Our Chinese New Year Feast!

My oldest daughter Kylee and her boyfriend Sergei
Everyone got a gift! A red envelope with money in it!
Everyone learning how to use the "Sticks" Except Faith, she knows how it's done!
(Notice her head nearly in her plate of food)

Everyone gets an orange for good fortune and we open a cookie!

Pot stickers, orange chicken, fried rice, and egg rolls.

We had to wake Faith up from her nap to eat...she was not that happy until she sat down to eat and saw all the yummy chinese food.. her mood changed quickly :)

5 little MonKeYs!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Yes...it's a Japanese Kimono...we went to a cultural fair and the Japanese women just wanted to dress her up...how could I say no?

Time to fess up...Faith is sick again :(

*****Update...no MRI for Faith this Friday, we will try again Friday February 26th... thanks for the thoughtful words of encouragement :)

Well the last post was so great, I didn't want to update...Faith's chest infection is back and it's nasty. We realized quite quickly after the antibiotics ran their course this infection might not be that easy to deal with because within a few days her cough was back. I called the nurse and she advised me to wait another week, but my mommy instincts kicked in and the next day I made another appointment. We have been to see the doctor now 5 times in two weeks. The doctor confirmed that her chest infection was back , and said they would have to cancel her MRI if we couldn't get it cleared up. So she is now on day 5 of Augmentin, and it's a 20 day treatment. Also, we have the nebulizer again and are doing three treatments a day for two weeks. Insomnia is a side effect, and we are just loving it here at the Brown house. Faith could be the star of our circus right now because of how hyped up she is on meds.

Another medical concern came up at our last appointment, and that is her history combined with how sick she has been here at home. Since we have had her she has been on antibiotics 15 out of 30 days. Which means when she is done with this round it will be 30 out of 45 days. That is not a good sign. We are really hoping she responds to this round of meds, it really is about as aggressive as you can get with treatment, before they start testing for other diagnosis's. Our main concern is Cystic Fibrosis. We have read up a little on the disease, and feel so sad for people who suffer with it. It is completely hereditary, and very unlikely because it is rare in Asians, but our doctor said we will have to do the test, which is done with sweat, if after this round she begins to decline again.

So, that is where we are at. The MRI is the last thing on our mind right now, and the chest infection has nothing to do with her original diagnosis. I will know tomorrow if she is well enough to have the MRI on Friday.

She is still very good natured despite her infection and I have a few new pictures of her, because I just can't stop taking them! I think she is the most beautiful child on the planet!

Here she is in an original outfit I am sure no one else owns. We ruined one of her new outfits while on the trampoline. My husband was spray painting our fence, ( because it got tagged grrrr) and the overspray landed on the trampoline without me noticing. So after we came inside, I took off the ruined outfit and sat her down to eat with a placemat, the next thing you know, she wants the placemat around her and tied on with a tape measure. It looks like we won't even need to worry about her running out of new outfits, we can start using the curtains next :)

Here she is with a new shirt she picked out...

We met a month ago!

It has already been one month since our Gotcha day. My how time flies...the day before we were to meet Faith we were stranded in the Beijing Airport, standing room only with about 500 other people for over 12 hours; wondering where we would be sleeping that night.

We paced, tried to use the phones with no luck, and were isolated because of the language barrier. I don't think we have ever felt so alone and desperate. The desperation came from the knowledge that our daughter was going to be waiting to meet us and us not show up? That thought was too much for me to process at the time, and I kept saying silent prayers, holding out faith.

Faith has carried us through so many hurdles in life, and this day and night were no different. Again a miracle for us when out of 590 flights that were grounded that day, 7 flights made it out of Beijing. WE made it to her province...it was 2 am...but we made it! Relief and gratitude were all we felt when our plane touched the ground.

There always seem to be great trials before the blessings. Faith is such a blessing. Both our daughter and the act of believing. For over a year we have dealt with unknowns, and concerns about her health, personality, disability. Faith is what kept us going, and hoping. I don't know how others get through life without it.

With little sleep, and a small backpack full of toys we walked into that room and met our daughter. All those unknowns were gone the moment we laid eyes on her. I wanted to be strong and not cry because I thought that might confuse the moment for her, and I wanted her to know the pure joy I felt that moment.

Since that day, she is constantly amazing us. I look back at the fears and insecurities I had about her diagnosis and feel such relief now. Not that she is perfect, or that the road won't have it's bumps, it's just that those fears and insecurities are not there anymore. They are just the details, she is OUR daughter.

Those first few days are a beautiful memory, we would just sit and stare at her. Examine her little toes, her ears...we found every scar. She has three. One on her leg that looks like a bug bite, one on the back of her ear that looks like a small cut, and one on her arm that looks like a shot. I played with her hair, and just cuddled, she let me... Jeff and I just couldn't believe she was OURS, what a miracle adoption is and how privileged we are be a part of it.

We love you darling Faith, more than words! Happy One Month Anniversary!