Spring BREAK

The first day of Spring Break was an exciting day! We were still a family of four then and the girls had their friends over to play. They were playing downstairs and in typical fashion there was lots of shouts and squealing. Soon I heard Libby yelling "I broke my arm! I broke my arm!" I thought she was just playing, but as soon as she walked up the stairs and I saw her arm pointing in the wrong direction, I knew we were headed to the ER. So off we went. The friends came along too! Libby was a trooper from the beginning. It was a long afternoon in the ER. Daren was out of town, so we called in Grandpa Rupp for a blessing. He brought a work associate and the Dr. helped us find some consecrated oil. The bone was broke all the way through and was cutting off the venous flow, so they knew it would need to be "set" and that she would need surgery. They had a heck of a time starting the IV. After 4 tries, Libby was still holding strong (no crying!) and they finally had the IV in. With the help of some strong meds they put Libby under and after I left the room, they manipulated the bone back into place. After they put a splint on, we were sent home and instructed to return for surgery in 24 hours. And so began 8 weeks of learning just how important a right arm is! Libby and I spent a lot of time together. She needed help with just about everything. I have great empathy for mother's who are raising children with chronic disabilities. What a challenge! We made it over this speed bump and we will make it over the next one too....(whatever that may be)

Trying to put on a brave face for Easter! Poor thing wasn't doing too hot.

Noelle wanted in on the action. She had some jealousy issues with all the attention Libby was getting!

Special Dates

Millie came to our home on May 19th, which is Grandma Great's Birthday. Aunt Kara pointed out that special fact to us. Millie was born on January 25th, which is fun too because her cousin Jonah was born the next day! It's amazing to think that our little girl was entering the world at that time without us even being aware. Heavenly Father was aware though and the wheels had already been put in motion. Check out these cute cousins...

Nice to meet you Jonah!

A little backwards...

Now that 3 months have passed, I'm going to tell the unfinished story of baby Millie. This will probably take a few entries. I don't get big chunks of time like I use to! How to make a long, amazing story a little shorter but no less amazing? It's a tough thing to do. I'll give it a shot. For about the last 4 years we have been actively trying to bring another baby into our home. I could tell some stories, but they would probably embarrass Daren and the "gentle reader". I, on the other hand am way past that. I'll tell you anything you want to know, just ask. I'll spare you the stories and just use some words to describe the process over the years: money, tears, prayers, bloating, injections, awkward, adoption, emotions, questions, fasting, blessings, in vitro, risk, acceptance, anxiety, depression, money (ya, I listed money twice). We ran through a whole range of emotions and plans. In May, we had finally come to the conclusion that we would go ahead with invitro (even though it was really risky). Through an amazing sequence of events we had secured financing for it, so we felt pretty good about it. I still had my doubts, but we were out of options. As of right then Daren still had doubts about adoption and I couldn't go through with that without him being fully on board. So, in vitro it was. We were scheduled to pay for and start the process on Saturday May 19th. On Wednesday, May 16th I got an email that changed our plans completely. The agency had a Caucasian, LDS birth mom (this is UNHEARD of with this particular agency) who was looking for a family. Daren's heart was softened and fully converted almost instantaneously. He was filled with a love for both the birth mom and the baby (as was I) and we received an unmistakable confirmation that this was the baby for us. It was nothing short of amazing. We had to do more financial fancy foot work, but with God's help it worked out. By Saturday May 19th, we were driving home with a baby. Below is the first picture taken of our complete family.

The first day of school!

1st Grade

4th Grade