We had a great time yesterday traveling to Riley’s Farm in Yucaipa. It was such a beautiful place and Hope had her first experience picking apples, eating freshly made applesauce, and enjoying farm life. If you haven’t been to Riley’s farm and live in SoCal then we highly recommend it! Everyone who works there dresses in colonial type clothes, and they have a great medley of activities for the little ones. From an apple cider press, to making candles, there is plenty to do! www.rileysfarm.com
Hope had fun, but sure didn’t like the flies buzzing around her head non-stop! But she did love running around in the barn with her brother and sisters! We are having so much fun with her and the kids are teaching her the cutest little things every day. Enjoy the pictures!
This is the little sweetie our friends the Clifton’s are trying to adopt. She is Hope’s best friend from Bethel and is now three years old. Please pray for this family as they are trying desperately to request her file from China. Usually with adoptions it works the other way around where the paperwork is done by the family first, and then China refers a child. In this case the Clifton’s found out about her last summer and weren’t able to get her off their hearts and have been trying to adopt her ever since!
There are some red-tape type hurdles so please pray for favor with all government officials. They have invested a huge amount of time and money in the process and feel she is destined to be their daughter. So we pray on!
Hope has been having such a good time at preschool. She has the sweetest teachers, Ms. Jenny and Ms. Kim, who go out of their way to make her feel very special and comfortable. The past few times, when I pick her up, she gets mad at me because she is having so much fun! Tonight was back to school night, and Todd got to meet her teachers and see the school. They had a magician for the kids, and Jonathan, Abby, and Hannah really had a great time too.
We have learned through our China chat group that there is a family right now that upon arriving in China to pick up their daughter learned that she is in the hospital fighting for her life. Please visit their blog and pray for them as you are able. I can’t imagine what they are going through and they really need our prayer support right now.
I (Todd) am taking a closer look through the video footage from our trip to China since I’ve never really done so, and among other things I’ve found four more videos from the couple precious hours we spent at Bethel Foster Home on Hope’s Gotcha Day on May 2nd… They are a bit of a rough watch at times as our videographer skills need improvement, but I know there are some of you who will still appreciate being able to visit Bethel this way and see more footage of the precious little ones who live there…
Here and here are the other videos from Hope’s Gotcha Day, in case you missed them…
Hope has been very fussy today, crying a lot, whining, and has just been plain ol’ sad. I was holding her a few minutes ago and asked her, “Hope, Mommy wants to know what’s bothering you. Does something hurt you? If there is something that hurts you, please point to it for Mommy.” I asked all of this not thinking that she would understand me, but I guess I underestimated her English! She gently took my finger, and put it on her throat. Then she pointed with her own finger into her mouth. It was so precious! I couldn’t believe that she understood those full sentences! I have been wondering these days just how much English she understands, so this is a clue. The girl is getting it.
Jonathan has had a sore throat in the past few days, so she must have gotten it from him. Poor girl. Everyone is showering her with attention right now, and giving her lots of hugs and kisses. She definitely isn’t lacking attention in this house! 🙂
Kim just called from the ophthalmologist’s office and the doctor just ran a checkup on Hope’s eye. He said that the results are better than he had ever expected for Hope, and that her retina is already 75% reattached. He is going to reexamine her in a month to see if there is any more scar tissue that could be blocking vision, and after that if all goes well he will fit her with a contact lens in that eye and expects that she will be able to see light, shadows, shapes and movement from that eye. He said that it wouldn’t be vision where she could sit and watch t.v. for example, but that this is still a remarkable improvement from what he ever thought possible.
Kim also said that as he was saying the last part, he had a big smile on his face, as if to slightly concede that she was right regarding the last comment she made to him. 😉
Kim also said that she saw the ultrasound he was looking at and the retina looked fully attached to her, but she thinks he is just being ultra-conservative in his report to us. Other good news is he said she can finally go swimming again now, and it’s ok again for her to poke her eye! (That last one is a relief to us all because we were constantly working on trying to keep her from poking it).
Today was Hope’s first day of preschool! I was nervous about leaving her but she did really well, and seemed to like it. She has two awesome teachers who were loving and nurturing to her, and really made her feel at home. After dropping her off, Hannah and I went to Starbucks, then went back for a quick spy on her to make sure she was ok. She was starting to cry as we rounded the corner but after watching the teacher comfort her, I realized she was in great hands.
Hannah and I decided that today would be the day for just her and I to go to Disneyland together, and put our annual passes to good use! What a special time! Since we got home from China, Hannah and I haven’t had much time together alone, so it’s a really special thing that she is my only one who is not in school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We are planning to do a lot of fun things this fall like visit pumpkin patches, farms, parks, and more! So off we went to Disneyland for a few hours. It was great! There were no lines at all, so we just walked right on to all the rides! Everything was just perfect until we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean. Hannah did not like that at all! It was pretty scary for her, so after it was over, we got a big lollipop to try to forget all about it!
When we picked up Hope, she was happily playing with the toys, and came to us smiling big. What a great day! Now we are off to pick up Jonathan and Abby at their new school that they started this week, a charter school where they will be attending on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then we homeschool on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. So far they love it!
There are many awesome people out there in the world, and I really wanted to highlight some of our friends in Kansas City: The Loux Family! They announced today that they are adopting a little boy with Downs Syndrome from Eastern Europe. They have huge hearts for adoption, and have been working tirelessly this past year to help other families adopt. They have 3 biological children, and just adopted a sweet little girl a year ago. Please pray for this family, and if you are so led, you can contribute financially to help bring little Aiden home. Their family website is http://www.thelouxfamilyadoption.blogspot.com/ & http://thespiritofadoption.blogspot.com/
Last week, we took Hope to the hospital to have an MRI and cat scan to test and see if she has any brain damage or previous fractures. The opthamologist wanted to see if there was any other evidence that might suggest Shaken Baby syndrome. Well, the good news is that she has no sign of either brain damage or bone fractures. So now we are going to have her tested for a genetically rare disorder, that her detached retina might be due to. She has an appointment on Friday with her opthamologist, so I will probably have more information after talking to him.
On a fun note, Hope starts preschool tomorrow! Details and pictures to follow! 🙂
We went back to Hope’s surgeon for a check up today. He said that her retina has already started reattaching itself. He said that it was coming along very nicely, and much quicker than normal. This is mainly on her right eye. He isnt really checking her left eye, as I think that he thinks there is no vision in it, due to a tear in her retina. But we are just praying for both eyes to reattach and for her vision to be restored. Regardless, we love this little girl. She is a blessing to our lives, and her lack of sight isn’t too much of an issue on a day to day basis. She navigates very well, and her siblings are always quick to jump in and help her. They have taught her so many things! She is super smart, and picks up things in seconds. Jonathan especially loves teaching her little commands. So far, she knows:
stand up, sit down, spin around, high five, clap your hands, pray (puts hands together), jump, honk your nose, dont touch your eye, drink your bottle, eat your food, change your diaper, take your medicine, dance, lay down, wave bye bye, give me a kiss, and more!
She is developing a special bond with each of her siblings, but whenever she cries, she calls for GuGa. (Brother in Chinese) Its so neat to see the love that they have for her, and the desire to help.
Thanks so much for all your prayers, and for your encouraging emails. We love you!
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families,
he leads forth the prisoners with singing
She was starting to cry as we rounded the corner but after watching the teacher comfort her, I realized she was in great hands.
