Emma got off the bus today and threw down her backpack.
She also tossed her little frog ice pack.
She loves that icepack.
Something was wrong.
I've known this day would come. It is partly why her first year home we literally cocooned her in love and made a sanctuary of our family and close friends. We wanted her to have a foundation. Have truth firmly planted in her lovely little heart and mind.
"Mom, I'm so mad," said without rancor as only Emma can when she is mad.
We agreed to talk in the car. Thankfully. It wasn't a small thing she had to share.
A boy on the bus told her he wouldn't sit with her.
This is hard. It is harder because he wouldn't sit with her because he thought her hands were ugly.
Oh, and he didn't like her voice.
I have thought for two years about who we are going to be as a family. What do we really and truly believe? And how we really and truly know as head and heart knowledge that our Emma was fashioned fearfully {as in with awe}, wonderfully, perfectly and beautifully by her Heavenly Father.
No mistakes.
Nothing wrong.
She is truly perfect.
And she is truly beautiful.
She is a special gift, not a special need.
The truth is we all have special needs apart from seeing one another through God's eyes. Wretched fallen man.
Tiger Mom stayed at bay, by the grace of the Lord. I hugged my beautiful girl, told her how sad I was for that boy that he didn't know the truth, and reminded Emma of how lovely and incredibly beautiful she is, inside and out. And by the grace of God, I also meant what I was saying.
Then we went to share about the encounter with the "bus monitor". I told her that Emma had a sad story to share, and then Emma narrated the entire chain of events. I have never loved a bus monitor more. She said all the things I would have hoped she'd say, and at the end of the exchange Emma left with a little skip in her step, a smile on her gorgeous face and a "thanks for helping me!".
Oftentimes different makes us uncomfortable. Which can make us feel a bit afraid of feeling uncomfortable. And feeling that unsettled afraid leads to fear and judgement. Mean comes out.
How many times and in how many places does this play out in my own life and home? Plank.
But God.
Snuggling up on my lap for a long hug, some eye to eye truth about how God made her and how beautiful she is, and some siblings agreeing that indeed, she is a joy and a lovely, pretty girl eased my heart. I believe they also healed a bit of my Emma's.
Then we prayed. For that boy; that he would have the gift of his eyes being opened. That He would experience God's love and grace in the places that truth can grow and lodge in his life. He is, after all, a little boy. We asked God to bless this boy, to take this hurtful incident and make much of it for the Kingdom, in this little guys life.
Tomorrow the bus monitor is speaking to the boy. Please pray for her, that God would guide her words, thoughts and actions. And please join me in praying for the little boy and my little girl. My dear, sweet, beloved, beautiful, lovely, adorable, perfectly fashioned Emma Kate. And a boy who is also a child of the King.
I knew this day would come. I didn't expect to face it literally cocooned in peace and fully cushioned by the Lord. He is good. All the time. All of it.
Psalm 139
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Showing posts with label Emma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emma. Show all posts
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
report on bone graft appointment
Let us begin with winsome.
In reference to Emma Kate, of course.
This girl leaves rooms full of smiling people in her wake.
So sweet her countenance. So dear her person.
Our appointment? Dr. Sampson is a lovely man. We so enjoyed meeting with him, and he was kind, gentle and patient with Emma. She was nervous about the xrays and he was wonderful and even stayed in the room with us talking to her as the machine beeped. Emma Kate was fine as long as she stared deeply into my eyes while I held on to her dear little leg as if I was holding her hand.
There is good news!
How intricately the Lord crafted His Emma Kate. While her lip was a bilateral cleft as was the cleft of her palate, it is not so with her gum line. Emma Kate has a unilateral cleft through her gum line!
What does this mean? Simply that only one side of her gum line is clefted and thus we only need to graft bone onto one portion of her mouth, not across both sides! This is wonderful news indeeed!
It also lends credence to the question of the clefting being a result of amniotic band syndrome, not two separate "things". When a cleft occurs it usually is symmetrical in terms of being unilateral or bilateral from the front to the back. With amniotic band syndrome, the clefting becomes haphazard. I'm going to check back in with our geneticist to see what she thinks now that we have new information showing the cleft to be irregular in nature.
It doesn't really matter, it is more for my own curiosity. Either way, our Emma Kate is simply perfect to us. Truly and wonderfully made. Fashioned in love and grown in the grace and goodness of the Lord. Purposed for now and created with good works planned for her in advance! She is His beloved, made to delight in Him and bring Him great glory.
Dr. Sampson is going to join Dr. Sidman in our July 25th surgery to extract a tooth that needs to come out to allow a better outcome on the bone graft surgery. Great to fit things in together. He will just pop in, pull it out, and then hand-deliver it to us in the waiting area to do the "tooth fairy money deal" for her. How cute is that?!
And surgery? December or early January. Jim and I can pick the date, and then schedule.
So, little Emma Kate has a lovely fall to enjoy NO SURGERIES! I'm so glad for her. We so longed for her to be able to simply enjoy setting sail to school. She has craved school since coming home. A gracious gift to have a long stretch for her of simply living life, no medical procedures involved!
And that's the news from Lake Woebegone. Where the children are above average and the weather willy-nilly. :)
Love,
Sara
In reference to Emma Kate, of course.
This girl leaves rooms full of smiling people in her wake.
So sweet her countenance. So dear her person.
Our appointment? Dr. Sampson is a lovely man. We so enjoyed meeting with him, and he was kind, gentle and patient with Emma. She was nervous about the xrays and he was wonderful and even stayed in the room with us talking to her as the machine beeped. Emma Kate was fine as long as she stared deeply into my eyes while I held on to her dear little leg as if I was holding her hand.
There is good news!
How intricately the Lord crafted His Emma Kate. While her lip was a bilateral cleft as was the cleft of her palate, it is not so with her gum line. Emma Kate has a unilateral cleft through her gum line!
What does this mean? Simply that only one side of her gum line is clefted and thus we only need to graft bone onto one portion of her mouth, not across both sides! This is wonderful news indeeed!
It also lends credence to the question of the clefting being a result of amniotic band syndrome, not two separate "things". When a cleft occurs it usually is symmetrical in terms of being unilateral or bilateral from the front to the back. With amniotic band syndrome, the clefting becomes haphazard. I'm going to check back in with our geneticist to see what she thinks now that we have new information showing the cleft to be irregular in nature.
