Reece's Rainbow-Angel Tree

I know I am overdue for a post...and I am preparing one showcasing the craziness of Fall at the Turley's. Until then, I thought I would highlight something else very worthy. Most of my followers know how much my heart aches for special need orpahans overseas. Lord willing, someday we will be able to claim one of these orphans as our own, and make that special little one a Turley. Until then I am supporting the website that has made it possible for so many people to adopt a special little one of their own. Through this website I have found many sweet faces to love and pray for, as well as building special relationships with some of the families that go before.

Every year, Reece's Rainbow has an Angel Tree Program to help raise funds for children who do not have a forever family yet. These funds will eventually help with the financial strain of these costly adoptions. Various supporters choose a child and advocate for them raising money in whatever way they can. I am adding a link on the side of the blog to assist anyone who feels led in helping these sweet faces. If you can't decide which one to help, I would be more then happy to share the faces that have been tugging at my soul.

Thank you for taking a moment to view these little ones. Please take a moment and pray that there forever family is just around the corner. Merry Christmas (a little early) to everyone. I am praying that we all have a blessed holiday season.

Reagan

Welcome Baby Caleb!

On Tuesday, October 9th - at 5:19am - our newest nephew/cousin Caleb William Morgan was born to my sister Meredith and her husband Jeff! This is baby number 5 and we are so happy he is here safe and sound. We wish we could love on him, but we will just have to send him hugs and kisses from afar. 

Tessa and Nate can't wait to meet their newest cousin! We love you sweet boy! (Luke, Ben, Gracie and Jakey too!)

Our Trip to the Pumpkin Patch...Arizona Style!

If you are from AZ, you know that we do Fall a little differently then most. Our pumpkin patches aren't very "farm" like, but more of a western feel. Today we took the kids to MacDonald's Ranch to celebrate Fall. Uncle Jake, Aunt Shelby, Krosby and even Kerger baby #2 came with us. They joined us last year too, looks like we are starting a tradition! 

Tessa made her aunties Gentry and Raleigh proud. She seemed to fall in love with horses! She ran right over to them and started petting them. 

Tessa and Krosby got to experience their first pony rides! Neither of them seemed scared. Tessa was pretty disappointed that it didn't last longer.  Krosby did have some issues with her helmet that kept falling over her eyes. 

Then we took a hayride to the pumpkin patch. The man that lead our wagon asked Aunt Shelby if she was smuggling a pumpkin....nope, just a baby! As you can see, it took a few pics before we got everyone looking up for the cousin shot! 

Funny faces!

They got lost in the hay maze!

Tessa and Krosby did a great job rustling up some cattle!

Thanks for joining us Kerger Klan....We had so much fun. Can't wait for Baby #2 to join us next year!

Look out world, Nate is Walking!

We finally were able to record some footage of our little guy walking. He is such a busy little boy. In the video you will notice him not only walking, but chasing a cat too. At the very end of the video, I had to stop recording to avoid a new bruise from falling. Enjoy!

Nate Walking from rebturley on Vimeo.

Nate Update-14 Months

First off, some current stats for our 14 months old. He is now weighing 18.7lbs (Yippee!) which is still small for his age, but he has gained over two pounds in three months, which is big for him. He is climbing on EVERYTHING! His favorite past times are getting into the dog water, throwing things in the trash and playing in the toilet. If we find ourselves missing a utensil or remote, we know he has thrown it into the trash. We are pretty certain that we have already lost a whisk to this past time. He not only sucks his thumb but plays with his hair behind his ears. (As seen in the photo below.) We are seeing a very stubborn side to him recently. If he doesn't like something, he will let you know! And the best news of all, he is walking!!! 

Now on to the kidney info. We got blood work last week. (While we were at the doctors, they noticed a start of an ear infection, which is his first.) The first thing the doctor looked at today was his ultrasound results. When he was a newborn, his kidneys were measuring 2.4 and 2.9 cm., normal size being 5 cm. His scan in July showed his kidneys had grown to 4.2 and 4.4, average being 6.3. When you look at his growth in comparison, this is a good number. The doctor charted the numbers and it appeared that Nate's kidneys were on the very, very low side of normal.....NORMAL!!! My heart lept thinking that maybe this was the start of "the end" with his kidney concerns.  Well, then we moved on to the blood work.

