LSC in China - waiting for TA

We are in St. Augustine for a few days for our baby shower last night (thank you Peggy!!) and for the Bead Chick annual meeting. Mary Pat (Frannie's future Godmother) is with us to regale us with her stories and to keep up everyone's spirits. Frannie really lucked out loot-wise at the shower last night. We got the coolest double wagon with cupholders and everything -- I think Kevin has plans for me to get my exercise by pulling him, Frannie and a cooler around the neighborhood. We got lots of beautiful clothes, books, toys, a precious (I don't use that word often) Saint Frances Cabrini medal, two beautiful handmade blankets, some gifts for Mom and Dad Fay, a trike (yes!) some gift cards, and more -- a beautiful cake provided by my missing sister Mary (I missed you -- but I'm glad I got to see you last month :))

One thing I wanted to share from the shower was a great treat that Peggy came up with. She asked all these women who I love and respect to give advice to me as an expectant Mom. There were some obvious directives and some of my favorites were "remember to have fun" "remember to cherish the time when they are young because time flies so quickly" and Peggy's advice to "listen, read them a book and cuddle a lot." I looked at all the people in the room who have been such good examples to me of what a Mom should be and I really felt so blessed to have so many great examples to emulate. Truly, as it went around the room (there were approximately 23 adults and 6 or 8 kids), I thought of what each person has shown me and how I can incorporate that into my own mothering -- Denise's humor with her kids, Peggy's incredible consistent loving with her boys, Katie's loving patience with Elena, Judy's incredible effort to keep her kids close to her (it's so easy to just say go play, but I always noticed how she kept her kids close which has proven to make them close to their Mom!), Sharon's obvious pride in her son and grandsons, Anita's friendship she has with her kids, Laura's dedication to her kids first before others, ohmygosh so much more I can't believe it. Thank you Lord for giving me such good friends. Even if I weren't related to half of you, I would love to have you as friends!

Lucy and I had both joined a Yahoo group specifically for our girls' orphanage and there's lots of good info about the careproviders, the medical treatment of the kids, past families' experiences, photos, etc. What a wonderful resource. Getting e-mails from families from Belgium, the Netherlands, etc. who have adopted from there is fun.

Mary Pat, the Fairy Godmother/nurse brought us news of a potential surgery for Frannie's hand. Since she is missing her right thumb (which obviously could be her dominant hand), this very well may benefit her. The procedure takes her index finger (the first one) and moves it down to create a thumb. She is left with three top fingers, but with a working thumb. The doctors first assess her ability to function with her existing hand and determine then whether to operate or not. I have an appointment with the highly respected pediatric orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Robert Bruce on September 25, thank you Lord. He was so good to us when we were "reviewing" Frannie's medical info in May to determine whether we wanted to adopt her or not. Despite not having much medical info to go on, he did his best to give us his professional opinion.

Please pray for my two little students, Brett and Michell who are both still in the hospital as far as I know. Brett has been at Scottish Rite for a week and Michell is at Egelston. The kids and parents need prayers. I miss you Lisa!

Our LSC reached Beijing on Monday by FedEx and the estimated wait for our travel date is 1-3 weeks. So we could potentially know our travel date this week! Keep up the prayers!