THIS IS WHAT IT HAS COME TO

I am a 40 year old man and have been reduced to comparison shopping for either the Royal Stepstool Potty or the Cushie-Tushie. We ended up with the Cushie-Tushie and are quite pleased, as is Sean.

HEART UPDATE

Just a quick note to say we saw Sean's heart doctor today and he is recommending we proceed with the more optimal surgery for Sean; this will most likely happen in August. We meet with the surgeons next week. More on this later....

GOTCHA DAY

In adoption circles, "gotcha day" is the day you got your child. Not a very creative term, but it gets to the point. Well, it was one year ago today that Dawn, Liz, Will and I stepped into a non descript building and went to the 9th or 10th floor and saw two ladies walk on the other side of the room and into a private room with a kid whose head was shaved but had a pony tail. I'm thinking, must be some other families child because the picture we had of Shan An En looked nothing like that. I was wrong. He was our child and that was the first of many new things we were going to learn about "En En", or Sean.

It's certainly been a good year and we see God's hand in bringing Sean to our family. It's been a hard year too. For Dawn it's been about adjusting to having a 2-3 year old in the house again, dealing with his every want. Out of a sense of insecurity, Sean likes ritual and routine, so it is Dawn who has to lay down with him every night. He won't let me. For me, it's about overcoming selfishness...an on-going task. We were on track to get the first two kids old enough to be independent so Dawn and I could have our own time together. We did a lot of things together as a family, like go to movies and sporting events, or staying up late as a family watching TV. That's all changed. Now, it may be Will and I do something, or Liz and Dawn, sometimesSean, Will and me, but no girls, or Liz, Will and I. It's changed, but that's OK. We still do vacations together, but were back to having to pack a stroller, or ask for a child's seat at the restaurant. And we have to watch our time around 12:00 noon since that's nap time, and 10:00 pm seems late again.

Still, none of us would trade not having Sean. We are reminded often what life may have been like for Sean had no one adopted him, and it makes me sad. We count it a privilege to raise, nurture and shape Sean, hoping he someday becomes a Godly person with a future. We find new life in verses like Psalm 68:5 that say God places the lonely in families...yet wish more people would take up the offer and challenge of James 1:27...and engage themselves with alleviating the suffering of others, chief among them widows and orphans, knowing this truly pleases God.
Today is just another normal day for Sean...just as it should be.

HEART CATH

I just got back from Akron Childrens Hospital. Sean is doing well after having a heart cath, and is coming out of the "sleepy gas" ( I can't spell anesthesia), better than when he had his teeth done.

While Dawn and I waited, the staff at the heart center gave us a bag of goodies which included a nice book on how the heart works, diagrams, problems, symptoms, and surgeries performed to fix the various defects that happen. It's been a long time since I was in biology, so it was good to use the two hour wait we had to freshen up on what goes on with the heart. Glad I did. When the procedure was over, Dawn and I went back to a room where the doctor explained what he saw and what his early prognosis is. He also showed us video of the procedure, which was fascinating.

The doctor must still meet with a panel of heart doctors and surgeons, but if what Dr. Lane saw today holds, Sean may have a procedure called a 'Fontan', to repair his heart. To hard to explain here how that works, other than to say, it's a re-tubing of his heart valves/arteries. As far as the time frame goes, still not sure, but it sounds like sooner rather than later.

I had to come home early today because the construction company came to make a few adjustments to the house, and our appliances are being delivered today. I am waiting to hear from Dawn whether she and Sean can come home today or not. While Dr. Lane had his instruments in Sean's heart, he clipped a 'coil' that was sending blood, via a vein, into his lungs, and that is not supposed to be happening. (Got to see the before and after video of that). After clipping this vein, it coils up does nothing, along with keeping blood out.

One last thing, while waiting in the recovery room, other kids are being brought in from their various surgeries and being hooked up to monitors. The other kids' monitors read blood oxygen levels of 100. Sean is still hovering in the 71-78 level. I'm repeatedly told as an adult with that reading , we'd have real problems on our hands.

INDULGE ME

If there wasn't enough emotional stress having to put my dog down, we also moved this past Thursday and Friday. Since we don't get TV hook up until this Thursday, we've had a lot of time to actually unpack, get organized and build a giant trash heap in the garage (imagine that, no TV, you get a lot accomplished). Dawn was putting the picture albums back on the bookcase when she pulled out one in particular which had photos that were black and white (harkening back to a day when I still had to put film in the camera, and I must have been in the B/W mood). There were some good ones in there, of Will and Liz when they were still really little. I'll have to post those some day.

