San Antonio Zoo

Nomio, Bolormaa and Aunka

Our "Family" from Mongolia

Yesterday both of the Mongolian groups met up at the zoo. It was the first time the other families had seen Nomio since her heart surgery on Thursday. Can you believe that Nomio was at the zoo 5 days after open heart surgery? My how God has blessed this precious child!! Thank you, Jesus!! It was chamber of commerce weather. We looked at the animals and then took a ride on the train. It was a great time.

Nomio, Hannah, Bolormaa and Aunka

Dulmaa

Bolormaa and Moogie

Aunka and Tiggy

Nomio and Suren

"All Aboard"

The whole group except Brooke, our photographer and stroller wrangler. Thanks, Brooke!

Look at that smile!!!

Nomio
Pretty Princesses
Hannah

We are home!!

We got home from the hospital about 2pm. Everyone except Hannah....the stubborn one who fell asleep for 5 minutes in the car and thinks that counts....is napping. Julie said the time difference really has hit Grandma today. I think she has been running on adrenaline since they arrived last week.

Play Date

We stopped by the hospital after church & lunch and had a good, long visit. Mary Porisch (our church member and pediatric cardiologist who travels to Mongolia) was there and Nomio will be coming home tomorrow!!! Mary said she really could come home today, but most people get a little nervous with a child coming home 3 days after open heart surgery so tomorrow it is. Mary suggested that Hannah and Nomio go to the playroom and have some fun. So the nurse tracked down a wagon and we loaded up Nomio and Hannah and off we went to the third floor. I think wagon rides are a lot of fun, so next time I'm in the hospital I'm going to request a wagon instead of a wheel chair. :) The girls played for an hour. You would have thought a cyclone went through the play room. But it was quick work to put it back together. My camera battery died after only a few pictures, but not before I got a couple of cute ones. Enjoy!

PS Hannah is wearing the BEAUTIFUL Mongolian dress that Nomio and Suren gave her. You can't see it in the picture, but it is quite a good twirly dress.

Up and at 'em!

Who let this kid in?

Let me 'xplain something

I have been maintaining entries on the Care Calendar set up for ministering to our Mongolian friends. The last few days have been filled with blessing upon blessing, but have also been very tiring, so I have not been able to take the time to update both. Since the Care Calendar will eventually go away (and you won't get rid of me that easily) I wanted to include those entries here. Also, I have been having trouble uploading pictures to that site the last couple of days so I am directing people from the Care Calendar to the blog to see pictures. I've tried to keep things chronological and have added dates in the title where appropriate. Hope I haven't confused my loyal followers. Now....back to today.

No more tubes 11/15/2008

Bananas are yummy!

Well...almost. Nomio still has one line in her hand for her pain meds, but she is able to sit in Grandma Suren's lap, walk around her room a bit, go potty, and eat regular food. She is still in the PICU, but only because there were no available beds on the other unit. The photo upload doesn't seem to be working right now, but I've got the cutest picture of her eating a banana with her cheeks full of it. Too cute.

I now recognize the Mongolian words for "no" and "let's go." Nomio loves to draw and holds the doodle pen perfectly. I brought her a puzzle and play dough tonight and she told grandma I was very nice. She even gave me a kiss today. Grandma is happy that Nomio and I are friends.

Today, K-Love's encouraging word was from Proverbs 13:12: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life (NLT). Grandma had told Julie, the interpreter (and so much more!!!) after Nomio's surgery that there are dreams you have in life that never come true, but having Nomio's heart fixed was a dream that did come true. Tonight I was able to share this verse from Proverbs and that Jesus was the one that caused her dream of healing for her granddaughter to be fulfilled.

Julie is a wonderful, young Christian woman. She has been a Christian for 5 years and told me tonight that she reads five Psalms each day. She also reads Proverbs because she was told they were full of wisdom and she wants to be wise. I suggested the book of James as another book about wisdom and she was going to read that tonight.

A Good Day 11/14/2008

Nomio is doing great. The interpreter, Julie, and the grandmother, Suren, are visibly much more rested. Nomio was alert when Hannah and I visited this morning. She and Hannah took turns drawing on the magna doodle. They both draw flowers the same way. Nomio is only on two medicines: one for pain and one to get rid of excess fluid from the surgery. She is no longer on oxygen. Most of the tubes should come off tomorrow.

