Chinese New Year

Project 52: Week 3 - Water

We spent the weekend in Brainerd at a water park with our meal group. It was a great winter getaway and the kids loved the pools and slides. This was a photo of a huge bucket of water that would drop thousands of gallons of water every 15 minutes or so. A bell would sound when it was nearly full, then all the kids (and some adults) would stand below waiting for the rush of water to hit them. It was pretty cool!

Project 52: Week 3 - Breakfast

Pastries from Keefer bakery, a small authentic Chinese bakery in Minneapolis

Project 52: Week 2 - Cold

This week's theme 'cold' was a bit of a struggle with the mild temperatures here in MN. We set a record high on Tuesday, 52 degrees! Winter made it's presence felt later this week. The winds from the North blew in the cold arctic air and we saw a few flurries today. Caedon and I were on our way out the door to go bowling with my extended family when we noticed the snowflakes landing on his winter crocs. We could see each flakes individual uniqueness. He was so amazed at how cool they looked close up. And so was I.

Gillette visit

We woke her up early today to make the drive to St. Paul in time for Hannah's 8:00 am appointment with Dr. Sundberg at Gillette Children's Clinic. Surprisingly, when we went into her room at 7:00 am she was actually awake (normally she is up around 7:30 or 8:00 am). She ate a couple fried eggs on the cold car ride over. We seem to schedule our doctor appointments on days when the wind chill is near zero. The clinic is amazing. There are so many things for the kids to do in the waiting room. Crafts, video games, kids toys everywhere. Super kid friendly.

Dr. Sundberg was highly recommended by our pediatrician and Dr. Howard at the International Adoption Clinic and other people around me at work. His specialty is lower extremity deformities so he examined Hannah's legs and feet. He also looked took a bunch of xrays of her back, legs, feet and hands. There were no surprises. He basically told us that Hannah's legs look good. She has an atypical clubfoot and it may need surgery at some point, but for now we are going to see what happens over the next six months as she grows. We were referred to a physiatrist (physical medicine doctor) who will also examine her leg/foot to see if Botox injections will help loosen her tight muscles/tendons in her ankle/foot. So the recommendation at this point is no surgery on her legs.

We see Dr. Van Heest (pediatric hand surgeon) next Tuesday to go over the hand xrays that we got today. Dr. Sundberg thinks there is a good chance Dr. Van Heest will recommend a surgical correction for one if not both hands.

We are very excited that God crafted Hannah in such a unique way. She has become a brilliant master of her hands, an agile runner, and her heart keeps on growing bigger and bigger for her family. And so is ours!

Tuesday afternoon at Elliot

Hannah, Caedon and I took the wagon across the street to "Elliot Park," as we affectionately call it. The park is not much of a park as it has been stripped of all it's fun since last summer...a bunch of city workers and some large equipment dug out the playground set and moved it to another school in the south part of town. Apparently, school kids needed it more than our neighborhood. Little bitter about it. But, not much we could do but watch it get hauled away. So now we have a swing set and two netless 10 foot basketball hoops. Oh, and a big open field. It was a balmy 52 degrees today according to the Pilot thermometer (Chris Schaeffer will officially call it tonight at 10pm). No snow. No winter jackets. No snow boots. Just a fleece blanket, light jackets and a stocking hat for good measure. It was great to get outside and enjoy our mild Winter.