Cleft Clinic Visit

Yesterday we spent the morning at the cleft clinic. During our four hour appointment we saw many specialists and then had the opportunity to sit down with all off the doctors together in order to coordinate a plan for Miah's upcoming surgeries.  I love the fact that they all get together in one room to talk about the best plan for her.  She had a hearing test while we were there and it appears that she does have some hearing loss in her left ear (the same side as her cleft.)  While not alarming, we were told that she may have difficulty hearing us if there is a lot of background noise.  I guess she wasn't just ignoring us in Disneyland :)

As for the next steps in her cleft repair, they are planing to remove an adult tooth that has decided to erupt into her cleft line.  This will be taken out sometime this fall and then they will proceed with her bone grafting/cleft repair in the Spring of 2013 at the age of five and a half.  This is much earlier than we thought, but they all agree that it is in her best interest.  Then, about 6 months after the bone graft (Fall 2013) the plastic surgeon will touch up her lip and nose again and anything on her palate that needs to be touched up.  Also during this time she will start her orthodontic journey by getting molds made of her teeth and inserting a palate expander.  This includes the use of headgear during the night to pull her upper jaw forward.  He says it will all move pretty quickly into the proper position because she is young, but warned that kids with clefts often have to repeat this as their palates tend to migrate back to where they were.  He also warned that the palate expansion could stretch the bone grafting and cause some problems in that area.  With all the possible complications, they still think it is best to start this earlier than later.  He explained that even up to five years ago, they used to perform the palate expansion first before the bone graft, but the problem was that the cleft becomes to wide and that the bone grafts don't take as easily.  I would love to hear from others that have had their bone grafts done around age five and how they have worked out.

Easter 2012

Day One Resurrection Day Series

Today we started Day One of the Sense of the Resurrection series.  In this series we will be making or doing things that will help us to remember an aspect of the Easter story. Over the next ten days the girls will explore the story of Easter through smell, touch, taste, sight and feel.

Today we focused on the beginning of the story, when Mary anoints Jesus for burial. Mack and Madi each read from both John 12 and Matthew 26.  Jesus is at Simon's house when Mary enters with an alabaster jar full of expensive perfume.  She breaks the bottle and pours it on Jesus's feet.  Judas and the other were angry that she would waste such expensive perfume when there were poor to be fed.  Jesus told them not to bother her and that she did this to prepare him for burial.

The girls made their own perfume jars.  They decorated the jars, poured some perfume into them and added reeds to diffuse the perfume.  John 12:3 says "And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." We talked about remembering Jesus' burial when we smell the frangrance of the perfume in our home....and might I just add....you might not want to come over if you have a perfume allergy...

Visiting A Friend

While we were in California we met up with Miah's friend Tian from China and spent the day at the Santa Monica Pier. The girls has fun playing in the sand, splashing in the waves and exploring the pier.  These two girls are just so cute together.  They pick up as if no time has passed, playing and laughing together.  I love how they hold hands as we walk along.

Miah's First Dance Recital & Unexpected Emotions

On Saturday Miah had her first dance recital. She was so looking forward to this day...but got a little first time jitters just before the show...her friends Mary and Sylvie were not able to make it and she was lacking that special friend to hang with. With a little pep talk and assigning her to one of the Jr helpers (Thanks Neve!) she regained some of that confidence and she did great! She was so proud of herself!

Mommy was so proud of her sweet Chinese ballerina.  I remember years ago while we were waiting for Miah's referral we were at a dance recital for our older girls.  There was one Chinese girl performing that day. I couldn't help dream of the day when I would be watching my our Chinese daughter dance on stage.  As I was watching Miah I was overwhelmed with emotion, trying so hard to not start crying right there amongst the crowd.  All I kept thinking about is the mother in China who will never see her sweet child dance and experience the beauty and love she has to offer.  Again I thank God for the blessing of Miah and the gift I have been given to be called her mother.

Disneyland 2012

This week we returned from the happiest place on earth!  We had fun playing as a family and just focusing on one another during our 8 nights away. This is the sixth time we have gone to Disneyland with our girls (third time with Miah) and we never tire of the experience...well at least not yet ;)

Our first day on the park fell on leap year. For the first time ever both Disneyland and Disney World stayed open for 24 hours with "One More Day" being the slogan.  On our plane to Anaheim there were people flying down for this one day only.  Noting that is was probably going to be very busy, we opted not to enter the parks at 6:00 am. We heard that the lines were huge that morning.  We arrived a bit later, maybe around 9:00 and the crowds had spread throughout the park.  It didn't feel overly busy during the day (maybe just compare it to a Friday or Saturday) but closer to 8:00pm the lines again started forming at the ticket office.  That was our cue to head back to the hotel and call it a day. It sounded like it went well despite the teens trying to start a mosh pit in Fantasyland.

Miah's only request this trip was to have a turn being transformed into a princess at the Bibbidy Bobiddi Boutique.  Madison had it done in October for her birthday and Miah made sure to remind us of that a few times before we left. it was so fun to see her soak up the experience and enjoy being pampered as every little girl should.

Getting her nails polished....

Choosing just the right color of eye shadow...

A sprinkle of Pixie dust...

And voila...Introducing Princess Miah (she kept saying she looked like Mulan)

California Bound!

Tomorrow are leaving this cold weather and heading south!  We'll play for a few days in Disneyland, watch a Flames/Ducks NHL game and visit again with Miah's friend Tian from China.  Fun photos to come in a few days....