Updates...keep praying!

Blog posts are getting fewer as we’re busy with Emma.  Sorry.  She’s such a delight.  She’s smiley and easy-going and talkative.  She’s learning so much.  We teach her English words everyday and I’m always amazed at what she retains.  We’re really busy with family and friends in Ohio and it’s fun, but tiring.  So here’s a bit of an update…

Emma:  We’ve taken her for a few appointments at Columbus Children’s.  One was an international adoption clinic check-up.  The next was to see the neurologist who scheduled an MRI.  The curve in her spine is significant, which we know and can see.  But the two hairy patches on her back cause the doctor to be suspicious of a tethered spinal cord.  A tethered cord means it is attached to something and therefore, as she grows it can’t grow and stretch as it should and it’ll cause problems.  If she has a tethered cord, she will need to have surgery.  The MRI is scheduled for July 11.  Please pray with us that they find it is NOT tethered. 

Elsie:  We are waiting on the final American approval from the consulate in Guangzhou, the Article 5.  After we get that, the paperwork is sent back to the Chinese government for Travel Approval.  IF everything goes as it did with Emma (and that’s a big IF), we estimate we could get TA on July 17^th.  Our agency still needs time to set up appointments for us, so that may mean we will be traveling about the first of August. 

Two big prayer requests…Emma’s passport papers.  We need her certificate of citizenship in order to get her American passport and then need a Chinese visa all before we travel to get Elsie.  (The paperwork really doesn’t ever end.)  Also pray for speedy approvals and appointments for Elsie.  We’re supposed to be in Orlando in mid-August.  Getting back from China and heading straight down there is not ideal and sounds exhausting, but likely what will need to happen.

Thank you for being on this crazy journey with us.  We cannot tell you how loved we feel when people tell us, “We’ve read your blog, we’ve cried, we’ve prayed with you.  We cannot imagine what you’ve been through.”  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.