I wrote a guest post on 28 Days of Hearts about Lily today. Go check it out here each day during February and read about some amazing adopted children all with congenital heart defects. Their stories of survival, and endurance are inspiring.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
February is Congenital Heart Defect awareness month
I wrote a guest post on 28 Days of Hearts about Lily today. Go check it out here each day during February and read about some amazing adopted children all with congenital heart defects. Their stories of survival, and endurance are inspiring.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
LILY'S CATH IS CANCELLED
Due to the hospital having no beds in the cardiac ICU we have had to cancel Lily's cath for next week. They require her to spend one night in the ICU for monitoring after the cath. We could take a chance and drive up there, but as they feel it will more than likely be cancelled, and we live 4 1/2 hrs away, we decided it was better to reschedule.
The plan is to reschedule for March
If they results are good, we are hoping for surgery in May.
At first I was disappointed, not that I want her to go through this, I know how terrified of the hospital she is, but it is hard not knowing what is going on inside of her. She is doing so well outwardly, but we have no real idea as to what her pulmonary hypertension is doing!!
By postponing the cath we aren't changing plans for surgery, we were always shooting for May/June.
We will now just have to wait longer to find out if she is a candidate for surgery or not
Our journey with Lily is continually teaching us to trust more and more on our heavenly Father, we are not in control - I have to tell myself that over and over again. Oh how I like to be in control (yes I am a bit of a control freak)!!
The plan is to reschedule for March
If they results are good, we are hoping for surgery in May.
At first I was disappointed, not that I want her to go through this, I know how terrified of the hospital she is, but it is hard not knowing what is going on inside of her. She is doing so well outwardly, but we have no real idea as to what her pulmonary hypertension is doing!!
By postponing the cath we aren't changing plans for surgery, we were always shooting for May/June.
We will now just have to wait longer to find out if she is a candidate for surgery or not
Our journey with Lily is continually teaching us to trust more and more on our heavenly Father, we are not in control - I have to tell myself that over and over again. Oh how I like to be in control (yes I am a bit of a control freak)!!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Lily's heart update - and turning 5
Lily will be heading to Children's Hospital in Philadelphia next
Tuesday for her
Cardiac Catherization and Cardiac MRI
which are scheduled for
January 23rd
Since her surgery was cancelled last spring, we have added one additional medication to treat her pulmonary hypertension. She has been doing amazingly well. Growing, developing, and bringing much joy to our family. The purpose of this cath is to determine if her hypertension has further decreased to a level that the surgeons feel comfortable moving forward with her first cardiac surgery the Glenn.
Please pray for Lily next week as she hates going to the hospital, also for safety during the procedure, and for the results.
We will up there for 3 days, and will update on facebook.
On January 5th Lily turned 5
It is hard to believe - she has changed so much in 2 1/2 years. She is keeping us on our toes, into everything. Her favorite occupation, turning on taps and flooding the bathroom!! This in itself is amazing, considering she spent the first year with us terrified of water!!
We love you beautiful girl
Happy Birthday
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
WE HAVE OUR PA!! and Adoption news
We have received our PA or pre-approval from China to adopt Cole. For anyone who understands the process of adopting from China you know the significance of the A's, there is
LOA - letter of acceptance - this is what we sent to China to say we wanted to adopt Cole
PA - pre-approval - China sends us
RA - referral acceptance - once China reviews all our paper work they send us this, and we can finally post his picture on here.
TA - travel approval - China telling us it is time to go get our boy.
So how much longer for all of the A's???
There is no exact time frame, but we are estimating 6 months from now - some days my heart can't bear it, other days I know we need this time to be ready - all in Gods timing!!
For those who have been asking, and have missed our adoption news here is a brief catchup on our journey to Cole so far. I know I have been slack in the blogging department over recent months, but life has been exceptionally busy, so not only has there not been time for laundry, there has also not been time for blogging - more of that in another post, and also an important Lily update coming tomorrow.
So back to Cole
It has now been almost a year (February) since Chris and I sat down in PF Chang's and seriously talked about adopting again. It was something that had been tugging on our hearts for several months - we knew God was calling us to step out in Him again and grow our family through adoption.
Of coarse we discussed all the fears we had, the reasons we shouldn't - cost of adoption, adding more busy to our lives, Lily's medical needs - this is not something to enter into lightly and we don't. Although all those things were valid reasons to not do it, we still knew this was what we wanted to do, desired to do, were supposed to do - our family was not complete. As soon as we made the decision to say "Yes" - sitting there at PF Chang's, Chris opened up his fortune cookie - we could not believe what it said
"do not be afraid to take the next step"
This statement has been a source of strength over the last year as we have navigated the ups and downs of the adoption roller coaster ride.
Within a few weeks we fell in love with a little boy in China, the journey began, and the paper chase began - background checks, physicals, fingerprinting, references, social work visits.
Then in August things came to a crashing halt - the little boy we had hoped to adopt, was no longer available for us to adopt. We were sad, we had been looking at his picture for 6 months, praying for him every night. It is complicated so I won't even try to explain, but he has been adopted and has a family - which for us is the most important thing. If he was not to be ours, at least we know he is being loved.
We decided to take a step back, and give ourselves some time to regroup.
Then in October we saw Shan Ji Lin "Cole" - and immediately felt a connection. We spent the next few weeks finding out more about him, asking for updates from China, and to our amazement we even got video clips of him - once again our hearts were falling in love. Sometimes it amazes me at the capacity we have to love a complete stranger, who we have only seen in a picture, or video!!