It doesn't really matter, it is more for my own curiosity. Either way, our Emma Kate is simply perfect to us. Truly and wonderfully made. Fashioned in love and grown in the grace and goodness of the Lord. Purposed for now and created with good works planned for her in advance! She is His beloved, made to delight in Him and bring Him great glory.
Dr. Sampson is going to join Dr. Sidman in our July 25th surgery to extract a tooth that needs to come out to allow a better outcome on the bone graft surgery. Great to fit things in together. He will just pop in, pull it out, and then hand-deliver it to us in the waiting area to do the "tooth fairy money deal" for her. How cute is that?!
And surgery? December or early January. Jim and I can pick the date, and then schedule.
So, little Emma Kate has a lovely fall to enjoy NO SURGERIES! I'm so glad for her. We so longed for her to be able to simply enjoy setting sail to school. She has craved school since coming home. A gracious gift to have a long stretch for her of simply living life, no medical procedures involved!
And that's the news from Lake Woebegone. Where the children are above average and the weather willy-nilly. :)
Love,
Sara
Thursday, July 14, 2011
restoration {alveolar bone graft}
What is an alveolar bone?
Some children who are born with both a cleft lip and a cleft palate also have a problem with the alveolar (al-vee-OLE-ar) bone, which makes up the gum ridge or front portion of the roof of the mouth. The alveolar bone is a thin layer of bone that forms the sockets around the roots of the upper teeth under the gum tissue.
Some children who are born with both a cleft lip and a cleft palate also have a problem with the alveolar (al-vee-OLE-ar) bone, which makes up the gum ridge or front portion of the roof of the mouth. The alveolar bone is a thin layer of bone that forms the sockets around the roots of the upper teeth under the gum tissue.
When there is a cleft in the alveolar bone, it means there is a fistula (FIST-yoo-la) or hole from the mouth to the nose. This cleft in the bone and gums prevents teeth from growing properly and the floor of the nose from developing normally.
What is an alveolar bone graft?
The alveolar bone graft repairs the hole in the gum ridge and stabilizes the bone arch, providing better support for the base of the nose and new bone for the roots of the developing teeth to grow into.
How is the graft done in surgery?
To do the bone graft, a piece of bone usually will be taken from your child’s iliac (ILL-ee-ack) crest, the upper ridge of the hip bone. The doctor will make a 1- to 3-inch incision (in-SIZZ-yun) or cut in the skin just over the hip bone and in the bone itself to remove the inner portion of the bone. This part of the bone, called cancellous (CAN-sell-us) bone, is soft and pasty and can be shaped to form the patch that will close the hole in the alveolar bone. Gum tissue inside your child’s mouth then will be closed around the bone and sutures (SOO-chers) or stitches will hold the tissue in place as it heals.
This is the general lowdown on the surgery that Emma Kate will experience sometime this fall. Today we drive an hour away to consult on that surgery with our oral-maxiofacial surgeon, Dr. Sampson.
I would be Dr. Sampson's favorite patient if I were 12. Yes, it is true. I was a complete nerd and hugely loved my headgear.
I know. Gasp with me.
And yes, I did share that lovely little tidbit at the cleft team meeting. I'm sure the geneticist was feverishly jotting down notes about me. Dr. Sidman laughed aloud and said Dr. Sampson loves the headgear. Apparently those of us that do are few and far between.
Enough said.
Or, make a comment. Come on! You know you want to!
If you could have seen me then...
Back to our regularly scheduled programming: Emma Kate.
We go today of all days because the timing of this surgery is crucial. We need to fit it in after her sphincter pharyngoplasty {say that twelve times fast}, which is on July 25. And it needs to occur before her permanent front teeth emerge. Since she has started to lost bottom teeth, we are in the time range for doing it promptly.
How to be so glad your daughter can have all these surgeries to restore her mouth, and also so sad for her to have to endure so many surgeries?
She is grace personified.
After our neurological visit yesterday, I had the starch knocked out of me for the end part of the day. I felt this tired feeling of relief. I'm wishing we didn't have to go today, because I'd like instead to sit around and eat grilled cheese and tomato soup on the screen porch while the rain falls outside. I'd like to cuddle up with the kiddos and ignore the rest of life's duties. An ostrich day? Head in the sand and all.
Nope. We're off here shortly. And I know when we are home, it will be good. Worthwhile and important.
Jeb only threw up twice this morning getting the molds of his teeth for his braces. Wonder how Emma Kate will do having her very first panoramic x-rays.
I think I'm getting a latte. Seriously. :)
We'll update the sidebar on our "upcoming surgeries" when we know more!
Thursday love from rainy 63 degree Minnesota!,
Sara
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
sound the trumpets!
Let the celebration begin!
Emma Kate's hand is fully healed!
Praising the Lord for this beautiful work.
She has five fingers on her right hand and five fingers on her left! Her skin grafts look lovely. The infection is completely gone and her hands are totally restored.
It is wonderful. WONDERFUL!
Tomorrow, you will see us {drum roll and cheering crowds, please!} at the pool! Emma Kate? She cannot wait. I'm thinking she will be our early bird riser tomorrow morning with all the anticipation in the air.
And tomorrow? Cooper's cast also comes off!
Wahooooo!
One darling story: at night we have been taking Emma's bandages off in order to give her hand fresh air. Last night after I'd tucked the girls I walked by their room. Anna was reading so the light was still on. I could see Emma Kate from the hallway, and stopped to gaze. Suddenly, I noticed she was counting her fingers on her right hand, over and over again. I was rooted in place trying to discern if she was solemn and a bit sad or feeling content and joyful about it. Finally I crept in and snuggled up with her, noticing her quiet smile.
"Emma Kate. Tell me about your counting", I whispered.
"Mom. I'm counting my fingers. I can count to ten. I have five and five", she shared.
"Emma Kate, are you happy?"
"Oh, mom. I love home. I am so happy. I come here and you love me. Look at my hand".
Be still my heart.
Emma Kate's hand is fully healed!
Praising the Lord for this beautiful work.
She has five fingers on her right hand and five fingers on her left! Her skin grafts look lovely. The infection is completely gone and her hands are totally restored.
It is wonderful. WONDERFUL!
Tomorrow, you will see us {drum roll and cheering crowds, please!} at the pool! Emma Kate? She cannot wait. I'm thinking she will be our early bird riser tomorrow morning with all the anticipation in the air.
