What is He Trying to Tell Us?

¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Phillipians 4:11-13

Verse 13 is a very common verse to read, hear, and see in Christian circles.  But the verses preceding 11 are often left off.  The Lord has shown Pete and each these verses 3 times in the past 3 days!  We don't know why but we are holding very tight to them.

Evan Ernst

Welcome to the world! Evan Ernst is my newest nephew. Such a BIG and handsome little guy!

Happy SIXTH Bithday to my baby girl Kenadie!

It's hard to believe that it was six years ago already that we welcomed you into our family. You've been making me pay for that planned early c-section every day since but I wouldn't change it for anything! I love you more and more each day baby girl. Mommy and Daddy have been so blessed you watch you grow. I look forward to each new day with you, watching you blossom into the lovely girl that God has made you to be.

Too Funny Not To Share

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Book Club

One of my goals for this year is to read at least one book per week, ideally 2. I figure if I can stop reading so many blogs/emails and dedicate that time to my long list of books, then this is an easily accomplished goal for the year. I do need some accountability so I'm going to join two on-line book clubs. I choose these two simply because they are hosted by bloggers that I read frequently AND they are reading books that are on my list.

Kierstyn's Endoscopy

Kierstyn had her endoscopy today at St. John Hospital & Medical Center with Dr. Lyons in Detroit. She was originally scheduled for 10:45 am. but the nurse called yesterday afternoon to change her to 9:00 am. I was happier with that. She had to fast after midnight so the less time she had to go without eating, the better.

She was such a trooper! She is a strong little girl. She was not anxious at all. Since Kaeterina had this procedure done in March of this year, I already knew what to expect and so could explain it all to her ahead of time.

The procedure took less than 30 minutes. When Dr. Lyons was done, he came out to find me in the waiting room to let me know immediately that it all went well and he didn't find anything to be concerned about. That is wonderful news. Except that we are still left with uncontrolled reflux with accompanying headaches. She is to come back in next week to see him for a follow-up and stay on the Nexium in the meantime to see if it decides to work. She can only take it for 8 weeks and we are starting week 3 already with zero changes.

Tomorrow we see the neurosurgeon for the headaches and dizziness.

Week-end To Remember Drop-Outs

Well, Pete and I are now Week-end to Remember drop-outs although it still was a memorable week-end for us. After the first 2 sessions on Saturday morning, we had a 50 minute break so we decided to go find something to eat since neither of us had eaten breakfast before the start of the conference. We had to be up at 6 am (after not going to bed until 1 am)in order to drop the kids off are two different sets of parents houses and get to Dearborn from Troy in time for the 8:30 am start time.

After that break, we were supposed to go back for another 50 minute session, then one and half hours for lunch, and then back again for 2 more sessions. It was a well planned out week-end with excellent speakers. However, neither one of us was really into it. I don't know how to explain it. It wasn't a bad conference just not a conference for us. So while we were enjoying our mid-morning snack, Pete said, "Let's just not go back." I had already been thinking that so I was THRILLED that he felt the same way. We left immediately.

We spent the rest of Saturday enjoying an early dinner at one of my favorite gluten free friendly restaurants, PFChangs, running errands, and then picking up the girls. My niece was having an ice skating birthday party at the Troy Sports Arena near our house that night as well. We put the girls to bed and watched a movie. Nothing exciting but we had a wonderful afternoon just being together.

We were both happy to not have to get up quite so early on Sunday to drive to Dearborn again. And especially because my Man and my Dad ended up having to drive to Ann Arbor to help Briggys with his new to him broken down car.

New Wedding Band

Tonight my man gave me a new wedding band to match his. Almost 2 years ago I donated my wedding band and engagement ring to City Mission to auction to raise funds for their programs. This was just before our 10 year wedding anniversary. Pete had said for a few years that he would buy me an additional band for my ring for our 10 year anniversary. I decided for many reasons that I actually wanted a completely new ring. It has taken 2 years from that point for us to be ready to buy a new one. This one is much plainer and simpler than my first one. I think it is more 'me' than my old one. Pete also had it engraved to match his too with "Just Like Heaven 10/18/97". I can't believe we have been married for almost 12 years already!

