Our Starfish Update!

A few months ago, I shared with you our plans to adopt sweet Yana from Russia. There was a tiny problem....Russia wasn't going to let us have her. We were hoping and praying for some glimmer of hope, but after two months, it was made clear that the door to Russia was closed for now. 

As a family we are in mourning. We already love Yana and believe she is meant to be our daughter/sister one day. We are trusting that one day the doors of Russia will be open once more, and we will be one of the many families anxiously awaiting their child. 

Until then......we have chosen to not close our hearts to the idea of another sweet child needing a family. 

About a month ago, I noticed a sweet face listed on Reece's Rainbow. At that point in time, we were not ready to consider "letting Yana go". So I just started praying for this little one to get a family soon. Little did I know, that we were the family he was waiting for. 

I would like to introduce you to Nigel!

Nigel lives in another Eastern European country and was abandoned at birth because of this Down Syndrome. But in our opinion Nigel, like Yana, is perfect just the way he is. 

The Turley family will continue to love, pray and wait for the day when Yana is in our arms. Until then, we have another sweet face to love, cherish and prepare our home for. 

We have a lot of paperwork to get going on not to mention some money to raise. So stay tuned for ways to help us bring our sweet lil' man home. 

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support through this trying time for our family. We are so excited to embark on this great adventure to bring our son (and one day our daughter) home. 

Not So Happy Chimi Update....

Our last post shared about or lovable lab and her cancer. As a family we decided to take a chance and give chemo a try. She seemed to be doing pretty well. However, after two treatments, she took a turn for the worse. We noticed her having a hard time breathing along with continued weight loss. The vet did a x-ray which showed various tumors, along with a very large one on her chest pressing against her heart and lungs. At this point we knew. It was time to let our sweet girl go. 

 We squeezed in a few Chimi rides this week, along with lots of hugs and kisses (and table scraps galore). 

 Sweet Chimi-Changa, you will be missed. You were a wonderful family dog that set the bar really high for all other Turley canines. 

Goodbye sweet girl...

Our Lovable Chimichanga

About two weeks ago, we noticed our lovable lab's appetite decrease. We always considered her our canine vacuum and she would wait patiently under the dinner table for any scraps she could find. When we started noticing her not eat her food, we knew we might have a problem. 

One Wednesday, I took Chimi in to see the vet. She had recently been in to see him in January so we were shocked to find out that she had lost 12 pounds in that short period of time. Between the weight loss and some very swollen lymph nodes, the doctor was pretty sure he knew what was going on. He pulled some fluid from one of the lymph nodes, and sure enough....it was lymphoma. My heart immediately sank. The dog that we had hoped would be our children's childhood companion was not going to make it more then a few months. He began talking about some chemo options, but the word "chemo" and "dog" seemed so foreign to me, so I told him we were not going to pursue that route. He sent us home with some steroids to help her regain her energy and appetite and said it would buy her a few months, and I took her home. 

After the news settled in, we started feeling like we should at least know all our options. Chimi is an AMAZING family dog and she is worth us considering her options. I was able to get some insight on a dog forum as well as speaking with the vet again. We knew it would be a gamble, but again, she is worth it. So with the vet's reassurance, we decided to pursue the chemo. 

Yesterday, Chimi had her first treatment. Most people cringe at the thought of chemo. (I know I did.) However, there are really no major side effects like there are in humans. One of the main things they have to watch out for is chance of infection. The vet also told us that early on into the 16 weeks of treatments, we will know if her lymphoma is responding. If it isn't, we are able to stop the treatments and just focus on the time we have left with her. 

Here are a few pics of this lovable dog and her golden personality. She was such a cute puppy. She was born into a batch of chocolate lab pups, but was the only yellow lab in the litter. (We thought that made her extra special.) She sure did her damage on our house and my shoes in those days

Over the years, Chimi has also taken on the role of "adoptive mommy" to a handful of kittens. She would get so frantic whenever they were hungry.

She has endured horseback rides from Nate and Tessa.....

...and even an occasion feline. 

One of her favorite places is swimming in the river up at the Blue. We are hoping to take a trip up there soon so that we can make sure we get at least one more trip with her.

We are crossing our fingers and toes that this treatment works and that we get to enjoy our Chimi-Chimichanga a few more years. We will keep you posted. 

Nate 18 Months

Nate turned 18 months on Sunday! My little "bubbas" is getting to be such a big "bubbas"! Still loves that thumb!

Here are a few pics to see the difference. This is Nate at a year and then now. 

12 months

 18 months

12 months on Fourth of July with his sister. They didn't like posing together back then. 

Now look at my precious babies!

