Then and Now…the Difference a Year Makes!!

Around this time last year, I was madly fundraising and sharing this picture of Esty turning TEN years old…alone, in an orphanage.

Then...and now!

This morning, I had the thrill of surprising her at school with balloons, her favorite cookies, a party hat and a birthday sash! Tomorrow is her actual birthday, but we did a party in her class as a surprise!

And oh my...

WHAT. A. DIFFERENCE. 

One year.

What can be accomplished in the course of a year by a MIGHTY GOD?

He raised 100% of the funds necessary for us to adopt Esty. (Another MASSIVE thank you to every one of you who helped!!!)

He allowed us to get to her in the NICK OF TIME as she was severely ill and went septic the same week we got her out of her orphanage.

He allowed us to find good healthcare in China and provided the antibiotics necessary to save her life.

He brought us home safely, in spite of nasty winter weather.

He has cemented our family together at the heart. This has not been without struggles as older children who are adopted do struggle. But we are a family who embraces one another fully, with great thankfulness to the God who has done it.

He has provided for the hundreds of hours we have spent at doctors' offices, clinics, hospitals in every way: financially, childcare, transportation, emotional and physical strength.

He has healed Esty of some massive things that have been going wrong with her body for a long time.

Esty has become a champion at all her personal care. (This is a HUGE ONE!) 

She is no longer relinquished to the corner and sitting in a wheelchair. She is walking with AFO's (ankle-foot-orthotics) and quad canes! She is riding a bicycle! 

She can put on and take off her massive TLSO (thoracic-lumbar-sacral-orthotic) (back brace!) by herself. And she never has ONCE complained about it. She wears it 20 hours daily.

God has opened her mind to receive a new language…Esty now speaks English nearly 98% of the time. (And I constantly pray that she maintains some of her Mandarin!)

God has taught her what unconditional love feels like. He has used us in this process. It has been hard, as we are so fallen, but He has done it in spite of us.

He has given her laughter. Hearing her laugh, knowing she is safe and that her future has begun is a most amazing and rewarding thing.

And so tomorrow, we celebrate our dear gift named Esty! We can't wait!

Esty and the TLSO

I witnessed bravery this week.
Cool, unadulterated bravery.
Courage, in another word.
It was not in myself, no…I am so far from that, my friends. But I would venture a guess that you can guess on whose face I saw the brave look of infinitesimal courage.
Esty. You are so right.
This week, she had to have her TSLO fitted. For those of you who are clueless as I was, that's slang for a Thorasic/Lumbar/Sacral Orthotic. In short, it's a suffocatingly tight piece of plastic that clamshells our girl in an effort to hold her present spinal curve so it doesn't increase.

We had the mold made a good 7 weeks ago. Don't get me started on why we're waiting so long. Sometimes, you pick your battles not only with your teenager, but your medical community!
When we went back this past week, I had attempted to prepare her for what was coming. HOW do you prepare a child who barely understands our culture that we are now subjecting her to painful, hot, plastic torture and she has to stay in this device for TWENTY HOURS a day for the next 3-5 years!?!!?
Well, you simply cannot.
So we mentioned it in some happier terms…like the butterfly pattern she chose for it. "Won't that be fun to see how it looks?" I cringe as I try to make SOMETHING fun in all of this.
Thank God for iPads. At least she can play on that while we wait.
The orthotist brings this MASSIVE thing in and has her put on a stocking that covers her from neck to knees. Then he has her lie back and does measurements on her and then makes markings on the brace. He disappears. We hear sawing.

This is not her brace, but an example to illustrate.

