The latest

So....Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New year....I think that's it for now! We had a beautiful Holiday season, spent with family and friends and then commenced 2015 with a move to Mount Vernon. We had a smooth move with a lot of help (THANK YOU to those that came to help) and are slowly settling into our new/old farmhouse in Mount Vernon. The farmhouse was built in 1910 and is quite charming. We have a beautiful farmland view and even get to see the sunset...which I have always really wanted! The kids love their new rooms, and have adjusted to the new place really well. There is much more room to run out here and the kids have thoroughly appreciated having our dog back from his vacation at my parents house.
Speaking of Jack...his vacation at my parents house led to a little bit of an accidental litter of 3 puppies...one of which somehow ended up at our house. Emri has fallen madly in love with "Perdy". Emri originally picked out the name "Flower Butterfly", but we compromised and agreed to name the puppy after Perdy on 101 Dalmations, and she can call the pup "Perdy Flower" if she so wishes.

The sunset and our "lake" veiw.

Could YOU say no??!?

 Emri started pre-school at Mount Vernon Christian for the second semester and has loved EVERY SECOND of it. She is ridiculously social and totally thrives in social environments (don't know WHERE she gets that from). Mount Vernon Christian has been very gracious accommodating Emri's needs and has done everything they can to make sure she has a successful and safe experience at school. We still have no clue what the future holds for schooling, but for now, this is working well. Emri also began going to AWANA and is really enjoying it.What a great experience for the kids that go. I am just amazed at the Biblical memorization that takes place during each week. What an amazing program.
Abe continues to amaze me with his unlimited amounts of energy, life-enriching stunts, and inability to sit still. I love the kid with all my heart, but he knows how to scare his mommy...and I think he enjoys it. He loves his big sister and imitates her every move. He is looking forward to when the weather turns sunnier and we can play outside all day long!

AWANA vest

Don't smile Abe!

I turned 27....which is cool I guess. ;)

The cake that Brett and the kids made me!

Emri had an echo today...and the results were great! We always love to hear the word "stable" and cling to it for the next four months until the next heart check. Going through this every 4 months is tough, but God proves to provide strength in our times of need. Emri's skull fracture in September and surgery in October sent my body into a little bit of a stress reaction mode....but I am slowly feeling better and more at peace.We are praising our God for the wonderful heart news we received today! A stable heart...just in time for valentines day! Emri enjoyed listening to the Frozen soundtrack on the way to the hospital, watching Frozen during her echo, and even seeing a clown perform "Let it Go" while throwing tissues all over the place in the waiting room. You would assume that the girl would have nothing but Frozen songs stuck in her head all day long....but do you want to know what she started singing while I took her potty right after her appointment???
"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with Joy! Yes sir!"
A song she has just learned in pre-school and AWANA (thanks Mrs. Messmer:). I couldn't help but be a little amazed and perhaps slightly teary after hearing Emri sing Psalm 126:3 right after an amazing heart appointment. Weather or not it was an intentional connection made by Emri...God is intentionally using Emri is so many marvelous ways...and my heart is saturated with joy and thankfulness for my front row seat in witnessing the incredible testimony Emri is living out every day. What a gift.

EKG after echo...Emri almost knows where all the stickers have to go.

Abe congratulating Emri on her great results:)

So much love in one wagon.

We continue to pursue our adoption and get monthly updates on our handsome little man (wish I could share all of his pics...but I can't yet!!!). He is thriving and healthy and we couldn't be more excited for the day we get to finally bring him home. We are planning a few fundraising events since the adoption costs total about $30,000.00!!! We weren't planning on having to provide the money so soon, but since we were matched with a waiting child so quickly, we are now faced with a large chunk of money to earn quickly. The day we get to meet our son could not come fast enough.We have set up a fundraising page for anyone who feels led to donate to the cause and have recently received our first anonymous gift of $100! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/9tn7/bring-jaemin-home-

We are planning on a garage sale/bake sale at the end of March/beginning of April that anyone is welcome to donate items to. Every cent will go towards the adoption. I will be setting up a facebook event page for the sale, but if anyone is interested in donating items, baking or helping in any other way and would like to contact me by email or phone, here is my info:
Email: erin.b.vanandel@gmail.com Phone: 360-296-4915

Also, for anyone interested more in Korean adoption...here are a few great links!

http://www.rainbowkids.com/adoption-stories/adopting-from-south-korea-925
http://www.rainbowkids.com/adoption-stories/sons-from-korea-bring-joy-to-families-854
http://www.dillonsouthwest.org/korean_program.php

Please continue to pray for peace and strength for our family through all of the ups and downs, and upside-downs. God's grace has been abundant to us, and the support and prayers we continue to receive from so many of you has been overwhelming. We are so thankful. Thanks for stopping by:) ~Erin~

NEW NEWS!

