Just want to add a few more pictures... :-) The pictures in no particular order...Kahlia at the hospital before she had tubes put in her ears and the pick line put in. Scott with the kids on our property, and other random pictures at the lakehouse....

**The pictures** Posing in the living room at the lakehouse. You can see Kahlia's IV port on her left arm. We have it covered up so she can't pull it out. Kahlia LOVES to feed herself! :-)

Brendon caught a big gardner snake - the kids LOVED it!

The high light for the kids is fishing at the lake - they saw a HUGE bass that was taunting them the whole time. There's a reason why it's so big - it can outsmart all the fishermen! :-)

Kahlia's first boat ride - she's a little "squished" with her lifejacket on, but she did GREAT! :-)

Over all, it's been a GREAT weekend! :-) I got home with Kahlia on Saturday just before 2:00. Just after 2:00, a home health nurse from Bay Area Hospital came out to our house to "teach" us how to administer her IV 3 times a day. We give her the antibiotic through the IV every day at 6:30, 2:30, and 10:30. I'm very grateful for a husband who hardly had to be "taught" - he knew exactly what to do, and so far, I haven't had to give her the antibiotic myself. Whew!!! It's a little scary to me. She seems to be responding to the medicine. Her ears do not smell at all - we give it to her for 14 days. On Sunday morning, since we are still not wanting to bring Kahlia to church, we headed out to our lakehouse for a day and night. It was really fun to get away and enjoy the peaceful setting of the lake. Kahlia had her first boat ride - didn't know what to think about it, but she didn't cry! Come to think about it, she hardly ever cries - we have been so blessed and completely amazed at how well she is doing despite so many things wrong with the poor girl. She is tugging a bit at her right ear, but other then that, you would never know her ears are VERY infected, her heart is desperate for surgery, her thyroid is not working properly, and she probably has a list a mile high of other medical "problems". Through it all though, she is the happiest little girl. She loves to smile and wave at people, she loves to look at herself in the mirror (what little girl doesn't?), she loves to play with her brothers and sister (they love to play with her!), and she loves to cuddle in my arms. Through it all, she is a complete joy. I have been struggling with all the potential problems we may have with her now and in the future. It can be very discouraging, but then I just have to look at her and her beautiful smile back at me, and I know that what ever happens in her and our future, she was brought into our family for a special reason, and God has an amazing plan for this little girl.
Today was the last day for Scott to reach his "goals" for his campaign. He met them with A LOT of hard work. He had certain criteria that had to be met in just the months of April and May. He knocked on 3000 doors, called 1000 people on the phone, another 1000 calls were made mostly by our two moms (they were a HUGE blessing to us!! :-)), and he raised over $15,000. All while squeazing a trip to India in there and adjusting to our new family!!! I am very proud of him - it was a lot of work and stress, but he did it. Now, he needs to take a little breather and relax - well, maybe after this week since we have baseball games almost every night! We are all physically and emotionally exhausted, but I know we will look back on these days with happy memories. It's not so bad - things could always be worse. I want to remember to always rest in the arms of Jesus, and know that He is in control of our lives not just yesterday, but today, and always! If we put our trust in Him - we will always be in His perfect will. And, if we are in His perfect will, then we know that all things happen for a reason - God does not create mistakes, nor does He make mistakes. His "path" for us is the only one I want to be on. Thank you Jesus for everything - a family, a home, and most importantly, your love. :-)

Over all, it's been a good day. The doctor's called this morning, and asked if we could come in earlier then scheduled (I'm sure a holiday weekend has something to do with the bumped up schedule, but that was ok with us)! We found out what the "bug" is in her ear. Basically, the bacteria is the same as feces - disgusting!! Dr. McKelvey told me last week that from her Indian records, it indicated she had "pooped" in the uterus. It makes me wonder if she has had this bacteria inside of her since she was born!!! Because of the nature of what she has, everyone who stepped foot in her room, had to put on a special gown and gloves, and had to throw them away when they left. This is not something they normally deal with.
She did not have to stay in the hospital tonight - yea!! I am back at my parents for the night, and go home tomorrow. They put in the pick line for her IV antibiotic - so Scott and I can administer that to her at home. Her oxygen level as still at 50% when she was admitted, but after the tubes and pick line were in, she was back up to 75% in the recovery room. :-) Funny thinking 75% is good!! We are REALLY praying that this antibiotic works, because if it doesn't, then it is connected to her cleft palate - and they may have to correct that before they can start on the heart. The Cardiac Anesthesiologist did not like the sound of that. The heart needs to be repaired ASAP - and they do not want to have to do another fairly complicated surgery before repairing her heart. So, we are praying that this infection clears up in 14 days!!!! Thanks for all your encouraging words and prayers. We feel them, need them, and are encouraged by them!! :-) She has been such a little fighter - we lover her so much!!! :-)