Anyhow, the ones below take me back to when I first got Truman. I remember my dad was concerned Truman's ears would never stand up. It did take awhile...I guess he was a late bloomer.

GOODBYE TRUMAN (1997-2009)

TRADE

Well, I shall watch one of my favorite teams get worse while another favorite gets better. I'm just glad I have both hats I can wear.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-shaq062409&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

TWO TACOS FOR THE LADIES

A co-worker sent this to me. After seeing it, you'll understand, but one, I wish I could sing, and two, do something like this without laughing.

I go away for a few days and come back to see Will has taught Sean some action moves....

THE ASSOCIATE

I just finished John Grisham's newest book, The Associate. I enjoyed his earliest books, especially The Painted House. But this last one had a good story up until the end. It just fell flat. So save yourself $24.99 and wait until the mass paperback, or better yet, just check it out at the library.

I also just finished a peanut butter and banana sandwich that was worth the price I paid.

THE FACES OF A BIRTHDAY BOY

Today our little guy turned 3. In just one more month we will have had Sean one year. Our social worker came for the last time yesterday, and she asked me how I was adjusting. Part of my answer was, I cannot imagine not having Sean in our lives. Though it's been an adjustment, an on-going one at that, we are certainly blessed to have him. Today is filled with balloons, presents, extended family, cake and ice cream. There are still times I wonder what life would be like today for Sean if no one had chosen to adopt him. Would the workers even celebrate his life with a special party? Maybe. Maybe not.

Today in Shantou China, it is 79 degrees with 100% humidity and fog, and the orphanage Sean is from is a non-descript building in the middle of a city with a population of 1,333,973, and a country of 1.3 billion people-7,000 miles from America. Yet, these are numbers that did not prevent God from bringing us Sean, and for that we will always be grateful.

(click on picture for full-size)

FORGOTTEN

I saw this in Morehead, Kentucky, on my way to my hotel. It's as if someone pulled over to the side of the road and left this caboose for someone else to take.

LITTLE BUDDY

Sean made it through the surgery fine, and spent most of the time sleeping. A day later the "sleepy gas/liquid" is still making its way out of his system.

TEETH

On Thursday, Dawn and I head to the hospital for Sean to have his teeth worked on. They need to put him "under", and because of his heart problem, it has to be done with specialists. I'll stay until dinner time, then Dawn will stay the night with Sean. If all goes well, I'll pick them up in the morning to come home. More updates soon.

A MOM AND SON

WHAT A SHOT...

...and I got to share it with Will.

MY LADIES

UPDATE

Not much going on, but here are a few tidbits:

1. Sean has a heart cath. at the end of June to see what his heart looks like from the inside. That will determine when and what type of surgery he will have.
2. Sean has a dental appointment in the next several weeks in which he will be admitted to the hospital and put under to do the dental work.
3. Waiting to see if the house we want to buy will work. The builder agreed to finish off the basement at no charge, but the bank sees this as an unfinished house, so the loan won't go through unless the builder agrees to finish the basement off before we have official approval from the bank to get our loan. Since we alreay sold our house, if this doesn't go through, we will need to start looking at other homes and options, which we haven't done up to this point.
4. Had sales conference this last week. Always good to be with my fellow sales reps, as we can laugh at a bad situation regarding the economy and it's affects on our retail partners. (Laughing only helps us not cry-we're not actually laughing at our partners).
5. My plane was delayed 4 hours when I wanted to leave Chicago, so I got home at 2:30 am.
6. Will got braces, or the first half of them anyway.
7. Liz likes boys now, actually one in particular.
8. I'm having a great time routing for the Cavs. Since the Suns weren't any good this year, and may not be now for awhile, it's time to route for the home team, especially since we have the new "Michael Jordon."

THIS SAYS IT ALL

This really captures these two guys, who go at one day, but love each other the next. I want this picture taken again in 10-15 years. I hope they have the same look.

INDIANAPOLIS CHILDRENS MUSEUM

Before we landed at Rocky Fork, there was the excursion to the childrens museum in Indianapolis. They had both a traveling Star Wars exhibit based on the cartoon series, and a Lego traveling exhibit that actually was quite cool. Oh, and the comic book exhibit was pretty nice.

"Those sabers really do hurt!"