The next time he appears, it's considerably shorter. (So thankful!) He pries it open and it swallows her whole.
She winces.
I cringe.
He does some looking and removes it and calls in his colleague. He shows him her curve. They exchange "mmmhmmms" and I hear, "yes, that is quite unusual."
I don't ask.
He turns to me and explains, "I need to cut this appointment short. I want to send you over for an immediate Xray in the brace to see if it's holding her in the appropriate places. We cannot afford to make any mistakes."
Baby girl needed to cath, but instead, we ran across the city to her hospital where we raced against the clock to be able to return in the orthotist's time window to have him complete the fitting.
This brace getting clamped onto her torso and running out the door and into the car and over to the hospital…it would all feel so…scary! It was supposed to be a 2 hour appointment and then we would go to the horse barn to get Jensi. (Esty takes comfort in knowing how the day will run.) Instead, after only 30-45 minutes, we were leaving and it was under a sense of duress.
She never complained. She never cried. No tears even welled up, well, except in MY eyes. When I asked her in the van how she was doing, she replied, "I'm fine, but this thing…it's not too comfortable."
Wow.
That's courage, my friends.
We get all the paperwork done and learn she has to stand with her chest pressing hard against the glass of the X ray. She cannot stand there alone, this brace throws her completely off and walking with her walker was a tremendous difficulty. (I saw her eyes flicker a bit when she realized how this may be changing things, and the lump in my throat was the size of the Goodyear blimp.) 
We ended up leaving the brace and after the orthotist had a look at the X-rays, he informed me he must trash this one and make a new one. I appreciate his attention to detail, but am so heavy hearted that our girl will now get her TLSO the day before we go on vacation. 
Sigh.
I praise God that she can have FOUR hours out of it daily. You can bet that those hours we will use wisely! We will swim, play at the ocean and snuggle in fresh pajamas after a bath.
I don't know why this particular medical thing bothered me so much other than it's going to have SUCH an impact on her daily comfort level. And she cannot even understand why. (I have shown her a straight spine and the X-ray above, but how much that makes sense to her, I do not know.)
When I picked her up to get her in the van (regular things she has been doing suddenly became stiff and impossible) I couldn't get over the sense that we had gotten her out of the orphanage only to encase her in plastic body cage (feet and ankles in similar braces) in a foreign land…and force feed her cheese. (okay not really, but the girl hates her cheese and she's TRYING to live in America!!!) I got her into her seat and ran around to the driver's side trying to pull my emotions back into my lap.
I didn't feel this way about her AFO's. (Ankle/foot orthotics) They helped stabilize her feet so she can walk! This...this feels like nasty punishment.
And the kicker? Because she is tethered (meaning her spinal cord is caught in scar tissue) the brace may not even help hold the curve at the present degree. All this, and it very well could get WORSE and still require the surgery we are trying so hard to avoid or at least postpone. We won't know. 
Here is my brave girl sitting in the Xray waiting room after failed attempts at cathing due to the monstrous TLSO and giggling because she had decorated this fairy and taken a picture of her walker and now "the fairy, she is walking!!" Giggle giggle giggle.

What?!?! I'm about to melt into piles of tears for my girl and she is enamored with the camera feature on the iPad.  Some may call it immaturity, but I call her brave.

A Front Row Seat to Miracles (Esty's Health Progress)

I am SO EXCITED to report about all God has done in Esty's physical health!!
I've waited for so long…hoping that I'd have a good report but everything was always SO BLATANTLY FULL OF BAD NEWS.
As you may remember, when we picked her up from the orphanage back in January, she was sick.
Very sick.
So sick she was within 1-2 days of dying.

Seriously.
But God orchestrated all our paperwork, clearances, fundraising and plane tickets so we were there on the Monday before she died. 
And God directed our steps all the way to the International clinic where she was given the medical attention that put a halt to the kidney infection that had gone into her blood.
And then, we came home to America.
And we began investigating all her renal health issues.

We did endless tests. We were at the hospital weekly.

And no matter what test was run, they all had bad news: she was in a desperate state of health. 
Stopping the blood infection in China was not enough.

