Home, home, home 9/28/11

Dear Friends and Family,

No pictures tonight - too tired to get all the stuff together to download and upload :-(.
Well, we slept the day away. Little Lily did not go back to sleep until 4am this morning, and that is when everyone else woke up. We all went back to bed at 10 am and slept until 4 pm. Lily slept straight from 4am until 4pm. Jet lag is the pits. But we are home! Home, what a beautiful word indeed.

We are so blessed to have food in our fridge, thanks to a dear family from church. We also had the joy today of visiting a few friends and introducing Lily to them. She is doing well. The only thing that has been hard for her is the carseat. Really her first experience with the carseat because in China - she was in my arms or playing on the floor when we were in the cars and buses.

Also, since we got home, we have been trying to read to her before bedtimes. We realize she has no idea what a book is. Another first for her!

This afternoon we went to Serra park and let the kids play on the playground. I think it was Lily's first experience walking barefoot on the sand in the play area. She kept lifting up her feet and looking at the bottoms as if asking, "What is this stuff?"

Ok - finally everyone is sleeping (it is 1:36 am). I am amazed that we went away as a family of 5, and came home as a family of 6. The Lord is good.

Lily has her first appointment at Stanford with the cranio facial plastic surgeon on Friday at 2:15pm. It is just an initial assessment and to get the ball rolling. She will be evaluated later by a cranio facial team. For cleft babies, a team works together to make a treatment plan. The team is usually comprised of 1)a cranio facial surgeon, 2) an audiologist, 3) a speech pathologist, 4) a dentist, and 5) an orthodontist. They work together to help children with cleft lip/palate in all of these areas.

Please pray for Lily as we begin her medical appointments. And for us, for wisdom and discernment to know what steps to take towards correcting her palate and helping her along with her speech.

Ok - I gotta go as I fear that someone will wake up soon and need my attention.

Love,
Chenning