Contact me:
bergerondozen@yahoo.com
My name is Renee. I am 36 years old. Married to my best friend, Chuck.
We have fourteen children. Five adopted (through foster care, private adoption and from Liberia, West Africa).
I gave birth to the first eight in nine years! Then came our grand finale, Apollo XIV, in June 2010.
Our three oldest children (adopted as teens from Liberia) have moved out.
At the moment I homeschool everyone except for Mordecai (9) who attends school and Apollo, who is only 1.
I love reading, writing, knitting, Jesus, photography, chocolate, and of course, coffee.
I own my own photography business Little Earthling Photography where I specialize in birth and newborn photography.
I write about a little bit of everything here on my blog.
Grand finale? Say it aint so!
Praise God for your beautiful family… thanks for sharing.
You have a lovely family! I homeschooled my 2 boys who are now 19 and 21 years old. We hae had a great adventure and moved to Innsbruck, Austria this year. Is there a way to prescribe to your blog?
Fell upon your blog site and really enjoy reading about your family and life with all your wonderful, beautiful children. Also love to read blog sites where people are Christians as I am myself. Thanks for sharing your stories!
Hi Renee!
My wife Jill and I really enjoy your blog. It’s one of our regulars. Keep the faith about Apollo. Our Esther had a very complicated heart operation (PAPVR) when she was four. She’s six now and doing great, praise God.
I am writing instead of our usual lurking because I wonder if you’d be interested in reviewing a book for your blog. I know that you are very busy being a Christ-follower, mom and wife. I know this because I married one. Jill and I homeschool our five kids. In my day job I run a ministry called South Side Mission. In my spare time, I write.
My first novel just came out. Homeschoolers, Hippies & Heirloom Tomatoes is the story of the Masats, a tugboat-living, heirloom tomato-growing, homeschooling vagabond family that spends its time traversing tributaries of the Mississippi River, dodging truant officers and flying Asian Carp. In between farmers markets, the family encounters the sasquatch of the Midwest–the Catawumpus. The story is told from the point of view of Grace, a 12-year-old hackeysacking, tie-dyed missionary who spends her free moments preparing for the Scripps spelling bee, which serves as the culmination of the story.
Homeschoolers, Hippies & Heirloom Tomatoes is a Christian Young Adult Fiction book that tweens and teens (as well as parents) will love. The book has been endorsed by Christine Dente of Out of the Grey and can be found on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble’s site bn.com.
Here’s where you come in, if you’re interested. I would love to promote this book mainly through Christian means and I think that prominent bloggers like yourself would be the book’s best audience and advocates.
Would you like me to send you a free advance copy of the book? I would appreciate it if you would review it on your blog and help me get the word out. Of course it is entirely possible that you’ll hate the book, but I’m willing to take that chance because the things I write about in the book are things you enjoy too.
Are you interested? I just received the first advance copies in the mail next week. If so, send me your snail mail address and I’ll send out a copy right away. Thanks Renee and God bless you!
Yours in Christ,
Philip Ward Newton
pandjnewton@yahoo.com
I’m praying for Apollo, that his body will accept it’s repair and heal super-on-the-naturally well. For his body to regain it’s strength, his mind to continue to acquire knowledge and with that understanding. That Apollo would KNOW the love of AbbaFatherGod. That He’s the giver of every good and perfect thing.
♥
As Apollo heals, as pain leaves his body in Jesus Name, as he feels his family’s loving touch, he comes to know in a deep, life filling way how much FatherGod loves him and has PROVIDED for his every need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.
Apollo will declare to the Glory of God His goodness, His wonders and His provision for him, his family;and for all the family of God. In Jesus Name, amen~So Be It.♥
You, your mommy, daddy, brothers & sisters are loved. Loved by AbbaFatherGod & me!
