East coast-bound...

We r heading back to see Dr Standard & we r scheduled for removal tomorrow morning... Stay tuned for the big reveal!!!
I leave with a reminder of before...

Seriously???

For months my hubby & I have been planning a return trip to MD for a family wedding. It was a difficult decision... Mira & I have never been apart. My mother in law offered to stay at our house so the girls will be in familiar surroundings.
Hubby & I were planning a long weekend of reconnection, rest, fun... Stress free.
Well... That was MY plan.
On Friday am Mira woke up complaining of being "sick". When I touched her she was warm... Sure enough 101.5 I dosed her up with some meds & kept her home from school. As the day went on she acted better but began to complain of pain in her leg. Greg & i left for MD. Well to make a long complicated story short, Mira spiked to 103.8! After speaking with Dr Standard he said she needed to go to the ER... Just what I want to throw on my MIL!! First they tested her for strep & she was positive. They were planning to discharge her on oral antibiotics. Her blood work came back with elevated white blood cells.. This landed her 2 1/2 days in the hospital on IV antibiotics! Come to find out her strep throat spread to her pin sites!! Praise God this infection was caught & is responding (slowly) to meds. We are scheduled to leave Thursday morning to go back to Baltimore for removal of her fixator on Friday! We are STOKED to see Mira metal free with STRAIGHT legs. I will be sure to post before & after photos.
If you think of Mira over the next few days please say a prayer for her.
Oh & by the way.. The weekend get away was ANYTHING but relaxing! Try stressed out from beginning to end! I feared Mira would suffer this separation & we could lose some of the amazing bonding that has happened... But God is faithful. He heard our prayers & calmed her heart!! Thank you!!! And thank you to Kara & Joe for taking good care of all 4 girls!!
Be blessed!
Vanessa

Today she turned 7!!!

Happy Birthday Mira!!
We had a fun filled day! We went to Cecilia's soccer game, then came home for a birthday bash!
Mira got a trampoline (jump-a-line as she calls it!) for her birthday along with so e great gifts from her family!
It was the sweetest thing... After she opened her gifts and said her thank you'd she began to stumble for words, finally she uttered..."I love all you guys!" It was with a few tears, I feel certain that was a sign of gratitude as well as a flashback to where she once was.

This time last year....

....We were in China. It has been one year since Mira joined our family. And what an amazing year it has been. I am still amazed at the work of our Lord. mira has many reasons from her past to sad, scared, untrusting & distant... but this girl lives life to the fullest!! She has a spirit that makes me ashamed of myself at times. she trusts, she loves, she laughs, she loves Jesus (or Jee-za as she refers to him!) I can hardly remember life without her. She adores her sisters and thanks God for EVERY bite of food she eats!
Many things have happened over the past year, the most obvious being the correction of her legs. We are coming to the end of this, my girls legs are BEAUTIFUL!
A few other things that rank pretty high is the fact that Mira can actually get her hair in a pony tail! She's grown 6" of hair in just 1 year, she's gained 8 lbs, grown over 4", she can count to 20 & she is learning her ABC's & she LOVES to be a helper around the house.
We are grateful for the nudge we got and even more grateful we listened! Praising God for our sweet girl!
We are choosing to celebrate our forever family day on the day we returned to the US & Mira met her daddy & sisters. That is March 22nd... Stay tuned for a new family photo!
Until then here's my sweet girl...

So many tears today....

Mira has cried more today than any day since she's been with us.
My girl is having a tough time.
This surgery/ reconstruction has been radical. There's no other word to describe it. The results are/will be AMAZING! STAGGERING! She is pushing towards the finish lone but this darned infection continues to linger. Her leg is gross. We are doing our best to nurse her here from home. Dr Standard is on the final stretch of his mission trip to the Dominican, due to return on the weekend. We are scheduled to return to Baltimore on Wednesday to see him, we are hopeful that we can manage this until we get there. I've consulted with Allison, the PA, she gave us a few options, including IV antibiotics...none of which we want to do unless mandatory.
On a positive note we are just 6 short days from the end of Mira's turn schedule. Her legs look AMAZING!!!! See below!
Please continue to pray for Mira.


**Warning**



Nasty photos ahead........



..

Back to school & the sweetest words

Mira went back to school yesterday for the 1st time since the infection. I was a bit concerned as we get a lot of together time. So much that she is quite dependent on me. Anyway I dropped her off & she was quick to say goodbye. Seeing all of her friends was very comforting for her. When I picked her up she said she was a good girl in school~ that makes me chuckle! I asked her if she missed me while she was in school.. She replied "no" matter of factly... WHAT?!?!?!? Then she said the sweetest words...." You always come back, I not miss you".....
**Sniff**
Enough said....

Somewhere in between...

Mira is delicately teetering between infection & improving. It seems like one minute she's improving & the other she worsening.
We've prayed & we know God is answering prayers.
Yesterday she woke up at 6am walking on her leg & her giggly happy self. A ton of yuck oozed from 3 pin sites. By 10 am she refused to put weight in it. After lunch she was back to hobbling on it. Then by 6pm she spiked a low grade fever... 100.3
There are a few praises... One is her body has adjusted to the antibiotics! We will continue to bath in bleach nightly. At this point my bathtub is the cleanest it's ever been!! The other praise is an organization called Miracle Flights. They provide commercial air transport for medical appointments! This HUGE to our family since we've moved 1700 miles from our doctor. Mira needs to return to dr S for X-rays on march 7th. Literally just for X-rays. It would cost us $800 to make this flight. We've been able to keep up with the last few flights but it has become quite a burden on us financially, as we slowly re-establish our business. We received confirmation this week from Miracle Flights that our upcoming trip has been approved!! PRAISE GOD!!!
Tying into my last post.... We are getting slammed with snow again tonight! I LOVE IT!!!!!
A few more graphic pics to follow: