We are all alive.  7 of the 9 of us are either sick or recovering.  Yikes!  And on top of that, everyone who has entered our home since we've been home has come down with the flu.  Sorry everyone!  My mom is VERY sick with it.  She was only around us the night we came home...  

It is so good to be home. I went to church this morning and led worship in the first service and then came home. Feeling pretty rough today, but I couldn't have been anywhere else this morning! It's so good to be home.

After the first service, me and Blake and Seth came home and we've all been together just hanging out all day. It's been good times. I've been in bed a good portion of the day but the kids have been in and out and I've been downstairs with the crew part of the day. I gave the three little guys and Seth baths. The boys LOVE the bath. They are just fitting right in. On a scale of 1 to 10 of how they're doing making the adjustment, I'd have to give Micah a 9 and Matthew an 8. The boys are just so special and so in love. I was so worried that they would not bond to us and after seeing Micah in action at the institution, I was worried he would just constantly try to leave the house...really. But they are smitten with us and with the other kids. Eli doesn't care much for Micah yet because he's so loud I think, but Eli and Matthew will be buds. Micah loves to play with Seth...two rough and tumble guys!

Micah is so glad to have a family. There is no doubt. He is all hugs and kisses. When he's gotten in trouble and we've had discipline him, when get leaves time out he can't wait for his hugs and love and affirmation (which we are very careful to give every time). And I wish you could see his face when I tell him I love him. I started out telling him in russian and english and now I'm down to just english. When I say Papa love Micah, you can just see in his glowing smile a look of relief and joy. There's no other way to say it. It's a look I will always remember.

Matthew loves hugs and kisses. He doesn't interact with us as much as Micah, but he's not in the same developmental place as Micah, yet. When we walk by him if he's sitting on the floor, up go his arms and when we scoop him up, he's all smiles! He doesn't seem to get the "I love you" words yet like Micah does, but it's only a matter of time, I'm sure.

There are moments when we say to ourselves, "What have we done!??" just because of the sheer numbers. Hopefully they never figure out that the big people are way outnumbered! :-) When we were all out together on Wednesday, we were certainly a CROWD! I would say that I wondered what people were thinking, but I'd have to say it was obvious what people were thinking by the looks on their faces. LOL!!!

Well...in case you didn't get the picture, IT'S SO GOOD TO BE HOME!!! It was wonderful being with our church family this morning. It's like being in a nice warm hug. Ahhhh. Relief.

The two boys, Hannah, and Bethany are all getting over this respiratory infection/flu. The boys are nearly better, Hannah is right behind them and Bethany just started today. Hopefully, no one else will take it. I'm off to work tomorrow for as long as I can last. The coughing won't stop and the body aches are raging, but I'll be good for a while in the morning. In the scheme of the universe, it's a small thing!

I hope you have seen the hand of our Almighty Father throughout these last 6 weeks and especially in this last week. I hope you have experienced His love and blessing as He has worked in our lives and we've shared what He has done. I hope you've seen HIM and not us. I hope HIS name has increased, not ours.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

What a week. We went from high, high emotions on Tuesday night...Great excitement and celebration...to Wednesday.

We slept so well Tuesday night. The boys, however, didn't sleep so well. We let them play in their beds though. The thought is that they need to learn our schedule and get acclammated as quickly as possible. So we got up Wednesday morning and I went to the doctor first thing to get my diagnosis of double pneumonia. Continued on my meds and started feeling better after several breathing treatments and some amazing antibiotics. And some cough syrup with codiene. (In fact the doc said not to tell anyone I had it or someone might steal it...so if it comes up missing, I'll find you. :-) ).

Anyway, Tuesday night when I got in and saw Eli, he was white as a ghost and his lips, tongue and nailbeds were white. That's not a good sign. I thought at that moment that he looked like someone with Leukemia (not that he had it, just that he looked like someone who did). Wednesday morning, he looked the same. Mary and I decided that the needed to see the doctor.