When we got the results back…it was hard to not cry.
For a solid 15 minutes, the pediatric urologist showed me test after test and each time would say, "Well, her bladder should look like a round ball, but this is how her bladder looks," and on and on through every test. 
There was no good news. 
Nothing. 
I was just simply astonished.
And then, we went to the nephrologist. 
He too reported difficult news. "She is a patient who is on the path to total dialysis and/or kidney transplant."
How does a mom take it all in????
I couldn't blog. 
It was just too much.
Naturally, we began some intervention. 
Fast forward 6 weeks.
Today, we had another serious test to see how the pressures are being managed in her bladder. You see, she already had Stage 4 reflux into BOTH kidneys. This is often solved by immediate surgery. Our team wanted to try medication and daily self catheterizing. We've done that faithfully for the past few months.
Today, the test began and our urologist immediately exclaimed, "Oh my! Look at that bladder! It almost looks normal!"
:)
And fast forward to the end…she has NO SIGNS OF REFLUX INTO HER KIDNEYS!!!! The meds and cathing have WORKED!!!!
I was dancing around the operating room in my funny jumpsuit and hairnet! 
GOOD NEWS FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!
Now the deal is, she must stay on this plan the rest of her life. Monitoring her progress with further testing will always be part of her life. We cannot reverse the damage already done to her kidneys by years of neglect…but…
The future of dialysis/transplant is now DECADES off into the future, no longer an imminent concern!!!!
Are you kidding me?!?!?!?!
CELEBRATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And Esty? Well, she was busy playing an iPad game where she applies make up to a mermaid. She did look up and wonder at my silly dance party but then just kinda shrugged her shoulders and went back to choosing a nice party dress.
Someday I will tell her this story.
A story of a God who sees her. Who saw her broken and needy. Of a God who cared for her every step of the way, even when she felt alone. The story of a woman across the world who heard Him speak of a waiting orphan in great need. The story of how He lovingly matched their hearts. The story of how He rescued her just in the nick of time and provided all the right medical care at the perfect moment. The story of how she would be obedient to take her medicine and learn to self catheterize and He would work more miracles to extend her life. The story of how He wanted her named Esther…because He wanted her in place for the special work He has for her to do.
I will tell her this story.
She will know how the God of the Universe loves her. And how valued she is. And I pray that she will embrace Him wholeheartedly and live out the marvelous plan He has for her life.
What an honor it is to have a front row seat to watch this miracle unfold!!!

So You Wanna Change the World...Tracing One Thread

My hands click the bluetooth keyboard as I sit in the MRI waiting room. The TV drones on in the background.

Esty is on the table or would it be "in the tube" for a scan on her brain and spine.

It's just to get a baseline...when you adopt, you often don't get much information.

But I write today not about our present circumstances...but rather about something that happened over 100 years ago.

In Asia.

Some American missionaries made a life change to pack up their lives, say goodbye to their loved ones and board a boat bound for the other side of the world.

Their destination? The Philippine Islands.

I do not know their names. I do not know their stories. 

But they had a direct, traceable impact on Esty...a future child born over 100 years later in China. 

Go with me as I trace this.

These missionaries shared the gospel (the Truth that Jesus died once for all and we can be set free from all our wrongdoings and can join Him in Heaven one day) with villagers.

At that time, no one believed in Jesus.

Until...a man and wife heard the news and put their faith in Jesus. 

Their lives changed. I do not know the details of how.

But they had a son, and that son also believed in Jesus. As he grew up, he attended medical school. He prayed a prayer, "If you'll let me become a doctor, I'll spend some of my time serving You, Lord."

This young man DID become a doctor. And then, he moved to the United States of America.

And he lived in Columbus, Ohio.

He opened a private practice. Remembering his promise to Jesus, he ended up opening two clinics for the homeless. 

And soon, this became "not enough."

The doctor closed his private practice and began to serve fulltime.

He began to be burdened for the millions of people around the planet who have no access to medical treatment.

He moved his feet in sync with his heart. He went back home to the Philippines. He began to serve the poorest of the poor.  He performed surgeries that saved lives.

And somewhere along the way, he met a woman who shared his passion. She wanted to serve alongside this amazing doctor. They married.

The two have served now over THIRTY YEARS in an amazing 40 countries. Everywhere from Africa to Asia, Eastern Europe to South America. They have not raised money to do this, but personally funded their missions. Then, they went a step further...

They invited people to go WITH them.

And my husband was one of those who went. 

He was a tender 16 years old. His mother said "yes" and allowed him to pack a bag and get on a plane and fly to Africa.

It was his first experience leaving the country...and his luggage got lost.

He also lost his heart. He fell in love with missions.

What this doctor did, was light a passion in my future husband's heart to care for the poor in the 3rd world.

This forever impacted the path of my husband. He returned home and nothing looked the same. He knew that he would grow up and serve others overseas.

Meanwhile, God had done a similar work in my own heart. I was called. I was committed. I had gone and served.

And this brought us together as a couple. We married and began "us."

"Us" has ALWAYS revolved around missions and being on mission.

We served together in China. Then, while we were in process to serve career to India (why I have a nose ring...not just for "style" in America!), our son was tragically taken from this life. We reeled.

But then, in the years that followed, we discovered that God's calling on us included adoption. Children from those countries we had prayed and ached for.

We had our hearts broken for the "least of these," orphans who were in desperate need for families to choose them. And they have brought the MOST joy imaginable.

This brings me back to Esty. She was an orphan. Waiting in an orphanage with a whole host of medical issues, and no one stepped forward for her.

For years.

