My Little Energizer Bunny...

If I had just had surgery, on my mouth on Tuesday, I honestly think I would still be in the hospital begging for morphine! It honestly hurts me to see the inside of her mouth; the stitches, the gum line pulled away from her teeth, the swelling...ouch!! But, not our little Anna. She is one fierce fighter. Anna doesn't let anything keep her down for long - I have called her my little energizer bunny!


We arrived at Jewish Hospital in Louisville at 6:00 am...yeah, that's 5:00 am my time! Anna was in a good mood and hadn't begged for any food, which is not typical of her normal routine. They took us back around 6:30 to do the pre-op questioning, weighing, temp, etc. One of the nurses was giving Anna stickers, crayons, coloring books to pass the time. The nurse picked out Dora and Piglet which Anna could have cared less about. Then I noticed a Spiderman roll of stickers. I showed Anna and she of course started her Spiderman chanting. She clung to her sticker until she fell asleep on my chest. The ENT physician and her plastic surgeon both came in to see us before they took her back around 7:20. She was asleep when the nurse took her from me. She raised her head and laid it back on the nurses shoulder. She never cried or fussed...thank you God! If she had started crying, it would have been bad on all of us.


The ENT came out around 7:50 to tell us he was done and the tubes went in fine. The palatoplasty was beginning and should last around 2 hours. At 8:40 her surgeon came out and told us he was finished. He said that Anna was awake and very upset, but they were giving her something to make her rest. I of course wanted to go to the Recovery Room then, but I knew I couldn't. Around 9:15, they told me I could come back. As I walked into the room, I could hear her. The patients in the "step-down" recovery area were all looking at me with this, "oh, that poor baby" look on their faces. As I rounded the corner to go into the recovery area, she was fighting a nurse trying to hold her. There were about 5 nurses in the area trying to move the bed out of the way, putting a reclining chair in the area for me and trying to console Anna. She had the same recovery nurse as last time, who knew me immediately as I entered the room. She told Anna, "here's momma, here's your momma."

Anna was bleeding some, but not as much as last time. Her face was pretty swollen and her lips were cracked at the corners. Her eyes were blank and she looked very confused. I tried to talk to her, but she was so mad at the arm restraints, the confusion and I am certain the pain. They gave her another dose of IV pain medication and it wasn't long until she was sleep on my chest. After about 45 minutes, they let Rodney come back to sit with us.

When he walked in, he started trying to talk to her. She in a pitiful little voice said, "button". Button is one of her favorite words. Rodney nodded and answered back, "button," as he pointed to the button on his shirt. He sat down and she then said, "necklace." My husband is not a terribly sentimental guy. But, when Carter was about 4 years old, made him a necklace. It is not pretty but Rodney wears it everyday without fail. It is just a black cord with six green beads and 1 yellow bead. It is one of the funny things about Rodney that makes me laugh at him but also makes me love him. It does not match his personality or his clothes for that matter. But he is faithful in wearing it. One day, he had forgotten to put it on after his shower. He came out of the bathroom and Jacob asked him where his necklace was. I think it means a lot to the boys, mainly Carter and Jacob that he wears it. Anna has since day 1 been fascinated with Rodney's necklace. When she said, "necklace" in the Recovery Room, he pulled it out from under his shirt, she raised her head and he put it on her. She then laid her head back on my chest and drifted off to sleep. She still has it on.

They clipped the tongue string, which was not a pleasant experience for anyone. During her very upset episode, she had managed to swallow the string. I had to flick the string that was at the back of her tongue where the nurse could get the scissors in to clip it. Then when she pulled the string, she had swallowed about a 10 inch string down her throat....the whole thing just wore her out. She quickly fell back asleep, hair soaked with sweat and "snubbing" during her sleep. You just want to cry for her because I am sure she just doesn't understand what has happened and why we are torturing her. Hopefully, she won't remember....she still loves me, so I guess she doesn't.

