Sunday Snapshot

Bathroon reno done and these two were the lucky ones who got to try out the new jacuzi tub first!!!

Yes they will kill me for posting this later on but they were just so cute chanting, "We got the first bath...we got the first bath!" I have never seen children so excited to take a bath. Let's see how long this keeps up.

Together at last!

The girls and I took a road trip last week to Tennessee. We finally met up with our friends L and S. You may remember them from some earlier posts. L and her family adopted S last year from China. She was born with a CL/CP and a severs heart defect like Abby Grace. L and I have been talking since she received S's referral. So finally we got a chance to meet. It was so exciting to see the girls playing together like the had been friends for years. Abby LOVED playing on the swing set and swimming in the pool with S. But I think her favorite part was S's tricycle. She rode it every chance she got. We also got a chance to visit the Nashville Zoo which I highly recommend if you are in the area.
L is such a great person so sweet and genuine. She is so fun to be around. We went shopping at a few little children's shops. We had a great time getting to know their family better. Can't wait til they can come visit us too. Since our boys did not make the trip they were all a bit bummed. But I told them all that they get a chance to visit in October when our agency has it's reunion. They are all really looking forward to it.

Good News

Abby Grace received a great report yesterday. Her heart looks great and her pressure levels were wonderful. She was Satting 80-84% without oxygen! The doctor decided to talk with the surgeon and call us with a date sometime in the future. They said with her next surgery she'd be in the hospital for 2-4 weeks so we are hoping to have it done at a time where I don't have to take a lot of time off of work. We'd hoped to have it done this summer but with such a late cath appointment that does not look likely.
Thanks for the prayers for her yesterday. I felt so at peace sending her back with the team. When we went back to see her she was sleeping and had already been weaned from the oxygen. She slept so peacefully until around 3. To our surprise they discharged her at 4 and we stayed the night in Charleston just to give her a break before coming home to this crazy house. She is now happily playing with her brothers down the hall and shows no signs of even having the cath yesterday except for the blue iodine all over her neck and groin area. I'll be scrubbing that off for a few days:)

Cath Day

Today is cath day. As I type Abby Grace is back in the OR with the team having her heart cath done. We have gotten a few updates: They did an echo, put the caths in, were getting pressure readings and are currently taking lots of pictures. Once she comes out and wakes up a bit they'll call us back to recovery and we'll meet with the doctor. I will post later and let you all know what the doctors found and when they schedule her next surgery.
Thanks for your continued prayers!

We're getting a new daughter:)

OK, we're not technically getting a daughter but we are getting to host an exchange student from China for the upcoming school year. She will be like a daughter but unfortunately at the end of the school year we'll have to let her go back to her family.
I can't tell you a lot about her because I want to protect her privacy but this is what I can say
*She will be 17 when she arrives here.
*She is from Chongqing province.
*She is an excellent student with fantastic grades!
*she comes from a wonderful family with both of her parents working.
*She has been to the US once before on a summer camp program.
*She is beautiful:)

We are so excited to be hosting her. V is thrilled and can't wait to have a big sister. They'll be sharing a room so a small room makeover will have to happen this summer when we find out more about her. The boys...well they aren't too thrilled to have another girl in the house but they'll get over it, right? I think they'll love her once she arrives here. Not sure about AG, she still looks at Asian people very oddly but eventually warms up to them. Hopefully having a big sister around will help us hold on to some of her heritage and customs. We hope to be able to share a lot about our culture and in turn learn a lot about her culture as well.