*~*~* Jwaye Nowèl *~*~*

It might be just a bit early to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, but I was online looking for the translation so we could use it for Christmas cards and/or decorations.

I really need to study Creole (Kreyòl) more because I'd love to be able to communicate with the aunties at the orphanage. It was pretty funny in October... there were a lot of hand gestures and overly animated facial expressions while trying to ask or convey certain things. Now I can say:

mwen - me, I
anpil - a lot
bonjou - good day/morning
bonswa - good evening
mèsi - thank you
manje - eat, food
and Jwaye Nowèl - Merry Christmas

It's good that I'm going two weeks before Chistmas so I can use my newest phrase! And in between homeschooling, decorating & wrapping gifts and all the other craziness that will be occurring in the next two weeks, I'm going to commit to studying more Creole than I did last time!

So Much Better...

I received these last week but have been too busy to post them. He's looking great and it just hit me that I'll be headed down to see him two weeks from Monday.

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving!!

Wonderful News and Some Pictures...

We received a fantastic e-mail last night saying that Asa is back to his happy self. There have been two groups that traveled to the orphanage in the past two weeks and he has continued to improve. We're so happy and just thanking God for healing his little body. The reality is that Asa has had a pretty rough start in life and there may be continued challenges.

One thing we hadn't really mentioned yet is that we were told a few months ago he may have a deformity in one of his knees. I wanted to get some video and pictures when I went down so we could consult with our wonderful pediatrician about what treatment options there would be upon his arrival. When I was at the orphanage, I asked the doctor who was visiting his children if he could take a look at his knee. His knee does hyper extend, but it is probably to compensate for the fact that one leg is longer than the other; a fact easily missed by a third world doctor - - they just noticed that he held his knee funny. He will probably need to have surgery to correct this. We don't want any of our children to endure physical pain or even discomfort, so this is obviously hard for us. But we feel so blessed to know that, once in the US, there will certainly be safe and effective treatments that will enable him to be more comfortable in the long term.

Now, we just pray that the adoption will continue to progress smoothly. We are currently in IBESR. Maybe, if the current trend continues, we'll be out of that portion by early next year. We then have a few more steps in the Haitian process - so when people ask what the timeframe looks like, we say that we'd be thrilled if he's home by next summer. There are a lot of families bringing children home from our orphanage before the end of this year and the final stages seem to have recently picked up speed. We're hoping for a miracle for us and all the other families in process. This got a lot longer than I had planned... here's the best part: PICTURES!!

Improvement...

Just got an e-mail from someone visiting the orphanage. She said that Asa is doing better. He was feeding himself at lunch and even smiled when she gave him a toy (he didn't smile once when I was there). She said he still is somewhat lethargic, but we're happy to hear that he's moving in the right direction.

Something else - kind of Haiti related... two nights ago I started getting this crazy, itchy rash on my legs. By morning, it was on my stomach, too. I took some liquid Benadryl (which knocked me out - thank goodness Jim & Allyson were here to help with the little kids). It helped the rash temporarily but by yesterday evening, it was back and TERRIBLE. We were at Target and I told Jim I needed to get to a doctor. He dropped the kids off at home (Ally babysat) and took me to a walk in clinic near our house. The doctor suspected that it was an allergic reaction to the anti-malaria pills I had been taking over the past two weeks. Oh, and I LOVE this doctor; he has taken eight medical mission trips to Cite Soliel. Anyway, they gave me a steroid shot in the tush. And before the nurse put the bandaid on me she asked if I was allergic to latex or adhesives. The priceless quote of the night from Jim, "Yeah, we wouldn't you want to get a rash..." It would have been more entertaining if I wasn't writhing in pain.... the needle was really long!!!

So this morning it was still pretty bad and had spread to my face (and itched sooooo bad) but after about 3 doses of the antihistimine/steroid combo he prescribed, it had cleared up. Hopefully it stays away. And I'm not going to take any more of the weekly anti-malaria stuff I was supposed to be on for four more weeks. I only got two or three mosquito bites in Haiti so I'm sure I'll be fine. And when I go back next month (YES - in December!!) I'll just make sure I coat myself with bug spray.