just a quick laugh!

A friend of mine ( thanks for the laugh Lisa ), sent me this link, it is definitely worth taking the time to view -

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7331004459878009446

It is seriously one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. The midget bit cracks me up just thinking about it.

Hope it brightens your day!!

WARNING, toilet talk - look away now if your squeemish

This morning I decided to travel into the city to meet up with a new adoption support group.

Now you think the fact that it was cold and raining and they were going to meet at a playground would be enough for me to guess that they would cancel, but no not me, I busied myself getting the kids ready and off to school, packing food and gear for Jeremiah and me and off I went having a feeling of satisfaction that I was smoothly handling everything.
Of course I rocked up and no one was there, surprise surprise. No problem I thought (still feeling like I had everything covered), I'll just let JJ out of the seat, we can have a snack in the car and travel the 40 minutes back home.

Jeremiah has just turned 22 months and decided he wanted to toilet train about a month ago (well really 3 months ago but I took a while to catch on). I cannot find any jocks or trainer pants to fit him because his bottom is so small, so he still wears an infant size nappy (next one up from newborn which he can also fit in still), plus, the nappy gives him some hope of keeping some pants up. We just put the nappy on and off throughout the day. He only has about 1 to 2 dribble accidents a day but still prefers to do number 2's in the nappy.
BUT not today!

He decided he wanted the toilet...

JJ - toilet, toilet
Me - you want the toilet JJ? (I have a potty in the car for such events, then I just tip it descretely into a gutter - so I'm still feeling like a really prepared Mum)
JJ - Poo's Mummy
Me - (OK not so prepared for number 2's) Umm, you want to do poo's in your nappy JJ?
JJ, - Nooo, toilet!

So to cut a long story short I ended up in the city with no one there that I was meant to meet, the rain pouring down, and sitting in a car with a poop in a potty!!
Whats worse is that when the rain died off, I had to drive to a public toilet, carry JJ in one arm and a poopy potty in the other whilst people driving by had a good old laugh!!
Well, I'm glad the morning wasn't a complete waiste of time - Jeremiah now wants to do poo's in the toilet and I got to entertain passes by!!

Oh one last thing, why is the date on my posts have the day and the month back to front?

God is good!!!

For those of you who don't know, I am a photographer on and off.

So many people have encouraged me to take the final step and start a proper business instead of sticking just to friends and word of mouth but I never seem to take that final plunge. The money commitment would mean that I had to work to meet repayments and I always wanted to enjoy my photography, not injure it.

When I was growing up I never knew what I wanted to do as a job, it always bothered me that friends around me had some form of direction and I had no idea. That all changed when I was baptised as an adult and asked God for direction, what he wanted me to do......photography has been a passion ever since.

I always wanted to use it for Gods work though and could never see how I could..........till a few years ago.....my sister gave birth to a little angel baby, Gabrielle. I was at the birth and spent time holding this tiny little girl that was already with Jesus. Gabrielle barely fit into the palm of my hand, and she was beautiful. My sister fell pregnant again shortly after and tragically we had to say goodbye to another little angel, Alina.

I was able to hold both of the girls and never thought to take photos ( which I will regret forever). I was so emotionally involved and because both the girls where born just before the 20 weeks mark, they where so tiny and unfortunately the hospitals don't consider a baby born before 20weeks as a stillborn, they call it "a missed abortion" which implies that there was some sort of choice in the matter.
But my sister gave birth to her angel girls and although tiny, they where her babies, and both my sister and her husband deserved to have memories of their precious little fingers and toes, the way their tiny lips looked....every detail of their children.
The only photos my sister has are terrible ones that the hospital took 3days after they where born, we had all but a moment of opportunity that we missed and we can never get it back.

Since that time I have wanted to help families capture loving memories of there angel babies. There have been many people I have met since that due to shock and grief never thought to take many photos and all have regretted it.
God continued to bring me closer to this vision when I stumbled across a photographer, Erin Drallos http://www.footprintsphotography.com/ who has a section called "heart and soul". Erin started a program in America where a group of child photographers on a voluntary basis work with family with desperately ill children or who have suffered the loss of a child, capturing lifetime memories in a moment of time.

