Dermatographism . . .

Anyone know what dermatographism means? The linguistically gifted among you can probably figure out that derma refers to skin, and graphism refers to writing. So, yes, it's literally the ability to write on one's skin (without using ink)!

Jesse's been getting itchy red welts and bumps for the last month or so at random times. The last two weeks it's been almost every day, so we decided to take him to the allergist. I was afraid it would be a food allergy or something really awful. But it's really just hives from ultra-sensitive skin. His body releases unnecessary histamine when the skin is bothered by, well, pretty much anything. At his appointment today, the doctor rubbed the end of his (closed) pen along Jesse's forearm. Within 2 minutes there was a nice welt where the pen had touched, and his arm was all red and itchy. This is the same thing that has been happening randomly on different areas of his body.

The doctor said it's nothing dangerous, but if it's happening a lot and bothering him we can use Zyrtec or Claritin. Most kids outgrow it in a matter of months or years. I'm just very thankful it's not a life-threatening allergy or anything very serious! I'm also very glad that his asthma hasn't returned at all since June. We'll see what happens when pollen season returns, but I'm so thankful all his issues are minor and easily controlled.

Finally!

I posted over 3 weeks ago that we were ready to send in our dossier. WELL....a few minor set backs came up. The most annoying one was that we had to have an employment letter rewritten so it would be specific enough for China's liking. Our agency said we COULD send it as is and hope they were OK with it. But, since we'd rather have a set back of a couple weeks instead of many months we decided not to risk it. So we got that letter redone, gathered family photos and passport photos and all our documents and mailed them off to Living Hope today!

As soon as our dossier is audited, forwarded, notarized, state sealed, authenticated, and translated, it will be sent to the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs and logged-in to their system.

The next step on our end will be deciding on a child! Please join us in praying for wisdom as we make that decision, as well as for financial provision. Thanks!

Revenge of the Stink Bugs

Last week we had our annual "Christmas Tree Day" (a little later than usual since we were away the weekend after Thanksgiving. So Heath brought in the Christmas tree and ornament boxes which had been in the garage all year. We've learned a very important lesson: stink bugs do not die off in the winter. They merely hibernate and come back to life as soon as they're in a warm house.

Cincinnati, Here We Come!

Woo hoo! We finally have our itinerary for Tabitha at Cincinnati Children's Hospital! I guess people don't usually get excited about going to a hospital, but I'm thrilled! Last spring we did the paperwork and thought we were going in August, then the insurance company wouldn't cover it, then the insurance company changed their mind. In SEPTEMBER I posted that great news. I thought we'd go relatively quickly. But I guess in the meantime they'd gotten really busy and couldn't schedule us until January. But then one of the departments she needs was booked so they moved us to February. I kept waiting for the official itinerary, thinking it would be a quick process. But it wasn't until today, 3 months after getting the good news from our insurance company, that we received a packet in the mail with our official dates. I'm SO happy!!

Here's our "vacation" itinerary: (If you want to know what all these tests are feel free to look them up....I won't bore you all by explaining them here.)

Tues, Feb 8--travel to Cincinnati
Wed, Feb 9--sacrum x-ray; contrast enema
Fri, Feb 11--bowel management lecture; abdominal x-ray; clinic visit
Mon, Feb 14--abdominal x-ray; lab test; kidney ultrasound
Tues, Feb 15--abdominal x-ray; urodynamics; cystogram; parent peer discussion
Wed, Feb 16--abdominal x-ray; urology clinic visit
Thurs, Feb 17--abdominal x-ray; cystoscopy and vaginoscopy exam under anesthesia
Fri, Feb 18--abdominal x-ray; clinic visit
Fri or Sat--travel home

Sounds like fun, huh? =) We're planning on taking all the kids and doing some fun stuff while we're there too. Over the weekend and in the afternoons and evenings we should have some free time for the Creation Museum, Children's Museum, and visiting a couple friends. Hopefully it will end up really being somewhat of a vacation, even if not a typical one.

The purpose of this trip is to do a thorough exam (colorectal, urological, gynecological) to see the big picture of Tabitha's birth defects, determining what's been fixed and what still needs to be done. Tests should show whether or not Tabitha has the potential for bowel control (based on what we've read she probably does not). If she does, they'll work with us on a diet/laxative program to regulate her. If she doesn't, the week of bowel management will be spent learning to do enemas and find the right "prescription" for her. The daily x-rays will show if she is totally cleaning out each day, which is the goal. They'll adjust the enema dosage accordingly. The big goal (besides her health of course) is that she will be able to be out of diapers.

Those who are praying for us.....

Please join us in praising God that we finally have these dates and (again) that the insurance company will cover it. Other families have had to fight much harder or even pay for it all themselves.

Thank God also for the yahoo chat group for parents of kids with imperforate anus. I've learned so much from them!

Pray that we'll be able to get into the Ronald McDonald house right near the hospital. Or that a generous donor will pay for 10 nights at a hotel!

