Our big day!!!

Well, today was an exciting day! We left home around 10:45am, drove to grandma and grandpa's house to drop Rachel off. They girls had a little gift bag from G&G filled with fruit snacks, goldfish crackers and a stuffed animal. Mom and dad had a little cooler filled with bottled water, granola bars and grapes...Thanks Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Willie. =) Once we got back in the car, Linzhi became a little worried that Rachel's car seat was gone and Rachel was missing too. It was sweet to see she missed Rachel. We reassured her we would be back to pick her up. We weren't on the road more that 10 minutes and my cell phone rang. It was Rachel wanting to talk to Linzhi!! How cute is that! The story behind that is, Rachel got mad at Linzhi before we left and hit her. She was feeling bad about it so she just had to talk to Linzhi to make things right. Whenever the girls hit (I know it's normal) we always make sure after" time out" is over and an apology has been made and accepted, the "offender" has to go in the corner to pray. Well, grandma and Rachel were about to have a snack so they began to pray and Sharon said all of a sudden Rachel confesses to grandma what happened and that she need to talk to Linzhi. So once we were at the hospital I had Linzhi call Rachel on the cell phone. They had a little conversation and ended with "I love you" and " see you soon" WOW! What a blessing to see our baby girls love on each other. =)

OK...Now to evaluation... Oh, one more thing... CJ and I feel so incredibly blessed to have been given the opportunity to parent our beautiful Linzhi...I am still in awe of HIS grace. ~OK~ now I'm ready!! Today we received the information we've been waiting almost a year for...a DIAGNOSIS!! Today at Shriner's we learned Linzhi has a condition called "Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congentita" try and say that three times in a row... =)

Basically, she has severe contracture "stiffing" of the joints in her wrist, fingers and elbows. The doctor also classified her as a "mild" case because it has not affected her legs, hips, ankles, etc... The Occupational Therapist did tell us it will not worsen or move to additional joints and should improve with OT therapy 2-3 days per week, home exercises (2x's daily) and she must wear splints every night as she sleeps.

I cannot begin to tell you how awesome it was to be at Shriner's. The staff was incredible and to top it off the specialist that has taken Linzhi's case is the head of orthopaedics at Loyola Hospital in Chicago(one of the best in the nation). God knew exactly where we needed to be for our baby. She did so good today! No panic attacks, just a few tears during x-rays and her splint fitting...WHEW! I can't tell you enough how much your thoughts and prayers mean to both CJ and I. I love the adoption community and all my wonderful friends that I've met through our journey to Linzhi. I mean it, you're all the best! =)

So now, we need to find a local OT therapist that has experience with this type of condition, exercise her precious little arms twice daily, strap her splints on at night (which she loves...go figure) and most importantly PRAY. The Lord is so good to us!! Here are some pictures of our day.

***update*** Last week I mentioned my cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer. Today her MRI showed the cancer DID NOT move to her lymphoids (s/p?) so the prognosis is better than we thought...Praise GOD! I am waiting to talk to my aunt for more information but wanted to give an update. Thanks again for lifting her in your prayers!