Anna's surgeon had a certain floor that he wanted Anna on, so we had to wait until someone was discharged on that floor and the room was cleaned. We were in recovery for 5 hours! It was a long time. The staff made us as comfortable as possible, but it just wasn't very private and there were other patients, who had just had surgery and I am sure feeling bad themselves wishing that the crying baby would stop. No one was rude to us at all, in fact they were all very sympathetic, but I am sure they wished their recovery period was a little more quiet.

After we got to the room, Anna and I laid in the bed and she rested pretty good beside of me as long as I was touching her. She would throw her hand up on my face or on my arm just to make sure I was still there. She wasn't interested in drinking anything and mainly wanted to sleep....so Anna slept the majority of the afternoon.

After being with Momma while groggy and grumpy, Anna is ready to play with Daddy when she is starting to feel "energized"! Notice the black cord necklace ;-)

Just 12 hours after surgery, Anna is willing to give us a sweet smile!

She rested really, really good during the night. Only waking up a few times. We kept the pain meds coming because I did not want to be playing "catch up" on pain management. If I had just had surgery, I wouldn't want to start hurting before I got my next dose. They were really good about bringing her what she needed, but not pestering. At times the night nurse would just walk to the end of the bed, ask me if everything was okay and leave. They didn't come in and check her BP every hour because she went nuts when they came rolling in the room with the BP & temp machine.

She woke up Wednesday morning in a really good mood and hungry. She ate a whole container of yogurt, half a container of chocolate pudding, drank some milk and a little bit of juice. We were discharged at 1:00 pm and headed home. We had to stop at the grocery to pick up some PediaSure and some foods that Anna could eat. We go back in one week for a post-op visit and to see if she will be ready for solid foods.

We just love this girl so much. How can you not just want to hug this sweet baby?

Last night, Anna ate some baby food (she likes it for some reason?!?!), pudding and drank some PediaSure. She slept all night and woke up this morning ready to go. She has ate 2 packets of grits...my little southern belle...PediaSure and now on a cup of milk. Anna is now running...let me repeat that, running around the house with a light saber! The swelling in her face is minimal now, her eyes aren't swollen at all now and her lips are looking pretty close to normal now. She isn't drooling very much at all and the bleeding is pretty non-existent.

This morning with a little PediaSure drool on Anna's dress & chocolate donuts on Parker's mouth, they were happy to be together again.

Anna has proven once again to be very strong. We are surprised how well she handles every obstacle that is thrown her way. She is determined and strong willed. And she does all this while being just down right gorgeous! We are so proud of our little girl and so thankful that her surgery was successful.

Happy to be home with a healthy little girl & sending love to Elli,
Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna

God Has Responded...Again!

I don't think that I can accurately put into words the total feeling of relief, joy, thankfulness, gratitude, appreciation, and utter excitement of today's events. I began my morning with emailing my Representative, the CCAI, my home study and placing agency, the immigration attorney, and calling my Senator's office to let them know that our asset verification package arrived at the USCIS office yesterday morning. I wanted to let them know so that they could begin again to ask for our case status since our "new" information was in their possession.

Around 2:00 in the afternoon, I got a call from one of my Senator's office. When I saw the number on the caller ID, I ran into the bathroom - my new office - it is the quietest room in this house. The case worker said, "Mrs. Gross?" "This is she," I say. "This is XXXXX at Senator McConnell's office. I emailed immigration regarding your status and I just got an email from the field officer saying that your case had been approved and notification was sent in the mail yesterday." Hands are beginning to shake, stomach is making its way up my throat and I say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa...who is this?" Yeah, I was sounding really professional with my "whoas". She repeated her name. I said, "are you saying that we got our approval?" She read me the email message and said, "if you don't have it in the next couple of days, call me and I will walk down there and get it myself." Have you ever had an emotional dam to break? Well I have and I had another one to break today. I began to cry, nearly sobbing. She congratulated me and I hung up the phone. Tears are rolling, I begin to scream and jumping up and down. I think I may have pulled a muscle in my thigh, but that's okay. Parker came running into the room asking, "why are you crying? Momma, what are you doing? Momma, why are you doing that?" He got excited too when I told him that we got good news about Elli.

