Life is an Adjustment

As I sit here and write, I am reminded that the days of summer are almost over.  For the first time since we have lived in Colorado the trees are beginning to turn.  Usually, the leaves begin changing to their beautiful yellow color the second week in September with the "peak" being then.  I asked a local the other day why the leaves were changing this early and they said that "they have just given up".  We have had so little rain over the year that they are are going into their dormant state to survive.  Really?  Sounds really interesting to me. Often times I wonder if we can just go into our dormant state to survive. It would be much easier to just run away and hibernate.  However, life isn't like that for us.  We must continue on and tackle those uneasy things that life throws our way.

Boys enjoying the lazy days of summer

When we stepped out to adopt Jacob both Marshall and I knew that God was calling our family to something much bigger than we could even imagine.  So, we stepped out and began the adoption process.  Thanks to all the prayers and support we have received from you, we are now the proud parents of a 12 year old Filipino boy.  We both just assumed that bringing Jacob home would be just like it was when we brought our Naomi home.  I don't know why that assumption was made. After all the many years of child development I have had learning about children you would think I would have known that every child is different and every adoption is different.  I guess my brain stopped for a second.

Jacob's adoption has been so very different than Naomi's adoption.  Just like Joshua's birth was so very different than Noah's birth. However, what a blessing Jacob is to our family.  His laugh is just precious.  Watching him run around the house chasing Naomi and speaking in their language brings joy to my heart.  (OK...at first not joy because it is super loud, but in the end joy).   I love sitting back and watching him learn all about America.  Where this is, where that is.  I often wonder how his life would be like had we not brought him home.  Would he still be the oldest kid in the orphanage? Probably.  Would he watch all his friends leave with their new family? Definitely.  Would he still be wondering if someone loved him so much to adopt him?  You bet.  We are all created to be in relationships, to be in families and to be loved.  It's really that simple.

There are children throughout the world who are waiting for someone, anyone to tell them they are loved and special.  We have friends who have stepped out to "take the plunge" into this life changing  process called adoption.  Would you commit to praying for all of those children and families who wait and who are walking this wonderful road?  The road is sometimes the most unpleasant and painful experience you will experience but in the end it is so very worth it.  Adoption will change your life - I promise.

We just finished up our second social worker visit.  We have one more visit and then we can file the necessary paperwork to "legally" adopt our son. We are thinking the court date will be sometime next spring.  Until then, we  will continue to abide by the Philippine adoption law that states we cannot post any pictures of our son.  What  a happy day it will be in the Worthey home when we can say " welcome home Mr. Jacob, welcome home". And, by all means, show all of  you our newest member of the Worthey crew. Pictures, pictures and more pictures!

I wanted to share with you all one of my favorite adoption videos ever. I first saw this when we were stepping out and taking the "plunge" with Naomi.  I have posted this one before but it is so worth posting again.  May you be as blessed by this video as I am every time I see it. Enjoy.

http://www.kristinjphotography.com/Slideshows/Day4_Slideshow/Ethiopia_Day4/

Lorrie

And Summer is Almost Over?

I can't begin to tell you how quickly life has flown by these last few months. Jacob has been with us for 3 months today!  At times it seems longer than that and other days I sit and things seem to drag on.

Our life really began to get crazy when we got back from the evacuation.  I mean, things were crazy during the fire, but when we got back things REALLY  went out of control.  First off, during our annual Fun Valley camping trip Naomi came down with a tooth ache.  On top of that she developed a fever.  So, what does a mom do?  Call the dentist.  I got on my cell phone, stood with one foot in the air and attempted to call our dentist while we were out in the boonies.  We were able to get Naomi an appointment for the day we returned from our week long trip.

So, on that Thursday we went to the dentist and would you guess what he told us?  Naomi needed an emergency root canal. Actually, she needed TWO emergency root canals.  WHAT? I asked...she is only 10 years old.  10 years old or not ,years of neglect of teeth will only lead to emergency root canals.  So, after spending an hour extra in the dentist office I finally found someone who would actually do root canals on a 10 year old.  The only problem was that they had never done a root canal on a 10 year old!  Crazy for sure..
Naomi and I went in to get the first root canal done that afternoon.  After 3 hours and a lot of crying she left the office with just a temporary filling.  I was told at that time we would need 3 more visits just to finish up both root canals.

On August 1st Naomi came down with a fever of 103.7 degrees.  We called the dentist, he started her on penicillin and that was that.  The next morning, August 2nd, her temperature went up to 104.9.  Now, Naomi has had high temps before but this one was extremely high even for her!  We went directly to the emergency room where they took tons of test.  No strep - yeah!  No obvious infection - yeah!  But....her blood glucose levels came back at 186.  According to what I have heard, they should be anyway between 70 and 120.  We ran more test to find out that her white blood count was down to 2.0 - should be between 4.0-12.0 and her sodium, potassium and nitrate levels were out of this world!

We have had a leukemia scare, a heart scare and have been at a loss as to what all of this means. This last Friday Naomi was put "under" and the dentist pulled her last rotten tooth.  When all was over he told us that the tooth was so infected it was only being held in place by her wire that we put in two years ago!  Not good at all...As of Sunday Naomi is fever free, running around here like nothing ever happened and is actually eating solid foods.  It's a great day in the Worthey home!

So, that is what has been happening.  Summer is almost over.  Jacob has spent these last 90 days in a very crazy family.  But, isn't that what a family is all about? Hanging in there and taking care of things as they come.  As  most of you know, we Homeschool our children.  I just wanted to say to everyone that the Worthey's will NOT be officially in school just yet. After all the crazies this summer we just need a little time off. I am really hoping for some much needed rest, relaxation and a few weeks without any tooth drama.

Naomi showing us her beautiful teeth!

Lorrie