And tomorrow? Cooper's cast also comes off!
Wahooooo!
One darling story: at night we have been taking Emma's bandages off in order to give her hand fresh air. Last night after I'd tucked the girls I walked by their room. Anna was reading so the light was still on. I could see Emma Kate from the hallway, and stopped to gaze. Suddenly, I noticed she was counting her fingers on her right hand, over and over again. I was rooted in place trying to discern if she was solemn and a bit sad or feeling content and joyful about it. Finally I crept in and snuggled up with her, noticing her quiet smile.
"Emma Kate. Tell me about your counting", I whispered.
"Mom. I'm counting my fingers. I can count to ten. I have five and five", she shared.
"Emma Kate, are you happy?"
"Oh, mom. I love home. I am so happy. I come here and you love me. Look at my hand".
Be still my heart.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
restored, healed and made whole
Emma's skin grafts are healing!
We had a wound check yesterday and Dr. VanHeest was well pleased. The infection has abated and the grafts themselves are intact and healing. In fact, the only place left to heal is the graft between the second and third digits.
True!
One more week of her hand wrapped up like a little mummy in sterile bandages. As of next week, we anticipate that Emma Kate will be good to go and free to swim, play and embrace summer fully!
We can't wait to take her to the pool for the first time this summer. We are quietly counting down the days to that event.
How grateful we are for the healing and restoration she is experiencing. Thank you all for your prayers. The Lord has done a beautiful work in our little girl. And we give Him great thanks and praise for being her Jehovah-rapha.
What a difference He has made in a mere four days.
We are so grateful. And so relieved!
We had a wound check yesterday and Dr. VanHeest was well pleased. The infection has abated and the grafts themselves are intact and healing. In fact, the only place left to heal is the graft between the second and third digits.
True!
One more week of her hand wrapped up like a little mummy in sterile bandages. As of next week, we anticipate that Emma Kate will be good to go and free to swim, play and embrace summer fully!
We can't wait to take her to the pool for the first time this summer. We are quietly counting down the days to that event.
How grateful we are for the healing and restoration she is experiencing. Thank you all for your prayers. The Lord has done a beautiful work in our little girl. And we give Him great thanks and praise for being her Jehovah-rapha.
What a difference He has made in a mere four days.
We are so grateful. And so relieved!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
coming along
Thank you for praying with us.
Emma's hand is evidence of God at work.
I am no health professional, but it seems to be coming along, and looking much better.
It bleeds when we clean it, and that is, we are told, a good sign.
So healthy skin is hopefully emerging underneath the ugly looking top.
On Tuesday we will know more.
I'm officially now a wound care expert. Handy with sterile gauze cleaning supplies and mesh wrap. Good to go with soaking and abrading wounds.
Please don't call me; I'm not taking these skills on the road. :)
Emma's hand is evidence of God at work.
I am no health professional, but it seems to be coming along, and looking much better.
It bleeds when we clean it, and that is, we are told, a good sign.
So healthy skin is hopefully emerging underneath the ugly looking top.
On Tuesday we will know more.
I'm officially now a wound care expert. Handy with sterile gauze cleaning supplies and mesh wrap. Good to go with soaking and abrading wounds.
Please don't call me; I'm not taking these skills on the road. :)
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
July 25...here we come!
Emma Kate is having a big day on July 25th.
Dr. Sidman and Noelle concurred that doing the sphincter pharyngoplasty surgery this summer is important. This surgery is the surgery that tightens and lengthens her palate, allowing her to have full closure of her airway when she speaks.
Right now, Emma passes air through the back of her throat, causing her speech to be hyper-nasal.
This surgery will greatly enhance her ability to speak and be understood.
We are so excited for her!
Noelle and I kept smiling at each other.
We will wait to do the bone graft until sometime in the fall. Maybe Thanksgiving break.
We are elated with the results of today's visit. And truly feel the Lord reset the course for Emma's palate treatment plan today. I initially wondered why we couldn't get into the oral surgeon for so long, and now am thankful for that wait.
It is clear that the July surgery is the one to do first, and it feels wonderful to have that clarity and wisdom.
We are elated!
Dr. Sidman and Noelle concurred that doing the sphincter pharyngoplasty surgery this summer is important. This surgery is the surgery that tightens and lengthens her palate, allowing her to have full closure of her airway when she speaks.
Right now, Emma passes air through the back of her throat, causing her speech to be hyper-nasal.
This surgery will greatly enhance her ability to speak and be understood.
We are so excited for her!
Noelle and I kept smiling at each other.
We will wait to do the bone graft until sometime in the fall. Maybe Thanksgiving break.
We are elated with the results of today's visit. And truly feel the Lord reset the course for Emma's palate treatment plan today. I initially wondered why we couldn't get into the oral surgeon for so long, and now am thankful for that wait.
It is clear that the July surgery is the one to do first, and it feels wonderful to have that clarity and wisdom.
We are elated!
Thursday, May 12, 2011
BIG cleft team appointment
That's a bit of an odd title. But it is what this post is about.
Yesterday, Jim, Emma and I spent the day at Children's Hospital. We visited a series of doctor's associated with caring for Emma's cleft lip and palate repair and progress. At the end of our individual visits, we then went out for lunch at an old favorite, French Meadow, and a walk around part of Lake of the Isles. That was just for fun! The afternoon was spent in a meeting with all the doctors gathered in one room with us.
It was really an incredible experience in many ways. Emma's ENT covers the care of his patients in this manner, and as one such patient-family, we were the recipients of top-notch medical care provided in an efficient and effective fashion. We are feeling VERY blessed today.
Emma met with an audiologist, speech pathologist, psychologist, nurse, dentist and then an oral surgeon and orthodontist. Whew! All in one day.
This would take weeks to accomplish one on one.
As anyone of you who has traversed long-term medical care knows, this is an incredible way to provide care for a person.
The final meeting involved all these people gathering in one room with us where together they again examined Emma's mouth to make sure everyone was in agreement about their assessments. After this, together we laid out a plan for the year.
Tell me this isn't amazing!
The long and short of it is good news all around.
Good news:
Emma's palate is wide enough that we don't need to see the orthodontist now! She does NOT need expanders. This is wonderful news. Wonderful because it saves her months of expanding her palate and wonderful because it means we are ready to proceed with the next stage of repair to her palate.
