Gratitude

Everyone is asleep so I finally get to blog...  I wanted to include a letter that I had written to update folks by email and express my gratitude and joy.  Sorry if some of this is a repeat. ...[Stan]

Our many thanks to all of the folks who have helped us and continue to help an pray for us. Catherine Fujuan has been with us since June 2nd and doing just fantastic. Her personality blends so well with our family that it is hard to believe that there was a time that she was not with us. It has only been (almost) 4 months. That is in itself a milestone as at age 3 and a half, this is the longest that she has ever had a family. I think she loves us too. She is always so full of joy, is playful, loves clothes and dolls, and has an incredible sense of humor. Some folks talk of how lucky this little girl is that we adopted her but she brings us so much joy that it is we who are truly blessed to have her in our lives.

Catherine’s physical development has also been amazing. When we first received Catherine, she would walk short distances and wanted to be carried. I don’t think she did much walking in the orphanage as the bottoms of her feet were tender like a baby’s feet. She couldn’t go up the one step from our sunken family-room at first. Now she goes up and down complete flights of stairs, runs, climbs and gymnastics class. She seems to really enjoy her new found strength and abilities. It is hard to believe that she even needs surgery.

We adopted Catherine knowing she had a diagnosis of congenital scoliosis, some vertebral deformities and spina bifida. We are well prepared to provide her with all the necessary treatments. She is under the care of some of the finest doctors (probably in the world) at Johns Hopkins. On September 30th, Catherine will go in for spinal surgery. She has a tethered spinal cord and, what the doctor described as, a “bony bar” in one of her lower vertebrae that divides the spinal cord. Sometime later, she will likely need orthopedic surgery.

To see her, it is hard to believe that Catherine has all this going on. She runs and plays and, for the most part, seems to show no symptoms of any problem. On occasion however, and possibly more frequent now, she complains of a pain in her lower back. We do know that if it is left untreated she will have major problems later. How many more children are over there with similar health problems that will debilitate unless treated? We are thankful for the opportunity and the resources to help this child, our daughter.

I am completely awestruck at the way God provides and cleared all the obsticles for adopting Catherine, the China travel and now with the way He continues to place people in our lives who are willing to help and people who are exactly the people we need. He has provided us with people to translate, notaries, friends, family, top medical experts, people in the medical know and folks who pray.  The list goes on...

Our many thanks and may God bless all who have and are helping us now. Please keep praying for Catherine, for us and for the doctors.

Blessings
Stan and Christina