Audra's first year at home

It has been one full year of having Audra at home with us!  We marked to occasion quietly at home. She had a cake with one candle on it...a tradition I hope to continue for each year at home.  The year was filled with so many firsts for Audra and it was a blessing to be able to experience everything with her...through the innocence of her eyes:

Birthdays
Holidays
Trips
School
Parties

...and even the simple things like parks, moon bounces and swimming!

It's been an amazing first year!

I am so excited for her second year at home and all of the 2nds she will experience! 

(I am putting together a video of her first year home.  I hope to have it done soon, so check back!)

We sent a package to Audra's orphanage using the same service that helped us get a care package/cake to Audra while we were waiting to travel.  We sent an album full of pictures of her first year at home and had a letter translated with updates from the past year.  Ann, the kind owner of this service, will be calling the director of the orphanage on Monday to see if they have any other medical records for Audra that were not included with her file.  This could be invaluable to her doctors who are still trying to put together all the pieces of her medical puzzle. 

Audra's last 1st holiday

Easter Blessings!

Today was the last time Audra celebrated a holiday for the first time.  Kind of bittersweet, but also amazing to know that we have created a full year of memories with her.

Tomorrow marks one year since we arrived home with our sweet Audra (more on that later).

Morning came early, with 3 kiddos very excited to see what the Easter Bunny had been up to while we slept.  And Audra, while she had no idea what to expect, knew it had to be something good since the others were so excited.  They tore threw their candy and toy filled baskets, and found all but 1 of the candy filled eggs that the "bunny" had hidden.  We still can't figure out where that last egg is!  Luckily, they each found their golden egg (filled with $$).   

After a breakfast of peeps and chocolate bunnies...we all put on our "fancy clothes" and went to Easter Mass.  Then it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's for Easter lunch and their famous grandkid egg hunt.  I even managed to get a few nice pics of the kids together.
 

 My four precious blessings...

 

 Sisters and best friends...

My two beautiful six year olds!

 

The egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house is on...

 

Audra with her cousin Tatum...

two girls celebrating their 1st Easter

 

All worn out after celebrating!

This is what I call the "candy coma"...

Easter Eve

We spent Saturday doing many, many fun things (with Charlotte, of course!) in anticipation of Easter.

First, the three girls went to an Easter Egg Hunt.  It was a special needs egg hunt held at a local school and run by volunteers (siblings were welcome too!).  This was Audra's first egg hunt, and she caught on very quickly.

It was a great event, with so much more than just egg hunting.  First, there were games with prizes for all the kids to participate in...including a sensory swing, ball pit, parachute, coloring, crafts, face painting, and so much more.  Then there were snacks, and yummiest of all...free Chick-fil-A nuggets from the Chick-fil-A cow himself!  (whom Audra was terrified of...in addition to the Easter Bunny who was there for picture taking)  After snacks there was a sing-a-long before the actual egg hunt began.  7000 candy filled eggs later, each child was given a free pillow pet/dream lite/glow pet from the 100's that were donated to the event.  What a fun day for so many special kiddos, thanks to the many donor and volunteers whose hard work put smiles on so many precious, little faces :)

And, as if all that wasn't enough...more Easter activities happened once we were home...

we dyed Easter eggs

and made Easter bracelets

and decorated Easter cookies...

 

3 month reprieve

Audra's GI doctor has been consulting with some of her colleagues...and, together, they can't come to a consensus about what to do with Audra. 

She a condondrum!

Some of the doctors think it is in her best interest to begin tube feedings....
and others doctors think it is safe to wait and watch, very closely.

Friday's verdict...we will wait and watch closely! 

Her doctor said this is a conversation we are going to continue to have each and every time we meet. 

And that's okay with me..

For now, we have 3 more months! 

ears, tummy, and more...

Last week Audra had another ENT appointment.  And we finally have a plan for the surgery to repair her ruptured ear drum (called tympanoplasty...which will hopefully improve the hearing in her "bad" ear).  It is scheduled for June 16th and she should be able to go home the same day....but we are talking about Audra, so who knows?!

