photo funk-header_zps0ekmkesr.png
 photo home_zpshyfejce7.png  photo RAK_zps2bn6n8mv.png  photo homeschooling_zpsregqlgr0.png  photo ourjourney_zps9eryodr3.png  photo haiti_zpsfxon8iyf.png  photo healthwellness_zpshqtqova8.png  photo camping_zpsckyk60wr.png

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Abraham Jacob Funkhouser

So this little man came into this world fast and he had kind of a rough start.  Abe was born on Friday August 21st. We were told he would be coming 2-3 weeks later but obviously Abe had his own plans and arrived less than 24 hours after we said we'd adopt him. Wow! Crazy how fast God works. 
Abe weighed in just under 7 lbs. and about 20 inches long.  He came out with the cord wrapped around his neck and he also swallowed a little merconium so he started his life with a sore throat. Poor kid.  The days after his birth were followed by lots of suctioning and 24 hour watching.  I stayed over night but then he had to stay in the monitored nursery with the nurses in isolation for the rest of his time.  The nurses were amazing. They were all so kind and loving.  They have a really tough job with all those little babies in the special care nursery.  If I worked there I would want to take all the babies home with me! 
Abe was having problems eating for a few days.  Just couldn't get the bottle thing down so they tube fed him for a few days. He's doing much better now. We were stuck in a waiting period while they conducted lots of tests. Praise God the tests all came back negative for any problems or drugs. He was a little fussy which they believe was nicotine withdrawal.  By Monday the feeding tube came out and he was doing great eating with the bottle but still a tad fussy yet. 
The nurses noticed that he seemed kind of smelly by his cord so they did 2 blood tests to see if there was something else going on.  One test came back positive for staph infection.  They treated him with an IV filled with antibiotics.  A few days in the hospital under 24 hour care and more love. Finally on Friday we got to bring him home! Praise God. The kids were waiting in the driveway for us to arrive and cried when they saw him. It was awesome. We actually have to put a timer on for each of them to get equal time holding Abe and loving on him.  They had switched formula 2 times in the hospital and really didn't see a difference in his fussiness.  So we switched him to Enfamil Nutramigen and it's making a world of difference.
Thank you all so much for your continued love, and support.  Adoption is a long journey yet so wonderfully beautiful.  Could you please keep praying for a few things for us?
Please pray for Abraham to be healthy and to sleep peacefully

Please pray that God provides the money we need for this adoption

 

Thank you so much!

Great week coming >>> We start school tomorrow! 





Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Update...... on Big news!
from my husband


This isn't about me...its about a boy. A beautiful baby boy named Abraham. It's about Abe's mother who made a courageous decision to keep her baby and give it up for adoption. It's about a family my family who suffered through 3 failed adoption attempts in the past 7 years and a brutal fight with stage 4 cancer which by God's grace we won. Abe's mother selected a family for her son but they rejected her at the last minute. Now what? So on a chance the social worker thought of us. Would we take this child? We got a call. That call came on a Wednesday as we set up our campsite for an end of summer camping trip. Could we take this child? The baby was due in two weeks. Holy cow...two weeks and a baby will be here!? We said yes to the child. No way were we leaving that child alone. We said yes to Gods call. We have room in our home and in our hearts. Two weeks to get ready...nope. Baby Abe arrived less than 48 hours later. We have a new born baby boy coming home hopefully today. 
We need help. 
Our adoption fees and costs involved will total $15000. We're still paying off debt from our cancer fight. We're in it to win.  We know this is God's plan. If you can help click the link and donate.




 If not that's OK too. Just pray for Abe. He's with us now. He's beautiful. He's here. He's going to do big things. God is good.

Thank you.
Dave

Love Wins
(pictures coming soon)
 

