regarding Little One:

she was born on 11-11-11 @ 9:33am

she was full-term and weighted 5# 14oz and was 19.5 inches long.

She has a decent amount of hair and it is dark.

Her feet are long and skinny, like Steve's and Justin's :)

And she already has the cutest birthmark.

I've also gotten questions regarding her development and it's actually been very interesting learning the info about drug positive babies.


First of all once Little One makes it through this detox she will be like any other baby, her little quirks related to detoxing will be gone and it will be as if she was born with a clean bill of health.


Her organs and internal body is normal and functioning just fine, there was a concern about her kidney when she was in utero but the Healer has healed her.


Developmentally in the future: only time will tell. The doctors and nurses mentioned that the drug use isn't as damaging as any alcohol use mom may have misused. Interesting huh? The legal drug of alcohol is far more dangerous than her legal prescription meds or illegal opiate use. From the info we have on mom, it seems she was far more interested in opiates over alcohol, so believe it or not that is good news.


We are really trusting God that all will be well with Little One and these first days of her life will be a chapter closed with no future reference physically in her book of life.


While we want to be angry at mom:
we are not, 
disturbed and confused, yes; but she is a hurting young lady in desperate need of the freedom that can only come through Jesus Christ.


Also in the baby supplies department- where do I begin?
So far I have:
-a pack-n-play/bassinet,
-turned my dresser top into a changing table (just need a changing pad)
-have about a dozen newborn clothes from Sarah and my granddaughter
-pulled out some of my old receiving blankets- fresh from the 70's
-have a car seat thanks to Illana Belle being a growing almost 1 year old


Prayer Requests:
- wisdom on the work front, I've never worked and had a baby, do I continue to do so? do I cut back a day? who watches Little One while I do work?


- Continued strength for Little One as her body adjusts to a drug-free life


So that's the update for today, thank you all for your texts and loving comments, boy isn't life just one adventure after another?


Love and peace,

Don't Get Me Started on Legal Drugs

Today is the crucial day in our baby’s life.

I will not use her real name because I am not sure legally what I can say here because we are only temporary parents. So I'll call her Little One.

Little one's mom struggled with the misuse of prescription pain medication while pregnant. Since mom was incarcerated for 3 days before giving birth Little One was not born with the meds in her system; however her system only knew life with medication, life with no physical pain.

On Sunday she began to show signs of withdrawal and was moved into the NICU.

Excessive sucking, sneezing and yawning, muscle tightness to name a few.

The "old school" way of dealing with this situation was to medicate baby with morphine at the level mom was using and then slowly wean baby off, this took weeks, even months; we were fortunate enough to have the leading doctor on the Eastern Seaboard in this area of research and study visit Little One and use a new form of treatment. 

Little One has been allowed to begin detox right from birth and will only be given morphine if her symptoms are severe enough to need it.

So far, no morphine.

Today is day 4, today is hump day, the doctor feels as though if she can make it past today with no morphine she should be fine to detox all her own. Although he said it would really only push her chances right past 50/50. So today is the day, and tomorrow and the next day.... 

When will she come home?

We just don't know?

Once Little One makes it through her detox and realizes that people and love can sooth rather that medication she will be like any other baby born "sober".

Now I'm off to register at Target because it was recently brought to my attention that I'm gonna need some baby stuff.

Sarah has hooked me up with several baby clothes and items but if memory serves me right babies need and go through more clothes and diapers than anyone else in the household; of course if we were all wearing diapers we'd have a whole other issue going on here.

Prayer Requests:

Please be praying with us that she does not need the morphine at all.

Pray for no lasting effects of the drugs on Little One

Pray for the NICU doctors and nurses caring for her, that they'd see Jesus in us and that we would be able to speak Him to them.

Pray that this life transition would be smooth for all 5 of us.

Thank you all, this journey is never dull is it?

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Rock the Boat

"to look after orphans" from James 1:27


I'm not really sure where to begin this post? so I guess I'll start at the beginning.
Where is the beginning?
The beginning could go back years, months, or for this matter a week.
For time's sake today, for this post it goes back to Friday.


November, 11th, 2011
11-11-11


Lots of weddings happened last Friday,
I know because I sold about 10 brides their wedding dress for that day.


But that is not what I am posting about.


It all started with a message at work for me: I had a phone call.
The person on the other end said something like this:
"a young lady who is incarcerated has given birth and wants to know if you want the baby."


me: "Um, can I call you back?"


Crazy, 
I know.
Welcome to my life.


After my shift ended I made my way to the hospital and through the Lord's working I got to hold this precious little girl.


Saturday was a whirlwind day, as all Saturdays are when you work in a bridal shop, and then Sunday morning brought us into court.


Yeah I know Sunday morning court doesn't seem to make sense but it happens and we were there.
Before I knew it DCF was inspecting my house, asking questions and it looks as though we are on the road to having temporary custody of a little bundle of joy.


See years ago I dreamed of another baby, years ago I thought foster care would be a good idea, months ago a baby was conceived and a week ago my husband, with no prompting from me, spoke the words I longed to hear coming into agreement with my heart on caring for the orphans around us.


So you probably should congratulate me on having a baby and fitting into my regular jeans the same day.


Today is another day in court and hopefully some baby holding time.


As of today little baby girl is in the NICU getting the love she needs from the amazing doctors and nurses there;
unsure of when we'll bring her home, we have prepared a place for her here in our home.
I will hopefully keep you all posted on this space.


I'd appreciated your prayers and any diapers you may have hanging around your place- lol, can't believe we may be headed back to "reset" in the kid department-- #excited, #nervous, #scared.


Our boat is really getting rocked around here, new baby and then there is the matter of our friend moving into our shed-apartment, but that's another post. 


Just when I think life is headed in one direction it surely takes a turn in the other. I am not sure what tomorrow holds but this one thing I know for sure "Thus Far, the Lord has helped us".

Mark Your Calendars

I am excited to announce that on Saturday, December 10, 2011 my Vintage Sheet sewing label will have a booth at the Christmas Under the Palms craft show.


I'm not sure if I'm more excited about the fact that ALL the money made will go to putting in a well through Charity Water
or
the fact that the items sold will be made by high school students.


So locals-- mark your calendars and those of you not local I hope to make our items available through some sort of online platform, stay tuned.


I have incredible people I know who, regularly feed the hungry, adopt babies, live in 3rd world countries to aid the people there, others I know love the hurting in inner city Detroit, hug those in nursing homes- but for me, 
right now, 
this Charity Water thing seems to be how I can do my part.


Our goal is to raise $5,000 to put in a well. We originally thought $1,000, until a 14-year-old freshman in high school said, "I think we can raise $5,000". She's 14- dream big baby!!


We can do this.
We.


As for you? after you read this post go check out the Charity Water website.
Watch this video.
and make sure you watch this video too (it is set to a Beck song so you can jam as out you cry- or at least that's what I did)


Go there.
Read about it,
get involved,
there is so much more to life than us.
Than me.


and...
please, after you read about this amazing organization please come back here and leave a little note about how it affected your heart. Do this so others can see and read and hear from more than just me.


Then check back here for more news on how you can help us as we raise money to help do our part in changing the world.


Thanks and I love you.