On Tuesday she got her much-anticipated, very-own, pink-sparkly...hearing aids!!!
Pink glasses...pink hearing aids...she is my Pinkalicious girl :)
On Friday I will take Audra to the Audiologist to have her new hearing aids reprogrammed to "turn up" her world a little bit.  Every little bit counts.  She is talking more each day. 

Heard most often from her is...
"up please"
"stop it"
"I know"
"no way"

She can also say the names of all her family members.
We're getting there :)

Earlier this week I got a phone call from Audra's Immunology doctor.  All of the results from Audra's very extensive blood work has finally come in....and everything is normal.  So, they are no closer to figuring her out, and they remain concerned that Audra does have an underlying immune disorder that they just can't identify or test for yet.  So, for now, we'll keep keeping on.  And time will tell. 

Tomorrow Audra has a big day at CHOP.  First, she will have a breath test to {hopefully} help her GI doctor learn more about the malabsorption she seems to have. 
Then, Audra will see the dietitian, and finally she has an appointment with her GI doctor.  Multiple times over the past year, the topic of tube feeds for Audra has come up.  I have always managed to put it on the back burner...until now.  This is the day we WILL have to talk about it.  And make some difficult decisions. 

I'm ok with the tube,
I'm ok with the pump,
and the equipment,
and the supplies

I'm just worried that with tube feeds Audra will lose interest in eating by mouth,
or worse...
I'm worried she will need a special, very restricted diet, that won't allow her to eat as she is used to...
whatever she wants, whenever she wants....and eating is what she LOVES to do!

I'm praying for direction to know what is best for Audra. 

Our 1st Familyversary

One year ago today...

Audra came into our lives, by quite literally...walking into our arms.

She stole our hearts that very instant and we have never been the same!
 
We had been preparing for and looking forward to that day for a long time...but she hadn't.  Her whole life changed in an instant.  I can't even begin to imagine how scared she must have been. 

After a long train ride from her orphanage, on April 8, 3013 in a crowded civil affairs office in Guangzhou, China...she became ours, and we became hers!  {forever & for always}

What a brave little girl she was (and still is!).  She had to leave all she ever knew, and come with us...people who looked very different than she was used to, and spoke in a language she didn't understand.  We had prayed long and hard that her heart would be open to our love, and that she would feel some comfort amid all the change she had to endure that day.  She didn't cry, and she came to us willingly.  For that we were so very grateful. 

As Sean and I walked out of the civil affairs office with Audra in our arms, we looked at each other, smiling, and said the very same thing...

"She is so beautiful!"

We felt like the luckiest people on all of the earth at that moment.

Just look at the a difference a year makes...

 

April 8, 2013

April 8, 2014

Today she is wearing the same ladybug sweater that she was wearing one year ago today.

  

2013...

 

2014...

 

Happy 1st Familyversary Audra.

 

1 year ago today...

...our travel journey began! 

 

April 4, 2013

 

We were finally on our way to get our girl,

Audra Qi Jia

 

I remember being so excited and so nervous at the same time...

 

I had never flown longer than 2-3 hours...

 

By the end of our travels (20 some hours later!)

we would be on the other side of the world...

 

I would miss my other children at home terribly...

 

I loved this little girl so much already, having never even met her,

and I prayed that her heart would be open to our love...

 

There were so many unknowns about the journey we were about to begin.

 

But we boarded that plane in New York City bound for China

with our eyes shut and our hearts wide open,

and we never looked back!

 

We were headed to our destiny, our girl, and our future.

Nothing else mattered.

And nothing could hold us back.

The precious little face we had been staring at in pictures and videos for the past 4 months was waiting for us on the other side of the world.

 

And we couldn't wait to get to her...

to hold her,

to kiss her,

and to shower her with the love bursting from our hearts.

 

Without ever seeing or touching her in person,

she was our daughter.

It is an indescribable feeling!

 

We were able to share our journey to China

(and our entire adoption journey)

with Sean's brother, Tim, and his wife Dawn,

who were traveling to adopt their new little girl, Charlotte, at the very same time as us.

What an amazing blessing!

 

Below is a travel video I put together a while ago,

but just recently figured out how to upload to this blog!