Meet our sweet angel, Francesca. We adopted Francesca 18 months ago from Ukraine. Francesca is 3 1/2 years old. Children with special needs in Ukraine are almost never kept by their birth parents. In the orphanage, children with special needs do not receive any medical care or operations that are needed to save their life. When we first found out about Francesca, we knew she had a lot of medical needs and to tell you the truth, we were pretty scared about adopting her. We knew she was meant to be our daughter, but we didn't know what challenges she would face.
But one day, we just looked at each other and said, "We will take things day by day and love her for who she is". And who she is, is an amazing person!
Now, a little about Francesca! Her favorite things to do are eat and drink! They hardly ever gave her water in the orphanage and she loves to have a cup of water with her at all times! She will never have to be thirsty again. Here is she with "Great" sharing dinner together.
Another thing Francesca loves to do is hug!
She has such a great outlook on life; she is always smiling!
Here are Francesca and Victoria after surgery. We decided to have them at the same time so we wouldn't have to leave either one of them. Francesca had skull surgery and Victoria had cleft palate surgery. Amazingly, Francesca's surgery was not very painful. She only needed regular Tylenol and was in the hospital for only two days.
Francesca has a condition called Apert Syndrome, which means that she has craniosynostosis, like little Catherine had, but she had more than one suture in her skull that was prematurely fused. Kids with Aperts are also born with their fingers and toes fused together.
This is after Francesca's first finger and toe surgery. They put on the casts for a month to protect her hands and feet while they are healing. Francesca adapted very well to the casts and she could even walk with them!
This surgery was much more painful for Francesca. After the casts came off, we had to do saline dressings three times a day for each finger for a month. That was tough! It was all worth it though. We will never forget the look on her face when she realized she had fingers!
Francesca and Victoria were both adopted at the same time from the same orphanage. They are only 6 months apart.
Catherine and Francesca are 18 months apart. They are best buddies. Sometimes people judge Francesca by the way she looks, but there are no limitations to what she can do.
Happy Birthday precious girl! She was turning three!
This is the first time we met Francesca in the orphanage. She was understandably very scared at first.
She soon took a liking to us though!
Francesca was quite skinny! She wasn't strong enough to walk yet, even though she was two years old.
We asked Francesca what color ball she would like and she choose them all! This was in the playroom at the orphanage. Catherine had to stayed in the Ukraine for 6 weeks until she could bring the girls home.
Francesca can sometimes be a bit of a drama queen!
Here she is, finally home! Eating, of course! You can see that having her fingers fused together did not slow her down!
Here is she after her second hand and feet surgery! She is such a sunshine! We are thrilled that Francesca won't need any more surgeries for many years.
They are really enjoying their book together!
These are Francesca's favorite shoes! She loves them so much she wants to sleep in them!
She and Catherine are practically the same size.
Wearing Daddy's shoes!
Francesca was so proud of herself! She put all the books back up on the shelf all by herself!
A sweet little kitty cat!
Francesca loves to do puzzles. Catherine is always close by to offer her assistance.
Precious angels!
It took Francesca a really long time to like the water, but now she loves it!
Francesca is showing off her new fingers by putting toothpicks into the holes. She can do anything anyone else can do, she just might have to do it a little differently.
Always smiling!
Sisters!
Francesca loves to draw!
Playing in the sink is fun on a hot summer day.
Gymnastics is a great way for Francesca to practice balancing.
The rice table is a great sensory experience.
Thanks for the dinner Francesca!
Happy Birthday Mommy, but I am keeping these jellybeans!
Francesca's happy spirit!
We are amazed that she can cut with scissors already! The occupational therapist told us she wouldn't be able to, but I guess no one told Francesca that!
Standing in the rice bin is great for sensory processing! At first, Francesca didn't like different textures, like water, sand and grass. Now she is much more adventurous.
Having a pizza picnic. A skateboard makes a great table!
Don't Francesca's fingers and toes look amazing!
Working with stickers.
We love you Francesca and we are so glad you are our daughter!
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