I LOVE how the two of them are with each other. They laugh at each other in the car, they share food, they console each other when the other is sad, and yes...they still pick on each other. But that is bound to happen. 

As I look at the one year photos, he still looks like such a baby to me! Wow, he has come so far!

We saw the doctor today for his 18 month check up. He had to get 4 shots :-( We had taken Nate in to see his kidney doctor last month, and since then we have had no weight gain, but he is starting to pick up speed with his height and head circumference. We will continue to try to fatten him up....even if it takes french fries (his all time favorite food, j/k). 

We have started him on 2 new medications and he is doing rather well on them. He is giving us a bit of trouble taking his old medication though. (We started this med when he was a week old, so I guess he has finally realized that it is not a great taste) We have found an interesting way to trick him though. The medication is very acidic, so we mix it in a little swig of orange juice and he gobbles it up...silly bubbas! We will have repeat of blood work in March.

Last May, Nate was assessed by the state due to his delayed development. At the time he was 10 months but he was showing scores in the 4 months range. This qualified him for services in speech, occupational therapy and physical therapy. Since then, we have actually gotten none of these services. The state of AZ is not great at being able to provided enough therapists for the demand, so we went without. This did not worry me too much because of all the HUGE gains he made on his own. Recently our caseworker called to followup and was unaware that he had not been receiving services, so she sent out another assessment team to reevaluate where he was. Nate has made huge gains, but there are still some concerns in the physical therapy department. All other areas will be considered on "consultation" basis, which just means if we see a problem, we'll let them know. But for now, he will start getting PT very soon....I hope. The therapist assigned to us has already contacted me and said she is having a hard time fitting us in to her busy caseload....so we well see if it ever happens. 

Other then that, we have a healthy, happy little boy. He is such a ham these days and loves to laugh! Man, I am so incredibly blessed with this precious little boy!

Team Turley Member #5

Many of you may have heard the "starfish" story about one person trying to make a difference on a beach filled with stranded starfish. We may not be able to save them all...but we can save some, one starfish at a time!

I have toyed with the words I would write in this blog post for a long time.....and even now I having a hard time putting into words what I am trying to say. So I will just come out and say it.

WE ARE EXPECTING!

Many of you may rush to congratulate us before you know all the details, so here they are.  Our little one is not growing in my belly, but she is growing in an orphanage far, far away. That's right folks, we are adopting! Many months ago we saw a little face on a website and fell in love. Since then God has been stirring in our hearts. A little less then a month ago, we felt lead to finally take a BIG leap of faith, and so we leaped. 

In that short time we have already hit a MAJOR road block. Two weeks after we began our journey, our adoption came to a screeching halt. You see, our soon-to-be daughter lives in Russia. On December 28th, President Putin signed a bill banning Russian adoptions by Americans. This ban has effected so many families currently in the adoption process. All we can do right now is pray, pray some more and wait. There is word that an amendment is being proposed that may exclude special needs children from the ban, but we don't know any specifics right now. 

Other then the current political situation in Russia, we know that many of our family and friends may have some questions and/or concerns that we are wanting to address...so here we go!

1. You already have one son and one daughter, why are you "rocking the boat" adding another?-Yes, we already do have a wonderful daughter and son whom we love and cherish IMMENSELY. This addition to our family may "rock the boat" a little, but in the end our family will be forever molded by all this little one has to offer. Plus, have you seen the size of my family? My middle name is chaos! What's life without a few ripples? 

2. Are you really cut out for this?-"For we walk by faith, not by sight."- 2 Corinthians 5:7 God is calling us to open our hearts and home to this child of His. He is hand picking her as a member of our family and we are answering the call and being obedient. Will there be difficult days? OF COURSE! But even parents with all biological kids have difficult days. We are choosing her!

3. This is a life sentence!- We know what we are getting ourselves into. So your “concerned for me” questions aren’t going to change our minds. How about a hug instead?

4. Why are you choosing a child with "special needs"?- It's simple...extra chromosomes = extra special! 

5. Why not adopt from America?- I have the utmost appreciation for anyone that follows the call to adopt and act no matter where it takes place. Similar to missionary work, I feel that God speaks very specifically to His call for one's life. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a "thing" for kids with disabilities. Other then my family, they are kind of my world. God has called me to be the voice of many of these students as their teacher and show them compassion and encouragement in a world of obstacles. Very early into my teaching career I began feeling yet another calling. That calling said that I was not only supposed to teach these special young souls, but I was also supposed to mother one too. 

Early into our marriage, I brought this "feeling" up to the hubby...let's just say he did not feel the same calling at that moment in time. He did say that he would prefer starting our family off with a few bio kids before we started thinking about adopting....so I waited. 

