It’s 60 degrees here today, so that calls for a walk to the creek to soak in the warm weather!
Archive for February, 2009
A walk to the creek
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009A week of appointments
Saturday, February 21st, 2009We are doing our part to keep the economy going in the medical community. 
Elijah had four appointments and a couple of lab visits this week. As I posted earlier, we had a huge praise on Monday. Elijah also had a follow-up dental appointment that was much better than we had expected it would be. Yesterday we visited the pediatric cardiologist and the doctor pronounced Elijah to be a “normal boy”. Wow! Two years ago one of set of doctor’s in China said his heart condition was “inoperable”, but through the ministry of PHF and a wonderful church here in the States (thank you Salem!) he had successful surgery and is now a “normal boy”. We also dealt with some infection this week and now have clear labs for that. Thank you again, God!
The only concern we had this week is Elijah’s arm. We went for follow-up x-rays this week and they did not look good. The bones had slipped and the first doctor was sure we would need to reopen things and insert pins in the morning. The “fracture specialist” looked at it and said there is a good chance that the bones will be fine to heal as is and that with all the growth time Elijah has ahead of him, the growth will totally compensate for any deformity right now. The risk is that in a year or two there may be a little loss of range of motion in his forearm. If that’s the case we will definitely have to have surgery in a year of two. We decided to take the conservative approach that the fracture specialist recommended and go with the better odds of things healing on their own and being fine in the long run. We will go back for another set of x-rays on Wed. and if the bones have slipped more we will have to go ahead and open things up, cut through what has fused, insert pins and start again. We have been trying (with a lot of failure!) to encourage Elijah to totally baby his arm and keep as inactive as possible. Even just bouncing down the steps or accidently bumping his arm into a wall could jolt things. Aside from keeping him bubble wrapped, I don’t think it’s possible to keep him totally safe! I honestly don’t have much confidence in what the x-rays will look like next week, but we are praying for the best and know that God can heal once again!
Despite the medical “trials” and lots of time spent in doctor’s offices, God has continued to use these times to expedite our bonding process. We have had lots of laughter and snuggles, and also times where Elijah has shared more of his past with us. I ache for what he has endured before, but know that God can use it all for His greater glory. Elijah is one amazing kid and I grow to love him more and more every day.
While I’m rambling on, I’ll share that we’ve also had a good week of school. We are more comfortable in our routine and Elijah is already making visible progress. We’ve starting reading lessons and figured out more where he is in math. He’s using more vocabulary daily and understanding a LOT. We have built in some incentives that he is excited about and he is anxious to learn!
Here is a picture from “movie night” last night. We found out that Elijah has some fun dance moves.
A happy bunch of kids
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009Mix in a box full of chocolates and five kids and you get lots of smiles! Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Clark!
The Great Physician
Monday, February 16th, 2009We are rejoicing today!! Elijah had tested positive for what could be a serious lifelong medical issue and we got news today that he is now negative and his body has healed. We were fully prepared to deal with this and care for Elijah in whatever ways we needed to. We were not at all expecting this amazing news today and we give all credit to our Father. He knew our concerns and our broken-heartedness for the fact that Elijah had yet another challenge in his life and He answered in a way that was more than we had asked. I’m telling you, the ways God has used adoption to stretch our faith and confidence in Him has been amazing. He is good! It is our prayer that Elijah will one day use this and many other stories to boldly proclaim God’s faithfulness to him.
Ahhh, the weekend
Saturday, February 14th, 2009This has been a busy week, not because we’ve had a lot going on outside the house, just because it’s busy in the house! It’s hard to get much more than school and basic household stuff done during the week and I am thankful that we don’t have much going on this weekend so that I can breath a bit and catch up on some things.
Elijah is doing well with his arm. We had a follow-up x-ray and it looked good. We go back next Wed. for another follow-up x-ray. I’m not sure how much longer he’ll have the cast. He also has three other appointments next week for various things so we appreciate prayer that those go well. He seems to be picking up a few more words here and there, but mostly I’ve seen an increase in his understanding when we talk to him. The language gap has not hampered his talkativeness! He is always telling us about what he did or saw, or wanting to know what we are doing, etc. I can only imagine how much more talkative he’ll be as his English progresses!
School has gone pretty well, but I need to spend some more time coming up with a good plan of action for schooling with Elijah. He can and does participate in some of our group things, but also needs a lot of one-on-one. Trying to fit it all in is a challenge, but bit by bit we are making progress.
Happy Valentine’s Day! Hug your sweeties!