And God called us to her.

I am convinced that we are here today, at this American hospital, with this child as my daughter in an MRI tube because over 100 years ago, those American missionaries gave up their present reality to serve in far-away Asia.

You see...those missionaries led the first believers, who had a son who became that doctor, who took that young boy overseas, who married me, who adopted her.

See?

Do YOU want to change the world? You don't have to do something ENORMOUS.

You don't have to become famous, write a book or get win American Idol. You don't have to find a cure for cancer, bike around the world or become a CEO.

All of those would be nice, I'm sure.

But you don't HAVE to, to be able to play an integral part in changing the world.

Those first believers in the village? What was their role in this thread? They parented their son. They encouraged him to become a doctor. (I don't know any direct stories of them, so these are educated guesses.) But they did what was right before them.

Do you want to change the world?

I do.

And the awesome thing is that you just need to be obedient to what is right in front of you.

Who knows? You might be able to trace the hand of God through your life. :)

That doctor? 

His name is Pedro Obregon. His wife is precious Judy. We got to spend an evening with them just this past weekend as they were inducted into the Medical Missions Hall of Fame.

What was so cool was that when we lived in China, we got the JOY of bringing him into the village where Brian worked! It had gone full circle...the boy who traveled with the doctor to then-Zaire, was hosting the doctor in his own "stomping ground" -- the remote mountain villages of rural China. It was truly an AMAZING thing.

I love the way God plans our lives! He has tucked so many joys into so many corners...just waiting for us to discover them!

And what a joy when we can trace His hand back through time and see it!

I'd love to hear the story of those American missionaries who left back in 1900 for the Phillippines. They also had a hand in what's happening now.

Isn't it fun to think about? 

Day 2 with Esty

Yesterday we entered day 2. With older child adoption, you have no way to know what's going on behind those eyes...but she continues to smile, respond when I speak to her in Mandarin and go with the flow.

We had a wonderful breakfast in our hotel together. She chose very Chinese things to eat: corn on the cob, tomatoes, cucumbers, a bean steamed bun and yogurt. :)

This was the day for touring around the city. What a fun fun time we had!

We bundled up for a cold day and were so blessed to be taken to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City with a fabulous guide, David. He learned English from an American and was so incredibly kind to our kids. He not only explained things to us in our language, but he took the time and effort to explain them all over again to Esty in Mandarin.

It was truly incredible to be at such a momentous place in history. When we walked onto the square, I got goosebumps. Seeing the army just made it all the more fabulous.

Take a look at this enormous image of Mao...it's almost 2 stories high!

It has been so fun to watch Oliver and Esty begin to bond. He enjoys pushing her in her wheelchair. She enjoys giggling.

We then entered the Forbidden City and learned TONS about emperors and how things rolled here for 3,000 years before Mao took over. It was sad to realize that Esty had not learned the order of dynasties as any typical Chinese student would...when you don't get to go to school, no one teaches you.

sigh.

This place as 9,999 rooms! If you chose to sleep in one room every night starting when you were born, it would take you 27 years to do it! There are some fascinating details about why 9's are important in China. 

The buildings went on and on and on. Oliver got overly cold so we rushed through the end of the tour.

Many rooms still had the thrones and beds and items from when emperors lived here. Esty couldn't see anything from her chair, so Daddy carried her around! She liked that!

Several times in history a VERY young emperor would come into power. As in like 3 years old! Seeing as a 3 year old would probably not make wise choices for a country, his reign was actually run by his mother. "Dragon Lady" is how she is referred to and it was her "Summer Palace" that we toured on Sunday before we got Esty. Her summer home was truly astounding. I won't go into all the details, but if I did...you'd be blown away. I do believe these emperors would NOT be the kind of people you'd like to share a cup of tea with! YIKES! But seriously, if you ever get a chance to see China, be sure and soak up some of this incredible culture! ESPECIALLY if you are adopting a Chinese child...you want them to know where they came from and their fabulously rich history!

After seeing these two sites, we went for some PULLED NOODLES!!!! (Oh, how we have missed them!)

And...after much coercing...Oliver finally tried some! :)

Then we went to Hutown. This is basically 200-300 year old homes near the center of the city. It's prime property because the meridian passes through it and this adds to its value. What's so fun is that to see it, you ride in rickshaws!

