Thank you all for the continued prayer! Jack is doing great... Very easy going and happy boy! Especially when Cheerios are in hand.
Love you all,
P&P
Friday, November 2, 2012
Guangzhou
Thank you all for the continued prayer! Jack is doing great... Very easy going and happy boy! Especially when Cheerios are in hand.
Love you all,
P&P
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Josiah update
Dear friends and family,
It's Thursday evening in China and we are settling down for another night. This past week has blurred into one very long day. Thank you for all of your prayers, emails, texts etc! Although we haven't been able to be "on-line" very often, your messages have been like a balm for us.
Our brave little boy is finally doing well! Miracle upon miracle have brought us through a terrifying experience. Josiah started getting sick Sunday night (Gotcha Day), continued to deteriorate over the next 2 days with high fever, vomiting and diarrhea. By Wednesday afternoon he was hallucinating and started having seizures. He was transferred to the ICU where we were separated from him. He had a CT scan that revealed swelling on his brain and the docs were concerned about meningitis. The spinal tap came back clear and the labs showed he tested positive for rotavirus. They told us this is epidemic in China during the fall season, but Josiah's case was the most severe they had seen. They were calling it "toxic encephalopathy." They also felt like he had some bacterial involvement so they started him on strong antibiotics along with antivirals, and some other meds we weren't totally sure what they were; the ever present language barrier.
I'm leaving out a lot of detail so you can have the facts. So much of these past few days we have been on our faces before the Lord, broken and waiting for a miracle.
The Lord delivered our precious boy out of harm and he is now in a regular room with Daddy tonight! No more fever, no more diarrhea! He's drinking and eating a little. He stood up today and even tried to jump on the beds! They did an MRI yesterday that showed improvement in the brain swelling, and we are seeing behavioral changes consistent with this. Although he is much better today, his personality isn't totally back to baseline.
The doctors are concerned about his heart and are continuing to monitor him tonight. They see cardiac involvement with this virus in many cases. Tomorrow he will have another ECG and blood work. The doctors have said they think he will be released in time to make our flight to Guangzhou tomorrow evening.
Jack Nathan is doing fabulous and is happy despite the crazy changes in care that he is enduring right now! He is a precious little guy and we enjoy every moment we get to snuggle with him, feed him and get to know his cute little expressions.
The Lord knew we would need a special angel to help carry us through this journey, and my sister Christy has done just that! A servant of servants, she has lovingly cared for our children, washed out nasty clothes in the tub, navigated the streets of Fuzhou alone with two little boys and provided constant encouragement. We would be sunk without her!
Dad has been another huge part of this story! Babysitting, driving us back and forth, praying and helping with more things than I can mention in this note. Many others have been messengers of encouragement and support, thank you Jennifer Parette!
The Lord is so good and mighty to save! He is our Strong Tower, a shelter over us.
We are exhausted and feel pretty beaten up, but we are not crushed. The enemy has dealt his hand, but he lost this battle!
Thank you for all of your prayers!! You are part of this story and some day we will fill in all the amazing details.
We love you all,
Patrick and Patty
It's Thursday evening in China and we are settling down for another night. This past week has blurred into one very long day. Thank you for all of your prayers, emails, texts etc! Although we haven't been able to be "on-line" very often, your messages have been like a balm for us.
Our brave little boy is finally doing well! Miracle upon miracle have brought us through a terrifying experience. Josiah started getting sick Sunday night (Gotcha Day), continued to deteriorate over the next 2 days with high fever, vomiting and diarrhea. By Wednesday afternoon he was hallucinating and started having seizures. He was transferred to the ICU where we were separated from him. He had a CT scan that revealed swelling on his brain and the docs were concerned about meningitis. The spinal tap came back clear and the labs showed he tested positive for rotavirus. They told us this is epidemic in China during the fall season, but Josiah's case was the most severe they had seen. They were calling it "toxic encephalopathy." They also felt like he had some bacterial involvement so they started him on strong antibiotics along with antivirals, and some other meds we weren't totally sure what they were; the ever present language barrier.
I'm leaving out a lot of detail so you can have the facts. So much of these past few days we have been on our faces before the Lord, broken and waiting for a miracle.
The Lord delivered our precious boy out of harm and he is now in a regular room with Daddy tonight! No more fever, no more diarrhea! He's drinking and eating a little. He stood up today and even tried to jump on the beds! They did an MRI yesterday that showed improvement in the brain swelling, and we are seeing behavioral changes consistent with this. Although he is much better today, his personality isn't totally back to baseline.
The doctors are concerned about his heart and are continuing to monitor him tonight. They see cardiac involvement with this virus in many cases. Tomorrow he will have another ECG and blood work. The doctors have said they think he will be released in time to make our flight to Guangzhou tomorrow evening.
Jack Nathan is doing fabulous and is happy despite the crazy changes in care that he is enduring right now! He is a precious little guy and we enjoy every moment we get to snuggle with him, feed him and get to know his cute little expressions.
The Lord knew we would need a special angel to help carry us through this journey, and my sister Christy has done just that! A servant of servants, she has lovingly cared for our children, washed out nasty clothes in the tub, navigated the streets of Fuzhou alone with two little boys and provided constant encouragement. We would be sunk without her!
Dad has been another huge part of this story! Babysitting, driving us back and forth, praying and helping with more things than I can mention in this note. Many others have been messengers of encouragement and support, thank you Jennifer Parette!
The Lord is so good and mighty to save! He is our Strong Tower, a shelter over us.
We are exhausted and feel pretty beaten up, but we are not crushed. The enemy has dealt his hand, but he lost this battle!
Thank you for all of your prayers!! You are part of this story and some day we will fill in all the amazing details.
We love you all,
Patrick and Patty
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Travel Approval!
We are China bound! October 3rd brought the long awaited email with our official Travel Approval... the notice telling us we can go pick up our little boy.
Before we could purchase tickets we needed an appointment at the US consulate in Guangzhou. October 10th we finally got our confirmed date... November 6th!
Yesterday was a busy day communicating with our travel agent about flights, milage plus seats available on certain flights, layovers, stopovers and Jack Nathan's ONE WAY ticket. By 5pm we had secured our spots on flights to China and home again. We leave on October 23rd early in the morning!
This adventure has had so many blessings that we didn't expect or even think about when we first sent in our adoption application. The Lord has worked out every detail to get us to this point! Family and friends have rallied around our family and provided support of all types. Prayer, financial gifts, fundraising support, baby shower and milage plus tickets!! We are overwhelmed by love.
As we pack and prepare our family for this trip, our hearts are heavy for little Jack. His world is about to be turned upside down. Leaving his first home and all the people he loves will be very, very tough. Although we don't really know what to expect, we've been busy reading and learning as much as we can about toddler adoption and attachment resources.
Ultimately we trust that our Heavenly Father has brought us together and He will make us a family. It's going to be a tough road, but we are as ready as we'll ever be! And can't wait to hold our sweet little boy!!
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
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