Follow up post ......

Waiting to be called for our appointment!

Thank you friends and family for your love and prayers and for journeying down this new path with Lucy and us!  Your love, support and encouragement via your texts, facebook messages, emails, and phone calls mean so much to us.  You've been so kind in being a part of Team Lucy, I wanted to follow up on yesterday's post with an update.  We've now made the turn and have entered onto Freeway Fix a Foot!

Lucy Kim was once again such a great little patient!  There were no complaints and she seemed "ready to do this thing."  After taking us into the room to await the doctor, our nurse opened a cupboard door with several shelves lined with boxes and boxes of different cast colors to choose.  Not surprised the little Miss picked hot pink.  The nurse also handed Lucy a "shoe" that she could wear after the cast was put on.

Holding the hot pink casting material
(only to have it taken back minutes later)

However things changed when the doctor came in.  He decided that he thought it would be best to put her in a soft cast (meaning the pretty color wrap that makes a "soft" cast hard would not be put on) AND he does not want her bearing weight (which obviously includes any walking) during these castings.  So, the hot pink wrap was taken back and the shoe/boot was quickly swept away.  The good news about this is they will not need to use the "loud machine" to remove the casts each week.  Lucy is sensitive to loud noises, so alleviating this stressor each week will be nice.  The not so good news is.....now we're looking at 12ish weeks of not walking or bearing weight.

Pushing on the "talus"bone in her foot

Amazed at her compliance and smiles

Cast goes up high on her little thigh

Alrighty then -- we'll just need to think of creative ways for Lucy girl to get around - all the while not bearing any weight on that casted foot.  Remember the plasma car we got for Lucy before she even was home??  Ahhh.....while normally an outside riding toy, it's the perfect solution to getting around our first floor of the house! It requires no legs and has a zero turn radius.   The sound of wheels flying around our kitchen, dining room and living room were heard alllll morning.  She's happy to still have independence and Mommy's thrilled that her not so strong back won't have as much lifting throughout the day as originally thought.  Thanking God for this most unique answer to a prayer that had not yet been prayed.  Yep - you know I just gotta say it -

"He always provides where He guides" - the big and the little!

This riding toy can be rode without using any feet as it's
completely able to be rode by using hands only (or both
feet and hands)!

See how perfectly that little leg and foot fits on her wheels!

If you're praying for Lucy and our family, will you pray that these series of castings will be stretching the appropriate muscles that will prepare Lucy for a successful surgery.  Pray for wisdom for the doctors as this type of casting needs to be done with precision.  Wisdom for us as we will have many decisions to make regarding her on going medical care.  Thank our precious Father God for meeting needs before we knew they would be needs, for giving Lucy such peace and patience during her first appointment, for a fabulous first twenty four hours in a cast!

Again, THANK YOU for interceding to our Heavenly Father on behalf of a most precious little girl!

 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

I. Thes. 5:11

I hope to keep you updated throughout our medical journey.  Next month will mark Lucy's ONE YEAR  HOME!!!  Look for some super exciting news we have to share with you AND a picture post of her first year home!

I'll leave you with a few pictures from today......  

Still loves the bean bin!

Joy in our journey ahead?

Thanks for your prayers friends!

   This is a quick post asking for prayer.  Today is the first day of a l-o-n-g journey in helping Lucy with the correction of her deformed foot.  While our little girl walks (with an altered gait), jumps and rides a bike a.o.k. right now, it's a medical issue that must be addressed.  Doing nothing would result in Lucy's inability to walk later in life and also be a cause of significant and chronic pain.

This is my attempt to show you , Lucy's foot deformity and
her knee contracture -- next year this time we're
expecting it to look radically different!

Another view of her little footsie

I've been caught  off guard this morning with the emotions that have sneaked  up on me.   Last night was the "last swim", this morning was her "last bath" in the tub, she's riding her little bike on the deck for a "last time".  When I write "last time", I mean last time for several months, possibly up to a half year.  The journey is now directly in front of us and I think sometimes the "unknown" can be more daunting and scary then the reality.  In truth, we don't know the outcome of the journey BUT...we know who does!

