Kibaale, Uganda, East Africa.
You may recall a couple of posts back that I talked about going to Uganda as a family to have a look at and help out in a couple of organisations that we support.
One of the main places that we visited was a school and community project in the Rakai district called Kibaale. The school that my children attend founded the project at Kibaale, it is very much a part of our family life as we support it financially, pray for it regularly and talk about it all the time.
Rakai is only known internationally because it is the home to the first known AIDS cases in Africa. This is like the heart of the pandemic.
There are literally thousands of child led homes here. Children as young as 8 up to 14 or 15 taking care of their little brothers and sisters. They would approach us for some money or a bit of food. I could not wrap my head around this coming from our culture. I kept thinking,
"Surely someone at least watches out for them.." but no....nobody does. There are just too many children that live that way. If the kids can get into the school at Kibaale, they will at least have a meal.
Here is an excerpt from my journal:
There are millions of children orphaned by AIDS here in Uganda.
I knew this as I came, and yet I am not prepared to see children lower their heads and whisper,
“My father is dead. My mother is dead. I live with my sister.”
“ I am 11. I take care of my brothers and sisters. Can you give me work for food?”
In the district of Rakai, I have learned that there are thousands of child led homes.
“But who actually takes care of them?” I asked the school community worker.
“They look after themselves the best they can. They get a meal at school.”
“That’s it? They get one meal at school?” I responded in total shock. “What about during the school holidays?”
The worker looked at me.
“I think that’s why kids here do not like school holidays, life is hard."
Every year, our school holds a sponsored 5K "Kibaale Walk" to raise money for the community school in Kibaale. The kids get very excited about this. 100% of the money raised goes directly to the project and it basically provides the operating cost of the school (over 800 students) for the entire school year. As if that isn't enough, there are other great incentives closer to home too. This year, the Middle School staff said that if the students in the MS raised a certain amount, the staff would all spend the night locked into the basketball court...students raised money with enthusiasm! There are prizes of class pizza parties, non uniform weeks and extra gym time. Most years, there are also fund raising goals of teachers having their heads shaved...so you can imagine...it is a fun event too.
This year, my children each raised a record amount... THANK YOU to the family and friends that so generously supported this incredible project in Kibaale. The school as a whole (K-12) raised WELL OVER $100,000.00. In one day! One event! Now, isn't that fantastic!!!!!!!!! Way to go to all the P.A. kids that walked in the rain!!
(If you want to check out the Kibaale project, log onto their website at http://www.paoutreach.net/pages/kibaale/kibaale_home.htm It gives details of the project and ways that you can get involved i.e. sponsoring a child. 100% of all money donated goes directly to the Kibaale project)
While in Kibaale, we also had really fun times with these kids that just love to dance, laugh and sing.
The people are all incredibly friendly, and so hospitable. Everyone we met wanted to shake our hands, they hugged our children, they invited us in. We could certainly pick up a few tips in our culture about how to welcome people graciously.
One of the staff there told me that as they do not have much financially, what they give to each other is their time.
"Time is a gift," she said, "so when you come and sit in my home, I give you all the time you want."
I loved that. "Stuff" and getting the supper ready are not as important as the time taken to just sit and chat with friends.
I just love Africa.

28

In a previous post I talked about going to hear Stephen Lewis speak and the tremendous impact that he has had globally in the fight against AIDS.
During his speech, he mentioned that there was a book coming out that was absolutely "astonishing" and incredibly written. Praise indeed.
He said that it was the most well researched writing on AIDS to date...if you want to learn all about the pandemic, read this book.
It is called 28 and is written by the renowned Globe and Mail reporter Stephanie Nolan (a Canadian!) living in Jo'Berg, South Africa.
Her years of living in Africa and researching AIDS in many of the African countries has given her a unique insight that many people do not have.
She has titled her book 28 because to date there are 28 MILLION people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa alone. That's 28,000000...a lot of zeros there.
Check out this link to read more about Stephanie Nolan and her work in Africa. There are lots of links on the right hand side when you open this, that you can go to. They are incredibly moving to read/listen to/watch.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/generated/realtime/aidsStories.html