This evening the Suren and Julie trusted me with Nomio (while she was awake) while they went downstairs to eat dinner. Nomio cried a little, but did pretty well. She also does not get as upset when the hospital staff come in the room. So, thank you to all who have been praying for her spirit to find peace as those prayers, and many others, have been answered.

Pastor Newman spoke to MOPS today and gave each of us a copy of his book, Satan's Lies. Since I have one already, I gave mine to Julie. She told me that she and Suren continue to read the bible together several times a day. When I gave Nomio a kiss and said goodbye, she asked if she could leave with me. I think she would leave with any one at this point as I have learned the Mongolian words for "let's go" (though I can't spell them). She waved to me and blew me kisses. She is such a precious child of God and I am honored to be part of so many sweet moments.

Sweet Nomio Drawing on the doodle board with Suren and Julie

Suren asked Nomio to draw Hannah and her parents

Praise God!! 11/13/2008

Nomio's surgery was a success! It was such an incredible day. While Satan was trying to intervene with extra blood draws and horrible traffic jams, we were reminded at every turn that God's power conquers the enemy.

When asked if she had any questions for the doctors, Nomio's grandmother said no and that she had FAITH that her grand-daughter would be healed. When asked one last time if there was anything she needed, she asked simply that we PRAY. This precious woman, who has made offerings to the Lama and Buddha to heal her daughter has found that physical healing came to her through the love of Christians. She told the interpreter that the Lama and Buddha only take, but that the Christians have given and given and asked nothing in return. Through the witness that all of you dear people have been to this precious group through your prayers, meals, and love offerings you are showing them the love of Christ. We are overwhelmed by your generosity and have been sending many prayers of thanksgiving to the Father in your honor.

A little pre-operative serenade Our little miracle
Hannah: "God fixed Nomio's heart"

Doctor's Office 11/12/2008

After bible study, we all stopped for lunch at Taco Cabana (we are easing them into Mexican food) then off to tour the hospital, meet the surgeon for the pre-op check-ups and return to the hospital for blood draws. The bad news is that it took three tries by three different nurses to get all the blood drawn for Nomio. The even worse news is that I saw the nurses transferring the blood from the syringes to the tubes and they had one really large clot. Based on previous experience with Hannah and slow blood draws and clots I expected a call from Kid's Express. It came at 9:05pm. So we had to go in 1 hour earlier on surgery day to try again.

The good news is that I started to make friends with Nomio (who could not be examined by the surgeon due to the screaming). She has let me get closer and closer to her without screaming. So I knelt near her stroller and began to feed her Goldfish. After a while, Grandma had Nomio feed me Goldfish. What sweet progress!

Bible Study 11/12/2008

We took the two groups to Concordia's Wednesday morning women's bible study. These sweet women have been praying for the groups for a few weeks and we thought it would be a blessing to them to meet them in person. Suzette, the other host mom, and I thought we would just stop by but the groups wanted to stay for the study. God met us there!!

We stood in front of the group and Suzette and I introduced the groups. I talked about the care calendar and ways they could be the body of Christ to these precious women and their children. I also talked about the overwhelming blessings we had already received. The tears may have been started by me, but they didn't end there. And our sisters in Christ were sacrificially generous in the spontaneous offering they gave. Thank you!!!

And what a witness the Mongolian women were as the two interpreters, who are Christian, took out their Mongolian bibles and translated Beth Moore for the women. It was a great sight too see....Americans and Mongolians, all women connected in the body of Christ, studying His Word. Like I said...God was there!!

I'm getting closer....

The Magnificent Seven Arrives 11/10/2008

Nanette, the Host Coordinator from Samaritan's Purse, refers to the very large group of Mongolians that arrived in San Antonio on Monday at the Magnificent Seven. They have never had so many children come for life-saving heart surgery at once.

Concordia is hosting 2 groups (3 children) and Alamo Christian Church is hosting 2 groups (4 children). All the host families and many of the doctors were at the airport to greet them. I recognized Nomio and her grandmother from there picture. I also noticed (don't think I'm too astute, everyone did!!) that Nomio was even more afraid of strangers then I could have imagined. Even her travel documents have her name and "screaming baby" written across the top.

