Teresa's First Holy Communion

Teresa's First Holy Communion .A very special day . Thank you for keeping Teresa in your prayers and getting her to this day . It was very special for her .

Teresa's Fantastic Summer

Teresa is having a fantastic summer! She is feeling great . This is the longest period of time she has ever gone without a fever, cough , runny nose , virus ...nothing !
Summer started with Teresa's Wish trip to Disney . We were a little apprehensive about the plane ride and exposure to so many people at Disney , but she stayed perfectly healthy .
Summer Bible school was another great experience . This was Teresa's first exposure to a classroom setting with other children . She loved it ! She talked about all her new friends daily . Again no illness!
For three days we were able to go to Grandma's beach house . ( unfortunately Ed could not go with us because of work. One of the many joys of being self employed.)Teresa had never seen the Ocean before and this was an experience we did not want her to miss.
Seeing the beach and ocean for the first time , priceless... "Look at all of the snow!"

Thanks to Give Kids the World , Teresa was able to go to Hershey park and have fun eating endless chocolate. ( for one year after a Wish , the family is given free tickets to amusement parks around the country. Luckily Hershey is close to where we live ).
Thanks to a wonderful ballet teacher , Teresa and Gemma were allowed to become ballerinas once a week .( thank you Miss Lisa for giving the girls this opportunity !) Teresa loves showing off her dance steps to anyone who will stop and watch.

Thanks to a very caring Horse instructor , Grace was able to continue riding and competed in her first horse show in 7 years. She loves to ride !

Our summer days were also filled with fun times playing at the pool, enjoying the company of close friends and just hanging out at home . We met new friends on their adoption journey too.
Our nights were complete with snow balls and catching lightning bugs. Gemma loves her bugs, she has quite the collection in her bug cage.
Gemma also had a very healthy summer. She has been able to hold onto her blood long enough to allow her to go 4 weeks in between each transfusion .Her ferritin levels still remain dangerously high (normal is between 10-300 and hers is 4,000)but she is taking baby steps in the right direction .

Mama Mia is the movie of choice this summer for the girls . They all love it and know all of the songs.

Sunday Aug. 14 , will be a very special day for Teresa . She is making her First Holy Communion . As she likes to say , " I am going to marry Jesus."
The Catholic Church is making an exception for Teresa to receive this sacrament early . She has shown an understanding for the sacrament and a very strong love for Jesus.
All week she has been telling everyone that she is getting married. Most people just smile and say "that's nice", but the few that ask her who she will marry are a little surprised when she says "Oh, I am marrying Jesus" . She is so excited.

This summer has also brought us to a peaceful realization for Teresa's life. We are no longer searching for the BIG cure all. We are content to let God be God .

Min Min has HER Family !!!!

Exactly one year ago when we adopted Teresa we met her best friend, Min Min in The China Care Home . Now Min Min has HER very own family too !!!

She will be home in a few more days .
Last year Min was so excited for Teresa when she heard she would have three brothers . She kept holding her fingers up counting 3 and laughing . Now she will have 4 brothers of her own . We are so happy for this wonderful family and for Min Min .

Saying good bye last year was so sad because Min kept asking us to take her home too. She watched expressionless as we waved good bye . Now she will never be alone again.

Please keep her family in your prayers , Min has a complex heart condition also .

When I told Teresa Min Min was coming home to her own family she was so happy !

"Really ? Really ? She has a family like me?"
" I so happy for Min Min "
" Now she never be sad again "

The Gift You Are

A friend sent me an email the other day that made me stop and think . I am very grateful to Holly for sending this to me because it made me realize what I was doing . I was wrong. I was becoming very angry with God for letting Teresa suffer and not healing her. When life is wonderful and you have health , wealth and happiness , it is very easy to have faith . When you are surrounded with suffering and hard times your faith is really tested and it easy to question God , Why ?...

Here is a bit of what Holly sent me .

Elisabeth Elliott, Her husband and four other missionaries were massacred back in the fifties. Here is something she wrote about the death of those five men.


"There is always the urge to oversimplify, to weigh in at once with interpretations that cannot possibly cover all the data or stand up to close inspection. We know, for example, that time again in the history of the Christian church, the blood of martyrs has been its seed. So we are tempted to assume a simple equation here. Five men died. This will mean x-number of Waorani Christians.

Perhaps so. Perhaps not. Cause and effect are in God's hands. Is it not the part of faith simply to let them rest there? God is God. I dethrone Him in my heart if I demand that He act in ways that satisfy my idea of justice. It is the same spirit that taunted, "If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the Cross." There is unbelief, there is rebellion, in the attitude that says, "God has no right to do this to five men unless..."
...
I believe with all my heart that God's story has a happy ending....but not yet, not necessarily yet. It takes faith to hold on to that in the face of the great burden of experience, which seems to prove otherwise. What God means by happiness and goodness is a far higher thing than we can conceive.

I was dethroning God by not fully accepting His will for Teresa's life. He has given us a tremendous gift in her . When you live with someone who is dieing you are forced to look at life differently . Things that used to be important simply aren't any more. Everything has meaning. I know Gods story has a happy ending for Teresa but that probably will not be here on earth , it will be in Heaven.

One Year Anniversary

Last week we celebrated Teresa's one year Anniversary !!!!!
Oh what a year it has been . We have experienced wonderful highs, days filled with hope, laughter and sweet hugs and kisses , to extreme lows, days where all hope felt lost .
In one year Teresa's personality has blossomed. She has a sparkling personality with so much energy and love for life. She is the funniest little "Princess" , always playing pretend with Gemma. ( the two of them are inseparable. Each night as they say good night to each other you would think they were leaving each other forever . Hugs ,kisses , " I love you , no I love you more...").

When someone asks her if those are her sisters, she puts her hand on her hip and says "Oh , that is my family " She loves her family ! We are so blessed with her.

Her health ... she continues to hold on .Thank you to everyone for continuing to pray ! We definitely can feel the prayers . Teresa continues to amaze me how she misses all the viruses that come her way . Lucy has had quite a few and Teresa managed to stay virus free ! Definitely a miracle . Teresa is scheduled to return to CHOP in September for another heart cath.. We are praying for a miracle . We are really starting to notice the look of despair on the Doctors faces as we return each visit. The look of hope or optimism is slipping away .

Watching life through Teresa's eyes for the past year has been a gift that at times was very difficult to understand. I still struggle with why... but I pray GOD will open our eyes to the meaning of it all and bless us with Teresa for many more years.

Fishing Fun

Gemma LOVED the worms !















Fishing fun!!!

Lucy caught a FISH!!!
She was a little unsure of it at first ...and then VERY proud !!!
"It was GINORMOUS"

Teresa caught a fish too!
"It was this big "

Happy 4th. of July

Our community celebrates the 4th. of July in a very big way . The fun starts in the morning with games for the kids followed by an amazing parade and then fireworks in the evening. It has been like this for as long as I can remember. Only recently ( within the last few years) things started to change ... People started lining their chairs along the parade route a few days before . Now it is 2 weeks before the 4th. . They want to be guaranteed their prime viewing location for the parade. You would think they were giving away free stuff... well there is the coveted candy that is thrown from the floats. To our community the parade is a cherished tradition passed down from generation to generation . We wouldn't miss it . We love Catonsville !!!!

The girls wanted to do something to give back to Give Kids the World Village so they came up with the idea to sale cold drinks from their wagon during the parade and give all of the donations to the Village. We mailed the donation today to the Village, although it was small it was filled with a lot of love !