More June photos

Joy and uncle Nathan

Joy and her Heartbeat bear.

I think I may just wake up and stretch.

Adjusting to home

Joy is now at home and adjusting to life. She went to the doctor and got 4 referals to the pulmonologist, Down Syndrome clinic, Early Intervention specialists, and another ultrasound for her kidneys. She had her second PKU screening also.

We are home!

After a whirlwind day, we received our ICPC, had Joy discharged from the hospital, checked out of the Ronald McDonald house, had an apnea monitor ordered and delivered (complicated by multiple states and insurance plans), meet with the biological mother again, returned the rental car, and boarded an airplane for Houston. An exhausting day!

Our last day in the NICU!!


These are some of the nurses, the social worker, and one of the respiratory therapists at Glendale Memorial Hospital's NICU. They are wonderful people who love our little girl very much. We are truly in their debt!

When I learned we had our ICPC and could be released that very day, I did do a happy dance in the NICU - there were witnesses, I am ashamed to admit. :)

We flew with a 2 week old, brand new graduate of the NICU in a plane that was totally full - not a single empty seat. It was crowded and we are insane to expose her to all those germs, but we had to get home. Here is Joy at the airport.



Joy is now at home. She is the youngest of five sisters. She is a granddaughter of two sets of loving grandparents. She has many aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Today she was introduced to some of the many family members that love her so very much!
What a blessing!

Our plane flight left LAX at 12:30 AM on Tuesday morning and arrived in Houston at 5:51 AM.
This is Sammi and Lizzy greeting us at the front door bright and early Tuesday morning!


Meeting Grandma Ball, Uncle Nathan, Aunt Mandi, Aunt Cyndi, Uncle Jeremy, cousins Andrew and Jacob. She also meet Grandma and Grandpa Turpin who picked us up from the airport (thank you!) I think I was too tired to get pictures. She also meet Aunt Marissa and cousins Megan, Grace, and Aidan. Despite what it looks like, we are trying to "look, and not touch" - at least not much! :)

What do the big girls think of Miss Joy? Let's just put it this way, We have to divide every chore - you can wipe the baby, you can put the diaper rash ointment on the baby, you can fasten the left tab of the diaper, and you can fasten the right tab of the diaper. Every task of tending to a newborn must be divisble by four so that each girl can help Joy. I'm not kidding. There were tears because "she changed more diapers than I did" today. It probably won't last, but I am so glad that they all love their new baby sister.

Here we are getting ready to change a diaper :)

Thank you everyone. Thanks for your prayers. We know we aren't anyone super wonderful or amazing. We are just a family trying to do what the Lord has asked us to do. The Lord truly has provided the way. Jason told me that more than anything he has been taught that when the Lord asks us to do something, He provides the way.
We have seen it demonstrated in every aspect of this adoption. We appreciate your prayers so very much!!

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. (1 Nephi 3:7)

On to more pictures, better than my rambling any day...

Jessi and Joy - Jessi loves that both of their names start with "J"


Becca with Joy and monitor


A tired Sammi and Joy


Happy Lizzy being "helped" - poor Joy


Becca learning to feed her sister


Just staring.......................We love you Joy!!!!!!!!
A beautiful beginning for our family

Sunday

Joy is almost ready to leave her warm and cozy NICU. They have removed her feeding tube. She is allowed to eat when she wants - provided that she eats every 3 to 4 hours and takes the required amount. :) Her diaper rash is healed. Have I mentioned that Joy is on Soy Formula? It smells nasty, but it's nicer to her tummy and bottom than the regular stuff. We are looking to be released tomorrow.

Jason and I are now staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Pasadena, CA.
It is a wonderful place. Ronald McDonald House has entered into my top favorite charities. They do wonderful things for families.

Today's prayer request: Please pray for a SPEEDY ICPC!! We are ready to come home to Texas!

I have to acknowledge the many blessings and miracles we have seen and received with bringing sweet Joy into our family. Our Heavenly Father has been very kind to us. Thank you for your prayers on our behalf. Hopefully soon, we'll be home and be able to post a complete family picture! :)

Love to all!