We also have a great show here on CBC called "The Hour" and Stephanie Nolan was interviewed there recently. (Incidentally, another favourite speaker of mine was recently interviewed, Tony Campolo, it was a very good show...)
Check this link out too, she is well worth listening to.
In this link, make sure you also check the related video files...you will be able to hear Stephen Lewis speak (free!) and there is a clip on children living in Northern Uganda...one of the hardest places in the world to be a child.
http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1549
Do take the time to check these out, please.
Just as an aside, an important aside, but an aside nonetheless...Dave and I went to see the movie, "Amazing Grace" the other night.
I actually wasn't that keen as I'd heard it was "slow" and "ponderous".
For people who don't know the premise, it is about William Wilberforce, an English politician in the 18th century (I know, it sounds boring, hear me out!) who devoted his ENTIRE life to the abolition of the slave trade in England. His friend, William Pitt, who becomes the Prime Minister is completely supportive of this dream and at one point, Pitt asks Wilberforce,
"Do you think that just because there are only 2 of us, we can't change the world on this issue?"
I almost cheered out loud! I LOVED this movie. I want to buy it because for me it embodied what can happen when God puts a dream and a passion into someones heart. Wilberforce just kept going, defeat after defeat, but he couldn't let it go.
Stephen Lewis says something similar when asked how he keeps going.
He says that he does get exhausted at the enormity of the problem and the seemingly endless defeat, with little hope of glory, but you grit your teeth and carry on because you have to.
We have to educate ourselves and be smart about the ways that we can be involved and make a difference. We too, need to grit our teeth and carry on because 28,000000 is all made up of 1's.
People die one at a time.

A goat for Christmas.
In 2005, our family traveled to Uganda to work in an awesome project there that our school founded and continues to run.
There are over 800 students in the project and we of course made friends with many of them when we were there. The little ones always tug at your heart strings, laughing, playing, singing in divine harmony even at an early age, dancing and hanging on to you every time you set foot on the compound. I usually hang out with the younger children, but during the time I spent there, I gradually came to love a few of the older students. A couple in particular stick in my mind and I think of them often.

One boy (probably 14 or so) would come to our door every day and wait for me. When I went outside he would ask me how I was, in a very shy voice and then ask if he could sing or dance for me that day. Of course, I would ask him to and he would sing beautiful songs for me or perform a traditional dance. He would then bow gracefully, smile and head off to school. On the last day we were there, he waited for us for a long time as we got ready to go. He took my hands in both his hands and he sobbed, great tears running down his face. He whispered to me, "I will never forget you, you are so kind to listen to my songs. I wish you my mother". His mother had died. I felt so bereft leaving him.

Another boy also stole my heart. He invited us back to his house to meet his grandmother. Our whole family slogged up the side of a mountain in the heat of the day to get to his house (it was HARD work!) He walked that distance to school and back every day, barefoot, not seeming to notice the rough terrain. We passed coffee fields, maize fields, banana plantations and finally made it to his tiny little hut where he lived with a couple of brothers, an aunt, a baby nephew and an old grandma. We had a great time, just hanging out with half the village watching in shy fascination. They played soccer and volleyball using the traditional African ball made of plastic bags tightly wound together. During our time at the project, this boy stuck to us like glue. Wherever we went, he would appear. He showed us round the tiny village, introduced us to his family, hung out outside our house and played with Joshua every moment of the day. I wanted to bring him back to Canada. I wasn't able to sponsor him, but we made a promise to ourselves to send him things, to send presents, money through the school etc to help him when we could. He always writes and says thank you and how he misses us. Last Christmas, my elder daughter sent the project some money in my name, requesting that they purchase a goat for him. This will bring him income as he sells the milk, or the kids etc. (Or food if they are desperate) Today I got a picture of him holding his goat with a huge smile on his face. Here he is.

If you are not sure of the impact that we have on these amazing kids when we sponsor or support in any way, let me share with you an excerpt of the letter that he wrote to me. (Of course, I realise it is more personal because we have met and are friends.)

