Say "YES!" to God's call.
When He calls, He always enables.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Cheryl, LiuBo, and SiQing

Seven years ago, my friend Cheryl was a single nurse, living here in Franklin and decided to adopt a baby from Ch*na. Two years later, she felt God lead her to move to Ch*na. At the time, some wondered if she was on an impossible mission, as she had little money, no support and only a strong conviction that she was being obedient to God's call. After she arrived, God began sending babies to her and recently she has signed a contract with the govt to provide homes for 60 aids orphans. The govt does not provide any financial support for these children. Cheryl has been able to open two homes, as God provided the finances as well as local Christian houseparents and staff. Twelve children live in each home.
This month Cheryl and her two daughters have been staying with us and we have had a wonderful time together. While here she has had the chance to visit with old friends and make some new ones - see her here visiting with Leeanne, who also feels a strong pull to the mission field and I believe has been encouraged by hearing all that God has done for and through Cheryl.







Monday, April 13, 2009

Before and After

Andy is feeling fine and although he has stitches from ear to ear he looks beautiful ! It is hard to even imagine how the 2 plastic surgeons, 2 neurosurgeons and their team actually did what they did with titanium plates and something biodegradeable, so here are the pictures to prove it. The first two are in China - the ones at the bottom are at home on Easter.
Andy had a little trouble getting used to his new look. At first, he kept saying his eyes were too small. While they looked googley to us apparently some Asians thought they looked attractive - in fact his referral from China said he had beautiful eyes. We have persuaded him that now he has beautiful Asian eyes like Ric, Liu Bo and Isabella. We return to Chapel Hill this week for the doctors to check his progress. Andy has already started asking when we are going to fix his teeth. That will be next year's surgery.
The little girl playing with playdough is Cheryl's daughter, Liu Bo from Yunnan, China who is staying with us this month while she is in the states. More on her later - visit her blog to see what God has been doing through her.
Thanks again for your prayers. A friend of mine said she was so sorry that China had not been honest about the seriousness of Andy's problems. I am so glad they were not. I would never have been brave enough to knowingly choose a child with his challenges. The first days with him were scary, but every morning I would wake up and see his smile and know it was okay. God put a love in my heart for Andy that I knew was a gift from Him. He is an amazing kid and I am so excited to see God unfold the plan He has for him. And for us.
Catherine






















Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Going Home - From Franklin Street to Franklin

When I picked Andy and Jerry up at the hospital, Andy still looked pretty miserable. We tried to get a smile for the camera, but he would not cooperate. As we closed the door, drove away, and popped in the "Seussical the Musical" CD, we got our first smile. In just a few minutes, Andy was our old talkative boy, singing loudly with the music. As we reached the first traffic light, police were blocking the intersection at Franklin Street and we got to see the National Champion University of North Carolina TarHeels, escorted by motorcycle police, state troopers, lights on, sirens blaring! At the moment we are driving through a beautiful, snowny blizzard (hopefully the last we will see this year) and listening to 'Seussical' for the third time. We are all very happy. Catherine



Monday, April 6, 2009

random thoughts

Andy took us to Beijing during the Olympics and to Chapel Hill for the NCAA basketball championship game - not that we saw either one except on TV, but we enjoyed the atmosphere. I have had children for 31 years and this is only my second hospital stay with any of them (Katrina had MRSA a few years ago). I love institutional food - see us fighting over Andy's tray while I am pretending to feed him. Andy must be feeling a little better, he is starting to get more demanding -he even watched a little tv this evening. I want to talk Jerry into going to see the Chinese acrobats in Pigeon Forge in July - its free for kids sdopted from China. Is anyone else planning to go? Where are you staying?...They have told us we can go home tomorrow. The nurse is going to show me how to wash his hair first. He has to take showers instead of baths for awhile, can't dive into a swimming pool or play football but other than that he has no restrictions.

Helmet Off

Here is Andy with his new hairdo!! If you click on it , you will see the stitches that go ear to ear. As I thought, he was pretty disappointed after it came off. I am sure he thought that all would be back to normal and we would go home. His forehead is just beautiful and his eyes will obviously have a typical Asian beauty. It is hard to tell about the rest because there is still so much swelling, it looks pretty gigantic. The doctors say that he is doing amazingly well, and we will go home soon, much earlier than expected.


Sunday, April 5, 2009

out of ICU

Andy made some big strides today. This is a picture of him playing. His eyes open just the tiniest bit and the doctor says the swelling is going down unusually quickly (thank you again all you who are praying). He has refused any food or drink until I mentioned the words ice cream -so tonight I fed him orange sherbert. Tomorrow morning at 6 AM will be the reveal - his bandages will come off!! Andy knows it will come off on Monday so every so often he will wake up and ask if it is Monday yet. I suspect that he thinks the helmet is what is keeping his eyes closed and he is frustrated with it. The doctor said that Andy's head will still be swollen tomorrow and in fact, we will not know his exact head shape for a few months. Jerry will be the one here in the morning when it happens, but since Andy was moved to a regular room tonight the kids will be able to visit him tomorrow so we will try to have pix of everyone posted before noon.

ORDERS FOR ANDY

The nurse just informed me that Andy has orders to move to the floor!!! That is extremely good news. However, the downside of these orders is that at the present time there are no beds available on the 'floor' (regular hospital). I am hoping that someone out in the regular hospital is receiving their order to go home right now. That would be good news to both them and us!

Andy's vitals have been good all alone; the doctors main concern has been his sodium level. They put extra sodium in his system, then reduced the sodium input, and his body maintained a safe level. Good! Andy still sleeps for long stretches on time and awake to "Go Potty" and to take a few sips of juice.

Catherine will pass on more when we get to the room and will be able to post different pictures. Right now he looks exactly as he did 33 hours ago except for a slight, very slight, reduction in the swelling in his left eye.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

day 2

As you can see, Andy got his oxygen mask off today and as you can't see, he also got his catheter out. He will stay another day in ICU because his sodium is low (common in brain surgeries). He has not opened his eyes yet - perhaps they are swollen shut. He talks from time to time - asking me to hold his hand or asking for his bear. Once he said 'my head is broken'. He had been very excited ahead of time to come here for the doctors to fix his head, so I assured him that it was fixed. Jerry spent last night here. he has just taken Ric and Amber back to Ronald McDonald House to sleep while they play. Tonight they will all go watch Carolina play basketball at Katrina's while I stay here. I am expecting Andy to want me here most of the time as he wakes up but, as with everything else, we will play it by ear.

SLEEPING WITH HIS EYES CLOSED

For the first time since he has been a Wright, Andy is sleeping with his eyes closed. He is in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and his recovery from Cranial Vault surgery has begun. He went into the operating room around 2:30 p.m. and came out some time after 8 o'clock. His skull has been completely reshaped today. The plastic surgeon said the surgery went very well. He is expected to be in intevsive care until sometime tomorrow and then will be moved to a regular room. All of his vital signs are very good. The doctors plan to remove the turban on Monday.

As you can see from the pictures, his bear had a similar surgery! :) That is a nice touch and I think Andy will appreciate it once he starts to return to normal.

Remember to click on the pictures to see them full size!









Friday, April 3, 2009

1st update

Andy didn't go into surgery until 3:00 so we won't hear anything before 7/8 tonight.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Mothersheart Site

Cheryl (who is currently visiting us from China) has her website up!!!! when I figure out how to do a link I will ad it but for now you can type in mothersheartchina.org