Three Years and One Month

Elijah turned 3 last Sunday! It's hard to believe he's becoming a little man already. This year we threw him a full-on party since he really understood the concept and was excited. We were blessed to have many of his friends and surrogate family there. He was just beaming the whole day.



Eliana turned 1 month yesterday. She's still such a little girl, but she's definitely growing. She is now 19" and 8lbs even. So, she's getting to be the size of a full-term baby (and she's still got two weeks before she's at her due date!) She's very sleepy still, and maybe spends 1-2 hours a day awake. I can't wait for her to be more alert and interactive.



I unfortunately am quite sick. It hit me all of a sudden. I went in to the doctor last night and learned I have bronchitis, strep, and an ear infection. They gave me a shot of antibiotic in the leg that hurt like crazy. It actually made my leg go numb so I stalled out the car twice driving home. I'm just praying that Eliana doesn't get sick!

Elijah went to the allergist last week. We learned he is allergic to: grass, trees, mold, dust mites, corn stalks, cats, oranges, and corn. Now, corn may not seem like a very big deal compared to milk, soy, wheat, or nuts. But, try to find one cereal, bread, or yummy food that doesn't have corn starch, corn meal, or corn syrup in it! The allergist made a big deal about us removing it from his diet for 6 months, but then today at his 3 year appointment, his pediatrician said, "oh, just keep feeding him like normal." Humph... anyone else out there have a corn allergy?


As for Levi, he has double ear infections and he's getting three teeth. He's not the happiest camper ever...


We got to enjoy the outdoors for a few minutes since the temperature rose into the sweltering 30's. Levi LOVED playing on the slide. I can tell this spring we'll have lots of fun at the park!

Puddle Hopper Big Brothers...

Ok, so here is my new most favorite picture. Tomorrow is Elijah's birthday, so I'm sure we'll have birthday pics galore :-) We are so thankful for our family and are thankful for all that God has done in the last four years.

Dancing Wonder...

Levi is officially walking... and DANCING. Here's a video of him strutting his stuff at the library.

First Day at Church

Today Eliana went to church for the first time. I just thought she looked cute in this little outfit my friend Brittany lent us and had to post the picture!

It's Official!!!

As of this afternoon, Eliana Joy Thiry is officially OURS!

What a journey this has been! God has shown himself to us in such a clear, unmistakable way through the journey of adopting Eliana. We stand in awe of the grace of adoption, and are humbled by the reminder that God adopts us as children and makes us heirs together with Christ-- even when we were so undeserving!

Thank you all for your many prayers! Even today we had a few moments when our heart stopped, but in the end, the birth parents went to court and relinquished their rights.

His Adopted,

Nathan, Julie, Elijah, Levi, & ELIANA

More of the Kids...

We are adjusting to having three kids in the house. The boys are absolutely enamored with their sister. It's been so fun watching them love her! Please keep praying for the finalization of the adoption. The papers have been filed, and the birth parents are scheduled to go to court this Monday to sign off their rights to us. Please pray that everything goes as planned. As of Monday, Eliana should officially be a Thiry!

Brothers....

We're Home!!!

At long last, we are HOME! It was a great joy getting to know the staff, nurses, and other NICU parents at Oakwood, and many of them became dear to us as they walked this journey with us, but I must say, it is wonderful to have our little girl home! She has amazed us with how well she's eaten today. It's like she was just waiting to show off her skills once she was discharged!

Our hearts continue to be amazed at this incredible gift we've been given. I even marvel that she was conceived the same month I started praying for a daughter. God is a big God!

Enough talking... here are some pictures and videos. We are very, very blessed.

Update

Sorry for the slowness of our updates. We are still in the hospital with Eliana, and the internet access has been difficult. We aren't sure when we'll be able to take Eliana home. She's doing great, but she's been slow to develop her suck reflex, so they have had to give her what she won't drink in a feeding tube. Then they realized her digestive system hasn't been wanting to process the full amount they're giving her, so now she's on half IV to keep her hydrated, and we bottle feed the rest. The good news is, last night and this morning, she's begun sucking much better. But, now her body temperature is a bit low.... SOOOOOO, we just need everything to stabilize a bit, then she can go home. It could be in two days or in two weeks. Pray that God would help her little body to mature quickly!

On the positive side, we had a very encouraging interaction with her birth parents yesterday, and they seem confident in this decision, and we are feeling more confident that she is our daughter!

Thank you for your prayers!

Introducing...

Eliana Joy Thiry
Born at 11:09 am after 2 pushes
5lb 8oz and 19"

She's in the NICU for observation and to receive antibiotics since her water was broken for several days prior to birth. She's also struggling to suck right now, so they did put a feeding tube in her nose to help give her whatever she doesn't drink. It looks like we'll be in here until at least Thursday or Friday- It all depends on if she decides to start drinking from her bottle.