"How are you dear Lesley? How is Canada? I got a goat, I send thanks to you, thank you so much...I love you so much. I love your dear family so much. How is Joshua and his sisters...I am so happy for what you done for me and my family.... My dearest , I love you"

My dearest...I love you too.

Stephen Lewis.
We have just had the amazing chance
to hear Stephen Lewis speak,
twice in a row!
He was speaking locally and we got tickets for one event and then heard that he was speaking the next night only 30 mins away! So, we bought tickets for that too. (tickets were not that expensive either!)
I have to applaud this great man as being one of the most incredible speakers I have ever heard in my life. (I also love hearing Tony Campolo who actually says similar things)
I am sure that you know who Stephen Lewis is, but I will just say (in case anybody is not sure) that he was the UN Special Envoy to Africa for HIV/AIDS for five years, among many, many other positions politically/globally and important posts in Unicef etc. He has worked in Africa for almost 50 years and he says that he loves that beautiful continent so much, it has his heart. Check out his foundation at http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/ He has initiated great programs like Granny to Granny which I don't have time to write about, but is so great..check it out!!!
As well as being knowledgeable and super, super smart (I couldn't even hazard a guess at this guy's IQ!), he is very funny, very current, and very compassionate. There were several times that he seemed to choke up as he was relaying stats or stories of his work and believe me, I was crying through a lot of it.
He gave stats like:
Half a million women die in childbirth complications every year. There is absolutely not one reason why this should be. In a world that knows so very much about obstetrics, about getting women into urban areas from rural areas if there is a problem, about the drugs needed when necessary intervention is immediate etc, this should not happen.

Over 75 % of recent infections of HIV in Africa, which if not treated will develop into full blown AIDS, are women and young girls. Gender inequality, says Mr. Lewis, is at the heart of the pandemic. New research out of South Africa suggests that the % may even be in the 90's.
Again, you may have heard this before, but one of the most unsafe places to be in Africa if you are a woman, is in a marriage. They have very little, if any, sexual autonomy and these young girls are infected by their husbands, and then often abandoned to cope, along with caring for their children.
Of course, we are battling against cultural values here, where for many African cultures, as a woman, their esteem and reputation/self worth is tied up in being married and having children.What can they do? Nothing.

There are almost 15 MILLION orphans in Africa with a CONSERVATIVE estimate being that the figure will rise to almost 20 million by 2010.
In Liberia, when he last visited, they had over two million orphans (I think that's accurate from my memory) and they just couldn't cope.
Something that really struck Dave and I was that he said that would be like Canada suddenly having to cope with over 2 million orphans this year. We couldn't possibly cope either and that is with a highly developed infra structure and being one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
There were many more stats and some horrific, mind boggling ones like the U.S spending on the Iraq war was now over 9 BILLION....A MONTH! When I think of figures like that, it just makes me so mad.
Anyway, as you can see, I could go on and on. He had some heart wrenching stories. He had some encouraging stories (not many of these actually) He praised Canada's citizens for their compassion and their concern and condemned Canada's Government for their foreign aid practices and not meeting promises.
Many, many more things to say, but I don't have space or time (and I'm sure most of you have things to do too!) However, Dave and I talked into the night (both nights!). What can we do? What should we do?
We know that this is our heart, our passion, our calling to be involved with African orphans in some way.
For now, we will continue to take sponsorship of children in Africa very seriously. We will continue to support the organisations like HOPE International and Compassion that work tirelessly to make a difference. We will teach our children about the world and their spiritual, moral, HUMAN obligation to do whatever they can wherever they are. We will try to make ourselves aware of what in the world is going on in our world. We may at some point end up working in Africa, we know and talk about it endlessly, that is our big dream.

I want to be just like my daddy...
The other day my daughter Megan and I were quickly running through Wal Mart (story of my life lately, I'm always running somewhere! :) ) and we spotted some perfect little boots for Ayana and Moses.

