First Days of School

I thought that I would add a special post for Ansley and Alec tonight. Here are their back to school pics and boy, were they happy. Ansley is in second grade and could NOT wait to start. It is just so sad to see how fast time flies and somehow having a seconder grader does not sound like having a little kid anymore. By the way, she is missing her two top teeth and one on the bottom and so her smile is just adorable. I keep telling her that there is no other time in your life when missing teeth are cute :)

Alec started his pre-K program back at our chruch's preschool. He is going 5 mornings a week, much to my dismay, but loved his first week. Of course, I am going through with drawal and actually kept him home this morning so that I could spend time with him after my long 6 day stretch at work. Next year, I won't be allowed to do that so I am going to take advantage of these moments while I still can.



I just don't know what I would do without these two perfect kids. They light up my days and bring happiness like none other.

The candles are still lit!

September 2, 2008: Well, another week has gone by and still no news on any movement in Tokmok. The judge is still not willing to give us a court date so we wait..... This is just killing me! Addison is gaining weight and no longer has diarrhea per our coordinator which is good news. I am still waiting on pictures to confirm that she is looking good though. They have taken the photos but have been having difficulty sending them due to the fact that they are still having rolling backouts ( apparently 6 hours a day without electricity). I know that I will feel better once I see new pictures.

The candles were lit again last night but you will notice some additions. This was my "feel good" project for the week. The series of 5 candles represent four very special babies (LOLA) with the center aqua candle being for my four dear friends who have become my pillars of strength during this adoption. The separate green candle to the right is for all the other orphans in Kyrgyzstan, not only those that are waiting to come home, but those that are yet to be referred and even more importantly for those orphans that will never know another home. And of course, the large pink candle from the last post is still nearby because it seemed to have worked well last week.

Each color is symbolic and hopefully is imparting some power to the prayers. (Thanks Clare!!!)
Green: ( L + all the other precious orphans) symbolizes growth, safety and endurance.
Oranage: (O) symbolizes happiness, determination and encouragement.
Agua: (Moms) symbolizes emotional healing and protection
Blue: (L)symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, faith and healing.
Red: (A) symbolizes courage, strength and joy.

I have them sitting next to my computer where I spend a vast amount of my free time at night. I love them! The only problem is that each has a different fragnance so that at the end of the night I have a little bit of a headache. Oh, the things we will endure to bring home our babies.

Successful candlelight vigil

On Sunday, August 24th, the Kyrgyzstan adoption group which is made up of hundreds of families from the US and abroad, held a candle light vigil to pray for the government of Kyrygzstan to start processing the pending adoptions. As many of you know there are at least 40 cases of children/babies that have been referred to families over the last 6 months but due to political manuevering their new families have not been allowed to bring them home. Well, the good news is that all our prayers and positive energy seemed to have worked!!!! YEAH!!!! On Monday several families paperwork , including my dear friend Kim's, were finally approved by the new adoption committee and signed off at the Minister of Education level. Those cases have been submitted to the courts and we will all keep praying that the next several steps will flow smoothly. It was so nice to have some good news.

As for Addison, thanks to another visiting family (Thanks Holly!) we were able to get another set of pictures and she seems to be holding her own. Her weight is up a little too, not as much as I would like, but up. I have not been able to get any more information about how she is feeding, if she is still having diarrhea, ect... but will keep pestering my agency to stay on top of it. No news for us on the Tokmok courts but I have renewed faith that Addison will be coming home.

The sweetest smile

I will start this post by thanking everyone for all their support and prayers because they are working. We got updated pictures and a weight on Monday and Addison is looking better and has gained some weight. Thank goodness! I actually felt like I could breathe again. She is so cute especially with the smile! Ansley and I opened them together and she blurted out " mommy, she doesn't look sick any more". So at least for now our little one is holding her own. The shear fact that she can put the weight back on is very reassuring. I was getting very worried that in addition to my suspicion of neglect and FTT with malnutrition that there may be a new or yet to be disclosed medical diagnosis. I spent the weekend beside myself because I had not pushed harder to have her admitted last week.

Unfortunately, she is still at the orphanage in Tokmok and that is going to continue to be a huge point of concern for me. She is better but I think that the last several weeks have shown us how tenuous her health can be and I have little faith in the care she is receiving. They have now changed their story and apparently she had ( or has ???) diarrhea and that is why she lost weight. Odd because they denied that she had been ill or had diarrhea for the last 10 days. The story from there becomes much more muddy and to be frankly honest, absolutely infuriating. Unfortunately, I can not share all the details on this blog but I can tell you that we just can't get her out of there soon enough. The plan for now is close supervision with weekly updates and weight checks.

Our coordinator continues to be proactive and is working on getting Addison's paperwork through the court in Tokmok but so far there has not been any solid forward progress. Please keep our precious baby girl and the rest of the babies there in your thoughts and prayers.

Plans change

Addison is still in the orphanage in Tokmok but after some negotiations, she will be admitted to the children's hospital on Monday. After her stay there then we will have to figure out what other options she may have so that she does not have to go back to Tokmok. I am relieved that she is going to be in the hospital and that she will have a more thorough medical evaluation, I just wish that she was already there. Hopefully, she is holding her own and that we are not surprised by some new medical issue next week. Please keep her in your prayers.

Malnutrition

Just a quick update on Addison. Saule was able to take another pediatrician to evaluate Addison and her assessment was that she has significant malnutrition ( and I would add neglect) but no other new medical concerns. I am relieved to hear that there are no new concerns, although I am not that trusing of their medical opinions. HOwever, I am just grateful that everyone is acknowledging that our precious baby is not thriving in her current environment. As of yesterday, our coordinators here in the US and there in Kyrg were working on going above and beyond to help Addison. Hopefully, I will have more to share later once I have an update. At least I was able to sleep last night.

4 months old and it is a sad day.

Well, our baby girl is 4 months old today and instead of posting a picture of a chubby, happy baby we are sad to say that Addison is not doing well. We got updated measurements and pictures and she is clearly not thriving. You will see in the pictures that she doesn't look well and her growth curve is just abismal. She has lost about 10% of her body weight and when you only weight 10 lbs, that is huge, especially since she should have gained about a 1 -1 1/2 lbs. After many emails with our coordinators (Kate in CA and Saule in Kyrg) and my dear friend Lisa, who was in Bishkek at the time (what a godsend), I know that she is only taking a fraction of her feeds and that she has not been sick lately. The orphanage staff thinks that her weight loss is due to her being hot but I think that is $#@!. When babies are hot they are THIRSTY and they drink. I am concerned that she may be getting either dilute formula or too much water but I have not been able to confirm that yet. I am also fearful that she may withdrawing due to lack of stimulation and bonding or a yet to be diagnosed new medical problem both of which are BAD. Of course, I am scared to death about what is really going on with her and clearly I am too far away to be of any true help and I don't trust the medical environment there. On a good note, both our coordinator here and Saule ( in Kyrg ) are worried too. Saule is going to be taking an outside pediatrician to see her and they are going to consider hospitalization which is exactly what she needs. Of course, what she really needs is to be home with us! NOw we just wait for an update.
Look at the previous pictures- where did the cheeks go? What were the fat that used to be on her fingers?

And to think this is the woman that we hired to be her personal care giver. Can you tell I am angry!