David: B-plus?! She deserves at least an A-minus!

Since this blog is supposed to be Kathy's and mine, I figured it was about time I made another entry. Truth be told, I've been sitting around waiting for the Holy Spirit to inspire me, but apparently I'm not meant to be a latter-day evangelist.

This proud dad is happy to report that his daughter's bloodletting a few days ago wasn't in vain. As you may recall from Kathy's most recent post, we took Leah May to the International Adoption Clinic at Riley Hospital where, among other things, they took 10 -- count 'em, ten -- vials of blood from her. Well, late this afternoon the doctor called to tell us that the overall results were great. All the vaccinations she received in the Philippines were good, she has no infectious diseases, and -- with the exception of a significant iron deficiency -- all the nutritional values were where they need to be. Pretty good test results for a little girl who didn't even bother to study! The iron must have counted quite a bit on the test, though, because the doctor said her final score was a B+.

OK, Kathy tells me the B+ was her blood type, not the test score ...

Anyway, the doctor also had results from Leah May's x-rays. They confirm that she has one leg shorter than the other. At the office the other day, the doctor made a quick measurement indicating the difference could have been as large as 4 centimeters. Fortunately, the x-ray shows the difference to be only 1.5 centimeters. Her hips look perfectly aligned, which is good news; the length discrepency is from a shorter right tibia. We're being referred to a specialist about correcting the problem, and we're hopeful it will require just a shoe lift and not corrective surgery (or worse).

Otherwise, our new little family continues to get better every day. The bonding between daddy and daughter has improved tremendously over the last couple of weeks. Leah May hugs me tighter and tighter, and a few days ago began telling me, "I love you very much!" (Someone must have told her that I'll be the easier conduit for shopping money.) I returned to work this past week, and Kathy reports that Leah May spends a considerable portion of the day worrying about what I'm eating for lunch and when I'll come home.

Tomorrow marks the third anniversary of the day Kathy and I met Rene. Seems like just yesterday we stood in the sweltering heat outside the administration building of an orphanage in Lubao and watched a little boy struggle to run toward us while wearing a backpack as big as himself. He's come a long, long way since then. And now that it's been three years, I guess we had best keep him forever.