Kahlia and I drove up to my parents last night. We got in about 10:00pm, and Kahlia cried most of the way here. She doesn't think too much of sitting in a car seat for 3 1/2 hours!!! It was a long drive...she has a pre op appointment with the ENT department this morning at 10:30. Then, I guess we just "hang out" until 1:00 when she will be admitted to the hospital and begin preps for surgery. Her actual ear surgery is scheduled for 3:00. When I asked why she was not first on the schedule again since she is so little and she can't eat for 6 hours before surgery "prep", they said the nature of her "bug" is such that she has to be scheduled last on the surgery list so there is no chance the other patients could get in contact with the bug. It must be pretty bad. So, we have a long day ahead of us when she can't eat anything until LATE this afternoon!!! I did wake her up at 6:30 this morning and fed her as much pancakes and eggs as I could - since she could eat up until 7::00 am. Hopefully that will sustain her. She can have apple juice or white grape juice up until 11:00 - then absolutely nothing - even water - after that. I'm thinking this is going to be a very long day!!! She has to be observed for 48 hours - so she has to spend 2 nights in the hospital. Scott and the kids are still in North Bend, so I'm flying solo up here. They said that with the pick line in, and administering anti biotics through that, it should take 14 -21 days for her ears to completely clear up. This is crazy!!! Hoping that putting tubes in will help her not get these types of things in the future. She is a little fighter, and we are so proud of our little Kahlia.
Found out yesterday that her thyroid is also not working correctly - it is low - which causes more fatigue. So not only does she have low oxygen, she has low thyroid - no wonder the poor girl doesn't have the energy to do anything! They will be taking some more blood for further thyroid tests to help decide what kind of medication to put her on with that.
Yesterday at her Pediatrician appt. - both her nurse and Dr. McKelvey could not get an oxygen read over 50 %. They kept saying that that can't be accurate, but they re did the test like 8 times. Not sure what that means. Hopefully it was just a bad read - can't imagine her only having 50% oxygen intake - we thought 75% was bad!! It will be interesting to see what it is today when we check her in.
We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers. We are going through a very stressful time as we continue to hear more and more things about Kahlia's health, and Scott's campaign kicking into full gear. We are being pulled in so many directions as the kids end their school year, baseball season, etc. But, through it all - God IS faithful, and I'm so grateful for that!! :-)

Just got word from the ENT department at OHSU that the antibiotic we just started Kahlia on Friday night ($116.00!) will not clear up the infection she has in her ears. We have to take her back up to OHSU to be admitted. They need to sedate her, really clean out her ears (they still smell), put tubes in, and put in a pick line. That is kind of like a permanent IV line - so we can take her home, and administer her antibiotic through the IV line. She should only be in one or two days this time. We REALLY need to get this infection cleared up quick. Her cardiologist is very anxious to give her the next test needed for her heart. Don't remember what it's called, but she again will be sedated, and they put something in her blood stream to watch the blood flow through out her entire system. She needs to be infection free - pray for this ear "bug" to leave very very soon!!!
Now we just wait for the sedation nurse to call us to schedule a time to bring her in.