Children of the Host Families

Welcome to Texas!

Julie (interpreter), Nomio (screaming baby) and Suren (grandmother)

Kindermusik

On Monday a teacher from Kindermusik came and led our MOPS group in a sample class. Here are some of the pictures I took to capture the fun.

Mikaela and Hannah

Page, Mikaela and Annabelle

Scars

Last Friday Stacy and I had a plan. The plan was that Hannah, who didn't take a nap that day (which was part of the plan) would eat dinner and go to bed early. Stacy and I would eat some cheese and sausages and other yummy treats that I had purchased earlier in the day at the new HEB Alton Market on NW Military to hold us over and have tortilla crusted tilapia (from Costco...muy excellente) with some corn poblano soup from the same market after Hannah went to bed.

Well....at 6:10pm precisely our plans changed. That's when, as I was preparing our cheese, sausage, etc., in an attempt remove the wax from the cheese so I could slice more I instead sliced my finger. The index finger on my left hand. To the bone. OUCH! Bleeding. A LOT of bleeding. Stacy arrived a half hour later to me sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room, apparently quite pale. Makes sense because I was sitting there so it would be a shorter distance to the floor when I passed out, which is the direction I was leaning in.

So, instead our one last quiet evening at home before our Mongolian guests arrived was spent at the Texas Med Clinic with Hannah having a complete meltdown (now its no nap AND 2 hours past bedtime) when she had to go to the bathroom and changed her mine (my theory...they have the "hair dryer" hand dryers, which she likes not so much). Luckily I did not hit a tendon and SIX stitches later we were home. Ate the cheese, sausages, etc., which Stacy properly stored when he went home to drop off the things he had bought at Lowe's in attempt to kill two birds with one stone (occupy Hannah and check something off his to do list). Skipped the fish and went right for the soup.

Yesterday the doctor removed the stitches. Then he told me that in a week I should start putting Mederma on my finger four times a day and I would not have a scar. But, what if I want a scar? Are scars always bad? Now...I know that there are terrible scars that people can suffer that should be fixed to normalize their lives. But, for most of us, scars are what make us human. Scars are also the opportunity for us to show the grace of God in our lives. Now I'm not talking about only physical scars but the emotional ones we all have. Sometimes we are ashamed of them. Sometimes we are embarrassed by our scars. Sometimes we spread "mederma" on them, which hides them on the outside, but we still know that they are there.

Maybe I want to keep my scar to remind me of the correct way to hold a knife and the safe way to cut cheese, and the consequences when I take a short cut. Hopefully, when the moments were right, I was brave enough to share my emotional scars and reminded someone else of the healing that comes only through the grace of our heavenly Father and the love of His Son and my saviour, Jesus Christ.

There's that smile!

Hannah's smile eludes my camera. She has the most beautiful, contagious smile, but I never seem to be able to capture it on "film." I guess she'll never win most photogenic. :)

Learning to Hook 'Em

You've got to be kidding me

Okay...some radio stations across the country started playing Christmas music before Halloween. Stores are already stocked and advertising for Christmas (I sorta get this, because of the economy, but I don't have to like it). The local TV station is giving away gas cards and have holiday, ie. candy canes, in the promo. Why couldn't that be Thanksgiving at least?

But something I just saw on TV sent me over the edge. A used car company (you know the type...no credit....no problem...how the economy got this way in the first place by "us" living beyond our means kind of company) is ALREADY, in November, advertising to come in to buy a car and the will calculate your projected TAX RETURN (due April 15, 2009) to use toward the down payment. So you can buy a car you can't afford with money you don't have and aren't going to get (if they even calculate it correctly before the end of the tax year with no updated tax software) until at least February 2009. And we wonder how we got in this economic mess.

Glad I got that off my chest. Off to bible study and some attitude realignment.