I'm reminded that there IS JOY in the journey if we choose it!! So this morning I'm going to seek the road that will lead to the JOY.  If you know me in real time, and you see me falling off that destination, I'm giving you permission to help me with my GPS's navigational system!

Thanks friends for your love, prayers and encouragement as we travel this uncharted path with Lucy and with God at the helm!!

  Knowing fear is NOT from God, I'm reciting TRUTH as I type this.  Truth that only comes from truth giver!! As I searched for scriptures related to fear, I was reminded that are many. Emboldened with power from above, here's the promise I'm claiming for today:

 " For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline."  2 Timothy 1:7

And......here's the medicine this Mama needs to stock up on:

Lucy's Summer Fun (cont'd)

In the month since I last updated this blog, our family has continued to be very busy!  Lucy girl's been to her first campfire and roasted marshmallows with friends and family, has been loving playing outdoors a lot (esp. on the swings) with her brothers and her B.F.F., made a few visits to a local farm that happens to have yummy ice-cream (score for Mommy!!) and a playground plus small farm animals and.....she made her first visit to the Atlantic Ocean!!  (to see a pic. larger, click on the pic.)

Some of "the crew"

BIG SMILES!

Campfire comradery

The B.F.F.'s

Tractor fun at the farm

   The beginning of July, our entire  family joined extended family for some fun vacation time.  This was Lucy's first visit to the ocean.   While she liked the sand and playing with her little friends on the beach,  she wasn't exactly sure if she was in love with the "Big Water."  Lucy has a hard time with sustaining balance for extended time while standing still if she has nothing to prop herself on.  So, when a wave would roll in, Lucy girl always made sure she had someone's hand in hers so she wouldn't be pushed over.  This vacation time was also the first time since coming home last September  that Lucy slept away from home.  I was concerned about messing with routine and so much change but I need not have worried, she handled the transitions well!

My doll babies!!

Kurt and Lucy 

Emily and Lucy

Loving her carousel ride

A (very) small part of the family at the boardwalk

   Speaking of transitions, our family has had a number of big transitions within the past month.  Shortly after we came home from our vacation, big brother Kurt left for two weeks for a missions trip to South Africa.  I explained to Lucy that Kurt would be flying on an airplane and be away for many "sleeps" but he would come back home.  When we took Kurt to the church to meet his missions team, she kept pulling at me and telling me "ready to go" (meaning she wanted to leave the building)?!  After a bit, it occurred to me that she was a little anxious whether or not Mommy and /or she was going on this airplane trip too.  She was unsure of what all was happening.  Once in the car, she became more relaxed and again I assured her that Kurt was coming home.

Goodbye to big bro.

Only two weeks later it was time for another good bye.  This time we were saying goodbye to her big sister, Emily (same sister that flew to China to bring her home).  Emily was leaving for four months in Costa Rica.  Em has been her dancing partner, her nail polish buddy and her ice cream cohort!  Since Kurt wasn't yet back, I was wondering how the little Miss would do with another goodbye.  While I know she misses her "Emmy", she does seem to have an understanding and will repeat back to us what we've explained to her.   Kurt's back home and I think it's clicking this leaving and coming back thing after extended periods of time.  Big changes and hard concepts, especially for a little mind with newly acquired English to try and understand!!

Our summer will be ending a wee bit early.  In less than two weeks, on August 20th Lucy Kim will begin the long process of correcting her foot deformity (vertical talus).  So the fun of the jumping into a pool of water or jumping on the trampoline, riding her wee bicycle will come to a screeching halt.  We will begin our once weekly trips for leg casts to be put on Lucy's right foot/leg.  If her foot responds well to this method of correction, she will have a total of six casts put on her foot followed by complex foot surgery, then followed by another six weeks of a cast (non-weight bearing).   We've been told the process to correct her foot will be approximately  four months long.  She will be in a wheel chair (or her new stroller) for many of those weeks.  After this foot correction process is completed, our little girl will need to have her knee contracture and hip issues medically addressed.  (but that's another story for another post - long in the future).

Is that an ornery grin or what?!