I desperately wanted to start something up in Adelaide but didn't have the know how to make it work...............Then God lead me to Lia's blog http://www.liahayes.typepad.com/who has the same vision, and the blessing continued when I e-mailed her to let her know that I would love to be involved and found out that not only does she live in the same state, she lives 5 minutes away!! God is awesome!!!

If there is any photographers that read this blog and feel a calling to help, please let me know. The more photographers we have, the better.

Getting back to normal

At the moment the Specialist believes JJ has a condition which has the alphabet three times over in the title..........basically, it is a condition that is not very common ( I hate using the term, rare - it sounds too dramatic ), scientists don't know the reason people get it, but who cares because this condition goes away within 6months all by itself!!!!
The bone deformity plus the high results in the blood tests mimicked bone cancer, but it may just be that by coincidence, JJ had/has this condition and the bone deformity is no more than just an isolated deformed bone.
He has tests to confirm this when he is 2yrs ( in 3months). The doctors opinion sits so well with us and it confirms the word I got from God, " it's already been done " as in he's already healed!!

As far as the overdose they gave him, we have spoken to a lawyer who believes we have a case but it may take years and a lot of money to sort out because it's not a cut and dry case of this is what they did and this is the result. JJ's risk of cancer and other things are greatly increased but he has nothing right now. So we are still deciding whether to continue.

OK...now that I've updated, and if there is anyone left out there that hasn't given up on checking my blog, I am going to post soon ( I promise ). I've been so tied up with all this that it's time to get back to normal ( well, our families version of normal ).

So where have I been??

I'm here, but we had so many things happening and to tell you the truth, I didn't quite know how to write it down. I've had some time to absorb things now, so I'll give it a go..........

To cut a very long story short (well shorter), Jeremiah ended up in our local hospital with a temperature of 40.7 that just wouldn't go down. After some tests we were transferred via ambulance to the main children's hospital.
Every time they ran a test to rule out one thing, it showed up something else. His bloods were so out of wack, for example something that is meant to be between 150 and 450 was 3005, so as you can imagine we ended up seeing different specialist wanting to run their many tests.
It was found that some of his bones are growing deformed and with the other symptoms, they thought he had bone cancer. It was in one of these tests that really put the icing on the cake of an already terrible, heart breaking week.

HERE IT GOES.........
The hospital accidentally injected Jeremiah with an overdose of radiation, based on a 22.3kg child instead of his weight of 8.5kg. When they pulled me aside to tell me, I was in total disbelief....on one hand he didn't have bone cancer and on the other hand they had now increased his chance of getting cancer, liver and kidney damage and many other complications.
We had an immediate prayer chain going, getting angry at that point was not going to help Jeremiah or get this solution out of him, so we prayed for the solution to be like water with no ill effects.

A week or so ago, we had a healing prayer service in our church, and as they prayed for total healing over Jeremiah, I audibly heard Gods words in my head, "it's already been done!". I immediately felt a peace about it.

We have two different issues that we are dealing with, one is still seeing specialists to find out what is going on with Jeremiahs little body and the other is keeping an eye on any side effects from the overdose. This one is hard because it's not like you can run a simple test to see if there is any damage, it is something that can take hold at any time in his life now. For this very reason, you can't live in fear of what might happen, so we are just loving and enjoying our children that we have been blessed with and know that God is in total control.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely have those moments when I get upset over anything happening to my precious baby boy, especially when I'm rocking him to sleep. I tend to hold tight just that little longer, press my face into his soft warm neck, breath in his beautiful baby smell and silently have a little cry. BUT, in this whole adoption process God has moved mountains and I am once again reminded and relieved that God is in total control, and I am faithfully believing his words that he has already been healed!

Our little princess turns 6!

Yesterday, the 28th march, our little girl turned 6.

I picked her up from school early so we could buy a birthday outfit for a very special date, a dinner date with her Daddy. Emily was so excited, Adrian was taking her to a restaurant to be treated like a lady.

Emily had a bath with special smelling "big girl" water ( 2 drops of lavender oil and 1/4 cup of milk powder did the job nicely). Then she prepared herself for her dinner date.

