Meet Ye Fu...

Well we have progressed in language enough around here to have conversations (verbal combined with body language.) I was holding Faith's baby doll, and I asked her what her baby's name was. She told me Ye Fu... that was a quick reminder that she is from China....you know sometimes we do forget :)

I heart Faces Challenge ~Focusing on Angles~

My daughter Kylee and her boyfriend Sergei ready for Mormon Prom. I stood up a few stairs on this one to get my daughter and her date looking up. I also had to edit my feet out of the mirror.

Proud of my handsome nephew in Germany!

Hope~

Obama Care and Us...

So we found out today how this new national health program is going to personally affect our family. Because Microsoft has wonderful benefits as part of their compensation for employees, the government is now going to tax each employee 40% of their benefit package. That means thousand of dollars a year in new taxes for our family.

It is frustrating, because the unemployed, fat, lazy, smoker that can't keep a job is now going to have health insurance from the taxes off my healthy, non smoking hard working husband, who commutes two hours each day and only gets a few weeks vacation a year. NICE!

Also, I really don't know how we can afford thousands of dollars in new taxes taken out of his paycheck. I am guessing as a low estimate we will acquire at least a $250.00 monthly bill for the rest of Jeff's career, probably more.

So I guess it pays to not work or carry insurance. Maybe Jeff should quit and we can get vacation every day with free food, housing and insurance from the good old USA!

Wordless Wednesday {Decade}

{Kylee attended Mormon Prom last night}

Support Garrett buy a wristband for $5.00!

This year Garrett cannot walk the cancer walk for his dad who lost his battle to colon cancer because now Garrett has cancer in in the bone of his leg. He started treatment this week and we are raising awareness, support and funds to fight cancer! The blue in the band represents colon cancer awareness and the white represents bone cancer awareness. The band is also enscribed with the acronym G.W.G. Get Well Garrett! Leave a comment on this blog if you would like to order and how many, or you can text or call. We also posted on Garrett's facebook page. All proceeds will go to support Garrett!

Wordless Wednesday !

{MRI Results for Faith}

I have contemplated how and when I wanted to make this information public. The news was not ideal, but what we expected, so no surprises. She does have Agenesis of the Corpus Callossum. Basically she is completely missing the connective tissue between her left and right hemispheres. This tissue consists of several nerves that allow the left and right hemispheres to communicate to each other. The movie Rain Man was based on a true story of a man who was completely missing this part of his brain. (He also had another issue that Faith does not.) We believe she will be a high functioning person with this disability, but it is so rare there is not much information out there. We are meeting with a neurologist and an eye specialist. Most children need cataract surgery to keep their eyesight.

On a positive note, our pediatrician was completely surprised by this diagnosis. She seems very healthy. I think he expected the results to come back as her being completely fine. This is a very positive sign. Some people go into adulthood not even knowing they have this disability until they have an accident, or need an MRI for other reasons, only then to discover this. So the spectrum is very wide with her outcome.

It is interesting how I have processed this information. Going into her adoption we were told she would need brain surgery. Within a few weeks we had updated information that let us know she didn't need surgery and seemed completely normal. We also knew she had a CT scan in China that diagnosed her with Agenesis of the Corpus Callossum. Since we met her, every single person that also met her confirmed their belief that she seemed healthy, and wondered why she was considered special needs.

I guess in the back of my mind I quietly hoped that the CT scan in China was a mistake, that somehow miraculously this perfect little girl slipped through the cracks of the special needs program to make it to us.

Now that we know the diagnosis is valid, I feel such a strong need to protect her. I don't want her labeled. I have even found myself looking at her actions differently, thinking " Is that normal? What is normal? If I am doing it, is anyone else? Will she be under a microscope, others being extra sensitive to her actions, or reactions because they know?" This has been my only real fear of her diagnosis.

Of course we are sad, no one wants their child to struggle or suffer. It would have been nice to hear that she is completely health. Diagnosis or not we just adore her and she is perfect to us. We are excited that she is here with us, and that we can give her the best chance for a normal life that treatment can offer. We are prepared and happy and blessed that she is a part of our lives.


Thanks for your continued support, we love our support system and are grateful for you all.

Love,
Dawn

The above picture shows the Corpus Callossum. In the picture on the upper left the Corpus Callossum is completely missing, ( this is Faith's diagnosis) The upper right has a partial. The lower left is a normal MRI, and the lower right is a thin Corpus Callossum.

George Carlin's Views on Aging

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're goanna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life! You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50, and your dreams are gone...

But! wait!! ! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50, and make it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that, it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80's, and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST 92.'

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

What a WaY to SpenD the DaY...2 Month Gotcha! MRI?

Cute little PeanUT! She had to starve all day long to get her MRI at Children's in Seattle today. Here are a few pictures of how she spent our Gotcha 2 month anniversary...she should get a new outfit for this one! She did so very well, we continue to just be amazed by her sweet spirit, and trust in us. She even held the mask over her own face to put herself under, without any restraints. It was THAT easy... we should know the result of the MRI in a week.

Wordless Wednesday!

We love GaRreTT! Please pray for him!

Garrett is Kylee's best friend. He is smart, funny, sweet, and most of all puts God first in his life. He just got news that he will be fighting cancer. He is a tough kid, but this challenge is extra difficult because Garrett lost his father to cancer. He knows what he is in for, and I am so proud of his attitude. He knows that cancer is not for wimps and told me that he has already felt God giving him the strength to fight this. We love you G! You can follow his journey at
Garrett's Wild Adventure