Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans that I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

I have prayed this verse over Jackson's picture since we first saw him just over a year ago on March 5, 2009.  I prayed this verse over him when I first held him in my arms and will continue to pray this verse over him for the rest of his life.

We serve a mighty God that hears the cries of
the oppressed
the broken
the orphaned
the hungry
the tired
the silent
the lonely
the deaf

I believe in answered prayer whether or not it is the answer we are looking for.

I believe in rejoicing and praising God in the bad times
as well as
the AMAZING times!

I shed tears today when the audiologist held up his audiogram through the glass in the testing sound booth!
Jackson's hearing test was an answer to our cry for Jackson!

His unaided results (what he hears without hearing aids) was in the moderate range (40-45db loss)  This puts him right in the middle of what's called the "Speech Banana" (where speech sounds fall in decibels).  With a bone conductor hearing aid on, Jackson's aided results put him well above the normal hearing threshold!!!!  This means that with bone conduction hearing aids he will hear normally!!!
I am thankful for God and his plan for our little man!!!!

Also, Jackson does not have any indicators of other sydromes that might be related to Microtia/Atresia.

If you have been praying for our sweet little Jackson, please remember topraise HIM tonight for answering our prayers!!!

Where do we go from here?
We are waiting for a call back from our pediatrician's office to find out if we need a referral to Timko Hearing Aids.  Thankfully, one of the audiologists that I worked with for 8 years in the school system now works for Timko!  We are ready to get our little boy some hearing!!!!

Ready For Tomorrow's ENT Visit

Kurt and I are anxious for tomorrow's ENT appointment for Jackson.  We are hopeful that he will have significant improvement in his hearing with a BAHA because he loves to press the side of his head onto our face and mouths as we are talking or singing to him.  He seems to be recognizing certains words that we say without a sign language cue.
Please join us as we lift Jackson up in prayer to the Lord that he will not have any other associated syndromes or problems.  We know that we will be prepared for anything that happens, but for Jackson's sake, we hope that there won't be anything else involved.
I was finally able to get Jackson's Social Security Number/Card issued on Monday...it only took 2 trips to the SS office.  We needed his Certificate of Citizenship, 2 documents from China that were translated and notarized in China (Birth Certificate and Adoption Decree), his Chinese Passport, and my driver's license...not to mention we had to fill out the SS application.  We were originally told that we only needed his COC, adoption decree and my driver's license.
I have tons of pictures that I want to post to catch up on the past couple of weeks.  Hopefully tomorrow when we come home from Shands we will have more information about Jackson's microtia/atresai/anotia and can post more pictures!
Blessings,
Stacy 

Making Peace

A Little Bit of This ~ A Little Bit of That

Here are the kids with our 2010 Census form.  I had actually filled it out a week ago, but just got around to taking a picture of it and the kids!  Ok, trying to figure out the new blogger and uploading pictures.  I guess I will just add them and then type.  Jackson likes to wear Kurt's baseball hats and always put them on sideways.  He is so busy that we're having a difficult time capturing the smiles because he's so fast...we've even had the occassional turn of the head when he sees the camera coming out.  We enjoyed dinner at Outback to celebrate my uh-hem39th-uh-hem birthday.  My sister-in-love Angela, hosted a baby shower to welcome Jackson, and of course you could find him at the table of goodies!  We spent the day on Sunday outside doing yardwork before the rains came...2 days of worth.  Jackson enjoyed the swing today.  Jackson will now sit and play on his toddler bed and loves anyone to lay next to him and pretend to sleep.  And of course, how could I not post a picture of Jackson tootin' his own horn!!!  He will use anything and make a horn out of it and walk around pretending to make music!!!

ENT Referral Date

Hurray! We received the phone call from Shands and have an appointment for Wednesday, March 31st. Although this is later than what I would like, it is during our Spring Break and I won't have to take a day off of work.

A FEW OF HIS FAVORITES

These are just a few of Jackson's favorite things! He loves his stacking cups, his board books and his boxes. When we were in China, Jackson had a prized possession...his empty shoebox that he would put his toys in, carry around, then empty out and then sit on the box to play with the toys. We still have that box, although it is not the one pictured. It is now missing it's lid...I just can't part with it yet. He still loves to put his toys in it, but he does also love any type of bag...Target, Walmart, Publix "Green" bag, baby gift bag, etc. He puts EVERYTHING in it and then totes it around! And then he plays the dump and fill game!

Rub-A-Dub-Dub!

Love Me Some C*L*E*A*N Baby!!!!!

When EAST Meets SOUTH!

I introduced Jackson to his first bowl of cheese grits! And it was a pleasant one at that! He L.O.V.E.D. every tiny morsel of gr*t in his bowl! So glad that this southern girl has a grits eating partner!

Can you tell he is a character? And, by the way, I unfortunately do believe that Kurt and I were the ones to ruin his impecable table manners while we were in China...when a child will eat 3 plates full of food with chopsticks and it takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R! We told him he could use his fingers! Besides, isn't that what they're for???

Oh, yeah, my little man also loves him some fried okra!!!!!

Referral Approved!

Yesterday we received our phone call from our insurance that Jackson's referral was approved to go to the Pediatric ENT. We will be going to Shands Hospital in Gainesville. We now wait for the appointment to be scheduled and for the phone call.

More, Please, and All Done!

We are still waiting to hear about the approval of Jackson's referral to the Pediatric ENT at either Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital or Shands. Apparently when the dr. writes URGENT on the referral, the health insurance carrier gets to determine what is urgent...and urgent to them is a matter of life or death.

So in the meantime I thought I would post about how well Jackson is learning sign language. These are pictures of him signing, More, Please and All Done! There a has been a couple of instances where Jackson will come up to you or stop while he's playing and look at you. Then he will start waving his arm and babble. Then he looks at you like you should have understood everything he just signed. He get's E.X.C.I.T.E.D! when he learns a new sign and will use it over and over again. He recently did this with the sign for COLD!

One Month TOGETHER

Monday, March 1st, marked the 1 month of Jackson being placed in our arms. During this month we have all come so far! Everyday, when Kurt comes home from work, he remarks about how much Jackson is growing and changing.

We often talk about how "shut down" Jackson was on that cold February day. Little did we know how warm and snuggly our new little boy would be!

Jackson is so much like Jadon, it is amazing. He is ALL boy and doesn't stop moving! Although, he does go down for naps and bedtime fairly easy.

He is beginning to take to Maggie, our 80lb. Chocolate Lab. Everyday he asks, by pointing to Maggie and grunting, to go see her. Last night he even laughed as he was petting her with us.

We have been so graciously blessed by our Little Man! We look forward to our lifetime being filled with his warmth, smiles, kisses, hugs and even taking over our bed! We will have to try and get pictures sometime of how methodical he is in staking his claim in our King size bed!