Renee,
There is a wonderful website put together by a Spanish team of cardiac surgeons. I want to share some drawings from the site that might make sense to Apollo’s case. It talks about arches, slings and options for repair. Here is the link:
http://www.cardiopatiascongenitas.net/tipos_cc_n_anillosvtxt.htm
It’s in Spanish but has great visuals. I can help with translation if you’d like. I would contact this group and ask if they have any suggestions. I sent you an email last night about a Johns Hopkins surgeon.
Please call me, I want you to go to the next appointment on 9/11,well armed. There ARE doctors that know what is going on, you just have to find them. I’ll send you my number privately.
Thanks. I got your emails and will respond shortly
I love, love, love the new tabs: themed parties, recipes…. I was drawn to your site months ago while aimlessly looking for large family tips late one night. Your photos drew me in. My whole family prays for Apollo; I anguished with you from afar March 7th. God bless you and thank you for the bright spot you put out there for the world to enjoy.
Thank you for your sweet words. It was very comforting to know so many people were thinking of him during his surgery. Glad you like the new tabs, I’m still working on them, so keep checking back.
Hi Renee, I was reading your update about Apollo’s visit. I am sorry to hear the diagnosis. The surgeon, whose information I provided, was the secondary surgeon, who worked on my son.The doctor who operated on his diverticulum and divided the ring is Dr. Duke Cameron, the head of the department at Hopkins. He is fantastic! People travel from all over to be treated by him. The aorta is his specialty and he works on both adults and children. Have you checked out my website, I put in lots of information. I am praying for Apollo.
Renee, praise the lord. Apollo looks good. So happy to know he is on his way to a great life! I’ll be watching for posts on his nutrition. I am very interested in the nutritional therapies and work that Apollo will be doing with speech therapists to improve his eating. Because my son is 19, it’s hard to find a therapist to work with.The majority of them focus on young children, unless the condition is life threatening. Many work with stroke patients. After having the vascular ring for so many years, it’s a combination of physiological and psychological issues that need to be addressed. I’ve yet to find anyone, we’re still searching for the right team of professionals: nutritionists and therapists to help. We also have to get another swallow test to see the post surgery results and know what we are up against.
so glad to have found your blog!
the blog is now asking me for a user name & password???
Hi Renee, I hope Apollo continues to thrive. Would you mind giving my email
to one of the people who said her 18 year old daughter had the same surgery
and is having eating problems. I want to connect with her. It would be a great
favor. I am researching the effects of surgery on older patients like my son.
Thanks.
I have some yard and farm-ish work for Judah, if he’s interested. How much does he charge per hour? I’m in the very south part of town.
He is working for whatever people want to donate toward his trip, and he is totally up for farm work!
Did you see this recent article? I am wondering about your thoughts on it. I hope you will discuss it because I think you have a different perspective on things that would be good for people to hear.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/christian-evangelical-adoption-liberia?page=1
Yes, I did read it. I’m not sure what to say. First off, I’m sad for everyone involved in an adoption that was less-than-perfect.I know firsthand from my own Liberian children that they were told we were rich and they would have everything they wanted here in the US. Our Liberian children (either by nature or their original families) are hard workers, but many Liberian children came to the US thinking they would *never* have to work. Our story is a happy (though not perfect) one…I know plenty that aren’t. I will say the article was very obviously one-sided and I found it interesting that in every case they sided with (and believed) the child over the parent…I do know that many adoptions were not handled correctly and this is the fault of the system (I’m glad they’re revamping it) and ignorance. Many families we were in contact with were under the impression that “re-adopting” in the US was optional and didn’t do it because of the added expense. In some cases this meant the child never received proof of citizenship which will render getting a job nearly impossible. On the other hand, we were lied to about our children’s ages…we were told Boaz and Ezra were 9 and 10…not 13 and 15. So, I’m more than happy to have the system scrutinized and improved. At the same time, there are always two sides to every story. Most of all I was struck by how many people (adults and children) have had their dreams shattered.
i have put a check in the mail today for Judah, may 6th 2013, hope it will arrive by the may 15th deadline.
Vivian
Thank you, Vivian! I am sure it will make it here. If not, he is allowed to hand carry money if needed.