I am thankful!!!

Snow is so fun!!!

She's flying again!

They both love it!

Five Weeks

Five weeks from yesterday was Emma's surgery.  And she's already healed!  That is NOT a long time.

The doctor made an incision from her neck to her tailbone.  He didn't just cut skin and muscle, he cut bone.  This was a MAJOR surgery.  And a couple weeks later she had complications... leaking spinal fluid, another hospital stay.  That's not minor.  Yet today, we went back to the surgeon's office.  The same office where it felt like just yesterday that he said, "your daughter needs to have major surgery soon."  We left that day with a pit in our stomachs and just a little anxiety.  And today, five weeks after the surgery, he says, "She looks great.  You can go back to life as if the surgery hasn't happened."  The swelling is completely gone.  The scarring of the incision looks fine.  She's even telling us when she has to go potty.  (Loss of bladder and bowel control is one of the first indications that something is wrong in her lower spine.)  Today nothing is wrong.  Today we left with very happy hearts.  In fact, Emma did a little happy dance in the doctor's office.

Join us in praising and thanking the Lord!  His protection, His provision, His complete healing.

"This one...Emma...sad."

Emma was looking at her photo album of friends and pictures from her orphanage.  She’d spent a little time asking questions and talking about her friends.  Then she was looking at pictures of just herself in various rooms in the orphanage.  She stopped and pointed and said, “This one Emma sad.”  “Why were you sad, Honey?”  I inquired with my full attention.  “Emma no mommy, no daddy.”  Wow.  She gets it.  Amazing.  I scooped her up, kissed her cheek, and said, “You have a mommy and daddy now, sweet girl.”  

Emma really is doing wonderfully.  She is healing.  The swelling is going down.  She is back to her spunky, joyful, expressive self.  However, she is just skinny, especially in her legs.  Through the surgery process she lost a little weight, which she didn’t have to lose, and so now we’re trying to fatten her up.  She has her “special drink” (Pediasure).  I searched the yogurt aisle for full cream yogurt.  Do you know how many of them say “low fat” and “fat free”?  And I’m trying to think through how to cram as many calories as possible into her meals, while keeping them out of ours…not an easy task.  Keep praying for full healing and clearance from the doctor to completely go back to life as before.  

Elsie… The results of the MRI are that she has delayed myelination.  This means that the protective covering around the electrical impulses in her brain is not as fully formed as it should be at her age.  It’s likely a cause and effect of her seizures.  It is possible that the lack of stimulation and nutrition in her early years have played a part in this.  And if that’s the case, we should see some improvement when we do another MRI in 6 months or so.  In the meantime, she’s started medication for her seizures.  I am hopeful that this will control them and that we’ll be seeing less and less of them.  She’s also been approved to receive in-home therapies to aid in her development.  So an early intervention specialist as well as an occupational therapist will each start showing up for an hour a week.  I’m very happy about this because I need more help and support to know how to best care for this little one.  She’s a handful, an adorable, eager, in-constant-motion little handful. 

We’re already seeing progress in Elsie.  When we first got her, she wouldn’t let me hold her chest to chest.  She’d try to spin right around.  Now she reaches up asking to be held regularly.  And when I give her kisses and sing to her, she leans in as if to say “I like this and I want more.”  Ahh, the beauty of adoption.  Lives changing before my eyes.  I am thankful.

It's November!

Amazing Grace

Grace: an undeserved gift

These two little girls in my home, they are a precious gift from God.  I pray that I will never stop seeing them as such.  I also pray that one day they will fully know and understand God's amazing grace in the gift of His Son, Jesus.  His death on the cross for our sin is the ultimate undeserved gift.

Family Vacation...Interrupted

"We have to take Emma back to the emergency room in Orlando" I called to tell my mom in tears on the second morning of our vacation.  She rushed off the golf course, leaving my dad, brother and brother-in-law, to help us figure out what to do.

We were so looking forward to five days away because it was the first time since Christmas 2009 that my whole immediate family would be together.  My sister, her husband and two kids, as well as my brother and his girlfriend were all going to Mom and Dad's place in Fort Myers for a fun-filled extended weekend.  When we scheduled Emma's surgery we mentioned this vacation and they said that it should be fine since we weren't going out of state.  When the swelling occurred and they said talk with us in a week, we knew that meant right before we would leave.  However, after calling several times, we never got to talk to the right person.  Based on what they'd told us previously, we thought it'd be okay to continue as planned.

Our time started great!

Silly cousin!

Happy Grandma and Grandpa with all their kids together

And then Friday morning we finally got to speak with Emma's surgeon's nurse.  We had sent her pictures of the swelling and she said, "We need you to bring Emma to the ER in Orlando."  They were concerned about the amount of swelling two weeks after the surgery and the dangerous possibility that there was spinal fluid leaking out of her incision.  We feared the worst (another surgery immediately?) but hoped for the best (they just need to check her out and she'll be fine and maybe we can come back?).  We made the difficult decision that Mark would make the three hour drive back with Emma and I would stay with Elsie.  

The good news...Emma was okay.  No leaking spinal fluid, no infection.  They stayed overnight in the hospital in order to see her surgeon the next day.  He basically said, we just need to wait another couple weeks to see how she's doing and whether or not the swelling is diminishing.   The bad news...they didn't get to come back to family time.  So, I got a lot of one on one time with this little one...

and Mark got a lot of one on one time with this little one...

On top of all of this, as my mom was driving Elsie and I to meet Mark this afternoon, Elsie had another seizure.  They're always scary.  We still haven't heard if the doctor has reviewed her MRI and what the results are.  So, please keep praying for both of our little ones.  Pray that Emma will continue to heal and get stronger and stronger...since her second little hospital stay, she's actually done great.  And pray that we have a diagnosis and treatment plan for Elsie in place soon.

MRI tomorrow

It's Elsie's turn.  Our poor little lady has to has to have an MRI tomorrow afternoon to continue to diagnose and know how to treat her seizures.  Praise the Lord she hasn't had one in over a month.  We'll wake her early to eat a bit and then she can have a bottle and then from 9:15 until she wakes up from it, maybe around 5 pm, she can't eat or drink anything.  Our friend will stay with Emma and I'll be solo with Elsie.  Please pray for us.

Emma is doing okay.  She goes back and forth from wanting to play and be up and about and just whining and wanting to lie on the couch.  We still just have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday to talk with her doctor about how she's doing after a week on this medication.  Keep praying for her too.