A First Tooth and "Single" Mom

So, did I tell you R has her first tooth? Last week we really noticed it cutting through. It is the bottom center right one. It is adorable, of course. Doesn't she look like she is like 3 years old in this picture? My baby is rapidly turning into a big girl right before my eyes!

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Blah. This week, A's gone until Friday. When he accepted this position/promotion at his work about 4 years ago, we knew that it meant travel. When we didn't have kids, it was actually kind of nice to have some time to myself to work on projects, relax, etc. without him around. By the end of the week, I would miss him and would be so glad when he got home.

Well, now not only does his job require the regular travel it always did, due to some company changes, he now has to go 3 weeks out of the year to the home office. The is the 2nd time he's been gone since R came home. (The first time was my first week back to work in the spring, and my parents helped me a lot that week so it wasn't too bad.) This week, he's gone all week, so I'm totally on my own.

I shouldn't complain. At all. And I'm not, really. It makes me totally appreciate and admire even more all those single moms out there. I don't know how they do it! It's the little things that make me also appreciate what A does everyday for me and for our girl. Besides that, I just miss my husband! At least he will be home for our anniversary on Saturday. :)

Job v. Passion

Yeah, this is my third post of the night. Let's just say not having power leaves me with a week's worth of thoughts to share in one night.

Last week, I was talking to another teacher, C, about adoption. She asks me a lot of questions about the topic, and although she has never said this, my feeling is that she and her husband are considering adoption as a way to build their family.

I was telling her about our experience in Ethiopia and about how life-changing it was for me to go there. She said to me, "M, I've never seen you teach, and I'm sure you're a great teacher... but when I talk to you, I wonder if you have ever considering doing more for Ethiopia and adoption instead of teaching. I wonder if that is your calling."

This blunt statement, my own secret question to myself, rather shocked me. C forced me to think and talk aloud about something I've been wondering for the past 7 months and have revealed to no one. And so I feel I might be at a crossroads. Teaching is my job, and I do love it... However, adoption and Ethiopia are my passion.

I will say to you what I said to C. Education is safe. I can teach (or do something in education b/c there is no way I'm grading essays for another 22 years) for 30 years in my nice safe little job, have summers and holidays off, get a decent retirement and good health care, and be perfectly content to do so.

Or, I can do something insane, something I never imagined. Something not safe. Something that in no way secures my financial future... Who even knows what that "something" is.

What I do know is that my heart is in Ethiopia, that it breaks for all those children we left behind. That I think of the suffering of my child's homeland and wonder why I just had to buy that one more pair of shoes last week.

I know that the decision to adopt started as a whisper at first, a fleeting thought in my mind, just as this did. I feel this conversation with C took it to the next level, just as a similar experience talking to another co-worker made me realize that that whisper about adoption was serious...

And that is that.

PS-- R has been home 7 months today! I love you baby girl!

Thank you, M

My dear friend, M, gave me the most amazing gift this morning when A and I dropped R off at her house for the day... a children's book of R's adoption story that she had created for us!

Let me back up a second. M is the most talented of writers. When we were in HS, we used to try to outdo each other with humorous stories. Every once in a while, my story would be better than hers, but she would usually "beat" me. For years, I have been telling her she should try to get her writing published because of her exceptional gift.

The story she wrote is beautiful, and for someone who is not an adoptive mom, she explains adoption on a child's level in a way that a reader would have a hard time believing she hadn't adopted. (I guess she's been listening to me long enough.)

She stole the title of my blog for the title of the story, but that's fine with me! There is a reason this blog is titled as it is...

Well the sneak not only kept it a secret from me that she was writing this story and creating a book for my family but also kept it a secret that she DID submit it to a publisher! She will know in a couple of weeks if it will be accepted or not.

Anyway, M, I love the book, I love you, and I love that you might be sharing it with the world. I am so proud of you are pursuing this!

Thank you.

We, like, have power and stuff!

Thank you God! When I arrived home this afternoon, we had power! What an amazing thing to be able to go about my day with every light in the house on!!

We just finished cleaning out the fridge and freezer. Probably should have done that LAST Monday (tomorrow is trash day), but we were hopeful that we would get power back quickly and that we might be able to save something. What a waste!! Makes me really think about all that stuff we spent money on and that is now sitting in a trash can in my driveway.

There are still about 40,000 in my area without power, so all this mess is far from over for a lot of other people.