Happy Fall and almost Thanksgiving to all of our family and friends! What a whirlwind of a season it has been for us! Our little big guy is now two! It's a little humorous, because most of the time when your kid has a birthday, there is a sense of unbelief that your child is growing so fast. With Abe...it's a little different. He has been looking, acting, and tantruming like he was two since he was one. So, although we had a great time celebrating Abe's official two year birthday...it was just funny to everyone I talked to that he was ONLY turning two. We love that kid so much...but he HAS earned the title of "mommies little sour patch kid". He can be SO sweet, and incredibly sour all in the same 5 second span. He keeps us on our toes...and also somewhat in shape (wrestling that kid into his pants covers my cardio and strength training for the week;).

construction cake:)

Got his first undies!

Not quite Abe.

We barely settled home after Emri's surgery before we decided (since she was doing SO well and because we're crazy) to take a last minute trip with Brett's parents to Denver to see Brett's brothers and their families. The trip was.....interesting. I flew out with the kids and Brett's parents, and Brett came a day later. The trip there went well....I sent Abe back to Grandpa on the plane and Grandpa made the wise decision to pay 6 dollars for Abe to be able to watch some Disney Junior. We didn't hear a peep from him for the rest of the trip. Emri was great and didn't need O2 which I was very thankful for. We got to Denver on Friday and had a good time hanging out with family that night. On Saturday, the girls took the kids to the zoo and soaked in the 70 degree Denver warmth (It was 17 degrees the day we left Denver...). It was such a fun time---the kids got to spend some fun time together and the animals were all out to show off. It was Abe's first time at the zoo and he was INTRIGUED. He zoomed around that zoo with the most astonished look on his little face. Brett came in that night and we had some more fun with family. Sunday morning Abe woke up with no voice. By Monday Abe was miserable with croup and an owie ear. Brett had already left Monday morning, so grandpa went with me to take Abe in to urgent care. They decided he needed antibiotics for an ear infection and steroids for his croup. He spit out anything they tried to give him orally and ended up with four pokies. I have never had a kid on steroids...so I didn't know what to expect...and I didn't receive adequate warning. By Monday night Abe was in a RAGE I can't even describe in words. I called a nurse to make sure it was normal...which it was. When I told her I had to fly with him the next day, she just LAUGHED. She laughed. We DID have a great time hanging out with family, but Abe's hulk-like rage definitely put a damper on things. Tuesday went OK until we got to the airport where Abe decided he couldn't handle "it" anymore. I took him to a corner and just put him on the ground where he continued to thrash all over the place, giving himself a bloody nose, bruises and scratches all over the place. I had the kindest old retired nurse walk over to me and say, "it looks like you need a buddy." I did...and I took her up on her offer for company. We had a great long talk while Abe finished his rant. He came up to me when he decided that he was done and held up him arms. I picked him up and he was asleep within 10 seconds. The plane ride back was less eventful than the wait in the airport. Abe only had enough energy to throw two small fits. I was one happy mom when we finally landed in Seattle again.

ZOO!

Smirky

The whole Family!

Emri and Giselle:)

Grandma Schemper!

I'm officially allowed to make fun of Brett for being OLD...he turned 30 on November 19!!! He said he feels older...and he currently has a torn ACL and back issues...so he also looks a little older too! Poor guy...we will have to fix him soon. As most of you now know, this November 19 was extra special for us. Besides celebrating Brett's 30th birthday, we were also celebrating the birthday of a very special little boy across the ocean! Although it is not official on paper, this little guy is part of our family in our hearts. Adoption has been on my heart since I was young...and my heart has been nothing short of exploding with the desire to adopt for quite some time now. Although our lives have been slightly chaotic in the past few years, Brett and I have always known that we wanted more children....we just weren't exactly sure how they would join us. How did we choose South Korea?? It's a long story...but God led us straight there...and that's really all I feel like explaining at this point. There are numerous little boys waiting to be adopted in South Korea. The people of South Korea really value clean blood lines...so they won't adopt boys....which is why there are so many waiting boys. The adoption process in South Korea takes time, and we were told to plan on waiting over a year to get our call to court. Of course, we hope it won't take that long, but we trust wholeheartedly on God's perfect timing.