Friday Update

When we arrived at the hospital today, Joy had a beautiful red bow in her hair. She is so cute!

She was doing so well, that the nurse and doctor decided to allow her to try to nipple ALL her feeds!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And guess who stepped right up to the challenge? She ate so well. We are so proud of her!
Next steps: continue to eat well, gain weight, pass a sleep test
And then she can go HOME!!!!!!!!!!

We are still waiting for Texas clearance for the ICPC. Since they don't work weekends, it'll be Monday before we hear anything back from them. We are hoping that the ICPC and the release from the hospital will all happen about the same time.

Yay Joy - you are beautiful!

Eating

Today they increased Joy's feeding schedule to bottle, bottle, tube instead of bottle, tube, bottle, tube. We are progressing and hoping that she will soon be discharged.

Here is todays Video:

Signed!

Today we all signed documents that give us the custody of Miss Abigial Lili Joy Turpin. This has been an emotional roller coaster of a week. Last Wednesday we received a call about a baby that had been born. Today we signed all the papers to make her ours till we can finalize. Six months are required before she is totally 100% adopted. We should finalize her adoption around Christmas time. Yeah! Then we can bless her and seal her to our family. I know what I'm getting for Christmas this year! :)

Miss Joy is beautiful today. Here are some pictures and videos:

Part 1


Part 2

Tuesday with Miss Lili Joy

Today I got to "Kangaroo Care" with Miss Lili Joy!
Kangaroo Care is skin to skin contact between mother and baby.
The baby can hear the mother's heartbeat and is warm and cozy under her shirt.
It's supposed to be like being in the womb.
It was heaven! :)

Miss Joy is up to 5 pounds, 13 ounces!
Please pray that she will learn to eat. She still likes to sleep and have the milk mysteriously appear in her tummy.
We can't bring her home till she can eat. So eat, baby, eat!

Love to you all!

That bumpy shape under my shirt is our babe!

Joy, Day 2

Joy is doing well. She gained a whole three grams over night. :)
We got to hold her for several hours today.
Jason was able to feed her the entire bottle (57 cc's for those interested) for her noon feeding! That was a first for her - she's never made it through the whole thing before.



If you need something to pray for: pray that Joy will be able to nipple all of her feeds.(translation to English - drink all of her milk from a bottle instead of having it put directly into her tummy through the tube) This is the only thing keeping that sweet girl in the hospital.

The hospital staff have been so kind. They are all so excited that she has a family!
We are thrilled it's us!!!

Now, onto the good stuff. 31 seconds of Joy awake!

Hello Joy!

We are in California!



We were able to go and see our little Joy this morning.

She was born June 1st, 2007 at 11:43pm.



Weight 5lb 3oz

Height 17 1/2 inches tall

Her full name will be:

Abagail Lili Joy Turpin

She is beautiful and very cute and I know that everyone wants to get on to the pictures and video!!!

The Mysterious workings of God

We have been attending the PRIDE classes for the Texas Foster/Adopt program.

At first this felt like the right thing to do and as we have been attending we have been feeling more and more uneasy about it.  We were just unsure as to what course of action we needed to take in order to find our baby.

As we just posted, our baby has found us! not through Foster/Adopt but through Robin Steele and the State of California.

On Wednesday morning I was at the dentist and arrived at home around lunchtime.  as I grabbed some lunch we received a phone call.  Robin was on the phone and told me about a baby born in California the past Friday. 

I knew then in my heart that this was indeed our Joy, and we had found her.  To my frustration Shelly was not at home and did not have a cell phone to call her.

I called our social worker and had all the Home Study sent to California, then confirmed that California had received the papers.  They showed the papers to the Birth Parents and they agreed that they wanted to select us as the adoptive parents.

We have gone from questioning what needs to be done and what steps are next to getting ready to pick up our Joy!

The workings of God are mysterious indeed.

Shouting and Jumping for Joy!

We found her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She was born on June 1st, 2007 in California.
Jason and I fly out to California tomorrow to see her.
We are hoping to be home sooner than later.
We are thrilled!

More later!!!!