One year ago...Josie's story

On July 31, 2007, we found our Josie on a waiting child list with a different agency than the one we were currently involved with. We had been logged in with our agency and the CCAA for over a year and I was tired of waiting for my daughter. After years of fertility issues and the disappointment of not being matched with waiting children with our current agency, I was ready to go elsewhere. Without Chris even knowing, I contacted this new agency and asked to see Josie’s medical files. The social worker agreed that they would work with us, but there was a family currently interested in this child. We were second in line. If the family decided against her, we would have the opportunity to put our letter of intention in motion. I said a few prayers and started researching her heart condition.


Just look at her referral picture. I knew she was our daughter the moment I laid eyes on her.



I just needed to convince my husband that this little girl was worth the risk. If we pursued her, we’d be starting over. That meant, pulling our files with our current agency, resubmitting them with our new agency, getting a new login date, paying new fees (in essence starting completely over). It was risky and I had knots in my stomach worrying about the whole thing falling apart, but I was ready to take the risk.

It didn’t take Chris long to agree that she was worth it. We contacted our local Children’s Hospital to have her medical files reviewed. Her condition was treatable, but she definitely needed heart surgery. We then contacted Chris’s medical insurance to make sure her treatment would be covered. She would be. Now, we just needed the green-light from this new agency that she was really available. It was longest five days of my life.

Five days later, we were told that the other family was not going to pursue her. She was our daughter, if we were interested. Are you kidding? YES! Close her file to anyone else!!! From that point on, we had our work cut out for us. We needed to write a letter to our current agency asking them to release our dossier from the CCAA so that it could be resubmitted with our new agency. We also needed to update our dossier with all kinds of paperwork that would soon be expiring. Chris spent the last month of his summer break running errands, meeting with our new social worker to update our homestudy and driving to our capital office across the state to get the new paperwork sealed. I won’t bore you with the timeline, but it took seven months from start to finish to have Josie in our arms. There's a special family (you know who you are) that we are deeply connected with because of Josie. Thank you. God works in mysterious ways.

I’ll leave you with the video introduction we shot last September of Emma introducing her little sister to the rest of the world.

Happy 3 Months since Surgery

It’s been three months since Josie’s open-heart surgery for Tetralogy of Fallot. The change is amazing. No more blue toes, blue fingers and blue lips. No more squatting to relieve the pressure on her heart. No more flushed cheeks or heavy sweating. No more excessive breathing or panting during physical activity.

Watching her go through surgery only three weeks after we were home from China was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. She was a frightened little girl who didn’t understand what was going on and there was very little anyone could do to reassure her. Our family can’t thank the expertise of the Mott Children’s Hospital enough. We now have a happy healthy two year old that is catching up on all the physical limitations she experienced the first twenty months of her life.

Happy three months, Josie!

Fun Photo Friday

Chris took the girls to the Children's Museum today while I worked. They got to spend some extra special time with Dad before he leaves for a few days. Thanks for being such a hands-on dad, Chris. I also have to give a shout-out to my sister who made the special tie-dye shirts for the girls. We love them, Aunt Michelle.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

Sleep

My blogging friends know that I've often confided in you about our ongoing sleep issues since our adoption. We go two steps forward, and then two steps backwards on a regular basis at our house with Josie's sleeping patterns. Since I've gone back to work, my husband has become the expert at putting Josie down for her afternoon naps or at bedtime. He can be and out of her bedroom in 20 minutes (she still requires us to lay with her until she falls asleep) whereas it takes me 60 minutes or longer to get her to sleep. It's still not uncommon to have night terrors 2-3 times a week where she's up for hours crying during the night. Despite my complaints, she's no longer in our room at night...she's in her own room (with Emma) on a mattress on the floor.

Believe me...I've never enjoyed coffee in the morning as much as I enjoy it after our return home from China. It's the only thing that gets me up and going after a wicked night's sleep.

My husband is going out of town soon for several days. It will be the first time I've been alone overnight with the girls' since the adoption. I'm asking my friends and family to say a few extra prayers while he is away.

Josie's first babysitter

I'm happy to report that Josie did very well with her first babysitting experience (Daddy had to drive Mommy to a medical procedure). There were no tears. Just a kiss and a wave goodbye. It helped that big sister stayed behind to assist in the babsitting duties with our official babysitter. Josie even took a nap in our absence! Perhaps her daycare transition in August will actually go much smoother than I expected. Perhaps the Mommy and Daddy can now go out to eat dinner at one of our favorite tapas restaurant again and enjoy an adult dinner.

I spent the afternoon sleeping off my happy drugs and the girls washed cars with Daddy.


I've found the answer to keeping Josie from messing around with her knee scabs. Fancy band-aids! We haven't had to worry about fancy band-aids in a very long time (they aren't cool on a 10 year old anymore). Josie was so thrilled with her "hello kitty" band-aid, that she had to show it off to our cat, Penny.