Still No Power

We stayed at my parents' tonight and will just get up early tomorrow for work! My brother (on his way to his girlfriend's place) drove through our neighborhood, and we still do not have power. Maybe tomorrow? Maybe Thursday??? Who knows? I'm not optimistic that'll it'll be soon.

Here is a cute picture of R. It has nothing to do with this post. Who doesn't like pictures?

Still Without Power

We are staying the weekend at my parents' house because we still do not have power at our house. The number is now 65,000 without power in my area, and restoration of it is going very slowly. The power company is saying that we will have it back by tomorrow night, but considering that they only restored power to about 7,000 last night, I'm not too hopeful that will be the case!

We lost power because we had a "dry" category 1 hurricane (the remainder of Ike) blow through the state on Sunday afternoon. Our county was one of the hardest hit in the state, and things are still a mess. It was one of the weirdest weather occurrences I've ever experienced. The wind was incredibly strong for something around here, but there was no rain. Bizarre.

Our neighborhood looked like a war zone when it was over, and we were lucky. We have 4 huge trees in our yard, and they all were fine with only some large branches down. The only damage was some shingles off the roof of our shed in the back yard. Other people in the area and in our neighborhood were not as lucky!

We are hoping to have power soon, as it is hard with the baby. We are only at my parents' for the weekend because they live about an hour north of where we do, and it is just too difficult getting the baby to the sitters' houses and getting to work this far away. At least we can do some laundry today!

Blackout!

We currently have no power at our house and haven't since Sunday night. In my area, there are still about 200 thousand homes without it, so I'm not thinking it'll come back on anytime soon. All the areas around our neighborhood have power, so we are probably a low priority. We did not have school Monday, we did yesterday, and we did not today. I am thinking that tomorrow is doubtful because the recovery process is going so slowly.

So, currently, I'm at my friend, M's, house so R and her daughter N can play together and so I can check my email and online banking.

See you when we have power again!

9/11

Today marks 7 years. Where were you? Me, I was in the first few weeks of my teaching career. I remember the day quite clearly. My lesson for seniors that day was a Brit Lit poem... A student came into my 3rd period class yelling, "Miss M, Miss M, someone bombed the Pentagon!" I remember not believing her, thinking she had just heard something wrong. After all, who could possibly attack the Pentagon?

I proceeded with my lesson, but my students begged me to turn the TV on. I did and saw horror I could never possibly believe. The first tower had already collapsed. Suddenly, poetry wasn't important. My students and I watched the coverage in horror. I saw the second tower collapse on live TV, like a lot of Americans did. I watched the news coverage the entire rest of the day and tried to help my high school students deal with what was happening.

I knew no one killed on 9/11, but that doesn't mean I don't mourn them and feel such sadness for their families. I think of the children who will grow up without their mothers and fathers... and all that has happened in these years since then.

The day after 9/11, I drove through the country (I used to work at a HS in a farming community) to work as the sun rose in the sky. The sunrise was a brilliant, bright mix of reds, oranges, yellows, etc. I remember thinking as I gazed at the sky that God was mourning this attack just as our nation was. I can still picture that and remember how I felt...

Work Stuff, Photo Books, and A Hurricane

Well, since the end of last school year, I have been dreading returning to work. I work on a team with one of my closest friends and 4 other teachers. Three of them, my friend H and I had a lot of problems with last year. They are young and selfish, and they do not have the best interest of our students at heart. H and I talked a lot over the summer about how to deal with them and work with them... We knew it was only a matter of time before things got bad again this year, and today that happened.

I have a lot going on in my life. I feel like I'm a good teacher and teammate. I am respected by my principal and co-workers... Except for these 3 teammates apparently. I won't get into details because it is so silly that I can hardly really explain it. I just feel so frustrated because it is ONLY September, and we have so much of this school year left.

To make a long story short, the "teammates" were upset about some things on a behavior plan for a student but said nothing about it when the plan was being created with the student, his dad, the team, and the school's therapist on Tuesday. Today's team meeting, the three of them attacked H about the plan. I wasn't there because I was training other teachers in the district on our new writing program. (I know I am making this long.) I don't really know the details, but I do know that H called me in tears during her lunch. My thought is that they chose to attack H today because I wasn't there. One of them actually told H that she should not be calling a parent when there is a behavior problem in her class. Instead, we should just talk to her and the teachers the student had before. They said some other things, too, just as bad.

