q & a

I thought I'd spend a few minutes answering some questions that people are asking.  If you have more, please ask them in the comments and I'll answer them when I can.

1.  Can James walk?  Can he get himself to a standing position?  It seems like it would be kind of hard.

James can't walk.  He can get himself to a standing position if he's leaning against a wall or bed.  He keeps his balance that way.  Although he doesn't do it very often.  We knew that something was going on with is right leg, but didn't know for sure what.  Now that we're with him in person and can touch him and have been able to learn about his body better, we see that his right foot appears clubbed.  His right leg is quite a bit shorter than his left, so he has to point his right foot to reach the floor.  But more than that, we've come to find that his right foot doesn't flex.  He can't pull it back into a 90 degree angle (it's like his ankle only bends forward not backwards).  So even if he could reach the floor with his right foot, he couldn't plant his foot firmly on the floor.  So when he does stand, his left foot is flat on the floor and his right foot is in a pointed position.

2.  Is James a healthy child other than his disability?

As far as we know.  He will have a medical exam on Saturday.  We don't know a lot about what this will entail, but do know that he'll have a TB test.  We'll get the results from that on Monday.  Prayerfully, he'll be negative.  I don't even want to think about what we'll have to do if he's positive.  The treatment for TB takes quite some time and he would not be able to travel to the United States with us without receiving treatment first.  Our agency said they've never had a child test positive (who isn't already diagnosed).  James has never been diagnosed with anything other than his physical stuff.

James is quite clever and bright.  He gets things.  I know parents often say this about their children, but we are his parents now!  :)  This was frequently the report we heard from others who knew him prior.  We are amazed by his expressive nature.  His eyes speak.  It's precious.

3.  When you got him, did you receive any new information about him that you didn't already know?

We don't have a lot of new information.  Everything we received from the orphanage was consistent with what we already knew.  What's newest to us, is him.  Finally being with him and having constant interaction with him is a very fun adventure.  Just learning his personality, his ways, his preferences, his likes, his dislikes, etc.  So far, he doesn't express a lot of dislikes.  The only thing he's complained about at all is when we've tried to lay him in his crib.  He broke down crying every time but the first time.  I think that's a good thing.  He doesn't want to be left in a crib.  He wants to be with us.  So we lay with him on our bed until he falls asleep.  He eats absolutely everything we present to him.  He has yet to turn down a bite!  And he hasn't made a single face or expressed any disinterest.  In fact, he eats and eats and eats.  As long as we're feeding him, he's eating.  I keep wondering when he's going to be full and turn his face away.  Not yet!  Perhaps he's making up for years of boring, bland, congee and hardly anything else!

The only thing that might be new to us is the extent of what's doing on with his leg.  We had an idea, but weren't entirely sure.  Now we know more about what's going on and perhaps what lies ahead with him.  My best guess is surgeries, possibly castings, and lots of physical therapy.  We shall see.  It'll be nice to get him to the States and have him thoroughly evaluated.

That's all I have for now.  I'll do another post soon about our visit to the Buddhist temple.  Beautiful and interesting.