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Big News
  God had started this journey back in 2009. Those of you that have been around since then know the ups and downs we’ve had and the hard truths of adoption. Those of you that don’t I will give you a short summarization. We started in Africa in 2009 and that’s why we started to blog. To keep everybody in the loop. Two years into that African laws changed and we pulled out along with many others due to concerns about fraudulent behavior occurring in the African adoption process. We lost money that we had saved and worked hard for during that process. Then we switched everything over to process a domestic adoption and a couple years later we were matched with a birth mom in California. Turned out she was a con artist and scammed us (and others!) out of a lot of money. We lost $15,000 which we had raised over two years doing 6 rummage sales, bake sales, t-shirts, jewelry and donations. The woman fled and he trail was lost in Nevada. We ended up in quite a mess with the agency who refused to do their part and take responsibility. The pending legal battle would be too hard for us financially and wasn’t worth fighting emotionally.
     We have a huge heart for children and we just want to love on them. One in a half years after Gabe was born Dave gets his cancer diagnosis. Stage 4 neck/throat cancer and he was told he had 50/50 chance of surviving. Dave had three tumors removed in multiple surgeries including a brutally painful neck dissection, 30 rounds of radiation and a long road to recovery. A ton of medical bills later and Dave is a walking miracle. Healthy and full of life. We knew after the cancer that we would have a slim chance if any of getting pregnant. So we started praying about what we should do regarding more kids.
     We have always kept up our foster license with an agency in Milwaukee. We were matched again with a birth mom in 2013 but she lost the child only a week before birth. Yet another emotional disaster for us. After many long months of nothing happening in our adoption process, we were in the process of switching our foster license over to another great organization also out of Milwaukee. Then out of the blue our social worker called and said she has a mom due in two and a half weeks. It was between us and another family and we were chosen after much prayer and consideration.

(2.5 weeks..... seriously)
     
We are in need of funds quickly. We need $4,500 in 2 weeks when we get to the hospital for one half of the agency fee. In 6 months we will need another $7,500. That money is for the legal fees, licensing, final adoption and agency fees. We are trusting God on this journey.
     Thank you all for being a part of this journey with us. We are so blessed and so grateful. Thank you for all of your love and support. If just 600 people donate $20 we will make our goal and provide a loving home for a newborn baby. Please help spread the word by copying and pasting the link
www.gofundme.com/rru3xd5

     All in God’s plan. All in God’s heart. All in God’s world. Love Wins.

     

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Bay Beach, trip to the ER, kid love

Every year we trek to Bay Beach and stay and play all day.  Left at 8:30 and got home by 7.  We pack lunches and hang out.  I love how cheap it is there.  We can spend $20 and it will last us all day.  It's cheap fun for our family and all the kids love it there.  Gabe didn't go on any rides.  We kept trying but it wasn't working.  This was the only one I got him on.  The train.


Can you tell he dressed himself?
He has jammie pants on.  They are one of his favorites.  


Miah's first roller coaster.  He was hilarious.  He wasn't sure if he should laugh, cry, scream, hold on or put his hands up.  He loved it.  


He's getting so big for a just turned 12 year old.  Maturing in so many ways right before our eyes. 


These 2 are roller coaster junkies.  I couldn't believe all the older people getting on and off this ride like it was no big deal.  It made my body sore. 


Gabe took these....pretty darn good for a 2 year old.






Love when you get a surprise in your lunch box...ant man rocks.



My favorite ice cream in the whole world...salted carmel from Scoops.  Just look at that...


Yes...we have gone back to the old Monopoly playing.  Really hang on for a fun time!




Olivia doing what she does best...weird things
She totally takes after her mother.


 play dates with dear friends all summer long




 Love this one..freckles are so special
 


Conquered another project for a $1.29
I loved it..minus the spacing on my writing that is totally off.
Wanted the kids to see it when they come down the stairs in the morning before school.




We managed to make a trip to the ER.  Actually my mom did with the kiddos.  I was with Dave at a Chief's conference. Gabe had gotten his foot sliced open.  It turned into a long wait at the ER and then Gabe was wired after that.  Must of been from whatever they gave him shots of.  

  (yes that's a tiny bit of nail polish leftover from his sister)

He managed to get 5 stitches that came out the next day at nap time.  They said they would have to re charge us for a visit. So then I just took him to our regular doc at Columbia St. Mary's.  They decided(2 Dr.'s) that they would be much better off just leaving it.  They would've had to cut it back open and then renumb him in 2 different spots and then stitch.  So it seems to be healing fine.  It just gets stomped on a lot from running around and wrestling.  He was a great sport though my mom said. 

Loving this last week of play dates with friends, more rummage stuff priced for next year, more foster care papers done, date night with Jonah, dinner at our dear friend's house, friends over here for dinner and home school coop registration.  Lots of memories being made.  
We will be getting last minute school stuff ready t week and a bit tied up with loving on my kiddos this last week before school. 
love them dearly.

Have a great Wednesday!!

Blogging tips