Saturday, February 2, 2008

Hope Home at Last




On Tuesday Hope improved a little more. She began to get her appetite back but wouldn't drink much except formula from her bottle. Doctor Tim told us that as long as she didn't throw up she was not in great danger of dehydrating if she was eating. She made it all day without throwing up and in the evening the doctor came to see her and said that she could go home. We called her sisters and they made plans to prepare things for her return.


Hope has improved steadily since then. She is on another round of antibiotics and is eating very well. She is still picky about drinking, but is drinking enough to wet several diapers a day. Her smile has returned, although she can get in a mood occasionally where nothing helps except a good cry. We are letting her grieve when she needs to. Our hearts almost break when we think about the changes she is having to go through. We wish we could make it be over instantly but time is a healer.


We are truly grateful for the prayers of family, friends, and church. The timing of our trip to China is almost miraculous. We were almost tempted to put the trip off for a week to allow us better preparation, but had a feeling that we wanted to get there as quick as possible. The bad weather was starting to set in when we left Hefei. It was snowing and they had to de-ice our plane. A few days ago we heard that flights out of Hefei were just resuming after over a week. We may have been on one of the last flights out on that Sunday we left for Guangzhou.


We believe now that Hope had the pneumonia when we got her in Hefei. The cough was pretty bad for the first couple of days. The orphanages in China are not heated as are schools and many offices and government buildings. The cold spell that Anhui province and much of China has experienced these past three weeks has probably caused much loss of life. We hate to think of Hope spending another week in that cold. We believe that the Lord timed everything for the best, even our difficulties.

Ronnie

1 comment:

the scrappy chic said...

I am so glad that Hope is feeling better. I am thinking of you guys, and I can't wait to meet her one of these days:)

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