We have picked out a name for our little man. His name will be Jaemin (pronounced Jay-min). "Ae" in Korean means love...and "min" is in Korea's official name...Dae Han Min Guk (Great Country of the Korean People). We wanted to find a good Korean/American combination and we feel like it is the perfect name for our little boy. I can't share many details on our little guys past or present situation since we have not officially passed our homestudy or signed referral papers...but Jaemin is officially not on the waiting child list anymore...and according to the adoption agency we are working with, he is on hold for us!! We are so excited for this next adventure on our rollercoaster of a journey....and cannot WAIT to meet Jaemin and bring him home to become an official member of our family!

We have a life stuffed full of things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season and we strive to make sure that we remember to thank God for all the ways he has been working in, and continues to work in our lives. We give God the Glory for His never ending sovereignty...through it all. As always, thank you for reading! Until next time!

Rod extension #2

We are here, in Baltimore, MD once again for Emri's second rod lengthening. For those of you who did not know, we had to reschedule surgery from mid-September to October 15 because Emri fell and cracked her skull on our driveway! She had a little bone puncture the inside of her ear canal and caused a lot of bleeding and drama. She recovered remarkably well and we are now once again anticipating Emri's spine surgery. I will keep updating the blog for those of you who follow our story on here, but not on facebook. Here is what is going on here, in Baltimore...

Oct. 12---"We made it...the flight was beautiful and long. Appointment at 7am...6 0'clock shuttle. Goodnight!"

We wore masks to scare everyone away:)

Mt. Ranier I believe...with some sweet clouds.

Landing for a quick stop in Chicago.

Before landing in Baltimore.

Oct. 13---"Our day consisted of a 7am pre-op with Sponseller. He is pleased with her x-rays and thinks things should go smoothly. We had anesthesia next, which is always the scary appointment...Emri is a fragile little girl-and that is reiterated by them every surgery. We had an echo after anesthesia that will be read by Dr. Dietz tomorrow. We had a great dinner at Bubba gump and are planning to snuggle with movies for the next couple of hours. Emri has been a trooper as always, and seems to be handling everything with a maturity beyond 4 years old. Thanks for the prayers. We will be meeting with Dietz tomorrow and then prepping for surgery early wednesday morning."

Dr. Sponseller himself. We are so thankful that we get to have him as Emri's surgeon!

Goofing off while waiting!

Oct. 14---"We met with Dr. Dietz today. Emri gave him a great big hug the second he walked into our room:) We will start with the good news. Emri's valve leakage is still minor according to Dietz, which we are thankful for. The semi-bad news is that her aorta grew. It only grew 1.5mm, but growth is growth and it's not something we want to see. We are increasing one of Emri's medications to try and get on top of the growth. Dietz is also feeling very optimistic about some new research going on that we are excited to learn more about! He never stops working to find more answers and new solutions...and we are so thankful for him. Emri is acting very brave about the surgery tomorrow. She is ok with the surgery part, just not ok with the mask that we have to use to put her to sleep. The last three surgeries the mask has been a very traumatic experience for Emri and consequently for us. We are praying that she feels more at peace this surgery now that we have been able to explain more about the experience to her. Emri is just an amazing little soul and I have never felt more thankful to receive the unique and rewarding experience of being her mommy. We covet your prayers for Emri and us tomorrow. Please pray most of all for peace and strength. We can always receive comfort in knowing God is sovereign."

Emri and the "good man", Dr. Dietz.

 Emri with Genetic counselor, Gretchen. And of course, kitty.

October 15, 8AM---"Another rough mask experience. Emri was trying so hard to put her brave face on this morning. She performed about 30 surgeries on her little kitty, and would put a mask on kitties face before "surgery". She would then ask Brett or I for the screws she needed for surgery. We were feeling like this mask experience was going to be better than the last one. On the way to the OR, she said that she was scared. When we got into the room, there were tears rolling down her cheeks, and when the mask went on, she was terrified. She fought so hard again to stay awake. I can't even describe how terrible watching her go through this again is. She is so brave. I will update when we know anything."

9AM---"Took an hour to get all the IV's and wires into place. The incision has been made."

10AM---"It's over and she did well!! Waiting to see her now! PRAISE THE LORD!"

4:30PM---"Emri has finally been fairly comfortable for the past couple of hours. She woke up very agitated and was complaining of a lot of stomach pain. Because she was in so much pain she was given a dose of morphine. The morphine made her really itchy and so she was given benadryl to help stop the itching. The combination of the two of the meds made for a very loopy little Emri. They have set a goal for her to sit up in a half hour in hopes to get her body moving and her bowels more awake. She has been watching Dora and drinking water...and telling us how much she DOESN'T want to sit up. We shall see how this goes. THANK YOU for all of the support and prayers. We feel very supported and loved...and very very blessed."

