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!!!!

Foster/Adopt

About a week ago we went to the Harris County CPS office to see the orientation meeting for the foster/adopt program. There is a great need for foster families and I do hope that we can provide some help in that capacity.

Our ultimate hope is that we can find our Joy in the foster/adopt program and finally be able to have our daughter.

First things first. We have to attend "PRIDE" classes to learn the foster/adopt system. This will be 6 or so 6 hour classes every Saturday. It will be worth it to find our baby.

Not This Time.

This month we have come the closest that we ever have to getting a baby.

On March 20th the baby we were waiting for was born.
She was born completely healthy and did not have Down Syndrome.

While this is fantastic for the baby it leaves us saddened that our time has not yet come to raise the little girl that our Heavenly Father has asked us to seek and make our own.

With much prayer and perseverance we will continue our search for Joy!

Closest we have ever been

We might have a baby before this month is out - wow! The situation I posted about in "Hope and Joy" is moving forward. If this little one does have Down syndrome (there are such things as false positives on prenatal screenings), she's ours! Wow! What an amazing gift! We have wanted this for so long, it almost doesn't seem possible that it could actually happen!

Yesterday I had to run get fingerprinted with the FBI. I now officially have a mug shot! (FYI - it's not very flattering! :) ) Jason goes on Friday for his fingerprinting and mug shot. On Friday our Social Worker has to come out and do an update. It's been six months since she was in our home. Is my house clean? No. Oh well. I still have 24 hours! :)

Here's hoping for Hope!

Hope and Joy

A few weeks ago I was visiting with a mom that has adopted several special needs children. She suggested that we get in contact with agencies in Texas and let them know about our desire to parent a baby with DS. That way if a situation presents itself, the agency will contact us directly. We sent out 50 letters to various agencies in our great state. And guess what, some agencies don't exist anymore, some are interested in us paying them and applying to adopt a "normal" child, and some are just foster care centers. There were a few that did what we wanted. They said that they would keep our information on file, just in case. But there was one that has contacted us back. They do have a potential placement. So we have emailed back and forth a couple of times and they have our home study. The birth mother is going to deliver toward the end of March. We'll see. I would love to be able to care for this baby - for her to be mine. We'll see. This waiting game is going to kill me!

Meanwhile, I have been thinking. What if this isn't Joy? Because I don't think this is Joy. Is that alright? Is there perhaps a grander plan here than just Joy? Might there be other little girls for our family? As our family has read the scriptures since we decided to adopt Joy, the word joy has popped out everywhere! We have discovered that hope is usually around joy, as is faith. The girls have teased us that we are going to adopt triplets: Faith, Hope, and Joy. We have had fun with it, but it was just fun. But now I am wondering. If this baby isn't Joy, could she be Hope? Time will tell. :)

Am I certifiably crazy yet? :)

Thy Will, My Will

Last night at 9PM, we received a call from Robin Steele (for those who don't know or can't remember, she is the adoption lady from DS Association of Cincinnati) . There is a little girl who needs a home. We will call to get more info and to apply to be her parents when they open today. In the mean time, I am praying (a lot!) that IF this is His will, and IF this is Joy, we will be able to bring her home. (Finally!) I honestly don't want to get my hopes too high in fear that they will be crushed again (Christmas was hard for me - Joy wasn't here!)

As I said my morning prayers this AM after reading Mosiah 5, I realized that HIS will has become MY will. If someone had told me a year ago that I would be desperate to find a little one with DS, I would have thought they were nuts. Parenting a child with a special need was not on my radar screen for the future. After receiving that prompting in April of 2006, we have tried so hard to get ready and to bring her home. Now, 9 months later, I plead with the Lord to allow us to bring her home and to love her. His will has become my will. I realized this so powerfully this morning in my prayers. I wondered if I have allowed His will to become my will in other aspects of my life. Do I fast and plead for family scripture study or prayer or family home evening or any other aspect of creating a celestial family. I want to be able to have my heart sealed as His. Am I doing everything I can to do this?

"Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in ^agood works, that Christ, the ^bLord God Omnipotent, may ^cseal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and power, and justice, and mercy of him who ^dcreated all things, in heaven and in earth, who is God above all. Amen." Mosiah 5:15

Lest ye think otherwise

Lest ye think that we have been sitting at home twiddling our thumbs and waiting for a baby, I thought I would post that yes, we do receive information on babies with Down syndrome that need homes. These are the babies that we have learned about thus far.

The first baby we were told about died before she could be adopted. The second baby wasn’t meant to be ours. The third baby turned out to be a scam. The fourth baby isn’t due until March and while we have had our profile presented to them, they are still weighing all of their options. The fifth baby we found out about last week. We spent all weekend learning about AV Canals and talking with people and a neonatologist. By Monday the baby had been born and the mother had chosen to parent. I am glad for her. She would have missed out on a lot. And so we continue to wait.

I am so grateful that my Father has been with me through this whole process because I know that we will bring home a baby who is meant to be ours one day.

I also wanted to post that several someones have been very kind to us. My sisters have sent me all of their baby girl clothes. This kid is going to be very well dressed! My Mom gave me a crib. Another kind soul (who shall remain nameless) sent us some money to put toward Joy's adoption. Thank you everyone for your support! We really appreciate your love!

The Blessings of Waiting

I have been pondering the blessings of waiting. Those around me know that I moan and groan about this waiting, but there have been many wonderful blessings as well.

One of the amazing blessings is seeing the hand of the Divine in my life. I think it's great that Heavenly Father knows who I am - me, Shelly Turpin. He knows me! He provides me with direction for my life. This simply amazes me. I love it!
He provides me peace. There have been so many times that I have gone to Him with questions and concerns and He has blessed me with peace. Those that know me well know that is what I long for the most. Peace. Complete and utter contentment. It is possible in this crazy world, but it can only come from Him. I am grateful to know it.

Another of the blessings is the effects on my children. I imagine that Joy will impact our lives in ways we cannot comprehend. I assume that in the future I will talk about her effects on all of us. Today Becca had to write a small paragraph on trials. She doesn't know I am sharing this (forgive me, Becca).

Well, to my Mom, it's a trial to adopt Joy, but we all are going through with it. We have to wait and be patient so that we can get her. We have to have faith that we will have enough money and that we can take care of a person with Down syndrome. But we do and that is the best we can do for now.

I love her faith! :)

I'm Ready!

In my back-to-school blessing, I was blessed that when we were ready, Joy would come.
I am ready!
This week I got my bassinet, car seat and stroller. My sisters have sent me beautiful baby clothes. We are prepared and waiting.

I am not the most patient person. I have been grateful to Heavenly Father. He continues to bless me with peace and contentment - then I get up from my scripture study and I want her here now! :)
My new favorite scripture is Romans 15:4.
"...that we through ^dpatience and comfort of the ^escriptures might have ^fhope."
My scripture and prayer times are the only things that are keeping me sane right now.