Doodle Bop boots for Ayana and Bob the Builder boots for Moses. Don't feel bad if you do not know what these are! I confess that before Ayana and Moses arrived, I had not heard of the Doodle Bops. I remember Bob from when Josh was little. Ayana loves the Doodle Bops, a singing, poppy, dancing group for kids. (I'm not as convinced, they are very irritating, but oh well...) When we got home and showed them their new little boots, they were delighted and insisted on putting them on there and then..even though Ayana was all ready for bed and Moses was nearly ready, just in his diaper. He tried to pull his boots on the wrong feet, saying "b, b, b, b" for Bob. Here they are proudly showing off their new boots.

Moses is obsessed with wearing his daddy's shoes. Many times a day I find him desperately trying to walk in Dave's enormous shoes, often falling over after a few steps.

It is very sweet the way that he loves to go into the closet, haul out a pair of shoes, spend a few concentrated minutes pulling them on, struggle to stand up, only to fall over and start over again.

Notice the delicate balancing act..."if I stay bent over like this...I might stay standing!" (Also note the odd shoes, he doesn't care if they are a pair, just as long as they are way too big)

Here he is attempting to walk in Dave's shoes.

I have to say, Dave is the most awesome guy, wonderful husband and fantastic daddy...those are big shoes to fill little guy!

Playdate Fun

One of the things that I was excited about before my kids came home from Ethiopia, was arranging playdates . I am still excited about this and as more children come home to their forever families, there will be more opportunities for playdates with Ethiopian buddies. (Can't wait to have little M from Abbotsford and M from Vancouver join us VERY soon!! Yeah, come on guys and gals...we're waiting to play!)
A couple of weeks ago, Ayana had a playdate with a little friend, T, that was in the foster home in Addis at the same time as her and Moses. When T was shown their referral pictures, she told her mom that she used to play with Ayana and had even helped with Moses in the baby room.
What fun for them to reconnect here in Vancouver! They have seen each other at our Vancouver dinners, but this was the first "proper" play date. They had so much fun playing with my Little Pony and of course dressing up! First they dressed up as princesses, then as animals, then back to princesses.
We have many fun costumes at our house to choose from..spider man, batman, cowboys, princesses, cats, pirates, medieval ladies dresses etc etc...the list goes on and on. However, poor Moses was on this occasion "roped" (pun intended!) into being a cow!
Here he is, oblivious of the fact that everybody else chooses more glamorous costumes, like fairy princesses complete with sparkly wings and tiaras! (Maybe that's a good thing :) )

The goodbye hug, Ayana still dressed as Tigger! Aren't they beautiful!

Our one and only claim to any fame!
I realised that I had not told you about our experience being media stars!
A few months ago, our adoption agency called me and asked if I would be willing to do an over the phone interview with a Vancouver paper about adopting from Africa.
Of course, I said that would be fun, no problem, just let me know when.
So, a few days later, the reporter called and I answered a whole list of questions like,
"Why are you adopting when you have your "own" children.?" (Grrrr, I set her straight on that one!) "Why Africa?" "How has our community reacted? How have the Ethiopian community reacted?" and so on.
They then called and asked if we would mind having a photographer come and take a picture..nothing major..just for an inside story.
Again, of course, why not!
So, the photographer came round and did a million shots, some funky shots, other more traditional ones. Ayana and Moses actually did really well and we didn't have to bribe the older ones too much either.
The photographer mentioned as he was leaving that as we are a Surrey family, the Surrey sister paper might want to use the photos...OK with that? Of course.
That was it, no promise of it actually being used, no mention of when etc.
So, imagine my shock when I got the Sunday paper that weekend and our family was all over the front page of the paper...this was what I saw.

Our family, sat on the stairs....now staring out at people all over Surrey, Delta, New West, Vancouver etc etc.
I was so excited! (If I would have known the extent of the coverage, I would have done my hair...at least I would have combed it)
Since then, the media attention has died off I have to say, and I don't get asked for autographs any more (a little boy at my son's school ran over to me one day and asked if I was famous because he'd seen me in the paper. I told him I was VERY famous and he wanted my autograph...so funny!)
Here are the other shots that were used in the paper.














