Whew!

It's been quite a crazy last few days! I'll start on Tuesday - my mom & stepdad were here, and Katie had her first dentist appointment in the morning. You may have noticed that she is missing her front tooth (we're not sure where it went!) - but the root did not go with it. The dentist told us the root was decayed and possibly infected, so it would have to come out. We were very lucky to be able to schedule that for Wednesday (More to come later on the incident).

After the dentist, it was - of course - lunch time - and then off to Katie's first search & serve evaluation at the school district. There was the pre-school coordinator, a speech therapist, a translator and a child psychologist - plus my mom, who is trained in all of those areas and has a wealth of expertise. Katie did great, and we were very impressed with the program & the people doing the evaluation. I really felt like they wanted to help Katie - that they would be advocating for her to get whatever services she needed.

After that...my friend Tanya brought dinner (thankfully!) - and Becky and Gracie had a tea party - in between playing dress up & playing outside! It was really nice for them to visit - and for Becky to have her friend over as the whole day up till then had really been about Katie.

Wednesday morning, we headed off to the dentist to have the root extracted. Katie did well with the actual procedure, but wasn't sure what was happening with the Novocain lip! After lunch, our dear friend Brenda stopped in with her grandchildren - Parker & Maison. They live in San Diego, and we don't see them nearly as often as we would like, but Brenda had made a real effort after we got home with both girls to come up & see them. They came a few weeks after we got home with Becky to see her, and we were so happy to see them this time too!

Snack time!!!

We were moving along quite calmly at this point. I made dinner & brought it to our friends Craig & Lisa who just got home from China with their 7 year old daughter Audrey, we had dinner & bath and both girls were in bed by about 8:30. At a little before 11, Katie woke up crying, and in the space of about 10 minutes, her fever went from 102 to 104.5 and she threw up the Tylenol I had given her. Off the St. Jude's ER Doug & I went. It was very scary - the fever spiked then would come down. Turns out that some of the infection from the tooth had probably gotten into her blood stream. Two hours, one blood draw, two shots we were one our way home - thank God. It was my first midnight ER run, and I am praying my last - because momma didn't like it - nope, not one bit.

Thursday, she was feeling much better - and we headed back to the beach for a picnic lunch. If it looks like someone has attitude in these pictures...well, she does. She has been struggling more than we would like with the new normal around here, and it shows!

....hat or....

...sunglasses..?

Tia Annie is back with us for a few more days - and I am pretty sure that without her extra hands and willing heart, I would have had a nervous breakdown these past few days - or at least left someone or something undone!

the best way to finish lunch at the beach is with ice cream! Right now, it is one of the few things the girls agree on!

Friday morning, Katie had to finish her testing with the school district - and then it was off to "Cool Cuts for Kids" for a haircut! I just couldn't handle the orphanage waif haircut anymore!

She was a little uncertain at first...

but once Kassy got started - she loved it! I am pretty sure I have another "girly girl" on my hands!

It was so amazing to watch this transformation take place. Beside the external transformation, Katie just seemed to bask in the attention and was almost beside herself that someone would fuss & primp over her. It was just another visual, gut wrenching reminder of where she came from and how that experience - even at her young age- has dashed her hopes and damaged her self image.

I can't wait to continue to watch her realize that she is the most precious child of God - whom He rejoices over every minute of every day. I want to see her look in the mirror and see the beautiful daughter of the King - and of a mommy & daddy who think she wonderful and beautiful and valuable.