Answered Prayer | Wordless Wednesday

Still praying for M.J.

My family is still praying for baby M.J. - for his safety, for him to feel loved & secure, for complete healing and for lots of smiles!  :)
I still strongly feel like we made a mistake by allowing him to be placed in a different home.  It is odd.  I can't even express with intelligent words the way one minute you feel like you're doing the right thing for your family and the next minute, not only you, but your entire household is like "wait a second, back the truck up...this isn't what we want!"

I think that even though we had family worship every evening, I personally, was so tired (due to not asking for more help and trying to be Mrs.-I-can-do-it-all-by-myself!), that I forgot to lean on my Jesus for energy, wisdom & creativity to help my household flow better.  Doh!  Face palm!

This evening, I ended the Sabbath by reading my bible & journaling.  I ran across Hebrews 13:20-21
"Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Good stuff.

Thanks for those of you who are praying on our behalf.

Ps.  Little Bubba is continuing to do awesome on GAPS.
We have added green beans & zucchini as well as organic, free range eggs to his diet.  YAY!

Saying goodbye...

Our little emergency foster baby left yesterday.  I haven't cried so hard in a very long time.

We all thought we would be relieved with his new placement but we miss him.  So much so, that immediately as the worker was leaving with him, Bubba started crying first and I ran to call Matt who told me to try to get M.J. back!
So M.A.N.Y. confused emotions!
I immediately called his case worker to request they allow us to keep him.  I called our worker too.  I couldn't get anyone on the phone so I left messages & wrote emails and bawled like a baby!
They both called me back just as soon as they could.  M.J. needed to go to this other family for now.  It is closer to his relatives, which allows for visitations.
I don't know what's going to happen, but I know the Lord doesn't make mistakes, even when we feel like we've made mistakes by giving up an emergency placement.  The Lord works EVERYTHING out for our good!  He has that baby in His grip.  We did Family Worship every night he was here.  We loved on him thru the midst of his inability to stop crying.  We prayed over him.  We told him he was special & loved.  I know he felt loved.  Bubba kissed him & hugged him the most.  It was the sweetest, most precious thing I have ever seen!

Please help us pray for M.J.  For the Lord to place him in a safe, loving environment where he will hear about our Jesus and for him to adjust quickly to his new foster family.

And if you know of a Foster Family in your church or workplace, or maybe on your street...please OFFER TO HELP them!!!  We could've kept M.J. if we had more help.  I wish I had asked for more physical help...

Things that helped us (or that would've helped us) & that may help your Fostering Friends:

- free child care for just a couple hours both during the day (for mom to get things accomplished, chores, errands run, a NAP or to home school the older kids w/out distractions) and also in the evening (adding an additional child into a family unit can be stressful, especially at first because it changes the family dynamics...having a sitter allows for date nights or one on one times w/ other kiddos) (Thanks to Hayley Bobay for doing this one morning for me so I could homeschool the girls!  Also, Emily Northam & Tatum Miles and of course our girls, for giving Matt & I little coffee dates away from the house. (Thank you sweet girls!!!)

- help w/whatever needs doing at the house or errands that need running (Matt's mom came & helped w/ cleaning & making baby food a few days.  My friend Chris dropped off dinner & then proceeded to fold my towels strewn all over the couch even tho I protested the whole time for her to stop. Thank YOU!!!)

- loaning or giving necessary items you have laying around your attic (we had SO MUCH help in this department!!!  We were given a crib, toy cars, loaned a double stroller, car seat, safety gates & a few more clothing items)  Thank you friends!!!

- money, gift cards to help buy additional supplies (believe it or not, people aren't in this for the money, we spent way more on M.J. than what the state will reimburse us)

- encouragement

- dinners ready to throw in the oven

- short visits to help the family feel not-so-alone

- starbucks drop offs (thank you sweet Stephanie Pruitt!)

- throwing a party for birthday baby when Foster Mom has only slept 10 hours in 5 days! (Thanks Jules!!!)

