Daily Life

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Last monday Abby & Jake had eye appointments and while we were out school called to tell me that Sana was sick. It concerns me whenever Sana doesn't feel well for so many reasons. First of all her overall health condition and there is the language barrier and the fact that I don't know here like my own kids and I can't read her yet. Could be a cold or could have been serious. Luckily it was a little cold.

Tuesday we had a appointment with the shoe store. I had gone in and talked to them about donating shoes for Sana. They generously offered to outfit her in shoes now and after surgery. That's Fred Toenges in Fort Wayne Indiana. Please support their business if you have a need, they are awesome.
While they were measuring her they asked her to take her foot out of the brace. They then realized that her brace was way too small. She got the brace from the Red Cross when she was 12 and now she is 16. Quite a size change. The guy said it is like the Japanese women that bind their feet so they don't grow. Her leg is literally misshaped because of the brace. She has big dent where the straps go and she has to stuff her skin in the brace. It is truly heart wrenching. I have only seen her put it on one other time and I wanted to cry then. This time I just let the tears rip. They were so sweet, said they could help us with the brace as well. We went back on Thursday to try the shoes on, they made more adjustments while we waited and the owner said that they normally don't do this type of brace but they would make a new one to fit her. It is so good to see the good in humankind! We'll be back in a couple of weeks to get the brace taken care of.

Friday was the principal of the high school's retirement dinner. It was a beautiful ceremony with lots of love and fun stories of the past years. Fred Tone is a funny man with a huge heart. He will leave some big shoes to fill. The only student he talked about was Sana. He spoke of the hardships she has had to endure and how she is an inspiration to everyone at the school. He also talked about how the other kids are really watching out for her already. Oh the love that she inspires.

Saturday proved to be a little frustrating. Jake's 16th birthday was Monday, the day that finals begin. He asked if we could celebrate on Saturday so he would be available to study on Monday. We all went to the store (Sam, Abby, Bart, Sana and I). Picked up steaks and a cake. Came home and cooked while the kids decorated. Sana has no sense of time. While Bart went to pick Jake up from his friends house Sana wanted to eat a leisurely lunch and then take her time decorating. She kept wanting me to call Bart and ask him to stall. At one point she had me running in all directions and was yelling “mom, mom!” I was done. I snapped just a little. I later explained that she needed to remember that I had a lot of people to care for and if I didn't answer right away she needed to be patient. That yelling my name without any pause in between really does make me crazy. Next problem, the computer/headphones. When Jake and Adrianna arrived all the kids were in the family room talking. Sana had her computer on playing music, after a while Jake asked her to turn it off so they could hear each other. Her answer was to put her headphones on and keep on humming. All the kids came in the kitchen and sat at the bar and talked to me. I finally had Bart pull the headphones out and tell her to join the family. Dinner was delicious, perfect med-rare filets and guess who didn't like them. I really thought she would like just plain steak. Wrong, she didn't like the twice baked potatoes either. Frustrating! Later we watched Jake's baby videos. He was soooo adorable (ok, he still is). Again Sana became attached to her computer. She kept trying to show me pictures. At one point she put her head phones on so she could skype. Ok, I was done. I went into the den and shut down the main computer which shuts down all of them and the phone. Awe, I still have some control. In the end we had a fun day and Jake enjoyed his birthday. By the way, what do you get a 16 year old boy? A pirate costume of course.


Yesterday the doctor finally called me to assure me that he is working on getting things (other docs, hospitals and so on) lined up for Sana. After 3 weeks and a lot of phone calls I had kind of given up. I spoke to Patsy yesterday about moving forward without him. She was going to contact him via email and if we didn't get anywhere we were going to move on. He called in a prescription for her pain and talked to me about managing it on a daily basis. He also gave me his home number and told me to call anytime. I did get some comfort in that conversation. I hope he follows through.