Pray that all these tests will be successful, and we'll come home with Tabitha being out of diapers, and with good prognosis for all the colorectal, urological, and reproductive issues.

Pray that Tabitha will handle this well and be at peace with all the doctors and procedures. Also, pray that she'll just be pleasant, despite travelling and loss of normal routine.

Pray that Ethan and Jesse will be able to enjoy the time there, even though a lot of it may be pretty boring for them.

Pray that Heath and I will be able to handle whatever medical things we need to, especially learning to do enemas. Honestly, I'm really repulsed at the thought of it. But I'm also repulsed at having to change a 3-year-old's highly potent diapers several times a day! So this should be better than that, once we get used to it. It does take almost an hour of "potty time" though, so pray for wisdom on how to incorporate that into our lives. I've already freaked out about it all, but I'm working on trusting God more and believing that He will help us through this.

Thank you all for your support. We're so glad we'll soon be getting some serious help with all this!

Approval!

Last summer when I was in Illinois we got our "Permission to Travel" for Tabitha. This time while I was in Illinois, we received our USCIS approval. (Maybe I should go to Illinois more often and it would speed up the adoption process!)

This approval of our I800A says that we have been approved to adopt one child from the country of China. Yippee!! (I guess those fingerprints showed that we're still not criminals. That's good to know!)

Next, we just need to gather up some documents that are sitting in our "adoption box", and mail them into our agency along with a significant chunk of change. (Those of you praying for us, please pray that God provides this money soon. Thanks!) Once our agency has these things (called our dossier), they will get them all notarized and translated and authenticated and whatever else they have to do, and then they'll be sent to China. At that point we'll be able to start looking for a child on the waiting child list! We also would appreciate prayer for this, as far as knowing what medical needs we can handle or not, and that God would lead us to the child He has for us. Thanks!

Speech

As those of you who have met Tabitha know, she talks a lot! But...we only understand a little. Her caretakers told us that her speech was delayed even in China, so it's not just a new language problem. Back in August, we contacted the appropriate people to have her evaluated for getting speech therapy through the school system. After a few meetings, a couple evaluations, a bunch of paperwork, and only 4 short months, they have concluded that....(drum roll, please)....Tabitha's speech is delayed! Gotta love "the system."

Anyway, her speech level is at least a year and half behind, even though her understanding of English is great. So after all that waiting, now they want to start speech therapy next week! She's supposed to have 2 half-hour sessions each week. We're working on scheduling it now, which is tough to do without messing up the boys' school time and/or Tabitha's nap time. But hopefully something will work out.

We're eager to get help for her. We know she has a lot to say, and it'll benefit our relationships with her and remove a lot of frustration for both parties, once we can understand her more easily. Hopefully it'll happen quickly!

2500 Miles, 16 Toll Booths, 13 Days, 11 Relatives, 7 Friends, 3 Kids, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

....and did I mention....only ONE parent? (That's me....the harried, disheveled woman piling out of the van with three grumpy kids in tow).

Yes, the kids and I managed to survive our trip to Nebraska. It was a lot of driving and a lot of time to be away, but it was really great to visit with family and friends. We started our trip with a stop in Ohio at my aunt and uncle's house. It was a fun evening. We went to church with them the next morning, stayed for the delicious turkey dinner afterwards, and then drove on.

We had planned to stay with a cousin in Illinois that night, but her kids were sick so instead we stayed at a hotel on the Mississippi River (which my parents were nice enough to pay for. Thanks, Mom & Dad!) In the morning, we had breakfast at the hotel, and a man who was eating there commented that he and his wife had seen us praying together and thought that was really neat. And they said I had some really nice kids (I guess he didn't see them in the van the day before!) :) On their way out, he gave me ten bucks and said to have some fun with my family. I thought that was really sweet of them.

We made it to my parents' house on Monday, which was my mom's birthday. We spent the week visiting with my parents and siblings (all except Carrie & Lcas who were visiting his relatives in Benin, Africa.) We had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner, played games, and enjoyed catching up with each other. It was really nice to see everyone.


Then we started the return trip. On the way back we got to visit my friend Kelly and her family. She'd just had a baby 4 weeks earlier, so it was neat to see her new little guy. The big kids had fun together, and we managed to survive the couple days of chaos created by having 6 kids in one house.
On our way out of Illinois, we went to the Field Museum in Chicago to see some exhibits on things we've studied this year. That was pretty fun.

Then we trudged on to our last stop (back at Ken & Debbie's again), and didn't get there until 10:30pm. So we just went to sleep, woke up, and finished our journey Thursday afternoon. My wonderful husband had decided to skip his appointment that night so he could be home with us. We'd missed him a lot, and even he was ready for a little life to return to the quiet house. The dog, too, was ecstatic to see us. Heath said she just lay on Ethan's bed the whole time we were gone.

It's always nice to come home, but I'm so thankful for our time away and how well everything went. I'm especially grateful that we didn't have an ounce of car trouble during all those 2500 miles. And I'm very thankful for family and friends, and the modern highways that make visiting them possible. Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!!!