So the doc took one look and sent him for a CBC test because he was obviously (to the doc) severely anemic. The lab didn't even believe the results could be right but they were. His hemoglobin level was 3.0 (should be 11-15). The doc said he must get to the hospital because he could go into heart failure at any time. Also, he mentioned that this was either indicative of internal bleeding or leukemia. So from high excitement of being together again after 6 weeks to complete terror and fear (not lack of trust in God).

The call went out to pray and we began getting messages from all over the world that people were praying and were spreading the word to others. There is power when God's people pray. On behalf of Eli and our family, I say THANK YOU for praying. I'll let you know the answered prayers in a moment.

Eli began receiving transfusions Wednesday evening and they went on through the night and on Thursday. His hemoglobin level rose slowly but steadily. The possible diagnosis changed to either TEC (see a couple of posts ago for an explanation) or Leukemia. The only way to know for sure was to have a bone marrow biopsy but he was not yet strong enough for that so it was postponed to Friday.

Friday morning, Eli's level was at 8.6 and he was our normal Eli again. Happy, laughing, playing, eating.

Before the doc did the biopsy, he let us know that he was pretty sure that this was TEC and that he would recover fully! We were guardedly excited. About an hour after the biopsy procedure, Eli was on his way home. While Mary was waiting on valet parking to find the car, the doctor ran into her downstairs and told us the GREAT NEWS! The bone marrow was perfect and there was NO DOUBT that he did NOT have leukemia. So that means it's TEC. 100% recovery rate. Usually, it takes from weeks to a year for the body to begin producing new red blood cells and most people have to continue having transfusions periodically until that happens. But God had another plan. The doc told us that according to the results of the biopsy, Eli has ALREADY BEGUN PRODUCING NEW CELLS ON HIS OWN!!!! Now that's an answer to prayer! That's the power of God!!! We are so grateful to God that we caught this and that it turned out the way it has. I don't know why God chose to do this, especially right now, but we are so thankful that we can trust Him even when we don't understand.

Here's a couple of other things to be thankful for. TEC is a VERY GRADUAL problem and Eli has probably not been producing blood cells for 5-6 months. Everyone around him was surprised to find out this had happened because they had not seen any signs. The hospital staff told us that caregivers rarely see it happening and it's caught only when other problems pop up and the child is taken to the doctor and the color change is rarely noticed first. But think about this...we hadn't SEEN Eli in 6 weeks so the change over the last 6 weeks was immediately seen by us so we were able to get him help before permanent damage was done. For that we are so thankful. Not only did our trip save the lives of 2 Ukrainian boys, it, at least, saved Eli from heart damage or brain damage and at most, saved his life. God's timing is impeccable. He is SO AMAZING!!!!!!

We simply cannot explain the feelings we have had this last few days or the range of emotions we have experienced. BUT, we can tell you that we trust our Father regardless. He IS faithful. He IS trustworthy. He IS sovereign.

Thank You, Father, for all You've done. Thank you, friends, for your persistent prayers.

Blessed Be the Name of the Lord!

The doctor is near 100% sure that Eli does NOT have leukemia!! He's
nearly certain it's TEC and that is a manageable problem. There is a
100% recovery rate. I'll post more later. Our boy is coming home in
about an hour!!! Thank you for praying. There's still recovery but
we can breathe again.

Good morning. Elis blood count is up to 8.6! They are going to do a
bone marrow biopsy this morning. We are hoping for TEC!

Thank you all for praying!

Woke up early this morning, of course (my body is still on Ukraine time).  Thankfully, the boys are still sleeping right now.  And thankfully the other 4 kids are able to sleep since MIcah's not screaming.  :-)   

Eli's hemoglobin is up to 7.  Thank God.  He's currently taking his 4th transfusion.  It takes a little over 3 hours and then they will do another CBC test to see where he is.