I am sure our family was blessed in other ways, but the sleep hasn't quite been made up yet, so I can't recall all of it right now.
If you want to know what would've helped us the most - it would've been PHYSICAL help...actually entering our home & helping with the babies so that I could get school done w/in a quicker time frame & taking a nap would've made all the difference in the world.  {Having 2 teething babies, one of which also has FPIES meant we didn't get much sleep.} Next time I WILL ask for help in that department.  Not everyone is called to Foster, but family & friends CAN all pitch in to help a Foster Family.  :)

Umm...

Umm...we took in a foster baby on Monday as an emergency case.
He's 14 months old.

So we now have a 12 month old and a 14 month old.

That's all the update we have time for.

xoxo,
us

Bubba is 1! :)

Happy First Birthday to our sweet baby boy!!!

At 12 Months, you...

• have two bottom teeth that are super cute when you smile
• spin in circles while you're standing until you fall on your bottom giggling
• raise your hands in the air like you're praising Jesus
• walk backwards just to show off
• jumped on the trampoline w/ your sisters for the very first time...and LOVED it
• cried when we took you off the trampoline
• have learned how to vrooom a car all over the place
• think mama is the greatest thing since applesauce  :)
• cry when you're the center of attention in the living room and one of your "fans" aka sisters leaves the living room
• holler joyfully for da-da when you wake up, even though you know mama is the sleepy head in bed  :)
• have successfully been able to eat mashed chicken, carrots, cauliflower & sauerkraut mixed into tasty soups w/ broth on the GAPS diet over the last 2 weeks
• have been weaned off your Nutramigen AA formula!!!
• celebrated your First Birthday with da-da, mama, gabi, sara & emma

We love YOU!  You are the greatest little guy on the planet!  We are SO thankful to Jesus for blessing our lives with you.  You are THE BEST thing to ever happen to the Morrows!  Happy Birthday precious little one!  We love you to infinity & beyond!  

GAPS for FPIES?

Our baby was diagnosed with FPIES at 6 months of age.
I can't get into specifics until he's officially ours, but it was a NIGHTMARE to discover this.

We have several specialists working side by side with us to make sure we don't have any more nightmares like that.

In the midst of all this, I have found a wonderful online support group from other FPIES moms.  All like me, exhausted, worried, trusting the Lord and praying for healing for our babies.  And then one of them shared w/ us about something called GAPS diet.  And then other moms piped in saying they had heard about it and were thinking of trying it.

So I started doing tons of research on it.  It sounds like a miracle.
Here's the link w/ the most beneficial info in a language that is understandable  :).

If you were me, would you try it?
xoxo,
mary

Baby is 11.5 Months!!! :)

I'm behind on updating this again...you'd think we had family in town and Christmas or somethin'!  Ha!

Our perfect baby boy, at 11.5 Months, you are...

• still the giggliest little thing we ever did meet!
• cutting your 2nd tooth and hardly complaining about it
• had a "pass" with CINNAMON sticks thanks to Aunt Kimber's homemade cinnamon applesauce (she gave us a case of jars baby!!!)
• running like a sports star!
• LOVE, LOVE, LOVE family worship - especially when daddy sits on the floor with you along with his iMac!  :)
• incredibly fond of Uncle Steve, Aunt Kimber, Ethan & Eli!
• incredibly fond of Uncle Steve's guitar!
• went to your first Christmas party @ Daddy's work and everyone gushed over your cuteness :)
• celebrated your First Christmas!!!
• enjoyed carrying various Little People Nativity toys around the living room all throughout the month of December
• received several gifts from DHS as well as family members
• helped sing Happy Birthday to Jesus by squealing happily along
• had your first snow fall and your second; absolutely LOVED looking at it through the windows, but momma thought it was too cold for you to play
• partook in your first New Years Eve party & were even crazy enough to stay up and welcome the new year in along w/ family & a few friends!  :)
• you are dearly, fiercely, tenderly loved little one...we were so, so, so thankful to be able to celebrate Jesus birthday with you!  :)

We love you to the moon & back,

Your Morrow Family