We do have some new information and prayer requests:
Our friends recently brought their two daughters home from Shaunti's orphanage. This family, the Hart's, got to spend time with Shaunti while in country and even hand delivered a photo book we made her! It was so encouraging to see another set of our friends interacting with her.
The Hart's had a roller-coaster experience in India and after arriving home one of their daughters tested positive for TB. While she doesn't have active symptoms like coughing, she does have a positive chest X-ray for TB. She's on the proper medications and doing very well. While we miss them here in GA, God knew what he was doing when he moved them to a border town months ago. They're in a town where TB is seen regularly and the infectious disease doctors are extremely knowledgable. They have educated all of us in the process. We panic when we hear TB in the states but it's sadly common in places like India. I've learned so much in the past few weeks! Research shows (and the infectious disease doctor stressed) that a child rarely spreads TB to other children and it's almost always passed from an actively coughing adult to a child. TB isn't passed through touches or even toothbrushes but it's inhaled when an active carrier coughs and someone else inhales. It's a relief to know that it's unlikely that the children are spreading it to one another yet concerning because there could be a TB positive adult in their midst. Thankfully none of the other children recently adopted have tested positive. They've all been retested and we are thankful for negative test results!
Here's where the prayer requests come in: Please pray that Shaunti is well and does not have TB. If she has a positive chest X-ray, she will not be allowed into the U.S. until she's been treated for several months. Obviously additional delays would be devastating not to mention a lack of oversight concerning her treatment.
Also, please continue to pray for the passport. The orphanage director is being very proactive and going to the passport office daily for updates. Each day they tell her to come back tomorrow. Again we aren't at the 45 day mark yet but pray we don't hit that point! This week our agency asked if we would like to have the orphanage director take Shaunti for her Immigration medical exam and TB test immediately after the passport is issued? Typically you travel and do the medical exam during the week in country then once you have the exam you can go get a Visa. We agreed to let the orphanage director take care of getting her to the medical exam prior to our arrival. Thankfully, this will be one less thing to do when we get there nd it will confirm the TB status. If the medical exam isn't taken care of promptly after the passport is issued (we are assured it will be) we will go and take care of it ourselves as originally planned.
We will keep you all updated. Until then I've included a few pics of my dear friend Aimee Hart flipping through the photo book with Shaunti. Aimee said she knew our faces and I'm so thankful she can now pull this book out anytime she wants!
