Kids & Sports

We've tried our hand at another few sports lately with the boys! And I am having SO MUCH FUN! Not sure who is having more fun, me or the boys! :) Laine is in Karate! Best thing we could have done for the boy! HE LOVES IT! And is JUST SO PROUD! And so is mommy! Pictures are hard to capture, but here are a few!

And, little Ezra! He may look little, but let me tell you something! THAT BOY IS SOLID! Seriously! Unbelievable! I think he weighs about 28 pounds now and is ALL MUSCLE! We started this little man in Gymnastics and he is ELATED! LOVED it! Unfortunately, I only signed him up for a three week "Tiny Tots" class through the city not knowing how a two year old would do with "listening" "doing" and all that stuff in Gymnastics! HE BLEW ME AWAY! He was the only kid in his entire class that walked around with a GRIN from ear to ear doing exactly what the teacher asked him to do, and doing it WELL! As though he had practiced a million times already! UNREAL! He was AMAZING on the rings! That boy has it in him! I'm hoping to continue him in weekly lessons. I think I've found his "niche." LOVE it! So here are a few pictures of that as well! ENJOY!

Kate McRae

So, many have heard me talk about, ask for prayer, update on a dear friend of mine's daughter, Kate McRae! MY HEART IS HEAVY! And has been since the day I heard the news. I went to school with Kate's mother, Holly, at Walnut Ridge, and have had the PRIVILEGE of briefly reconnecting with she and her husband as he is one of the pastors on staff at our church in Chandler! TALK ABOUT A SMALL WORLD! Anyway, they keep a blog for Kate at www.prayforkate.com if you'd be so kind as to go visit the blog and read and PRAY OVER HER for COMPLETE healing, and NEW LIFE! I am a believer in MIRACLES! To this day, I still believe our daughter, Grace Priscilla's life of TWELVE DAYS at only 10 ounces (no pounds here) was nothing short of MIRACULOUS! And I am BELIEVING that God is going to bring Kate through this battle. Some days, I'm weary, and just can't pray another day further, and there are days where I am on my knees MUCH of the day BEGGING and PLEADING with God for a miracle here.

Back in July (July 4 if you want to read the exact entry by Holly), Holly wrote how after surgery, the surgeon performing her surgery was so careful to cut and make the incision close to her bang line so that the scar wouldn't show too much as Kate was concerned how people would look at her or talk about her or laugh at her (this is from memory, but this is sort of what I remember). FROM THAT DAY FORWARD, I felt very convicted in my heart about DONATING a good portion of my very own very healthy and long hair to an organization most are familiar with, "LOCKS OF LOVE" IN HONOR of Kate McRae. Though she is not the actual recipient of my own hair, she is why I chose to donate my hair.

I DID IT, yesterday. My dearest cousin, Andra Good, helped me accomplish this task! SHE IS AMAZING! Absolutely LOVE her passion for what she does, and the amazing job she does with her talent and gift that God has so richly blessed her with! Andra knows Kate as well and also has the same praying spirit on her behalf. So it made it extra special!

Please continue to pray for this family and for Kate!

Before

Measuring

YIKES! No turning back now! :)

I will admit, I was quite nervous about this!

YAY! I did it! I'm in shock!

Cutting my new style!

I LOVE IT!

My dear partner in crime! Andra Good!

Sent that off in the mail today! HOW REWARDING!
And YES! I'd do it again!

Wow.........Oh.............Wow!

Alright, so things have been happening! :)

Chavalah's MRI went well. We meet with her Neurologist again on October 15, so we'll find out the results on that date!

Also, just yesterday, we were given the "go ahead" to contact our attorney to file our Petition To Adopt! YAY! Sound familiar!? :) Almost exactly ONE YEAR AGO we were doing this very same thing in hopes to complete Ezra's adoption! WOW! How things go fast! Seems like we've had Ezra forever, in yet he's only officially been "Ezra Baltzly" for less than a year! God is SO GOOD!

I, of course, within 5 minutes of receiving the e-mail to contact our attorney was ON THE PHONE with our attorney! :) YAY! She told us they are completing these within about 30 days, so should be another October adoption! Yippee! I'll of course update the blog with the new date info, and we will also be having another HAPPY CELEBRATION in her honor for those close to celebrate with us! We hope you all can make it! I will get things set once I get a date on our hearing, then let everyone know!

Thanks for checking in! I really need to get some pics up here! Sorry! :( Everyone is under the weather right now, so not much picture taking going on! :)

Shew!!!

Can anyone tell me, please, where September has already gone!?!? I'm absolutely amazed!

So, it's been a VERY busy month! :)

Posting a few pictures first from our first Good News Club!!!! :) We are grateful for even just ONE! We got THREE!!! :) PRAISE THE LORD!!!!! Our next one meets already this coming week! Can't believe it's been two weeks already! Enjoy! And thanks for PRAYING and thanks for CONTINUING to pray!!!! May the LORD be glorified!!!!

