Who Stopped the Rain?

This week has been exciting as we have spent lots of time with family and friends and prepare for my (Patty's) aunt and grandmother to visit for 10 days.  We have had a project a week on the list so that by the time Isaac gets here we can have 12 weeks without projects. :)

It's also been nice here and the rain, snow and hail has stopped, well kind of.  Dane asked me today, "Who stopped the rain?"

Since Dane was born, we had stopped going to auctions, but recently we started going again.  It's a great way to get nice presents for reasonable prices and support some awesome causes.

Last week I went to the Liberty Lake Church dinner and auction and had a good time with our friends the April and Jayme.  All was going great and then they showed some pictures of some children from China that people in the congregation are adopting or hoping to adopt.  Floodworks begin...

One of the pastors of this church is VERY involved with adoption from China.  His sermon at our church last year really impacted Kevin and I as we made our decision to adopt internationally.  At the auction he shared a story of a little girl who was born with her bladder exterior.  He showed a picture.  I couldn't stand to look at the horror, and I was thankful my chair was facing away from the projected image.  His story continued as he explained his conversation with the surgeon regarding this little girl.

He asked the surgeon, "When will you be doing surgery??  The answer was, "We generally wait until they are five."  When he asked why, the surgeon replied, "We usually don't have to do surgery then."  And the pastor asked why and the surgeon replied, "They don't usually make it."

Floodworks stage two.

I can't imagine how stunned the pastor must have been. If a doctor in the US had said this, they would have to deal with the implications of the hypocratic oath, but in China, this was just fine.

Can you imagine someone saying this about a child to you and what you would say?  I wish this would make the headlines, because this is the reality of over 150 million children in the world.  Many of them won't make it to five, and they just want to be loved and have families, but because they live in a country that doesn't put children in their list of priorities, they don't have much of a chance of survival.  Their zip code, or lack thereof  limits them.

This was just the kick in the rear that I needed to remember why we are adopting internationally, and why the waiting, frustration and separation are worth it.  So answering Dane's question, we are stopping the rain.  We are taking the step forward and making sure that one little one who doesn't have a family has a forever family. It's not time to cry, but to celebrate.

Soon, we hope to be in Africa snuggling with our little man and letting him know how much we love him and helping make a difference for others like him.

The Kids are Alright!

Today, Dane had his eye doctor checkup appointment where we would determine if he needed eye surgery this summer or not.  We have been worried because we have started to see the other eye cross and then the "bad eye" cross more, so we were thinking it could be time for surgery...

But instead we were blessed with fantastic news!

His diagnosis of amblyopia has been removed completely!  His vision in both eyes match now, 25/20.  Much better than the 20,000/20 that he had in March 2010!   It turns out his eyes are doing much better and the wandering (stasbismus) we are seeing in both eyes is actually a good sign.  It's showing that they are trying to work together and re-learn what having a lazy eye has "unlearned."  We have another appointment to do a recheck in August, and where we will make sure he is making progress, so we aren't out of the woods, but at least we aren't at the hospital!

Dane has also been diagnosed with wheat, gluten and sugar allergies, which has turned our meal making upside down.  Thankfully, a friend suggested E-Mealz and they have gluten free meal plans that are delicious, so things are looking good!

So this evening as I was making a wheat, gluten and sugar free dinner, I got a call from a friend who said to check my email for a completely different reason, so I puttered around and finished dinner and finally checked my email.   Right underneath the "important" email was the most wonderful email of the day.  

An updated picture of Isaac (and measurements), and the picture said a thousand words.  He is STANDING in the picture, he is not holding onto anything, so my assumption is that he is walking!  At the very least, he has gained enough strength to hold up his own weight, which is phenomenal!  He weighs a little over 24 lbs now, and he's a little over 28 inches tall.  According to US Health standards, Isaac is obese.  Not exactly what we expected to see or hear about our Ethiopian-born child...In all likelihood the issue is because he is short for his age (I can relate).  I am sure we will learn more in the coming months, but I am thankful for this news.

We are still waiting for our court date, but we are very excited to see our little men progressing and getting healthier every day!

Yep,  The Kids are Alright!!!

Dane hunting for eggs at Easter!

Isaac...Holding Music Please...

You know when you make a phone call and they say, "Can I put you on hold?" and then before you can answer to say, "No, I called 9-1-1, and I really need help now."  they put you on hold?  That's kind of how the process is going right now.  We followed up with the agency and right now there is no new news on Isaac.  In our minds, we are thankful, because it sounds like with the slow downs, only bad news would be traveling fast.  So this means Isaac is most likely safe and still thriving.

The nice thing is that there is holding music, lots of it, a four year old full of questions and concerns and excitement.  On the way home this evening there was a sign that said "4 year olds, full of approximately 4 million questions per day."  Yep, he sure is full of questions, but as he said his night, night prayers and asked Jesus for Isaac to come home soon because he really wants to make sure he gets to eat his dinner, it makes our hearts happy that he cares so much for his brother he has yet to meet.

[Insert holding music here...]   =)