Our Week

The past week has been wonderful . Not too many Doctor's appointments and everyone has been feeling well. ( Well everyone except Gemma ). Her hemoglobin has dropped pretty low and she is feeling tired and very moody . The past few months she was able to go 4 weeks in between her transfusions but this past month she had a cold and it really wiped her out . She is having her transfusion on Monday and then the Ferriscan on Tuesday. We are praying her Iron levels have come down. With so many transfusions the side effect is excess iron build up in the body . It accumulates in the heart and liver causing damage .
Teresa had a good week and with all of the warm weather we were able to enjoy the beautiful sunny days playing outside .

Mayzie came to visit again with David her trainer. Next week we are venturing out to the mall for more training . Emilia and Mayzie are really starting to form a very close bond . It is wonderful to see her personality blossoming . She LOVES Mayzie !

Lucy is doing great and hasn't had any more stomach issues . Her test results showed she has a hiatal hernia and 2 ulcers. We are so happy it wasn't anything more severe.

Mary's fourth grade class has started practicing for their performance of The Living Stations of The Cross. This will be our fifth performance . I think we have just about covered all of the parts over the years . Eddy was Judas. Paul was Jesus. Alex was a Roman soldier. Grace was a weeping woman and Mary ... she is a cot person . What is a cot person you might wonder? With this being our fifth time , I should know what this part is but I couldn't remember. Mary had wanted to be Mary (Jesus's Mother) and was disappointed that she did not get that part but when I asked her how she felt about being a cot Person ( she brings in the cot for Jesus 's body to be carried out on ), she said she was very happy with this part because this is the part Jesus wanted her to play . She is such a kind sweet soul.

Three more weeks until we meet with the transplant team !!!!

(Just a fun fact...the girls LOVE seeing all the different country's where people are praying for Teresa. The 200,000 person to pray for Teresa was from Krakow Poland )

Climbing for 19 months...

For the past 19 months we have been climbing a mountain that we were told would NEVER move. Seven of the BEST Pediatric Cardiology Hospitals, ALL told us the same thing... Teresa was inoperable, terminal,very little hope for a long future , just keep her happy and comfortable . For us this was NEVER an option . We had complete Faith that God, could and would, in HIS time move this mountain .

NEXT MONTH WE ARE MEETING WITH THE TRANSPLANT TEAM !!!!!!

19 months ago we were told Teresa's lungs would NEVER be able to accept a heart transplant because they were irreversibly damaged and her pulmonary pressure was EXTREMELY high . She is now almost to the point of being able to survive just a heart transplant.

Dr. H was very adamant that she is still walking a very fine tight rope . An infection of any type could change the plan quite drastically .

If you could please join us in praying for Gods Will to be glorified through Teresa. That she will stay free from ALL viruses and infections .That her lungs will continue to improve and her heart will stay strong .
Her will to live and experience everything with such enormous determination has given us much needed strength on this climb .

Thank you EVERYONE for Praying continuously for Teresa.!!!!

Gifts

Today we received two wonderful gifts.

A friend who lives in California made two beautiful quilts for Gemma and Teresa. Teresa's quilt has many hearts since she is in many peoples hearts. It is also filled with symbolism such as bamboo for long life and her fortune cookie. She also has religious fabric and lots of LOVES.

Miss Gemma "Loves" quilt has a lot of LOVES in it and many different animals.

The girls are snuggled up one the couch with their new quilts having fun looking at all the different fabrics.
Thank you Pattie ! This was such a heart felt gift that was made with love!

The second gift we received today was from The China Care/Half The Sky Home . It is a CD of all the photos of Teresa from May 2007- July 2010, and all the News letters that Teresa was in . These gifts are priceless to us . The photos show Teresa from 5 months old until the day we came to China to adopt her. My favorite photo is of her sitting by the door in her pink dress waiting for us to arrive. She was so excited. Some of the photos show how sick she was when she first arrived in Beijing. In almost all of the photos she is smiling . Her magical personality was always shining .
Teresa looked at all 200 photos with me. Her memory amazes me. She could remember everyone and everything that was happening . Her favorite ones are of her and Min Min ( they are outside playing and put flowers behind their ears). She also loves the ones with her Care giver in the China Care Home .

These two "Gifts" brought us so much happiness today .

Gung Hay Fat Choy !

Happy Chinese New Year !

Our local FCC really knows how to throw a fantastic Chinese New Year Party !

( This song was one of Teresa's favorites. When she first came home from China she would sing it all the time .)

Waiting

It seems like waiting is something we do a lot of these day . Waiting for surgeries, Doctors appointments , physical healing ... This past week has us waiting for biopsy results.

A few weeks ago , Lucy started with severe abdominal pain and vomiting again . It was exactly the same as in November that ended her up in the hospital . This time she was seen by a GI Doctor . Last week she had a colonoscopy and Endoscopy . She had 2 areas of "Concern". The Doctor unfortunately would not reveal any further information and was adamant on waiting for the biopsy results to come back before he would discuss it further. So we are waiting and praying . Patience is definitely not one of my attributes . The results should be back in 7- 10 days.

Today Emilia had another visit from Mayzie. Annabelle(AKA "Puppy Lovins") has made great progress. She no longer tries to kill Mayzie. We have been implementing Cesar Milans (AKA The Dog Whisper)techniques. Annabelle no longer is the "Pack Leader", I am . She is a completely different dog . She accepted Mayzie without any incident and quickly became best friends. So happy for this !
Mayzie has been such a blessing for Emilia. She is a much more self confident child. She has learned all the commands and is so proud of "Her Dog".

Teresa, she is still using her oxygen during the day . She seems to be very blue and winded a lot . We return to CHOP on Feb. 17 . I know the Doctors say her lungs are slowly healing but it is very difficult to believe this when she seems so tired , out of breath and blue all the time . One thing is for sure , it has definitely not affected her personality . She is still the "Boss" as she likes to be called . One of our favorite sayings each day ( well about 50 times a day ) is "Who is the Boss Teresa?" Slowly , very quietly she answers, "You are Mommy, but can I be the boss when I am a Mommy ?"

Miss Gemma "Love" is doing great. She was able to hold on to her blood for 4 weeks this time. We hope she is trending in the right direction . Her Ferritin levels are still extremely high . We have been trying for 2 years to lower her levels with no avail. She will have another Ferriscan this month to see if her heart and liver have any further damage.( she has this test done once a year along with a liver biopsy).

Thank you for all the prayers for "Our Girls", they definitely are a huge "Blessing " in our lives.

If you could also keep in your prayers Min Min . ( Teresa's friend from The China Care/Half the Sky Home ). She is having surgery on her Heart this week .

P.S. The song is for Teresa. She LOVED the half time show of Madonna . She loves anything that sparkles and she loves to dance. She was quick to point out to me that Madonna was not wearing a skirt but a dress . We watched it 9 times .