Four Days and Counting...
We are all still healthy, praise God!!!
Be praying, this week, for us to trust in God's plan and His timing alone so that we are not anxious.
I also wanted to attach a few more pictures of her pretty smile...

Thanks again everyone!!!

Ten days and counting...
We had our pre-op appt today with the plastic surgeon.
He answered all of our questions and said that we are all set to go, as long as Jordan doesn't get sick before the surgery.

We felt comfortable with everything he said and it was all pretty predictable but we were surprised that he commented several times on how wide her cleft is. He said that the lip will be pretty tight (flat) and the nose will be noticeably flatter on the affected side. We are a little disappointed but still so thankful that this is all she's dealing with. She recently had an ear infection so she is on antibiotics but seems to be doing fine now.
Please continue to pray for our family's health - that Jordan and Noah will stay healthy leading up to the surgery (if Noah gets sick he'll have to leave us to stay at Shan's parents' house). Also please pray that I won't be anxious about the surgery or disappointed with the results. Many of you probably think that anything is better than the open lip (we thought the same thing originally) but we've gotten used to that and adjusted. Now we have to get used to a whole new lip and it's a bit like starting over. Again, we know that God created her in His image and that He makes no mistakes - she is perfect exactly the way He created her for His will and glory - but it'll take some getting used to. :)
Please be praying!

Here's a pretty smile from our Jordan Joy!

My favorite part of the early days of parenting is the first smile. Just like Noah, Jordan smiled at Daddy first but a special smile for Mommy soon followed. How exciting that we get to experience the "first smile" twice with Jordan. Once now and once following her surgery with her new smile. We can't wait and are so excited to see how it turns out. These past three months (really about seven months since finding out about Jordan's challenges) have been both difficult and a blessing at the same time. We've grown more in our faith in Christ than any other time and have been introduced to a whole new perspective and a whole new group of parents with which to share our love of the Lord. God is helping us to find pure joy, not based on circumstance.

A couple new things to report to all of you...one morning Jordan woke up with blood on her hand. We were, of course, alarmed but soon realized the band on her hand that was going to be part of the surgery had broken loose and her thumb detached all by itself. Yay! A few days later the same thing happened to her big toe. She now has her thumb and pinky free as well as her big and little toes free without surgery.
All of our insurance hassles (for now) seem to be working out too. We've been wrestling with our insurance company to get an Ear Nose Throat Specialist who works with the craniofacial team at CHOC. We were denied, we fought it and they gave us the one doctor we've heard about that we didn't want. Rather than getting upset...again I was able to give the entire situation up to God who knows exactly who would be best for her. In the end, the doctor we didn't want refused to see us anyway because he won't accept our insurance! We now have the full surgery, including the ear tube placement by the wonderful doctor we originally wanted, set up for the February 2nd surgery date.

Since this may be the last pre-surgery posting I'll recap what she'll have done. We have a few pre-op appointments before then so if things change we'll post it on here for you.

February 2nd at 7:30 a.m. at CHOC in Orange:
Dr. Barretto
Ear Tube Surgery

Dr. Sundine
Lip Adhesion Surgery
Constriction Band Release on her right calf
Freeing of the foot from the leg

Dr. Rosenfeld
Setting and Casting of the leg/foot
and coordinating with Dr. Sundine on the foot release

We will be staying overnight with Jordan at the hospital while my mom stays with Noah at our house. Both Shan's parents and mine will be helping take care of Noah while we are with Jordan. We are so blessed to have such capable doctors and such helpful families.

Since the last posting we've also set up our Family Service Plan with Regional Center (a state run organization) who will be coming to our house once a month to work with Jordan on her development and to keep an eye out for any delays.

Thanks for the continued prayer support. For those of you praying, here are specific requests we have.
Praises:
--Insurance approved the ENT we wanted for her surgery.
--We now have another case manager who is a huge help.
--We found a formula for Jordan that she tolerates well.
--Jordan continues to sleep all night starting around 8:30 waking up at 7:00 a.m!!!
--Her development continues to progress normally.

Prayer:
--That the surgery will go smoothly without unexpected complications (anasthesia, etc.)
--That her lip and nose will look as "normal" as possible with minimal scarring.
--That we'll be able to fully trust in God's provision and plan throughout the surgery and recovery, regardless of the outcome.
--That the z plasty (releasing of the band on her leg) turns out well and looks as "normal" as possible.
--That we will be able to be a light to the doctors, nurses and staff as well as other parents we come into contact with.

Thanks also to all of our friends and family for being patient with us as we continue to be busy with medical/insurance issues and then just spending time as a family adjusting to our new life. We love all of you and are so thankful daily for you in our lives. God continues to bless us beyond what we could even ask for or imagine.

Jen