Good News Club

Well, we are starting a new adventure tomorrow that I can hardly wait for! We are going to be starting a Good News Club! How many of you all grew up with GNC!? I know for sure Benjamin and I both did! I did for YEARS! For as long as I can remember!

For those of you not as familiar with it, it is where neighborhood kids meet for an hour to enjoy a snack, Bible Story, singing, and learning a Bible verse!

Anyway, we have been preparing for the last few weeks and we can hardly wait to see what God's going to do with it! We've left it totally in His tender hands, and we are going to sit back and watch things happen!

My dear mama, is going to be teaching the lessons with the good 'ol flannel graph. She has been preparing hard for the first lesson. Last night, Laine & I knocked on doors to hand out and personally invite the kids to club! We'll see how many come tomorrow and how it grows! I will keep you all posted with the numbers. I will try and post some pictures too from club tomorrow!

Please be praying for open hearts in learning about God! Club will be on Thursdays (selected dates) from 3:15-4:15.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAINE!!!!

Laine's Birthday Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Pancakes and Hot Cocoa!!!
ON THE BALTZLY BIRTHDAY PLATE!

First sip of cocoa with whipped cream!

My favorite part about Laine! His silliness! As long as it doesn't get out of hand! :)

BIRTHDAY BOY! He got to wear this crown at school ALL DAY! He felt so special! SO neat!

Today at the end of the school day I was allowed to bring "birthday treats" to share with his classmates, so when I arrived, the whole class had a very special song prepared that they sang to me! It was GREAT! I felt like a queen! I sat in the glider and all of them stood around me (or almost on top of me! :) LOL) and sang to me and did these actions to the song! They then sang happy birthday to Laine and he passed out his treats! Special time!

Well, it's 4:15 on his birthday and we are only partly done! :) He's had a great birthday so far I think! Special birthday breakfast served on the special birthday plate, special crown to wear all day, special mommy surprise to bring in the treats, FOUR special birthday cards to open (some even had money in them! :)) Tonight we're meeting my mom and dad at McDonalds to get a bite to eat and ICE CREAM, then we'll hang out a bit at their house open a gift and play. Monday is our big "celebration" at Amazing Jakes! Laine doesn't know that yet. I'll post more pictures tonight (or try), and then I'll be posting more of Monday's "family celebration." Daddy is working tonight, so we had to wait until Monday!

Laine, we love you SO MUCH! We think you are SO SPECIAL and we hope you had a fun birthday! We are so grateful that God hand picked YOU for US! You are a perfect match! Couldn't have asked for a sweeter boy than you! We pray DAILY that God will do big things with your sweet spirit, your integrity, your social personality, your confidence and all the other cool things that you are! Happy 6th birthday and 4th birthday as a Baltzly!

"Highly Likely"

So, I returned home not too long ago from Chavalah's appointment with the new Neurologist! I'M SO GRATEFUL for God's grace and never failing love! That's about all I have to say. Alright, alright, so most of you are probably wondering what became of her appointment!

Let me just say, that both Benjamin and I had a pretty good "heads up" that the news we received today was going to be "confirmed." So, it didn't really come as a complete shock to us, but nonetheless, a big chunk to chew and swallow! And a very "real" picture of the reality of taking care of "special needs" kids!

Bottom line: Chavalah was diagnosed with having had an in-utero (sp) stroke to the right side of her brain. Thus, causing significant paralysis (this is what they call it, not complete paralysis but significant) to the left side of her body!

What does this mean? Fortunately, we won't have to change anything that we are not already doing at this time! An injury to the brain is better within the first three years of someone's life than anything past that. BECAUSE, within the first three years of a child's life, the brain is producing massive amounts of new brain cells and replacing what's not so good. THERAPY is the best solution for Chavalah at this point, in the neurologists definition, "retraining of the brain" to help repair as much as they can. Doesn't mean we won't continue to see the same issues we are seeing right now further on down into her future past three years of age, but if any significant help can be had, it's better to be had RIGHT NOW!

We will be scheduled to have an MRI within the next few weeks, and meet back with our Neurologist mid-October to review the results. She wants to make sure that there also isn't anything externally that she's not seeing. She's already "prepared us" that the MRI might not actually show the damage from her stroke, but that clearly, her physical conditions have clearly "confirmed" her having had that stroke. She explained the brain is like an electrical wire. The actual "hot wire" of the electrical wire is the brain within the first year of a baby's life. It's mostly made of water and is "mush." Over the first three years of a child's life, it then develops the "plastic coating" over the brain with it's new brain cells, and if the stroke has happened within that first year, it's possible the damage actually done by the stroke won't show up as the "plastic" will have already covered over the actual damage. I hope I'm making sense!

THANK YOU AGAIN for your continued prayers! This is the short of the long!

Adoption Update: Our adoption worker will be stopping by this coming Friday to pick up the last of our medical documentation. At that point, she will be forwarding our "application" for approval which takes approximately TWO WEEKS, and once that approval has been granted, we are free to contact our attorney to start working with the courts on an adoption date! My guess is the soonest something would be on the calendar would be in about 6 weeks or so. So possibly October, more likely November! I'll keep you all posted as I know more!