Day 12 - Family Update

Today was quite an eventful day to say the least!  Jacques started off the day at the ENT with Mighty Mack.  Mackenzie's right ear still has a gaping hole in the eardrum that will need to be closed by surgery in the near future.  The left ear is still severely infected with the resistant bacteria, but the antibiotic treatment is slowly showing signs of slight improvement.  Her left ear will also need surgery, but the infection needs to be completely gone before we can know for sure all that will have to be done to that ear.

Ten weeks ago I was handed a severely malnourished, profusely sweating, 104.5F degree child in a Shanghai Civil Affairs Office.  A child who could not stand up or walk without falling over.  A child who could not feed herself.  A child who had a vacant stare that made me wonder if we could ever break through to her.  At that moment I had the opportunity to say that this child was not what I was expecting.  That her needs were far too great and unpredictable, and that she may become a burden to our family.  And when I was asked if I was "satisfied with this child" I could not get the words out quick enough.  "YES!!!"  Our family has trusted that God specifically chose Mackenzie and Lily to be our daughters.  It would have taken the entire Chinese Police force to rip my daughter out of my arms.  And here we are, not even terribly far removed from that day, and our precious Mighty Mack is lively, joyous, and a gigantic blessing to our family.  What I am finding through this adoption journey, is that when you are willing to risk a lot to follow the path that God has already laid out before you, the rewards on the other side of the trials and tribulations are far better than anything that we could ever have done on our own.

Pure joy...

Dryden turned "7" today.  Dryden and Lily have their birthdays two days apart...how fun is that?  Jacques brought Dryden and Soleil to the hospital this morning so that we could do a mini-birthday celebration.  Mackenzie got to hang out with her Jie Jie Gracie and Ms. Terry.

Lily was all smiles to see her big sisters and Papa!

Anyone who has even received a hug from Soleil

understands that you just can't help but smile...

Dryden has been such an amazingly helpful big sister lately,

often putting her own needs behind the littles,

that Papa and I decided to get her a very special gift that she 

has wanted for a very long time.

Dryden made and decorated her own cake!!!

It's a Doc McStuffins cake.

Check out the stethoscope and Chilly!

With four little princesses in the house,

Papa says, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em"!

After Dryden's birthday bash we got the news that they decided to take out Lily's chest tubes.  My anxiety went through the roof, and I was so glad that Papa was here at that moment to request that we speak to the surgeon.  Within minutes, Dr. Jonas was in our room (did I mention how much we love this man?) and he explained that over the past 12 hours Lily was not dumping much fluid.  He said this can be attributed to one of two things.  Either Lily is remarkably better or the location of where the chest tubes were positioned is no longer dumping the fluid anymore.  Regardless of the reason, the tubes needed to come out and now we wait.  They did a chest x-ray right after the chest tube removal, and they will repeat the x-ray again in the morning for a comparison.  The nurses also experimented with lowering Lily's oxygen and Zofran (nausea medicine) as well.  The result was a puking, grunting, blue baby girl who was miserable.  So, we are back up on the oxygen again, and still getting the IV Zofran every four hours.  Right now Lily's oxygen saturation with the nasal cannula is in the low 80's.  Before the chest tube removal she was hovering in the low 90's, so I am hoping and praying that this does not mean that she is accumulating fluid in her lungs. 

Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31