Surgery went well...hanging at the hospital

Prepping for Surgery

Catherine's surgery went VERY well yesterday!  Thanks everyone for your prayers!  She was in surgery about 4 and a half hours and is now recovering in the PICU.  Her surgeon stated that she "she already looks straighter" to him.  Praise God!  Complared to her last surgery, she is doing wonderfully!  She has had some pain and vomiting post-op but her color looks good and she has been able to move aroubd just a bit in bed, drink some fluids, and this morning she even ate a few bites of cracker.  Her brothers were able to come see her last night for a short time and this morning she had some big smiles for both Stan and I.  I can't tell you what joy it brings to my hear to see her smiling!  Later today she will move to a regular unit in the Children's Center and as soon as we get her really eating, she can work her way out of this place, maybe as soon as tomorrow or Monday!  Please continue to keep us in your prayers as she jumps the hurdle of getting up and out of bed :)

Seond Gotcha' Day

Wow!  I can hardly believe it has been a year since my last post!  For anyone following along, I'm so sorry I fell off the bandwagon!  I can be pretty time-consuming talking care of 4 kids (including homeschooling), running a house, and trying to keep enough food in the pantry for all my growing kiddos (especially my 14 year-old son who has totally morphed into a teenager :)  I won't try to catch you up on everything that happened in the last year other then to say that every day brought so many joys and blessings from the Lord as well as challenges and opportunities to grow, for Mom just as much as the kids!  This past weekend we were blessed to attend Peter's middle school graduation and then the following day (Saturday, June 2nd) celebrate the day we "got" our precious proncess, Catherine, in China.  My mother, sister Susan and her husband David, came up from Roanoke to join in the fun!  It was a wonderful weekend catching up and reminiscing.  This past year Catherine has grown so much and at five years old she is a little girl and no longer a baby.   She finished up 4 year old preschool and will be starting Kindergarten at "The Krol Academy" along with Patrick and Christopher in the fall.  Some of her favorite things to do currently are to draw and write, play with her dolls, and dance and sing.  She keeps us highly entertained with stories about her friend "Polly", singing little ditties, and writing us all love notes and leaving them around the house for us to find!  One of my greatest joys is when she gives me a BIG hug (often asking to hug Stan and I together or including her brothers as well) and says, "I love my WHOLE FAMILY!"  I think the best way to tell you about her year is simply to post some pictures that can tell the story much better than I can! 

Thank you God for the gift of our "Whole Family"!  They are each so precious!

Please keep Catherine (and all of us) in your prayers as she is headed for another surgery this Friday June 8th at Johns Hopkins Hospital.  She is having a VEPTER (Vertical Expanding Prosthetic Titanium Rib) placed in her ribcage to help open it up and hopefully straighten up her spine as well.  The procedure will take about 4-5 hours and she will be in the hospital for 3-5 days.  Once placed, this rod will have to be lengthened yearly (ugghhh!) but hopefully the hospital and recovery time will be much less.  Please pray for a safe, successful surgery as well as a quick recovery.  Also, keep Stan and I in your prayers as we switch off being with Catherine and taking care of the boys at home.  Now that Peter is 14 and the others 10 and 8, we anticipate them being able to help us keep things going somewhat :)  We also have a new puppy that needs constant supervision, so it will be a BUSY time!!!  We will try to update the blog frequently to keep everyone informed of her progress. 

Our First Gotcha' Day!

May 30, 2011

June 2, 2010

Today commemorates the very first "Gotcha' Day" for Catherine Fujuan Krol!  On this day exactly one year ago we received our precious princess from the Beijing Children's Welfare Institute in China.  This past Sunday, we celebrated this awesome blessing with friends and family with a party and by watching our video and slideshow of the occasion (produced of course by our incredible tech guy, Peter Krol)!  I think we all felt transported to China and that first incredible moment of seeing our new daughter!  Tears flowed freely (again!) by all of us watching, and it seems incredible how frail and vulnerable little Catherine Fujuan appeared as she timidly embraced her new family for the first time.  Today she is such a rambunctious and radiant four year old who loves everything pink, purple, and princess.   We are just taking joy in the gift God has given us in our sweet girl!

Chocolate Cake!

Smile

Catherine's Fourth Birthday

 

We celebrated Catherine’s (Fujuan’s) 4^th birthday last week (March 17th).  I think she fully enjoyed the event with the cake and candles and presents.  Catherine is into Princess everything, as most little girls seem to be lately, and she was "the little princess".  It cracks me up how she knows about this stuff since we watch very little TV and what we do watch is usually DVDs and usually educational. 