We are amazed at the gift we've been given, but we remember that nothing is official until the birth parents appear at their court hearing to officially surrender their rights. That will be in one to two weeks. In the mean time, they left the hospital abruptly four hours after birth, so we remain hopeful, but are realizing they are very emotional and could still change their minds. Pray for us, that we would love Eliana for every day that God has her in our care, whether it's one more day, or a life time.

She already has daddy wrapped around her finger!

Pray for us as we make decisions about the boys and struggle being apart from them. If this NICU stay ends up being for a week or two, we have to figure out where to stay and how to best take care of them.

Maybe today?

Tomorrow's the Day!

Ok, I know everyone is probably sick of these "she's almost here" posts. But, she really is almost here! They are inducing labor tomorrow morning (around 7am est). So, Lord wiling, she'll make her debut sometime tomorrow afternoon. We are excited, and exhausted emotionally. Somehow we think it's a good idea to take Elijah with us tomorrow to the hospital to await his sister. He's SOOO excited. In fact, today when we picked him up from the babysitter, the first thing he said to us was, "You got baby sister??" Please pray that he's cooperative tomorrow and a blessing of a waiting-buddy for Nathan. (I actually get to be in the room for delivery!) We have no idea what'll happen once she's out... but we're trusting God to work out the details.

Keep checking back, and hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post good news and some pictures!

Induction is set for Sunday! So, we'll head back home tomorrow to have a day with the boys, then come back here for the delivery. Keep praying for a healthy baby!

Thank you for your prayers! We are here in Detroit now, and have been in to visit T & A. While they think that the baby will be here in the next two days, the nursing staff thinks that they can hold her off for another week. Obviously, another week in the oven would be best for the baby, but it could also be better to have her just come out, and get this process moving. Thankfully, it's God's decision to make. Pray for wisdom for us as to how long to stay here and wait. Tonight I'm going to get some one on one time with A and Nathan will get some one on one time with T. Pray for wise words and that we'd be able to show them the love of Christ.

BABY ON THE WAY!

I just wanted to ask you to pray! Last night we got a call from "T", the birth father of the baby we hope to adopt. The birth mother, "A", is in labor! Her water ruptured last night. This has totally caught us by surprise. She is only 33 1/2 weeks pregnant, so there is much need to pray that the baby's lungs are ready. The hospital is hoping to hold off her arrival until Saturday in the hopes of giving her more time to respond to the steroids and have mature(er) lungs. But, they don't know for sure they'll be able to stop her from coming before then. So, Sandy H. has our boys right now, and we're going to head over to the Dearborn (near Detroit) this morning to be with the birth parents, as we know baby girl's arrival is eminent.

-Please PRAY for a healthy baby.
-Please PRAY that her need to stay in the NICU would be very limited, especially since we live
on the opposite side of the state.
-Please PRAY for Nathan and I as we make decisions.
-Please PRAY for opportunities to share and model Christ to T&A!
-Please PRAY for our boys during this confusing time.

I'll keep you posted as I can!

Names?

We had a very encouraging meeting with the birth parents yesterday. God has answered so many specific prayers; we are in awe of how He is showing His hand and sovereignty in all of this. Here is a picture of baby girl. We are now taking suggestions on names that go with Elijah and Levi. Picking a girl names seems so much harder!

It's a GIRL!

We are humbled and amazed at the news that the birthparents still indeed want us to adopt their baby, and they appear to be carrying a healthy baby girl! God answers prayers! Lord willing we can meet with the birthparents next week. Thank you for praying for us.

It's been so fun watching Elijah delight in Christmas. From seeing his nativity set, to wanting to put the star on the tree, to squealing in delight at all the lights, it's been nothing but a delight to Him. For us it's nice that he's beginning to understand that Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus birth (and Levi's...) He carried baby Jesus around all morning and was very careful with him.
Levi is growing like a weed. I can't believe he'll be 1 this month already. He wants so desperately to be big and do everything that Elijah does. I love watching them learn to be brothers. The love each other fiercely, but also can fight like none other!
Elijah actually seems to be enjoying the snow this year. Last year he was afraid to touch it, but now he'll at least stand in it and look at it without crying!


Elijah has also been wanting to pray more, and he ends up thanking God for the funniest things.

This morning after breakfast, Elijah said one of his memory verses by himself for the first time. In case you can't understand his dialect, he's saying Deuteronomy 13:4, "You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him."

104.5

No, that's not a radio station... it was Levi's temperature when I got him to urgent care last night. Ear infection and a bit of a bronchial infection.

Well, the birthmother's ultrasound was scheduled for Dec. 15th, so we've got three more weeks to wait before we learn much more about baby :-( But, I know waiting is good. It really challenges me to remain dependent upon Christ. I'm thankful that what remains unknown to me is fully known by HIM.

No News...