The interview was mostly accurate, a few minor details missing or added, a few controversial Q & A missing, but pretty good.
The highlight of this whole experience for us though, happened only about a month ago. We were in a little Ethiopian restaurant in Vancouver when the owner suddenly came up to Dave with a phone in his hand and told him that the call was for him. Dave, completely puzzled of course, took the call and it was an Ethiopian man in Surrey who had seen us in the paper.
He was friends with the restaurant owner and had told him how much he wanted to speak with us. When we went into the restaurant, the owner had called him right away as he recognised us.
Anyway, this guy told Dave how happy he was that we had adopted from his homeland and also said that we were family now. He gave his number and told us to call anytime we needed to.
We were completely amazed and also humbled.
I think I could safely say that the reaction from the Ethiopian community has been awesome.

Happy Easter
Happy Easter to all. I don't know whether you are Christians or even believe in God, but for us, as Christians, this is one of the most significant days of our year.
This is the day that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.
We had a great talk at church today that basically said if we don't believe that there ever was a resurrection, there is nothing to our faith. BUT and it is a big but, if we do, then we should be looking to see where we can be bringing that resurrection hope into our world now.
So, when we encounter injustice, intolerance, cruelty,misery and pain, we can be looking at how we can be bringing God's mercy, love,justice, peace and joy. Something to think about.
The kids had (or are having) a great day. Ayana and Moses had a blast at church, waving flags and dancing around to the music. When we got home, after a French toast with strawberries lunch (thanks Dave!) the kids all went on a treasure hunt to search for chocolate!


We kept hearing shrieks of delight as clues were found with little pieces of candy...Ayana and Moses couldn't believe their luck being fed with Easter Jelly Bellies as they followed their older siblings around the house.
Dave does wicked clues that even I have a bit of a hard time figuring out, so I am always impressed that the kids actually get them.

Here they are at the beginning of the treasure hunt showing off the beautiful eggs that they decorated yesterday.
When they finally got all the clues, they were led to their Easter chocolate and a present for each of them.
Again, Ayana and Moses thought they had landed in Paradise as we gave them each a chocolate bunny. Ayana immediately sat down and started chomping on it, almost right through the silver paper.












They were not at all impressed when it was time for their naps and the other kids were still eating chocolate. Ayana cried and hung onto her bunny...we had to promise her the chocolate would still be there after her sleepy time. I lay down with her for a while and she sobbed and sobbed for a good ten minutes. I have to say it was quite funny, even though she was so sad. Have we created a chocoholic already?
So, that is our Easter this year. As I talked about in my last post, Easter 2006 was spent in vain hope that we would ever get a referral...and this year, here they are, laughing and dancing around at church, munching chocolate with their brother and sisters...isn't that so incredibly cool!

Memories

I was emailing a friend today about the wait for referral and how hard that can be. I was wanting to encourage her. (Hang in there L...we're all waiting for that news!)

It was this time last year that our referral came.

I remember on Good Friday 2006, sitting in our living room so depressed and miserable. I thought our referral would never come. We had heard from our agency only that week that referrals were slow, that the wait for siblings under 2 would be probably a year or so.

I asked Dave if we had made a mistake. I didn't really mean that, but I was despondent and depressed. Were we crazy? Could I wait for a year?We went to church on Easter Sunday, good service, great reflective time. A friend came to me and tried to encourage me..."your referral could come tomorrow, you never know" she said. I gritted my teeth..."maybe, don't think so, but thanks" I muttered.

On Easter Monday I got up, got my cup of tea, checked my emails and saw an email from CAFAC (Agency)

I thought it was a country update and clicked on it to read,"This is the email that you have been waiting for since your dossier went to Ethiopia"

I thought, "How weird, I haven't been waiting that long for a country update?" I read on,"You have been matched and your referral papers are on their way to your provincial agency. You should hear from them in the next few days" I have to say, I must have read that sentence ten times before it slowly dawned on me that our referral was here. (Hey, I never claimed to be a genius!)

I remember starting to hyper ventilate and running to the bottom of the stairs screaming for Dave. Dave came tearing downstairs because he honestly thought there was a fire or a serious emergency. All he saw was me standing with tears pouring down my face and my hand over my mouth.

"What! What!" he shouted. "Our referral" and I pointed to the computer...