More of Kierstyn

K2 had her long awaited appointment today with Dr. Lyons, our pediatric gastroenterologist. Yes, I did say our. K1 saw him February/March when she was having all of her GI issues that still remain undiagnosed but she's on the better side of things now. Dr. Lyons remembered us from 6 months ago. I don't consider that a good thing. He thinks she has reflux just as her pediatrician did. He changed her medication (this is the third one that we are trying). If it works, then we will go back in 6 weeks for a follow-up. If it hasn't worked within 2 weeks, then we are to call him to discuss our next step. He is not going to do any invasive testing at this time because her symptoms seem cut and dry. I'm going to continue to have her eat gluten just in case until the 2 weeks is up so if he does decide to do more testing, then she's been eating the gluten already.

We also need to pay closer attention to her headaches to see if she complains about them at the same time as the stomach/throat complaints because she could be getting digestive migraines. Great. We see our pediatric neurologist in 3 weeks to discuss her headaches that she has had since July as well.

Dr. Nadarajah (her regular pediatrician) wants me to call her back in 2 weeks as well. If she isn't improving, then she'll re-run her blood tests. She still thinks her levels were high due to the pneumonia but since she's still pale and not herself yet, we'll follow up with that.

Just as we get a 'clean bill of health' so to speak for K4, K2 starts not being so well. To say the least, we are all getting flu shots this year! If the kids can get this sick in the summertime, who knows how they'll be come the wintertime. Maybe we'll just hibernate this winter : )

Happy 9th Birthday Big Girl!

My oldest child, oldest daughter, turns 9 years old today. Where has the time gone!?! I know all too well that saying "They don't stay small for long." I can't believe she is half-way to 18 already. And today she told me that she only has 9 more years to go until she can go sky-diving with her Daddy. Normally that would freak me out. But I know my Big Girl, she doesn't like heights, I'm not too worried about her actually jumping out of a perfectly safe airplane anytime too soon.

Kierstyn Update

It feels like the only time I have anything to post anymore is an update on my latest sick child. I took Kierstyn back in to the pediatrician's office today because she woke me up yet again last night complaining of a pain on her lower left side. It's unlike her to wake up for anything. She is, after all, a Pfeiffer. And the Pfeiffers love to sleep!

I found out at the ped's office that her pneumonia is in her lower left lung. Well now that makes sense! The pediatrician suspected fluid build up in her lung. She said she always to try to narrow symptoms down to just one diagnosis but with all that Kierstyn is complaining about, it's hard to pull one thing out without considering the other. She also said she hopes we are just having a bad month and everyone is well by September! So do I! We've been in that office more this past month that in any entire year that I can remember. We'll definitely be getting flu shots this year!

Her blood work-up from Saturday was all normal except that her white blood count was up which makes sense with have pneumonia. Oh, and she's had mono at some point. Nice. Doc said we probably thought she just had a cold and was feeling under the weather but it was mono. Nothing we could have done anyways with that diagnosis anyways.

Dr. Foster sent us back to main St. John's in Detroit for another chest x-ray because her lungs still sounded bad and she had labored breathing. She said if we didn't mind, to go there because they would get her the results in less than an hour so off we went. Oh, and to wait for the reading if we could because if she had fluid in her lungs like she suspected, Kierstyn would have to be admitted to have it drained. But, oh yeah, I have 3 other kids so go ahead and go home to prepare for what to do with them just in case and she'd call me within an hour of me leaving the hospital.

I love St. John's! We were in and out of there in about 15 minutes total. No waiting to register. No waiting for the tech to come out and get her. And my Mom parked the car so no waiting for valet to bring me my car.

