Its been a while!

I can’t believe how long it has been since we last posted!  There have been quite a few things that have happened in the last month that we have been home, and it is only right that we let you all know what is going on with us!

To start out with, we finally made it back to our home in Adams, TN!  The drive was easy, and we were excited to be back in our home. Some friends were at our house to welcome us with a fresh pot of chili! It was a great night!

The following weekend was my birthday and my parents came down to hang out and meet Leeland for the first time. It was a busy weekend! We were able to get on skype with my brother in Italy, do some shopping, and of course watch the Colts vs. Jets game, the last game the Colts won this season. ( We don’t talk about the last one)

As far as Leeland’s health goes, he is a perfectly healthy baby boy! He is incredibly happy, and smiles all the time. It never gets old to see him smile. Each time, its like he is doing for the first time (cheesy, i know).

As far as McKinna and I go, we have been getting into a rhythm of life again. I get up early to feed Leeland, McKinna would stay up late. However, the past few nights Leeland has been sleeping around eight hours each night. That is a blessing that you cannot put a price on.

Oh right, back to us (its hard to not talk about Leeland). The Discipleship Training School that McKinna was a part of leading back in the fall has returned from their outreach to Chile and Argentina. This week has been very crazy as McKinna has been spending time with the students that she led and I have been keeping up with all of the projects that we have been working on at the base.

What projects you ask? Well, shortly after posting this, I will be traveling to Atlanta with our base director for a meeting that we were invited to take part in about the long-term plans for rebuilding Haiti. We’re not sure what YWAM Nashville’s role will be, but we are excited to find out. Please pray that the right doors would open and we would have a clear direction of who we should partner with as we look forward to developing relationships with ministries in Haiti.

Well, I know its been short, but I wanted to write something to let you whats been going on. So to end it all, here are some more pictures of Leeland. Enjoy!

This is one of the most recent pictures. Leeland is about 24 inches and a little over 11.5 lbs!

Grace and Peace!

Marc, McKinna and Leeland

Leeland’s Test Results and more pictures

This morning, we got up early and drove down to the Oklahoma University Medical Center for Leeland’s sweat test to find out whether or not he had cystic fibrosis or if he was simply a carrier. The results came back and he is only a carrier!

Thank you all for your prayers!

Some of the best pictures yet

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Yes. He just finished eating.

Doctor Evil’s pinky.

I started to type a caption as if Leeland(someone who cannot think or speak) was saying it. McKinna reminded me of this.  So . . . if he could think, he might say “Look! I found my thumb!”

Grandma Sheree and Leeland. He likes to catch flies.

McKinna quickly took this picture after he peed on her leg. Leeland maintains that he can’t be held responsible for his actions.

He keeps one eye on the action at all times. Let me remind you that he is 12 days old and he rolls over consistently. We’re considering having a talk with him about dating next week. We’ll keep you posted.

Do you recycle? He does.

Need I say more?

Have a good one.

Grace and peace.

marc & mckinna

what a week it has been

Since we left the hospital on Sunday with Leeland, it has been quite an eventful week.

Leeland’s Health Update

Leeland is doing fantastic! He is eating so well; at least 3 oz. of formula at each feeding. The scabbing on his head has gone down very quickly. He is sleeping better each time we put him down for a nap.

We are now asking our friends and family to join with us in prayer for Leeland in a new way.  The doctors have found a genetic mutation in his DNA regarding cystic fibrosis. We are believing that he is only a carrier and does not have the disease. We are taking him for more testing on Tuesday morning at Oklahoma State University and this testing will determine his diagnosis.

We look forward to sharing with you how God continues to watch over Leeland’s life and protect him.

