Melina Aven Stewart

I'm sure most of you saw a few days ago that we have happy news!  Our newest daughter, Melina Aven Stewart, is waiting for us in the city of Ruse in Bulgaria.

Melina's third birthday is today.  I said a special prayer for her this morning, hoping that she realizes that today is her birthday, and praying that someone would do something special for her.  We can't post pictures until the Bulgarian government receives our commitment package (we go to Birmingham to get that squared away tomorrow), but rest assured that when we do, you'll certainly see them!  They've sent several pictures so far.  Some are recent, and some aren't.  What we CAN tell, is that she's a beautiful, dark-haired, dark-eyed little girl.

Melina has a condition called Apert Syndrome (http://www.apert.org/apert.htm).  My doctor that I had with the twins, Dr. Biggio, was kind enough to look over her medical history to give us a better understanding of what her condition involves.  We know that once she gets to the states, she'll require several surgeries, and we think the majority of whatever work she'll need will have to do with orthopaedic issues.  Her hands and feet appear to have significant webbing, to the point that it doesn't look like she really has fingers hardly at all.  Judging by the pictures, though, she seems to have compensated for that.  We have photos of her throwing balls around in a ball pit, so she definitely has some use.  Just based on what I've read and seen, I suspect she'll probably have to have some significant vision correction, too.  I'd encourage you to look at the link I provided above to give you a better understanding of her diagnosis. 

We don't know right now when our travel time will be.  There's MUCH to do before we get to that point.  However, our agency is doing things a little backwards for us by trying to get that commitment package to Bulgaria before the 20th of this month.  September 20th would typically be when her file would be sent to another adoption agency, so we definitely don't want that going back out.  She's ours now :).

If there's anything more to update once we get back from Birmingham tomorrow, I'll post tomorrow night.  Thanks for the prayers for us and our sweet girl!  Keep 'em coming!