Hope fulfilled
Monday, February 9th, 2009A dear friend and I have been on our current adoption journeys together. God led each of us and our spouses to two different boys in two very different parts of the world, yet the need was the same. They were orphans, we were parents with open arms. After months of paperwork and waiting, then waiting some more, we are now both home with our precious treasures. Despite hope deferred and tears of impatience, we now hold in our arms evidence of His great love and faithfulness to our families and to these two very special boys. He is good, He is faithful, we are HOME!! Now the next journey begins as we do our best as parents to raise them to love Jesus with all of their hearts and to encourage them to use their personal stories to proclaim God’s faithfulness in their lives.
Happy Birthday Ami!
Sunday, February 8th, 2009Our little girl turned three today. She is a joy in our family and constantly keeps us laughing with her sweet and sassy personality. She chose chicken nuggets, french fries, and strawberries for her birthday meal, along with pink cake and pink frosting. We love her dearly and can’t imagine our family without her. Happy birthday Ami, we are so thankful and blessed that God chose you to be in our family!!
(Yes, these pictures are all from today. She loves dress-up and clothes and changes outfits several times a day!)
On another note, Elijah is doing great. He rested around the house quite a bit yesterday, but has been back to more of himself today. He is very careful with his arm. He hasn’t been the most comfortable sleeping at night, but has done well with it. As an added bonus, the circumstances have given him and me great bonding time. I’ve done a lot of reading on older child adoption and you are constantly encouraged to treat the child with extra TLC, even reverting back to caring for them in a small child like manner. I have been doing everything from assisting him with dressing and using the bathroom to bathing him and flossing his teeth. As much as I hate to see him with a broken arm, I am thankful for the opportunity to turn this into a special nuturing time, allowing his trust in me as a mom to grow quicker than it may have otherwise.
Elijah vs. the driveway
Friday, February 6th, 2009Unfortunately the driveway won. Here is what Michaela wrote in an email earlier. I’ll let you read about it from her perspective.
“Please pray for Elijah. He fell off my scooter today and broke his left arm in two places. His elbow may be twisted too. He is having surgery in about and hour and may have to stay in the hospital overnight with my mom! He will also probably have a cast up over his elbow. Nobody saw the fall. We were out on a walk. It was so so so nice outside today. 68 degrees! Anyways, we were on our way back and we stopped to talk to our neighbor. Elijah went ahead and on down our driveway, going really fast. I was like, on no somethings going to happen… (He doesn’t have very good balance, although he does ok on a bike.) The rest of us stayed to talk to the neighbor. About three seconds later, I heard this screaming and yelling. My mom was like, Go check on him, fast! I ran and found him lying in the grass on one side of the driveway, the scooter on the other. I ran down the driveway and kneeled down there in the grass not realizing that it was wet. I totally soaked my jeans in one spot! I think that he landed on his left arm and then rolled over onto the grass. I anxiously asked where it hurt. He rolled over and showed me his arm. It was all crooked. My first thought was, BROKEN ARM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Right then I realized my mom was running down the drive way. She came and helped him up and took him to the garage. There she looked at his arm and said, ” I think we need to go to the ER.” Did I mention that he was screaming and crying the whole time? I was really scared but tried to stay calm. This was the first time any kid had broken an arm or a leg in our family. My mom told me to stay home with Benjamin and Johanna. She called me in a few minutes. She told me that my dad had met her at the ER and he was going to take Ami home. He got home later and stayed home with us. My mom kept calling us and updating us on what would happen. He has to have surgery and possibly have pins in his arm”
So that’s Michaela’s story. Elijah had a bad break and was in a lot of pain. Unfortunately since we had just eaten lunch we had to wait until later in the evening before they could put him under anethesia. The break was not easy to reset, but the doctor thinks it will heal well and he will be able to go about his normal ten year old boy behaviors. This in one tough kid. He handled things well and was a good patient despite his severe pain. I am so proud of him. Thank you for your prayers!
The first picture is with the temporary cast, and the second picture is just before heading home. We go back for x-rays next week to make sure the pieces of bone are holding together and set well for healing.
A proud auntie posting
Friday, February 6th, 2009
A new arrival!!
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009We are so proud and happy to introduce our new nephew and cousin, little Sean! After more than 48 hours and then a C-section, we are thankful that momma and baby are doing fine. We wish we were close enough to visit, but CA is just too far right now. Jonathan and Yuki, congratulations!! Happy birthday Sean, we love you!
On another note, Elijah got to call back to China tonight! His wonderful teacher at PHF has left some notes on our blog and he has really enjoyed reading them. I asked if he would like to call, so we did tonight. It was great timing as his class was just on a break and he got to talk to his teacher as well as some of his buddies. He had a lot of joy on his face and went to bed with even more joy in his heart. We are so thankful for that home of love that he had for a year and a half at PHF. They will forever be a part of us and I know we would all love to go back and spend more time there some day.