Well, we've been home almost a week, and it's been a tough one! I have been REALLY sick all week - barely making it through the days. It's been hard taking care of a family when all I want to do is be in bed!
Last night Kahlia and I drove up to my parents near Portland to be ready for Kahlia's 7:00am appointment at OHSU this morning. She had to be sedated in order for them to get a good read for her echocardiogram. Even so, it was inconclusive. :-( Her heart is very complicated, and they need another more invasive test done to watch the complete blood flow through her body, but they cannot do that until her body is infection free. So - for now - our most pressing concern is getting her ears completely healed. She had an appointment with the Pediatric ENT dept. at OHSU this afternoon. They put her on a stronger antibiotic with a sterroid in the form of ear drops to see if that will clear her up. The Amoxicillin did nothing to her ears. We have an appt. in 3 weeks to meet with the Pediatric ENT that specializes in cleft palate procedures on children. This is a slow and very hard process. She cried most of the day today - it was hard on both her and me!! But, we made it through the day, we are home, and we just keep taking one day at a time. We also met a nutritionist up there after her Cardiology appt. They want her to up her calories big time - whole milk - even half and half, lots of butter, sour cream, high calorie yogurts, etc. - wish I had that problem! Makenna said, "Mommy, it's the opposite - Kahlia wants to gain weight and you want to lose weight!" Yep - that's about right! :-) Anyway, she is finally sleeping sound in her bed. She has been such a good sleeper. She sleeps about 13 hours at night plus a 2 hour nap during the day. We all love her - the kids adore her, and we all can't wait until she is healthy and strong! :-)

Home at last!

Our first family photo as a family of 6. :-) The three kids getting their picture taken with their new little sister. When we got home, the kids couldn't stop playing with her on the living room floor - it was adorable to watch....

Yes, we are finally home, in our own house, in our own bed, eating our own food. :-) I lost 3 pounds this last week because of my aversion to Indian food. I wanted to like it, but everything was just too spicy for me. It feels so good to finally start to get back into our new "normal". We flew in at 12:15 yesterday afternoon - which was 12:30 am in India. From the time we got to the airport in New Delhi to touching down in Portland was 29 hours. It was a long, hard flight, but Kahlia was amazing. On our first 14 hour flight - she slept 11 1/2 hours. On our next 6 hour flight, she slept 3 1/2 hours, and on our last 2 hour leg from San Francisco to Portland, she slept about an hour. We really couldn't complain. She cried just a little bit, but never very long, and considering her ears were full of puss and fluid, she never cried on take off or landing. Quite remarkable actually. 2 hours after landing, she had an echocardiogram at OHSU. She did not cooperate, and cried the most we had ever seen her cry. They couldn't get a good reading, so we had to reschedule it for next Friday where they will sedate her. They have to have a good Echo before they can make any difinitive decisions on how they will go about her surgical procedures, and exactly what they can do. However, they did say that from their very limited view of the Echo, they couldn't even see her pulmonary artery. They know she has one because she would not be living with out one, but it was so small, they could not see it. Amazing - she is our little fighter. Can't wait until she is well.

The kids have been absolutely WONDERFUL with her. All doubt and fears of her coming are gone, and all 3 of them fight over who gets to hold her when and who gets to sit by her, and who gets to feed her. Makenna can't wait until she "gets" to change her diaper. I've been teaching her and letting her watch and "help". I love seeing them adore her, kiss her, and play with her. I know the newness will soon wear off, but it sure is fun to watch them begin their bond with her. They love to make her smile - and say she is the cutest little baby in the whole world.

Scott has had some "intestinal issues" for the past couple of days - and now it has been passed on to me. I am feeling absolutely terrible. We thought it was just from all the spicy Indian food, but since I have it - not so sure. We did have ice in our soft drink on our 14 hour flight, not thinking about it coming from India. It's amazing that just ice could give me these problems, but that is why they say to never drink their water - only bottled.

Kahlia is sleeping in her own room for the first time tonight. She has A LOT of adjusting to do- and so far she's doing great.

We have been spending the day in our hotel - resting up before our 28 hour journey - yuck! On the way here, we flew straight from Portland to New Jersey, and then straight to New Delhi. On the way home, we fly from New Delhi to New Jersey, then to San Francisco, then on to Portand - it is an extra 2 hours from when we came. Wish it was the other way around! Here are a couple more pictures we took here in our hotel room. Her ears are SO infected, they are both oozing with "stuff" and has a terrible smell. The poor thing. Scott doesn't think the doctors will even consider heart surgery if she has infections other places - infections and heart surgery usually are not good combinations. She needs to get on an antibiotic ASAP. Thankfully for us, though she tugs at her ears some, she is not fussy because of them - she has probably developed a very high tolerance for pain in her small little life time.

Kahlia has her VISA!