While I was pregnant with #2, I came across a website that advocated and fundraised for families pursuing a international special needs adoption. Since that time, I have supported and prayed for many of the faces I have come across. 

As I was looking into the various countries listed on their website, I learned of the various requirements and costs involved in these international adoptions. I found out early on in my research that Russia was one of the hardest and most expensive places to adopt from. So I would try to gear my affections for children in other countries.....but God had other plans. He constantly kept bringing me back to the little Russian faces. I finally gave in and accepted that our child was a "Ruski". 

Adam often rolled his eyes, or tried to change the subject whenever I would show him the face of a little one. I had to trust in the fact that I knew God had a plan for our family and his timing was perfect, so when the time was right, Adam's heart would be moved to act.....and sure enough, it happened. All it took was a picture...

Here is the original profile picture of our daughter. This pic was taken when she was only 2-3 months old, so it is a little out of date, but isn't she gorgeous!!! This is the pic that I fell in love with! (She is currently 19-20 months old.)

In December I came across an additional picture of our sweet girl and emailed it to the hubby...and that was all it took.

Because of the security of our little one and the adoption process, we won't be posting more pics, specific info or where in Russia she is living. But we will update you as soon as we know more about all the "stuff" that is going on in her country.

Please come along side us on this journey. We will need many prayers and support to make it to the end of this process, but we know all the struggles we encounter will be worth it! We have set up an adoption blog for friends and family to follow our journey. Here is the link. Once all this political stuff blows over (we hope) we will be able to continue our journey to bring a special little one home to be...Team Turley member #5!

Reagan

Tessa's First Haircut

Today was a sad day. Adam and I finally caved and allowed Tessa to get her first haircut. Both of us love her long locks, but we do not like the fight she puts up whenever we are trying to comb or wash it. She inherited my sensitive head and easily tangled hair....poor thing. So I know how she feels. Here are the before shots....

 Doesn't she look so old? I am dreading her first day of school...sniff sniff. (Stop growing up little girl!)

The place we went to was specifically geared towards kids with cool car seats and movies playing at each station. Tessa did awesome except when she had to hold still....which is literally impossible for my girl. 

The hairstylist cut the hair at the ponytail so that I would have a keepsake. I think she knew how rough this was for me. When the cut was made, I teared up a little :-(

So here is the finished product! Not sure why, but Tessa doesn't like to look straight into the camera. 

She is already bouncing around and having fun with her short haircut. I love the cuteness, but miss the long locks...But she is cute no matter what!

17 Month - Nate Update

On the 20th, Nate turned 17 months. We are so blessed to be the parents of this sweet little boy. He is starting to make huge headways in his development. He is finally holding his own with his big sister, and is becoming quite the chatterbox. He will attempt to say anything you ask him to. Gentry got him to say the name of  her cat the other day (Fee-bo). He wants to do EVERYTHING himself, just like his sissy which also causes him to get a few extra bruises here and there.

 On the 20th, we also had Nate's kidney check with his pediatric nephrologist. Up until this appointment, we have always had good news to share. Unfortunately, this appointment was our first that seemed to have more not so good news. Nate's kidney functions are going down. In September, his kidneys were functioning at 59% which is pretty much average for the last year or so. With this round of bloodwork, he has dropped to 53%. This is a pretty big drop for his age. We are beginning him on a medication that will naturally decrease his kidney functions, but we had not given him this medication at that time, so there is no medication to blame for the numbers. (We have started that medication since then, so we will probably see another decrease in the next round of numbers.) We will also be needing to add some calories to his diet. We have to be careful what to give him though, since his kidenys can not take certain foods. The nutrionist came in to speak with us and said to add things like cream cheese, olive oil, sour cream and peanut butter to his diet. Also we are hoping our insurance will cover a drink similar to Pediasure or Ensure, but for people with kidney disease. The drink is called Suplina and it cost about $3.00 per can, so we are hoping and praying that they can persuade the insurance to assist us with some of the cost. He is also starting Vitamin D, which will be a lifelong vitamin for him from here on out. With all these new numbers, the doctor now predicting a need for a kidney transplant a little sooner than originally estimated. He quoted by age 8; however, this is just a guess. Since September was his last "good" blood work, he says that next September he will be able to use a formula to calculate his numbers and to accurately predict that for sure.

We know this little guys is a fighter and we have a HUGE support system that loves him and would do anything for him. (I keep bugging the doctor to allow us to start testing our family for possible matches and he keeps looking at me strange. Gotta try, right?) Thank you for your continued prayers. We know he is in the Lord's hands along with so many people's hearts. Merry Christmas to you all!

Reagan