Dr. Foster's office nurse just called to tell me that, yes Kierstyn does have fluid in her left lung but it is a small amount. We need to have her rest and drink plenty of fluids. To call if any of her symptoms get worse, otherwise, to bring her back in on Friday for a re-check. Praise the Lord for that news!

K1 & K2 are supposed to leave at 2 pm on Friday for a week-end in NYC with Daddy and the Kelly crew. Her well check-up appoint is scheduled for 11 am. I sure hope she is healed by then so she can go on this trip. She'll be so disappointed if she can't go. She's been talking about it daily since we told her they were going.

GFCF Diet

Kierstyn has an appointment in two weeks to see the pediatric gastroenterologist, Dr. Lyons for her reflux. She is on her second medicine, Prilosec, trying to control it. It seemed to work for one week but now it's not. We are in our 4th week of trying it. I have a feeling that he will do an endoscope like he did on Kaeterina earlier this year. I've had the whole family on a gluten free diet for most of the summer now. This means Kierstyn has to eat gluten again before the test if I want him to look for celiac disease, which of course I do since he'll be down that way anyways.

I've also been weaning them off of dairy and eggs. That has been much harder. Honestly, it's been much harder because I don't want to give those up either. I know I'm addicted to gluten. Life without bagels just doesn't seem worth living : ) Pete would only agree to the new diet for whole family if I agreed to do it for myself as well. Being that I'm such a ridiculously picky eater, giving up anything of the limited things that I do eat, is difficult. It has helped my weight loss goal though : ) We are trying to be fair to everyone in the house and if one person can't have something then neither can anyone else. Between Pete's celiac and food allergies and Kierstyn's GERD diet (nothing spicy nor greasy, no chocolate, tomatoes, onions, garlic, citrus, no just name a few) and her ADHD diet, we don't have a lot of options.

My cooking skills are being tested tremendously! I've been checking out new blogs and cookbooks from the library like crazy. But I do have to say that I am enjoying the experimenting in the kitchen again. It is really all in all an healthier way to eat in the long run. It does mean the house isn't quite as clean as it should be. Why mop if I'm just going to get it dirty immediately following : ) It's all a trade-off!

Sick Kiddos

It seems that between the 4 kids, I've been to more doctors, specialists, labs & hospitals this summer alone than in the past 8 years. Of course we've had the on-going issues trying to medically diagnose Kaiden's severe developmental delays.

Additionally, Kierstyn has had health concerns on-going since July. It started with a concussion when Kaeterina dropped her while trying to do a headstand in the front yard. Lots of headaches have followed. She did pass the pediatrician's neuro test twice on two different occasions. That was quickly followed by reflux. The first medicine didn't work so we are in our 4th week now of trying another that doesn't seem to be working either. On top of that, I think she has allergies, possibly asthma too. Those do all seem to run in our family. I took her in to see the pediatrician last week because the headaches weren't getting any better, neither was the reflux.

Now she's been running a fever all week and complaining of a stomach ache. The stomach ache is probably the reflux. The fever has me concerned. I think Pete will take her in to see the pediatrician again tomorrow because I'll be at the Beth Moore live event at KCC.

I Know

I know. I'm WAY behind in posting updates. 4 months to be exact. It's been a crazy, busy, sickly summer. Busier than normal and I hope not the new normal for us : ) I was trying to at least keep Kaiden's blog up but I've failed at doing even that over the past 3 months. I wasn't sure if I would keep this blog going since we weren't moving to NYC right now. I think I will. More goes on in our lives than just Kaiden. Although sometimes I'm not sure of that either.

Everyone is sick here AGAIN today and although it is gorgeous outside (80 degrees and sunny!), we are going to have a jammie day which will allow me to do some catch up work on the laptop. The girls LOVE jammie days. We just lounge around the house in our jammies reading, snacking, and watching dvds at will. We are on season 8 already of Little House on the Prairie. KiKi is anxious to see Laura have her baby so we'll see if we can get that far today.