We haven't had a chance to take any new pictures of Kahlia today - we were busy all morning and now she is sleeping, so here are a few pictures taken before we went to the orphanage. This picture of Scott and I was taken right before leaving for the orphanage. I was nervous, scared, didn't know what to expect. A lot of unanswered questions. The next pictures were taken while we were driving. Cars were everywhere - honking, coming from left, right, in between! There might as well not have been lane lines - no one seems to use them...I can't believe I saw no car accidents! The green and yellow car is a taxi - they are every where!! Motorcycles are really common here, and they weave in and out of the cars with no fear. It was not uncommon to see 4 people on one - we even saw 5 once, but didn't have our camera ready in time!! The last picture of me was taken from the roof top of our hotel our first morning in New Delhi.

I wish everyone could have the experience we have had. It makes our 3 1/2 year wait all worth it to have such an amazing experience here in India. We have been SO VERY blessed!!! Today after breakfast, Rajeev took us to the US Embassy again. This time to get Kahlia's VISA. This was the final step to bringing her home with us. With out that, she couldn't leave the country. It was a big relief for both Rajeev and us to hear the word "congratulations". It took longer then we expected - we were there over 2 hours, but in the end - it just doesn't matter. We have the paper work we need, and that's all we care about. At the Embassy, we met another couple from Chicago also from IFS. They were adopting a little girl from a different orphanage who was only 1 month older than Kahlia. Comparing their sizes - she might as well have been a year older. Kahlia has a lot of catching up to do. When I try to have her stand on my lap with help, her legs don't even try to stand, she just goes limp and sits on my legs - there is absolutely no muscle in her legs. Her brain is working though!! We have taught her sign language for drink - and in less than 24 hours, she can tell us she wants a drink - that's really cool! :-)

It's amazing to think that we have only known Kahlia for just over 2 days. We both love her SO much!! I feel bonded to her already. I guess it's easy when you have a child that is happy, loves to cuddle, and sleeps a lot!!!

Scott hasn't been able to take a good look inside her mouth, but from what we can see - her cleft palate is not toward the front of her mouth - it's more toward the back. It doesn't seem to effect the sound of her voice - it does not have a nasal sound to it like we thought there would be. From what we can tell, it's not as bad as we thought it might be - Praise the Lord!

I am definitely not getting enough sleep here. This experience has put me on an emotional "high" - I can't seem to sleep through out the night - just thinking about her next to me still amazes me. It seems to good to be true. All is well, I sit here feeling content, happy, and amazingly thankful to our Lord Jesus Christ for all He has blessed us with. Four beautiful children - a loving husband - a family of six. My heart is full. :-)

Our first full day with Kahlia :-)

This is a picture of daddy playing with Kahlia right before bedtime. I am feeding her some much needed protein - so far she's eaten everything we've given her - not picky so far!!

Kahlia giving us a few cute poses as she plays with her new toys on the bed. :-)

This is a picture of someone washing dishes right outside our hotel.

Another great day with our new daughter. Not only did she sleep the entire night, we had to wake her up so we could go to breakfast! She got her first bath this morning, and didn't cry when water was poured over her head. She almost seemed to enjoy it. :-) After breakfast, Rajeev took us to get her picture taken for her visa and the medical appt. Then we went to the US Embassy to get our I-600 cleared - our petition to give her immigration status into the US. It was approved, then we were off to the required doctor visit - that part took the longest, and Kahlia was SO tired, she fell asleep in my arms. She slept for an hour in a half before we had to wake her up for the doctor check up. Several posts ago, I said she was only 13 pounds - we realized later that those measurements were from when she was 12 months old - she was really 16 pounds - thank goodness! However, at the doctor visit today, she lost 2 pounds since her last doctor visit in February. She is down to 14.2 pounds - we need to beef her up! I don't think the orphanage fed her any solid food because of her cleft palate - but we've been giving her small solid foods, and she's eating them well. We are concerned with her ears. They both have discharge coming out of them, one quite a bit. They are probably both infected - but she's not pulling on her ears - I wonder if she has just gotten used to the pain from her ears. Though they say she does not crawl or walk, tonight she has scooted herself across our bed - and did very well. I think we will be seeing lots of improvements really fast. She ate a really good dinner tonight - the most we have seen her eat at one time since we saw her yesterday morning. It was very encouraging - you can't have strength if you don't have food in your tummy!! After the doctor visit - we were taken back to the hotel where she slept for another 4 hours. Even then we had to wake her up to go to dinner so she would go back to sleep tonight.