I'm thrilled and a bit teary to share that she will most likely have the alevolar bone graft surgery this summer. The oral surgeon needs to review x-rays and we will meet with him to discuss treatment, but all indications are from the group as a whole, the oral surgeon in particular and our speech therapist who I spoke with today, that the summer will be great timing for the bone graft.
WOW.
Here is a link to a page that explains this surgery: http://www.chp.edu/CHP/Alveolar+Bone+Graft
Following the bone graft, we then have a bit of a break and sometime this winter we anticipate another surgery, which is still to be determined. It will either be a surgery to extend her palate, tighten the end of it, or both. We will know more about that in six months.
For now we celebrate that Emma will start school in the fall and be able to physically enunciate sounds that as of now she is unable to make without blowing air up through her nose. Sounds like: s, f, v, p, th, ch, etc.
Obviously, a great deal of speech therapy and hard work will follow to train her to properly make these sounds, but she will be capable to making them! A major victory.
Emma is simply amazing.
Truly, she is. And I'm not just biased because I am her Momma, although that does give me a beautiful bias that I love. Her ENT doctor, Dr. Sidman, is amazed by her! Truly amazed. Her did not expect the outcome she already has, much less how good it will be as time passes. He just kept telling her how beautiful she was and how amazed by her he is! Isn't that fun?!
Emma, of course, drank that up. Blossoming little flower. I feel like her life is a gentle watering right now. God has insulated her this year in a cocoon to total love and care. Every single person she encounters in our little world of family life at home to our church family loves her. She is really and truly adored. A.d.o.r.e.d.
Noelle, our speech therapist, and I have circled around again and again the idea that learning a language while learning the actual techniques for sounds is perhaps beneficial to the outcome of Emma's palate repair. She isn't just learning how to properly pronounce words. She is learning how to say many of them for the first time. It is vocabulary AND new sounds AND proper sound production technique.
That unique combination makes for an eager student and one who is learning new patterns, not undoing years of compensated patterns.
Does that make sense?
In any case, having a front row seat to God's amazing story for Emma is breathtaking.
What a privilege it is to be her Momma. We are privy to daily miracles. We witness restoration and healing first hand.
Our sweet Emma Kate YuXiao.
We never knew the incredible grace and goodness God poured out on our family when He blessed us so lavishly and abundantly with YOU.
Blessing. That is what you are. All of you. Every single bit of you from the tips of your cute little toes to the top of your beautiful dark-haired head.
We didn't know. We just had no idea how very, very good this would be.
In all ways.
For anyone reading this who might contemplate older child adoption, I so encourage you as parents who have welcomed home a new older child. This journey is so beautiful. And while I long to have known Emma from her very first breath, I am so truly grateful for this path, too.
It is no less. No less.
Isn't the Lord just amazing that way?
Yesterday, Jim, Emma and I spent the day at Children's Hospital. We visited a series of doctor's associated with caring for Emma's cleft lip and palate repair and progress. At the end of our individual visits, we then went out for lunch at an old favorite, French Meadow, and a walk around part of Lake of the Isles. That was just for fun! The afternoon was spent in a meeting with all the doctors gathered in one room with us.
It was really an incredible experience in many ways. Emma's ENT covers the care of his patients in this manner, and as one such patient-family, we were the recipients of top-notch medical care provided in an efficient and effective fashion. We are feeling VERY blessed today.
Emma met with an audiologist, speech pathologist, psychologist, nurse, dentist and then an oral surgeon and orthodontist. Whew! All in one day.
This would take weeks to accomplish one on one.
As anyone of you who has traversed long-term medical care knows, this is an incredible way to provide care for a person.
The final meeting involved all these people gathering in one room with us where together they again examined Emma's mouth to make sure everyone was in agreement about their assessments. After this, together we laid out a plan for the year.
Tell me this isn't amazing!
The long and short of it is good news all around.
Good news:
Emma's palate is wide enough that we don't need to see the orthodontist now! She does NOT need expanders. This is wonderful news. Wonderful because it saves her months of expanding her palate and wonderful because it means we are ready to proceed with the next stage of repair to her palate.
I'm thrilled and a bit teary to share that she will most likely have the alevolar bone graft surgery this summer. The oral surgeon needs to review x-rays and we will meet with him to discuss treatment, but all indications are from the group as a whole, the oral surgeon in particular and our speech therapist who I spoke with today, that the summer will be great timing for the bone graft.
WOW.
Here is a link to a page that explains this surgery: http://www.chp.edu/CHP/Alveolar+Bone+Graft
Following the bone graft, we then have a bit of a break and sometime this winter we anticipate another surgery, which is still to be determined. It will either be a surgery to extend her palate, tighten the end of it, or both. We will know more about that in six months.
For now we celebrate that Emma will start school in the fall and be able to physically enunciate sounds that as of now she is unable to make without blowing air up through her nose. Sounds like: s, f, v, p, th, ch, etc.
Obviously, a great deal of speech therapy and hard work will follow to train her to properly make these sounds, but she will be capable to making them! A major victory.
Emma is simply amazing.
Truly, she is. And I'm not just biased because I am her Momma, although that does give me a beautiful bias that I love. Her ENT doctor, Dr. Sidman, is amazed by her! Truly amazed. Her did not expect the outcome she already has, much less how good it will be as time passes. He just kept telling her how beautiful she was and how amazed by her he is! Isn't that fun?!
Emma, of course, drank that up. Blossoming little flower. I feel like her life is a gentle watering right now. God has insulated her this year in a cocoon to total love and care. Every single person she encounters in our little world of family life at home to our church family loves her. She is really and truly adored. A.d.o.r.e.d.
Noelle, our speech therapist, and I have circled around again and again the idea that learning a language while learning the actual techniques for sounds is perhaps beneficial to the outcome of Emma's palate repair. She isn't just learning how to properly pronounce words. She is learning how to say many of them for the first time. It is vocabulary AND new sounds AND proper sound production technique.
That unique combination makes for an eager student and one who is learning new patterns, not undoing years of compensated patterns.
Does that make sense?
In any case, having a front row seat to God's amazing story for Emma is breathtaking.
What a privilege it is to be her Momma. We are privy to daily miracles. We witness restoration and healing first hand.
Our sweet Emma Kate YuXiao.
We never knew the incredible grace and goodness God poured out on our family when He blessed us so lavishly and abundantly with YOU.
Blessing. That is what you are. All of you. Every single bit of you from the tips of your cute little toes to the top of your beautiful dark-haired head.