7PM---"Our day...starting with surgery and ending with a WALK! Way to go BIG GIRL!!! This kid is amazing."

October 16, 5:45AM---"Horrible night for our sweetheart. She has been in constant, severe pain all night. I have felt so helpless as she is begging me for more medicine. We have done Oxycodone and Valium, and both didn't touch Emri's pain level. We have come to the conclusion that we probably have to hook her up to the PCA (pain pump) with morphine, which we know will not be good for her post-surgery stomach issues. She is just in too much pain. Prayers for our sweet girl as we once again take 1 step forward and two steps back. She needs some relief."

2:00PM---"Life can be so extremely painful sometimes. We just learned that a 13 year-old marfan friend had a massive stroke last night, most likely due to complications of marfan syndrome. Please, please lift her and her family up in prayer. Emri is sleeping comfortably on morphine right now. We have moved out of PICU and Emri is on a pain pump. She is still in a lot of pain when the meds wear off. Marfans is not my favorite right now."

8:00PM---"Emri has been given 6 morphine doses today. That being said, she walked 5 laps all together around the wing and walked up 3 stairs for the pt today. She is doing so well compared to how she usually looks on day two of spine surgery. We are being told that we could be released as early as tomorrow, as nervous as that makes me. We will see how the night goes. Thank you all for the ongoing support. Please continue to keep Emri in your prayers as recovery is always a trying time."

October 17, 10:30AM---"There is so much going on in the marfan world right now. Our friend Catherine, who had the massive stroke, had a surgery on her brain yesterday. Our little friend, Ryker, who is younger than Emri, is having an aortic repair today due to his aorta growing at a rapid rate. We are definitely counting our blessings today. As of right now, the plan is to be discharged from the hospital this afternoon. We will be staying in Baltimore until Tuesday, because we have a pulmonary appointment at Hopkins on Monday. We have been overwhelmed by the amount of support and prayers that we have received during this time...as always! Help us overwhelm Catherine and Rykers families with prayers and support too! Being a mom of a fragile child, myself, I cannot even begin to imagine what these dads and moms are going through at this time."

2:30PM---"Guess who busted out of the hospital today...with a smirk on her face! We are giving God all of the glory!! Emri is in a comfy bed with her ipad, headphones and Mickey mouse."

October 17, 10PM: "Emri has had a good night, but still in pain frequently. Tonight while she was crying for meds she told us that surgery hurt her feelings...and that's why she was crying a lot. She walked around the hotel a bunch tonight and did great. She also now has sparkly glow in the dark fingernails. We are feeling thankful to have our sweet girl acting more and more like herself. We continue to pray for Catherine and Ryker and hope that recovery comes sooner than expected for them as well."

October 20, 2PM: "This amazing pulmonary Dr. is part of Emri's incredible team of doctors at Hopkins. We are very thankful to have Dr. Neptune on our team!!"

October 22, 10AM: "We are HOME! So happy to be here and have this surgery behind us. The two littles missed each other. Thank you to all who have been supporting us and praying for us. Emri's recovery has been so much smoother than the last few times and we are so grateful to be home this quickly!"