It was so funny, when Adrian got home he wasn't allowed to see her until she was completely ready - earrings, necklace, hair, lip gloss, and a touch of Mummy's perfume over her clothes.







Adrian got dressed up, we all oohh'd and arhhh'd at the birthday girl and then they set off for the restaurant.

Emily had her chair pulled out for her, ate chips and nuggets (we made sure we chose a restaurant that would still cater for kids meals), watched a jazz band in amazement and had a fantastic time.

Adrian presented her with a book called "I'd be your princess". The book is about a little girl talking with her Daddy and imagining all the things they would do together if he was a king and she was his princess, and at the end the Daddy says that " even if I'm never a king and we never live in a castle and never.........etc........you will still be my princess because I love you so very much". He read the book to her and then brought the sleepy little princess home.

The night was such a huge deal to Emily, the next day she said that when they were at the restaurant, she felt like a real Mummy ( her way of saying a real lady).

Adrian and I believe that all little (and big) girls have such a want and need to be seen as beautiful, inside and out, and if they don't get that clarification from their Daddy, then they tend to jump into the arms of the first boy that makes them feel special, important, beautiful. We want Emily to know beyond a doubt that she is a princess of God, that she is beautiful, and that she is loved. Hopefully we can install a security in her so that when she grows up, she will know who she is in God and not seek the security that she's worth something in the wrong arms.

Bits and pieces

Well, I am writing this blog because Jeremiah slept for the first time in his own room, YIPPEE!!
He was sleeping in our room (partly in the porta cot and partly on me all night) which is also where the computer is, so now I should be able to update my blog more often. Adrian and I are also able to get some more "cuddle" time, which we are extremely grateful for (especially Adrian).

A few weeks ok we had the dreaded gastro in our household. When Jeremiah had a bout, good old Daddy was trying to show him what to do with the bucket by dry reaching into it.
So then I had JJ on a towel on my lap never knowing when he was really going to be sick because he took great pleasure in the newly taught sound effect of vomiting into the bucket.....good one Adrian!



JJ's first trip to the beach - he absolutely loved it , he was a bit wary of the water at first but he's definately a water baby, and only ate a little bit of sand which is pretty impresive for a 17month old. I think we will have to visit the beach more often.


After the gastro bout, Nana Dee and Papa Don came to visit bearing lollies. Jordan and Emily had a lot of fun seeing how high they could stack them.

They figured out that if you lick each lolly thay have a better chance of sticking.

Which also meant that the stack then had to be eaten in one go. Nothing like a bit of nutrients after being sick!

We went to my nieces wedding, which was sooo beautiful, they are such are great couple.

Seen as we were all together and all dressed up, we tried to get a family photo, which is very hard because JJ will just frown and not smile when it isn't one of us behind the camera. I love this shot of the kids together though. I love my kids so much and am incredibly greatful to God for our sometimes "nutty" little family.

some pics

Climbing everything and anything is also a favourite past time, which is fine except for the no fear of running off the edge when he wants to get down.

JJ loves his baths and says bath at any given opportunity. The orphanage washed the children by pouring cups of cold water over them, so for Jeremiah's first bath I sat with him in 2cm of cold water and slowly filled and warmed the bath. He was so amazed that his foot kept floating and has since discovered just how wet you can make mummy with splashing!

Apparently, this toy highchair is not for dolls to sit in. JJ ditched the doll, knocked the highchair over and found it's true purpose....to make really loud sounds whilst dragging it on tiles!

This phone was the first toy we bought in the Philippines, because he constantly wanted ours. JJ didn't play with it over there, he just wanted something to hold. Now he loves to "talk" on the phone and has just figured out that my phone takes pictures, so this is JJ taking a picture of himself with his toy phone.

This is my beautiful sister Samantha, she was the first person I hugged when we arrived at the airport. Sam has travelled this long road with us very closely, so you can imagine how emotional she was to meet her new nephew.

JJ will pick up any bag, no matter how big or heavy, put the straps on his shoulder and wave bye-bye. This bag proved too heavy, so with many failed attempts, he decided to drag it to the front door and dump it there as if to say, "this ones a dud, get rid of it!"

Jordan made this welcome home cake, it was so special that all of the kids had their own way of welcoming their little brother (thanks to Phoebe).

