First Church Outing!

We had the privilege of taking Conner and Cooper to their first Ukrainian church service this morning!!!  We went to the church that our American/Kremenchuk missionary friends are affiliated with.  What a blessing it was to share the testimony of our sweet boys with the Ukrainian congregation.  Several people were in tears, and I pray God opens the eyes of His people, breaking all of our hearts for the things that break His.

 

 

Sitting in church.

 

The boys looked so cute in their little vests.  I can’t wait till we can put clothes on them every morning when they wake instead of leaving them in sleeper PJ’s all day.

 

Watch to see Conner stand up on his own. :-)

 

We got the boys back to the orphanage in time for lunch, then went back for our afternoon visit.  Conner was SOOOOO lethargic this afternoon.  We’re really concerned about him.  He’s just completely bone thin, and we’re realizing he doesn’t like ANYTHING in his mouth.  Not food, drink, sugar, spoons, cups, straws, toothbrush…NOTHING.  I really don’t think he’s eating anything.  I’ve seen him at meal times in his groupa, and he never wants to eat.  They try to force him to eat by shoving a gigantic serving spoon of food down his throat, but he lets it all just dribble back out, not swallowing anything.

 

We have been squirting tiny amounts of yummy, sugary liquids in his mouth to see what he does with it (trying to get ready for when we are on our own with taking care of these guys), but he just lets the liquid dribble out of his mouth.  He’s started crying when we put anything in his mouth…doesn’t matter what it is.  He cries real crocodile tears.  I just don’t know how in the world this teeny tiny boy is alive.  Well, of course I know…it’s God, all God, but seeing how this boy won’t swallow anything makes me realize how much more of a miracle it is that he’s alive.  Just praying the boys’ passports will be ready SOON so we can get these boys home before it’s too late for Conner!!!

 

On another note, one of my favorite friends shared how she signs a special song to her son daily.  (Hi Bonnie!)  I LOVED this idea, so we created two songs for Conner and Cooper.  I won’t video these because I can’t sing AT ALL, but I wanted to record the words here, as a record for the boys.  We chose to create “piggyback” songs (where you sing words to a familiar tune), and we chose to stick with simple words/simple message since the boys are just now being exposed to English.

 

Conner’s Song (sung to Frere Jacque)

 

Conner Christian

Conner Christian

We love you

We love you

You’re His chosen treasure

You’re His chosen treasure

Yes you are

Yes you are

 

 

Cooper’s Song (sung to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

 

Cooper, Cooper

You’re our guy

We love you and

Jesus does, too.

You are smart,

You are strong.

You are chosen and

You belong.

Cooper, Cooper

You’re our guy

We love you and

Jesus does, too.

 

 

See, these aren’t masterpieces, just simple truths sung to familiar tunes.  Cooper crawls into my lap over and over and places his head on my shoulder for me to sing his song to him.  So precious.

 

On the Texas home front, the report is that several of our kiddos are sick.  Selah stayed up all night, too.  Not good.  We started Selah on some sleep medication when we were in town last, after we learned that she most likely has a sleep disorder due to her brain malformations.  She used to take Keppra (an anticonvulsant she was put on as an infant because she had seizures), but we removed her from Keppra when she turned a year old because she had been seizure-free for 10 months (praise God).  Well, that’s when she really started having trouble sleeping, so we finally realized the Keppra was acting as a sleep medication for her (common side-effect).  We decided to try Clonidine to help Selah sleep, but, so far, it’s not working.  We haven’t built up to her maximum dosage yet (taking it slowly), but so far, we’re still fighting major sleep issues.  It’s really hard when I’m not home because I can’t help.  Being up in the night for hours on end is hard, but it’s even harder when tired teenage girls have to stay up all night with the baby.  Meribeth is sick, so Mattie stayed up all night with Selah, then woke Parker and Sawyer at 8AM to take over.  Please keep our Texas kiddos in your prayers!

 

Oh how I pray for a miracle to happen with the boys’ passports.  With Conner being so lethargic and so many sick kids at home, we really want to get back to Texas.  We pray God will be glorified through this, trusting in His sovereignty, believing that if He chooses to keep us in Kremenchuk longer than expected, He has a purpose in it.  Claiming His promises, encouraged by His Word, held in His hands, grateful for His faithfulness.