Sunday - February 12

Today is Sunday, and we didn't make it to church again.  Bethany didn't sleep well last night; she cried in her sleep pretty much the entire night that she was asleep.  But, that wasn't alot, because she woke up at 11:15 (Saturday night) and stayed awake until 3:30 this morning.  She is really having a hard time with sleep - part of it is still the overstimulation and the other part is that she's sick again.  She didn't eat or drink much at all today and she's run a low grade temp.  She's a good eater, so when she won't eat or drink, we know she's sick.  We're so glad she has the ENT appt. tomorrow at Children's and are hoping he can do something about her ears quickly.  We'll post on that after we find out what he says tomorrow.
The opthalmologist appt. in New Orleans was a fiasco.  It was an early morning appt, so we had to wake her up Friday morning which threw off her whole routine, drove all the way to NO, and then they tell us that someone was supposed to call us and tell us that the appt was cancelled.  Of course they didn't call, so that was a totally wasted trip.    They asked if we wanted to reschedule......Ummmmmm.....NO!  We'll find another pediatric opthalmologist.  If anyone knows a good one, please let us know because I just found this doctor at Tulane online with no recommendations from anyone.  I'll gladly take feedback from anyone that knows a good ped eye doctor. 
I finally got Bethany in one of her dresses that we bought for her in China.  She HATES to have her clothes changed, so we're doing good to get one set of clothes on her a day....we surely don't just put clothes on to take a few pics in.......Well, I had been wanting to take her picture in this dress, so I finally braved her wrath to put in on her for a few pictures and then took it off to dress her in her normal clothes.  She did okay, but as you can tell in the last picture, she is getting outdone with me.  :)  I put the camera down shortly thereafter.  She has her limits, and I had exceeded them. I have another blue dress that I'll eventually put on her and take her pic in - when I'm feeling braver.  :)    I want to take her and have professional pictures done, but it will probably be in one outfit so she doesn't get too contrary.  I have 3 Chinese outfits that I really want professional photos of her in, but we'll have to see how that goes......
There's a family from our local Families with Chinese Children group that is in China now and they actually got their son today.  We are so excited for them!  His name is Ray, and he's a little cutie.  He has a cleft lip/palate like Bethany, and his lip has been repaired also.  Most families that adopt from China are adopting special needs kids because the wait is so ridiculously long for a "healthy" child.  Everyone is our group from our agency adopted special needs and every family we met in China - which was ALOT - adopted special needs, except one family.  She was a single woman, and she waited 7 years for her child.  Unreal.  We thought our 18 month wait from beginning to end was unbearable.  Anyway, we're so excited for this precious family and cannot wait to meet RAY when he gets home and settled.  If you think about them, say a prayer for Ray and his adjustment to his new family.  It's still so fresh in our minds how hard the first few days are.  So heartbreaking for parents when your child is grieving so hard and you can't do anything but hold them and try to show them love.  Ray will have plenty of love but the first days are usually rough - ours sure were.  But they're so sweet now. :-)   China is letting their priceless treasures escape from their country for a small pittance.  And this is one family that is so HAPPY for their ignorance!  They definitely gave us a wonderful, priceless treasure, and we named  her Bethany!!!
All for now - will post more later when we find out what the ENT will do and when.  Love from the Rayburn3