This evening we dropped Bart off at the airport to visit Josh. I must say I am a envious. Later we all went to Abby's softball game. She was on fire. Her hitting was amazing. They won 13-2. It's been a busy couple of weeks. Last monday Abby & Jake had eye appointments and while we were out school called to tell me that Sana was sick. It concerns me whenever Sana doesn't feel well for so many reasons. First of all her overall health condition and there is the language barrier and the fact that I don't know here like my own kids and I can't read her yet. Could be a cold or could have been serious. Luckily it was a little cold.

Tuesday we had a appointment with the shoe store. I had gone in and talked to them about donating shoes for Sana. They generously offered to outfit her in shoes now and after surgery. That's Fred Toenges in Fort Wayne Indiana. Please support their business if you have a need, they are awesome.
While they were measuring her they asked her to take her foot out of the brace. They then realized that her brace was way too small. She got the brace from the Red Cross when she was 12 and now she is 16. Quite a size change. The guy said it is like the Japanese women that bind their feet so they don't grow. Her leg is literally misshaped because of the brace. She has big dent where the straps go and she has to stuff her skin in the brace. It is truly heart wrenching. I have only seen her put it on one other time and I wanted to cry then. This time I just let the tears rip. They were so sweet, said they could help us with the brace as well. We went back on Thursday to try the shoes on, they made more adjustments while we waited and the owner said that they normally don't do this type of brace but they would make a new one to fit her. It is so good to see the good in humankind! We'll be back in a couple of weeks to get the brace taken care of.

Friday was the principal of the high school's retirement dinner. It was a beautiful ceremony with lots of love and fun stories of the past years. Fred Tone is a funny man with a huge heart. He will leave some big shoes to fill. The only student he talked about was Sana. He spoke of the hardships she has had to endure and how she is an inspiration to everyone at the school. He also talked about how the other kids are really watching out for her already. Oh the love that she inspires.

Saturday proved to be a little frustrating. Jake's 16th birthday was Monday, the day that finals begin. He asked if we could celebrate on Saturday so he would be available to study on Monday. We all went to the store (Sam, Abby, Bart, Sana and I). Picked up steaks and a cake. Came home and cooked while the kids decorated. Sana has no sense of time. While Bart went to pick Jake up from his friends house Sana wanted to eat a leisurely lunch and then take her time decorating. She kept wanting me to call Bart and ask him to stall. At one point she had me running in all directions and was yelling “mom, mom!” I was done. I snapped just a little. I later explained that she needed to remember that I had a lot of people to care for and if I didn't answer right away she needed to be patient. That yelling my name without any pause in between really does make me crazy. Next problem, the computer/headphones. When Jake and Adrianna arrived all the kids were in the family room talking. Sana had her computer on playing music, after a while Jake asked her to turn it off so they could hear each other. Her answer was to put her headphones on and keep on humming. All the kids came in the kitchen and sat at the bar and talked to me. I finally had Bart pull the headphones out and tell her to join the family. Dinner was delicious, perfect med-rare filets and guess who didn't like them. I really thought she would like just plain steak. Wrong, she didn't like the twice baked potatoes either. Frustrating! Later we watched Jake's baby videos. He was soooo adorable (ok, he still is). Again Sana became attached to her computer. She kept trying to show me pictures. At one point she put her head phones on so she could skype. Ok, I was done. I went into the den and shut down the main computer which shuts down all of them and the phone. Awe, I still have some control. In the end we had a fun day and Jake enjoyed his birthday. By the way, what do you get a 16 year old boy? A pirate costume of course.
It's been a busy couple of weeks. Last monday Abby & Jake had eye appointments and while we were out school called to tell me that Sana was sick. It concerns me whenever Sana doesn't feel well for so many reasons. First of all her overall health condition and there is the language barrier and the fact that I don't know here like my own kids and I can't read her yet. Could be a cold or could have been serious. Luckily it was a little cold.