Eye update

Here is the promised post about Emri's latest eye exam. I have said before that Emri's vision is one of the most frightening/frustrating/complicated parts of marfan syndrome...and I continue to have that opinion. This exam though, gave us a small ray of light as we learned that something GOOD could possibly be happening in Emri's eyes! The opthamologist at Childrens that we see is a highly sought after doctor, and we literally have to schedule 6-9 months ahead of time to get a slot in with him. He's good...and smart...but blunt...and brutal at times. He began the appointment by reviewing what we had learned about Emri's eyes last appointment. Basically with marfan syndrome, the lenses that usually lie in a crescent shape in front of the eye, many times become loose. When Emri was a baby, we used to be able to watch her lenses wiggle around in her eye-her eyes would look kind of like they were shimmering. Over the last couple of years, I haven't noticed this as much. This is because Emri's lenses have become SO loose that they have balled up into a spherical shape. This "lense ball" is in Emri's field of vision...which is why her vision is so incredibly distorted. Last eye exam the doctor explained that because Emri's balled up lenses are so much thicker than normal shaped lenses, they are most likely putting a lot more pressure on her eyeball and that this greatly increased the risk of developing glaucoma (pressure in the back of the eye that slowly deteriorates vision). If Emri were to develop any signs of glaucoma, it would be important to get her lenses removed promptly....but that wouldn't take away the glaucoma...and it would majorly increase the chance of retinal detachment (blindness if not surgically repairable). SO...the doctor has said to me...probably over 50 times..."You really are stuck between a rock and a hard place." Great. After dilating Emri's eyes with the dreaded eye drops, the doctor came in to do his exam...not expecting to see much of a difference. He found something that surprised us all. Emri's balled up lenses have slipped lower in her field of vision. This was a good thing in the sense that Emri's risk of glaucoma decreased dramatically...because the pressure was no longer being put on the front and back of the eye. Praise God! The doctor did explain that Emri's vision is still completely distorted by her lenses and that there is no perscription high enough to correct this. He explained that eventually her vision will get so bad, she won't be able to function and the lenses will have to be removed anyway. This was discouraging...but then I remembered the eye doctor in Baltimore saying something about some kids whose lenses just slip all the way down to the bottom of the eye, out of their field of vision. I mentioned this to the doctor and he said that he hadn't even thought of that....but yes, although rare, it could happen! If this were the case, Emri would most likely only need to be fitted with a thin set of contacts...and we wouldn't have to mess with her eyes at all. So needless to say, we are voting for option C. We are hoping that praying that some day Emri comes up to us and says that she can see better WITHOUT her glasses which are currently a perscription of -18. What a day that would be!
As of now, Emri functions quite well for having vision as bad as the doctor says she does. It's amazing how well she navigates life. Watching her, you wouldn't be able to guess that she's legally blind and is constantly peering through ball shaped lenses that drastically distort her world. I have often imagined a day where Emri sees the world clearly, without her lenses...and I always wonder if it would be a little scary...maybe she'll want her old lenses back! Maybe her world is even cooler than ours! :)
Anyway, I hope you who actually stuck with me and read this whole thing were able to grasp a little of what is happening with Emri's eyes. And join us in praying for those lenses to drop out of Emri's field of vision, and that her retinas remain strong and intact. Thank you!

A New Chapter

Well howdy folks. It's been some time since my last blog and consequently there is a lot of catching up to do. Emri's spinal rod lengthening surgery is quickly approaching. We now have less than a month. We head out on the 14th of September, and surgery is on the 17th. My heart sinks lower each day we get closer. I know summer is coming to a close...which is sad...but I also have been looking forward to just getting this next surgery behind us. PLEASE pray for a healthy and quick surgery/recovery for our sweet girl. 

We had been struggling to come up with a solution of who could watch Abe in the mornings while we were gone, since Brett's mom teaches mornings, and my mom teaches all day. Our prayers were answered when Brett's Aunt Ruth volunteered to fly here from New Mexico and help with Abe...what a relief! Abe knows Aunt Ruth and even gave her a few snuggles when she visited a few weeks ago. It feels so good knowing that he will be adored and spoiled by people he knows and loves while we are gone. This will be our longest time away from him, which will be hard...but less hard knowing he is being so well taken care of.

The title of this post is "A New Chapter." Our family has been going through an overload of change recently. To make an insanely long story very short...Brett now has his own company and has been working from home for a month. Over the past few months, God...in an amazing number of ways...has been making it completely clear that this was the path our family should be taking. Brett is enjoying his time working from home and loves the new flexability that comes with owning his own company. The name of his company will be ANC Architecture...although it will be ANC design until he officially gets his license. ANC stands for...you guessed it...A New Chapter! A new chapter for us and a new chapter for his clients. 

And because we are crazy people who love to make life overly stressful and dramatic (NOT) we will also be leaving Lynden sometime in the next while and moving to Mount Vernon. We will be staying there for the rest of our lives and never, EVER moving again..at least that's my vote!! 8 moves in 6 years is a little much for me. More details to come on that whole situation at a later time. 

This summer has been a good one. Emri turned FOUR on June 8. Every birthday we celebrate with Emri is filled with thankfulness and awe. We are so thankful that God has given us 4 amazing years with our incredible little girl and in awe of how far she has come in her short 4 years of life.  Emri got new leg/feet braces and is walking SO much straighter! It has been amazing to watch her improve every day. She absorbs information like a sponge and can't wait to start school again in a couple weeks. Abe is talking more, loving more, helping more, hurting more, and GROWING more. He has now reached the perfect ram-his-head-into-the-island-counter height, and seems to have inherited my desire to move walls/doorways when he walks. He loves his sister (although you wouldn't always guess it) and likes to copy her movements, phrases, and facial expressions. My kids are such a blessing to me. I love them more than I could ever explain.

 We had the opportunity to visit with all of the Van Andel relatives at a reunion in Michigan this summer. Although we discovered the horrifying result of combining Abe with the confined space of an airplane, the torture of the flight was worth the time with family. It was a special time with family and won't be soon forgotten.

Well the time has come--Abe's awake and break-time is over. Thanks for reading!