New Adventure

When I married John, I knew I would never be bored. He keeps me on my toes and pushes me outside of my comfort zone. We began a new adventure on July 11th when we accepted our first foster child into our home. We had received several calls that we had chose not to accept and we had several texts that we weren't able to contact to accept, but when I called about baby girl, I got through. Initially, I was told she was already placed in care but then I heard in the background that she was still needing a home. After learning very little information, we chose to accept a 5 month old baby girl (LM) who was on honey thickened formula. She arrived into our home several hours later, smiling and beautiful. She was the most content precious baby girl who was happy to just be. I quickly grabbed a few things & we headed to pick up everyone and go to Paragould to celebrate Pop's birthday.

Over the next 5 days, LM went from a happy go lucky baby to a drooling, wheezing, congested child. We were encouraged to take her to the ER to have her breathing issues evaluated and after 2 ER visits, the doctors felt as if she might be battling a births defect & reflux. We were initially not given any medical records but I finally received them and combed through them to find that she had some appointments at LeBonheur the next Wed. Long story short, baby girl has laryngomalacia (floppy airway) & reflux which requires 6 medications a day and sitting upright when & after eating along with an elevated mattress. She also has honey thickened formula to help with flow of digestion. Now we are back to a happy go lucky baby girl who is snorty & congested with a yucky cough that is all her norm. 

She has fit right into our home and the girls love her!! They are so sweet to her and worry about her. They include her in their play and want her with us wherever we go. LM just smiles and laughs at everything they do with gorgeous dimples. We will go to her court hearing on Thurs and see what the future holds but her newest case worker feels that she will be with us for a while as of now. She has grown tremendously since we met her and is now rolling everywhere and getting up on all fours. She even had her first tooth (bottom front right) break through today!!

So far this Adventure has taught me that I can love a child who is not my own, how to use formula, spreading myself across three children is difficult and stressful, foster care keeps you extremely busy with paperwork & phone calls, prayer & Christian support is vital, & children are God's gift and truly resilient at times. Please pray for our family as we try to teach our girls to love thy neighbor.