Our Gift From Above

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Happy Adoption Day!!

Happy Adoption Day Jazlyn!!

We are so grateful and thankful that God has placed Jazlyn in our lives. It’s hard to think and we often do, where Jazlyn would be now if we never did follow God guidance and plan. Now, a year later we CAN’T imagine life without her. It is really neat for us to look back to when we first decided to adopt a special needs child. We had to fill out a checklist and discuss what medical conditions we felt we could handle...Spina Bifida was NOT checked on our list. God always has a plan greater than ours. He knows what we can handle and He always sees us through. We are very thankful for God’s guidance.

As we reflect on this day we also reflect on ALL the loved ones that poured into this adoption along side of us. Many of you filled bottles, prayed, raised money, cried happy tears with us, helped us through fears and lots of unknowns. We can’t thank you enough for all that was done, we really feel blessed. We can’t wait to tell Jazlyn about the stories and the support we received one day.

Through this past year we have seen her grown and develop leaps and bounds! We have gotten to be by her side while she has experienced many obstacles, and new things....We have gotten to first witness her crawling and then her first steps, which has been a HUGE blessing that she is now walking, meet lots of loved ones, watch a wonderful bond with her brothers, play her favorite game...peek-a-boo!, go from hating a bath to loving it, bike ride, her first taste of ice cream, first swim, celebrate her 2nd birthday with her, her first words....”dog, dog, mommy, daddy”, overcome her fear of doctors....nursers....dogs, feeling grass for the first time, trying new foods, her first Christmas and Easter, her first ringling Circus, first hair cut, walking in the sand, playing in the ocean, and mostly see a her personality blossom from sad to...a smile to.......a laugh.......and then a very contagious belly laugh!

We ask that you please continue to pray for Jazlyn’s medical challenges in the future as she will have ups and downs to overcome. Throughout Jazlyn’s adoption her song has been, ”Somewhere Over The Rainbow”. Please join us in thinking of and praying for our little girl, the next time you see a rainbow in the sky. This would mean the world to us!

This adoption has once again taught us so much about our walk with God. We are excited to see what God has in store for our family in the future.

As we close on our blog we once again thank each of you for ALL the support, and prayers through this journey. We hope God will use this journey to impact lives to teach and bring awarness about adoption to others. Please feel free to share our blog and story with anyone that may be thinking or interested in adoption. Our hope, desire and prayer is that our story will help, inspire and lead others to Gods wonderful plan of adoption.....

We thank you for following us through this journey and for supporting God’s plan. We are forever grateful!!

Much Love,

Scott, Melissa and the kiddos

* Since we are on vacation during Jazlyn’s adoption day, we celebrated by taking her to the Babyland General Hospital in Atlanta, GA where she adopted her very first cabbage patch doll!!

Enjoy some pictures.....

Six Month Update

Wow! We cannot believe we’ve had our little rainbow for over 6 months now and that she will be 2 years old soon! Time has flown by, it seems like she has been in our lives forever.

We have gotten most of her results back with her medical testing. There is a lot she will be facing in her future as far as surgeries, on-going medication and physical challenges. Some of the news was difficult for us to hear. There have been many daily changes and challenges we have had to face, but all in all things could be so much worse. We just praise God for all the good news and positive outcomes.

The doctors are confident that she will begin walking soon. She just recently got legs braces to help her with her walking and is in physical therapy every other week. The boys just can’t get enough of their “little sissy”. They have embraced each other so well; the bonding has been so easy and natural on both ends. Jazlyn is still adjusting too many things and many people. We appreciate and want to thank everyone for being patient with her while she takes everything in and explores her new environment, in her time....THANK YOU!

Her sweet spirit and cuteness makes us all want to squeeze her and kiss her all over. Her spirit is what will get her through the challenges ahead, and most of all the love and support that she will get from all her family and friends. The same love and support that got her here all the way from China, will be the same love that will carry her through the future.

We got to celebrate her first Chinese New Year with her this year and had a blast! We decorated the house, had a chinese dinner, and put her in one of her beautiful dresses from China. We hope to continue this tradition and are excited and look forward to celebrating her first “Adoption Day” in June.......

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Medical Update

MEDICAL UPDATE

Hello All,

Well, we've had a very long two months of testing for Jazlyn and lots of information to share.

