Lena's First Halloween

 Lena's first Halloween- I think this is one holiday our little princess LOVES!  Once she figured out how it works, which wasn't long, she was all about it and so excited to get candy in her bag!  Like Jayce, she'd prefer to just open it right away.  :)   She was still a little tipsy from being sedated earlier that morning, but 95% better than she was around noon that day.  She had so much fun, as did all of us!

Lena Update

It has been a busy week with Halloween and all the doctor appointments we have had this week.   Lena had her CT scan and sedated ABR appointment on Wednesday, October 31st.  Thankfully, I had to wake her up to get her dressed and get her into the car so she didn't even know she missed breakfast.  We dropped three of the brothers off at grandma and grandpa's and then we were off to Children's.   She was a little hesitant at first and I was a little nervous they were going to turn her away because she was coughing that morning, but they didn't.  She did very well and the CT scan and ABR went great.   They came and got me when she was waking up- she woke up about an hour before they wanted her to, so they expected her to be very crabby, but she wasn't all that much.  She kept pointing at the Winnie the Pooh characters on the wall and I kept signing, bear, pig, butterfly, etc. :)    She did so well in fact, her audiologist was able to take impressions of her ear for hearing aides.   She had to do one of them twice, but it was nice to have that done and not have to go back for another visit just for that.  We also picked out a color for the hearing aid-translucent purple and a color for the piece that sits in the ear- glittery purple.  I wasn't prepared for that, but I figured I'd pick a color she might like and one that might make her want to put them in and keep them in.  We'll see how that goes!   She did have no response in her left ear, so I am not sure if they will try to aide that ear or not.   Her right ear response was 70-80 decibels, which is a severe hearing loss.  This was better than what the booth testing showed though- 80-90 decibels, which was more severe to profound.   The audiologist thinks the ultra power hearing aide may help her.   I guess we will go back for a hearing aide fitting and try them out for awhile!   The next day we then went back to Children's to see our ENT for the CT results.   She said Lena's CT scan was normal and that the temporal bone and all the inner ear structure and components were there and looked normal.   We are going to look into a blood test for her, pending insurance will cover it, to try and determine if she is deaf due to genetics or environmental factors.  That will be good information for her to know for later in life when she decides to try to have a family of her own.  All in all, everything went wonderfully and we certainly felt and appreciated all the prayers! 

A Tug at the Heartstrings

I advocate for kids with special needs waiting for a family in China every single day.  I love it.  It's my passion.  Seeing a child find a family is one of the best feelings.

 

 This is one of my favorite boys I've advocated for and who recently found his family!

I look at hundreds, maybe thousands even, of pictures of waiting kids every day.  I often find myself saying, 'Oh, he's so cute!' or 'She is beautiful!'   I have to be honest- I have a list of boys and a list of girls who are my favorites...ones I'd bring home in a heartbeat.  How could you not when you look at faces like these every day...waiting....waiting....waiting.  Every child deserves to have a family!

Just looking at these faces makes my eyes tear up.  It makes me realize why I do what I do.  These kids all need a family and so do millions of other waiting kids all around the world. 


 But over a year ago, I saw photos and  video of a little boy who was four at the time.  There was just something about this sweet boy.  His smile and his personality just tugged at my heartstrings in a different way than some of the other photos that move me.

 


I posted photos of him on an advocate group, I shared his information, but yet he waited and waited.  He went from being on the Madison Adoption Associates' list as a part of a camp they held in his orphanage (where the video came from) to the shared list, then to the agency BAAS' list, and back to the shared list.  Then he was listed with  Adoption Advocates International and eventually with Bethany Christian Services.

I emailed Diana with Madison to ask her about him.  Here were some of her words from the first email (this was before we left for China):  "I LOVE JACK!  We came SO CLOSE to placing him, but I do believe he will end up where he is meant to be. I saw Jack this week.  He's as cute as ever...  (Too bad I didn't get him smiling though...See attached!)"

Here's that photo: 

 Think of this child and his precious smile one year ago.  This is what happens to a child's heart when they see so many of their friends find families and many of them leave the orphanage, yet they still wait.


 While Jack was listed with Bethany was when we went to China to bring Lena home.  While in China, he disappeared.  He was no longer listed with Bethany and he was not on the shared list.  While in China, I ordered him a birthday cake and stuffed animal- his favorite animal from a very popular Chinese cartoon.  I felt so sad for him that his 5th birthday had recently passed and no one celebrated it with him, but the other children with families were having their birthdays celebrated.  It wasn't until after we got home that I got the pictures from that celebration.

 I was glad to see that he at least looked a little happier- I was hoping it at least made for a good day for him!


 If you followed our blog while we were in China you might remember that on our last day in China, we drove right past the exit for his orphanage.  Oh how much I just wanted to get off at the exit and go and get him and bring him home!   Now we all know that is not possible and that it just doesn't work that way.....there's paperwork, there' money, and there are visas and passports...none of that had happened so that we could bring him home.  The dreary day was like the emptiness in my heart that I felt for this child who was getting so down about the fact that all of his friends were finding families and many of them were leaving.  The rain on the windows was like the tears that started to fall when I saw that sign.

When we came home from China, I had to inquire about this sweet boy.  I just had to know he had a family!  Weeks went by and I heard nothing.  Then one day, Diana at Madison emailed me....

and the rest of this story can be found here: http://www.astariswhatyouare.blogspot.com/2012/10/that-email-said-i-got-his-file-today-on.html