Personally, it felt joyous but a little strange as this was Fujuan’s  (Catherine’s) fourth birthday but it was her first birthday as Catherine Fujuan Krol.   With our other children, Christina and I were there at the beginning and we remember the days each was  born in vivid detail.  We do not have that with Catherine and it is reminder that she had a 3-year history of which we know very little.

In our day-to-day, we lose sight of that fact that Catherine has only been with us a short time as it seems she has been with us all always.  We hardly think of her as “adopted” anymore.  It is only birthdays or when I have to fill out forms that I think about it much (or when our social worker comes to visit).  We may not have a memory of the day Catherine was born but we do have “Gotcha Day” forever etch upon our minds and hearts.  And we have Catherine with us every day in her forever family.

Blessings

Stan

Spring is Coming!!!!

February 27th

Hello Again from the Krol family in sunny Ellicott City today :)  We are SO happy to finally see the sun shining after this crazy-long winter!  Last week was especially miserable as we battled the stomach and respiratory flu.  We are all on the mend, praise God, and Catherine didn't succumb to any of the germs floating around (must have built up some powerful immunity in the orphanage)!  Christmas was a joyous time here although we did miss traveling to Roanoke to see my (Christina's) family.  We haven't figured out yet how we are going to deal with the 5 hour trip as Catherine tends to get car sick, sometimes even on very short trips.  Possibly an Easter trip is in the planning as the boys get a week off their wild swim schedule for Spring Break.

Yesterday was  our 9 month post-placement visit with our wonderful Bethany social worker, Debby.  We had a nice visit, and she was quite impressed with Catherine's progress.  I guess the biggest news is she is potty trained!  She still needs to have a urology consult, but as far as we can tell, her development in this area is completely normal.  Also her gross motor skills have improved exponentially...she is running, jumping and climbing like an old pro.  A joy to see!

Other news from the homefront:  Peter is now 13!!!!  Eeek!  It is very hard for me to believe we are now the parents of a teenager.  Where does the time go???  He continues to be enamored  of anything technological but also enjoys reading and listening to Christian radio dramas.  Pray for us as we begin to navigate these years of challenges as well as opportunities.  The other boys are getting along well in their school work and love being best buddies.  They all have plenty of time to rile up, annoy, and LOVE on their new sister as we  continue to home school.  It is so much fun to see the way their relationships have developed over these months.  I am blessed, indeed, to be at home with them as they learn and grow!  Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we endeavor to teach them (and remind ourselves) to love the Lord and serve Him faithfully above all else!

PS  Our next step medically is a post-op MRI to be scheduled soon (she will have to be put to sleep) and then a visit to the orthopedic surgeon in May to determine the need for a rod in her spine to correct the scoliosis. 

God bless you all!

Catherine and Mommy :)

Merry Christmas

The Krol Side Cousins

Patrick helps Catherine into the snow

Catherine and her Grandfather

Catherine and her brothers playing with the hamster

Culinary Arts with Catherine and Christopher

Mmmm...Cupcakes!



Updated Slideshow

Hello Everyone, this is Peter,
    I have recently created a new slideshow and would like to share it with you all.  It contains photos from home as well as a new music track (at the end)!  Go to the end to see more recent pics from home.  Anyway, here it is!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi All! 

Hoping everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving!  We here at the Krol household were definitely blessed to ALL be together this year.  We spent the day at Stan's parents in Baltimore with both his sisters' families and lots of wonderful cousins and aunts as well.  It was the first time in several years that all our families had been together.  We got a wonderful group picture of all the kids (see below)...it was so fun to see them all together!



It is so hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner!  I can't remember a fall season that has passed so quickly for me before (must be a sogn of my age and/or busyness)!  I have really been slack about blogging and I apologize to anyone that reads our ramblings.  Life has been very, very busy between Catherine's recovery, home schooling, and (of course) swimming.   (Even today I have a couple kids at the pool...no rest for the weary swimmers :)  Mostly, I have been wanting to share how beautifully Catherine has recovered.  It is a joy to have our happy-go-lucky sweetheart back with us.  For quite some time after her hospital experience she was rather solemn and sad.  Now she is mostly all smiles and giggles...praise God!  Thank you for your continued support and prayers.  We will head back to the Orthopedic surgeon soon to asess her need for the grow rod.  Please pray with us that her spine has straightened up enough after the release that she will not need it.  We will keep you posted.  Enjoy some updated pictures below :)

 Zoning in front of the Nintendo Wii

Catherine and her cousin, Trinity

All of the Krol Cousins