More about Faith

Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes you've sent about our newest addition. We are very excited to know that soon we will be a family of 6-whew! And yes, this is my last and final child. Two boys and two girls makes us complete :) Well I am sure you all want to know more about our baby Faith, so here goes:

She is currently in an orphanage in South China in the Guangdong Province. The map shows where she is (just pretend that the Sofie says Faith). This means that we will only have to be in one spot the whole 2 weeks to complete the adoption. We will be staying in Guangzhou in the Victory Hotel which is where we were our last week of Shelby's adoption. This is comforting to us as we have been there-done that at least as far as the travel part goes.

Now the big difference will be that Faith has spent her whole life in an orphanage unlike Shelby who was in foster care. So we do know that we should expect some major differences when it comes to behaviors and even physical appearances. Faith may be smaller and act younger than her real age. We are thinking she will be about a 12 month old in terms of behavioral aspects. She probably will not even be walking yet when we get her. Needless to say we are getting a "baby" this go around, not a toddler. Let the fun begin!

Faith is considered a "waiting child" from China. She is what some call a "heart baby". This means that she has congenital heart disease. She has a large perimembranous ventricular septal defect and a moderately large secundum atrial septal defect. So in normal terms she has VSD and ASD and she will more than likely require surgery when she gets home. You can click on those links and learn more about her conditions. Basically she has a hole in the top and bottom parts of her heart. I know that sounds scary, and yes it is scary! However, I believe that with the proper care and the modern medicine we have available, she will recover just fine.

She is growing at a steady rate so hopefully her heart will continue to do OK until we can get her home. I have had her medicals reviewed by several doctors and they all believe that she will do well once she has had her heart surgery. To quote one of them, "The prognosis for a VSD is quite good. I believe that most children with common types of VSDs who are diagnosed and treated appropriately can expect to live normal lives."

Baby Faith is currently 15 pounds and about 28 inches tall. To give some perspective, Shelby is only 23 pounds and 36 inches tall. Remember that the girls are 22 months apart in age! So Faith may soon catch up with her big sister soon. I am currently trying to get some new updated photos from China. Unfortunately, I can't post them on the internet. So if you want to take a peek at Faith then you need to come to First Friday next week where I will be showing them off to anyone who wants to see them (or really anyone who walks by whether or not they care to see her or not ;) Please pray for our little Faith as she is on the other side of the world without her mommy and daddy.