Preparing

Our oldest daughter moved to the bedroom downstairs, previously our son’s room. He is only home for about 10 weeks out of the year and will be staying in the family room when he’s home. We hope to build a wall bed for him before the holidays. The same day Emily moved downstairs, Mia moved from a toddler to a twin bed; the same twin bed we originally set up before her referral, when we thought she would be older. We now have an empty bedroom upstairs for Yangkang. We don’t have his bed yet, but I have a bed along with bedding picked out for him. First, we need to give his room a fresh coat of paint and shampoo the carpet.

Besides these things, I have lots of little projects to sew/paint/repair, as well as the the regular nesting type cleaning and organizing. Brent has large projects underway. He’s building a storage shed, since we are outgrowing our home. The storage building will free up some room in the garage so the exercise equipment (previously kept in the family room) can go out there.  Also, we have water damage downstairs around window and under the floor that has to be addressed. The current window well needs dug out and replaced along with new pipes installed.

We have lots to do in a short time to prepare for Joel and to get our home back in order. It’s exciting and exhausting at the same time.

On the adoption front, we have been waiting 43 days now for LOA. We really hope to have it by Oct. 1. Our dossier has already been translated and as of last Monday it was in the review stage. After that there will be the match review, then LOA.

Right after we submitted our LOI, China sent us the requested x-rays of Yangkang’s neck. The very next day we received 2 surprise videos of him. After our doctor had a radiologists review the x-rays, we were told that while the x-rays aren't real clear, it appears that Yangkang has an extra half vertebrae on one side of his neck causing his head to tilt to one side. Our doctor was concerned that the neck malformation accompanied with the VSD could be a sign of a syndrome.  Other symptoms of this syndrome are kidney issues, scoliosis, hearing problems, and the inability to move the neck along with pain in the neck. The videos clearly tell us that he is not in any pain, he can move his head from side to side without any problem, and his hearing is fine. I believe and hope that the neck and VSD are separate issues and not a syndrome with other medical issues. We will not know specifics until after he is home. We, along with others from our church, are praying for Yangkang’s neck to be healed. Yangkang's name means hope for health. Our hope is in the Lord, who can do all things.

                                                                                                            LORI