Update!

Hi Everyone,
We have been really busy with school and taking Julia to doctors' appointments so I haven't been able to update the blog. Also, I am filling in for a school counselor who is on maternity leave until mid-March.

We were able to meet with Emily (New Day graduate) and her family for dinner a couple of weeks ago. She lives in Louisiana now, but her Aunt lives in the Dallas area. Julia and Emily hadn't seen each other since July and after about ten minutes of getting re-acquainted, it was like old times. I think it was weird for them to see each other in their new setting at first.

We took Julia to her first appointment at Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas last week. She was examined, x-rayed, and then cast in a mold for a back brace. She was a trooper going through all of the manipulations for making the brace. She has kyphosis which means her back curves outward, not sideways. The doctor said hers is more pronounced than most. She hasn't had any problems yet, but he said she definitely needs to wear the brace to help the curve lessen. He didn't rule out surgery for her in the future, but wants to start conservatively. The brace is not going to be comfortable and it's going to be difficult for her to wear especially at first. Without intervention, her spinal cord could become compressed in her lower back as she grows and she could possibly lose sensation in her lower half. We will pray that the brace helps and surgery won't be needed. God works miracles all the time as we have seen at New Day foster home.

She will be having eye surgery on the 10th of February to loosen the muscles that control her eyes. Without that surgery, she would lose vision in her left eye. The pediatric opthamologist told us that she had already lost some vision, but would be able to get it back by wearing a patch on her other eye for several hours a day.

As you can see, there is a lot in store for our sweet Julia. On the lighter side, her birthday is this Tuesday and she will turn 6 years old. She is so excited because she is also star student of the week in her class! Her baptism is next Saturday and the whole parish is invited since they all helped bring her home.

I hope to update more often once the next couple of weeks pass. Thank you for checking in on us; I love to hear from all of you. Even though I haven't been able to update as much, I have been keeping up with you and your blogs. Blessings to all of you, Michelle

Julia's First Day of School

Hi Everyone, Julia started Kindergarten today and loved it! When she arrived, she looked around and asked where to sit. She was at the green table with three other students. She had met them previously when we took her to the class Christmas party. They were excited she was there so Mark and I took a picture or two then slipped out. Later in the day, her teacher e-mailed and said she was having a great day! She was so excited when she came home and was very anxious to do her homework. She had to write her numbers from 0 - 10. Her friends had drawn her pictures to put in her take-home folder and she earned two stars for behavior today. The only downside of today was that she was very tired and was in bed by 7:20pm. Thank you to Mrs. Esposito for a wonderful first day for Julia!

God's Hand

Hi Everyone, I hope all of you have a wonderful New Year. I wanted to share a story with you that shows once more that God has designed all of our lives. Ever since we have been home from China Julia has asked me if I know where her friend Emily is living. I had told her several times that I knew she was in America, but I didn't know where. She asked me again last night about 6:30pm, Mom, do you know where my friend Emily lives? I told her the same thing as before. Around 8:00pm Mark checked e-mail and there was one from the receptionist at our church. She said she had received a call from a lady whose daughter knows Julia and gave me her phone number. I called the number and it was in Louisiana! The lady was Emily's mom and had found out about Julia through her sister. Her sister lives in Denton, TX about an hour from here and she had read Lindsay's article in the Texas Catholic newspaper. She had called her sister in Louisiana to tell her about Julia. Julia talked with her friend Emily last night and was so happy! They will be visiting the north Texas area in late January and we plan to get together! God is so good! I almost started crying when I heard her say she was Emily's mom. I feel so humbled by God's goodness! Have a Happy New Year everyone and God Bless!

A Wonderful Christmas!

Hi Everyone, This is the first chance I've had to sit and update the last several days. Julia is doing very well and has had some bouts of homesickness which is to be expected. It seems when she sees pictures/videos of her Chinese home, homesickness sets in. We don't want her to forget about her Chinese home, but maybe some time needs to pass before we show her those pictures again. It's too fresh for her.
We took her to the opthamologist two days before Christmas and she will need to have outpatient surgery to loosen the muscles between her eyes. The doctor said they are pulling too hard causing one of her eyes to turn in somewhat. She had lost some vision already in that eye, but wearing a patch on her strong eye will help her regain that vision. She will need to wear the patch for two to three hours a day for the next six months. If she had been eight years old or older, the doctor said she wouldn't have been able to regain the vision in the weak eye. God is so good!
We had snow on Christmas Eve! The Dallas area hasn't had a white Christmas in 81 years! It was so cold that night; I thought I was in Hohot again! The church was freezing because every time the doors were opened the blast of cold air would rush in. Our sanctuary is in the shape of the cross so two sets of very tall doors are on each side of the cross. There's no outer room to enter before opening those doors so if it's cold, the air comes rushing in!
We celebrated Christmas Eve with my parents at the Adams' house and as always, they were the most gracious of hosts. I think Lindsay held Julia the majority of the evening and Julia loved it! It was scary driving home because the roads were pure ice. We just don't get ice that often so we aren't used to driving in it!
Julia loved opening her presents on Christmas day and her favorite was the Nintendo DS from Santa Claus! Lydia's favorite was the scooter from Santa. Fortunately, the snow and ice melted by the afternoon so they could play outside.
We are so appreciative to everyone for the gifts and cards that you have sent. We received a very special package on Christmas Eve from a family we haven't had contact with in a while, but they are always in our thoughts. Thank you Tarter family; the girls loved the DVDs! Another very special gift came from the Adams in collaboration with Carrie and Amber at New Day. It was a very beautiful book of pictures from Amber's photo journal of Julia's foster family and Julia's every day life over nine months. She took pictures of us meeting Julia in person for the first time and when we had afternoon tea with her foster family. It was so so very special. Thank you again to all our family and friends! We will continue to update so keep following! Until next post.....................blessings,Michelle,Mark,Lydia,and Julia.

