surgeries

I wanted to write a quick update since I haven't posted in so incredibly long! Faith had her surgery to put in ear tubes and take out her adenoids today. She was in quite a lot of pain afterwards, but now, a few hours after being home, is asking to go to a friends' house to play. We'll have a follow-up on December 31st with a new hearing test to see if her hearing has improved.

Hannah will have her surgery to un-tether her spinal cord on January 15th. We'll be in the hospital a few days, then hopefully nothing else on that medical issue except check-ups every now and then. The neurosurgeon is quite hopeful that this will be all Hannah ever needs to have done with her spina bifida problem. A couple months after that she'll get one of the four gaps in her palate repaired and some possible work done on her nose. Michael likes to joke that Hannah's having her first nose job at 3! The other gaps will be taken care of at a later date. Two of them are in her gumline and will be repaired using a bone graft from her hip when she's an adolescent.

We're diving in head first to our next adoption from Ethiopia. We've spent some time getting physicals done on the entire family and have begun the huge packet of paperwork. It will probably be around a 12 - 18 month process, provided nothing changes in country. As we're quite familiar with now, many things change in international adoption, quite rapidly. We're so excited about a new baby boy! We've requested a boy less than 12 months old, so if everything goes smoothly we'll all have a new little bitty to hold and cuddle sometime in the not so distant future. Have I mentioned lately how much I love snuggles?!

Michael and I feel so unbelievably blessed! I can't imagine a better job than I have right now. It's incredibly rewarding to see your children grow and mature and learn about the world God created. We recently went on a little family vacation and had a blast hiking nature trails and Enchanted Rock and exploring Fredericksburg, the Museum of the Pacific War (perfect since we're studying the World Wars this year), a pioneer museum, and LBJ's living history museum. We got up close and personal with a VERY large pig, some sheep, cows, chickens, and turkeys. Plus, wonderful food and fun shopping with Faith to top it all off. Faith spent about an hour one day teaching Michael how to do cartwheels! Fantastic and relaxing time to unwind!

Love you all!