A death in the family

While we were at the hospital Sunday morning, I got a call from my dad letting me know that Baba, my mom’s mother had gone to be with Jesus that morning. While this certainly wasn’t a surprise, there is still a giant hole in our family. Baba was 94 years old. She lived a full life and saw more than mos. She lived through World War II in Czechoslovakia. Her name is on wall at Ellis Island. She walked with God until the last day. I hope to write a more detailed entry about her life in the next few weeks. When I was in high school I interviewed her for my history class about her life and it was an amazing moment. I videotaped it, and I’m going to try to see what I can do to have it transcribed someday.

Please keep my family in your prayers through this time. I was able to fly to Cleveland for the funeral, which was on Wednesday. However John, my brother, was not be able to make to the funeral because he is living in Italy until the Fall as a nanny. Please keep him in your prayers especially.

Grandma Sheree

While I was in Cleveland, McKinna’s mom, Sheree came for a visit. It has been such a blessing to have her here and help us through all the questions we have. It was such blessing for her to come when she did because without her being here, I would not have been able to travel to Cleveland for the funeral.

We plan on posting some new pictures tomorrow so be on the lookout for those! And wherever you are stay warm!

Grace and Peace,

Marc

And . . . we’re home

Well, he didn’t exactly come home. But he did leave the hospital, and is back at the apartment with us.

This final day at the hospital went very smoothly. We arrived at 9am for his feeding, and we were able to help out with that. Shortly after, the nurse came and took him to be circumcised. And, well, we’ll leave it at that. While nurse had him, we watched a video on infant CPR with the birthmom and practiced on a doll. But we won’t be putting those pictures up because I look ridiculous.

After that, we waited. And waited. And waited. We waited on the pharmacy to bring up some Tylenol for Leeland’s circumcision pain relief. We waited on the nurses to bring his discharge papers. We waited for the agency to come to the hospital after church to sign all of the necessary papers.

And then it was done. Soon, we were walking out of the hospital with the nurse carrying Leeland in his carseat.

He’s such a cute little bugger. So now we’ve made it home and we’ve fed him and he’s sleeping in his basinet quietly and peacefully.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for your encouragement. And thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers.

Leeland is God’s promise fulfilled. We pray that his story will give hope to others as they hear about how God has taken care of Leeland, the birth-mom, her family & us.

Grace & Peace,

Marc

And here are some pictures!

saturday was a good day

“What happened today?”

A lot. A lot happened!

We arrived at the hospital around noon, where we were led to what is called a “Parenting Room.” This alone is a fantastic improvement. Leeland is still considered to be in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, but he is improving so much, that he has been moved into his own room! He is still being monitored but his condition is consistently improving.

His head is healing very well too. You can still tell where the vacuum had to be used, but his body is recovering very fast.

The biggest improvement can be seen in how much he is eating. Yesterday when we visited him, he ate 15ccs of formula, and today he at 64ccs! This is the main sign that the nurses are looking at for his release. They want him to be able to consistently eat 55-60ccs every three hours.

Papa Marvin was allowed to come back to the room and spend some time with us and Leeland. He was beaming as he got to hold him the first time.

Tonight, after his midnight feeding, he will go through a few different tests that all babies in the NICU have to go through before they are discharged. The main one is a car-seat test where they place him in the seat and monitor is vitals. The nurses are confident that he will pass this test!

So . . . this means that there is the very strong possibility that he will leave the hospital with us tomorrow!

We are so excited. This has really been an amazing process. We couldn’t be more appreciative of the birth-mom and her family. They really are amazing people and have been so accommodating the past few days. We ask you all to join with us and pray blessings on all of them.

See you all tomorrow!

- Marc & McKinna

what will happen today?

The answer is . . . . we don’t know.

There is a possibility that we could bring home from the hospital today, and we are definitely hoping for that.

At noon, we are going over to the hospital to spend some time with him again and we will know more then.

Please continue to keep Leeland, the birthmom, her family, and us in your prayers as we walk through the final stages of this hospital phase. Pray that Leeland’s health continues to improve, and that there will be no complications once he leaves the hospital. He is so strong and is responding well to everything, and we can’t wait to have him home with us.

