Zach had his MRI today...

Zach had his MRI today to determine if his cerebral palsy was caused by trauma or a stroke in utero, and what parts of his brain were affected. He did well. We will find out in a week or so what the results are.


Since it is important to know about any possible metal implants or fragments in a body before an MRI (I don't think they can do it if there is), I had to answer questions about this. But I obviously couldn't answer questions about whether or not he had ever suffered an injury from a metal object. I also could not answer questions about the eye surgery Zach told us he had in China. We had nothing on his paperwork about it, but when we told him he was having eye surgery here, he described in detail a surgery he had in China. So,when they asked about eye surgery, all I could say is "he says he had it, if that's true, I don't know what they did." So, they did x-rays of his face to make sure they had not implanted any metal.


Then, realizing that he spent 8 years in an orphanage, they had the interpreter ask Zach about some scars that I had noticed on his body. This brought up stories of injuries suffered at the hands of other children. The interpreter had difficulty telling me what he was saying because she was upset, and Zach obviously didn't want to talk about it. They stopped after discussing two scars and, again, since we could not be sure that he had not been hit or cut with a metal object, they did x-rays of the rest of his body, to make sure there were no fragments left over.


This really brought home, once again, the unknowns of the lives older adopted children have lead before. It makes me so sad for the children who still don't have a family to protect them from the realities of orphanage life. It makes me sad that I can't answer these questions for him as completely as I can answer them for my oldest two, and even Katie who was brought home at 10 months old. It makes me sad that he has these memories. Children don't belong in orphanages. They belong in families.



Caution, here's my soapbox addition:


What is more important to you? Is it more important for you to have a luxury car, or for a child to have a loving family? Did you know that the difference in cost between a luxury car and a relatively nice car is approximately the cost of an adoption, which could help a family who couldn't otherwise afford to adopt a child?

Is it more important for you to have large savings/retirement account for your future, or for people with nothing to have a future to hope for?

Do you need lots of fancy furnishings? Or is it more important for your neighbor to have food and clothing?

These are real choices we make when we open up our checkbook. I am not condemning decisions we all have made that benefit ourselves. I just think it is important for us all (me included!) to recognize more often the good that can be done for Christ when we make decisions about what to do with our money.

Christians are called to love their neighbor as themselves. If we are truly honoring this command, then our neighbors needs would be met before our wants are met. Certainly this is very hard to do. It is not something we can do perfectly. But we should at least try. Of course, we can spend our money on ourselves. Scripture doesn't say we can't, and I am not implying that we can't. But our desire and our priority should be reaching the lost and giving them the hope we have in Christ. Having nice things is certainly not a crime. But we do run the risk of failing to see that we have built up too many treasures here on earth that moths and rust will destroy, that could instead have been stored up in heaven. Christ warned us against this.


Yes, God can bless us when we honor him. But I find nowhere in Scripture that says he blesses us materially so that we can glorify ourselves. We should use His blessings to HIS glory, not ours. After all, when he places material blessings in the hands of Christians, isn't he putting back in His own hands? As Christians, we should be more excited about reaching others with the message of the gospel and offering eternal hope, something Christ would be excited about, rather than having lots of expensive things. That is what it means to "delight in the Lord." The health and wealth heresy has crippled the message of Christ because there are so many material blessings spent to the glory of individuals, leaving so much kingdom work undone. As John Piper said in a sermon I heard last year: God is NOT glorified when Christians drive expensive cars and wear expensive suits.


All of the heresies that offer us excuses to spend so much on ourselves are leaving children in orphanages. Our indifference is causing some of them to live lives we would not wish on our worst enemy.

Happy Easter!

He is RISEN! Hallelujah!

Well, we just returned from our Easter vacation to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. We had a great time, despite the various illnesses that plagued us before and during our trip. In the weeks before we left, Eliza was sick, then Katie, then Maddie, then Katie again. Katie suffered from a fever for 6 days prior to leaving, ended up on the prenisolone and was REALLY crabby. But, by Friday when we left, we were no longer nebulizing her and we no longer gave her the steroid. She was the only healthy one during the trip. I was on antibiotics for a strep infection diagnosed on Wednesday. Steve developed an awful cold. Maddie awoke in the middle of Saturday night with a fever of 101 and Zach woke on Sunday morning with a low grade fever that rose during the day. He slept for most of the day Monday.

Our cabin was beautiful and the scenery was breathtaking.

My mom and sister drove down separately and ended up in Jellico, TN on Saturday night with a bad alternator. They came on Sunday just in time to say goodbye to my brother and his friend who had driven up from Atlanta for the weekend. It was good to see them and we were sorry they had to leave so soon. On Tuesday, we experienced the challenge of finding a doctor to see Maddie, who had developed severe ear pain on Monday night. Apparently, there is only one MD in all of Pigeon Forge, and he is a sweet old man who went there to "retire" 17 years earlier. The town obviously needs him. He told us how he waited in line for a tattoo while in the Marines, but the wait was too long so he gave up. He was going to put "Louise," his high school sweet heart on his arm, but ended up marrying Margaret! Anyway, we now had antibiotics for Maddie's ear infection and I achieved a milestone on Wednesday -- I did not have to take anyone's temperature the entire day! We were definately on the road to recovery!

Despite all the illnesses, we had fun. We drove through Cade's Cove in the Smoky Mountains

(too worn out to do any hiking...), went horseback riding, swam in the pool in the basement of our cabin, relaxed in the hot tub on the deck, went to Dixieland Stampede, and generally enjoyed the time away.

Zach was having a great time with all these new adventures. He loves swimming and looked so proud on his horse, Sugar. But, sorry to say for my mom and sister who are big outdoors people -- Zach didn't seem too impressed with the scenery.... But, he was impressed with the trucks and other machinery that we passed or saw on the mountain roads. He is all boy!

The kids were all pretty good travelers. We had movies for them to watch which is certainly a life saver. My, have times changed from when I was a kid traveling by car across the country with only books to occupy my time!

Zach's language has continued to progress beautifully. Although, there are certainly times that I realize I am the only one who can translate what he says. It's typical toddler language that no one understands but mom or dad. Friday, we left really early from the cabin to get on the road. We planned to stop along the way for breakfast. I asked all the kids to brush their teeth before we left and we about getting stuff gathered up. Steve came and told me that Zach looked really confused. He was walking around the kitchen holding his toothbrush and saying "bookasa?" Steve didn't know what to do for him. To me, it was clear what was happening! Zach wanted to know why I was having him brush his teeth before he ate his "bookasa." After all, anyone should know that "bookasa" is "breakfast!" Zach was mad that his dad didn't understand!

Otherwise, in the transition and adjustment department, Zach is testing his boundaries quite a bit now. This is good. It is something all children will do, no matter whether they are adopted or biological. They need to know how far they can push the envelope if they don't want to obey. So, as we experience this, we understand that it is part of his learning how to respond to these new experiences of having parents, siblings and expectations that come along with family life. It is admittedly hard to impose consequences to misbehaviors when we are not sure he understands either what he has done wrong, or what is the outcome of that choice to disobey. But, this is coming along, too. The language is blossoming and the understanding of what is expected is getting there, too. He is a sweet boy. Most of the time, when he is disciplined, he will apologize again for it the next day. This tells me that he is thinking about what happened and continuing to process it. All of this is good.

Another milestone we have reached: Our 6 month homestudy was completed last night! Wow, time is flying by...

Zach and his classmates when he was "star of the week."