Baptism, Birthday, Eye Surgery, and a Break!

Hi Everyone,
I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update the blog. I have been working full time in a school counseling substitute assignment since January 5th. My last day at the school was March 12th; the regular school counselor is returning from her maternity leave tomorrow.

Since I last updated, Julia celebrated her 6th birthday, was baptized at church, and she had eye surgery! A lot has been going on in our household. We are so blessed that we have such supportive friends and family.

First, her 6th birthday was so fun; she was so excited that day - February 2nd. We surprised her with gifts at the breakfast table, then after dinner, all our friends came over for cake and ice cream. She wore a paper birthday crown all day at school and felt so special.

Her baptism day started out very hectic! Lydia woke up with pink eye and also had a terrible head cold! We rushed them both to the doctor to get antibiotic eye drops. We were almost late for her baptism because we had been running around all morning going to the doctor and picking up the medicines. The whole parish was invited to her baptism since they helped bring her home. Around sixty or seventy people came and the church provided a reception for her after the baptism. She dressed in beautiful white dress and she felt like a princess that day. She kept saying, "I'm a member of the church" over and over. It was a beautiful day except for the pink eye situation!

She was supposed to have eye surgery on February 10th, but came home sick from school the day before. We rescheduled it for March 17th and she came through with flying colors! We expected her to be nauseous afterwards, but she wasn't! We expected her eye area to be bruised and swollen, but it wasn't! God's hand was on her again;His love and strength were right there with her. The only visible sign that she has had surgery is the redness in her eyes. And..........no more inward crossing of her left eye! God is so good!

Almost three weeks ago, we skyped with her Chinese foster family. We had promised them when we were in China that we would do that with them on occasion so they could see how she was doing. It was so sweet. Her foster mother cried almost the whole thirty minutes because she was so happy to see Julia. I'm pretty sure that Julia understood everything she was saying, but either couldn't or wouldn't speak back in Chinese. The foster home translator, Ms. Sarah, said she could tell that Julia understood what they were saying. Julia's English is amazing and we're so proud of her, but hopefully she won't lose all of her Chinese.

We have been on Spring Break this week and Julia's eye surgery was on St. Patrick's day. We take her back to Scottish Rite Hospital here in Dallas on Friday. She has been wearing the back brace they made for her since February 19th. She is a trooper and I know God is giving her the strength to wear it. I would describe it like a plastic corset with velco straps in the back - like Scarlett 0'Hara in "Gone With the Wind". Julia wears it almost 24/7, even sleeping in it! We will find out on Friday how long she will have to wear it. Please pray that she won't have to wear it a tremendously long time.

Thank you for checking in on us and keeping us in your thoughts. We would love to hear from you especially those of you associated with New Day and everyone else too! Have a great week! I have a break for a few weeks! Yeah! Blessings to you, Michelle