Look! Lora is on her way to the mission field!

Someone was very kind and sent this photo of Lora and another sister missionary just before they flew out of SLC for their missions this morning. They have been in the MTC since July 8th, refining their skills in Mandarin Chinese. Lora will be working in the New York, NY North mission now for the rest of her 18 month mission.

I wasn't able to get a phone call from her this morning before she left because I'm here on the reservation on the western Washington coast with my sister and her family (they work in the school here) and there isn't cell phone service. Internet is sketchy, this may or may not post right away. It's been very interesting, the children are beautiful, the scenery is breathtaking.

Hopefully Papa got a call from Lora this morning before she flew out to NY. It's one of the few phone calls home that are allowed during the mission (also on Christmas and Mother's Day). It's a total immersion program, with no dating, no trips home, letters once a week, email once a week for 30 minutes from a public library, no websites- only emails. Being a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is all about serving the Lord and teaching people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm pleased that she's willing to devote this volunteer time to her Savior. Please pray for her and those she will be blessed to teach!

Ella's WBC

News from "the other doctor" is: "Ella's WBC abnormalities are probably not significant, but they will test again in November."

I figure that "WBC" means White Blood Cell. But I still have so many questions... who will answer them?

Life is precious.

I go in a couple of days to the Pacific Northwest, where my sister and I will sort through Mama's things.

Dad married his brother's widow last month, an aunt I'm not familiar with. It isn't easy for me to accept this so soon after Mama's passing, but I know it will be best for those two to not be alone. My dad has had leukemia for several years.

Life is precious.

I love you Dad! And I'm sure I will grow to love Auntie.

We met with our Make A Wish couple

We had the decision making meeting last night with the couple assigned to Joel. They were very patient with him and all of us-- as you can imagine it was hard because although he enjoyed the attention, it didn't seem like Joel really understood what it was all about. How could he understand things he's never seen or done before? He said he wanted toast... quoted some movies including the quote from Ella Enchanted: "I want to be a lawyer." We laughed-- we were afraid he'd say that-- but he has no idea what a lawyer is. At least he was agreeable and sat through most of the meeting around the table on our deck. In the end we went with a couple of the things he had actually said on his own at random times, and listed those as his first and second choices. He seemed to get excited and his eyes lit up about those ideas. We'll wait now to see what the committee says.

It's all very exciting!!! And at the same time, I feel guilty that we can't do something with this opportunity to help an orphan come home to a family..... but this is about Joel, about cherishing the moments we have with him, about making memories with him and the family... about having a break from the stress of living with a life-threatening medical condition. His first choice especially is something that we could never do for him or our family on our own. The people with Make a Wish are doing so much good in the world! We are humbled and grateful that God has blessed us with such friends.

Hemoglobin, hearing and What Ella can do

Ella's hemoglobin looked much better on the last lab (the anemia test), it had reached mid-range, so hopefully we can breathe a sigh of relief! She's still eating paper. I have no further explanation on the issue found with the white blood cells, yet.

We had a very frightening experience with Ella yesterday, I am thankful to Heavenly Father that he protected her from harm! She definitely had angels with her that time! I can't go into it, it's still giving me shock waves and makes me want to heave great sobs, but I want to mark it here in time and express my gratitude for her safety. She is so very precious to us!!!

As far as Ella's hearing goes, we think she hears more but doesn't pay attention because she hasn't had hearing so much of her life. Once again, she is getting an ear infection/sinus infection and is being put on antibiotics. Ella receives hearing therapy at school. She has to be taught to listen. She doesn't respond to her name well, or to questions or directions and tantrums a lot, screaming very loud and high. We're thinking that because she has lost so much of her developmental hearing/language time, that she doesn't understand English yet. Realizing this has helped us a lot. And we still have so much more to learn. Her signing hasn't progressed well due to her difficulty with language and her vision. She won't wear her glasses more than a minute and then proceeds to bend them up and throw them. Ugh. So she's still looking sideways at everything because of her astigmatism (see the top photo of her, two posts back).

What Can Ella do?

