At Home Recovering

Abby had a visit from Uncle Sonny and Aunt Nell on Friday.
She still wasn't very talkative, but had some smiles!

Today we woke to a much more energized little girl.
Our Abby is almost back to normal.

Abby wanted to walk in her chair today, color, and even play a little.

That smile appears to be back!

Abigail is on a 10 day liquid diet - today is day 3. She is going to lose some serious weight because she only eats about 3 tbsp at time maybe 3 times a day.
She does drink lots of juice and water though.
After 10 days she can move up to soft foods, but still no utensils or straws in the mouth.

It sure is nice to see her smile and hear her laugh again :)

In the Hospital

After many tears, Abby got her hospital pjs on and the long wait began. Her new kitty Marmie and Little Mermaid were her companions. She was scheduled to go back to surgery at
12:30 p.m. - but the surgery before her lasted a lot longer than expected.
She went back at about 3:00 p.m. and "silly juice"
was administered about 30 minutes before that.

Abby returned from surgery with Marmie still masked!

Settling into her room for the night Nannie and Gami told her goodnight :)

Thursday morning we learned that we could go home!
Abby enjoyed 2 early movies and all of her gifts.

Revision Palate Surgery

We will be heading to Children's Medical Center of Dallas for Abigail to have corrective surgery on her palate. Apparently the surgery was done incorrectly when she was 2-3 yrs old - which has limited her ability to speak many consonants clearly.

This will be her first overnight stay in a hospital since a year ago in China when she was hospitalized for her paralysis. She was hospitalized for 2-3 months. And we have recently learned that she had a foster family prior to becoming paralyzed. She was only with them for a short time, but they are one of her strongest memories. When she was hospitalized for the paralysis she lost them because they could no longer care for her. As you can see, she associates much fear and loss with both doctors and hospitals.

We have seen such new confidence in her at doctor visits. She is no longer afraid and even likes seeing many of them very much : ) We pray that this surgery will not be a setback for her.

The surgery is at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday June 23rd. It should last about 2 1/2 hours. We will have to stay at least one night in the hospital. Please be in prayer for her:
- that her fears would be calmed
- that she would understand that we are her forever family
- that she would rest and heal from the surgery
Thank you in advance for your prayers!

Day 2 of Summer

It was time for some fun with water on this 2nd day of Summer!

Abby was yelling "I love it...I love it!!!"

Abby received this little animal pool set a while back from Gami, and we are finally putting it to use. Last night we told her that she would get to play in it today and she said, "I want to get Mommy and Daddy wet a lot. " And she did just that. On this 2nd day of Summer 2010 we had a lot of fun with water!

Coming indoors was a little chilly!
Thanks to Bear and Rhonda she had a great big princess towel to wrap up in :)

Last Day of Spring

It has been feeling like summer for a while now, but today it is officially the last day of Spring.