We got our phone call from our Provincial agency the very next day. I remember my social worker saying "Good morning Lesley.Congratulations! We have a referral for you"

She sent the package over and Dave and I sat holding hands waiting to see the details of our new children, to see their faces for the VERY FIRST TIME. Here are those pictures.(It makes me sad to see Ayana looking so scared and miserable :( )

A little girl, Kalkidan (her Ethiopian name, 17 months old) and her baby brother Ermias (his Ethiopian name, 3 months old)

Joy. Tears. Hugs. Joy. Tears.

Can words really describe that moment, that very first glimpse of your child? From despair to complete utter bliss in a matter of a few days.

We got updated pictures 6 weeks later after a group came back.

Here they are after 6 weeks of food and care in the foster home.

We scrutinised these pictures and others that were sent during our wait to travel. We knew every mm of their beautiful faces. We loved them without ever holding them. We couldn't wait to kiss them, stroke their little cheeks, hold onto them very tightly. We adored them.

So, this Easter as I remember our Easter last year, I want to encourage all those waiting, waiting, waiting for your referral. It will happen and when it does, that glorious moment of seeing their face(s) for the first time will be worth the wait. I promise you that.

Moses.

This is going to be a long post, there's a lot to share and it has been possibly one of the most stressful times of my life, so stick with me!

After discussion on the adoption forum about getting our newly adopted children tested for TB, I decided to go last week and get Ayana and Moses checked out. Our wonderful paediatrician had recommended it when we got back from Ethiopia, but had advised us to wait for a few months before doing the testing as malnutrition can affect results.

I took them in, they had the skin test and we waited a couple of days to see if they would react.

In my mind I was half expecting them to react and sure enough, after a day, they both started to develop a red bump on their arm.

When I took them back to the TB clinic, they read their skin tests and said that they both needed chest x-rays. We had already waited a couple of hours in the clinic and I prepared myself for a loooong day :) Little did I know!

Up to the x-ray centre, waiting, waiting, x-rays taken (Quite difficult to get a 1 yr old to stand completely still on a little bench leaning against a cold metal plate) Back down to the TB clinic, waiting, waiting. Finally the Dr called us in to look at the chest x-rays.

The procedure is that with a positive skin test, you get the chest x-ray to determine if you have active TB. With children under 5, the recommendation is that with a positive skin test, even with a clear chest x-ray, they need to be on meds (3 different types of antibiotics) for 6-9 MONTHS to clear them of the latent TB.

I went into the Dr's office and he put Ayana's x-ray up. "Negative for TB, all normal"

Then he put Moses x-ray up and the drama started...he literally said, "Oh my god! This is not normal. He has a huge heart that is spread right across his rib cage. I've never seen anything like it."

Then he called the nurse in and said again, "Have you ever seen an x-ray this abnormal?"

The nurse looked at me standing frozen in complete shock, and suggested that the Dr told me whether Moses was clear of TB...the Dr just kept shaking his head and saying, "This is serious, really serious"

Finally he looked at me and said, "I don't know what this means but I need to be in touch with your paediatrician..oh and he's clear of TB"

I managed to gather my wits enough to ask about the medication and he said definitely not, they didn't need it. I asked why all the literature says that they do need it and he said, they don't need it, absolutely not. I then asked what I should do about Moses, was he OK etc. Then he said "I'm a TB Dr, I'm not a cardiologist but all I know is that this isn't right, it's very serious."

Can you imagine how I felt as I left the clinic? I was in complete shock and I could barely buckle Moses into his stroller because I was shaking. The nurse came after me as I left and asked if I had the meds all sorted out. I told her the Dr said they didn't need it. She brought me back into the clinic again to recheck because she said children usually get the meds with a positive skin test. The Dr again said no....she gave me her card and told me to call her.

I wandered around the medical buildings for a while trying to absorb the fact that my little baby boy had a serious problem with his heart. I called Dave and told him in tears. He was stunned of course.

Then I decided that I was not going to wait for the TB Dr to get hold of my paediatrician, I was going to talk to her myself. Fortunately she was in the next building and I went in to her office and burst into tears again...the lovely receptionist told me she was fully booked. Of course, people wait for months to see her. I pleaded just for 5 minutes. I was told to come back in an hour and she would see me for 10 minutes.

