I know. It has been over a month since I have posted! Life just continues to be busy. It seems like every week welcomes us with two or three doctors appointments or medical treatments that someone in the family requires. It does look like, by the end of February, we should be through the worst of it! I am thinking of turning Kelly’s van into an ambulance at the rate we are going!
We, like most of the country, have had a lot of snow. While Riley and Jessie have been out playing in it, Leah has been a little more cautious. Recently, however, she braved the winter cold and went out with the kids.
Jessie was around at first, but then let her sisters take the lead!
It is not always easy pulling a 13 year old girl up a small hill!
And it isn’t easy having a few ambulatory issues and have to navigate around your brother!
So, if that doesn’t work, then how about we just pick her up and take her up the hill??
And if two people are good, then a third one holding her legs must be better, right?
You and I can see the inevitable outcome of this, but the girls seemed blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.
And, here it is …
While Ali rolled down the hill, she got into a little fender-bender with Luke!
It was a lot of fun for all of them and no one was hurt.
We have now had the girls home two months and it is going well, probably better than I would have expected at this point and definitely better than it felt those first several weeks. The girls seem have settled into pace of life that works for them. They have become a very integral part of our family and the last several weeks have been great.
They are getting much better with their English comprehension and Leah and Riley have a pretty good English vocabulary! We were at a GI appointment the other day and the doctor was amazed at how much Riley was comprehending of what he was saying. Jessie is doing well also, but is not as motivated to speak English as the other two. She has been doing well at school, but has to be challenged to try since she never really had any expectations put on her in China. It has been difficult to combat those habits of not even wanting to try, but Kelly continues to work with her and challenge her and she is doing well.
Jessie has been the more emotional of the three also, but seems to have come to an understanding that she can love her China mom and love her American mom and there doesn’t have to be any internal conflict with that. She really is a LOT of fun to have around, as they all are. They are full of energy and excitement! They talk loud … VERY loud! They can be sitting right next to each other and they will be talking at the top of their lungs! They are actually at church this afternoon and even though the house is not empty, it is blissfully quiet!
It sure seems like they are bonding with us. Leah and Riley may not always invite close physical attention during the day (Leah tells me no kissing, but hugging OK!), but they do let us kiss and hug them at night as we put them into bed. Jessie continues to be the one that desires the most physical interaction and it isn’t unusual for her to cuddle up with you on the couch and just spend time next to you.
This week Jessie has a spinal tap under sedation at Cincinnati Children’s to rule out any hidden systemic infections and then next week Ali has laser surgery on her face at Shriners in Cincinnati. A little over a week ago we took Leah down to Shriners in Lexington to have her orthopedics evaluated. They fitted her for a new wheelchair and did some moldings for braces. It was a pretty emotional day for everyone as we were hit with the reality of her life post-polio and some of the challenges that she is going to face moving forward. Leah was somewhat emotionally spent as she felt that we were going to take away the wheelchair that her orphanage had given her. We tried to explain to her that we were keeping that wheelchair, but that it was not really made for someone her size and one that was actually fitted to her would work better long term.
Riley and Ali went last week to the GI doctor to evaluate Riley and get an update on Ali surrounding their Hep B status. We also had Brittany at the endocrinologist last week for an update on her Graves Disease. All the girls are doing well physically and we should be through the worst of it soon.
Thank you for all of your continued prayers. God is faithful and will continue to be faithful. It still seems crazy to thing how our family has grown over the last several months, but at the same time I am at the point where I can’t imagine our lives without a single one of them! I am so very thankful that God called us to this and that we answered that call. There is much joy in that!
Cameron