Praise and Prayer

We have some great praises to report from today. First, we had our last homestudy meeting with Ruth. She informed me that she's almost ready to send the report to Laurel! She is definitely more of a blessing than we could have asked for! (Thanks to Adam and Carrie for the great recommendation.) Also, she gave us our police reports that we can use for our dossier and our birth certificates were delivered by UPS. OH, and we finalized the fundraiser my brother is doing for us through the end of January: ALL of the proceeds for books/products bought from his sight will go to our adoption when you use the given code. Is that awesome or what? He's ordering 1000 postcards tomorrow that we can start handing out, and I'll post the info on my blog. His sight is really great, too (though I'm biased). While I haven't done a side by side comparison, I think his prices are comparible to Amazon, he just doesn't have the used option that they do. What a great day!!! It feels so good to know that things are happening. All of this does not, however, make us forget about yesterday's news...

So, I've been sleeping with a man who has tuberculosis!!!!! Yes, you heard me correctly: Karl tested positive for TB. Now that the dramatic flair is out of the way (my favorite--old habits die hard, ya know), I will tell you the whole story. Karl went in for his routine TB reading and after two nurses looked at the results with consternation, the doctor was called in. Sure enough, it was a positive read. Then came the chest x-rays. This was the good news. The TB was not active. This just meant that at some point since his last negative test (perhaps before his last trip to Africa?) he came into contact with the disease. Now, if he ever comes into contact with it again--like when we travel to Ethiopia to pick up our daughter, for instance--he is much more susceptible to contracting it. SO, here's what he has to do. For the next nine months, Karl needs to take daily antibiotics (don't know how much that's going to be), then, because the meds tend to cause liver damage, he needs to go in for monthly screenings to make sure there are no problems. Last, since the meds also tend to deplete your B vitamins, Karl needs to take a perscription B vitamin each day. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!! There is so much worse, but it's a little overwhelming at the same time. Especially for these really-hate-to-take-medicine people!!! Prayers are appreciated :)