I've said before how I'm not allowed to show any distinguishing photos of Jeremiah on the web until our court day in a years time, but I can still e-mail a photo, so if you've been tracking my blog and want to see a photo of Jeremiah, I'd be proud to e-mail you a piccy. I don't know how you do that, if you leave an e-mail address in comments or some other way, so if anyone knows how, please let me know.

Life in the day of JJ

Jeremiah is 16 1/2 months old now, he is 73cm tall and weighs 8.3kg (he's slowly gaining weight).
He has the smallest little bottom, it's so little that we have him in infant nappies and the tabs still cross over....so cute!
He's a smart little guy, the carers ( called Aunties and Uncles ) in the orphanage spoke to him in Cebuano, but he is picking up English really quickly and knows what I'm on about most of the time. I just repeat the English and then the Cebuano word for those I know to help him out. Still there are times he keeps repeating a word over and over and I have no idea what he's saying, and I can't find it in my translation book ( it is 16month old Cebuano after all ).

Food wise, he loves any mushy fruit, over cooked mushy rice, and sultanas. We are still working on finger foods and vegetables. I carry sultanas around all the time so he knows that food is always available to him but he still gets into the bin now and then and stuffs food into his nappy for later, Sometimes it's not even eatable, a banana skin or a tea bag.
I need to clarify that JJ's orphanage was one of the best I have seen or heard of, they really loved and cared for him and we will forever be thankful to God and the workers for doing their very best for JJ. They all have an enormous faith in God and treat the children wonderfully. In fact, the day we left, JJ was so distraught to leave, I even wondered if we were doing what was best for him. They loved him, he loved them and this was his home since he was 6hours old. He seemed very settled in his life there and had all his friends around him.
Now I can see that no matter how well an orphanage is run, how much the children are loved, it never replaces a family that can provide that individual attention when they need it, with 75-100 children at any given time, it is impossible to comfort every hurt, cater to hunger outside of set meal times, and so much more that instills security, love and peace into a child that enables them to grow to their full potential. So although JJ is doing fantastically because of how well he was treated, there are still so many hurdles to overcome.

Sleeping is probably one of our toughest issues, but we are making progress. He was sleeping with his eyes wide open, poor little guy, so much insecurity and learnt protection skills shouldn't be there in anyone, especially a 16month old. He closes his eyes now but still wants to sleep on me, koala bear style (which is not the most comfortable position for a side sleeper). He can sometimes take hours to go to sleep and when I can safely put him down without waking, he sleeps for 15mins and then that's it for the day. He wakes restlessly through the night, his little arms and legs don't stop moving, searching for comfort and he needs to tuck his hand up my sleeves. What amazes me is that although he gets so little sleep, he doesn't sit still, he's always on the go, to the point where I have to massage his legs and hold him because he doesn't seem to know what to do with himself, he seems a bit lost and can't get himself to stop.
During the day, he is much more settled, is fine to visit new people and places and is happy to explore and walk off from me as long as I am sitting down. So he can walk away from me but not me walk away from him, which means housework is on a definite back burner at the moment.

He's learning to respond more to pain now. He use to knock his head really hard, slam his finger in the drawer and not bat an eyelid. JJ is still a tough little guy but he'll come to us and cry a little now. We don't want him to become a sook when he has the slightest bump but he needs to know that we are always there to comfort him. He has never had any tears since birth so it's also important for him to audibly cry or to indicate when he has been hurt, especially when he goes to kindy or is with someone else.

Have to go, I have been typing one handed with him asleep on my chest an he is just waking up, i will try to get some pictures up tonight.

Hello again, I'm back!

