say opposites

i got it on video :)

day out with friends

a day with friends. marshall, emma kate, ella and maddox.

sibling love

although i am still ok with one child, this morning made me have a tiny desire to add another peanut to the mix. (for those of you who dont know, nick is mm half brother, he does not live with us)

adopting william

you may remember when i posted about this family that is trying to adopt a special needs child from liberia.

william was born with severe needs. mercy ships stepped in a provided the much needed surgery for im. the following are some before and after pictures.













the mom just got a call that they will be getting him soon. they need to raise the rest of the money. if you would like to donate to them please visit their blog.

the following is the latest from them

I got a call today that we have PASSPORT and FINALIZATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And because William already got his Visa pre approval with the US Embassy in Liberia we don't have anything left to wait on!!!!!!!
Well we do...we have to wait for Acres of Hope(my agency) in Liberia to DHL me the paperwork to submit to USCIS Detroit for William's I600. Normally this can take a couple weeks but with my Liberian daughter I found that calling them and emailing them daily(aka stalking)really moved things along. I got approval for her in 2 days. I intend to do the same with William :) Wish me luck ;)

So we are now SO close. I am so excited and a little scared. But God is GOOD! Yee hee I am so happy!!!

Love ya all,

Jen

hair loss mystery solved

i hope anyway..

went to the dr and had some blood taken. we found out that i have almost NO iodine in my system. who would have thought to have that checked? anyway i looked it up and lack of iodine can cause a lot of problems but one of them is:

Iodine is vital to your hair growth. Sheep farmers long ago found that vegetation-lacking iodine 
due to iodine-depleted soil would adversely affect the growth of wool in their sheep. 
Likewise, to avoid hair loss, you need iodine. Iodine is synthetically added to table salt, 
however in this form it is not assimilated well into your body and can therefore cause iodine overload.

An excess of iodine in the body can adversely affect the thyroid. The lack of iodine can cause 
hypothyroidism. In hypothyroidism, your cell metabolism slows down and body cells and hair 
cells don't receive the energy they need to function properly. When you lack iodine, 
you will lose more hair than normal and may even lose eyebrow hair. 

it can also cause breast cancer:

The essential trace element iodine may be the most important least publicized mineral in existence. Iodine is the only element needed in hormones and in the production of hormones. The iodine containing hormones are involved in the creation of embryos, development of brain function, growth, metabolism and maintenance of body temperature. This means that proper amounts of thyroid hormone, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, insulin, growth hormone etc. can not be made when iodine is lacking from the body. One third of all individuals on Earth are functioning with subnormal levels of iodine. Low intake of iodine is the leading cause for intellectual deficiency in the world.

There is strong evidence that iodine lack predisposes to breast cancer.