We didn't know. We just had no idea how very, very good this would be.
In all ways.
For anyone reading this who might contemplate older child adoption, I so encourage you as parents who have welcomed home a new older child. This journey is so beautiful. And while I long to have known Emma from her very first breath, I am so truly grateful for this path, too.
It is no less. No less.
Isn't the Lord just amazing that way?
Thursday, May 5, 2011
did you say only six months at home?
Because when I see someone singing and worshipping LAST NIGHT...six months just doesn't seem long enough!
Isn't she sooooooo smart and cute?
Isn't she sooooooo smart and cute?
Thursday, April 21, 2011
"in China"...
"In China, we eat from black bowls and black drink bowls. Hao min {noodles}. Breakfast. Lunch. No dinner."
"In China, I have mommy. She has long, black pony tail. She very nice."
"In China, little girl cry at night when it is a big thunder and rain. I help little girl"
And so Emma begins to share of her life there. In China.
Her stories leak out. Here and there.
The first one, about the black bowls, came as we walked by a display of small cafe au lait ceramic bowls in a store. They were brightly colored and Emma's fingers ran along them slowly as she recounted her bowls in China.
There are many about sleeping and night. She tells us she slept between a "little girl" and a "big girl". And Emma stars as the comforting, helping girl in many of them. Her memories are of care-taking emotionally the littler boys and girls. Kissing hurt arms from falling out of bed. Telling other kids to leave the little ones alone. A defender of the weak, is what I hear in her stories.
She does recall playing chase with her friends. And pretending monsters. Emma has a stark fear of a lion. Or lions in general. We pray the lions away at bedtime each night. Somehow they are connected to China...or a China fear. Nighttime scares.
Emma's memories are mostly about daily life. And since we know her day to day life was in the orphanage and the walls of the grounds outside the orphanage, it makes sense that she doesn't much recall things like birds, grass, trees, etc. These are, of course, the recollections of a little girl sharing her memories of home There.
For her it was home.
And her recollections vary from sweet and endearing to sad. And heartbreaking.
We've heard about playing basketball and a little boy falling off his chair at dinnertime. Singing songs at school and singing songs to herself to go to sleep. Her little wooden bed, and the way they showered up.
Emma has shared of playing, laughing, learning, growing and the ways in which she wants to tell us of her life there.
It is her narrative.
They are her China stories. So I've only shared some tidbits here. It is such an honor that she is willing to let us into her life lived There.
The woman she refers to as her mom in China? After many questions and all the photos we have looked through, it is who I thought she meant. Who I knew she meant.
She thinks of her mom in China as her dear, beautiful teacher who we know as "Miss Susie".
Just seeing these pictures brings the hugest lump to my throat. It was such a beautiful meeting that God orchestrated.
We met Miss Susie in our hotel in Fuzhou. I wrote about it here.
I hope Miss Susie knows, in some capacity, this side of eternity her legacy of love and care. She lavishes her little ones with warmth and goodness. And it shows. Emma loves her, and regards her as her China mom in her heart. The one Emma holds as the one who cared and loved. A lot. What a beautiful thing.
The unfolding of these memories and stories is so precious to us. Even the hard ones. They are part of our Emma's story. And we hold them as part of our family's story, because she is one of us, and we are hers.
"In China, I have mommy. She has long, black pony tail. She very nice."
"In China, little girl cry at night when it is a big thunder and rain. I help little girl"
And so Emma begins to share of her life there. In China.
Her stories leak out. Here and there.
The first one, about the black bowls, came as we walked by a display of small cafe au lait ceramic bowls in a store. They were brightly colored and Emma's fingers ran along them slowly as she recounted her bowls in China.
There are many about sleeping and night. She tells us she slept between a "little girl" and a "big girl". And Emma stars as the comforting, helping girl in many of them. Her memories are of care-taking emotionally the littler boys and girls. Kissing hurt arms from falling out of bed. Telling other kids to leave the little ones alone. A defender of the weak, is what I hear in her stories.
She does recall playing chase with her friends. And pretending monsters. Emma has a stark fear of a lion. Or lions in general. We pray the lions away at bedtime each night. Somehow they are connected to China...or a China fear. Nighttime scares.
Emma's memories are mostly about daily life. And since we know her day to day life was in the orphanage and the walls of the grounds outside the orphanage, it makes sense that she doesn't much recall things like birds, grass, trees, etc. These are, of course, the recollections of a little girl sharing her memories of home There.
For her it was home.
And her recollections vary from sweet and endearing to sad. And heartbreaking.
We've heard about playing basketball and a little boy falling off his chair at dinnertime. Singing songs at school and singing songs to herself to go to sleep. Her little wooden bed, and the way they showered up.
Emma has shared of playing, laughing, learning, growing and the ways in which she wants to tell us of her life there.
It is her narrative.
They are her China stories. So I've only shared some tidbits here. It is such an honor that she is willing to let us into her life lived There.
The woman she refers to as her mom in China? After many questions and all the photos we have looked through, it is who I thought she meant. Who I knew she meant.
She thinks of her mom in China as her dear, beautiful teacher who we know as "Miss Susie".
We met Miss Susie in our hotel in Fuzhou. I wrote about it here.
I hope Miss Susie knows, in some capacity, this side of eternity her legacy of love and care. She lavishes her little ones with warmth and goodness. And it shows. Emma loves her, and regards her as her China mom in her heart. The one Emma holds as the one who cared and loved. A lot. What a beautiful thing.
The unfolding of these memories and stories is so precious to us. Even the hard ones. They are part of our Emma's story. And we hold them as part of our family's story, because she is one of us, and we are hers.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
beautiful {she grows}
Do you see this face?
This sweet, intent concentration.
We work. Together each day we plow the ground of her fertile mind, learning.
Black dirt. Verdant and lush. Iowa ground ripe for growing.
Today I watched flowers unfold right before my eyes.
Blossom upward. Cupped, curled to sky and sun.
Our Emma Kate, home a mere and only four months...is reading.
The gasp, cry and song you heard pulsing yesterday morn...that was me. Quiet on the outside. A symphony inside. My heart soaring upward in wonder.
Sight words. Rote memorization. And she's doing it! Not only by flashcard, but in context! Outside of that, she is looking at books alongside me as I read, and she is pointing out words! When we play games, she is reading the words she knows from the gameboard. Marilee, sing with me!
