Doctor's Appointments

Yesterday James and I took little Kate to Nashville for some doctor's appointments. First she went to the International Adoption Clinic at Vandy to be evaluated. The doctor there was so nice and we learned a lot from her! She was very helpful and spent a loooooong time with us! She ordered lots of routine labs to check for the various things they check for in these kiddos. Then we had an appointment with the occupational therapist - and she said that Kate was doing great for being in an orphanage for 15 months! She said if she had evaluated a 15 month old who is doing the things Kate is doing but hadn't been in an orphanage, she would still not recommend any therapy (does that sentence make sense?) ... so basically, Kate is doing well with fine and gross motor stuff for now! Woo-hoo!

Then we went to see Dr. Kelly, the plastic surgeon. He was very informative and seemed extremely skilled and knowledgeable. Kate will have her palate repaired in the next few months (his first opening is in February... but we may go sooner if there is a cancellation). She'll spend a week in the hospital at Vanderbilt. Then at age 4, they will do repairs on her nose and lip (and ear) if needed. She has one ear that is missing some folds so it's bigger than the other ear - he says this is from positioning in utero and is not a big deal. Then at age 7-8 she'd have a surgery to reinforce her palate and they'll take some bone from her hip and put it in her palate. So that's the plan! Every little one is different so some can end up needing more/fewer surgeries, but that is the general course of action for cleft lips/palates. He was very impressed with Kate's lip and said the surgeon in China did an excellent job.

Then we ran into Qdoba for some take-out on our way back to Huntsville. And we run into a good friend of ours who is a grown-up and had bilateral cleft lip/palate just like Kate. He and his wife are dear friends of ours and his wife was one of my roommates when I lived in Nashville. She and I went to nursing school together. They have 2 sons and one had a cleft lip - and they used Dr. Kelly and had recommended him to us. So it was CRAZY to run into him of ALL people! Nashville is a big place! So we really felt like the Lord was affirming our decision to go to Nashville to see the doctors... we had gone back and forth because there are great doctors and there's a great international adoption clinic in Birmingham... which is 30 minutes closer to us than Nashville (which is a full 2 hours away) ... and we had used the Bham clinic for our travel meds and advice ... but we have both lived in Nashville and we know the city so much better! In nursing school I even got to do a rotation in the International Adoption Clinic at Vandy, so that was neat to go back there. All those years ago I had felt drawn to international adoption... and to be on the other side as a parent was really cool! We have family in Nashville and the surgeon and the clinic see patients on the same day of the week (in Bham we would have to go down and spend the night because the surgeon and the clinic have office hours on different days)... so anyway, we prayed about it and weighed the options and chose Vandy for now. So it was really neat to see Luke and feel the Lord giving us a little encouraging nudge that He was right there with us.

Today we take Kate to our pediatrician for her 15 month check up. Poor little girl is doing great with all the poking and prodding! She gets MAD but she calms down quickly ; ) She's a feisty little thing! Which is actually good - the doc was telling us that some of these kids don't show emotion when they are hurt/sad/angry because they are accustomed to having no one respond. So it is good that she gets upset I guess! Sweet girl ; )

My mom is here visiting which is a huge help! And our SWEET friends are spoiling us beyond belief with amazing dinners and bfasts and lunches and everything else. You are all such talented cooks and we're going to keep having children at this rate!!! Hehe ; ) Will you keep bringing food? hehe ; ) It's been awesome! We feel so blessed ; ))

We are still trying to get on a normal sleep schedule... Kate is still asleep this morning and it's 5 am... so that is great! Maybe she's getting there! I'm still waking up super early... but falling asleep at like 7 pm - so I need to try to stay awake longer! James is sleeping off and on and being such a servant to the rest of us! He is great with the kids and the biggest help ever. He goes to work today for the first time in a few weeks, so you can pray for him! It will be very overwhelming to be so behind.

We had a GREAT sermon on marriage this weekend ... thanks, Ross! I think it has inspired James to serve me (which he really was already doing an amazing job of - I really need to step it up now!) ... we were really moved by it. It's not online yet but should be soon... it would be the one from 11/11 -but the others are great too if you want to listen! Here's the link:

http://myrivertree.org/media.php?pageID=17

Paula sent me this great link if you have a couple minutes. So cute:

http://littlehoffman.blogspot.com/2012/11/orphan-sunday-2012.html

Orphan Sunday was 2 Sundays ago - while we were in China and took Kate to church for the first time. So crazy. Then this was the daily promise a couple days ago... love it!

Kate is doing all sorts of tricks. Here are some (with a cheerio stuck to her chin... ; )

She plays peek-a-boo, waves, claps, blows kisses, crawls, walks while holding furniture, and bobs to music... Anne and Molly are loving teaching her tricks! Ok, I think that's all for now. Take care, everyone!