I need help!/ UPDATE

Okay I think we found someone and I am sooooo excited!!!! I will let y'all know for sure once the appointment is set!

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We need to find a psychiatrist or psychologist in the DFW area of Texas that can administer a standardized test and write up a report (no longer than 3 pages) that includes a ton of information from our interview (I have all the details I just didn't want to post them on here). I have called more than twenty psychiatrist's and/or psychologist's in the past few days and NO ONE is able to do this. If you know of anyone that can do this please, please let me know ASAP.
Thank you so much!
Vanessa

What's Next?

Now that we have PASSED our home study we have a lot of paper work to do. The country we are adopting from is now requiring a psychologist evaluation to be included in the home study which our social worker found out about the day before our home study. We went ahead and did the home study knowing it couldn't be completed until we had our evaluations done. Our social worker is almost finished with the draft for our home study but she wont be able to finish our home study until we get our evaluations. I am trying to get that scheduled asap!

After our home study is complete then we will send that and our USCIS (immigration) paperwork to... well the place you send the USCIS paper :) That takes about 3 months to get back. I will be calling them often trying to get that part going as fast as we can. While we are waiting for that to be done we will be working on our Dossier. The Dossier is tons and tons of paperwork that will need to be filled out. Once that's done and we get our USCIS approval then our adoption agency sends our home study, dossier, and USCIS over to Eastern Europe and we wait for and invitation to travel to the country and meet ANTON! We will be there for about ten days that trip and that is when we will get to officially commit to his adoption (we are officially committed in America). Then we have to come back home for two or three months and wait for our final court date. When we go back the second time we will go for about two and a half weeks. We will go to court and officially adopt him then bring him home 10 days later. It is going to be so hard to go meet him on that first trip and spend time with him then come home without him but I know this is all part of the process. We love Anton and can't wait to bring him home no matter how long that take.

A few people were asking if we were covered as far as bandages go once we bring him home and I am so excited to say we are. There is an organization that will be providing us with everything we need until our insurance adds him to our policy. Praise God for this!

Anton is doing really well. He is gaining weight and he loves his baths which is amazing because it can be very painful for some people with EB. There is a new update on his Help Anton FB page if you want to read more about how he is doing. That is also where I get the pictures of Anton from.

We love this baby soooooo much and we can't wait to bring him home. The whole process could take anywhere from six months to a year but we are praying if it is the Lord's will that we can bring him home as soon as possible.

Don't forget to check out The Hope For Anton Blog to see what's up for bid or if you were wanting to make a donation with out biding on something you can click on his picture on the right side of this blog and donate directly through his Reece's Rainbow page but I will say the bidding is fun and you can get your Christmas shopping done early. Reece's Rainbow's server is having a hard time with all the traffic it's been getting lately so if the link is not working you can try back later.

Thank you guys so much for the support and donations we are so thankful for the work God is doing in our lives!

How cute is Anton with baby food on his face!?! He is getting so big!

What's Next?

Now that we have PASSED our home study we have a lot of paper work to do. The country we are adopting from is now requiring a psychologist evaluation to be included in the home study which our social worker found out about the day before our home study. We went ahead and did the home study knowing it couldn't be completed until we had our evaluations done. Our social worker is almost finished with the draft for our home study but she wont be able to finish our home study until we get our evaluations. I am trying to get that scheduled asap!

After our home study is complete then we will send that and our USCIS (immigration) paper work to... well the place you send the USCIS paper :) That takes about 3 months to get back. I will be calling them often trying to get that part going as fast as we can. While we are waiting for that to be done we will be working on our Dossier. The Dossier is tons and tons of paperwork that has to be notarized and

Katie and Ms. Ella

A few weeks ago Katie contacted me on Facebook and let me know that her and her daughter Ella were going to be in town and wanted to know if we wanted to spend a few hours with them. We of course said YES! Ella is three and a half and has RDEB just like Anton and it was so great to met her and she a glimpse of life with RDEB.

