Operation Smile Complete!

First, let me start by saying Thank You for all of your prayers! We have been truly blessed by the outpouring of support from our friends, family, and even people we haven't met during this process!

Operation Smile started like any other day! We arrived at the hospital at 8:45 as requested and started the pre-op process. Sign in, change clothes...and start the wait!


We waited and we waited...

And we walked and we waited...

And she played....

And we waited some more! I was really worried about her because she hadn't had anything to eat since 6 the night before. But Lynleigh was a trooper and made it until surgery time without much fuss! At 2:30 it was finally her turn! Apparently, the child before her had some complications that took longer than expected. I took the opportunity to rock her for a nap and pray for the child who was in surgery during that time! She had a great nap...as did I...and then it was time to take her in!

As you know, Lynleigh is not fond of strangers! So, the nurse dressed me up...

and allowed me to escort her back. I stayed until she was nice and asleep and then off to get some lunch for all of us while we waited!

Surgery took about 2 and 1/2 hours and we finally got the call to meet her in recovery. I'm so thankful that Tony was with me because after seeing her with blood in her mouth, I almost fainted! Tony stepped up and took care of her while I lamely sat to the side with a wet rag and a cup of apple juice!

We got back to our room and all settled in and everyone left around 8:30. Thus began a long night of beeping machines and a very upset and confused baby girl!

Day two started off rough but slowly got better as the day went on. We were told we would leave that afternoon because she was doing really well. I went to pick up the boys and started to have a panic attack. Tony called about the same time to tell me we weren't leaving and that she had started bleeding! It wasn't bad and all I could think was thank you Jesus! I was not ready to go home yet.

The highlight of the day was a couple of yahoos coming to visit!

The nurse gave us a wagon and we went to explore!

We painted, played bingo, picked out a new toy, and some of us had cake! (Not Lynleigh, she is still on liquids!) And then our visitors went home.


Night two was so much better! She slept which meant that I slept! It was great! And then today, we got the good news! We were getting to go home and Lynleigh was more than happy to hop back into the wagon and wave bye bye to all in her path!

It was a long two days but we were taken care of by some wonderful nurses and staff! I couldn't have asked for a better experience with surgery number one! She will need more but we won't know how many until she starts to grow!


We had so many visitors (some who came with Coke Zero in hand!) and even one of the most amazing lunches and desserts ever (Thanks Aunt Judi)! Our friends Sarita, Christa, Amanda, and Josh spent many, many hours by our sides praying with us and just being a source of encouragement!

And then, we packed up and said good bye with a smile that will make your heart melt!

Operation smile phase one is now complete. Our sweet baby girl is safe at home and sleeping in her daddy's arms while I blog! All is well with the world!!!

Pre-Op Play Time

As I'm sitting here just two days away from Lynleigh's surgery...I've been thinking about how it all started five years ago when Kaden was born with a cleft lip! Only God knew then what we would be preparing for now! I had to go back to my blog and look at how much Kaden has changed since that day in August 2006. You can read his story here! Going into Kaden's surgery, we were extremely nervous...but today...I'm very calm! I know that God has prepared us for a moment such as this!

Last night at small group, one of my dear friends was praying for us and she thanked God for giving Lynleigh a cleft lip/palate so that she would be the one to join our family! Wow! What a great prespective!

Despite a fever this weekend, Lynleigh lived it up with the family!!!


We took her for her first trip to the Nests at Shelby Farms!

She may show major anxiety when I leave the room to go to the bath room...but put her on a slide...and she's invincible!

She LOVED it! And would you believe that we actually discovered she had a fever while we were there! She didn't miss a beat!

She was not happy when she had to share this swing with the other kids. I think we need one of these in the back yard!

And speaking of the backyard...I would love to have something like this in ours! The boys wore themselves out climbing the ropes! Brady fell asleep in the car on the way home and even finished off his nap at the house! That's big since we can't pay him to nap anymore!

You can tell she was starting to feel bad here! We did get some italian ice and it helped cool her off a bit!

By Sunday afternoon, she was back to her old self and helping the guys do laundry! It was amazing to see her transform from a sick baby girl to a giggly girl playing with her brothers!
I'm super sad that the surgery will keep her from trick or treating this year! Mom bought her the cutest fairy costume!

The boys spent Sunday afternoon in the cold at a Halloween party but since she wasn't feeling well, Lynleigh played dress up with them before they left!

The boys are both ninjas...I made them wait until the last possible minute to get dressed because we have to endure the wrath of the Red Ninja and the Dragon Ninja.

Monday was pretty rough for the most part but for some reason, when we step outside...she's a different kid!

I decided today was a great day for sidewalk chalk! Doesn't she have amazing hand writing for a 2 year old?

She really enjoyed drawing on the driveway! I like it too so I guess we have something in common!

And now...I will leave you with a Fairy Tale!

Once upon a time there was a pretty, pretty princess....

Opps! Sorry, I meant a very handsome prince! He was the silliest prince in the land and he was always making people laugh!

One day...the evil Statue of Liberty Prince

Decided that silliness was no longer allowed! So, he decided to steal the pretty, pretty princess!