We love you all, and are so overwhelmed with all of the responses. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Hopefully, we’ll have pictures to put up of him out of the hospital with us!

Pictures of Leeland!

This is the first picture we ever saw of Leeland, it was taken yesterday afternoon. Since then the tube going into his lungs has been taken out! The doctor said that the hole in his lung has been healing itself very well and is no longer a concern. Chest x-rays are still being taken every four hours to monitor his lungs.Marc burping Leeland as he falls asleep. This morning we got to see, hold and feed Leeland for the first time! It was so amazing and words cannot describe how it felt!

Yesterday afternoon the doctors found a hole in his heart in between two valves; the hole was causing the heart murmur. And as of this morning the doctor says he expects the hole to heal itself! The bruising along his skull is also healing very well and is no longer a concern!

Thank you so much for your prayers- they have obviously moved mountains! We will continue keeping everyone up to date! We love you all and can’t wait for you to meet our son! God Bless!

Leeland’s Health Update

Leeland was born at 12:18am on the last day of the decade! He weighed 8lbs 10z and was 20inches long! The birth mom was in labor for 16 hours, and stuck at 9.5cm for 6 hours. Leeland was not in any distress and was just chillin out until the last few minutes. During the last few minutes of  birth the doctor found his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and caused some issues…

Here is Leeland’s list of health issues:

He has a hematoma (like a big blood blister) on the top of his head from the suction devise used to get him out at birth.  The doctor is concerned because his head has grown 4cm in the last 8 hours.  They are doing a CAT-scan of the head now to check that out.  Normal growth is 1cm per week.

He has a hole in his lungs that they are watching, but expect it to close up on its own.  But until then he has a tube into his lungs. He also has a heart murmur.  They are doing chest x-rays every four hours.

They know he has an infection because his white blood count is very high, but they do not know where the infection is.  He is on a broad-spectrum antibiotic.

We have faith that God will heal these things in incredible ways. At this point we are just praying, sitting and waiting. The birth mom is doing well, please continue to keep her in your prayers!

As a reminder, please do not post anything on our facebook walls- we will just delete them.

Please please keep praying… God is going to do awesome stuff through all this. Thank you for all the love! We’ll have pictures up soon!

today is the day! (hopefully)

As I write this, McKinna and I, along with Marvin and Trish are sitting in a hospital in Oklahoma, waiting for our son to be born.

We can hardly believe that this day has finally arrived! There have been a few hiccups along the way, many of which I had wanted to write about, but they never made it to press.

For example, last monday we began to drive out to Oklahoma, anticipating Leeland’s birth which was to be the next day, December 22nd. But it didn’t happen. Leeland had not dropped at all, and the doctors did not want to induce labor at that point. Leeland was, and continues to have great health, so thankfully, that was never a concern.  Nevertheless, it got pushed back another week.

This past Monday, the birth-mom went back for another checkup, and they decided that it was time. Last night, she checked into the hospital and they started a Pitosin drip.  This morning, she continued to move along slowly, and as I sit here writing in the hospital lobby at 5:20pm local time, Leeland is still taking his time!

We believe that in the event of him being born today, we will be able to see him, and as soon as we have the chance, I will post pictures on here.

One final note as we enter into the final moments before we become parents :: out of respect for the birthmom and her family, we are asking that nothing be put on Facebook about our adoption at this time. We want to wait for the appropriate time  to do, and once we do, then the oooohing & aaaahing in the cyberworld may commence. Until then, however, please don’t take it personally if one of your posts is deleted from our walls without response.

This is one of the reasons why we started this blog! Here, we will be posting pictures, stories, and videos of everything that is going on.

Grace and peace to you all as we enter this New Year!

m

two adoption emails

Our adoption is moving forward!

Less than three weeks ago, I wrote to you from Oklahoma about our adoption plans. After that weekend of meetings, and the following weeks that included some traveling, things are beginning to take shape with our future son.

