Landon had his MRI for his cyst yesterday December 15th. It was at All Childrens Surgikids in Tampa. He had to be put to sleep and we were worried about the anesthesia since last time his blood pressure went so high and it took a long time for him to be alert. Fortunetly he did really well and came out of it very smoothly and easily. He was clumsy and off balance most of the day and of course was a bit groggy for a few hours. We stayed in a hotel the night before since we had to be there so early to make it easier on everyone. That was nice. Greg took the whole day off yesteray too so that he could stay with us. We won't know the exact diagnoses until sometime next week once it goes back to the specialist to be read. The cyst had gotten significantly smaller the last weeka nd was even ahrd to see at all. Not sure what that means but hopefully they will give good news and he will not need surgery after all! We can always Pray :)We turned in our contract and fees for our homestudy this week as well. We are now paperchasing for hte homestudy and dossier again. Wait tiems for refrral have increased significantly and looks like we may wait quite a while for a refferal. Our agency quoted us 0-6 months for a boy or 6-9 months for a girl. Of course since we are not requesting an infant as young as possible that wait could be longer or shorter. Greg and I have gone over the pro's and cons of a boy or girl and we can not decide. Requesting gender is a hard decision to make if you have a choice. There are several factors that we have considered. One being that we havea split bedroom plan with 2 bedrooms upstairs and 2 bedrooms down stairs. If we requesta girl that would mean Landon and her would be in seperate rooms much sooner than he and a brother would. Which means one in each room upstairs and us down stairs. Yikes. The though of that makes me cringe. I can't imagine being that far away until they are atleast 7 or 8! Of course 2 boys owuld mean they could share a aroom until about that age at which time Greg and I would feel comfortable enough to move downstairs. Currently Landon's room and our room are across teh hall from one another upstairs. Our other issue is if we request a girl the wait will be much longer which will mean that Landon is much older once the child comes home. We hoped they would be close in age, less than 2 years apart. In order to do that we would have to ask for a much older toddler and that sets forth a whole new set of challenges not to mention a child who has lived with us as an only child even longer. On the other hand one boy and one girl, isnt that the american dream? We always knew we wanted atleast one girl. We thought! This will more than likely be that last time we can afford to adopt, with that being said if we request a boy will we always feel like our family is unfinished? Even though we will love what ever child we receive, would we feel a loss in our lives if it isnt a girl? These are the things we are struggling with. So why not put either gender and leave it up to that? Well, it is a bit more complicated than that. Saying either is like requesting a boy. Since so many more families request a girl, if you say either you will 95% of the time get a boy. That is just the way it is. I know that God still has a plan and I trust that he will lead the way and pray we will listen. At this point we have to put something on our application very soon and if it isn't what we truly feel in our hearts, we may have to turn down a referral and that is something we do not want to do. We have too much respect for SLC and FFC to do that. We hope to send in the application next week. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers until then.FFC, at this time, is able to accept tax deductable donations on our behalf. You can send any donation amount and receive a receipt for your taxes. FFC is a 501c non-profit organization. Please send any donations to:

Taiwan Adoption Program
Hughes Adoption Fund
P.O. Box 975American Fork, UT 84003

Phone: 801-772-0819
Fax: 801-847-2283

You can also donate directly to FFC for special needs or waiting children as well or for the St Lucy Center as they move into a new building! The Hughes thank you in advance for any prayers, good wishes, or donations.