Daniel with the mouse he made at our Chinese New Year party.

Daniel skating with the two of the Mustang players, following his 1st ever hockey game!

I feel embarrassed that it has been SO long since we have updated our blog! I apologize to those of you have faithfully checked it these past weeks. It must have been very disappointing to continually find no new posts! We want to thank all of you who have prayed for us these past weeks. We are all continuing to adjust. Daniel is doing really well, in spite of the changes that have occurred in his life these past weeks. He is eating and sleeping well, learning English VERY quickly, and making new friends through church activities and "playdates." He is involved in several activities each week, including swim lessons, storytime at the library, and "playtime" while Lora attends a ladies' Bible study on Thursday mornings. One of our favorite activites is going to the health club two to three times a week for exercise and/or swimming. He is walking with his walker more and more all the time.

We want to thank those of you who prayed with us about Daniel's appointment at Shriner's Hospital last Thursday. Overall we felt very good about it. We met with most of the Spina Bifida Clinic's "team": a patient care coordinator (aka, a social worker), a dietician, a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a resident physician, and finally a pediatric orthopedist. Each person asked us many questions about Daniel's health, development and abilities, and performed very comprehensive evaluations/examinations. X-rays were taken of Daniel's spine and pelvis. Daniel was amazingly pleasant and cooperative through it all.

Overall the news was very positive. Daniel's spine is straight with no sign of scoliosis. This is a huge praise! His hips are in-socket which is another huge praise! Although Daniel's hip joints are very weak, the orthopedist doesn't feel that surgery is indicated at this time. He will monitor Daniel very closely (x-rays every 6 months) for awhile to ensure that his hips don't begin to move in and out of socket. (This is a common occurence for kids with spina bifida). If this should happen surgery might be needed down the road.

The orthopedist's biggest concern was regarding Daniel's braces. Most of you know that his current braces are ones that we have borrowed from Easter Seals, and although they are more supportive than what he had in China, they are still not supportive enough. The orthopedist recommended that we have braces made for Daniel as soon as possible. We had already begun that process with Easter Seals, but this has made us more eager to get new braces as soon as possible.

We were a little disappointed that Daniel didn't get to see the urologist and neurosurgeon at this first appointment, but thankfully we won't have to wait too long. His first appointment with the urologist is scheduled for April 3 and his first appointment with the neurosurgeon is on April 17. Following these initial appointments, we will be able to see all three specialists on the same day which will eliminate so many trips back and forth to Chicago.

Our biggest prayer requests right now are: (1) that our insurance company will grant a "gap exception" to Easter Seals, so that they can provide Daniel's OT and PT as an in-network provider; (2) that the orthopedic company that normally provides orthodics to Easter Seals' patients (Plattner Orthopedic Co) will agree to work with us on cost. They are also an out-of-network provider with our insurance company, which means the deductible will be twice as much and the coverage much lower. If we cannot come to some kind of agreement with them we will likely have to choose another orthopedic company; and (3) please continue to pray for Daniel's upcoming evaluations at Unit 5 schools. The evaluations have been moved back to Friday, April 17.

Thanks SO much for your continued prayers!