Her little mind must, must be filled with connecting, vibrating, joyful worker-synapses. A veritable Eden of activity.
Older child adoption isn't only hard. It is many things, and my list of adjectives is long and beautiful. Emma, at her "older" age, has been a blessing we could not have imagined. This is the more we didn't predict. This birthing has been so sweet, incredibly miraculous, and wholly beautiful. A gift. All of it. All of her, a gift.
Six years old. And so lovely, so bright, cheerful, loving, diligent and persevering, so long-suffering and patient, dear and darling, tender and sweet, strong and courageous.
This is not the story we expected. And had it been what we anticipated, we would have loved her all the more. Hard doesn't mean less adored, and easy doesn't equate abundant. That is not at all what I mean. Love has a different economy. Thankfully.
What I mean to articulate and partly capture is the idea that fear so often holds us back {strike that, ME back} from doing the right thing, the thing we want to do, going to the place God calls us. And the fear is of all the what ifs. The hardship and hardness. The ways it might hurt.
Sometimes doing what is right is plain old hard. And filled with hurt. And fear.
And sometimes...sometimes it isn't.
We don't know until we've done it, do we? Not truly.
I've learned that God doesn't usually wait for me to NOT be scared, he works it out in the doing. And so we do it scared.
When the plunge turns easy, it is a rejoicing heart that delights in, "go". Sometimes the mercy is that it is the not. Not as hard. Not as scary. Not as lonely, difficult or fearsome.
The paradox is that, when it is: when it is that hard road of adjectives that turn the stomach and fall dry off the lips, there is still a field. And it is no less lovely. God makes beauty from ashes and works our completion in affliction. We will never truly bloom well without it. Hard truth, but truth nonetheless.
I've cultivated other ground. We've plowed long with many tears and much angst. And the blossoms that bloomed there had a sweetness that only comes from suffering. There is nothing more beautiful than a child learning to unfold into light and trust. A flower finding roots, Son and a solitary bloom. Buds unfurling to love.
This isn't comparison, so much as simply a savoring. A revel? A springtime frolic of sorts? It is a rejoicing, most certainly, at God's amazing mercy and incredible work.
The road we walk, this unexpected path of easy joy, is a bringing in of sheaves. It is our Psalm 126. In all God's good glory.
Psalm 126
A song of ascents.
1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dreamed
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
3 The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
4 Restore our fortunes, LORD,
like streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with them.
Sing with me now.
Love,
Sara
{images found here and here}
This sweet, intent concentration.
We work. Together each day we plow the ground of her fertile mind, learning.
Black dirt. Verdant and lush. Iowa ground ripe for growing.
Today I watched flowers unfold right before my eyes.
Blossom upward. Cupped, curled to sky and sun.
Our Emma Kate, home a mere and only four months...is reading.
The gasp, cry and song you heard pulsing yesterday morn...that was me. Quiet on the outside. A symphony inside. My heart soaring upward in wonder.
Sight words. Rote memorization. And she's doing it! Not only by flashcard, but in context! Outside of that, she is looking at books alongside me as I read, and she is pointing out words! When we play games, she is reading the words she knows from the gameboard. Marilee, sing with me!
Her little mind must, must be filled with connecting, vibrating, joyful worker-synapses. A veritable Eden of activity.
That is how I picture it. These are the tulip fields of Holland. Multi-hued and exuberant. Just as my daughter's mind is drinking in knowledge, information, and even more, love.
Older child adoption isn't only hard. It is many things, and my list of adjectives is long and beautiful. Emma, at her "older" age, has been a blessing we could not have imagined. This is the more we didn't predict. This birthing has been so sweet, incredibly miraculous, and wholly beautiful. A gift. All of it. All of her, a gift.
Six years old. And so lovely, so bright, cheerful, loving, diligent and persevering, so long-suffering and patient, dear and darling, tender and sweet, strong and courageous.
This is not the story we expected. And had it been what we anticipated, we would have loved her all the more. Hard doesn't mean less adored, and easy doesn't equate abundant. That is not at all what I mean. Love has a different economy. Thankfully.
What I mean to articulate and partly capture is the idea that fear so often holds us back {strike that, ME back} from doing the right thing, the thing we want to do, going to the place God calls us. And the fear is of all the what ifs. The hardship and hardness. The ways it might hurt.
Sometimes doing what is right is plain old hard. And filled with hurt. And fear.
And sometimes...sometimes it isn't.
We don't know until we've done it, do we? Not truly.
I've learned that God doesn't usually wait for me to NOT be scared, he works it out in the doing. And so we do it scared.
When the plunge turns easy, it is a rejoicing heart that delights in, "go". Sometimes the mercy is that it is the not. Not as hard. Not as scary. Not as lonely, difficult or fearsome.
The paradox is that, when it is: when it is that hard road of adjectives that turn the stomach and fall dry off the lips, there is still a field. And it is no less lovely. God makes beauty from ashes and works our completion in affliction. We will never truly bloom well without it. Hard truth, but truth nonetheless.
I've cultivated other ground. We've plowed long with many tears and much angst. And the blossoms that bloomed there had a sweetness that only comes from suffering. There is nothing more beautiful than a child learning to unfold into light and trust. A flower finding roots, Son and a solitary bloom. Buds unfurling to love.
This isn't comparison, so much as simply a savoring. A revel? A springtime frolic of sorts? It is a rejoicing, most certainly, at God's amazing mercy and incredible work.
The road we walk, this unexpected path of easy joy, is a bringing in of sheaves. It is our Psalm 126. In all God's good glory.
Psalm 126
A song of ascents.
1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dreamed
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
3 The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
4 Restore our fortunes, LORD,
like streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with them.
Sing with me now.
Love,
Sara
{images found here and here}
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
"all better, Mommy!"
\Feeling, "All better, Mommy!" called for an outing.
A school celebration.
So off we went this morning after elementary drop off.
Emma was soooo happy to get out of the house
and so was her Momma.
A sure sign she is feeling better.
Even though she keeps announcing it to me
{perhaps hopefully}.
Working diligently
and so happily
Emma just loves learning
and feeling better
and having school at the Barnes and Noble Starbucks
{okay, Momma really likes that one}.
It was a great morning.
We even ran an errand.
The sun is shining cheerily
and honestly, the snow is glinting with gems.
It is truly beautiful
{and that's something coming from one
weary of winter}.
