Lily's Health Update and a Video!

We wanted to write an update about Lily. It’s pretty crazy to think, but it’s already been six months since we started caring for this little treasure. This week we got some great news about her health so we want to share that with you and we have an update about our adoption processing. So let’s get to it!

First, here’s a little update. Recently we’ve seen Lily struggle through one sickness after another. This is part of the territory since having HIV means her immune system is compromised. During our last meeting with her Doctor we were informed that her immune system was moderately-to-severely impaired. Then out of the blue her doctor (Dr. Sam) showed up at our door with a huge smile on his face and informed us that there had been a total change in her immune system! This means that she's responding very well to her HIV medicine (which isn't always a guarantee). She's pretty much just like any other crazy 3 year old now, apart from taking medicine twice a day. It's also good news because if someone responds well to the HIV medicine it can also mean that they are more likely to live a long life. We were so excited to hear all this and it’s very encouraging to us.

It’s also been a while since we’ve updated you all on what Lily’s future with our family will look like. When we first got Lily we weren’t sure if we would pursue adopting her or just continue fostering her until a forever family came along, but in the past few months Heather and I have decided that we want to move in the direction of adopting her. The process can be very difficult and it’s not as easy as just deciding we want her.There are many steps to adopting a child from China and there’s no guarantee that we’ll get Lily. However, we’ve come to love this little girl and we’re going to do whatever we can to make her ours.

That fits perfectly into the last thing I want to tell all of you. And that is THANK YOU! I love the African proverb that says “It takes a village to raise a child”. And I’m realizing each day how true that is. We have wonderful friends here in Xian who love/encourage us and provide support in the process of caring for Lily. But we also have a wonderful “village” of people behind us all around the world, praying for us, helping us financially and also encouraging us in this process. It’s important to Heather and I that you all know that you’re part of our journey and we couldn’t do this without you, our “village”, thank you so much.

And to celebrate our first six months with our little Lily flower, we’ve put together a video of her and a look into our time together as a family. Please check it out!

Love,

Matt, Heather, Sydney, Lily, Aubrey and little Caleb