Saturday, April 2, 2016

Forever Home- Two Years!!

Easter 2016

 

It’s pretty crazy to realize that our daughter, Joyah Mi Ni has been part of our family for two years now!  Her gotcha day was March 23, 2014 and we arrived home excited, thankful and exhausted on April 2, 2014 from China.  So much has happened over these past two years:  highs, lows and everything in between but God remains faithful and his presence feels stronger than ever before. 

Joyah was 17 months old when we arrived home from China.  She was a healthy and plump little girl who needed to learn everything for the first time.  She learned to crawl, walk, run and play with our family.  Joyah learned how to chew food, drink and swallow over the course of the first few months home.  She used to scream at animals, plants, trees, flowers, playgrounds and uneven walking ground.  Two years later, she is enjoying the zoo, her puppy at home and asking to go down slides at the park.  My, how God has helped her to enjoy life a little more!  Her big brothers adore their sister.  They love to play with her and they are her biggest supporters.

Last year, Joyah received her glasses to help with her poor eyesight and began needing to wear a “patch” to help her weaker eye.  More recently we have gained more insight into her challenges and medical conditions.   We have noticed that Joyah has NOT been growing as she should.  She is wearing many of the same clothes and shoes she was wearing when we brought her home as a 17 month old.  She was big then, now at 3 ½ years old, she is extremely small.  This prompted the doctors to order an MRI to check for any further medical conditions. 

January, 2016, Joyah was diagnosed with Septo Optic Dyplasia.  We already knew that Joyah has underdeveloped optic nerves which accounts for her poor vision, but this diagnosis also means that she has other undeveloped structures in her brain.  In her case, the pituitary gland is extremely underdeveloped and is not producing the hormones it needs to for Joyah to regulate her body and grow appropriately.  We are currently in the midst of figuring out how to replace various hormones in order to help regulate her body.  We are thankful that God is allowing us and the doctors to start putting some pieces together in order to help Joyah with her medical conditions. 

The most difficult part of these past two years, continues to be working through attachment with Joyah.  She has improved over the past year since I began staying home with her and since we have kept her close to us much of the time.  Joyah used to scream at the thought of being kissed, hugged, rocked or being played with by her family.  She is now asking for us to sing favorite songs, asking to be kissed, hugged and rocked.  However, she still is struggling with her need to feel “in control”.  She has a really hard time accepting food at this time.  Joyah once used to follow us around wanting food at all times.  Over the past few months, Joyah has decided that if she eats something from us, she has somehow given into us.  She is refusing food about 80% of the time.  Sweet treats are the hardest things for her to accept such as ice cream.  Joyah once asked for a piece of chocolate that her brothers were eating.  I gave the chocolate to her and she looked at it like I had just given her poison.  It took her 30 minutes to finally give in to eating it.  This is a dangerous control battle and we covet your prayers as she has lost weight. 

Adoption is hard.  Adoption is beautiful.  Adoption is a choice to Love.  Adoption is a Gift.  Adoption is what God did for us.  God is a good, good Father and I’m glad he is always there holding us through the waves and storms of life. 

 
Celebrating "Gotcha Day" at Pizza Hut
(Pizza Hut was our first meal together 2 years ago)