Probably the most fun we had was inside of a man's home...he had these two birds (forgive me, i forget their type) who could speak perfectly clear Mandarin in a man's voice. They made us laugh so hard! "Ni hao!" "Ni chi de ma?" "Ni hao ma?" and "Bye bye!" were all in their vocabulary. I can guarantee you that Esty and Oliver had never met a bird like them!

Aren't they sweet...bonding like this!

We've had plenty of time to just hang out together in our room as well. These two have done puzzles, taught each other how to make origami boats (Esty) and paper airplanes (Oliver).

Esty can crawl around like there's no tomorrow and she was hanging out in the sunshine in the window when behold, I appeared with the camera. She enjoyed making some fun faces. While she isn't saying much yet, her gigles and now her silly faces are beginning to show her fun personality!!

(And OH MY! I want to share: Esty is such a girlie girl! I was putting on my earrings for the day and she looked through my jewelry bag. "Give me one," she said. I was THRILLED to have the Adopt Shoppe necklace that has the verse from Esther 4:14 on it...which is why we have named her Esther! I gave it to her and she loved it! You can see she wore it all day long.)

Life is pretty good. 

We so appreciate all your prayers and ask for you to continue. Yesterday I explained that today (Wednesday) we will finalize her adoption. I asked if she wanted to do that. "Yes," she replied. "Do you want to go to America?" Yes again. I told her every Friday night for dinner I make pizza, did she still want to go to America? No answer. ;) (She won't touch pizza with a 10 foot pole!)

We have some prayer needs for her physical health too...would you please lift these up for us?

Thank you and blessings!!

We've Got Esty!!!!

It's 4 am.

I'm in sweatpants with dark circles under my eyes, sitting in the hotel lobby so I can have access to the internet.

Workers are sculpting away at Chinese New Year decorations.

And my little one sleeps upstairs in our room.

How incredible.

Yesterday our day began early, at 6:30 am we met our guide down here to head over to her orphanage.

After a 30 min drive on easy roads, we arrived in the dark.

Our hearts were full of anticipation.

I could see a little ponytailed girl silhouetted in a 4th floor window looking down. What was she thinking? Did she know Lang Han Han was getting adopted today?

We were taken into a large conference room and the heat was turned up.

We spent a good hour signing paperwork and attempting to calm our nerves.

"They are going to bring her now," they said.

We waited for what felt like the entire 10 months of this adoption for her to come through those doors.

Oliver was ready with the video, Brian with the camera.

Then, the doors finally opened.

And in rolled our Esty.

She had a pink knit hat on and desperately reminded me of a little grandmother.

I went to her and said just what I did in a dream I'd had months before, "Ni hao, wo shi mama." ("Hello, I am your mother.")

She smiled.

I took her hands. They were soft and warm. We grinned at each other. I probably said more silly stuff to her in Chinese but I can't remember now.

She then looked for her Daddy. "This is your Daddy, Han Han," I said. 

And then Oliver came over.

They shook hands and a kind smile filled her face.

Immediately then the orphanage director who was so very kind and filled with smiles and kindness herself, began presenting Esty with gifts.

"She has taken the tea service class, and done well," she said. "We are giving her these gifts so she can go to America and open a tea house. Tea service is very lucrative for someone with her differences."

I didn't know how to break it to them that she's going to be a doctor. ;)

The gifts came. And came. And came. (We are going to need an extra suitcase for her tea business!!)

We asked our guide once we left if this is common for an orphanage to lay gifts before a child like this on Gotcha day. "Not too popular," she said. I can't imagine they could do this often!!

So, I surmised that our sweet Esty is WELL LOVED.

Multiple nannies described her as "a big girl" before we met, which confused me because her measurements were so small...but they clarified for me, "She has such a big heart."

Oh yes. My Esty.

After some pictures, we loaded into the van. I held Esty on my lap just in awe that we are together! 

She began calling out ot the orphange women, "Bye bye! Bye bye!" (in English!) and waving and grinning. She did not seem at all to be nervous about leaving with us.

{I just have to pause and say what you are probably thinking too---how is this een possible? How can a 10 year old orphan be so pleasant, kind and wave bye bye to her life and snuggle down into my lap? I  have no answer for you. Only that this is because of prayer.}

We began a long drive then through Beijing. Stop and go. Stop and go. Horns honking. Smog rising. 

We were began by looking through the photo album we'd sent and working on all her siblings' names. But then I began to feel car sick, so I stopped.

She went very quiet and I noticed sweat forming on the bridge of her nose. Then, she began looking more and more white.