I am a parent, as is H. One of the things I know is that if R is ever a problem in school, her teacher should contact me to let me know about it. Like the parent mentioned above, I would be happy that the teacher cared enough to tell me and wanted to work with me to improve my child's educational experience. This idea that we should NOT contact a parent is completely absurd and makes no sense to me.

So, tomorrow, I get to go in and face these people, after they attacked my dear friend yet again. I must remain professional, but it makes me feel ill knowing that all the things we had to deal with at the end of last year are happening again, and there is seemingly no solution to this problem.

On a total side note: I made some photo books on snapfish.com and got them in the mail today. They basically are to give to her grandparents, but I of course bought a copy for us, too. I LOVE IT! My friend M has been making photo books for a few months now, and this is the first one I've attempted. I love scrapbooking, and the photo books are nice because they are so quick and easy to make! I just might be addicted to it! At snapfish.com, the 8x11 books are 40% off until tomorrow if you use the code "sale40" when you check out. I decided it was a good time to try it out! :)

Also, my brother in FL is fine. The hurricane did not directly hit the Keys so he is ok. Thank you for your concern and prayers!

Hurricane Ike

I just got off the phone with my dad, who is always watching the Weather Channel. He was watching the update on "Ike," which is now projected to be a category 4 hurricane when it hits Marathon in the FL Keys on Tuesday. In that we live thousands of miles from there, why does my dad call to update me on this? Well, my brother, J, lives there, as does his friend and his wife and one my dad's good friends.

My dad said J told him that if it will be a cat 4 when it hits, he will evacuate to mid-Florida and stay with another friend's mom. If a cat 4 hits Marathon, it will be wiped out, and everything will be destroyed. This makes me feel so sick and horrible inside knowing that it is very likely that my brother and others we know down there will lose their homes. Dad says they have not been hit by a hurricane more than a low 3 since the 1930s.

I am hoping and praying that the storm decreases before it hits.

Funny Picture and a Temper Tantrum

A few weeks ago, my friend M had a Mickey Mouse birthday party for her middle daughter. Being the super-awesome mom she is, she even bought mouse ears for the kids to wear. Here is a picture of M, her daughter N (one month younger than R), R, and me. I thought it was funny because both girls look so serious... and yet, they are wearing mouse ears. (Do you like their matching BF dresses? Adorable!)

On a side note, my daughter threw her first (major) temper tantrum yesterday. I didn't know 9 month olds had temper tantrums, but apparently they do. I just know that soon, A and I will be those parents in the grocery store with the screaming toddler who wants the cookies we won't buy... M says she knew from the first time she looked at a photo of R that she would be a "screamer." At the time, I was hoping she was wrong, but last night's display of screaming, crying, kicking, arching of the back, etc. has proven that M was indeed right!

Despite this, she is the absolute light of my life. Like A said the other night, "We have been given a great gift" in the form of this small girl. She is so awesome.

There once was a girl

Who had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead.

And when she was good,
She was very, very good,

But when she was bad,

She was horrid!

-- Longfellow

(This sorta sums it up, doesn't it?)

Two Steps Forward...

R took her first real steps yesterday. She took 2 steps at two different times over the course of the evening. Tonight, she practiced some more. She is starting to catch on and understands when we say, "Walk to Mommy; walk to Daddy." She is, like, the most awesome baby in the world!



My friend H sent me this picture of R from this summer. It has nothing to do with her walking, but I think it is super cute. (The feet in the picture are H's daughter, who is also a darling baby!)




Also, an update on my aunt: She received more results today. The lesions on her brain look like they are getting smaller so the doctors are more sure it is not cancer. However, there is a possibility it is MS... more tests to come. Please keep her in your prayers!

Cutest. Baby. Ever.

Yeah, that's my daughter. I just entered her in the Adoptive Families magazine photo contest. A and I had a hard time deciding, but in the end, we decided we would go with a recent picture. Here it is!...

9 Month Photos

We got R's 9 month pictures taken on Aug. 13 and got them back today along with a CD. Here are some of my favorites from the shoot:

I love this yellow outfit so I had to get her picture taken in it!

This dress is from my mother-in-law, and she actually made the bonnet! (Doesn't she look like a pilgrim? I think this is hilarious.)