When Jason, Kenya and I walked in the door Ella was eating Mc Donalds and I can not tell you what joy it brought to my heart to see her eating french fries. While Ella finished up her lunch Katie, Jason, Kenya and I got a chance to talk and we asked her a ton of question.

Ella finished up her lunch and joined us in the living room. She is so cute and so smart. It was such a joy to be around her. I left our meeting more excited than ever to hopefully get to be Anton's family one day.

Ella calls her bandages her covers. This is her showing us how to wrap her stomach.

Katie brought out all of her "covers" and explained to us what each thing was.

Ella getting ready to wrap my arm.

Here she is putting "covers" on me.

Kenya's turn. Kenya still has this piece of transfer and she calls it her squishy. When we have friends over and we are talking about Anton she runs and gets it and shows them how she can wrap her arm.

We didn't end up getting any pictures of Jason but he was there just behind the camera :)

Ella is a beautiful, smart and super cute three year old and I'm so glad we got to meet her. My favorite thing that Ella's Mom told us about her is she was one of the very few kids in her class that was able to cut out her project by herself. I don't know why but I LOVED that! Here is the blog Katie posted about it!

Katie and Ella thank you so much for taking time to meet with us even though y'all weren't in town for very long. I LOVED getting to know y'all!

Vanessa

We PASSED!!!

We passed our home study!!!!!! I will write a long post about it later on but I just wanted to tell y'all the exciting news! We are off to celebrate!!!! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Vanessa

Our home study is today!

I just wanted to let everyone know that our home study is TODAY! Time is flying by. It amazes me that we found out about and fell in love with Baby A on February 8th and the Lord has already allowed us to commit being his forever family and tomorrow TOMORROW is our home study. God is so faithful and I can't wait to watch the rest of this story unfold. I most likely won't blog for the rest of the weekend ,well maybe I will do a 2 second post to let y'all know if we passed or failed the home study, but other than that I am going to spend time with my family and enjoy breathing (not sure if y'all knew this but it's hard to breathe when you have a home study in 6 hours ha).

Talk to you soon (well maybe not talk but type... oh I am full of jokes at 2am)

Vanessa

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippines 4:6-7

Lots to do...

Hi everyone I just wanted to stop in really quick and say I made it home safely and I am crazy busy :)

Jason and I just completed three and a half hours of adoption training online and we are about to go for one more hour. We have learned a lot and we look forward to learning more.

I had an AMAZING time with the Williams' Family and I miss them so much. I told Patrice they should more here but she keeps saying something about how they have beaches and mountains blah what are beaches and mountains compared to the joys of living close to us haha :) I'm kidding of course... well kind of.

I have a lot of paperwork to get together before our home study and I have a few more things to do to get our house ready so I might not blog very much over these next few days.

Our home study is officially scheduled for Saturday at 9am!!!!

I will try to keep y'all updated. I can not tell you guys thank you enough for all the prayers and support! God is so faithful and it has been so neat to watch everything coming together!

I leave you with a few amazing blogs to read. The first one was written by Kristy titled Little People Big Difference and it is about Kristy, Patrice and my children who are alive (including our sweet boy Anton) and the ones that are with Jesus it is so sweet and you will not regret reading it HERE.

The other one was written by Patrice and it is the full story of how she found Anton and how I later found him on my friend Kristy's FB page click HERE to read it.

The last thing I will leave you with is the link to the Hope for Anton blog there are some really neat fundraisers going on over there right now so hurry before you miss them :)

Answers about fundraising

Hi again! Today has been a really fun day! I spent the day taking step by step pictures of all things Jonah :) diaper changes, getting dressed and undressed, bath, dressing change, before bed routine. I am feeling more and more prepared to care of Anton's EB. I know a lot of it we will have to wait until he is home to see exactly what his skin can and can not handle but I think we have a GREAT starting point thanks to the William's Family!