Tuesday we had a appointment with the shoe store. I had gone in and talked to them about donating shoes for Sana. They generously offered to outfit her in shoes now and after surgery. That's Fred Toenges in Fort Wayne Indiana. Please support their business if you have a need, they are awesome.
While they were measuring her they asked her to take her foot out of the brace. They then realized that her brace was way too small. She got the brace from the Red Cross when she was 12 and now she is 16. Quite a size change. The guy said it is like the Japanese women that bind their feet so they don't grow. Her leg is literally misshaped because of the brace. She has big dent where the straps go and she has to stuff her skin in the brace. It is truly heart wrenching. I have only seen her put it on one other time and I wanted to cry then. This time I just let the tears rip. They were so sweet, said they could help us with the brace as well. We went back on Thursday to try the shoes on, they made more adjustments while we waited and the owner said that they normally don't do this type of brace but they would make a new one to fit her. It is so good to see the good in humankind! We'll be back in a couple of weeks to get the brace taken care of.

Friday was the principal of the high school's retirement dinner. It was a beautiful ceremony with lots of love and fun stories of the past years. Fred Tone is a funny man with a huge heart. He will leave some big shoes to fill. The only student he talked about was Sana. He spoke of the hardships she has had to endure and how she is an inspiration to everyone at the school. He also talked about how the other kids are really watching out for her already. Oh the love that she inspires.

Saturday proved to be a little frustrating. Jake's 16th birthday was Monday, the day that finals begin. He asked if we could celebrate on Saturday so he would be available to study on Monday. We all went to the store (Sam, Abby, Bart, Sana and I). Picked up steaks and a cake. Came home and cooked while the kids decorated. Sana has no sense of time. While Bart went to pick Jake up from his friends house Sana wanted to eat a leisurely lunch and then take her time decorating. She kept wanting me to call Bart and ask him to stall. At one point she had me running in all directions and was yelling “mom, mom!” I was done. I snapped just a little. I later explained that she needed to remember that I had a lot of people to care for and if I didn't answer right away she needed to be patient. That yelling my name without any pause in between really does make me crazy. Next problem, the computer/headphones. When Jake and Adrianna arrived all the kids were in the family room talking. Sana had her computer on playing music, after a while Jake asked her to turn it off so they could hear each other. Her answer was to put her headphones on and keep on humming. All the kids came in the kitchen and sat at the bar and talked to me. I finally had Bart pull the headphones out and tell her to join the family. Dinner was delicious, perfect med-rare filets and guess who didn't like them. I really thought she would like just plain steak. Wrong, she didn't like the twice baked potatoes either. Frustrating! Later we watched Jake's baby videos. He was soooo adorable (ok, he still is). Again Sana became attached to her computer. She kept trying to show me pictures. At one point she put her head phones on so she could skype. Ok, I was done. I went into the den and shut down the main computer which shuts down all of them and the phone. Awe, I still have some control. In the end we had a fun day and Jake enjoyed his birthday. By the way, what do you get a 16 year old boy? A pirate costume of course.


Yesterday the doctor finally called me to assure me that he is working on getting things (other docs, hospitals and so on) lined up for Sana. After 3 weeks and a lot of phone calls I had kind of given up. I spoke to Patsy yesterday about moving forward without him. She was going to contact him via email and if we didn't get anywhere we were going to move on. He called in a prescription for her pain and talked to me about managing it on a daily basis. He also gave me his home number and told me to call anytime. I did get some comfort in that conversation. I hope he follows through.

This evening we dropped Bart off at the airport to visit Josh. I must say I am a envious. Later we all went to Abby's softball game. She was on fire. Her hitting was amazing. They won 13-2.

Yesterday the doctor finally called me to assure me that he is working on getting things (other docs, hospitals and so on) lined up for Sana. After 3 weeks and a lot of phone calls I had kind of given up. I spoke to Patsy yesterday about moving forward without him. She was going to contact him via email and if we didn't get anywhere we were going to move on. He called in a prescription for her pain and talked to me about managing it on a daily basis. He also gave me his home number and told me to call anytime. I did get some comfort in that conversation. I hope he follows through.

This evening we dropped Bart off at the airport to visit Josh. I must say I am a envious. Later we all went to Abby's softball game. She was on fire. Her hitting was amazing. They won 13-2.