Holding Ella for the first time

Friday the 12th was an exciting day for Nana and Aunt Theresa. We got to hold Ella for the first time. While I was holding her and telling her about our crazy family, Theresa stood by and waited for her to open her eyes. How she ever captured this smile with a dimple I'll never know. She is so tiny and precious! On the 13th she was 13 weeks old and on the 17th she'll be 37 weeks gestationally.

She takes about 3 of her breast milk feedings from a bottle everyday(37cc). Most of the time she takes the full feeding, but sometimes she needs to have some put in her feeding tube.

She is slowly gaining some weight. She is around 3 lbs. 7 oz. now and still 15.5 " When she gets 4 # they are going to rehook her intestines and get rid of her colostomy bag. I'm not looking forward to that surgery because her last surgery for her eyes they had to put her back on the vent and she slept for 5 days. It took alot of prayers for her to pull out of that one. I was praying she'd be home for Christmas but we'll probably be looking at the new year. She is a miracle baby for sure.... I can tell by that dimple she is going to be a sweet loving child.

Mission of Mercy

Satya and his family moved away so is no longer in the program.

So now we have a little guy named Alexis. He is 4 years old and lives with his adoptive mother in Honduras.

Alex likes to play guitar and wants to be a Dr. when he grows up.

Youth Deer Hunt

Dan's stepson Travis tagged a deer on the youth hunt this year. On the left is my son Dan and the right my husband Danny. Both Dan's were just as thrilled as Travis.

Incredible Ice Show

Danielle and I went to Disney on ice at the palace along with Theresa and her grandsons on 10/1/08. The souvenirs were so expensive Theresa had Danielle pose in front of a poster for a keepsake.

Ella looking at her little world

Ella is almost 7 weeks now. If she was still in the womb she would be 30 weeks. She's making great progress. She is back on breast milk tube feeding as a supplement to her IV and today they are going to try her without the ventilator tube and put on a cpap instead.

Hurray Ella is over 2 pounds!

We give thanks to all that have been praying for this little angel baby. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

          

Sign of intelligence

Neveah 5 weeks old. She's such a bright eyed baby... has been since she was born. The nurse said that's a sign of intelligence (must take after Nana LOL).

Ella with Daddy

Welcome Nevaeh

And this is my new great granddaughter born a week after Ella on 9/20/08. She weighed 8 # 7 ounces and was 20 " long. Her name is Nevaeh Shae. Nevaeh is Heaven spelled backwards.

Mommy touching me!

When Ella was born we asked the nurse if she had taken care of babies smaller than Ella and she said yes. She also said she has seen babies bigger than Ella aborted.

Dan and Dawn's baby girl

My new granddaughter Ella Rae born 9/13/08. She arrived early @ 23 weeks 3days. She weighed 1 # 2 ounces and was 12 " long. Notice the angel medallion

in her isolette says "Ella", a gift from Aunt Theresa.

World Vision child

Jesus and his family moved away because his Dad received a better job offer in another town. So I got to go online, at the World Vision website, to choose a new child. I chose Tanjina because she was born on the same day as my youngest granddaughter Danielle, June 22,2004. She lives with her parents in Bangladesh.

Danielle has blue eyes

Danielle and I went to Tammy's to visit and I took some pictures with my new camera. It's a Cyber-shot DSC 120. I did use a Finepix for years but decided to get one with more mp's. I've been impressed with the pictures and the videos that it takes but I haven't printed any of them yet. Danielle is impressed that it takes pictures that show her blue eyes and not her red ones!

GEO Gang and World Vision

 The GEO gang was formed in 1998 by my 3 oldest grandkids. GEO stood for 'God's Earthly Outdoor' because they used to get together and pick up trash in the neighborhood whenever they came to visit us on the lake. They started to raise money and the 1st thing they did was sponsor a child through World Vision. His name was Lungisana and he lived in S. Africa. They sponsored him until his family moved away in 2004.
When Lungisana left,  the kids weren't into the 'gang' anymore so I went to World Vision website and chose this little guy to sponsor because he was born on my granddaughter Kayla's birthday. At the World Vision web site you can choose what sex, what country or what age child you would like to sponsor.  His name is Jesus and lives in Mexico with his parents.

The Geo Club decided to sponsor a child through Mission of Mercy after going to a Ray Boltz concert in Dec. 1999. We chose a young girl named Kath and we sponsored her until her family moved away from the project center in 2003. Satya has been our sponsored child since then even though the Geo Club has dissolved. You can visit Mission of Mercy by clicking on the link.