In November we said Yes to adopting Cole.
He is being named Coleman - for Chris's great grandfather, Walter - for my grandfather. He is 4 and will be 5 by the time he comes home.
I so wish I could show you a picture - he is a cutie - we are all so excited.
We appreciate all of your love and support of our family and this journey, keep checking back for updates, and fundraising opportunities if you would like to help bring our little man home.
LOA - letter of acceptance - this is what we sent to China to say we wanted to adopt Cole
PA - pre-approval - China sends us
RA - referral acceptance - once China reviews all our paper work they send us this, and we can finally post his picture on here.
TA - travel approval - China telling us it is time to go get our boy.
So how much longer for all of the A's???
There is no exact time frame, but we are estimating 6 months from now - some days my heart can't bear it, other days I know we need this time to be ready - all in Gods timing!!
For those who have been asking, and have missed our adoption news here is a brief catchup on our journey to Cole so far. I know I have been slack in the blogging department over recent months, but life has been exceptionally busy, so not only has there not been time for laundry, there has also not been time for blogging - more of that in another post, and also an important Lily update coming tomorrow.
So back to Cole
It has now been almost a year (February) since Chris and I sat down in PF Chang's and seriously talked about adopting again. It was something that had been tugging on our hearts for several months - we knew God was calling us to step out in Him again and grow our family through adoption.
Of coarse we discussed all the fears we had, the reasons we shouldn't - cost of adoption, adding more busy to our lives, Lily's medical needs - this is not something to enter into lightly and we don't. Although all those things were valid reasons to not do it, we still knew this was what we wanted to do, desired to do, were supposed to do - our family was not complete. As soon as we made the decision to say "Yes" - sitting there at PF Chang's, Chris opened up his fortune cookie - we could not believe what it said
"do not be afraid to take the next step"
This statement has been a source of strength over the last year as we have navigated the ups and downs of the adoption roller coaster ride.
Within a few weeks we fell in love with a little boy in China, the journey began, and the paper chase began - background checks, physicals, fingerprinting, references, social work visits.
Then in August things came to a crashing halt - the little boy we had hoped to adopt, was no longer available for us to adopt. We were sad, we had been looking at his picture for 6 months, praying for him every night. It is complicated so I won't even try to explain, but he has been adopted and has a family - which for us is the most important thing. If he was not to be ours, at least we know he is being loved.
We decided to take a step back, and give ourselves some time to regroup.
Then in October we saw Shan Ji Lin "Cole" - and immediately felt a connection. We spent the next few weeks finding out more about him, asking for updates from China, and to our amazement we even got video clips of him - once again our hearts were falling in love. Sometimes it amazes me at the capacity we have to love a complete stranger, who we have only seen in a picture, or video!!
In November we said Yes to adopting Cole.
He is being named Coleman - for Chris's great grandfather, Walter - for my grandfather. He is 4 and will be 5 by the time he comes home.
I so wish I could show you a picture - he is a cutie - we are all so excited.
We appreciate all of your love and support of our family and this journey, keep checking back for updates, and fundraising opportunities if you would like to help bring our little man home.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Overjoyed
It is with great joy and excitement on this special day
that we would like to announce
that we will soon be a family of seven.
We have accepted the referral
of a very special four year old boy from China.
Our son Coleman "Cole" Walter Yeatts
will be joining our family
Summer 2013
Merry Christmas from our family to yours
We can not wait to share pictures as soon as we are allowed, he is adorable :)!!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Back to School
and so it begins......
Early mornings
Ethan's first day of middle school
Ethan is in 6th grade
Come on mom! Really? A picture!!
Benjamin is in 8th grade
Slow down Lily, we need a picture.....
Hmmmm (this is so typical)
Mia is in 1st grade
Saying goodbye
One more hug
Lily riding the bus for the first time (they go to different schools)
Such a big girl
Lily is in pre K
She may of rode the bus, but I drove to school to make sure she was Ok - she did great :)!!
Yummy first day of school treat (thanks Jamie)
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Celebrating Two Years With Lily
Two years ago today Lily officially became a Yeatts forever!!
At 2 1/2 she weighed 13lbs, she could not sit, or talk and was so blue when we first saw her we just prayed God would help us get her home so we could get her the medical help she needed.
Despite her fragile state, the joy and privilege we felt at that moment to be her parents is indescribable. She would be forever loved. Not only by us, but by her sister and brothers, grandparents, great-grandparent, aunts, uncles, great-aunts, great-uncles, cousins, and friends. She had a family!!
Sealed by our thumb prints and her footprints she was ours!!
She is now 36lbs, walking, smiling, going to school, and a lot less blue!!
Happy Gotcha Day Lily Stella Yeatts - you are loved SO much
At 2 1/2 she weighed 13lbs, she could not sit, or talk and was so blue when we first saw her we just prayed God would help us get her home so we could get her the medical help she needed.
Despite her fragile state, the joy and privilege we felt at that moment to be her parents is indescribable. She would be forever loved. Not only by us, but by her sister and brothers, grandparents, great-grandparent, aunts, uncles, great-aunts, great-uncles, cousins, and friends. She had a family!!
Sealed by our thumb prints and her footprints she was ours!!
She is now 36lbs, walking, smiling, going to school, and a lot less blue!!
Yes she still needs cardiac surgery, yes she still needs her lungs to improve, she she still has developmental delays, but watching lily change over the last 2 years has been like watching God perform a daily miracle in our girls life - and we know He is not done yet!!
Happy Gotcha Day Lily Stella Yeatts - you are loved SO much
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