More waiting, getting the kids something to eat etc. I couldn't eat, everything tasted like sawdust in my mouth.

Ayana kept saying, "what matter mommy?"

Finally I went back up to the Paediatrician's and she was so AWESOME... she took me in her office, sat down, gave me kleenex and told me to start at the beginning.

She is so wonderful, very matter of fact and reassuring.

She then gave Moses a thorough physical exam and said that everything checked out as far as she could see. She got on the phone with the TB clinic and also a pediatric radiologist who had the x-rays sent over. The ped radiologist said the x-ray was normal.

WHAT? How can it be "the most abnormal x-ray " a Dr had seen and "normal" at the same time?

My paediatrician said that she would call her friend at Children's Hospital in Vancouver, a renowned cardiologist and ask her to help us out. She phoned and this wonderful lady told me to come down to Children's today and she would sort it out. I could not believe it. Do you know how long it takes people to get in to see specialists at Children's???? I knew that God was watching out for little Moses.

I went back to the TB clinic to pick up the x-rays and a different Dr called me into his office. He at least apologised for the way that the other Dr had told me about Moses x-ray and said that they were OK with the ped radiologist opinion and also....told me that the kids needed to be on the medication. I was so furious. I told them that I didn't care if they were happy with the ped radiologist opinion, I was getting my own second opinion and also that I had triple asked earlier if the kids should be on meds and had been triple told no. I told them to call me when they had come to an agreement on treatment.

Down to Children's hospital. It was now the end of the afternoon...I had gone to the TB clinic at 9:30 a.m.

We waited, waited, waited for the waiting room to empty and finally I got into the cardiologist. She examined Moses, said that he had a normal exam, looked at the x-rays and said that she needed an ultrasound of the heart and an electrocardiogram to be 100% sure that all was OK. I asked her why that needed to happen...were the x-rays showing something abnormal...she said "maybe".

However, as this was the end of the day, all the testing had to be done the next day.

I went home and our whole family prayed, I called my family in UK and they started praying, my church started praying, my friends were praying. I couldn't even post about it on the adoption forum as I was so upset and scared. This little boy had a lot of prayers offered up on his behalf in that 24hours before we could get the tests done.

So...(I told you this was going to be loooong, but I need to tell the whole story) yesterday we went back down to Children's for the tests. This time, Dave was with me. Also, it was my birthday but the day just didn't seem that happy for me even though the sun was out and the blossoms were blooming. It just all seemed blah.

Moses had his tests...hard to see your baby hooked up to machines...and then more waiting to see the cardiologist for results.

As I was waiting I was watching the parents in the Heart Centre. There were teenagers there with their Ipods on, right down to a newborn baby being nursed in the corner and I wondered how many of them had battled through agonies of having their children diagnosed with heart problems, it was so sad.

We were called into the office. I was shaking.

We sat down and the cardiologist said, "This little guy is fine. He checks out 100%. His tests are great. The size of the heart is normal. The chambers of the heart are strong, with good activity. The Doppler (sound) reading is good. He's a healthy baby" His x-ray had shown that the heart size was big, but she said that's why we do other tests. It turned out to be something called the thymus (spelling?) gland had been in a slightly different place than normal, but it was completely fine..no worries at all!!

I almost burst into tears on the spot. I thanked her over and over for squeezing us into her busy schedule, for her kindness in seeing me the day before. She smiled and said that she liked to put parents worries to rest.

The drive home was wonderful. We sang. We called people. I kept looking at my little guy in his car seat blowing kisses at me. We thanked God.What a fabulous birthday present!! Moses has only been in our lives for seven months but my goodness....we LOVE him so much!!!

Oh, yes, they probably do need to take the meds for latent TB...that now seems like a walk in the park.

I am so grateful for healthy children, something that money just can not buy. I thought of all the parents still waiting anxiously in the Heart Centre and felt so bad for them.

Thank you God for my healthy baby boy.

Thank you for sticking with this long post...I'll get by with a little help from my friends.