Our first visit was in early July to the International Adoption Center (IAC) at Cincinnati's Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC), where they completed a thorough exam of Jazlyn and referred us for further testing. The examine consisted of a doctor's exam, OT/PT exam, blood work, social worker visit, etc. Jazlyn has Spina Bifida, the mass that was removed in China when she was three months old is called a meningocele. Basically, the spinal cord did not fully develop and the lower half of her spine where the meningocele was did not close properly. This caused cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) to leak out of her lower back creating the meningocele.

When a meningocele forms while the child is in embryo, it does not allow the signals sent by the brain to reach the lower half of the spine. When this occurs generally everything below the meningocele does not form properly (bladder, bowels and lower legs). With that being said a lot of the children cannot control their bowel and/or bladder function, also they are either delayed in walking or do not walk at all. Some require a lot of therapy or leg/ankle braces to walk, some require catheterization of the bladder daily and assistance having a bowel movement.

Jazlyn also has Tethered Cord Syndrome, which is when the spine is snagged or caught by fibers in her lower spine. This was repaired initially when they removed the meningocele in China. Jazlyn was referred to the Spina Bifida Clinic (MM Clinic) for more testing.

Dr. Bierbauer is her Neurosurgeon and has been leading the care of Jazlyn's spine. Dr. Bierbauer ordered a MRI of her full spine and head and that was completed last week. We got the results this week and she has a pseudomeningocele on her lower back (probably due to the surgery to remove the meningocele at three months of age). A Chiari II, which is a cyst the has developed at the base of her skull (the Cerebellum) and has grown into the top of the spinal cord, blocking the flow a spinal fluid to the rest of the spine. The Cerebellum controls one's balance and movement. And they believe she will be at risk of re-tethering at some point in the future. The good news is we are not going to have any surgeries in the near future, the plan is to re-image her in six months and continue to monitor her progress. If she develops pain or any other problems they will reevaluate things then and decide the appropriate course of action.

Dr. Jackson is her Urologist and has been leading the care of Jazlyn's bladder function. Jazlyn has had a Urodynamics test, ultrasound and X-ray completed to see how her bladder is functioning. They found the her bladder is abnormally shaped, it's not holding as much urine as they would like, but appears to be emptying properly. Dr. Jackson considered having us catheterize Jazlyn daily, but decided to wait until November when we have these test redone. If things improve we will not have to catheterize her, but if not we will begin that most likely in November.

We got the results of the blood work and it showed Jazlyn needed ten immunizations. So a couple of weeks ago at one of her appointments she got six of the ten shots. They brought two nurses in at the same time and she got two shots in each leg and one in each arm. And of course Daddy had to be the bad guy and hold her down while the shots we being given. I felt so bad for my little girl!!!

Jazlyn also had a physical therapy (PT) consultation. After that visit they decided they would like her to complete PT bi-weekly and at this time do not feel leg or ankle braces are needed. Currently there are not any open PT slots at the Mason Campus and we have been placed on a wait list to get her started. They did however, give us some exercises and techniques to do while at home to begin to help stengthen her legs.

The doctors and therapists are very hopefully Jazlyn will be able to walk. They are encouraged by the strength she has in her legs. Last week she finally began to crawl...which is AWESOME, considering she was not even able to roll over 10 weeks ago.

Melissa and I are totally at peace with whatever God's will is for our daughter. We are fully trusting in Him and are taking each day and appointment as it comes. We can see the determination of our little girl and I personally believe she will conquer all obstacles placed before her.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. We are truly blessed to have such great family and friends along side of us! We will continue to update each of you as we learn more.

God Bless,
Scott

Monday, July 4, 2011

Welcome Home Jazlyn!!

Top ten Things we really missed while in China and couldn’t wait to get home to........

10. ICE! We couldn’t drink with ice-it was so hot and humid and they don’t serve anything cold!

9. NON SMOKING! Love that there is no smoking in public places in Cincinnati- lots of smokers

in China

8. DRIVING RULES-lots of crazy driving in China!

7. PERSONAL SPACE-they don’t give you a lot of that :)

6. RESTROOMS-I don’t understand how women go in the whole in the ground!

5. NON HUMIDITY-I will never complain about heat and humidity in Cincinnati!

4. HARD BED! Can’t wait to sleep in our soft bed!

3. A good american HAMBURGER and a PIZZA without ketchup on it!!

2. All of our FRIENDS and FAMILY!

1. IAN and BRYLAN- Our two precious boys we could not wait to see!!!!!!

Hand Picked and Heaven Sent.......