As soon as I get through with my happy dance, I call Rodney. Of course he doesn't answer! So I leave a message and call my cousin. She was the first one that I got to "tell". She has been an awesome support for me. I know that they have prayed, brain stormed, and were willing to do whatever to help us get this done....Thank you! Next, I started calling mine and Rodney's family. Everyone was really excited because we have been praying for this mountain to be removed since June. It wasn't on my time table, God knows, but he has responded!

I don't ever want to deny giving God the glory for what he has and is doing in my life. He has given me a life far better than one I could have planned on my own. He has provided and made ways for my family that no one else could have done. He has moved on people's hearts to help us, to fight for us and to pray for us. I praise God for this work, but I want to thank all of you who have supported us and prayed that our approval would come soon. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So, if you are like the rest of my family...what's next? When the approval comes in the mail, I make a copy, have that copy notarized along with my other dossier documents, county certified and then they will go to Frankfort for the state level certification. I hope it comes tomorrow so that I can get this done tomorrow and in the mail to Frankfort by Saturday. Then Anna will have her surgery on Tuesday and I hope that it will be back to me by Thursday. Then it will be going to Washington, D.C. for Secretary of State certification and Chinese Embassy authentication. Following all the signatures, seals and stamps the documents will go to our placing agency where it will be translated and sent to China. When it arrives in China, we will wait for the LID (log in date). After the LID, somewhere around 80 days (sometimes more, sometimes less) we should receive a LOA/SC (letter of acceptance/seeking confirmation) asking us if we want to continue to proceed with the adoption. We check YES, sign and return to China. After the LOA/SC gets back to China they usually issue a TA (travel approval) in about 2 to 3 weeks. After the TA has been received, our placing agency will schedule our CA (consulate appointment) and that determines our travel dates and the day that WE WILL MEET ELLI!!!!

Can you see the light at the end of this insanely long and twisted tunnel? Because I think I see a flicker ahead! With averages, we could be traveling in mid-January. Yeah, go back and read my previous posts where I say that January looked near impossible...what's impossible? I am just loving today, what can I say?!?

So incredibly thrilled and sending the biggest hug ever to my sweet Elli,
Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna

Promise Kept...

This post is purely just random pictures. I promised you all pictures of my sweet girl and yesterday I got into trouble for not updating the blog recently - so Jill, this is for you ;-)

She may be a girl, but the influences of her brothers and father are evident. Seriously, I never thought Anna would be wearing a Remington cap, but I guess I never really thought she would be obsessed with super heroes & Star Wars either!?!

Halloween costumes are out at our house all year long. We buy costumes after Halloween (when they are cheap!) and they are played with 365 days a year.

Look at that sweet face.

I told them to do funny faces...Anna had to get up from the couch so she would be front & center. She is quite the attention hog!

Anna isn't the only silly around here. Parker is quite the nut. He is one of the funniest 4 year olds I have ever met...no partiality here either.

It is a 'birthday tradition' at my house. If it is your birthday, you get to drink out of the King Cup, as it was named by Carter when he was about 4 years old. Since then, they don't let us forget to pull out the King Cup on their special day. It can be the smallest, silliest things that make a kid feel special....hence the traditional King Cup!

Parker turned the big FOUR in June. Can you just feel the excitement of blowing out candles? Parker was being cheered on by his cousin Harris.

My lone niece, Caroline. Parker & Caroline are only 1 month apart & best buds. They will play Star Wars & superheros one minute then cook in the "kitchen" the next.

Do you sense the "First Day of School" excitement? It lasted...oh, about 1 day - max!