His blood work was pretty consistent with the numbers we were seeing in the past. Creatinine remains at a .67, normal being .5. He has given a new blood test this time which measured his Vitamin D levels, turned out to be normal. The one number that continues to worry his doctor is his acid level. Nate is currently on medication to assist this level in regulating itself. Each appointment the doctor chooses to up his dosage, because it doesn't appear to be hitting where he needs to be. Today that number was again extremely low. So we are upping the dose again. The side effect associated with this low function is low weight gain, which we are obviously seeing in Nate.  

Last but not least, Nate's urine was tested for the first time today. In the urine there is already evidence that Nate is losing protein. This number is what seemed to concern the doctor the most. The way he described it was Nate's little kidneys are compensating for their size. The little nephrons have grown in size to help with the demand for the filtering. There is a lot of pressure on these little cells to do a lot of work. Because of that pressure, they have a tendency to leak protein. He is going to have to start Nate on a medicine he wasn't planning on giving him until later in his life. This medicine will take some of the pressure off of his kidneys and not make them work so hard. So instead of maintaining a creatinine level of .6, the kidneys will only have to work to maintain a .7 or .8. In the end, this will help Nate elongate the life of his kidneys. Once scar tissue starts building up (because they are working so hard) it will be the beginning of the end for his little kidneys. So if we make them not work as hard, we might get a few more years out of them.  His functionality of his kidneys is currently estimated at around 59%.  This means he is right on the edge of being considered Stage III of kidney disease. (60% would mean he is in Stage II.)

We are still uncertain what this means for his future. The doctor is still hopeful that Nate will make it to his teenage years before needing a transplant, so we are not out of the woods, unfortunately. So we will "just keep swimming" as Dory the fish says. Nate has come so far in the last 5 months. All we can do is keep doing what we are doing. We are trusting God for where he takes us with this. Please continue to pray for our little guy. He is such a trooper! 

Awesome Date Night!

This past Friday, Adam and I were able to go out on a date. We do not get these too often, but this one was super special. Ever since I was a young girl, I have loved the Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman. Last Friday, he finally came to town. 

The singer Bebo Norman also came to open the concert. Both were incredibly moving, not to mention wonderful! It was such a great night!

Towards the end of the evening, Steven Curtis Chapman shared with the audience about their calling to assist with adoption along with their ministry, Show Hope. Adam and I are hoping that God opens a door for us one day to adopt, so it was so moving to see and hear such an advocate for this special cause, not to mention the stories from his own experiences. 

Thanks hubby for such a great night. I would encourage everyone who can to see this man in concert. He is amazing!

Little Miss August Turns Three!

On Tuesday our Tessa turned three. On one hand it seems like such a short time in our lives, but on the other hand, we have a hard time remembering our life without our silly girl. She is growing to be a very good big sister, helping Nate often. She is speaking very clearly and often says the darn-dest things. We went for her three year checkup on Wednesday where she is now weighing 33lbs.  We call her our little hypochondriac because she asks to go to the doctor all the time. When we left the office this time, she said her pediatrician was her "best friend". We will be going to the dentist for the first time soon, and she is already excited about it. She asks every day "can I go to the doctor tooth, please!"  

 She has also become quite the little fish this summer. She used her floaties for about two weeks at the beginning of the summer, and now she will have nothing to do with them. Even when she has been playing for a while, she still is determined to swim "all by myself!"

 Her favorite things are still turtles. She also loves to play the game "I'll dress myself with as many items as I can find in my drawers." She will come out with socks, flip flops, mittens hats, multiple shirts, sunglasses and pants...all at once. Usually she isn't willing to have the paparazzi take pictures of these moments. Maybe she wants to keep this fashion craze all to herself. 

We are so blessed to have Tessa in our lives. She has been such a joy. Happy birthday sweet girl! We look forward to many more years of your silliness!