News

we received a very interesting phone call last week. our adoption agency, CCAI, informed us that they had an email from Natalie's foster family in Shanghai. i'm sorry, her what? apparently, when Natalie was in Shanghai for a bit getting her foot taken care of, she stayed with a very wonderful family. we had no idea that she had been there for 4 months and especially didn't know she lived with a family. let me say this IS NOT a negative thing. from the limited conversation we have had with Julia and Marvin, it sounds like she was cared for VERY WELL and loved the whole way. the only issue we had was not knowing about this. we would have loved to visit them while we were there.

anyway, i am not gong to talk a lot about her time with Julia and Marvin as that is part of her story that she can decide to tell people when she gets older. let the kid have some privacy, people. i will say that we are excited to hear from them and wish very much to keep in touch. they have already told us many things about how Natalie developed some of her wonderful personality. we are so grateful for the love and care they gave our daughter and we want them to see her flourish as she grows into a beautiful young lady.

one last piece of news. while she was with them in Shanghai, Natalie had surgery on her foot. again, not something we were told about, but oh well. we had some suspicions since there did appear to be a small scar on her achilles area. this comes as a big relief to us though. we were so worried about her having to go through surgery in this new and strange place we call home. fyi, we will still take her to get evaluated by the wonderful people at Shriners and see how they want to proceed. again, we cannot thank Julia and Marvin enough for the love, kindness, and blessings they showered on our girl.

in closing, enjoy the videos of bubbles by the pool and playing with Aunt Joyce's dog, Lily.