MRI Results – A Lot To Be Thankful For

Last night I received a call from Daniel's urologist at 7 pm to tell me that Daniel's MRI was clear! There are no spinal abnormalities or corded nerve issues which could have been causing some of Daniel's issues. Also the ultrasound came back showing that his left kidney is slowly shrinking. While that kidney is far from perfect, his right kidney remains perfect and the doctor is thrilled. We are now able to take Daniel off the antibiotic that he's been on for over a year. This means that a few minor skin conditions which the antibiotic was causing can finally clear up completely even though we have just about taken care of that on our own! We will have a follow up ultrasound in about 4 months (easy!) and then if things are progressing as they expect, they anticipate yearly follow ups to be sure the left kidney continues to function well. They believe his bladder issues will heal in time and hope to wean him slowly off his other medication (bladder relaxer) as he grows.

I can't even begin to thank all of you out there who have lifted Daniel (and us) up in prayer. We certainly have an almighty God and I can't wait to tell Daniel more about Him and show Daniel how we have seen Him work miracles in his own life.

One tidbit of information I haven't shared in the blog before, but that I think now would be the appropriate time is that on our second trip to Russia, we were supposed to fly out of Dulles to Atlanta to catch our flight to Moscow. When we arrived at Dulles, they had just, minutes before, delayed our flight, so that we would not make our connecting flight to Moscow. We stood at the counter in full panic mode and the lady behind the counter started working frantically to get us on another flight. After about 15 minutes, in which she walked way talking to a manager, she then came back and said they were going to give us a taxi to take us to Reagan National airport to catch a flight there. The only problem was that the flight left within the next hour and they weren't sure we were going to make it. They gave us the last two seats on the plane and rushed us out to the taxi. The taxi driver took one look at us and drove as fast as he could saying that he hoped we didn't hit traffic and that when we arrived at the airport we had to get in front of everyone in the lines to make the flight.

We did not hit traffic, which was God's work, and a miracle in it's own right, as Troy and I frantically prayed from the back seat that we would not. When we arrived at Reagan, there was a large line for Delta and we stood there momentarily trying to figure out what to do.

Now, this may sound completely corny, but as I was looking at the counters, my gaze fell on a lady standing behind her computer in a Delta uniform. Her line was closed, but it was almost like she glowed or maybe it was her blond hair, but either way, I felt drawn to her and I ran for her.

She might have thought I was crazy as I probably gave her the biggest run-on sentence of her life, saying that we were adopting a child from Russia, we couldn't miss this flight, or we would miss the connecting flight, that our court date would be cancelled, that it just couldn't happen and please, please, please help us get the plane on time.

But instead, I'll never forget her smile as she said "I'm from Russia, give me your papers," and she turned her computer on and whizzed us through saying how wonderful she thought it was what we were doing. She asked for pictures so while she was frantically checking us in, Troy was showing her photos from his digital keychain. She finished in record time. We whizzed through security also in record time and we got to the gate as they were boarding the plane. We barely made it, but we DID make it and I know God had everything to do with that.

I still think the lady who helped rush us through check in was put there by God and may very well have been an angel to help us on our path to Daniel. And of course I can't forget the first lady who helped us, her manager and the taxi driver also.

And now for a picture of my little "not so much" angel lately. More on that later!!

Now if only that mower really cut grass!