So we are in the rental now & no one has any privacy. We are having a lot of 'together' time. Some days it is good, like the one pictured above...others, well I usually don't pull out the camera for those ;-)

Last night after church, Anna climbed up in the rocker & just passed out.

Sending love & hugs to Elli,
Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna

Total Drama Island...

My oldest boys are loving this cartoon. It is an adaptation of the "reality" shows that have taken over television land. Just like the "real" reality shows, it is basically a competition between the characters and at the end of the show, one of the characters gets kicked off the island. Well, we aren't cartoon characters, cause if we were, I would 're-draw' a few details, but we seem to be living on Total Drama Island!

If you have been following Elli's blog, then you are well aware of our family dramas. If not, you can feel a lot better about your day by reading about our crazy life right now ;-) I am well aware of how blessed I am....I have four beautiful, healthy children and a great husband - money can't buy what I have, BUT, my plate does seem a little full right now with everything going on right now.

I promise I will post pictures of my sweet Anna soon. Since we have moved, I honestly don't even know where my camera is right now and I haven't downloaded any pictures since mid-July...I know, that's bad! But, Anna is doing great. She is just as beautiful as ever. Her hair is growing, getting thicker and is actually attempting to use more words now. They are still very hard to understand if you aren't around Anna constantly, but she is making progress and we are proud of her.

She is definitely a soon-to-be 3 year old! She can throw a "fit" with the best of them. She has a temper and knows how to use it. When she isn't getting her way, she does the rottenly sweet thing where she is crying, mouth opened, and she takes her hand to cover her opened mouth. It is just like she is saying, "I am so shocked and disappointed that this is all happening." It really is a pitiful site, unless you have seen it about 10 times in one day - then it doesn't really bother you at all.

Anna is scheduled for her next surgery on the 23rd. It is suppose to be the closure of her soft palate and placement of tubes in her ears. I am not really excited about the recovery period of the palate surgery, but I am excited to see the difference tubes may make in her language.

Please continue to keep Anna in your prayers as she is facing another surgery. She needs to be healthy prior to, during and afterwards. No colds, no allergies, no nothing! As well, please keep our adoption proceedings with Elli in your prayers. It has been a long hard road and it seems to be getting longer. May God give us wisdom to help us bring Elli home as quickly as possible. We are praying that he intervenes on our behalf and settle all of this mess very soon.

Sending hugs and love to Elli,

Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna

Happy 4th of July...

Fireworks, cookouts, lots of red, white & blue, the Fourth of July has always been a fun, hot holiday. When in the process of adopting Anna, one of the big things that I most looked forward to, other than the actual meeting of our daughter, was when we entered the United States and she became a citizen entitled to all the freedoms and rights we have in America.

Now, I know this nation isn't perfect...programs, policies, leaders, they are flawed, BUT, I can take my children outside, to the grocery, to church without the fear of being shot down by our military because I disagree with the above mentioned. Even with all the current issues, there is no where else I had rather live. At times, I do wonder about our future as a nation, I sometimes am concerned about what lies ahead, but I am thankful to be an American. Countless men and women served and died to form, protect and defend this country. Our freedoms that we so often throw around without thought did not come cheap.

So shoot some fireworks, eat a hot dog and wear the colors of "Old Glory" today...but remember take time to remember those who have fought and died so that you could do just that and give thanks for the freedoms that still exist in America.

Happy Independence Day,

Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna Mei

Anna Sees the Atlantic...

What a funny site we must have been...three boys, one man and one woman, walking onto the beach with all our attention directed at one little girl. Taking pictures and video while we oooohhhh and ahhhhh at every little bit of excitement Anna displayed.

She liked the water, but not in her face. She likes the sand, as long as you get it washed off quickly, but her favorite....chasing the birds! There were sea gulls walking on the beach and Anna would squeal and take off. I think she would have ran all the way down the beach after a couple of birds if I would have let her. They were flying low and she just knew she could get them....I don't know what she thought she was going to do with them, but she wanted to do something.

