About our Journey

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Lee and Tami have been married for 22 years. We have two daughters the old fashion way, Savannah is our oldest daughter, she is 23. Alyx, our second daughter is 17. And we have five children via God's gift of adoption, Graci, who came home from China to join our family in 2007, is 7, and Dax, who came home from Guatemala in 2007 to join our family, is 6. Thad and Kamby joined our family in Dec. 2009 from Ethiopia. They are both 4 years old. Susi, our latest addition, came home from China(Aug. 2011) is 6 years old.Now we are on our way back to China to bring home our precious 3 year old son, JJ.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Just a Little Fun with our Kiddos

We took the kids to Prince and Princess night at Chik fila (above is picture one).
We rarely go anywhere without someone falling and knocking something over, we just don't usually have pictures of it. (The boys were fine by the way)
This is Graci's "picture" smile. We took the kids on walk for autism that ended at the zoo. Then we spent the morning at the zoo.
Dax is trying to see the tortoise at the zoo.

Alyx with the littles.
Posing (kind of) with the pumpkin.
Happy Kamby!
Oooooh, Kamby thinks the goat stinks.
Graci, Dax, Thad and Kamby in a cave- Kamby is singing the itsy bitsy spider.
Thad doing his babboon imitation.
We never wonder what is on Kamby's mind, her expressions tell all.
Graci is hot and very done with the zoo. Before this picture we went through monkey village and she said, "my biskies are hot and I need a fan for them".
It is so fun to tickle Thad.
Kamby is a daredevil, the higher Daddy throws her or holds her, the better.
Our little princess, Graci Jia.
Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Daddy and babies.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

College Life

Everybody helped move sissy into her dorm room.
Savannah's room is huge. It has a full stove, fridge, and sink. She is only sharing it with one room ate, Jen.
Having some fun with Sissy before we leave.
Savannah at her new desk.

It is all sinking into my brain. Yesterday we celebrated 20 years of marriage, 1 month ago we became parents of a college kid, and in one month I(Tami) turn 40. This is a lot to process, especially when I have two preschoolers and two toddlers running circles around me all day. I don't feel old but my life says I am. :)

We are so proud of Savannah and her quest to receive her degree. She started at Southwestern College a month ago. It is an intentionally Christian four year college that is about 45 minutes from our home. She lives on campus and comes home on weekends. She is doing so well adjusting to life "on her own". Tackling her two classes, Bible and Math, as well as taking care of all her physical and occupational therapies, doctor's appointments, and everything else that life involves. She is pursuing a double major in English-Secondary Education and Christian Ministries. We are ever so grateful to all the people that made this opportunity possible for her and most grateful to God for bringing her through, continuing to heal her, and give her a desire for education.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Thad's Speech

Thad working with his speech therapist.
Kamby is not happy that Thad is getting the attention.
That has been working on the "p" sound, it comes out more like an "f" though.
That mouth is always open, with the tongue out, especially when he is focusing.
Our home is like one big speech therapy session. We are always correcting, pronouncing, articulating, and repeating words in order for all the kids to speak clearly. While Dax and Graci attend the developmental preschool in order to receive speech services, Thad has a speech therapist that comes to our home. Kamby appears to be developmentally on target in regards to speech and just about everything else. We first noticed Thad seemed to have issues eating. He has a sensitive mouth and it was always open with his tongue hanging out. He is now 18 months and still has very little babbling, mimicking, or words. He is progressing though. He probably says a new word about every 3-4 weeks. He does a little bit of signing but not much. We have to be sympathetic to the little guy, even if he did talk, he would not get a word in due to his sisters. Between them(always talking over each other) and Dax (who you can only understand 50% of the time) it would be very hard for him to pick up proper speech. But we are getting there and are greatly encouraged because he did not need eating therapy. He now eats many textures and is chewing and swallowing well. I am very proud that one of his few words is "mama" with an "n" sound but nonetheless it blesses me to hear it.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Tea for Two




I don't get a chance to blog often, as you can tell. I am really sad about that. I have so much I would like to record and remember but I don't have the time. I thought I would just try small and blog when something simple and precious happens. Our babies are now 18 months and 15 months old. They walk/run everywhere, they are trying to talk, and they play together. This is new. Recently our days were filled with Kamby hitting Thad on the head with whatever toy she had in her hand or whatever makeshift weapon she could find. Then I would come to tend to Thad's tears and wailing and Kamby would take a break for hitting. It made for very long days. But a new season is emerging, I remember this season with Graci and Dax. Where they start to become best friends and play mates. Today as Thad and Kamby sat down to have tea with no grabbing, hitting, screaming, or pushing, I had to grab the camera and capture it.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

One Year Ago Today

Savannah 1 year after her car accident.
Savannah shortly after the accident.