R in her Ethiopian dress. I love how her little baby foot is sticking out! I think she looks so beautiful in this dress...

All in all, we were really happy with the pictures! I can't believe how big she's getting!

Homecoming: Feb. 22, 2008

We celebrated 6 months home this evening by going to our favorite Ethiopian restaurant. It was wonderful!

Homecoming, 6 months ago....

(I do not have many pictures, so sorry.)

The last leg of our journey home was exhausting. We were supposed to be in the DC airport for only a few hours, but due to horrible weather on the east coast and an ice storm at home, we were there until Friday afternoon. (We arrived in DC around 7am local time.)

As we walked through the airport, hardly anyone really noticed us. This was so weird to me because while we were in Ethiopia, we attracted attention everywhere we went. Ethiopians love children, and they really follow the "it takes a village" philosophy. Often, both Ethiopian men and women would take our little one out of our arms and walk around a shop or restaurant, showing her off to others. The "Ethiopian Scoop" was something we grew really used to. Back in the States, we were just another family traveling. I guess, looking back, this was a good thing because of how tired we all were and how sick R was.

As our flight to Atlanta got pushed back further and further, I became nervous. By this point, all I wanted was to get home, sleep in my own bed, and be somewhere familiar. Like I mentioned previously, we did end up being able to change our flight to a direct flight close to home but not the same city. My parents were picking us up and were fine with this; they just wanted us home. I also called my in-laws because they were supposed to meet us at the airport, too.

At one point, A went to get something to drink, leaving R and me to look out the window. Actually, R was sleeping at that time. I was absent-mindedly watching suitcases being loaded into the plane we were originally supposed to be taking to Atlanta. Suddenly, I saw a small red suitcase that looked a lot like mine going up into the plane. Our other 2 suitcases soon followed.

I called A's cell phone and asked him to go the counter to try to get our bags off the plane. They took 2 off, but our 3rd one ended up arriving on our doorstep the following day. One of my biggest fears was that our luggage with all our Ethiopian treasures for R and our family wouldn't make it home. It all did, thank goodness!

As I was talking to A, I caught the attention of a woman sitting across from me. She asked me where I was going, and I told her. As we chatted, I told her we were on our way home from Ethiopia with R. She asked if our family had seen her yet. Nope. Tears came to her eyes and she thanked me for allowing her to be a part of our story.

Finally, it was time to board the plane home. R woke up and was very fussy. At her doctor's appointment a few days later, we would learn that she had an ear infection as well as RSV. Poor baby! Looking back on it and realizing how sick she was, I am amazed how well my poor little baby girl with pretty curls did on this journey home.


R cried the entire take off, flight, and landing, which was about an hour and a half. My poor baby girl had just had enough. Finally, we landed, but it was freezing cold. As we deplaned, I had to carry R down some wet, icy steps and across the tarmac. It was awful because I was afraid I would drop her and that she would get too cold. She was ok, of course, but it was not pleasant.

I immediately called my parents, who were almost to the airport. They were not planning to come in, just pick us up at the entrance so they didn't have to park. As we waited for our luggage, I looked up and saw my mother rushing towards us! How can I describe introducing my mother to my daughter? It was almost surreal... and very emotional. At the moment she saw her, my mother fell in love with R. I know we both were teary-eyed. My mom kept saying how beautiful she was and that she was "so sick." (We did take a picture, but it was with my mom's camera so I don't have it.) Finally, our luggage (except one piece) came out, we did the paperwork to get the missing piece to our house, and we went out to find my dad waiting in the car outside.

We drove home in an ice storm. It was terrifying, but my dad was so calm and got us home safely. I do not remember at all what we talked about in the car. The poor tired princess slept the whole time, and she did well in the car seat, which she had never been in before. When we arrived home, my in-laws were there in the ice and snow to greet us with balloons and smiles.




R is so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents! They all loved her so much right away, and I am so thankful that we live close to all of them so she will be able to grow up surrounded by that love.

Our family did not stay long. A and I were so tired that we collapsed into our bed, along with our miracle of a daughter, at 8pm. After over 28 hours of travel, we were home FOREVER!

She can stand now! And 6 months ago today we left Ethiopia.

So, baby girl is now standing for like 30 seconds at a time by herself. She just decided tonight that she could do it. She's been standing for a few seconds here and there a lot more frequently lately, but this is the longest she has. I stood her up on those cute baby feet, gently lifted my hands, and to my shock she just kept standing there. We did it repeatedly for like an hour!

