Monday, August 8, 2011

An update, sort of...

Hello! Well, I guess I'm not really too good at this blogging thing, but people keep asking me if we have any news on our adoption, and it finally came to me, 'Duh!, that's what the blog is supposed to be for.'  Of course, I kind of made a semi-promise to myself that I wouldn't write another entry until I had some really exciting news to share. Unfortunately, that is not the case today. But I can tell you what is happening. So here goes...

About a month ago, Gabe & I had sent off all our court paperwork, again, I might add. We had done all this before, of course, but much of it had expired since it has to be within 3 months of court.  We were all good, we thought. A court date should be forthcoming very shortly. Right.......  We didn't realize that our homestudy agency was still waiting on a paper from the state that has something to do with their being in good standing.  So now the state of Michigan was holding us up. That was a long couple of weeks (3 maybe?, I really can't remember at this point).  But lo and behold! It finally came and was on it's way to Maryland (where our placing agency is).  From there our agency fed-exed the whole kit-and-kaboodle back to Lansing where it is now being apostilled. Don't ask me what this word means. I still have only a vague notion. But I know it must be very important. And judging from the Fed-Ex charges I discovered on our bank statement this morning, it should have gotten there lickety-split!

So I think that's where we're still at. I don't get a minute-by-minute rundown of what's going on.  And of all things, our adoption worker is on vacation this week! Really! The nerve!  Okay, not really, just kidding. She is great and we like her a lot. And I suppose, she is entitled to a life apart from the momentous event we are anticipating in our lives. But sometimes, I wish I could live in her brain and know everything she knows.

When the apostilling is over, our documents will be shipped to that really far-off place that I'm not supposed to say the name of, where they will be translated. Very soon after this (oh I hope!) we will be scheduled for court.   And that folks, is where we're at.

And Victoria (or Vika, as some of you may know her) is 9 months older than when we left her.  That's getting kind of close to a year. That's huge at her age! I wonder how she's changed. We miss that girl so much! Looking forward to a sweet reunion in the next month or so.

But meanwhile, we are certainly keeping busy around here.  A couple of big issues we're dealing with have to do with Millie, our almost-3-year-old-going-on-18 girl.  Those of you who know us and our kids, as in face-to-face, actually talking kind of know, probably are aware that Millie doesn't speak.  She only has a couple of words that she can say pretty reliably: Momma & Dadda.  The last few months we were able to get her into speech therapy and they feel she most likely has a condition called verbal apraxia.  With verbal apraxia, the child may come out with a new word once and never say it again. Basically, Millie might say a word once in a blue moon, but she is unable to repeat it.  She is unable to get her tongue, lips, jaws, etc. to make the necessary movements to form sounds and words. She is simply unable to at this point. From what I've read, significant progress can be made once the child receives pretty intensive therapy, so we're expecting that Millie will one day be able to communicate like anyone else, but for now, she's making do with her limited repertoire of signs.


Millie is also scheduled to undergo surgery on her right eye, which is what's commonly known as a "lazy eye."  She has recently decided that she's about had it with the patch thing and simply refuses to wear it. It gets pretty tiring for Mom, too. Without consistent patching or surgery, her vision will start to deteriorate. So, she'll have surgery in Sept. to correct the muscles in this eye to make them stronger.  So this little lady has a few problems to overcome, but she definitely makes up for them with a very strong spirit. Oh my, does she have a strong spirit! This makes it difficult for Mom most days, but I trust this will serve her well when she's older.

We're so thankful for the professionals who are helping us with these needs and especially for those who lift up our family in prayer and support us in other ways. We can't wait to introduce Vika to everyone of you. And we praise God for His faithfulness and grace throughout our adoption process and beyond.



1 comment:

amyl4 said...

Hi Melanie,
Goodness I'm praying for a court date. This has just been too long of a wait for you! I ahve been patching Elijah's eye too for the last couple of years and every time I take him back to Kelloggs Eye Center, they tell me, to keep patching it.:(
You're in my prayers Melanie......