We are sooooo thankful

Thanksgiving was a wonderful day. We had a feast at Papa and Grandma Tina's house with Tina's family and then on to the Ramminger's for supper!

We thank God this holiday for...

family tradition

We have created a family tradition the last few times we have been to Wisconsin. Nick and Lori have us over to their place for breakfast each time we visit, it's always a good time and a good breakfast. This morning was no different, eggs, sausage, toast and 4 cousins together, what a treat!

This afternoon we shopped and cooked and got ready for our Thanksgiving feast.

no deer yet...

a hunting daddy will go

Today Peter and my dad left to head up north to go hunting, hoping they can seem to find some venison to bring home!!

Caleb, Elijah, Grandma Tina, and I got bundled up and went outside to play in the snow, Elijah's first real experience in the snow! We all had a blast!!!!!! We built a snowman, He even got a carrot nose, hat, scarf, the whole nine yards. Once he was complete we got out photo shoot and then Caleb wanted to kick him over! We undressed him and he became slush! It was very wet outside and there was barely enough snow for the snowman we made. Then Grandma and Tina had Caleb's first ever snowball fight. As we had been talking about fall and winter, Caleb was excited for snow but most excited to have a snowball fight! grandma and caleb had a great time WE VIDEOtaped the whole thing> (sorry not so sure what i did to the keyboard?)

off we go!!

We have had the opportunity to take a vacation this next week, we are so very excited about it!! Yesterday we left home and drove to South Bend Indiana, about 80 miles east of Chicago, to see some of our best friends who used to live in Cincy. They have twin boys, Caleb's age and a little girl who is 5 months. We had a sleep over and spent today with them! What a wonderful time to catch up and visit and hold their beautiful baby girl. Tonight we arrived in Wisconsin to visit family and of course, Peter will be hunting with my dad.

Friday I babysat Allie, Saturday and Sunday we had canidates in for the middle school position, they had a 4 month old baby girl, who I got to hold all weekend, and then today baby Anna. Now tomorrow we will meet our newest cousin, Makayla, my step brother Nick's baby girl who is 4 weeks old! We have been around soooo many babies lately, all girls. It has been therapeutic for me, but it also reminds me how ready I am to be a mommy again. I can't wait for Micaiah to be home.

"mommy there was a lion in the fridge and I had to let him out"

yep!!!! a lion in the fridge!

When Peter was a little boy, he and his twin Amy were left to play while his mom took a shower. At the time they had "naughty chairs". When Rita got out of the shower, Peter and Amy were sitting in their "naughty chairs", a place they only went to when mom made them. When Rita asked them why they were in the "naughty chairs" Peter said, "mommy there was a lion in the fridge and I had to let him out". Rita went to couch and found eggs smashed all over!
(I guess when the lions got out they must have laid the eggs and smashed them, those naughty lions)

Well, I came upstairs this afternoon to find Caleb had opened the fridge for Elijah and Elijah had removed 3 eggs and smashed them. Luckily on the kitchen floor. It reminded me of the story of Peter's childhood!

yet another blog from the Suttons :o)

Caleb, Elijah, and mommy got a taste of life with a little one today. We watched of friend Henry and his little sister Allie today. Allie is 4 weeks older than Micaiah. The boys and I had a wonderful time! They both did great, Caleb held her for over a 1/2 an hour, and only stopped because she was getting fussy, not him! He wanted to be with her all day, he throughly enjoyed her! Elijah did awesome seeing mommy hold another baby, especially since when he woke up from his nap, she was here! He loved on her too and said, "baby" very clearly. For his first time seeing mommy with someone other than him, he did amazing, I am so proud of him. He also wanted to hold her, and sit in her swing!! :o) He won't let me forget he is my baby! A few days ago I was holding a baby and Elijah came up to me and said, baby. He proceeded to lay on his back on the floor in front of me with his head by my legs, saying baby. I said are you my baby, he gave is famous fast answer, YEAH!

Here are a few more updates on Micaiah's case as of Tuesday.

The file has been submitted at the US Embassy, and the DNA test has been authorized

I also found this website detailing the process we are going through, if your interested.

http://www.guatadopt.com/adoptionprocess.html

attempting to get back to life

Caleb is doing very well, wrestling with daddy and watching football at the moment! He is feeling great and now just has to get over the "king of the world" syndrome he developed in the hospital. He got very used to being helped doing everything, the pain made it difficult for him to even get up and down on his own. He also got used to not sharing toys and complaining of pain. We are now having to remind him that things don't hurt anymore. He tends to think he can't open his mouth big enough to get bites of veggies in but then when the cookies come around he says, "look mommy, my mouth is all better, I can open it this big" what a character. We are glad to have him home and healthy again. Just 8 more days of antibiotics every 8 hours and then we should be done with this ordeal!

okay, where were we before all the adventures of this week happened? oh yeah, we are adopting a little girl from Guatemala :o) jk so here are the updates we promised...