A few people have asked me if we are still raising support for the adoption and the answer is YES! You can still donate directly on Anton's Reece's Rainbow page when you click on the link you will notice he has two profiles on Reece's Rainbow one has our family information beside it the other has his story beside it. One of them has more money than the other but I wanted y'all to know that all of the money from both of those places will go toward the costs associated with Anton's adoption. So don't worry if you gave and it is not on the new page it is still on the old one and we for sure be able to use it. Reece's Rainbow also made us a Pay Pal button for our blog and that will go directly to his account through Reece's Rainbow. I just haven't had a chance to put that up yet.

There is another really cool way to donate and that is on the Hope for Anton Blog. Patrice Williams (my friend I am staying with) found out about Anton through the EB community around the end of 2010. She has a HUGE heart for Anton and wasn't sure if God was calling their family to adopt him. They soon realized that God was not calling them to adopt Anton but she knew she wanted to help this sweet baby find a home. It was at that time Patrice decided to start doing fundraising for Anton's adoption it was around the same time that Recce's Rainbow added him to their page. Patrice wrote a VERY detailed blog about how she found Anton and how I then found him through a mutual friend Kristy. You can check out that post HERE! If you want to give towards Anton's adoption make sure you check out the Hope for Anton Blog and see if there anything on there you want to bid on or buy.

It is my desire to update this blog as often as possible because I truly want you guys to know where we are in this process. I know there are so many people that love Anton and are praying for him and I want you all to know we appreciate it so much!

Sweet little Anton I just wanted you to know that we love you very much and we are working as hard and as fast as we can to bring you home!

Vanessa

Dressing change

I have now helped with dressing changes for the last three days and I am learning more and more each time I help. I remember the first time Patrice unwrapped Jonah I was just amazed how beautiful his skin was. There was something about it that I just loved. I watched Patrice and her Mother in Law do the dressing changes for the first two days and I spent time taking notes.

Wednesday was my first day to help and I was so excited. I thought I would be nervous the whole time but I only got nervous after I took the dressing off his legs. I was so afraid of rubbing his skin off but Patrice reassured me that if I was gentle it would be okay.

This is me wrapping an arm.

Washing his leg.

Popping a blister.

This was by far the worst part because I knew it hurt him.

It is necessary though so it had to be done.

Putting transfer on his leg.

more transfer...

I know I still have a lot to learn so I am thankful to be here for a few more days. I miss my family though and can't wait to see them on Monday!

We might have shared too much

Hi everyone I just found out I might have been sharing too much information about the adoption. At this point I'm not exactly sure what we are and are not allowed to say. No worries we are still his family I just want to wait until tomorrow to find out what exactly we are and are not allowed to say.

Look how Baby  A sleeps! Could he be any cuter!?

Anton has found his forever family... AND IT'S US!!!!

I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family

Anton!

We love Anton so much and can't wait to bring him home. I'm not exactly sure the timeline of everything but as soon as I know I will post it. We are soooooo excited and look forward to the day we get to kiss our Anton's sweet cheeks!

http://reecesrainbow.org/sponsordelgado

Please make sure in sharing Anton's story you do not post what country he is from. You can say Eastern Europe but not the country.

Thanks

3/8/11 Staying with the William's Family

I didn't help with dressing changes today because Jonah's grandmother was still here so she helped and I took video. I am going to get to help tomorrow though and I am excited about that! Patrice's friend (she is now my friend too more about that later) Muffy is going to come over and take pictures of me doing dressing changes on Thursday.

Back to Muffy she is hosting a women's Bible study at her house and they are going through the book Radical. Patrice and I went last night and it was a great time of fellowship and challenging each other. All the ladies were so sweet and so nice. If you haven't read the book Radical you must order it right away. It is so convicting to see how much the world has influenced my walk with the Lord but such a neat time for repentance.

Here is a picture of the ladies at the study.

Patrice posted a blog about our last few days go check it out here.


We took Jonah to the doctor today for his two year check up today. He was really upset when we first got there just because he knew where he was. He was crying so hard at one point it made me cry. I was just so sad that he was sad. Patrice is such an AMAZING mother. She sang to Jonah and just loved on him until he calmed down. He snuggled with her for awhile then got down and played happily for the rest of the time we were there.