Tomorrow I will try to remember to post a picture of the traffic here - it is absolutely insane. We now see why our pre trip instructions said under no circumstances should you try to drive in India! They drive 5 and 6 across on a 2 lane street. They make full use of their horns, and come within inches of hitting each other constantly! It's quite the experience. Our driver will go into the oncoming traffic lane to pass with cars coming right at us - we have flinched more times then we can count, but somehow we never get hit. Hardly anyone wears seatbelts here - Kahlia just sits on our lap. It seems backwards - seatbelts are needed more here then they are in America!

Kahlia is "talking" in the background. Music to my ears. I am SO very thankful for our new little blessing. I can't wait to introduce her to the rest of our family. We just need to get her healthy!! :-)

Some

The first picture is Kahlia in daddy's arms at the airport. She makes the cutest little expressions. The next three pictures are taken in her own room. This was just hers for the past year - it's just so unbelievable that she had her own room and her own personal nanny at all times. I guess being "special needs" has it's perks. I just look at her at think she's "SPECIAL"!!! I can't stop looking at her, and I can't wait for her to wake up. The last picture is a picture of her orphanage we took when we first arrived.

Kahlia is safe in our arms!

It has been an AMAZING day!!! I didn't sleep well last night - thinking about what all today would bring, but looking back, there was nothing to worry about. We met Rajeev for breakfast before heading to Shakti's orphanage. On the way, we picked up Rajeev's assistant Bina. She was also very helpful through out the day. When we first saw her, Scott and I both had tears in our eyes. She had on a cute little dress, and she came right to both Scott and myself with out even a whimper. She just came to us, looked at us, and seemed perfectly content in our arms - what a blessing!! They had a short ceremony for us where they put a little red dot on all three of our foreheads - not sure what exactly it meant - but we took pictures anyway! :-) Then, we took a tour of the orphanage - from all the rooms to even the kitchen. There are about 40 children in the orphanage - ranging from 3 days old (she was SO cute!:) to 9 years old. Children under 6 months old are down stairs, and all the other children are upstairs. When we walked upstairs - we were absolutely amazed - Kahlia had her very own room - where only she slept. Because of all her medical needs, they had her in a room right next to the doctor's room when he visits. She does not walk or even crawl - but she does roll around. Watching her today, I think if worked with, she should at least be crawling fairly soon. We let her take a nap in her room one last time after she had a little food (she still eats rice cereal). From there we went straight to the airport to catch our flight back to Delhi. She has been SO good. She has barely cried, cuddles with us, and has a fun little personality. She went straight to sleep when we arrived here at our hotel - it was 10:15pm, and she was TIRED! She had her first airplane ride and did very well. Rajeev has made our trip so easy and stress free. It has been such a blessing to have him by our side through out this adoption process. Tomorrow we go to the embassy to finish our final paperwork and get her visa. I am exhausted, I will write more tomorrow.

Our first full day in India!!! We flew from New Delhi to Pune today, and everything went GREAT!! We had an amazing dinner tonight over looking the city with authentic Indian food. Rajeev was SO helpful telling us where to go, when, etc. The traffic is insane. On a two lane road, there were sometimes 6 cars across - never saw a single accident though - amazing. Tomorrow morning we will be at the orphanage at 10:30 - we are so excited to finally meet our little Kahlia. We are so comfortable here with Rajeev with us every step of the way. We couldn't imagine not having him with us. What a blessing. Tomorrow we will have A LOT more to say. Bye for now!

We're in India!

We made it!!! It's been a LONG journey! We didn't cross the North Bend bridge to Portland until 8:30 pm Thursday night after the boys' baseball games. We arrived at our hotel a little before 1:00am. Our wake up call was at 5:00am and we were off to the airport by 5:40. It was smooth sailing from there - everything has gone PERFECT - so far anyway. Our flight from Portland to New Jersey was about 4 hours - then we had a 41/2 hour wait for our next flight to New Delhi, India. We boarded at 7:40 East Coast time - and we flew for 14 hours straight!!! Wow!!! Each seat had our own tv on the back of the seat in front of us, and we each got to choose our own movies we wanted to watch - never had that option before - especially free of charge! Ok, not free, we're paying for it in our ticket - but it was nice. I watched Slumdog Millionaire - thought that was appropriate! We were trying to envision what it would be like having Kahlia on the way home - the visions were'nt going well - honestly that's one of my biggest stressers right now!!!