Wow! What an adventure this has been! Yeah!! We are home safe and sound. Our plane ride was long but good. Jazlyn did awesome. I think she did better than mommy :) That is just too long for anyone to be in a plane!! The plane left a little late from Hong Kong so we missed our connecting flight in Chicago. We waited around on standby for the next flight to Cincinnati hoping and praying we would make it on cause we had lots of friends and family waiting! We did make it and while sitting waiting to take off the pilot announces that someone struck the stairway to the plane which caused the stairs to jam into the plane so maintenance had to come and take a look to see if everything was ok. It ended up ok but it took awhile before we were able to get in the air! We were so excited to get there-butterflies in our bellies!!

When we arrived in Cincinnati we walked toward a crowd of friends and family with open arms for us! I couldn’t hold back the tears as we approached all our loved ones. Thoughts of the past 2 1/2 years of praying for this moment and the amount of love and support we had been given just hit us like a ton of bricks. This was the moment we have been thinking, dreaming and praying about for a long, long time. Our family can now move on and continue now that we have Jazlyn in our arms forever!

Seeing our boys come running to us with arms open wide, and big huge smiles was an awesome moment-we missed them so, so much. They were so excited to see there little sister we have talked about so much. Just for them to open there hearts and arms to welcome her in is just amazing. All five of us hugged up together was the moment we had been waiting for!!

We thank all our friends and family for taking the time to come down to the airport and spend there evening being there for us- it was so overwhelming. For opening there hearts and arms to Jazlyn- we love you all!

Jazlyn did great in the airport with everyone. All three of us were very tired and completely worn out! When we got home we had presents and treats on our table to welcome us! She got to check out her room for the first time. She just kept looking all around at everything :) Crawling into our soft, comfy bed was a highlight for me-it was pure comfort!!

It has taken us awhile to get adjusted and back on US time. This past week has been a whirlwind but a good one. We would lie awake in the middle of the night just looking at the ceiling. Jazlyn would be crying and screaming, getting use to the time change and all the new noises in the house, and her new room. It was hard but we took a few days to just be the five of us together. Getting her use to the boys and the boys getting use to her. Brylan kisses her every 5 seconds, and Ian is a wonderful “big, big brother” He brings out his high pitch sounding voice for her and is so gentle and loving :)

After adjusting we ventured out to show her off a little to family and friends.....she has such a sweet, cuddling, happy spirit and her laugh will make you laugh :) She loves to play “peek a boo” and laughs when anything drops! We took her swimming, and of course she had her first ice cream!!!

We have received so much love through flowers, gifts, cards, my dad wrote a little poem, people are still giving us bottles they have filled, and two of our friends made us albums about our adoption, so many open hearts and open arms for this little girl that would have never had or experienced this kind of love in her life. God has truly blessed us through this adoption and has shown himself in a mighty big way and we give Him ALL the glory, honor and praise!

Please continue to pray for Jazlyn and her special need. The mass they removed on her back at 3 months old looks good. She does have a small bulge that we will need to have test run on to make sure everything is ok. She has leg movement and good reflex. She will push up and stand up when you hold her arms. We have a 3 hour apt. on July 6th at the Cincinnati Children’s Adoption Center to get her all check out from head to toe and lots of blood work, so that will be a long day for her. We are so thankful for all this good news and how far she has come, just continue to pray with us that everything goes well.

Although my husband is ready to adopt again ALREADY! we are excited to see what God has in store and what His plans are for our family. Our hearts are big for adoptions, and we feel truly blessed by both our adoptions.

Thanks for coming on this journey along side of us as we are just doing what God has called us to do. Love you all and thank you for EVERYTHING!

God Bless,

The Williams Family

(Scott, Melissa, Ian, Brylan and Jazlyn:)

All Children come from God, but for some the journey home takes a little longer.

Here are some pics for you to enjoy from the last two weeks............