Girls Night Out, and 4 Months with Betsy:)

First of all let me say thanks to all who are still following my blog, and asking when will you ever post again?(this is for you;) Let me just say that 5 kids+summer+one VERY slow computer=no time!! I can't believe we have had Betsy four months now! She is doing so good. I am so thankful for her fun personality. She is a special little girl, and I am glad she's mine. Betsy loves the pool, and water in general. I say that because we met some friends at the lake last week and she had a ball jumping off the dock into the water. I wasn't sure what she would think about the lake water, but she was great! I am hoping to post pics of our trip soon (hint hint Julie W.) as soon as my sweet friend sends them to me!haha On to the girls night out...this was my first "night out" since we have been home from China. It was so much fun to get together with friends, eat out, talk, laugh, and just enjoy each others company. Todd has put Betsy in bed without me at home one other time, but it was kind of accidental. I went to the grocery store one night about three weeks ago, and got home around 9:00pm. I thought he would probably keep her up until I got home, but when I got back she was in the bed. He said she came up to him, said she was sleepy, and he put her to bed...that simple. She slept all night...no problem! I knew from that night that she would be fine, but I still worried about having to leave while it was still a couple of hours away from bedtime. She was great, and Todd had no problems! I also want to say how blessed I have been to be able to talk to a couple of you who are in the adoption process, and have been reading my blog. Thank you for letting me know how I have encouraged you through your adoptions. I am thankful that God is using our journey to help others.

Betsy's Eyes

On Friday(July 1st) we went to the eye doctor. This is the appointment we have been anticipating since we have been home from China. When we accepted Betsy's refferal her special need was Nystagmus of the left eye. Nystagmus is a shaking of the eye. It can be very mild to very severe. When we asked about her eye we were told that if you are looking at her you could not see the shaking. The only thing we could tell from pictures was that her right eye seemed to turn in. When we were in China and went for her medical exam the doctor told us the Nystagmus was undetectable. We were also told by the orphanage director that she was going to get glasses the week we went to get her, but since we were getting her that week they decided to hold off on getting the glasses. Well, when we went to the doctor Friday we found out the reason the Nystagmus was undetectable...it's because she doesn't have Nystagmus!! She really has a problem with both of her eyes called Alternating Esotropia. When we got Betsy we could tell that both of her eyes seemed to turn in at different times. Sometimes we would look at her and both eyes looked like they were turning in. Our eye doctor also told us Friday that she has monocular vision which means she is only seeing out of one eye at a time. So, it would be like covering one eye for a little while then covering the other eye and seeing out of it for a little while. He said she has probably experienced double vision from time to time. After the exam was completed he told us that she is not far sighted which is usually the case when you have a child with a "lazy eye", so glasses would not help her. He told us we would need to go to a pediatric opthamologist. Dr. Cobb also said that she would probably need surgery to correct her problem. The surgery would reposition the eye muscles so her eyes would not turn in anymore. Then, after surgery we would need to do eye therepy to correct the monocular vision so she would be able to see equally out of both eyes. The good news is that her vision is good, and if she does need surgery it would be outpatient. Our appointment to see the pediatric opthamologist will not be until September 7th, which was the first available appointment they had. I am so thankful for our precious little girl. I pray that we are the blessing to her throughout her life that she has already been to us. I am so glad we can get her the help she needs for her sweet little eyes:)