Her glycine count is now under control and is staying within the proper range. She is on several medications for this. For now, she gets blood drawn every week to check the level of glycine in her blood. The doctors also have done several spinal taps to monitor the amount of glycine in her spinal fluid. It must be monitored closely at this stage.

We don't know if there was any permanent damage caused by the high glycine. We will have to wait until she grows to see about that. She may require therapy to help with any damage. She can see and hear which is a great blessing.

She also has been placed on seizure medication to prevent seizures. One of the EEGs that they ran showed some pre-seizure activity was present. They weren't sure if it was because of the glycine going down so rapidly or if there really was the beginning of seizures. But for precaution, they put her on the medication.

She is on another medication to help her stomach. The other medications are very acidic and can damage the stomach. She is also on two others to help build up her health. All together, she has 16 dosages that she takes in a day. Each must be correctly measured so that she gets exactly the amount that she needs. It would be very easy to overdose an infant. Liberty was very anxious about this when they were first able to take Annabeth home. They must use medical syringes to get exact measurements. Annabeth gets her medications 8 different times throughout a 24 hour day.

Annabeth makes frequent trips to see a variety of doctors. This makes it impossible for Liberty and Annabeth to travel with Amos on deputation. Our pray is that she will progress quickly enough that she won't have to see the doctors so often or get blood work done so frequently. Then they will be able to travel as a family. Amos will be apart from them, for a month or two at a time, for a while.

Liberty and Amos are requesting your prayers at this time for guidance on their future ministry. It is unkown if Annabeth will need to be on medication for the rest of her life or not. Nor is it known if they can get her medication in Russia. They are still waiting on test results to see if this is a genetic problem. This condition is extremely rare, and usually only occurs in groups where there has been intermarrying: i.e. Mennonite or Amish. If it is genetic, they face a 25% chance of it recurring. If so, it will require that any future children be born in the states. They know that the Lord wants them to work with Russian people, and perhaps some Chinese as well. Amos grew up in Russia helping his parents with their work, and is fluent in Russian.

We appreciate everyone’s prayers for our children and for Annabeth as well. We treasure the love and prayers sent up on their behalf and ours.

Sister June