That’s right, it will be a boy! His name will be Leeland Daniel, and we are growing more and more excited each day as we get closer to his birth, which will be on DECEMBER 22, 2009! That is only 7 short weeks away from our lives changing forever. We are finalizing all of the paperwork and our official homestudy will begin shortly.

As we approach December 22, we are also facing a challenge of faith. We MUST raise $15,000 in the next month and a half to pay for the adoption. Because this is an adoption across state lines, we must work with different agencies in each state to make sure that we comply with the necessary laws to complete the adoption. We are blessed to be working with Christian agencies in both states, ones with the utmost concern for families and adoptive children.

It is an exciting time! God has been guiding us throughout this whole process from the beginning, as we strongly sense that He is the one who has brought this child to us. He birthed the desire for this child in us, and we believe that He will see the process through until the end. I was recently talking with my dad, Daniel, about the passage of Mary and the angel Gabriel. Gabriel tells Mary that she will have a son, and Mary responds with, “how can this be?” I’ve identified with this sentiment, as we sensed God saying to us in June that we would have a child in six months. My natural response would be, “How can this be?” But Mary’s final response is, “Let it be with me, just as you say”(The Message).

This has been our response to God in these moments.”Let it be with us, just as you say.” We believe that God will provide everything we need. He birthed it, and He will complete it. What an amazing story of how God is committed to us! We have already been blessed with an amazing crib, bassinet, and some baby clothes that are perfect.

As we prayed for strategies to raise the $15,000 we sensed God giving us two steps. The first is that I will be using my skills with a paint brush to take some painting jobs in the area. Already, God has opened this door with an excellent job in the next few weeks. I have also been working with a local re-modeler, helping him with some small jobs as he has needed my assistance.

The second step was to write to you; our friends and family around the country.

Would you please pray and ask God if you are to give and help us build our family? This is an urgent request, one that we share with you, our friends and family with so much sincerity. One of YWAM’s foundational values is “relational based support.” We believe in the relationships that we have built with our friends and family from around the country. Whether they are old or new relationships, they are valued. We invite you to be a part of this miracle of life.

If you would like to make a donation, please make the check payable Marc & McKinna Murnane. Our address is 306 N Commerce St. Adams, TN 37010.

This has been one of the most exciting times in our lives, and we look forward to seeing where it will all go.

We pray blessings on you and your family!

Grace & Peace,

Marc & McKinna Murnane

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About a week ago, McKinna and I wrote to you, sharing how in less than six weeks we will be the proud parents of a baby boy, Leeland Daniel!

As we move closer, we would like to take a moment and update you with where we are in the adoption process and we ask for prayer in the following areas. We are believing God to do some amazing things over the next six weeks!

1. All of our paperwork has been completed and turned in to Miriam’s Promise, the adoption agency that is completing our home-study here in Tennessee. Next Monday, McKinna and I will both complete our individual interviews with the agency. After that, we have two more interviews to complete before the final approval can be sent to the agency in Oklahoma. We are also awaiting our background check results.

Please join with us in prayer that all of these components to the adoption will be completed quickly!

2. We are still in full need of $15,000 for the adoption. Please join with us in prayer that all of the money will come in time!

3. After the baby is born, we will have to wait for the state governments of Tennessee of Oklahoma to communicate with each other to allow the baby to leave the state because the adoption will be finalized in Tennessee. Please join with us in prayer that this process will move quickly. There is the possibility that this process could take up to 4 weeks! We have graciously been given an apartment to stay in while we are there, so that we can have our own space during that time.

Finally, we would humbly ask you to continue to pray about financially supporting us as we start our family. No amount is too small to give, and we believe that all will be provided, for God is our ultimate provider!

Thank you for your prayers, your support, and your friendship!

Grace and peace,

Marc & McKinna

 

 

thanks for reading everyone!