"Wo yao tu!" (this is a sentence that caused much alarm as we all began dumping tea service items out of a bag so we didn't have vomit all over the van!)

Eventually, she did. Poor thing. But I held her close, rubbed her back, cleaned her up.

Oh how many times has she had to do that without a mother to care for her?

Eventually we made it to the photo studio. We took a picture of Brian, me and Han Han for the adoption registry.

Then onto the Civil Affairs office where we were quite late for our appointment.

This took another hour perhaps, all the while she was happy to just sit with us and wait. Oliver was a rock star during all of this too. I have even heard him begin to repeat Mandarin phrases and put things together and say, "Oh I know how to say __________!" It's so fun to see! Later in the day he spoke to a father and child, "Ni hao!" I was literally beaming.

We answered the woman's questions for the official paperwork. Why had we come to China  to adopt? Would we promise to never hurt or abandon her? Did we fully understand the things wrong with her physical condition?

We signed our names with black ink, sealing it all with a red fingerprint atop our signatures. (Americans should really start doing this. It's so cool.)

Then, it was Esty's turn. I didn't realize, but after age 10, the child being adopted needs to write a sentence in characters that says, "I want to be adopted." It took her about 3 full minutes to copy our guide's example sentence. (Esty has never been to school because China is not wheelchair accessible.)

Then came her name in characters and her own little red fingerprint.

She was sitting in her new daddy's lap and looked up at me with a smile that melted me. 

She wants this. How totally incredible.

Then it was time for some lunch. Our guide asks her what she would like to eat. She can have ANYTHING at all...and what does she ask for????

KFC. Seriously.

I was dumbfounded.

We wisely decided to return to the hotel and have it delivered to avoid more motion sickness. Brian and I had baozis off the street while Esty and Olly sat there dipping their nuggets into sauce. The irony was not lost on me.

The rest of the day was spent getting to know one another. We went for a long walk, bought her a pair of boots and eventually snuggled her and endured multiple episodes of Xiao Lan (a popular cartoon about a sheep.)

She and Oliver played iPad games together.

After noodles and a bath, we were snuggling down in the bed covers and I began to read to her from the Jesus Storybook Bible.

{Get this Bible for your kids. So amazing.}

I had an arm around her and read in English. I'd already asked her if she knew who Jesus was or God and she said "Wo bu zhi dao," (I don't know.)

{wow.}

I started at the beginning. Before the story of creation, the book gives an overview of what the Bible is about.

As I read the words to her about being loved by a God who rescues, I was in awe. Then I read the words aloud, "The Bible is most of all a Story. A story about a young Hero who leaves his far country to win back His lost treasure."

And I lost it.

What was I doing but just what Jesus has done for me? I left my own far away country and was now snuggled down with a former orphan who was so precious to Jesus that He sent me to be His hands and feet to her.

What a priviledge.

What an honor.

What pressure to get it right!! {But there is grace. Abundant grace. We who parent know we do NOT get it right, but forgiveness and love and new starts are the language we speak.}

We held her in our arms and prayed for her. We nestled her down in the white down comforter and made sure she had all she needed. 

She immediately slept.

And so, was day one with our Esty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Special notes: 

She was at one point running a fever of 102. Please pray for her. I gave her Tylenol and checked on her during the night and it seems to be gone, but we want to obviously be careful.

Oliver was running and pushing her in the wheelchair/stroller and she was giggling for the first time. It was a glorious sound!!

Her physical condition is both encouraging and alarming to me at the same time. Her back is very contorted, which is not noticeable as long as she is seated. I had her up on her legs and I am guessing she has a very serious case of scoliosis. The good news is that she has a LOT of movement in her legs. She can cross and uncross them while seated! She has feeling down to both knees. Below her knees her legs are icy cold and like rubber. She has no strength in her ankles whatsoever and cannot stand on her feet in the usual way. I fully believe she will walk, but there will be AFO's, arm crutches and possible back surgery in her future. Please pray for all of this that is coming. By the way, I asked her if she'd like to walk and her face lit up and she nodded! 

Once again, I am saying THANK YOU to everyone who partnered with us to pay the crazy costs of adoption. We did not have $30,000 extra sitting around, (especially on the heels of Toby's adoption!) but through fundraising, love gifts and grants, we are here and she is ours. Her future is open wide before her. YOU did this. Please know that we are so deeply grateful for the chance to become her parents and love her to Jesus because YOU helped make this possible.