A Tricycle!!

Eliza's God parents gave her a tricycle...and it's a hit! The second she saw it she got excited, requested help to climb aboard and boldly said "bye-bye" as she looked up at me with "O.K. lady push me" in her eyes. Her feet don't quite reach the pedals, but it won't be long at the rate she's growing.


Mother's day was fantastic. It was the kind of day you can't plan. Everyone was happy, the weather was perfect, and we had a great day together. We worked in the yard a little...Eliza included. She was very helpful.


The two pictures below were taken one year apart on Mother's day. It's hard to believe it's the same sweet girl, but it is. Where did the baby go?

Related News

Several years ago, the founder of our adoption agency, Joshua Zhong, started a great organization called Chinese Children Charities. For years, he and his wife have traveled to China to lead medical missions, to teach child care training courses at orphanages, and have successfully lobbied the government as child care advocates. The have founded several well equipped child care facilities in China all the while applying state-side cash donations to the purchase of critical orphanage supplies such as formula, clothes, blankets, and heaters.

All of us with strong emotional ties to China, have been deeply saddened by the recent earthquake in China's Sichuan province. The epicenter was only several hundred miles from Eliza's orphanage. Recently Joshua did an interview discussing the situation in the earthquake area. Here is a link to the video.

Barney Leg

May 2nd was a rough day for Eliza. She fell...over and over and over! By the end of the day she wouldn't put her left leg down for standing or walking. We didn't know if the falls were a result of the leg pain, or if the leg pain was a result of the falls. I talked with a nurse at Children's hospital and the verdict was..."bring her in". We ended up in the Children's urgent care center from 8:45 pm to 12:45 am...YUCK! Xrays were negative, but little Eliza still wouldn't put her leg down. The nurse practitioner on duty decided to splint her leg and recommended we follow up with our pediatrician on Monday. So, you see above the splint. Eliza got a little upset about it until we called it her Barney leg...ahhh, Barney. Turns out "Ba Ba No Wak" (translated: Barney legs don't walk). We are fortunate in that our pediatrician has office hours on Saturday. I called and we decided to give her leg a test run before any more visits or diagnostic testing. The test run occurred Sunday at 4:00pm and she was fine. No more Barney leg, no more doctor's visits, no idea what happened. Just happy it's over!

Now back to work.