Here We Go!!

Well this is just a quick post to say we are off!! Headed to the airport in an hour or so. Also this is the first time I've blogged from my phone so I hope it works! Ha!

We would appreciate your prayers as we travel. There has been some crazy spiritual warfare going on, the latest being Jillian getting an infected bug bite & being put on antibiotics. Just yesterday!

We finally get to Recife tomorrow afternoon. Long drive to Pelo Sinal Sunday. Then we will be finished traveling for a while. Depending on internet, the plan is to blog & post pics.

See you in a month!!

Packing in progress last night.

Brazil Bound

I’m just going to jump right in here and pretend it hasn’t been literally YEARS since I’ve blogged with any kind of consistency.  Ok, then.

 

My whole family, as in my husband and all 3 kids, and me, is going to Brazil for the month of July.  I know what you’re thinking. Yes, we may very well have lost our minds. It’s something we’ve thought about and talked about casually for years but, I for one never thought it would happen.  I mean, how could Daniel take a whole month off of work? Well, apparently he’s worked it out because we’re going.

 

We’re taking a friend of ours with us, a teenager who has gone on mission trips with us in the past.  He’s the best kid and he’s great with our kids.  It’s going to be very helpful to have another set of hands to help!  I’m going to be the mom of a teenager for a month! Yikes!

 

We’ll be staying in a small town that we fell in love with on our first visit there years ago.  It is always our favorite place and we wish we could stay longer every time.  The people are kind and excited to see us and we’ve watched the kids grow up.  A family is letting us stay in a little house that isn’t being used right now. I have no idea how the sleeping arrangements will work, but we’ll figure it out.

 

I’m not really worried about anything other than the flight.  Ten hours on a plane with a 1 year old? Yeah.  I think after that we’ll be able to handle anything. We’ve had one set back after another in getting Jillian’s paperwork for this trip.  But we’re finally in the last stage (visas) and we should be fine.

 

I’m planning to blog while we’re in Brazil.  We should have internet access but I’m not sure how reliable it will be.  Goodness knows, I should have plenty to share!

Happy Birthday Jillian!!

This girl

 

is 1 year old today!!

 

One year ago today, we didn’t even know she existed.  Now we can’t imagine life without her.  She’s crawling around like a crazy girl and is into everything.  Not quite ready to walk, but she’s pulling up on furniture and cruising around.  She’s a little shy around strangers or groups of people and is pretty serious and solemn.  But when she smiles, she lights up the room and you’d do anything to get her to do it again.

It’s safe to say the whole family is in love with Jillian.  I think we have some friends who are too.

 

 

*While our adoption is final, we have not gotten her birth certificate yet. We need that ASAP to get her passport for our trip to Brazil this summer.  (The whole family is going for the month of July.)  After that we have to get visas as well.  We’d appreciate prayers for paperwork to come through as quickly as possible.  God has given me tremendous peace about this and I know He is in control.

Planning to blog during our trip as well!  Prayers for motivation for that too! ha!

Baby update

Jillian is 4 months old!  Who can believe that?  I thought I’d do a little update, partly for people who have been giving me a hard time about not blogging and partly for our memories, which are slowly fading with age. ha!

 

At her 4 mo. doctor’s appointment on the Sept 2, Jillian was 12 lbs. 13 oz. She is 4 times the size she was at birth!  She’s doing really well as far as development goes.  A little behind, but considering she was 7 weeks early, she’s moving right along.  The doctor took her off the high calorie formula, which is great as it was messing with her tummy. 

 

Here are a few semi-recent pictures of the little sweetie. 

end of May (4 wks. old)

July (10 wks. old)

Today (4 mos. old)

I would do just about anything to see this smile.

The girls

I picked up crocheting again (Just call me Memaw)

Date night w/ Daniel & Jillian at Sweet Frog (fro yo)

This is how she will look tomorrow at her first State game

Tummy time

Faith took family pics for us. One of my favorites.

 

We are pretty much settled in and in a routine with 3 kids now.  Personally, I am enjoying this stage tremendously more with Jillian than with the other two.  I think it’s mostly because I haven’t had to deal with the hormones and recovery of childbirth & 9 mos. of pregnancy.  This is the way to do it!   We are blessed beyond measure to have Jillian in our family.  She has an ahh-mazing testimony already and I’m excited to see what else He will do in her life.

Sorry for the baby overload…

Our baby girl came home on Monday!  It is so nice not to have to drive 30 min. both ways to see her.  And to all be able to see her at one time, any time of day.  She’s eating well and still gaining about an ounce a day. 

 

Here she is having her car seat test before she could leave.  (If you aren’t familiar with that, she just had to sit in her seat for about 30 min., still on the monitor, to make sure she could tolerate that position. And she did great!)

                                                                               

 

Becca & Hayes made her a sign

                                                                                 

 

This is the only picture I have of all of us.  Huh, guess I could have cropped it or something. Oh well.

                                                                               

 

The girls in their frog pajamas.

                                                                                          

 

 

In other kid news, Becca had her end of year art show last night.

 

Hers is the light brown dog in the middle.

 

Her art work

 

Hayes in the batting cage

Baseball is over except for Becca’s tournament that continues next week.  It will be nice to not have commitments during the week and on weekends for a while.  AND today was our last day of school!  Yay for summer!!!

Update on Little Bit

Jillian is trucking right along.  She’s up to 3 lbs 12 oz!  Consistently gaining about an ounce a day.  Jilly Boo (I’ve got a million of them) is taking 3 bottles a day and will probably add another one tomorrow.  The rest of the feedings are given through the tube.  And she’s getting so much better at the bottle!  This weekend it was taking her 40 min to take one ounce.  This morning she drank it in 25 min for Daniel.  And at 2p, Little Peanut gulped it down in 17 min for me! (yes, I was totally trying to beat Daniel’s record!)

Here’s a peek at her little scrawny arms and legs:

Look how big that hat is on her!  And believe me, it is a really small hat.  I just knew it would fit! ha! (I should have put my hand beside her so you could get some perspective on how little she is!)

So, just a little news….

Introducing our newest little one:

Jillian Mae Bridges was born on 5-2-2011, weighing a whopping 3 lbs 5 oz.  She joined our family on 5-7-2011.  Little Jillian is now learning to eat and gain weight in the hospital so she can come home.  We’re looking at a few weeks before that happens. 

Today she weighed 3lbs 7.9 oz and was moved into a regular bassinet from her warming isolette.  She also took 13 cc’s of formula from a bottle, which is the most she’s taken.  Otherwise, she gets her food through the tube. 

God has a plan for her life and He knew her before she was born.  We are so blessed and excited to be given the opportunity to adopt and parent this little girl.

Please join us in praying for her growth and development.  I’ll keep you posted!