At 8 pm it will be exactly one year from the night we received every parents nightmare phone call. Savannah had been in an auto accident and was taken to the hospital unconscious. I scrambled to get ready and my neighbor drove me to the hospital where later Lee and Alyx would join me. When I arrived Savannah was already in ICU and on her way to surgery. She was labeled as Jane Doe since no one had followed her to the hospital. In a quick minute it was explained that she had internal bleeding and surgery was needed to repair what was assumed to be a torn bowel. That alone was life threatening. The doctor did not know what he was facing and he told me so. I had minutes to see her and say goodbye before they rushed her to surgery. Lee and Alyx did not make it before she went to surgery. Prayer had already started like wildfire through text, face book, phone, and e-mail. At this point hundreds of people were praying. As I went in the cry room completely distraught and everything blurred, I was pretty sure that we would be told that she did not make it through surgery. It was only 45 minutes but seemed like hours as we waited. The surgeon appeared and said she is fine, it went great, she just had a small laceration on her liver and no other organ damage. Praise to God was all that we could do! Now she just had to wake up. At this point they saw no reason for her unconsciousness. She had no brain swelling and no sign of bleeding. So for the next 8 hours we shook her, yelled at her, talked to her and tried to wake her up. All in vain though because of course she did not. It was later that morning that an MRI was done and we would later learn the extent of her closed head brain injury.



One year later..............................

You can read all about Savannah's journey on her caring bridge site. (it is linked on the blog) But here we are one year later. Savannah has had an amazing recovery and surpassed all expected outcomes. God has changed her and grown her in every way from her feet to her brain and everything in between. Savannah is currently making plans to attend Southwestern College in the fall. It is a 4 year Christian College and is about 45min - 1 hr from our home. She would like to live on campus and probably major in child psychology. She has been released to go to work by her doctors but has not been able to return to Chipotle. Savannah has favored her right arm quite a bit and therefore experiences difficulty using it for coordinating tasks. She writes and types and does all fine motor skills with her left hand only. She has significant strength in her right arm and hand though. Of course, Savannah, walks just fine as opposed to what the docs originally thought. We were told that the nerves were severed to her right leg and she will never regain use of it. God did not have that planned so he healed her. She still is unable to run although she has done it in short spurts on the treadmill at therapy. But it does not look graceful and can be dangerous if she does not have a spotter. She can however jump and completely squat and get off the floor just using her legs. Everything regarding Savannah's pelvic injuries are completely healed. Anything she struggles with is a direct result of her brain injury. She has full memory and speech. Her speech has slowed significantly since before the accident. But she is very clear and able to speak whatever is on her mind. And believe me, she does! LOL! Savannah's metabolism has slowed immensely so people that have not seen her since before the accident are quite shocked at how calm she is. Savannah used to be a blur of activity and voice. Now she is very subdued with hardly any talking. This is very common after a brain injury. She has also been released to drive by the doctors but has not driven in a year. We have to get some legal matters taken care of before her license can be reinstated. So we continue to take things one day at a time. Savannah is slowly figuring out what life looks like for her now. God is good and has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams! We all are aware of this and continue to trust Him. Days are hard and life is hard but we all see the hand of God upon us and believe it is all for His purpose and we persevere!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Fun in the Snow

We headed up to Flagstaff this past weekend with Alyx's youth group to play in the snow. Everybody had a great time!
Chase,Katie,Alyx, and Sydney
Alyx -blahhhhh!

Alyx hitting down!

Alyx gliding .
Youth group .

Dax and Graci after sledding down the hill, Daddy following behind. Daddy had to come down every hill the hard way, running behind the littles.
Daddy got to sled down with Graci!
Dax went a few times down with Daddy and then took every run by himself with no fear! He never lost his disc either.
Graci took a few more times than Dax to gain confidence but after she did, there was no stopping her. She went every time by herself.
Thad really wants to get to our sodas.

Graci - snow angel!
Dax rolled the base for the snowman with his head -see below picture then after picture above.

The littles and babies chillin' in the snow.

No, they did not sled down the hills, they just hung out in the discs. Kamby and Thad!
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