I would stand her up on her feet, say "Big girl stand!" and let her go! A and I would cheer and clap for her, and eventually she started to attempt to clap, too. She also took a step or two toward the sofa when she got tired of Big Girl Standing. We finally decided to start filming her, but by that time, she was pretty much done and started crying. I will have to try it again tomorrow or something. I can't believe how big she's getting.

On to the second part of my post...

It was 6 months ago today that we left Ethiopia to bring our daughter home. We left our hotel in a hurry because we had an evening flight, and our agency was worried we wouldn't have enough time if we didn't leave super-early.

We got to the airport, and our translator/guide, J, and driver, D, helped us to unload our bags from the top of the van and onto carts. We got to a certain point, and they could go no farther with us because they didn't have passports. It was hard to say goodbye to these men who had taken such good care of us. D kissed my daughter's hand and said good bye, and I almost started balling.

Before entering the airport, I took one last picture of Ethiopia.

We checked in with little hassle and did some shopping while we waited. I changed R's diaper and put her into something with pants and long-sleeved so she would be warm on the plane.

As we were going through the last bit of security right before we boarded the plane, I said to the Ethiopian Airlines worker who was checking my ID and ticket, "I love your earrings!" (They were beautiful silver hoops with a cool design on them.) She smiled, put her hands to her ears, and said to me, "Would you like them?" I didn't let her give them to me, but this just shows you again how amazing and generous the Ethiopian people are.

We got to our seats, which did not have a bassinet. (If you travel with a young infant, request a bassinet; it will save your lives and make your flight so much easier!) One of the attendants said, "Where is your seat?" I said, "right here." She said, "No, no, no, I'll come back for you." Right before take off she did return and moved us to bassinet seats. Just one more reason why I love Ethiopian Airlines.

As we took off, I started to cry, sob, really. I had such a mixture of emotions. I was so glad to be bringing our baby home... But I was so sad to be leaving her native country. I worried so much that she will one day resent our decision.... I worried that we were doing the wrong thing taking her from her homeland... I worried that one day she will wish we never would have adopted her. All things things and many more were in my head. (They still are sometimes!)

Our flight was LONG, but the fact that R could sleep in the bassinet helped a lot. We could change her there, too. It was nice to not have to hold her for the whole time. She slept a lot on the flight from Addis to DC, and that was a blessing. I think she only had one time of about 45 minutes in which she cried. I found this amazing and so lucky!

Once we finally got to DC, we were exhausted. (The flight from Addis to DC is 18 hours.)

We still had to go through customs and immigration. We didn't have a problem, but it just took a long time. We busted out the "enveloped that must not be opened" and gave it to immigration with no problem. (In case you were wondering what was in it, I did peek. It has all of R's info in it, our homestudy, our tax information-- pretty much everything that you have to give to the US embassy is in it. That's all. Nothing too exciting!)

The first thing we did once we got into the terminal was find some breakfast and have some diet Coke with ice in it (you can't use ice and there is no diet Coke in Ethiopia). The weather on the East coast of the States was horrible, and our flight to Atlanta kept getting more and more delayed. Finally, it was so delayed that it was scheduled to arrive in Atlanta 2 minutes after our last leg was supposed to take off from there. Luckily, there was a direct flight from DC to an airport fairly close to our destination that we were able to take. It was lucky because we would have had to stay overnight in Atlanta if we would not have been able to get on that flight.

I will tell you about our last leg of our journey and our homecoming tomorrow!

First Day with Students

Our first day of school was today. I have had work days the past two days, though. My students seem like they'll be fine. I have 3 classes only because I teach language arts so I get a period to teach reading and one to teach writing. (I integrate it so I usually do not designate one for each. Anyway...) I have 2 classes of 11 students and one of 25. That is sort of annoying, but it'll be fine. In my large class, there are a few talkative ones, but I know I will be able to handle them, too.

However, I am feeling some major guilt as far as R goes. I hate leaving her, despite the fact that every day of the week she is with people who love her and take exceptional care of her... And yes, I did return to work right at the beginning of May last school year. However, last school year, pretty much the entire time I was back, I had a student teacher who did all the planning, teaching, and grading. So when I got home in the evening I was able to spend every minute with my girl. This year, no student teacher so I am having to do everything. It's my 8th year so I have the whole teaching thing down... it's just that in the evenings I will need to plan and grade and all that.

