The Bartlinski Bunch

" Teresa "

" Teresa "

Teresa "Fang Fang " Bartlinski

Teresa was born on December 25, 2006 in China. She was born with a very complex heart condition. In July 2010, GOD added Teresa to our family through adoption. We have been blessed with 9 wonderful children. Gods grace has woven us together as a family. Upon bringing Teresa home from China we unfortunately learned she not only needed a heart transplant but also a lung transplant. Her doctors feel she would not survive this operation. Please help us to pray for a miracle for Teresa's heart and lungs to be healed. She is a very special little soul who has touched so many lives around the world ...
I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Emilia's surgery

Last week was such a busy week . We had 2 Birthdays (Eddy turned 26 and Grace turned 13 ), Grace had her first horse show of the year and the girls had lots of doctors appointments . Grace was so excited to compete in this horse show . She did fantastic competing in 6 events and coming in sixth, fifth, three fourth places and FIRST place in jumping ! One day she would like to compete on the US Olympic Equestrian Team . But after talking to her trainer about all of the requirements (mostly the HUGE financial commitment) I think it will just have to be a dream unless we somehow win the lottery . Anyhow she is having tons of fun riding and competing . This week we are gearing up for another busy week. Grace has another horse show and Emilia has her surgery on Tuesday . At her pre op visit today we were thrown a curve ball. I thought the surgery was going to be uncomplicated (in and out of the hospital in one week, fixator off in six months...) but since Emilia's anatomy is a bit complicated , she will have the surgery in two stages. Tomorrow she will have the distal radius and wrist positioned with the fixator . After 2 weeks of turning it nightly to reposition her wrist she will go back for the second stage , the lengthening . This will require another week in the hospital and another 2 weeks out of school . Emilia is amazing though , she never complains . She is just so happy that her arm will be able to function better . We call her the bionic kid. To think when we first brought her home from China we were told to amputate her legs. We knew in our hearts this was not the right choice for her. God lead us to an incredible Doctor right here in our home town . He is a miracle worker . He totally rebuilt both of her legs and arms. (after meeting him initially we knew we liked him because he had also graduated from the Citadel in SC. . The same college Eddy had recently graduated from ). Mayzie will come to the hospital on Wednesday to help Emilia as she transitions from the nerve block to the pain pump to oral meds. . Her presence alone really brings Emilia great joy and I know just having her near will alleviate a lot of her pain . ( the first 3 days are very painful ). Please join us as we pray for a speedy recovery without any complications or pin site infections . Someone said to me this past week , " I don't know how you do it . But don't worry , God doesn't give you more than you can handle ." ( I must have looked VERY tired at the time ) Actually , I don't believe that . We have had more than we can handle for two years now . The past two years God has challenged us and asked us to take on more than we can handle and at times it felt like it would surely break us . But now I can see that in being given more than we can handle , God has shown through , doing the impossible in our lives . Teresa's life has touched thousands of people all over the world. She has had to endure so much in just the first five years of her life. More than most of us will endure in a life time . The miracles in her life are countless... They are there to glorify God and without a doubt to show us that God is in control, of her life and ours as He gives us more than we can handle . He has used one small orphan child to change the lives of so many , mostly mine . I "Thank" God for giving us more than we can handle and wait patiently for the biggest Miracle of all . P.S. A BIG " Thank you " to Pattie from San Diego for sending the girls BEAUTIFUL quilts that she made by hand.!!! They love them ! Gemma and Teresa had fun playing in the box and Lucy loved looking for all the LUCYS in hers .

3 comments:

Aus said...

Good morning Ann and all - you're cool - all y'all are cool - and words other than that just fail me right now - unusual I know!..

And yeah - your kids have touched so many different folks - through you and your blog and by just plain living life in the way that Christ taught us...yeah.

Prayers for a quick recovery, no setbacks and as little pain as possible for today -

hugs - and Blessings on all you guys!

Jennifer P said...

"mostly mine" - changing and molding your heart: the most precious words here. Although the quilts and the ribbons are pretty awesome too.

The Jiu Jiu said...

One of my grade school teachers kept a small poster on the wall near his desk, just a few simple word: "A genius is someone who aims higher than he thinks he can reach and works to achieve his goal anyway."

You guys are those geniuses, in spades. It's not more than you can deal with -- I'm on the outside looking in, but what I see is a family that manages to always keep loving their children, providing for their children, and caring for their children, no matter how tough, challenging, maddening, frightening, or demanding that may be.

Hang in there, Bartlinskis. You're tired and scared and frazzled and concerned and overworked and worried but you ARE "making it" and I haven't the slightest doubt that you will be able to continue doing so.