We hope your day finds you delighting in the simple rhythms of life and finding God's grace in the midst of what the day brings.
He is always more than enough.
Today, we are more than fully full.
Grateful for the outing
for my sweet ones continued healing
for her persevering spirit
for the ways she is drawing near and delighting in her momma
for tender caretaking and care-receiving
for soup and bananas and pudding
for smoothies and
the kisses of her darling lips
especially when they spring first from her heart!
Lap sitting at mealtime
and quiet reads snuggled on big chairs.
And more than all of that,
grateful for our Lord.
Who is our all in all.
Now
Then
and even when.
Good, hard, bad, joyful, and everything in between.
He is in it all.
And He provides.
Always.
Lots of love from a cheerful home,
Sara and Emmacakes
Friday, February 18, 2011
Hello, Friday and a goodbye lament to our Gogo
Friday! Finally, Friday.
Although, truth be told, it feels a bit as if the week was one looooooooonnnnng Monday and suddenly we are at the last day. Odd.
Emma is doing quite well. Back on the codeine on a reduced dosage schedule. Trying to wean off of it, but she is just still in too much pain for only Tylenol.
Quite well, though, can be defined as making an outing to Target and playing trains with her sister and her Daddy. So there are moments of activity, but mostly lots of couch time still.
Talking is coming slowly. Quiet, punctuated by short bursts of cheery speech. She's still enchanted with the sound of her voice {and maybe how it feels?}. I will confess to having a very hard time understanding her at times. And this is very frustrating to Emma and makes me sad for her. We are making such a.m.a.z.i.n.g. strides, though!
The biggest {sad} news of the day is that my mom left this afternoon for her winter home. Emma and I dropped her at the airport right before the elementary school pick-up. Emma was so sad she wouldn't even look at her. We really both were just sad, sad, sad. In the best of ways.
I've treasured away the sound of Luke and Gogo chatting away at bedtime. My Mom bunked in with Luke, and they were such pals in the evening. Luke asking for definitions of words when stuck reading. Luke waking in the night and asking Gogo if they could cuddle. "Um, Luke, we are snuggling. I am sleeping with you!" The sweet music of their voices joined in harmony. Such a dear memory.
Gogo made our home spotless! I am a huge and devoted fan of my vacuum, Fred {Astaire}. He is such a lovely dancer. Gogo had him flying through the house, and truly waltzed all the dust away. Windows washed inside, surfaces dusted.
And that doesn't even begin to address our food-laden refrigerator.
Webster's definition of Grandma surely lists my mother's name followed by a list of attributes describing her that the rest of the world can try to live up to. And I sound like I'm teasing, but I'm kind of not. My Mom is so amazing.
And I love her so much.
We have a fun weekend planned. Anna's Girl Scout troop is featuring "China" as their country at the International Day tomorrow morning. I'm completing the display tonight. We are really excited about the event.
Hopefully a long weekend of Daddy home and some good naps with lots of family love, will equal a girl greeting Monday as a new week!
Welcome, Friday. We are so glad to see you here.
Although, truth be told, it feels a bit as if the week was one looooooooonnnnng Monday and suddenly we are at the last day. Odd.
Emma is doing quite well. Back on the codeine on a reduced dosage schedule. Trying to wean off of it, but she is just still in too much pain for only Tylenol.
Quite well, though, can be defined as making an outing to Target and playing trains with her sister and her Daddy. So there are moments of activity, but mostly lots of couch time still.
Talking is coming slowly. Quiet, punctuated by short bursts of cheery speech. She's still enchanted with the sound of her voice {and maybe how it feels?}. I will confess to having a very hard time understanding her at times. And this is very frustrating to Emma and makes me sad for her. We are making such a.m.a.z.i.n.g. strides, though!
The biggest {sad} news of the day is that my mom left this afternoon for her winter home. Emma and I dropped her at the airport right before the elementary school pick-up. Emma was so sad she wouldn't even look at her. We really both were just sad, sad, sad. In the best of ways.
I've treasured away the sound of Luke and Gogo chatting away at bedtime. My Mom bunked in with Luke, and they were such pals in the evening. Luke asking for definitions of words when stuck reading. Luke waking in the night and asking Gogo if they could cuddle. "Um, Luke, we are snuggling. I am sleeping with you!" The sweet music of their voices joined in harmony. Such a dear memory.
Gogo made our home spotless! I am a huge and devoted fan of my vacuum, Fred {Astaire}. He is such a lovely dancer. Gogo had him flying through the house, and truly waltzed all the dust away. Windows washed inside, surfaces dusted.
And that doesn't even begin to address our food-laden refrigerator.
Webster's definition of Grandma surely lists my mother's name followed by a list of attributes describing her that the rest of the world can try to live up to. And I sound like I'm teasing, but I'm kind of not. My Mom is so amazing.
And I love her so much.
We have a fun weekend planned. Anna's Girl Scout troop is featuring "China" as their country at the International Day tomorrow morning. I'm completing the display tonight. We are really excited about the event.
Hopefully a long weekend of Daddy home and some good naps with lots of family love, will equal a girl greeting Monday as a new week!
Welcome, Friday. We are so glad to see you here.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
thursday brings
- another quiet day on the couch
- a long splash and soak in the bathtub
- vanilla pudding and strawberry yogurt
- Kipper the dog, on DVD
- story books
- freshly laundered pink "Emma" blanket...by request. :)
- fireplace roaring, even with 53 degree temps outside
Emma had a bit of a rough night last night with pain. She is back on some doses of tylenol codeine, and that seems to do the trick. We are stretching out the dosing as much as we can while still managing her pain and keeping it at bay.
She's so sweet. In the night as I lay stroking her forehead and humming to her, she turned in my arms and stroked my cheek in turn.
Be still my heart.
Mom is busy making a culinary delight of our kitchen. Laundry is swishing. Door frames dusted. She's a busy lady.
Last night the "girls" played a rousing game of Blokus in the kitchen. We were roaring laughter and rolling eyes. It was so fun! Luke followed and soundly trounced Gogo and I until his treachery was uncovered in the form of connecting game pieces. Scoundrel. Somewhere in there Gogo was called an "old lady" and I ate three apricot tart bars.
Merciful heavens!
The days end was happily met and snuggled into bed, each person in place, we greeted evening. Gratefully weary and happily tired.
