Westward Bound

We are heading on the highway. It will surely be an adventure. Packing up our crew. Driving across the country. Oh yeah baby - We were born to be Wild.

We leave this Saturday morning to drive from Missouri to California. The kids, Gadese and I will be joining my man for the next month in LA to finish the last part of the film. SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can not wait to smell the ocean air. I'm praying it will melt all our germs away. But more importantly I can't wait to be a daily support to my husband and to feel his arms around me every night. I can't wait for our kids to experience their dad in action and to witness first hand the power of a dream. I can't wait to see some old friends back home in LA and to hopefully make new ones. I can't wait to see all my kiddos toes in the sand and to watch Diezel and Daizey's eyes when they see the ocean for the first time.

*If there is anyone on our route to California, we are taking the Kansas, Denver, Utah, Nevada route and if it works out time wise. Maybe we could meet up for a leg stretch, decompress drive break.

Imagine

Imagine loving two children so much you pray for them every night; only to dream of their tiny bodies wrapped around you. Imagine loving two children so much you travel half way around the world to hug them; only to have to leave them there alone. Imagine loving two children so much you prepare their room in faith; only to wonder if you'll ever see them in it. Imagine loving two children so much you work tirelessly raising money to bring them home; only to be told that might not happen. Now imagine doing this for over a year because You love them so much.

Please pray for Jody's family. They have been trying to bring their twins home for so long. This is such a hard week for them. She has such a beautiful family with such faith in the Lord. Won't you join me in prayer for them. Pray for strength, peace, and understanding. And please pray for their twins in Sierra Leone.

The Red Canvas Trailer 01

My hubby's movie. I'm so proud of him.

Power of Prayer

NuNu had a fever of 103.7-104.8 for 8 straight days. He had pneumonia with possible tick borne illness tularemia or ehrlichia. I sent out a prayer request at 10am. He was admitted at that time. He was lethargic, flaming red eyes, and high fever. One hour later his fever was gone. One hour after that he was sitting up. Each hour he grew stronger and stronger. During that time I had many of you praying for him. He is now home and doing great. Thank you so much for your prayers and good thoughts.

And oh yeah satan is getting his butt kicked.

Lukas is in the Hospital

Laura here--Stef just called and Lukas is being admitted into the hospital. He has had a high fever for a number of days now. He is lethargic and in a lot of pain. He can't even stay awake. They ran tests on him at the clinic this morning and his labs aren't looking good. At this point, they aren't sure what is causing this. They will continue to run tests on him in the hospital to determine what he has. Please pray for his healing. For clear wisdom and direction for the doctors. Peace and strength for Steff and the kids at home. I'll update if and when I hear from Steffany again.

Glory be to God

It's really late and I should be sleeping. But no, I'm catching up on blogs:) Quiet and alone times don't happen often. What a blessing that I am awake. God has shown me so much this past hour.
How many times do we pray for things. Like peace, spouse, kids, endurance etc.. It's funny I know many people that have prayed for God to provide a husband only to end up after they get their husband to start praying for God to change their husband. Or like me I pray for peace only to end up praying for forgiveness. Or for endurance only to find myself praying for rest. I don't know how many times I prayed for our children we hadn't met for God to protect, care for, love and show us them. How funny that lately I pray for peace, quiet, sleep and strength to love , protect and care for our children he gave us. As I was typing this Daizey woke up 3 times crying, Lukas is sick, Adam is gone, I haven't slept more than 5 hours in 48 hours, but I can't help wanting to sing praises to God. He has given me all I asked for and more. He created circumstances that leave me exhausted and tired so therefore He has built my endurance. Everyday huge stresses fly my way therefore I lean on Him for peace. I can't help but to give God the Glory. It became so real to me as I hold my precious daughter in my arms and type this. At first I was thinking, "Man, not again. Please go to sleep, I'm tired". Then I looked down at her and thought, "Thank you Lord". My prayers have been answered.

Drum Roll Please.......

We had a doctors appointment today. And....
Diezel was up to 19 pounds.
Daizey weighed in at an official 16 pounds.

And more good news.
Diezel's CT scan looked normal and his heart looked fantastic. Now if we can only find out why he keeps passing out.

And I'm feeling a lot better. The second round of meds have me feeling somewhat like my old self. I kind of feel like I've aged a lot this last 6 weeks:)

Poor NuNu had a 104.8 fever this weekend. Oh Man. It looks like he caught Coxsackie from Faith.
I have a question for those of you with large families; Is there ever a time when everyone in the same house feels good at once?

