Sunday, March 18, 2007

There are three things that will endure---faith, hope, and love---and the greatest of these is love.
~1 Corinthians 13:13

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy New Year! We have been home a little over two months; they have been 2 months filled with ups and downs, laughter and tears.

Jia-Li loves being home! We jokingly refer to her as our Asian Princess (and when she is naughty we call her Mao Mao in honor of Chairman Mao…lol) Jia is a girly girl, she loves to shop, wear pretty clothes, go out to dinner and boss us all around.

I stayed home with Jia for a month to get her all set with her Doctor’s appointments and easing her in to her school schedule. Believe me it took the entire month! Jia did the rounds of the doctor’s office like a trouper. Two pediatricians (thanks FCC for Dr. Liang, who speaks Chinese), a cardiologist Dr Arce, who told us that Jia’s heart is A.O.K. completely healthy (thank you Lord), she also went to the orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Storer, 3 times, and the pediatric neurologist once. Jia-Li then went for a long, harrowing day of MRI’s at the Joe Di Maggio Children’s Hospital.

Jia was born without much of a hip socket, and it is pretty severe but completely fixable. Our wonderful orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Storer is confident that she will have a complete recovery. We did have a little unexpected bad news; Jia is going to have to have a surgery before the hip surgery on her spine. Dr. Heger, the pediatric neurologist explains that Jia-Li has a little band of material that is hanging down lower than her spine. This needs to be cut off or there will be a chance that her hip will be displaced again, and it could tether her spinal cord to her spine. This surgery is going to be performed right before our spring break—March 27, and he says that she will be up running around in 2 days. He promises that this is a very low risk surgery.

The hip surgery is scheduled for May 29, a few days before the end of school year. It was the only appointment we could get and it will make the end of the year a little difficult, but we’ll get by. Jia-Li will then be in a body cast for 6-8 weeks post surgery and need some physical therapy but by the end of the summer, God willing, our beautiful little daughter will be all fixed up.

We give thanks to our Lord as Dr. Storer said if the hip had been left alone much longer it would have been unfixable and all he could have done would be to fuse it together. We also know that God was responsible for steering us toward Jia. I just finished reading a book that stated that handicapped children in China are looked upon as inferior, sometimes not allowed to attend school and never allowed to attend college. Miss Jia already has her Gator Chomp down pat, so we all know she’s headed for UF.

Jia-Li is an amazing little survivor; she doesn’t care for all of the poking and prodding, but puts on her face of resignation and pulls through.

Please don’t think it has all been stress. Jia is a little monkey with the funniest faces. She mimics everything you say to her with a decidedly Chinese accent. Jia loves her sisters, her dogs and her pre-school teacher. She has quickly become the teacher’s pet. Jia still has good and bad days with me and that is hard, but those precious hugs and kisses make it all worthwhile. I am 100% positive that things will keep getting better.

Jiao received her citizenship papers and a welcome letter from President Bush (wish it could have been from President Hillary, but we will take it anyway). .

Jia has been to Ms. Franny twice to get her hair trimmed, Franny gets a special Hello Kitty cape out and makes a big fuss over her, she loves it! She has also been to so many soccer games we’ve lost count.