Gratitude

I am sorry it has taken so long to post again with a home update. The first week home was actually quite difficult. We were jet lagged and Julie was not sleeping at all the first few days. I became very sick and exhausted and lost a lot of weight. To top it off, Julie became very ill and was diagnosed with bronchitis/"possibly pneumonia". She was started on antibiotics and has been doing much better, but is still coughing.

After about of week of being home, Julie is sleeping better. She pretty much only wakes up for a brief comfort bottle and is back in bed. As a result of Julie feeling better, I am doing better. But I am also doing better because of all the people that have called, visited, and helped out. I can not begin to express the gratitude I have for my family and friends, but let me try...

I want to thank my aunt Mimi for coming over and giving me support, bringing food, and showing me some "tricks of the trade". Thanks to my Mom who came over and cooked, grocery shopped even though she was sick and jet lagged herself. Thank you Steve for bringing over the congee, rice pudding, and lasagne. Thank you Susie for coming over and giving me a bit of rest on "Black Monday". We so appreciated every visitor, every phone call, email, and encouragement from you all. I don't know what I would have done without you all.

But our gratitude extends even beyond. We thank our adoption agency for making our dream come true. We thank the Chinese government for allowing International adoption. We thank our travel group that will be our extended family for the years to come. And of course we thank our daughter's birth parents for placing her in an obvious location so she could be found quickly and safely. May God place in their hearts the knowledge that their birth daughter is forever loved and nurtured.

I will end this post with an exerpt from a Sinead O'Connor song. It's called "My Darling Child" and is from her Universal Mother album. It's just one of the myriad of lullabies I sing to Julie.
My Darling Child
My Darling Baby
My Darling Child
You came and saved me
My Darling Child
My Darling Baby
My Darling Child
You gave life to me
My Darling Child
My Darling Baby
My Darling Child
God gave you to me....