Jim's Dad continues to do well. They are working on regulating his heartbeat, which is keeping him in ICU a bit longer than anticipated. He finally got some sleep at days end, and that hopefully did much to restore him.
I have a princess smiling eyes and pretty lips at me. All a-sparkle even in her "owie cheeks". Sweet one.
Time to Florence. It's a good assignment. I'm so grateful to be able to tend fully here, and be the one given the "tending the homefires" ministry. How blessed I am. And well I know it.
Savoring the goodness of healing, being together, and the quiet of recovery time.
Love to you,
Sara
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
lazy day at home
Alternating between that cheery look, and this tired, worn out demeanor:
She had a full night's sleep snuggled up next to me in bed. I can't tell you where Jim slept as we were long abed before he was. Train wreck was my emotional fortitude be evening. Thank goodness for a new day!
We are off the tylenol with codeine and trying simply tylenol. She is so stoic and keeps denying any pain at all so I am doing my best to translate between the lines.
Lots of this:
and this:
today.
Good for the body and the spirit.
My mom has been an amazing help. She is incredible, really, and seems to simply find what needs doing or who needs help. Last night while I sat prone and melting in a chair desperately attempting to muster the focus to get through the last hourish to bedtime- which included a bevy of activities I won't bore you with- she had Anna and Emma snuggled in on the couch reading books. They were occupied and delighted, and the house was quiet with Cooper working on homework and mom reading. I pretended nothing else was happening.
Today Emma's managed very small meals of chicken noodle soup {yes, for those of you who know my charming ~ and opinionated ~ quirk...it was Campbell's} and a tidbit of scrambled eggs. Our doctor moved her directly from a liquid only diet to soft diet right there in the hospital. Floored me.
She is very tentative with eating, chewing, speaking etc. Understandably. I'm so grateful she has her own slow pace in the recovery.
It is so gloriously warm outside {for Minnesota in February} that we took the world's slowest jaunt around one block and came back home to collapse on the couch. Good healing fresh air! She mimicked a bird along the way, displaying the chipper we know and love in her sweet spirit.
Now Emma's watching a little video and I'm typing this out. I feel better today even though I was aware of waking with each rustle she made last night, be it of cover or stirring of breath. She slept beautifully. I'm so glad. Answered prayer for sure!
So goes the day! I am already looking forward to a delicious lunch of balsamic roasted squash and fennel soup. Can't wait to eat it! Afterwards, I'm sure I will be restored to my full glory, and look just like myself again...
Don't I look incredible?
Ha. That accidentally uploaded off of my desktop. A picture I keep to remind myself I do like short hair on the days when I start feeling boy-ish and miss the tresses of yesterday.
As if you were dying to know that.
Actually, short hair is a bit of my signature statement. I find myself in angst when it is long feeling not quite right. Not that you needed to know that either.
Clearly, I am still a bit tired. Right.
Onward!
{images found here}
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Home!
Emma is thrilled, bathed, enfolded in sister hugs and brother smiles. Getting chattier as the hospital gets further away!
I am bleary eyed, unshowered, overly caffeinated and verging on unraveling my way to bed. Good signs that we are both home and Emma is doing well!
I am bleary eyed, unshowered, overly caffeinated and verging on unraveling my way to bed. Good signs that we are both home and Emma is doing well!
Making it to bedtime cheerfully may well be the largest fruit of the spirit for me!
Press on, shark lady. Don't stop swimming or it's lights out (not in the good sense of that) for you!
See. I'm talking in third person now. Scary.
Tomorrow I will be refreshed!
What a journey. 24 hours and so much is different!
Sent from my iPhone
all things new
Wonder is bubbling in our room this morning. Joyful wonder.
Emma talks, eyes wide open in amazement. Her voice sounds different!
Even through all the swelling, which is inevitably altering the tone of her voice a bit, her words are clearer! She sounds different and she likes how she sounds. We both keep giggling and smiling. She is beside herself and enjoying it.
"Go home, Momma?"
Yes, sweet Emma Kate. We are, indeed, going home. Today!
Total miracle. Honestly, a complete miracle, these twenty four hours past.
We are off of morphine, eating vanilla pudding and beef broth followed by a bit of vanilla yogurt. Walking around a bit, playing with our doll { who is complete with a new adorable outfit of nightgown, robe and slippers for the hospital stay, of course!}, commenting on Little Foot in a movie and telling me her mouth is "all better"!
After lunch and a second dose of an oral medicine, we can begin the discharge process, anticipating a home-going about 3pm.
Oh my stars!
Jim had to go into work today due to some urgent work issues, so my mom is going to come down to pick us up and Kris is fetching the littles at school. Cooper skis his last nordic race of the season this afternoon and Jeb is prepping for a choir concert tonight. Luke has basketball. A regular old day and night, all in all. Boy does it sound good to return to home.
And not just to me, either.
Little Miss Emma is more than ready to return home to her people. The beauty of that, is that she is also securely content to rock and play here with me, too. The care and love she is allowing me to lavish on her and she is receiving with open arms is so beautiful to behold. What strides we have made together.
Last night Jim and I reflected back on her dental procedure in December. Eight short weeks ago, and yet an eon in the journey of her heart-strides. SUCH a different scenario this time. All night long she turned to me for comfort and nurture. And found safe harbor. It was such a beauty. Hearts enfolding one another and both finding wonder at the gift of it all.
"Hi", with a huge glowing smile, my daughter intones.
"Mom", she tries out the word and finds it liking.
"Hi, Mom", again.
Oh, Emma. Hello. In new ways each day, hello.
I love you so, my daughter.
And today we go home. Right where we both belong. Together.
One huge step in Emma's physical renewal complete. And a grateful family, of not just Jim and I and our children, but our whole family and our circle of friends. Family that cheers one another on and stands alongside upholding and sustaining one another through all the "stuff" of life. How sweet this "stuff" is to us.
Thank you for journeying right along with us this past day. With all that it brought. What a celebration of goodness and mercy, lovingkindness and healing, peace and comfort, hope and faith. We have a hero. His name is Jesus. We love Him with you, and you with Him.
{p.s. Jim's dad is singing slightly off kilter and color songs as he receives his pain meds in Virginia. He's in great spirits, doing well, and keeping us all laughing with his intrepid spirit and infectious encouragement. He's the one that just had open-heart surgery and he's making sure to lift the spirits of everyone around him in turn. Totally Dave.}
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