Bree Mei age 4yr

Bree Mei    age 4yr

OUR HEARTS ARE FILLED WITH JOY

OUR FIRST DAY WITH BREE

QIU QI - AGE 1

QIU QI - AGE 1

BREE MEI - AGE 3.5

BREE MEI - AGE 3.5

Monday, March 30, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA


Two days after we celebrate Brooke's birthday, we get to celebrate my moms birthday. We'll leave her age out of this post (but if you look at the candles closely, they may reveal it). Bree has a bond with my mom even though she only gets to see her once a month. Those first two weeks in China, my mom was there every day with us, providing stability, peace and a much needed third pair of hands. We love you Mom

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE!

This journey to Bree walking has involved many people. I cannot sing enough the praises of our orthopedic surgeons Dr. Aaron Buerk and Dr. Richard Munk and nurse Kitty (who spoils Bree with Polly Pockets at every visit!)
Now we add to our praises her physical therapist Jen, her occupational therapist Sherry and her speech therapist Jen. Bree loves to see each one of them and is such a good girl for them.

THE "MIDDLEST" TURNS 7!


Our beautiful Brooke went from being the youngest to the middle in the past six months, something she has taken in stride. She has always referred to herself as the "littlest" in the family. Recently, one morning, she came bounding into our bedroom throwing her blanket onto our bed and in the process of jumping in herself exclaimed "make room for the middlest". Doug and I erupted into laughter. Brooke has always been our comic. Thursday the 26th, our "middlest" turned seven.

We Love you Brooke!!!!

CATCHING UP.........

Alot has happened since my last post. Almost two weeks ago, Bree got her AFO's. Her excitement was barely containable. She was so excited that they were all hers. She kept telling the orthotist "thank you, thank you".



Fortunately she loves to wear them as she isn't allowed to stand without them on. We also recieved that day her knee brace that is supposed to facilitate flexion of her right knee. She has made so much progress with this on her own, but it still isn't first nature to bend that knee. The thought was if she is made to flex while she slept the knee would flex even more. When they produced this contraption (pictured below) I thought I was going to cry. I was literally nauseous. How in the world did they expect her to sleep in this thing! I must admit, my attitude was poor! So we left the orthotist and went to buy Bree her first pair of shoes-somewhat stressful experience. AFO's just don't fit into any shoe. Both our PT and the orthotist told us to go to Payless as they carried the most wide shoe selection. Now for those of you who know Doug can imagine that the mention of Payless just about stroked him out! But he went with the flow and Payless it was....until the next day when he took her to Stride Rite! Ultimately a good decision on his part as they work with AFO's all the time. So now we have a pair of Payless shoes collecting dust! Fast forward 10 days and Bree is making huge strides with her walking. Her PT thinks she is so close that she has upped her visits to twice weekly and said she won't even need a K-walker! Oh-and about that knee brace and sleeping. The first night Doug and I prayed over Bree with the brace on and she slept the entire night through and has continued to do so ever since. If she does wake up it's just to make sure we are still there. We are so filled with love for our Lord for answering all our prayers with Bree and remain faithful to serving Him!
Dear Family and Friends
We are so happy to share with you this wonderful journey we are taking to bring home our daughter
.

Those beautiful rosebud lips!