Here are a few details from Aimee (our caseworker) visit with Juliet (foster mother) and Micaiah:
*She is a ton of black hair.
*The foster mother is very sweet. She had 3 sons and 2 daughters ages 15, 13, 12, 8 and 6. She proudly showed me a framed picture of her family.
*Micaiah wakes 3 times/night for her bottle.
*She loves to be held and hugged a lot. The foster mother said that her children enjoy cuddling the baby.
*She is beginning to coo and make baby sounds.
*She has been switched to soy formula due to upset tummy.

Zulma (our attorney) has attempted each day this week to file the case at the embassy and retrieve DNA authorization. The lines are very long at the embassy right now, and the embassy is limiting the number of attorneys seen. When the embassy gets busy like this the attorneys will often spend a significant amount of their day attempting to file cases at the embassy and often times hire someone to go stand in line for them beginning in the middle of the night. Zulma will continue to go to the embassy until she has the case filed.

and here is another update concerning our case:

11/10
Your case has entered family court. Upon entering family court the file is randomly assigned to one of the courts. A social worker will interview the birth mother and foster mother, observe the baby and read over your home study. She will then write her report and submit it to the family court judge for his signature. The length of time spent in family court wholly depends on how quickly the social worker completes her interviews, writes the report, submits it to the judge, and the judge signs off.

Zulma is still attempting to file at the embassy and get DNA authorization. The embassy is closed tomorrow for Veteran's Day so Zulma will be back at the embassy bright and early Monday morning.

Caleb, part V

FRIDAY
Things continue to look up, Caleb finally slept good last night, his reddness continues to go away and he had not needed any pain medication. He is playing with lots of new toys. We have enjoyed our time together sooooooo much. We got to go to the playroom two times today, what a treat! Caleb and I also made thank you cards, painted a wooden car (Caleb has decided to give it to Elijah for Christmas), and even worked on some other Christmas presents. During our play time Caleb pointed to the legos and said, "THIS IS THE BLOOD PRESSURE". I guess he's learned a few things in here too!

I feel so blessed for this opportunity. Sounds silly, I imagine. Caleb and I have enjoyed our time together, everyone has been so wonderful to us here. So many of our friends have offered to help us in any way they can and family calls the hospital constantly to tell Caleb they love him. Grandma Tina even managed to call when I went to go get my lunch. When I came back he said, I talked to Grandma Tina, she called, I picked up the phone and she told me to get better and I did! What a laugh I got out of that. I can only assume it is true, although I have not verified it yet!

Caleb is an amazing little boy and God is certainly in the process of healing him to full recovery.

Caleb, part IV

THURSDAY

Caleb's spirits seem to be lifted, he seems to be feeling a bit better (he always feels better when daddy's around). But, his reddness is continue to spread to his body. This moring he was diagnosed with Scalding Skin Syndrome (SSS) which from what I understand is a form of staph infection. Now they are trying to determine which antibiotics will help in infection.

Caleb was soooooo excited to see Elijah, as Elijah was to see him. Caleb showed him all around the room, shared his breakfast and all his toys! He wanted to jump back in and play mommy to Elijah, he loves to do that!

The "toy lady" came to our room today, we requested some toys. They brought legos, crayons, cars, candyland, bob the builder memory, paints. This had made our stay much more enjoyable. Caleb is in isolation so we are not able to go to the "play room" and play with the other children, however we did schedule some time in a private room. This time was very therapeutic for both Caleb and I. The antibiotics are starting to make the reddness go away and the tylenol is working. Caleb was so excited to go play, we had a great time. He played drums, painted on an easel, played with matchbox cars, and spent most of his time doing arts and crafts, he loves glitter glue!!!!

When we got back from our private play time there were more toys to play with in his room.

Other than the visits from the doctors and nurses, this hospital stay is turning into a private vacation for Caleb. I didn't know he needed a vacation :o). So many people have offered to help us out, and so many have been praying! God is healing Caleb!!!!

Caleb, part III

WEDNESDAY
Caleb woke this morning, his eyes extremely swollen and stuck shut with goop (sophisticated medical term). His reddness is spreading and he is still in lots of pain. We called the doctor, they said to come in immediately. When we arrived they said they thought he might have cowasaki or a staph infection but sent us to the ER at Children's Hospital to find out. After 7 hours in ER, the hospital was very crowded, Caleb was admitted into the hospital.

In the ER they took a strep culture, it has blood on it. They gave him an IV, it took three tries to get all the blood they wanted. They did an EKG, his heart was beating irregularly. And, of course, we waited. They brought us crayons, pictures, cars, and a specialist came in to explain things to Caleb. She told him about the railroad tracks (veins) and the straw (IV) that would help to get medicine into his body. It was tough, but Caleb did great and made it through.

Once admitted into the hospital a whole team of doctors came in and took down our story and started trying to determine what was going on with Caleb. At that point they had ruled out cowasaki and strep, and were thinking a staph infection. After a long day, 8:00 dinner, and 9:40 bedtime, Daddy came and spent the night with Caleb.

here she is...