The little pools of water that catch when the tide goes out are great "kiddie pools" for the little ones. Anna stood for a long time trying to get her footing on the sand. She walked so stiff legged, it was funny. She finally gained some confidence and starting walking "normal".

Even though it wasn't their first trip to the ocean, I don't know that the boys could have been more excited. We had to pick up somethings this morning and it was pure torture for Carter & Jacob knowing that Grandma & Pa were at the beach and they were at TJ Maxx!!

Finally!!!

Before we got to the beach, we stopped off at Metcalf Bottoms around Townsend, TN in the Smokey Mountains to meet up with a couple of families from our adoption agency. The kids had tons of fun playing in a mountain stream. It was great to finally see people that I have read soooo much about! We had a great time with the families. They were all just beautiful children. Savannah, Jack, Will, Thomas, Leah & Alanna (forgive me if I misspelled names)....such sweet kids. All the kids played good together and Jack - you can baby sit my boys ANYTIME! Carter and Jacob thought Jack was soooo cool.

Anna trying to get "kisses" from Alanna

Anna had a ball jumping with Leah

Water, rocks, critters - perfection!

Can we arrange a marriage between Anna & Thomas? He stole my heart!

Perfectly content just standing in the water watching the boys

We have really ran full speed for the last 2 days. Got to Gatlinburg around 1:00 am on Saturday morning. Anna did not go to sleep until after 5:00 am. Therefore, I did not go to sleep until after 5:00 am. We got up early Saturday morning, went to the picnic and the kids played hard the entire time we were there. They slept a little yesterday in the car, but they were awake for the majority of the 7 hour drive yesterday. They stayed up late last night, Anna crawled all over me all night last night, busy, busy all day today and after we got back from the beach, went to the pool, got baths, they literally passed out! Hopefully Anna will sleep good tonight - Momma needs it!

Anna fell asleep on Grandma's lap

I don't know how or why he was in this position, but Parker fell asleep watching cartoons

Jacob falls out before dinner is finished

Yeah, I know one day Carter will not like me posting a picture with his mouth wide open...at least he isn't drooling!

Having a great family vacation, but wishing there was one more here...

Sending love and hugs to Elli,

Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna Mei

Supporting Elli's Class Through Search Engine...

This is new to me...maybe not to some of you, but I wanted to pass along. There is a fairly new search engine that is owned by Yahoo. When you use the search engine they will donate to a verified charity. If you shop through one of their sponsors, they will donate a percentage of the total purchase!!!

This is an awesome opportunity to support Elli's classroom at her orphanage. I have mentioned Half the Sky numerous times before and the work that they do in China orphanages - including Elli's. They are one of the charities that you can select your "donation" to be given to. As well, Love Without Boundaries is also one of the charities. LWB is the charity that got Elli's palate surgery done. In addition, there is Shaohannah's Hope which gave us a grant for Anna's adoption and we are in process of seeking a grant for Elli's adoption. Shaohannah's Hope not only give grants to adoptive families, but funds foster care and is currently building a 6-story home in China in Luoyang. As well, they educate churches, families, communities on adoption and the need for orphan care across the globe. Autism Speaks is another worthy cause. I have friends whose children have autism and this is a great non-profit that educates, informs and active in research. All are great organizations that could use the financial help. The main thing is - get involved!

So, my request...make Good Search your search engine/home page today! If you are going to be shopping online at one of the sponsor's sites, go through Good Search. There are hundred's of sites, Wal-Mart, iTunes, Target, Children's Place, Chadwicks, Staples, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, eBay, Sephora, JCPenney, Snapfish, Vera Bradley, Netflix, GameStop, Ballard Designs, BestBuy, Nike, elf, Fossil, Gap, GNC, ToysRUs....seriously must I go on?

Sending love and hugs to Elli,

Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna Mei