News!

My sweet friend Lyndi (Patrick's mom for those of you not in the Reece's Rainbow circle) is in Ukraine right now bringing home her 15 yr old son, Fedia!  They are leaving on WEDNESDAY to fly home. YAY!!  Today she did something that I dream about... she met our son!!  Lyndi's Patrick was adopted from the same location that Monroe currently lives, so Lyndi went there and visited and was able to spend some time with our little boy :).  Some of what she told me was a little unexpected (and somewhat confusing to both her and I) but most of it is things that we were either very much aware of or had suspected based on photos and other people's visits with Monroe.

Unfortunately, no photos today, but it will be no time at all before we are there holding him ourselves, so a little about his personality and his abilities was more than I could have asked for!

So, here's a bit about Monroe!  He is a good size for his age, not really small or underweight.  He seems to be a favorite in his groupa right now which is a wonderful thing because it means that the adults really care about him and likely treat him well.  He was OUTSIDE with all the other children, being pushed in a stroller, when she visited!  That is much more than we had imagined!  In addition to having CP, we are told that Monroe was diagnosed blind at a year old.  He also has an 'injury' on his spine and it appears that he is paralyzed below that.  It's uncertain whether this is something that he was born with or whether it is something that happened to him.  The word arthrogryposis was also mentioned in conjunction with this and to be honest I don't know enough about spinal cord injuries or malformations or arthrogryposis to really be able to interpret any of that.  Maybe some of the experts (MOMS) in the field can give me a little insight into that?? :)  Would greatly appreciate it!  I've begun my googling, but moms generally can guide a newbie so much better than some generic terms thrown together.

As far as the blindness goes, he certainly DOES see and has the most gorgeous smile when interacted with.  Lyndi was told that he can tell shapes and colors apart and that the doctor has no question of his ability to learn, but he is physically very limited.  We had guessed at his visual issues based on friends' accounts of him not paying much attention to others until they were right up with him and then getting friendly when approached.  He also responded to his name when called and obviously knew that worker that was speaking to him.

Having zero movement of his lower extremities is not what we had expected- we were 'expecting' limited movement, spasticity, or uncoordinated movement.  Something we'll just deal with as we learn more about it because there is no question that God has sent us for him and is preparing us to parent him.

The updates and additional information about him are SO WONDERFUL, but even more so than that, what I was very glad to hear is that when Lyndi asked about him, the doctor that she spoke with said "he needs a family."  Then... Lyndi was able to tell her that he HAS a family, and that we are coming SOON!  The doctor cried at the news and apologized for crying- she was so happy that he wouldn't be moved and face the future that she knew for him.  How wonderful for them to know that we are coming!  Hopefully we will be there in about 6-8 weeks, God willing!

Please continue to pray for the remaining pieces of our paperwork, specifically our 171H that we would receive our approval by MONDAY, the 13th of September!  We also have an out of state apostille that we need to receive back by WEDNESDAY the 15th of September in order to bring our completed dossier to Ukraine on my mission trip on the 17th.  Those dates are coming up SO quickly!  God knows the timeline, and we are standing in the knowledge that His timing is the absolute best for every step in this process.


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