Journal Thoughts- on way to Africa

We are such a reserved people.
I want to scream from the top of my lungs, "I'm going to Africa!" Instead I walk around like I have a secret quietly rejoicing-smirking-my life will forever be changed.

We are always trying to protect "our space". Walking around void, guarded, closed, lonely. Sitting in the Dulles airport I met a wonderful Ethiopian woman. I loved being out of my ordinary, surrounded by Ethiopians. Some Muslim, some Christian, some traditionally dresses, but all ready to meet you with a smile. Open, warm. Extraordinary beauty.

A man and woman sit down with a girl around 6-very skinny, drooling, babbling. She lives in the states with her mom, dad and siblings. But they thought the best thing for her was to send her to Ethiopia where other family members could care for her. There she would have a nanny and family that would be available around the clock.*My heart and thoughts cannot begin to wrap around their choice* However my heart broke for her dad as he paced around after he handed her over to her Aunt who volunteered to take her to Ethiopia. It was apparent he was grief stricken.

Before I left I prayed, "Lord fill my heart with your love for people. Put people in my path you want me to be your light. So you are glorified"

After an hour into the flight the 6 year old girl got more and more uncontrollable and agitated. "mom dad I'm sorry." she would yell. " I want my mom" She was thrashing all over the floor. She was confused, scared. Her poor Aunt tried to calm her. The flight attendents tried to calm her. They sang Jesus loves me over and over to soothe her. I got up and went into the bathroom and cried. I cried. "Lord please help this girl".
When I walked out the little girl ran to me. She stroked my hair and for the remainder of the 17 hours flight I was her momma. She calmed down and melted into my arms. I was humbled, honored. Grateful.

On my way to Africa. I know I'm a dork.

Minnesota and the Sword of Adam

Is There Anything Else You Want to Tell Me?

I was amazed at how fast the Cipro started to work. By the 2nd day I was no longer in crazy pain. Then on day 3 I could barely make it out of bed. No pain just insanely heavy, tired, shivering all over and sounds weird I know but also eyes that felt like they were going to explode. I was so thankful Adam was home this weekend. It is not like me to not be able to function through the day. As I was lying in bed I would have to work incredibly hard just to move. On the 4th day I was a little better and actually joined the family for the majority of the day. Day 5 the doctor decided to extend my 5 day Cipro course to another 5 days. And now on day 6 I'm feeling a lot more normal. I actually sat down to eat. I had a nice big salad. About 10 minutes later my stomach started doing painful and audible things. Oh man. It was then that Gadese looks at me and says,"no salad. You can't eat salad with typhoid fever." What???????? Is there anything else you want to tell me? "

Photo Time.

I love this picture. It was the first time Diezel played with Lukas. Until this point the twins pretty much ignored Lukas. It was awesome watching the three toddlers and their big sis digging in the rocks.


Gadese had fun braiding McKayley and Faith's hair. It is so cool to watch McKayley with the twins. She is such an amazing big sister. She has a beautiful nurturing heart.

This was totally spontaneous. Daizey emptied the book shelf and climbed in. We all had a great laugh.


This completely warms my heart. The babies randomly walk up to Lukas and give him big hugs.

I had a wonderful appt. with Diezel's doctor today. He is scheduled for a cardiologist and a CT scan next week. This is good news. The first time when he knocked out unconscious was in Africa. He hit his head hard on a concrete and was out cold. He woke up a few minutes later and vomited. The first hospital stay here in America after 1 hour of admission he passed out on 3-4 different occasions in the course of 3 hours. And then on Tues night as I was rocking him he was struggling to breathe and passed out again. The question is are these all separate instances the first being a concussion, the second from a all the infections and dehydration and this last time from hyperventilating or is there an underlying issue? I hope to get answers soon.

After his appointment today I went to one for me. Starting about two weeks ago I've been feeling pretty lousy. I thought it might be Malaria. The doctor today is pretty sure I have Typhoid Fever, tissue parasites, Giardia and other things. I will find out more tomorrow. Basically I have reoccurring fevers, fatigue, chills, nausea, dizzy, starting last week intense joint pain that migrates every few days, headaches and oh yes that feeling of someone squeezing my bones with a vice grip. The good news it comes in waves. So I don't feel all that all the time. Except the joint stuff.

Kids are all tucked in. So, I'm off to bed.

Goodnight.