I couldn't have said it better

God is in control and we as Christians need now as always to remember that. This was an historic election and I honor that, though I wished it had turned out differently. I find much comfort in Beth Moore's posting today, which I've included below. She so eloquently expresses how I feel today as I fear for the present and hope for the future.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

A United House
To my beloved Sisters who I esteem so highly and consistently find to be part of the solution to our problems in the Church rather than the cause,

Please join me in praying for our President-elect Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, and his precious daughters, Sasha and Malia. Go with me before the Throne of our sovereign God and ask Him to grant wisdom from above to President-elect Obama and the indwelling presence and power of Jesus Christ. In the words of the Apostle Paul, "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior..."

Please also join me in the active and deliberate pursuit of unity and purity in the Body of Christ at this historical time in our country. I implore you in Jesus Name to have zero tolerance for prejudice whether it is regarding party-affiliation, color (whether you are Black, White, or Brown), economics or the like. Disagreement is not sin. Prejudice is. Satan has plotted events and planted attitudes that, should he be successful, will result in havoc. We must not stand for his schemes or cooperate in a single way. We would severely displease God and invite untold chastisement upon Christ's Church in our nation. Speak clearly to your children and graciously but emphatically draw a line in your work places and social circles regarding your stand against prejudice of any kind.

"Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, 'Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.'" (Matthew 12:25) A united house stands. A divided house falls. The devil has much to gain. But he also has much to lose.

We are the Body of Jesus Christ and we have an opportunity to show His character. This is our watch. We stand for what is right not from our feet but from our knees. I humble myself before you and make these pleas under such bold direction of God that I could not resist it nor disobey it. He made it a fire in my bones.

Visitors from Far Away

My sweet friend Sarah was able to extract the pictures of the groups coming from Mongolia so that I could post them here. Thanks, Sarah!!

Nomingerel Ichinkhorol "Nomio", 2 years old, and her Grandmother, Suren will be staying with us.

Bolormaaa Gelebdorj, 2 years old, and her aunt/mom Munkhtsetseg Baljinnyan will be staying with the Bruening family

Ankhtsetset Lkhagvasuren, 4 years old, and her aunt Tsendsuren Natsagdorj will also be staying with the Bruening family

Future Cheerleader

Hannah was getting her cheer on last night during UT's unfortunate loss to Tech. It wasn't from her lack of effort. Jimmy commented that we needed to stop giving her Mountain Dew after 9pm. Yes...this was recorded late last night, but she took a long, late nap and with the time change we figured it was worth the chance. All I can say is that I wish I had half her energy....which is what I need to keep up with her.

Ding Dong...Trick or Treat

"Mulan"

This year was Hannah's first year for trick or treating. Two years ago we only went to my parent's and my sister's house. Last year we were on a plane returning from Elijah's birth. With my encouragement, she decided to wear her Mulan costume from her wide array of dress up clothes. It fits her really well and we didn't have to fuss with wigs, masks or makeup. She looked really cute.

Some people thought she was a geisha girl. I didn't correct them or explain that geishas are Japanese...Hannah is Chinese...because in each instance it was a nice, older person who thought Hannah was beautiful. There will be times later in her life when those cultural distinctions may become important to her, but not this night. Just like with the adoption questions, most people aren't rude...just curious. A few younger girls recognized Mulan, but I think Mulan is Disney's forgotten princess.

Elmo

Elmo went along for the walk, which was quite a long walk for our eleven old basset hound. He has lost quite a lot of weight since Rufus died (since he can't sneak Rufus' food) and he seemed to really enjoy it. Uncle Toby towed the wagon in case Hannah's legs wore out. Hannah did very well with the thank you's.

Ding Dong...Trick or Treat

She liked ringing the door bells (the ones she could reach, anyway) and at first greeted everyone with "thank you." At least she got the important part down! Later between houses she would tell me "ding dong...trick or treat." Too cute! She made it with 1/2 block of home. This was about the same time that Hannah's bag was so full of candy that she was dragging it behind her! So she rode the rest of the way shining her cow flashlight on me so I could see where I was going.

Worth the Wait

When we got home, we put our chairs out front and handed out candy. Once Hannah tasted the fruits of her labor (3 pieces of candy....she is quite persuasive, and Stacy decided we'd stop at 3...one for each year of age), she was in charge of handing out the candy to other kids. She greeted everyone with "Happy Halloween." It was a very nice family night.