belated update

Hey all... sorry for not keeping all up to date on the ongoing saga of the Kedl Five.  I thought i would post a few pictures and a movie or two.  overall Lizzie continues to do remarkably well and has adjusted to the Kedl family far better that any of us could have hoped.   The other day Justin said that he knows we have only had Lizzie for 2 months, but it was getting hard to remember what the family was like without her.   we all agreed with that assessment.  

we have had a few conversations with a couple of surgeons and Lizzie's cleft palate surgery is no scheduled for november 14th.  the whole operation sounds pretty brutal and has a somewhat long recovery time for it... 3 weeks at least, during which a good part of the time she has to have splints put on her arms to make sure she does not put anything into her mouth and ruin the surgery.  we told the boys we were going to get them splints to wear too so she does not feel so left out.... that or a big cone to go around their necks... they they said they preferred the splints ;-).   anyway, we figured we'd get it out of the way well before christmas so we were not having to worry about it back in Minnesota  (for all those back in Minnesota, we will be there from christmas day to new years day).   there are many opinions on when is the best time to do this kind of surgery in an international adoption, but one train of thought is that, assuming a good degree of bonding and attachment with the family, it is best to do the surgery as soon as possible in order for the whole speech process to not get too far behind.  Lizzie is already quite a communicator, making lots of word-like noises and sounds in an effort to communicate, so we think she will likely be a big talker... just as soon as she can learn to talk which brings us back to the timing of the surgery.  we will try and keep everyone posted on how she is doing when she has the surgery.

otherwise, life as a family of five is a very good thing.  most of the pictures are self explanatory, some i'll mention here.  one is Ben just after one of his cross country races (he got 4th) and i love how far down he has to bend in order to put his head on Anne's shoulder.  others are with Lizzie and her ubiquitous Ritz crackers.  she also got a little chair just her size and she positively revels in it as you can see.  there are some of halloween as well with Lizzie in her bumble bee outfit, me as Jimi Hendrix, and Justin as a Haz-Mat worker.  he got a glow stick and some green Jello to put in his biohazard bucket which managed to make it glow in an unholy sort of way while trick or treating... it turned out very well indeed.  

We love and miss you all very much and are looking forward to seeing as many as we can over christmas.  

Love,

 the Kedl 5