Kodiak Koehler's

Our friends Scott and Shana's baby was born on November 29 at 11:11 am and weighed 9 lbs 6 oz. He's just adorable, isn't he? I think Donavyn has a little boyfriend. I can't wait to see him. Hopefully we'll be able to see one another soon with three added kids to the mix. We got word that the 2nd DNA test results are back. He's the same baby that took the first DNA test...shocker. But Sonya told me that PINK usually comes 2 - 2 1/2 weeks after those results come back. So I've been searching for flights that leave Christmas day just in case. Luckily I realized that Continental flies from Anchorage to Guatemala with just one layover in Houston. I hope that we can get tickets on that flight. I think there is only one per day. I'll have to upload pics to the laptop (I'm on the desktop right now and it's driving me crazy not allowing me to upload right now. For some reason it isn't recognizing the camera. Ugh.) Ok, anyway....hopefully I'll get ...

We have so much to be thankful for this year! One year ago, we thought we may never get pregnant and were starting to look for an adoption agency. Who knew that one year later, not only would we have the call that our son was just about ready to come home from Guatemala, but we have a beautiful little girl. God has always given blessings, but this year I feel more blessed than ever. We are still waiting for the email telling us when our Embassy appointment is, but we will only have 6-10 days to plan and get ready to go. This is going to happen fast. And the sooner, the better. We are ready for Gabriel to come home. Thanksgiving morning was spent taking care of a sick dog. Snowflake must have gotten into something, b/c she was sick all night and morning. We spent at least an hour trying to clean the carpets. We're going to probably hire the local carpet cleaner to come deep clean next week. Thanksgiving dinner was spent with our wonderful friends Jason and Becca. We have been truly ...

Yup...that's right! We got "the call"! We are OUT of PGN! WOOHOO!!!! Sonya called at about 4:30 yesterday afternoon and asked if we were ready to have our boy home. Man, are we?!? Of course Zach was at work and wouldn't be back until today, but I caught him before he took off for a flight and he was happy too! We don't know the exact dates that we will be gone, but it should be between 4-8 weeks from now. I'm sorry I haven't updated lately. It's been crazy and then we have been re-arranging furniture and misplaced our camera connector to transfer pics onto the computer, but Zach found it yesterday, just in time. I'll put up more pics later, but Miss D is crying and Zach is on his way home and I'm not feeling 100% (probably all that screaming I did last night). I'm so glad Becca and Jason were home so that I could get a hug and have someone to scream with me! Thanks guys!

Happy (belated) Halloween to all of you! I tried to post last night, but wasn't able to get my pictures to load and didn't want to come without the good stuff - lest I be lashed out against. So, here it is! Before we get to Donavyn's pictures, I just want to share that we got Gabriel's October medical report. As of Monday, our boy weighs 17 lbs and is 27 inches long! I can't believe it! He's getting so big now! He has two teeth now and is eating solids. And of course he's sitting up on his own too. I can't believe he is 7 months already. Will you all be praying fervently that we get a call within the next week? Every month we get new pictures, we fall more in love and yet our heart breaks a little more also b/c he is not here with us. We want Gabriel and Donavyn to be together and we want our family complete - until we decide to have more kids. Ok, so here are his pictures... He's getting so big! He looks like he's just amazed by something... I r...

...now it's the land of the late morning moon. Ok, so it won't quite make it to a noon moon, as we are too far south still, but still. This was taken at around 9 am this morning. I took the girls (the four legged ones) outside and saw how beautiful it was and had to snap a few pictures. Don't forget there is another new post that I made last night.

I can't believe Donavyn is a month old already! On one hand it seems like she was just born yesterday and on the other it's like she has always been here. Please, someone, anyone tell me she'll stop growing. That she will always stay tiny. I love to just cuddle with her. It's so amazing to see the changes she is going through every day. She is really starting to respond to loud noises (read: when the dogs bark after being quiet for a long time) and she is following me with her eyes more too. She can hold her head up and is such a strong little girl. Here she is with her daddy on the 19th...the day she was supposed to be born. This was tonight. Zach had to give his princess a one month birthday kiss. Doesn't it look like she's saying, "Dad, please! Ugh..." Nah, just kidding, honey. She loves her daddy. Here are two of our girls. They were napping with Zach on the couch. Aren't they cute? Aww...sleepy baby. Thank you Grandma and Pawpaw Aunt Dee (oo...

This was a week of firsts for our little girl. Last Sunday was Donavyn's first Sunday at church. The pants were/are huge on her, but she still looked adorable - everyone told us so (not that we really needed to be told). The sweater fit perfectly though. Our friend Bronwyn got this for little miss before we headed to Anchorage. Of course, right in the middle of church I had to get up to change little miss stinky pants (and boy did it stink too). The blanket she is sitting on was made by my Aunt Linda for Gabriel. I'm sure he won't mind if his little sister uses it every once in a while though. Donavyn also had her first real bath on Wednesday. She seems to really like it too. She is so calm and relaxed when she is in there. After bath is momma/Donavyn time. I love to snuggle with her while she's in her towel and then put lotion on her. We don't have a chair in the nursery for me to sit in, so we have been sitting on the floor. I've been using one of my old baby ...

That's the word of the day around this house lately. Beth and I have been doing absolutely nothing and enjoying every minute of it!! We're finally settling into a routine and now are just fine tuning it. We're feeding Donavyn about every 2-3 hours and she's started waking up when she's hungry, which is a very good sign because before we were having to wake her up. She was 5 lbs 14 oz when she was born and then went down to 4 lbs 15 oz (all babies lose weight but this is too much!!) We started really feeding her a lot to try to get her weight back up and that really tired us out but she's back up to 5 lbs 5 oz as of her last weight check. We'll go in on Monday to see how much she's gained over the weekend. The only time she really cries is when she gets her diaper changed because she's got a wicked diaper rash right now. Other than that we've been sleeping whenever we can. Beth and I are tag-teaming feedings right now with one of us takin...

Isn't she precious!!! Well it's been almost a week now and we're still surviving. Actually I'd say we're more than surviving...we're thriving. Yes Beth and I are a little tired but that comes with the territory. Nobody told me our house would turn into a disaster area though. I was expecting a little disarray but nothing prepared me for this. We did hit one little hiccup. Donavyn was a little jaundiced this weekend so we had to take her back to the hospital. We did get our room back though, the room we were in when this little adventure called parenthood all started, room 19, Providence Hospital. One more stay there and we get our name on the door. Anyway we stuck her under the lamps and 24 hours later she was right as rain!!! Beth and I entertained ourselves making Star Wars references to carbonite freezing chambers and Storm-Troopers. Look at her goggles and tell me she couldn't be working for the Empire!! Here by special request is a foot picture...

Donavyn Faith Koehler!!! Born Sept 25th 2007 at 6:33 pm. She weighed in at 5 lbs 14 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. It's been an exhausting couple of days but we are finally home and couldn't be happier!! We really appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers. We couldn't have done this without the support of everybody out there!! I hate to lump you all together like this but if I were to list everyone of you I think I would break the internet. You are all so special to us and we are truly blessed to have you as friends and family. Mother and Daughter are doing just fine and hopefully 0nce we get settled in a little bit more we'll be able to share our story with you. We have most of it already written but every time we would try to finish it and get it posted we would be interrupted by a doctor or nurse. But no more interruptions now!! (yeah right) But we promise we will get more pictures posted and fill you in on the exciting new addition to our family. God Bless You ...