Neelakshi's Story

By Brigit & George J

Neelakshi has been part of our family since April 28, 2008 when we brought her back to our hotel from Bal Anand. It was quite the experience that is hard to prepare for. She was so sweet, shy, unsure, scared, and did I mention sweet. We spent two weeks in India taking care of paperwork, shopping, and sightseeing. The first week we spent in Mumbai and the second in New Delhi, with a day trip to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal. We left India on May 10, 2008 and made it home the same day, more than 30 hours later, to our home in Utah.

One thing we did not know about Neelakshi was her fear of dogs. She did not have any problem with the stray dogs lying in the streets of India, but as soon as we arrived at our house, completely exhausted from our trip, she really stressed out over our three giant dogs (Great Pyrenees) and climbed on our dining room table. We had to call in our support network to speak to her in Hindi to calm her down. It took her a week to adjust to them and now she loves them as much as we do. We stayed in Utah for a little over a month following our trip. The Army transferred me to Washington, DC to work in the Pentagon and we have been here for more than seven months now. All is going well here and we have almost completed our post placement visits, our last one is at the end of this month. We hope to finalize the adoption process soon. The move held things up more than we like, but we are back on track. Life in DC is hectic, but the kids enjoy our visits to the museums and monuments.

Neelakshi is seeing a cardiologist for her heart condition. She is getting used to the different technology we have here. The first time they wanted to take her temperature in her ear she screamed, cried, and squirmed around to avoid the 3 seconds it takes. Now she is a professional at the doctor's office. All the nurses and doctors love her and she has them wrapped around her finger. She had a cardiac catheterization a few months ago, it went well, and now we have another procedure scheduled to fix her heart on March 2. The doctors expect her blood oxygen saturation to increase from the low 70's to the mid 90's. This should get rid of the cyanosis in her nails and lips and eventually her nails should return to normal. The surgery is being performed at Children's National Medical Center and she has the best doctors.

Neelakshi is in the first grade this year. She is by far the oldest in her class, but after meeting with the teachers and evaluating her skills, we thought it was best to place her in a lower grade than her age would normally attend. She is picking up English quickly and loves coloring.

Christmas was such a treat for Neelakshi this year. She didn't know what to expect and our two other boys had her really excited. We put the tree up right after Thanksgiving and she had to wait a month to see what would come next. On Christmas morning there were all the presents under the tree and she was able to unwrap gifts for almost an hour. We had the kids all take turns to make it last longer. She received lots of Barbie stuff as she requested from Santa. We cannot wait to see what the years ahead will bring. I could go on and on, but will stop now.