Meet Anna, and More

Ok, so I haven't written in over a month. We have been going through some transitions, like moving to a new apartment at the seminary, going to California for a brief visit (Jenny's sister's wedding included), moving into increased responsibilities at the seminary, and meeting Baby Anna for the first time.

Since it's probably that last one you're most interested in, I'll give you the skinny: A week ago today (my birthday, btw), we visited the orphanage again to see more of the children. This time we went in the morning, so more of them would be awake. After being introduced to one available 2 year old, they told us of another 2 year old we could visit in another building. That was quite a bit older than we were hoping for, so we weren't so sure. For whatever reason, we went anyway :-)

The girl they took us to see cringed away from us the moment we entered the room, but another little cutie caught our eye, Anna. She was the only one in the room in a high chair (it was lunch time), and she was happy to look at us, smile, and kick her legs. After a bit, we asked about her. They said, sure, she's adoptable, but maybe you should talk to the doctor first.

We had a long talk with her doctor (coincidentally the mother of one of Jenny's former students), then the social worker. Anna (coincidentally the name we were thinking of anyway) has a condition called Turner's Syndrome. It's one of those completely random things that only affects girls and women. It basically means that her physical development will be slow, and that she will probably be short. It will mean regular doctor visits and possibly some hormone therapies (growth and otherwise), but it seems doable to us.

For more on all this, Jenny has written several entries on her blog: jennyingrace.blogspot.com or you can see photos and read more on our website: www.thomasfamilyweb.net
For photos of our first real meeting with Anna, and some of the preparations we've been making: http://www.thomasfamilyweb.net/photogallery/FirstMeetingWithAnna/index.html

On other recent topics:
Jenny's sister's wedding - http://www.thomasfamilyweb.net/photogallery/SarahandJoshWedding/index.html

I'm also making some changes to my pages on our website and hope to blog a bit more here in the next week or two.