We went and got hot fudge sundays after we left the doctors office and I have to say eating hot fudge sundays before lunch is the only way to go :)

I had so much fun playing with Jonah today. He LOVES bubbles and playing outside! I had fun pushing him in his car.

Sorry I'm not posting many pictures I am using Matt's computer and I don't want to upload them all on here. Once I get home I will post more blogs with pictures.

Patrice and Matt have such a great routine. It is so neat to watch them work together everything they looks like it takes no effort at all but they are working hard most of the day. They work great together as a team and know exactly what to do to help each other and Jonah. I pray if we are able to adopt Baby A we will also be able to work together like this.

I'm headed off to bed but hopefully I will post all about helping with dressing changes tomorrow.

Vanessa

Me and my buddy Jonah

There is not a whole lot to report from today but I did want to share a picture I took yesterday of Jonah and I.

I have had so much fun hanging out with the William's family. I feel like I have known them for years.

Patrice has helped me every step of the way in this adoption and I am so thankful for her. She spent a lot of time today looking for people with RDEB in our area. She also helped me get super organized in my note taking so I can easily find whatever I need. I will post a picture of that tomorrow.

I am getting more and more confidant the more I am here. I took a lot of notes today but tomorrow I will be Patrice's help during dressing changes and I'm really excited about that.

Being here makes me more and more excited about the thought of adopting Baby A. I can't wait for the day we are able to "yell" from our blog HE'S OURS HE REALLY IS OUR SON" but until they let us officially commit to him I will keep praying that if it is the Lord's will everything would move quickly.

Talk to y'all soon,
Vanessa

Staying with the Williams family

Jason and I left our house at 4:30 yesterday morning to head to the airport. I had only gotten about 2 hours of sleep the night before because I was packing and getting everything ready to leave. I thought I would be tired but I was wide awake. Jason dropped my off and my journey officially started!

I got through security with no problems and didn't have a whole lot of down town before they started boarding the plane. The flight was great and I slept for a little while.

Then I landed in Atlanta and thought B comes after A and C comes after B so I decided to walk all the way to the end of the A terminals thinking B would come next then C.... Well I got to the end of my 37 terminal walk and realized it dead ended ha.

I had to walk all the way back and get on an elevator to the next level then ride a train to the correct terminal. It took an hour from the time I landed until I got to the right terminal. It's a good thing I had a 2 hour lay over.

The other hour went by fast talking to people in the waiting area about our sweet babies and the child we hope to adopt.

The next plane ride went by fast and then we landed and I realized it was really happening. I was really here and going to get to learn how to care for our baby if we got to adopt him. I was soooo excited. I had to make a quick stop to buy some gum before I went to meet Patrice because my breath was kicking it haha.

Patrice was there waiting for me and were so excited to see each other. We grabbed some lunch on the way back to their house and ate lunch with Matt once we got there. Jonah was asleep.

He started making nose on his baby monitor while we were eating and he sounded so much like Judah. I think I told them that 100 times :)

Matt went up to get him and as soon as I saw Jonah I fell in love. He is so cute and his voice is adorable! HE was shy at first but I think he just need time to warm up and wake up.

After awhile I got on the floor with him and we played and played. He is all boy and it cracks me up! He loves his trucks and loves playing with balls.


Jonah and Matt were wrestling on the floor and it made me so happy to watch him play. He is totally a normal 2 year old. He talks all the time and loves playing. Oh and he say my name so cute he says "Nessa."

Jonah wanted to watch his Mom make is food so I asked her if I could hold him and asked how how to pick him up. She said just like a normal 2 year old just more careful. I picked him up and I can't tell you how amazing that was. I don't know why but it was so neat to get to love on him and it made me long to hold Baby A but kinda satisfied that urge also?!?

I can not tell you how much I love this family. Patrice and I have talked about everything from our babies who had passed away to Bible studies to raising kids.