Ok, here we go... I have made a few attempts to blog but never got to complete them.
There has been sooo much happening since I last blogged that it's hard to get everything down, so I will have to just pick up from here.
The trip to bring home our little boy was one we will never forget and a piece of our hearts will forever be with the orphanage. The children there were just beautiful, we had lots of play time with them all and the only one that didn't want anything to do with us was our son, Jeremiah.
It was so hard when we first saw him not to just hold him and kiss him, but we sat back and took it as slow as he needed. He was very attached to a few of his carers and clung to them as much as he could, whilst watching us, trying to work us out.
The day we finally took him from the orphanage was heart breaking. The other children and carers sung us a farewell song, said a prayer and gave us hugs goodbye. The whole time this was going on, JJ was screaming, the carers were all crying.... it was so emotional. JJ was so upset that I had to keep telling myself that this was a good sign. If he has attached to someone then he can attach again. Some children have never learnt to bond with anyone and have a hard time ever fully bonding.
What's changed since then?
He is adjusting really well. Absolutely loves his brothers and sister, and gives us huge giggles, hugs and kisses. He calls us Mummy and Daddy and is always on the go discovering this new world. He is just beautiful.
Although we were not there for his first tooth, word, and steps, we have been able to share so many firsts with him. We take for granted the things around us, and it was so special watching JJ see a whole new world...his first bath, carpet (which he licked), cupboards, drawers, television..and so much more.
We are still having to work on a few areas, but he is doing far better than we thought he would, and we will tackle things one day at a time. One thing is certain though....I would've waited 20years for this little blessing that is asleep beside me and I again am amazed at God's awesome love and blessings.

The Eleventh Hour

Hi there, Phoebe here on behalf of Brandi.

I'm sitting here while she and Adrian finish their packing. With less than 12 hours before they fly out to the Philippines the reality that they are days away from meeting their son is sinking in.

Procedures and policy's with no flexibility have made for a tense week here with the final necessary documents only arriving today! The frustration during the hiccups has been great as has the peace that God has been in the drivers seat during this entire journey and a knowledge that things will all happen in His timing.

On Monday they will meet Jeremiah and spend three days with him at the orphanage before leaving with him Thursday. The kids and I will be following their itinerary closely. We have a few surprises planned for their parents and new brother for when they return home, which will hopefully give us all an outlet during the times when the kids miss their parents the most.

Brandi and Adrian have tried to contact as many people as possible to join them at the airport on the 28th. Feel free to email me for details (via my blog). They've been a little scattered and if you've not been contacted it wasn't intentional.

Feel free to pop on over to my blog for any other little updates. I may find that I don't have the time or am too exhausted looking after 4 kids all day to post. But I hope to be able to share snippets from our part of this journey as we wait at home for the safe return of the newest member of this amazing family.

Having a P.L.O.M moment

Sorry it's been so long. To be honest, I haven't been feeling one hundred percent positive lately.
By the way, just incase it's just our family's quirky saying, P.L.O.M stands for "Poor Little Old Me".
Don't get me wrong, on one hand I am so excited to be so close to holding my little boy, but on the other hand, this has taken nearly five years and we are so close and yet we STILL have to go through so much red tape, so much waiting and relying on someone sitting in a government office to send us a piece of paper to let us travel.
Without it, we are not aloud to travel, and this not knowing is driving me crazy.

This is our son, he's been allocated to us, he's passed all the medical standards, and he's growing older by the minute! I don't want to spend one more day without him, or him spend one more day without us!

Sometimes I feel surreal about it, sometimes I feel like I'm going to burst with excitement, and sometimes I want to be a two year old, lay down on the ground and kick and scream and have a full on tantrum whilst screaming "it's not fair!"
Sorry this blog isn't on a lighter note but I started this blog so friends, family, and anyone that connects with it, could see an insight into what goes on in my life, that makes me me. I guess that means the good and the bad.

The other night I kept dreaming of the whole process of driving into the orphanage gates, seeing our greeting on the blackboard, driving closer and seeing Jeremiah in the distance and every time I got close to him, the dream would click to the beginning and start over again..it was torture.

I have to keep my focus on God big time at the moment, and I really do want it all to happen in HIS timing not mine, I just need God to help me in the waiting area.

It's funny, one of the things I asked God for before we even started the adoption process was patience, and boy did he answer my wish. Now I just tell him that I've learnt to be patient so I'd like things to hurry up NOW....please!!! Like my 5yr old says though, "if we had been allocated sooner,(which was our timing) then we wouldn't have Jeremiah as a brother, and he's perfect!" It always amazes me how much my children teach me. As a christian, you "know" this to be true, but sometimes it takes a 5yr old little girl to remind you.

There, I feel better already! Thanks for letting me vent!