• Climb up in your lap and give great big hugs
• Bring me her sippy cup or plate for a refill
• Dance on her own or holding hands with Timmy-- she moves her hips more than the boys do
• Find her favorite dolly in nursery at church and carry her around
• Climb the stairs forward crawling and go down them on her belly crawling backwards
  
• Eat fruits & vegetables like crazy (ate an entire bowlful of veggies at the Mongolian Grill), bread and peanut butter, eggs, yogurt, cheese sticks, but doesn't like mashed potatoes or mac and cheese.
• Eat most times with a utensil
• Smile and be cheerful
• Do some song actions
• Sign "more"
• Say "no!" (at least I think that's what she's saying)
• Watch movies with a smile on her face
• Lie on a blanket or rug in the middle of the floor with a blanky balled up in her arms
• Sit with a big book across her legs and turn the pages
• Use her thumb to splay through a chunk of pages
• Make dots and scribbles on paper
• Rip and eat paper and chew on book corners
• Play with fabric
• Spin to try to twirl her dresses out (who taught her that? She just knew it)
• Recognize familiar people and show her joy in being with them, especially if they hold her
• Tuck her hands under her chest and flap her elbows like little wings when you pick her up (because she's so happy!)
  
• Eat her own kid meals when we go out
• Get underfoot or sit in the corner of the kitchen when I'm cooking, always anxious for a taste (so I try to sit her at the island)
  
• Laugh and giggle
• Sit on the potty chair and go potty if you catch her in time in the mornings (brand new!)
  
• Jabber and wave her arms, like she's giving an important speech, or sometimes scolding us
• Take a bath or shower and enjoy it

The kids' sizes

Because someone dear to my heart asked, I'll post the little kids' sizes here:

Joel is 8 years 8 months (as of tomorrow) and suddenly wearing size 8 pants and shirts. The pants must have elastic waists and they have to be rolled way up but the 7s are too tight around the waist. He's up a size from last year. He's 43.3 inches tall and wears little boy's size 12 to 13 shoes?... but I'm going to double check that.

Timmy is 6 years 2 months old and is wearing size 3T shirts and pants. He's still very thin and also needs elastic waists. In shorts and swimming suits he can still wear size 12 months-- in fact we had to get that size to keep his swim trunks on this summer. His shoes are toddler boy's size 8.

Ella is 3 years 9 months old and is wearing size 2-3T; most size 2 pants fit her in length, but I buy her 3T shirts and dresses because of her torso length. She loves dresses and tries to twirl the skirts! She's just now into size 7 toddler girl shoes.

Lucy is 9 months old and wearing size 9 months. Her arms and legs are short for her torso, as is the case with each of the little kids. Short sleeves always work best for babies with Down syndrome, but in winter we just roll the sleeves to the right length. Her feet are still only one size up from newborn: She wears size 1 infant shoes.

Recent pictures

Ella wearing her glasses (which she doesn't keep on very well yet) and looking at a book. Doesn't she look like a big girl?

Payton and Joel on a play date at Discovery Depot. This is the little girl from his previous school that said in the Thanksgiving play, "I am thankful for my friend Joel."

Timmy on the toy train at the children's museum.

The Gs were at the museum, too! It was fun to see them.

Ella liked the shredded rubber surfacing around the play structure best.

Lucy's got the camera figured out. Now she's working on taking her socks off. It was another beautiful evening.

One morning I was doing dishes and heard Ella laughing and giggling behind me. I turned around to find that she had reached a peach and was eating it. She loved it so much it made her laugh!

Lucy got into sitting position all by herself yesterday!!!

I was singing a lullaby to Ella and when I stopped I heard Lucy's tiny baby hands clapping. I went to see her and she was sitting up! She had been rolling on the floor before that so I know she got up by herself!

She was so pleased with herself! I watched her do it several more times during the day. Hurray! A milestone!

Medical news

Joel's cardiologist said that he wishes Joel's artificial heart valve was larger but that it seems to be doing the job for now. Unless there are changes, he'll see him again in February.

Ella's labs have told us that she is anemic and something is wrong with her white cells-- not an infection... the pediatrician could not interpret; waiting for further interpretation from a specialist. This is when I need to see a cardiologist!