I got to watch diaper changes, feedings (Jonah has a G Tube), making food for the G Tube and draining blisters.

I am going to run and hang with Jonah and Patrice but I will post again soon. Here is a blog Patrice posted about my first day here.

Vanessa

Are you sure you want to do this, you know it's a life long commitment right?

I have had a few people ask me if I was sure we wanted to do this so I thought I would address that question. I had been thinking about this for a while but never got around to posting it. I saw my friend Kristy's blog post a few days ago and it was along these same lines. Her and her husband are becoming foster to adopt parents and have really had a lot of opposition as they have moved forward. If you think about it could you please pray for their family. Here is the blog she posted answering the question "Why would you do that?"

So now to answer the question "are we sure we want to do this???" The easy answer to that question is yes with out a doubt we are sure we want to do this. Now for the long answer. When I was about 8 weeks pregnant with Melody and Madison before we even knew we were having twins and before we knew they were conjoined I had a feeling that something was wrong with my baby. I remember telling Jason I really think something is wrong with our baby I think our baby has Down Syndrome. Jason and I talked a little bit about it but we just prayed and trusted the Lord for His will not ours. During the next few weeks I started having a HUGE heart for special needs kids.

A few weeks before we found out that we were having conjoined twins we went to a discernment conference put on by Justin Peters. I was so blessed by his ministry. Justin Peters was born with Cerebral Palsy and he has such a neat testimony. Justin travels the world preaching the truth of God's word and exposing the Word of Faith Movement. If you have never heard of his ministry please check out his website. Justin has a hard time walking and is often in a wheel chair but his parents loved him enough to teach him the truth of God's word and he has never let his Cerebral Palsy slow him down. I remember praying after the conference and I prayed something like this "Lord if you ever choose to give us a child with special needs I pray that we will teach our child the hard truths of God's word and I pray that you would use our child for your glory." It was just a few weeks later that we found out that we were having twins and that they were conjoined.

I found out that our twins were conjoined with I was 19 weeks pregnant and I delivered them at 32 weeks. We spent those 13 weeks going to the doctor all the time and learning as much as we could about them and things we could do to help them. Our girls had a zero chance of survival but we knew that God was the one forming them (Psalm 139) and He would decide when they were born and when they would die. We trusted God with our babies lives. We did everything in our power to help our daughters. I went into labor at 32 weeks and our daughters were born ALIVE! They lived for about an hour and we were so blessed to spend time after they were born.

I was saying all that so that you all would know I really feel like God has been preparing us to care for a child with special medical needs for over two years now.

When I read about the baby we want to adopt his medical condition didn't scare me at all. I had been following blogs of families whose children had EB on and off since I was pregnant with the twins. As soon as I found out about him I started doing everything I could to learn about EB and figure out how to care for him.

I know that caring for this baby is a life long commitment and Jason and I are more than willing to commit to caring for him for the rest of our lives. I don't feel any differently about him than I would if I was pregnant with him. If I was pregnant with him and I found out something was wrong with him abortion would not be and option I would do exactly what I did with the twins. I would go to doctors, talk to other families whose children had the same thing, I would contact insurance and make sure everything our child needed was covered and I would cover that sweet baby in prayer. Those are all the things I did for Melody and Madison and those are all the things I am doing for the baby we are wanting to adopt. This is not option for us we want to move forward as fast as we can to bring this sweet boy home.

The next big thing for us is the home study. I talked to our social worker today and I just love her! Our home study will be longer than normal because our social worker wants to extra time to document everything we are doing to prepare to care for Baby A. She said it would only take a week to finish and write the report which is AMAZING! Lord willing we will know by the end of this month if we passed the home study. I can not wait for the day we are able to "officially" commit to him! We of course are already committed in our hearts but if we are able to commit on paper that would be amazing! It is still early in the process and someone could get him before us but we are praying if it the Lord's will that He will allow us to keep moving forward.

Our big prayer right now is we will pass our home study and be able to officially commit to him. We will see what the Lord has in store for us.

Thanks for keeping up with us!
Vanessa