Unfortunalty for the Statue of Liberty Prince, the Pretty, Pretty Princess was the toughest princess in all the land! She scribbled all over his crown with her sidewalk chalk!

And so the Pretty, Pretty Princess and the Handsome Prince lived happily ever after!!!!

She Sleeps...I Blog!

So, we are finally working out the sleep thing around here! It basically goes a little like this...play hard during the day...you get this


at night! This is actually from over the weekend when it was super warm! I didn't want to take a picture of her napping today out of fear of waking her up! And by fear...I mean FEAR! She's scary when she's tired!


We are finally finding our places in this new arraignment. Mine looks like this picture! I think I'm actually losing weight from all of the fast walking I have to do to keep her off of my leg! It's a great system!

We got a new camera...since someone broke ours in China. I'm not going to name any names but just say it was someone who was pretending like it was a purse!

It's a pretty cool point and shoot camera and I like that it has effects you can use! I'm all about some photo editing!


Lynleigh has lots of favorite past times...crying...sleeping...eating...sign language (by the way she has like 15 words!)...and this


She thinks she's hot stuff! She will beg Tony to take her on the bike! Which is fine because it gives Kaden a change to ride his bike out of the cove and LAWD knows he needs to release some energy! She just sits in the seat, buckled in and chills! I've heard that kids come home from China and just freak out about the car seat and being buckled down! Not this one! She loves her car seat as well as her bike trailer! We will probably take the kids to Shelby Farms this weekend for some biking fun!

And then there's this...her most favorite past time of all! This girl puts Brady and Adam to shame when it comes to eating. (Adam is our 26 year old friend that will eat you out of the house! He's like a pet!) We have to actually cut her off when she eats or she will eat until she throws up!

She and I had such a fun day yesterday just hanging out at the house! I am finally able to get some smiles out of her before I snap the picture! She usually just looks at you and then laughs when she sees the flash! Probably explains why we never saw her smile in the pictures we were given!

She's got such a little personality and she cracks me up! The boys and totally in love with her and of course Tony is head over hills!

Please keep Lynleigh in your prayers. She has her palate repair surgery next Wednesday, the 26th!

Back By Popular Demand!

I know, I know! I haven't been able to blog in a while! I'm so sorry! Things have been super crazy around here! We have been working hard trying to develop some sort of routine around here. We have been having trouble getting her to sleep a full night on top of Lynleigh having an ear infection has made things a little hard!

So, after a rough, sleepless week, we finally got a good night's sleep and decided to take the kids out for some fall pictures! I started in the yard with Lynleigh and got some really great pictures of her!


She has such a sweet look on her face! It' hard to get her smiling because she always laughs after you take the picture!

As always, she has her hands up wanting me to hold her!

She has many faces!! Most popular, eating!


Second most popular...crying!


She apparently had had enough, so I moved on to two subjects that are always ready for a photo shoot!


Sorry that I don't have much to say tonight. I know that you would much rather see pictures of our sweet girl and her adoring big brothers! We are adjusting well and I am praying that we will have it all together before I have to go back to work on November 7th!


So, for now, I will leave you with this...and bid you good night!!!

Homw Sweet Home!!!

After a long and grueling 15 hour flight from Hong Kong to Detroit, a one hour trip through customs with a crying toddler and another 2 hour flight to Memphis...we finally made it home!

I knew that there would be several people waiting to see us since we were getting home just after 4pm. But, I had no idea we would be coming home to this...


I was so exicted to see that the boys had made signs! I told them about when my brother came home from the hospital as a baby, my dad and I made signs for him. Well, Brady was determined to do the same thing and boy were these two cute!

We got in a little early, so we had to lolly gag for a few minutes before heading through the exit. As Tony video taped the crowd, the crowd video taped us!

Then came the hugs!

Sweet Brady just sobbed when I hugged him! I was so glad to get my hands on these two boys I just couldn't let go!

Lynleigh wasn't too sure about the whole thing but she did apparently recognize my mom from skype because she reached out to her immediately!

If you look closly, you'll see in her eyes that she isn't really sure about the whole thing!

A couple of more pictures and then we headed home! She did great in her carseat not really crying at all! We took her straight to her "girley" room (love the new bedding) and the boys wanted to show her all of her new toys!



After an ok night of sleep, we started our first full day at home!

A lot of friends came by to visit us and we did take some time to get outside and play a little! She really enjoyed the swing!!

And despite what it looks like in this picture...she really likes Kaden a lot!

She did so well on her first day playing with her brothers and letting all of her visitors hold her for at least a second. She's such a sweet little girl but we learned last night, that she does not want to share her toys! A friend brought her little girl over and Lynleigh liked looking at her but boy did she get mad when Amelia played with her toys!

We are adjusting to the time change pretty well. She's sleeping during the night but we are all taking long naps in the day. I'm sure the tiredness will wear off pretty soon! Thank you for all of the prayers and thinking of us! It's been so much fun talking to people who have been following our story! I hope one day that Lynleigh will know how loved she is and despite being orphaned as a baby, she is probably the most wanted and loved little girl in all of DeSoto County!!!!