Also, I feel like a bad mom today. I spent the day on my feet talking for hours and hours and am pretty tired. Sometimes it is exhausting to be "on" all day! So I know I didn't play with R as well as I usually do, not to mention the fact that I had about 4 hours with her today instead of the whole day. I just miss her! And I know she missed me as she clung to me for like an hour after I got home.

And I look around at my life and our house and our things and wonder why o why we didn't try to live on just one income when we got married. I don't know how people do it! I would love to be able to stay home with R, at least for a few years until she goes to school. (Or at least only work part time,) It just won't happen, and I have to deal. Plus, a part of me knows it would be really hard for me to give up my career no matter how much I want to be home with my girl.

6 Months!

That's how long we've been a family. It was 6 months ago to the day (it was even a Monday!-- Feb. 18, 2008) that we met our daughter for the first time...

We had arrived in Addis the night before, late, and crashed as soon as we got to our hotel, a mere 2 "blocks" from where our daughter was spending her last night at Hannah's Hope. We were so tired that the reality of what was going to happen in a few short hours didn't even keep us awake.

Early the next morning, the alarm went off. A and I looked at each other, not knowing what to say or really how to feel. I was nervous, excited, anxious, and, at the same time, very peaceful. We got dressed (I remember commenting that I needed to decide what to wear to meet our baby) and went downstairs to have breakfast with the other 2 families and our case manager, J, who happened to be in Ethiopia at the same time.

The other 2 families were down having breakfast with J. The mood appeared to be calm from the other families, and it was so wonderful to meet J after talking with her on the phone and via email for 8 months! Finally, someone spotted A, the director of Hannah's Hope, walking through the hotel gate and up the steps.

She came in, handed us more paperwork, and walked us through how to fill it out. Somehow, I managed to fill it out correctly although at that point, my mind was only on getting to R as quickly as possible.

Finally, we were all finished and were ready to go. A and I hardly spoke as we took the short walk to Hannah's Hope. We reached the gates, and I think I gasped. I had seen pictures of this entrance and wondered what it would feel like to actually step through them into Hannah's Hope for months now.

We walked through the gates, and to my surprise, the babies were all out getting their morning massages and laying in the sun, our daughter among them. We walked closer to the babies, and, suddenly, I spotted her, my sweet baby girl. I had expected to be taken into the main house and meet our daughter privately in a room. Nope. (The experience was so perfectly Ethiopian, and I love that we met her in this way!) She was out there with all the other babies, in a little prop-up seat facing away from us. I saw her beautiful hair and then her big toe. I had studied photographs of her for months, and she has this way of curling her big toe... She was doing it then, too.

A and I just stood there; I don't think either of us knew what to do. Quickly, someone picked R up and handed her to me. How can I describe that moment? I think it is probably impossible. I felt a mixture of the purest joy, happiness, and relief. I kissed her little forehead and gazed at her. She actually smiled at me! I guess she knew I was her mommy.

Some people worry about not loving a child they didn't give birth to, but for A and me, that wasn't the case. We loved her instantly. There was no doubt that this small girl was meant to be our daughter.

Six months later, unbelievably to me, I am more in love with this child than I was that day I first held her. R is the answer to my prayers, the brightest of bright spots in my life. Sometimes I look at her and am in awe that I was given the gift of being her mom.

9 Month Check Up

R says, "I am such a big girl!" (Ignore my hand. I was trying to get those flowers to stay on her head for a different picture.)

R had her 9 month doctor's appointment this morning. She is now 19 pounds, 2 ounces and 28 inches long. She is growing like a little weed! When she came home in Feb. she was 12 pounds even and 24 inches long. The doctor was pleased with her progress and said she just looks "perfect." R is where she should be developmentally, if not a little ahead, so that is good to hear, too! She had one shot and screamed her little baby head off after it, but she calmed down pretty quickly.


I love her doctor. She is very good with R and, although not an adoption specialist, she is very conscience and considerate of R's unique needs.

Update on my Aunt

My aunt received more test results today, and so far, all are coming back negative... meaning that she will most likely have to come back in a month or so for more testing to see if there are any changes. She is still having the symptoms, but there is more hope than there was initially that it is not cancer.