I wish no news was always good news. We didn't hear anything today about baby. I don't know what that means... except that God is keeping us waiting on HIM!

My Big Boy...

Elijah is officially in potty training. He hasn't worn a diaper (during the day) since Sunday! It's amazing what a sticker chart can do towards motivating success! I'm curious to hear from those of you who have already gone through potty training... how do you get them to go #2? He's clearly holding it in... And for those of you who are yet to come down this road, here's the one big lesson I've learned. DO NOT through poopy pants straight into the washer without wrinsing them out first. It smells.. er... spells disaster!

On the less grotesque side of things, Elijah has been so funny with the questions he's asking. He's our family happy-o-meter. Probably 20 times a day he asks each of us, "Are you happy, dad? Are you happy, mom?" He also asks, "Dad, are you home?" every few minutes while Nathan is home. I can tell he's feeling the crunch of the end of seminary for Nathan.

Here's a funny video of Elijah showing off his "big" muscles. I think he might have hurt something :-)

Prayer

Hi everyone. If you think of us tonight, please pray for opportunities to share with our new friends from Pakist... They are coming over for dinner tonight. We are looking forward to getting to know the husband as this is the first time we'll meet him. Pray that our lives paint a clear picture of Christ.

God's Ways are not Our Ways

So, we have some big news that we'd ask you all to pray about with us. A couple has asked us to adopt their baby which is due in February. While this may seem sudden, all I can say is, "God's ways are not our ways." And, he definitely has a sense of humor.

Two years ago we decided that we'd add to our family by adopting. We slowly waded through the home study paperwork and got on a waiting list over in Detroit. I desperately didn't want to get pregnant as I wanted to adopt... so we tried to prevent getting pregnant. Three weeks later we found out we were pregnant with Levi.

We stayed on the waiting list for the full year our homestudy was good for, yet no match ever happened. We considered updating our home study this Spring, but we were burried in paperwork trying to get on board with the missions agency, so we never did update. Now that we're looking to move overseas next year, we decided, "let's add to our family one more time by getting pregnant." Well, we haven't been successful, and I began to realize that God doesn't usually do things my way... so I wondered what he'd have happen.

Two weeks ago we found out that a couple from the agency in Detroit had picked us to adopt their baby. We were shocked since we thought we'd been taken off the list (we should have not been an option for them since our home study was expired). Yet, there it was. The birth mom is 24 weeks pregnant, and they don't know what they're having. In two weeks she has her first appointment, so hopefully we'll find out then. After her appointment, the social worker is going to setup a time for us to meet them.

Please be praying for us, as we begin walking through these doors. It's a hard yet good place of dependence as we won't know the outcome until February and all papers are signed. The birthparents could see the baby and change their mind. This also was not at all in our minds, nor anything that we were striving for, so we're thrilled that God so clearly has his hands in this. I could list several things only God could have done and many answers to specific prayers, but I'll save that for another post.

Here are specific prayer requets:
~For God's wisdom and guidance as we pursue this.
~That God would shut the door SOON if this isn't His will.
~That we'd trust him for the finances to adopt (especially as we begin raising support to go overseas too!)
~For the health and safety of this baby, that the birthmom will be making healthy decisions while pregnant.
~For an opportunity to share the gospel with this couple when we meet them.
~For God to be honored every step of the way in this process.

Stay tuned... (and in the mean time, here are some pics of Elijah and Levi)

New Friends

Hay Ride

Last Friday night some friends invited us over for their annual hay ride. It was so much fun to be out in the crisp fall air, taking in the brilliant fall colors (pictures of which will follow in a few days). The kids were encouraged to dress up, so it let us get the dust off of their old costumes.

Here are the kiddos... err... the fire-infatuated Pirate and Tigger the Fierce!

TEAM and Catch Up

Last week Nathan, the boys, and I were in Wheaton at Candidate School with TEAM. It was a refreshing and full time learning about the ins and outs of missions. It was encouraging being with several people all hoping to be on the field in the next year and hearing what God is doing in their ministry areas. It is becoming more real to us that moving to Tenerife is just around the corner, and our hearts are growing for the church and people that will soon be in our lives. We are now in "Phase 3" of this process... the support raising phase. I must say this is the hardest and most humbling, but I have a feeling it will also be the time that most shows us God's power and provision. We covet your prayers as we move forward. If you'd like to see a powerpoint of what's going on in Tenerife, just send me an email (my first and last name at yahoo).

On the home front, the boys are growing and changing every day. It's such a joy to have them in our lives, and it definately keeps us dependent!

Levi finally sprouted two teeth, and he's busy cruising around the furniture. Elijah has decided his favorite phrase is, "I'm too little!" which he uses in attempts to get out of whatever task he's been asked to accomplish ;-/

Here are pictures from the last week or so. After our week at TEAM, we swung through Chicago and visited Navy Pier, which was a ton of fun.