I'm already having issues with the food - not liking it so much, we'll see how the day goes tomorrow. We were one of the last to get our luggage, and Rajeev met us right outside of baggage claim. He is taking care of EVERYTHING for us - it's nice to not have to worry about the little things. He got our taxi, does all the tipping, checked us into our hotel - brought us to our room, and we're meeting him at 9:00 tomorrow morning for breakfast. We leave at 4pm for Pune (we are 12 1/2 hours ahead of Oregon time). Not sure what's up with the 1/2 hour time difference - but it's true! We arrived in the dark tonight, so no pictures yet - hope to post some pictures tomorrow. It is SO hot here - and it's dark outside - it's in the 80's at night!!!

Alright - I'm exhausted - I basically stayed up all night Oregon time so I can go to sleep tonight which is morning time there. So grateful to be here, and can't wait to meet Kahlia! :-)

On Our Way!!!

It's 7:00 in the morning, and we've been at the Portland airport for over an hour. We are exhausted. We didn't get to our hotel last night until after 12:30 am, and we had a wake up call at 5:00. It was worth it though being able to watch our boys play baseball last night, it just meant we couldn't leave town until 8:30 last night. We got 4 hours of sleep - maybe...

We are flying to Newark Airport, and from there straight to New Delhi. :-) And we're off!!!!

Only 3 more days before we drive up to Portland. As we were looking at her height and weight - we found out that her weight was converted wrong. She is only 13 1/2 pounds at 19 months old. She is what Makenna was when she was 4 months old. The poor thing. She is 26 1/2 inches in height - what Makenna was at 6 months old. Her head is also what Makenna was a 6 months old. So, I'm thinking the 12 month clothes we have packed pretty much needs to be "unpacked".... Her health is my biggest concern - I just want to get her back here to the states with out any problems. Please Lord!!!

We were thrown another curve ball today. My car broke down in the library parking lot. Had to walk with the kids over to the pool where Scott picked us up. AAA took care of towing our car to the GM dealer - hope it's nothing major - not fun having only one car! But, on the bright side - I'm grateful for our one car. Can't really complain. No matter how we look at - we Americans are SO blessed - we don't even realize.

David told me today that he is going to be brave when we go to India. It was really cute! :-) I know he's having a hard time with the fact that we are leaving him - he's always been the one that takes it the hardest when we leave, but then he's fine after we're gone. My mom is coming down Thursday afternoon. I am SO grateful for her willingness to take over the kids' crazy schedule while we're gone.

Left at 7:30 this morning to spend some good one on one time with Brendon. Went to Cozy Kitchen for breakfast and Kaffe 101 for a nice coffee for me and a caramel steamer for Brendon. We had a nice time playing the card game "war" and talking a little more about our upcoming changes in our family. I know he ate up this time, enjoyed it immensely, which is exactly what he needed with how his life will change in the next couple of weeks. I encouraged him by saying what a unique position he was in as her "big brother". I told him that because he is 8 years older then Kahlia, they will probably never really fight. She will always absolutely adore him, and what an amazing place for him to be in - a little sister that loves everything he does! He had this big smile on his face - with out even realizing that he did! I saw a little light in his eye when I was telling him this - I'm planting seeds of hope and fun - so he doesn't just see the "negatives" of how his little world will never be the same again. He's going to do great - it's all about learning life's lessons of 1)learning to adjust as the world changes around you 2) being flexible 3) realizing that there is ALWAYS enough love to go around 4) there are more people in this family then just him 5) that life is what you make it. Over all - I think I got my point across, and he IS going to be just fine. :-) He's definitely more high maintenance then the other kids, but recognizing that this is how God made him and capitalizing on his strengths - will do us all good! :-)

I am SO excited to go. Can't wait to get her in my arms. I hope this week goes by fast!!!!