Georgia Girl/Cardiology Update!

So, Elita Mei Digsby has been a Georgia girl for 3 weeks. She has a SS card, 3 new teeth, brothers who hover at her room door waiting for her to wake up daily, and she already knows who she’ll get treats from if she makes the “more” sign with her irresistible pondering tone. Counting China time, she has been physically in our lives for 1 month now...and her brothers’ and GA family’s for half that time. She is ours in every way! The top 3 questions I get: “Is she adjusting well into your family? Can you believe she’s really here? and What do the boys think?” To understand my answers to these questions, I guess you have to realize that though we did not get “matched” to her until she was 10 months old, we knew the week she was born that God had a little sister picked out for our family. The week she came into the world was the week we started loving her...For over 467 days Tom, the boys and myself have prayed for her multiple times a day - as if she was here with us in many ways... So, to answer to those questions...it’s like she has been with us all along, but now is fully present physically here with us. So, yes, she’s adjusted to us...she walked in our house on her first evening here and played with her brothers on the living room floor like she'd been here all along. And then a moment I will never forget...just an hour after getting off the airplane, she looked around our cozy dinner table, took in a loud breath through her smiling lips and let out a squeal of joy. To me, it meant “I know I’m finally home!” I wish I had taken a photo of Austin leaning with hope by his forehead against her door, waiting for her to awaken after her night here. After a while, we let them in her room to watch her sleep...then at least they could see her! Here are the boys our first morning home...waiting in her room for her to realize it’s morning here in our time zone! Within a couple days she was giving them full-on around the neck squeezes, cheering loudly at their baseball games, and dancing to their silly songs. Does this girl look comfy here or what (this is day 3?)...everyone wants to be part of her every moment! It’s been a crazy 3 weeks home...besides having a new family member, I started a new part time job from home and Thomas started public school...both of these were planned well in advance with peace. Not to mention we have had every variety of bug, including sniffles, tummy trouble and fevers for just about everyone! In fact, as I type this - all 4 of the other Digsbys are napping (that never happens with this active a crew!! Elita has had tubes of blood drawn and multiple vaccinations...all checking out fine, but not without pain and excessive waiting room hours. But, most awaited?...this week’s cardiology appointment. She was diagnosed at 3 weeks old with ASD with VSD - 2 holes in her heart - one in her ventricle and one in her atrium. When we first reached for her when we met, we could feel the strangely “swishy” beat within her little chest. I felt a certain peace months ahead of time that our boys’ incessant prayers for the healing of her heart defects were not going to be answered the very way we asked: “that they would close on their own before we get her.” I knew God would heal her in time, but was unsure of by which means. The doctors in China took turns listening to her heart and talking about her in Chinese in front of us...confirmation that He had a different plan to heal her as I had been gently reassured by the Lord in my prayer time for her previously. Well, what did they say at MCG, you wonder? After leads were stuck on and peeled off, stethoscopes against her little chest, ultrasound gel on her belly for her heart’s photo shoot, and about 4 hours of trying to entertain a VERY busy girl... We got the news: The ASD was never a true defect, per the doc. So, she has one hole between the ventricles. It’s 4mm...making a lot of noise as the heart beats because it is a rather small hole for her blood to squeeze through...on the “small to moderate size and not likely to need meds or surgical repair. To be watched regularly, but a 95% chance it will close on it’s own by age 5.” Praise God! We are so grateful, that though it is there and is making quite a swish instead of glub, it’s not inhibiting her growth, color, activity level or anything else. The cardiologist actually said...”we’ll see you in 6 months - don’t think about it again until then.” And we won’t, except to give all glory to the God who chose her for Himself and for our family. We are so blessed! Thank you all for your many prayers! I don’t think I’ll be doing much more blogging, so this may be the next-to-last post... please check back for a very special final post at the end of May.