Isabel at Play
Friday, October 20th, 2006Really, these are some photos from Isa at her physical therapy appointment, just to give an idea of what she does.
Archive for the 'Isabel' Category
First Haircut
Friday, October 20th, 2006OK. So “mostly” her first haircut, since we’d trimmed her bangs a little bit before this. But this was Isabel’s first time in the beauty salon. Click below to see the action… (more…)
My assignment - Lament
Wednesday, October 18th, 2006We are studying the psalms of lament in my OT Writings course. Powerful stuff. If you have the opportunity, I recommend an article by Walter Berueggemann, entitled “The Costly Loss of Lament” from the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. A great read (email me if your interested in it.)
Anyway, one of our assignments is to write a psalm of lament of our own. Here is my attempt:
Favorites
Sunday, October 8th, 2006
she beat the drum!!!
Saturday, September 30th, 2006Today, Isabel moved her arm in a coordinated, intentional way for the very first time!! Watch the video of her beating the drum.
on finalizing & on becoming truly mexican
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006Back in June, we had filed the appropriate paperwork to be able to finalize Isabel’s adoption, hoping to get a date at Los Angeles County’s Edmund Edelman Children’s Court, right across the freeway from Cal. State Los Angeles.
When everything was discovered about her health in July, we had to put all that on hold in order to qualify for the Adoption Assistance Program (AAP), which can only happen before an adoption is finalized. We’ve sent in all of the appropriate forms and reports - thanks in great part to the help of our adoption agency Bethany Christian Services - and are just waiting to be contacted by public health nurse.
In the meantime, (more…)
sometimes sharing the whole truth isn’t easy
Thursday, September 21st, 2006I’ve realized over the past few weeks that I’ve come to dread the question: “So, how is Isabel doing?”
While I’m sure that answering with “She’s doing fine” would alleviate the anxst and awkwardness that sometimes follows, it’s neither accurate nor descriptive, nor always honest about the full picture. But the honest answer isn’t always the easiest. (more…)
Question - 3,621?
Thursday, September 21st, 2006Answer - the number of photos we’ve taken of Isabel since we brought her home 2 days before Christmas. Really. That’s about 80 a week. And we’ve slowed down since the beginning.
(Yes, we are wrapped around her finger. No, we can’t get enough of her…)
Here are a few more:
“She’s not heavy at all,” he said
Wednesday, September 6th, 2006
I think he was must have been trying to be polite… or courageous.
8
Tuesday, August 29th, 2006That’s the number of people that I called, faxed or spoke with today - all regarding services or therapy for Isabel. Isa’s case worker at the Regional Center in Alhambra, the medical records/archives office for Kaiser Permanente, the Junior Blind Society, the physical therapist at Glendale Adventists “Play & Learn” center, the occupational therapist at White Memorial Hospital, and the neurologist at Kaiser (one other I can’t recall). Some nice people, some voice mail, some run-around, some down-right “should - get - out - of - any - service - field” people.
When its all done, we’ll have some type of therapy happening every weekday in 3 different places. Fortunately, one of those places is our home. And even better, we live in a country that provides services like these - even with the headaches - to help my daughter.
O Dreaded Day…
Saturday, August 19th, 2006…when you send your only daughter to college. The LA Times tells a heart-felt - if not melodramatic - story about a Latina from Highland Park named Betty Perez who decides to go to college on the East Coast. I think it is a telling tale of the Latino/a college experience on (at least) two fronts.
One, it highlights many of the family dynamics & paradigms - the blessings & the challenges - that Latino students bring with them when they are in college. (more…)
Vision learning curve
Wednesday, August 16th, 2006In the learning curve about my daughter’s health, I did a google search on “vison stimulation” and found this article written by a freelance writer with “low vision” herself. As we begin this journey of discovery about Isa’s visual capacity, this quote stood out to me:
“If’ and ‘how much’ she sees is completely beyond her control and therefore never the subject of praise by us. Although it is sometimes difficult for us sighted people, we try to avoid conveying to her a sense of excitement when she appears to see something we thought she could not see. And, of course, we try to never convey any disappointment when it is clear she cannot see something. What we call “vision stimulation” should only be “play” to her and thus fun, relaxed and enjoyable for all of us.”
paparazzi + update
Monday, August 7th, 2006
[Click below if you just want to skip to more cute photos of the little princess.]Despite the whirlwind of the last month - we only “discovered” all of this about Isa 4-5 weeks ago - we already seeing some encouraging developments in her neck & arms. She is using her neck more to look side to side, and holds it up more, though it isn’t a constant muscle action yet. Please pray for that.
We have an apointment with our case-worker from the Regional center on Thursday. (more…)
I like this pattern of cancellations…
Tuesday, July 25th, 2006We just got a call from the pediatric opthamologist. We hadn’t been able to get an appointment for Isa until September 13th. But they had a cancellation for today at 2:15, so we jumped on it. Hopefully, they’ll be able to give us a clearer diagnosis about her vision.
This is the third time we’ve been moved up (1st the Regional Center, then her P.T. appt) that’s worked in our favor!!! If only that bears out for all future appointments.
Weakness & Strength
Tuesday, July 18th, 2006“…the weakness of God is stronger than human strength…
God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not…
so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom [or strength], but on God’s power.”
1 Corinthians 1:25, 27; 2:5 (my emphasis)
This is becoming a season of seeing both of our weakness and of God’s power. As we make the transition as a family to respond each day to Isa’s health and developmental needs, we continue to “get in touch with” our weakness - in the physical & emotional tiredness - and God’s power - in the manifold ways that we see God taking care of Isa and of us.
As such, we are incredibly grateful for your prayers. We have already seen God begin to answer our prayers for Isa’s health & we invite you to continue to join us (& lead us) in praying for Isa and for us as a family. Here are a few specific things to pray for:
Moved up!
Wednesday, July 12th, 2006Got a call today from Erika at the East LA Regional Center. We weren’t scheduled to have Isa’s intake evaluation for therapy & services until the 24th, but they had a cancellation for tomorrow morning!!! This is great. We had met on Saturday with an O.T. friend of ours (thanks Judy & Dan) to be able to start exercises for Isa to strengthen her neck, loosen her arm muscles & stimulate the re-tooling/ learning in her brain as much as possible. (more…)
To not forget
Sunday, July 9th, 2006…how cute she is.
Today’s worries
Friday, July 7th, 2006…are enough for today.
That has been our help over the past whirlwind of a week as we’ve dealt with the rollercoaster of rough news about the health of our daughter Isabel. For those of you who we haven’t had the opportunity to share with, let me explain what has happened and what we know today, and then how we are reacting to all of this news.
Its tough being a father
Tuesday, June 20th, 2006That’s what I say. That’s what Ruben Navarette says:
“Supporting a family is only part of the story. It’s the other things you’re supposed to provide your children that can be the most challenging.
Such as providing an example. The research bears it out: When it comes to shaping our children’s behavior, what we do and who we are mean a lot more than what we say. For instance, if you drop out of high school, statistics show that your children will be much more likely to do the same.
Or providing rules. Studies show that the most effective deterrent to teenage sex or drug use is the disapproval of your parents. And it’s fathers who often set the terms of what will or won’t be tolerated. “
Read the whole article here.
new hours of operation
Friday, June 9th, 2006At least for this morning. I’ve been up with Isa since about 1:45am. Its now just after 4am & I think she is finally out. She had some pretty painful gas, though I’m not sure why. We introduced her to a new solid today, which she seemed to really enjoy. And that was way back at 5:30pm. But maybe it didn’t agree with her. I don’t know. I’m still figuring out what makes her tick.