Reunion!!

Hi Everyone, Well the big reunion between Julia and Leah Hope occurred on Friday night! Julia was so excited all day long and kept saying, "Leah will be here at 5:00 today." When Leah first arrived, both of them were quiet and just checked each other out. A couple of minutes later they were off playing like they had been together every day! God is so good and has provided both of these girls with one another. We hope to get together with Leah's family often so they will have that strong bond. After Leah and her family left, we took Julia and Lydia to a minor league hockey game here in town. It was so fun; Julia would stand in the aisle dancing when the music played. She also cheered for the home hockey team; I think we have a Texas cheerleader in the making! Tonight was wonderful. We went to mass at 5:00 and were given the pleasure of introducing Julia to everyone. For those of you who may not know, our parish donated all the funds for Julia's adoption. It was so special to introduce her to the people that gave so willingly to bring her home. Thank you St. Jude and Fr. Tim!! I think Julia felt everyone's love; she was so good and even tried singing a couple of the hymns. We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with my family. My parents are driving from east Tennessee to Texas to be with us. I hope all of you have a merry Christmas and I will be updating as much as I can through the Christmas holidays. May God bless you and keep you. Until next post.....................Michelle,Mark,Lydia, and Julia P.S. We will post the reunion pictures tomorrow!

Settling In!

Hi Everyone, Mark and I are closer to getting over the jet-lag. Julia and Lydia are fine with a nap here and there. My biggest complaint has been just feeling tired and not being able to sleep through the night. It'll get better; at least I didn't feel sick.
We have had a very busy week! We took Julia to the pediatrician on Monday and she ordered all kinds of blood tests. She referred us to an endocrinologist and a pediatric opthamologist. She also faxed our application to Scottish Rite Hospital here in Dallas. Julia is receiving such good medical care and the majority of it is being donated by the physicians! We are so blessed and God is so good.
We took her to meet her teacher and to see her classroom on Tuesday, then on Wednesday, she went to her class's Christmas party. She did really well and jumped right in on one of the games. Before the class Christmas party, Mark and I took her to have her hair shaped and trimmed. She fell asleep when the stylist dried her hair; she was so cute!
Today, we took her to the school district offices to have her language skills assessed. She will be placed in ESL (English as Second Language)when she starts kindergarten in January. The assessor could tell that she had had good instruction especially on writing/reading skills at the New Day preschool. Miss Sarah, if you are reading this, good job!
Tomorrow, Friday, she and Leah will reunite! Julia is so excited to see her friend;it has been about nine months since they have seen each other. When I asked which friends she misses the most, she said Leah, Emily, and Victoria. I'll let you know how the reunion goes and Saturday at 5:00, Julia will be introduced to the church parish.
Yes, it's been a busy week, but Julia has handled it very well. She still misses her Chinese home and talks about her life there. I love hearing about it! Until next post........................blessings, Michelle

We're Home!!!!

Hi Everyone, We arrived at the Dallas airport last night around 8:30pm. It had been a very long day of traveling! Even though we were tired, we were energized when our friends were waiting for us at the baggage claim area. They had brought balloons, a huge banner from Lydia's religious ed. class, reporters, and a camera crew. No kidding! You may see more about our journey to Julia on the local news in the future. Also, they had stocked our refrigerator and accessorized our house for Christmas! We are so blessed to have such gracious friends! I promised to tell about the train trip from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. The actual ride was okay, but the before and after were arduous. We had four huge suitcases and three carry ons and all had to be transported up four flights of escalators. There were no elevators! If no kids were involved in the process, it may not have been too bad. Julia had to be carried because it is very difficult for her to keep up. We had to hurry because it was near time to board the train. We didn't have time to eat and no food was served on the train. We were exhausted! When we arrived in Hong Kong two hours later, we discovered that our hotel was forty five minutes away. It was just one of those bad travel days, but we made it.
The flight home went well until the last fifteen minutes. The turbulence was really bad and it was all I could do to hold down my stomach contents. Julia wasn't so lucky; she vomited three minutes before landing and didn't make it to the barf bag! She was covered and so was her seat! Fortunately for me, Mark was sitting next to Julia! I had sat next to her the first half of the flight, then we switched! We were late arriving so we didn't have much time in between flights. We couldn't change her until we claimed our baggage so you can imagine how the customs experience went! Mark had to change his shirt too because he had to carry her through customs. I felt so bad for Julia; she was still sick before we went through customs. We saw another family that had been on our flight and both the mom and daughter had thrown up!
We're home and all that is water under the bridge. Our own beds felt so good! We just have to deal with the jet-lag for several days. We can handle that.
Thank you to everyone for your support, comments, and prayers! We will keep the blog updated for a little while to let you know how Julia and Lydia are doing. God is so good and it is so good to be home! Until the next post.....................................blessings, Michelle, Mark, Lydia, and Julia.