Virtual Twin Fun

Having virtual twins has ended up being too/two(!) much fun!

Moments like these captured below are my version of precious stones!  They are my treasures!

And, this time I was able to catch them on video!

Is there anything better than a child's laughter?

So thankful for it and the Daddy who brings it out!

In Him,

A New Smile

Joshua had a very big day today!  Although, I am confident he did not enjoy it.  Soon he will, though.

In the late spring/early summer of 2012 we had received some photos of Joshua eating chocolate.  As I devoured every pixel of those photos, I came to a sad conclusion.  He had noticeable dental decay.  Not an unusual thing for adoptees, but still not fun stuff.

So, we knew that he would need some dental work when he came home.

How much dental work brought tears to my eyes and nausea to my stomach the first night we brushed his teeth.  It was far worse than we had thought.  I could tell right off the bat the at least 4 of the molars had significant decay and the top front teeth did as well.  It broke my heart.

Once we got home we found out the extent of the damage and the very high cost of repair.  I spent weeks going from Pediatric Dentist to Pediatric Dentist trying to find someone who would work with us both on the cost of the surgery and one who would not require the thousands of dollars they were quoting us up front.  Thanks to our *wonderfully slow* dental insurance, this took some time.

The Lord graciously led us to the dental college connected to a hospital located an hours south of us...and today Joshua had all of his teeth taken care of under general anesthesia.

 God was so gracious to us and to Joshua.  Going in we knew he needed 14 teeth worked on (yes, 14...he only has few more than that in his whole mouth!).  The worst case scenario, which is what they really thought would become reality, was that they would have to extract 10 of those 14.  6 of them were front teeth.  The top four, if extracted, would require a fixed denture.  The extracted molars would need spacers.  The dentist brought me a sample of the denture he would eventually get to approve it prior to surgery.

Licking at a popsicle for the first time in months!  He can finally have some sweets again!

We were praying steadfastly that the Lord would spare as many teeth in Joshua's mouth as possible...especially all of the front teeth.

And do you know what our Awesome God did???

That's right...he spared all of the front teeth!  And not only that, but only 2 molars had to be extracted.  So of the 10 they thought they would have to extract...8 are still in his mouth tonight!  

And those front teeth are white and beautiful!

Joshua was such a trooper today.  He's done so well recovering.  He's been drinking and eating soft food, napping, and snuggling with his mama.  When the doctor called the second time tonight to check on him, she was amazed that he hadn't hit the 'cranky' phase yet.  Nope.  He was calm and content watching movies on my lap.

Zonked out!

Can you believe the only things he complained about were his new casts from Monday and that Lily was sitting too close to him?  

Praising God for a precious answer to prayer!

In Him,

Our Weekend with Aaron

 After Aaron's graduation we were able to spend the weekend catching up with him.

Unlike many graduates who had to fly out the next morning, Aaron will be staying put for months of training.  As a result, we had the whole weekend with him.

And we had a surprise for him!  Gotta love surprises (the good kind, anyway!)!

My parents were able to fly in to join us all!  

Not only would they be there to celebrate with Aaron, but they were able to meet Joshua in person for the first time instead of just on Skype!

His sisters and Joshua were so anxious to see him again, with Anna Grace confessing to my dad that she was so nervous to see Aaron and hoped she would know what to say to him!  The reunion was sweet and everyone was quite impressed with Aaron's uniform and hat.

We spent the weekend listening to Aaron's Boot Camp stories...

Eating....

Bowling ....

Shopping for electronics for Aaron  and taking him to see The Hobbit.


The time went by much too quickly, but was so memorable!

Very hard to leave him Sunday evening...heartbreaking really.  At least now I can text or talk to him daily!  And not one of them will have to be a reminder to make his bed!  The Navy does that for me now!

In Him,