Fall 2011

Overwhelmed by Christmas?

Overwhelmed by Christmas? What a good word to describe many of us during the Christmas season, huh? We are overwhelmed in many ways...overwhelmed that God has given us the task (and has he ever!) to raise 3 wild, strong in every way, persistent, precious children to be like Jesus...overwhelmed by how our kitchen floor looks like it’s never ever been mopped, though it was just yesterday...that my grocery cart looks like I am feeding an NBA team of 5 (but really it’s the Digsby crew of 5 - equivalent in calorie-intake and expenditure)...overwhelmed that God has provided for our every expense over the past 2 years...that our 2 year old daughter (2 as of last Friday) waited to cut a mouthful of teeth until she had a Mommy and Daddy to love her through it...I am overwhelmed by Thomas’s deep insight and his boldness to convince everyone how profoundly “right” he is, by Austin’s agility, determination and cuddle-power, by Elita’s perfect fit into our family (how did she get our genes across the world?)...overwhelmed that 24 hours in the day go by so fast that our baby turned 2 before we’d even known her a year...overwhelmed by my weaknesses and my lack without calling on Jesus every second of every day...the Lord used the perfect recipe, the truth-serum of circumstance if you will, to get me to admit something that has been true all along, “I, Sohailla Digsby, confess that I am weak...and overwhelmed.” Above all, I pray that I would be MOST overwhelmed by CHRISTMAS...not by the shopping with 3 kids asking me questions at the same time, or by holiday crafts with the toddler anthem of “no, no, no” underfoot and the background music of Elita crumpling her brother’s holiday artwork, but overwhelmed to the point of AWE...by JESUS. By the Father sending forth his Son so that we might be able to call Him “Daddy.” I hear Elita say that name all day...when she wakes up, when she sees anyone’s cell phone and demands to call her Daddy on it, when she sees pictures of her Daddy around the house who she had never seen until 9 months ago. (She does the same for Mommy). She didn’t do that in China - ask her Daddy how it hurt at first for her to ignore his love after his many months of sacrifice and pursuit of her. Adoption takes sacrifice - Jesus would know best. We would never be able to enter the sweet presence of our own perfect Father as his sons and daughters but for His sacrifice. I can relate at a new, deeper level this year. I am reminded how greatly God sacrificed. And even though we celebrate with lights and gifts what He has done for us in Jesus, we still force Him to pursue us...and though we long for His security, somehow in our immaturity, we resist him getting his arms around us at times. He could just bear-hug us until we give in, but instead he takes time with us, loving us tenderly and relentlessly until we realize He is the only One worth running to! No wonder He doesn’t just demand that we accept Him...when we put our arms out to Elita and wait for her to come to us, knowing where she’s been, what a JOY it is when she comes on her own with a smile, and outstretched arms. Our Father, too, knows where we’ve been. He knows we’ve been schooled by the world and it has neglected our true needs, as that of an orphan. He knows our insecurities. He sees how we avoid him while He pursues...He sacrificed anyway. If you let him love on you, let Him call you his child, though love this real may seem foreign at times, you might find yourself looking like him before you know it - and people recognizing you as One of His own. You are! Overwhelmed by Christmas? I pray we are! Merry Christmas to you and yours! Hugs, and prayers for a blessed 2012! Tom, Sohailla, Thomas (8), Austin (5), and Elita (2)

Clips of fun!

That is not a doll in the corner - it's Elita in her cooking get-up and tinkerbell slippers! :)

Summer Fun!

Family Photos Finally!

