A big catch-up post

Hi All,

First off, thank you to all the folks who keep reading even though we almost never post anymore! I do have a wonderful excuse, I am a new mom!

I don't have any paid time off so when I am home with Aidai my mom helps watch her and I try to work but I can't make too many phone calls in case she decided to be noisy but I do alot of paperwork and email and make calls when she is napping. I am in charge of the major holiday stuff, lots of people come forward to support the military. We have an internal Giving Tree which has 25 families with 1-6 kids each on it and I have hand made all the tags. I get help from coworkers on tracking down the info for the people and one other person helps enter it all onto a spreadsheet. I'm also in charge of sorting about 5,000 toys from Dollar Tree and getting them out to unit holiday events and families in need. It makes for a busy season but it is good cause there are lots of opportunities to work weekends which helps keep my hours up. And, it is probably my favorite project of the year which is why I volunteered to take the lead.

I haven't really felt like posting because I have so much I want to say about all the crap we dealt with and are still dealing with through this process and I just haven't had the energy to get it all out even though it would be helpful for me to let it all out. Numerous people were concerned that I would be volatile about things and shut down the program but, for the record, I haven't said anything to anyone official and yet the program is stalled. I wish it was different but I can't say that I am suprised. I can't imagine the heartbreak of the families waiting to bring their children home and I just hope they make positive changes, sooner rather than later, and get kids home in a responsible manner while treating all parties involved with respect. It is so hard to explain in writing and I don't want this to sound horrible but here it goes. She is worth it, yes, but sometimes I'm not sure I would do it again. We could have lost so much to this process if the cards had fallen differently. I would do it again if I knew the result would be positive but I don't know that I would ever choose to take the risks we did. Financially things are very tough, we both had moments we were on anti-anxiety pills, Bill went on blood pressure meds and I became someone I didn't recognize. All of it has just taken a gynormous toll and by the grace of God we made it through without long-lasting damage being done, I hope. The process shakes you to the core, it changes your view of the world, your work performance, marriage, self-image, EVERYTHING. You think certain things before the process and the aftermath is totally reevaluating much of what you thought you knew about yourself and every aspect of your life. Atleast that has been my experience.

I never posted that the DAY BEFORE we flew on trip one we closed on our house and we moved 6 days after we got back. Our previous house was 2 family and we didn't really have the space for her and it didn't change our finanical situation because that house pays for itself. We were planning on having all the paperwork redone but we had no time since we only had 8 days notice for trip one and didn't know we were actually going to close until the day before. Keep in mind, we first saw the house we now live in over a year ago and it just took FOREVER to close because it was bank-owned. In case you all are wondering how my mom is always around...she now lives in the apartment above our garage!

We are dealing with alot of medical things with Aidai. On trip one we were told we would get her file, they pointed to it and said we would get it but now we are being told that we must have misunderstod the translation (not sure how you misunderstand a pointed finger) because really we only were ever supposed to get one sheet. So 4 years in the orphanage and we get one sheet. I think we will have a hard time helping her without more information on the issues with her feet. According to the IA doctor, there is a possibility Aidai might have had polio. We are waiting for the titres to come back to see if the vaccine "took" in her system. I'm thinking maybe the pnuemonia she was hospitalized for was actually Polio since she never had any other hospitalizations. If her muscles were damaged by Polio I think the treatment could be different that if they are just weak. With Polio she'll never recover the parts that have been damaged but we should be able to manage it. If it is just not using the leg from malformation than the muscle might be able to be regenerated. Without knowing more details about when the leg started showing a problem, I think it will be difficult. I'm of course just guessing, the missing medicals might not hurt anything but it would have been nice to have them. I hope the orthopedic doctor can shed some light on all this, we go there on the 12th.

She had a rough day at the IA doctor when we went a few weeks ago. She didn't do alot of their tests very well, she wanted to do her own thing. They think she is functioning at about a 2 year old level. I can see that in some ways but in others she is definitely much more advanced then 2. She also had 5 tubes of blood drawn, oh what fun! We have the first meeting with the school next week. Hopefully they will decide to move forward and will begin the assessment process for the preschool. She is delayed in her native language so she should qualify. The school seems to think, from phone conversations, that her legs won't affect her education so therefore no PT but considering we call her "Crash" and she can't be trusted not to knock the whole class down, domino style, I think they need to give her PT for everyone's health and safety.

She goes back to the eye doctor next week too. We will find out if they can see any strengthening of the muscle in her crossed eye. Hopefully the patch is helping, we think it is. We'll also revisit the contact lens discussion.

I am hoping to get her into the doctor tomorrow for a skin issue. When we picked her up she had these pus filled blister type things on her hands that opened and then dried out and went away. They don't look anything like Scabies but I think the Scabies cream we treated her with was so heavy duty that it dried out whatever nastiness she had. She hasn't had any new ones since we picked her up and none of the rest of us have any. Then today, she develops another one on her thumb, same hand as before. So I have to call at 7:30am tomorrow and try to get a same day appointment.

She knows alot of words in English now. She loves animals and can name alot of them. Counting is a work in progress as are colors. She's got "spaghetti" down!

I am very excited for Thanksgiving and my upcoming birthday. I'm in charge of dinner, I figure I can cook once a year. I am trying some new things. Meaning, everything but the turkey cause about the only thing I have ever cooked not out of a box is turkey. I am all about the sales since money is low. I'll do the doorbusters since she'll wake me up at 7am anyway! No 5am shopping for me even with the "complimentary until 8am" breakfast that Sam's is offering.

We definitely have lots of things to be thankful for this year, like Aidai and still having a sliver of sanity. =)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Elizabeth