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Kaeterina

Kaeterina had her follow-up appointment with the gastroenterologist today. All of her test results came back negative. She hasn't gained nor lost any weight. This was a huge relief since she's not drinking as much Pediasure as they said she should but she's not eating as much either. But at least is eating more. He said we could try something for possible reflux but we already did that with her pediatrician and it didn't seem to make a difference. He said to let's just give it time and see if her appetite continues to improve. So that is what we are going to do. Just take a wait and see approach. For school, we also started a 5 A Day study and are tracking all of our fruit & vegetable consumption. She loves to get rewards so she's trying extra hard to get in her 5 a day so that she can get a certificate next week. This week we are concentrating on just getting them in. Next week we'll concentrate on portion size.

We're Moving

When the adoption began to look like it was going to happen sooner rather than later, we realized that this was God's plan all along. We were not moving to Manhattan. As crazy as moving there with 3 girls seemed, it seemed even crazier to move there with a new special needs baby in tow. Here in Michigan, we have a support system. Close friends and family that are there when we need them. Sure, we would have Communitas in NYC, but that wouldn't be the same as the relationships that we have here in Michigan. It also meant that an 800 sq ft two bedroom apartment would not be as doable as we thought it would be. That on top of many other factors, we knew we weren't moving to Manhattan. I'll save all of that for another day.

But now that we weren't moving to NYC, where were we moving? Somewhere else? In Michigan? Troy? Detroit? An apartment? Our old house? Both Pete and I agreed that we wouldn't make a decision until we both felt the same way. This left us in limbo for quite a few months. The most logical thing for us to do was to move back into the old house. The lease on that was not up until March 31, 2009 so we knew we had a few months to try to figure things out and hear from God.

By January I was sure that we were moving back to Troy. I thought our old house. But just to be sure, I thought we should look at buying another house. Pete agreed so I started talking with a real estate agent in February and looking at foreclosures. This only felt right if it was happening so that we get a great deal. We could potentially find a bigger house with 4 bedrooms, in a better school district, for less money. Eventually we went through the offering and declining process on two different houses. Both in Troy, essentially the same houses, with one slightly larger. Our prayer was always that if this was not the plan, the He would close the door. And close the doors he did. When we lost the offer on the second house to a lower bid, it was obvious that this was not His plan for us. But now what? Pete still felt drawn to D. Some days I do too but I'm not ready for that yet. Not now.

We again agreed (for those that know us both well, you know that us agreeing on anything is a big step in of itself : ) that we'd wait until we returned from China to make a final decision. We had an agreement with our renters now that the lease was ending, that we'd both give each other as close to 60 days notice as possible. They were in their own limbo and weren't prepared to re-new the lease either.

After 1.5 weeks in China, I just knew that we were supposed to move back into the old house. As frustrating as that idea was (having sold 80% of our belongings, of which we now need to buy at least 40% back again) it felt like the right thing to do. I needed safety, simplicity, and security. I know Troy. I know that house. Since we had prepped that house to sell originally, I knew that it wouldn't need much work. Maybe some painting and cleaning, but nothing else. Now if only Pete would feel the same way.

Eventually Pete came to same the conclusion. We'd move back into the old house. But not our old lives. Things have to be different this time around. We've released our attachment to 'stuff' and vowed not to accumulate so much again. We also know our lives need to mean more than our usual surburbia living. We don't know exactly what that means yet, but have faith that God will show us, step by step. He has already started to reveal a little by our growing involvement in the Cass Corridor area of Detroit.

Pete contacted our renters and terminated our lease. Because we don't have an exact move out date, we told them that we can be a little flexible with the beginning of May. I'm hoping to back in and settled for Mother's Day. But I also know not to count on what I want either.

Adoption Blog

We are preparing to leave for China so I'll only be updating Kaiden's blog while we are away. You can keep up with us over there:

God's Plan - Our Journey to China

Leaving on a Jet Plane

14 hours until take off.....