I know I told you I wouldn't blog often. I would love to, but would have to have a housekeeper, a few more hours in the day, and a camera that never loses charge and uploads the pics/video wirelessly upon their taking...a girl can dream, right? Since this is the real world I'll try to do a post at least once a month. This is the one I've been waiting to post for a long time, though! Please plan some time for our movie-night...the story of Elita! It's about 45 minutes of video between the 2 of the videos above! :)I'm so excited to have loved ones and strangers alike get the opportunity to see God in action in this little life - captured on these videos. Our Father cares so much for every single life and has a plan for every orphan...we all need to be looking out for how He might use us...asking Him what he is up to and how we can join Him. "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart....WHERE?" (Austin and Elita ask? :) “She is so happy!” “What a ham!” “She is wide open!” “She REALLY is a Digsby!”...I hear these a lot....many of the same words people used to describe her big brothers in toddlerhood (and still :). She is so very full of life, noise, action, and beautiful smiles that outshine her haste-induced bumps and bruises. People ask “isn’t it different with a girl?”...hmmm...not too much so far. She is quite active, fearless, and tremendously social, which runs in the family :). I’m not saying she’s a tomboy, but she is able to hold her own for sure. But yes, there is an extra dose of whining, screaming and drama, too, if that’s what they mean. She has learned that throwing fits on the tile floor doesn’t feel so good (2 head banging experiences taught her that), so now she just places her head gently on the floor, bottom up, feet and hands on the floor and looks out of the corner of her eyes to see if we are going to respond to the drama. We try to not to laugh! (Yes, we respond, but I doubt it’s what she was hoping for). She does twirl to music unprompted, rock her baby (one hand holding her hair and the other her foot - a sight!), and try to put shoes on herself and bows in her hair. Her newest favorite thing to do is scream at the top of her lungs (and soprano) in the car every few seconds. Warning: steer clear of my Expedition on Evans’ roads! We are working on bringing this to a halt - it’s terribly unpleasant, not to mention dangerous! Elita eating a strawberry from our garden...just "pulling up a seat" and taking a bite off the plant! Elita loves what is off limits...after all, it must be extra special and fun if Mommy and Daddy say “don’t.” The minute she comes through the front door, she b-lines to the bathroom, hoping she’ll get to experience whatever treasures there are in the toilet that we so cruelly keep from her....literally running with high-knees at super-speed, looking over her shoulder lest she get scooped up along the way by Mom or Dad. “Rats! Foiled again! Will try again tomorrow, and faster next time.” Whenever she knows she’s heading for mischief (often saying “no, no” as she does), she speeds up and has a little excited skip in her step...last time that didn’t help her, since she was heading for her brothers’ bathroom stool which she fell as quickly off of as she climbed on, knowing I was in hot pursuit of her so she’d better hurry. Ugh, an ugly bruise...on her cheek this time. We are getting used to closing bathroom doors...we didn’t ease gently into toddlerhood around here, you know, so this is a process. We are not proclaiming that mischief will be part of her years to come...she’s getting it out of her system now, we pray :). Imagine living all of life in a crib and occasionally wandering without direction on a big room’s floor with no limits, boundaries, steps, cabinets, doors...So, we have our work cut out for us, and she has come a long way in terms of boundaries. You’ll be able to recognize us...a fair blue-eyed crew with a beautifully bronze brown-eyed toddler leading the way...I’m the one with the half-wavy hair, b/c I haven’t blown my hair dry it dry since we’ve been home but a couple times (hey, just be glad my teeth are brushed), in jogging shoes for toddler chasing, whether they go with what I’m wearing or not, whistle on my key-chain for the boys, and a deep peace in my heart knowing I'm where I'm supposed to be, despite the beads of perspiration. We are blessed, and yes, I sleep hard!

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.

No time now, more soon!

Whew! We made it! What a sweet homecoming, too. Many thanks to all of you who were there with smiles and signs and balloons and hugs. We are so grateful for our family and friends at home...it's sooo good to be home. I'm posting now because some of you have asked if I still will post. Yes, I'd like to upload pics and videos, but it's a big week for us and family time, laundry and sleep have to be our priorities for the next few days...oh, and I'm going to have to get to the grocery store! I do have some super sweet clips of the boys welcoming their little sister and their first playdate together...they are so excited and sweet to her. They got up early this morning and asked me for 3 hours "when is she going to get up?" "Wow! She is still sleeping?" So, check back soon for that footage! Off to pack the diaper bag for church in the morning...Elita is going to LOVE praise and worship - she LOVES to sing and dance! More soon...

We're coming to America!

I can't get that song out of my head. We've got to get to bed...have to meet our cab in less than 7 hours, so this will be brief. Soooooo excited to get home! Please pray for us - our wake up call is at 3:30 AM to start 26 hours of travel! Pray especially for us to be able to rest on the plane. For Elita, who is ON THE GO, to be able to handle it gracefully, for our flights to be uneventful and on time, and for customs to go quickly in Detroit - we have just 1.5 hours to get through from landing time from Hong Kong to departure time to Atl. If all goes as planned we will be landing in Augusta at 5:32 PM Friday evening. Woo hoo!!! If you are planning to join us there, you should text Tom on Friday morning so we know and can keep you posted if there are any changes. Home soon...photos later...gotta get to bed!

 

 Sohailla

 

 

 Sohailla