The pictures above are of our little Ethan with his Papa this morning in our family devotions.  Ethan crawled over to Derek and Derek put him in his Bumbo Seat next to him.  The minute Derek opened his Bible, Ethan was pulling at it, wanting to look at it too!  It was so precious, Ethan was so happy!  He kept smiling and laughing and we were able to capture it all on film so we wanted to share it with you.

Ethan will be going into surgery tomorrow, July 31st,  at 1:30PM.  He will be having tubes put in his ears, an endoscopy (scope down his throat) to look for anything that might be causing problems with his health/growth and he will be getting circumcised.  We would really appreciate your prayers as Ethan will be under anesthesia and we’d love for him to be able to come home as soon as it’s possible. We will update you on the post-op progress.  Thanks so much!  Blessings and hugs to you all!

It’s been 5 months since our precious boys arrived in our home.  We have been absolutely stunned by their progress, especially with Ethan.  When Ethan was first handed to us, he was 11lbs at five yrs old, smelled like death was crouching at his door, and did not interact with us at all.  He would simply lay in our arms and moan.  I honestly thought that he may never do more than that … boy was I wrong.   After 5 months, he has gone from 11lbs to 23lbs.  He has grown five inches.  He rolls, he crawls, he smiles and laughs, he mimics, he can sign 8-10 words, he climbs up the stairs, puts on his sandals, pulls himself to a standing position, walks while holding onto something, and blows kisses.  We had to feed him with an eye-dropper when he first arrived.  He had no idea of what to do with food.  Now he eats everything we eat, feeds himself with his hands, can use a fork with some assistance, and drinks from his own sippy cup.

Sasha is speaking in full English sentences, interacting with his sisters in wonderful brotherly ways (he placed slugs and worms secretly on their legs multiple times), and he will be starting kindergarten in August.  He is an absolutely brilliant, happy little boy who loves to tease and play “musical chairs”.  Sasha loves to sing and play the guitar. He even got the chance to play a banjo  this past weekend!  He loves people and has so enjoyed meeting new friends and interacting with extended family members.  He smiles and laughs a lot and melts our hearts with his tender ways.

Silas is now walking on his own, signing many words, and beginning to speak words like “Dada, Mama, bye bye, and I love you.”  Silas is very curious about animals and loves to follow our dogs around the house.  He also likes chewing up his food, leaning over his high chair and spitting out his food to share with the doggies. As you can imagine, the dogs love hanging around Si.. ha!  No wonder they’re such good buds!  Silas keeps us laughing for sure.

Much of the boy’s progress is due to the therapy they are receiving multiple times every week.  They are also being worked with by our family support staff every day.  Our family support staff reinforces the boy’s therapies each day (PT, OT, Speech). They also teach the boys English, take them to the IHOP prayer room regularly, and work on skills such as dressing and eating.  A huge “thank you” to our family support staff!  We’ve posted before and after pictures below so that you could see our boy’s amazing progress!  Look what the Lord has done!

Leeann, our newest Marshallese daughter is doing great!  She got amazing grades in school this year and is a real bright spot in our lives!  She keeps us laughing with her sense of humor!  Please pray for her that the Lord will heal her of her rheumatic fever.  She still has to have a penicillin shot once a month to help her body deal with this illness.  We are so thankful for Leeann’s heart! She is a true blessing to each of us and we are thrilled that she is ours!

Thanks again to all of you who have been praying!  I’ve listed some prayer needs for those of you who have asked for an update.

1. Silas’ heart surgery takes place on July 27th.  Please pray that all will go smoothly and that he would heal and recover quickly! The hole in his heart will be closed during this surgery.

2.  Ethan’s tubes get put in his ears on July 31st.  He will also have an endoscopy done (tube down his throat to check for any problems).

3.  We still need $15,000. towards Sasha’s wheelchair.  We are exploring some options through some charities that some of you mentioned to us (thank you)! Please pray that doors would be open
to help us get Sasha his much needed wheelchair.  Thanks so much!

God bless you and thanks again to all of you who have faithfully supported us through your prayers, your love and your sacraficial financial gifts!  What a huge blessing you are!  We are thankful for each of you!

Silas, the day we took him out of the orphanage

Silas, 5 months after being home with us

Ethan, the day we took him out of the orphanage

Ethan, 5 months after being home with us

Sasha, the day we took him out of the orphanage

Sasha, 5 months after being home with us

Our three new U.S. citizens celebrating their first Fourth of July

Amazing Ethan

Our beautiful Telma and happy Silas

Our beautiful tribe

Michaela sparkling

Sasha celebrating

Telma being her happy self

Our precious Leeann

Derek celebrating with the kids

Our sweet Sophia with her sweet smile

Sasha

Keyolla celebrating in spite of being sick