I have so many updates to share so I'll get started!
The kiddos...
Brooke is now in 6th grade and really enjoying it! She joined the chess club and is playing fast pitch softball. She started her 9th year of tap, jazz and ballet and she'll soon celebrate her 12th birthday! She will also start confirmation classes in January.
Baker is now in 4th grade and loves his new teacher! He is playing baseball and is quite the slugger! He will have his heart checked at Duke in October so please pray for a good report. He just celebrated his 9th birthday in August!
Brea started 3 year old preschool the first week of September. She loves it!!! She goes 3 morning a week for 3 hours each. She can already sing the months of the year and the days of the week. She has also started ballet and tap lessons just like her big sissy. She has finished speech therapy and is close to finishing physical therapy. She will be seen at Duke this week for her 3 month check up and she will be having a heart biopsy in November to check for rejection so please keep her in your prayers for a good check up and zero rejection!
Bailey is now 22 months old. We got an update recently on her health and it simply said that she has been healthy with no illnesses and no surgeries. The paperwork is coming along. Our home study is done and we are in the process of waiting for immigration approval. Once we receive that our dossier can be sent to China and we will wait (not so patiently) for our letter of approval and travel approval. We are still hopeful to have her home in the Spring of 2009.
Church search...
We are happy to report that our search for a church home is finally over. We are very happy to have found a church where we are all happy. Even Brea is attending Sunday school all by herself!!! She likes it so much that she forgets to tell us bye when we get to the classroom. It is a bigger church than we are use to but there are many, many opportunities to serve and we have found the folks to be down to earth, friendly and caring. Of course we still miss out church family in Prairieville, LA very much and we are guilty of comparing our new church to our old but we know that God has brought us here for a reason and we are open to His plan for our lives.
AP article and Medical Insurance...
When our story was published by the Associated Press we got lots and lots of calls and letters from folks near and far. Some were old friends who we had lost touch with and some were families like ours who have been through tough times with an ill child. We even heard from one lady who had been married for 30+ years who was getting a divorce so she could keep her medical coverage through the state. Sad but true. One call that we got was from Bev Perdue's office. They called to inform us of an insurance plan that is going to be available in 2009 for those with high risk medical problems. Brea will qualify for this plan since having a heart transplant is one of the conditions that automatically qualifies you. The premiums and deductable are high but it will cover the cost of her medications, doctors visits, labs, hospitalizations, etc. at 100% once the $5,000 deductable is met. We were thrilled to learn of this plan and know that it is the answer to many prayers.
Another call that we got was from our insurance company. They have finally settled with Arkansas Children's Hospital. As you may remember, Brea received her heart transplant at an out of network facility and therefore our insurance coverage of one million dollars was used up very quickly. After months of negotiations between the hospital and the insurance carrier they negotiated a better rate for her 10 week stay and hospital services and issued a credit back to our insurance company! This means that she now has some coverage!!! It could last until the end of the year or it could be gone tomorrow. It all depends on her medical needs. Once again...we know that this was not luck but instead was the result of many faithful prayer warriors praying for a solution!
Photos...
I do have lots of new photos to share but to be honest...it is late and I am just too tired to download them tonight. I will try to get them downloaded tomorrow and posted sometime tomorrow evening.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for always remembering our family in your prayers. I cannot begin to tell you the number of emails I have received from folks just wondering how we are doing and telling us that they are still praying for us. We are truly blessed to have so many brothers and sisters in Christ.