This is foster mom, we don't know her name or anything about her except what we have already posted, more details to come....
Isn't she beautiful, look at all that pink, even in her hair. We noticed the curl on the right side of the pic.
More girly pink. Ohhhhhh I can't wait. Look at those hands, she is going to be ready for her big brothers!!!























And as you have noticed, the blog will only accept her picture nothing else!! Not sure why that is, but glad we are able to share her with you! thanks God!

I will add more details to this post tomorrow when I get them from our caseworker. She just got in from Guat late tonight and took the time to get our pics to us. Maybe I can post more?... wow so here you go more pics. enjoy them.

Caleb, part II

TUESDAY
Caleb had a very difficult time sleeping last night. He complained the reddness is bothering him. He was up at least a dozen times crying because of the pain, he seems to have more sores around his eyes and his lips are severly chapped, with sores around his mouth too. When we started to get ready for the day, I removed his sweatshirt, being careful to get it over his face because his face looked very painful, blotchy, scabs, and a bit swollen. When I pulled off his sweatshirt, large spots of skin came off on either side of the back of his neck. We took him to the doctor this morning, they think he has a staph infection. They gave him two shots of antibiotics and said to call if he gets worse, otherwise just come in tomorrow for a check. He was very crabby today, feeling miserable and crying a lot because of the pain.

Caleb, part I

Today Caleb is feeling a little under the weather, he also has some redness in his creases, but is not complaining of pain. He has had a few scabs we noticed a few days ago that seemed to form overnight above his eye, not sure what they are from?

more updates on Micaiah's case

... the interview in family court is scheduled for this coming Monday. If the expected document arrives in time, they will also file with the embassy that day.

yeah!! pray hard!!!


I also asked our caseworker about the switch to formula, her response...

I believe she was switched to soy because the pediatrician and foster mother felt the regular formula was not agreeing with her tummy, she was showing signs of fussiness. I asked if she had shown any improvement, but she was just switched 3 days ago.She is absolutely adorable. I could have cuddled her for hours! My daughter enjoyed holding her as well.

update on Micaiah

Our caseworker is in Guatemala and saw Micaiah today. This is her email to us.

She is "absolutely precious", "adorable", "fat and sassy" and "very healthy".! Her updated measurements are:As of 10/218 lb. 6 oz.49.4 cm longI'll have to get confirmation on her head circum. but it looks like 37 cm in my notes. She has tons of black hair and came dressed in pink with a pink bow in her hair. Her foster mother is very sweet and brought one of her daughters. She proudly showed me a picture of her family. She has 3 sons and 2 daughters aged 6, 8, 12, 13 and 15. The foster mother told me that Micaiah awakens 3X a night for her bottle. She has been switched to soy formula this week. She is beginning to make cooing sounds. The foster mother told me that she needs to be held and hugged alot and that all of her children love cuddling her. From the foster mother's sweet demeanor and her daughter's behavior I can assure you that this baby is getting lots of love and attention.

We also received the following email regarding the status of the adoption process.

Regarding the case itself, regrettably we are still in a holding posture because of the one document that had to be obtained in order to file with the embassy and with family court. I believe Aimee has already explained this to you, but while in most of our cases we are able to file with the embassy and in family court within the first couple of weeks after a family accepts a referral, occasionally a situation like this will arise. Our attorneys are aggressive, yet cautious and thorough, so while the delay is unavoidable, holding the case for the necessary document will prevent future delays for this reason. In your case the recent devastation by Hurricane Stan was a factor in terms of travel within Guatemala, so I am afraid it caused the document retrieval to take longer. I am told that the document will probably reach the attorney's office in Guatemala by next week, and they are poised to do the filings as soon as it arrives.

We should receive photos and new measurements within the next few days and the video a week or so thereafter, we'll continue to post, hopefully pictures will post too.

I have come to realize that God's perfect timing is what we are waiting for. Micaiah's arrival seems to be an eternity away, but I know that Elijah needs as much of our time as we have until Micaiah comes. So, we are just trusting that she will come at just the right time, specifically when Elijah is a little more ready for his little sister. This thought has given me peace as we are anxious for Micaiah to be home with us.

falling leaves

What a beatiful fall day, 70 degrees! Today we played in the leaves. Ethan and Owen (2 boys that are each 5 months younger than our boys and live down the street) were over today and we finally have enough leaves gathered to play! The boys played like it was snow they had never seen before. I took lots of pictures (still trying to post pictures on here :o( We even used the bulldozer to pick up leaves. Well not really pick them up, Elijah ran the bulldozer, Caleb filled up the bucket with leaves and Elijah dumped them. The boys all had a great time.

Elijah learned to go down the slide the right way, he had been climbing up and going down on his belly, feet first, now he is sitting up and going down feet first, he is growing so fast.

Elijah is talking like crazy, he said "piano" the other day, he wanted to play. He says so many words, but my favorite is, "peeeeeeease" (please)